Beer Swaps And Sausage Rolls

By Dawn Hopkins

The 5^th Norwich City of Ale 2012 meeting was held on Thursday 5^th January at The White Lion, owned by Milton Brewery, on Oak St. Landlord Ben Ackers provided tea, coffee and homemade sausage rolls, all well received. Thanks Ben!

The Beer Writers Preview Weekend is fast approaching (Jan 27) and many details were discussed, including the welcome reception at The Forum, which will include a Norwich Pub & Brewery Heritage presentation, and the plethora of pubs that will be visited – 22 in total! There will be two pub walking tours, and two tours using the City of Ale vintage bus (I will of course have to attend these, purely in the interests of blogging…)

To date, 25 pubs have signed up to this year’s event, which is well on the way to beating last year’s total of 31. We anticipate having 40 pubs involved (though 50 would be nice!)

This year we are very keen to emphasise the wonderful heritage of Norwich, and throughout the festival there will be guided heritage walks as well as Open Days in a number of the city’s historical buildings, such as The Dragon Hall, The Curat House and the old Steward & Patteson offices.

Dragon Hall

Many events have been planned for St Gregory’s Hall during the festival, including the Pub and Brewing Political Debate on Friday 1^st June,  the Pub Quiz Grand Final on Tuesday 5^th June, an auction on Friday 8^th June, and the ‘Barrel of Laughs’ Comedy Night on Saturday 9^th June. The Brewers Market will be held outside The Forum on Saturday 2^nd June.

Of course the pubs will be holding their own events, and a fantastic effort was made last year to provide quizzes, barbecues, music, ‘Meet The Brewer’ sessions and food and beer matching evenings, and we anticipate many more this year.

We would also like to get involved in some ‘twinning’ activities with our twin towns of Rouen and Koblenz, including a ‘Beer Swap’ – so it looks like Phil Halls from Grain Brewery and Phil Cutter of The Murderers may be taking a little European road trip to drop off and collect beer – of course I couldn’t possibly make any comparisons between them and ‘Thelma and Louise’…

This year’s City of Ale Festival is really beginning to take shape as an event that not only showcases Norwich’s wonderful pubs literally bursting with real ale, but also its historical past, its beautiful buildings and surroundings, and its sense of fun. What’s not to love?

The next meeting will be on Thursday 2^nd February at The Nelson on Nelson St. We genuinely look forward to you being a part of it.