IRON BREW MAGAZINE OF SCUNTHORPE & DISTRICT CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE NOVEMBER 2020 – JANUARY 2021

IN THIS ISSUE · CRAFT BEER JARGON · THE BLACK DOOR IS OPEN · DATES FOR ST. PETER’S CHURCH BEER FESTIVAL 2021 · CMA PASSES CARLSBERG AND MARSTON’S BREWING MERGER · REVIEW OF ROGER PROTZ’S ‘THE FAMILY BREWERS OF BRITAIN’ · CHANGES PROPOSED TO SMALL BREWER RELIEF · DRINKING IN THE TIME OF CORONA

AND MUCH MORE ...

Available from all good bookshops or Campaign for Real Ale https://camra.org.uk/ Tel: 01727 867201 Released 29/10/20 Price £15.99

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION BRANCH CHAIRMAN & IRON BREW EDITOR Mark Elsome Tel: 01724 331056 e: mark.elsome@ntlworld.com 29 The Dales, Bottesford, Scunthorpe DN17 2QF BRANCH TREASURER Lisa Robson Tel: 01652 661222 BRANCH SECRETARY Keith Dixon Tel: 01724 346023 MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Paul Williams Tel: 01673 818109 WEB MASTER Sarah Morgans Tel: 07840 155637 SOCIAL SECRETARY: Position Vacant www.scunthorpe.camra.org.uk f/scunnycamra CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE (CAMRA) 230 Hatfield Rd, St Albans, Herts AL1 4LW Tel: 01727 867 201 e: camra@camra.org.uk www.camra.org.uk DISCLAIMER – views expressed in this publication are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the editor, branch committee or CAMRA nationally. The Editor reserves the right to amend or shorten articles for publication. All editorial copyright Scunthorpe & District CAMRA

CHAIRMAN’S CHAT CRAFT BEER CONNOISSEUR CRAFT BEER JARGON

Welcome to this Autumn-Winter edition of the Scunthorpe & District CAMRA branch magazine Iron Brew. Good news about pubs is scarce at the moment with the government imposed 10 pm curfew in operation and a will they/won’t they close all pubs policy bringing chaos and confusion to the pubs sector. There is a feeling that UK pubs are being made a scapegoat for the second wave of Covid-19 that seems to be happening at the time of writing, even though some commentators, including leading beer writer Pete Brown, (https://www.petebrown.net/2020/09/22/covid-resurgence-why-pubs-are-not-the-problem/) have used the governments own infection data on Covid-19 cases to show that pubs are not the main cause. While this topic is too big and too important to ignore completely, so much has been written about it already that in this issue we have tried to bring you other news from the local and national beer scene. We hope you enjoy reading it!

Regular readers of this column will know that appreciation of craft beer brings with it a whole raft of new terminology, which can be daunting and confusing to the newcomer. To help you negotiate your way around this minefield of strange terms and weird language, I’ve put together this helpful guide to craft beer jargon. Let’s start with: Barrel-aged: Means simply, beer aged in a barrel, often one that has previously held wine or whisky to impart new flavours to the beer. Recently, ‘barrel-aged’ has also come to mean that something is better than average, great, or downright fantastic. Beached Whale: A beached whale is the super-special beer you regret

opening the next day when you wake up and realise that you left half of it in the bottle (see also Whale). Brett: Short for Brettanomyces, a wild yeast (now domesticated), used in fermentation. It often turns beers tart and funky. Collab: A beer brewed as a collaboration between two or more breweries – these are often limited time releases. Crushable: An easy-going, super-drinkable beer. Cuvee: While sometimes used to indicate exceptional quality, cuvée generally means that the beer is a blend. Dank: A flavor note often used by inexperienced beer tasters to describe an IPA, especially one with sticky, resiny characteristics due to its hop profile. DDH: Standing for ‘double dry-hopped’, which adds even more hop bitterness to the beer. If it’s a new release you can bet beer geeks will be lining up on Saturday mornings to buy shedloads of it! Drain Pour: A beer so awful that the drinker has no choice but to immediately pour it down the kitchen sink drain instead of consuming it, often while filming the act on their phone (usually to brag about it to other beer geeks later). Drinking From the Tips: This term refers to drinking nothing but high-

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE: Mark Elsome, A Beergeek, Morning Advertiser, SIBA, Beverley Branton, Campaign for Real Ale, BBC News

DATES ANNOUNCED FOR ST. PETER’S CHURCH BEER FESTIVAL 2021 SCHEDULED FOR MAY

CMA CLEARS MARSTON’S AND CARLSBERG JOINT VENTURE CREATES COMPANY WORTH £780m

strength beers. These situations often occur when the first beer of the night is over 8% ABV, making it difficult to return to more ‘sessionable’ styles. Gose: Gose is a pale, top- fermenting, sour wheat beer, flavoured with coriander and salt. It originated in Germany in the 13th century, but modern versions are now prized by beer geeks everywhere. Hophead: Beer geek who majors in highly-hopped beers like IPAs.

