30.10.2000
The Nutclough Inn. Hebden Bridge
Inaugural Meeting. Steering Committee appointed. Steve Taylor. Alan Pepper. Derek Spedding. Agreed to hold quarterly meetings. Aims of group defined.
13.01.2001
The Nutclough Inn. Hebden Bridge
Clive Donald of Brupaks demonstrated a selection of his stock. James McCrorie. Bill Cooper. Paul Travis from Beer In Print. attended
22.04.2001
York BreweryTour
first competition:- English Bitter, Winner:- David Craven
30.06.2001
Marble Arch Brewpub. Manchester
Clive Le Pensee gave a talk on the history of Brewing and Malting.
27.10.2001
The Riverhead Brewery Tap. Marsden
Graham Barthorpe`s topic talk on Water Treatment.
23.02.2002
The Sparrow Hawk. Burnley
Norman Jackson`s topic talk, How I Brew.
Competition:- Winter Ale Winner:- Ian Priddey
27.04.2002
Brupaks. Honley
Tour of warehouse and talk by Clive Donald on the growth and history of Brupaks
15.06.2002
Black Sheep Brewery. Masham
Joint area meet up with the McBrewers. Also Graham Wheeler . Brewery tour and talks by many members and the head brewer.
27.07.2002
The Boundary Pub Ashton-Under- Lyne
Topic Talk by Joe Hughes. Natural progression in brewing.
Competition:- Summer Ale @1.036-1.042 Winner:- Ian Priddy
26.10.2002
Minerva Hotel. Hull
Topic Talk by Derek Spedding. Steam Beer. Guided tour of Hull`s historic pubs.
25.01.2003
Queen Hotel. Todmorden
Talk and demonstration on Coopering by Roy Dutson. Roy actually broke down and rebuilt a barrel during his talk.
Steve Taylor stood down as chairman. Allan Pepper elected.
Competition:- Irish stout, Winner:- Bill Lowe
26.04.2003
Copper Dragon Brewery. Skipton
Steve Taylor our former chairman conducted a tour of his new 10 barrel brewery. Pictures Of the Brewery
26.07.2003
The Oddfellows Arms Brewery Tap.Elland.
Then Eastwood & Sanders Fine Ales BreweryBrewery Tour and tasting session. Elland Brewery Pics.
Competition:- Pilsner [email protected], Winner:- Mark Tobin
30.08.2003
Humber Sloop Trip
10 Members sailed up and down the Humber in a restored sailing
barge. Later they docked on the Hull quay side only to find a beer festival.
The crew of brewers were reluctant to set sail again and had to be press
ganged aboard.
Click here to see the Amy Howson trip
25.10.2003
Head of Steam. Railway Station. Huddersfield.
Dr Keith Thomas from Brulabs. Talk on Yeast and propagation + microscope work.
31.01.2004
The Leggers Inn. Dewsbury
Topic Talk. by Derek Pilkington. Rule of Thumb --- What makes "your" beer different?
Competition:- Barley [email protected]+, Winner:- Tom Yates
26.03.2004
Brulabs Sunderland
Lads weekend away. 2 day brewing techniques course
24.04.2004
Stalybridge Station
Speaker was a "no show" so the meeting became a feedback session for the information gathered at Brulabs.
Ingredients divided for Standard Beer Variable Hop experiment.
31.07.2004
Howcroft Inn. Bolton
Topic Talk by Roy Dutson on Mini Mashing,
Competition:- Steam Beer, Winner:- Bill Lowe
5.09.2004
Tenbury Wells
Hop Walk. Tour of a working hop farm whilst harvesting with free samples. "Marvelous".
30.10.2004
St Thomas Church Hall. Huddersfield
Our Standard Grain Bill and Variable Hop tasting and evaluation session. Competition:- Set Recipe. Any hop, Winner:- Joe Hughes
29.01.2005
Cheshire Ring. Hyde
Michaela Miedl a graduate brewer from Germany. Talk about Decoction Mashing and German Brewing.
Competition Christmas [email protected], Winner:- Bill Lowe
26.02.2005
Copper Dragon Brewery. Skipton
Steve Taylor, our former chairman, gave us a tour of his even bigger new 40 barrel plant
15.04.2005
Edinburgh Various locations.
Another "lads weekend" to meet the McBrewers with Tours around the city`s historic pubs , the Caledonian Brewery and McCowans Brewhouse.
31.07.2005
Golden Ball York
Doug Hodkinson. Talk and tasting of IPA. James McCrorie attended.
