19th South Downs Real Ale & Cider Festival, 19th-20th June

Organised and run by the Brighton & South Downs Branch of CAMRA, the 19th South Downs Real Ale & Cider Festival will take place at the usual venue, Lewes Town Hall, on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th June 2015. There will be around 90 cask beers for you to sample, along with a range of bottled beers, ciders and perry. Non alcoholic drinks will also be available, along with a range of hot food and snacks, including vegetarian options supplied by local firm Circa Events. The festival will as usual be music free.

All sessions will be admission by ticket only. Tickets will be on sale from 1 May at the Gardener’s Arms, Harveys Brewery Shop and the Brewers Arms, Lewes, and the Evening Star, Brighton. 

Alternatively, please apply by post to: South Downs Beer Festival Tickets, 139 Elm Grove, Brighton, BN2 3ES, stating session required and enclosing a SAE and cheque, payable to “South Downs Beer & Cider Festival”.

The ticket prices are:

Friday 19th June 11.00 - 15.00 £4.00

Friday 19th June 17.00 - 22.30 £6.50

Saturday 20th June 11.00 - 18.00* £5.00

*or until the beer runs out.

Customers will receive a free festival glass very kindly sponsored by Harveys Brewery, and a programme with tasting notes. The festival always receives a great deal of support from Harveys Brewery. This year they are celebrating their 225th anniversary and this will be reflected on the glass and by a special brew! In addition, CAMRA members will receive £2.00 in beer tokens per session on production of their membership card. We have plans for one-off brews and ‘first available’ beers at this event.

This year’s charity is SERV Sussex (Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers), who provide nighttime transportation of blood, blood products and other urgent medical items for NHS hospitals across Sussex. Please give generously.

The venue - Lewes Town Hall, Fisher Street entrance, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2Q5 - is easy to find. From the railway station turn right, climb the hill to the traffic lights, cross over and it is on the right. The town boasts a number of excellent pubs that are well worth seeking out if you have the time, or indeed the capacity.

The local CAMRA branch website is http://www.brightoncamra.org.uk

Science of Beer, The Observatory Science Centre at Herstmonceux, 20th June

This Blog would like to draw your attention to a unique place in Sussex to enjoy some real ale and a homemade curry on a lovely summer’s evening - The Observatory Science Centre at Herstmonceux, Saturday 20th June from 7.30pm-midnight.

In 1990 The Royal Greenwich Observatory closed its doors at Herstmonceux and moved to Cambridge, leaving the historic telescopes behind. Five years later the Equatorial Group came back to life as The Observatory Science Centre, under the aegis of Science Projects. An extensive programme of repair and upgrading of the buildings and telescopes was completed in 2004 with the aid of a substantial grant from the National Heritage Lottery Fund. It is now a Grade II* listed monument. Along side the historic telescopes there are over 100 interactive hands-on exhibits and exhibitions all available on our Science of Beer evening.

This Science of Beer evening is for adults only and will combine a fascinating talk with some fabulous fun demonstrations all about the process of brewing beer with the chance to sample some local brew! All this plus a curry AND a voucher to sample a free beer of your choice (soft drinks and wine are also available). Vegetarian options are available but we are unable to offer alternatives to the curry.

If the weather is good then there will also be an opportunity to look through the Centre's fantastic historic telescopes at some fascinating night sky objects including VENUS, JUPITER and even SATURN! There will be an opportunity to buy other beers from the brewers but please bring cash with you as credit card transactions will not be available.

Numbers are limited to 80, so book early to secure your place. NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN

The Observatory Science Centre

Wartling Road
Herstmonceux
East Sussex
BN27 1RN
Location Co-ordinates: 50.868585, 0.348961
Tel: 01323 832731
Fax: 01323 832741

http://www.the-observatory.org/

Crawley Beer & Cider Festival, 5th-7th June

Crawley Beer & Cider Festival

5th - 7th June

Crawley Civic Hall

THE BOULEVARD, CRAWLEY. RH10 1UZ

Fri  05 June 5.00 pm - 11.00 pm £6 entry

Sat 06 June 11.00 am - 11.00 pm £7 entry

Sun 07 June 11.00 am - 3.00 pm Free entry

Tickets will be available on the door

Sorry no under 18s can be admitted, proof of age / I.D may be required

40+ beers , 10 ciders and perries plus more!

£1 entry discount for CAMRA members

Beers from just £3.00 per pint!

More info at http://www.thecrownturnershill.co.uk

Dear CAMRA friends

Please tell your branch members about this year's Crawley Beer Festival in our exciting new venue with a discount for CAMRA members! Perks for volunteer staff are even better with free beer and food on offer! We aim to have tokens instead of cash. Most beers will be from local microbreweries and cider farms and will be available free to workers.

I have some exciting news! We are moving from Three Bridges FC to Crawley Civic Hall, The Boulevard, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1UZ, next to the Town Hall and easily reached by train (Crawley station) and bus. We will have an outside marquee and hot food. We will not have music in the evening but hope that Brighton Road and their friends can play for us again on Saturday afternoon.

Gary Lucas is busy running events at his Kissingate Brewery so I will be joined this year by Phil Shoebridge, landlord at the Crown Inn, Turners Hill. Rest assured that we will have the excellent Kissingate beers on sale as well as all the eight local brewery beers and many favourites as well as ciders and perries.

We will again be advertising in Sussex Drinker and offering a discount on entry to CAMRA members. £2 off entry vouchers will also be available at the Crown, Turners Hill and Beer Essentials, Horsham. Both of these are worth stopping at to enjoy a pint or two!

