30 helpers from the 20th Sussex CAMRA Branches Beer & Cider Festival (SBCF) came along to visit Crouch Vale brewery. The first picture shows the Crouch Vale logo. Their beer, Amarillo, had been voted “Beer of the Festival” back in March and so on 28th August we went to Chelmsford in Essex to hand over the award certificate (picture 2). Olly Graham, who can be seen with me in the picture, welcomed us with a firkin of the hoppy Apollo. I don’t think we left a great deal of that. We had a look at the new brewery and were impressed by the bigger premises (picture 3). We had a brief discussion about beer quality and beer prices and agreed that, within reason, we would all be happy to pay more for good quality beer.

Time for lunch! A few pictures, for example 4 and 5, were taken outside to commemorate the occasion. The traffic was kind to us, so we arrived just on time at the brewery pub, the Queen’s Head. Picture 6 shows the pub sign. David had laid on a super buffet lunch, which went down well with some more beer from the Crouch Vale brewery. We were all so busy eating and drinking that nobody took any pictures. On our way home, we stopped at The Bull at Horton Kirby (pictures 7 and 8), where Garrett and Lynne gave us a warm welcome. Next stop was the Rose & Crown in Halstead (picture 9). Toby, the new manager, keeps lovely beer, and some of us enjoyed the garden very much, as you can see in pictures 10 and 11. A little bit more down the road, we stopped at the Jolly Tanners in Staplefield (pictures 12 and 13), who had as an extra treat a beer festival with champion beers on. Sigrun & Chris added Amarillo to their list, when they heard about our trip. Very thoughtful. Finally, we got home to the Evening Star, where some of us finished the day in style. A big “Thank You” to David, the bus driver, who took us there and back again. The weather had been good, the beer had been excellent, and we all had had a brilliant day out.

If you like the idea of coming with us next time, why not consider helping out at the 21st Sussex CAMRA Branches Beer & Cider Festival, 8-14 March 2011? All Enquiries to 07807 105803 or sussexbeerfest@yahoo.co.uk

Ingrid Sharp