Norwich and Norfolk CAMRA News

Winter LocAle Trail 2012 is launched

2012-01-03T10:10:00.004Z

January 2nd saw the official launch of our Winter LocAle Trail 2012 at the Wig & Pen, in Norwich – one of the 31 pubs taking part in the trail.

The aim of the trail is twofold: firstly to encourage beer drinkers to visit pubs that they would not normally visit during the winter month and secondly to promote CAMRA's LocAle Scheme and locally brewed real ale of which there is an abundance of breweries in Norfolk! There will also be an opportunity to vote for your favourite “Pub of the Trail”.

CAMRA’s LocAle is a national initiative that promotes pubs that sell locally brewed real ale. LocAle is also about reducing the amount of beer miles that the beer travels between brewery and pub.

All the pubs on the trail have joined our LocAle scheme which means that at least one real ale – brewed within 30 miles of the pub – is on sale at all times.

Each trail pub will stamp a trail card for each pint of LocAle purchased (or soft drink for a designated driver) and can be collected in any order.

Completed trail cards can be exchanged for a free ale trail t-shirt as well as being entered into a prize draw. Prizes include brewery tours, local beer and even a chance to be a day as a Head Brewer!

There's information about the trail on our website and there's also a Google Map to help guide you to the pubs.

Peter Wells, one of the trail organisers, receives his first stamp from the Wig & Pen's general manager Holly Thomas.

The trail organisers and other CAMRA members celebrating the start of the Winter LocAle Trail 2012.

2012 Norwich Beer Festival logo competition

2011-12-19T15:34:00.003Z

With the 34th Norwich Beer festival now a slightly hazy memory, thoughts have now turned to preparing for the 35th, which will take place from the 29th October 2012.

To kick matters off we need a logo for the festival, which forms one of the prime marketing tools for the festival. “In previous years, we have received a remarkable number of entries with an amazing concoction of ideas” says Martin Ward, the current festival organiser.

Obviously in 2012, it being an anniversary year, we would like to make the logo a little special, but still with a dragon somewhere in the design. However designs involving five rings or torches, etc., will probably be dismissed straight away, just in case we run into difficulties with another major event taking place in 2012!

The winning entry will receive £100 plus a selection of goodies at the festival and be judged by the organising committee at the inaugural planning meeting in the New Year. The winning under-18 entrant will get a book voucher.

The most important element of the design is that a dragon must be included, but abstract is fine; with a maximum 5 colours (although 4 is preferable), including any black or white parts of the design.

Emailed entries should be in a computer readable format (JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PDF, Postscript, GIMP, Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw), please. NO MS Word document files please.

Entries (one per sheet or email, maximum size A4) can be sent to Logo Competition, 32 Meadow Vale, Costessey, Norwich, NR5 0NJ or email to nchbeerfeststaff@gmail.com by Monday, 20th February 2012.

On the back of the paper, or within the email, please specify "Adult" or "Under 18" and include your name, contact details and age (if under 18).

All entries become the property of Norwich & Norfolk Campaign for Real Ale and may be used for display and publicity purposes.

Norfolk Cider and Perry is the Best in East Anglia

2011-11-15T17:55:00.002Z

Three Norfolk cider makers, Peter Blake, Jonty's Cider, and Whin Hill Cider, are celebrating wins at CAMRA's East Anglian Cider Competition. The competition, which attracted a total of 23 cider entries and 6 perry entries, took place at CAMRA's Norwich Beer Festival in October this year.

The results for cider were:
1st – Hog & Vine Original, made by Peter Blake in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
2nd – Early Night, made by Jonty's Cider (Banham, Norfolk)
3rd – Dry Cider, made by Glebe Farm (Kings Ripton, Cambridgeshire)

The other finalists were (in alphabetical order of maker):
Organic New Crop (Whisky Cask), made by Castlings Heath (Edwardstone, Suffolk)
Owld Norfolk, made by Crones Organic Cider (Kenninghall, Norfolk)
Orchard Cider, made by Greenwoods (Norwich, Norfolk)

The winning perry, for the second year in a row, was Whin Hill Perry, made by Whin Hill Cider (Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk).

