Marsh Mash Summer 2012

Jubilant Ron

The presentation to Ron and Annie Blown of the Bowl, Hastingleigh who

won the AF&RM Branch Pub of the Year 2012 award. This unique village

pub which has now featured in the last 6 editions of the Good Beer Guide

having been converted from a run down establishment into a thriving village

community hub and a Mecca for Kentish Ales.

Marsh Mash Summer 2012 Page 2

I hope that you all had an enjoyable, if a little damp

summer, visiting the wide variety of pubs in our area

and trying the local ales that are readily available

throughout the region. Kent can now boast of 25

breweries in addition to Shepherd Neame.

Our previous chairman, Paul Meredith has now

retired and moved to Portugal. I’m not aware of any

cask ale outlets out there so he will have to survive

on his favourite tipple, cider. He was also the Kent

Cider representative, a position that is now vacant.

Thanks for all the effort Paul put into reviving Marsh

Mash and steering us for the last 5 years.

At the last Branch AGM I was elected as Chairman

with Michael Line replacing me as Secretary, full

details appear elsewhere in this edition of Marsh

Mash.

One of Paul’s last jobs was with Graham, Ginny and

Stephen to plan and implement the successful beer

festival at the Kent & East Sussex Railway in June,

where there was ample beer and cider for all those

who attended on a bright but damp day.

Whilst I’m of the opinion of the old adage of “if it

ain’t broke don’t fix it” we could do with some

more willing members to attend our functions and

to that end our Social Secretary, Nigel North, has

planned a wide range of visits both within our

branch area and elsewhere, look at the list on the

social page and come along and meet other like

minded fellows.

Nigel has also planned some new venues for socials

and has a few more embryo ideas including a beer

and curry evening, more mini bus trips to remote

pubs and possible to France of Belgium, pub visits by

Stagecoach bus or train. These will be added to our

website www.camra-afrm.org.uk and to those

members who have signed up to the branch Yahoo

group direct notification will be sent.

Keith our Webmaster, due to other commitments,

has decided that this will be his last Marsh Mash as

joint Editor so we are looking for someone to fill his

roll before the next edition, hopefully before

Christmas, so if you are familiar with desktop

publishing please get in touch to ensure that we

continue with Marsh Mash.

In this edition of Marsh Mash, we have added some

different articles in addition to regular pub news

which we hope that you find of interest.

Finally we cannot produce Marsh Mash without help

from you, the branch has 433 members, but only

about 10 attend our socials and provide information

and articles to produce the text to support our

advertisers. Why not join us on our social evenings,

if the days are inconvenient please let us know and

we will arrange events on other days of the week.

Editorial Contents

Editorial

What’s On

Pub Catering

Pub News

Nimbys Continue to Object

Another Local Brewery Success

Tour of TN25 and TN26 Pubs

Shirley’s Recipe

Real Ale For Beginners

Brewery History Society

K&ESR Beer Festival

Beer Tax

Support Your Local Lifeboats

Heads Up

Coming Soon

CAMRA Investment Club

Green Hop Beer

Hop Fuzz Interview

Page No.

2

3

4

6

9

10

12

14

16

18

21

22

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24

25

26

28

30

Advertisers

Bowl Inn, Charing

Bowl Inn, Hastingleigh

Chambers, Folkestone

Cinque Ports, New Romney

Drum, Stanford

Farriers Arms, Mersham

Folkestone Rowing Club

George Inn, Bethersden

Hoodeners Horse, Great Chart

Hop Fuzz Brewery, West Hythe

Lifeboat Inn, Folkestone

Old Dairy Brewery, Rolvenden

Oneonetwo wines, Hythe

Podge’s Belgium Beer Tours

Red Lion, Hythe

Red Lion, Snargate

Shepherd & Crook, Burmarsh

Star Inn, St Mary in the Marsh

Three Mariners, Hythe

White Hart, Hythe

White Hart, Newenden

Page No.

11

29

32

17

25

20

5

20

20

10

9

15

11

24

27

4

11

5

7

29

9

Going somewhere new?

Seek guidance from GBG and avoid duff pubs


For further details on meetings, socials and

beer festivals check out WHAT’S BREWING,

visit our branch website or join our Yahoo

Group (members only).

Branch Meetings start at 19:30

5th September, Three Mariners, Hythe

10th October, Guildhall Folkestone

14th November, GBG Nominations County

Hotel Ashford (CAMRA members only)

What’s On

Saturday 22nd September, Old Dairy

Brewery. Meet 12:15 outside Bull Rolvenden.

Booking essential via Michael Line,

email: [email protected]

Tuesday 2nd October, Stagecoach Explorer.

Meet Folkestone bus station at 15:00.

Sunday 14th October, Deal pub crawl -

meet midday at the Just Reproach

Thursday 25th October, Sandgate historical

pub crawl visiting past and present pubs. Meet

18:00 at the Ship.

Tuesday 6th November, South Ashford pub

crawl, meet at the Locomotive 18:30.

Thursday 29th November, Pre-Advent pub

crawl in London, see website for details.

Saturday 15th December, Day trip to

Lewes, see website for details.

Saturday 29th December, Christmas Social

at the Foundry, Canterbury, booking essential

via email: [email protected]

Social Events All welcome

Branch Meetings

If you know of any event that

might be of interest for the

notice board, please contact

the editorial team, details on

page 31.

Spa Valley Railway Beer Festival

Saturday 20 - Sunday 21 October

White Cliffs Winter Festival

Friday 1 and Saturday 2 February 2013

Thanet Beer Festival

Friday 29 and Saturday 30 March 2013

East Cliff Tavern, Folkestone

Saturday 25 - Monday 27 August

Ship, Sandgate

Saturday 25 - Monday 27 August

Folkestone Rowing Club

Friday 12 - Sunday 14 October

Six Bells, Woodchurch

Friday 19 - Sunday 21 October

CAMRA Festivals

Other Beer Festivals


Pub Catering

There is much to commend pubs that serve good old-fashioned home-made food. Eschewing the mass

-produced mainstream offerings from national food

wholesalers, more and more pubs are preparing meals from first principles, and they often use fresh

local produce too. It’s all good stuff, especially when

combined with Locale beers and locally-made ciders.

