CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

• Community Pub of the Year
• Community Pubs Week Feb 2008
• Real Ale in Growth
• Beer Tasters Needed
• Landlord's Tale

I purchased the Horseshoe in Offord Darcy in late July 2006. Our oldest son is an excellent chef and his focus is the food and restaurant. I have a ‘real’ job in the city, so I was the ‘part-timer’, but I am the real ale enthusiast. I have learned a lot over the last year or so about providing a real ale product. The city job is now part-time!

We inherited a syphon style of beer delivery in our cellar. As the first of number of serious investments for real ale, we replaced this with a stillage rack for 6 casks. A spring ‘tongue’ under each cask allows it to tilt as beer is dispensed.

We also had to replace three of our six handpumps due to their age.

Next we discovered that the real ale in the lounge bar was too warm, yet in the ‘snug’ bar it was perfect. Both rooms are served by a ‘python’ system – lines carrying chilled water run with the beer lines through an insulated tube system known as a ‘python’.

On investigation we discovered that the ‘python’ for the lounge was routed close by some ‘heat sources’. This resulted in another investigation into how glass washers and under bar coolers for lager could be distanced from the ‘python’.

But an expert told us that the ‘python’ really should not allow such heat sources to affect the beer. So the cooling system was investigated and the culprit was identified as a faulty thermostat on the python.