The Summer Bank Holiday usually guarantees two things in the UK, rain over the weekend and into that precious holiday (for some, I hasten to add) and a sense of foreboding on Monday evening that you’ve not quite made the most of the extra day off, especially if you’re been housebound or stuck doing domestic chores. This last August Bank Holiday however saw some slightly better conditions, with glorious sunshine bathing Liverpool and as testified by some of the photographs in this piece many people enjoy it with a few beers under the railway arches of the Northern Line. Mad Hatter have been in their ‘new’ home for a few months now, shifting some production across in a gradual process from their former home on the Baltic Triangle’s Caryl Street. They now have a rather more grand space to play with when putting on a party at Lightbody Street; a few railway arches which are a good enough size to provide a Bermondsey based brewer with a home and a large warehouse for their main base of operations. Of course, this is not the first time Mad Hatter have moved, or indeed hosted a party at their digs. The move from a very modest home in Upper Parliament Street gave way quickly to a Baltic base on Watkinson Street (which quickly became their all too short lived tap, hosting occasional tap-openings and parties), then onto Caryl Street. The party that took place on the Bank Holiday was sadly only a single-day affair, but with their own bar, support from The Dead Craft Beer Company, Frodsham/Helsby’s Beer Heroes and local food stalwarts San’s Café and Naked Lunch, there was plenty for visiting craft beer enthusiasts to enjoy along with the live music and other side acts. The pleasing beers on offer included Mad Hatter classics Lick Face, Tzatziki Sour and Penny Lane Pale along with newer ones, such as Golden Deliciousness (a pale ale, brewed with apple puree). Both Beer Heroes and Dead Crafty provided some big hitters, with the likes of Fourpure, Tope Rope, Alphabet, Chapter and many more represented on the taps of the two guest bars. I managed to have a quick catch up with Sue Starling from Mad Hatter to get a feel for how the Yard Party might impact on things going forward for the brewery: “We haven’t firmed up any plans just yet to do more Yard Parties, but it’s not off the table. We are applying for a premises license in the near future and we might be looking to be open on a regular basis from Spring 2018 onwards.” I asked about the location and whether she thought it would work in favour of regenerating the northern docks area for leisure use, or whether it might be something of a struggle with only the Invisible Wind Factory and themselves spearheading such use, plus some rather underdeveloped transport links (only Sandhill station is nearby and not many bus services): “Oh, for sure, there’s work to do, but the North Docks area has a lot to offer, it’s a striking area with loads of great buildings and history and I feel pretty confident that people will visit”. So for now, we’ll enjoy this tea party for the fun it was and wait and see how things pan out for Mad Hatter in their new home and keep our fingers crossed for more colour to come onto the scene. Pedro. ----------------------------------------------------- Thanks to WirraleRob for additional photography used in this article.
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Since it has opened, Oktopus has really hit it’s stride – a promising opening which I wrote about here [http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/blogs/oktopus-preview] and then a very good review for Liverpool Confidential [https://confidentials.com/liverpool/restaurant-review-oktopus] was finally followed up by a great verdict from Marina O’Loughlin in the Guardian [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/08/oktopus-liverpool-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin]. This event was in June and I am admittedly a bit behind the curve due to a combination of factors, but now, things are being caught up. This experience was simply one that had to be shared. The evening before the first day of the Liverpool Craft Beer Expo back in June, saw Oktopus host one of the UK’s most prestigious breweries in Somerset’s Wild Beer Company. Following on from the usual meet the brewer type introductions, Andy informed diners that the whole premise of Wild Beer was to pair beers with food and brew using the influence of various existing food sources and translate these into beer. The first pairing was one of Wild Beer Company’s flagship beers; Ninkasi (so named after the Sumerian beer Goddess) is a saison, made from blending 10% apple juice into the wort. The peppery, fresh and bitterly acidic apple notes with big carbonation that are perfect for cutting fattier elements of the food and it has a reminiscent perry-esque character at 9% abv. The dish is was paired with, a chickpea panisse with cheddar and celery was a pleasant combination and pairing all in all; a lot of contrasting elements and with the burnt apple, some complimentary notes. Following on from the panisse was peach, nectarine and goats cheese which was a superb and delicious salad and paired with the Evolver IPA. Evolver is a brettanomyces (a wild yeast strain) brewed IPA with very bitter notes, some coconut, hay, pineapple and nettles thanks to the use of Chinook and Sorachi Ace hops. The stressing of the yeast creates additional phenolic flavour compounds to really alter the flavour and aroma profile of this IPA. The notes from the Sorachi (some people get coconut, others get more herbal dill) really complimented the goats cheese, but otherwise