Ted Ted's Chiswick Pub Crawl
Another of Ted Ted’s legendary London Pub Crawls, Ted Ted takes up the story…
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Ale Trail 2013 - coming soon!
Coming soon to a pub near you - the 2013 Ale Trail.
Visit 10 participating real ale pubs and win free entry to the 28th Colchester Real Ale and Cider Festival, a commemorative glass and a £10 beer card to spend at the festival.
Castle Beer Festival - Beer, Cider and Wine List
Beer
- Bishop Nick Ridley's Rite 3.6% Bitter
- Bishop Nick 1555 4% Bitter
- Bishop Nick Heresy 4% Golden
- Colchester Diesel 3.6% Bitter
- Colchester Ak Pale 3.7% Golden
- Colchester Metropolis 3.9% Golden
- Colchester Red Diesel 4.2% Bitter
- Colchester London Porter 5% Porter
- Farmer'S Ales Hotel Porter 4.1% Porter
- Farmer'S Ales Dark Horse 6.6% Strong Bitter
Beer Duty Escalator Scrapped
This afternoon the Chancellor scrapped the beer duty escalator and cut beer duty by 1p per pint. This was following a year long campaign by CAMRA. The following message went out to members this afternoon:
This afternoon in the Budget the Chancellor said those words we have all been waiting for: “We will now scrap the beer duty escalator altogether”. He is even going one step further and cutting beer duty by 1p a pint – which will mean that pubs won’t need to increase their prices this year.
Pub of the Year 2013 - Victoria Inn, Colchester
Congratulations to our 2013 Pub of the Year - the Victoria Inn, North Station Road. This evening Sheena and Andy were presented with the certificate and title by our chairman Alan
www.victoriainncolchester.co.uk
Beer of the Festival Award - Mocha Moggy from Fat Cat Brewery
At our 6th Winter Ale Festival the Fat Cat Brewery's Mocha Moggy took the joint title for Beer of the Festival - the winners are chosen by the votes cast by all you lovely beer drinkers who visit the festival.
Colchester CAMRA's Trevor Johnson presented the certificate to Chris Riches, Brewery Manager of the Fat Cat Brewery when we stopped off at the Fat Cat Tap during our Norwich Pub Crawl on 13th April 2013
Fair Deal for Your Local
After years of campaigning by CAMRA, the Government announced a long-awaited consultation on their plans to reform the big pub companies. These big pubcos are making life tough for their pubs and hard working licensees by taking excessive profits from pubs – so licensees and pub goers alike suffer.
The Government is now proposing:
A powerful new Code and Watchdog to ensure fair dealing by big pub companies
A new choice for licensees to opt out of restrictive tied agreements and just pay a fair market rent to their pubco
CycAle May Report - Across the Colne
May's CycAle ride saw 7 set out from Colchester to a first stop at the delightful Birch Gallery for tea (though there's no scrambled eggs on offer, causing much disappointment to Mr Simpson - a note for future ride leaders!). From there it was on across the Strood, passports in hand to the Republic of Mersea and The Fox where there was a choice of Mighty Oak beers on offer.
CycAle April 2013: Toss's Tour De Halstead
On probably the first sunny and warm day of the year 11 intrepid cyclists met up at Marks Tey station for our 2nd cycale trip of the year.We set off at a sedate pace,passing through Aldham and Great Tey on quiet country roads as we headed to our first destination,The Stisted Specialities Tea Room.We arrived at this cyclist friendly venue after about 90minutes cycling,about 14 miles in distance. We sat outside and enjoyed a superb brunch, the bacon sandwiches were fantastic and the selection of cakes second to none.
Locale Accredited Pubs
We're privileged to have many great breweries in our branch and surrounding area. Locale is a CAMRA accreditation that highlights those pubs that serve beers from their local brewers. Our LocAle definition is breweries within a 25 miles straight line distance of Colchester Town Hall.
Look for 'LocAle Accredited' on camra.org.uk/pubs
Ale Trail Roll of Honour
Big congratulations to everyone who completed our very first Ale Trail in 2013. We gave away real ale, glasses and festival entry to 200 of you in the end. In return you supped your way through more than 2,000 pints of real ale in our participating pubs. Perhaps you tried a pub you've never visited before, or maybe re-found a gem that you've not been in in years - we hope you had a great time on the trail and have been back for another visit.
CycAle June 2013 Report - Keith's Ride
9 CycAlers set off from Colchester Station, train bound for Chelmsford and Keith's Chelmo Special. Postponed from last year due to engineering works, with Keith leading we knew i) there would be maps ii) there would be no off road riding whatsoever iii) a slightly higher-pub-to-mileage ratio was guaranteed. We weren't disappointed on any point - some photos from the day.
ColCAMRA Cricket Club thrash the Railway Tavern CC!
