There is a whole 5 weeks to wait until the Hitchin Beer & Cider festival — what to do in the meantime? Well all year round you can get great cask ale in excellent North Herts pubs — especially at their own independent beer festivals! The Our Mutual Friend in Stevenage, a Good Beer Guide regular and repeat winner of our Pub of the Year award, will be holding their Winter Beer Festival from the 2nd to the 5th of February — i.e. starting Thursday this week!

The festival will feature around 20 cask ales as well as 15 ciders and perries from a variety of local producers. Although, cider & perry lovers should note that more than 10 ciders and perries is business-as-usual at the Mutual.

The OMF is a 30 minute walk from Stevenage rail station, or a quick and convenient bus or taxi ride. There is a taxi rank just outside the station, and you’ll find most of the busses by crossing the bridge over the main road and heading to the right once you reach ground level. Use the www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk website to find yourself an appropriate transport option. The map below shows the location of the pub.

Remember: support our local pubs!

Our thoughts are with Roz at this time.

The branch will be presenting Howard and Wendy with the 2011 Pub-of-the-Year award on Saturday April 30th at 9pm. Please come along (a bit earlier than 9pm of course) and join with us in congratulating them on their PotY hat trick!

The Half Moon

As a splendid co-incidence (sure…) April 30th happens to fall during the Half Moon’s 7th anniversary beer festival. So not only will there be the usual 8 ales available but a few extra festival beers (assuming the locals haven’t drunk it all by then). I’d better not forget the cider and perry, which you will also find in abundance at the Half Moon – there’s usually at least 3 available from the cellar and will probably be more available as part of the festival selection.

See you there!

P.S. Don’t forget that this now means The Half Moon is in the running to be the Hertfordshire Pub of the Year. To help with the judging we’re running a minibus trip to visit all 4 excellent branch PotYs on Saturday May 7th. The other contenders are: The Queen’s Head, Allens Green; The Woodman, Wildhill; and The Land of Liberty, Peace and Plenty, Heronsgate. See the Diary (or Google Calendar) for booking details – and book soon as spaces are very limited.

• Our Mutual Friend, Stevenage: Easter Beer Festival: Thursday 21st April – Monday 25th April
• The Victoria, Hitchin: Easter/St George’s Day Beer Festival: Friday 22nd April – Monday 25th April
• The Cricketers, Ickleford: Beer Festival: Thursday 21st April – Monday 25th April & Thursday 28th April – Monday 1st May
• The Red Lion, Great Offley: Beer Festival: Friday 22nd April – Monday 25th April
• The Lytton Arms, Old Knebworth: St George’s Beer Festival: Thursday 21st April – Monday 25th April
• The Half Moon, Hitchin: 7th Anniversary Beer Festival: Thursday 28th April – Sunday 1st May

It isn’t in our area, but also:

• The Pig n Falcon, St Neots: Double Bank Holiday Beer Festival: Friday 22st April – Monday 2nd May

Please let us know if you know of any other pub festivals or any general pub news! Comment here or email: editor@camranorthherts.org.uk

The good:

• The Fox and Hounds in Barley is reopening on Saturday April 16th as a real-ale friendly freehouse with a close association with the Falstaff Brewery in Derby (see the April/May 2011 Pints of View for more details).
• The Albert in Hitchin has been sold to a new freeholder and is expected to re-open in May and continue to serve real ale. We wish Frank all the best in his retirement.

The not-so-good:

• The Black Horse in Brent Pelham closed for business in late March. Let us know if you have more information about the future of this pub!
• The managers at The Jolly Waggoner in Ardeley have given notice for May 5th, though they may stay on until the owner has found a replacement.

(Note: some pub news comes to us by word-of-mouth and we welcome any corrections and updates in the comments. You can also email any pub news you have to: editor@camranorthherts.org.uk.)

CAMRA’s Hertfordshire branches have arranged a passport scheme covering 35 pubs in the county. Customers collect passport stamps in participating pubs each time they order a pint of real ale. When participants have visited 10 pubs and collected their individual stamps they will receive a free pass to a Hertfordshire beer festival of their choice. Their name will also be entered into a prize draw with 10 prizes – each winning 3 pints at the same beer festival.

Do you want to take part in our Pub Passport? Have a look it is here

James has aleady made his mark by reducing the price of the real ale – a refreshing move in this day and age! He tells us that he wants to increase the turnover of real ale. Good news!

Finally, James tells us that he’s holding a beer festival from the 10th to 13th September.

It is a bright and airy pub with a new conservatory and full disabled access. Local real ale is stocked and opening night saw Buntingford’s Golden Plover & Polar Star on offer.

Congratulations to Wendy, Howard & the team.

The presentation will made at 20:30 on the 9th May.