6TH FEBRUARY 2010
The Presentation, (from L-R) Mark Sears, Brewers John Woodhead, John Spedding.
Real Ale Club of Sawbridgeworth personally deliver CAMRA certificate.
Way back in October 09, the HEBfest Beer Festival was held in Sawbridgeworth. There were excellent beers from near and far, and, as usual, drinkers were invited to vote for the "Beer of the Festival". The winning beer, by quite a margin, was "Pretoria" by All Gates Brewery, Wigan. It was decided that the CAMRA certificate should be delivered in person, to be polite and as there might be some more good beers to sample!
Five committee members volunteered for this onerous task, including Brendan Sothcott, our esteemed chairman, and Mark Sears, HEBfest organiser. We set off early by train and were there before opening time. We were to meet the owner, brewers and 24 Wigan CAMRA members, Including their chairman, Ken Worthington, who had volunteered their services as a welcome committee and fellow eaters and drinkers.
As we were meeting at 1pm, this gave plenty of time for finding out what an attractive town Wigan is (yes, we were surprised by this, as it is an old cotton mill and colliery town). The fact that the sun shone brilliantly both days that weekend helped a lot, I’m sure! Some of the town’s hostelries were investigated, as well as the canal side area and the replica of the famous Wigan Pier. This is a pair of curved rail tracks, used to tip coal into barges! At the appointed hour we were all at the brewery, which is up a narrow alley right in the centre of the town.
We found our way to it by smell, as the aroma of brewing was floating over Wigan, as they are brewing seven days a week at the moment. It is a very old tower brewery on the outside, with a high tech 5 barrel plant inside this attractive building, with a roomy bar overlooking the church gardens. David Mayhall, a local businessman, had bought the derelict brewery and after renovation etc. started selling beer at the brewery tap, the Anvil pub, in 2006.
The beers flowing from the bar were Pretoria, our winner, California, a pale, citrusy beer and Hung, Drawn and Portered, a porter originally brewed for Guy Fawkes Day. California will be featured in the House of Commons Strangers bar this month. The two Johns, the brewers, were there and a good time was had by all. Yes, Mark did get round to presenting the certificate; David was especially thrilled, as it was their first CAMRA certificate. At about 5pm the assembled throng re-located to the nearby Anvil, for Lancashire Hotpot and a few more beers. The HEB group were overwhelmed by the generosity of the brewery and the friendliness of the Wigan CAMRA group, who insisted on accompanying us after the meal to some of the other pubs in the town and making sure we got back safely for the night in the Wetherlodge, about 20 minutes walk from the town centre.
