As we bid farewell to a pretty disappointing Summer (if you can call the handful of clement weather we got just that…) we’ve got another shop outline for you to read, plus the usual bottle reviews. The shop has been around for a few years and has been at the forefront of a lot of releases for Liverpool. As the ball got truly rolling, Joe Rimmer embraced the wave of American craft beers that hit the shores, but sought to push beyond the usual Goose Island and Samuel Adams beers that spearheaded much of what was seen in bars. Anchor, Flying Dog, Founders and Brooklyn were all in stock alongside some excellent continental beers such as Augustiner Helles, Früh Kölsch and Vedett. A number of British craft brewers were soon having bottles rubbing shoulders with these beers on the shelves of the unassuming Londis store on Liverpool’s Penny Lane. It has been bandied about that the injection of life into the shop’s business has somewhat saved it, but there is no doubt that the well stocked beer selection has had a very positive effect on the business and they continue to get hold of some excellent beers and a handful of exciting limited releases from certain breweries. Indeed, amongst the first outlets if not the first to receive commercial release’s of Mad Hatter Brewing Company beers was the Londis, with Mad Hatter’s Gaz and Sue living a stone’s throw from the shop. The brewery range is very impressive, boasting the likes of Wild Beer Company, Hardknott, Blackjack Beers, Liverpool Craft, Harbour, Anarchy, Runaway, The Kernel and Weird Beard along with some American craft beer staples and continental lagers. The roster does occasionally change with some seasonal and special one off brews from the likes of Wild Beer Company, like this year’s ‘The Blend’ and ‘Blubus Maximus’ as they become available. They even stock some Danish beers most of the time, with one of the highlights of the 2015 Liverpool Craft Beer Expo; Amager – Orange Crush, available in bottles at the time of writing. The pricing range is pretty reasonable in the grand scheme of things for most of the beers, with the larger bottles being northwards of £10 (though, bear in mind, these are limited releases or imported beers – if it was wine, there wouldn’t be a second thought for most). There are sometimes offers (6 for £12 for example) available on the American and Continental beers too, which can provide an excellent option for a forthcoming barbecue or house party. You can even pick your bread and milk up in there at the same time. So on with the bottle round up…
Hope you enjoyed the read this month guys, see you again soon! Pedro. -------------------------------------------------------- Londis Penny Lane Penny Lane Mossley Hill Liverpool L18 1DE Twitter: https://twitter.com/londispennylane Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Londis-Penny-Lane-Liverpool/121846761203457?fref=ts
0 Comments
Will Lyons sits relatively calmly and centrally at the table with some esteemed local company from social media, print media and including a former master chef entrant. He is looking to reboot the Monro and in hiring new head chef Alex (who was no doubt industrious in the kitchen) has enabled development a new tasting menu for the evening. Although the master in the kitchen is still relatively young, he has built some valuable experience into his portfolio before this new adventure at The Monro. The Monro is looking to reboot their menu, although their reputation is a complex one, as one of the forerunners of the Liverpool Gastropub scene, they somehow straddled between high-end pub dining and being a bit of a local boozer without ever really sitting comfortably in either camp or as a true hybrid. Now The Monro is looking to really push their reputation along using a foundation of talent and experience along with a new menu excellent front of house staff and judging by the evening’s progression, in the kitchen along with some promising promotions from within their existing ranks. James Campbell has done the rounds; Fraiche (which still holds its Michelin star), the Art School with Paul Askew (one of Marina O’Loughin’s high points of her visit in an otherwise disappointing review [http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/12/art-school-restaurant-liverpool-review-marina-o-loughlin] and Wirral’s Thornton Hall (where Great British Menu entrant, Matthew Worswick resides as head chef) and is now settled at The Monro; although this event was only his first night, it was a calm and experienced show from him, giving the impression of an easy symbiosis to come. The tasting menu was well put together and for the most part, well executed and very well presented. Bearing in mind the pressures of the evening, a relatively experimental menu and some testing