some of the other elements (the sweeter fruit flavours of the food against the bitter and sour notes in the beer) clashed a little around an otherwise solid central pairing premise. The next beer and food pairing was the Squashed Grape, which is where white grape skins and then red grape skins are added to the brew to give various character in the fermentation from the various yeasts harnessed. At 5%, this juicy cordial like brew isn’t the strongest of the Wild Beer stable, but the beer is remarkably complex, albeit not for everyone. The supposed lactic character and citrus notes were not that prominent for me, with lots of raw, cidery, bubblegum and sour, if slightly tannin notes coming through. The mouthfeel was excessively thin and actually a bit flabby, however, the pairing was pretty good. Many of the food elements from the haddock and yoghurt worked very well with the brew. Following the very divisive pairing came the main course along with another of Wild Beer’s flagship brews; Beyond Modus (II). Beyond Modus is a series of barrel aged sour beers, and II is akin to red wine in many ways, making the pairing with the lamb all the more solid. The beer is aged in red wine barrels to up the tannic notes, topped up with a barley wine, molasses and caramelised orange peel. The 100 barrels used to age the beer are blended at the end of the aging period in order to gain a single uniform product. This time, notes of chocolate, sour cherries and some balsamic notes all work wonderfully with the lamb and marrow jus. Fresher notes work in harmony with the sweeter carrot and more brassic-sharp cauliflower. Into the dessert courses and an exclusive Liverpool Craft Beer Expo brew of Fixer was given. Fixer was a one off New England style juicy IPA with loads of aromas of pineapple and other tropical fruit, pairing it with pineapple and coconut was safe but very enjoyable. Loads of coconut, peach and a lovely soft-hoppy bitterness worked well with the dessert, with no real clashing of flavours or aromas. I’ve talked about Fixer elsewhere, so will spare you the waxing here. The final course was another of Wild Beer’s regular and more widely available brews, the excellent chocolate stout, Millionaire, paired with Claremont Farm strawberries, chocolate and meringue. Not much can really go too wrong pairing a chocolate beer with a chocolate dessert surrounded by fruit elements. Nutty notes, sweetness, a lovely silky body and elegantly structured stout went very well with a perfectly executed sweet course. The only struggle was finishing such decadence.
Oktopus will be rolling more of these events out in future, so it is worth following their Twitter feed. Beer and food pairing really doesn’t get the press it deserves, even in the currently craft-friendly climate. Keep your eyes peeled for more, especially when Wild Beer are in town with their often abstract ideas about beer! Pedro. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oktopus Hardman Yard, 24 Hardman Street, Liverpool. tel: 07565 299 879 https://www.oktopus-restaurant.com/ Wild Beer Co. Lower Westcombe Farm, Evercreech, Somerset, BA4 6ER. tel: 01749 838742 email: [email protected] It was rather fitting that this Meet the Brewer Event for Tempest Brewing Company took place in The Clove Hitch/23 Club, since it was the first time I was exposed to the beers from Tempest (notably at the same time as trying their Scottish counterparts, Cromarty's beer for the first time too) via a generous helping of Long White Cloud. Fast forward some four years or so and waiting for Clove Hitch to open for the event, Graeme Martin appears weighed down with display stands and boxes of extra bottles for the event; this left me thinking that this MTB was going to go an extra mile, or two. Before the inception of Tempest, a meeting over food and beer between Scottish Chef Gavin and New Zealander Annika in Whistler at the end of the 1990s led to a move over to New Zealand and some experimental garage brewing. This in turn led to a move back to the UK and up to Gavin's native Scotland. Tempest began life as a brewery in Kelso in the Scottish Borders around 30 miles South of Edinburgh, brewing beers for a bar/restaurant that Gavin and Annika decided to take on a few years prior to Tempest's birth in 2010. It was soon found that moving up to a ten barrel plant meant the ability to supply pubs in Edinburgh and soon, extra capacity was needed once again. Following a move to Tweedbank 2015, Tempest now works on a 30HL kit, currently they have 3 full time brewers allowing Graeme to concentrate on other matters for the brewery. All the beer is what is defined as 'Real Ale' or 'Live Beer' and though Tempest started brewing exclusively for Cask dispense, they have a bottling plant and send much of their beer out into the UK in kegs, not favouring one dispense over another. The range of beers that Tempest Brewing produce is quite surprising for some, given that they have a quite muted presence, at least down in Liverpool (and fingers crossed, more of their beers will find their way further South). Having spent a fair bit of time up in Edinburgh over the last few years, I was exposed to some particularly good beers and knew we were in for a treat on this MTB. So what were the beers like? Dawn of Justice This 3.6% session IPA is a golden coloured ale with a soft white head thanks to the cask serve, on the nose it has a lot of citrus including a slightly burnt orange note along with a lot of malt presence, there are fragrant hints of a coriander-herbal nature and some floral honey notes. The body is light and the mouthfeel is slightly residual and