Candid CAMRA

Our very own Mr. Chappell recently spent a day of 'client liaison' at the opening of Bakewell's new Thornbridge Brewery, which happened to involve sampling a pint or two of their finest ales. A tough job, but someone had to do it.

Unbeknown to Ian (at the time at least), he was captured on camera by East Midlands Today, offering a connoisseurial look at one of Thornbridge's finest brews.

You can watch his 2.73 seconds of fame here on BBC's news website.

Of course, the rest of the office were mightily relieved that they weren't asked along to what was clearly a very exhausting day of local business networking.

A micro-success

We're lucky to do pretty much all the marketing required by our lovely friends at Amber Ales, Derbyshire's award winning microbrewery.

Even better still, this weekend saw Amber host their first ever 'AMBERFEST' beer festival, so we thought the only polite thing to do was to pop along to try a couple of their finest ales. 

The festival showcased some new and unusual ales from Amber, along with other leading local breweries including Thornbridge, Brampton and Derby Brewing Company (We recommend the Chocolate Orange Stout and the Jasmine IPA).

Since its launch in 2006, Amber Ales has put locally produced ales on the map, winning many awards at a local and national level. 

All Amber's flagship beers are named after Amber Valley local heroes including Barnes Wallis IPA, Outrams Bitter and Samuel Slater American Amber Ale.