Macc Life

Originally Darlo were to be in Cleethorpes today playing Grimsby and since a few of us were not keen on going there, we thought it would be the perfect time to make a nostalgic trip to Macclesfield and the Waters Green Tavern in particular.

As luck would have it, the league game was postponed as Darlo were to play Salisbury City in the quarter final of the FA Trophy.

However as train tickets were almost £80 by the time the draw was made, I decided to stick to the original plan.

(left) The Treacle Tap

There was some confusion about opening time and I was under the impression the WGT wouldn't open until noon so after a mooch around the town I headed for a new pub, the Treacle Tap.

By this time I'd bumped into Paul, my Wycombe chum who was up for their game at Moss Rose. He was accompanied by his mates Dave and Barry who tend to join him when there's good drinking to be had.

As we approached I could see that Lance had beaten us to it and was at the bar ordering as we entered. The Treacle Tap appears to have been a shop or restaurant that has been turned into a pub - all stripped wood and dining tables - but it offers a choice of three ales from small, local breweries. Like a mini-Number Twenty-2.

We had the option of Summer Wine Boreas, Beartown Bareass and Bollington Long Hop - the latter being replaced more or less immediately by Offbeat Brewery Oddball Red. The Boreass was a lovely 5% pale ale - maybe a bit strong for the first of the day but an excellent drop.

I was the first to head off to the Waters Green Tavern which had actually opened at 11am and landlord Brian and barmaid Ann were patiently waiting, wondering where we were. Ooops!

Colin arrived at noon, having just missed me at the Treacle Tap, and then a gaggle of my Macclesfield chums turned up to see me.

Landlord Brian is a man who loves pale ales and the beers on tap today were a testament to this: Kelham Island Pale Rider, Ossett Silver King, Pheonix Low VAT Bitter, Acorn Barnsley Bitter, George Wright Blonde and Derwent Blonde , plus a cider from Gwynt y Ddraig, Haymaker. All in top nick.

I had a taste of most of them except for the Pale Rider plus a pint of the cider. No holding back today.

After catching up with the news from the Macclesfield mob, Colin and I then left Lance to his own devices in the WGT and took the train to Manchester and a short walk to the city's latest ale house, the Port Street Beer House.

(left) Is it a shop? Is it a pub? No, it's the Port Street Beer House

It has the most unpreposing exterior which meant we almost walked past it. In fact when we were sat with our first pint we spotted Brian wandering past on the other side of the road. It was very tempting to let him wander off but we're not like that.

This is a venue very much in the same mould as the Treacle Tap and the Euston Tap, a place where beery old farts and the new generation of young craft beer drinkers can enjoy a beer. I just wish they'd use Draught instead of Draft.

As well as a wide range of bottled beers there was Summer Wine Teleporter, Meantime London Pale Ale, Dark Star Over The Moon and Thornbridge Hopton on tap.

After a couple of beers we wandered off to the next pub - passing other good pubs such as the Crown & Kettle and Bar Fringe that Colin, Martin and I had visited after our televised victory at Rochdale back at the end of the 2009/10 season.

And it was up the Rochdale Road that we went to the famous Marble Arch, brewery tap for the well-regarded Marble brewery. The place was absolutely packed when we got there so it was standing room only at the bar for us.

It is a lovely pub with beatiful tiled walls and has plenty of bar staff to keep the hordes happy. Good helpings of snacks too.

I've had quite a few of their beers over the last year or two - many of them in bottles - and they rarely disappoint. We opted for pints of 3.9 which unfortunately went off just as we were getting a taste for it. We then moved onto pints of Pint (it can get confusing).

(left) Much more traditional - the Marble Arch

From here we moved to our last pub which is also on the Rochdale Road - this is the Angel but it was called the Beer House when I was last in there following a defeat at Bury back in the nineties.

By this time we more or less had enough and so we wandered back to Piccadilly station. Both Colin and Brian could catch earlier trains but I had to wait a while.

Whilst waiting I spied BBC Look North's Clem so had a word with him though he was initially confused by why a Darlo fan wasn't at the game. It seems he been to Bury for the Beeb's Football League show but was heading off back to London for the League Cup final.

I was in a chatty mood so decided I'd make his day and accompany him back to London. It wasn't my train but I resurrected the charm that had seen worked so well for us last week and managed to blag my way on board.

I'm not sure whether Clem was pleased when I came and sat beside him but he was good company and we managed to natter about all things football - he was quite interested in DAFTS and our attitude to football and beer. Who wouldn't be?

