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
0 Comments
Back in 2005, there was something afoot in an abandoned former coach house at Thornbridge Hall in Derbyshire. Rather than carriages, beer was starting to leave the premises and head around the country, seeding the recent brewing renaissance currently in full swing. Although the first brewer, Martin Dickie, left two years following the breweries opening to begin the Brewdog project with James Watt, the brewery has gone from strength to strength and reputation-wise sits near if not at the top of the table in terms of the UK’s beer output. Thornbridge branded beers were first brewed in early 2005 after the establishment of a 10-barrel brewery in the grounds of Thornbridge Hall, having an output of some variable batches of Lord Marples (a former owner of Thornbridge Hall) and Jaipur IPA, both of which are definitely more standard at this time. The initial focus of the brewery was on a range of cask beers utilising traditional recipes, but with the fashion of a use of wide range of hops, malts and allowing the brewing team to put their own stamp on the output. After winning a succession of awards (over 350 national and international awards so far) a new, state of the art, brewery and bottling line was opened at a second site in Bakewell in September 2009 (handling up to 30 barrel capacity) to meet with the market and increase the range of beer. James Buchanan from Thornbridge enters the MTB attired in Thornbridge branded clothing and speaks passionately and eloquently about the brewery’s relatively brief history, but one that is littered with accolades, changes in brewers and the upcoming 10th Anniversary of the Brewery which will provide a proliferation of some, hopefully, very special beers to the public. Also alluded to was heartening news that the brewery may be considering a further capacity upgrade by the end of 2014, depending on the relatively buoyant market for the craft and cask staying not only staying afloat, but rising above the current wave. Although a decision has been taken not to pursue canning beers, expansion ahead is always welcome news as an indicator of the industry’s health! * * Thornbridge have published their own blog, which has this article on their thoughts of putting beers into cans: [http://thornbridge.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/to-can-or-not-to-can/] Without further ado, it’s time to let the beer from Bakewell’s finest do the talking…. --------------------------- Bayern Pilsner One of the Thornbridge brewery team pushed for this beer to be made, since Pilsners do take a long while to complete their brewing cycle, it is easy to see why some are reluctant to run with this style. However, the endeavour has provided a very clean Pils style golden lager that is remarkably refreshing and has a very slight hint of sweetness in the finish. Although the head retention is relatively short, this is a very drinkable and light tasting beer that proves that the UK brewing industry (well, Thornbridge at least!) can actually make decent lager when they put their minds to it. At 5%, this is a relatively easy drinking premium lager that does carry a bit of clout if you attempt it in a session. Galaxia A traditional English pale ale style beer, which uses, as the name would suggest Galaxy hops to provide much of the beer’s rich flavour set. Although Thornbridge do not brew the Galaxia on a regular basis, the Australian hops used give a rich mouthfeel to this pale ale with a slightly metallic (but not unpleasant) and dry finish to the flavour. The flavour is itself, as would be expected of new world hopping, of tropical fruits and verdancy, which were surprisingly difficult to pin down exactly beyond what I would describe as white stone fruit. This lies just beyond session strength at 5.2%, making it a bit dangerous to indulge heavily, as the colour, body and aromas would suggest it lies lower. Chiron Chiron (named after a mythical Greek centaur) is an American style pale ale, with a golden hue and at 5% strength. Compared to many other American Pale Ales about these days, this is actually relatively pale with a good level of carbonation, cleanly hopped taste and a decent bit of length afterward. This was made by Thornbridge as a ‘go to’ beer for people in terms of something that is on the edge of sessionable, but has plenty of punchy crisp flavours and resinous body, without being too cloying. Very balanced, relatively easy to get hold of and made using a Californian yeast strain. Beadeca’s Well This smoked porter is pronounced ‘Bee-dekkas’ Well, which apparently comes from the old name for Bakewell, where the brewery is based. Some 5-10% of the malts used in this beer are German smoked malts, giving the beer its trademark peaty depth. Although the head retention was pretty short, the beer is rather complex in aroma and flavour, with a range of coffee and vegetative, leathery aromas and plenty of dry length in the flavour following dried fruit and a touch of chocolate. The difference in aroma and flavour is very marked. Pretty heavily bodied and at 5.3%, its not something to drink a lot of, but gears one up well for a winter’s evening. This would pair excellently with cured red