Rural Pub of the Year 2012 Presentation

The presentation of the Norwich & Norfolk branch of CAMRA’s (Campaign for Real Ale) award for 2012 Rural Pub of the Year to the Green Dragon, Wymondham took place on 12th June.

The certificate was presented by Graham Freeman, N&N CAMRA Chairman to the joint licensees, David Bear and Justin Harvey (pictured below).

David and Justin have only been in the pub for eighteen months and are delighted with receiving the Norwich & Norfolk CAMRA award.

They have also been nominated for South Norfolk District Council 'Community Pub of the Year' which they are hoping to do well in and they said “it would be wonderful if we could win that award as well”.

Photo © Warren Wordsworth 2012

The Catfield Crown crowned Pub of the Winter LocAle Trail

Out of the 31 pubs that took part in the 2012 Winter LocAle Trail, The Crown in Catfield, east Norfolk can claim the accolade of “Pub of the Trail”.

The Winter Ale Trail was organised by the Norwich and Norfolk branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) to encourage beer drinkers to visit pubs that they would not normally visit during the winter month, as well as to support CAMRA's LocAle Scheme which promotes locally brewed real ale.

Graham Freeman, the branch chairman of Norwich and Norfolk branch of CAMRA, said: “During the dark months, the CAMRA Winter LocAle Trail was a beacon to the 31 participating pubs. Many people visited the pubs for the first time and hopefully they will return again.

"The landlords and drinkers certainly enjoyed the experience. We successfully promoted local beers and local pubs which is something to look forward to when the next trail comes along”.

The well attended presentation evening took place on May 29th at the Crown when Graham Freeman presented the certificate to The Crown’s landlady and landlord Pauline and Nando Sappia.

Mr Sappia, who is still making the pub’s lasagne to his mother's secret recipe despite the fact that they have a new chef, said: “This has come as a complete surprise but we are delighted to receive this accolade”. He added: “The increase in footfall and sales was very welcome in the winter months”.

The Winter Trail proved a very popular challenge, with participants able to claim stamps from the pubs over a 3 month period.

Mr Ralph Myton, from East Dereham, commented: “A group of four of us travelled around the pubs, many we hadn’t visited before, and we thoroughly enjoyed our outings. I am delighted the Crown in Catfield won as I voted for them and we would definitely do the trail again”.

He was also very pleased to receive some brewery beer towels in the post after the prize draw, as well as his Winter LocAle Trail T-shirt which he was proudly wearing at the City of Ale Brewers Market at the Forum.

Well done to all those who took part, wear your Winter LocAle Trail T-shirts with pride and see you next time!

Norwich Pub and Beer Survey 2012

The Norwich & Norfolk branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) will be organising the biggest pub crawl of the year later this month, in their annual quest to prove that Norwich is the UK Capital of Real Ale – but this year they’re looking for help to beat off a head-to-head challenge from the city of York, which is running a similar survey on the same day, Saturday 30th June.

Norwich was first declared Capital of Real Ale last year, after volunteers visited over 130 pubs on the same day, and discovered a grand total of 215 different real ales on sale.

Since then Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham have all tried to claim the title, but the challenge from York may turn out to be the stiffest one yet, as the city has a similar number of pubs per head of population as Norwich.

“We expected a big number, but 215 was massive, and as we all had a great time surveying the pubs, we thought we’d do it again this year!” said Ian Stamp, N&N CAMRA’s Pubs Officer.

“Norwich has a great pub scene, as we’re seeing this week with the City of Ale, and we need to keep shouting about it to get the national attention our brewers and landlords deserve”.

“Helping with the survey is easy” Ian says, “You don’t need to commit to anything more than visiting a pub sometime during the day of the survey on the 30th June”.

And there’s even the chance to win a few bottles of beer if your guess is one of the nearest to the final total of real ales found on the day – which will be announced the same day – in one of the pubs, naturally!

Anyone who would like to help can email pubsofficer@norwichcamra.org.uk for details.

White Lion is East Anglia Cider Pub of the Year 2012

The White Lion in Norwich, has been awarded the title CAMRA's East Anglia Regional Cider Pub of The Year 2012.