By this time I'd found out that we'd won our game against Salisbury and were in the semis of the FA Trophy. Great stuff.

Arriving an hour earlier than originally scheduled, I left Clem at Euston to head to his hotel whilst I went to join Liz, Jenny and Chris who'd had a good victory at Burton (and Coopers Tavern of course) in the Euston Tap and more beer.

Macc Fest

I manage to arrive at Macclesfield Rugby Club just as the finishing touches are being made to the marquee in the club's car park. For the next few days this will be home to the Macclesfield beer festival.

The major task once the marquee was erected was the construction of the stillage and then putting the barrels onto it - with over 150 barrels of beer and 35 pins of cider that is one tough job - I'm not sorry I missed out on that.

All the barrels were in place so there was very little for me to do but chat to Trev about the beers.

(left) Saturday lunchtime session

Keef, my host for the weekend, then arrived and we chatted further about the beer before making our way to nearby Bollington. Keef and Jill live just a hundred yards from the local CAMRA PotY 2010, the Poachers Inn, so we popped in there for a few pints and something to eat.

On Friday morning, it was time to give the barrels one final watering - the weather was quite cool but we wanted to be sure they didn't get too warm - before popping down to the Waters Green Tavern for a spot of lunch.

I'd not had any of Brian's tasty grub before the match last weekend but his steak pie was spot on (even if it isn't a proper pie). We'll have to find an excuse to come back here next season regardless that we're in the wrong division - if only so that they get their regulation dose of Lance.

Back at the festival, it was time to start checking the beers - quite an operation when you've got a fussy git like Trev as bar manager who wants to add his own tasting notes - and so we were still checking the final few beers when the festival opened.

Some interesting beers along the way included the Beartown Paddington Bear with it's strong chocolate orange overtones; Saltaire Blackberry Cascade; Townhouse GSA Extra which was a strong ale fortifed further with four bottles of port; TSA Ginger Explosion - a bit of a marmite beer; Whim Kaskade which was the pick of the pale ales, beautifully conditioned; Williams Ceilidh - a real lager and Yeovil Star Gazer.

Of the ciders and perries, the Two Trees perry from Gwynt y Ddraig was my favourite - and no doubt that of others too as this was all gone by the end of Friday night.

Less interesting were the six fruit beers from Coach House - Banoffee, Blueberry, Cherry, Pineapple, Pink Grapefruit and Strawberry - all at 5% and seemingly designed for the ladies visiting the festival. Not surprising none of them were especially subtle but they did sell surprisingly well.

One of the major considerations when running a festival is to ensure you have enough staff - and this is one area which has improved at the Macc fest - we now have enough to ensure the staff are not worked off their feet (they are volunteers after all) and the punters are not having to queue three-deep at the bar - which can happen when you have 1500 people in each night.

I was working on the stretch of bar with beers from breweries P to Y - next to the wine and cider bars - and we seem to be the first stretch of bar that people come to.

The Ceilidh took quite a hammering so after a while Trev takes it off. The Whim Kaskade then became the beer to have and so this is taken off too so as to preserve some stock for tomorrow.

After about three hours, the pace slackened off as most people started to drink a little slower and the rest of the session was quite relaxed. The bar closed at midnight and the security team ushered the punters out into the cold night air and we had time for a quick break.

Still work to be done though for the beer team - Trev, his wife Margaret, Keef and I then had to dip all the barrels to see how much beer was drunk. Using old traditional dipsticks this could be very awkward within the tight confines of the stillage but Trev has designed a measure that uses gravity to indicate how full the barrel is - surprisingly accurate and quite quick so that by 1:30am we were all finished and we're taxied home to our beds.

By the time Keef and I got back to the festival on Sat morning, the tent was all spick and span and Trev the perfectionist was busy checking the beers.

The Saturday lunchtime session has been getting more popular over recent years - not just with tickers (with rumours that Mick the Tick is in attendance) but also friends and families who come along for the chilled-out atmosphere.

John Bell has come over from Chester to see for himself - and it's not long before he has got chatting to one of the more avid beer hounds in attendance - or beer terrorist as John describes him. John used to think Colin was odd with his bottling - not any more.

(left) Former MP Nick Winterton and his successor David Rutley talk to a local voter


Also on parade is the new MP for Macclesfield - David Rutley - a Tory who has been recently parachuted into the constituency. He's been dragged along by outgoing MP Nicholas Winterton who has been a regular at these Sat sessions ever since the festival started.

Rutley is a Mormon and so is drinking water and feeling rather conspicuous as I take a few shots of him and Winterton. Let's hope he's as supportive of real ale as old Nick has been.