The Ashes were forgotten for a day as the might of Colchester CAMRA Cricket Club took on The Famous Railway Tavern Cricket Club in Brightlingsea on Sunday 21st of July. After much arm twisting, threats and bribery I had managed to assemble 11 players for this, and all bar one of us met up in The Railway for pre-match team talk after getting the bus or driving to sunny Brightlingsea. The 11 stars were: Big Richard (WK), Keith Tyler, Matt, Mark (Captain), Steve Edmonds, Steve, Danny, Simon, Chris, Stuart and Scott.
Beer of the Festival
The votes have been counted, verified, counted again and re-verified. We're able to announce the winner of the Beer of the Festival at the 29th Colchester Real Ale and Cider Festival.
Winner: Shalford Brewery's '1319 Mild'.
Runner up: Farmer's 'The Wallet'
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who voted.
CycAle report- Keith Gets His Cape Out
Another successful CycAle ride recorded by Chief CycAle Reporter Jeff:
http://jeffcracknell.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/keith-gets-his-cape-out.html
Cheers and well done to Nigel for organising. If you fancy joining us on a future ride take a look at the cycAle calendar
CycAle 2014 Calendar
For anyone who likes a bit of cycling and a bit of beer the calendar for 2014's CycAle rides is now out. See www.colchestercamra.org.uk/cycale for more details.
CycAle rides are generally day rides to a beer festival returning by train, or around an area visiting a few pubs along the way. Rides are usually 30-40 miles at a relatively slow pace of 12-14mph.
Winter Beer Festival Stats
Thanks to everyone who made the 7th Winter Festival such a record-breaking success. Over 10788 pints were served to 3297 visitors - which is 1.42 elephants (our 'bizarre habit' according to the EADT).
Beer of the Festival
The beer of the festival at the 7th Colchester Winter Ale Festival 2014 is Colchester Brazilian Coffee and Vanilla Stout.
Runner up spot goes to Mersea Island's Mersea Monkeys Porter.
Congratulations to Mersea Island and Colchester Brewery.
Pub of the Year 2014
Our 2014 Real Ale POTY Results:
Town & Overall Pub of the Year: Victoria Inn Colchester
Rural Pub of the Year: Thatchers Arms Mount Bures
Town Runner-Up: Odd One Out
Rural Runner-Up: Ye Olde Albion Pub Rowhedge
Town 3rd Place (Highly Commended) Bricklayers Arms
Rural 3rd Place (Highly Commended) The Three Horseshoes - Fordham
Congratulations to all our Winners!! Certificates & Presentations to Follow!
Ale Trail 2014
Returning for 2014... the Ale Trail is back, bigger and better than before.
The format is the same, visit pubs, collect stickers and win prizes. 200 of you managed to complete the trail last year, can we beat that total?
Visit at least 16 pubs between 6th April and 31st May and win free entry to the 29th Colchester Beer and Cider Festival, a £10 beer card to spend and the bar, and an 'I conquered the Ale Trail' enamel pin badge - exclusive to Ale Trail finishers and a Colchester CAMRA pen
Beer Scores mean prizes... what do Beer Scores mean.....?
From 1st April every CAMRA member who submits a beer score through WhatPub.com is automatically entered into a quarterly prize draw. The prize for the first draw is one of several copies of CAMRA's latest book the 'Beer Select-O-Pedia'
So, what do beer scores mean?
... a chance to influence our Pub of the Year competition!
... a chance to contribute towards our Good Beer Guide selection process!
... a chance to win!
Visit whatpub.com/beerscoring to get started.
Young(ish) Member's Ale Trail Crawl 2014
Prologue
With the announcement of the Colchester CAMRA Ale Trail 2014 the Young(ish) Members decided to run a pub crawl of sorts manlig-halsa.se. The aim was to visit all ten ‘town’ pubs as a transient group guaranteeing company for those visiting new pubs, but keen to allow people to join and leave the tour as they wished.
Keith's Felixstowe Fiasco - Which Turned Out Rather Well, Actually.
Eight intrepid riders set off from the Bricklayers car park at 9-30. Mark arrived exactly on time as usual. Our route took us up the Boxted Straight Road for refreshments at Phillpots cafeteria. On to route 1 for an easy ride into Ipswich via Copdock and Belstead.
What's your champion beer of Britain?
Did you see Timothy Taylor's Boltmaker had taken the 2014 Champion Beer of Britian crown?
So, how does CAMRA's Champion Beer of Britain get chosen?
It starts with votes from CAMRA members and voting is open right now until 30th November. You can vote for up to 5 nominated beers in the 11 different flavour and style categories.
Colchester CAMRA's members vote in the East Anglian stage of the competition so you'll find many of our local brewers - and their beers - represented in the list.
CycAle 2015 Ride Calendar
The CycAle calendar of rides for 2015 is confirmed.
Head over to the CycAle page for full details... www.colchestercamra.org.uk/cycale
Photo: Tejvan Pettinger, Flickr