The winning cider, Hog & Vine, from small cider maker Peter Blake, was described by judges as having "an aroma of a cornucopia of woodland fruits, a bit Christmas puddingesque. Flavoursome with lots of body, and a long lingering finish."

Some 10 years ago, Peter Blake and a group of friends thought it would be a good idea to make cider for personal consumption. Listening to the ‘buy and sell’ programme on Radio Norfolk one Saturday morning, they discovered some cider making equipment for sale, so duly purchased it.

The name, Hog and Vine comes from the old pig shed covered in vines that has been converted into a cider making shed. Peter Blake said "To say it was hard work is a massive understatement but we persevered and were pleasantly surprised with the results. Over the years we have progressed and modernised.

"I would like to thank all the people in the Martham area who kindly donate their apples, and to those who assist with the production." Peter added, "I am amazed and very proud that ‘Hog & Vine Original’ came out top against so many other excellent ciders."

Norwich MPs visit the 34th Norwich Beer Festival

2011-11-02T09:48:00.006Z

Above: Mike Spivey, Chloe Smith and Martin Ward

Both Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, and Simon Wright, MP for Norwich South, visited the very successful 34th Norwich CAMRA Beer Festival at St. Andrew's and Blackfriars' Halls on Friday 28th October.

Chloe Smith dropped into the lunchtime session and Simon Wright visited the evening session.

Martin Ward, the Festival Organiser, and Mike Spivey, the Branch Pubs Preservation Officer, accompanied by Mike Baldwin, Editor of the Branch Newsletter, Norfolk Nips, took the opportunity to explain to them how the festival was run and highlight some of the many issues facing local pubs and breweries today.

Martin Ward said that he was very pleased that they had both found the time to attend.

"It was a wonderful opportunity to meet them face to face," he said, "they were genuinely interested in our aims and objectives, which can only be good for the future.

"Today was all about building bridges," he added, "both Chloe Smith and Simon Wright (pictured above) now have a good understanding of the real ale, cider and perry scene in Norfolk and beyond and we look forward to a long and fruitful association with them."

Photographs by Mike Baldwin

215 different real ales on sale in Norwich - June 18th 2011

2011-06-20T12:18:00.004+01:00

A survey organised by the Norwich & Norfolk branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), and carried out in the city on Saturday, 18th June 2011, found an amazing 215 different real ales available, topping recent claims from other cities to the title of UK Capital of Real Ale, per head of population.

A team of 26 volunteers visited 136 pubs, of which 113 (83%) offered a total of 489 real ales and 24 real ciders and perries. The total of 215 different ales beats the numbers achieved in similar surveys in Derby (161 ales, population 240,000) and Sheffield (240, 500,000 – which is a far larger population than Norwich).

Local ales from 22 of the county’s breweries were on sale with Woodforde’s Wherry taking the accolade of most popular ale, being available in 43 pubs. The Fat Cat had the most ales on the bar with 31, followed by the Whalebone (20), Duke of Wellington (16), Fat Cat Brewery Tap (15) and The Plasterers Arms (14). A dozen pubs visited were serving 7 or more ales.

However, pubs across the city contributed to the total with 56 pubs selling ales not available anywhere else, from the Maids Head in Catton (Flowers, IPA) to the Bread and Cheese, Adelaide Street (Wolf, Lupus Lupus) and from Otter Ale in the Birdcage to St Austell Tribute in the Cock at Lakenham.

The price of a pint of real ale ranged from £1.70 for a pint of Ruddles Best (3.7% ABV) in the Queen of the Iceni to £3.60 for Adnams Tally Ho (7.2% ABV) in the Fat Cat, with the average price still below the £3 mark at £2.95.

Ian Stamp, Norwich CAMRA member and organiser of the survey, said “This is an amazing result – we expected to get over 150 ales but 215 is fantastic and a great tribute to the publicans and real ale drinkers across the whole city who demand and get an excellent range of real ales and ciders”. Surely Norwich is the City of Ale!

