Wadworth's The Beer Kitchen

Wadworth brewery last year launched their Beer Kitchen range: five intensely flavoured bottled-beers, hand-crafted in small batches, specifically created to compliment food. Wadworth have also opened a Cookery School, located behind the Visitor Centre at the brewery in Devizes, Wiltshire. The school serves as a kitchen of excellence to educate and develop the skills of chefs from Wadworth pubs and as a place for members of the public to take part in fun, informative cookery classes.

Having received an email from Teresa Dadey of Wadworth, kindly asking if I would care to try some samples from the Beer Kitchen range, I replied that I would be delighted to do so and would be happy to promote the products on my Blog, so here we go.

But first I must insert a caveat.

You won’t find me using phrases here such as “the wheat beer’s wild but enthused embracing of a goat’s cheese canapé”. I have no objections to promoting beer as an accompaniment to food in a review but I’m no sommelier and make no pretence to be. The images supplied by Wadworth are therefore not of the food I actually ate.

Now I’ve made that clear, let’s press on.

First up is the Wheat Beer, made with Saaz and Styrian Golding hops, Pilsner Lager Malt, Malted Wheat and Coriander. “A joy with delicate white fish or a light salad”, it states on the back of the label. I have it with tinned sardines and slid in tomato sauce for my essential Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, vine ripened tomatoes, reduced fat creamy coleslaw and wholemeal bread with low fat spread. The only problem is that I’m hot and dehydrated from jogging, the beers come in 330ml bottles and by the time I’ve quenched my thirst, even at 5.0% ABV, there’s only half of the liquid left to accompany the food.

330ml as a food compliment suggests contemplative sipping but I’m not called The Quaffer for nothing.

The tasting notes on the bottle state the Wheat Beer to be light and refreshing with a hint of spicy clove and tongue tingling citrus fizz. I’d wholly agree with that, adding banana on the nose. Light and refreshing it definitely was.

The traditional IPA is described as “pale golden in colour, high in alcohol (6.2%) and brewed with four hop varieties”. “A robust accompaniment to spicy or barbequed food” it states, so I line it up alongside my regular Saturday-night post-pub treat: Chicken Madras (specially made extra-hot) curry from my favourite takeaway just down the road. The tangerine notes and spicy hop bitterness of the beer proved to be an excellent match for the powerful but subtle flavours of the Madras, while the lingering dry bitter finish of the IPA cut through the hotness of the curry in a sharp and most satisfying way.

A pity, though, that I don’t have a few more bottles to hand, for I finish the beer long before the last grain of mushroom rice is forked up from the plate.

The Whisky Barrel Aged Premium Bitter is made from traditional Fuggles and Goldings hops, pale and crystal malts, and is aged is aged for two months in whisky barrels to develop its distinctive, smooth, bitter warmth from the spirit. “A heavenly companion to any cheese board”, it says on the label. That presents me with a bit of a problem as I make a point of avoiding dairy foods that are high in saturated fats. Fortunately, my local supermarket stocks an independent brand of strong cheddar with less than 2.0% saturated fat content.

I place thick slices of this cheddar atop Scandinavian-style high-fibre crispbreads, separated by a thin layer of low-fat spread and I’m now ready to remove the bottle top. Smoked vanilla wooden notes and whisky aromas emerge and the taste is as rich, dark and nutty as the label description claims it to be. But I would definitely add toffee and caramel to that. And at 5.8% this does prove to be a very pleasing companion to the healthy cheese and crackers snack on my plate.

Made with Fuggles hops, pale, chocolate and crystal malts, Kenyan Nyeri coffee beans and muscavado sugar, the Espresso Stout at 5.5% is said to be “perfection with a chocolate or toffee dessert, or enjoy as you would a coffee”. I don’t eat chocolates or desserts, so I take the latter advice. For me, the “smooth sweet finish” rather overpowers the “sumptuous bitter coffee flavour”. Perhaps that is because I am used to more aggressively bitter Espresso Stouts and richer roasted, full-bodied coffees. But I can see exactly why this stout could be sipped in blissful contemplation while nibbling on squares of chocolate.

I didn’t receive a sample of the fifth beer in the range, Orange Peel Beer, so I’ll simply state the product description: “rich, golden and full bodied with tangy orange and caramel sweet flavours, and aromas of citrus, melon and spice - a superb complement to rich dishes such as game, or to savour on its own”.

