The Buck Hotel sits at the top of
the village and commands some rather nice views across
Swaledale. Well, it would if we could see them. The
Buck saved the day for us, and for that it will always
be a favorite, because the day has been extremely
long, windswept and wet, and we were in considerable
need for somewhere at least reasonably dry and comfortable.
The Buck fitted that bill with room to spare. Deep
baths, good-sized rooms, facilities for drying clothes
and bags, good food, good beer, friendly staff....
basically, the complete list.
I had a long discussion
with the owner, Robert, about beer. I told him that
I had just had a spectacular pint at the Kings Arms,
and was ready, willing and able to try his beer, also
Black Sheep Special. It was a degree or so colder,
which I mentioned of course, and he came right back
with, "Well, that means the Kings Arms are serving
it too warm". Why should he sound so confident?
Here's why, and this is why I regard Black Sheep so
highly: Last week the beer inspectors from Black Sheep
brewery came by (talk about a Dream Job!) unannounced,
to inspect the cellars. They rigorously check the
beer for quality, clarity, gravity and temperature,
which they tolerate only to within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Here is the key
though: They then inspect all the other beers provided
by the pub, regardless of whether they are Black Sheep
products or not, the thinking being that they want
high-quality outlets only. This impresses me.
The Black Sheep
Brewery is a new company with lots of history. The
Brewery was set up in nearby Masham by Paul Theakston,
the fifth generation of Masham's famous brewing family.
I may have mentioned
Theakstons already: they brew Old Peculiar amongst
others, but are now part of a much larger corporation,
and are not exactly the company they want to be any
more. Paul left Theakstons in 1988 when that takeover
took place, because he could see the writing on the
wall. To begin with, he did everything on a shoestring,
buying up the old Lightfoot brewery buildings to get
started. Lightfoot brewery was Masham's other brewery
until Theakstons bought them out in 1919. Paul used
a lot of the same equipment that had been used for
decades at Hartley's Brewery in Ulverston.
The first barrels rolled out of the
revitalized brewery in 1992. At the start, up to 450
barrels a week were produced all fermented in Yorkshire
Slate Squares. By 1997 further expansion was necessary
to keep up with demand and capacity was increased
to 600 barrels a week with the addition of three extra
fermenters and to meet a continued demand during 1997
further capacity increases were made giving a potential
output of 800 barrels a week.
A company going places, and I believe
that it is because the company has paid attention
to detail from the quality of the beer, to the reliability
and quality of the outlets, to marketing, right up
and down the line.
His philosophy is to avoid expanding
too fast. Start with a few pubs, do that right; expand
to a few more pubs, make sure they are all in place
and going well; expand a few more. There are now five
hundred Black Sheep pubs all across the north of England,
with walking books linking some of them together,
Black Sheep items being successfully promoted as cool,
villagers pleased when their pub turns to the Black
Sheep.
The range of beers
is wisely limited. On draught they have their standard
Black Sheep Bitter, described as "A well-hopped,
light golden session bitter with a distinctive dry
refreshing taste enjoyed through a rich, creamy head"
and is 3.8% abv. When you can get it I recommend going
for the Black Sheep Special, which is "brewed
with generous amounts of whole Goldings hops and Maris
Otter barley" and has an abv. of 4.4%.
In bottles, should
you be so inclined, I recommend the Riggwelter, which
at 5.9% abv. packs a punch. Riggwelter is an old Norse
word meaning a sheep that has rolled on its back and
cannot right itself.... a great name for a beer.
I will forever
have fond memories of Reeth. Excellent accommodation,
great beer, good food, and in the morning, as we walked
out of the village across the meadows to Grinton,
a rainbow arced across Swaledale, giving us a sign
of a new start, and the promise of a tremendous day
of walking up over the tops back to Wensleydale and
beyond.