Other statistics:
- Total pubs surveyed: 136
- Total serving real ale: 113 (83%)
- Total ales on sale: 498 (plus 24 ciders and perries), 186 from Norfolk Breweries
- Unique ales on sale: 215 (18 ciders and perries - subject to verification)
- Ales on sale in one pub only: 144
- Prices: £1.70 - £3.60, average £2.95 (Norfolk beers £2.92, non-Norfolk beers £2.97)
- Breweries: 98 (22 from Norfolk)
- Average ABV: 4.2%

Most Popular Beers (with publicans!):
43 Woodfordes Wherry
28 Adnams Southwold Bitter
23 Fullers London Pride
16 Greene King IPA
14 Greene King Abbot
13 Wolf Golden Jackal
12 Adnams Broadside
Woodfordes Nelsons Revenge
6 Hop Back Summer Lightning
Sharps Doombar
Wells & Youngs Bombardier
Oakham JHB
Woodfordes Once Bittern
Woodfordes Sundew

Pubs with more than 2 unique ales:
17 Fat Cat
15 Whalebone
7 White Lion
6 Duke of Wellington
Kings Head
Plasterers
5 Bell
Kings Arms
4 Fat Cat Brewery Tap
Plough (out of 4!)
Trafford Arms
3 Coach & Horses, Thorpe Road
Cottage, Silver road
Micawbers
Woolpack

Pubs with most local ales:
13 The Plasterers
12 Fat Cat
10 Kings Head
6 Ketts Tavern
Coach and Horses, Thorpe Road
5 Beehive, Leopold Road
Fat Cat Brewery Tap
Rose, Queens Road
4 Coachmakers
Jubilee
Duke of Wellington
Bell

2011 Norwich Beer Festival logo unveiled

2011-05-29T12:13:00.003+01:00

Norwich & Norfolk Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) unveil the winning logo for the 34th Norwich Beer Festival. How many dragons can you find?

As is becoming customary, the entries were a very high quality and there was a large quantity of entries for the members to choose from, which led to a lengthy judging process as the merits of the varied designs were deliberated.

Ultimately, Graham James, of Norwich, was declared the winner with his design of a dragon in the form of a traditional hand pump. See how many dragons you can spot?! As usual, the runners up will be displayed during the festival in October.

Graham was extremely surprised to hear the good news, delivered by Mark Stimpson, the competition co-ordinator, because he had only just refined his doodles in time to make the deadline in February.

His design was inspired by Tony Hart’s symmetrical drawings in the television programme “Vision On”. Graham also won the logo competition in 2003 with his Toby jug design.

Martin Ward, Festival Organiser, commented, “Again the effort that the public put into their entries is amazing. It’s always a tough decision but Graham’s dragon stood out to us”.

Graham can now look forward to a winner's cheque for £100, as well as a selection of festival merchandise, as reward for his hard work.

Although planning is at an early stage, as in previous years, we aim to provide an exceptional range of quality real ales and ciders from not only Norfolk, but other outstanding breweries around the country.

This year's beer festival runs from Monday 24th to Saturday 29th October at its usual venue of St Andrew's & Blackfriars' Halls, Norwich.

For further information about the festival, please see our web page at
http://www.norwichcamra.org.uk/festival/fest2011.htm

Champion Beer of Norfolk 2011 announced

2011-03-18T12:24:00.005Z

Grain Best Bitter has been named the Champion Beer of Norfolk 2011 by the Norwich and Norfolk branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

The 4.2% Best Bitter described as ‘A well balanced, full bodied beer with a rich malty aroma’ has emerged victorious from a year long programme of beer tasting conducted by the Norfolk Taste Panel.

The beer is brewed by the Grain Brewery from Alburgh, near Harleston. The brewery also claimed the Speciality Beer category with their Blonde Ash wheat beer.

Taste panel chair Alan Edwards explained, “We are charged with tasting, recording, and commenting on as many beers as possible. Norfolk beers are our main priority but with over 30 Norfolk breweries it is an awesome task.

"Almost 500 taste cards were completed last year. Almost half of them were for Norfolk brews with 41 beers from 15 breweries being covered. To emerge as the winner shows the true quality of the beer.”

The brewery was launched in 2006 by Geoff Wright and Phil Halls at premises in Alburgh, near Harleston. Selling cask and bottle conditioned beers, in 2010 it opened its first pub, the Plough in St. Benedicts Street, Norwich.

Five local breweries are award winners. The Norwich based Fat Cat Brewery claim a trio of awards with its Bitter, Cougar and Porter winning their respective categories.