Meals on Wheels

Many pubs in the latest CAMRA Herefordshire Pubs

guide can boast at least some home-made food.

However, one phrase you will not find to describe a pub’s food in the guide is the rather bizarre term

“home-cooked”.

Think about it for a moment. What precisely does it

mean? What process is involved that makes a pub meal “home-cooked” as opposed to being cooked

at the pub? Is the food brought-in pre-cooked in foil containers from the licensee’s home in a van –

surely that’s Meals on Wheels? Or maybe a pub

doesn’t have a commercial kitchen, and meals are cooked on a domestic cooker on the premises? A

meal cooked on a Baby Belling cooker might help

explain one or two lengthy waits for a pub meal in

the past!

Lavatorial tandoori

One pub (thankfully not

in Herefordshire) is

even quoted in the CAMRA Good Beer

Guide as offering

Kitchen-cooked meals. Duh! Where else would

they be cooked? On the roof, or perhaps in a

tandoori oven in the

ladies loo?

What is for sure, is the

term “home-cooked”

gives absolutely no assurance as to the

provenance of the

ingredients in a meal. A so-called “home-

cooked” meal can

equally be made from local ingredients or from ingredients bought via the internet from a pizza

factory in Slough. So, what is the difference? None,

we would suggest.

Digital Urinals

The Emperor’s clothes come to mind here. How

much longer is this specious marketing-speak to

persist before someone asks the obvious question: what does it mean? Where will we end up if the

term “home-cooking” continues to be used

unchallenged - pubs advertising organic car parks; digital water features or bi-lingual urinals, perhaps?

It’s all complete home-cooked rhubarb.

This article might well be tongue-in-cheek, but nonetheless an appeal goes to pubs for 2012: Let’s

please get a grip and ditch the half-baked nonsense.

HOME-COOKED & HALF-BAKED Marketing-speak doesn’t appear to be only an affliction of the multi-nationals

By our Herefordshire Licensing Twaddle correspondent



Pub News

Ashford Area Utopia in Ashford has new owners and

changed its name to Horton’s and is reported to provide a good “full Monty breakfast” for

less than £5 in addition to the changing cask ales. Sharp’s Doom Bar and Woodforde’s

Wherry were available during June.

The County Hotel, Wetherspoons, which is

listed in the 2012 GBG, continues to supply a

wide range of good beers at reasonable prices.

The Locomotive continues to sell Abigale beers, either Ridgeway or Samphire, alongside Master Brew. Being in close proximity of the

brewery perhaps the pub should become

renamed the “Brewery Tap”

The George, Bethersden continues to stock its 3 regular ales, Brakspears Bitter, Harvey’s

Sussex and the recent guest ale was Rudgate

Viking.

The Golden Ball, Kennington, after major building work and battles with the planning

authorities, has recently reopened as the Old Mill, now only offers Kentish beers, with

Abigale being a regular.

Whilst not in our area Alan and Sue at the

Bowl, Charing have just celebrated 20 years in charge of the pub. Well worth a visit to

congratulate them and enjoy their excellent

range of beers and sandwiches.

Folkestone Area Folkestone continues to be the best town

within the branch for choice of beers. Recent research discovered Exmoor Gold at Sam

Peto's, three cask beers at the Mariner's on the Stade including Queen Bee from Jennings,

four beers at the Lifeboat including Greene King IPA Gold, and Hopdaemon Skimshander.

The East Cliff Tavern which celebrated its 150th anniversary at the end of August

continues to offer Kentish beers on a regular basis. The Guildhall has Greene King IPA and

Harvey's Best Bitter as regulars and a

frequently revolving range of guest beers such as Butcombe “Going for Gold” and

Wadworth’s offering “Red, White and Brew."

Also the Clifton Hotel continues to serve an

excellent pint of Bass, scoring very high on the NBSS CAMRA Scoring system. I wonder who

brews it these days!!

Sandgate residents are spoilt for choice with

four changing beers at the Earl of Clarendon, including one from Gadd’s at Ramsgate; and

two ciders and six beers at the Ship from various breweries including Hopdaemon,

Hopback and Dark Star.

A joint walk with the Dover branch started at

the Valiant Sailor where Adnam's Lighthouse and Greene King’s London Glory were very

acceptable at 11 a.m. A breezy stroll along the Downs took us to the Cat & Custard Pot at

Paddlesworth where we had lunch accompanied by Master Brew and Sharp's

Special, the latter being the best beer of the walk. Returning to Hawkinge for the bus home,

we found Marston’s EPA and Hobgoblin at the Mayfly and Canterbury Jack at the White

Horse.

A Friday daytime in July the British Lion had

its usual 2 regular beers plus 2 guests which included Purity Wild Goose PA at 4.2% abv and

the Pullman had 3 beers on including Dark Star Revelation at 5.7% for those using public

transport. The Castle now shows ‘Sold at Auction’ and is

closed, but appears untouched with an unknown future, please let us know if you have

any further news?

Hythe Area The White Hart, whilst is has gained an excellent reputation for its food continues to

sell ever changing local Kentish beers in excellent condition. Ben and his family are also

slowly, as business permits, restoring the old coaching inn back to its original glory but with


modern facilities.

The Red Lion has recently been selling local beers, on a recent visit Old Dairy Red Top

alongside Greene King IPA and Bombardier.

The Three Mariners continues to go from

strength to strength, with always six beers available, and turning their beers over too

quickly. When I hear what is available it is

usually sold out by the time I arrive.

The Marsh and the Hills

The Good Intent, Aldington Frith, which

closed in April due to drainage problems,

remains closed. Any further information into

the pubs future would be welcome.

The Grade II listed Star, Lydd, is currently

closed and up for sale, hopefully Lydd is not

about to loose another pub after loosing the

banks.

The Pilot, Dungeness, at the end of the 102

bus route and renowned for its fish and chips

has recently been Cask Marque accredited and

was selling Adnams Broadside, Harvey’s Best

Bitter and Rudgate Ruby Mild on a recent visit.

The Seahorse, Greatstone, was boarded up

in August, further information would be

appreciated.

