28TH JANUARY 2011
Adrian Tierney-Jones talks about beer – Derby Room, Turnpike Centre, Leigh - Thursday 10th March 2011, 7:30pm – 9:00pm.
‘1001 Beers and all that...’ sponsored by All Gates Brewery
Adrian Tierney-Jones talks about beer – Derby Room, Turnpike Centre, Leigh - Thursday 10th March 2011, 7:30pm – 9:00pm.
Freelance journalist and author of Pubs for Families and The Big Book of Beer and also General Editor for 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die, Adrian is well known to beer lovers everywhere.
He is amusing and an expert talker on the world of beer and also writes about cider. He was the silver award winner in the British Guild of Beer Writer's Award for National Journalism in 2006 and awarded the Guild's Budweiser Budvar John White Travel Bursary in 2007.
All Gates Brewery in conjunction with Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust are pleased to bring Adrian to the Leigh Turnpike Centre, as part of the Wigan Food & Drink Festival, on Thursday March 10th 2011 to talk about beer. So come along and listen to Adrian.
Enjoy a beer, a fun pub quiz and raffle on what should be a really enjoyable night out.
Tickets: £5 or £3 for library members. (Join when booking to receive discount via WLCT).
Full details and tickets are available from both Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust, T. 01942 404404 and All Gates Brewery T. 01942 234976.
Strictly over 18’s only please. ID will be required.
16TH JANUARY 2011
All Gates Brewery and ‘Mad Monk’ feature in two episodes of Oz & Hugh Raise the Bar on BBC2
All Gates Brewery and ‘Mad Monk’ feature in two episodes of Oz & Hugh Raise the Bar on BBC2
This four part series was a follow up to the Oz & Hugh Drink to Christmas programme broadcast Christmas 2009. Oz Clarke of course needs no introduction whilst the Hugh is Hugh Dennis, the comedian from BBC1’s Outnumbered and BBC Radio Four’s The Now Show.
This is how the BBC Press Office release described the new series:
Oz and Hugh are on a mission to revive the good old British pub. Their plan: to scour the British Isles for the best independent drinks, soak up pub culture, and then open a pub of their own, packed full of drinks from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. As they can’t agree on what makes for the best of British and Irish booze, they will open two bars that will go head-to-head for one night only.
By travelling across the UK and Ireland, they will try and buy a range of drinks as potential stock for their cellars. But like a good cocktail, this series will have a twist; there are two bars in the drinking den, and they are in competition with each other. Alongside the traditional pub fare of beer and wine, they will be looking at snacks, soft drinks, and more unusual offerings such as pub games and British spirits.
All Gates & Mad Monk featured in Episode 3 broadcast on 27th December and in Episode 4 on 2nd January 2011.
Episode 3
Oz and Hugh head to the north of England in their Dutch camper and things get lively when a Manchester real ale tasting gets out of hand. Oz is then filmed padding through the reception area of The Midland Hotel, Manchester in his ‘pink’ dressing gown and slippers into the SIBA Great Northern Beer Festival and ordering a pint of Mad Monk and describing it as Lancashire’s finest. Praise indeed. He subsequently chooses it for his bar.
Episode 4
In the final furlong of Oz and Hugh’s journey across the British Isles, their pub grand opening is looming.
Armed with their drinks from across the nation, the journey ends with opening time at their very own pub for one night only. Will the locals prefer Oz or Hugh’s drinks? No problem because on Oz’s bar is Mad Monk. The programme shows Oz tapping into the Mad Monk cask in the cellar and again singing its praise and then subsequently pulling pints of it on the bar.
The firkin of Mad Monk was specially ordered by Oz for this last episode which was filmed at The Griffin, Coleshill Road, Shustoke, Warwickshire, in late November.
This was All Gates second appearance on The Beeb within two months.
11TH JANUARY 2011
Bouncing 'Czech' Hops!
BOUNCING 'CZECH' HOPS!!
I googled bouncing Czech, for an image, and this was one of them; honest! Remember it?
Back in early December on the brewery blog I wrote a post, ‘Climbing up poles in search of Polish hops’ which followed completion of our brew schedule for 2011, saying that wishing to remain a leader and still wanting to continue a partial theme of our one hop beers we had looked nearer to home than the U.S.A., this time East to Poland. To improve this offering even further we have now travelled south west from Poland to Bohemia.
