In what may be an unprecedented surge in pub sales in the county, the number of pubs on the market climbed towards a staggering 50 or so at the end of May.  Normally you might expect to see 10 or perhaps 20 or so advertised across the county, but this rapid rise has, worryingly, begun to affect some old-established CAMRA favourites including some that have been in the Good Beer Guide for years.  Whether this is coincidental or whether the forthcoming smoking ban is worrying some landlords to the point of retirement is not clear, although quite a few of the pubs for sale have smoking licensees or seem dependent on a high number of regulars who partake of the weed while having a pint, so there would seem to be some link between the change in law and number of sales.  The number of pubs is too great to go into detail for each of them; suffice to say that the local CAMRA branch have had to make a number of last-minute changes to their listings for the 2008 Good Beer Guide as a result.  The known list of pubs as of the end of May appears below, although we don't claim it is a full list because some houses are advertised out of county only and we don't always get to hear of them; likewise, some have only just been listed as sold and therefore not included.  The main selling agents are Miller Commercial (MC) and Scott Burridge Chick (SBC).

(Sources: CAMRA members, Beer Today, Packet Newspapers, the West Briton and allied publications, pub gossip, Scilly locals and Lizard's beer-stained notebook.  And One & Ale!)

News of the Brews

The latest micro-brewery to join the Cornish line-up was the Coastal Brewery, based in Redruth.  Established by Alan Hinde before Christmas 2006, it was soon in production on the 5-barrel plant acquired from the former Firkin chain of brewpubs and the beers have become an instant success following one or two early production problems with the finings.  Mr Hinde has been brewing for 14 years, but further north in Crewe, Cheshire at the Good Beer Guide listed brewpub the Borough Arms, so he is no novice at the game.  His first trial brews, called Genesis and Genesis II, were a bit hoppy for local tastes, but dropping the hop rate just a little seems to have done the trick, and he now has a creditable portfolio of four or five regular brews plus a penchant for turning out seasonal ales as well.  Much of the beer is being sold back in his old home territory in Cheshire, although it is also to be seen in local pubs along the way as well - the Alexandra Inn, Penzance, the Star Inn at Crowlas, Seven Stars in Falmouth, the Blisland Inn and the Plymouth Inn, Okehampton have all been spotted selling Coastal ales of late.  Three of the brews are golden in colour and quite hoppy, these being Cascade (3.9% abv), Angelina (4.1%) and Golden Hinde (4.3%), although Handliner at 4.0% is described as malty and mid-brown, while Merry Maidens (4.0%) is a classic mild with a good chocolate malt flavour.  All the brews use only natural ingredients.

The Lizard Brewery, which started brewing just over two years ago, now has four regular brews in its portfolio.  A light quaffing ale called Helford River Bitter has a strength of 3.6% abv and is surprisingly tasty for its strength.  It was given its first outing at the Crown Inn, Crowntown to coincide with a CAMRA branch meeting there in March 2006.  The brewery has three other ales available in limited outlets in the Lizard area, although the number of pubs taking the beer is slowly expanding.  Kernow Gold and Lizard Bitter, both around 4%abv, were the first two brews. They were then accompanied by a third brew, a strong Cornish ale called An Gof (5.2%).  Named after the smith who led the 1497 rebellion, it is appropriately dark and smoky.  A further addition made its appearance during last summer, called Frenchman's Creek.  This replaced the Kernow Gold as a draught brew, but the latter is still available in bottle-conditioned form.

In Stithians, the tiny Bathtub Brewery ('nano-brewery' according to its head brewer) is now effectively out of action for the foreseeable future, as the Seven Stars pub which was its home has been sold to St Austell Brewery (see story above) and the brewing kit dismantled and put in storage.  Vague plans exist to produce Bathtub ales on other peoples' brewing plants, partly to see if increased volume improves consistency, and to this end agreement has been reached with the Driftwood Spars to use their equipment in St. Agnes.  Beyond that, brewer Peter Martin may be looking at acquiring a 5-barrel plant of his own, once premises and the kit have been identified, but that seems to be way down the line at present.

