Anyone who puts ‘Chief Beer Geek’ as their job title on their business card is certainly worth sharing a pint or two with do we not think? One such person is Allan Rice, who has bisected England along the M62 for the evening to park up and talk all things beer and science for an evening with the 23 Club regulars. Alongside Allan, is an equally scientifically astute brewer in the form of Jack Walker, who rather than being the forebearer of success at Blackburn Rovers (one for the footy geeks) is the ‘Chief Bear’ at Atom and has a very eloquent and precise grasp on the processes required to make Atom’s brews. The Big Bang for Atom came in early 2014, meaning that Atom is a relatively young brewery. Allan was working at Tempest Brewing Company in Kelso, before setting up his own project with partner Sarah Thackray in the form of Atom along with a frenzy of welding, building and bodging (that’s a scientific term – just watch an episode of scraphead challenge). Nearly everyone employed at Atom Beers has some form of scientific education, adding to a technical and creative entity which has pinned its marketing on the appliance of science. There has been some feedback into the local community from Atom too; since the inception there have been a number of work-experience brewers,collaboration with the University on a 'Science without Borders' project, some teaching in schools, 8-week brewingschools run and a number of tours given. Add to this the 18 different beers, 62 brews, 50% growth in output and sales each month and the Atom has been a very busy particle. They are also the recent recipients of a prestigious local award - [http://www.atombeers.com/blog/140/we-just-got-best-start-up]. Well done guys! There isn’t total harmony for Atom locally however, with the local market providing only 2% of its sales and the local council failing to see the wisdom in having them fully involving the forthcoming Capital of Culture (which benefited Liverpool tremendously) events for 2017. A very myopic outlook on brewing and beer culture from the Local Authority only serve for a very depressing attitude within this country to our own brewing traditions, something we only know too well at the other end of the M62 (see recent objections to the now-welcomed presence of Brewdog). Thankfully, it is unlikely to be adversity that will stop Atom moving forward and creating some very exciting fission in the future. There is rumour of a Tap Room to be ready in 2015 for Atom, so if you’re in the Humberside area, you’re best having your ear to the ground for when it launches. Without further ado, it’s time to put the scientifically slanted beer from Hull under the microscope…. Camomile A relatively new beer from Atom, this is a very drinkable and pale golden ale with a 4.2% strength which has a deceptively quiet nose. Although stringently dry, it has an abundance of floral character and herbal flavours thanks to the calming infusion. There is some residual sweetness and a very bready or cereal like character and with some light carbonation, there is a pleasing smoothness to the Camomile. Atom Pale One of the core beers produced at Atom’s premises and with a pale copper colour it comes in at 4.5%. Using four different types of malt with predominantly Cascade over Summit or other hops, this is usually a heavily hopped pale beer. There is a slight sweetness to the beer, although nothing is remotely out of balance and it carries a robust citrus character and a good dry finish hitting between the middle and the back of the tongue. Although it supposedly carries a heavy hop hit, the aroma seemed a little muted on this occasion. A good beer for a core range nonetheless. Uncertainty Principle Uncertainty Principle is a golden and pale IPA style beer, which has a strength of around 6%. Carrying a much heavier punch of hops than the Pale and Camomile, there are some woody and pine aromas that linger well into the finish of this IPA. Using a combination of Citra, Summit and Centennial, there is a focus on some additional conditioning of this ale in order to increase the juiciness whilst toning down the more aggressive flavours within. The reduced malt content in this IPA means a much drier finish, pushed further with a double-dose of hops in the dry hopping stage. Every batch of the Uncertainty Principle (as its name would suggest – useful!) is a bit different from the last, with room left for the brewer to play with the hop content and other inputs to the beer. Sea of Tranquility Saison This saison style beer has tonnes of layers to the nose, coming in with mostly fruit notes of gooseberry, elderflower and honey amongst others. The acidity is very cleansing to the palate and gives rise to a very tart mouthfeel, although, not out of balance with the beer as a whole. The finish is very dry once again, and is very reminiscent of a New World white wine. Light carbonation of this 6.5% saison gives a very pleasant body and smoothness to the Sea of Tranquility, which is part of a suite of saisons named after moon landing sites. Unlike the technology used to land there, this is very simple, but very elegant. Dark Alchemy This is another flagship beer of Atom, although the absence of any hops in this beer might be a concern for some beer fanatics, there is a rather historical slant to this. Dark Alchemy was the first beer brewed by Atom Beers and was conceived by Sarah, the co-founder with Allan, using ‘gruit’ instead of hops to provide the flavour of the beer. Gruit is a generic term used for herbs and other plants that were traditionally used to flavour beers (and in some cases, wine) before the arrival of hops in the UK in the late 16th Century to Kent, most likely from