Old Cannon Brewery Blog

Christmas is coming...

2011-12-02T19:10:00.002Z

Phew - what a few months we've had at The Old Cannon! The summer has come and gone in a flash and we are now gearing ourselves up for Christmas.

Yesterday we launched our December Cannon Fodder menu and had the first of our Christmas Parties....all went smoothly and the kitchen did a great job in delivering the new dishes - praise all round from our customers.

Today a few of my friends visited for a Christmas lunch. I order the Thai veg curry - it was fantastic! The pate was also well received, as was the vension stew.

We have a busy month ahead and both Garry and I are looking forward to our first Christmas in The Old Cannon. We are opening for Christmas Lunch this year - a fantastic 6 course lunch! - and already have a few bookings.....so if you fancy spoiling yourself for on Christmas day by getting us to cook for you then give us a call to book. We look forward to sharing some Christmas spirit with you.

Hannah at The Old Cannon

Whitsun Sunday Session

2011-05-23T11:28:00.003+01:00

Back by popular demand for our third informal 'Sunday Session' will be Nik Lowe with his accoustic guitar. Nik works part time at the Old Cannon and we're delighted to give him another opportunity to showcase his great music and singing talent. From 8pm, Sunday 29th May. Dinner available 6-9.30pm. Book your table in the bar to avoid disappointment.

Royal Wedding Celebrations will start early at The Old Cannon Brewery

2011-04-02T20:50:00.001+01:00

A limited edition ale will be launched on Good Friday (21st April) to mark the beginning of this year’s exceptional “double bank holiday season” and commemorating the Royal Wedding on April 29th. Entitled “Hornblower” the beer is light coloured with a hoppy, citrusy over tone and a hint of blackberry coming in at 4% abv. “We always name our beers with a gun, cannon or nautical theme so Hornblower, apart from its nautical connotations, seemed to have a nice celebratory ring to it” said Old Cannon’s brewer Chris Waters.

Community groups and street party organisers will be able to order 18 pint or 36 pt boxes or 72 pint firkins of the beer for their own Royal Wedding celebrations.

2011-02-10T12:21:00.004Z

With the opening this week of two new rooms, our ongoing improvement project is almost at an end. Two double bedrooms have been beautifully wrought out of an old kitchen & breakfast room which we no longer required in the old Brewhouse and have been named 'Best Bitter' and 'Blonde Bombshell' after two of our most popular brews. Both rooms have all the usual Old Cannon comforts including flat screen digital TV, generous welcome tray and each has a spacious shower room with luxury modern conveniences including wall mounted hairdryer, heated towel rail and LED lit mirror.

Five Star new kitchen

2010-11-22T14:20:00.001Z

Thank you to all our customers and neighbours for your patience and bouquets to the Cannon Crew & kitchen team who have coped magnificently with the difficulties over the last few weeks while we’ve be operating from a temporary kitchen.

The good news is that the flooring is going down today and the new kitchen will be fully operational from sometime on Wednesday. There may be a bit of a hiatus for a day or two while everyone learns where to find everything, but hopefully, yet again, the smooth operation of the brasserie will be unaffected. Our Cannon Fodder menu over the last few weeks has featured lots of lovely warming and comforting stews and curries. We shall be seamlessly continuing into National Curry Week this week with more of the delicious curries Adrian and Som have been busy perfecting from their temporary base.

Just before we ripped it down and started to rebuild, the Cannon Kitchen received the top accolade of five gold stars under the Council Health Department’s “Scores on the Doors” scheme. If it were possible, we should now be in the running for an extra star with our new cooking, freezer and refrigerated storage facilities.

Christmas is coming

2010-11-21T18:43:00.003Z

We had a great morning at Alder Carr Farmers' Market on Saturday tasting and selling our new Gunner's Daughter christmas puddings, new for this year, and made for us using our ale by Coles Traditional Puddings in Essex. I was able to try out the delicious combo of Gunner's Daughter Christmas pud with Alder Carr's amazing Christmas ice cream - a treat our Christmas party customers will be able to choose from our seasonal menu which starts on 1st Dec. I have to report it was scrummy, a match made in heaven! Roll on December!!

