Socials
A look back at some of our socials
We hold a monthly social, which everyone is free to join. Check the branch diary to see what we've planned: it may be at a beer festival, brewery tap, single venue or a pub crawl - either in or out of the branch.
Below are the excerpts from Social Round-Up in the branch magazine, Pints of View. The page will be updated approximately a month after the magazine's release, in which the socials are featured, to promote reading of the magazine.
January - Pub of the Year 2025: FireRock
Our first social event of the year took place at the 2025 Branch Pub of the Year, FireRock. A good turnout from committee and branch members was bolstered by guests from Amber Valley branch, making for a convivial and cosy winter afternoon.
The pub had reopened the evening before, following a refurbishment that saw the removal of the centre partition wall and the addition of a staircase, which, if all goes to plan, will eventually provide increased capacity on the first floor.
The three cask ales on the day were Black Iris Blackbeard’s Bounty, a chocolate and coconut stout, and a pair from Pentrich in Play the Classics and Fair Weather Friends, a traditional bitter and pale, respectively. Of course, there was also the extensive craft-keg lineup, real cider and two fridges full of cans to choose from.
A great start to our social calendar.
Read it in the Summer 2026 edition of Pints of View
February - Hucknall Beer Festival
The February social was held at Hucknall Beer Festival for the third consecutive year, following a good turnout in the two previous years. After all, what’s not to love? Nearly 90 ales, 20 ciders and perries, free entry - how can we resist!
We arrived at noon, and within 15 minutes the hall was packed and in full flow. It quickly became apparent that many of the beers that I had intended to try had been popular on both Thursday and Friday and were already gone, or ran out on Saturday afternoon, before I had a chance to try them.
The afternoon saw the announcement of the winner of the Spike Golding Challenge, where ten ales from Nottinghamshire breweries are judged by punters attending on Thursday and Friday, though only the ABV and tasting notes are available at the time. Festival organiser and Nottingham CAMRA secretary, Andrew Ludlow, announced the winner mid-Saturday afternoon, praising the high quality of the contenders, before revealing this year's winner was Magpie Brewery with their imperial stout, ‘Without Prejudice’, which weighed in at 11%. I can certainly vouch for the quality, having spent most of my afternoon working my way through the competition beers - some before the results (and breweries) had been revealed, and some afterwards. They were all very good indeed and will hopefully make their way onto bars around the branch sooner or later for the wider public to try.
It was another good turnout this year, with some new faces and a strong female representation, which is great to see. A big thanks to the organisers and volunteers for another great festival - I’m sure we’ll be back next year.
Read it in the Summer 2026 edition of Pints of View
March - Ripley Crawl
March saw us back on public transport for our social - this time heading to Ripley to see what the town had to offer...
Nearly an hour on the Nines made us ready for a pint, and after dropping us off, we were a minute walk from our first pub of the day, The Talbot Taphouse. We made our selections from North Riding Caramel Porter, Thornbridge Crackendale, Eyam All Fall Down, Brunswick Rocket, Bass, Ossett Trip Hop #3 and Tiny Rebel Cereal Killer, making ourselves comfortable while having a nice chat with the landlord about all things pubs, beer and CAMRA. The Talbot has long been an ale-lover's destination, with a bright, airy interior and plenty of comfortable seating. After the prescribed hour, we headed up the road to our next pub.
Situated on Church Street, Brewed Awakening is a roomy micropub with plenty of comfortable seating to enjoy one of the four ales they have on offer: Black Iris Toxitracy, Bristol Beer Factory Delray Beach, Bottle Brook Rapture and Blue Monkey Guerrilla. As it was a pleasant day, we headed outside to stand in the sunshine and watch the world go by, where we were joined by some familiar faces from Amber Valley branch. After a couple of drinks and a nice catch-up, we took a short walk to our next pub.
Up next was the Red Lion - a JD Wetherspoon pub. As is always the case with Wetherspoons, the pub was busy with both drinkers and people eating. The guest choices on our visit were Falstaff 3 Faze, Thornbridge Jaipur, Gower Gower Power and Woodfordes Voyager. We ordered our drinks and again headed outside to enjoy the spring weather. The Amber Valley troop decided they were going to catch the bus to the newly-opened Pentrich tap at this point, but we had more pubs on our itinerary before we could catch up with them later.
We decided to head to the Pear Tree Hotel next, as they had five ales on offer: Oakham Citra, Kelham Island Pale Rider, Greene King Abbot, Thornbridge Jaipur and Blue Monkey Infinity. The pub was refurbished in 2020 and is deceptively large, with several areas, including an outside covered terrace. Sports fans are well catered for, with large-screen TVs, dart boards and a pool table.
Exiting the Pear Tree, the next pub was in sight, so a minute's walk brought us to Tom Said. The cosy micropub, which opened in 2019 in a former dry cleaners, is the largest champion of craft-keg in Ripley but also serves two cask ales. On our visit, Lady Bay from the new Pinxton brewery, The Bridges, was on, alongside Pentrich Lifesaving Nerds. We had an enjoyable half hour sampling both and chatting with owner Tom before needing to move on to our next pub.
Just a short walk away, on Oxford Street, is Little Roosevelt - a micropub that takes its name from being on the site of the former Ripley zoo, which had a bear of the same name. Two Blue Monkey ales were available on our visit: Infinity and Cinder Toffee Stout, as well as Cloud Zoo from Beestonia Brewery. Cinder Toffee had eluded me up to this point, so it was good to try it finally, and I’m glad to say it was as good as I’d hoped.
At this point, we had the choice of catching the next bus to Pentrich Tap, which was minutes away, or trying Ripley Little Ale House, a few doors away. We decided to catch the bus due to the frequency at which they run, and walked the short distance to the Market Place. Soon enough, we were on the bus and a few minutes later being dropped off right outside the tap, thanks to a very cheerful bus driver.
It was only the second day Pentrich Brewery Tap had been open, but word had clearly got around as the place was buzzing when we arrived. It wasn’t on our original itinerary, but it was an easy decision among the attendees to include it in our trip. Inside, the large open space features several long benches, with the bar at the rear end; more seating is provided outdoors. There were four cask and 12 craft-keg options to enjoy, with the cask selection featuring two pales, a traditional bitter and a flavoured sweet stout - Teeth Marks of Time, Fighting for a Sandwich, Hidden Verse and Coconut Radio, respectively; it was agreed the latter was especially good. We caught up with the Amber Valley crew, and thanks to David (the Pentrich brewery liaison officer), we got an impromptu tour of the brewery courtesy of ex-Amber Ales owner, Pete Hounsel, which rounded the day off rather nicely. Thanks to all who attended, and to Amber Valley for making it three socials in a row!