Competition:- German Wheat Beer, Winners:- Joe Hughes+ Ian Priddy
Sept 2005
Hook Norton Brewery.Hook Norton. Oxon.
Another "lads weekend" away to this fine old brewery still powered
by a steam engine.
Click here to see our pictures of the Hook Norton event
29.10.2005
The Beartown Brewery and Tap. Congelton
Ian Priddy. talk on cider making from the Apple to the Bottle. + Brewer Tour
18-21.01.2006Winter Ales Festival. ManchesterThe NCB members ran a stall at the annual Camra Winter Ales Festival.
Over 200 of our bottles sampled by the public. Winter Ales Pictures
28.01.2006
The Black Horse. Preston
Ian McAnally gave a talk on his brewery recently featured in B.C.
Allan Pepper stood down as chairman. Derek Spedding elected.
Competition:- Pale Ale, Winner:-Martyn Pashley
28.02.2006
Colne Municipal Hall
NCB had a "Dry Stand" at the first Pendle beer festival. Photo`s Banners Grain and Hop samples on display & Flyers distributed.
29.04.2006
Barge & Barrel. Elland
John Eastwood gave talk on cellarmanship.
29.07.2006
The Salutation. Doncaster
Chris Hall . Gave a talk on his day brewing the prize winning Steam Beer recipe with Dave Sanders at the Elland Brewery.
Compewtition:-Historical Boddingtons, Winners:-Tom Yates
21.10.2006
The Works. Sowerby Bridge.
David Edge. Book review. David pulled about 40 brewing books from his rucksack. (David's rucksack was likened to Mary Poppins magic bag) We all wondered when the clothes stand would appear.
27.01.2007
Cricket Club. Todmorden
Organic brewing with Wim van der Speck of Little Valley Brewery,Sampling
Competition:- London Pride Clone, Winner:-Ian Priddy
27.02.2007
Colne Municipal Hall
Pendle Beer Festival. Again a "dry" stand with some pictures of members breweries on display. Malt and hop samples for sniffing. Flyers distributed.
28.04.2007
The Cheshire Ring. Hyde
John Kerrane gave a talk on his Yeast experiment. He split a 5gall batch of and fermented with 5 different yeasts and brought along the resulting beer for sampling and evaluation.
28.07.2007
The Grove. Leeds
Clive Donald of Brupaks brought along some of his latest stock and also judged The ALT competition. Thomas Yates Talk on conical fermenters.Dusseldorf AltTom YatesClive Donald
27.10.2007
The Works. Sowerby Bridge.
Peter Robinson Gave a illustrated talk on the origin and history of Yorkshire Square Fermenters. Harry Goulding Gave an overview of the Brewery History Society.
1.12.2007
The Works. Sowerby Bridge
Xmas Get-together
26.01.2008
Heald Green Village Hall. Cheshire
English Pale Ale competition. Winner to brew same beer for the Derby inter-regional competition in April. Bill Lowe elected chairman as Derek Spedding stood down to be Webmaster.
Competition:- English Pale Ale, Winner:- Bill Lowe
5.04.2008
CBA Derby Festival.
We won the inter-regional award for a Pale Ale... Other winners from our group were -Rob Franklin -Thomas Yates -Nigel Atack & Bill Lowe. Well done all. An Excellent well organised event . Enjoyed by all who attended.--All beers judged by qualified Judges.
26.04.2008
Thwaites Brewery. Blackburn
Special tour with Head Brewer Steve Fielding. Later Steve gave a talk on how he develops new recipes. Pictures of Thwaites Brewery
9.08.2008
Lynn and Nigel Atack`s garden.
DoncasterSummer B.B.Q. Another good day.
Competition:- Summer [email protected], Winner:-Harry Goulding
25.10.2008
Little Valley Brewery. Mythomroyd
Tour of organic brewery and sampling. Explanation of the challenges involved producing organic beer.
29.11.2008
Stalybridge Buffet Bar.
Get-together for a Xmas social drink. (and pie and peas).
31.01.2009
Heald Green Village Hall. Cheshire
Timothy Taylor's Landlord clone competition. 14 entries of which most were judged to be superior to the supplied control bottles of Landlord.
Heald Green Pictures
English Pale Ale
Landlord style.Martyn PashleyJudged by all 20 members present
26.04.2009
Bay Horse Inn. Terrington
Tour of NCB member Rob Franklin`s 1 bbl brewpub. Talk by Rob of his transition from craft brewer making 5 gall batches to running a village pub and serving his own beer. Good food, good beer, good weather and a good day in a good pub.. Storyteller Brewery
27.06.2009
Copper Dragon Brewery Skipton
Another joint meeting with the Scottish Craft Brewers. Coopering demonstration by Roy Dutson. Inter regional competition . High tech brewery tour. A rematch is planned for 2011. Copper Dragon pics.
