Staveley Beer

The day started well - a perfectly fried slab of square steak sausage served with a soft disc of hot black pudding presented in a beautifully crisp roll -  and went uphill after that. The 'roll of honour' from Glasgow's finest purveyor of fried breakfast food would stand me in good stead for the journey that was to follow.

It was a simple journey that I’d done many times before but one that always elicited a special form of anticipatory excitement, knowing that a good beer day lay, almost certainly, ahead.


My point of departure was Glasgow Central Station. My destination was Staveley in Cumbria. For a village of just over 1200 inhabitants, Staveley is supremely well served for beer. A historic village pub and the brewery tap of one of the UK’s most consistent and praiseworthy breweries means that it attracts many beer tourists drawn to the opportunity for a short alcoholiday.

With over an hour to kill between connecting trains at Oxenholme, we were faced with a choice: hang around a train platform and endure an icy wind that could cut steel in two or hop on a bus to Kendall and seek warmth, comfort and a pint in a pub close to the station. It was an easy choice.

The Castle Inn, Kendall

Arriving in Kendall with twenty five minutes to spare before our train to Staveley, we found The Castle Inn. It was busy, given that it had just gone midday, and seemed to be doing a brisk lunchtime trade in pub grub as we settled down with our pints. Four ales were available (Spitfire, Loweswater Gold, Doom Bar and Hawkshead Bitter) and all poured via a sparkler. Well, we’re in the North. What else did you expect?

Perfect Lacing

I opted for the Hawkshead Bitter. It’s an often overlooked and undervalued beer from Hawkshead’s core range. I’m a big fan of it. It is a classic, traditional English Bitter, except for the use of Styrian  over East Kent Goldings, that has a crisp pepper hop spiciness beautifully balanced by a sweet malt backbone and gentle lingering bitterness. It’s a delightful beer, up there with the likes of Bathams Best Bitter and Acorn’s Barnsley Bitter.

Staveley

The dry stone walls and slate roofs signify our arrival into Staveley. It’s a picturesque, pretty little village that sits in a valley overlooked by the rolling Reston Scar, Piked Howe and Lily Fell hills that are sprinkled along their gentle inclines with the white dots of the hardy Swaledale and Herdwick sheep varieties so common to this part of Cumbria.

A short amble from the station finds us at The Eagle and Child. It’s the historic village inn of Staveley, dating back to the 18^th Century with a George Birkett being the first recorded licensee in 1742. The pub’s name comes from the legend of how a local Aristocrat and dastardly fellow, Sir Thomas Lathom, impregnated a village girl and convinced his wife that the infant she ‘stumbled upon’, whilst out walking, had been dropped there by an eagle and was therefore a gift from heaven and should be adopted by them immediately. What a Cad!

The Eagle and Child

Aristocratic infidelities and male mendacity aside, The Eagle and Child is warm, welcoming and a nice place to have a pint. Two real log fires provide the warmth and the locals provide the welcome with a friendly greeting when we walk through the doors.

Despite bustling with diners enjoying the locally sourced menu, we found a table and took in our surroundings. The walls were busy, some would say cluttered, with various pieces of beer ephemera, enamel advertising signs, horse brasses and even a random, gnarling three foot wooden shark. At this rate, they’re going to need a bigger pub.

Like the food menu, the beers available were, mostly, locally sourced with Barngates, Coniston and Corby being available from the five hand pumps. The Barngates Pale was a perfectly serviceable, decent enough Golden Ale with a big fresh hop nose and mouthblast. If it wasn’t dry hopped, it certainly tasted like it. The malt was lost among the hoppiness and, if I’m being picky, the beer was a touch on the thin side. Just a touch, though. Overall, a very enjoyable session beer.
On the subject of very enjoyable session beers, my mind wandered to thoughts of my first beer at Hawkshead’s Beer Hall, our next stop and main event on our Staveley sojourn. It was time for some Windermere Pale and the best place to try it was its Brewery Tap.

Leaving the Eagle and Child, we pass Staveley’s other pub, The Duke William. Like Sir Thomas Lathom’s male offspring, it is often regarded as the bastard child that is best kept in the Staveley beer attic. No one tends to talk about it, or even acknowledge its existence. It’s not that it’s a bad pub. It is not. I stuck my head walking by to discover that it had a couple of solid Lancaster beers on. It’s just that it sits between two of the best beer drinking establishments in the Lakes and often gets overlooked.

