A bit more of England

Many of the pubs around this area have a regular range of real ale. Our local, The Queen's Head, has Donnington's BB and SBA and hasn't changed for years. In fact, of the 8 pubs in Stow-on-the-Wold, only one has a changing tap - a monthly beer from Goff's Brewery. There are a few, though, that always have a changing range. The Tite Inn in Charlington and the Horse and Groom in Charlbury are both just over the Oxfordshire border. Five of the CAMRA-listed pubs in Cheltenham, 20 miles west of Stow, all have different beers every time I stop in.

There are more winter ales available now but the new ales I've had are still mainly Bitters, Golden Ales, ESBs, etc. Golden Ales are a relatively new breed in England and are gaining in popularity, especially since the Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (basically an American IPA) won the Champion Beer of Britain at the 2005 GBBF. Cascade hops have also become more prevalent in the last few years and especially in the last year because of this beer.

(T) - At the Tewkesbury CAMRA Winter Ale Festival.
(S) - At the Dun Cow Supernatural Beer Festival.
(N) - At the St. Neots CAMRA Beer Festival.

We've been to many of the pubs in the Gloucestershire Costwolds but keep finding a few more.

I've been to local branch CAMRA meetings in Longborough, Charlbury, Cheltenham, and Chipping Campden. From 5 to 30 people come and they are quite similar to a pub crawl put on by the Beer Advocate folks in the States. Visit 2 or three pubs. Swap stories and recommendations. Excellent evenings.

The Tewkesbury sub-branch of the Gloucestershire chapter of CAMRA held their 11th Winter Ale Festival on Feb 3 & 4. On Thursday evening, the 2nd, they had a free preview for CAMRA members and about 200 people showed up. Got a chance to re-meet people from the Cheltenham and North Gloucestershire sub-branches and some folks I just met at pubs. 7pm to 11pm. Had 7 half-pints of Winter Ales and Old Ales. They had 61 available.

Another festival at a pub in north Oxfordshire, The Dun Cow, had 7 casks on the counter with a complete range of styles (Pale Mild, Dark Mild, Bitter, Best Bitter, Golden, ESB, and a Stout (or was it a weak Old Ale)). The names had a supernatural theme - Ghost, Magic, Devil, etc. On a Saturday afternoon about 40 people crowded into the back room where the heat had been left off to keep the beers cool.

Terry joined me at a beer festival in St. Neots, Cambridgeshre, and we had a very interesting evening at a table with two local bobbies. Even met the Mayor of St. Neots but resisted turning that into a photo-op.

Also visited the Stanway brewery with the North Gloucestershire sub-branch of CAMRA. 25 people crowded into the small brewing room before heading out for a dinner and drinks courtesy of the brewery.

The old manor house at Stanway, with 86 workers, had a brewery back in the 1700s. A small affair with iron kettles fueled by fire. It continued until 1913. Alex Pennycook felt the need to resurrect it in 1993 and moved into the room, replacing the iron vessels with stainless steel. He did, though, keep the WOOD FIRED kettle and now uses 50 tons of wood each year, all picked up from the floor of the surrounding estate.

It's an "almost 5bbl" system with just 3 brewing vessels and 3 fermentation/aging tanks. A small hot liquor tank added recently lets him sleep in until 7:30 instead of getting the fire going at 6am on brewing days. It feeds the open mash ton about the time a wood fire heats more water for sparging - the plumbing is original to the 1700s. It's all pumped back to the wood-fired tun, hidden behind a circular brick wall, for boiling before being fed back to the sparge which is by now converted to a hop back.

Alex uses a proprietary yeast that he describes as "doesn't rise or fall" so it's evolved to be not a traditional ale or lager yeast. He also uses a water-transfer chiller rather than the original oak pan that is now the floor of the upper story and now a store room. One last change is the use of mains water rather than from one of the numerous springs on the property. He "Burtonizes" this water with gypsum as is the current ale fashion.

10 pubs are served with his ales on their guest taps from one or two brews per week.

Finally, wrote an article for Beer on Tap, the hand-out bi-monthly newsletter of the North Oxfordshire CAMRA branch.

An American Beerwolf in Oxon

Warm flat beer. Maybe that’s how most American Bud-swillers think of Real Ale, but not all by any reckoning. My wife and I are Yanks from Indianapolis where race cars are more famous than the 9 breweries in this city of a million people.

All the breweries serve one restaurant each, brewpubs, and only 2 produce bottled beer. Most are big restaurant chains, the type that make up half the 2500 brewpubs in the States. Most brew typical American Ales, Wheats, Browns, Porters, and Stouts; while one makes only Belgian Abbey and Wit styles.

One, though, is a true British pub open now for 15 years and owned by a Yorkshire ex-pat named John Hill. The Broad Ripple Brewpub has two handpulls where cask-conditioned Bitter, ESB, Porter or Stout are served along with 6 other keg ales at any one time. Walking in, any Brit would be right at home. Order at the bar, no TV, no music, a darts room, oversized lined glasses, and lots of Fuggles hops. What more can you ask?

So why go to ground in the Cotswolds over an English winter? In fact warm flat beer is why my wife and I have moved to this area until spring. Winter warmers, barley wines, bitters, milds, ESB, great stuff. Since November we’ve had a chance to try over 200 Real Ales, visit 50 pubs in Gloucs, Oxon, and Warwickshire, and meet dozens of CAMRA members and other conversationalists at those pubs.

We’ve also met the owners of some of the smallest breweries around. Mike Garner at Wizard and John Pilling at North Cotswold Brewery have been very generous with their time, showing off their kit and explaining the idiosyncrasies of their business here in England. In some ways their job is easier than an American equivalent since guest taps are more prevalent here than at the Bud-Miller-Coors-only bars that make up 90% of the States. In other ways it’s more difficult because the shelf-life of Real Ale is considerably shorter than a lager or keg ale and planning must be a lot more precise.

It has been surprising to see some pubs that don’t change their beer selection at all. Understandable that a Donnington, Wadworth, or Hook Norton-owned pub will stick with the same range but even many free houses seem to have an unvarying menu. That’s why some real gems such as the Tite Inn and the Rose and Crown get our repeat business – every time we go there there’s a new beer or two on tap. (Most of the CAMRA GBG pubs in Cheltenham do the same so much of our time is spent there also.) We still have much of the area around Banbury to explore and are savoring the anticipation.

Come March we’ll be heading back across the pond with memories and ideas of how to publicize good beer in Indiana. The Good Beer Guide, of course, has been invaluable but Beer on Tap, The Tippler, ShakesBeer, and The Beer and Ragged Staff have also proved great tools to find the best pubs and best beers. Thank you very much for publishing them.