techniques required, there was plenty to enjoy and little to concern thus far. The Beetroot and Strawberry consommé was a jolt and a bit of a rewire for the senses; somewhat sweet on the nose, it was intensely savoury with a meaty buzz to it; which is interesting, not entirely unpleasant and meets with mixed responses from the table. The temperature also provided a somewhat uneasy edge to the amuseé bouche, being served cold with such an earthy and savoury flavour set wasn’t altogether accessible. The first foray proper into the menu was wood pigeon served alongside pickled carrot and a brioche crumb, the plate was also scattered with a speckling of puree and some salad leaves to bring some colour forth. The pigeon was cooked almost perfectly, although there was possibly a little too much resistance in the texture for perfection, but the partners for this dish worked excellently, aside from a slightly redundant note from the crumb. I’ve never been a huge fan of razor clams, but this dish certainly piqued my interest once again; good ideas aplenty, sorrel ice was an interesting and pleasant touch on the plate. The clams themselves were tasty and seasoned well, although some toughness at the ends was evidence they were possibly a little overdone and the tomato lacked a little acidity to punch above its meagre weight. Going back to the sorrel ice and use of sea aster, these touches make a clever yet simple dish, which with a little refinement will be welcome in any tasting menu. Next we moved to lamb rump, which judging by the flavours and response to solid cooking technique is sourcing of some good cuts. The black olive caramel sauce served with the lamb was intensely umami rich and other elements were spot on for bringing total balance to the dish, including a potato wrapped feta parcel and pea shoots. Pre dessert required something a little lighter than the incredibly intense olive caramel and lamb, this was delivered in the form of a gin and tonic granita palate cleanser; citric, clean and crisp. This then set the stage for the blue cheese beignet, served with a green apple puree. The beignet was flavoured well but on this occasion needs more acidity and sweetness from the apple element to counterbalance the slightly stodgey but flavoursome cheese; that said, the beignet was very moreish and eating the course could have easily been repeated.
Finally a raspberry sauce hiding a vanilla pannacotta beneath in a kilner jar, dotted with raspberries, lemon balm microherbs and biscuit crumb – deliciously sweet, acidic, palate cleansing and supremely balanced. This is how to get a dessert to sing; well thought out elements, kept relatively simple but put together with skill and care. The Monro’s intent was pretty clear on the night, up the game for the food and retain the charm of the surroundings to push forward as a place more focussed on its menu, whilst nurturing some of the pub sensibilities it is known for. The Monro is certainly not just a pub that does good food if they build some sort of positive trajectory, based on this showing. Pedro. ----------------------------------------- Disclaimer: This meal was offered to ElectroKemist Cuisine in return for feedback following an invite to review this restaurant, however, the review above remains an honest opinion of the experience. Thanks to Charlie Hooson-Sykes for the use of a couple of images in this piece. You can follow her on Twitter under @The_Lady_Sybil The Monro 92 Duke Street Liverpool L1 5AG Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheMonro Web: http://www.themonro.com/ Tel: 0151 707 9933 We have experienced a very, very purple patch on Merseyside; which has reflected much of the trend across the UK in terms of new start up breweries. Looking down the other end of the East Lancashire Road, the likes of Blackjack have gone from strength to strength – and they have had to, breweries such as Cloudwater and Chorlton have really hit the ground running and developed a large fanbase with the quality of their brews. In the last few months there have been no fewer than 5 breweries come to light in the Merseyside area and lucky readers that you are, I have been across the county to visit as many as I could to have a chat about what each of these brave new brewers are going to bring to the party. Mostly, these breweries are smaller start-ups, putting very tentative feelers out into the market place and making use of their select contacts near to where they are based. Most of the operations so far are based around cask ales and some limited amounts of bottling, but there are noises being made in some camps about putting out kegged offerings when footholds are gained in the market. For the purposes of a bit of visual context (we all love a bit of this, don’t we?) I’ve been very kindly allowed to link up to another Merseyside blogger’s work; Gavin Hutsby of LiverBeer has put together a map of the local area with most of the breweries tagged, with the Liverpool/Southport/Chester area covered. Most of the breweries discussed on this article can be found (should you ever need to find them) on this mapping. [https://liverbeer.