CAMRA Lichfield, Sutton and Tamworth Branch

Hand Drawn Monkey take Gold from Tamworth fest

Beer festival customers tend to split into two fundamentally different camps. One side of the divide has those who start at the lower end of the ABV spectrum, trying the lighter, weaker beers first and slowly working up in terms of strength and richness. On the other side are those who carefully pick out the strongest – and then drink nothing else, since it’s already too late once brain and palate have been blasted into insensitivity!

Last year’s Tamworth Beer Festival saw an exceptional beer at the lowest end of the spectrum – and we wouldn’t be surprised if a few in the sensible camp were tempted to stick on it! We’re talking about Hand Drawn Monkey’s Smaller, a 2.8% brew which was so good that it took the award for beer of the festival. Light and hoppy, full of fragrance and complexity, it was just the sort of beer which might – just might – have convinced the head-banging fraternity of the error of their ways! So, we needed a nice little jolly to present the gold award.

The brewery is a couple of miles outside Huddersfield centre, and is actually the old Mallinsons brewery. This was taken over in November 2012 by Rob Allen, formerly of the Rat & Ratchet brewpub in Huddersfield, and Tom Evans, who previously honed his art with Blue Monkey. Pictured from left to right below are Tom, branch secretary George and Rob.

The core range of beers is impressive enough, but what really stood out was Rob and Tom’s innovative flair. During our visit a brew was being dosed with black limes (yes, we’d never heard of them either!); meanwhile we drooled over an Islay whisky cask being used for aging. They’ve also some burgundy casks for the same purpose. And sour beetroot wheat beer anyone? We reckon that the only frustrations with this setup will be keeping up with them, and getting the same beer twice! We’ll certainly be looking to get something weird and wonderful for next year’s fest.

We need to thank the chaps, plus Rob’s father Roger, for their welcoming reception, with a fine spread of nibbles laid on and the 5% IPA on tap. The IPA is dangerously quaffable, with an addictive citrusy hoppiness. We’d have liked to stop longer, but it was vital to also visit their town centre shop-cum-micropub. This lives at 28 Wood Street (HD1 1DU), and is well worth a visit. Once you’ve overcome the shock of the amazingly tall bar (short people should ascend the steps!) you can sample a range of both cask and keg beers. Amongst the eccentric brews was the third in their ‘spice range’, a Tandoori IPA at 6.5%. We’d already been briefed on this at the brewery (coriander, chilli, ginger, mustard seed, …) but it was surprisingly better than it sounded.

Don’t worry if you want to visit, there are very nice beer-flavoured beers!

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