In August the Branch travelled through to Barrhead for a visit to Kelburn Brewery.

After a quick tour of the brewery and talk on the brewing process, brewery owner Derek Moore treated the Branch members to refreshments, Pivo Estivo and Dark Moor. A barbecue was also provided in the brewery yard where the sun was shining. Pictures of the visit are below.

Thanks to Derek were given by all before we made our way home via Glasgow.

Brewery tour with Derek

Jonathan and Dave listening intently to Derek - beer in hand

Bill and Rob in the Cool Room

Refreshments begin to flow

Gather round lads

Breakaway group

Help yourself surrounded by fermenting vessels

Mine Host and his 'Boss'

The 18th Alloa Octoberfest took place in Alloa Town Hall on the weekend of 23rd-24th October.

Below are some pictures of both the run up and during what turned out to be a very successful festival.

The success of the festival can be measured by way of the numbers, in excess of 1300, who attended over the two days and by the fact that there was very little beer left. As it was there was just enough to give the volunteers a 'carry out' after the clean up on the Sunday. These same volunteers wended their way to the Mansfield Arms, Sauchie, to celebrate the success.

The Alloa Advertiser wrote the following the week after the festival:-

The beer was flowing at Alloa Town Hall on Friday and Saturday as Octoberfest returned for its 18th year. Dozens of beers, ciders and perrys were enjoyed with some live music thrown in for good measure. The Forth Valley branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) organised the event and once again they were able to toast a successful weekend. Breweries from all over the country provided ales for local drinkers to enjoy and Brewer’s Swansong, one of the beers picked out by Wayne Thomas of CAMRA beforehand, proved to be especially popular. Iain Turnbull, the Stornoway based brewer behind Swansong, told the Advertiser he decided to brew a beer for his retirement after developing prostate cancer. Funds raised from sales of the dark, mild beer will be given to the Macmillan Cancer Charity, who Iain expects will provide him with support in the coming years as a form of thanks in advance. Enjoyed He said, “At the moment Alloa has been about as far north as Swansong has been distributed and it seems to have sold well there. “Nobody has had anything bad to say about it even those that aren’t normally keen on this type of beer have enjoyed it.” At Octoberfest members of Forth Valley CAMRA presented Iain with a cheque for £400 as payment for the beer and a donation to Macmillan.

What's on

Casks in place

Bar top underway

Is this the right size

Bar covered

Time for a rest but work goes on

Just about ready

View from the top

Still folding programmes

Saturday morning clean up

Here we go again, some Fife members visit

Secretary, John Mills on the door

Treasurer, Ian Young 'doing the books'

Quiet time for barstaff - before the storm

The Branch received an invite from Duty Manager Stephen Reynolds to a beer tasting being held in the James Young, Bathgate, by Strathaven Ales on Saturday 31 October, during the Wetherspoons 30th Anniversay Real Ale Festival. The day was also to include the launch of a new 'house' ale brewed by Strathaven - James Young Ale.

As ever some of the Branch Committee took things on the chin and reluctantly endured the hard work of consuming real ale. Having said that Stephen had suggested that we use the time there as a recruitment drive for CAMRA.

We met up with Stephen, and Colin, the Manager of the James Young. During the time there, we took the opportunity to chat with Real Ale drinkers and invite them to join CAMRA, telling them the benefits and about our Branch social life. Unfortunately the launch of the James Young Ale did not take place, but is scheduled to happen in the near future

A group of Branch Members and friends had a very pleasant evening in Carron Works in Falkirk on the 3rd November, where the duty Manager, Paul, looked after us very well.

There were 6 ales on and all tasted very nice, some substantial snacks were provided by the pub and Paul gave us a guided tour round the cellar where we were able to see the dispensing method, the automatic cleaning system and noted that the casks were vented, waiting to go on and all were quite young.

Paul was very forthcoming with answers to our questions, wants to maintain a good relationship with CAMRA and is willing to keep us updated with beers going on for us to enter into our website.

Thanks to Paul and Manager Graeme for the hospitality.

Rob Duff, Tony Day, Paul Smith (Wetherspoons' Duty Manager), David Rickard, Graham Fraser and John Mills enjoying the hospitality - note the pies.

A number of members had a pleasant afternoon in the Castlecary House Hotel on Sunday 15 November.

There were 6 ales on from local breweries in their Forth Valley Breweries Beer Festival .

Branch Membership Secretary, Gordon Morrison, 'propping up the bar'.

Around 20 members and guests travelled through tough conditions to our first social/visit of 2010. The intrepid travellers also had to 'suffer' the hospitality of Steve Stewart - somebody had to do it!! Seriously though those who did attend were very appreciative of the hospitality on the night.

Steve said at the start that he was only going to speak for around 10 minutes - around an hour and a half later he realised he hadn't put the sausage rolls on. The passion Steve has for brewing surely cannot be surpassed by any one. We were told of his humble beginnings as an independant brewer in England right through to the present with Stewart Brewing employing eight full time staff.

We were also told of future plans for expansion. At the present time shifts have been brought in to cope with the business being extremely busy.

At around 9.30 Dave Rickard said a word of thanks to Steve for being out on such a wild night to show us around. Shortly after we weeried our way out into the snow and our buses for the journey home.

Steve begins his '10 minute' talk.

Steve is realy getting into the swing. And there was not one bored visitor in sight.

We were told to help ourselves to some refreshment as the night went on. Treasurer Ian Young leads the way with the Cauld Reekie in hand.

A short socialising break for some while one of our drivers concentrates on Steve's talk. Steve is out of picture to the right as seen in the next picture.

We've moved and we are now learning about the ingredients used in the making of Stewart's beers. Graham Fraser settling in for the night!

The Mash Tun

Still going.

Pointing out the pins.

Finishing off the food prior to the journey home.