I’d be very happy to recommend these beers to the section of the market at whom the product is presumably aimed. In sociological terms I see this section as an emergent middle-class set of consumers where status distinctions based on cultural capital are obtained in this culinary context from matching small-batch beers with what might be termed (without any intended pejorative connotations on my part) gourmet or gastro food.

But would I purchase these beers for myself? I’d certainly like to try the IPA and the Whisky Barrel Bitter once again and if the range was locally obtainable in an off-licence or supermarket, I’ll probably be tempted to sample all five; but as far as I can ascertain, Wadworth is the only direct supplier. And if I was to buy any of these on a regular basis, I’d want them in 500ml bottles to go with my large, honest portions of plain (and healthy) fare. As I said, I’m no sommelier - but these are good beers.

http://www.wadworthbeerkitchen.co.uk/

Truman’s Returns Home - Hackney site for new brewery

Truman’s – the small brewer with the big name – is coming home to East London.

Twenty-three years after the famous Truman’s Brewery on Brick Lane closed, the New Truman’s Brewery is opening in Hackney Wick, East London. The first Truman’s beers brewed at the new site are expected to hit London pubs early in 2013.

Founded in 1666, Truman’s was the beer of East London for more than 300 years. Re-founded in 2010 by two beer-lovers (pictured), it has been brewed elsewhere while a suitable new home was found. Its flagship beer – Truman’s Runner – is currently available in more than 150 pubs across London.

James Morgan, one of the founders of the New Truman’s Brewery, commented: “We are delighted to be bringing 346 years of brewing heritage back to the local community. This is the biggest brewing investment in East London in several decades. The site is in Hackney Wick, one of the most exciting areas in London. You can see the Olympic Stadium from the front door”.

Initial investment has been secured and the company’s ‘Truman’s Eagle’ scheme closes at the end of the year. The official opening of the New Truman’s Brewery is planned for the spring.

Michael-George Hemus, who re-launched the new brewery alongside James, added: “It all seemed a bit daunting when we set out to bring Truman’s back to East London. But we have had great support from the East London community, with a number of local people investing directly in the project via our ‘Truman’s Eagle’ scheme. We want to make the Truman’s name great again – and we are only just getting started.”

Vintage Ale Rediscovered: Forgotten beer back on sale after 35 years!

Now here’s a wonderful story that has everything: mystery, history, sentiment, a happy ending, a superb bottle of beer and a suggestion for a Christmas present!

A vintage ale which lay forgotten for thirty-five years, and was only rediscovered after a bottle of the brew exploded, went on sale nationwide in the UK yesterday, 22nd November 2012, exclusively at Aldi supermarkets, available until stocks last. The Bateman’s Vintage Ale (£3.29; 500ml) is based on a 1976 vintage bottle of Bateman’s BBB which was brewed for over fifty years at the family-run and owned brewery in Wainfleet near Skegness, Lincolnshire.

Thirty-five years ago, the Bateman family made the decision to stop brewing and bottling their barley wine, BBB, to concentrate on draught ale. At the end of the last bottling run George Bateman, the then Managing Director took the last four cases with the intention of opening them in four years to toast what would then be his eldest son Stuart’s twenty-first birthday.

Over time, though, the bottles were forgotten and it was not until just over a year ago that the stash of ale came to light when a bottle blew-up of its own accord. As the head draftsman cleared up the mess and dragged the remaining bottles out from where they had been hidden for thirty-five years, Stuart, now in his 50s and Managing Director of Bateman’s, discovered the treat his dad had saved for him decades before.

Upon opening one of the bottles, Stuart, who had presumed the contents would be spoiled, was astounded to find the beer clean, bright and brilliantly drinkable. Both Stuart and the Bateman’s Master Brewer decided that the flavour was so great that they wanted to recreate the beer for more than just the family to enjoy. Over the course of six months, Stuart and the master brewer matched the flavours perfectly using old brew records and multiple tasting sessions. Then, seven months ago, the current vintage was put into conditioning in oak casks for a distinctive character, thereby creating a limited release of the Bateman’s Vintage Ale.

Stuart recalls that “when we found the ale I was incredibly touched by the sentiment of my dad all those years ago. Looking at the bottles though, I didn’t hold out much hope of anything other than vinegar! But once we’d managed to remove the rusty crown cap and poured the ale into a glass I was surprised to see it was clean and clear.

Sipping it down, the taste was out of this world - malty, beery with a wonderful taste of port, brandy, wine and almonds. Having worked in this industry for more than thirty years I would still say it is the best beer I’ve ever tasted. And that’s why we’ve chosen to recreate the ale this Christmas so that hundreds of others can taste this amazing piece of history. I’ll be enjoying mine with some Christmas pudding.”