Attleborough based Wolf Brewery’s Golden Jackal is the winner of the Golden Ale category for the third year in a row.

Dark Fantastic, the award winning mild from the Tharston based Spectrum Brewery is both vegan and organically certified.

Another Norwich brewery, Winters, takes the stout award for the second time in three years with its aptly named Genius.

The awards will be presented at the Trade Session of the Norwich Beer Festival in October.

Full Results:
Champion – Grain (Alburgh), Best Bitter.
Mild – Spectrum (Tharston), Dark Fantastic.
Bitter – Fat Cat (Norwich), Bitter.
Best Bitter – Grain (Alburgh), Best Bitter.
Strong Bitter – Fat Cat (Norwich), Cougar.
Golden Ale – Wolf (Besthorpe), Golden Jackal.
Speciality Beer – Grain (Alburgh), Blonde Ash.
Porter – Fat Cat (Norwich), Fat Cat Porter.
Stout – Winters (Norwich), Genius.

Norwich Door to Door is our Branch Charity for 2010

2010-06-10T11:38:00.002+01:00

At a recent branch committee meeting, the Norwich and Norfolk Branch of CAMRA selected Norwich Door to Door as its nominated charity for 2010.

An interesting debate and lengthy voting process was necessary because there were so many worthy charities applying, and each one had a compelling and convincing case to make, but it was felt that as Norwich Door to Door was serving the local community it got the nod this year.

This admirable organisation’s objective is to enable social inclusion for severely disabled children, disabled adults and older mobility impaired people who are on low income and find they are unable to use mainstream transport or the volunteer car schemes.

It aims to provide social inclusion for people whose disabilities curtail their independence and access by providing transport to enable them to make their own contribution to their area.

The committee are confident that CAMRA members who visit this year's Norwich Beer Festival, as well as other visitors and guests, will again donate as generously as ever to this local and admirable cause.

For more information on ‘Norwich Door to Door’ see www.norwichdoortodoor.org.uk

Larling Angel is the Norfolk Pub Of The Year 2010

2010-06-01T13:08:00.004+01:00

CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) are delighted to announce that The Angel Inn, at Larling, has been voted Norfolk Pub of the Year for 2010.

The pub had previously been selected as the West Norfolk Branch's Pub Of The Year and won this prestigious award in competition against The Mariners, in Gt. Yarmouth, the Norwich & Norfolk Branch's Pub Of The Year.

In a very close contest the Angel was judged to be the best.

Congratulations go to Andrew Stammers, of the Angel, who said he was absolutely overwhelmed with his success and would like to thank his staff, customers and CAMRA for their support.

Andrea Briars (Regional Director for CAMRA East Anglia) said: "This year's competition again showcased two thriving pubs: a town local and a village pub at the heart of its community.

"Well done to both for reaching this stage of the competition and I wish Andrew Stammers and the team at the Angel well in the next round."

The next round of the competition will be judged against winning pubs from five other counties. The winner will become East Anglia Regional Pub Of The Year and will go forward to the final round, which is CAMRA's national Pub Of The Year competition.

Norwich Beer Festival logo unveiled

2010-05-26T15:10:00.005+01:00

Norwich & Norfolk Campaign For Real Ale have unveiled the winning logo for the 33rd Norwich Beer Festival.

As usual the entries were of a universally high standard. With a large number of entries to choose from, the judging process went on slightly longer than it usually does as members debated the merits of the designs.

Eventually, after whittling the entries down to a final two, Katy Mavilio, of Hellesdon, was declared the winner with her design of a “Halloween” Dragon emerging from a pumpkin. The runners-up will be on display at the festival in October

Katy, when contacted by Mark Stimpson, the competition co-ordinator, was flabbergasted and at a loss for words when told she had won the competition.

Martin Ward, Festival Organiser, commented: “The quality of the designs this year was up to its usual high standard, and to be judged the winner from so many excellent entries is testament to the robustness of the design”.

Katy can look forward to a winner's cheque for £100, plus a selection of festival merchandise for her efforts.

Although planning is at an early stage, as in previous years, we aim to provide an exceptional range of quality real ales and ciders from not only Norfolk but other outstanding breweries around the country.

This year's beer festival runs from Monday 25th to Saturday 30th October at its usual venue of St. Andrew's & Blackfriars' Halls, Norwich.

