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Inside

News P3Branch Diary P8

Ray’sRound Up P10

Map P14WigtownshireSpecial P16

Join CAMRA P24Ken More P26

AYRSHIRE AND WIGTOWNSHIRECAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

FullInside

PintsVolume 13 Issue 3 Winter 2011 FREEVolume 15 Issue 1 Spring 2013 FREE

Paisley Beer Festival postponed

CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT

This year’s Paisley Beer Festival, scheduled for theend of April has been postponed.

Refurbishment works on the venue, Paisley Town Hall,will not be completed in time to hold the event, whichhas been re-arranged for September 11 to 14.

Extensive stonework and roof repairs mean that theentrance normally used for the festival is out of use.

Scotland’s largestbeer festivalrearranged forSeptember.

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TRADING STANDARDSOFFICES

Ayr - 01292 616060Irvine - 01294 324900Kilmarnock - 01563 521502Stranraer - 01776 703260

Contact

Editorial: Graeme Wattmeatgriller@gmail.com07535 990531Advertising: Bob Wallacebobwallace.1869@yahoo.co.uk07929 990972

DISCLAIMERThe views expressed in thispublication are those of theindividual contributors and donot necessarily reflect the viewand policies of the editor or ofthe Campaign for Real Ale Ltd.© Campaign for Real Ale Ltd

MINUTES OF MEETINGSare available from the branchsecretary Ray Turpie:rturpie@hotmail.co.uk(members only)

Scottish Real Ale Festival dates confirmed.THIS years’s Scottish Real Ale Festivalwill be held at the Edinburgh CornExchange from Thursday, July 11 toSunday, July 14.

This is the second year SRAF will be heldat the corn exchange. Despite beingslightly out of the town centre, organisersfeel the Corn Exchange is the mostpractical venue in Edinburgh at which thefestival can be held.

The easiest way to get to the Corn

Join CAMRAPages 28 and 29

Exchange from the west is to alight thetrain at Haymarket and take the 4, 44 or35 buses from Dalry Road, getting off atthe large Asda, Chesser, superstore.

Slateford railway station is close by tooand some services do run there fromGlasgow Central but are infrequent.

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Number of the yeast… rockers Iron Maidento produce a real ale

Maidenfront manBruceDickinsonpulls apint ofTrooperAle

British rock legends Iron Maiden haveteamed up with Cheshire familybrewers Robinsons to create a newbeer, Trooper.

Real ale fan and history aficionadoBruce Dickinson, Maiden's vocalist,played a major role in developingthe unique flavour of the beer,entailing ongoing visits toRobinson’s brewery in Stockport.Dickinson's on-stage Union Jackflag-waving military character is aniconic element of the band's liveconcerts and The Trooper, writtenby bassist Steve Harris, is one ofMaiden's most popular songs andone of the highlights of any Maidenshow.

Announcing the partnership,Oliver Robinson, managing director ofRobinsons, said: "This collaboration -between two huge British success stories- makes for an ideal and natural match;Bruce Dickinson loves his real ale, andRobinsons Brewery is one of Britain’smost established and respectedindependent family-owned brewers."

And Bruce Dickinson added: "I'm alifelong fan of traditional English ale; Ithought I'd died and gone to heaven whenwe were asked to create our own beer. Ihave to say that I was very nervous:Robinsons are the only people I have hadto audition for in 30 years. Their magichas been to create the alchemical weddingof flavour and texture that is Trooper. Ilove it."

Other possible Maiden ales:Run to RefillThe Evil that Men BrewBeer of the DarkThe AlechemistWasted YearsDeja Brew

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Great rooms *** Fantastic food *** Ever changing real ales *** Function suites

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On the A736 Irvine to Barrhead Road, at Lugton

Manager, Frazer Dunn,invites you to visit forgreat food and local realales from Arran,Houston and Kelburnbreweries

Tel:01505 850510www.thecannyman.co.uk

FRASERS BAR - MILLPORTQUALITY CASK ALES SERVED ALL YEAR

MEALS SERVED12-2.30 & 5.30 - 7.30 EVERY DAY

7 CARDIFF STREET - ISLE OF CUMBRAE - KA28 0DS

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NEW BREAKFAST MENU COMINGIN MARCH 2013 9am - 11.45am