The ale, which has been made from a single variety of hops grown in Kent, is described as “full flavoured with notes of plum pudding and sherry mixed with rich fruits” and reminiscent of beers fashionable in the Dickensian era. Tony Baines, MD Buying at Aldi comments: “Aldi has had a strong working relationship with Bateman’s for eight years now and when Stuart approached us to sell this ale on an exclusive basis we knew it was something our customers would enjoy. The beer is like nothing else on the market with its incredible taste of Christmas - and has a wonderful story behind it too.”

WJ King brings an old favourite back to life - Kings Festive

Award-winning microbrewery WJ King is bringing back the taste of a bygone era with the launch of Kings Festive. The inspiration comes from Festive Ale that was originally brewed by King & Barnes to celebrate the Festival of Britain in 1951. Kings Festive (4.7% ABV) will be available from mid-November in pubs all across the South East of England to be enjoyed again.

Kings Festive is a traditional English Premium Ale. This full bodied ale with distinct vinous fruit flavours reminiscent of plump raisins and currants will be a welcome sight on the bar as it was so sadly missed. It has a deep red copper colour with a fine creamy head. There is a deliciously rich smooth mouthfeel and some great lacing on the glass.

Marketing Director Orla Lambe commented: “the original Festive Ale is probably the beer most talked about when customers visit our brewery when they reminisce about bygone days and I believe this new Kings Festive will be a very welcome sight on the bar from loyal fans of WJ King and equally a great beer for newcomers to the ale market.”

Ian Burgess, Head Brewer said “this is a classic English ale with mild-tempered bitterness using only the finest of local hops and malt. We are very pleased with the result of a retake on an old favourite.”

WJ King is based in Horsham, West Sussex, producing beers that are available in over 450 pubs in the south east of the UK, as well as nationally through website sales at http://kingbeer.co.uk/                                                                 

The New Inn, Ridgewood, Uckfield, East Sussex

Ridgewood is a village just south of Uckfield and this four-square building stands on the Lewes Road. Now housing the Ridgewood Care Services, there are no prizes for spotting that this was at some previous point the New Inn. What has long puzzled me is what seems to be brewery livery in the two roundels flanking the front elevation. Several times I’ve passed the place on the bus and never managed to make out the lettering; but in July of last year I finally walked the distance back from a drink at the Alma, Uckfield to take these photographs.

The left-side roundel is by far the best preserved of the two and the letters can be identified, quite clearly, as a B, T and a C (although not necessarily in that order). Even that did not immediately clarify matters as none of the obvious candidates for defunct local breweries seemed to fit any combination of those letters. It was in the records of the now-defunct Tamplins Brewery, Brighton, that I eventually found mention of the New Inn, Ridgewood Common, Uckfield. It had been owned by the Southdowns and East Grinstead Brewery from 1898 until 1920, when brewery and pub were acquired by Tamplins.

So that presumably clears up the mystery. This New Inn and that listed in the Tamplins records are one and the same, the roundels date from 1920 onwards (that does look like interwar brickwork fronting a much older building) and the letters stand for Tamplins Brewery (or Brewing) Company. Except that I’ve seen hundreds of ex-Tamplins houses and never a roundel like this. And Tamplins were formally known at the time as Tamplin & Sons Ltd. Why TBC?

The Crown & Anchor, Brighton - Once a House of Repute in Sussex

This plainer of the two adverts on this Blog appears in the Kemp Town Brewery publication of c. 1932, “Houses” of Repute in Sussex; also on p. 22 is the following passage on the hotel:

“Farther along Preston Road the Crown & Anchor represents the rebuilding of a house established as long ago as 1711. Its predecessor must, therefore, have ranked as an inn of some importance by reason of its situation on the main London road, when Brighton began its development as the world’s first seaside resort. It is a name that smacks of the sea, and its sign treats the old device of the crown and anchor in original modern fashion. The house is most conveniently placed for Preston Park, with its charming gardens and recreation facilities, and by its long establishment is one of the best known and certainly one of the favourite houses in Brighton”.

The original inn was of some importance; it was there on Sunday 14th August 1831 that the inquest was held into the death of one Celia Holloway. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against her husband, John Holloway. His lover and possible accomplice, Ann Kennett, was remanded for further questioning. The case against Holloway was compelling. Celia was killed and dismembered at a house in the North Steine. Some of her remains were then transported in a wheelbarrow by the accused couple to a copse in Lovers Walk, not far from the Crown & Anchor, and buried in a shallow grave. Holloway was hanged at Horsham Gaol on Friday 21st December 1831; Kennett was subsequently discharged.