the low countries in mainland Europe. In the case of Dark Alchemy, the gruit is composed of cardamom and coriander (not typically traditional gruit ingredients), giving a slightly spicy hum alongside a herbal freshness and verdancy in a very dark ale. Dark Alchemy is very rounded, but surprisingly light bodied for a dark ale. The finish is very mellow and has some nutty and slightly acidic notes poking through. Phobos and Deimos A rye IPA which at 7% is the heaviest of the bunch from Atom on this evening. With a name taken from the moons orbiting the red planet via Hunter S. Thompson (from Fear and Loathing – the latin names of Phobos and Deimos), it was the first beer which Jack has been given free rein to experiment with. Packed with cereal notes, red berry fruit and carrying a reddish-brown hue, Phobos and Deimos has an excessively dry finish, lingering heavily on the middle and back of the tongue. The mouth feel is very thick and has some floury and almost gluey character. The use of a packed hop-roster in Citra, Cascade, Summit and Centennial gives plenty of layers to the flavour and floral aromas. It would be a difficult beer to try and drunk much of, certainly one to be paired with some robust food or to have towards the end of session. Phobos and Deimos Mango The final beer of the night was an absolute stunner. Although incredibly lively, the addition of mango to the previous original beer (described handily above), really augmented the flavours of the hops used, bringing out the sweet and refreshing tropical fruit simmering within this ale. A similar beer to this would be something I personally hold in extremely high regard, in Thornbridge’s Kipling there is a typically bright expression of New World hops and the addition of the mango somehow fills out the beer, making it a smoother proposition all round. This was yet another entertaining experience with Allan and Jack, with yet another sumptuous meal provided by the Clove Hitch who worked long and hard to ensure this event went as well as it did. At this point, I’d probably try and make a pun or gag about smashing Atoms or something to do with the large hadron collider, just to round things off. But I was warned off it; besides, you can’t trust Atoms as they make up everything. Pedro. X ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Atom Brewing Company Unit 4, Food & Tech Park, Malmo Road, Sutton Fields Industrial Estate (West), Hull. HU7 0YF Web: http://www.atombeers.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/atombeers Email: [email protected] Tel: 01482 820 572 Twenty Three Club / Clove Hitch 23 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BQ Web: http://www.theclovehitch.com/# Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwentyThreeClub or https://twitter.com/theclovehitch Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Tel: 0151 709 6574
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Further to many a conversation with friends and my Brother, the idea of somewhere to swing by after a few beers and grab a fajita, taco or a burrito is very appealing to a lot of people. Somewhere to sate the desire for something filling, carrying a stodgy portion alongside something to satisfy the inner carnivore (for those of us to that persuasion of course). Although that is still a relative pipe dream, there are Mexican-style restaurants back in the city since Savina and Lucha Libre took the baton from El Macho a while back. Evil eye is slightly different to both these places, since it offers a single dish to go alongside some American craft beers and Spanish lagers. The humble burrito. The premise of the restaurant is very simple, pick items from a menu to build your own customised burrito, the basic option comes in at a respectable £5, though certain items such as bacon, cheese and other extras do cost an additional charge, it provides pretty good value for money and a slightly different tea time or lunch time option. The restaurant itself is of a modest size, the restrictions of a shop frontage on Smithdown Road allowing as such. It has been decked out in cult Mexican film posters, sugar skulls and other central latin American finery which wouldn’t be out of place in somewhere such as Mission in San Francisco. The proprietors have made good use of the space, not cramming in too many tables in the hope of catching swarms of students in their dark and spicy web. The service is friendly, efficient and pretty simple; pretty much all you can ask for. So how are the burritos and side dishes I hear you all cry? Well, in short, consistent and overall rather… Bueno. They are packed well with adobo beef, chicken or other meat, refried beans, rice and vegetables along with a lubricating and tasty sauce of your choosing. The burritos themselves are pretty tidy too, presented in foil and folded providing good integrity for the duration of the fiesta. The chips were a little greasy on the first visit, plus some of the dishes were not quite available at first (still wondering what the adobo corn bites are like), but for the price you’ll not feel too hard done by. The quality of the meat is reasonable, the execution is absolutely fine. There are plans to get some local cask beers and some other local craft brews in behind the bar once the refurbishment of the premises is complete, but Mahou is a welcome sight, making up for a relative dearth of quality beyond a couple of more common US craft bottles. It will be interesting to see how things pan out for the Evil Eye over the coming year, hopefully it will continue to cast its gaze down Smithdown for some time to come, providing a genuinely different and reasonably priced option for a bite to eat.
