Author: Andrew Morton

This month our beer correspondent goes in search of multi pub beer festivals in Newark by bus and train. From Woodhouse station it is only a twenty minute journey to Worksop.  There was plenty of time for a cooked breakfast in café on the platform before crossing over the line to the Mallard for opening at 11am.  The occasion was their 14^th Winter Beer Festival.  Nineteen beers were available from both hand pump and cellar together with four traditional ciders. I sampled halves from Mallinsons, Oldershaws and Jolly Boys as well as a very tasty chocolate stout from a local home brewer whose beers go by the name of the Shed Brewery, one of which is usually available at the Mallard festivals. The next festival there starts on Thursday 27^th April. Seventy five minutes later it was time to take the short ten minute journey to Retford station followed by a leisurely walk into town to find Retford bus station, the purpose being to catch the hourly service 37 to Newark operated by Marshalls of Sutton on Trent.  A return cost £5.60 and the return element was valid for three months.  The journey took around 50 minutes and I disembarked at Newark bus station, which was only a couple of minutes from my first pub stop there. The 6^th Newark BeerMuda Triangle Beer Festival was hosted by seven pubs in the town and Just Beer was my first point of call. A CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2017 listed micropub, it is long and narrow with the bar at one end and arriving there at about 2pm, the pub was quite busy. Seventeen beers were available via hand pump and gravity and I chose beers from Almasty, Framework, Odyssey, Ferry Ales and Fallen breweries. Next up was the Flying Circus (GBG 2017 entry) and beers from Pentrich and Reunion were sampled.  There was only time for a quick Hopshackle Jaramillo in the Prince Rupert (GBG 2017) before the final visit in Newark to the Fox & Crown for beers from Maregade and Castle Rock. Time did not allow visits to the Castle Barge, Organ Grinder or Vaults, but all pubs on the festival circuit had additional beers available for the event with no duplication. Furthermore, all pubs were within an easy walk of one another. The reason for my haste was that the last service 37 back to Retford left at 18.15.  Arriving back just after 7pm allowed sufficient time to visit a couple of pubs in Retford before a train back to Woodhouse. The Idle Valley Tap offered a very robust Idle Valley Trouble Maker at 8.4% and the nearby Rum Runner a pleasant Batemans XB.  The train back to Woodhouse was on time as were my buses back home. Cheers. Andy Morton

In his second report our beer correspondent went on a pre-Christmas trip in search of some seasonal cheer (and festive beer). Boarding a mid-morning departure from Woodhouse to Worksop allowed plenty of time for a visit to both the Unicorn (a CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2017 listed pub) and the Liquorice Gardens (Wetherspoon), both located in the centre of Worksop.  Whilst quite palatable, no seasonal ales were available at either. A short train ride next to Retford and a nice Chilli & Rice courtesy of Crawshaws Butchers whilst waiting for the Idle Valley Tap to open at noon. This is another GBG 2017 pub with a spacious and modern interior with the emphasis on Idle Valley Brewery beers. Three of their beers were sampled including a very nice mild at 3.6%, but alas, no Christmas offerings, so off to another GBG pub, BeerHeadz. This is a smaller establishment just off the Market Square with four changing guest ales. No Christmas beers but a very pleasant Wantsum 1381 at 3.8% was tried. Back to Worksop now and a quick visit to the Mallard on the platform for a Cheshire Brewhouse Lindow tasty stout in order to prepare for what was to come in the shape of a very long bus ride to Chesterfield (Stagecoach service 77). This journey was made even longer by two sets of roadworks and two schools finishing for the day. Whilst such a daytime half hourly service must be applauded for connecting several villages on route, those wanting a quicker journey would do better to get the train back to Sheffield and then another train to Chesterfield. Anyway, the first port of call on arriving was the Chesterfield Alehouse which is an excellent GBG 2017 listed split level micro pub near the market place and afforded me ales from Half Moon and Brewsmith breweries on this occasion, amongst the six available. Next to the similarly named Chesterfield Arms on Newbold Road (GBG 2017). Of the ten real ales available, a nice Rat After Rat Mint was sampled. Still in search of a festive ale, a bus was caught towards Whittington Moor and the Derby Tup which is now an outlet for Pigeon Fishers ales. Their Dark Harvest Blackberry IPA at 4.9% was pleasant. There was just time for a short walk to the relatively newly opened Spireite and as the name suggests, it is very near to Chesterfield’s football ground. Their winter beer festival was just getting underway and a stillage had been erected in the rear garden to serve beers on gravity. Being an outlet for Dronfield brewed Hopjacker Brewery beers, two were sampled and at last, a Christmas beer was encountered – Hopjacker Figgy Pudding Porter. The limited stop direct Stagecoach service X17 runs passed the door and whilst this is a half hourly service during the day, it tends to lose interest in the evening with the last bus back to Sheffield being at 19.02 which meant that only two beers were possible here. There are other later services back to Sheffield from Whittington Moor but these take longer and I had had my fill of long bus rides for today. On arriving in Pond Street there was just time for Thwaites Clementine Chocolate Orange stout in the always reliable and welcoming Old Queen’s Head before the walk up to Arundel Gate and the bus home. Andy Morton