NEW A-LA-CARTE & 2 COURSE MENUCOMING IN MARCH 2013

SATURDAY 23rd MARCH 9pm TILLLATE,

70s ABBA TRIBUTE NIGHT3 COURSE SET MENU £20 PER HEAD

BOOK YOUR TABLE FROM 7.30PM

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Thursday, March 21 North Ayrshire Social. Salt Cot,Saltcoats 8pm

Saturday, March 23 Branch Annual General Meeting.Geordie's Byre, Ayr 2pm

Wednesday, March 27 East Ayrshire Social. PoosieNansie’s, Mauchline 7.30pm

Thursday, April 4 South Ayrshire Social. PrestwickPioneer 8pm

Saturday, April 6Branch Social. Grapes, Stranraer1pmBlue Peter, Kirkcolm 2.30pm

Saturday, April 13 Branch Social. House o’ Hill,Bargrennan 2pm

Monday, April 15 Beer Festival Planning Meeting.Waterside, Largs 8pm

Thursday, April 18 North Ayrshire Social. Village Inn,Fairlie 8pm

Wednesday, April 24 East Ayrshire Social. Millhouse Hotel,Stewarton 7.30pm

Thursday, May 2 South Ayrshire Social. Venue to beconfirmed

Tuesday, May 14 Branch Meeting. Wellingtons, Ayr8pm

Saturday, May 23 Machars public transport crawl.

Any member wishing more information about social events orto book a place on trips is encouraged to contact the branchsocial secretary Donald Clark at mound_spotter@yahoo.co.uk

www.ayrshireandwigtownshirecamra.org.uk

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CAMRA Membership is theperfect gift for any beer lover!Gift membership includes £20worth of JD Wetherspoon realale vouchers, a copy of ournew quarterly magazine BEERand monthly newspaperWhat’s Brewing, reduced orfree entry to beer festivals,discounts on all CAMRAbooks, and more!How the CAMRA Gift Membership works 1. Order the Gift Membership Online (We can send the pack to you or to the recipient.Amend the delivery address accordingly). 2. The initial pack will contain the full membership pack, plus any books additional items ifordered, plus a covering letter containing a unique voucher code to activate themembership. 3. The choice is yours. Take delivery and present it to the recipient or have it sent straight tothem. 4. The recipient will then be able to go online and activate their membership with the uniquecode supplied and their Membership card will be sent to the member.

Getting AroundBuses:Stagecoach West ScotlandCustomer Services01292 613500Disability Helpdesk07736 892253Trains:Scotrail Customer Services0845 601 5929Ferries:Caledonian MacBrayneEnquiries0800 066 5000All:Traveline Scotlandwww.travelinescotland.com

Outlets NewsGains:

Market Inn, Ayr - now serving real aleKildonan House Hotel, Kildonan - nowserving real aleGolf Inn, Prestwick - under samemanamgement as Village Inn, Dunlopand due to serve real ale.Failford Inn, Failford- reopened andserving Timothy Taylor Landlord plusguest ales.Newton Arms, Ayr - Deuchars and guestale

Losses:

Whaup Hotel, Whauphill - no longerselling real ale

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For those of you who read the monthlyCAMRA paper What’s Brewing, youwill have noticed in the Januaryissue, a photograph on the frontpage of the successful masslobby of Parliament inDecember. We are three of thesmall faces at the back of thehall.

Over 1000 members turned upto speak to their MP about support forscrapping the beer tax escalator, subjectof Early Day Motion 703. Let us hope theChancellor gets the message. If you everget the chance to visit the Houses ofParliament I would recommend you takeit. What a fascinating history.

Brian Donahoe MP met us to discussour campaigning issues and arranged forhis assistant Jim Hanson to show usaround.

The very informative tour included theGrand Hall where William Wallace stoodtrial, the Queen’s Chambers where shegets robed before the opening ofParliament, and the House of Lords.Needless to say, our visit ended in theStrangers bar for a pint ofNorth Riding Bitter.

