National Winter Ales Festival 20 - 23 January 2010

National Winter Ales Festival - 20th to 23rd January 2010

Oh how I wish I could make it this year!

Over 200 beers to choose from, including foreign beers, cider and perries for those who find these appealing. Not for me, to be honest, I prefer something rich and dark and full of flavour... but each to his own.

This year, CAMRA say it is moving to a "larger, more palatial venue" at the Sheridan Suite, Oldham Road, Manchester. Combine that with the fact that there is no children's area this year suggests a lot more space for the beers themselves!

Go to CAMRA's website for more information.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Follow us at twitter.com/PubWalker for live updates
Register for The Pub Walker Bulletin for email alerts

CAMRA Regional Pub of the Year - Blue Bell Inn, Flintshire, Wales

This Week's Pub Walk... from CAMRA Regional Pub of the Year - the Blue Bell Inn, Flintshire, Wales

Its great to see the Blue Bell Inn win yet another accolode, this time as CAMRA Regional Pub of the Year 2008 for Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales. This follows it being the Good Beer Guide Pub of the Year runner up in 2006 and 2007, not to mention Regional Cider Pub of the Year!

With its spectacular setting high on Halkyn Mountain, it has amazing 70 mile views over the Dee and Mersey rivers, really making the Blue Bell Inn pub walk something to remember ... And once you've built up that thirst, you know the refreshments will be top notch too!

To download full details of this pub walk click on Blue Bell Inn pub walk.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (no spamming)

Cider making the news

Cider is in the news. There is no getting away from it, the popularity of cider is rising rapidly with some seeing it as a relaunched with a new image. This is much to the credit of Magners advertising campaign which has repositioned it away from teenage and vagrant drinkers and brought it into the mainstream (simply by pouring it over ice!).

In the past month, we've seen Aspalls launch a pink cider in an attempt to woo women in the 18-45 age range, reflecting the growing popularity of rose. Next, Magners featured on the Radio 4 Today progam following its astounding 225% growth in sales in 2006. Now CAMRA have just announced their National 2007 Champion cider as "West Croft Janet's Jungle Juice (great name!) from Somerset. With the Guardian branding it "the new beer", I expect this will be a phenomenal summer for the British cider industry. Let's hope so.

Today's pub walk: The Poacher's Pocket in Saxmundham, Suffolk.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)