Juicy: The most common flavour descriptor for New England IPAs (NEIPAs), which utilise hops that produce a citrusy character and brewing methods (such as adding oats) that create a juice-like haziness and soft mouthfeel. Mixed Fermentation: aka Mixed Ferm - high end sour beers that have been fermented with a mix of standard brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces) as well as a ‘wild’ yeast or bacteria like Brettanomyces or Lactobacillus.

Pastry Stout: These uniquely modern imperial stouts are so overloaded with sweet ingredients (ranging from cocoa nibs and vanilla beans to toasted coconut, maple syrup, and even candy bars), you’d be forgiven for thinking you were ordering a dessert and not an adult beverage. Session IPA: A synonym for a pale ale brewed to a lower strength than a normal IPA to allow several to be drunk in a session without risking a severe hangover! Shelf Turd: A beer that has been sitting on the shelf of a retail establishment well past its prime. May lure unsuspecting beer geeks into making a purchase they soon regret. Smashable: Another term for an easy drinking, session strength beer (see also Crushable). Often used by UK craft brewers. Whale: An ultra-rare beer you may never find, so dubbed in honor of Captain Ahab and his long-time search for Moby Dick. Hence the rarest of the rare are called ‘white whales’. Well there you are, now well on the way to full beer geekdom; with these terms understood and committed to memory, you can confidently partake in any craft beer bottle sharing event or Instagram tasting. Alternatively, you could just ditch the most extreme craft

verbiage and enjoy your favourite juice bomb on its own merits. I know I do. Happy drinking! A BEERGEEK

The dates for the first St. Peter’s Church Beer Festival have been set for May 20-22 next year (Thur-Sat). The vicar at St. Peter’s, Simon Dean, is hopeful that Covid-19 restrictions will have eased by late spring in 2021 and the festival will be able to get the go-ahead.

Some encouraging signs have been noted even this year, when the Bristol Craft Beer Festival took place in September and the first CAMRA festival this year, the Pig’s Ear Beer Festival in Hackney, London, was

scheduled for December (although subsequently postponed – Ed). Al l being well, we’ll see you at St. Peter’s next year for a much needed celebration of great beers and ciders! MARK ELSOME

The Competitions and Market Authority (CMA) has approved the joint venture between Marston’s and Carlsberg brewing operations. A phase one investigation was launched into the Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company in August following concerns raised by CAMRA that the joint venture would produce market restrictions for small brewers and reduce choice for beer drinkers and pub-goers.

However the CMA appears to have found no conflict of interest

GREENE KING TO SHUT 79 SITES FALL IN TRADE BLAMED

REVIEW OF THE FAMILY BREWERS OF BRITAIN NEW BOOK BY ROGER PROTZ

inherent in the venture and the proposed merger was due to be completed before the end of October. The new company will be worth a massive £780m, with Carlsberg owning 60% and Marston’s 40%. As well as including Carlsberg’s Northampton and London Fields breweries, plus the Marston’s, Banks’s, Wychwood, Jennings, Ringwood and Eagle breweries in its assets, the new company will also have access to the Marston’s pub estate for its beer portfolio. MORNING ADVERTISER

Suffolk-based pubco Greene King is preparing to close 79 venues and cut hundreds of jobs due to a fall in trade. A spokesperson for Greene King said, ‘The continued tightening of trading restrictions for pubs along with changes to government support was always going to make it a challenge to reopen some of our pubs. ‘Therefore we have made the difficult decision to not reopen 79 of our pubs and restaurants. About one third will be closed permanently and we hope to be able to reopen

the others in the future. ‘We urgently need the Government to step in and provide tailored support to help the sector get through to spring and prevent

further pub closures and job losses’. Around 800 employees will be impacted by the closures, but it is understood that the company is looking to redeploy them in other parts of the business. It wasn’t clear at the time of writing if these pub closures would affect any of the Greene King pubs in our area. MORNING ADVERTISER

Award-winning beer writer Roger Protz recently released a sumptuous new book entitled ‘The Family Brewer of Britain’. I think this publication would be classed as a coffee table book and is extensively researched and lavishly illustrated throughout its 267 pages.