For further information about the festival, please see our festival web page.

Humpty Dumpty on top

2010-04-13T12:01:00.004+01:00

Broadland Sunrise from Reedham-based brewery Humpty Dumpty has been named the Champion Beer of Norfolk 2010 by the Norwich and Norfolk branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

The 4.2% Best Bitter described as ‘Beautifully smooth with a swirling malt, hop, and fruit aroma’ emerged victorious from a year-long programme of beer tasting conducted by the Norfolk Taste Panel.

Organiser Alan Edwards explained “Members of the panel completed over 300 taste cards covering nearly 60 beers from nineteen Norfolk breweries. We are lucky to have around 30 breweries in the county and the panel tries to cover as many as possible.

"The panel were highly complementary of the quality and mix of flavours found in Broadland Sunrise. The beer faced strong competition but has emerged as a worthy winner."

Alan continued, “It is a triple success for the brewery as, apart from Broadland Sunrise scooping the Best Bitter and Overall Champion award, their Railway Sleeper and Norfolk Nectar were tops in the Strong Bitter and Speciality Beer categories.

"The brewery began in 1998 and now incorporates a shop at the brewery. Many of the beers are named after either railway or Norfolk themes.

"Six local breweries are award winners and it is hoped their success will give a boost to the branch ‘LocAle’ scheme which publicises pubs which always stock beers from breweries within 30 miles of the hostelry.”

Full Results:
Champion – Humpty Dumpty, Reedham: Broadland Sunrise
Bitter – Grain, Alburgh: Oak Best Bitter
Best Bitter – Humpty Dumpty, Reedham: Broadland Sunrise
Strong Bitter – Humpty Dumpty, Reedham: Railway Sleeper
Golden Ale – Wolf, Besthorpe: Golden Jackal
Speciality Beer – Humpty Dumpty, Reedham: Norfolk Nectar
Strong Mild – Chalk Hill, Norwich: Flintknappers Mild
Stout – Elmtree, Snetterton: Dark Horse Stout
Real Ale in a Bottle – Norfolk Square, Gt Yarmouth: Winklepicker

Mariners Tavern is Branch Pub of the Year

2010-02-18T11:06:00.002Z

The Norwich and Norfolk Campaign For Real Ale is proud to announce that their branch pub of the year is the Mariners Tavern, at Gt Yarmouth.

The Mariners is situated in Howard Street, Great Yarmouth, a short distance from the railway station, one row back from the quay. It is a former Lacons pub with a pleasant red brick and flint exterior. This family-run local comprises of a main bar and a smaller bar at the rear of the building.

Shirley Twose, licensee, was very delighted to have won the Branch POTY (Pub of the Year), in fact she was rather gobsmacked when Warren Wordsworth, Branch Pubs Officer phoned her to contragulate her on winning.

She defintely is a supporter local brewers. Beers that she regularly has on in her pub include: Green Jack, Woodforde's , Wolf and Norfolk Square. Uniquely, it also has up to a dozen real ciders in the rear bar.

Shirley is the sister of the owner, Shaun Underdown, who along with partner Gemma, own the Mariners Compass in Gorleston and the recently opened Mariners Rest in Lowestoft, so the pub is defintely a family venture and has attracted praise from both vistors and locals for the quality of service. They also run an annual beer festival which coincides with the Yarmouth Maritime show.

Warren Wordsworth commented: “This is the first time that a pub from the Yarmouth area has won our Branch Pub of the Year award and I hope this will not only be a boost to The Mariners but also raise the profile of real ale to the Yarmouth area in general”.

The pub will now go on to the county competition, where is will be judged against the winner of West Norfolk CAMRA's Pub of the Year.

Old Chimneys win 'Beer Of The Festival' award

2009-11-02T12:59:00.003Z

The winner of the Gold award in the 'Beer Of The Festival' public voting at the 32nd Norwich Beer Festival was Old Chimneys Red Clover, a 6.0% ABV blended old ale spiced with cloves. Old Chimneys Brewery is based at Market Weston, in North Suffolk.

Silver went to Mauldons Black Adder, a 5.3% dark bitter stout which was aged in oak casks for the festival, and Bronze went to Winter's Golden, a 4.1% hoppy golden ale from Norwich's own Winter's Brewery.