meats and strong cheeses. Jaipur IPA This is Thornbridge’s seminal beer as well as one of their first, and a pretty robust one at 5.9% abv. We were, on this occasion, treated to the duality of cask and keg, which proved a rather enlightening experience in tasting both simultaneously. Cask proved to carry far more in the aroma and have a much silkier mouth feel, but the flavours somehow were more balanced and mouth feel less cloying when given the carbonated keg beer. Those who have tried it will know it’s a citrussy refreshing and strongly hopped beer, but presenting it two ways served to show that it worked in both, with the preference depending entirely on your mood. Peanut Butter Brown Ale The final beer of the night was something a little different from the norm. I dread to think about what the fermenter vessels are like following a brew run of this beer, but not being the most pleasant things to clean following a normal brew of say, a pale ale, imagine cleaning out something awful with a load of peanut butter sludge on the top… Unpleasant (I am guessing!). This ale is actually a deep brown colour and incredibly rich in flavour - the aroma is heavily peanut with a touch of caramel; reminiscent of childhood peanut brittle. There is a touch of cereal in the flavour and plenty of body, the finish has a very thick and slightly sweet edge to it. Surprisingly, when paired with a peanut butter tart for dessert, it did dumb down some of the peanut flavour in the beer. This was yet another entertaining and in parts, enlightening experience with James, with yet another sumptuous meal provided by the Clove Hitch (taking unusual cuts of meat and making excellent dishes to pair with beers is always a winner for me), along with a very pleasing peanut butter tart dessert to pair with the Peanut Butter Brown Ale. As a side note for the Thornbridge Brewery, they have just released another beer in bottles, which is being stocked in some Waitrose branches around the UK. This beer is special in that the brew run is actually part of the first prize for the winning The Great British Home Brew Challenge 2014, Graham Nelson from Holmes Chapel. The Vienna IPA bet over 200 other entries to take the top spot and it should be available at 70 Waitrose outlets at around £2.50 for a 500ml bottle – I am yet to see if the Formby (nearest one in Liverpool) are stocking it. More here on the Vienna IPA here:[ http://siba.co.uk/2014/08/the-great-british-home-brew-challenge-2014-winner-is-announced/] Pedro. X ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thornbridge Brewery Thornbridge Riverside Brewery, Buxton Road, Bakewell, Derbyshire DE45 1GS Web: http://www.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thornbridge Tel: 01629 815 999 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 Seconds out, the gloves were not necessarily off but, there was a serious amount of beer to drink and judge for the gathering of around twenty people in Liverpool city centre for the second round of the Battle of the Breweries at The Clove Hitch. The selection of the beers was made some weeks before the event with the intention of getting in some serious quality and competition and putting a local brewery head to head with some others from further afield, each had some strong experience and a good reputation behind each of them. The styles of beer were selected to give each brewery a chance to shine within two categories rather than three; since the first round went on for quite a while and fifteen different beers was quite a lot to drench anyone’s palate. Cutting the field down to ten beers made things manageable and a little fairer for the beers on show. The two categories selected were to break things up from the previous event, so firstly a fruit or adjunct beer was chosen to contrast the darker porter or stout ales to follow. There were a few breweries selected based on the beers they had available in the two categories and thankfully most of the initial line up were incredibly helpful and only too willing to get involved. The selection was then trimmed to five based on those able to help and with the help of some distributors and the venue, the beers were gotten hold of. So, the line up of breweries and the beers they supplied were as follows: Ilkley Brewery (Ilkley, Yorkshire) – Siberia (Rhubarb Saison) and The Mayan (Chocolate Chipotle Stout); Partizan Brewing (Bermondsey, London) – Lemon and Thyme Saison and the Five-Grain Porter; Peerless Brewing Company Limited (Birkenhead, Merseyside) – Jinja Ninja (Chilli and Ginger Beer) and Oatmeal Stout; Saltaire Brewery (Saltaire, Yorkshire) – Raspberry Blonde Pale Ale and Triple Chocoholic Stout; and Stringers Brewing Company (Ulverston, Cumbria) – Damson Beer and Dry Stout. The beers were all tasted by attendees in batches of 5 (in each category) before they supplied a rating of 1 to 5 for the respective placing. Each of the numbers in the ratings were added together and then the beer with the lowest score was placed first in the category, then the next lowest in second place and so forth. The brewery rating was then gained by the relative placing of the beers in first to fifth position, adding the numbers together again, with the overall lowest score