Once the lunchtime session is over and everyone has left, we wander out to pick up a chinese and manage to relax for a half-hour meal break before its time to dip the beers again. Trev is nothing if not thorough.

A familiar face joins us - Brian, landlord of the Waters Green, is one of the sponsors and has come up with his brother Matt and ex-ticker mate Jonesy for a pre-opening tasting.

(right) Brian, Matt and Jonesy

Brian fills me in on his plans for the pub now that he and Tracey have bought it and says they're looking forward to seeing DAFTS dropping in next season.

The evening session starts off quite busily but again we've got plenty of staff so we're not rushed off our feet. My feet are starting to ache though as apart from our meal break, I've been on them all day.

By the time we approach closing time everyone seems to have had enough to drink - and once the place is a bit quieter we make the final dipping of the barrels which is a bit quicker this time now that quite a few barrels are empty.

The once everything has been dipped, the remaining beer is tipped away. It seems sacrilege but the barrels will be taken away in the next day or so and the tent taken down within 24 hours so we get as much done as we can. Not the most glamorous of jobs.

It's 3am by the time I get to bed for just a few hours before I'm up again just after 8am for my early train back to London. I'm well and truly knackered but it has been fun.

Macc Attack

After what has seemed like an absolute eternity, the season has finally come to the end - certainly as far as I'm concerned as I'll not be there for the last rites against Dagenham & Redbridge.

And it's kind of appropriate that our final away league game will be at Moss Rose - hardly one of the most salubrious grounds in the league, more reminiscent of what we'll have a lot of next season - but they've still got a standing terrace so that will do me fine (so long as it doesn't rain of course).

I've aways enjoyed our trips to Macclesfield which is why, after a hearty breakfast at the nearby Double Six, I'm on the 7:55am train out of Euston leaving Martin to take the train an hour later.

The Virgin service these days is much improved and to date, all our journeys have been in stark contrast to previous seasons when delays, bus replacements and extended run times were the norm. Such a shame their carriages are so small and cramped.

After a quick wander round the shops in the centre of Macc I waited patiently outside the Waters Green Tavern just before 11am.

Landlady Tracey must have been keeping an eye out as she opened the door and told me that even though they now open at midday, I could come in.

(left) Steve tucks in at the Waters Green Tavern

Since our last visit to Macclesfield back in Sep 2008, landlord Brian and Tracey have now bought the pub and started work on various improvements. The toilets have had a welcome makeover and the roof is in the process of being renovated.

One thing that remains the same is the choice of beers which is up to its usual standard, mainly golden ales as preferred by the management, with Roosters Yankee, Bradfield Blonde, Dark Star American Pale Ale and Bradfield Stout on tap.

I settle down to my pint and it isn't long before I see some murky figures through the window - no doubt confused by the pub looking closed. On closer inspection I see that it's Trevor, John Gray and Rich Parker and some other Darlo lads so I ask Brian to let them in.

I hear from Martin who has just arrived in Macc but he has a bad attack of gout - too much good living probably - and so he is going straight to the ground via taxi as he reckons he'll just be bad company if he comes to the pub.

Subsequently the remainder of the DAFTS hardcore arrived - including Steve and Brummy Tony and then Lance and the Waters family who are staying over in Manchester for the weekend.

It had been rumoured that Lance would actually go to this final away fixture but in the end both Ray and he decided they'd stay in the pub instead.

The beer was going down very well today - the pick of the bunch was the Dark Star which has always been superb wherever I've had it. The others liked it too.

Steve, BT and myself left the pub quite late and caught a taxi from the nearby station to the ground but we were still there in plenty of time for the kick off.

The stewards are a friendly lot here and were quite happy for me to use my camera to capture some shots of this last away league match.

Inside the ground we took up position just behind the goal and it wasn't long before the away terrace was jumping with delight. Captain Ian Miller headed in a cross from Mark Convery after less than ten minutes. Was this a case of PTE (Peaking Too Early)?

(right) BT, Tony and Trev celebrate the opening goal

Any signs that Macclesfield were going to make a commited attempt to get back on terms were not forthcoming - in fact it all looked quite comfortable for us and it was the home fans who were starting to moan at their team.

Meanwhile on the away terrace there was a bit of a party atmosphere - a relatively decent turnout though to be fair I'd expected it to be a bit fuller for this last away game.

At one stage in the first half, a group of knuckle-dragging types arrived and were generally acting like wannabe football hooligans but they didn't seem to know what they were doing. After a bit of posturing and gurning at the stewards they did the decent thing and fucked off.