It is termed a ‘celebration of the remarkable family brewers of Britain’, about 30 of who are still in production and are the unsung heroes of the British brewing sector. They are the great survivors having withstood world wars, recessions and merger mania to still produce great cask ales today. The author groups the breweries into various subject headings such as Pioneers, Early 19th Century Brewers, The Golden Age, Welsh Dragons and Flagons and so on and goes on to explore the history of each brewery from start-up to the present day. Many of them have long histories and interesting stories to tell and these are fully detailed by Roger Protz using brewery archives and interviews with current staff. I didn’t know for example that Brakspear’s Special is still brewed independently at the Bull brewpub in Henley because Marston’s, the present owners of the other Brakspear brands, didn’t have enough throughput to brew Special. Or that Lincolnshire’s own Batemans Brewery was a victim of the ‘squeezed middle’. Caught between the duty discount afforded the smaller brewers, the economies of scale of the biggest breweries and the loss of much of its wholesale business, they were forced to downsize to just 6,000 barrels a year and concentrate on their tied estate

of 50 pubs to stay competitive, but thankfully are now thriving. This excellent book is perfect for dipping in and out of – you’re sure to find out something new about our family brewers – and is recommended for anyone with an interest in Britain’s brewing heritage. Available from CAMRA Books priced £25 (discounted for CAMRA members). Visit: https://camra.org.uk/ for more details. MARK ELSOME

CHANGES TO SMALL BREWER RELIEF MAY THREATEN UK BREWERIES GOVERNMENT PROPSOSES NEW SYSTEM

THE BLACK DOOR IS OPEN NEW CAFE BAR IN SCUNTHORPE TOWN CENTRE

Small Brewer Relief (SBR) provides a discount on beer duty of 50% to brewers producing under 5,000 hectolitres (HL) per year (approximately 900,000 pints), with tapered duty relief up to 60,000 HL. Over 60,000 HL the full duty rate is applied. This system has been crucial to the growth of independent craft breweries across the UK in the last twenty years. In 2017, a coalition of over 70 brewers, putatively led by Surrey brewer Hogs Back, was assembled to push specifically for SBR reform. Their main argument was that mid-sized brewers receiving little or no SBR, could find it difficult to compete as a result. Their belief was that there needs to be reform below the 5,000 HL point as well as above it. The Society for Independent Brewers Association (SIBA) however disagreed and does not believe a rationale exists for withdrawing any relief to any brewer below 5,000 HL. Under draft Government proposals the upper limit for 50% duty relief has been reduced to 2,100 HL. The

Society for Independent Brewers (SIBA) states that this will result in a tax rise for every small brewery that produces between 2,100 and 5,000 HL and more than 150 local independent craft breweries will be worse off because of the Government announcement. These are breweries which have been amongst the hardest hit during the Coronavirus pandemic and have received no direct support to keep them going. SIBA says the Government’s proposed tax hike could see some of Britain’s smallest brewers fighting for survival as 150 small independent breweries will have to pay more in beer duty, while those larger in size will pay the same amount or even less than before. SIBA have termed this a ‘reverse Robin Hood’ system, taking from small breweries and giving to the large, which will put local businesses at risk. SIBA is campaigning for positive reform of beer duty which allows brewers to grow, but doesn’t penalise the smallest brewers in the process. They want the Government to reverse the proposal to lower the threshold at which brewers pay more tax and have suggested that the beer duty taper be smoothed out so that the relief is applied gradually over the range between 5,000 HL and 60,000 HL which

incentivises brewers to grow. Currently the rate at which duty relief is withdrawn on every extra barrel produced is rapid and is referred to as a ‘cliff edge’ within SBR. The Government postponed full consultation on the proposals until the Autumn. These proposals will have a profound negative impact on small brewers and a petition to persuade the Government to reverse the change to SBR was raised by London brewer Anspach & Hobday with support from SIBA and CAMRA. To date it has attracted over 44,500 signatures. If you feel this proposal unjustly

targets UK small brewers then please add your signature to the petition at: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/334066 Not only could the changes put small brewers out of business if enacted, it could also reduce the choice of

beers for the consumer at a point when the UK has a vibrant, exciting, innovative brewing scene which leads the world. BASED ON INFORMATION FROM THE SIBA WEBSITE https://www.siba.co.uk/