being the winning brewery in this round. Hopefully that all makes sense, trust me, after a few drinks adding the scores up was rather a demonstration in focus! The winners were then announced at the event and the competition run for some excellent craft beers sourced from Holborn Cask Ales of Ormskirk and George Wrights Beer Emporium, St.Helens; I did promise a shout out to the winners too, so congratulations to: Jackson Edmonds (1st place) Les O’Grady (2nd Place) Sarah Spall (3rd Place) Incidentally, there was actually a tie for third place but Sarah provided the closest guess in the tiebreaker with her guess of 10 Litres per hour, compared to fellow attendees Phil Torpey, Oliver Carey and Steph Van Der Voort. The question was how many litres per hour of beer the Half Moon Brewery in Belgium can pump along its pipeline to the bottling plant, some 2 miles away. Incidentally the answer was 6,000 and Phil did guess 12,000 Litres, meaning Sarah beat him by 10 Litres. Small gains eh? There was a brief interval between the stouts where the venue provided some rather excellent Scouse to compliment the stouts along with some beetroot, radish and red cabbage (very well dodged there guys!). Needless to say, this was as well received as the cheese boards and cured meats that paired with the fruit and adjunct beers. So, which Breweries won then? Continue reading below for full details. Fruit or Adjunct Beer Category 1. Saltaire Brewery – Raspberry Blonde (40 points) 2. lkley Brewery – Siberia (42 Points) 3. Partizan Brewing – Lemon and Thyme Saison (47 Points) 4. Peerless Brewing Company – Jinja Ninja (52 Points) 5. Stringers Brewing Company - Damson Beer (76 points) Stout or Porter Category 1. Ilkey Brewery – The Mayan (32 Points) =2. Saltaire Brewery – Triple Chocoholic (47 Points) =2. Peerless Brewing Company – Oatmeal Stout (47 Points) 4. Stringers Brewing Company – Dry Stout (61 Points) 5. Partizan Brewing Company – Five-grain Porter (67 Points) Overall Brewery Placing 1. Ilkley Brewery (74 points) 2. Saltaire Brewery (87 points) 3. Peerless Brewing Company (97 points) 4. Partizan Brewing (114 points) 5. Stringers Brewing Company (137 points) Following on from the event, there was also a bonus beer session, where Peerless had kindly donated some of their new RIOTS (Russian Imperial Oatmeal Treacle Stout) for everyone to taste, along with another stout (Thick and Twisted) provided by Les O’Grady from the Liverpool Homebrew Club. Both beers were very well received, especially paired with some homemade chocolate brownies! RIOTS should be available now in a good pub near you, bottles are also available at the Peerless premises in Birkenhead and from good bottle shops. Congratulations to all the Breweries for the event and thanks to Luke Raven and Richard at Ilkley Brewery, the John Kyme and Rebecca Stringer at Stringers and Steve Briscoe at Peerless for getting involved and helping out providing generous donations of the beers to keep the ticket costs as low as possible. Many thanks to Shaun from George Wright Brewing Company for jumping in with provision of some beers for the event too and to the guys at Carringtons, Manchester for allowing collections/drops of beers to be held (lifesavers!!). Also special thanks go to Rob Tuffnell and his staff for organising a venue and some rather excellent food for the event and Jon Young and Angela Mulligan for helping to keep the event running smoothly. Finally special thanks to all the people who attended to make the event a success yet again; I really couldn’t have got this event to work without any of the people above and their efforts and generosity.
Stay tuned for the next event folks, I shall be putting feelers out for breweries to get involved and will spread the news on my Twitter feed, Facebook page and via this blog. The aim is for another #BattleoftheBreweries to take place in Spring 2015. Cheers and catch you all soon, Pedro x ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stringers Brewing Company Web: http://www.stringersbeer.co.uk/ Mail: [email protected] Twitter: https://twitter.com/stringersbeer Peerless Brewing Company Limited Address: The Brewery, 8 Pool Street, Birkenhead, Wirral, CH41 3NL. Web: http://www.peerlessbrewing.co.uk/ Mail: [email protected] Twitter: https://twitter.com/PeerlessSteve Ilkley Brewery Web: [email protected] Mail: http://www.ilkleybrewery.co.uk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ilkleybrewery 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 George Wright Beer Emporium Address: 54 Cambridge Road, St Helens, Merseyside WA10 4HF. Web: http://www.georgewrightbrewing.co.uk/BreweryShop.html Tel: 01744 737 578 As the Summer month roll onward unrelenting, weekends sometimes pass in a bit of a haze, this weekend was no exception following some particularly hot weather. The hot weather does make one thirsty, good job then that the double whammy of a beer festival and a Meet the Brewer Event was possible. Thirst quenched perhaps? Maybe so; having chosen to brave public transport away from the Giants and the throng of Liverpool city centre, the scrum was not totally avoided by having to use the train. Thankfully, the Freshfield Hotel is only a relative stone’s throw from the station on