North-East festivals pour out a big medley

Feb 1 2008 by Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

IT WAS inevitable that 1973 Sunderland FA Cup winner Micky Horswill would be known to Newcastle United fans as Pigswill. How the Gallowgate teases.

Next week the name will be on people’s lips at one of the region’s most innovative beer festivals. Pigswill is a full-bodied, amber-coloured beer from Stonehenge Brewery and rich in hop aroma, as opposed to the non-stop midfielder who is now a radio presenter. It lines up alongside ale made by Moles, a Monkey Wrench and a Fire Bellied Toad at the Barley Mow Music & Beer Festival in Birtley, Gateshead, where beers have been selected with animal connotations in mind.

Black Bull Bitter (3.9% alcohol by volume) from Ossett in West Yorkshire will sit nicely with Northumberland Brewery’s Bedlington Terrier (4.2% ABV), Stag (4.1% ABV) from Cairngorm, Weetwood Cheshire Cat (4.0% ABV) and 13 other beers from around the country. It’s an occasion that celebrates a standard for cask- conditioned beer in the North-East as, little more than 18 months ago, the pub which is parked at the junction of Durham Road and Vigo Lane offered only one real ale and was going nowhere.

Fortunately, Trevor Hudspeth and his partner Gwen realised the potential that is built into the 1930s, solid, brick-faced building, rolled up their sleeves, discharged some undesirables, raised the quality threshold and dusted off the welcome mat.

“When we first came here there was only Boddington’s,” says Trevor. “We replaced that with Black Sheep Bitter and gradually built it up to seven real ales on at the one time.”

It’s an astonishing turnaround. Takings have doubled through sheer enthusiasm, intelligent beer sourcing and initiatives such as quiz nights which combine to attract a customer base that was biding its time elsewhere. The animals, however, are the current story and will star at the beer festival, not at one of the Barley Mow’s regular live music sessions.

“We’ll have 20 real ales, all with animals in their names,” says Trevor. “I was looking through the beer lists and thought that might just be the theme.

“Our pub company Enterprise Inns have been great – basically if you’ve got an idea and it works, the area manager will back you all the way. Now on a Friday night for instance, 80% of what we serve is real ale; it’s a real community pub with a great clientele. It’s their pub, they look after it and someone will even come and tell you when the toilet rolls need changing.”

The Head of Steam Festival of Beers from Ireland and the Isle of Man continues over the next six weeks featuring several examples that had never ventured across the sea. The Head of Steam group includes the eponymous pub on Neville Street, plus The Cluny at Ouseburn and Tilleys Bar on Westgate Road in Newcastle.

A mighty Imperial Stout (7% ABV) has arrived from Messrs Maguire in Dublin with a selection from the Biddy Early Brewery in County Clare which has recently closed – think rarity value – plus a handful from Manx-based Okell’s Brewery. And we must set our eyes on Molly Malone Ale (4.6% ABV).

“The small number of breweries in the Irish Republic have always had a struggle to survive against the might of Guinness,” says Head of Steam managing director Tony Brookes. “Consequently, hardly any of the micro-brewery beers are available in Ireland in cask form, only in keg or bottle so we are doubly-delighted to be able to get the beers in cask.”

Ireland is one theme, animals another, and Andy Hickson, manager of The Bacchus on High Bridge in Newcastle has called upon a degree of initiative for the pub’s beer festival which continues today and tomorrow. To mark Jarrow Rivet Catcher (4.0% ABV) being awarded “house beer” status, he has invited the brewery to fill all eight handpulls with its award-winning ales. Head chef Paul Scott has tweaked his regular menu to accompany the various styles and has used Jarrow beer in one or two of the dishes. Andy hopes to repeat the scheme on a monthly basis with the region’s best breweries being invited to a weekend’s exclusivity and food-pairing.

“I’ve never seen anyone else do anything like this,” he says. “I was in a restaurant which has an amazing range of Belgian beers, but no one advised us what to choose with the food. It made me think that here was an idea to be exploited. Jess and Alison McConnell at Jarrow Brewery have been really proactive and even agreed to produce a one-off beer, Bacchus Special (3.8% ABV).

“Basically, we’re hoping to promote real ale with food and introduce the idea to people who may have never thought of it. Paul has cooked with some of the beers and has built the menu around what will be on the bar. It should be really worth doing.”

The winter beer festival thrust is maintained at the Newcastle Arms in St Andrews Street in the city centre and the Cumberland Arms at Ouseburn over this weekend and next. Both traditional-styled bars have never been slow in putting ideas into action.

“It’ll be the first winter festival we’ve held,” says Newcastle Arms landlord Neil Amos. The plan for the twice-winner of the Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) Tyneside Pub of the Year is to make it a regular event, comp- lementing its established summer festival.

Neil says: “We’re putting in a temporary bar which will give us another six handpulls and we’ll have at least 25 different beers on over the weekend. Some are beers that have never been seen before in the area and others are old favourites. For example, we’ll have Durham Temptation (10% ABV) and Thomas Sykes Old Ale (10% ABV) from Burton Bridge Brewery.

“We’ll have milds, porters and cask lagers – every style imaginable – and people will definitely find something to suit them. We’ve also picked some category winners from the recent Camra Winter Beer Festival, such as Dark Side Of The Moose (4.6% ABV) and the Champion Beer of Scotland, Dark Munro (4% ABV).”

The Cumberland Arms, just off Byker Bank, is renowned for its real ale, live music of every discipline and rhyming slams from The Poetry Vandals. It’s even the base for the Ukulele Allstars who perform under the incomparable George Welch.

It’s fair to say that you never quite know what you’ll find at The Cumberland, so a winter beer festival should introduce a few surprises. Beartown Brewery is sending Kodiak Gold (4.0% ABV) and Ginger Bear (4.0% ABV). Cloverdale Brewery is represented by Norman’s Pride (4.3% ABV) and Winter In The Sun (5.0% ABV), while other breweries involved are Springhead, Northern Brewing Company, and the magnificently- named, Manchester-based Boggart Hole Clough.

Innovation at The Cumberland includes Smokers’ Snuggle Packs – a £5 deposit secures a blanket and hot water bottle for a cosy outdoor cig – and a Bring One Borrow One library which features bodice-rippers such as Europe on a Shoestring, Arthritis And Common Sense, and Cannibals: The History of People-Eaters. There’s also Dale Winton’s autobiography. Pigswill is a beer.

alastair.gilmour@ncjmedia.co.uk

BEST OF THE FESTS

The Bacchus/Jarrow Brewery Beer Festival, High Bridge, Newcastle, until Saturday February 2. Details: (0191) 261-1008.

The Cumberland Arms Winter Beer Festival, Byker Bank, Newcastle, Friday February 1, “until they’re gone”. Details (0191) 265-6151.

The Barley Mow Music & Beer Festival, Durham Road, Birtley, February 7-10. Details (0191) 410-4504.

The Newcastle Arms Winter Beer Festival, St Andrew’s Street, Newcastle, February 7-10. Details (0191) 260-2490.

The Head of Steam Irish Beer Festival (at The Cluny, Tilleys Bar and The Head of Steam in Newcastle), ongoing until mid-March. Details (01434) 607393.