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23/11/07. A chance to try a unique beer style - Friday 30th Nov. I've been told that the Queens Arms in Corton Denham will be holding an evening for the launch of a beer brewed by Justin from Moor Beer Co. in Ashcott. It is styled a "triple IPA" and this is believed to be the first time a brewer in the UK has attempted anything of this style and gravity. Corton Denham is not not strictly in Dorset although the postcode is, it's pretty much on the border. So for those living to te west of our area or those beer tickers this might be worth a visit!!

26/10/07. Beerfest next week at Royal Oak, Dorchester. Wetherspoons say they expect to have 35 beers during the festival which runs from 1st November until the 18th November. They anticipate having a choice of 20 or so available most of this period.

25/10/07. Hidden Brewery acquires Kings Arms, Thornford.  Andrew Hesketh, BLO for the Hidden Brewery reports that the brewery has acquired its third pub, The Kings Arms at Thornford, near Yeovil and will be re-opening it on Saturday 3rd November following refurbishment. Gay and Michael invite all to come and sample their fine ales. For those wishing to travel by train Thornford is on the Bristol Weymouth line and has a station close to the pub. Those using the Exeter Waterloo line would need to alight at Yeovil Junction and get the Weymouth train from Yeovil Pen Mill.

13/10/07. Regular meetings change to Wednesdays. The recent questionnaire showed more people interested in meetings on Wednesdays - so from now until the end of the year, we're moving the published meetings from Tuesdays to Wednesdays. See the updated Diary.

12/9/07. Presentation of "Club of the Year" award to Colliton Club on 27th Sept. John Buckley, the Wessex Regional Director of CAMRA will be presenting the Regional Club of the Year Award to Neil Gatehouse the club steward on Thursday 27th September at 7.30 pm. All CAMRA members are welcome to attend. (See Michel's report below for more details).

10/9/07. WEYMOUTH’s SUCCESSFUL OCTOBER BEER FESTIVAL AT BREWER’S QUAY AGAIN. Brewer’s Quay and the West Dorset branch of the Campaign for Real Ale [CAMRA] are again coming together to organise Octoberfest on the first weekend in October.

28/8/07. A "mini beer festival" this coming weekend at Thorncombe. Thorncombe Sports & Social Club are holding a mini beer festival this coming weekend. Everybody will be more than welcome! We are situated in the farthest West of Dorset - with plenty of space for camping (hot showers, toilets etc). Live music on Friday night. See www.thorncombe-club.co.uk for how to get there.
Beers will be: St Austell's: Black Prince and Tribute; Carlsberg: Burton Ale; Exmoor: Exmoor Gold; O’Hanlon’s; Yellowhammer and Royal Oak: Fuller's London Pride.

19/8/07. Colliton Club wins Wessex "Club of the Year". Michel tells us the results of the regional competition.

12/8/07. Great British Beer Festival Trip. Simons recollections of a great day out ...

10/8/07. AGM Venue - Palmers Brewery, Bridport - 11th September 8.00pm. Refreshment and Brewery tour after. Transport available - contact Tony to book seat - 01305 78990

12/6/07. GBG Deletion - Queens Hotel, Weymouth. Until recently this pub sold a selection of well kept DBC beers and was featured in the 2007 Good Beer Guide. Unfortunately the licensee reponsible for this policy has moved on and the new owners of the franchise have different business objectives. So much so that real ale in the present Queens Hotel is only occasionally available and then from a national or super-regional brewer. West Dorset Branch of CAMRA have therefore no choice but to seek to delete this pub from the 2007 GBG.

6/5/07. A visit to Blandford Beer Festival Simon gives another report and took these photos of a visit to this weekend's Blandford Beer Festival.

14/4/07. Maltings Festival Trip Simon Palmer took these photos of the trip to Newton Abbot Maltings festival. We had 44 members on the coach and several others travelled independently making this one of our largest visits!

2/4/07. Brewery Trip Report. Vanessa Hartigan and Simon Clark report on the recent three-day trip to Ross-on Wye.

1/4/07.

