Category: Co-ALE-ition News

New Story in the Basingstoke Gazette

Screaming out for a touch of Loony power. . .
Screaming Lord David Sutch is the longest serving political leader in the country and has contested the most elections. The Winchester re-run is the 43rd time the life president of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party has thrown his hat into the electoral ring. His party claims to have a Loony deputy mayor and six councillors but Lord Sutch (57) who is married with one child, has yet to keep his deposit. But Loony party campaign manager, Peter Byford, also known an Uncle Belly, is confident Screaming Lord Sutch will be the next Winchester MP.
He said: “We are going to win it hands down. The Winchester people want a Loony in power. No doubt about it.”
Before launching the Loony Party at Bermondsey by-election in 1983, Screaming Lord Sutch stood in four elections as The National Teenage Party and the Go to Blazes Party.
He started life as a musician, entering politics in the “swinging sixties” when he called for the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18. Other Loony platforms which have now become mainstream, include scrapping the 11-plus, all-day opening for pubs and commercial radio stations. Mr Byford said: “Being Loony is commonsense. Everything we push for is commonsense. We don’t get bogged down in the detail.”
It remains to be seen what happens to the Loony proposal for bed sharing in the NHS “to reduce costs and bring some enjoyment to being ill.”
Or the call for a return to the four Rs, “Reading, Writing, Rock and Roll.” Or indeed replacing the Ecu with the Yahoo, “featuring a picture of prime minister in waiting, Screaming Lord Sutch.”
The Loony Party headquarters is at the Albion Inn, in Stockbridge Road, Winchester.

Call Howling on 07946 292557 for more details:

• Howling is opening the Mytchett Community Centre Ale Festival – Friday 25th April (from 7pm). There will be three different Co-ALE-ition ales available on the opening night.
• Monster Mash Co-ALE-ition launch event — Thursday 1st May (Mash brewery before 7pm) and then into Winchester visiting 2 or 3 pubs all serving Monster Mash incl The Albion – former OMRLP HQ in Nov 1997 for the Winchester by-election.
• Howling is the VIP guest at Langham’s brewery celebration event (celebrating the completion of the brewery extension) – Friday 2nd May from 7pm (Co-ALE-ition Gold on sale at £2.50 per pint plus live music by 10 different acts and barbecue/hog roast).
• East Stratton Ale Festival – Sunday 4th May (Wild Weather are hosting the OMRLP Co-ALE-ition stall) – three different Co-ALE-ition ales on sale that day. live music, barbecue/hog roast etc (early start/late finish — campsite available).
• East Stratton Ale Festival – Bank Holiday Monday 5th May (Mash brewery are hosting the OMRLP Co-ALE-ition stall) – three different Co-ALE-ition ales on sale that day live music, barbecue/hog roast etc (early start/late finish – campsite available).

Alan and Derrill met up with brewery owners Dr Graham Turner, John Willmore and Marketing Manager Andrew Wythes two weeks ago at the Mash brewery in East Stratton (Hants). It was great to have a Dr on board but we found out later that Graham is not medically trained so perhaps Dr stands for Drink responsibly which is also an important part of the Co-ALE-ition message.
After what seemed a long and very enjoyable ale tasting session they were able to unanimously select Mash Gold as the next Co-ALE-ition ale which will be rebranded as Monster Mash. Monster Mash is a 4% abv very refreshing golden ale which will be perfect as a session beer in the summer and it is brewed using American Citra hops which provide a citrus zesty flavour to make this very special Co-ALE-ition ale.

1. A Co-ALE-ition ale will be going into The Stranger’s Bar in the House of Commons sometime in June, more details to follow once the delivery has taken place and the dates are confirmed.

2. Howling will be the VIP guest officially opening the Mytchett Ale Festival on Fri 25th April. There will be three Co-ALE-ition ales on that weekend — Longdog’s Winning Co-ALE-ition, Wild Weather’s HowlinGale and Ascot’s Hope & Glory. Alan was born and bred in Mytchett so this invitation was very special.

