Ring O'Bells Launches New Brew

Ring O'Bells Brewery of Launceston and drinks distributor Jolly's together launched a new brew during February, in support of charity.  The new beer is called One & All after the Cornwall county motto which forms part of its coat-of-arms.  Sales will contribute to a local charity, the Pirate Trust, in turn named after its local radio station founders  Pirate FM.

Launching the new brew at the Countryman Inn, Piece, near Redruth, Adrian Carter of Ring O'Bells and David Jolly announced that the brewery and the distributor would each donate £1 a cask sold to the Pirate Trust, whose beneficiaries within the county are wide-ranging, from individuals with special needs to larger organisations such as hospitals and schools.  Special permission had to be obtained to use the name and the county arms in association with the brew, and this was readily forthcoming from the County Council, whose chairman Phil Tregunna also attended the launch.     (Right) Landlord Nick Lake pulls the first pint

And the beer?  Well, at 4.6% abv, it is a blend of Porker's Pride and Sozzled swine, incorporating Styrian Gold and Mount Hood hops which impart a light, sweet floral aroma, and a hint of pine and lemon in the flavour.  Other hops (WGV and Challenger) give it a bite of bitterness.  Very more-ish!  And Ring O'Bells hope to keep it as part of their standard portfolio.

First Lostwithiel Beerfest Looms

Lostwithiel Rotarians have laid ambitious plans for a festival of real ale, the first to be held in the town - and if it is a success, it certainly won't be the last.

Set for Saturday 20 March, it will take place in the Community Centre and feature some 20 real ales from around the county, cider, and maybe a lager for the ladies.  As well as the beer, there will be specially-produced souvenir glasses in the manner of CAMRA's festivals, and live entertainment including the Gumbo Flyers and the Blues Bandits, plus some other fill-in music. Organiser Steve Jones says that the Community Centre will be putting on all sorts of hot finger food to keep the bellies full!

Doors open at 1100 on the day, and stay open until 2300.  Proceeds will go to charity.

Cornish Brewery News

Since being taken over last summer, Sharp's Brewery has been going all out to expand its operation both within the county and beyond.  Sales have gone up 30% during the recent quarter of the year compared with the same period last year, presumably as a result of their new sales team operating all over the south-west, as far up as Swindon  so far.  The brewery is installing no less than 6 new fermenters (ready by May, they say), and plan to have doubled plant capacity to 100 barrels by this time next year.

Skinner's Brewery in Truro have got their new site on Newham Road now fully functioning.  The new shop opened in time for Christmas, and though small, offers an impressive range of brewery merchandise and all of Skinner's bottled beer range, as well as an interesting selection of bottle-conditioned beers from other national and foreign breweries.  The shop opens Monday to Saturday, 10.00 to 17.30.  Meanwhile, expansion continues, with the purchase of two more fermenters to instal in the brewhouse.  This will be the first stage in a move into keg lager, already available in cask form as Cornish Storm, but the plant looks likely to handle a keg version of Pennycomequick Stout as well, to rival Guinness in some of the local pubs.  An Easter seasonal ale, Honey Bunny, is to be brewed.

St. Austell Brewery are reporting great success in their national marketing of Tribute and HSD, which are now turning up all over the country.  Head brewer Roger Ryman said, "I am delighted that it seems so popular out there.  My main concern is that it is still served in proper condition and tastes as good as it does in Cornwall.  If CAMRA members can feed back any information on their travels, I'd be very grateful".  Certainly our roaming drinker Lizard has reported finding the stuff in such divers locations as Cambridge, Lichfield and even in the mid-Welsh hills in a remote spot called Rhandirmwyn!  There is a reverse flow as well: the brewery are offering their free trade customers real ales from a monthly guest list, offering brews from such as Hall & Woodhouse, Robinson's, Jennings and Elgood's breweries.

The Driftwood Spars Brewery has stopped dry-hopping its Cuckoo Ale, which has reportedly improved the flavour.  Keltek Brewery continues to be very busy, selling everything it can brew as well as being kept busy bottling the Spingo range for the Blue Anchor in Helston and other brewers in the county and beyond.  Keltek have also initiated a serious expansion on their Lostwithiel site, with new fermenters going in to double their brewing capacity.  And last but not least, Doghouse report brisk sales of Staffy's Stout, now competing well with Guinness since the prices of the latter in Cornwall started to reach near rip-off levels.

