The collaboration beer was put together to celebration International Women’s Day by Dead Crafty along with Lovelocks, Pretty Vacant and So Coco Rouge, all located nearby one another in the city centre. However, the problematic situation arose from the name of the beer, Savage (a glittery bakewell tart IPA), and probably the imagery, meant as a tip of the cap to Paul O’Grady’s much loved character due to encroachment on the characters Intellectual Property (IP – hold the A). The story made national media, via the likes of this article which was written pretty recently: [https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/paul-ogradys-legal-dispute-liverpool-26643417]; whilst we have to ignore some of the factual inaccuracies (naughty sub editors and journos), it’s evident that O’Grady was not best pleased judging by the quotes taken in the articles on the matter (should they, themselves actually be accurate). The result was a cancelled beer launch, a rebrand/rename (from Savage to Salvage) and a move to donate some of the beer’s profits to local animal charities. Though the aggressive legal rhetoric from the outset towards a handful of small and local independent businesses does seem heavy handed in the least. Whether this change of tack with the beer is enough to placate, remains another thing to be seen. When fully in the throes of churning out articles on a monthly basis for this blog, I was toying with imagery to give social media accounts and this site an recognisable avatar and often we choose things that we love for such things; I’ve used amended Bauhaus artwork on (personal) accounts and to this day, homage type imagery for my admittedly sessile Facebook page, with an altered image of Manic Miner. For those who grew up in the 1980s, Manic Miner was a bit of a cultural watershed in computer games, even more so for those of us who lived around Liverpool. The game and Miner Willy himself were creations of Matt Smith, a young programmer who effectively made the game in his bedroom in Birkenhead, probably unaware of the impact it would have on a generation of gamers. Given my use and amendment of the graphics on accounts (making it quite visible), I decided it would be an idea to contact Matt and seek blessing (or being asked to remove said imagery without receiving a nasty letter in legalese). These days, he is pretty reclusive and the only recourse I found to contact him was via an email address for Elite (a software company, again set up in the 1980s, which produced some incredible games for the Spectrum such as Commando, Paperboy, Bombjack, Ghosts and Goblins, 1942 and Space Harrier (under license from Capcom and other software houses)). I did eventually receive a kind reply from someone at the other end, informing me that Matt Smith was difficult to contact and probably wouldn’t mind – but they would attempt to let him know. Fast forward a decade and I am still none the wiser any feelings on the matter, but I’ve never received a letter in legalese but remain glad I did try to make contact. I’ve also been on the receiving end of content (or IP) that I have produced in my time writing and doing photography, being taken by other parties on more than one occasion. Photographs brazenly used in articles produced on other sites to promote businesses and charging companies (in Liverpool mainly) for the benefit of being on there. I suspect on the occasions that my photographs were taken there was probably an element of ignorance from the person putting the article together, along with a soupcon of thinking they’d not be found out and a small dose of that they don’t care.
This is but the tip of the iceberg for what is tantamount to intellectual property theft across many industries and many companies are probably of the opinion that it is better to ask for forgiveness as opposed to asking permission, which can tie things up with negotiations and additional costs. This is where time can be spent cynically releasing a product or article and it achieve a level of notoriety giving it further reach, when any kind of legal process kicks in and a swift retraction (sometimes) saves cost and face. Whilst some IP theft, copyright encroachment or use of material is done purely to drive sales (more on this later), there is an argument to be made for some businesses doing things out of a nostalgic admiration or love for something a brewer or owner grew up with. We can see the threads of this with many breweries across the world, with notable breweries producing beers with obscure pop culture references, nods to songs, nods to a whole swathe of 8 bit computer gaming and with a handful of UK brewers to wrestling. There has also been some internal churn with breweries accidentally converging on names which fit with the each of the breweries’ standard nomenclature, but one getting there slightly earlier and then issuing requests for cease and desist on the use of said name. Names like Mutiny on the Bounty, Black Ops and Yellowbelly have all fallen foul of such situations in the last decade. That situation just appears to be unfortunate happenstance. We reach the realms of creative things converging in terms of what people produce, some things creep into existence through a subconscious bias. There are countless examples of music that has been written arriving at the same melodic end point; see for example Manic Street Preacher’s ‘If You Tolerate This…’ with The Stranglers’ ‘Duchess’, Lana Del Rey’s ‘Get Free’ with Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ (which in itself can be said to borrow from The Hollies’ ‘The Air That I Breathe’) and Elastica’s ‘Connection’ with Wire’s ‘Three Girl Rhumba’. Beer and brewing are pretty creative industries; owing to recipe development, marketing approach and ever increasingly, strong artwork or imagery placed on small package containers and pumpclips. It is inevitable that there would be overlap and occasional congruence with products. Being completely sensible, it is probably best to err on the side of caution in most things and do some research or ask permission, even if an idea or homage comes from a place of genuine affection. Granted it is not always the case that the parody, riffing, amendment or homage comes from anywhere other than a ruse to ‘make a quick buck’. As we’ve seen on occasion, it can really take an unpleasant turn. That said, there are some businesses that have made encroachments, seemingly out of a will to get a rise from owners of an idea or IP, which is where things get very cynical. Any trouble following on, is probably deservedly invited onto an offending party.