very smooth. The finish comes through with the malt bill driving things and hints of light spice and citrus. This is the newest beer that Tempest have brewed on cask and they've plied it with plenty of Centennial and Simcoe hops to try and bring a rounded character to the beer - something which is a massive theme and that Graeme was explicit about for all the beers of the evening; and he wasn't wrong. Balance is key and was noticeably present in all the beers. The Pale Armadillo Another cask dispensed pale ale, this time it carries a bit more of the marmalade character and bitter orange through than its lighter counterpart. The body of the Pale Armadillo has been bolstered too in comparison to the Dawn of Justice. The finish has a touch more sweetness present too, making things very rounded and enjoyable. Harvest IPA/Saison A keg-dispensed hybrid beer hopped up with loads of Victorias Secret (in the dry hop) and weighing in at 6.7%, this saison and IPA hybrid is golden in colour and has only a trace of head. This iteration uses the same kettle hops as other version of the Harvest beers, but the late addition of Victorias Secret changes things via the aroma and dry hopping. It is characteristically fermented very slowly to potentially reduce the esters in the beer and make for a smoother brew, but it remains a pretty complex beer. There is loads of pepper and green fruit on the nose, along with some banana like spice and a slight earthiness, the bitter malts and dry fruity nature of this beer mean it is a very easy drink all the way down the glass and there's a great balance and mellow finish to boot. In the Dark We Live A 7.2% kegged Black IPA which apparently during the brewing process, begins its life as an iteration of Brave New World only to be sparged with the addition of dark malts. A robust malt bill and plenty of hops give rise to a fragrant and robust tasting beer with plenty of complexity in the structure. Aromas of blackcurrant, blackberries, liquorice and cassia bark along with more roasted flavours are followed by flavours which are much the same. The mouthfeel is very juicy, fresh and acidic but has enough body to balance things out; it's a very dry and light beer given the colour. Not that it may be immediately obvious, but the IBU count is higher in this beer than in many of the IPAs that Tempest produce - mainly due to the presence of the darker malts. Marmalade on Rye A 9% Double IPA on keg which has loads of character and fits the bill nicely to be an end-of-the night beer and pairs very well thanks in part to the residual sweetness with a cheeseboard or some desserts. Graeme said that this beer was made with the aim of getting a marmalade on toast kind of flavour and the addition of rye, citrus peel and ginger gives plenty of subtle flavour and aroma to tick the boxes needed. Marmalade on Rye started out life as a one-off collaboration brew with Brewdog in 2012 and as a toasted IPA, it has evolved to something far richer, jammy, balanced and quite decadent. It's a full on experience drinking this beer, but despite that slightly alcohol strong burn you can sometimes feel drinking a DIPA, this remains very rounded and a well structured brew. Red Eye Flight A fully-fledged coffee/mocha porter keg ale weighing in at 7.4%, Red Eye Flight is a staple of Tempest's brewing roster and has been a winner at Scottish Beer Awards of which Tempest can be rightly proud. Brewed using espresso beans from local supplier, Steampunk, this is a remarkably smooth beer, balanced and flavoursome. It is very acidic and fruity on the nose, backed up by a full roasted malt and coffee character giving way to a full body, bitter chocolate and coffee flavour twinned with chestnuts, hazelnuts and toast. Delicious and a great end of night beer to work with heavier puddings, chocolate and darker desserts. The food on the evening was once again provided by Oktopus, who now have their own premises (at time of writing!) on Hardman Street in the old Picket Courtyard (adjacent to the Old Blind School). The food was simple and stunning once again, with maximum emphasis on the flavours and quality of ingredients – something that will no doubt be showcased in the new premises, which will be paired up with Black Lodge beers. I believe, as ever, that is your lot for this installment of the blog. Tempest are available locally infrequently sometimes, but when 23 Club have run out of their keg and cask, there is always Crosby Beer Bottle Shop which carries a significant range of what Tempest produce. Their beers are highly recommended if you have not already given them a shot; in particular Long White Cloud, which is one of the flagship brews and quite possibly a modern pale ale classic. Until next time! Pedro. ------------------------------------------------ Tempest Brewing Company Block 11, Units 1 & 2, Tweedbank Industrial Estate, Galashiels, TD1 3RS. Tel: 01896 759 500 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.tempestbrewco.