The Plough in New Romney has recently

reopened and was offering Brain’s Rev James in

June, whilst the Prince of Wales has had its

planning permission for conversion to

residential agreed by Shepway Council.

The Cinque Ports has just had its second

successful annual beer festival and continues to

offer a good range of ever changing beers.

The Downs

The Plough, Brabourne Lees, has a new

landlord, Mick Mills who was busy picking up


the pieces from the previous manager and

trying to return the pub to its old self. Mick

has run several pubs before in North Kent and

Hertfordshire; good luck in his endeavour and

hope that the pub returns to its old glory as a

village local.

The Farriers Arms, Mersham, is currently producing 3 of their own beers, namely Farriers

1606 - their 3.7% house bitter, Summer Gold at 4.1% their summer ale and Hot Iron, a porter

clocking in at 6.5% which was brewed for their beer festival at the end of August which may

still be available.

Also in Mersham it has been reported that

the Royal Oak has been selling Samuel Adams Blond Ambition in cask form which sold out

quickly. Will this be a regular in the Shepherd

Neame stable?

Graham at the Dukes Head, Sellinge, was offering Hop Fuzz American Ale in June, which

is a promising change from the usual National

brews that are usually on offer in the pub.

Alicja at the Coach and Horses, Lyminge has been selling London Pride, Harvey’s Best,

and Exmoor Gold, whilst the Kings Arms Elham has excellent Golden Braid , Harvey’s

Best, and Skimshander pubs are open all day and within easy walking distance of the

Stagecoach no. 17 bus route.

The Rose & Crown Elham broke away from

the usual Shepherd Neame range and held a mini beer festival offering about 16 ales, many

from Kent. Something I missed as we were not informed of the event or noticed any publicity

in the local press.

Harry has left the LocAle and Apple listed

Black Horse at Monks Horton and after a short closure has reopened under the

stewardship of the owner. It is reported that several improvements to the facilities are being

undertaken, more information in the next issue.

Tenterden area The Woolpack, Tenterden has reopened after being closed for over a year and been

extensively refurbished. The new operators are

Rob and Caroline Cowan, who also run a wedding venue at their small farm in High

Halden. On a visit in June, Timothy Taylor Golden Best was in excellent condition and it

was claimed that Harvey’s Sussex bitter accounted for over 50% of beer sales including

lagers. Adnam’s Broadside being the other beer. There was also an empty stillage on the

bar which had previously been reported to have had a barrel of Old Dairy on it. People in

Tenterden have good taste!!

In addition to the re-opening of the Woolpack

a new real outlet, the Wine Kitchen now run by Christian who used to manage the White

Lion and the Mayfly, Hawkinge, has recently been selling a cask ale from the Old Dairy

Brewery as an alternative to Marston’s EPA.

The White Lion also in Tenterden has

installed a further two hand pumps, making 6 in all. Over the Jubilee weekend, it held a mini

beer festival, with 10 beers outside to supplement the 6 inside (with some overlap) –

all beers from the Marston’s group, of course.

Emma has left the Crown, St Michaels, and it

is reported that she is moving back to the Swan, Wittersham. Let’s hope that she re-

establishes the character and trade that has

been missing in recent months.

The Swan, Little Chart, has new landlords, Mark and Debbie and family and renamed the

pub The Swan Revived offering Masterbrew, Spitfire, and Doombar, all in good condition

plus good pub food at affordable prices.

The Bull Inn, Rolvenden, now appears to be

offering beers from Old Dairy which is obviously keeping the beer miles to a minimum

with the brewery being just across the field.

If there is anything interesting, particularly in

the Ashford, Folkestone and Romney Marsh Area, however small about your local pubs, please let us know and thanks to all those who

have sent me their local pub news or updated NBSS (CAMRA’s National Beer Scoring

System), please keep it up, as it makes my life a

lot easier in compiling this report.

Bob the Beer


A recent applicant in the South-East has recently

had an appeal rejected for his application to

convert a redundant Motor Spares shop into a

micro-pub, he was attempting to follow in the

footsteps of Kent’s successful micro-pubs, namely

the Butcher’s Arms Herne, the Lifeboat Ale and

Cider House Margate, the Conqueror Ramsgate,

the Just Reproach Deal and the Bake and Alehouse

Westgate.

The site was located in a neighbourhood which

comprised two short shopping parades facing each

other, with flats above. The customer area of the

pub would have occupied the front ground floor

room, with storage at the rear in a similar manner

to existing micro-pubs and had proposed to offer a

carefully selected but limited range of beers that

attract the more discerning customers, who enjoy

quiet conversation with their drink and not the kind

of behaviour associated with larger town centre

drinking establishments. The appealant’s intended

closing time was 9pm on Tuesday to Thursday,

10pm on Friday and Saturday, 3pm on Sunday and

closed on Monday.

The inspector, having observed that other

businesses in the centre, including two takeaways,

stayed open until quite late at night considered that

it would be unreasonable to allow further undue

intensification of evening activities that would

intrude into the residents’ quiet enjoyment of their

homes. He acknowledged that the small size of the

front room would limit numbers but nonetheless

found that there would be an increase in evening

comings and goings. In addition, there was no

outside space for customers wishing to smoke;

perhaps the government should modify its total

smoking ban in line with other European countries

that permit smoking in some bars. The inspector

did not doubt the appellant’s intentions regarding

how the micro-pub would be run but pointed out

that the style of management could change in the

future. The police and council have powers to

curtail this with the existing licensing legislation.

He concluded that the negative aspects of the

proposal outweighed the benefit of introducing a

new form of use that would bring the premises

back and preferred that the shop that had been

empty for 2 years should remain empty and

support the residents objections although they are

happy with the litter and noise in the evenings

created by customers of takeaways. Another

success for the nimbys!!!

The NIMBYS Continue to Object


The Maidstone and Mid Kent CAMRA Branch held one of their beer festivals at the East Malling

Research Station last

September. Their

fastest selling beer was

Abigale’s Ridgeway Pale,

brewed in Ashford.

Chris Excell, one of our

branch members, was

given the honour to

present James Wraith,

Brewer and Owner of

the Abigale Brewery

with his certificate

whilst he and a group of

bus enthusiasts were

touring East Kent in a

vintage East Kent Road

Car Company bus.