As you can imagine, the restof our time was spentexploring the pub walks ofLondon.

The most memorable wasthe Butchers Hook andClever in Smithfield where apint of Fullers ESB cost me£4.15. The next day we tookthe Sky Train over the Thamesto the Millennium Dome andvisited Greenwich. We set ourwatches on the orange ball

drop at the Royal Observatory at 1pm thenheaded for the Greenwich Union tosample a pint of Dark Star Hophead.

Disappointingly, all the Meantimebeers were in keg only.

Our disappointmentdisappeared, however, when wefound a pie and mash outletopposite what was claimed to bethe “Worlds First Shop” only

minutes from the datum meridian.They serve their pies with a strange

green sauce called liquor but I stuck withgravy. After that we headed back on theDocklands Light Railway (DLR) for thecentre of the city to catch our train back toLuton. Our last pint of the trip was in theParcel Yard, St Pancras where I took therare opportunity while in London to ordera pint of Pride from Fullers.

In January it was the turn of MSPs to belobbied at the annual CAMRA ScottishParliamentary reception in Holyrood. I gotthe early train and had time for a pint ofStewart’s No 3 in the Tass on High Street.Stewarts were one of the sponsors of theevent along with Fyne Ales, Harviestounand Tryst breweries.

Our main topic this year was to lobby for

By Ray Turpie

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a Scottish Community Pubs Ministersimilar to down south. Support was alsorequested for Scottish breweries.

There was a good turn out includingJohann Lamont, Labour leader and my ownMSP John Scott. I asked him to do somejudging for the beer competition heats atour beer festival in October and hepencilled it in his diary.

There are many more festivals to supportbefore that, however, including Glenrothes2-4th May, Aberdeen 30th May-1st Juneand, of course, the Scottish Real AleFestival in Edinburgh 11-14th July.

Also, the Ale Trail by Rail in ForthValley to support the Mild in Maycampaign will be on again this year. Someof these events require volunteers to workor are included as branch socials in thediary so check in Full Pints or the web pagefor details.

You will also get news of social groupevents on the branch diary and I am gladtoreport that the South Ayrshire group haspicked up since the base was moved toTroon.

Apparently there are over 80 membersin the Troon area and a dozen turned upwith their friends at the Harbour Bar forthe meeting in February to enjoyCairnpapple and Five Sisters fromAlechemy Brewery in Livingston. Themeetings will be the first Thursday of themonth at a different pub each time tosupport our community pubs initiative.

By the time you read this the branchAGM will be upon us and I will be gettingready for my trip to Norwich in April forthe Members’ Weekend & AGM. Moreabout that next time, but in the meantime,enjoy your summer ales.

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The Village Inn Dunlop

Only a two minute walk from Dunlop railway station.Raymond and Carol will be delighted to welcome you at The Village Inn.

Located at Dunlop Cross they are pleased to offer real ale from The HoustonBrewery and other Scottish Breweries.

Tel 01560 483130

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The Grapes was originally a coaching inn, which was erected

in 1862. The gantry in the bar is over 100yrs old and the bar

still has an original working bell-box for the pub.

The present owners Billy and Sally are only the 5th in line since the pub wasbuilt. The bar has a warm, friendly and welcoming atmosphere and has hadvisits from people from various parts of the world.Upstairs the pub divides into two rooms - the quiet room which was said tobe the first cocktail lounge in Stranraer is now the ladies powder room, onthe other side is the lounge and snug room which has been refurbished withthe 1940's style of the pub.

yAccordian band most Fridays from 5 – 8pm

yReal ale on draughtyOver 40 malt whiskies - one for each region in ScotlandyOccasional Blue Grass bands. Look out for Al Scorch from Chicago on

7th April.

So if you are ever in Stranraer give The Grapes a visit it is one you

won't regret.

Tel: 01776 703386

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*

*

*CAMRA members have noted that real ale isnot always available at these pubs.

