September 2014 – Cask Marque’s National Accounts Manager Annabel Smith got this year’s Cask Ale Week off to a flying start in Yorkshire with a Beer & Cheese matching evening at the Town Hall Tavern in Leeds.
An enthusiastic crowd of regular customers and guests were invited to match five Timothy Taylor’s beers with five different cheeses supplied by specialist cheesemongers Cryer & Stott from Allerton Bywater. Despite one of the beers being Boltmaker, the Keighley brewery’s CAMRA Supreme Champion Beer of the Year 2014, the runaway winner was Havercake which was matched with Yorkshire Cask cheese. Havercake is only brewed once a year and 10p for every pint and bottle sold is donated to ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.
Taylor’s Second Brewer Andrew Leman and Sales Manager Ben Lumb were also on hand to demonstrate and explain about the different types of hops and barley that go into the various award winning beers.
During the tasting members of the Leeds Male Voice Choir entertained everyone with a number of songs including one written especially for the evening which referred to all the beers and was sung to the tune ‘Bring me Sunshine’.
Annabel Smith, who is Yorkshire’s only female beer sommelier, commented: ‘What a great way to get Cask Ale week off the ground. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and joined in with real enthusiasm. A big thank you to the team from Timothy Taylor’s for organising the event and especially to the Town Hall Tavern’s Jon and Sam, they were great hosts.’
She added: ‘Cask Ale Week is one of Cask Marque’s major events of the year with pubs all over the country organising lots of different events. This year it runs until Sunday 5th October’.
Timothy Taylor’s Operations Manager Heike Funke said: ‘As a brewer of traditional cask ales we are keen supporters of Cask Marque who do so much to promote quality English beers.’
Cask Marque is an independent organisation responsible for the monitoring of cask ale quality in pubs and clubs across the country. It carries out rigorous tests on keeping and serving beer of the highest standard.
Photo Caption: (Left to right) Heike Funke, Timothy Taylor’s Operations Manager, Richard Holmes, Director of Cryer & Stott and Annabel Smith, Cask Marque.