Another Local Brewery Success


The Readers Digest

Tried to improve word power

Not much about beer

Marsh Mash reaches parts

that Readers Digest doesn't

Palate and taste buds

Note which beers you try

Were they good, bad, or iffy?

Tell the Editor

Hop varieties

Give each beer a unique taste

Did they hail from Wye?

New things in Marsh Mash

Beery news in Haiku form

Do not be left out


A Tour of TN25 and TN26 Pubs

On a dull and damp Saturday afternoon, as an

alternative to being glued to the one eyed fish bowl watching the Cup Final, nine escapees

travelled by coach to several remote pubs

across the Marsh an the hills behind.

Upon leaving Ashford Station we had a 20-minute journey to the first port of call the Star

at St Mary in the Marsh, adjacent to Noel Coward’s cottage. Arriving just on opening

time we found the pub already filling up with regular customers. The Star is a regular in the

CAMRA Good Beer guide and the quality of

the beers available did not let us down.

Our next pub, the Royal Oak, Brookland was disappointing with only two draught beers

Harvey’s Sussex Best and Woodforde’s Wherry so after a quick stop we left and

travelled to our next pub, the Woolpack, also in Brookland where some of us had reasonable

prices sandwiches to accompany our drink. The Shepherd Neame owned Woolpack is a

multi-roomed old smuggling inn and still retains many historic features and was busy with

customers mainly dining when we arrived, well worth visiting when travelling between Ashford

and Rye.

Now running ahead of our original program the

majority wanted to divert form the agreed route and bribed the driver to make a

diversion to visit Doris at the Red Lion Snargate, where as usual there was a good

selection of ales on stillage and busy with local and visiting drinkers before we descended for a

couple of drinks each.

Back on to our original route the next port of

call was the Black Lion at Appledore, a pub not regularly featured in Marsh Mash but well

worth the visit. Their web site implies that it is more of a restaurant than a pub and we were

pleasantly surprised by the range of cask ales and also bar snacks sandwiches from £3.75. As one of our members pointed out, after a

previous article that appeared in Marsh Mash on the £3.00 sandwich there are still some

pubs offering good value sandwiches. Taking

inflation into account perhaps we should have a campaign to find pubs selling sandwiches under

£4.00!!

Another detour was then made from our

planned route to the Ferry Inn at Stone in Oxney where we found a good selection of

beers from local breweries, in excellent condition, including one each from Westerham

and Old Dairy.

Back on track again we arrived at the historic

Woolpack, Warehorne where the pub was decidedly quiet. It had been re-painted since

my last visit and was now very bright and out

of keeping with this historic building.

We then made the Blue Anchor, Ruckinge our next stop for a quick pint. A pub not

visited by several of our travellers in recent times. Only a couple of beers, both in good

condition were available as Steve and Julia are trying to develop the business of this old

smuggling pub having re-opened it last

October.

A little further up the road we arrived at the White Horse, Bilsington, now run by the

previous landlord of the Blue Anchor, where we found a good selection of ales from around

the country.

The next planned visit was to have been the

Good Intent, Aldington Frith, but it was closed due to drainage problems so we

continued on to the Royal Oak, Mersham to introduce ourselves to June who had recently

taken over the Shepherd Neame village pub. We found the usual friendly welcome when we

arrived and found all of the beers in excellent condition before returning to Ashford Station

for us all to find our respective ways home.

For those who couldn’t make the trip they

missed visits to some excellent historical pubs and good beers and a day away from the television since the weather was not fit for

gardening or any other outside pursuit.



Ingredients:

4 x Trifle Sponges, 8 Sponge Fingers or 6 x 1”(2.5 cm) squares of sponge cake

1 x 135g (4¾ oz) Slab Raspberry or Blackcurrant Jelly (I used Blackcurrant) 170ml (6 fl oz) Water

Approximately 300ml (11fl oz) Medium Cider (use sweet if you have a sweet tooth) taken from a 1ltr (1¾ pint) bottle – put the rest aside to drink

1 Green Dessert Apple, cored and cut into small pieces (leave the skin on to give a splash of colour)

1 pint (568ml) Milk 3 tbsp (54g/2oz) Custard Powder

1 tbsp (18g/¾ oz) Sugar 1 Packet Birds Dream Topping (33g)

150ml (¼ pint) Milk Sugar Strands/Bobbles or Fruit (Raspberries/Blackcurrants/Apple Slices)

Or for a real treat, use 300ml (10fl oz) Whipping Cream for the topping

Method: - Pour yourself a glass of cider from the bottle – leaving enough for this recipe!!

Jelly Layer (makes approximately 1 pint (568ml);

Break the jelly slab up into a microwavable jug and add 170ml (6 fl oz) water, stir, heat up

in the microwave for approx 1 minute (based on 750W oven), stirring every 15 seconds until cubes have dissolved (if you do not have a microwave, add the same amount of

boiling water to the cubes and stir until dissolved). Make up to 1pint (568ml) with cider. Set to one side to cool a little.

Place sponges in glass dish (approx 3 pint/1¾ litre) and cover with chopped apple, pour over jelly, push apples pieces under jelly surface to make sure they are covered in jelly

and set to one side to cool for about 30 minutes, cover with cling film and place in fridge to set for several hours.

Custard Layer (makes approximately 1 pint (568ml);

Once jelly has set, make up the custard. Put custard powder into a glass jug or basin

(approx 2 pint/1170ml capacity), add 3tbs of sugar and 2 tbsp of milk from the pint measured and mix to a paste.

Put the rest of milk in a saucepan (non-stick if possible) and warm up on the hob/cooker top for about 3 minutes, stirring regularly – do not allow it to boil. Stir custard paste

again and carefully add half of the warmed milk a little at a time, stirring well between each addition. Once mixed, pour custard back in to the rest of the warm milk and heat through, stirring all the time, until thick – do not leave unattended or allow to boil. Turn

heat off, remove pan and allow custard to cool until cold – stir every few minutes to prevent a skin forming (custard thickens during cooling, this is normal).

When completely cold, stir custard and carefully pour over the jelly and put in to fridge for about 30 minutes to allow the custard to set - cover dish with cling film to prevent

skin from forming.