Largs

MillportFairlie Beith

ArdrossanSaltcoats

Catacol Lochranza

Blackwaterfoot

Brodick

Drummore

Troon

Prestwick

Girvan

BargrennanKirkcolm

StranraerPortpatrick Glenluce

Sandhead

BLACKWATERFOOTBlackwaterfootLodge

Kinloch Hotel

BRODICKBrodick Bar

Ormidale Hotel

Wine Port

CATACOLCatacol Bay Hotel

LOCHRANZALochranza Hotel

Isle of Arran

South AyrshireAYRAbbotsford Hotel

Ayrshire & Galloway

Chestnuts Hotel

Geordie's Byre

Glen Park Hotel

Harry's Bar

Malt Cross

Market Inn

Newton Arms

Old Racecourse Hotel

Tam O' Shanter *

Twa Dugs

Wellingtons Bar

West Kirk

Willie Wastles *

CRAIGIECraigie Inn

GIRVANRoxy Cafe Bar

Royal Hotel

KIRKMICHAELKirkmichael Arms

PRESTWICKEagle Tavern

Prestwick Pioneer

TROONBruce's Well

Fullartons

Harbour Bar

Lonsdale Bar

McKay's

Marr Rugby Club

(weekends)

South Beach Hotel

AYRSHIRE & WIGTOWNSHIRE REAL ALE OUTLETS

Reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permissionof the Ordnance Survey © Crown copyright 2013

New Luce

*CAMRA members have noted that real aleis not always available at these pubs.

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Largs

Fairlie Beith

Gateside

LugtonDunlop

Stewarton

Kilmaurs

KilmarnockSaltcoats

Drummore

Sorn

Stair

Hollybush

CraigieTroon

Prestwick

Ayr

Kirkmichael

Bargrennan

NewtonStewart

Wigtown

Isle of Whithorn

Portpatrick Glenluce

North Ayrshire

ARDROSSANArdrossan Rugby

Club (weekends)

Lauriston Hotel

BEITHCaledonian Inn

Masonic Arms

FAIRLIEVillage Inn

GATESIDEGateside Inn

LARGSCharlie Smith's

J G Sharps Bar

Largs Sailing Club

(weekends)

Lounge

MacAulays

Waterside

LUGTONCanny Man

MILLPORTFrasers Bar

SALTCOATSSalt Cot

East Ayrshire

DUNLOPAuld Hoose

Village Inn

HOLLYBUSHHollybush Inn

KILMARNOCKBrass & Granite

First Edition

Wheatsheaf Inn

KILMAURSWeston Tavern

MAUCHLINEPoosie Nansies

SORNSorn Inn

STAIRStair Inn

STEWARTONMillhouse Hotel

WigtownshireBARGRENNANHouse O' Hill Hotel

DRUMMOREClashwhannon

GLENLUCEKelvin House Hotel

ISLE OF WHITHORNSteam Packet Inn

KIRKCOLMBlue Peter Hotel

NEW LUCEKenmuir Arms Hotel

NEWTON STEWARTCreebridge House Hotel

Galloway Arms Hotel

PORTPATRICKCrown Hotel

Harbour House Hotel

SANDHEADTigh na Mara Hotel

STRANRAERGrapes

Ruddicot Hotel

WIGTOWNWigtown Ploughman

AYRSHIRE & WIGTOWNSHIRE REAL ALE OUTLETS

Reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permissionof the Ordnance Survey © Crown copyright 2013

Mauchline

New Luce

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Wigtownshire, Scotland`s mostsoutherly county is bigger thanyou think. It has an area of

about 440 square miles and a coastline ofaround 65 miles,spread over the twopeninsulas of The Rhins in the west andThe Machars in the east with bothmoorland and of course the longestablished Galloway Forest Park inland.

Visitors to Wigtownshire come mainlyfor the outdoor activities on offer-six golf

courses, high quality sea and riverfishing, bird watching and mountainbiking,hill walking and now stargazing inthe Forest Park as well as simply enjoyingtheamenities and natural beauty of thearea.Fortunately, Wigtownshire is also well-endowed with 14 superb outlets for goodquality real ales. As all but two provideexcellent value food ranging from classicbar meals to restaurant dinners, visitorswho enjoy their beer are unlikely to gohungry.

