August, 2023 - so begins the eighth month

There's quite a lot going on in the world of beer at the moment, ranging from CAMRA’S flagship event, the Great British Beer Festival, a Kent brewery celebrating a significant anniversary, some significant changes to way in which beer duty is levied, and finally a promotional gift of a newly launched Irish stout that turned up on my doorstep, completely out of the blue, a couple of days ago.

First to GBBF, which draws to a close this Saturday, after what I gather has been a very successful week at London’s Olympia. I wasn’t tempted to go along, as the last such gathering I attended was back in 2019. That just happened to be the last GBBF prior to lock-down, and I didn't really enjoy the even, apart from the company of Retired Martin, who surprised me, and also himself, by turning up. 

I’ve gone over the reasons why, several times in the past, so I won't go through them all again, but I really should have left when Martin did, and joined him as he “ticked” a few more London pubs. Quite whilst you’re ahead, in other words.  explore a few pubs I should have done the same. This year though, looking at the press releases that CAMRA been putting out, the Great British Beer Festival certainly seems to have got its mojo back, which is good for all concerned.

2023, marks the return of CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain competition, the first such event since before the pandemic. This year’s contest has not been without controversy, but I shall come onto that shortly. The overall winner was 1872 Porter, a 6.5% abv beer produced by Yorkshire-based, Elland Brewery, who repeated the success they had with the same beer, exactly 10 years ago. The strange thing about this double triumph is most of the staff employed at Elland today, are not the same people who produced the winner back in 2013. The recipe however for this excellent porter has remained largely the same, apart from the odd tweak.

No dramas there then, as the Australians would say, but this was not the case with the runner up. The Silver award went to Abbot Ale 5.0%, brewed by Greene King, one of the best-known cask ales in the country and one that needs little in the way of introduction. The fact that a “big brewery beer” won second prize seems to have caused considerable consternation, judging by the howling, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, that has appeared as comments on various CAMRA Facebook pages. What most of those complaining probably don’t realise is, this is not the first time that a so-called “big brewery beer” has been awarded the Champion Beer of Britain title, because in 1990, Burton Ale, brewed by Ind Coope, won the coveted title.

Ind Coope are long gone, and their Burton brewery is now part of a mega complex owned by global brewer, Molson Coors, but being crowned national champion was no less controversial for Burton Ale 33 years ago, than it is for GK Abbot today. The same comments about CAMRA being in the pockets of big breweries, and selling out, are being made today, alongside the accusation that the contest was fixed. This is totally untrue, and I speak as someone who has been involved in judging beers in the past. I can honestly, say hand on heart, that the tasting sessions at the heart of judging these awards, are conducted on a totally blind basis. All samples are unmarked, apart from a simple A, B, C, etc, and even the people who place the jugs of beer in front of the judging panel, are unaware of the beer they are bringing out.

Others were asking, was the cask submitted for the contest, one just taken from stock, or had it been doctored in some way? Might it have been dry hopped, or left to condition and mature for longer, and whilst this could happen, to my mind the contest was fair and the results valid, otherwise CAMRA might as well pack up and go home. From a personally point of view, although Abbot is not my tipple of choice, it is still a very good beer, and is a fine example of a classic, English premium bitter, so well done, not just to Greene King and Elland, but to all those breweries who scooped up awards in the various categories.

I mentioned earlier that a Kent brewery is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and I am pleased to announce that the brewery in question, is Goacher’s of Maidstone. The brewery was established in 1983, at premises in the Loose valley to the south of the county town, by Phil and Debbie Goacher. The enterprise initially occupied part of an old paper mill, which was one of the last producers of handmade paper in the area. Several years later, following the closure of the mill, Goacher’s relocated to a nearby industrial unit, where they have remained until the present day.

Since that time the brewery has increased its range of beers and has acquired three tied pubs – the Royal Paper Mill, at Tovil, close to the current brewery, the Rifle Volunteer, a very traditional rag stone- built pub, in the centre of Maidstone, and finally, the Little Gem in Aylesford. This well-known pub was acquired just before the start of lock-down, and the enforced break in trading, at least gave Goacher’s plenty of time to get the place properly sorted, following years of standing empty and semi-derelict.

I've known both Phil and Debbie since they first started out, and this goes back to the time I lived in Maidstone. The couple launched its beers commercially, at a beer tent run by the Maidstone & Mid-Kent CAMRA, at a charity beer festival held in support of the local Cheshire Home in Maidstone's Moat Park.  The beer, which is sold today as Best Dark Ale, was an instant success with festival goers and CAMRA members, and was soon followed by Fine Light Ale, Old 1066 Ale, Silver Star and Gold Star Ales, plus Crown Imperial Stout.

Now, a new generation of the family is set to take over the company and is looking to expand. The couple’s 30-year old son Howard is the driving force behind this expansion, and the brewery, along with the company are looking to move into new premises at Friday Street Farm, at East Sutton, just outside Maidstone. Great news, especially as Goacher’s have stuck with what they do best – namely brewing traditional style, Kentish ales, brewed from floor malted barley, and flavoured with locally grown, Kentish hops.

The penultimate piece of news concerns changes to UK beer duty, that came into force at the beginning of August. Although these changes seem to have provoked much discussion, I can't really elaborate much on the new regulations, apart from saying they appear to be based on the principle that the stronger the beer, the more duty is charged. This seems fair enough to me, but there is another aspect that makes no sense at all, and is the one which many people are, quite rightly, complaining about.

It concerns the sale of draught beer in two or four-pint containers, for the take home trade, because for some reason, that I can’t get my head around, pubs are no longer allowed to sell beer in this fashion. It’s a ruling that makes no sense at all, and besides, I can't see how it could possibly be enforced. If it's a daft regulation then people will take no notice of it, although as far as I can make out, the inclusion of take away draught beer in this legislation is nothing more than a clumsy attempt at tidying up what was perhaps seen as a hangover, from the pandemic. This was when take- away draught beer was the only way in which pubs could make a living.

Moving swiftly on to the last item on my list, which was a mystery package that turned up on my doorstep three days ago. At first, I thought it was the new neck support pillow I'd ordered, but as it arrived whilst I was at work, I asked Mrs PBT’s to open it. It definitely wasn’t a pillow, but instead was a very nice presentation box containing two cans of a new nitro-pour, Irish stout called Forged. Brewed by a Dublin based brewery called FRGD, the box also contained a bottle opener, a rather posh baseball cap, plus some promotional material about the beer and the brewery.

Being an inveterate snob, I wouldn't normally wear a baseball cap, although I might try it back to front, like Kevin and Perry in the classic Harry Enfield - Kathy Burke sketch., but as I write this piece, I’m getting stuck into what is a rather stunning Irish stout. It looks good as well in the glass, so the makers have got me hooked already, but how they got hold of my name and my address remains a mystery. I certainly don't remember signing up for anything, and I’m not normally someone who’d pass at the chance of a free beer. Full report to follow in due course, by which time I might have discovered the who, what, why and where behind Forged Irish Stout.