The recovered portions of Celia were interred at St John’s Church, Preston. A plaque in the churchyard wall marks the spot.

The older, ornate advertisement appears in the 1901 Towners’ Directory of Brighton. It tells us of the hotel that it had an assembly room to seat three hundred; that it was the headquarters of Brighton Rugby Football Club; and that it boasted hot and cold baths. The Simmons catalogues of licensing records at Brighton History Centre suggest that the G. Short of the advert was the George Short who had held the pub since 1884 and that he may have died by 1908 as his wife is given as sole licensee for that year. Also interesting is that no license for the property is given prior to 1874. Perhaps the hotel was rebuilt about that time. Its present appearance is consistent with that period of public house architecture.

The Crown & Anchor was acquired by the Kemp Town Brewery in the 1920s from local rivals Smithers and Sons Ltd. (That latter brewery’s name is just visible, etched in the hotel’s windows of the 1901 advert.) Although the premises must have been internally altered at some point, there are no architect’s plans in the East Sussex Record Office and the hotel is not one of the brewery’s ‘improved’ public houses.

The Kemp Town Brewery’s past domination of this part of Brighton is quite remarkable. Starting at the Crown & Anchor, it would have been possible to complete a KTB pub crawl of quite staggering proportions without having to venture south of Preston Circus. But I will leave that as the topic of a future Blog.

Just Another Saturday Night: Sussex 1960, A Folk Music Scene? (Final Part)

From trans-local to virtual scene

Although their exact impact is difficult to assess, the three most influential (and interconnected) factors opening up traditional Sussex singers to a trans-local audience were the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), the EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society), and Topic Records. We opened this chapter with Brian Matthews’s field-recordings of traditional singers in Sussex pubs. But we have cast Matthews merely as a generational representative: others were collecting in Sussex and surrounding counties during that period and even by the time that Matthews began his quest, traditional Sussex singer Bob Copper had for three years been part of a team working for the BBC in a country-wide folksong collecting campaign (Copper 1973). This material formed the basis of a 1952-1958 BBC Home Service radio series “As I Roved Out”, and Copper presented the programme on the occasions when it was broadcast from his Central Club, Peacehaven.

The EFDSS was formed in 1932 from a merger of the English Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dance Society, while the origins of these two parent bodies lie around the turn of the 20th century, before the availability of modern recording techniques, in a number of pioneering ‘pen and ink’ folksong collectors led by Cecil Sharp and the famous composer Ralph Vaughan-Williams. Our link with the EFDSS is their sponsoring of “As I Roved Out”. As this radio series began to raise the profile of traditional folksong, both Scan Tester and ‘Pop’ Maynard performed solo at the Society’s annual festival, following an earlier appearance in 1952 by the Copper family. Sound recordings of Maynard and others reside in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, the national archive for folk music, dance and song, while long playing records were also released by the EFDSS. Two particularly noteworthy ones on which Sussex singers appear are LP1002 ‘Traditional Folk Songs from Rottingdean’, Bob and Ron Copper, 1963; and LP1008 ‘All Jolly Fellows’, George Belton, 1967 (EFDSS Website 2009).

Topic Records was first formed in 1939 with politically-radical roots in the Workers Music Association. Our particular concern for the purpose of this chapter is the long playing records released on this London-based label during the 1970s which contain earlier recorded tracks from traditional Sussex singers. The most important of these are 12T235 ‘Blackberry Fold’, George Spicer, 1974: 12T286 ‘Ye Subjects of England’, George ‘Pop’ Maynard, 1976, and three more featuring various artists. These are 12T254 ‘When Sheepshearing’s Done’, 1975: 12TS285 ‘Green Grow the Laurels: Country Singers from the South’ 1976; and 12T317 ‘Songs and Southern Breezes’, 1977. The last of these is by far the most interesting as the material was originally recorded by Bob Copper while working for the BBC from 1954-1957 in the aforementioned folksong collection campaign, which found its outlet in “As I Roved Out” (Topic Records Website 2009).

The development of what might be conceptualised as a trans-local interest in traditional Sussex folksingers is complex and uneven. Firstly, it is clear that the first stirrings of the folk revival in the 1950s gave rise to a national concern with and interest in the collecting of traditional folksong. This not only preceded the development of a fully-fledged local scene but could be argued to have provided the catalyst for it. This ordering is not perverse for as Peterson and Bennett (2004) point out, even global media messages can provide the basis for local scene formation. Thus the field recordings of, for example, Bob Copper opened up audience outlets to otherwise obscure Sussex singers of the older generation such as George Attrill, Noah Gillette and Harold ‘Jim’ Swain, at a time when others, such as George ‘Pop’ Maynard were already relatively well-known.