But we still have to ask, is it ever okay to do something from a place of admiration, even love, to promote a product without consent from the owner of the IP? Pedro.
2 Comments
We’re hurtling towards Christmas now… it’s all too close. But before you make too many plans for nights out and about around Liverpool city centre, have a little read of this. There are quite a few new places that are now open, or about to open their doors in time for a proper knees-up. Most of them are supplying more than a fair share of really good beer too! Scroll down and see if anything gets those festive thirsts tickled… Craft Minded Craft Minded is the brain-child of Gareth Kellett and friends, looking to bring a hefty slice of craft beer sensibility to the Cains Brewery site. Whilst there are some decent beers on offer at other locations, the Baltic Triangle is still rather patchy on what is available. The Baltic Fleet, Black Lodge, Constellations and to a slightly lesser extent Baltic Social, have been flying the flag for craft beer and real ale without much baseline support beyond the odd bottle of Mad Hatter finding its way into more coffee orientated establishments. Gareth’s background in the hospitality/service industry will no doubt stand him in good stead when it comes to the crunch time for Craft Minded. At time of initial writing, the venue was undergoing some serious interior works, with articulated seating areas, a six-line keg bar and an array of fridges around the bar area all slated to make an appearance. Throw into this the lean-to at the rear of the premises in the old boiler house of the brewery and there will be a kitchen area, storage and conveniences leaving room to free up more seating. The area around the old boiler house has also rather brilliantly been allocated to the plot, meaning potential for outdoor seating and expansion for Craft Minded. The full long term stock is yet to be confirmed for Craft Minded, but expect a mix of local craft beer in keg and bottle alongside some of the more nationally minded brands that have been making waves in the UK, thanks in part to the influence of Crosby Beer Bottle Shop on Gareth’s infectious enthusiasm for good beer. The launch saw the six keg lines taken by two local collaborations with Craft Minded, Wylam’s Jakehead IPA, Mad Hatter Fat Stout, Brass Castle’s Bad Kitty and Chapter/Fourpure’s Roadside Picnic sour. The bottle fridges were full of goodies from Vibrant Forest, Wild Beer, Wylam, Sweetwater and many many more. Craft Minded is now open, from 1pm on Saturdays until 1am, with other hours as per their website. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craftmindedliverpool/ Gibberish The scene in Liverpool seems to move in a very jagged and erratic fashion, rather pertinently as this round up article shows (with five new significant locations for beer enthusiasts to get onto). The city can go through a relatively quiet period with little changing for a few months whilst a few rumours circulate and then things either go very quiet, or pop into life. This period is certainly the latter for Liverpool. Since Gareth Matthews announced on Twitter his intention to leave Mad Hatter Brewing Company to pursue a new project, Gibberish has managed to get some beers together ready for a launch sometime at the end of 2017 or possibly in January 2018. Gibberish is Gareth’s new project and will be taking off in the Baltic Triangle area of Liverpool. The former site of Mad Hatter’s operations on Caryl Street (before their shift to the Liverpool Waters area) will continue to host brewing by day and in the evenings, will become a fully-fledged brew tap. This tap will get on with selling cask and kegs beers, which Gaz can rule with a vice like grip to ensure the beers are served as he would want (given the shift away from cask by Mad Hatter a few years ago, simply due to being at the mercy of outlets). The remit of Gibberish is simply to make interesting beers based on ingredients with good provenance where possible. The name of the new one-stop-shop for beer is linked partially to the madness of Gareth’s brewing and also to some of the pretence that Gareth feel surrounds the scene at times. The brewing itself will likely be as it was in the early days of Mad Hatter, with a cornucopia of hoppy and strong pales, Belgian influenced yeast monsters and an array of sours and saisons, with a fair old space present Gareth is also considering room for a meadery in the corner of the brewing premises to offer further interesting facets to Gibberish’s output. The thinking behind Gareth’s new venture is that whilst Mad Hatter became successful on the back of the weird and wonderful, this brewing project can focus on smaller batches with more expensive ingredients and still work due to being sold on the premises. Gibberish is set to launch from the evening of Thursday 14th December, though there is no word on permanent opening hours at the moment. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GibberishPub/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GibberishPub Glen Affric Taproom It may seem like quite a lonely and awkward location for a tap room, but the Lightbox units in Birkenhead are actually rather accessible by own vehicle, public transport and on foot. Located overlooking the Birkenhead Mersey Tunnel (The Queensway Tunnel), Glen Affric’s premises have grown ever more impressive as time has passed. A ten minute walk from the Wirral Line station, Hamilton Square, will get you there to sample some of their beers at a rather reasonable tariff. The Glen Affric Tap opened mid-November 2017 and is still in its relative infancy, but the work that has been put in really does make it seem that the team are quite an old hand at getting this kind of thing together. Well laid out seating areas, booths with USB ports, 8 keg lines (7 for Glen Affric’s own brews and one guest line) along with a couple of fridges for other stock are talking points for the tap room. Build in bespoke fashion, the whole installation is a testament to graft and upcycling of palettes of wood, reclaimed furniture with flourishes of newer elements and some obligatory brushed steel surfaces. Glen Affric are currently pushing their core range on the taps, but as time goes on, they intend on having some more diverse beers present coming through the lines. As well as their current kit, the brewery has a larger set up waiting to be plumbed in and also a smaller kit ready for pilot and experimental brews. Glen Affric will be looking to get up and running with off sales too in the new year, with a number of set backs on their own canning line kit, they will look for alternative solutions and likely have canned beer such as their Payload Pale, Highland Suntan and Lazy Haze good to go at some point in early 2018. The Glen Affric Tap opens on a Saturday from 4pm until 10pm, but they are opening up on further evenings in the run up to Christmas (at least Friday to Sunday) to enable patrons a chance to try some locally brewed craft keg beers. It is quite easy to lose a few hours in this tap, being strangely relaxing given its industrial setting outside and in proximity to very shiny brewing kit inside. Web: http://www.glenaffricbrewery.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlenAffricTap/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlenAffricTap Higson’s Brewery (aka H1780 Tap and Still) Since Stephen Crawley (formerly of the MD Caledonian Brewery) bought out Liverpool Craft Beers and acquired the Higson’s Brewery intellectual property, things went a little quiet in terms of what was actually going on with the two brands. Nuggets of information dropped out at the Liverpool Craft Beer Expo approximately 2-3 years ago, with a suggestion (now seemingly confirmed by the website branding) that Liverpool Craft would shift into its most famous moniker with ‘Love Lane’ (the site of the former Liverpool Craft Beer brewery premises) and the Higson’s brand would be coming back into the consciousness of the city it departed in 1990. Though the Higson’s brand came back briefly thanks to Liverpool Organic Brewery circa 2010-12, none of the beers such as ‘Double Top’ came back into mainstream production; only the best bitter and stout made the roster. Now it seems that the team behind Crawley are going to make the brand a force again in the city it once called home, along with a distillery (Ginsmiths) and the Love Lane brewing (a ‘craft beer’ arm to Higson’s) in the new Higson’s Brewhouse on Bridgewater Street in the Baltic Triangle. Bookings are being taken at the moment for tours and for tables (they are planning on doing food at the tap house too) and information is gradually trickling out all the time. A Twitter account for the H1780 brand and for the tap and still have come online recently, along with an announcement that the brewery will be open from 16th December to the public. Luckily, I had a few questions for new MD, Stephen Crawley that he kindly answered: Though this has been on the boil now for some time, what made the company think now was the time to bring Higson's back? Did they feel that there is a place for another 'traditional' brand given the shift in interest to newer and more innovative brewing? I genuinely believe the time has been right for some time! – BUT to try and rekindle this brand in a really positive way that looks forward and genuinely give it the best chance of success has sadly slightly longer than we hoped – but that is in the past now and we are really excited by the future! Liverpool is the UK’s 6th largest city and it does not have a brewer of a regional scale…. E.g. Manchester and its environs has JW Lees, Holts, Hyde’s and Robinson’s and some high profile craft brewers. We’re proud of the innovative past that Higson’s has and it does not preclude brewing modern drinkable brews that the city can be proud of! We do not see Liverpool as traditional, though there would be an opportunity if we did, as Liverpool does not have a traditional brewery – But I wanted to ground Higson’s in an urban setting and build something that could be seen as a real outpouring of confidence in the modern Liverpool and deliver 21st century beers! So, what was the thinking behind buying out Liverpool Craft Beer, when Higson's could have been a stand alone brand? It was going to take time to build the new brewery and the guys at TLCBC bought into the dream of building something that aspired to regional scale and they had a site they could not afford to develop in Bridgewater Street. It was going to be a much stronger proposition to add Higson’s to an existing business and it gave us time to plan whilst talking to pubs and drinkers about Liverpool and plan what we were going to create, get planning permission and so on. Higson’s we suspect will not be a big seller in the UK outside ‘Greater Liverpool’ whereas Love Lane will and does already sell further afield… I genuinely felt we would be a stronger business with the Love Lane and Higson’s! I notice that there is going to be a shift from Liverpool Craft Beer to 'Love Lane' for all the beers made by the former - does that mean Liverpool Craft Beer will be consigned to the past once that rebrand is completed? Not necessarily – but we have