By George, food fests hit the spot
The George Inn whets its appetite for growth by avidly backing local events such as the Mendip Food and Drink Festival in Somerset.
MARK TAYLOR reports
Since taking over the George Inn five years ago, Canadians Peter and Veryan Graham have become a pivotal part of life in the small Somerset village of Croscombe.
This 17th-century freehouse, a 10-minute drive from the tourist honeypot of Wells, is very much the hub of Croscombe and never more so than during October's Mendip Food and Drink Festival, which took place for second time in 2005.
The 10-day event is run by local businesses, the district council and Somerset Food Links, which promotes the wares of the county's regional food and drink producers.
During the festival, several local hotels, restaurants and pubs hold hundreds of special events, tastings and demonstrations.
This year's highlights included an Apple Day, organised by the National Trust on Glastonbury Tor, guided tours of local cider mills and special menus highlighting Mendip produce at a number of local eateries, including Michelin-starred restaurant Charlton House.
The George Inn played a major role in this year's festival, hosting a dozen events, ranging from a beer, cider and cheese festival to a local food and drink quiz night.
Blindman's brew lightens mood
The pub ran a special menu throughout the 10-day festival, highlighting local suppliers and producers, with the focus on fruit and vegetables grown locally and cheese, bread and meat from the Somerset region. This included a two-course lunch for £6.95 and a three-course meal for £11.95.
The pub also ran a Taste of the Mendip Beer Festival, and for Peter Graham, the highlight was the fact that Blindman's Brewery, near Cranmore, had brewed a new beer exclusively for the pub.
At 4.1% abv, the copper-coloured, fruity brew was christened George the Thirst and it went down a storm with customers, who had polished off four barrels of the stuff by the end of the week.
Peter Graham says: 'We're increasingly selling more real ales at the pub and I'd been thinking of getting a beer brewed for us for a while. Blindman's did a great job and George the Thirst has been a huge hit!'
Located at the foot of the Mendip Hills between Wells and Shepton Mallet, the George is a busy pub and one with a growing reputation for good, home-cooked fare.
The cooking side of the operation is run by Peter's wife, Veryan, who uses as much local produce as possible.
'We've seen an increasing demand for local produce in the area,' adds Peter.
'The farmers' markets around here are very well attended and getting involved in the festival is just another way to emphasise that we always use local producers.
'I try to deal with my suppliers on a one-to-one basis. One of the festival's sponsors is Jon Thorners from Shepton Mallet, who has become our main meat supplier.
Revealing their local sources
'The quality is outstanding and he knows where everything comes from. He even provides us with a weekly list of which farmers supplied the beef, lamb and pork and we put that up by the bar for customers to see.
'When people ask me where the beef comes from, I can tell them it's from Mr Withers at Nempnett Thrubwell.
'It helps people connect where things are being produced, what they're eating and what sort of quality it is.'
One of the most popular events at the George during this year's festival was the Mendip Smoked Food Evening.
For £22 per person, customers enjoyed a three-course dinner and a talk from Kate Osmond of the River Brue Smokery in Glastonbury.
The evening featured produce from the smokery and from Danny Saunders' Poultry Farm Shop at Summerleaze near Street, and the menu included smoked duck, chicken, eel, wild boar, buffalo and salmon.
Peter says: 'This is my favourite event of the festival because I love smoked food. It's full of delectable flavours and the customers enjoyed the talk and demonstration, which explained the differences between cold and hot smoking.
'My thing is to support local producers, buy locally and work locally as much as possible. It's something that fits into the theme of what we've been doing at the pub for the last five years.
'Organising so many different events for the festival is a lot of work, but we try to make things interesting for people and have a variety of things that will appeal to different cross sections.
'Some things work well, some things don't and we like to try something different all the time.
'The Mendip Food and Drink Festival is an important initiative to support and there's no reason why, in time, it can't become as big as other food festivals across the country.'
Tasting notes
The Taste of the Mendip Beer Festival at the George was a huge success, with 14 local brews on offer.
Peter Graham managed to source all the beers from the Somerset and Wiltshire region, including a number from small micro-breweries.
The most popular beers of the festival - apart from the pub's very own George the Thirst, brewed exclusively by the Blindman's Brewery - included: Old Freddy Walker, a strong, chocolatey porter from Moor Beer brewery of Ashcott, near Bridgwater; Cotleigh Brewery's Buzzard ('a smoky winter ale with a deep copper colour') and the Hidden Pint from the Hidden Brewery in the Wyley Valley, Wiltshire.
Rallying cry draws car enthusiasts to the George
One of the most popular non-food events of the Mendip Food and Drink Festival was a classic car rally at the George Inn on the Sunday morning.
Twenty drivers from the Croscombe Classic Car Club went on a 40-mile rally from the pub across the Mendips.
The cars passed a number of the companies involved in the festival, including Newman's Brewery at Banwell, Thatcher's Cider of Sandford and Britten's Potatoes at Downhead.
Peter Graham says: 'The classic car rally was a lot of fun and it went very well. There were some very interesting cars involved. My manager has a couple of Humber Super Snipes, there was an Austin Seven, another chap had a 1936 Rolls-Royce. It was quite a spectacle.'
Entry for the rally cost £15 per person, which included a rally plate, certificates and a traditional, two-course Mendip Sunday lunch on the return.