Category winners were:

Mild – Gold: Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild (6.0% ABV); Silver: Beeston The Squirrels Nuts (3.5%); Bronze: Waveney Brewery East Coast Mild (3.9%).

Bitter – Gold: Elmtree Burston Cuckoo (3.8%); Silver: West Berkshire Old Father Thames (3.4%); Bronze: Grain Oak (3.8%).

Best Bitter – Gold: Waveney Brewing Welterweight (4.2%); Silver: Harviestoun Hoptober Fest (4.0%); Bronze: Woodforde's Tinseltoes (4.4%).

Strong Bitter – Gold: Fat Cat Wild Cat (5.0%); Silver: Oak Attila (7.5%); Bronze: Green Jack Ripper (8.5%).

Old, Stout & Porter – Gold: Mauldons Black Adder (5.3%); Silver: Downton Chocolate Orange Delight (5.8%); Bronze: Humpty Dumpty Reedham Porter (5.4%).

Speciality – Gold: Old Chimneys Red Clover (6.0%); Silver: Whitstable Raspberry Wheat (5.2%); Bronze: Opa Hay Wheat (4.2%).

Golden Beers – Gold: Winter's Golden (4.1%); Silver: Hornbeam Lemon Blossom (3.7%); Bronze: Crouch Vale Amarillo (5.0%).

Cider – Rich's Legbender.

Perry – Hecks Blakeny Red SV Perry.

Foreign Beer – Heller Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen.

Banham Barrel is East Anglian Cider Pub of the Year

2009-07-28T11:39:00.002+01:00

The Barrel, in Banham, has won CAMRA's East Anglian Cider Pub of The Year 2009.

This is not the first time it has taken this honour.The Barrel was opened by Jonty Wright and Wendy Foster over four years ago, and they have supported real cider right from the start.

Jonty serves two of his own ciders (Early Night and Rum Ol' Night), as well as ciders from another local cider maker Robbie Crone. Both of Jonty's ciders are made with apples from two local orchards, and both are easy drinking, with the Rum Ol' Night being matured in a rum cask.

They can be found at several local and national CAMRA Beer and Cider festivals. There is plenty of music and other events held at the pub.

Jonty said: "Wendy and I are delighted that this award has returned to Banham, as Banham is the historic home of East Anglia Cider. This we also hope shows that a traditional family run pub is still valued in the community."

Chris Rouse, CAMRA’s Regional Cider Co-ordinator for East Anglia said: "The Barrel is a fantastic and fascinating pub, it's great to spend some time guessing what the various bits of old cider making and farm equipment are for."

Pubs throughout East Anglia that sell real cider or perry were nominated by CAMRA members to be entered into its national Cider Pub of The Year competition, the first round of which is the Regional Cider Pub of The Year competition.

Visit Banham Barrel's website.

Winter's Mild is Champion Beer of Norfolk

2009-05-24T14:22:00.008+01:00

Winter’s Mild, a traditional Norfolk style brew, has been named as the county’s top beer by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

The beer is brewed in Norwich by David Winter who runs his small Winter’s Brewery single handed.

Alan Edwards, chairman of the Norfolk Taste Panel, explained: “The members of the panel were united in their enthusiasm for this beer and their scores reflected this.

“Comments included: ‘An excellent example of a classic British mild’, ‘a strong flavoured full bodied mild’, and ‘classic nutty mild with lashings of roast softened by a sweet hoppy dryness’.”

Although mild ales suffer from am image problem this shouldn’t stop anyone trying them. This beer has something for everyone, a range of flavours that will please most discerning drinkers.”

David Winter was delighted at the news and said: “This is tremendous news and will give the brewery a substantial boost.”

The champion mild, along with the other class winners listed below, will now go forward to the Champion Beer of East Anglia finals.

These will be held later in the year and pit the Norfolk winners against their counterparts from Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire.

Alan Edwards added: “This is a good example of a beer from a brewery that produces quality products but does not have the exposure it deserves.

"Norfolk has around 30 breweries; all of which struggle to find outlets for their beers as the number of pubs declines and those remaining are often tied to deals with the major brewers.

He continued: "We need to seek out and buy our locally brewed beers just as much as we need to ensure the survival of our local pubs. What could be greener than drinking local beer in a local pub?”