Cornish Pub News

West Cornwall

Shorts....... One of the oldest pubs in Penzance, the 13th century Turk's Head in Chapel Street, is up for sale.  For some years now William and Veronica Morris have supplied several real ales for a number of years now, albeit featuring on the Pubmaster approved list which largely excludes local brews.  The asking price for the lease is £169,000.... The Gurnard's Head Hotel, at Treen on the north coast of the Penwith peninsula, has changed hands.  It has been bought by a small, Cornwall-based pub company.  The main obvious change is that it now opens all day on weekdays during the winter months, although 'might still close for an hour or two in the afternoon if quiet'.  The real ale continues to be one of Skinner's, normally Cornish Knocker..... Meanwhile, the Top House at The Lizard remains on the market, stubbornly refusing to move after several months on the for sale lists....  Whispers reach our lurking drinker-reporter Lizard that the Cross Keys on Church Road in Penryn is to suffer another change of licensee, the current one only having been there less than a year...  meanwhile, just along the road in Falmouth, the Good Beer Guide-listed Mason's Arms has just acquired a new landlord.  This tiny locals' pub in the town centre has boasted for some years of its 'traditional' values (true, if you discount the jukebox), so we'll have to keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn't get degraded.  Otherwise it's bye-bye GBG entry....

Mid-Cornwall

East Cornwall

Awaiting new reports.

North Cornwall

Awaiting new reports.

(Sources: CAMRA members, Packet Newspapers, the West Briton and allied publications, pub gossip, Scilly locals and Lizard's beer-stained notebook)

Pubs Diary

Welcome to our feature, the Cornish Pubs Diary. The idea is that anything to do with the promotion of real ale by our local landlords will warrant an entry here. Events will mostly take the form of beer festivals no doubt, but with a growing fund of experience in this field and their growing popularity, we feel that some central listing is useful - which also helps landlords to avoid clashes! Do let us know of any planned real ale events at your local boozer. For further details of pub festivals, go to our beer festival page.

Cornish Ale Guide On Sale

This is the definitive guide to real ale in Cornwall - and it is on sale now, with recent updates included.

Members of Cornwall CAMRA spent no less than 12 months researching every one (we hope) of the county's pubs, sampling the ale, and writing about it in order to bring you the most comprehensive guide to date. Every known real ale pub has been listed in standard Good Beer Guide format, and the ones which don't have any also get a mention, so that you don't have to waste time going through the door (and in the hope that they may change their policy in future).  AND we are not standing still.  Research is continuous, so every so often we can bring the listings up to date.

Because we are such a large county, the Guide has been divided into 5 geographical areas for convenience - north, east, mid-Cornwall, west, and Scilly. This keeps nearby pubs grouped together in the book and should make it easier to refer to. Street maps are provided for the bigger towns, and all of Cornwall's 13 breweries - including the newest on the Isles of Scilly - are listed with a description of the beers they produce.

Due to the lack of public transport in some areas, willing driving partners and the foot & mouth epidemic (one of our busiest researchers is a ministry vet!), as well as everyone being volunteers with other jobs to do, it took us longer than anticipated to get the thing published. However, the means are now in place to update it easily, and we are now able quickly to produce updated editions from time to time.

Want a copy? Of course you do. It is available by post to UK CAMRA members for £5.00 including the stamp (quote your membership number) or £5.61 to non-CAMRA members. Send cheques made payable to Cornwall CAMRA to editor Steve Willmott - see Contacts list for address details. Or we'll take €10.

One & Ale - the Cornwall CAMRA Newsletter

In common with the other branches of CAMRA, the Cornwall branch produces its own hard-copy newsletter, One & Ale. It appears about 5 times a year, at slightly irregular intervals because it may be timed to coincide with the major events such as the local beer festivals. It is aimed both at the branch membership, who are widely scattered around the county and each get a copy through the post, and non-members who may pick it up to read in selected pubs.

One & Ale contains news of breweries, brews and pubs in the county, as well as views and reports of pub crawls and the like written by the branch members. As a free publication, its only source of funding is its advertising income, which is of course to an extent dependent on how interesting the contents are. We are always looking for reports or articles from CAMRA members, and new contributors are especially welcome. Copy should be submitted to Steve Willmott, who is also the Editor and Distribution Manager (see Contacts page). If it is a word processor file and sent on a floppy disk, it's even more welcome!

Earlier 2004 editions of One & Ale On-line can be seen in our archive. Just click on the one you want to see:

 
January-February 2004 

The views expressed in these pages are of course those of the authors, and not necessarily of CAMRA Ltd or the Cornwall Branch of CAMRA.