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TempestBrewCo It's been some time since I reviewed Steven Burgess' last endeavours; the excellent but all too short-lived Albion/Albina in Crosby, of which he had the initial tenure. Previously to this, he held and directed a number of pop up events at the Baltic Triangle's Camp and Furnace - which he has since had another stint. The memorable Tree-Hugger's Banquet was some time ago, but he has installed some of this glory for livening up rather damp and dismal Friday in southern Liverpool's suburbs of Aigburth. [http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/blogs/electrokemistry-review-treehuggers-banquet-camp-furnace] I was rather lucky on stumbling onto this, in-lieu of missing the Wreckfish pop-up event which sold out in some 15 minutes; tickets were fiercely fought for. I spotted the Northern Fields event and in light of his history with the Rhubard and Custard brand and knowing what I know of Burgess' prowess, the blow was well and truly softened. Meeting with another Manchester-based writer and friend along with her other half, we stepped in; the venue at Space Coffee wasn't entirely what I expected - formerly a branch of HSBC before becoming an office for the Liverpool Food and Drink Festival organisers SK Events and now in the throes of being a coffee establishment, it actually already looked the part of a restaurant... in the main. The stark and flat walls meant the acoustics made for a difficult evening on occasion; as the decibel level rose, conversation became increasingly strenuous to hold up, but otherwise the surroundings were comfortable, flattering for the event and worked in an holistic sense. I won't wax lyrical again with talk of service; all the personnel on Burgess' ship are well versed and briefed on these events and this Northern Fields expedition was no exception. The pacing of the courses was actually great too, allowing ample time to consider and digest (and not just in the literal sense) what had been plated before us. The first of the Northern Field courses was brioche... flavoured and topped with a combination of mushroom, chicken skin and gruyere with some (room temperature - hurrah!). Delicious, simple and preparatory for the evening. We were then faced with the rather nebulously named 'snacks' for a pre-entrée course. Though when these snacks arrived at the table, any apprehension faded. Three elements were presented, featuring a cauliflower cup, which was warmed, creamy and lacking in any bitterness or funk usually waiting on the edges of any cauliflower dish. The other two elements were also exceptionally good; a slab of unctuous mackerel with thin fennel and adorned with orange was not quite as easy to handle as the other two elements, but definitely as easy to eat and finally, the duck rillette and blueberries sitting on op of a duck skin infused biscuit. This last element was stupidly good. I think if the following courses had been a variation on this theme I wouldn't have left disappointed. I probably would have been ducked-out though. Something simple came from the kitchen and broke up the snacks-melee; a very simple but excellent salad. I might be doing a bit of a disservice to this, but it worked wonderfully to towel down the palate, a green salad with peashoots, nasturtium and a beetroot remoulade was liberally scattered with a cured egg yolk to give some layering to the dish. The key word with everything considered in this course was fresh, clean flavours, verdancy, earthiness and even a salt-tang-rich-but still-clean umami note. Effective and certainly helped the flow of the meal. The fish course... or however these things are thought of these days, was a stack of delicious light crab meat, dressed in crème fraiche and layered with dried apple, jewels of cucumber and sour slivers of rhubarb. The addition of a green apple granite gave another twist, which along with all the elements meant an individual course which provided some interesting and varied combinations of flavour, texture and temperature. I must admit, towards the end of the dish, it was a little too much and I think the portion size for such a rich dish might have been just right, at least for me. I suspect my companions could have kept going with this course until the small hours. Now we considering the suckling-pig pie. That pie. It sat in a pool of mead-gravy and turnip, laced with shallot and truffle, it stared right at me... and I stared right back. Up until the moment it dared me to eat it. So I did. For such a dreadfully weathered evening, this was the perfect riposte. Soft, succulent and sweet, there was a moment of pure silence when the single shard of crackling was discovered and devoured. Every detail of this course had flavour crammed in; testament to the ingredients and to the preparation. A note has to be made of the hispi cabbage that sat alongside the pie; rather than a side note, this was another exceptional piece of sourcing and cooking. Butter and smoke came through abound, again, as with the cauliflower, the brassica-bitterness which often waits in the wings was simply hounded out. Perfect levels of sweetness, smoke and texturally complimentary. It all worked. Sadly and finally we discuss the dessert. The Tonka bean brownie was a welcome change from usual chocolate type desserts, though in total honesty I found it a little dry. That said, the other elements of the dish; a delicious roasted rice ice cream and the foamed honeycomb provided the sauce to balance the dish out. The addition of the raspberries was a pleasing sour-sweet touch to the dish, but possibly because I am not much of a pudding-person, or perhaps the previous dishes had simply blown me away I have run out of superlatives for the end of the meal. Sadly, it seems there are no immediate plans for Northern Fields to follow things up with a more permanent venture in Liverpool. A massive shame, but then opportunity does come in cycles when you maintain quality. I think a campaign should start here really... we really do need more of this kind of thing (inverse Dougal and Ted) in Liverpool. Other notes? The drinks menu was a bit Spartan, though well considered on the wine front - a very good Argentinian Malbec for the red and a Torrontes for the white, though putting my beer-hat on, Peroni as the single choice was a tad disappointing. Being sensible about things however, pop-ups are never going to be suitable for an array of pairing options - given everything is temporary... well nearly everything.