The Mill Yard at Staveley has been in existence since the early 19^th Century, firstly used in cotton production during the Industrial Revolution and latterly in the production of wooden bobbins servicing the textile industry. Today, it is home to a myriad of different small businesses including bakers, wine merchants, jewellers and various handicrafts.

Beer Sentries

At the back of the Mill Yard, overlooking the entire yard, sits the spectacular glass frontage of the Hawkshead Brewery and Beer Hall. It’s an impressive sight. Just inside the brewery is the even more impressive sight of two 8 metre high stainless steel fermenting tanks, standing upright, guarding the brews like proud beer sentries.

Greeting us inside the Beer Hall were 16 cask lines and 7 keg lines dispensing Hawkshead’s greatest hits; NZPA, Cumbrian 5 Hop, Windermere Pale, Dry Stone Stout, Brodie’s Prime and the magnificent Lakeland Lager.

Starting with Windermere Pale, a beer I’m very familiar with. It should be called WonderMore Pale because every time I have a pint, I wonder more and more how Head Brewer, Matt Clarke and his brewery team manage to squeeze so much intense flavour into a 3.5% beer that drinks much bigger than its humble ABV.

Windy City

Citra hops that assault your taste buds and gives you a hop kicking that leaves you reeling and wondering if you’ve just been subject to either ABH (Amazing Beer Heaven) or GBH (Glorious Beer Heaven). Either way, I wasn’t complaining.


Between the various pints of Windermere Pale and the Beer Tapas, we managed to catch a taste of The Illusionist. A collaboration involving Hawkshead and Magic Rock. It’s a 3.5% dark coloured beer that wants to call itself a Black Pale Ale (BPA) but daren’t in case the Beer Style Police hear about it and, in a dawn raid, drag it kicking and screaming to the beer gibbet. I really liked it. It had a strong nose of grapefruit, lemon and pine which follows into the initial taste. Some roast and dried fruit that briefly holds its own before dissipating to reveal a long dry and bitter hop finish. Alas, I had to savour it as it was the last cask at the brewery and when it’s gone, it’ll be gone. Now you see it, now you don't.

Beer Tapas and The Illusionist

Head Brewer, Matt Clarke and his team had just finished their shift and joined us for a couple of beers and in between discussions of hop harvests and the consistency of new start up breweries, he revealed that he is working on NZPA’s little brother, Iti. It’ll be a 3.5% Pale using hops from his New Zealand homeland. Iti is the Maori word for small and he hopes to be showcasing this beer at the Summer Beer Festival at the Hawkshead Brewery in July.

Thoughts turn to home and just before making our way to the station, I pick up a couple of bottles of Windermere Pale. 
It’ll remind me of a day spent drinking good beer in the company of good people.
Beer people.

The Carlisle Beer Festival - A Review

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Last weekend, I was faced with a rather nice beery choice to make. I could jump on the train and head to the Ayrshire coast for the Troon Beer Festival or I could go further south, across the border, to Solway CAMRA's Carlisle Beer Festival.

Decisions, decisions.

I had a quick look at the respective beer lists and while Troon's had merit and some great beers on show, Carlisle's list just swung it for me due to there being a number of beers and breweries that I hadn't had yet and the temptation of trying something new was just too hard to resist.

Carlisle, It was then.

It's only just over an hour from Glasgow on train which meant I could finish work, get the train and be at Carlisle just in time for the start of the Friday evening session. I didn't have to travel very far when hitting Carlisle as the venue was the Landmark Hotel right next to the station. Result.

This is the twenty first time the event has been held and it appears to be going from strength to strength. Last year's was drunk dry early on the Saturday night and in anticipation of increased demand this year, the organisers have upped the beers available from 35 to 50.

The beers are mostly from  Cumbria, the Scottish Borders and North East England and there is an eclectic mix of styles available encompassing standard bitters, milds, pale ales, heavily hopped red ales and even some German style pilsners, dunkels and alts.

Vouchers bought and friends met, I settled down to have a look at the programme and choose my first beer.