The Rhins has seven premises sellingreal ales:

STRANRAER has two outlets:-The Ruddicot Hotel has been serving

real ales for many years and is on the mainA75 road into town close to StairPark,home of Stranraer F.C. There isalwaysone ale available,often from eitherHouston or Strathaven.

The Grapes is an historic bar in thecentre of town, little changed over the last50 years. There is a pleasant outsideseating area to the rear. The owners nowprovide two real ales, sourced from allover the UK and host regular music inthepublic bar most Fridays and occasionalAmerican blue grass bands in the upstairslounge. The Grapes is Wigtownshire Pub

of the Year 2012.KIRKCOLM is a small village on the

opposite side of Loch Ryan from the ferryterminals and is fortunate to have TheBlue Peter Hotel as its "local" as it has along held reputation for quality ale andfood. The hotel changed hands just a fewmonths ago and the new owners have re-affirmed their commitment to real ale andhave introduced a new menu. They alsooffer a discount to CAMRA members forB&B. The Blue Peter was Branch POTYin 2011.

PORTPATRICK, on the west coast ofthe Rhins peninsula and the start(or finish)of the coast-to-coast Southern UplandWay, has two excellent harbour side hotelsto choose from:-

The Harbour House Hotel has beenselling real ales for many years. There areusually at least two ales on offer fromusually from the Belhaven stable.

The Crown Hotel, immediately nextdoor has been selling real ale for some timenow. Again, there are usually twoavailable sourced from all over the UK,often from Thwaites. There are regularmusic sessions in the bar at weekends. Both

hotels have high quality outside seatingand serve excellent locally sourced food.There really is nowhere better to enjoy alfresco eating and drinking when the sun isshining-if you can get a seat!

SANDHEAD lies on the east side of thepeninsula. The Tigh-na- Mara Hotel hasviews over the wide expanse of Luce Baytowards the Machars. There is a traditionalpublic bar at the front where one ale, oftenOld Speckled Hen is available. The hotelhas built up an enviable reputation forgood food from bar meals through to a lacarte and table d`hote lunches and dinnersin the restaurant. There is also a sunnybeer garden to the rear.

By Malcolm McNeill

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DRUMMORE lies a few miles to thesouth of Sandhead and has theClaswhannon Bar now offering real ale.

"The Clash" is a long-established local-"in the village and also serves the adjacentcaravan park of the same name. There isone ale on offer in the winter and usuallytwo in summer often Deuchars and/orBelhaven IPA. The pub also has a pleasantoutside decked area and a good range offood options at very reasonable cost.

The Machars is usually taken as thepeninsula to the south of the main A75 roadbetween Glenluce and Newton Stewart.There are five outlets in this area and alsotwo to the north of the road.

GLENLUCE is now a quiet village sincebeing by-passed by the trunk road from theferry ports a few years ago.

The Kelvin House Hotel has been sellingreal ale for some time now. There is

one cask ale on offer, very often from

CROWN HOTEL9 NORTH CRESCENTPORTPATRICKWIGTOWNSHIREDG9 8SXTEL 01776 810261wwwcrownportpatrick.comcrownportpatrick@btconnect.c

For the last nine months we have been serving real ale in our hotel bar. Two differentales are available daily with 5 or 6 different ales appearing weekly. Please popin the next time you find yourselves in Portpatrick.The Crown offers bar meals all day from 12-9 and our restaurant menu is availablefrom 6pm daily.Seafood is our speciality (AA awarded seafood pub of Scotland past winner).We also offer daily specials alongside our extensive menus.We offer bed and breakfast and dinner packages with 5 of our 12 en-suite roomsoffering sea views. Bed and breakfast is available from £40 per person..

Houston Brewery. There is an excellentbar menu and a sunny and quiet BeerGarden to the rear.