The memory of how stupidly good, well-designed, sourced and prepared the food on the evening with Northern Fields was. Pedro. ------------------------------ Northern Fields Tel: 0151 677 0458 Email: [email protected] Twitter: https://twitter.com/northern_fields Website: https://www.northernfields.co.uk/ The tables are lined with schooner goblets (2/3rd of a pint size, for the uninitiated) and cans of Fourpure's Session IPA as people filter into the conservatory at the Clove Hitch, ready to hear what Fourpure Brewery's John and Sophie have to say at the latest Meet the Brewer installment. As the cans are snapped open and poured, John is filling people in on his background and experiences of drinking back home in the United States followed by how he happened upon his opportunity to brew for Fourpure. The commentary ran from him discussing culture-shock of drinking lower abv beers when he moved to the UK from New York, where his drinking experience in the US was centred around much higher percentages north of 6%. Essentially his observations starkly highlighted how political the landscape actually is in the UK, not only based on scales of brewers, but also on the occasionally fractious relationships between traditional cask drinkers and those embracing beers served from kegs. John's move from London saw him working for Meantime Brewery before he met with Dan and Tom Lowe and setting up shop as Fourpure, so named after the four main ingredients used in their beers. Fourepure, as with another Bermondsey outfit covered in the blog around this time last year are surprisingly recent to the brewing scene. Another one of those breweries whose brand seems to have been around a lot longer than it actually has; they are barely 3 years old, having set up in 2013 and began their canning of beers in early 2014, which is very soon in most breweries’ lifespan. The brewery feel this is better for their beers due to protection from light and oxygen, but also a lesser impact on the environment from a sustainability and materials point of view. What about the materials within those materials? Session IPA A 4.2% glugger, pale, refreshingly simple and works excellently from can. The Session IPA uses a four hop combination of mosaic, simcoe, cascade and centennial to give a slightly hazy but pine and tropical fruit laden aromatic beer. There is some florality on the nose, along with a lot of pine and citrussy notes. Against Johns' high abv sensibilities, the percentage was squeezed down but without too much detriment; a solid base for the malts of golden promise, wheat and some caramalt balance things out quite nicely and the level of acidity in this along with a perfect amount of body gives a very rounded and easy drinking pale ale. On a side note with the canning, the labelling is very, very good; information about content etc is an excellent touch. Amber Trail A deep copper to red ale, the Amber Trail is 5.4% in strength and is based on Vienna lager style, with an effervescence and malt profile to provide something with a level of refreshment along with plenty of flavour. The nose is rich and malty, with red berries and a bready yeasty punch at the back along with some caramel around the edges. This beer also uses German tettnanger hops to retain a Germanic presence in the beer, truer to the origins of the style. Southern Latitude An American Pale Ale style 4.7% beer with tonnes of hop character to boot. This is apparently the first ever seasonal beer that Fourpure have brewed and looks golden to straw coloured with loads of aroma thanks to the use of Galaxy, Topaz and Cascade. The nose is full of tropical fruit, jolly rancher sweets, grapefruit, mango and even some blueberry for good measure. The body is mildly chewy and the carbonation is strong to keep things very acidic and fresh, though it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is Winter down under and this is bound to put a summery complexion on things there! Who thought a freebie pile of galaxy hops would lead to something so accomplished? Flat Iron American Red Another 4.7% US inspired ale, this time red in name, red in body and full of woody, sweet cedar and caramel notes on the nose and in the flavour. This beer is named after the red hills over in the US, near Boulder, Colorado. An interesting bit of trivia was posited by John at this point, that if Boulder was upscaled in terms of population/size to that of London, there would be in the region of 1192 breweries located there, such is the passion for brewing there. Impressive. The Flat Iron beer itself (back on topic) uses crystal malt along with a combination of colombus, cascade, equinox and citra hops to give an overtly dry red ale with unripened fruit character, a cap nip/marijuana aroma and hints of green peppercorns and some coffee around the edges. There is a real depth to the freshness of this red ale, thanks in part to the acidity which is not out of balance. Vertical Drop IPA With the appearance of a hazy wheat beer, white and cloudy with a thin white head atop, this ale carries some seriously pungent aromas. At 5.9% it is brewed using fresh orange, coriander seed, US yeast strains, cascade, centennial and citra hops, this is a tribute to what John regards as the style which has driven much of the 'craft beer revolution', especially in the United States. This is a very, very bitter beer with tonnes of