Champion Beer of Norfolk class winners:
Champion Beer - Winter’s Mild
Mild - Winter’s Mild
Bitter - Spectrum Light Fantastic
Best Bitter - Grain Best Bitter
Strong Bitter - Beeston On The Huh
Golden Ale - Wolf Golden Jackal
Speciality - Fat Cat Honey Cat
Old Ale - Spectrum Old Stoatwobbler
Porter - Woodforde’s Norfolk Nog
Stout - Winter’s Genius
Barley Wine - Spectrum Trip Hazard
Bottled Ale - Tipples Topper

Norfolk Pub Of The Year announced

2009-05-14T11:00:00.009+01:00

The Norwich & Norfolk and West Norfolk branches of the Campaign For Real Ale are proud to announce that the Norfolk pub of the year is the Artichoke, at Broome.

It's difficult running a pub in these testing times, with pub closures happening nearly every day round the country. However to be crowned Norfolk pub pub of the year has to be some achievement, but to John Craft it's the second time around for him.

After successfully running the King's Arms, in Hall Road, Norwich, for a number of years, John now is the landlord at the Artichoke, in Broome, and just gone and done it again.

After a closely fought contest between the Union Jack at Roydon (near King's Lynn), the Artichoke emerged as the winner.

John Craft, upon hearing the news, was very surprised: "I didn't think in a million years that I would get so far in the competition".

Graham Freeman, N&N CAMRA branch chairman, was delighted: "It only goes to show that if you run a pub well, get the basics right, good beer, excellent hospitality, the pub will thrive, especially in these tough economic times".

Andrea Briers, Competition Organiser, offered her congratulations to John: "Both pubs in this year's competition are excellent examples of thriving village pubs serving the local community, which gave a closely contested competition.

"For any pub to get this far is quite an achievement, I wish them well in the next stage of the competition".

The Artichoke, will now go on to feature in the next phase, where it will go up against other county winners from the likes of Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and others around the region.

The pub is open from 12-11 (not Mon), and is situated just off the A143 on the old Yarmouth road that runs through the village.

Norwich Beer Festival logo unveiled

2009-05-07T08:57:00.003+01:00

Norwich & Norfolk Campaign For Real Ale unveil the winning logo for the 32nd Norwich Beer Festival. As usual the entries were of a universally high standard.

With a large number of entries to choose from, the judging process went on slightly longer than it usually does as members debated the merits of the designs. Eventually, after whittling the entries down to a final three, Paul Minns' design of a dragon overlooking the Norwich skyline came through.

Paul, who lives in Norwich, was astounded after hearing that he had won the competition, "I spent a lot of hours over the Christmas holiday, drawing and re-drawing, trying different colour combinations. To be honest, I never thought that I could win: this is the first time I have entered the competition".

Martin Ward, Festival Organiser, commented, "I think this is an excellent design, with a dragon that seems to be protecting the city from adversaries". He further said "It highlights both elegance and simplicity, and I'm sure it will be popular with our customers".

Paul will receive a winner's cheque for £100, plus a selection of festival merchandise for his efforts and is very much looking forward to the event.

Although planning is at an early stage, as in previous years, we aim to provide an exceptional range of quality real ales and ciders from not only Norfolk, but other outstanding breweries around the country.

This year's beer festival runs from Monday 26th to Saturday 31st October at its usual venue of St Andrew's & Blackfriars' Halls, Norwich.

For further information about the festival, please see our web page at http://www.norwichcamra.org.uk/festival/festival.htm

This year's Branch Committee

2009-04-13T12:10:00.005+01:00

This year's branch Annual General Meeting saw considerable changes to the make-up of the committee.

Our new Chairman is Graham Freeman (pictured), who has served as secretary for the last few years. He replaces Des O'Brien, who leaves the committee after several years at the helm.

Graham is also continuing in his position as Branch Contact.

The Vice-Chair post remains in the hands of Martin Ward, who also continues as organiser of the Norwich Beer Festival.

Our new Secretary is Carolyn Jones, who has been on the committee for several years.

Tim MacDonald continues as our Social Secretary, organising meetings and trips through the year.

Chris Thomas replaces Duncan Ward as our treasurer.