Hasta luego mi rasa! Pedro. Sadly, I was a little late on the draw for this article... as Luke paid a flying visit back to Liverpool for my Birthday in November, I was hoping to have this ready, alas not to be. Thankfully a little time afterward and I have been able to reflect on a great weekend with a good friend and give this article a bit more thought. Luke has had a few trips around and about in the far east and is garnering a bit of a following with his social media traffic, so we are lucky to have another article about his adventures right here... ----------------------------------------------------- As autumn has come upon us I have been luckily enough to get to visit the great city of Tokyo, which was high on my to do list for sometime, while being out in the far east I took the opportunity to visit. The city did not disappoint, with lots of sights and things to do for the visitor, this is a brief review of the places we visited to sample some delightful craft beers whilst in Japan’s capital city. Berg Whilst walking around the busy Shinjuku JR station and trying to decide where to go, we happily stumbled upon Berg and were pleasantly surprised by what we found. This bijou watering hole offers a range of tasty food options from hotdogs through to cheese platters; but its offer of craft beer is a delight for anyone. A display case positioned in the entrance is packed with a number of bottles and cans from craft brewers, most notably Black Isle Brewery; a Scottish brewery which I had pleasure of trying back in HK at BeertopiaHK and most recently at Roundhouse. As we queued there were a number of offers displayed on various beers, making the choices even more enticing for those seeking a beery bargain, one offer in particular was for a beer by Baird Brewing Company. A second option undertaken was the Epic Brewing Co Intermountain Wheat. The latter was the option chosen on this occasion, giving us a pleasant wheat beer, golden in colour with heady aromas of wheat malt and grain. The light body and nice mixture of sweet and bitter taste made a perfect accompaniment to our cheese platter in Berg. Such was the pleasant experience on our first visit we returned, a couple days later for another visit. Again the place was full with a pleasant buzz of people enjoying a quick bite and a few beers. The offers had changed and this visit I opted for a India “Black” Ale by Shiga Kogen. This was a dark black colour with little head, an aroma of hoppy pine notes and slight coffee base. For a darker beer, this had a medium body, with a similar taste as aroma suggests, also with a bit of chocolate for good measure. The beer had a dry bitter finish, all this coming together with our surroundings to make one happy punter. A must to revisit if find myself in Tokyo again, not a place to have a heavy session but great for a quick, refreshing pint before back heading out onto streets of Shinjuku. Brewdog Roppongi If I go anywhere and hear there is a Brewdog bar it lands on top of my to do list (good job Liverpool got one just in time for your visit eh Luke? – Pedro) and here is no different with a visit to the only Brewdog in Asia. Tucked away on a side street not far from Roppongi station, from external and internal appearance this was unmistakably a Brewdog bar. Sadly on the occasion of our visit, it was somewhat lacking in patrons on a sunny Saturday afternoon, but the pleasant and friendly staff and a delightful selection on tap and bottle made up for the dearth of atmosphere. The offer of a selection float was too much to resist, offering any four beers from tap and marked with a dog. As I experienced many a Brewdog tasting evenings back in Liverpool and BeertopiaHK, not many of the classic Brewdog signature brews have been missed on my bucket list, so finding new beers is always a challenge. Luckily there were a few to fill the void; Zeitgeist and BD Camden were first on list, much to my delight. Unfortunately the BD Edinburgh had just finished in a cruel stroke of misfortune, so went back to favorites with Punk IPA and Jack Hammer finishing the line up of the four float. First up is Zeitgeist, a black lager, jet black in colour with a slight thin white head, with an aroma of dark malts and chocolate and a medium to light body adding notes of coffee and light bitterness in taste. Next up was BD Camden, a Belgian Double, dark red/brown in colour, aroma of caramel with slight hoppy and roasted malt, with medium body and just enough bitterness in taste to offset the sweet flavour of the beer. With lack of available time, this fleeting visit was decidedly short and swift, meaning we were unable to sample the bottle selection; that just leaves more to try at next Brewdog bar I happen upon. Baird Brewing Co Taproom The next enticing stop in Tokyo was the Baird taproom in Harajuku, one of the two taprooms in Tokyo by this local company. Up on the second floor and on the corner of an offshoot of the main street, this pleasant, warm