Rubies and Pearls

Most people will be aware by now that CAMRA reached the venerable age of forty this year, though its a much smaller group who are privy to another anniversary, namely CAMRA Northern Ireland's 30th. Thirty years ago to the day (17th October 1981) English ex-pats Cherry and Adrian Saunders were attending Hilden brewery's first brew-day and decided that Northern Ireland needed a branch to campaign for ale availability of what was (and still is to a large extent) a Diageo dominated pub landscape.

Since then five other breweries have opened their doors (the most recent being Ards brewing co earlier this month) and the branch membership has reached 270 members. This is still small fry compared with some of the branches on "the mainland" but we see a bigger proportion of our members at events, Saturday's anniversary bash showing interest in real ale in Northern Ireland is alive and well with almost 20% turn-out and some new faces. Many beers were supped by all (myself included, look out for my Wetherspoon beer festival round-up after next weekend's beerstravaganza) and an ample buffet provided.

Another event that sees a lot of our members congregating in one spot falls one month from today: Belfast Beer Festival 2011 will be gracing the inside of the Ulster Hall yet again and the beer and cider lists are now live on the website. Obviously the usual disclaimers apply that beers are subject to delivery but it looks like we have a good selection this year with a good showing from both local brewers and cider producers. I've reproduced the list below with links to tasting notes from the brewer's websites where possible, or ratebeer if not. Hopefully some of you can make it across, for Northern types Easyjet has just started a flight from Manchester and tickets are pretty cheap at the time of writing.

NI BEERS

Ards Brewing	Ballyblack	4.8%
College Green	Headless Dog	4.2%
Clanconnel	McGrath’s Irish Black	4.3%
Clanconnel	Weaver’s Gold Blonde Ale	4.5%
Hilden	Hilden Ale	3.7%
Hilden	Scullion’s Irish	4.6%
Hilden	Barney’s Brew	5.0%
Whitewater	Belfast Ale	4.5%
Whitewater	Belfast Black	4.2%
Whitewater	Clotworthy Dobbin	5.0%
Whitewater	Copperhead	3.7%