the Southport arm of the Northern Line. It is not a free house, although you would be forgiven in thinking that given the sheer number of guest cask pumps greeting you at the bar. We won’t hold it being a Greene King pub against it too much when they obtain (as standard) a very broad and well-handled line up of ales at any given time. A festival occasion gives further reason to rejoice, given that the equation of Friday plus good beer, plus big range of beers, plus good weather, plus beer garden and a few friends usually equals a pretty satisfying experience. This is not the first visit I have had to the Freshfield; having been on a few occasions previously for dinner and a few drinks with family, but the interior of the pub retains a healthy amount of wood, as would be expected from a country style tavern establishment. It also retains a sense of class and as mentioned, retains a good ethic of treating their beers correctly. The beer garden outside is ample in size, plus the establishment boasts a very impressive slate and stone courtyard for punters to rest their feet with a beer and dinner. The 5th occasion for the Freshfield, the Festival ran from Monday 21st July until Sunday 27th July, with the installation of two additional bars with hand pumps to dispense the extra ales. Sadly, there were no sparklers (which for me being a northerner, is a gripe on occasion) installed on the pumps, meaning some of the beers dispensed lacked that additional texturing supplied by a tight creamy head. Not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things however and definitely more welcome than dispensing straight out of a cask tap. Over the course of the week, the Festival boasted 88 ales, 8 ciders and 5 craft beers on, although not at the same time unfortunately. A similar issue experienced at the Liverpool Beer Expo was that many of the beers sound enticing, or indeed are ones some spotters want to tick off their lists, but they had simply already gone or were waiting to be tapped on another session. There were still enough beers to get excited about on the three bars, although having paid £15 for a sheet of tokens (to be used at the two temporary festival bars only), people had to pay the normal rate at the main pub bar for anything dispensed there. Although slightly confusing at first, an understandable arrangement to keep the pub’s normal operations flowing. A slightly more annoying arrangement was the lack of inclusion of the craft beers dispensed from keg in the Festival token system, although the programme clearly states they are included, the staff informed me that because they were ‘slightly more expensive beers’, they weren’t included in the token system. To be fair, there were plenty of beers to get through without venturing to the main bar for a while, or at least until 9pm when things started to run out and sadly, not get replaced. The beers on offer were, in the main very good, featuring notably amongst others, Blackjack, Marble, Darkstar, Saltaire, Oakham, Thornbridge and Tiny Rebel. The Marble ‘Pint’ was a welcome balm for a thirsty boy, providing the usual Marble competency of flavour with a refreshing body; this was swiftly chased with a pint of their ‘Summer’ beer which went down equally easily. As ever, the Saltaire beers were excellent, with several pints of the festival favourite, ‘Blackberry Cascade’ consumed within the group, but the ‘Cascade Pale Ale’ was another very enjoyable beer met with pleased palates. The enthusiasm of the staff was commendable in both the main bar and on the temporary festival installations, given both that the pub was a lot busier than it usually experiences and that the weather wasn’t particularly amenable to putting effort into anything other than a beer and some conversation. If you haven’t had a chance to visit the Freshfield yet, it may be worth a visit for cask fans, especially given the proximity to the train line. At this juncture I considered making a tenuous link in order to join together the second part of the adventure from the weekend, however, a rather hazy Saturday morning followed and killed any creativity I may have had for considering this. It may be possible that it still is impairing me… as I write at least! Having to steel both brain and stomach in preparation for a second outing in as many days, thankfully, the Meet the Brewer event held at the Clove Hitch and 23 Club once again was only a watered down event, albeit a free one. On this occasion, the Green Flash Brewing Company sent their head brewer, Chuck Silva, to wax lyrical about the launch in the UK of their West Coast IPA (at 8.1% it is a double IPA, although the punch is not quite evident at first). The West Coast IPA was first produced in 2005, a year after Chuck had joined Green Flash following a (as is often the case we find, with many brewers) change of career path and three years after Mike and Lisa Hinkley founded the brewery. The brewery takes its name from the natural phenomenon of the same name, whereby under certain weather conditions and just for a moment, the sun setting with its last rays turn emerald green on the horizon. The last mouthfuls of the beer didn’t turn anyone at the event green, thankfully, but it was a robust mouthful.