and cozy taproom offers a range of the companies many craft beers and a selection of “izakaya” dishes or yakitori-style skewers. Here the main menu has quick descriptions of beers on offer; showing off the stylish labels that emblazon the bottles. Here again as any good taproom should offer a selection float of three beers is an option, though it must be said that the size of glass is a little on the small side. Numazu Lager, Shuzenji Heritage Helles and Red Rose Amber were all ordered for the first round. Of the three, only one I would return to would be the Heritage Helles, as it had a pleasant aroma, was well balanced and very drinkable, the Red Rose Amber was not my thing by comparison. With the lighter beer options out of the way time, the next sample board was an opportunity to get a little darker, second round made up of Kurofune Porter, Shimaguni Stout and Suruga Bay Imperial IPA. The porter and stout were perfectly good examples of their styles and pleasant, but sadly nothing to write home about. My personal favorite was the Suruga Bay, copper colour with slight amount of head, an aroma of sweetness and pine notes pervading, a medium body with a sweet taste, heavy hit of bitterness and nice hoppy bitter finish. Would happily visit this taproom again but might try the other Tokyo based taproom at Nakameguro which along their beers serves “craft” pizzas. Cheers! Luke As the nights are drawing in and we go in search of some slightly more fortifying beers, I have indeed shifted the focus away from the lighter and paler beers. There are some excellent porters, stouts and amber ales around, also some worth steering a little clear of. Having had some excellent beers over in the states, which I sadly forgot to take many notes on, there are some I tried a little closer to home. Here are a few of the beers that I have sampled over the last month or so, if you’ve tried any already, as with the previous article in this theme, please feel free to share your experiences below the line! On we go…
That’s your lot for this month, with a mixed bag, definitely moving gingerly towards darker and more robust beers. Hopefully you’ll get out and be able to try some of these, along with the food pairings where I’ve suggested. Happy drinking! Pedro. Following on from a rather packed schedule in the last Las Vegas blog, this is the first review of two from two of Las Vegas’ excellent eating establishments. I am still somewhat confused as to how the retention of a Michelin star is arranged when a whole city is effectively mothballed for the Red Guide (due to the recession in the US, which has hit many countries, which has been slowing all business since 2008) since 2009*1. The website at the Bellagio for Mina’s restaurant, which opened in 2004 following a changing of the guard with his previous 1998 opened establishment, Aqua, shows the awards are still held (indeed, the two-starred Picasso displays its stars) and mindful of this, the anticipation of eating there was almost tangible. Amusingly, I did manage to raise some eyebrows by booking in person, wearing a tee shirt and shorts, clearly from day of wandering the city; although the maître d' was more relaxed on my assurances I would be properly attired on return for our booking. There was little complication with ordering, as the waiter’s explanation of the a la carte choices and two tasting menus definitely pointed in the direction of a tasting experience, with his effervescent enthusiasm directed at the Signature Tasting. We were informed that this is the menu; which effectively gave Mina’s restaurant its elevated standing in Las Vegas. The restaurant is located at the edge of a display area, which had a showing of a harvest festival, with giant autumnal leaves hanging from above, pumpkins lining walkways and water fountain/garden areas. Mina’s establishment itself is set out with adequate dining room and carried by warm lighting in the evenings, nothing offensive or too challenging for the eyes. You will dine in comfort here, although there is something of a new-build house showroom feel to the interior, not that this is necessarily a bad thing. The ’Domestic Caviar Parfait’ was the first salvo of Mina’s classic taster menu and a neatly impressive sight it was. Layers of shallots and potato, salmon, caviar and crème fraiche neatly placed to a tower, providing a combination of clean and enticing flavours that were mainly dominated by the barbecued earthiness of the smoked salmon. Although there were no real fireworks with this opening dish, it segues perfectly into the following course and shows the level of consideration given to this menu as a signature package. The ‘Tartare of Ahi Tuna’ was an interesting and brilliantly textured dish, although the flavour was somewhat one-dimensional thanks to either unbalanced recipe or heavy-handness of a chef in using sesame oil. Back to the texture, the asian pear, chilli oil and pine nuts gave an array of entertainment for those