flavour in the form of tropical fruit, citrus and pine as would be expected from any punchy IPA, but the acidity giving such a juiciness in the mouthfeel is excellent and gives almost a lingering orange cordial flavour. There is so much going on, but the undercurrent of brioche and spice in this wit/IPA hybrid adds some depth to a very accomplished IPA. Burnt Ends So named after the classic barbecue dish or by-product (depending on your stance), this ale gives everything you would expect from the moniker. Burnt Ends is a 5.8% take on a German rauchbier, which imparts smoke onto the grain during kilning and this translates into a smokey flavour in the beer. Brewed using around 30% smoked malt and 10% roasted rye, with chocolate malt and black malt also making up the grain profile, this gives deep smokey and roasted coffee driven brew. There is also some dark chocolate in the flavours and aromas with some salted caramel and bacon. A very deep beer which would benefit from pairing with some cheeses, cured meat or even chocolate cake rather than being a chug-alone drink. Drhop Kick Dropping back down the strength spectrum to 4.5%, this American Pale Ale is back on track of the usual Fourpure offerings; pine, tropical fruit including mango, lychee and pineapple this is a bit of a hop bomb. The malt profile works excellently, proving a good foil of toasty cereal to the dry controlled finish and five (simcoe, citra, mosaic, cascade and centennial) hop combination. Simple, fruity and very effective. Shapeshifter IPA Another fruit overload and slightly heavier in the kick with a 6.4% strength, the Shapeshifter is an amber coloured IPA which has plenty of aroma in the form of pine, lemons, tropical fruit (almost confected, like jolly ranchers!) and other woody notes. The mouthfeel, balance and finish are all brilliant in this, the acidity brings a juicy freshness to counter the grains and for a first iteration of this brew, they've got it pretty close to the mark of what I think it should be. John admitted to agonising over the recipe for some time, trying to figure out the ideal hop combination for this resinous west coast IPA with a controlled aggression in the finish. Hopped in equal parts with citra and mosaic, this is a great bit of brewing for a first effort on a new recipe. As ever, along with the numerous lovely brews for the event, the Clove Hitch kitchen put on some excellent food – a barbecue on this occasion no less. Superb with the range of beers on offer.
So that’s all for this installment ladies and gents, hope you enjoyed the read and I’ll see you all again next time! Pedro. ------------------- Fourpure Brewing Company22 Bermondsey Trading Estate, Rotherhithe New Road, Bermondsey, London, SE11 3LL Web: http://www.fourpure.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/fourpurebrewing Email: inf[email protected] Twenty Three Club / Clove Hitch23 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] 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. Somehow, Stouty McStoutface was never going to make the grade for naming the collaboration brew between Atom and Black Lodge. For context, the latest Meet the Brewer at the Clove Hitch/23 Club with Atom Beers (for their triumphant second session no less) was preceded by a day brewing in the Baltic Triangle, making an Imperial Russian stout which will be available at the Black Lodge premises in the coming weeks. Allan and Jack offered some prizes to the winning name for the stout halfway through their presentation; I still maintain that Event Horizon would have been the perfect moniker for something strong, dark and epic whilst in keeping with the scientific nomenclature of Atom's stable. Yes, as alluded to, this was the return of Allan and Jack from Kingston-upon-Hull based Atom Beers to Liverpool for an MTB and another great experience thanks to some great beers and excellent food provided by the Clove Hitch staff. The time since the last visit of Atom has thrown some significant obstacles in their way, not least the threat to the very existence of their brewery due to some shake up on the staffing front. Thankfully for us beer drinkers, they've gone from strength to strength and have now got Jack at the forefront of their brewing as their Head Brewer; he even has his own assistant these days. They are still ‘scientzing’ and teaching college students about brewing, looking to work their way into the shake up for the Kingston-Upon-Hull 2017 Capital of Culture event and have found time to increase their export abroad to at least 8 other countries. I was lucky enough to have a quick catch up between their presentation beers with both Allan and Jack, and they had lots of news and many exciting things on the horizon, Jack was up first: We've just done a collaboration brew with Black Lodge in Liverpool before the Meet the Brewer today and this is a recipe I've been holding dear to my heart for a while. It starts with a trip to Three Floyds, one of my favourite breweries in the world. I had a great tour of the facility, including their new distillery and their new oak foeders for souring. They even let me try some of their notorious Dark Lord, a 15% motor oil thick imperial stout with coffee and vanilla. It's ridiculously rare and very sought after, a ticketed release day one of your only hopes. I couldn't help but ask them their technique on brewing the big beers, how do they get the thick body and the almost umami intensity of the malts. Being the awesome guys they are, they were very forthcoming with what they do! As if I need to tell you, but check them out if you're ever in or around Chicago/Indiana. Fast