Wise Man at West Stafford - rebuild well under way. A major fire ripped through this lovely pub 11 months ago. See out previous items here and here. We are pleased to see that the rebuilding is well underway and demonstrates a very sympathetic reconstruction - see pictures here. Hopefully the pub will re-open in the summer!!

10/3/07. Black Bear in Wool to re-open. After being closed for refurbishment, the Black bear in Wool is due to re-open on Monday 12th March. A new management team is in place as well. The pub is a part of the Hall and Woodhouse estate - so expect Badger beers to feature!

8/3/07. New Cider Festival. The Royal Portland Arms, Fortuneswell on Portland is holding a Cider Festival over the Easter w/e. There will also be 2-3 Real Ales available.

1/3/07. Beerex "Beer of Festival" Results. The winning beers are listed here.

4/2/07.

Blue Raddle wins Branch Pub of the Year! The winner of the local branch competition for CAMRA pub of the year was announced at Dorchester Beerex, and a certificate was awarded to the landlord, Richard Townsend during the festival.

1/1/07. Beerex Tickets on Sale Now. Dorchester Beerex 2007 tickets available now - be sure to get yours! Check out the draft Beer List here.

14/11/06. Awards to be presented on December 4th. Two presentations will be made at the Digby Tap, Sherborne on Monday December 4th. These are for the Digby Tap itself (Wessex Regional Pub of the Year) and Yeovil Brewery (Beer of the Festival - Weymouth Octoberfest). Make sure you can get there!

1/11/06. Sailor's Return back to full service! The damage caused by the recent fire at the Sailor's Return has now been repaired. The pub is now fully open again!

9/10/06. Weymouth Octoberfest goes from strength to strength! The Octoberfest has had another record year, with seven more beers available than last year. Well over three quarters of the beers were still available for the early part of the last session and a great atmosphere was enjoyed by all. Click here to see which beers won the Beer of the Festival. Read more from the Dorset Echo.

29/09/06. New Inn at Shipton Gorge reopens after massive effort by locals! The New Inn at Shipton Gorge has been formally re-opened today. After a series of short speeches acknowledging the hard work and support of organisations including Pub is The Hub, Palmer's of Bridport and DEFRA, local MP Oliver Letwin presented a plaque to celebrate the reopening. Read more

15/09/06. Digby Tap wins Wessex Region Pub of The Year award! The Digby Tap in Sherborne has been chosen as the pub which best represents CAMRA’s ideal pub in Wessex this year. It is now one of 16 pubs being put forward for the National Pub of The Year award. The Wessex Region covers Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and South Wiltshire.

13/09/06. Good Beer Guide 2007 available! This year the branch has copies before they are available for sale on the HQ web site. Members can get them at a reduced price fron any Branch Meeting.

31/08/06. Octoberfest beer list! Early draft of the beer list for this year, published to whet your appetite... NB beers may change due to availability. Reserve Tickets on-line.

01/08/06. AGM venue announced! This year our AGM (Sept 12th) will be held in the Queen's Hotel, Weymouth. The pub is near the station - after you come down the station steps, turn right and the Queen's is across the road in front of you.

26/07/06. Beer Tasting event on Saturday 12 August 2006. O'Hanlons has invited CAMRA to come along to a tasting session at Majestic Wines in Dorchester at 12.30pm on Saturday 12 August 2006. Just turn up to sample these excellent ales - there is also a wide range of other bottled ales on sale.

24/07/06. Another Pub fire - Sailor's Return this time

22/07/06. Pub Guide reprinted! Our local pub guide had sold out, but we've just had a reprint so it's now available again.

27/06/06. Branch social postponed meeting planned for Benville locality is rescheduled to 25th July

13/06/06. Branch visits Sherborne an evening in various pubs in this north Dorset town..Read more

13/05/06. CAMRA Regional Meeting at Palmers Bridport seeks Fuller's agreement re Gales branding.
At the Meeting, Fullers Head Brewer, John Keeling, acknowledged that branding for beers now brewed at Chiswick should not contain misleading information. It is now expected that pumpclips etc. will be changed to reflect this agreement.

01/05/06. Wise Man at West Stafford destroyed by fire.