Love Lane, Higson’s, H1780 Tap & Still and The Ginsmiths of Liverpool to get moving and we feel that is enough for now – we will revisit TLCBC when the dust settles. Essentially though we have lots of positive traction with bars and drinkers with Love Lane over the past 12 months. Will any of the old Higson's beers be making their way back onto the market - e.g. beers like Double Top? Never say never – but as you asked earlier – is there an opportunity for Traditional? But who would have though Pabst lager could have become a retro sensation in USA amongst the craft beer phenomena. I noticed the first beer out of the traps is a lager - I assume that the Higson's Best and maybe the Liverpool Stout will also be coming back, but are there any other plans for developing a core range? We wanted to get the lager right – not easy to produce – and we are very happy with where we are with Higson’s Pilsner. The next two products will be cask and we are excited by the response we have had to the prospect of two new Higson’s cask beers that will be very drinkable and sit nicely on the bar as an alternative to National brands. Higson’s Best and Mild were beers that polarised opinion – we aim to make our first two cask beers that Liverpool can be really proud of. At the brewery/still - is the tap room going to be open all week, or is it just going to be a weekend? We have invested a considerable amount of money in our new home. The brewery, distillery and our offices will share the site of our Tap & Still and be called H1780 Tap & Stll – a nod to the past – but proud of the future. We have wanted to create an ‘urban home’, a home that could easily be on the east coast of America, a home that is not polished concrete, chipboard and grungy but timeless and well invested with lots of original brick – a colour scheme running throughout and lots of steel. We look forward to hearing peoples reaction – but we hope we have built something that is a real positive statement of modern Liverpool. So, are there going to be any other exciting interactive elements for the public with what Higson's are doing? I think a new home, new Higsons beers, Love Lane, new gins from The Ginsmiths of Liverpool, 3 bars, a well invested kitchen, a tasting room, tours, tastings and events are probably enough for now. We have lots of other ideas – but we will focus on the above for now! Another interesting development in the Baltic Triangle means, more than ever, the area is a draw for those seeking a night out, interesting venues and options for the discerning beer drinker. Web: http://www.h1780tapstill.co.uk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/H1780-Tap-Still-122976508413774/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TapandStill Tank Room To my knowledge this is amongst the first ‘Tank Beer’ outlet in Liverpool and for the moment, the one of at least three (Porky’s Ski Hutte and Haus being others). Whilst most places that indulge in dispensing Tank Beer in Manchester and Leeds have gone with Czech brand ‘Pilsner Urquell’, Tank Room has selected the Slovak brand ‘Krusovice’ as its lager of choice. The bar is located on the site of the former Cain’s Brewery and is currently rubbing shoulders with the Dock Leaf and Bedouin at the rear of the main former brewery building, by the canning hall. As the site goes from strength to strength (with the food hall and its numerous pop ups and central bar, Ryde café, Alhambra, The Brewery Tap, Kiosk, Dock Leaf and other new addition the Old Gas Station at the North end of the site), competition is going to get quite fierce and only time will tell how each of these bars will play to their strengths. Tank Room is quite a sparsely kitted out space, rectangular in shape, with a bar at the top end away from the door, two tanks of lager above the bar (with blackboard stating date of tapping) and a heavy blue paint adorning all the walls it’s not the most warming of places. There is plenty of seating and standing room and if you’re not keen on lager, there are a few other beers and other beverages to satisfy one’s thirst. Maltsmiths and Lagunitas IPAs are present on draught, along with Orchard Thieves draught cider, Guiness and Amstel. The fridges are a bit more inspiringly stocked, with Yeastie Boys cans, Liefmans and Mongozo bottles also present. Curiously, they also stock the IPAs in bottles, which seems a little like a waste of space where there is room for some more diverse beers. There are also wines and spirits available for other drinkers; the gin selection looks reasonably competent at first glance, though it is likely that local brands will find their way onto the shelves at some point. Tank Room opened in November this year. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetankroomliverpool/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/tankroompool In other news… in the run up to Christmas There are a number of events and launches amongst those mentioned above, here are a few things to put into the calendar! Black Lodge Brewery – 2nd Birthday celebrations, Thursday 14th - Sunday 17th December from opening until late close. Expect loads of great one-off brews, music and plenty of food and good fun. Tap and Bottles Biscuit Brew Off – Saturday 16th December, from 5pm onwards. Local collaboration project with six new collaboration beers, flavoured themed on biscuits! Neptune, Chapter, Handyman and more making the beers! The Dead Good Bottle Society – Dead Crafty Beer Company, 7pm Monday 18th December. Top Rope Brewing’s Ben will be taking people through another selection of bottled brews. Tickets now available at Dead Crafty.
