Peter Colin reports on his
summer’s trip to Malton.
On a sunny Friday evening, ten of us piled into a mini-bus,
and were whisked off to the North Yorkshire market town of
Malton and our staging post for the weekend¸ Suddaby’s
Crown Hotel, home of the
Malton
Brewery.
Mine host, Neil Suddaby welcomed us to our accommodation and
the tempting bar, premier showcase of homegrown delights:
Double Chance (named after a winning racehorse of yore)
3.8%, Golden Chance 4.2%, Owd Bob, a kind of barley wine at
6% and, of interest because of its rarity value, a 4.2%
Pickwick’s Porter. My money was (literally) on Double and
Golden Chance but I couldn’t forego the porter, if only to
satisfy my curiosity.
The compact brewery is much like any other micro brewery
except that it is under some hotel bedrooms. Our guide, an
erstwhile aluminium welder, took to his work like a duck to
water giving the impression that ale was in his blood.
Perhaps it was. Nottinghamshire patriots will be pleased to
note that Nottingham Ale Yeast from Old Basford is used at
all times. |
The afternoon was free so we set
off towards Whitby. On the way we stopped at Beckhole near
Goathland (where the TV series ‘Heartbeat’ is filmed)
– touristy, albeit breathtakingly beautiful. Birch Hall
Inn, surely one of the smallest hostelries in England, is a
jewel set in the luscious Murk Esk Valley and well worthy of
our undivided attention. Black Bull and Black Sheep as
regulars plus three guest ales at any one time prove this
point.
Whitby as a place is superb but the beer served us wasn’t
– so back to the hotel and joyful participation in the
England victory over Germany!
Sunday morning further north to the New Inn at Cropton with
its adjacent Cropton Brewery which also brews fine beers,
notably 4% ABV Two Pints, a flavoursome hoppy bitter, dark
brown Backwood’s bitter (5.1%) and Scoresby’s Stout. At
the time of writing, they are serving a new 3.8% golden
coloured concoction, Honey Gold which really is worth a
return visit. |
Newark bound we stopped at Saxton, a small
village 5 miles from Tadcaster. The Greyhound there has a
very welcoming ambience. A tied house (Samuel Smith), it is
family owned and a pint emanating from a traditional wooden
barrel cost but Ł1.15! The price of a pint, I was told, has
only gone up 9p in eight years! At a time when publicans are
brainwashed into believing that only ‘smooth’ is the way
forward, here we have four examples of highly commercial
operations which brew and pour most quaffable beers yet make
money and attract paying visitors while so doing.
So how was our Junket in June? Taste buds titillated, safely
conveyed across breathtaking dales and moors, basking in the
afterglow of Shearer’s decisive and deciding header - all
in all, a good result!
Apr. '01
|
