West Country

Old Spot

Dursley, Gloucestershire

The Old Spot is a cask ale drinkers' paradise. It always has at least six ales on tap and regularly hosts beer festivals that attract customers from far and wide.

With such a heritage, it is fitting that real ale was central to the freehouse's main fundraising event last August.

Licensee Steve Herbert and wife Belinda regularly welcome bell-ringers from the local parish church, St James the Great, who call in for some liquid refreshment after an evening's practice session. Conversing with the campanologists led to the idea of

brewing a special ale to help raise funds for church roof repairs.

Special brew

Steve says: "I contacted Ken Lush, the head brewer at Uley Brewery, to produce a one-off blond beer. At the same time, Reverend Janet Bromley, the vicar of Dursley, said she would help pull pints at the pub."

Uley agreed to supply four nine-gallon casks free of charge, and the Old Spot paid for another four so that all the money raised could be donated to the restoration fund. Another 28 nines were brewed, with all the profits going to the church.

Steve says the next thing was to decide what to call the one-off brew. "We had suggestions such as 'Lead stripper' - and others I dare not repeat- before we came up with 'Reverend Janet'. Ken and I like Brain's Reverend James, and it seemed an appropriate name if the Reverend agreed," he says.

Drinking the pub dry

As the vicar supported the idea, the Reverend Janet weekend was held at the Old Spot. With the vicar serving at the bar on Friday and Saturday, two TV stations and local newspaper reporters joined the customers flocking to the pub.

Steve says: "Apart from contributing by buying the beer, everyone was throwing money into a pot. On Saturday evening it was jam-packed, with 50 members of Dursley Male Voice Choir singing inside the pub."

More than £1,400 was raised and all 36 nines were consumed within two weeks.

Job swap

Steve adds: "It was a phenomenal beer and everyone has been pressurising us to brew it again." This hasn't been decided, but

Steve will swap jobs with the vicar by giving a

sermon in February.