Autumn Cider & Apple Trifle


Topping Layer (makes approximately ½ pint (300ml);

Pour 150ml (¼ pint) milk into a mixing bowl or jug and sprinkle on contents of Dream Topping packet. Whisk hard for about 2 minutes (preferably with an electric whisk) until

topping is light and fluffy. Pour over custard, cover with cling film and put in fridge until ready to serve.

If using cream, whip until it holds its shape, pour over the custard and place in the fridge until ready to

serve.

To serve;

Decorate with Sugar Strands/Bobbles or Fruit. Best served in individual glass

dishes, shared with friends and a glass or two of Cider!

Shirley Johnson AF&RM CAMRA Branch Member


...in the pub It’s on a hand pump.

You can see the bar person physically pulling the beer to serve it.

You may occasionally see beer served direct from the cask, by gravity from a tap.

You often see this at a Beer Festival.

If the beer you see is dispensed from a hideous sculpted or illuminated monstrosity

on the bar, leave it alone; its not real (it will be lager, keg beer or smooth beer. Leave

that for the others and go for the tasty real thing on the hand pump).

...in the supermarket or off-licence Read the

label.

There may be a CAMRA logo like this one or the label may

refer to a yeast sediment, to cloudiness or may actually

call it Real Ale in a Bottle or Bottle Conditioned

Don’t be misled by the silly names or fancy bottles and labels; you have to

do your homework and read the label!

Oh, and it’s always bottled. Tins are always very, very bad.

What’s it all about?

Surely there is plenty of real ale: what is CAMRA needed for any more?

Lots of reasons!

Much-loved pubs are closing at a rate of knots, lost for ever.

Favourite brews are axed and well-loved breweries closed.

Popular pubs are turned into theme pubs where many people no longer feel welcome

Pubs with a good choice of real ales stop trying and sell only boring national brands, or even

worse, just keg beers.

So what can you do about it?

Go to the pub more often. There are many alternatives competing for

your time and disposable income, but the only one of them that is in

danger of disappearing after serving the people of this happy land for

centuries, is the traditional pub. There is a pub for everyone. Our pubs

are a part of our precious heritage. Very simply, you must use them or

lose them.

Be less timid when you go to the bar. With well over 2000 Real Ales to

choose from in this blessed island, only the staggeringly unadventurous

would stick to the handful of heavily advertised mass market brands.

Take a chance on finding a truly great beer: go for the hand pump.

Join us. The campaign has over 142,600 members. People of all types and ages, united by a love

of quality and choice. Europe’s most successful consumer organisation and its best

social club. Give us a call, or talk to us at one of our socials or Beer Festivals. You would be

most welcome.

Your membership application form is on page13

Real Ale for Beginners


is a volunteer organisation, the only body speaking for all pub users.

We are all doing this in our spare time,.

We care about real beer and good pubs.

CAMRA is the most

successful consumer

organisation of all time

The voice of the consumer can make a difference,

even against uncaring Big Business.

We can’t do it without you;

we need your help.

New members are always very welcome.

If you have joined but not shown yourself yet please feel free to get in touch so you

can join in with the campaigning and the fun

Most of us are house-trained, and we like to have a good time!

CAMRA: The Campaign for Real Ale


Interested in beer? Of course you are, or you wouldn’t be reading this august magazine.

A number of your colleagues in the Kent branches of CAMRA are members of the Brewery History Society and we thought it would be a good idea to tell you a little about this

organisation, especially as it was formed in Kent by three local beer enthusiasts.

The BHS was formed in Kent 1972 and focuses mainly on British brewery history (including

related subjects, such as malting), although foreign news is also reported. We currently have over 550 members including around 90 corporate members, and 15 institutions, major museums and

libraries. The Corporate members are mainly brewers and maltsters, of course, but also include such organisations as the Institute of Brewing & Distilling and English Heritage, whilst the

Individuals comprise a broad church of industry professionals, historians (both amateur and professional), collectors and those with a general

interest in beer and brewing.

Publications include a quarterly journal; typically a

perfect bound volume full of erudite articles, complemented by a quarterly Newsletter full of

industry news, readers’ queries (and hopefully answers) and general informal snippets of information. We also

publish books from time to time, generally county directories and, of course, ‘A Century of British

Brewers- Plus’, the first essential for all beer aficionados, containing details of over 10,000 British

brewers known to have existed since 1890. We have recently published our first colour volume,

appropriately a directory of breweries in Kent*. Entitled ‘Kentish Brewers and the Brewers of Kent’,

author Peter Moynihan has covered the history of hundreds of breweries, large and small, in this stunning

volume’s 282 A4 pages.

We hold a number of meetings at breweries

throughout the year, have a major archive, an oral

history archive and arrange occasional conferences.

One area that many people, even non-members, have enjoyed contributing to is our collection of defunct brewery information and photographs. This forms a large part of the web site and

records all known examples of now defunct brewery names still to be seen. It is arranged


geographically and in the Kent section alone we have over 70 entries, including such evocative

names as Flint, Tomson & Wotton, Reffell’s, Russell’s, Fremlin, George Beer, Rigden, Ash & Co., Dartford, New Northfleet, Woodhams, Style & Winch, Budden & Biggs and many more. I am

sure there are more examples to be found and we are always keen to hear of any that we have

missed.

The remains of the Gun Brewery, Folkestone, 1970. Photo: BHS Archive

Do please have a look at the web site to get a feel for our activities. As mentioned above, brewery visits form an important part of our calendar and in the past year alone we have had

visits to several West Midlands breweries, to Guinness in Dublin, a trip to Nottingham to include the stunning former Prince of Wales Brewery, a town walk and another brewery visit; and a

series of walks exploring the brewing and malting sites in parts of London, Newark, the Vale of Aylesbury, North Kent, Edinburgh and Norfolk and an AGM weekend including Fullers, Camden,

Brodie’s & Twickenham. Coming up we have visits to Kent, Dorset and West Yorkshire to look at hops and breweries. On a sadder note we also try to visit any brewery threatened with

closure.

All in all a society of like-minded people, information and fun. Why not join us? You would be

very welcome.

