News

Beer Festival stays put

Planning for the 2017 Lincoln Beer Festival started last October. And I’m pleased to report that we have lots of local CAMRA members keen to get involved in organising this major event.

One of the first issues we discussed was where to hold the festival. At popular times, customers usually have to queue to get in to the Drill Hall. To ensure the comfort and safety of everyone there, we are not allowed to have more than 500 customers in the venue at any one time. So, once we hit that limit, it’s “one out, one in”. Continue reading “Beer Festival stays put”

Pubs and wellbeing

No doubt there are plenty of Echo readers who are taking part in Dry January. I hope they raise lots of money for their chosen charities and feel better for doing it. However, you may not be surprised to learn that I’m not joining in.

While most studies warn of the health risks of alcohol consumption, new research published in the journal “Adaptive Human Behaviour and Physiology” shows that moderate alcohol consumption with friends at a local pub may be linked to improved wellbeing. Researchers at the University of Oxford have looked at whether having a drink may play a role in improving social cohesion, given its long association with human social activities. Continue reading “Pubs and wellbeing”

HOPS

Hops – they are one of the key ingredients of beer. And I can’t believe that I haven’t written about them before.

Beer is one of the oldest prepared drinks, dating back thousands of years to when humans first started cultivating cereals. Over the centuries, the biscuity-sweet drink produced by fermenting the dissolved sugars derived from grains has had numerous flavourings added. A wide variety of herbs, flowers and fruits have been used, including dandelion, marigold, heather and dates. Continue reading “HOPS”

A Fishy Business

When it comes to beer, the received wisdom in this country is that crystal clear is good but cloudy is bad. I’ve seen plenty of drinkers hold their pint up to the light and take it back to the bar if it’s a bit hazy.
There are plenty of excellent beers in Belgium and Germany that are intended to be cloudy. So when did our obsession with clarity begin, and what has a fish product to do with it? Continue reading “A Fishy Business”

Have Your Say & Help Choose 2017 Champion Beer of Britain:

 

CAMRA’s Supreme Champion Beer of Britain 2016 Binghams’ Vanilla Stout, brewed in Berkshire, was named Supreme Champion Beer of Britain at this year’s Great British Beer Festival. Chris Bingham is delighted with the interest the award has attracted, saying: ‘The Gold award in Supreme Champion Beer of Britain 2016 means a huge amount to Binghams Brewery and has created a surge of interest in Vanilla Stout and our other beers from not only the public at our brewery shop but also pubs and wholesalers.’

 

Now to 2017…Now that we have crowned this year’s Champion Beers it’s time for you to consider the beers you want to nominate for the next Champion Beer of Britain (CBoB) competition.

All CAMRA members have the chance to nominate beers from their local area via the CBoB voting website. This means that beers from all parts of the country have an equal chance to be nominated.

You can nominate up to five beers in each of the eleven categories to be put forward for the CBoB competition, but if you only want to nominate beers in one category, or even just one beer, that’s fine. The more votes we get, the better the results will be.

You do not have to nominate all the beers in one go. You can alter your selections anytime up to the deadline on 1st November.

Not all beers are eligible for CBoB; mainstream beer styles like Bitters, Best Bitters, Strong Bitters & Golden Ales have to be available for at least 7 months of the year. Other beer styles have to be available for a lesser period depending on the rarity and seasonality of the beer style.

Initial nominations for CBoB are made at a local level so only beers that are produced in the area near you (based on your registered address) will be available for nomination. We realise that some of you will drink beers from a wider area, but many members find very long lists of beers with which they are unfamiliar very off-putting.

Continue reading “Have Your Say & Help Choose 2017 Champion Beer of Britain:”

Bar Billiards

The Joiners Arms nestles among the hillside terraced houses on Victoria Street, off West Parade. From the outside, it is fairly unremarkable. But inside, there is a feature that is unique among Lincoln pubs.

Tucked into one corner is what looks like a small pool table. On closer inspection, you see that there are no side or corner pockets. Instead, there are nine holes in the playing surface itself. No, it’s not an ancient version of the seaside arcade game where a furry rodent pops up through a hole and you have to bash it with a mallet. It’s bar billiards. Continue reading “Bar Billiards”

Except where otherwise indicated, all content © 1971 - 2026 The Campaign for Real Ale. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information on this site is accurate and up to date, no responsibility for errors and omissions can be accepted. The views expressed on this site are not necessarily those of the Campaign for Real Ale Ltd. Links to external sites do not imply any official CAMRA endorsement of the ideas expressed therein, or guarantee the validity of the information provided. Links to commercial sites are in no way an endorsement of any vendor’s products or services.