Our resident craft beer enthusiast A Beergeek has visited the premises and was suitably impressed, but was indisposed when contacted after a particularly intense bottle sharing event! Instead here’s local CAMRA branch member Beverley Branton with her thoughts on Scunthorpe town centre’s newest bar - Ed On the 18th September a new drinking venue opened its doors in

DRINKING IN THE TIME OF CORONA A NOVEL APPROACH

Scunthorpe. A bar within the old Britannia pub, now called the Black Door at Britannia House. Furnished in a low lit, brick and chic style, there are tables and chairs or comfortable leather sofas to relax on.

Table service is the order of the day (which I think will remain even after the Covid crisis has ended) and drinks menus are handed out when you are seated. All Covid government safety guidelines are strictly adhered to. Drinks menus are comprehensive, with seven draught craft beers/ ciders on offer and about the same number of craft ales in bottles or cans from breweries such as Tiny Rebel, Wiper and True, Fourpure and Magic Rock. The main menu of around eighteen drinks (alcoholic and non alcoholic), is varied and includes classic cocktails such as Mojito and Long Island Iced Tea and the bars own signatures drinks such as the Brit and Iron Works. There is a generous wine menu serving either by the glass or bottle. Coffees are available earlier in the

day should you wish to have a lunch break there. Serving all day on the food front are their charcuterie boards, which include vegetarian and vegan options.

Opening from noon every day until the current curfew time of 10pm, booking a table is essential on a Friday or Saturday night as tables are limited. Also on these nights your time there is limited to two hours per visit. On other days ‘walk- ins’ are accepted, though I would be tempted to book anyway to ensure a table (book via phone or the Black Door Facebook page). We found the atmosphere relaxing, the staff very friendly and helpful and the service excellent, never once having to wait for service. Well recommended. BEVERLEY BRANTON

Remember at the beginning we said there wouldn’t be an article featuring coronavirus? Well, here it is! - Ed Since the pubs reopened in July, I’ve gradually eased my way back into going to the pub, but with a certain amount of caution adhered to. As a CAMRA member I want to support pubs in their hour of need, but clearly not put myself at significant risk of contracting Covid-19. Many pub-goers have wrestled with this same dilemma and, it must be said, having weighed up the risks, some have decided not to visit pubs for the time being. My preferred approach was to go to the pub at quiet times in the middle of the day or mid-afternoon and avoid evenings and weekends. Fortunately, being retired, I’m in a position to be able to do this. My first foray was to the Blue Bell in Scunthorpe town centre and thanks to the clement weather I was able to sit outside in their large beer garden, well away from anyone else. All required Covid precautions were in place – hand sanitiser stations, social distancing, perspex screens at the bar etc and I felt fairly relaxed

drinking there. The choice of draught beers was limited, but it was fairly early on in the reopening phase, so as breweries were in the process of ramping up to full production again, it was perhaps understandable. I returned to the Blue Bell on another occasion with family members and again sat outside in what we felt was a safe environment – the one time I didn’t stay was when I made the mistake of going in late on a Friday afternoon when the pub was buzzing and had a queue about ten deep at the bar!

I next went to the Malt Shovel in Ashby (it reopened later than others), where it was necessary to book a table in advance. With this done, continental style table service was enjoyed, there was a good choice of beers and a definite feeling of being socially distanced as although indoors, two of us were sat in their conservatory by ourselves! I returned to the Malt Shovel on

most Wednesday afternoons and although table service briefly disappeared, it’s now back again by Government decree. The beer choice has continued to be excellent and has included Abbeydale, Rat, Acorn, Ossett and Ilkley beers on handpump, plus an enterprising range of guest craft kegs. They have also recently introduced drip mats with your possible beer needs printed on different sides – a great idea, which avoids shouting (forbidden anyway) or waving your arms about like a demented windmill to try and get the server’s attention.

