The November edition of Meet the Brewer Event held at the underground speakeasy below Hope Street’s Clove Hitch, the Twenty Three Club. Since the Indy Beer Man Convention, held in the Victoria Baths in Manchester, rumblings have gathered momentum from the Italian Craft Beer scene with a number of their less established beers finally finding their way into Liverpool’s pumps and bottle fridges. Brewfist is one such brewery, looking to spread the word on their wares with help from agents, Atlas Brands who have a select clientele of Italian Craft Brewers out of the some 600 existing breweries in Italy to date. The depth of brewing in Italy is still relatively shallow by reputation, dwarfed by the overbearing Wine industry and exports for which Italy is most famous. However, upon forming in 2010, Brewfist has been making inroads and some rather interesting beers. There is already some momentum spreading in the homeland and certainly, from the anecdotal evidence, in Italy’s capital with a fairly buoyant export market and growing thirst in consumers on both sides of the Atlantic for beers with a little more character. They brew in a ratio of 65:35 keg versus bottles, mostly due to shipping the kegs over to the Roman market. Brewfist’s vehicle is some rather interesting named beers twinned with eye-catching artwork and imagery for marketing material. The name in English to provide some additional punch to pierce the UK and US markets, was as suggested, to provide some dynamic edge to the Brewery. The opening combination from Brewfist was an excellent first round in the form of 5 beers that have proven popular for them in other markets. Two of the beers were unveilings, the Heimdall – first batch anywhere (truly honoured) and secondly the Terminal Pale Ale, which was a first batch brought to the UK. So what did they taste like? 1. Terminal Pale Ale A proper session strength beer, belying the flavour punch it can deliver, much akin to the Wild Swan from Thornbridge. Coming in at only 3.7% and using pilsner malts, 80% citra hops and Australian sourced Summer hops, this beer is exceptionally citrussy and very dry to boot. Brilliant night out beer, perfect for a late session on a Summer’s evening. There are some grassy aromas with a tart and sharp finish, much akin to a good new world Sauvignon Blanc, keeping the palate very clear. Takes a few mouthfuls to get into the right gear for this beer, but once there; it is very, very drinkable. 2. Czech Norris The Brewfist Imperial Pilsner, coming in at 6.7% and using typical hops for pilsners in Saaz and Munich Pils hops. Most of the flavour comes from the dry hopping of the brew, especially with some hops added in the last 10 mins of the mash. This beer was meant to be a one off brew, but its popularity from its ease of drinking and the cheeky moniker have meant demand for this beer is continuing to gain momentum. 3. Heimdall An experimental Brewfist offering made in collaboration with a German brewery, using Pilsner, Oat and Rye malt in a farmhouse saison style brew along with an abundance of Galaxy and Hellertau Saphir hops. This weighs in at 7.6% with an incredible length of flavour, some spicy notes and the usual farmhouse fruit driven sour flavours, the brew has had no additional spices used in the brewing process which is testament to the craft and care with which it has been handled. 4. Spaceman IPA First brewed in 2011 for a specific beer festival, this exceptionally dry IPA comes in at 7% in the style of a West Coast Pale ale. The alcohol levels are exceptionally well hidden under the flavours of this very rich pale offering. The hops used are Colombus, Citra and Simcoe, explaining the derived pine dryness. A complex, rich and delicious pale ale with some grapefruit citrus and white stone fruit character. 5. FEAR One of the first four regular beers produced by Brewfist, this is a milk chocolate stout which is farirly sweet with some coffee notes but not overly heavy in body. There is a rather thin mouth feel to what could be judged on looks as being very chewy. Magnum hops over a multilayered spectrum of malts (including chocolate and maris otter), the inclusion of Oats and lactose give an ABV strength of 5.2% and pleasant residual sweetness. The lack of smokiness and a week of infusion with cacao beans rounds off what is a very interesting and deceptively delicate stout. The beers were augmented by some delicious beef shin, cauliflower purée and black pudding with pickled carrots or a rather nicely put together vegetarian friendly pasta dish provided some sustenance, pictures show how well fed event goers were! You can swing by the 23 Club and try some of the Brewfist beers, alternatively see below for further details of where you can read up more on their beers. Future ‘Meet the Brewer’ events are planned for 2014.