forward a few months, and Atom were invited back to the 23Club for a meet the brewer. We hold the honour of being the first brewery to be brought back twice, you must like my waffling! It seemed only right that we check out the new Black Lodge brewpub in the process, and it was suggested that we should do a collab at the same time. Not one to mince my words, this seemed the perfect time to brew this bombastic beast! We plan on bottling a good proportion of this beauty, and have a release party, alongside a further collaboration brew down there too. How's that for a triple whammy? As for how to do something like this at home... Here's a few hints on how to achieve a crazy gloopy, intense and powerful imperial stout: This recipe calls for two separate mashes. The first contains the bulk of the base malts, pale ale malt being our choice. This is mashed in hot to keep some body and sparged to volume. The wort is then boiled for 3 hours to increase the viscosity or the wort, create tons of melanoidin and a deeper, richer colour. Meanwhile, a second hot mash of speciality malts (roast barley, choc and crystal) with some base malts is on the go. There's also a bit of aging involved; yhe beer needs to be aged on vanilla and coffee beans for as long as you can resist! The first runnings from this are added to the kettle after 3 hours, alongside 100IBUs worth of hops and boiled for a further hour. We chilled and oxygenated heavily to encourage a good fermentation, and pitched a healthy and large amount of 50/50 English ale and West Coast US ale yeasts. The yeast mix will give you some fruity English notes, but also attenuate well to get you the alcohol. Overall, you should have a ridiculously high original gravity, and you'll need it because this should falter at around 1.040-1.060! That's enough sugar left to ferment some pretty strong beers itself. I also caught up with Allan briefly and asked if they had anything big on the boil for going forward, luckily he was in talkative mood and they sounded like they have a bit project on the go: “On the Atom front, expansion is about to occur with a new equipment additions that will allow us to expand capacity by quadruple. We are also going to be looking to launch a new microsite atom.beers which will be focused on special projects, working on that currently, although slow burn. First up is our canning project. To stay true to our ethos of science, education and drinkability, when we seek to release our beers in can, we need to ascertain a way to do it differently. To achieve this we have come up with building a Microsite online – [www.atom.beers] In this part of the project we are going to release six different beers with a standard simple label linking to the Microsite and the recipe for the beer. With the Microsite we can also use it as a tool to create an education link looking at why we want to can, what we need to do to can, how we can and what are the results.” All interesting stuff, so I asked Allan how they were going to achieve this, he responded: “To achieve this, we have a serious video interviews (short less than 2 mins) with the following people; Hop Supplier, Malt Suppler, Science researcher, Canner, Can Manufacturer, Mobile Canner and last but not least, the Brewers themselves. We will then launch the cans via key partners to get them out to as many people as possible. At the moment this will be Honest Brew and probably at least three other outlets. Once that is done, we will also undertake a social media campaign to match and link to the videos. The social media campaign will be pushing for a call to action asking people buying our cans to pick the top three of the six to go into cans permanently and do this by submitting video reviews to go up live on the Microsite. That’s our big project currently, out with that we are currently looking at the feasibility for a crowd funding campaign; to see if it is worth it, is the brand strong enough, do the beers stand up to standard etc?” Exciting stuff, but back to the event; what of the beers they brought with them? Gladly, there was quite a different selection from the previous event they did, though they still broke out some pretty heavy gear right at the end as is seemingly customary... Blonde A nice standard 4% light blonde cask ale, which is reminiscent of a wheat beer on the nose and carrying no shortage of banana, cloves and a slight metallic bitterness in the finish. Slightly grassy, herbal and lightly bittersweet, this kolsch-style brew has undergone some tweaks since its first outing. The Atom blonde is very pleasant to drink. There is some talk of lagering this properly and chill it right down in the brew to try and make something a bit different too, so keep an eye out! IPA A slightly more robust cask beer this time with a 5.6% IPA, which has a massive hit of spruce on the nose from the use of Chinook and Centennial hops, there is also a very peachy character with some dried apricot in the bouquet. The malt profile make for a tidy drink, not too acidic, not too cloying and lightly chewy in the mouthfeel. This amber to dark gold IP makes for a very good ‘house beer’ if you need a go to. Clementine Mission This is a 6% kegged saison, which is a double orange and rye brewed (award winning no less!) beer. Atom have been focussing in tightly on saison style beers recently and added some homemade marmalade into the brew; the nose is very interesting and carries the bitterness of the oranges off very well, with touches of black and white pepper. The mouthfeel is rounded a bit residual and lightly juicy with a bittersweet finish and good effervescence to