I was delighted to be invited to the inaugural Meet the Brewer evening at Chuffin Ale in Rawtenstall in June 2025. Gary runs a great little bottle shop, with two keg lines and a cask hand pump for people who want a draught option to drink while perusing the shelves.

The audience was just as fascinated with the stories behind the beers as with the beers themselves. Perhaps inevitably, I was asked about whether I had considered doing a story linked to Rawtenstall. As soon as I related the story of Gamul, Gary leaped at the chance to brew a collaboration beer with me.

Gamul was a woodsman who lived in the Rossendale valley, when Rawtenstall was barely a hamlet. He was well liked by all, apart from the woodskeeper, who resented his popularity and hated him with a passion.

The woodskeeper set a pit trap for Gamul, hoping to catch him a do him a mischief. However, he forgot where he had dug his trap and fell into it himself. Crying out for help, he was furious that the first person to pass by was none other then Gamul.

Gamul let down a rope to rescue the woodskeeper, but before he emerged from the pit came a lion, a serpent and an ape. Later the ape would help Gamul in his work, the serpent gave him a magic stone, and the lion led him to a cave full of riches.