Secondly, the subsequent release of long playing records containing tracks by such traditional Sussex source singers must have impacted beyond the confines of what had by then been a well-established if not already dissipating local scene, although without specific knowledge of distribution outlets and sales figures, any such influence is hard to determine. Thirdly, and ironically, even approaching the millennium, many of this older generation of traditional singers, despite having been recorded, remained not only unheard beyond the local area of interest but even perhaps outside of their specific bounded community. To understand how this situation was rectified we must conclude with the construction of a virtual scene, defined by Peterson and Bennett (2004) as involving electronic net-mediated communication between geographically dispersed people via a listserv, chat-room or, in our case, web page facilitating the online trading of images, information and artefacts.

The field recordings of Brian Matthews lay unreleased and virtually forgotten for some forty years, until Steve Pennells, a fellow collector of that era, made know their existence to Musical Traditions. MT as we shall refer to it, originated in 1983 as a privately-produced paper magazine with a print run of around a thousand copies. Although produced, edited and distributed in Britain its concern was with most aspects of traditional music and the content could accurately be described as global in scope. Having folded in 1994 due to financial problems, it was resurrected two years later as an Internet-based magazine. All thirteen issues of the paper magazine can be accessed on the site, along with 1300 sound clips, over 2500 photos, the complete Topic Records discography and an extensive directory of links. The site now receives over a million visitors a year who in 2008 between them downloaded 2.3 million separate pages. The entire site is also available on two CD-ROM volumes (MT Website 2009).

Since its inception, MT had been producing its own cassettes of music not otherwise available via the usual commercial channels. By June 1998 it had published its first CD and in 2000 followed MTCD304 ‘Come Hand to Me the Glass’, featuring Sussex traditional singer George Townshend, using recordings made by Brian Matthews. MTCD309-10 - the inspiration for this chapter - came out later the same year, while all of Matthews’s recordings of George ‘Pop’ Maynard are now available on MTCD400-1 ‘Down the Cherry Tree’. It was through his fame as a player of marbles that I first became interested in Maynard, but a Google internet search soon brought me to the MT website and led to my purchase of the CD that gives this chapter its title. So in conclusion it is by virtue of a virtual scene that a CD recording of the spontaneous singing of traditional folk song by a farmhand long-dead, much of whose life was spent in rural Sussex, could be heard in an academic conference in Vienna, in the new millennium.

Sources for whole article

Books

Bennett, Clive (2002), Sussex Folk: The Folk Song Revival In Sussex, Bakewell: Country Books.

Clarke, John and Critcher, Chas (eds.) (1979) Working-Class Culture: Studies in History and Theory, London: Hutchingson.

Copper, Bob (1973) Songs & Southern Breezes: Country Folk & Country Ways, London: Heinemann.

Hall, Stuart and Jefferson, Tony (eds.) (1976) Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain, London: Hutchingson.

Harker, Dave (1985) Fakesong: The Manufacture of British ‘Folksong 1700 to the Present Day, Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Muggleton, David (2011) Just another Saturday Night: Sussex 1960 – eine Folkmusikszene? In ‘They Say I’m Different’: Popularmusik, Szenen und ihre Akteruinnen (Edited by W. Fichna and R. Reitsamer), pp. 21-36. Wien: Löcker Verlag.

Musical Traditions Records (2000), Just Another Saturday Night, Sussex 1960: Songs From Country Pubs, Liner notes accompanying Double Compact Disc MTCD309-10, Stroud: Musical Traditions.

Peterson, Richard A. and Bennett, Andy (2004), ‘Introducing Music Scenes’, in Andy Bennett and Richard A. Peterson (eds.) Music Scenes: Local, Translocal and Virtual, pp. 1-15, Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

Sinfield, Alan (1989), Literature, Politics and Culture in Post-War Britain

Thornton, Sarah (1995) Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital, Cambridge: Polity.

Williams, Raymond (1977), Marxism and Literature, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Websites

EFDSS – English Folkdance and Song Society, http://www.efdss.org/history.html, (accessed December 2009)

Musical Traditions, http://www.mustrad.org.uk/, (accessed December 2009)

Topic Records, http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/, (accessed December 2009)