Dead Crafty Christmas Quiz – Wednesday 20th December, 7pm. £5 ticket for the quiz, includes a mince pie and a beer with great prizes to be won! Connoisseur Ales – Tap Openings. Every Saturday before Christmas from 12pm until 10pm, beers on cask draught and bottle packs available for off sales. ---------------- Pedro. Some of the images are used from the venue's/business's social media feed and with permission. The copyright remains with them. And so the season for some excellent beery goings on is hurtling towards us at a rate of knots! The Liverpool Craft Beer Expo looms on the horizon and there is much buzz about things and many other events taking place around Merseyside and Liverpool over the same period; as such I have made an attempt at trying to ringfence everything and corral the information into one location for you lovely people... just so there is an 'at hand guide' for the following weeks. The date spread is from the first weekend in June and through until just after the Craft Beer Expo finishes, so read on and see if there are any places that you think you need to be in June! Saturday, June 3rd Brewery Open Day and Tap at Connoisseur Ales, St Helens (12pm until 10pm). Over in St. Helens, the first Saturday of most months sees family run Connoisseur Ales open their doors for impromptu brewery tours and a chance to try reasonably priced and brewery fresh cask or bottled beers from their range. Entry is free and there is usually a range of up to eight cask beers on, only a 30 second walk from St Helens Central train station. [Wolverhampton House, 121-125 Church Street, St Helens, WA10 1AJ] [email protected] / www.connoisseurales.com Monday, 12th June Founders Love Left Hand - Summer of Love Event at Dead Crafty Beer Company will be taking place, with representatives from both Founders and Left Hand breweries present from 7pm onwards, ready to chat and with many of their beers for attendees to sample (2 are included in the ticket price). [98 Dale Street, Liverpool. L2 5TF] www.deadcraftybeercompany.com Tuesday, 13th June Dead Crafty will be hosting another round of the Dead Good Bottle Society, Ben from Top Rope Brewing will be presenting and talking through a selection of beers stocked in the Dead Crafty fridges. The event starts at 8pm prompt and includes at least 4 beers to try. Tickets are £15 per person and the more people attend the tasting, the more beers there are to try. [98 Dale Street, Liverpool. L2 5TF] www.deadcraftybeercompany.com Wednesday, 14th June The Wildly Different Dinner event - Oktopus will play host to Bristol’s Wild Beer Co.; there will be a paired dinner with beer from the brewery consisting of 5 plates and matched beers. The event takes place at Oktopus restaurant in Hardmans Yard from 7pm until around 10pm and costs £30 per person. Wild Beer Co’s Andy Gibson will be on hand to compere the event. The link for tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-wildly-different-dinner-tickets-35015536412?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=esfb&utm-source=fb&utm-term=listing [Hardmans Yard, Hardman Street, Liverpool. L1 9AX] https://www.oktopus-restaurant.com/ The Dead Crafty Beer Company is hosting the Liverpool leg of the Juicebox500 tour from Fourpure Brewing Company. The event will launch the brewery's excellent IPA - Juicebox and there will not only be the beer to try, but merchandise and cans available as part of the event, which will coincide with the ever fun Dead Crafty Quiz night starting around 7-8pm. There will be a fee for participation in the quiz, to be confirmed. [98 Dale Street, Liverpool. L2 5TF] www.deadcraftybeercompany.com Also on the 14th June, Brewdog Liverpool have got a Tap Takeover and Meet the Brewer Event taking place at their bar featuring beers and representatives of Danish outfit, Dry and Bitter. The event starts at 6.30pm and runs all evening; admission is at the very agreeable price of... free! Beers likely to feature are the Christian Bale Ale, Citra Bale Ale, Body Pillow APA and many more! https://www.facebook.com/brewdogliverpool/ Thursday, 15th June - Sunday, 18th June The Liverpool Craft Beer Expo takes place at Constellations on Greenland Street in the Baltic Triangle area of Liverpool. Sessions include Thursday evening, Friday evening, Saturday day, Saturday evening and all Sunday. This event usually sells out (in fact at time of writing, the Saturday afternoon is full), so get tickets rather than chancing it on the door. The event is one of the best beer festivals around with a great atmosphere, excellent beers from around the UK, Europe and the US and a mix of indoor and outdoor areas means a chance to mix things up if the weather allows! [35-29 Greenland Street, Liverpool. L1 0BS] www.constellations-liv.com / www.liverpoolcraftbeerexpo.com Across the same range of dates as the Expo, Deva Craft Beer are hosting a four day Best of British beer festival at their Deva Taps in Chester. The festival will feature over 30 beers on keg and cask along with a range of ciders and gin. The event starts at 3pm on the 15th June. Keep an eye out for some newer Deva beers including a smooth mango IPA and also get ready for their new menu launch soon too with plenty of food at the festival! [121 Brook Street, Chester. CH1 3DU Tel: 01244 401777] www.devacraftbeer.co.uk The afterparty for the Expo will take place at Black Lodge for another Tap Takeover in Liverpool, this time by Beavertown; the event is free to attend and the Black Lodge will be open for business until 3am. Brave and thirsty? To make that time you will need to be! [4 Kitchen Street. L1 0AN] http://www.blacklodgebrewing.co.uk/brewery/ Dead Crafty Beer Company will also play host on this evening to Hawkshead Brewery for a Beers with the Brewer event. A six-tap (allegedly with some special kegs) takeover will be launched at 7pm, with the representatives from Hawkshead talking through their beers and brewery. Tickets are £5 per person and includes a beer on arrival for the event. [98 Dale Street, Liverpool. L2 5TF] www.deadcraftybeercompany.com Friday, 16th June The Black Lodge Tap Takeover part