Light caramel in colour with an off-white head, the beer was much more heavy in malt tones than in hops for a West Coast IPA. It was also slightly sweet on the nose, using British crystal malts, giving off semi-sweet cereal and biscuit notes. The sweetness carries a little into the flavour, but finishes in a dry manner, especially towards the back of the throat with a reasonable length. The hops don’t quite translate as strongly as they should; with the use of simcoe, colombus and cascade pelleted hops at bittering stage, then a further blast of simcoe, citra, centennial and cascade added at the dry hop stage, you’d expect a bit more. A pretty resinous beer throughout drinking, pleasant and will pair pretty well with food, but the 8.1% is a high strength to pay with relatively low hop return. Having previously had ‘Le Freak’ from Green Flash, I can recommend giving their beers a chance, especially since they have been developing a strong relationship with St.Feuillen. Chuck provided an amenable and friendly afternoon at the Clove Hitch. Until the next time mi rasa! Pedro. ----------------------------------------- The Freshfield Hotel 1 Massam's Ln, Formby, Merseyside L37 7BD Tel: 01704 874 871 Web: http://gkpubs.co.uk/pubs-in-liverpool/freshfield-pub/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freshieformby Twitter: https://twitter.com/Thefreshfield Green Flash Brewing Company 6550 Mira Mesa Blvd. San Diego, California, 92121 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.greenflashbrew.com/home/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Greenflashbeer 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 There is something genuinely warming about listening to stories of gentlemen such as Toccalmatto’s Bruno Carilli. Having spent many an hour or so watching the two greedy Italians; Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Cantaldo, wax lyrical about their culinary influences with genuine affection and enthusiasm, it takes a little while for things to warm up and then Bruno hits his stride. Thankfully Bruno's English is much better than my Italian despite my Sister-in-law’s family’s best efforts to educate me. Any ruffled areas are easily smoothed out once again by Atlas Brand’s Giulio Temporin, who’s enthusiasm for spreading the word about these great Italian beers is infectious; also welcome for a second time following the earlier visit of Brewfist [http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/blogs/meet-the-brewer-with-brewfist-the-clove-hitch-liverpool]. Having worked for large multinational companies, Bruno decided that in 2008 after stints with the logistical division within Carlsberg amongst others he wished to pursue something creatively his own. Having broadly stated that he was influenced by some of the 1990’s British cask big hitters (such as Summer Lightning from Hopback Brewery, Black Sheep’s Best Bitter and the classic Landlord by Timothy Taylor), various styles of Belgian beers and finally the more recent explosion of American craft brewing, Bruno set about trying to make beers that had distinctive and full flavours. The Toccalmatto brewery is based in Fidenza (located for Geography fans between Parma and Piacenza in Northern Italy) and the name translates as ‘now it is the turn of the crazy man’. The remit of the brewery, as Bruno recounts, is to produce beers which focus on a tight quality control whilst employing methods to maximise the strength of the beer; not really too crazy an idea, perhaps? Admittedly, Bruno unashamedly announced his preference for the way the British enjoy a pint rather than partaking in the smaller measures of beer that our continental counterparts often do. Some of the beers produced by Toccalmatto, given their strength, really aren’t so appropriate for pints! Without further ado, I guess it is time to hand over to the crazy man…. ReHop One of the most easy drinking and best-selling of Toccalmatto’s range, this beer is modelled on an American style pale ale (but isn’t a US pale ale) which is a cloudy straw colour with a tight white foam. The aromas carry notes of citrus, pine and other crisp acidicity laying way into a similar flavour. ReHop has a very juicy quality to it, despite a relatively thin and light body, almost as if this was made from a cordial. The hops used are route one of where the fruit and acidity comes from; around 60% Cascade is used along with Saaz, Amarillo, Marinka and Simcoe in both cone and pellet form. The brewing of this beer is complimented by the use of American yeast and it weighs in at around 5% with a dry finish of notable length. B Space Invader At 6.2% this is a variation of the normal ‘Space Invader’ produced by Toccalmatto. A Black IPA with some body, the name is derived from the original use of Galaxy hops in the dry hopping of the beer. This first iteration was a collaboration beer between Bruno and Brew Wharf in London and began as a pale beer. The beer was then made using different hops, namely Simcoe and Amarillo to compliment the Galaxy and uses a wheat malt to do away with the bitterness and roast flavours of barley. The tight brown foamy head gives way to a chewy mouthfeel, some aromas of coffee, chocolate and liquorice leading into slightly juicier flavours than you would expect given the nose. The finish is reasonably long and has some interesting