News

The day that changed Lizzie’s life

I recently spent some time at the Horncastle Ales microbrewery. And I have to say that I’ve never met anyone who’s more enthusiastic about beer and brewing than head brewer, Lizzie Clarke.

Lizzie’s mum and dad, Ross and Sally Ellis, bought Old Nick’s Tavern in Horncastle in 2005, so you might assume that beer was in her blood. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, her conversion to ale enthusiast was very much a “road to Damascus” affair. Continue reading “The day that changed Lizzie’s life”

Dambusters Inn is Lincoln CAMRA Pub of the Year

The Dambusters Inn at Scampton has been named as the Lincoln CAMRA Branch Pub of the Year for 2016.

The competition was divided into two categories, with CAMRA members voting for their favourite city pub and their favourite from the villages in the Branch area. Four judges then visited the top three pubs in each category to assess the quality of the beer, the atmosphere, service and community focus.

The Dambusters reflects the two great passions of landlord, Greg Algar – real ale and RAF wartime history. The pub is crammed with RAF memorabilia, and an entire wall is dedicated to the men of 617 “Dambusters” Squadron. But this is no a sterile museum; it is very much a thriving community local with real ale at its heart. Greg has installed a microbrewery in an outbuilding, and his beers are served alongside ales from small breweries across the UK.

The runner-up and Lincoln CAMRA City Pub of the Year is the Dog and Bone on John Street. The other city pubs in the final were the Strugglers Inn and the Golden Eagle. The Butcher and Beast in Heighington and the Three Horseshoes in Waddington were the other country finalists.

Lincoln CAMRA chairman, Aaron Joyce, said, “Since taking over, Greg has worked tirelessly to develop the pub. And that hard work is really paying off. Last year, the Dambusters was our Country Pub of the Year and, now, it’s taken our top award.”

The Dambusters now goes forward to the Lincolnshire round of the competition, where it will be up against the winners from the Gainsborough, Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Louth, Grantham and Fenland branches.

Is beer the best drink with food?

There was an interesting exchange in the “Daily Telegraph” last year. It started with a report by the paper’s Science Editor on Jane Peyton’s claim that beer is a better drink to serve with food than wine. As Jane was named Beer Sommelier of the Year by The Beer Academy in 2015, she should know what she is talking about.

However, the following day’s Telegraph editorial stated that Jane was utterly wrong. The writer was of the opinion that, “Beer should be drunk in a public house on a summer’s day, preferably while watching cricket. Should sustenance be needed, a Scotch egg or even a pork scratching will suffice, but never a full meal.” Continue reading “Is beer the best drink with food?”

Whitbread remembered

What is a quart? If you know that, you can probably remember the 1970s TV advert for Whitbread Trophy Bitter and the catchy jingle, “Whitbread Big Head Trophy Bitter, the pint that thinks it’s a quart.” If you’ve never seen it or you want a reminder, you can find it on YouTube.

I remember the advert whenever the name “Whitbread” appears on the business pages of the newspaper. According to their website, they are one of the country’s oldest and most respected companies. But they are no longer involved in brewing. They’ve evolved into the UK’s biggest hospitality company with brands including Premier Inn, Costa Coffee, Beefeater and Brewers Fayre. Continue reading “Whitbread remembered”

Happy New Year to all our members!

Why not make your New Years resolution to become more active within the branch?!

There are many ways to do this Big & small!

The easiest way is to start beer scoring on whatpub.com , each time you visit a pub you can rate the quality of the real ale you’ve drank. You may even want to let us know what beer it was & how much it cost you. This information helps us in the Good Beer Guide selection process. Even just keeping is up-to date on events happening in your local

Want to meet the branch regulars? Why not come along to a branch meeting? Have an input on what the branch gets up-to throughout the year & keep up-to date with happenings of the Lincoln pub scene. Dates & locations on our calendar & also in What’s Brewing. Worry a meeting is too formal? Fear not the formalities are dealt with early on in the meeting & after that becomes a bit more relaxed while we run through the pub & brewery news. Also we run regular socials, either walking crawls, public transport trips, or even minibus jaunts!

We are often looking for new contributors for our branch magazine, ImpAle. Be it an informative article, a travel piece, a recipe or even a quiz/puzzle! Writing not your thing? We always welcome help in delivering the ImpAles once they reach us from the printers.

Lincoln Beer Festival 2016! Planning is well under way for Our annual beer festival in May. Why not join us at the meetings or more importantly volunteer some time during the week to help run our increasingly popular event. We welcome newcomers with open arms, provide informal training & volunteering looks great on a CV! Keep an eye out for the staffing form when it appears in the Beer Festival section on the site.

However you’d like to get involved we would love for you to join us for a Happy New Year in 2016!

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