North Cheshire

Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

Branch Social Events-old

We try to host a number of different social activities each year, with at least one thing every month. For dates of future events, please refer to the Branch Diary.

Brewery Visits

A visit to a local brewery. Nearly 30 breweries in Cheshire and immediate surrounds, we try to do a different one each year.
A visit to a national, regional or other major brewery. Trips have included Hydes, Robinsons, Lees, Thwaites, Black Sheep, Theakston and Marstons.

Pub Crawls

City Pub Crawls Some of our best pubs are to be found in our great cities. Each year we run a guided tour of the top pubs in a chosen city. Travel is usually by public transport. Past trips have included Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, York, Preston, Lancaster, Huddersfield and Chester.
Heritage Pub Crawls Guided trips to some of the most fantastic unspoilt examples of unchanged heritage pubs. Travel is usually by public transport. Past trips have included Manchester, Liverpool, York, Eccles and Stockport.
Christmas Pub Crawl Something of a tradition now and a great opportunity to sample some of the wonderful winter beers on offer. Past trips have included Chester, Cologne & Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Liverpool, Altrincham and Chorlton.

Beer Festivals

National Winter Ales Festival Held in February each year. 2014 onwards sees this festival move to Derby, so depending on demand we may have a train trip to the midlands, or else we will attend the Manchester regional replacement festival held at the Velodrome! See article above.
Great British Beer Festival Held in August each year in London at Olympia, we have staff who work every day at the festival and many more members who visit on at least one day. Travel is independently organised (it is possible to do this as a day-trip).
Cheshire Beer Festival Held in Chester in November each year.

Campaigning Socials

Community Pubs Month Much of the fun here is in visiting selected Community-focussed pubs in the branch area to choose our Community Pub of the Year. If you fancy joining a judging team just let us know.
Mild Month Hot on the heels on Community Pubs Month, we will turn our attention to an endangered beer style, Mild. Once in nearly every pub in the branch area, it is now sold in just a handful of them. You can be sure that we will have a social activity to celebrate Mild in May.
Cider Month Never has cider been more popular and more widely available. We even have a cider producer in the branch area. We'll be doing our bit for real cider and perry in October.
Beer Matched Dinner After the sell-out success of our inaugural event in 2011 at our Pub of the Year the Helter Skelter in Frodsham. We have repeated this event every year in March.
Local Beer Festivals Although not CAMRA run, there are always groups of people going to many of the local beer festivals, including Appleton Thorn Village Hall, Barnton CC, Grappenhall Community Centre, and Davenham CC.

Branch Area Socials

Champion Beer of Cheshire Hat Trick for North Cheshire

An excellent outcome for breweries in the North Cheshire branch area in the 2017 Champion Beer of Cheshire competition. Coachhouse Premium Mild, 4Ts Stout and Lymm Brewery Lymm Damm Strong Ale were all category winners in the competition held at Cheshire Beer Festival in November. The awards were presented by the beer festival Beer Manager, Joe Wright, and the achievement was celebrated with samples of the award winning beers and a buffet at the Tavern, Warrington. Thanks to the Tavern for hosting the event and congratulations to the brewers at the 3 breweries.

North Cheshire CAMRA 2017 Beer Matched Dinner - Helter Skelter, Frodsham

It is hard to believe this event has been going for 7 years now and remains a popular event in the North Cheshire CAMRA calendar. Slightly later this year than the usual March date it was held on 1st April. The event continues to be supported by both North Cheshire and Halton branches, not only because of the excellence of the beer and food but Frodsham is the most accessible location in the branch area in particular by public transport. Once again Nick Broome excelled with his menu and beer matching (there is, of course, wine matched options for those not wanting to drink beer). Our appetites were whetted on arrival with a beer of our choice from the extensive range at the bar. We then embarked on the 3 course meal. First up was King Prawns and Crayfish in a Scented Cream Sauce with crusty bread accompanied by Bad Seed, Electric Hard Wired (5.1%). The main course was one of Nick’s signature dishes – Supreme of Chicken on a Moroccan Stew and a pint of the strongest beer on offer that evening, Blackjack BIPAS (6.8%). For the chocoholics a scrumptious dessert of Chocolate Brownie with Salted Caramel Sauce & Vanilla Ice Cream, or for the less sweet toothed a plate of cheese and biscuits, followed with Wild Beer, Millionaire (4.7%) to wash it down. It was good to sample such a diverse set of beers from relatively newly established breweries from all over the country: Bad Seed brewery, established in 2013 is based in Malton, North Yorkshire. All of their beers are unfined and unfiltered, their Electric Hard Wired being a German wheat beer style beer loaded with hops and flavours of mandarin and zesty grapefruit. Blackjack brewery, established in 2012, is a Manchester based brewery and their BIPAS is an IPA fermented with a blend of Belgian and Saison yeasts, hopped with Rakau, Citra, Palisade and Centennial. Wild Beer brewery, established in 2012, is based in Evercreech, Somerset and a project is currently underway to build a crowdfunded new brewery. Their Millionaire beer is a chocolate and salted caramel milk stout. The selection of beers just goes to show how exciting the beer scene is these days. We were pleased to welcome regular attendees as well as some new faces. A very sociable event! The Helter Skelter is an excellent venue for the event. However, if you have any suggestions for an alternative venue please email: moc.liamg@cesrebmemcn:otliam. Venues need to be accessible by public transport with a restaurant of sufficient size to accommodate up to 40 people and with the capacity to serve a different, suitably matched beer (or wine) with each course. We hope you are now sufficiently enthused to come and join us next year.

