23 May 19

Ross on Wye Cider Tasting

Ross on Wye Cider & Perry Company having been making ciders and perries on the family-owned Broome Farm in Herefordshire for over 70 years. It’s pretty embarrassing for us to admit therefore that they’ve only just come onto our radar in the last year or so! The fifty acres of orchards that they manage on the farm produce a staggering 40 different varieties of cider apples and 30 different varieties of perry pears. Albert and his father Mike make uncompromisingly natural but beautiful ciders which showcase the different varieties of fruit, the terroir of the farm and their skill as cidermakers at the same time as demonstrating the incredible complexity of a drink which is so often dulled down in mass-produced efforts. We’ve had some of their delicious ciders on draught but the stuff we’ve been getting very excited about is their elite range of bottled ciders such as Raison D’Etre, C1 First Press, Oak Cask Brown Snout and the Butt Blend Perry. These ciders are the vanguard of a new cider revolution challenging perceptions of what cider could and should be. We are thrilled and delighted to have Albert here at the Sally for an informal tasting evening and to talk you through a few of their incredible ciders and perries. If you haven’t tried their stuff before, be warned, this could completely change the way you think about and drink cider – it certainly has for us!

25 May 19

Live Music with the Daybreakers

“Celtic interpretations of indie, alternative, Irish folk, punk and ska classics, you say? Do you play Pogues numbers?…You do. Yes we’re interested. VERY, VERY interested!!”

There hasn’t been this much excitement about a band in Sally HQ since a young man called Mark Knopfler bought a fender Stratocaster and some sweat bands. (We’re joking – we weren’t born then). On a serious note though we are very excited about having the brilliant Daybreakers play live at the Sally. We’ve had a sneak listen to their stuff and it’s superb, beer-bopping music that is right up our street. They deftly handle covers from the Cure, the Levellers, the Pogues, the Waterboys, the Dubliners, the Jam, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Van Morrison, the Jam (I’ve already said them – keep up), Echo and the Bunnymen and the Smiths! It’s like they’ve hacked into our Spotify account and compiled a set-list from musical heaven! (For the benefit of our older customers, Spotify is what the kids listen to music on these days – apparently gramophones are on their way out). The Daybreakers cover all of these with their own Celtic twist incorporating guitar and bass guitar, drums keyboard and violin. They’re going to be rocking our skittles alley for one very special evening starting at 8.30pm. Get your dancing shoes on – this is going to be great!

27 May 19

Hot-pot and Pint Night

Monday’s are tough enough to deal with as it is without having to think of something to cook in the evening as well. You’ve got another week of drudgery and work ahead of you and the last thing you need is to worry about is whether you’ve got enough gone-off mushrooms to scrape together another bl**dy Jamie Oliver pasta bake. Let’s face it, with this level of depression and gloom you’re definitely going to need some kind of beer-based anaesthesia to get you through and a deathly dull bottle of Doom Bar from the Co-Op just isn’t going to cut it. What you need is the Sally to take all this pain away from you. What you need is a steaming hot bowl of a delicious, comforting stew all made with quality, local ingredients. What you need is a fresh, foaming pint of perfectly conditioned ale to sup your troubles away. What you need is the cheery company of others who can understand and alleviate your Monday blues. What you need is the gentle crackle of a log fire to warm and soothe your soul. What you need is the Sally Hot-Pot and Pint Night. Yep that’s right, every Monday night the Sally Hot-Pot and Pint Night will bring you a different hotpot, stew, casserole or chilli plus a pint for just £8 with food served between 5pm and 8pm. That’s Monday sorted, just got to get through Tuesdays now….!! This weeks hot pot is Chicken, leek and cider casserole, served with crusty bread and butter.

27 May 19

The Monday Night Sew and Sews

UK consumers spent approximately £3.5bn on clothing last Christmas with an estimated 8m of those garments to be thrown away after just one use. The trend for cheap, throwaway clothing or “fast fashion” as it is known raises serious moral and environmental concerns. In 2015 the global fashion industry produced 1.2bn tonnes of CO2 – more than international flights and the maritime shipping industry combined. If this trend continues the fashion industry could account for a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. Un-ironed check shirts aside, you’ve probably noticed the Sally isn’t exactly a focal point for fashionistas (less Milan more Ham) but nonetheless we can still do our little bit to help. May we introduce to you a new drop-in clothing repair service called the Monday Night Sew and Sews, headed-up by our favourite local laundrette ‘Hard Pressed for Time’ and the award-winning handicraft-duo ‘Havin’ A Hoots Crafts’. If you’ve got an old shirt that needs a new button sewing on, a pair of trousers embarrassingly ripped across the buttocks or a favourite jacket in need of a new zip then bring it into the Sally on Monday night and if you buy them a drink, our Sew and Sews will fix it for you. So for the price of a pint you can have your favourite clothes fixed, save money on buying new ones and you can even have one of our “Hotpot and Pints” whilst you wait. If you’re a dab hand at sewing and want to join the Sew and Sews for a needle and a natter then the more the merrier! They’ll be there every Monday from 5.30pm – 7.30pm. Best get there early though as they might just get a tiny bit slower as the evening goes on!

28 May 19

The Sally Cheese Club

One of the few things that we love almost as much as beer and cider here at the Sally is cheese. Being based in Berkeley we are also steeped in cheese-making history with the town once famous for being the cheese capital of the county (Double Berkeley anyone?!). Given this, we’ve decided that we need to celebrate, nay worship, our favourite booze accompaniment on a monthly basis. Ladies and gentlemen, may we present to you The Sally Cheese Club! Our resident cheese connoisseur Jerry (no, not a cartoon mouse but actually a cheesemaker for the legendary Jonathan Crump) will take all you fans of fromage through a hand-picked selection of world cheeses that would make Wallace and Gromit wet themselves. Jerry will be pairing each cheese with a sample of perfectly paired beverages from some of the world’s finest beers and ciders and some alright wine as well. Sally Cheese Club will run on the last Thursday of every month starting at 7.30pm . Tickets are £17 each (available to book in advance now from the bar) and include a selection of and introduction to six different cheese and drink pairings from our man Jerry.

13 Jun 19

The Great Sally Alley Quiz

Yes that’s right Ladies and Gentlemen, roll-up roll-up roll-up your sleeves, its time to start swotting, sweating and rubbing those brain cells together for The Great Sally Alley Quiz!

“What’s so great about it?” we hear you cry. Well, it’s at the Sally of course!

“We thought you said you’d never do a quiz – running out of ideas are we?” Aah sod off!

Enough with the awkward questions, here’s how it works; on the second Thursday of every month we’re inviting a different Berkeley charity to set the questions, act as quizmaster and trouser all the entry fees. Adding to the fun, each quiz will be sponsored by one of our favourite local breweries who will be donating a case of bottled beer as the prize. There will be six rounds of different topics chosen by the charity, including one specific to their own cause. They ask you questions, you try and answer them. The team with the most correct answers wins beer. We’re allowing teams of up to six people and entry fee is £4 per person. Register your team for 7.45pm and the great quizzing commences at 8pm. It’s going to be great…I don’t know why we didn’t think of this before?!?!?

20 Jun 19

Folk Night

The Sally house band (Sally and the Hamonites) will be playing in the front bar of the Sally on the third Thursday of every month. Expect screaming fiddles, rattling banjos and heaving accordions with some traditional Irish jigs and reels! As Shane MacGowan once described it, it’s “heart, b*lls and feet music”!! Music usually starts about 7.30pm.