two is hosted by Firestone Walker; as ever, loads of their beers will be on and the venue will host an afterparty and be open til 3am. No door tax either. [4 Kitchen Street. L1 0AN] http://www.blacklodgebrewing.co.uk/brewery/ Saturday, 17th June Red Star Ales host a Brewery Open Day and Tour at their site in Formby. The brewery tour will start at 1pm and runs until 4.30pm, the tour costs £20 per person and includes food and unlimited cask beer to go at, brewery fresh. [54b Stephenson Way, Formby. L37 8EG] www.redstarbrewery.co.uk Black Lodge will host its final Tap Takeover afterparty event for the Expo, with the lines being handed over to The Kernel for their beers to be poured. As ever, Black Lodge will be open late and entry to the event is free. [4 Kitchen Street. L1 0AN] http://www.blacklodgebrewing.co.uk/brewery/ Sunday, 18th June This Father's Day Brewdog Liverpool will be hosting a Stone Berlin Beer and Whisky Pairing with Zippo from Stone Berlin. The tasting will include 5 Stone Berlin beers, 5 amazing whiskys, and lots of paired German-style small plates. All that, with a branded glass to take away as a memento for each attendee. Tickets are limited and on sale at £31.85 per person. The event runs from 7pm until 10pm approximately: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beer-whisky-pairing-with-stone-berlin-tickets-34321388196 [8 Colquitt Street, L14DE.] https://www.brewdog.com/bars/uk/liverpool Good luck to everyone planning on attending all that – physically impossible as it may probably be, but there is something to whet your appetite for beers going on thick and fast over the coming weeks around Liverpool and the Northwest (including some things over at Manchester Beer Week – post-Expo). Hope you found this guide useful! Pedro. It’s been a pretty hectic year so far for The Dead Crafty Beer Company and indeed, Liverpool in general as it seeks to push forward its reputation as a city mentioned in the same breath as some others when it comes to beer and brewing. One such organisation with this promotion and development at the forefront of what they are driving to do, is the Liverpool Beer Collective. Now for a quick disclaimer; I am part of this collective in so much that I really want to make a positive contribution to a scene which was for so many years, desperately barren and devoid of diversity, so I won’t wax lyrical too much on how positive I think this initiative is (I wouldn’t be involved if I didn’t think that). The Liverpool Beer Collective has been running a pretty visible social media campaign for a while now and is dedicated to promoting a number of breweries, bars and bottle shops across the region in order to provide some joined up thinking and provide for a healthy, vibrant and diverse scene in the city. Things are looking quite fertile in Liverpool at the moment; there are no fewer than another five breweries popping up lately in addition to the five or six covered around this time last year (Neptune, Parker, Red Star, Rock the Boat and 3 Potts – Black Lodge also opened up around this time, also followed by Southport’s The Craft Brewery). There have been a few extra micropubs (Beer Station, CASK, The Alehouse, Grasshopper and Skew Bridge to name a few) and bars (Hard Times and Misery, plus Dead Crafty only opened its doors in March 2016) popping up across the region with the remit to sell cask and craft beers (and small batch spirits) giving people an even more diverse number of establishments to spend their time. Back to Dead Crafty and on the weekend of the 9th until the 11th September, a local tap takeover was held – half the keg lines in the bar were stocked with beers from Liverpool Beer Collective partner breweries and there was the introduction of a loyalty card for prizes donated by members of the Beer Collective along with a tasty 10% discount in the Crosby Beer Bottle Shop for completed cards (think like those coffee cards you get at places around the city). Judging by the turnouts, the event was pretty successful. Both Dead Crafty and the Ship and Mitre shifted kegs and casks of local beers quite quickly (one firkin of a Connoisseur Ales’ Pale lasted no more than 7 hours from being tapped), with plenty of enthusiasm on the day for the takeover event from visitors. The enthusiasm spilled over for the tasting and meet the brewer events that took place as part of the weekend too, with Connoisseur Ales kicking things off on Friday evening in the Ship and Mitre, followed by new kids on the block Top Rope Brewing and Moonsugar Brewing. The events section was rounded off by Mad Hatter Brewing presenting tasters of their coffee IPA and the Wild Night Out (Elderflower) on Sunday afternoon. The talks from Top Rope and Moonsugar were particularly noteworthy, as both breweries are yet to formally release anything officially. There have been tastings at brewing clubs, but nothing to the general public on this scale and both breweries did themselves proud – the quality of their beers was nothing short of astonishing. If they can replicate what they presented at this event in future via keg, cask or bottle, they should be absolutely fine. Top Rope presented the following beers; Orange Soda Gose, Overkill IPA (a tip of the hat to the late Lemmy from Motorhead), Ryecentennial Brown and 8-Bit Pale Ale. A nice rounded and diverse portfolio, with the Gose being a very refreshing and interesting take on the style and the Ryecentennial being a very fine brown ale with tonnes of character. Moonsugar brought along their IPA, Stout and notably, some rather excellent Mead, which is definitely setting them apart from other outfits in the region. Both talks were informative and bode well for two potentially brilliant additions to the Liverpool scene and with any luck, the beers, braggot and mead will filter out from the city and find the rest of the UK (and hopefully beyond). Going forward there is the possibility of more events along the same template as this tap takeover, but the best way to find out is to keep an eye on the Twitter and Facebook feeds which have both been very well managed (so not by me, then).