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/mapping-merseysides-brewers/] Anyway, time for the tidings to be spread, get your teeth into this… Melwood Brewery Okay, this is a bit of a cheat by including the Citradelic brewers, as Melwood have been around for a while and indeed, took part in the first Battle of the Breweries a few years ago [http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/blogs/electrokemistry-event-battle-of-the-breweries-round-1]. Things have progressed nicely for them since that time, becoming mainstays of the Liverpool Cask scene and having a presence at pretty much all the local beer festivals in Merseyside and beyond, not to mention teaming up with erstwhile Wapping Brewery stalwart Stan Shaw to build the brewery up. The reason for the intrusion/inclusion is the expansion that they have planned for later this year. The brewery is currently located in a small farmstead premises on the Derby Estate of Knowsley Hall, the move will be to a former kennels building and agricultural college on the same grounds. This move will increase the potential and the size of the brewery, providing not only much needed expansion, but also some incredibly characterful surroundings and potential additional facets for the business. John Marsden is already excited about the prospect of greater output, without factoring in the potential for a laboratory, room for storage, possibly brewery tours and other quirkier ideas along the line. The end of this summer and into autumn could see some very interesting developments on the Derby estate. Neptune Brewery At the site of a former aquarium business in Maghull, Les O’Grady has been busy getting stuck into filling casks and bottles rather than building fish tanks of all shapes and sizes. He and business partner, Geoff Wainwright have been gradually feeling their way into setting the venture up and Les is no stranger to things on the Liverpool brewing, craft beer and cask beer scene. The kit is fairly small at the moment, with Les being very philosophical about how he could have taken a chance to make things bigger, he fully expects to have grown significantly by the end of the year. Currently putting out casks and limited bottle runs, Triton and Riptide have been the mainstays so far along with support from the Thick and Twisted stout and others shown in the photograph. There has been plenty of support for Neptune from other local businesses from restaurants through to pubs and bars, so fully expect to see something on cask or a bottle in the fridge very soon. The low abv Low Tide (at 2.8%) Bitter was on cask at 23 Club on Hope Street recently, along with bottles of Triton and Riptide which sold out relatively quickly. Holborn Cask Ales in Ormskirk, amongst other bottle shops have been swallowing up the beers of the deep. Red Star Brewery The culmination of 3 gentlemen coming together over a pint and deciding to take the plunge and make their own; Glen, Ian and Dave have procured themselves a sizeable unit near to the Formby bypass with a very fresh lick of white paint and a large 8-10 barrel kit to produce their own range of ales. To date, these have been rather well received and although have fluctuated in terms of naming (the use of ‘Formby’ in the title has proven to be something of a boon in certain areas for sales purposes). Ales such as Revolution (or Formby IPA), Formby Blonde, Partisan and Hurricane have all done rather well at a variety of venues, including the latter two at St Luke’s Church Beer Festival in end of July/start of August. The naming of the beers has come from a seemingly left leaning political alignment and Glen Monaghan tells me that the use of Partisan (for those familiar with 1980s football trivia, Belgrade in Serbia (what was Yugoslavia) has two teams; one formerly known in English as Red Star, the other, Partisan) along with the brewery name resulted in them being contacted by excited Serbian folk wanting to try some of their beer. Resultantly, 40 cases of Red Star’s beer is apparently winging its way over to Belgrade at time of writing! No doubt that the range will expand and quality will be fine tuned as time goes by, but for the moment you can find a select range in bottles and a slightly larger range in casks around Formby, Freshfield, up to Preston, across to Leeds and onward into Sandbach. Rock the Boat Brewery In the picturesque village of Little Crosby, tucked away on