Now I know a little bit more about Czech hops than Polish hops, in particular the Saaz hop, but have managed to track down a number of other varieties as well, namely Sladek and Premiant: we are also hopeful of getting hold of some Vital, Rubin and Harmonie hops in the near future.
Sladek is a hybrid aroma hop of the Saaz variety containing genetically 30% of Saaz hops. It is a late and high yield hop variety with an average alpha acid content of 5.0%.
It is down in our brew schedule for December 2011, in our single hop series, to produce a 4.4% Czech style Pale Ale with a strong citrus-lemon aroma but with some creamy maltiness and herbal notes behind.
Premiant is another late and high yield variety and has a pleasant aroma and higher and balanced bitterness with an average alpha acid content of 7.5%.
It was created by crossing bitter varieties and Czech aroma varieties and is a dual purpose variety. We hope to brew with it in late May/early June.
We have on order just 20kg of each of the above varieties plus 20kg of Saaz and the hops along with the Polish hops should be with us in the next few weeks.
Again like our Citra and Apollo beers we will base the brews on existing malt recipes and then use the Czech hops instead of the existing hops.
Na Zdraví!
11TH JANUARY 2011
The Crooke Hall Inn, Standish Lower Ground.
THE CROOKE HALL INN
In recent days our associate company, All Gates Inns, has started refurbishment of this wonderful canal side pub. Set in the picturesque village of Crooke adjacent to the canal and marina, the Crooke Hall Inn offers a beer garden, children's play area and serves traditional Cask ales and popular lagers – all at competitive prices.
All Gates acquired the property some three years ago and until recently it was operated as a tenancy by Steve & Pauline Derricott. However following there departure the management of the business has been taken in house and the pub is now operated by Liane McPhelim who was previously a Sales Assistant and Brewery Tour Organiser at the Brewery based in Brewery Yard in Wigan Town Centre.
The refurbishment is expected to take some 8-9 weeks to complete and works will include new floor coverings throughout, re-upholstery and complete re-decoration, formation of a traditional snug and boaters bar and new dining room; plus limited bar works , works to the w.c.’s and exterior decoration. Following completion of the works a new menu will be launched with food available six days a week, lunchtimes and early evenings.
As part of the exterior works it is planned to erect a traditional ‘pub’ sign for which the brewery is looking for ideas and old photographs from the past. The only photographs presently seen show an old Greenall Whitley illuminated sign.
Anyone who has any information or old photographs should contact either Liane at The Crooke Hall Inn, Crooke Village, Standish Lower Ground, Wigan, WN6 8LR or David Mayhall c/o All Gates Brewery Limited, The Old Brewery, Brewery Yard, off Wallgate, Wigan, Lancashire WN1 1JQ.
Thank you.
David Mayhall
10TH JANUARY 2011
CAMRA’s National Winter Ales Festival 2011 Poster.
NATIONAL WINTER ALES FESTIVAL 2011
CAMRA’s National Winter Ales Festival 2011 will take place at the Sheridan Suite, Oldham Road, Manchester, M40 8EA from January 19th – 22nd 2011.
The National Winter Ales Festival is a celebration of the continuing revolution in British brewing, as a result of which there are now more breweries than in most of our lifetimes.
The festival begins at 2.30p.m. on Wednesday 19th January with a trade session and then opens to all from 5.00p.m to 10.30p.m.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s sessions run from 12noon to 10.30 p.m.
Concessions apply for students, pensioners and members of the armed forces (suitable ID to be shown).
CAMRA members £1 off the FULL price at all times (except Thursday - free ALL day).
No advance ticket required - Pay at the door.
GET THERE FOR £1 - Special concessionary fare of £1 available on First Bus services – ask the driver. First Bus service details. Full travel details See Getting There.
The venue is ‘The Venue’; there will be over 250 cask ales plus British and foreign bottled beers, Ciders and Perry’s.
All Gates are sponsoring Thursday’s open session and will have Double Chocolate Stout, Winter Meltdown, Porteresque and Mad Monk.
Follow the Festival on Twitter via twitter.com/WinterAlesFest