hits of red fruit on the way out. Skizoid This beer arrives with a nod to the song ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’ by King Crimson; Bruno’s fascination with tilting musical slants onto his brewing becomes much more obvious. Using Belgian caramel malts, this American style pale ale is very dry throughout the flavour and not just in the finish, the use of Centennial and Chinook hops gives rise to a fairly chewy number, there is plenty of body here thanks to the use of the resinous hops, but it retains a fruity and aromatic edge. This beer was based on Bruno’s experience with the ‘Kentucky Common’ style of beer, which imparts some sour edge and the use of corn and sour mashes to lighten the beer. Zona Cesarini The biggest selling beer for Toccalmatto, the Zona Cesarini gets its name from the Argentine-Italian footballer Renato Cesarini, who famously played for Juventus. The ‘Zona Cesarini’ is an expression of the scoring a goal in the dying minutes of a match, as the player did on many an occasion. Born in 2010, this beer is a 6.6% fruit laden dry pale ale, with 90% of the hopping of this beer added in the 4 stages of dry-hopping over 5 days (at around 14g per litre). The use of US, New Zealand and West Coast Japanese hops such as Palisade, Sorachi Ace and Citra gives some interesting dimension to this beer, with the dry fruitier characters providing a good counterbalance to the bittering hops (using Colombus for the bittering). Aptly named, dry and fruity with tropical fruit which includes coconut imparted by the Sorachi Ace, this is a very competent and interesting beer. Apricot Scotch Ale
Finally, a relative sweet beer behemoth in at 7.5%, this fruity dark brown ale is initially rather sweet, with a quite tart finish. There is plenty of orchard fruit on the heavily perfumed nose, obviously screaming out apricot, but layers underneath of other fruit such as figs. This Scotch ale has a relatively light body belying its dark colour, the flavours echo the fruity aromas, but do incorporate some red cherry in the finish. This is a relatively new beer Bruno has made, based on a beer called ‘the last witch’ which was made used peated malts, the use of fruit changed the recipe and frozen apricots are added at the dry-hopping stage to impart the raison d’etre of this beer. --- MTB Attendees were also treated to some whisky from Malt of the Earth following the beer tasting, with Tom Mills from the company presenting a very pleasing number and guidance on how to taste. As is always the case with such spirits, the divisive nature shone through with many not taking to the flavours of a subtly complex whisky. It was relatively smooth and aged to 11 years, a nice way to round off a very entertaining and delicious evening. As ever, 23 Club/Clove Hitch provided delicious food to accompany the beer menu, on this occasion the attendees were treated to a BBQ with Mediterranean food. Good pairing with the beers too. Italian beers are going from strength to strength at the moment; Toccalmatto’s excellent presentation and highly competent beers are testament to the growth. Until the next time… Ciao! Pedro. X -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toccalmatto Via San Michele Campagna 22/c 43036 Fidenza (PR) Web: www.birratoccalmatto.it Twitter: https://twitter.com/Toccalmatto Email: [email protected] Tel/fax: 0524.533289 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 Malt of the Earth Web: http://maltoftheearth.co.uk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/maltoftheearth It was unusual having such a jam packed drinking weekend with a steady onslaught of excellent beers, the final salvo following the Liverpool Beer Expo (covered in last week’s article) was a Meet the Brewer session with Eddie Lofthouse from Cornwall’s Harbour Brewing Company. Harbour Brewing Company is a relatively small craft brewery based in the North of Cornwall. They state that they have a commitment to making contemporary styles of beer that ‘deliver an uncompromising taste experience’. During the discussion about many of their beers, Eddie was very vocal about wishing he had access to a laboratory such as that owned by other Cornish breweries. The brewery was set up in 2012 by Rhys Powell, formerly of Sharp’s Brewery and Eddie Lofthouse who apparently shared a passion for beer and surfing, whilst harbouring (no pun intended) a desire to open a brewery of their own. Rhys had already taken steps to get making beer by undertaking study of Brewing and Distilling, and having following his stint in Sharp’s Brewery teamed with Eddie; who had been running The Atlantic Hotel and Doom Bar in New Polzeath, Cornwall, for sometime. Following drinks in Padstow between the two, it seemed a good idea to name the brewery after the place the idea was conceived, and Harbour Brewing Company was born. Harbour Pilsner One of the most easy drinking and best-selling of the Harbour range, this beer has undergone two iterations, the second of which was made with an extra bag of malt in the mash, making it up to 5.5%, but the first version remains at a steady 5% abv. The most notable twist in the character is the overt sweetness and slight hint of the metallic in this pilsner; whilst it provides a very interesting and pleasant flavour pinch, the body of the pils benefits from the sweetness but the sharp