We sold a lot of our celebratory ale for St Edmund's Day too in mini casks as well as 'bright' in carry kegs - quite a lot of customers commented on how they'd read about the brew in The East Anglian earlier in the week or heard about it yesterday morning on BBC Radio Suffolk. It was surprising how few people knew that St Edmund was our country's first patron saint - we need to reinstate him, he's far more eligible than St George!

Wet or Dry it will be a great Bank Holiday at The Old Cannon!

2010-08-23T15:12:00.004+01:00

Plans are almost finalised for the upcoming bank holiday and it does not matter if it rains or shines there will be a warm and beery welcome for all down at The Old Cannon.

Given the recent downpours we've taken the beer fest inside and there will be around 30 beers for you to try over the weekend. On the 'Angles, Picts and Vikings' theme there will be some East Anglian favouites, from Scotland 3 beers from Harviestoun, and 2 each from Stewarts and Inveralmonds, and the 'Viking element' comes from brewer Mattias Sjoberg from Compass Brewery with his King's Shipment (6%). The Old Cannon's founder brewer Richard Eyton Jones is sending down some of his new Dark Horse brewery's Heton Pale Ale and, for those of you who like a strong one, we'll have Oakham's Attila at 7.5%!

Music will be provided by Nik Lowe and his band Sunday lunchtime; last year's favourites ‘Allaidh Modhan’ (www.modhan.com) will be back on Sunday evening playing their “funked up folk” and Monday afternoon will feature the wonderful 'George Breakfast and the Cornflakes'.
Fun starts at 12 Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Beer Festival Aye, Aye, Aye!

2010-06-23T12:08:00.007+01:00

Yes, the third (aye, aye, aye!) Old Cannon Beer Festival is coming up and plans are already well underway to welcome ales from North of the Border (not Norfolk this time, but Scotland!) as well as the best of the Angles (your favourites from the last two years) and even some from Viking land.

To complement the Scots beers there will be music from ‘Allaidh Modhan’ (http://www.modhan.com/) who are returning with their "funked up folk", the East Anglian beers will go down well to our most recent discovery 'George Breakfast and the Cornflakes' who are back by popular demand.

Guest spot for Bank Holiday Sunday yet to be filled but we're thinking Abba - to complement the Scandinavian beers?! Watch this space. Put it in the diary now: 28/29/30 August, 12 Noon daily. 30 beers on the "Angles, Picts & Vikings" theme. Old Cannon speciality ale sausages and burgers. Entry by glass £2.50.

The taste of summer at last!

2010-06-08T14:12:00.004+01:00

New potatoes from Eye, smoked trout from Orford, delicious crayfish from the north Norfolk coast and a lovely soft ewe's cheese from Thetford - delicious! And what could be more summery and 'Old Cannon-ish' than local chicken Caesar salad topped with warm Suffolk beer bacon lardons! Our new summer Cannon Fodder menu board went up this weekend and now all we need is the sun...

One lunchtime come on down to our beer garden with its freshly filled summer tubs and enjoy a an equally freshly baked baguette with lovely local fillings such as Suffolk Gold cheese with tomato chilli jam or Orford smoked trout with cucumber and dill mayonnaise. What could be nicer?

The beer's not bad either: Blonde Bombshell is back and vying with Bow Chaser as everyone's favourite summer ale.

George Breakfast & The Cornflakes

2010-05-27T15:14:00.003+01:00

Monday's Bank Holiday will see a very different sort of breakfast served up at The Old Cannon. George Breakfast and The Cornflakes to be precise! So come on down for his own special serving of country, blues and jazz - from 3pm.

Eat Dragon on St George's Day

2010-04-22T14:36:00.003+01:00

To celebrate England's patron saint's day today, our chef Adrian has dreamed up some delicious 'Dragon Sausages'. Made with finest Suffolk pork and flavoured with dangerously hot Suffolk chilli from our local Chilli Farm in Mendlesham, you too can breath fire!.

April 17th Morris Men Day of Dance

2010-04-18T17:22:00.004+01:00

The Old Cannon was overrun today (Saturday) by Morris Men from all over the country.

Some of the 55 groups visiting Bury for the National Day of Dance called in at the brewery for impromptu dance sessions and plenty of refreshing beer!

The Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP for Hitchin & Harpenden pulling a pint of OCB’s Rusty Gun

2010-04-14T10:07:00.007+01:00

The Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP for Hitchin & Harpenden pulling a pint of OCB’s Rusty Gun. Our fine ale, first brewed at The Old Cannon last Autumn, has been chosen as the house ale of a new hostelry in Hertfordshire, also known as The Rusty Gun.

The new pub is to be found at London Road, St Ippolyts, SG4 7PG and opened last week. Four barrels of its namesake beer were consumed over the first weekend and such was the success they have requested a whole further brew, and further supplies on a regular basis.

The Old Cannon already supplies its two sister establishments in Hertfordshire, The Wellington in Welwyn and The Broadway in Letchworth. Further information on The Rusty Gun from info@therustygun.co.uk.

April 7th New Spring Menu

2010-04-06T17:48:00.000+01:00

Spring is in the air and on the new Cannon Fodder menu which starts today. Delicious new season Cromer crab, Cornish sea bass and local lamb complement the Old Cannon favourites most popular dishes: our famous Gunner's Daughter sausages or fresh Lowestoft cod fried in beer batter.

April 5th Hop Monday

2010-04-01T00:01:00.005+01:00

There will be much to celebrate over Easter this year when The Old Cannon Brewery in Bury St Edmunds joins many of the nation’s best pubs next week in raising a glass to real ale and toasting everything that’s brilliant about beer. National Cask Ale Week – March 29th – 5th April – celebrates all that’s good the UK’s national drink.

A new brew ‘Brass Monkey’ (4.6% abv) will be officially launched during the Week. Head Brewer Joe Kennedy describes the new beer as “A UK twist on the well hopped blonde American IPA” and was inspired to brew it with encouragement from his friend, Wesley Davis, a Captain serving over here with the USAF. This new brew fits neatly between the Old Cannon’s Best Bitter at 3.8% and Gunner’s Daughter 5.5%.

As well as the new addition of Brass Monkey to the Old Cannon’s own hand pumps, a ‘rolling’ beer festival will be a feature of the Week with popular guest ales from the following breweries: Timothy Taylor, Woodfordes, Milton Brewery, Dark Star, Hopback, Oakham, Crouch Vale and Mill Green.

Over Easter Saturday and Sunday the Old Cannon is offering ‘Micro Brewery Tours’ at 11.30 and 3pm each day. At £3 per head, tours are strictly limited in numbers and must be pre-booked on 01284 768769. The price will include a pint of OCB ale. If bookers wish to stay on for lunch or take lunch before the 3pm tour then booking is also advisable.

Hoppy Easter

2010-03-28T18:33:00.001+01:00

Cask Ale Week closes on Easter Monday which is also designated 'Hop' Monday in celebration of that vital ingredient that gives beer its character and flavour. The Old Cannon will be open all day and be celebrating with live, acoustic music from Adrian Nation and Ash Vigor.

March 29th National Cask Ale Week

2010-03-01T00:01:00.005Z

There will be much to celebrate over Easter this year when The Old Cannon Brewery in Bury St Edmunds joins many of the nation’s best pubs next week in raising a glass to real ale and toasting everything that’s brilliant about beer. National Cask Ale Week – March 29th to 5th April – celebrates all that’s good the UK’s national drink.

A new brew ‘Brass Monkey’ (4.6% abv) will be officially launched during the Week. Head Brewer Joe Kennedy describes the new beer as “a UK twist on the well hopped blonde American IPA” and was inspired to brew it with encouragement from his friend, Wesley Davis, a Captain serving over here with the USAF. This new brew fits neatly between the Old Cannon’s Best Bitter at 3.8% and Gunner’s Daughter 5.5%.

As well as the new addition of Brass Monkey to the Old Cannon’s own hand pumps, a ‘rolling’ beer festival will be a feature of the week with popular guest ales from the following breweries: Timothy Taylor, Woodfordes, Milton Brewery, Dark Star, Hopback, Oakham, Crouch Vale and Mill Green.

Over Easter Saturday and Sunday the Old Cannon is offering ‘Micro Brewery Tours’ at 11.30am and 3pm each day. At £3 per head, tours are strictly limited in numbers and must be pre-booked on 01284 768769. The price will include a pint of OCB ale. If bookers wish to stay on for lunch or take lunch before the 3pm tour then booking is also advisable.