For the remainder of the first half Darlo continued to dominate although Macc had the odd chance - Liversedge dealt with all that he needed to which was very surprising given his recent lack of form. I begin to wonder whether we should also be questioning the quality of the goalkeeping coach this season.

In the second half Darlo were kicking towards the away end and continued to dominate. The defence coped well whilst youngsters McReady and Michael Smith impressed with hard-working displays.

It looked as if Darlo would double their lead after sub Mulligan was judged to have been fouled and Darlo were awarded a penalty. Convery took it but it was a tame effort and the keeper saved easily.

My Northallerton neighbour, Geoff, went apoplectic with the effort - probably getting too overexcited as he did so - but Con was soon to make amends when he crossed a great little ball for Smith to head home past Macc keeper Brain.

(left) Michael Smith scores the second goal for Darlo

It was a thoroughly deserved victory as Macc were hardly at the races and there were good performances throughout - just the sort of positive performance to finish the season on after so much of it has been totally forgettable.

After applauding the players off, we wandered off down to the Railway View to have a few beers. I can't remember what we had - the pump clip was rather spartan in the information stakes - but it was very bland so we supped up and wandered back to the station.

Tony, Lesley and BT decided to catch their trains whilst I wandered over to the Old Millstone to meet Martin. This pub used to do a few different beers but all it had to offer was Ruddles Bitter. It wasn't a particularly nice pint so I left half of it and we popped over to the station to await our train.

Not quite a perfect journey back - the locomotive was not running at full power so we were about 20 mins late back into Euston. I rushed off to St Pancras - leaving Martin to limp slowly back to his car - where I met Liz, Jenny and Chris at the Betjeman Arms.

They're certain of a play-off spot but are not yet certain of the opposition. For me though, the season is now over and I can enjoy a few free weekends and maybe do some of those jobs that I've been putting off all season. Don't hold your breath though...

(above) Happy Campers

Over for another year...

And so the Macc beer festival is over for another year - Friday night was sold out and Saturday wasn't far off whilst the free Saturday lunchtime session saw a healthy number of CAMRA members and families coming to enjoy a more laid-back experience with only the strains of some acoustic music to trouble the ears.

When I arrived on Thurs afternoon, the barrels were all set in place and labelled up - just a few small jobs remained such as sorting out the cider and perries.

Once these were in place, we had a check of each and found that there were a couple of real crackers - the 4.5% Happy Daze and 6% Pyder, both from Gwynt y Doraig, were extremely drinkable.

(left) Glasses at the ready

The vintage dry from the monastic Prinknash Abbey - it's last offering for a while apparently - was sadly disappointing.

In the evening Keef (and Jill) took me to try some beers from the new-ish Bollington Brewery Company at it's brewery tap, the Vale Inn in Bollington - a couple of barrels had finished just as we got there so we got stuck into their Wheat Nancy which was very drinkable.

Friday morning wasn't very demanding - the odd last minute touch to the bar and a final watering of barrels - and then it was time to drop into the Waters Green Tavern for a beer and a bit of snap.

The Beartown Blonde that I tried was a bit on the watery side but there was an excellent stout from Thornbridge on offer called Brock plus a refreshing brew called OTT from Phoenix.

(right) Trev and Dave Hasler check the beers

On return to the marquee, it was now time for one of our favourite tasks - checking the beers - with Trevor leading the way and Keef and I following in his wake.

By the end of the 120-odd barrels it was a bit of a blur trying to remember what was what - I don't make notes - may be some of the dark beers were a touch too cold and may be could have done without that last watering - but they'd warm up once we had a few bodies in.

Friday night tends to be the busiest session of the three - and this was no exception - thankfully the warm weather meant people could wander outside. W e had a healthy number of volunteer bar staff too and so didn't get too rushed off our feet.

I was at one end of the bar (breweries T to W) where the peoples' favourites were Wibbly Wallaby from local brewer Wincle and Original Blonde from the White Rose brewery in Sheffield - these were popular with both sexes and took a real hammering during the session.

By the time the bar closed at midnight, we'd all had a good time but the work wasn't quite over - Trev, Keef and I needed to check each barrel so Trev could see how we were doing for the rest of the weekend.

Dipping barrels using a dipstick has always proved problematic and slow going in amongst the scaffold of the bar so Trev has developed a little device that uses a piece of beer line, a L-shaped piece of wood and basic physics to give a reading of how much is left in the barrel - it turns out to be a lot quicker than using the dipstick and we were finished well before our taxi arrives to whisk us back to Bolly.

