Home About Us Events Committee Merchandise News Plus Brewery History

Spring 2024 continued…

Spring Newsletter 2024

The next FoHB Social will be held at the Lyndon House Hotel, Walsall, on the 11th March, starting at 7.30pm in the back room as usual. We will have a table top quiz, a great raffle and the usual 50p off vouchers. I can take membership renewals from those who have yet to pay. It’s still only £6 a year, or £9 for joint membership.

 The Hydes trip was an outstanding success, with the on board raffle yielding £137 and the collection on the bar came to £480, which was given to Paul Jeffries for donation to St Ann’s Hospice, Manchester. Tom Hyde (yes he is related) gave us the brewery tour and we all learnt a lot about long-chain molecules. Happily, the brewery has bucked the trend over the Christmas period by having a million-pound turnover when so many others are struggling; and judging by the quality of the beers we tasted, the drinkers of Manchester and the Wirral know when they are getting a good deal.


 The AGM at the Black Country Arms was well attended and we elected the same committee with two new members this year, Andrew Russell and Pete Hough who have stepped up to help out. The following donations were made: Walsall Breast Cancer Support Group - £500; Prostate Cancer Support Group - £250; Walsall Heartcare - £250; St Giles Hospice Walsall - £250 (£100 of which was raised by Phil’s rare beers tasting). Our honoured guests Maureen Greatrex, Peter and Sandra Dyke, and Rina Guddu, all said what a lot the donations mean to their charity, and gave us their sincere thanks. NHS Goscote Hospice (St Giles) has been presented through the post and they have sent us a very nice thank you email (attached).  The raffle raised £61.00 and we received apologies from Gary Timmins, Dave Ogden, Frank Pietzrac and Brian Green. Some ideas for forthcoming trips and outings were raised at the end of the night which will be considered by the committee. With this year’s donations added in, the running total of donations since we started in 1995 is £45,931.00!


 Wychwood brewery in Witney, Oxfordshire, is the home of Hobgoblin Ales, but Carlsberg Marstons closed it during November. There was a brewery established near the current site in 1841 and Wychwood brewery took on its current name in 1990. There is apparently a break clause in the lease and of course “the plant does not match the standards expected by a global giant”. Just 6 jobs are affected. It remains to be seen how the dropping system for the Brakspeare beers will be adapted at Wolverhampton. Meanwhile it is to spend £10m at Northampton extending the ‘Snap Pack can collation’ equipment. Whatever that is!


 Worthington White Shield production will be ‘Paused’ say owners Molson Coors. The move cannot be associated with the end of brewing at the old Museum as the beer moved back into the main plant a few years back. The usual suspects are alarmed while we hope to learn what ‘paused’ actually means.


 T&R Theakston, of Masham in North Yorkshire, has launched the first ever brand extension of its ‘Old Peculiar’ ale. The new beer is the breweries first bottled IPA and weighs in at 5.1% ABV with a zesty fruitiness contributed with English grown Harlequin, Jester, and Olicana hops.