Contact address for more information:

Jeff Sechiari Manor Side East, Mill Lane, Byfleet, Surrey KT14 7RS

[email protected] or see www.BreweryHistory.com

*Available from The BHS Bookshop, Long High Top, Heptonstall, Hebden

Bridge, West Yorkshire HX7 7PF

Price £18.95 plus £3.15 postage & package (£17.95 post free for BHS Members)

mailto:[email protected]



K&ESR Beer Festival, another successful event

We yet again held our annual beer festival at Tenterden

Station on the Kent & East Sussex Railway on 15th and

16th June. On offer were 52 different beers from across

the country ranging in strength from 3.4% to 6.7%, including 17 from

Kent breweries and 3 from East Sussex.

In addition there were 2 beers on the train for those who wanted a change of scenery.

As is usual at beer festivals visitors are asked to score their beers, this year’s winner being the local brewery Old Dairy from Rolvenden with their 3.6% mild Soft Top, which was also the fastest selling beer, unusual for a mild and a beer festival. The

runner up was W J King’s Brighton Blonde at 3.9% with Angus Driver Dark Stout being

third at 4.4%.

In addition there was a wide range of ciders both local and from around the country

that were selected by our out going Branch Chairman and local CAMRA Cider

representative (Paul Meredith) before he emigrated to Portugal.

Music was provided throughout

Saturday by five bands, Stone Junction, Colby

Rivers Blues Band, Bluezy Toonz, Peoples

Republic of Mercia and The

Swinging Sixties.


Beer duty has risen 42% in the last three years. Enough is enough and CAMRA is campaigning for a long term

freeze in beer duty.

Successive above inflation increases in beer duty and the VAT rise to 20% has hit

pub goers hard. On average, you now pay over £1 to the Government in beer duty

and VAT for every single pint you buy in the pub (see the table below).

The UK now has the second highest duty on beer in the European Union. Unless we

can change Government plans UK beer duty will soon be the highest in Europe.

Increases in tax on beer and the VAT rise are fuelling a shift in beer consumption

away from pubs. Almost half of all beer is now sold in off licences and supermarket

chains as we beer drinkers seek to avoid tax rises. In just six years there has been a

30% collapse in the volume of beer sold in pubs as more than 7,000 pubs have closed

forever.

Beer supports over 1 million jobs; generates over £21 billion in taxes and is vital to

the survival of pubs. Despite this unfair beer duty hikes are forcing the beer sector to shrink.

The tax you pay on a pint of 5% beer in the pub is:-

Urgent Action Required on Beer Tax

eating (or is it drinking) into your pocket

Price of a Pint Excise Duty VAT Total Tax % Tax Take

£3.00 55.40p 50p 105.4p 35.1%

£3.50 55.40p 58.33p 113.73p 32.4%

Support Your Local Lifeboats

I am sure, like me, you are proud of the two lifeboats

we have in our Branch – the all weather Mersey Class

lifeboat “Pride and Spirit” based at Dungeness and the

inshore lifeboat “Fred Clarke” based at Littlestone.

Both of these lifeboats are on standby 24 hours a day,

7 days a week, every day of the year, in all weathers,

providing a search and rescue service for our local

beaches, the English Channel and passionately doing

what they do best – saving lives at sea.

Did you know volunteer lifeboat crew members,

shore helpers, fundraisers and those ‘behind the

scenes’ give their time for free, however they need

training, well-maintained equipment, first-class

lifeboats and shore facilities – and as a charity, they

depend on people like you to help meet the cost.

Your support means our crews can save lives quickly,

safely and effectively.

Giving our lifesavers everything they need and

deserve – from boots to boats – is costly. There are

over 230 lifeboat stations around the UK and Ireland,

and our lifeguards patrol over 180 beaches each

summer. Each year it costs over £140M to run our

lifesaving service. For every £1 donated, 85p goes to

the rescue

service, and 15p

is reinvested to

generate more

funds.

I wonder how

many of you

would like to

donate funds locally and have no idea how or where

to do it. There are many ways to donate, so next

time you are out, or in the pub, keep an eye open for

the donation boxes/lifeboats in public places, attend

local fund raising events, visit the shop at either

lifeboat stations, donate online, set up a regular

payment to the RNLI, to name but a few. Full details

on how to donate, fundraising events, etc, are

available via their websites:

Dungeness Lifeboat: www.dungenesslifeboat.org.uk

Littlestone Lifeboat: www.littlestonelifeboat.co.uk

RNLI: www.rnli.org.uk

“The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea”.

Shirley Johnson

RNLI and CAMRA Member



Heads Up Whether you are from the North or South, all drinkers

want a head on their beer, but achieving that is easier

said than done as Paul Hegarty brewing author and public

affairs consultant who promotes the responsible

enjoyment of beer explains.

Brewers have a saying that people drink with

their eyes. A beer must not only taste good it must

look great. And a good head is a vital element of a

great pint.

Time and again consumer research shows that people

prefer a beer with a head. That doesn’t mean that

they want to be fobbed off with a glass of foam when

they are paying for the beer. Just a centimetre of

foam at the top of the glass that remains as the beer

is drunk.

This is much easier said than done and literally

hundreds of scientific papers, conference

proceedings, PhD theses and books have been

published in the quest for that Holy Grail- how do

you produce that consistent, attractive and stable

head on a glass off beer every time?

The laws of physics dictate that a liquid will not

naturally produce foam. A pan of water on a stove

will boil dry before it boils over. Only when a liquid

contains a foam stabiler will the bubbles be anything

other than transient; remember how quickly the

“moose” on a glass of champagne disappears.

In the case of beer, the foam stabiliser is protein.

Not many people realise that a litre of beer contains

about 10% of your daily protein requirement. This

comes from the malting barley that is the major

ingredient in beer. It is no coincidence or accident

that beer was historically called “liquid bread”

The hop acids that give beer its bitter flavour will not

produce foam in their own right, but they further

stabilise the foam by locking the proteins into the

bubble wall. High-bitterness beers, such as

continental lagers, ales and stouts produce much

more stable heads in a glass than low bitterness beers

such as US-style lagers.

But now we come to the villains off the story-

foam negatives that kill foam in even minute

quantities. A trace of lipstick on a dirty glass, fat

from crisps or nuts on your lips, or a trace of

detergent on a glass that hasn’t been properly rinsed

after washing. All these will destroy the brewer’s

hard work in a matter of seconds.

