Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2007 | Page 92

life

FOOD & DRINK

Mike Janvrin landlord from The Volunteer, Ventnor
serving a pint of Ventnor Golden Bitter

Ale of
Wight

By Darren
Norbury

For me one of life’s great
pleasures is great beer in a
great pub. It is our public duty
to support our community
pubs lest they close and get
converted into housing or
offices. Scaremongering? Well,
according to the Campaign
for Real Ale (CAMRA) an
average of 56 pubs close every
month in the UK. They’re a
cornerstone of British life, as
is the great British pint (and
thumbs up to the European
Union for allowing us to keep
the measure and not trying to
convert us into 500ml drinkers).
This all came to mind the
other night as I enjoyed a very

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fine pint of Yates’ Brewery’s
Undercliff Experience, a 4.1%
best bitter with an explosion
of Goldings and Fuggles hops
balancing bittersweet malt.
This perfect pint was served
up in the Prince of Wales, in
Princes Road, Freshwater, the
kind of friendly, community
pub that drinkers like myself
dream of. I walked through
the door to a roomful of
strangers, and said goodnight
to a group of new friends.
I urge you to try the Yates’
beer if you have not, brewed
by father and son team David
Yates senior and junior. The
brewery is in a converted

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