hit of refreshment is lacking due to being ever so slightly unbalanced. This sweetness has apparently been derived from a brew fault; however, it is not totally unwelcome, providing a very interesting variation on a theme. Harbour IPA This IPA was the first beer brewed commercially by Harbour and is made using crystal malt, then Nugget hops for bittering with Cascade and Columbus for dry hopping. The brewery churns out some 90-barrels a week of this popular beer which is essentially a standard British IPA style beer, available in bottle, keg and cask. A very pleasant and accessible beer, drinkable and hopped to a good level, retaining a balance and lighter mouthfeel for a more session based ale. Harbour Pale Ale #5 This is the fifth variation of the Pale and again, the use of Nugget hops for bittering is present. The addition of dextrose was for a one-off ale, but the popularity of a very drinkable beer meant retention in the Harbour ranks. The Pale Ale is now one of the core range and weighs in at around 6%, this ale does convey some light citrus and slight tropical or white stone fruit in both the nose and flavour. Attempts were made at exporting this ale to Canada and Australia due to the perception that the higher abv might give it some robust travelling quality. Alas, when trying it at the point of serve, the beer was not up to the standard expected by Eddie following a 3-month period of selling their beer on the road. It was just fine here though. India Brown Ale Using American style techniques and centennial hops, this beer certainly lives up to its name. A brown ale with an amber hew and pleasant carbonation, this is a decidedly hoppy effort and the beer is actually very balanced and structured from keg. There are floral and light caramel or toffee notes in the nose, with a good slightly nutty roast finish. There is some length to the ale too, which weighs in at 4.9%. Comus A lager made in collaboration with the Wild Beer Company, which has been aged in red wine barrels and imparts some vanilla and fruit flavours to the beer. There is a very animalistic nose to the beer; perhaps from the aromas straw and farmyards sometimes gained from French Pinot Noir? There is a very tempered sweetness in this beer, which ultimately has a very dry finish, is slightly sour (in a good way!) and is a very enjoyable beer with hits of cherry brandy, some honeyed-citrus and other red fruit. Dunkel Bock The Dunkel Bock is what Eddie described as a ‘summery dark beer’ and he may have a point. The beer does carry with it, a kind of herbal freshness reminiscent of garden herbs and has quite a grassy aroma. Considering the earthiness and colour of the beer, the body of it remain rather light and lacking in the usual chewiness you would expect from such a brew. There is a restrained use of hops in this beer and it is very competent for it. Belgian Pale Finally, the Belgian Pale is a rather sweet beer, with tonnes of summer fruit on the nose and in the taste. The punch given from a first sniff in the glass is akin to that experienced from opening a new tin of baked beans, sweet, slightly acidic with a slight earthy tone. This beer was made in collaboration with Redchurch Brewery, based in East London and made in a traditional Belgian style, although the beer is similar to that of a triple IPA, Belgian yeast and the use of stella and galaxy hops give this lively (high in carbonation on this occasion!) 7.2% beer a different flavour edge. All in all, a very informative and engaging evening with Eddie from Harbour; they have recently signed deals with Sainsbury’s to provide beers in their supermarkets, although this is likely to be restricted to the core range. Harbour has a number of beers that are worth further investigation and the enthusiasm for their craft was certainly evident throughout the talk. Until the next time…. Pedro. X ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Harbour Brewing Company. Trekillick, Kirland North Cornwall PL30 5BB Tel: 01208 832131 Email: [email protected] Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarbourBrewing 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 Beard, Beard, Beard, Beard’s the word… and everybody’s heard about the word. Well, hopefully by the end of this piece they will have. Weird Beard hail from West London, which has somewhat a dearth of reputable drinking establishments, the White Horse in Parson’s Green aside from what I had experienced from a recent visit (although it should be noted, I only had one day to scan the area and went off recommendations from acquaintances and friends). Following a wealth of experience (and some awards) two brewers by the name of Bryan and Gregg decided to take the plunge and swap their respective small batch kitchen based enterprises and go full on with their brews. The remit of their beers is the use of hops to pack as much into their beers as is possible, whilst wearing rather fetching facial hair. Okay, I did make that last bit up, as I doubt things would grind to a sudden halt should one of them decide to defuzz. Weird Beard started their experiments in February of 2013 and over the course of the following 12 months received the accolade of being in the top 5 or 6 of new brewers in the World. It may not sound like too much of a deal, but when you consider that during this period for nomination, some 