What would you like to see from the Liverpool Beer Collective and Liverpool’s bars, brewers and bottle shops over the coming months? Cheers, Pedro. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Liverpool Beer Collective Email: [email protected] Twitter: https://twitter.com/LivBeerCo Facebook: www.facebook.com/liverpoolbeercollective So given the digging around on various social media streams I have been doing, plus piecing together some conversations with the powers that be (or beer, as it were), there is an awful lot going on during the run-up to the Liverpool Craft Beer Expo on the 16th June 2016. This is even before we consider that an hours drive down the M62 motorway, Manchester Beer Week will be in full flow with a rather hectic and exciting line up of their own… but this stuff has seemingly sprung up out of nowhere and may leave many beer aficionados wishing for a second liver and several weeks of sobriety in the aftermath. Regardless of wants and needs, there is a glut of events on in Liverpool in the run up to the Expo weekend (stay tuned to the Liverpool Beer Collective account on Facebook and Twitter also for regular updates and happenings) and I have done my best to cobble these together into one lovely and coherent list for you all… Wednesday 8th June Ladies that Beer Social @ Dead Crafty Beer Company The Ladies that Beer will be attending Dead Crafty and holding their regular social night to meet up with the other members and encourage more ladies to involve themselves in beer and brewing, there will be a few people on hand to answer any questions about getting involved and they will be looking to score highly in the Sphinx Quiz! Friday 10th June Fourpure – Meet the Brewer @ Brewdog, Liverpool Paul from Fourpure is back in Liverpool to host an evening of Fourpure beers paired with some food prepared by the kitchen at Brewdog. Time of the event is yet to be confirmed, but it is a bargain at £20 a ticket and they are running out VERY fast. Sunday 12th June 10 Line Tap Takeover Event @ 23 Club – Featuring Omnipollo This will feature 10 excellent beers from Omnipollo (including Perikles Pils, Chocolate Brown Ice Cream Ale and Leon Belgian Blonde) which will go on the taps as a pre-Expo celebration; advance tasting cards will be available for £20 and these will be around until two days before, on the 10th June. The event will run from 3pm until 10pm. Monday 13th June BEERS WITH THE BREWER @ Dead Crafty Beer Company – Northern Monk Brewing Company Starting a 7pm, there will be a 6 line tap takeover featuring some of the beers from Northern Monk’s stable (including Neapolitan, Eternal and The Forgotten Sin). This will also feature a launch of their new 822 Double IPA and tickets are a very reasonable £5 each – which includes a glass of the Eternal session IPA as I understand it? Wednesday 15th June 8pm QUIZ NIGHT @ Dead Crafty Beer Company - Sphinx Quizzes & Four Pure Colab Quiz Rob from Four Pure is a quiz master, so he will be collaborating with Sphinx regulars Chris, Liam & Stuart to hold a quiz at Dead Crafty’s premises. There will be a Four Pure tap takeover plus Four Pure Jackpot prize, along with spot prizes of merchandise and every team member will get free cans for taking part! As a bonus… American Pizza Slice will be supplying the half time prize as usual. Tickets are £5, which will get you entry into the quiz plus your first drink. Thursday 16th June 7pm BEERS WITH THE BREWER @ Dead Crafty Beer Company – Jopen Brewery Jopen Brewery will be bringing 6 beers over from The Netherlands. It will be an informal affair where you'll be able to chat with the guys over a beer or 6! The beers slated for inclusion are: Adriaan, Gerstebier, Hoppenbier, Imperial Pils, Jacobus and North Sea IPA. Tickets will be sold at Dead Crafty for £15 each. Also, for the Liverpool Craft Beer Expo (16th – 19th June), there has been the announcement (following my last pre-Expo blog) that Hop and Barley will be hosting their own bar at the Expo, plus Northern Monk will be indulging in a spot of tap takeover action. Another point of note is that Wednesday 15th June is also the annual Beer Day Britain [http://www.beerdaybritain.co.uk/], which has been gaining momentum since its inception. As this date comes in line with the pre-Expo run up and also right in the middle of the Manchester Beer Week, there should be a lot going on and a lot of social media traffic generated to keep you abreast of something going on in your area. People are encouraged to raise a glass, take a photo of them with a beer and post the picture on social media at 7pm using the hashtag #CheerstoBeer. I don’t know about you lot, but I am exhausted just thinking about it; still thirsty though too. Pedro. Some things really are worth waiting for… the best things come to those who wait… there are a number of proverbs, mantras and sayings all paying testament to those who are patient and are subsequently rewarded with something duly, well err.. rewarding, I suppose? The wait for Dead Crafty has been a while, considering the rumour and innuendo that was brewing in Liverpool for quite some time. The doors to the newest haven for craft beers opened on Friday 18th March for a select few and then again the next day for the first full opening to the public. Located near to one of Liverpool’s most famous pubs in the Ship and Mitre, Dead Craft sits in Westminster Chambers at the bottom of the flyover heading over from the direction of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool World Museum and part of the John Moores University campus. The brainchild of Gareth and Vicky Morgan, this bar is dedicated to serving kegged beers and many hard-to-find bottles and cans from not only this country and Europe, but with a heavy slant toward bringing slices of the massive American craft brewing market into Liverpool; given Liverpool’s history this is somewhat serendipitous and rather apt. The opening night had the ribbon cut by a special mystery guest, that Vicky and Gareth managed to keep secret until around a week before the opening, none other than Steve Hindy, the CEO of New York’s Brooklyn Brewery and being one of the forerunners of the craft