In a new series our beer correspondent reports on his journeys in search of beer festivals, all reached on public transport in a day from Sheffield. After the rigours of the highly enjoyable Sheffield Beer & Cider Festival, a review of the excellent RURAD (Rural Real Ale Drinkers) In The Sticks publication revealed a wealth of accessible pub beer festivals in North Notts and Derbyshire over the Halloween weekend. After studying various travel and pub websites, the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and the weather forecast, a day out was planned for Friday 28^th October and all without a free travel pass in sight.  Leaving home at 8am for an early morning shopping trip to Crystal Peaks, I boarded the 9.20 TM Travel service from there to Kiveton Park rail station for a train to Worksop. Arriving about 10.20 allowed ample time for a healthy fry-up in the Railway Café on the platform. The Mallard public house on the opposite platform opened promptly at 11am. This is a lovely pub with a micro bar feel to it with just six tables in the bar, except that in addition to the four hand pumps a full drinks menu is available. For their quarterly festivals the cosy downstairs bar is also open serving beers on both hand pump and direct from the cellar. In total 16 beers and four traditional ciders were available and I tried beers from Mad Dog, Drygates, Reunion, Wylam, Hopstuff and one from their own brewery, Double Top.  Quality was very good throughout. Their next festival is scheduled to start at 11am on Thursday 26^th January – go to it! There then followed a short walk to the Grafton Hotel who were also advertising a Halloween Beer Festival starting the previous day, but unfortunately (unlike the Mallard), they had chosen to adhere to their normal Friday opening time of 2pm, so were closed when I visited. Back on the train to Sheffield now and a quick change for a Cross Country service to Derby using the invaluable Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket. There was then a quick bus ride from the station into Derby Bus Station to pick up another service to Milton for a short walk to the Holly Bush Inn at Makeney, a Grade 11 listed 17^th century inn of great character and significance and one which I had not visited before.  A separate stillage in a normally closed off room housed the festival beers and the breweries I tried were – Hairy Brewers (a new brewery from a nearby village), Oakham, Dancing Duck and G2 (from Ashford, Kent). Time was pressing on so another bus ride was needed into Belper to visit Arkwright’s Bar Halloween beer festival.  In addition to the main bar, a stillage had been erected behind it and beers sampled were from Manning, Abstract Jungle, Dhillons, Brewshed and another from Hairy Brewers.  Unlike the Holly Bush, this is a fairly new and modern smaller pub nestled in the centre of Belper and was very popular with drinkers. On leaving the pub, a short cut brings you to Belper rail station in 2 minutes, just in time for the hourly service back to Derby.  No time for a drink in Derby on this occasion as a Sheffield bound train was just approaching.  As often seems to be the case with evening trains that terminate in Sheffield the controllers seems to take great pleasure in putting the train at the very end of platform 8 and as far away as possible from the way out and today was no exception, even though the station was devoid of other trains. Anyway, there was just enough time for a quick drink in the Old Queen’s Head before the bus home. Andy Morton