NEWTON STEWART has two localhotels serving cask ale:-

The Galloway Arms is a traditionaltown centre hotel. There is always oneale on offer, usually Belhaven IPA but dueto increasing demand the owners areincreasing this to three for the summer.Again,there is an excellent menuavailable featuring Angus beef and localvenison.The Creebridge House Hotel is actuallyover the river in Minigaff and sits in itsown grounds amid immaculate gardens.The hotel offers three ales in summer andwo in winter, usually from local breweriessuch as Sulwath and Houston. The hotelhas an excellent restaurant with a menulargely based on local produce and alsohas a definite Scottish flavour. Localmusicians can often be found in the bar on

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The WatersideBath Street, Largs Tel: 01475 672224

Two ever-changing REAL ALES nowavailable

Live Music Saturdays Karaoke Fridays

Poker Wednesdays Open Mike night Sundays

Food available every day, except Monday

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a Sunday evening. The hotel is also wellknown as a first class wedding enue so isvery busy during the summer months.

WIGTOWN, Scotland`s National BookTown has another traditional small hotel,

the Wigtown Ploughman selling realale. Two ales are available in thesummermonths and one in winter, usuallyfrom Scottish breweries. There is, yetagain a very good menu using locallysourced produce. There is a small beergarden to yhe rear and Bladnoch Distillery(Scotland`s most southerly) is only a fewminutes away.

ISLE of WHITHORN is fortunateindeed to have the long established Steam

Packet Inn. This hotel has a superbquayside setting and has up to five real alesconstantly on offer with Timothy TaylorLandlord as the house beer and the othersfrequently of Scottish origin. Needless tosay, there is excellent food on offer, withthe Sunday buffet a particular favouritewith locals and holiday makers alike Arecent former Branch POTY, the SteamPacket has special accommodation dealsfor CAMRA members,too.

The final two outlets are situated in thenorth of the county:

NEW LUCE is on the road betweenCastle Kennedy on the A75 and Barrhill on

the A714. The local hotel, the KenmuirArms,was closed for a short time butreopened last summer under new owners,The hotel offers two ales, usually fromScotland and has a traditional bar menuwith home cooking at very reasonable costIt also boasts a well kept beer gardenwhich leads down to the River Luce withits old stone bridge. The hotel is alsoadjacent to the Southern Upland Way andis well patronised as an overnight stop bywalkers.

BARGRENNAN is situated on the A714

Newton Stewart-Girvan road, close toGlentrool and the Forest Park, TheHouse o` Hill has rapidly built a finereputation both for the quality of aleserved(two, usually from Scottishbreweries) and its excellent menus. Thehotel has been fully refurbished andoffers quality accommodation to walkerson the Southern Upland Way and visitorsto The forest Park. Beer Festivals areheld twice a year featuring localmusicians and a BBQ/hog roast in theadjacent Beer Garden.

As you can see, Wigtownshire offersdiscerning ale drinkers a great choice

of quality pubs, hotels and inns inwhich to indulge their habit! Please check

opening hours in some of the countrypubs, especially in winter months and

midweek if you are planning to visit.Public transport is often available butcan be both infrequent and inconvenient!See the map in the centre pages forlocations. All the best.

Wigtwonshire MiniFestivals this AprilWIGTOWNSHIRE beer lovers canenjoy two mini festivals in April.

The first is at the Blue Peter Hotel inKirkcolm and runs from Friday, April 5to Sunday, April 7.

The following week, there is a ferstivalat the House o’ Hill at Bargrennan fromFriday, April 12 to Sunday, April 14.

Admission to House o’ Hill festival is£4 and includes a souvenir glass and liveentertainment.

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CAMRA

ShopShop

Order online athttps://shop.camra.org.uk/

Rugby £22

Love your Pub T £11

Ladies T £11

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By Bob Wallace

Ayrshire andWigtownshire

CAMRA

Findus on

Facebook

“I’ve joined CAMRA. Now whatis expected of me?”This is aquestion that crops up regularly

when I speak with members and non-members alike.

My answer is always to simply point outthat the only expectation should be thathe, or she, support the aims of theorganisation and, whenever possible,drinks real ale.

CAMRA, like any other voluntaryorganisation, completes its work mainlythrough the contribution of many unpaidindividuals. Let’s have a look at someways members get involved. Starting withthe easy stuff.

Branch socials: within our area these areheld monthly in both North and EastAyrshire and, occasionally in SouthAyrshire & Wigtownshire. All that youhave to do is come for a pint, bring yourfriends and talk.

