Clifton Arms wins Best Kept Cellar competition

August 28, 2013

Congratulations to Seona MacKenzie and her team at the Clifton Arms in Caversham, who are the winners of our Best Kept Cellar competition.

Seona wins a unique prize –  a ‘house beer’ for the Clifton Arms.  She will be able to choose any beer that’s available year round, give it a name and get involved in designing a pump clip for it.

Well done also to the other three finalists in the competition:

Stephen Clay & Monika Anna Urbaniak: John Barleycorn, Goring-on-Thames
Howard Witten: Crooked Billet, Wokingham
Mary Dixon: Victoria, Barking

The finalists were visited by Cask Marque inspector and beer quality expert Roger Clayson, who assessed each pub on four key areas that affect beer quality: cellar cleanliness and stock rotation; line cleaning; glass washing and storage and treatment and storage of empty barrels.  The Clifton Arms scored an impressive 97%.

He said, “Seona clearly devotes care and time to cellar maintenance, line cleaning and the other areas judged for the competition.  I’m sure that she, and the other excellent finalists, are reaping the rewards in terms of beer quality and yield.”

Caption to photo (l-r) Roger Clayson of Cask Marque, Seona MacKenzie and partner Gordon Svensen of the Clifton Arms