Other beers

ACORN	Gorlovka Stout	6.0%
ALLGATES	Twitter & Busted	4.0%
ARUNDEL	Autumn Old Ale	4.6%
ARUNDEL	Black Stallion	3.7%
ATLAS	Latitude	3.6%
B&T	Black Dragon Mild	4.3%
B&T	Two Brewers Bitter	3.6%
BANK TOP	Bank Top Dark Mild	4.0%
BANK TOP	Gold Digger	4.0%
BATEMANS	XXXB	4.5%
BEARTOWN	Bear Ass	4.0%
BLUE MONKEY	99 Red Baboons	4.2%
BLUE MONKEY	BG Sips	4.0%
BOWMAN	Elderado	3.5%
BOX STEAM	Dark & Handsome Stout	5.0%
BRADFIELD	Farmers Blonde	4.0%
BRECON BREWING	Broomstick	4.7%
BRECON BREWING	Pale beacons	3.9%
BURTON BRIDGE	Thomas Sykes	10.0%
BUSHY'S	Old Bushy Tail	4.5%
CAIRNGORM	Cairngorm Gold	4.5%
COACH HOUSE	Blunderbus Old Porter	5.5%
COACH HOUSE	Innkeepers Special Reserve	4.5%
CONWY	Autumn Red	4.5%
CONWY	Welsh Pride	4.0%
CORVEDALE	Dark & Delicious	4.6%
CORVEDALE	Norman’s Pride	4.3%
DARK STAR	American Pale Ale	4.7%
DARK STAR	Hophead	3.8%
DERVENTIO	Cleopatra	5.0%
ELLAND	1872 Porter	6.5%
FUZZY DUCK	Tangerine Duck	4.4%
GREAT ORME	Celtica	4.5%
GREEN JACK	Orange Wheat Beer	4.2%
GREEN JACK	Ripper Tripel	8.5%
HADRIAN & BORDER	Ginger Beer	4.0%
HAMBLETON	Stallion	4.2%
HAWKSHEAD	Hawkshead Red	4.2%
HOPBACK	Entire Stout	4.5%
HORNBEAM	Lemon Blossom	3.7%
HOUSTON	Killellan	3.7%
HOUSTON	Peter’s Well	4.2%
HUMPTY DUMPTY	Little Sharpie	3.8%
ILKLEY	Ilkley Black	3.7%
KIRKBY LONSDALE	Jubilee Stout	5.5%
LEEDS	Midnight Bell	4.8%
LITTLE VALLEY	Hebden’s Wheat [Cloudy]	4.5%
MAULDONS	Black Adder	5.3%
MAULDONS	Micawbers Mild	3.5%
MILE STONE	IPA	4.8%
MORDUE	Newcastle Coffee Porter	5.1%
NAYLORS	Pinnacle Porter	4.8%
NETHERGATE	Umbel Ale	3.8%
NORTHUMBERLAND	Bucking Fastard	4.0%
OAKLEAF	Hole Hearted	4.7%
O’HANLON	Firefly	3.7%
O’HANLON	O’Hanlons Port Stout	4.2%
OLD MILL	Yorkshire Porter	4.4%
ORKNEY	Skullsplitter	8.5%
OSSETT	Silver King	4.3%
OTLEY	Oxymoron	5.5%
OTLEY	O8	8.0%
OUTSTANDING	Standing Out	5.5%
PEERLESS	Dark Arts	4.1%
PHOENIX	Arizona	4.1%
PURPLE MOOSE	Madog’s Ale	3.7%
RCH RUDGATE	Pitchfork Rudgate Ruby Mild	4.3% 4.4%
SALOPIAN	Golden Thread	5.0%
SALTAIRE SKINNERS	Raspberry Blonde Ginger Tosser	4.0% 3.8%
SKINNERS	Keel Over	4.2%
SUMMER WINE	Barista Espresso Stout	4.8%
SUMMER WINE	Diablo IPA	6.6%
THREE B’S	Bee Blonde	4.0%
THREE B'S TITANIC	Tackler's Tipple Captain Smiths	4.3% 5.2%
TITANIC	Iceberg	4.1%
TRYST	Carronade IPA	4.2%
VILLAGE	Old Raby Ale	4.8%
WELLS & YOUNGS	Young’s Bitter	3.7%
WELLS & YOUNGS	Bombardier	4.1%
WILLIAMS	Ceilidh Lage	4.7%
WILLIAMS	Fraoch Heather Ale	4.1%
WILLIAMS	Midnight Sun Porter	5.6%
WOLF	Golden Jackal	3.7%
WOLF	Norfolk Lavender Honey	3.7%
YORK	Centurion’s Ghost	5.4%

We also have a much improved cider line-up planned for this year, so much so that it will be on its own separate stillage away from the main bar.

Biddenden Cider	Bushells cider	6.0%
Biddenden Cider	Biddendens Kentish Medium Cider	8.0%
Mr Whitehead’s	Equinox	4.5%
Mr Whitehead’s	Midnight Special Perry	5.0%
Moles	Black Rat Cider	6.0%
Thatchers Cider	Heritage Cider	4.9%
Thatchers Cider	Cheddar Valley Cider	6.0%
Gwynt y Ddraig	Two Trees Perry	4.5%
Gwynt y Ddraig	Haymaker	6.5%
Toby’s	Dry cider	6.0%
DJ’s	Medium cider	6.0%
Broadoak	Perry	4.5%
Westons Cider	Bounds Brand Scrumpy	4.8%
Westons Cider	Herefordshire Country Perry	4.5%
Westons Cider	Traditional Scrumpy	6.0%
Westons Cider	Old Rosie Scrumpy	7.3%
Westons Cider	Marcle Hill	5.0%
Westons Cider	Organic Vintage Cider	7.3%