the edge of Merseyside there is a former joiner’s workshop which has undergone a thorough clean out, paint job and refit along with a 2008 extension to the premises. Rock The Boat Brewery’s site is very characterful and rather understated on the outside; one really wouldn’t know of the industry being undertaken within. Retired mathematics teacher David Barker shows me around his 8 barrel brewery which is looking remarkably pristine at the moment; Although casks are leaving the brewery for a number of local pubs on a regular basis, David is still finding his feet and looking for a strong foothold in the market place, but with many years brewing experience from working for Scottish and Newcastle in sales in the late 70’s before he began work as Quality Technician at Whitbread’s Samlesbury (now owned by InBev UK) until 1987; during which time David tells me that the brewery football team beat the Heineken Brewery team in a European Breweries tournament final a eye-watering 5-1. With his experience it shouldn’t be too long before he manages to find his beers a niche. Rock the Boat Brewery has a small range of ales at the moment, focusing on the session strength beers with an amber, golden ale and a pale all below 4% (named Amber bitter, Mussel wreck and Dazzle respectively). David expressed no desire to move up to stronger ales any time soon, stating a preference for building a solid base around his core beers before considering a change to the roster. David’s passion for brewing is very evident, I barely have to ask any questions as the anecdotes and conversation flows in a remarkably fluid fashion; from his time at the Brewery, the decades of extensive homebrewing, the connections and influences he has drawn upon down the years up to the use of propino instead of other pale malts for his Dazzle pale ale. The pinch came as a culmination of wanting to brew and having the resources and time to do so, as David puts it; “How often do you go out and have a beer and are disappointed – so why not do something about it and make your own? Life is too short to drink poor quality ale.”. The aforementioned propino malt has a bigger resistance to most forms of disease compared to other malts, along with a more consistent yield, making it now the most widely grown malting barley for UK brewing – you learn something new every day! During the course of the conversation, David said he owed thanks to Joe Coulson at Leyland Home Brew for his years of encouragement and advice, if anyone is thinking of taking up home brewing or needs advice to make progress, Joe is a great source of information - no doubt contact can be made through Rock the Boat. The ongoing evolution of the branding for Rock the Boat is something David is also having a hands on experience with, a former student of his partner’s is undertaking the design work for the pumpclips and has commissioned a unique font along with some potential tie in with Britain’s naval and maritime history along with a charitable tie-in. It seems to all be adding up at the moment for David. Rock the Boat’s beers can be found at The Saracen's Head and Heaton's Bridge Inn in West Lancashire, The Cornerpost in Formby, the Birkey, Sparrowhawk, Stanley Arms in Aughton and the Royal Hotel in Waterloo amongst others. David informs me that the last cask of Dazzle sold out in 5 hours at Cornerpost. Rock the Boat's beers are also available in Liverpool at Ye Hole in Ye Wall; The Excelsior; The Bridewell; The Grapes on Knight Street and the Augustus John. Best get your skates on then to find some then, eh folks? (I’m refusing to do a missing the boat gag…). The Parker Brewery Having started up in April 2014, Parker has hit the ground running relatively quickly thanks in part to a solid network of clients and no shortage of competency for their craft. Rick Parker came from a background in wine sales eventually to making his own brews and now has a steady, stable and constant flow of business for the casks and bottles in the Parker line. The business model sounds entirely focussed, with a concentration on cask and bottles for the five beers that they currently brew, although there has been a hint of some seasonal offerings once more of a rhythm has been struck. It is unlikely there will be any keg offerings of their beers at the moment, as this doesn’t seem to fit in with Rick’s plans for Parker Brewery. Based in Banks, just north of Southport, Parker is at the very northern fringe of Merseyside (probably actually in West Lancashire) and is located in a remarkably tranquil and agricultural area. The brewery is a 5-barrel kit as of September 2014 and seems to put out some highly visible offerings across northern Merseyside and in Lancashire. The upstairs of the brewery has been converted into a bar by Rick and