York Hearts beer hits the bar - and the headlines

YORK Hearts have brewed a special ale to celebrate the 2012 Scottish Cup win.

Club secretary Gavin Aitchison and chairman Ian Warner (left and right above respectively) headed over to Scarborough last week, to team up with lifelong Jambo Stuart Neilson, who runs the North Riding Brew Pub.

The guys worked together on a special creation, which will be on sale at our Burns Supper in Brigantes on Micklegate on January 25.

The beer is called Marooned - in honour of all of us die-hard Jambos marooned in England - and has an ABV of 5.1%. It also includes a variety of hop from New Zealand called Dr Rudi - chosen in honour of cup-final hero Rudi Skacel.

The tasting notes read: "Marooned is a celebratory beer brewed by the York Hearts Supporters Club and North Riding Brew Pub for Burns Night 2013, and in tribute to Heart of Midlothian’s 5-1 victory over their Edinburgh rivals in the 2012 Scottish Cup Final.

The beer is an IPA brewed using Galaxy and Dr Rudi hops – the latter in tribute to cup final hero Rudi Skacel. It packs as much punch as Rudi’s left foot but goes down as easily as the wee team in May. And it has an ABV – of course – of 5.1%.

It is best enjoyed from a big cup and we recommend drinking it in the evening – ideally at around 19.02 Bottled in Yorkshire – not at Hampden."

Most of the beer will be going into casks to sell in Yorkshire, including at Brigantes and at the North Riding Brew Pub, but some is also being bottled. Anyone interested in obtaining bottles should email northridinghotel@btconnect.com and yorkhearts@yahoo.co.uk

If you are twitter, contact @yorkhearts @north_riding and @yorkshireales

PICTURES from the brewing day are HERE

Visit the North Riding website HERE

Read the Edinburgh Evening News's coverage of the beer HERE

League Cup semi-final

Hearts will face Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the semi-final of the League Cup.

The match will be played at Easter Road at 3pm on Saturday 26 January.

This was the day on which we had originally planned our big trip to Hearts v Motherwell at Tynecastle but that match has been postponed to accommodate the cup.

Can all York Hearts membes please let the committee know ASAP if they want to go to the semi-final.

The Big Trip - latest news

Plans are coming together for The Great Expedition to Gorgie, our ambitious plan to get as many England-based Jambos to Tynecastle as possible.

If you don't know the background, then click here to catch-up....

Basically, we are holding a Burns Night party in York on Friday 25 January, and will then be travelling en masse to Tynecastle the next day for Hearts v Motherwell.

Many have already signed up but it would be great to add to that total. We hope to book train tickets on Saturday or Monday (Nov 3 or 5), to get the maximum group discount, so let us know ASAP on yorkhearts@yahoo.co.uk if you want us to add you to the list.

Not convinced yet? Here goes.... Hearts have very generously agreed to give us 10% of our ticket order free - IF we book more than 20 tickets. That discount will be shared between everyone who commits to the trip early, so let us know now to guarantee 10% off your match ticket.

And for the Burns Night? We will be heading over to North Riding Brew Pub in Scarborough in early January to brew our very own beer for the event - brewed to a strength of 5.1% ABV, in honour of the cup-final score!

So celebrate Burns Night, get behind the Jambos, and sign up for a great event to blow away the winter blues fo January! email yorkhearts@yahoo.co.uk

The big trip: A brief further update

Interest is continuing to grow for our big trip to Tynecastle in January.

Here's brief update for those wh ohave already expressed an interest. If you don't know the background, see the main blog page for previous articles on this, click on the tag at the foot of this post, or click here: Original article.

We have about 20-25 confirmed names so far, and about ten or so possibles. Please keep spreading the word, to help boost numbers yet further. The Burns Night bash will be at Brigantes in Micklegate. It's £8 a head for the haggis, neeps and tatties meal, complete with the traditional Address to the Haggis.