However much malt protein and hop bitterness there

is in a beer, a head won’t magically appear if the beer

is dispensed flat or incorrectly in the first place.

You have to learn the knack of pouring the beer to

produce the right amount of head-whether it is

holding a bottle and glass at the right angle or getting

the correct setting for a cask beer engine.

All scientific research and training of brewers is

paying off as the quality of beers leaving the

breweries is probably better than it has ever been.

Where things too often fall down is in the last step of

the journey from grain to glass – not being poured

properly or being dispensed into a dirty glass.

Well-trained bar staff are the critical final ingredient

needed if drinkers are to enjoy their beer with a head

that they prefer.

Reproduced from “Beer” CAMRA’s quarterly award

winning magazine


With the forthcoming release of the 40th edition of

CAMRA’s Good Beer guide we thought a little

reflection on the past may be in order. CAMRA was

formed in 1972 and produced a typed beer guide in

the November, the first printed guide being published

in 1974, when beer was about 15p/pint. Incidentally

the first on-line guide was for the Suffolk Branch and

available on PRESTEL, BT’s Teletext service, well

before the World Wide Web.

The 1974 guide cost all of

75p and was 96 pages long

and, as well as the

introductory editorial,

included an article entitled

“What Is Real Ale?” which

went on to define what

CAMRA considered to be

real ale covering, storage and

serving methods. As today

the guide was split into

counties and had a list of

brewers at the back (which

barely covered two pages!).

The two brewers in Kent that

are mentioned are Whitbread

Faversham (Fremlins) of

which they comment

“Several regional brews

still retained without gas,

but quality varies” and

Shepherd Neame

(Faversham) about which is

commented “Good when

it is not gassed up.”

Kent had 56 pubs listed in

the guide of which 8 were

in the AF&RM Branch,

Woolpack Brookland,

Good Intent Egerton, Earl

Grey Folkestone, Globe

Hythe, Royal Norfolk Sandgate, Vine Tenterden,

Flying Horse Wye, and the Bonny Cravat

Woodchurch.

When the latest edition of the Good Beer Guide hits

the shops in September “The quest for a decent pint”

carries on but it is a lot easier in 2013 than it was in

1974, which lists our limit of 17 pubs from the 167

known to sell real ale, but you need to buy the Good

Beer Guide from mid September to find out which

ones!!

Coming Soon To A Bookshop Near You


CAMRA Members’

Investment Club Have you ever wished that you owned

part of a brewery or one of the many pub chains that are now emerging? Well, now you have the opportunity of turning that

dream into a reality. If you are a member of CAMRA you are eligible to join the CAMRA MEMBERS’ INVESTMENT CLUB.

(CMIC) For a minimum of £5 per month you could

start making an investment in the many companies in which the Club owns shares. These include Adnams, Black Sheep, Carlsberg, Duvel Moortgat, Enterprise

Inns, Fullers, Greene King, Joseph Holt, Hop Back, Hydes, Mitchells & Butler, Punch Taverns, Shepherd Neame,

Thwaites, Wadworth, J D Wetherspoon, Young’s and a whole host of others.

The Club operates like a unit trust and members can pay in a round sum amount each month by standing order- from £5 up

to a maximum of £166. A single annual payment can also be made up to a maximum of £2,000. The amount can be

altered at any time and, if necessary, can be stopped and your investment cashed in or left to "ride" – the choice is yours.

At 30 June 2012 the funds of the Club were almost £11 million.

By holding a growing share in particular companies, the Club's votes at the AGM’s

could make a difference to either a takeover bid or other hostile actions. Having a voice in the boardrooms of the pub owning groups could help influence

their guest beer policies, which is becoming increasingly important in the

market where the smaller breweries are

competing with the giants. For the members’, the Club organises

tours of the breweries in which it has shares both in the UK and in Europe. These visits often present the opportunity

of meeting the Directors of the companies as well as viewing their brewing operations.

The Club also has its own web site at www.CMIC.uk.com

For an information pack on joining the Club, send your details to:-

CMIC, 31 Chapel Brow, Leyland, Lancashire, PR25 3NH Tel: 0845 130 BEER / 0845 130 2337,

Fax 01772 455528 or E-mail [email protected].

* Note: The value of shares can go down as

well as up and the investment should be

regarded as medium to long term


The Ashford, Folkestone and Romney Marsh

LocAle scheme recognises pubs which regularly stock at least one real ale brewed by

a local brewery that is within 30 miles ‘driving distance’. Landlords who wish to be included

in the LocAle scheme should contact the Branch Secretary.

The following are the current pubs that have

been accredited :-

Ashford Locomotive

Brabourne Five Bells

Elham Kings Arms

Folkestone Chambers

Hastingleigh Bowl

Hythe Three Mariners

Hythe Britannia

Hythe White Hart

Mersham Farriers Arms

Newenden White Hart

New Romney Cinque Port Arms

Rolvenden Star

Sandgate Ship

Snargate Red Lion

Stowting Tiger Inn

Wittersham Swan

Woodchurch Six Bells


Kent Green Hop Beer

2012 is not just about the Olympics. It is also

the year of the first ever Kent Green Hop Beer Fortnight! In late September and early

October Kent will be awash with fresh one-of-a-kind beers… so head south east to be a

part of a taste sensation.

Kent Green Hop Beer is beer made with

fresh, or green, Kentish hops – instead of using hops that have been dried as is more

traditional in brewing. The beers have a characteristic fresh taste because the hops

used contain many of the oils that are normally lost when hops are dried. We make

sure the hops are as fresh as can be by using

them within 12 hours of being picked.

It is planned to launch Kent Green Hop Beers at the Canterbury Food & Drink Festival on

the 28/29/30 September, hopefully with the full range of beers being available, after which

the plan is for them stocked in pubs

throughout Kent.

Almost every brewery in Kent is going to be making at least one this year and as we have

more than 20 breweries, that’s a huge range of beers. They’ll all be different too as each

brewer will be creating their own recipe.