his accomplice Stuart (who has built an excellent bar from reclaimed wood, it has to be said) where the receive guests on occasion; there are rumours of a regular Thursday opening spot, along with the ability to receive special visits should numbers suit. In terms of the actual beers, they are straight up and no nonsense offerings in traditional styles of a pale ale (Centurion), a blonde ale (Viking), a best bitter (Barbarian), a red ale (Saxon) and a stout porter (Dark Spartan); all of which eschew any adjunct in favour of malt and hops. Luckily when we called in, they had just about got the red ale ready for bottling, so that will be on the shelves of bottle shops within due course. Parker have been on a front-foot stint of Meet the Brewer and tap takeover events across Merseyside/Lancashire in August, The Blackburne Arms in Liverpool, The Frank Hornby in Maghull and The Merton in Bootle have all had the experience and it is likely their influence is to spread further in the area, so keep your eyes peeled. 3 Potts Brewing Company Sadly, fate worked against me on my planned meeting with Simon and Shona Potts (they also have 3 pots at the brewery – word play eh? Ronnie Barker would be proud, -ish) and I didn’t get up to see their premises due to both of our day jobs getting in the way of having a good conversation about their plans, beers and set up. Simon seems to be the visceral department of the brewery, with occasional support from his wife, Shona, the brewery is only nano-scale, yet perfectly formed as Simon informs me. They are on a 100 Litre kit currently and the brewery is limited in space, but they have been able to get a decent level of output in cask and have recently put a run of bottles together for their Sprocket IPA, which is going to be their more sessionable IPA serving. At the time of writing, Simon excitedly informed me that he was awaiting the labels to come to them from suppliers; the beers will then hit the market place – presumably in Southport and certainly in Tap and Bottles (where they launched Sprocket IPA at the end of August). Despite the limited capacity at the moment, 3 Potts are planning to brew a range of different beers, where Simon informs me that he is an IPA fan, wife Shona is much more experimental and is enjoying the current wave of sour beers that are swamping bottle shop shelves. Simon tells me that Shona was the one who got him into beers and homebrewing, from which this venture grew, gradually taking over their home until a separate premises was required. Shona seems to think she has created a monster; if the brewing bears significant fruit, then Simon says he will look to give up the day job and get into the brewing full time. As this was due to go to print, Simon also informed me that they had received some casks, which will hopefully be filled and ready by the time you are reading this article! So far Simon’s favourite brew to come out of the premises is a 7.4% IPA which didn’t receive a name, but he claims it is a follow up to the Sprocket, which is due for a launch in collaboration with Tap and Bottles at some point, curiously said to involve ‘tiny horses’ before it transpired they had launched the beer in the presence of two shetland ponies (as an apt nano-substitute for dray horses). Simon also informed me that there is to be a darker offering coming from the 3 Potts in the near future too. Black Lodge Brewing Sadly this one remains something of an enigma, I have a handful of remarks and pinches of hearsay; sadly there’s not enough at this stage to put anything meaningful across. It would be best to follow the Twitter account and keep an eye on the quirky website to see what will come from this ‘Collaboration’ Brewery later in 2015. ------ There was another brewery on the cards to talk over, such as the Oceanic Navigation Steam Company, who are selling to a number of Liverpool city centre pubs, but alas, they didn’t respond to any requests for dialogue and sadly their twitter presence was less than endearing (i.e. they were pretty rude) upon requests for information about their brand and remit. At this moment, it is understood their brand is actually brewed and bottled under contract with George Wright in Rainford. It is likely that maybe a few more breweries will pop up across Liverpool and Merseyside along with areas immediately around this area of the northwest, which is brilliant for diversity of the drinker, but unless each finds a niche in the market and this market remains buoyant some may fall by the wayside. Keep your eyes peeled and your fingers crossed, local beer in about to come flooding in. Pedro. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14-09-2015 Article updated to acknowledge Joe Coulson for Rock the Boat's endeavours. Neptune Brewery Unit 1, King House Sefton Lane Industrial Estate Maghull L31 8BX Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neptunebrewery?ref=hl Twitter: https://twitter.com/neptunebrewery Web: http://neptunebrewery.com Email: [email protected] Red Star Brewery 54 b Stephensons Way Formby Merseyside L37 8EG Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Star-Brewery/344799769051017 Twitter: https://twitter.com/redstarales Web: http://www.redstarbrewery.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Rock the Boat Brewery 6 Little Crosby Village Liverpool L23 4TS Tel: 07727 959 356 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RockTheBoatBrewery?fref=ts Twitter: https://twitter.com/RockTheBoatAle Web: http://www.rocktheboatbrewery.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] 3 Potts Brewing Company Southport Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/3pottsbrewingco Twitter: https://twitter.com/3pottsbrewingco Email: [email protected] The Parker Brewery Unit 3 Gravel Lane Banks Southport PR9 8BY Tel: 01704 620718 Twitter: https://twitter.com/parker_brewery Web: http://www.theparkerbrewery.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Black Lodge Brewery 4 Kitchen Street Baltic Triangle Liverpool L1 0AN Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-LodgeBrewing/1661861120704513 Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackLodgeBrew Web: http://www.blacklodgebrewing.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] On occasion, I have been asked to bake for work colleagues or for a dinner party, friends or family visiting and so forth and found myself wondering what to make. This recipe is something picked up by way of hybridising a gluten-free recipe along with a chocolate beetroot sponge cake recipe. The result is a very moist, rich, earthy and bittersweet torte which works excellently with chocolate or coffee stouts, liquers or other digestif spirits after dinner. It’s dairy free and gluten free – although not totally vegan sadly, due to the egg content, but try playing around with the recipe to reach an appropriate consistency using vegan egg substitutes. What you need: 200g of Spelt Flour 150ml Olive Oil 120ml clear honey 3 eggs 3-4 medium sized beetroots 60g of Dark Chocolate (anywhere from 60-100%) 5 tblsp Cocoa Powder ½ tsp Sea Salt ½ tsp dried chilli flakes What to do: 1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (or gas mark 5). 2. Heat the olive oil gently in a saucepan on low heat; add the honey and then the chocolate gradually until melted and mixed thoroughly. 3. Peel and grate the beetroot (best done by leaving a handful’s length of stem on to get a firm grip whilst grating, allowing a quarter turn every few strokes to maintain steady grating), add this to the oil, honey and chocolate which should be removed from the heat now. Stir through thoroughly, allowing to cool for 10 minutes. 4. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and then gradually add them to the batter mix, folding gently as you add the egg. 5. Sift the flour into the mix, folding it into the batter with the cocoa, chilli and salt ensuring the batter is completely mixed. 6. Pour the batter into a greaseproof paper lined springform tin (~20cm will be perfect), using extra olive oil on the paper, allowing extra paper around the sides to ensure even baking and prevent burnt edges. 7. Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins at 180C – this may vary from oven to oven, so test the centre of the batter/cake mix with a wooden skewer, if it is pricked and batter mix is stuck onto the skewer, it will need further baking. Allow for 5 minutes baking uncovered to allow the mixture to firm up too. Finally cool the torte once baked, release from spingform tin, dust with cocoa and icing sugar, serving with cream and beetroot crisps. For a final flourish... why not make these to accompany the cake... Decorative sweet Beetroot Crisps What you need: 1 beetroot 1 tblsp Olive Oil Enough sugar/salt to season and sweeten (in a 90%/10% mix – or to taste) What to do: 1. Using a sharp knife or mandolin, carefully slice each peeled beetroot into thin (~1mm) wafers, spreading these out on paper towel to remove excess moisture as you go. 2. Sprinkle the sugar and salt mix over the slices and allow to stand for 15 minutes; after 15 minutes, dab with paper towel. 3. Add the slices to a mixing bowl with the olive oil, tossing to allow complete coating of each wafer. 4. Put the slices of beetroot onto a baking tray and roast in a preheated oven (at 180C) for 20 minutes, turning the slices over after 10 minutes. 5. Remove from the tray, placing onto a wire rack or paper towel to cool. Enjoy! Pedro. |
Archives
April 2022
Archives
April 2022
Click ^ the RSS Feed to follow me
Categories
All
|