IT’S time to see what all the fuss is about. After all the excitement and bold fighting talk, we’re about to see what Malton is made of. This genteel market town is about to take centre stage in Yorkshire’s beer scene.
The very fact we can print that previous sentence shows how quickly things have changed. Less than a year ago, Malton was a shadow of its former self, a town with a proud brewing history but no active brewery to call its own.
Suddaby’s at The Crown Hotel was the sole standard-bearer for beer enthusiasts, organising festivals every few months and running the “Malt’on Hops” bottle shop.
Suddenly though, things have moved up a gear. In the space of six months in the second half of last year Malton gained two breweries, both of which have brought a fresh injection of enthusiasm, enterprise and excellence.
Bad Seed opened on the York Road Industrial Estate in the summer, Brass Castle moved north from Pocklington in the winter.
Next weekend, on March 21 and 22, the new breweries hope to make their mark. BeerTown, their brainchild and Yorkshire’s newest beer event, will showcase some of the finest beers from around the country and – they hope – put Malton on the beer map again.
The following weekend, Suddaby’s holds its annual spring festival – all of which means Malton will showcase more fantastic beers in eight days than it possibly ever has at any time in its history.
BeerTown, the organisers say, is a “craft beer festival to celebrate the brewing scene reemerging in Malton”, and the beer list is mightily impressive.
The meaning of “craft beer” remains open to debate and continues to rile some for that very reason, but visitors to BeerTown are unlikely to have cause to complain.
In bottle, keg and cask there will be fine beers from around the UK including breweries only rarely before seen in our region, and never before in Malton.
Alongside Bad Seed and Brass Castle, breweries represented will include Arbor from Bristol, Blackjack from Manchester, Moor from Somerset and Liverpool Craft Beer Co. In addition, Brew by Numbers in London have provided Amarillo and Orange, a tempting Belgianstyle saison; Siren in Berkshire have supplied Liquid Mistress, a Red IPA, while Yorkshire breweries Revolutions and North Riding have joined forces to produce Kurt & Courtney, an IPA in the style of those from the American west coast.
Phil Saltonstall and Ian Goodall from Brass Castle and James Broad and Chris Waplingtonfrom Bad Seed deserve credit for taking the initiative on BeerTown and so vociferously promoting Malton.
The event also includes food stalls and live music from 4pm on Friday and 1pm on Saturday, and the £6 admission charge includes two free beers and a glass, so is good value for money. Proceeds go to local charities including Ryedale Special Families.
Locals will no doubt make up most of the crowd on Friday but beer lovers from all over Yorkshire could do much worse than head to Malton on the Saturday, discover the latest local creations, and see how they compare with the best of the rest from across the UK.
Who knows, you may enjoy it so much that you book a return trip a week later – or find a B&B to while away the few dry days in between.
Cheers.
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