BEER NEWS - December 2007

Fuller's Vintage Ale 2007

Fuller's Vintage Ale 2007 has just been released, and is available exclusively in selected Waitrose and Sainsbury's stores, priced at around £3.29 per 500ml bottle. At 8.5% ABV and bottle-conditioned, the flavours should continue to develop in the bottle over time, and this is the 11th release of this superb ale, first brewed in 1997. Fuller's head brewer, John Keeling, said: "Vintage Ale is one of the most exciting beers to brew because the ingredients change every time. Each year, we combine the best examples of malt and hops with our unique yeast to produce a beer that incorporates spicy hop notes with rich fruit character and leads on to a very full malty, fruity, sweet palate." The 2007 Vintage Ale is a blend of Fuggles, Target and Styrian hops with Maris Otter malted barley. 150,000 have been produced.

Delirium Taphouse On December 7th 2007 the Delirium Taphouse will open its doors in Brussels, giving beer-loving visitors to the city yet another reason to celebrate. There will be 25 beers on tap at any one time, though a regularly chaging series of guest beers will help the Taphouse reach its projected annual target of having more than 200 different beers on tap for its customers to sample. The Taphouse is situated in the Impasse de la Fidélité, just five minutes from the Grand Place and above the Delirium Café

Cask Marque Guides

A series of 26 regional guides incorporating more than 4,000 different pubs were published last week by real ale quality assessor, Cask Marque. Called 'Ale Trails', the guides only list local pubs where the beer has been independently verified by an industry expert for its serving temperature, appearance, aroma and taste. Copies are available over the bar at featured pubs or online at www.cask-marque.co.uk. Paul Nunny, director of Cask Marque, said: "Cask conditioned ale is unique to

Talking Turtle

Peter Karsten, Marketing Director of Surfax, UK distributor of East Africa's Tusker Lager, recently travelled to Kenya to see how a UK initiative funded by Tusker is making a difference to wildlife out in Africa. Tusker is raising money for the TUSK Trust, with 5p for every bottle sold donated to the charity. Tusk Trust is a dynamic UK based wildlife charity with over 17 years experience of conserving wildlife, promoting education and supporting community development programmes throughout Africa. It provides practical, logistical and financial support to a portfolio of over thirty different field projects across Africa. Karsten travelled to Lamu Marine Conservation Project where he helped over a 160 newly hatched turtles reach the sea in safety. Normally only a handful survive this, the first of many battles. There are five species of turtle found in Kenyan waters, however only Green,

Wine is Fine...

...but Beer is Better! Well, so says The Farmers' Bar at The King's Head in Aylesbury, which has just won the 'Beer with Food Pub of the Year', award in the competition run by the Publican trade newspaper. Mrs Claire Bignell, manageress of The Farmers' Bar, says that she is "Thrilled and delighted to win. Everyone put in so much hard work to gain the knowledge necessary and ensure the pub was well represented." The pub's classic English meals lend themselves perfectly to being enjoyed with beers, so it is a natural combination. Claire says "Matching the beers and food is quite a skill, but is something

Eco-beer is here

Award-winning local microbrewer Simon Gillespie has brewed an eco-friendly ale in support of the proposed Eastgate Renewable Energy Village in Weardale. 'Eastgate Green Dale' is a golden beer brewed with all natural ingredients including two varieties of English hops. Simon says: "When I heard about the plans for Eastgate Renewable Energy Village at Eastgate I thought it was a fantastic idea and I wanted to show my support. As I try to make our entire brewing process as eco-friendly as possible, I couldn�t think of a better way than to brew them a specialised 'green' beer." The brewery has installed a heat exchanger to recycle all the heat used in the brewing process. Not even the leftover ingredients are wasted - the spent grain is donated to a local beef farmer in Gainford as fodder for his cattle, and the expended hops are used as fertiliser at the nearby leek allotments.