Tuesday, 29 April 2008

More Choice for Rochdale?

I was phoned a couple of weeks ago by the new manager at the Flying Horse in Rochdale. He wanted CAMRA support for an in-house beer festival in May. He also told me he intended to widen the range of beers sold.

Last night we had a CAMRA committee meeting there. As well as the usual Lees, Phoenix and Taylor's, there were two new ones on me. Fulstow Brewery is from Lincolnshire and has one of the worst web sites ever. The beer was Pride of Fulstow (4.5%) which was brown and malty with a sweetish crystal malt finish. The other was Celtic Blonde from Duchy of Cornwall. Now that's a puzzle, but a bit of digging round indicates this is brewed for the Duchy of Cornwall - Prince Charles' mob, by The Ring O' Bells Brewery, Launceston, Cornwall - or maybe not. There is nothing on the Ring O'Bells rather exotic website to say so, but Quaffale reckons it is! This was a good, pale beer but lacked the needed hop bite that would have lifted it above ordinary.

Still if the Flying Horse is getting more adventurous, that's good isn't it?

The Flying Horse is opposite the Town Hall in the centre of Rochdale.
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6 comments:

  1. jefffrane29 April 2008 at 18:40

    I really liked the Flying Horse when we visited last year. They had excellent beers on and one of the cutest barmaids I saw the entire trip. And she seemed to think that Yanks in Rochdale were exotic!

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  2. Zak Avery29 April 2008 at 19:11

    I've tried a range of the Fulstow beers in bottle. I think there was a problem with the bottling, as they were actively unpleasant - mostly acetobacter infected, I think.

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  3. Tandleman29 April 2008 at 22:37

    Jeff - I haven't seen her since. Significant?

    Zak - A pity. This beer was OK I thought.

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  4. Anonymous1 May 2008 at 18:18

    Looks to me like the Fulstow website has all the hallmarks of your mate John R and his company. One of their £2000 specials I'd guess and worth every penny

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  5. Andy Holmes6 May 2008 at 13:51

    Aren't the bottles Duchy Originals beers brewed by Refresh. Suggesting that maybe the Celtic Blonde is a Refresh beer?

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  6. Tandleman6 May 2008 at 15:49

    Andy. Yes they are but Quaffale say not for this exact name which is Duchy of Cornwall and they tend to be on the ball. Truth is I don't really know!

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