My wife and I have also been to Pooley’s in Messingham early doors, both on our own and to meet friends. Again all Covid precautions were in place and you were allocated a table on entry. The beer choice currently revolves around

tried and trusted favourites such as Oakham Citra, Ossett Silver King, Adnams Ghost Ship and Broadside and Taylor’s Landlord. This is a deliberate policy by licensee Neil Poole as he weighs up which beers he needs to stock . I like most of those beers anyway, so not a problem for me! We had an aborted trip to the Dog & Gun in East Butterwick one sunny Sunday afternoon. Big mistake! As we turned the car onto the High Street, we saw that the pub was extremely busy with all the bank top tables and other outdoor seating occupied (in fact some people had brought their own camping tables and chairs). Others were wobbling across the road balancing trays of drinks, with few seemingly paying any attention to social distancing. We hurriedly decided to move on and go somewhere else! We later returned to the Dog & Gun on a Monday evening when the sun shone once again and I had a pleasant pint or two of DarkTribe beer sat at the bank top tables, when the pub was, thankfully, a lot quieter. Recently I made my first visit to Scunthorpe’s newest town centre bar, the Black Door at Britannia House. This is housed in part of the old Britannia pub/nightclub with office space taking up the remainder.

I must admit I was impressed with the Covid precautions, the layout and interior fittings, the friendly and efficient service and the choice of craft beers. One I will return to in the future I’m sure.

We’ve also stretched our wings a little with two visits to Cleethorpes, for a change of scenery and to take in the sea air with a brisk stroll along the seafront promenade (as does everyone else) and to partake of a traditional seaside pizza on one occasion (again, doesn’t everyone?) and the renowned fish and chips, eaten out of paper on the seafront, on the other. On both occasions we visited the same two pubs – the Taphouse & Kitchen with its excellent range of craft beers from the likes of Magic Rock, Tiny Rebel, Fourpure and

Docks Beers and the Signal Box, Cleethorpes’ smallest pub, with its more traditional choice, where I had real ales from Rudgate, Great Newsome and Theakston. Due to further clement weather we were able to sit outside at both venues and with the tables well spaced out social distancing was relatively easy to achieve. So, there you have it - my drinking experience in the time of Corona so far! By choosing quieter periods and sitting outside whenever possible, I’ve been able to support some local and not-so-local pubs without feeling at risk. Of course as the changing seasons usher in some inclement weather, the outdoor seating option becomes less inviting and will be off limits on some days. That could then force more people to drink indoors, which could possibly have a negative effect on social distancing. For my part I’ll keep going to pubs this winter for as long as I can, provided Covid precautions are maintained and applied satisfactorily on the premises and customers stick to the rules while there. Of course this crucially depends on how the Covid situation develops – the Government has the power to order pubs to shut if infection rates continue to rise unchecked and it could all end in tiers! Fingers crossed that the Tier 1

STAR PUBS & BARS FINED £2M AFTER BREACHING PUBS CODE LANDMARK RULING

J D WETHERSPOON POSTS FIRST LOSS SINCE 1984 PANDEMIC BLAMED

LOW AND NO ALCOHOL BEERS THE RISE OF ALCOHOL FREE BREWERIES

medium risk in our area doesn’t increase to the higher Tier 2 or 3 levels as that could be the final straw for some of our pubs. MARK ELSOME

Pubs Code adjudicator Fiona Dickie (a former lawyer), has fined Heineken’s pub arm, Star Pubs & Bars, £2m after ‘seriously and repeatedly’ breaching the pubs code over a period of nearly three years. Star had persisted in forcing its tenants to sell unreasonable levels of Heineken beers and ciders when they requested to go free-of-tie, by offering stocking terms that acted as a deterrent. Under the Pubs Code, tenants of pubs owned by pub companies can exercise their right to go free of tie, which then allows them to buy their beers on the open market, often at much cheaper prices. Dickie said that Star Pubs & Bars had ‘frustrated the principles of the Pubs Code’ and merited a financial penalty which would act as a deterrent to all regulated pub-owning businesses from future non- compliance. Commenting on the announcement

CAMRA National Chairman Nik Antona said, ‘This is a good and deserved outcome for Star tenants – and a landmark moment for the Pubs Code Adjudicator. We are glad that the PCA has used their financial penalty powers for the first time. ‘We hope this will send a clear message to regulated pub companies that they cannot get away with breaching the Code. In this case, the PCA found repeated breaches of the Code in multiple areas – we want to see further investigations from the PCA to make sure that other regulated pub companies are complying.’ Dickie has given Stars Pubs & Bars six weeks to provide a detailed response on how it will implement her recommendations and has ordered the operator of around 2,500 pubs to write to all its tenants explaining her findings. MORNING ADVERTISER/CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

JD Wetherspoon has reported its first annual pre-tax loss since 1984 blaming the impact of coronavirus restrictions on the pubs industry. It revealed a £105.4m loss on sharply lower sales in the year to 26 July.