3. Howling has been invited by Angela (Manager) to the Rochester Castle (Wetherspoon’s pub) in Stoke Newington (North London) on Sat 12th April for a special Co-ALE-ition night. (Postponed, will be rearranged later in the year)

4. Our next Co-ALE-ition ale called ” Monster Mash ” which will boast a unique and very eye catching Co-ALE-ition pumpclip is due to be launched later this month. Following the success of the HowlinGale launch last week, the Monster Mash launch event will take a similar approach i.e. official launch at the Mash brewery in East Stratton followed by a pub crawl around Winchester to up to 3 pubs selling Monster Mash on the night which hopefully should include the Albion (right next to Winchester station) as this was the OMRLP HQ in Nov 1997 for 10 days when Lord Sutch stood at the Winchester by-election.

5. Monster Mash and several other Co-ALE-ition ales will be featuring on the OMRLP’s first ever beer stall at the East Stratton Ale Festival on Bank Holiday Monday (5th May). Howling will be there promoting the event and the Co-ALE-ition ales for the benefit of the Party’s General Election fund.

6. Langham brewery have invited Howling and up to 6 guests to the special event on Fri 3rd May to celebrate completion of their brewery expansion. This event will take place in the Old Granary Barn at Langham’s brewery in Lodsworth (near Petworth/Midhurst). There are 10 musical acts on plus a hog roast/barbecue and Co-ALE-ition Gold is available on draught at just £2.50 per pint.

7. The OMRLP are no longer involved with Peter Carr (who was previously our Somerset Co-ALE-ition agent) or the Milk Street brewery in Frome (Somerset) and their Co-ALE-ition Dark Side Stout which has really struggled to sell. A new Co-ALE-ition stout will therefore be officially launched in May. This is a real coup for the OMRLP as the Stout we have selected for Co-ALE-ition rebranding has just been awarded the Silver Medal (Feb 2014) at CAMRA’s 2014 Champion Winter Beer of Britain event in Derby.

8. Over 9000 pints of Co-ALE-ition ale have now been consumed involving 78 different pubs across 7 counties of England plus Central London.

Howling was at The Queen in Aldershot yesterday as the special VIP guest for the opening of Wetherspoon’s latest pub. This is the very first Wetherspoon’s pub where Howling has been involved in the official opening ceremony. This one is especially pertinent as Howling knows The Queen very well and its history as he has was born and brought up in the area and is very well known by the local community. Howling also knows Terry Bridgeman, the Mayor of Rushmoor, extremely well and Terry was a special guest at the 30 year anniversary party for the OMRLP held at the Prince Arthur in Fleet last September.
Wetherpoons had spent around £2.5M transforming The Queen and the end results were absolutely spectacular. Howling was delighted to meet Sue (Manager) from the Tilly Shilling and Dan, Sam and and Shannon from The Prince Arthur in Fleet all of whom had all transferred over to The Queen, so it was more like home from home for him.
Howling made a very big impression in his all white outfit and with his big rosette suitably inscribed with “JD Wetherspoon”. Howling has personally visited over 400 different Wetherspoon pubs and is a big fan and supporter of the company. Howling was also delighted to find that Longdog’s Winning Co-ALE-ition was the local ale on sale for this special opening event and was told that two other Co-ALE-ition ales were in the cellar of The Queen both waiting to come on soon.
The opening ceremony and photos will be in the next Wetherspoons quarterly magazine and the local newspaper (News & Mail).

Mike Tempest (Owner and Head Brewer of the Wild Weather brewery) organised a Loony Party pub crawl straight after the official HowlinGale launch event at the Wild Weather brewery. Other people unable to come to the launch at the brewery joined us on the Pub Crawl.
We started off at The Alehouse, which had been voted runner in the CAMRA Reading and SE Berks Pub of The Year for 2014. Great atmosphere as we walked in at 8.30, Howling was howling away to the delight of the local customers and we were very well looked after by Carl and Lizzie behind the bar. Unfortunately we did not get to meet Katrina Fletcher the Landlady. Draft HowlinGale was served in excellent condition and it was a very memorable first ever pint from a handpump.
The party left around 9.15 and walked the short distance to The Greyfriar passing The Hope Tap (one of Howling’s favourite Wetherspoon pubs) along the way. We were well looked after by Richard (The Landlord) and his staff and again HowlinGale was in very fine form. The Greyfriar only opened in Feb 2014 and is already a very popular real ale destination as it is very close to Reading station.
We left the Greyfriar around 10pm and made our way to our final destination which was The Nags Head which has been CAMRA’s Reading and Mid Berks Pub of The Year for the last 6 years including 2014 as well and we could all see why when we first walked in. Jody Oates the Landlord gave us a great welcome and we were very well looked after by Lola and Dave Mac who joined in the party atmosphere. HowlinGale was exceptional but the Nags Head went even further and had laid on Ascot Ales’ Co-ALE-ition Hope & Glory as well so we had two Co-ALE-ition ales to drink. Not surprisingly we stayed there until closing time and were the last customers to leave just before midnight.
Howling’s appearance in Reading created a lot of interest in both the Party and the other Co-ALE-ition ales so we will no doubt be back at a later date as the three pubs were delighted to see us.
Special thanks go to Steve and Joy Lawson from Fleet who did all the driving for Alan and Derrill on the night and they also ensured Colin Bex (Leader of the Wessex Regionalist Party) go back to Reading Station safely for his trip back home to North London.

