FOR weeks, beer lovers have been intrigued by the promotion for this year's beer festival at the Maltings.

As the advert in Ouse Boozer, York Campaign for Real Ale's magazine, puts it, this is a "festival in appreciation of the unsung hero among us".

But who is this hero? Well, in another Bar Talk exclusive (we use the word "another" very loosely here) we can reveal his identity.

He is Richard Simpson, Maltings regular, York Outward Bound course director - and survivor of the Great Heck rail disaster.

Richard has no idea that he is being honoured at the three-day festival, which starts in the Tanner's Moat pub tomorrow.

Maltings landlord Shaun Collinge felt he was due some recognition. "He is an unsung hero. He wouldn't sit in the pub and brag about what he did, he would rather not talk about it, that's the nature of the bloke."

Richard was a passenger on the GNER express train which collided with a Land Rover and then a freight train at Great Heck, near Selby, in February 2001.

In the moments after the collision, Richard reassured and gave first aid to the injured. He also joined the fire crews to help remove passengers from the wreckage. His actions earned him a commendation.

"To actually compose yourself after that horrific crash and decide other peoples lives are at risk and help is fantastic," said Shaun, who is at pains to point out that the festival is also in honour of those who died that day, and everyone else involved.

Described as the most famous pub beer festival in Britain, the Maltings jamboree will once again offer up to 40 rare ales.

These include the festival special, Dickens Delight, brewed by Goose Eye. Other colourful names to conjure with are Black As Yer 'At from Glastonbury, Pink Panther from Wales and Blue Bullet from Salford.

You can go and toast Richard, now deservedly a sung hero, from noon-10.30pm tomorrow, and 11am-11pm on Monday and Tuesday.

BAR Talk's favourite book, aside from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, is the Good Beer Guide, and the 14th edition is out now. The guide's editor Roger Protz has designated 2004 the "year of beer and food", to which we can only say "hold the food".

As usual Campaign for Real Ale members up and down the country have decided which of their local pubs deserve a guide listing.

North Yorkshire has no fewer than 131 pub entries, of which 26 are new this year. Among the newcomers or returners are the Minster Inn and the Saddle Inn in York; the Albion Vaults in Selby; the Bay Horse at Great Heck; and Harrogate's Winter Gardens.

East Yorkshire has 44 entries, with eight newcomers, including the Sun Inn at Beverley, the Rose and Crown at Driffield and the Brewers Arms in Snaith.

The Good Beer Guide 2004 (published by CAMRA, price £12.99) also lists its beers of the year. Among them are Daleside Bitter, from the expanding Daleside Brewery at Starbeck, Harrogate; Roosters Hooligan, one of Sean Franklin's fab brews at Rooster's, Knaresborough, and Rudgate Ruby Mild, from Rudgate Brewery, near York.

CONGRATULATIONS to Tony Coleby of Woodside Avenue, Heworth, York, winner of the Real Ale Trail draw, organised as part of the York Festival of Food and Drink. Your prize is a trip for two to Masham brewery, with grub and an overnight stay thrown in. The organisers will be getting in touch. It was Bar Talk who undertook the draw (in The Maltings, natch), so if you want to bung us a bottle or two, Tony...

LAST but not least, your chance to win some booze.

Nastro Azzurro, the leading Italian beer in the country, is now the number one premium packaged lager in restaurants across Britain. To celebrate this, we have teamed up with Nastro Azzurro to offer five lucky readers the chance to win a case of beer each.

Nastro Azzurro, or Blue Ribbon, has been imported since 1965, and enjoys nearly 85 per cent of Britain's Italian beer market. It is brewed to a strength of 5.2 per cent ABV using the finest spring-planted barley malts and hops, giving it a dry taste and a delicate aroma.

To be in with the chance to win a case of Nastro, containing 24 bottles, simply tell us: what does Nastro Azzurro mean?

Send your answer, on a postcard please, to Chris Titley, Nastro competition, The Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN, by October 13.

Ciao!

Updated: 17:42 Friday, October 03, 2003