The Wooden Hand Brewery at Grampound Road goes from strength to strength, with four beers in their portfolio.  The most recent addition, called Cornish Buccaneer,  is a 4.3% abv brew.  The other three beers produced by ex-Redruth Brewery employees Kevin Frantham and Mel Hill are Cornish Mutiny (4.8%abv, their first brew), Smugglers' Gold, a lighter beer at 3.6%abv that has sold well in spite of limited fine weather; and Black Pearl (4.3%), not a dark beer as its name implies but a best bitter aimed at the likes of Doom Bar and Betty Stogs drinkers.  The brewery's premises, the original Ventonwyn Brewery site, was too cramped for everything that Kev and Mel want to do, so they recently acquired two other industrial units close by where they can store beer for maturing and bottling.

Sharp's Brewery has been going all out recently to cover its operation both within the county and beyond.  Sales are now being made all over the south-west, as far up as Swindon  so far.  The brewery recently installed 6 new fermenters, and were planning to have doubled plant capacity to 100 barrels by now, although reports suggest that further expansion has been put on hold for the moment.

Skinner's Brewery in Truro moved into keg lager to satisfy the demands of the surfing fraternity.  It is reportedly knocking sales of the 'nationals' such as Stella into a cocked hat in the pubs on the north coast.  Another addition to the real ale portfolio is Davy Jones Knocker at 5%abv, appearing in various pubs as a summer seasonal; the brewery is donating 5p for each pint sold towards training of beach lifeguards.  Meanwhile, another seasonal brew called Hunny Bunny (4.5% abv) is available at many pubs over the Easter holiday period.

St. Austell Brewery  Proper Job IPA, brewed as a 5.5%abv special for the Celtic Beer Festival in December 2005, looks like being available permanently on handpump in selected pubs, albeit at a reduced strength of 4.5%, and is said to be selling well. The original stronger version is still available in bottled form.  Meanwhile, brewing overall remains very healthy, with an 11% increase in annual sales recently announced which takes the total volume produced to 26,000 barrels.

Keltek Brewery has apparently started cask ale production again, with several of its range appearing at the Lizard 2000 beer festival in Helston including a new one called 'Pork Pie Stout', believed to be the one they have been making for Tesco to put in one of their pie products.  The range advertised includes King and Magick as well as several other brands, and the brewery is offering the beer for sale in firkins, pins etc as well as bottles. Since moving its 20-barrel plant to Redruth last October, however, Keltek ales have been noticeably absent from the pubs, although they have been producing brews for Jolly's-LWC since their Ring O'Bells operations in Launceston ceased last August. 

The Organic Brewhouse is still brewing steadily but suffered a slowdown over the winter months with operations just barely ticking over.  New sources of organic ingredients (malt and hops) have been identified which brewer Andy Hamer plans to use to widen the scope of his production of real ales.

The Driftwood Spars Brewery stopped dry-hopping its Cuckoo Ale, which has reportedly improved the flavour.  Blackawton Brewery in Saltash is continuing production of the beers developed before being sold 18 months or so ago, and the new proprietor/brewer Steve Horn has now developed a brew of his own - Peninsula Ale.  The Scorrier-based micro-brewery, Doghouse, has broken with its tradition of doggy-themed beer names with a brew celebrating the birth of railway engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.  It is called Brunel's Bridge Builder.  Finally, the small-scale Wheal Ale brewery based at Paradise Park in Hayle, which stopped brewing after around 20 years of operations behind the Bird In Hand pub, may be about to resurface according to local reports.

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.

(all events subject to confirmation - check if in doubt)

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!

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

January-February 2004 
March-April 2004 
May-June 2004 
July-August 2004 
September-October 2004 
November-December 2004 
January-February 2005 
March-April 2005 
May-June 2005 
July-August 2005 
September-October 2005 
November-December 2005 
Spring 2006 
Summer 2006 
Autumn 2006 
Winter 2006 

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.

Page updated 14 May 2007