Brewers launch new ales to celebrate the dark side
Photo shows (from left) Ben Taylor and Stuart Taylor from Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery, Mark Westall of Lancaster Brewery, Arthur Livesley, Billy Taylor and Nick Taylor from Cross Bay Brewery, Emma Procter of Mitchell’s and Dave Sweeney from Bank Top Brewery
Brewers from Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria kicked off a two-week celebration of dark and winter ale styles with beers brewed specially for the event. Bank Top of Bolton, Morecambe’s Cross Bay, Lancaster Brewery, Kirkby Lonsdale and York breweries launched the brews at the opening of the Lunesdale Dark and Winter Ales Festival organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and held at the Sun Hotel, Lancaster.
The festival is taking place across 27 pubs in the Lunesdale branch area, which extends from North Yorkshire to just north of Preston in Lancashire and features well over 100 different milds, porters, stouts and winter ales. It is sponsored by the named breweries and by the pub company owner of York brewery, Mitchell’s of Lancaster.
At the packed opening night in the Sun Hotel, head brewers and other staff mingled with drinkers to talk about their beers and answer questions on the joys of brewing dark beers. Stuart Taylor, Head Brewer at Kirkby Lonsdale, renowned for its Jubilee Stout , found that his 4.7% cask conditioned dark lager, Dark Arts, provoked much interest. “We wanted to brew something different for this fest,” said Stuart, “rather than another mild, porter, stout or ruby ale.”
Mark Westall of Lancaster Brewery, whose special is Slate (4.2%), said, “We’ve proved dark ale is a winner at any time, because Lancaster Black sells all year round.” Cross Bay’s Head Brewer, Nick Taylor, who used to brew the iconic Black Cat at Moorhouse’s, is not surprisingly a fan of the dark. “It’s great that this is a fortnight festival rather than just three days — it gives punters time to enjoy a huge range of beers at their leisure.” The Cross Bay offering is Winter Moon, a 3.7% porter, and they plan to brew a mild, Eclipse, in May.
Bank Top’s festival special, Dark D’Ale (5%) drew much favourable comment, and Head Brewer Dave Sweeney thanked everyone associated with the festival. “We primarily brew paler beers, but actually we’ve won more accolades for our dark ales — particularly our Dark Mild. In my view mild has a big future.”
York Brewery produced Dark Knight, a 4.8% porter. Brewery Managing Director Andrew Barker said, “We are delighted to be involved with this local CAMRA initiative and to get our sister pubs in the Mitchell’s estate involved in a positive way. We hope the festival is a fantastic success and look forward to taking part again next year.”
Speaking for Lunesdale CAMRA, Julian Holt, said: “It is inspiring to see this enthusiasm for these historic styles from brewers and beer drinkers alike. Stouts, milds and porters may be part of a long tradition but they are also in tune with the modern demand for real taste and natural flavours.”
The festival runs until 5th February and includes a Hike and Pint event and a Beer of the Festival presentation.
Follow the Festival on the Lunesdale CAMRA Facebook page
Map of Festival pubsEvents in the Festival
- 23 January from 7.30 pm, Dark and Winter Ales Festival Launch, Sun (Lancaster) , with meet the brewers event, and special festival beers from Lancaster, Kirkby Lonsdale, Bank Top and Cross Bay on sale..
- 28 January , Hike to DWAF pubs. Catch Bus 41, 1101 from Morecambe Euston Road, 1128 from Lancaster Bus Station to Hamilton Arms, .
- 30 January from 8pm, Celebration of 10 years in the GBG, Graduate College Bar (Lancaster University) .
- 5 February from 7pm, DWAF closing event and announcement of Beer of the Festival, Water Witch (Lancaster) .