Stay tuned! Pedro. X ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Brewfist Web: http://www.brewfist.com/index/en/index.html Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrewFist_ Email: [email protected] Twenty Three Club / Clove Hitch Address: 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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The Camp and Furnace has been acquiring further accolades since the last visit at the Tree Hugger’s Banquet, the powers that be decided to undertake a live-screen cooking exercise in the form of the Electric Kitchen, where dishes are prepared in the Camp venue on the large screen for all and sundry to see. A dynamic camera following the kitchen action with a live DJ is a different way to dine, certainly a more interesting ambience than piped music and candles; which is a usual setting in more conventional and indeed, subdued. Camp and Furnace has also recently received an accolade of being officially the second-coolest place to dine in the UK according to the Times top 20 coolest restaurants to eat: [http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/food/restaurants/article3914145.ece]. The Quarter also made this list, which is pleasing for them, given their efforts to evolve their space over the last decade. I would hardly concur with some of Abigail Radnor’s observations in the piece, (I wouldn’t say the Baltic Triangle is really a ‘meat-packing district’ for a start), but the recognition speaks volumes in itself. The food itself was in keeping with the usual Camp and Furnace fayre, small tapas or starters with a selected mains list means that you are not inundated with too much choice and get to focus your attention on some very competent dishes. Alas the event has been discontinued for the foreseeable future to concentrate on the Foodslam Fridays and the usual kitchen output, which is no bad thing considering the overall value is, as usual for the Camp and Furnace of a good standard. Thankfully for the standard dining conditions, taking a few extra guinea pigs with me provided an exposure to a good cross-section of the menu. There is provision for vegetarians as well as meat and of course, fish lovers alike on the menu, two vegetarian options and usually 2-3 fish with 3 meat dishes all cooked with a consistent care and attention. The overall feel of the menu is a simplistic one; playful touches here and there, with a care and focus on presentation that is evident as each dish lands in front of you on the benched seating arrangements. It is almost reminiscent of a strange street party, but indoors… with trees, lights and a strangely comforting industrial ambience. The Halloumi salad was quite pleasing on the eye, but alas a couple of individual components left threads in the dish to pull at, not enough to unravel much, just enough to fray at the edges. The pomegranate that bejewelled the plate was a touch sour and the smears of harissa lacking the distinctive north-African chilli punch it is synonymous with. The cured salmon was a very aesthetically pleasing offering; the salmon bright and tender embraced within coriander, apple shard and chicory micro salad. This was then resting above a horseradish potato salad, which was sadly the one weak link in the dish. The horseradish sadly proceeded to punch heavily above the weight of the other components, meaning a lack of harmony in the dish as a whole. Finally with the small dishes, the chicken tacos, which were generous to say the least, but succulently put together with a subtly acidic salsa, crisp and succulent sweetcorn within a sturdy fresh-snapping taco shell. Thankfully, there was no need to apply a small rainforest’s worth of napkins to clean up any residual mess - as is usually the case when tacos appear on a ‘dirty’ food menu. The main dishes continued along the same honest vein as the starters, simply named and expertly presented dishes made to provide sustenance with broad but controlled brush strokes. The veal ragû was presented with papardelle wide enough to accommodate the sweet and perfectly balanced ragû sauce, tender baby basil and the light textured, delicately sweet veal. A light dusting of umami-rich Parmesan provided an excellent shot in the arm to the pasta dish. The ‘shoulder’ lamb was already stripped down, saving one the pleasure of allowing the soft shards to fall away from the bone, served with fondant potato, peashoots and an intensely savoury jus, alas these were all overpowered by the addition of blue cheese which was strictly speaking, massively out of place (imagine a cacophony of a lone cello playing out of harmony with a string quartet) with the rest of the dish, the presentation was good but drew few gasps of delight. The celebration of ham was indeed just that, a glazed ham hock dressed with honey and mustard and presented on a wide wooden board flanked with pickled gherkins and red cabbage. This dish was also presented on the Electric Kitchen event, proving a popular dish, however on both occasions, there felt like there was something missing by way of a starchy accompaniment within the dish itself to provide a foil and contrast to the sharp acidity of the cabbage and pickles, and indeed with the rich fatty succulence of the ham. The meat itself was cooked perfectly though, falling apart through retained moisture and a generous cooking time. The Chestnut and pecorino cheese papardelle was met with a mixed response from our party, with some finding it rich, creamy and pretty deep with plenty of flavour, the other opinion was that it was too one-dimensional with all the flavours mingled leaving very little by way of definition between ingredients. From experience though, this was by far a more satisfying take on vegetarian food than previously (and no doubt subsequently) experienced. As ever, the value is impeccable at the Camp and Furnace, which continues to make pace ahead of most other establishments in Liverpool. A few more subtle touches to the dishes might not go amiss to retain a consistent march and avoid a stumble. Pedro. ------------------------------------------ The Camp and Furnace 67 Greenland Street, Baltic Triangle, Liverpool. L1 0BY Twitter: https://twitter.com/CampandFurnace Contact: [email protected] Tel: 0151 7082890 |
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