keg beers to become available, seemed rather proper in the circumstances. Gently enthralling, Steve spun the yarn of his life’s work and how he ended up becoming involved in the brewing trade; from the tribulations of his work as Associated Press’ War correspondent based in Beirut in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, he witnessed the assassination of Egypt’s then President Anwar Sadat up close and personal, he was then present for gun battles between UN peacekeeping forces and militia forces in the region before returning back to the USA. In between these events, he found some solace in tasting the (by all accounts, very competent) homebrew of friends and acquaintances during his Middle Eastern tour, as the region is not really renowned for its brewing prowess. Choosing to return home rather than pursue his reporting career in the Philippines, Steve then had the joyous pleasure at the brewery of armed robberies and brushes with Organised Crime before finally striking on some luck with the Brewery and solid investment due to some hometown ties from Ohio. Fast forward to 2016 and Steve seems happy to tell the stories and seems happy to report that Brooklyn Brewery is in much better health than the first 15 years of its life. The tap takeover at Dead Crafty is testament to that, with 8 of their beers present and Steve continuing his talk to sing the praises of Brooklyn’s brewmaster for his skill and innovation; Garrett Oliver. Hindy’s final focus from his regaling, is that the seeds of Brooklyn came from family investment and hard work, much like that of Dead Crafty who began their journey sometime ago, but culminating in the opening on a cool but fine Liverpool evening in March. What made you guys want to set up your own bar in Liverpool? We've spent many years travelling around the US visiting breweries and craft bars. Two years ago we did a road trip from New Orleans to Houston, Texas. While we were there we attended an event ran by Goose Island called Migration Week. It was in a bar called the Hay Merchant in Houston. We were inspired by the whole ethos they had. The place was packed out with people, many on them on their own, sharing bottles and bonding over beer. We wanted to bring that vibe back home. What will Dead Crafty offer to the city in terms of an experience in what is a fairly competitive atmosphere already? What sets us apart from the rest is that we travel far and wide to bring beers and new breweries to our bar. We have great relationships with brewers right across the globe. Our range is second to none. We have the whole of the New Zealand Collective in our fridges and on draft and a huge selection of Rogue, again both draft and bottles. Every beer we sell we can vouch for, we only sell beers we have tasted or breweries we know produce high quality beers. We aren't scared to approach the bigger breweries either. We are great friends with Harpoon Brewery, Founders Brewery and Brooklyn Brewery. We had the honor of Steve Hindy from Brooklyn Brewery come over to officially open the bar. We've also had an article written about us in the Boston Herald as we are one of the only bars outside the US to have Harpoon. We are also the only bar to specialise in beer alone. We don't serve wine or spirits (apart from an amazing Rogue Brewery single malt whiskey! How glad are you going to be when DC finally opens its doors, given you've had a pretty long 'gestation' period and the launch has been held off for a while? We were very glad to be open to let everyone in on all the amazing beer we have been sourcing for the last couple of years, but now the hard work starts to keep the beers coming. Granted that you won't want to say too much about any surprises you may have in store, but are there going to be any exciting developments or new beers coming to your premises that we won't have seen in the city or the UK? We have Magic Rock, Unhuman Cannonball launch coming up (which will be on the Tuesday, 12th April). We've also got 4 US breweries, never been seen in the UK launching in the bar this year. Is there going to be any particular focus on beer style at Dead Crafty? (For example, we understand there's going to be no cask lines) We will have a style that suits everyone’s taste. I think it's important to always have a selection of styles on tap at any one time. Seeing the (almost) finished article put together, has it been worth all the work, arduous travelling to build a network and tasting a lot of beer? This has been one of the hardest things we have ever took on but both pulling from our different backgrounds we have managed to build a bar that represents us and now delivering amazing beer and atmosphere. Was there any temptation to deviate from doing just a bar - no thought given to opening a brewpub/brewtap, producing your own beers as well? Our expertise lie in drinking not brewing! However, the whole team will be brewing seasonal brews with Melwood Brewery. This is something the staff will be proud of when selling their own beer. Was there ever any worry about the location and your keg offerings, given Dale Street is home to a corridor to a lot of cask ale favourite drinking dens? I think Dale Street is the perfect place for us. The Road is known as ‘Beer Street’ and we fit right at home here. Dale Street has really developed over the last year, especially now Rigby's have embraced craft beer. I don't see it as a hindrance being in a cask ale area, I see it as an opportunity to broaden people’s horizons. In the 2 weeks we've been open we only been asked for cask a handful of times and each person has enjoyed a keg beer instead. Thanks so much to Gareth and Vicky for their time and efforts in getting this article together for Dead Crafty Beer Company. See you in there soon! Pedro. -------------- Dead Crafty Beer Company Westminster Chambers Crosshall Street Liverpool L1 6DQ Website: http://www.deadcraftybeercompany.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/deadcraftybeer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Dead-Crafty-Beer-Company-486370501493491/ |
Archives
April 2022
Archives
April 2022
Click ^ the RSS Feed to follow me
Categories
All
|