Page 38 - Demo

38 SOCIAL REPORT
A BEER TASTING AT GINS ON
SATURDAY 22ND FEBRUARY
We had looked at various dates, not straight away after The New Year Festivities in cold wet
January, not too far into Spring to interfere with the start of Sailing, so we settled for a Saturday in late February when there was not much else to look forward to.
A first for the club; would members be interested, if so - how many? What sort of format to take, Ploughman’s Lunch or a Hot Warm Pie? How many pints to be drunk etc, etc.
Perhaps the main priority was to find a local brewery with both the expertise and experience to make the event a success and, of course, a range of beers that would appeal to all tastes.
We were lucky to have made contact with the Ringwood Brewery, a name
that most are familiar with, founded by Peter Austin in 1978, an early member of CAMRA and a man who has contributed so much to the revival of Real Ale.Their head brewer, Maurice Walton, was keen
to lead the tasting; he has presented many of these over the years and was full of useful suggestions.Whilst most members may well have enjoyed their best-selling brands, Razorback and Boondoggle, the purpose of the event was to not only give background to their story but to introduce members to those that they might not have encountered before.
The route we took was to fill half pint glasses with each of the five beers to taste, in strict order, so that we could taste each
in turn as Maurice introduced them.This worked well, as an interactive event, the glasses were filled before the start using the Polypins and bottles supplied, and when the glasses were emptied by the end of the talk then members were free to top-up with whichever brew they fancied.The other beers were 49er, Old Thumper and Circadian (their first IPA, using American hops with citrus and pine aromas) all delicious and a pleasant surprise to all.
The light lunch was steak and ale pie, with other options for the non-beer drinkers and/or drivers!
It started at 11.30 and we finished by 3.00; it turned out to be cheery and very well attended, an event to be repeated, perhaps more than once a year! We also hope to develop these events further with perhaps a Gin Tasting and more wine tastings, as those we had in 2019.
Words and photos:
Brian and Helen Verstage