The Red Lion at Cheswardine (photo by Bob Whitehead).
It was the night the clocks went back, and darkness had already fallen when the party from Wakefield CAMRA arrived at the Red Lion pub at Cheswardine. We'd been pronouncing the ending of the place name like deen but it's like normal dine.
The Lion's Tail brewhouse is a recent purpose-built building.
To commemorate the first brew "Lionbru" at the new brewhouse, a local artist presented the pub with this painting.
Jon Morris proudly shows off his equipment.
Lion's Tail's big shiny copper
Lion's Tail's underback
Lion's Tail's paraflo, the heat exchanger through which fresh cold liquor and hot wort are passed, thereby cooling the wort and raising the temperature of the liquor that will be stored for use in the next brew.
The brewing vessels of the 2.5 barrel plant are fine: it's just the foil skin of the insulating jackets that must have got squashed in at some time. The plant is ex-Lime tree.
Lion's Tail brewer John Morris receives a framed certificate from Wakefield CAMRA Chairman Mark Goodair to commemorate the visit. As our 52 seater coach lurched along the local roads, the glass of the frame came to grief, but never mind, John did also get a glass from us - a Merrie City Beer Festival tankard!
Lion's Tail casks with their SIBA registered pink and caramel banding
Lionbru has also been bottled and is available in distinctive gift packs from the Red Lion pub.
The local artist who produced the commemorative painting for the opening of the brewhouse also painted this picture of a happy band in day-glo vests outside the pub. Hopefully, some visitor to this page will add a comment below so that we can find out what the event is, and more importantly who the artist is.
Jon and Sheila Morris carefully pull pints of Lionbru and Blooming Blonde, both 4.1% abv.
devotion and devotion
The Red Lion supplements its own excellent three brews with a wide range of guests. The website editor was called over, he thought, to photograph Ossett Pickled Admiral but it was apparently the pumpclip next to it that folk were referring to.
Lionbru pumpclip
pumpclip for Chesbrewnette a ruby coloured 4.5% beer
Blooming Blonde pumpclip
It was quite an emotional evening for Jon Chapman (right), brewer's assistant at Clark's Brewery as he was reunited with his long lost love-child Shane (allegedly).
Shane Cartwright, one of the younger members of Wakefield CAMRA is engaged in a research project at Huddersfield University into the effect that advertising by big name brands has on small real ale breweries, and how these small real ale breweries can compete in the drinks market, also how these small breweries can lure in 'new blood' to keep up sales and keep producing ale. Apparently the banks look with much favour on microbrewing where the failure rate is only 2 in 5 as oppsed to small business start-ups generally, where the rate is 3 in 5. Contact with Shane can be made in the first instance via "E-mail Us" on the Wakefield CAMRA Homepage.
Looks as if it's nearly time to go, especially for Simon (photo by Bob Whitehead).
The X in the turquoise shield indicates the position of Cheswardine near Market Drayton. Our coach driver decided to return thence to Yorkshire via the edge of Telford, then skirting Walsall to Tamworth before going North. A more direct route could have saved 62 miles.
