Cook’s tour

Aug 1 2008 by Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

THE mission statement, “to go as far as I think it is possible for a man to go” is no insignificant claim

It was the boast of Captain James Cook, 18th Century explorer, navigator, cartographer and North East hero, but as he was the first person to map Newfoundland and the first European to make contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands – as well as making the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand (then mapping it incredibly accurately) – perhaps he was entitled to a little self-grandiosement. The Marton, Middlesbrough-born adventurer also explored and mapped the American North West coast from California to the Bering Strait.

His name and dynamic attitude have been borrowed by a tiny North Yorkshire brewery that has also absorbed some of the great man’s vision, intuition and romantic disposition. Captain Cook Brewery, occupying former coaching inn stables at The White Swan in Stokesley, has big ideas, masses of potential and no shortage of enthusiasm. And, by the middle of next week, it should know if it has gone as far as it thinks it is possible for a micro-brewery to go. Captain Cook Black Porter (4.4% alcohol by volume) has been selected as one of a handful of beers to represent the region at the Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) Great British Beer Festival. Sister enterprise, Consett Ale Works, which bubbles away behind the town’s Grey Horse pub, has made it a double by being invited to send White Hot (4.0% ABV) to Earl’s Court in London for the annual five-day celebration of all that’s great in British beer. The White Swan/Captain Cook enterprise is owned by entrepreneur Jeff Hind along with the Consett Ale Works/Grey Horse combination and four other traditional pubs and hotels around the North East. Add a conference centre at Wynyard and Woodham Golf Club near Newton Aycliffe – and when one of those pubs is the celebrated Beamish Mary at No Place, County Durham – it constitutes a formidable hand.

“We took over the White Swan and Captain Cook Brewery nearly a year ago,” says Jeff. “Business is really good. We have some really loyal customers, some discerning drinkers – those who want quality and a bit of a difference. It’s a little oasis in a desert of fizzy lagers and it was that side of things that appealed to me.”

Amazingly, the small u-shaped pub features seven cask-conditioned beers – four from the brewhouse across the yard, two from Consett, and Castle Eden Ale which has long been a favourite of White Swan regulars.

“It’s the beer that brings them in,” says Jeff. “It would be a different story if we didn’t brew here. The brewery has existed since 1999, but we’ve seen so many new people coming in.”

Licensee Ashma Abdulrob agrees with the Hind-sight. “We’re Cleveland Camra Pub of the Year 2008,” she says. “We were already Winter Pub of the Season so it has been a great year for us. The secret is brewing our own beer, looking after it well and having a great atmosphere in comfortable surroundings.”

Jeff says: “It’s fabulous for us to be sending beer to the festival; it’s something of an accolade and we’re so proud of it. We’re selling beer to people who want to buy it which isn’t the problem, it’s producing enough of it. We’ve invested in new casks, new equipment and new pump clips. Captain Cook, like Consett Ale Works, has to work like all small businesses – the same sort of business plan, the same profit-and-loss projections.”

Jeff Hind’s discernment and confidence in the marketplace are encouraging – gone are the days when a pub had only to open its doors to be guaranteed a day’s business. A year on from the smoking ban in England and Wales the volume of beer sold in pubs is down by 8%. The impact of this, the promotion of cheap supermarket alcohol and economic uncertainty mean that many pubs like The White Swan and the Grey Horse are under pressure. During 2007, Camra found that 57 pubs a month were being bulldozed or converted into other uses.

Head brewer Ian Dixon has sailed with Captain Cook for only five months – he was previously at Wear Valley Brewery in Bishop Auckland, County Durham – but two awards from this year’s Darlington’s Spring Thing Beer Festival are already propped up on the wall, marking a first prize for Easter Island (4.1% ABV) and third for Slipway (4.2% ABV). He learned to brew as a member of Darlington Traditional Brewing Group, a crew of like-minded enthusiasts which has produced some remarkable beers, including the forerunner to Jarrow Rivet Catcher, possibly one of the country’s finest ales and one which has come agonisingly close to the top award at the Great British Beer Festival. Ian’s philosophy is positively Cook-ish.

“If you can fly one plane you can fly them all,” he says, before breaking off to check the temperature of a fermenting vessel – something he does at regular intervals. It’s crucial in warm weather and he’s up and down the step ladder like a window cleaner on piecework. “I’ve known the White Horse since it was The Cleveland – since I was about 17 years old (he looks around to check if anybody is listening) – so it’s great for me to be brewing here full-time. It’s a four-barrel (144 gallons) plant. We’ll brew four times one week, then rack them off another week. I’ve done a little bit of tweaking, mainly because of the availability of certain hop varieties. For example, you just can’t get Challenger from Worcestershire because it all got flooded last year, but we can get the aromas and tastes we want by blending what we can get from other sources with a variety from Slovenia called Bobek.

“Our spent grains go to Newham Grange Leisure Farm at Coleby Newham for animal feed and the hops are collected for composting by a Cleveland Camra branch member who has an allotment.”

The Consett Ale Works beers hark back to the days when the town’s prosperity could not be separated from the steel that built Blackpool Tower and the nation’s nuclear submarines. Steel Town Bitter and White Hot are self-explanatory beer names, while Red Dust recalls Consett’s infamous blanket of iron oxide. It has a five-barrel (180 gallon) production capacity and is one serious business venture.

“Consett is doing really well,” says Jeff Hind. “Brewer Rufus Thompson is doing 40 nine-gallon casks a week. The product from both breweries is wonderful – if your product is good and the branding behind it is good, it’s great business all round.”

Captain James Cook was hacked to death in 1779 by disgruntled natives from a group of Pacific islands. His fate can still cause a shudder locally. Brewer Ian Dixon looks startled when someone enquires: “Hawaii”.

The Campaign For Real Ale Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court, London, August 5-9. For details visit www.camra.org.uk

alastair.gilmour@ncjmedia.co.uk

Captain Cook Black Porter (4.4% ABV) is dominated by a roasted barley flavour but has an immediate sharp liquorice influence on the tongue. Liberal use of chocolate malt in its make-up leads it off into another direction before a flavour layer of percolated coffee interrupts to keep it working away to a long, dry bitter finish.

Consett Ale Works White Hot (4% ABV) is the perfect summer beer; very hoppy, sparkling, with a wheat-like cereal character and an excellent head retention.

Big Lamp Summerhill Stout (4.4% ABV). A savoury dark beer with roasted malt, some chocolate and coffee and a malty, long-lasting piquancy.

Durham Magus (3.8% ABV). Quintessential session ale, medium-fruity with a dry finish.

Durham Bede’s Chalice (9.0% ABV). Deep amber, full and rich with flavours of cinder toffee and navel orange.

High House Farm Nel’s Best (4.2% ABV). Full flavoured hoppy ale with a clean bitter finish.

Jarrow Rivet Catcher (4.0% ABV). A subtleness of hop and light malt veil persist throughout this consistent award-winning bitter.

Wylam Gold Tankard (4.0% ABV). Golden ale with a hoppy aroma and more than a hint of citrus.

Mordue Al’ Wheat, Pet (4.1% ABV). Herbal and spicy with refreshing citrus notes.

Cameron’s Trophy Special (4.0% ABV). Some sweet malt and fruit on the aroma and in the flavour with a hint of bread.