who get excited about mouth feel of a dish. Finely chopped ahi tuna is presented in a cake, crested with an egg yolk, the waiter then proceeds to fold the components of the dish together at the table. Whilst this is something that the chef has obviously incorporated into his dish, I found it a rather unnecessary and actually unwelcome aspect of the dish, as I would have preferred to combine the elements in my own ratios to explore the plate in front of me. The toast with the dish was a fine foil for the rest of the moist components of the dish. The ‘Miso glazed Chilean Seabass’ was a very well put together Seabass dish, silky, moist and delicate flesh was mixed with a miso dashi broth and a shellfish dumpling, adorned with peashoots and a sliver of radish. All the flavours and components were pretty much perfect, the salt tang of the broth almost enough to encourage brazen behaviour of lifting the plate to lips to ensure not a drop was wasted. The ‘Lobster Pot Pie’ was an interesting dish. After the waiter sets down the pot pie, he cut open the pie crust to expose generous and glistening chunks of lobster swimming in a buttery cream sauce. Essentially, the dish is a very well cooked openface pot pie. The crust/pastry was flaky and doughy in equal measure, making it perfect to soak up some of the sauce in the pie, but also with enough resistance to present some texture to contrast the sauce and lobster meat. Although this dish is possibly too rich and heavy for a tasting menu, I wouldn’t complain too much, as the flavour is excellent if a little basic. Pie, sauce and lobster. Satisfying. The 'American Wagyu Ribeye 'Rossini'' came with the waiter regaling us of a tale about the Japanese Prime Minister presenting a Wagyu beef cow to the US government many years ago, with this cow then used to breed further cows with some of the Wagyu character. Some of this has pleasingly found its way onto the menu at Mina's Las Vegas establishment and makes up the headline course of the taster menu. The ribeye was cooked perfectly and slices places atop foie gras and a light vegetable puree. The dish was finished with some black truffle shavings. A very simple, but highly flavoursome dish prepared as well as it could have been; the main draw for this dish though is the excellence of the sourced ingredients. The ‘Lincoln’s Candy Bar’ was the final course and based on Mina’s penchant for presenting his dishes with a ‘trio’ of main elements, this dessert certainly falls into the category for his concept. The main element is a chocolate bar, which I was informed is reminiscent of a ‘Butterfinger’ bar although done in very impressive manner; the soft chocolate, caramel and fudge layers are paired with a freshly prepared if slightly underwhelming chocolate chip cookie and a root beer float with a chocolate straw. Alas, the straw didn’t work very well and root beer is an ingredient that can throw some people off a dish, with its sharp wintergreen flavour. I am not totally sure that this dish worked as a concept, as it was a little disparate and fiddly. The flavours worked reasonably well together, but there were simply no fireworks on this course.
This was, overall, a very good experience, with some courses on a much higher standing than others and some slightly unwelcome elements such as the demolition job of the tuna course; the sourcing and preparation could not be faulted otherwise. Service was assured and intelligent, with suitable recommendations made by waiting staff; as would be expected given the location. On a relatively flat note, the wine menu was fairly eyewatering; with wine priced upward of $75 a bottle for the lowest rung of the ladder. Symptomatically, a lot of the Californian wines on offer were vastly overpriced, as seems to be the case across the city and indeed, anecdotally across the US. Given the sales tax and tip over the $115 per head tasting menu (which IS value for money, as outlined above), things do mount up and mark-ups on wine exacerbate this unfortunate situation. That said, the extensive nature of the list is truly something to behold, logically set out and with some notably excellent wines; it is a shame that they were out of reach on the occasion. Given the sheer choice in Las Vegas on the strip of upmarket restaurants, this is definitely a solidly competent option for fine dining with a couple of exciting culinary flourishes. Very good, Perhaps not the best of the Michelin awarded establishments on the strip, but at the least it will not leave you feeling short changed, despite the gaps left in your wallet. Pedro. ----------------------------------------------------------- *1 – During the course of research, I have been unable to find any definitive answer about Red Guides for Las Vegas (or Los Angeles) since 2009. [http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/culture/2009/jun/26/michelin-bad-economy-means-no-2010-guide-las-vegas/] |
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