Champion Cheshire country pub the Yew Tree Inn at Bunbury is rolling out a beer festival with a theme to make it an extra hoppy August Bank Holiday.
Earlier this year the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), representing most of Britain’s brewers, proclaimed the historic village inn as the nation’s top rural craft beer pub for its exceptional line up of both cask and craft keg beers.
And now publican Jon Cox has searched the north for a prime selection of one-hop variety crafted cask and keg beers to stage an ‘exceptional festival’. The event is the seventh August festival since Jon and his wife Lindsay re-launched the once abandoned Yew Tree in 2010.
Jon said: “It was fantastic that our efforts over the past few years were recognised by SIBA, an organisation that represents the majority of British brewers – a really tremendous award. But winning the accolade left us with the problem of how to follow up with a really creative beer festival. We think we have cracked that by sourcing a range of beers that have each been carefully crafted to display just the one single hop variety.
“Most beers are brewed with several hop varieties, but these beers showcase the versatility of using just one hop type to demonstrate the brewer’s art. There are some marvelous hops from various countries and we will have some of the very best available – including ales from brewers in North Wales, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Liverpool – to make this a really exceptional beer festival. Both Offbeat Brewery in Crewe, a regular supplier, and Axiom have even created new beers for the event.”
A mix of cask and craft keg ales will feature over the weekend. Craft keg ales are; Offbeat-Heavily Hopped Wheat (Sorachi Ace), Roosters – Yankee (Cascade), Wild Weather-Shepherds Warning (Citra), Kernel-Dry Stout (Bramling Cross).
Cask ales; Rat -Black Rat (Bramling Cross), Fernandes- Chinook (Chinook), Ossett – Jester (British Jester), Liverpool Organic – Harbour (Admiral), Borough Brewery – Azacca (Azacca), Offbeat – Heavily Hopped Wheat (Sorachi Ace), Axiom – Glide (Herkules), Front Row – Sin Bin (Galaxy), Front Row – Pause Stout (Target), Oakham – Citra (Citra), Anarchy – Cascade (Cascade), Brightside – Topaz IPA (Topaz), Brightside- Amarillo IPA (Amarillo).
The free admission festival starts on Friday and runs through to Monday night with live music on Friday from 8pm with ‘Break the Record’ and on Sunday with ‘Amber’ at 6pm followed by Liverpool’s ‘The Mac Bros’ at 8-30pm. Food specials are available throughout the weekend alongside the regular award winning menu.
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Since 2010 the Yew Tree has twice been hailed as ‘Pub of the Year’ by the Marketing Cheshire Awards and has also earned high praise in the Camra Good Beer Guide and other top food and drink guides – including Michelin and Sawdays. Every Easter and August Bank Holiday the award winning hostelry puts on beer festivals and in six years more than 600 cask-conditioned beers have appeared on the bar alongside an adventurous range of craft keg ales. Cask Ale Sunday has also been introduced, with all cask ale at just £3 a pint from 5pm every Sunday. In October the Yew Tree will also be judged as a finalist in the ‘Best Wine Pub’ class of The Great British Pub Awards 2016.
Ends/ref: The Yew Tree PR 26 August Beer Festival 2016.
Picture Caption: Hon Cox raises a hoppy cheers at the Yew Tree Inn.
Notes to editors.
*SIBA (the Society of Independent Brewers) voted the Yew Tree at Spurstow, near Tarporley, the UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Bar or Pub (Rural) at their hotly contested annual business awards.
Judges commented that the Yew Tree ‘managed to combine the warmth of a country pub with the beer selection of a top craft-beer-bar, something which really set it aside from the competition.’
The judges felt that the broad selection of British independent craft beers in both cask and keg, combined with a good range of bottles and cans was both appealing and approachable – ‘making the Yew Tree a clear winner’.
Voted the Best Freehouse in the North West by the Great British Pub Awards 2015, organised by the Publican’s Morning Advertiser, the Yew Tree was a finalist last year in the GQ Magazine Best Pub Awards and the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence.
The Yew Tree also represented Cheshire to claim bronze in the Tourism Pub of the Year class at the VisitEngland Awards 2014. The Camra (Campaign for Real Ale) Good Beer Guide has described the Yew Tree Inn as ‘a handsome village pub, built by The Earl of Crewe in the 19th century now lovingly refurbished to its former glory.’
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