Ladies celebrate National Cask Ale Week at Black Sheep Brewery 

The Ladies will be flocking to the Black Sheep Brewery to celebrate Britain’s favourite tipple for National Cask Ale Week 2010 with an evening of food and beer. 

The North Yorkshire brewery is inviting guests to the visitor centre for a night of food, fun and of course beer! 

Managing Director at Black Sheep Brewery Rob Theakston said: “National Cask Ale week is a national celebration designed to raise the profile of the traditionally British drink and with women driving the growth in what has been perceived as a very male market, this is the perfect opportunity to break down the barriers further and encourage more women to sample and enjoy real ale.” 

The festivities will begin from 7pm on the 1^st April with welcome talks from industry professionals including Black Sheep’s female brewer, one of the minority in the industry, Astrid Hewitt who will lead tasting sessions.  

Astrid said: “We have a fantastic evening planned of beer sampling with food matches served by our chefs in the Black Sheep Bistro, a charity raffle and we will be asking our ladies to vote for their favourite cask beer of the evening. There will be something for everyone as each beer has its own unique flavour catering to all different tastes. ” 

Astrid will be joined by Annabel Smith who is a National Account Manager for beer quality watchdog Cask Marque and one of the UK’s leading experts and fans of cask ale. 

Annabel Smith said: “Women often have a preconception that beer is not for them, according to Cask Marque statistics they think they won’t like the taste, it will make them put on weight and the presentation of the pint glass puts them off.  

“Cask Ale could potentially be more acceptable to women as it has fewer calories measure for measure than wine, soft drinks or spirits with mixers and has less bloating as there is no added gas like lager, women are not afraid of strong complex flavours, after all this is what they find in wine and the use of half or third-pint glasses has increased improving the appeal to women.” 

The 2010 Cask Marque report states the number of women who now claim to have tried cask ale has increased to 30%, up from 16% a year ago and the number of women who claim to drink cask ale has doubled to 1.3m. 

National Cask Ale week runs from 29^th March to 5^th April and drinkers will be raising a glass to toast everything brilliant about beer. 

Tickets to the Black Sheep brewery ladies night cost £10 and are available to buy now – please telephone 01765 689227. 

For further information:

Jo Beddows

Hilary Florek PR

Tel: 0191 285 7100

Mob: 07894 070212

Black Sheep Signs up to the Tall Ships Races 2010 

Black Sheep is the beer of choice for this year’s internationally acclaimed Tall Ships Races 2010 in Hartlepool. 

The Black Sheep Brewery, working in partnership with Premier Event Bars, have been selected to take part in the celebrations at the Tall Ships Village, hoping to introduce an expected one million visitors to a pint of Yorkshire’s finest. 

Hartlepool has been chosen by the organisers, Sail Training International, as the 2010 race finishing point. The Tall Ships Races 2010 is the biggest free event in England, and the Village (between PD Ports Victoria Harbour and Hartlepool Marina) will link the berthing sites, offering visitors international street theatre performances, music stages, exhibitions and food and drink from around the world. 

Managing Director of Premier Event Bars, Mark Hopkins said: “The Tall Ships Races is such a huge prestigious event to be part of and it is fantastic to be given the opportunity to share our products with visitors and crews travelling from all over the world. We hope to bring to the event a taste of Yorkshire and provide the legendary Yorkshire welcome.” 

The magnificent fleet will sail across the North Sea from Kristiansand in Norway to berth in Hartlepool quays between 7^th and 10^th August 2010. 

Activities and events will run from 10am to 11pm each day and visitors will be able to walk along the quayside taking in the sights, go on board the ships, meet the captains and enjoy a pint of Black Sheep ales at the bar. The Black Sheep bar will be open from the 6^th August. 

Michelle Daurat, Tall Ships Project Manager for Hartlepool Council, said: “We are delighted to have Black Sheep Brewery and Premier Event Bars on board for Hartlepool’s biggest ever event.  Clearly, both companies recognise the benefits that an event on this scale can bring to raising the profile of their products and introducing them to new customers.” 

Rob Theakston, Joint Managing Director for Black Sheep Brewery said: “The Tall Ships Race has proven itself to be great event for the North East in the past and we hope to repeat this success in Hartlepool. We look forward to introducing our beer not only to visitors from around the UK but also to the many different nationalities who make up the crews.”   

Emmerdale hits a hole in one for charity

The cast of Emmerdale swapped the Wool Pack for the club house at the annual Golf Classic & Gala Dinner with the Black Sheep Brewery.