The opening times will be:

Thu 04 June 17.00 – 20.00 (-ish for set up only)
Fri 05   June 17.00 – 23.00 (open to all)
Sat 06  June 11.00 – 17.00 and 17.00 – 23.00 (All one session as per last year but staff choose afternoon or eve)
Sun 07 June 11.00 – 15.00 (free entry)

Once again, we would be glad to welcome you and would very much appreciate any help and assistance whether it be setting up, serving at the bar or front desk or taking down, either from yourselves or friends. We would welcome any suggestions as to how we can improve on last year, especially with regard to staffing. In return for your valued help, we will offer free beer to drink (so long as you can stand up!) and take away with you and also free hot food to staff. We will have a staff room for breaks.

Please let us know if you may be able to kindly help again this year or know of anyone who might like to help and, if not, we hope to see you on the other side of the bar! This is going to be the best ever Crawley Beer & Cider festival!

Best regards

Nigel Bullen (North Sussex CAMRA member, mobile: 07791 872289, email: nigel_bullen@hotmail.com) and Phil Shoebridge.

The Watchmaker's Arms, Hove

I avoid making a habit of hanging around outside pubs waiting for them to open, but I had taken an early train and arrived at my destination, the Watchmaker’s Arms, well ahead of schedule. Still, it leaves me with time enough to take a photo or two and salivate at the sight of the chalk board on display advertising the day’s ales. And I suppose it is some kind of accolade to be Brighton and Hove’s first micro pub’s first ever lunchtime customer.

The two couples behind the venture, Dave and Ali White and Rick and Ruth Evans, had originally planned to open a micro pub in Richardson Road, Hove, at the former York House Wines off-licence. That those plans did not come to fruition can now be seen as a blessing in disguise because the Watchmaker’s Arms is situated in a much more convenient location, a busy commercial parade just a hundred yards south of Hove railway station. 

I check my watch – just past 12noon – and hear the turn of the lock behind me. I enter a light and airy interior to receive a warm and friendly greeting. Five beers are on gravity dispense from a cool room behind the bar, prices from £3.60-£4.00 depending on strength. I begin with Top Notch Hop Festival followed by Naked Streaker, both in excellent condition. Still to come over the next days are offerings from Hurst, Brighton Bier, Downlands, Kissingate, Ilkley, Bristol Beer Factory and, all the way from Salford, a cask from First Chop Brewing Arm. 

For those who like real cider, there are three from Wobblegate. Buy a Growler for £2.50 and take some beer and cider home with you. Wine is also available. The pub is dog-friendly - the pooch-in-residence is called Muffin. And the pub gets its own name from the fact that it occupies premises that, a very, very long time ago, was a watchmaker’s.

The Watchmaker’s Arms, 84 Goldstone Villas, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 3RU, 01273 776307, thewatchmakersarms@gmail.com / www.facebook.com/thewatchmakersarms

Opening hours: Tue-Thur 12noon-2pm, 5-9pm; Fri 12noon-2pm, 5-11pm; Sat 12noon-11pm; Sun 12noon-3pm

Yapton Beerex, 15th-17th May

There is a fortnight to go until the Yapton Beerex, the annual festival of the Western Sussex Branch of CAMRA. It will take place from Friday 15th May to Sunday 17th May in Yapton Village Hall, situated on the B2233, 1.6 miles south east of Barnham railway station where all trains stop. The nearest bus stop is for the Stagecoach 700 service, 200 yards across the green at Sparks Corner.

It is planned to have 65 beers from small, independent breweries. There will be plenty of specially selected golden, hoppy beers, as well as beers from the north of England, while the festival this year will be featuring new Sussex breweries. There will also be a range of bottled beers, both British and imported, and a lot more ciders and perries. 

The usual refreshments of filled rolls, burgers and hot dogs will be available.

Opening hours are:

Friday: 6pm to 11pm

Saturday: 11am to 5pm, 7pm to 11pm

Sunday: 12pm to 3pm

The Saturday evening session will feature music from the Selham Ramblers. Admission to this session is £4 (Sunday remains free; other sessions are still £5).

There are no advance tickets for Sundays - just turn up: entry will be free and there should be at least 25 beers still on. Tickets will be available on the door for all sessions, but the Saturday lunchtime session is usually sold out, so the advance purchase of tickets is advised for this session. In the event of fine weather on this session, however, many customers sit on the grass outside; hence more people can be admitted at the door.

To book, please send an SAE and a cheque payable to Western Sussex CAMRA to Western Sussex CAMRA, 22 Kingsmead Road, Middleton on Sea, PO22 6NG. (No personal callers please.) Don’t forget to say which sessions you want tickets for! You can also buy tickets over the bar at the Selden Arms and the Brooksteed Ale House, Worthing; the Bull, Chichester, and the Maypole Inn, Yapton.

A vintage bus service runs from Barnham to Yapton Village Hall during the Saturday lunchtime session; the bus will depart from outside the Murrell Arms (turn right out of the station and walk under the railway bridge on the right - approximately 300 yards). If the weather is considered suitable, the bus will be an open-topper.

Please note: there will be a small charge in both directions for a seat on the vintage bus (accompanied children go free). Seats are allocated strictly on a first-come-first-served basis, and possession of a Beerex admission ticket does not guarantee a seat on any bus. Approximate departure times from Barnham station are: 10.25, 10.55, 11.25, 11.55, 12.25 and 12.55. The return timetable will be on display at the festival.

A map can be found on the Western Sussex Branch website http://www.westernsussexcamra.org.uk/yapton-beerex-2015