Good Beer Guide 2017 launch

We marked the occasion of the launch of the 2017 Good Beer Guide on 15th September 2016 by calling in on pubs which were either appearing in the guide for the first time or returning after a few years absence.

First up on the gorgeous summer evening of 15th were three pubs in the north of the branch:

Kash 22 Brew & Chew, Frodsham

Lively modern bar with an American theme appearing in the guide for the first time and serving beers from local Blueball brewery as well as a range of guest ales from far and wide.

Ring O’Bells, Lower Stretton The welcome return of an unspoilt village local – just as pubs used to be – serving up to six real ales with an emphasis on local microbreweries.

Red Lion, Stockton Heath

A return after a few year’s absence for this 200 year old community pub offering four real ales from Daniel Thwaites supplemented by a rotating guest ale. A few us of then wandered round the corner to finish our evening in GBG-listed, Costellos.

On 19th we ventured into the south to continue our visits with:

Chime, Hartford

Lively neighbourhood wine and ale bar also celebrating its first entry in the Guide. The award-winning modern international cuisine is complemented by a range of locally sourced beers.

Penny Black, Northwich

A special award to mark the noteworthy achievement of appearing in the Guide for 10 consecutive years. This highlights the staff’s dedication to and knowledge of real ale at this well-known Wetherspoons outlet, with its extensive and constantly changing range of beers.

The Good Beer Guide 2017 highlights the best of the pubs in the country including 70 pubs in Cheshire. North Cheshire CAMRA covers an area stretching from Glazebury to Tarporley which covers more than 180 pubs serving real ale. The branch’s geographical allocation for the guide is 18 pubs so competition for entries is fierce. We use a selection process based on beer scores submitted by CAMRA members which helps to identify pubs that serve consistently good real ale. So as CAMRA member you can have a direct influence on the pubs that ultimately appear in the Guide. Get scoring!

North Cheshire CAMRA 2016 Beer Matched Dinner - Helter Skelter, Frodsham

The annual Beer Matched Dinnner was held, as usual, in March at Oswalds at the Helter Skelter, Frodsham. The Beer Matched Dinner goes from strength to strength – this was the 6th one - and even before it was over guests were pencilling in next year. There was an even bigger turn out this year with members of Halton and North Cheshire CAMRA branches in attendance. We actually managed to take over the whole restaurant this year with 45 diners. Frodsham remains a popular location for the event due to its accessibility by public transport. Once again Nick Broome excelled with his menu and beer matching (there is, of course, wine matched options for those not wanting to drink beer).
First up was Chicken Liver Parfait, Crusty Bread & Ale Chutney accompanied by Six O’Clock Nonfeasance (4.4%). The main course was Shin of Beef, Root Vegetables in a light Chilli Stock and a pint of Siren Soundwave (5.6%). A scrumptious dessert of Vanilla Cheesecake, Chopped Nuts, Mint & Stout Chocolate Sauce followed with Thornbridge Baize (5.5%) to wash it down. A selection of cheeses was next up accompanied by an amazing 10% Orkney Island Reserve - like Marmite - love it or hate it!!
It was good to sample such a diverse set of beers from all over the country: Orkney in Scotland, the ever experimenting Thornbridge from Bakewell, Sound Wave in Finchampstead, Berkshire and the micro-brewery Six O’Clock based in Manchester.
We were pleased to welcome regular attendees as well as some new faces and friends from other branches. A very sociable event!
The Helter Skelter is an excellent venue for the event. However, if you have any suggestions for an alternative venue please email: moc.liamg@cesrebmemcn:otliam. Venues need to be accessible by public transport with a restaurant of sufficient size to accommodate 40+ people and with the capacity to serve a different, suitably matched beer (or wine) with each course. We hope you are now sufficiently enthused to come and join us next year.