Winter Newsletter 2023
- The next FoHB social will be held at The Walsall Arms, Bank St. Walsall on Monday 11th December. It will be our Christmas Social in the Skittle Alley so we will have a Christmas Quiz, a Grand Raffle and a game of skittles at the end. The January social will be held at the ‘Bellwether’ in Wednesbury on Monday 8th Jan. 2024 where we will be joined by Walsall CAMRA members for a joint social.
- A trip to Hydes Brewery has been organised for Saturday 20th January 2024. As this is expected to be a popular trip we will offer places to members first and only full payment of £16 will reserve the seat.
- The Away Day pub crawl in Coventry went very well with 20 of us turning up, using public transport to get to our first port of call, the ‘Triumph Brewhouse’; where we held a raffle which raised £43. We then went to the Twisted Barrel Brewpub and then caught a bus to the city centre where the 2 Wetherspoons were sampled followed by ‘Hops d’Amour’, ‘Gatehouse Tavern’ and the ‘Old Windmill’ in Spon St. Draught Bass was available in the Town Wall Tavern nearby, where they have an unusual snug called ‘the donkey box’ because it’s only big enough for one donkey (or 6 drinkers).
- Yorkshire based Black Sheep Brewery which was founded in 1992 has been sold to London investment firm Breal Capital for £5m in a pre-
pack administration deal. The business continues to trade and 150 folk still have jobs but there is always an impact on creditors. The brewery which reported a £1.6m loss last year is said to owe £6m mainly in Government backed Covid support loans and £1.2m in unpaid excise duty. Breal also owns south London micros Brew by Numbers and the Brick Brewery. Three out of the four Black Sheep pubs have since been closed. - Otter Brewery in Devon says it has originated a new beer style – Fresh Ale, designed to bridge the gap betwixt cask, lager and craft. Although it is brewed with lager yeast but at a top heat of 22C, the main difference is post fermentation, where the beer is filtered, gently carbonated and filled into kegs. It is dispensed at 8.5 -
10C which is slightly cooler than cask ale, but it is not as cold as keg and it is slightly fizzier than cask ale, but it’s not as high as keg. Otter’s Patrick McCaig says “we are simply moving the product along a bit.” Amber Fresh, being filtered, has a longer shelf life on sale. - Beer does not help get a better suntan. Travel Company Spa Seekers is alarmed at a social media trend suggesting that hops in beer can promote the formation of melanin in the skin and give you a better suntan. This is of course dangerous nonsense and Beavertown’s Neck Oil brand took advantage to install dispensers in pub gardens to give out 10,000 5ml sachets of SPF50 under the name of ‘Oil Your Neck’.
- Molson Coors has ‘Paused’ production of legendary IPA Worthington White Shield. The move cannot be associated with the end of brewing at the old Museum as the beer moved back into the main plant a few years back. Optimistically, we hope to learn what ‘paused’ really means. (and if any hostages have been released ! ED.)