The Official Monster Raving Loony Party

New Story in the Basingstoke Gazette

We will be officially launching Monster Mash our 7th Co-ALE-ition ale on Thursday 1st May 2014, details are as follows:-
7pm - Official launch event at the Mash brewery in East Stratton (Hampshire). The brewery is on a farm in a very small picturesque village located between Basingstoke and Winchester. Transport can be arranged from Basingstoke/Winchester stations direct to the Mash brewery.
8pm – Leave the Mash brewery and travel into Winchester Town Centre where we will visit up to three great real ale pubs all serving Monster Mash on the night. Transport will be arranged from the Mash brewery into Winchester.
The final pub we will visit is The Albion, right next to Winchester Station which will have Monster Mash and Wild Weather’s HowlinGale (3.9% dark old ale for CAMRA’s Mild month of May campaign) on handpump that very same night. The Albion’s claim to fame is that this was the OMRLP HQ for 10 days during the Winchester by-election in Nov 1997 when Lord Sutch was the candidate:- www.the-albion.com
Further details on this launch event will be announced as we get nearer the 1st May. However if you are interested in attending the Monster Mash launch event on the 1st May please email/phone Alan Hope or Derrill Carr their contact details are below:-
Alan Hope:-  a.hope70@ntlworld.com
Tel number:-   07946 292557
Derrill Carr:- derrill.carr@btinternet.com
Tel number:- 01252 622964 or 07803 292557
Monster Mash is a rebranded version of Mash brewery’s award winning Mash Gold ale this is a very refreshing 4% golden ale with citrus zesty flavours resulting from the American Citra hops that are used. The Monster Mash pumpclip is a work of art, unique, very eye catching and completely different from the any of the previous six Co-ALE-ition pumpclips. We have used a photo of Alan Hope (Leader of the Loony Party) sitting over his cabinet who are from left to right:-  Knigel Knapp the Shadow Minister for big fibs and blatant lies, Baron Von Thunderclap Shadow Minister for saving the dodo, Chinners Shadow Minister for spinning and bouncing, The Flying Brick Shadow Minister for the abolition of gravity, RU Seerius Shadow Ministry for uncommitted manifesto commitments.

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.

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).