Competition:- Scottish Eighty Shilling Ale, Winner:-AleKenny Mowbray SCB
Competition:- India Pale, Winner:- Derek Spedding NCB
26 July2009
Crown Inn Stockport
Meeting in historic pub that was a finalist in the Camra pub of the year vote.
Crown Pictures
31.10.2009
The Sportsman. Huddersfield
Very informative talk on Water Treatment by Tony Barnsley. The group agreed to organise an inter-regional competition next September. Visit coincided with a pub beer festival.
28.11.2009
Jubilee Refreshment Rooms Sowerby Bridge station
Xmas meet up. Then moved on to The Works and Puzzle Hall.
30.01.2010
Heald Green Village Hall. Cheshire
AGM + India Pale Ale competition and tasting. Bill Lowe re-elected as chairman
Vote for the abolishment of membership fee was carried. Now those attending meetings to pay £2 to cover room hire etc.
Competition:-IPA, Winner:- Tom Yates
24.04.2010
The Works Sowerby BridgeAllan Gayton, the author of the recent Brewers Contact article about the Midlands Hop Additions Experiment.
24.07.2010
Summer BBCUEAnother Excellent BBCUE at Nigel's
18.09.2010
The Copper Dragon Brewery. SkiptonCBA National Competition and Beer Festival Full Report Here
30.10.2010
The Bar T`hat. Ilkley
Our first visit to this venue. Also The Northern Craft Brewers 10th anniversary. A lively talk on sterilisation techniques.
27/11/2010
The Sportsman Huddersfield
The NCB 2010 xmas meet up, a good chat and plenty of sandwiches and Home brew sampling, Plenty of great beers behind the bar too.
29/01/2011
Heald Green Village Hall, Cheshire
Competition:- Mild Ale, any colour, OG 1034 to 1040. 18 members attended from as far afield as lancaster, leeds & congleton.Tom Yates put in a blinding performance yet again, with a joint second by Derek Spedding and Ben Short, a good result by ben being as it was his first visit to the group. 4th was taken by Bill LoweMildTom YatesGroup
March 2011
MCB MeetingThornbridge Brewery Bakewell Write up Here
April 2011
Saltaire Brewery Shipley Yorkshire
Excellent venue for a meeting Write Up Here
May 2011The Home Brew Forum Spring Thing 2011
Church End Brewery Warwickshire CBA National Style Competition & meet Up Write Up Here
July 2011
Heald Green Village Hall, Cheshire
Competion:-English Pale Ale 1040-1048OG single Hop, Winner:- Tom Yates, Joint Second Shane Swindells & Bill Lowe. Comment here
Oct 2011
The Sun Hotel and Bar Lancaster
Talk on Saisons given by Steve Wright
Write Up Here
Dec 2011
Dirty Dicks Halifax
Northern Craft Brewers XMAS Meet Up
Jan 2012
Heald Green Village Hall
AGM and Yeast Trial
March 2012
Saltaire Brewery
English IPA Competition and Social Write Ups Here & Here
Winner:- Steve Syson
July 2012
Summer BBCUE
Another Excellent BBCUE at Nigel's
Oct 2012
Ridgeside Brewery Leeds
An excellent social & brewery tour Hosted by Simon Balderson
Dec 2012
Social Sheffield
A social & Pubcrawl joint meet with The Midlands Craft Brewers
Jan 2013
Heald Green Village Hall Bengal Lancer Clone Competition & AGM
APRIL 2013
Saltaire Brewery American Pale Ale Open Competition American.
Jul 2013
The Cheshire Brewhouse
Brewery Visit and Social
Oct 13
The Works Sowerby Bridge
identification of beer off flavours MINUTES OF THIS MEETING
Dec 13
Book Review of Brewing BritainRead the book review Here
Jan 14
Heald Green Village Hall, Cheshire
Recognition of off Flavours pt1
Competition:- Mild Ale
July 14
Stubbings Whalfe, Hebden Bridge
Recognition of off Flavours pt2
Nov 14
University Arms, Sheffield
Inter-regional competition with Midland Craft Brewers Pale Ale,
MCB won.
January 2015 - Castleford
Visit to Junction Pub at Castleford & White Rose Cooperage.
May 2015 - Congleton
Cheshire Brewhouse, Brewery Visit and 2.8% ABV Beer competition.