It is run by Ben Ackers and Becky Lakerman-Turner, who have only been running the pub for 7 months.  They regularly have over 15 real ciders and perries available from Norfolk, East Anglia and beyond.

Ben Ackers said: "We are delighted to win this award.  Becky has always been a cider drinker, volunteering for the cider bar at the Cambridge Beer Festival for a fifth consecutive year.

"I have grown to appreciate how popular real cider is from my previous experience at two other pubs.  The Norfolk and Norwich branch of CAMRA has been so friendly and very welcoming to us, and we'd like to thank them for their constant enthusiasm and support.

"We would like to thank our staff who have committed themselves fully to promoting real cider and helping customers with recommendations."

Chris Rouse, CAMRA's Regional Cider Co-ordinator for East Anglia said: "It is so refreshing to see new landlords getting into real cider and perry in a big way."

Second place went to the Odd One Out in Colchester, Essex, which was the previous holder of the awarded.  Third place went to the Railway Arms, on the Railway Station at Downham Market, Norfolk.

Fat Cat is CAMRA's Norfolk Pub of the Year 2012

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has today announced that the Fat Cat, Norwich, has been judged as Norfolk Pub of the Year 2012.

Owned by Colin Keatley, the Fat Cat, which normally has over 25 real ales available, is described in the Good Beer Guide as “An outstanding example of what a real ale pub should be like” and “A beer lover’s paradise that no visitor to Norwich should miss”.

Colin Keatley said: "I’m overwhelmed to be chosen – after 20 years in the trade and against such great opposition it’s a real honour".

Two pubs were judged as part of the Norfolk competition. the Union Jack in Roydon, which is the West Norfolk CAMRA branch Pub of the Year, and the Fat Cat.

Andrea Briers, East Anglia Regional Director, said: “The two pubs in this year’s competition are excellent, thriving local pubs which lead to a very close result. It shows the dedication of all those involved in running the pubs. Well done to Colin Keatley and the team at the Fat Cat.”

The Fat Cat will now go forward to the East Anglia regional pub of the year competition. The full list of pubs in that competition is:

Bedfordshire – Albion, Ampthill (GBG pg.34)
Cambridgeshire – The Letter B, Whittlesey (GBG pg.65)
Essex – Compasses, Littley Green (GBG pg.159)
Hertfordshire – Land of Liberty, Peace and Plenty, Heronsgate (GBG pg.201)
Norfolk – Fat Cat, Norwich (GBG Pg.348)
Suffolk – Rumburgh Buck,  Rumburgh (GBG pg. 428)

35th Norwich Beer Festival logo unveiled

Norwich & Norfolk Campaign For Real Ale has unveiled the winning logo for the 35th Norwich Beer Festival.

As usual we had many fine entries from all ages, including several newcomers who pitted their designs against our competition regulars. With a large number of entries, the judging process was again lengthy and difficult with many logo designs having significant merit.

After due deliberation, a final short list of two designs were selected, with one particular design really standing out from the others.

Anthony Miles’ design of a dragon on a diamond finally won through and was declared the winning design, after careful consideration as to how the designs could be worked up to promote the festival on its usual range of merchandise of glasses and t-shirts.

Festival Organiser, Martin Ward, and Competition Co-ordinator, Sadie Skipworth, decided not to reveal the identity of the logo designers initially to the festival meeting tasked with voting for the logo just in case there were any complaints of “favouritism” as one of the entrants, and the eventual winner, just happened to be on the organising committee of the festival.

Mr Miles was quite shocked when he was told that he had won. After thinking of entering the competition for a few years, he finally put pixels onto screen and submitted a very topical design in the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, as well as it being the branch's 35th festival making it one of the longest running CAMRA Beer Festivals in the country.

CAMRA presents award to Norfolk cider maker

Peter Blake, from Martham, near Gt. Yarmouth, will collect his award this weekend as winner in CAMRA's East Anglian Cider Competition 2011.

The presentation will take place The Kings Arms, Fleggburgh, where local band, The Vagaband, will also be playing.

The competition, which attracted a total of 23 cider entries, took place at Norwich Beer Festival in October last year.

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."

Chris Rouse, CAMRA’s Regional Cider Co-ordinator for East Anglia said, "I hope that this award will encourage those interested in making cider to start by using local apples that would otherwise go to waste"