I opted for a beer from a rather elusive brewery. Abraham Thompson's Brewery from Barrow-in-Furness. Founded in 2004, John Mulholland brews only occassionally from his half barrelled plant and always dark and roasty beers. Their 3.8% Lickerish Stout is available at the festival and my friends, who arrived before me and have tried the stout already, are raving about it and twist my arm to make it my first beer.




a very generous half pint of Abraham Thompson

I'm glad that they did because it is a well made and very enjoyable beer. It drinks well above it's ABV with a full bodied mouthfeel well balanced with heavy roast flavours and a bitter bite. The liqourice is subtle and fairly well hidden but brings a nice level of sweetness to the beer. I like it and make a mental note to locate and try more of Abraham Thompson's beers.

I like Hardknott beers. They make some great beers, particularly Aether Blaec, Infra Red and Dark Energy, and I've been impressed by Mr Hardknott, Dave Bailey's crusade to increase the profile of beer in the media, particularly cookery shows, as a perfect match for food.

there is always one cider drinker

I hadn't tried their Cool Fusion beer before and I was looking forward to it. It's described as having a 'hint of sweet ginger' with a 'thirst quenching gentle finish' that's 'perfect with sushi'. In for a penny in for a pound, I asked the CAMRA volunteers if any sushi was available. Alas, it had all been sold and was instead offered some hand massaged Kobe beef but I declined and instead settled for a half of Hardknott's Cool Fusion.

 It had a gorgeous, aromatic nose that profiled the ginger notes of the beer superbly well. The smell promised so much but the rest of the beer failed to deliver on the expectations created by the great aroma. It was thin, hollow and not much else other than a slight ginger taste and some alcohol burn at the back of the throat. It was inoffensive, disappointing and quite bland. I didn't finish it. I remain unconvinced and unconverted by ginger beer or should that be beer with ginger? The only beer in this style that has floated my boat has been Marble Brewery's Ginger.

Time for pale and hoppy.

Of which, there were many at the festival. I particularly liked Hawkshead's Windermere Pale. It's hoptastic and beautifully balanced beer with loads of lively, zingy citrus fruits that refresh and slide down effortlessly. It's a perfect 3.5% session beer that's not unlike one of my all times fave beers, Fyne Ales' fantastic Jarl. Incidentally, both of Hawkshead's two brews on show at the festival, the Windermere and their NZPA, were among the first to be finished at festival. Clearly, the punters have got very good taste as these are both superb beers.

Another pale and hoppy that was on great form was North Riding Brew Pub's, Neilson Sauvin. As the name suggests, it's got lovely Nelson Sauvin hops that give it a lovely fresh gooseberry and floral notes and a big, bold bitterness that lingers long after the last drops of the beer have been drained from the glass.

Stringers Beer's, Big Clock was also noteworthy. It's a seasonal beer from the Ulverston brewery and it was full of easy drinking goodness that marries delicate floral flavours and a biscuity backbone to create a lovely, little beer.

It was nearing time for my train back north and with three tokens left, I had some difficult decisions to make. What was to be my final trio of beers?

I settled on Oakwell Brewery's, Barnsley Bitter, Steel City Brewing's, Sheffield Hop Infusion Team and Tyne Bank Brewery's, Alt Bier.

I was very impressed by the Barnsley Bitter. It was beautifully conditioned and had a super smooth and sweet malt mouthfeel and a good level of bitterness from the Fuggles and Goldings hops. It's on a par with Acorn Brewery's Barnsley Bitter. It also had the prettiest pumpclip of the festival. If pretty pumpclips are your thing.

a pretty pump clip

Tyne Bank's, Alt Bier was rather nice too. It was full of rich, resinous fruit on the nose and some caramel and chocolate in the mouth. It's been lagered for two months and this has created a smooth, superb beer. It tasted the way a proper brown ale should. Lovely.

a not so pretty yet informative pump clip

Last beer before home was Steel City Brewing's, Sheffield Hop Infusion Team. It's a big old beer. A 5.7%  aromatic hop cocktail of Galena, Chinook, Simcoe and Nelson Sauvin. It was similar to a robust, aggressive American IPA but without the crackle of crystal malt. It was a very fine beer indeed.

I would have liked to have stayed a bit longer and tried more of Steel City's S.H.I.T. beer but time waits for no one and I had a train to catch to take me home.

Good beers, Good festival, Good night.

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