Nevertheless, it was still 2am by the time I got to bed and so we didn't make it back to the festival until 11am on the Sat morning by which time the marquee was looking all spruce and clean once more.

The previous nights readings had been feed into Trev's spreadsheet and he'd determined we were on course with no need for any emergency barrels.

(left) Keef checks the tasting notes

A queue had gathered almost an hour early for the lunchtime session as it's very popular with the ticker community and those who prefer a more peaceable environment - Darlo chum Colin Fletcher was amongst them along with his collection of Panda Pop bottles so that he could do a bit of bottling.

Also present, as he is every year, is local MP Sir Nicholas Winterton doing his bit for the traditional brewing trade.

Fewer bar staff in action but it never got too busy and there was plenty of time for us to chat with the customers. By this stage, a couple more beers started to grow in popularity in my area - the hoppy Yard Hopper (4%) from Ferryhill's Yard of Ale brewery and the Great Wegber (5.5%) from the Yorkshire Dales brewery, an extremely smooth porter.

Once the session closed at 3:30pm there was another flurry of checking the levels before Margaret (the soon-to-be Mrs Trev) and I wandering into Macc for fish and chips though precious few seemed to be open after 2pm.

And then it was a matter of waiting for the evening session - basically thumb twiddling until 7pm.

This final session saw a lot of younger Maxonians - many in groups and clearly not familiar with cask ale and usually asking for something like lager - "got anything like Stella, mate?".

Normally we do try and suggest alternatives to those not familiar with cask - the Yard Hopper is quite light and was a decent alternative to lager close to hand - we don't want to preach to them as that doesn't really work whereas giving them a few samples so they can get a chance to try other tastes often brings interesting results. However it was just far too busy to do this.

(above) Busy bar in action

The Wincle Wallaby and Original Blonde soon gave up the ghost, the barrels exhausted in less than 30 mins, by which time the Lavender Honey from the Wolf brewery had been put on having finally settled and was proving very popular.

It was a hard session - I wasn't particularly in the mood for beer and probably had one pint all night but did manage about four cans of lukewarm coke - I was glad when it was all over to be honest.

Well not quite over - a final measuring to see how much had been drunk before we then had to strip down the bar ready for the marquee to be taken down at 6am the following day - any barrels with beer left just had to be emptied - a sad waste but what can you do? Most people have had enough by then.

In all 11,509 pints of were drunk over the weekend - not to mention foreign bottled beers and the 20 pins of cider and perry which went in double-quick time - the order for that will certainly be increased for next year's festival.

And virtually every one had a good time with few incidents of note thanks to the efficient security and the friendly nature of the event. See you there next year...

Watering Hole

After trekking across town to meet Martin at Terminal 4 at 8am, the roads north were clear all the way and we pulled into Macclesfield station car-park at 10:40am. Good going, Mr Deans!

We had a quick wander to the local pie shop to get something for half-time - well, to call the Cheshire Gap a pie shop is doing the place an injustice as it has a plethora of pastry commestibles. Hard to resist for someone like me but resist I did - just a meat and potato pie on this occasion.

By now it's almost 11am so time to stand outside the Waters Green Tavern looking thirsty and waiting for the doors to open - however landlady Tracey was standing on the door in expectant mood - her favourite gang of fans are back in town.

To the untrained eye, the exterior of the pub would suggest you'd be wise to walk on by and try your luck elsewhere. However, I've known the Waters Green for many years whilst spending time in Macc working at the local beer festival.

So when DAFTS needed a recommendation for our games at Moss Rose, it was an obvious choice as it ticks all the necessary boxes - only two minutes walk from the station, friendly locals, several real ales on tap and tasty pub grub. And they tolerate Lance....

And like a bad penny, Lance turns up shortly after opening with Ray Waters on a rare outing from Beverley. Soon after myriad other DAFTS join us and it's business as usual.

Following several years of excellent lunchtimes in there, the DAFTS team decided that the Waters Green was the deserving receipient of the DAFTS Pub of the Year for the 2007-08 season.

Tony and Lance presented the award to Brian and Tracey McDermott. They're no strangers to receiving CAMRA awards over the years but I suspect this is the first one they've got from a bunch of itinerant football fans.

Lance and Tony present Tracey and Brian with DAFTS Pub of the Year award

For the record, previous winners of the award were the Golden Eagle (2005-06) in Lincoln and the Gardeners Arms (2006-07) in Lewes so Brian and Tracey are in very good company.