Fifteen enthusiastic teams flocked to Rudding Park Golf Club in Harrogate to enjoy a delicious pint or two of Black Sheep beer and a competitive round of golf with the stars of the famous Yorkshire soap.

Paul Theakston, founder of Black Sheep Brewery, said: “The Emmerdale cast along with Black Sheep raised over £24,000 for the Wooden Spoon charity last year, helping disadvantaged children and young people.  This year we hope we have exceeded this amount.”

Celebrity cast members who took part in the golf were Patrick Mower who plays Rodney Blackstock, Duncan Preston who plays Douglas Potts, and Emmerdale bad boy Carl King played by Tom Lister. Following the golf, the other cast members who joined their colleagues for the celebratory Gala Dinner included Deena Payne who plays Viv Hope, Charlie Hardwick who plays Val Pollard, Jeff Hordley who plays Cain Dingle, Mark Charnock who plays Marlon Dingle, Lesley Dunlop who plays Brenda Walker, Natalie Robb who plays Moira Barton, Chris Villiers who plays Grayson Sinclair , Chris Chittell who plays Eric Pollard and Tim Fee, former Emmerdale Line Producer and the instigator of the Emmerdale Golf Classic.

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Chairman and organiser of the event, Helen Knowles, said: “The event is now in its 15^th year and we were delighted that so many cast members were prepared to give up their free time, despite their demanding filming schedules. We hope to have raised over £25,000 for the Wooden Spoon charity from this fantastic fundraiser.

“I would also like to acknowledge the Black Sheep Brewery for their support and sponsorship of this very worthwhile event.”

The quiet village of Edgworth, near Bolton, was tuned into a battlefield last weekend as Lancashire and Yorkshire breweries fought for the honour of winning the 4^th annual Edgworth Real Ale Festival’s (ERAF) version of The War of The Roses.  

This year the bar was split in two, with the white rose of Yorkshire hanging above one and the red rose of Lancashire above the other. Team Captains, Thwaites Brewery for Lancashire and Black Sheep Brewery for Yorkshire, sponsored the bars, with each offering over 30 different ales, from large and small breweries across their respective regions. Lancashire ran out narrow victors once the votes had been counted, but it had been a very close fight, with ale’s of exceptional quality being supplied from both sides of the Pennines. 

As well as the battle between counties, there was also an individual prize on offer for the beer that has received the most votes. The ‘ERAF Beer of the Festival’ Gold award went to Bank Top’s ‘Port O’ Call’ beer. The Silver award was given to Fernandes Brewery’s’  ‘Ale to The Tsar’ and the Bronze award to Hopstar for ‘Smokey Joe’s Black Beer’. 

As ever, all ERAF proceeds will be donated to charity, and the whole village turned out in support of this incredibly popular event, whether it is through the sponsorship of local businesses or just patrons enjoying the specialist beers on offer. However, it is not only the local residents that are interested – ERAF, with the help of Bolton Community Transport, operate a shuttle bus that collects drinkers from all the surrounding villages, and, this year, people travelled from as far away as Yorkshire, the Midlands and even Poland to visit a beer festival that is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the best organised events in the North West. 

This year ERAF had over 70 casks of real ale, ciders and perries on offer, from Lancashire and Yorkshire breweries. A total of around 4000 pints had been drunk by the time the festival ended at tea time on Sunday, with virtually every cask empty. The festival is also noted for the quality of the food it offers – the traditional and authentic pasties and pies from local suppliers never fail to sell out, and are an excellent accompaniment to a pint of real ale. To complete the festival and create a fantastic atmosphere, ERAF puts on live music at the event. This year’s acts were Melvin and The Volcanoes on Friday and The Witnesses on the Saturday. As one customer stated “If Edgworth did beer festivals, they’d probably be the best beer festivals in the world…..” 

This was the fourth annual ERAF event, and the festival goes from strength to strength. The comments received from customers, sponsors and beneficiaries alike are genuinely touching, and make the hard work of the volunteer committee members all worthwhile. 

ERAF is proud to announce that they raised an amazing £12,000 from their 2009 festival, which will be divided between this year's chosen charities - Derian House Children’s Hospice and Bolton Mountain Rescue. The ERAF Committee would like to extend their thanks and gratitude to all this year’s sponsors, customers and volunteers, without whom the festival could not take place.  

Put the dates in you diary for the 2010 event – 24^th/25^th/ 26^th September in the Barlow Institute, and if you have an idea for a theme to celebrate the 5^th ERAF, please feel free to email our chairman john@eraf.co.uk