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White Horse Branch Beer Festival in November
We are delighted to announce that the Branch will be organising a
beer festival in Wantage on Friday and Saturday, the 21st and 22nd of November.
This is not the first Wantage beer festival - readers with long memories
may recall a charity event in the early 1980s - nor the first CAMRA
event - the as-was-then Vale-of-White-Horse-Sub-Branch organised one
in East Challow in the early 90s. But it is certainly the first in a long time.
We are intending to provide 24 cask ales, local and from far away, light
and dark, strong and meek, as well as ciders and perry. The Festival will
take place in the Masonic Hall. More details on the festival
web page.
Royal Oak is Central Southern Pub of the Year 2008
Pitstop Brewery
The Branch area has yet another new brewery. Pitstop Brewery has just started
production behind the Bellinger's Garage in Grove. The initial beer, the
heavily-hopped 5% Pole Position (née Starter's Orders), made its first public
appearance, to
universal acclaim, at the Royal Oak. The follow up, the 6% Sump, is now in cask
and will be on sale at our beer festival; a strong American-style IPA
and a 5% mild are next in the works. The brewery
is the brain child of Peter Fowler of Londis fame (see below) and Mike
Bellinger. We wish them well, and look forward to sampling more of their beers in
local hostelries.
White Horse Brewery Tap
White Horse Brewery has just obtained its first pub, the
Royal Blenheim, 13 St Ebbes Street in Oxford. White Horse beers
and guests will be on sale. The pub apparently reopens on Friday 24th of October.
We wish White Horse Brewery well, and will visit as soon as we can.
Further Pub closures
We can confirm that the
Blowing Stone, Kingston Lisle,
Lamb, West Hanney,
Royal Oak, Watchfield,
Snooty Fox, Littleworth,
and
Thatched Tavern, Appleton,
are all currently closed; The
Leather Bottle at Challow Station
remains closed and building work is being undertaken. The
Hind's Head, Kingston Bagpuize,
is apparently up for sale.
If you have further details, please let us know.
Eight Bells, Eaton
The Eight Bells at Eaton has just been sold at auction.
There is a poignant sign outside reading
"If you care about losing this pub, don't be apathetic. Make your feelings
known...".
We sincerely hope that the new owners plan to continue running this pretty
former Greene King pub as a going concern.
An Aladdin's Cave in Grove
Next time you fill up your car with petrol at the Jet (ex-Texaco) filling
station in Station Road, Grove, make sure you pop into the attached
Londis stores. Beer-mad manager Peter Fowler
has started stocking bottle-conditioned ales from around the UK.
Currently there are almost 400 tasty brews to choose from. Peter offers
a discount on beer for card-carrying CAMRA members, so all the more reason
to join.
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Copyright (C) 2000-2008, CAMRA LtdCampaign for Real Ale White Horse Branch |
Last updated: November 18th 2008 Comments to: webmaster@whitehorsecamra.org.uk URL: http://www.whitehorsecamra.org.uk/news.htm |