The Pubs Officer role continues in the hands of Warren Wordsworth, who also co-ordinates surveys for the Good Beer Guide, amongst other duties.

Rob Derbridge continues as Membership Officer.

Dave Cleverley continues to support Warren in the role of Deputy Pubs Officer and we welcome four new members to the committee this year: Martin Hicks, Antony Miles, Helen Miles and Mark Stimpson.

There are also several un-elected branch positions, answering to the committee:

Production of our branch newsletter, "Norfolk Nips" (which amalgamated with West Norfolk Branch's "Cask Force" this year), remains in the hands of editor Andrea Kirkby.

The branch's online resources (website, calendar, mailing list, etc.) are still handled by Adrian Hennessy.

And the Beer Tasting Panel is co-ordinated by Alan Edwards.

Current committee contact details can be found on the branch website.

Real Ale Walks in Norfolk published

2009-04-06T09:07:00.005+01:00

The Norwich and Norfolk Campaign For Real Ale is proud to launch "Real Ale Walks in Norfolk" at the Forum, Norwich, on Wednesday 8th April 2009 from 9am to 5pm.

Real Ale Walks is 128 page book that has been several years in the making, with support from branch members across the county. It documents the history of not just the pubs and
quality ales sold, but many interesting facets of local history surrounding these fine establishments.

Warren Wordsworth, Branch Pubs Officer and compiler of the guide, started out with a few ideas in late 2003. Eventually producing six walks centred around Norwich for sale as a information pack of leaflets at the 27th Norwich Beer festival in 2004.

Warrent commented: "These were quite well received by festival attendees, and encouraged myself to enlarge the project to cover more of Norfolk". With support from the branch committee, a draft was produced in 2007, but by that time, many of the walks had be revised to account for changes in the industry.

Newly elected Branch Chair, Graham Freeman comments that "Warren has done a superb job with the book, and hopes that this will encourage people to get out and about to visit not only their local, but travel slightly further afield to visit some of Norfolk's fascinating pubs and enjoy a good pint".

The book is produced in full colour, with many photographs of the pubs themselves, local landmarks, and comes with extensive notes about the buildings, their history and ranges of
beers.

The book is now on sale in Jarrolds Book Dept, Norwich, priced at £5.99.

Copies can also be obtained by mail order, price £6.95 including postage and packing (CAMRA members £5.95, quoting membership number). Please send cheques made payable to "N & N CAMRA" to Pub Walks Guide C/O 16 Grove Avenue, Norwich, NR1 2QD.

We are staging the official launch of this book at The Forum (Norwich Library) this coming Wednesday, 8th April, 9am-5pm. If you are in central Norwich on Wednesday please drop in and pay us a visit where you will be made very welcome.

Branch Pub Of The Year

2009-03-24T09:07:00.002Z

The Norwich and Norfolk Campaign For Real Ale is proud to announce that their branch pub of the year is the Artichoke at Broome.

The Artichoke is situated in the Waveney valley, a stone's throw from the Suffolk border, in the small village of Broome.

Originally home to the long gone Crowfoot brewery, the Artichoke is now run by John and Nikki Craft who are no strangers in the licensed trade, having run the St. Andrews Tavern and King's Arms in Norwich.

John and Nikki were flabbergasted on hearing that they had won: "In these difficult times, it's nice to see a country pub has been given the award. We are very pleased, especially with the current economic climate, that CAMRA has recognised the hard work that goes into running this pub".

Warren Wordsworth, Branch Pubs Officer, stated that the Artichoke was a fantastic example of a rural pub, that offered good hospitality, superb beer and a quality atmosphere.

The pub has flagstone and wood floors, wooden settles and a real fire, which enhances the rural ambience of a pint from a choice of up to eight predominately local ales. Home cooked food is also served in a separate dining area.

The pub is open from 12-11 (not Mon), and is situated just off the A143 on the old Yarmouth road that runs through the village.

Des O'Brien, Branch Chairman, commented that a pub that offers so much deserved to win: " A community local, that is well patronised, well run, and serves a cracking pint. It is a good example of old fashioned values that pay a dividend in the long run".

The pub will now go on to the county competition, where it will be judged against the winner of West Norfolk CAMRA's Pub of the Year.