For more information visit the Green hop

Website: http://kentgreenhopbeer.com

Participating Breweries

Black Cat Brewery

Canterbrew Ltd

Gadds' Ramsgate Brewery

Goachers

Goody Ales

Hop Fuzz Brewery

Kent Brewery

Millis Brewing Co

Nelson Brewery

Old Dairy Brewery

Old Forge Brewery

Ripple Steam Brewery

Royal Tunbridge Wells Brewing Co

Shepherd Neame

Swan on the Green

Tír Dhá Ghlas Brewery

The Foundry Brew Pub, Canterbury

Tonbridge Brewery

Wantsum Brewery

Westerham Brewery Co

http://kentgreenhopbeer.com/



It's almost a year since I first sampled your beer,

how is it going?

Our first year of production in Shepway is almost

over, and after a slightly premature (some might say

ambitious) ‘soft’ launch in Hythe in October 2011,

the brewery and the beers have come on leaps and

bounds (in between the various floods, explosions

and small scale fires we assume all small breweries

experience!).

The brewing kit seems larger than my first visit?

In February we moved away from our pilot system

and started brewing on our current 2.5 barrel

system, another custom/home-made/DIY effort,

hopefully showing that you don’t have to spend big

bucks to produce good beers. Along with upgrading

our brewing system we also installed a new cold

room (again, made ourselves) as the cold winter

months, which turned our brewery into one big cold

room, were only going to last so long. This allowed

us to condition and store at whatever temperature

we chose, just in time for this summer!

How are sales going?

In June we started the ‘Hop Fuzz Campaign’ - an

initiative that works between ourselves, the landlords

and the drinkers. In a nutshell we sell a minimum

number of casks to participating pubs per month at a

knock-down rate, on the agreement that this

discount is then passed onto the drinkers. We

currently have 2 pubs trialing the scheme with great

success, selling a pint of our ale for just £2.50!

We have also been receiving interest from further

afield lately, and have recently been on tap in pubs in

Surrey and even Central London!

Have you any new beers other than English Ale

and American IPA?

With the summer finally upon us it’s time for light,

crisp and fresh ales to take the limelight. Our new

ale, 'The Goldsmith' is proving very popular; a light

and sweet ale that is perfect for the summer. "'The

Goldsmith' - light refreshing ale, brewed using a single hop

chosen for its delicate piney flavour. A real favourite for

the summer, its golden hue and warm glow making it look

as good as it tastes! 4.0% ABV"

Alongside these we have the chocolatier, our

chocolate stout (although this is produced in very

small amounts over summer) and also very fruity

3.8% ale which is almost ready to be released!

What else is different?

Another small tweak throughout the year has been

the updating of our pump clip artwork, another thing

that we do in house. The new designs are very similar

to the originals, however the size has been altered

slightly and the colours brightened. They have

received some great comments and always look good

on the pumps!

What has been your biggest problem since you

started brewing?

One of our biggest challenges over the last 6 months

has been keeping on top of our empty barrels! Whilst

brewing and selling more is great, having a small

inventory of casks is proving a real challenge, juggling

between towns and pubs in search of our empties on

a daily basis! When funds allow we will of course

boost our numbers, but until then expect to see us

harassing landlords and landladies for our empty

casks!

I hear that you are collaborating with other Kent

Brewers for a special event in September?

We are participating in the ‘Green Hop Beer Festival’

to be held in Canterbury alongside the food and drink

festival it will be a showcase of Kent's finest

breweries, using fresh from the farm hops to make a

special one-off brew! We feel privileged to have been

involved in the planning and organisation, although we

are slightly nervous about brewing our first green

hop beer!

You said that you are almost brewing to capacity,

what next?

Plans are already in place to upgrade again, and next

year we hope to be brewing on a more substantial 8

barrel system, again completely handcrafted and

custom made to our own needs.

And the future?

On the horizon for us currently is the move into

bottles, something which will allow us to reach more

customers and allow our beers to be drunk by those

that don’t always get into local bars and pubs. Other

than that we hope to continue producing great beers

(which are getting better and better as we learn new

techniques and gain experience) and to carry on

having fun and meeting some great people! We do

have a couple of new beers in the pipeline and even

something very special, but we

can’t mention it just yet!

For more information on Hop

fuzz beer or to find out your

nearest participating vendor,

email either Martyn or Daryl at

[email protected]

Brewery Interview Hop Fuzz - our first year in Shepway


Marsh Mash Information Produced by the Ashford, Folkestone and Romney

Marsh Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale Ltd.

(CAMRA)

Circulation 1800

Editors: Bob Martin & Keith Johnson

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 0845 388 1062

Contributors: Bob Martin, Peter Chamberlain,

Chris Excel, Michael Line, Shirley Johnson, Keith

Johnson, Stephen Rawlings, Nigel North

Contributions, letters, pub reports and news are

always welcome. Please write to Marsh Mash at:

The Cottage, The Green, Saltwood, Hythe, Kent

CT21 4PS, or

E-mail [email protected]

Views expressed are not necessary those of the

editors, CAMRA Ltd. or the Branch. The existence

of this publication in a particular outlet does not

imply an endorsement of it by AF&RM CAMRA.

Branch Contacts

Chairman: Bob Martin

Treasurer: Stephen Rawlings

Secretary: Michael Line

Membership Secretary: Virginia Hodge

Branch Contact: Stephen Rawlings

Telephone: 07885 218972

Branch Webmaster: Keith Johnson

Pubs Officer: Justin Nelson

Advertising: Bob Martin

Website: www.camra-afrm.org.uk

Yahoo Group : For all branch members

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/AFRM_Camra

© Campaign for Real Ale 2012

CAMRA

230 Hatfield Road,

St Albans AL1 4LW

Telephone: 01727 867201

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Full page £100.00

So many ways to ……..

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news, CAMRA activities

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Go to our website www.camra-afrm.org.uk

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Editor for Marsh Mash To produce future editions of this

popular CAMRA Magazine.

The volunteer needs to have own computer, be familiar with Microsoft Office and prepared to learn desktop

publishing using Publisher or equivalent and able to co-ordinate information from

a variety of sources.

Contact the Branch Chairman to discuss further at [email protected]

or telephone: 01303 266836

URGENTLY WANTED

Documents

Marsh Mash Summer 2012