The June issue of The Oxford Drinker is now out. Copies of the free magazine should appear in Abingdon pubs that serve real ale over the next few days.
If you can’t wait until then, or for some other reason can’t get out to your local pub, you can read it online here
Articles of interest to Abingdon Drinkers include a review of the Broad Face’s first beer festival, Brewery Tap’s last beer festival and some snippets of news about the Cross Keys which is now offering a discount to card carrying CAMRA members.
The Oxford Drinker is the newsletter of the Oxford branch of CAMRA, The Campaign For Real Ale.
The 1st Broad Face Beer festival starts today and continues over the weekend. There is a good range of beers, many from local breweries including Old Bog‘s Monstrous Mild which was recently awarded ‘beer of The Wantage Beer Festival‘. Continue reading →
The Brewery Tap beer festival last weekend was very successful… almost too successful with approximately 1600 pints of beer & cider in the beer tent sold on Friday & Saturday leaving only the 6 ales at the bar left on Sunday. First beer to sell out was WB-40, a limited edition beer brewed by the West Berkshire Brewery to celebrate 40 years of CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale).
There’s quite a few real ale related events going on in Abingdon over the next few weeks, coinciding with the Abingdon Arts Festival.
This weekend (Friday 25th to Sunday 27th March) sees the Brewery Tap‘s Beer, Cider, Music & Sausage festival. This features 12 beers in the beer tent, 6 at the bar, and 6 more in the cellar to replace the ones at the bar when they run out. As well as 11 real ciders and perrys.
WB-40 aleOne of the beers is WB-40 from the West Berkshire Brewery which is a specially brewed ruby ale brewed with locally grown hops from Kingston Bagpuize. It is to celebrate 40 years of campaigning by the West Berkshire branch of CAMRA.
There will be live music each day, as well as the now traditional selection of interestingly flavoured sausages.
Next weekend (1st-3rd April), the Broad Face will be having its first beer festival, combined with several live music events.
Then later on in April, the Kings Head & Bell is holding a Best of British Week, which encompasses St. George’s Day, Easter and the royal wedding, and hopefully some good british ale.
Don’t forget to keep visiting the other pubs in town that serve good pints of real ale including The White Horse, Cross Keys, Punch Bowl, Spread Eagle and Stocks Bar. Remember if we don’t use our local pubs they may close forever. We’ve lost 3 pubs already in the last 3 months and don’t want to lose any more!
There are rumours that The Plough on Stert street may shut again soon. It only reopened a couple of months ago at the start of July after being closed for several months prior to that. It seems that most of the regulars made other pubs into their regular during the period it was closed and have not returned since it reopened. This is a Greene King pub so there is hope that they might find new tenants, but don’t hold your breath.
The Boundary House on Oxford road has had a complete revamp and reopened a couple of weeks ago. It has branded itself as a ‘Surf and Turf’ and looks more food oriented than beer. The food is very cheap, with the menu comprising burgers, steaks, scampi. The interior has been modified so that it is all one large area instead of the seperate dining area that it used to have. It has the feel similar to an American Sports bar. For beer they were serving Old Speckled Hen on draught, which was in reasonable condition. Previously I have found the beer in there undrinkable, so this is an improvement. The large beer garden at the front has been surrounded by a low wooden fence which makes it safer for children who might otherwise run onto the busy Oxford Road.
The Prince of Wales in Shippon has 6 real ales on, with several being local beers from Loose Cannon and Shotover breweries. The refurbishing of the kitchen, dining area and toilets is complete. The pub is only just outside of Abingdon and not too far to walk or cycle. They have live music and other events on regularly.
The Royal British Legion club on Spring Road is in danger of closing. An EGM was held a few days ago due to financial problems relating to the ownership of the property. However for the time being it is still open and is currently serving Loose Cannon’s Abingdon Bridge Ale at only £2.35 a pint.
The Ox on Oxford Road is having monthly Jazz sessions with Abingdon’s top international jazz musician George Haslam and guests. They only have Morland Original beer on offer, but it was served in excellent condition. Don’t forget also that The Broad Face has live Jazz bands every Sunday afternoon from 4pm onwards.