Branch brewery visits: in addition to ourrecent trip to Strathaven Ales, which wasa thank you to the beer festival workers,trips have been arranged to Fyne Ales(Cairndow), Houston brewery (nearPaisley), Sulwath brewery (CastleDouglas) and Tin Pot brewery (Bridge ofAllan) in recent times. If you haven’t beenon one of these outings you are reallymissing out. Our next one will be toTraquair brewery, near Peebles, to presentthe Beer of the Festival award.

Branch pub crawls: a great way to takepart in a CAMRA event as you can pickand choose whether to visit one or twopubs or take in the whole course. Why notcome along to our annual ‘Festive Crawl’which will be held in Troon on December28, from 1pm.

Branch meetings: held around the area,

at least bi-monthly, these meetings are themeans to report to members on thecommittee’s work and plans.

Branch committee: chairman LindsayGrant is supported by a dozen members.who do all the tasks required to supportreal ale and the pubs that sell it. Five ofthe current office bearers joined CAMRAin recent years.

We need the support of all ourmembers, however involved you decideto be.

I try to speak to many of our memberseach year at the beer festival and knowthat you all have other interests andcommitments on your time.

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He’s the

man inthe know!

Sometimes I think we can make ourlove of beer more complicated thanit needs to be.

I recently became aware of somethingcalled beer sommeliers. Now a sommelierin a five-star restaurant where people will,for better worse, pay hundreds of poundsfor a bottle of wine is one thing. But is thatreally the way we want beer to go? Andwhat should we consider ‘premium’ beerworth paying extra for?

A quick look on-line will find beers,mostly American, selling for £100 for a750ml bottle. Some have some interestinggimmicks, like the barley beinggerminated in space (OK, space beer isreally cool and probably worth everypenny) or the water transported as ice fromthe antarctic but most are just, well… beer.

That worries me. For me, beer isegalitarian or it is nothing at all. Beer’srole in society is as a great social leveller.All the best pubs are those with a clientelethat spans all social groups.

I have often been asked if I am a beerexpert. I make it clear that I am nothing ofthe sort. I am a beer enthusiast, nothingmore.

I know, for example, what a stout issupposed to taste like in comparison tosay, an old ale.

But I have not, nor do I think I need, adeep knowledge of hops, malts, yeasts and

an encyclopedic knowledge the brewingprocess. A process, incidentally, which isfar more complex than hat for makingwine. I don’t think any of that is in anyway necessary to enjoy great beer.

So are these highly priced beers anybetter than the stuff we pay £3 a pint for?

I’m guessing they’re not but as FullPints doesn’t have a research budget I canonly go within my own limitedexperience and say that that anything Ihave tried from the ‘premium’ end of themarket has been rather disappointing.

Essentially I have never had any beerout of champagne bottle that has tastedany better than would had it been bottle-conditioned in a 500ml or pint bottle or,of course, sold from a cask.

There are also breweries where theentire product lines are positioned as‘premium’ and prices are chargedaccordingly. I don’t know any pubswhere I can regularly buy beers from suchbreweries. Yet while it would be nice tohave those beers more widely available, Idon’t really feel I’m missing out onanything.

For every ‘premium’ product I cannotbuy there are scores of regular beers thatkeep me more than satisfied.

It concerns me greatly that beer beingpositioned as ‘premium’, leads peopleaway from what we all know to be thebest beer around, a well served pint ofcask ale.

But perhaps I should not allow myselfto be too troubled. We have, after all, seenthis sort of thing before.

Remember the 1980s? Premiumpricing for Bud, Red Stripe, Schlitz andsomething called Crucial Brew.

Perhaps the premium fad will be overbefore you can say “style over substance.”

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steampacketinn@btconnect.com

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FULL PINTSAt Sulwath Brewers,

we give you thechance to see the craft

of brewing in action,and to taste our

speciality ales, at ourfully-licensed brewery

tap visitor centre.

Open Mon-Sat 10am until 5pmOff-sales also available

The Brewery, King StreetCastle Douglas DG7 1DT

www.sulwathbrewers.co.uk

Telephone: 01556 504525