2000 new breweries began operations. Remarkable. Weird Beard are apparently at the stage of considering more space to continue their quest to deliver more beers out into the world, they currently have 3 full time personnel on the brewing and are even considering a tap room from which to directly dispense their wares. And so, onward to an early May Monday evening, one of the chief beards, Gregg Irwin is stood in front of a crowd awaiting stories (of which there were many) and some of the fabled Beard brews. Mariana Trench The most popular beer of the Weird Beard stable, an American Pale style using Citra and Pacific Gem hops which started life as a homebrewed beer; this was initially called Mariana’s Trench, with the ‘s dropped due to some rather rude connotations (I’ll leave that to you guys). At 5%, this soft, slightly sour beer has a character with some stone fruit including mango, tropical passion fruit a notably peachy finish, a slight haze and orchard fruit aromas. The name is clearly derived from the geographical reference to use of trans-pacific hops. 5 O’Clock Shadow This American style IPA uses four different hop types; Citra, Apollo, Summit and Colombus. Heavy hops flavour and a ABV of around 7% gives this beer a slight savoury edge with yet more apricot and nectarine aromas, though the presence of these on the nose did not quite convey into the flavour. The beer is dry hopped at 8.5g hops per litre and started life as a darker product. K*ntish Town Beard A very interesting story reared its head in the presentation by Gregg resulting in the current name we have for this beer. It started life as a collaborative beer, brewed in conjunction with the Brewdog bar based down in Camden with a name that made another prominent brewery rather unhappy, although this has now been firmly resolved and the beer is a delicious American style wheat beer. The use of Willamette hops in the initial hopping and then with Centennial in the boil, Centennial and Cascade are finally used in the ferment to great effect. The Willamette provides the woody spiciness often conveyed by Simcoe. This interesting beer comes in at 5.5%. Fade to Black Another Weird Beard beer of homebrew origin, this excellent black IPA weighs in at 7.1% with a low payload of roast for something so dark. The use of three different hops in Sorachi Ace, Citra and Summit give plenty of flavour hit, which has depth and length without issue. Some slight chocolate flavours hum in the background along with a hint of toasted coconut, something which has been played upon with the follow up version of Fade to Black. Fade to Black (coconut) A one-off brew playing on the original beer above, this iteration removes the use of the Sorachi Ace hop and came about through a mistake with a hot liquor tank and the elements remaining on for much longer than anticipated. This beer is almost at a level where you’d classify it as a liquid chocolate bar inundated by toasted coconut, which is testament to the amounts of coconut that was thrown at making this beer, although it did have the unwanted side effect of clogging up lots of equipment with coconut. Fade to Black (coconut) was not dry hopped, retaining some more stout character as opposed to the black IPA and comes up with a strength of around 6.1%. Decadence Stout The use of 10 different grains and predominantly US Chinook and Goldings hops, this 4.8% stout uses no roasted barley and concentrated on the use of less acidic malts to retain a full body and chocolatey flavour with a hint of coffee and pleasant creamy mouthfeel. Boring Brown Beer This rebrew of the first ever beer Weird Beard made, with the possible exception of Hit the Lights, this 8.2% monster is based on the beer ‘Arrogant Bastard’ by Stone Brewery and was brewed with Chinook hops in a Pale ale style. A tinker with the yeast to a specific type helped fine tuning with the brew and a ferment temperation of 29 degree Celsius helped keep some ester compounds (ask an organic chemist, not me… I do know, but it’s the wrong branch of Kemistry, arf arf) to convey a fruity flavourful beer. This ‘Imperial Best’ beer has notes of raisins on the nose and in the flavours and over 100 IBUs, which would do well from aging both in cask and bottle. All in all, a very informative and engaging evening with Weird Beard; great beers, although some not quite to my own taste, the story telling was excellent and will make for a entertaining event.
A special shout should be given to Kusina ni Lola for providing the cooking at this event, four excellent courses to accompany the beers were provided and from the taste (and photos above) they were excellent – you can catch them occasionally at the Foodslam events at the Camp and Furnace, infrequent pop up events or at the Albion Market in Crosby, North Liverpool. Until the next time…. Pedro. x --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weird Beard Brew Co. Unit 5 Boston Business Park, Trumpers Way, Hanwell. W7 2QA Tel: 0203 645 2711 Web: http://www.weirdbeardbrewco.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeirdBeard_Brew 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 Kusina Ni Lola Twitter: https://twitter.com/KusinaNiLola Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kusinanilola |
Archives
April 2022
Archives
April 2022
Click ^ the RSS Feed to follow me
Categories
All
|