August 2023. Clitheroe.
It had been 20 years since Mrs RM was last in Clitheroe, the Glossop of the North (there isn’t one of those in the South) and I wanted her to see the Bowland Brewery development in Holmes Mill.
To be honest, Clitheroe didn’t look a lot different. Perhaps that’s the problem with judging a town on the number of new beer bars it has to offer.
We nearly got distracted at the first hurdle. The Everyman (thought that was Scouse ?) was showing “Barbie” and Mrs RM has been nagging me to go with her to be Ken for a fortnight, but she hadn’t worn pink so she couldn’t.
The weather had rather ruined the outdoor pizza trade, but Bowland remains An Event.
I thought she’d be impressed with the food hall, but perhaps there’s a few too many of those now.
The Bowland Beer Hall did impress, particularly the sheer volume of punters, from toddlers to tipsys, and a DJ playing a techno version of “Fast Car” (you know, the US country hit).
Only one table left, by the brewing vessels, and I had the same problem I had in 2019.
Forty-two hand pumps but no Bass on.
Reads more like a Vocation tap than a Bowland one, doesn’t it ? Spot anything genuinely different ?
Actually, I’ve no idea if there really was forty-two (42) on, as it was too busy to count, and I ended up just going for a pint for what’s almost the stock beer in Bowland Gold.
Folk always enthuse about how many beers there are at beer festival but hardly anyone drinks more than 3 or 4 in a day, even the weedy half-pinters.. What’s the point of forty-two (42) beers, many of them essentially the same. Most folk were sharing bottles of wine or drinking foreign lager anyway.
It’s a gimmick, and it might attract a few coach loads of CAMRA members from Blackburn but frankly you’d get better quality and variety on a night in Wigan.
The Bowland Gold was OK (3). Is that enough ?
Less is more, folks.
retiredmartin 
Hmm, Wigan, there’s plenty variety, not sure Id like to drink any of it.
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It depends. Are you buying?
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That’s what is called choice these days RM. Which pale ale would you like?
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Dave, yesterday I visited the London Craft Beer Festival, but only because I received a complimentary ticket. Full report to follow, in due course.
It was pretty much the same there, 50 shades and more of pale, pale and more pale!
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That was me, Dave, but I forgot to add my details.
The festival was interesting and there was some cask, thanks to Timothy Taylor’s and one or others.
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If you come up to Sheffield I’ll take you to the Old Shoe, Paul. That will impress you!
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If only it were near a cricket ground, then it could have been called er, The Bowland Catch.
Writing on walls though, and 90 degrees off-level…
Do 42 beers cancel that or make it worse?
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Very good.
I don’t have a problem with the Beer Hall, it brings in a lot of trad from toddlers to older couples. Not for me personally, but obviously the 42 beers is all part of the branding, even if most folk ignore the cask (like a restaurant with an “Unlimited fries” offer).
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Not 42, Heinz had to get up to 57 Varieties before it was a success.
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Were they all the same, too, Paul ?
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Probably.
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That number of beers is insane, and even if the majority are keg, a significant proportion of them will be stale, and passed their best!
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I find it tricky to say. They had at least a hundred customers in, and even if only 5-10% drink cask that could still be a sizeable real ale turnover.
But on the evidence of my 3 pints there (dull, good, average) I doubt they’re making many cask converts.
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