Beers, Boats and Boozers, No.76.

From Ely we swept down the wide channel of the Ouse, until we arrived at Pope's Corner, where the River Cam joins, and it becomes much narrower, and parts very canal like, and the name becomes the Old West River.

After the Lazy Otter pub the river then come to be more like a canal with the banks lined as it runs through the river plain that is in turn enclosed by flood banks.

We arrived at Hermitage Lock whilst they were on their dinner hour, which gave us time for ours. Here the lock is manned and you actually pen up into the river again, and this time it is the tidal section that is the end of the river section that flows past Denver Sluice. I couldn't get my head round if it was tidal why didn't matter when you arrived as when the tide was out there would be no water. Apparently the levels are such that when the tide goes out the flow of the river is sufficient to maintain navigation, usually!

There are only a few miles of tidal waters, with no discernible flow, before penning up into the 'normal ' river, which then starts to resemble rivers we had frequented previously, the Avon and parts of the Thames.

We kept going, ticking locks off, until we approached St. Ives. It looks very appealing from the river with the Town Bridge built in 1425 with its chantry church, one of only three still in existence. The others are at Rotherham and Wakefield. I think there are moorings at Town Quay, but it looked very high to get on and off the boat so we  continued under the bridge.

There was a little side channel to an area called the Waits that suited us better. St. Ives was a very big inland port in its date. It had the largest animal market outside of London at one time and traders came from far and wide, many on boats. It must have been busy as it had 68 pubs at that time.

Just off from the Town Quay, down Wellington Street, is the Oliver Cromwell. This area was where all the bargee and watermen lived when St. Ives was the big inland port. It became a pub in the 1840's but I suspect that it still served an other customer base as the owner was still a ship's chandler. The pub sign is very ornate, the best I've seen as far as the wrought iron work goes I think. Inside there is a bar area with plenty of wood and in the back room is a dining area. The well that served the establishment can in the side bar. The pub is called after the Commonwealth Leader of the 1600's who lived in the town and whose troops blew up the Town Bridge in the Civil War. Folk were friendly enough and it had a good atmosphere. Shortly after our visit I see the owners sold to Well and Co.

Oakham Ales actually started in Peterbrough before moving to the eponymous Oakham. They also have the largest brewery tap in Europe that was built in an old Labour Exchange. (Form more information see Beers, Boats and Boozers, No.75.).

JHB, 3.8%, or Jeffrey Hudson Bitter is named after Sir Jeffrey Hudson who was a courtier, adventurer and duelist at the court of Charles I. He was known as Lord Minimus as he was only 3'6" tall! They chose the name because despite his modest size and strength it is more than made up for with its character!

The beer was first brewed in September 1993 when the brewery was first started, but the recipe has been changed as public tastes have changed. When first brewed it had 0.6 lbs of hops per barrel, which was an awful lot of hops at the time. Nowadays there are 1.5lbs in each barrel!! The hops used are Mount Hood from the USA and Challenger from thee UK.

The pint poured a nice mellow brown with a decent head on it, however I think it was past its best as it wasn't the hops that came to my tongue, but the biscuity malts. They use Maris Otter and a Wheat malt in the cask but Maris and Clear Choice in the bottles. I have tried JHB before and it isn't one of my favourite beers but it was Supreme Champion beer in 2001.

Reading and writing about beer is interesting when we are in this period of the pubs been shut. I hope it isn't upsetting anybody. It will be a new period when we get back to 'normal', what ever that will be. Pubs were closing at a great rate of knots prior to COVID 19, and breweries were still coming on stream as more tried their hand. The economic problems of no income for the both of them mus inevitably mean closure for many. Maybe a certain rationalisation of breweries would have been required as they can't all make enough money to sustain a business, unless it is a sideline like the old days. I hope we don't ever get back to the days of Watney's Red Barrel and Worthington E etc. Fingers crossed.