Some people have asked if there is a non-haggis option, and whether children are welcome in the pub. The answer to both questions is 'yes'.

We also now hope to have our own Hearts-themed beer on the bar for the occasion, produced by Stuart Neilson, a Hearts fan in Scarborough who runs The North Riding Brew Pub.

We have heard back from East Coast. We will be making a block booking through them as soon as tickets become available, which should be at the start of November. We can expect about 10 or 11 per cent off the usual advanced purchase price if we book en masse, which we think should bring the cost to about £40 return for a full adult fare.

East Coast will invoice us and give us two weeks to pay in full, so it would be very helpful if people could let us know if they definitely want to go, and then get money to us either before we book, or very soon afterwards.

For those looking to stay in York, you may want to see the accommodation section of the Visit York website.

We plan to place a notice about this in a forthcoming Hearts home programme, and will post a further update around the end of September.

The big trip north: an update

PLANS are coming together for The Great Expedition To Gorgie in January.

We are hosting a Burns Night party in York on Friday 25 January, and then coordinating a trip to Tynecastle the next day, for Hearts v Motherwell, with the aim of getting as many England-based Jambos as possible to travel north together for the match.

If you missed the original story on this, you can catch up here: Original article.

We've had a great response to our original plans, so here's an update....

We have now booked Brigantes in Micklegate for the Burns Night party, at a price of £8 a head for the haggis, neeps and tatties meal, complete with the traditional Address to the Haggis.

For those coming from outside York, Brigantes is only five minutes' walk from York Station and is a fantastic pub, which has won a number of awards in recent years. It's run by a member of York Hearts, which helps ensure we will get great service. We are likely to have most of the downstairs area.

The majority of people have said they would prefer to travel by train, and we've been in touch with East Coast to use their advanced group discount offer. They sell tickets up to 12 weeks in advance, which means our tickets will go on sale on or around November 3.

We are waiting to hear from them whether we need to book the tickets all at once. Our preference would be that they give us a customised discount code, so people can book and pay for their own tickets, while still benefiting from the group discount and hopefully ensuring we are all in the same carriage. We'll update on this as soon as we hear back from East Coast.

For those looking to stay in York, you may want to see the accommodation section of the Visit York website.

The great expedition to Gorgie...

Are you a Hearts fan marooned in England? Then sign up now for the trip of the season!

This year, as well as organising monthly trips to Tynecastle, York Hearts want to meet other Jambos from around England and organise one great expedition north to Tynecastle.

Dozens of us travel up individually or in small groups week in week out - now let's do it as one. We are encouraging as many Jambos and Jambo sympathisers as possible to make the trip, from wherever you may be in England. Bring your friends, your kids, your wives, your husbands, your boyfriends, your girlfriends, your neighbours and your colleagues - the more the merrier. Whether you're a member of York Hearts, or a Jambo elsewhere in England, come along!

All the doom-mongers and nay-sayers claim that the death of Rangers will kill Scottish football and ruin crowds. We want to prove them wrong.

So on January 26, we will travel en masse to Tynecastle to watch Hearts take on Motherwell in the SPL. We considered choosing a derby game or a match against Celtic, but felt it was better to choose a typical SPL game, where our support would be more significant.

To add to the event, we will be organising a Burns Night event in York on Friday 25 January, for any Jambos elsewhere in England who want to break their trip north. Details will depend on numbers, but you can guarantee beer, haggis, whisky and a good laugh among fellow marooned Jambos.

Once we have an idea of numbers, we will make a block booking for tickets through Hearts. We will either hire a coach or make advanced bookings on the train, which would allow those further north to join us at Darlington, Newcastle, Durham or Berwick.

If you are interested, please email yorkhearts@yahoo.co.uk with a note of where you are, how you'd prefer to travel (bus or train), whether you'd be up for the Burns Night do in York on the Friday, and with contact details.

If you know someone else who might be interested, please spread the word.

Make a noise, the Gorgie Boys, are going to... Gorgie!