CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

Issue 142 Spring 2010

• Most Improved Pub of the Year
• Potbelly Brewery Trip
• Good Beer Guide Tour
• Chequers Ale

Last October, a group of volunteers from the St. Ives Beer Festival set off for a coach trip to visit the Potbelly Brewery in Kettering, and call in at a few pubs on the way back. Leaving St. Ives in the late morning, we called in via Huntingdon, Little Paxton and St. Neots and set off down the A14. Arriving in Kettering, the coach had a little trouble negotiating the back streets to get to the brewery, but we got there in the end.

On arriving at the brewery, we were delighted to find six pins of Potbelly beers being served - and we were told in no uncertain terms that we were expected to make good headway into finishing them before we left.

The brewery is situated in an old industrial unit in a fairly residential area of Kettering. The building houses not only the ten-barrel brewing plant, but also a separate bar area. The brewery has been operating since 2005, and in that time has won various awards for its beers, most notably ‘Beijing Black’. This is a 4.4% ABV dark mild with lots of dark roast character, and in 2006 was the Supreme Champion at the SIBA National Beer Competition. We were offered a tour of the brewery and, as is usually the case found out some new and interesting little gems about the brewing process and the peculiarities of this particular brewery. The brewery is planning to expand in the future, so watch this space.

Of the five other beers on offer during our visit, the Aisling and Crazy Daze were both particularly enjoyable, the latter dangerously so at 5.5% ABV.