The loss after exceptional items is a sharp reversal from the £95.4m pre-tax profit reported in the previous year. The company said that since reopening, like-for-like sales at its pubs were 15% lower compared to last year, ‘With strong sales in the first few weeks, followed by a marked slowdown since the introduction of a curfew and other regulations.’ Wetherspoon’s Chairman Tim Martin said that although the safety measures introduced to allow reopening were tough on pubs ‘because it reduced capacity dramatically’, the industry was ‘gradually getting used to it’.

He continued, ‘Trade was improving and social distancing was working and infections were low. But what's happened under emergency powers, the government is making a lot of changes which we think in the industry are arbitrary and don't work, like the curfew and that's making life almost impossible.’ Blimey! Proof, if proof were needed, that the pubs sector is in a bad place if even Wetherspoon’s can’t make a profit - Ed FROM BBC NEWS WEBSITE https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54566137

I was put off alcohol free beers years ago, when taking my occasional turn as designated driver, I would switch

to Kaliber alcohol free lager, an unpleasant cauldron of chemicals masquerading as a beer. Nowadays things have

changed significantly as people adopt lifestyle changes that encompass reduced intake of alcohol or may simply want to avoid a next day hangover.

AXHOLME BREWERY CLOSES CROWLE SITE BREWING CONTINUES AT DOCKS BEERS

Although continental brewers have been at the forefront of the rise in no or low alcohol beers, UK brewers are catching up fast. Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5% and Brewdog Punk AF are just two well known examples of the style. A modern development is the craft brewery that brews only low alcohol beers such as Nirvana in London and Big Drop in Ipswich. In the past breweries have tended to brew full strength beers, then remove the alcohol by either reverse osmosis (effectively filtering it out), or heating the beer to drive off the alcohol. These new craft breweries have adopted a different method, which retains much more of the flavour, as they brew with less malt and use a yeast strain that inefficiently ferments sugars to alcohol. Lactose (unfermentable milk sugar) is also added for body and improved mouthfeel. By carefully controlling the process, a full-flavoured, tasty

beer of 0.5% ABV or less can be produced. I’ve tried the

Big Drop Galactic Milk

Stout myself (it’s stocked by

Sainsburys and available online:

https://shop.bigdropbrew.com/) and found it to be an excellent brew. Currently few of these low alcohol beers are available on draught in pubs, but this is changing and it makes sense for pubs to offer them as their popularity increases. They’re certainly a boon if you are a designated driver at the pub and fed up with drinking coke or fruit juices. Now you can enjoy good low or alcohol free beer, and still drive home legally and safely. Why not give them a try yourself? MARK ELSOME

Axholme Brewery has closed its brewery in 7 Lakes, Crowle, which was a decision by the site landlord rather than the company themselves. All brewing of Axholme beers has now switched to the Docks Beers Brewery and Tap in Grimsby. Due to the way Axholme received financial aid some years ago, Docks Beers is a trading name of Axholme Brewing Company, although on the face of it, seems to be the dominant partner! However both brands appear to be thriving and the Docks Beers Tap just off the town centre

has become very popular. I and several members of Scunthorpe & District CAMRA have visited the Tap on a number of occasions, either during one of their tap takeovers or the recent Docktoberfest, the latter featuring German guest beers and their own brewed Hefeweizen . It’s an enjoyable and interesting experience drinking next to the brewing vessels and the beers have always been good. They have successfully tapped into the best elements of the craft beer phenomenon, offer both cask and craft keg beers and even have a different street food vendor available each weekend.

Recently they went back to their roots with Humber Bitter, a 4% ABV modern bitter on cask, which was very tasty. A well stocked beer fridge is also on hand to sample or take away that

too-good-to-miss craft beer. If you can’t get over to the Docks Beers Tap at the moment, they have an online shop where you can purchase their beers: https://docksbeers.com/docks-shop/ Good to know that Axholme is doing well, albeit in a different guise to what we’re used to. We wish them continued success in the future. MARK ELSOME And lest we forget …

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