The launch of the OMRLP’s 6th Co-ALE-ition ale took place last Thursday (3rd April) night at the Wild Weather brewery in Silchester (Hants).
The event was brilliantly hosted by Mike Tempest (Owner and Head brewer of Wild Weather) and his wife Karen (in charge of Sales and Accounts at Wild Weather).
There were around 20 people at this launch event, special guest was Colin Bex (leader of the Wessex Regionalist Party). CAMRA was well represented with members from both the Surrey and Hants Borders and North Hants branches in attendance. Graham and John from Mash brewery were also there to see a Co-ALE-ition launch for themselves as the Mash brewery are producing the next Co-ALE-ition ale at the end of April to early May. Keith Taylor from Watership Alapacas in Thruxton came along to discuss a future Co-ALE-ition ale which we plan to call Alpaca Punch which will feature Howling riding an Alapaca on the pumpclip.
This launch went very well, Mike gave us a tour of the brewery and laid on HowlinGale which is a 3.9% dark old ale with a distinct bitter taste at the end. Howling was in excellent form as he mingled with the invited guests and was delighted to sample “Howling Ale” as he calls it. Everybody at this launch agreed that HowlinGale was a wonderful addition to the Co-ALE-ition range and Mike Tempest confirmed he had received orders for this ale already.
Mike had laid on a mini bus to take everybody into Reading Town Centre for the Loony Party pub crawl to three great real ale pubs all serving HowlinGale that night.

Derrill and Alan met Jon Coward, the Landlord of the Northbrook Arms last Saturday afternoon. Jon invited Alan to attend his Ale Festival in early May (3/4/5 May) as a VIP guest and gave us the opportunity to sell Co-ALE-ition ales over the three days to raise funds for the OMRLP for their 2015 General Election campaign.
We have approached the Mash brewery (half a mile from the Northbrook Arms) to front the Co-ALE-ition stall with our latest Co-ALE-ition beer – Monster Mash and we have also made approaches to the following Co-ALE-ition breweries – Ascot, Langham, Longdog and Wild Weather to see if they want to host a day and have their Co-ALE-ition ales involved.
This also represents a great opportunity for Loony Party members to get together in idyllic surroundings over the first May bank holiday. Please see the attached flyer for more details e.g. there is also camping available and lots going on for children and families.
More news to follow.

7pm – Official launch of HowlinGale at the Wild Weather brewery in Silchester (Unit 19, Easter Park, Benyon Road, Silchester RG7 2PQ).
8pm – Leave Wild Weather brewery for Reading Town Centre
8.30pm (latest) – Arrive at The Alehouse (2, Broad Street, Reading RG1 2BH).
9.15pm (latest) – Arrive at the Greyfriar (53, Greyfriars Road, Reading RG1 1PA)
10pm (latest) – Arrive at the Nags Head (5, Russell Street, Reading RG1 7XD).

Mike Tempest (Wild Weather owner and chief brewer) has confirmed today that the three pubs we are visiting in Reading – Alehouse, Greyfriar and Nags Head will all have HowlinGale available on handpump, this is the first time this has ever happened.
The Reading and Mid Berks branch of CAMRA announced this week that The Nags Head was voted their Pub of the year for 2014 and The Alehouse was runner up.
The Reading Chronicle, Basingstoke Gazette and Newbury local newspaper are covering this launch event.