keep some freshness going through drinking. Critical Temperature This is a quite fresh and acidic coffee porter made using coffee roasted by Atom's local Blending Rooms roastery, weighing in at 6.5% and brewed using the wares and expertise of a local coffee specialist in Hull. The nose is chocolate, coffee, berries, dates and other dried fruit along with a flavour set of lightly metallic malt, more chocolate and dark fruit leading into a very rich but surprisingly light finish with little residue and a good subtle level of earthiness. A clever bit of a brewing and good interesting take on a kegged darker ale. Ocean of Storms Ocean of Storms is a lovely 5% kegged blueberry saison that acts very much as a sorbet of a beer. Allan and Jack admitted they will be playing about further with the recipe in order to obtain the shocking purple colour often associated with blueberries. On this occasion, the aroma is very much driven by a bubblegum note along with a plethora of fruit aromas, lightly herbal touches and spicy pepper, which is very much present in the flavour. A light mouthfeel and a very easy drink, but it will be interesting to see the direction this goes in. Mars The God of War is the big boy on this occasion, weighing in at a hefty 11%, this barley wine is not for the faint hearted. The Ruby coloured body is pretty thick and viscous and carries a lot of pine and cedar wood on the nose from the overt hopping. The use of rye provides a drying quality to temper the honey and sweetness from the use of other malts in generating a large abv. This is the Phobos and Deimos on steroids apparently. Drink with caution, or you might start seeing little green men. So that's your lot once again for another slice of ElectroKemistry, thank you for giving this a read and thank you again to Allan, Jack and all at the Clove Hitch and 23 Club for their work on putting on another great event, particularly to the kitchen for producing some excellent food for pairing with the beers on the night. Take it easy! Pedro. ------------------------------------------------------------ Atom Brewing Company Unit 4, Food & Tech Park, Malmo Road, Sutton Fields Industrial Estate (West), Hull. HU7 0YFWeb: 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] So here we go again, the fourth year of the Expo and its second to be based in the Constellations venue just off Jamaica Street in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle. Have you been before? Have you read the reviews from the last few events yet? If you answered ‘no’ to either of these questions, then you’re in luck, as I’ve dug out the links to the ElectroKemist Review of the events as per below: 2013: http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/blogs/liverpool-craft-beer-expo 2014: http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/blogs/liverpool-craft-beer-expo-2014 2015: http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/blogs/liverpool-craft-beer-expo-2015 Each year that has gone by has seen a shift in the way the event is run; with ever more excellent beers being brought into the Baltic Triangle, it is very hard to keep up. Luckily last year saw me finding my feet with a writing rhythm and being very prepared for taking notes and remembering each of the beers that I had tried. Hence forming a solid top ten of the event. Give it a read, you might have had some of those beers over the last twelve months or so! Anyway, I was lucky enough to have a catch up with Paul Seiffert and Rob Tuffnell, two of the event’s organisers, they provided a bit of information with what we can expect in terms of layout and brewer presence at the Expo this time around. Thought there is no formal interview this time around, in which Paul can’t insult my very manly hands (they’re not small at all). There will be around 250 beers and 40 different ciders on, along with the absence of the Whiskey Den this year, there will be even more room for beers and some more food stalls. This time, the dispense of the beers will be from brewery led stalls, rather than from rows and rows of indistinct bars where consulting an ever shifting programme or massive chalkboard can be problematic. There was a hint of this at the last Expo, with Wylam, Cloudwater, Beavertown, Camden, Liverpool Craft and Fourpure all having their own stalls set up. This year, it will pretty much be all brewery-led aside from the cask bar, which is rumoured to be outside this time rather than at the back of the venue indoors – and the line up is actually quite exciting. The line up so far: AD HOP Brewing Company Alphabet Brewing Atom Beers Beavertown Big Hug Brewery Blackjack Brewery Black Lodge Brewing Company Cloudwater Five Points Brewing Company Fourpure Liverpool Craft Beers London Beer Factory Mad Hatter Brewing Company Thornbridge The Wall Wild Beer Company Wylam Brewery This isn’t to say more won’t be added at some point soon, not to mention all the breweries represented in cask beers and individual keg offerings. We also have the return to Liverpool of the excellent Karkli (Hi Kumar!) who has been frequenting a lot of Beer Festivals over the last 18 months and is set to continue with his rather brilliant beer snacks for the foreseeable future.
The event is running from Thursday afternoon 16th June and has sessions on Friday evening, Saturday daytime, Saturday night and all Sunday 19th June. If you need to grab your tickets head here: [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/liverpool-craft-beer-expo-2016-tickets-21586784654] and if you want some more information on the event, then look no further than here: [http://www.liverpoolcraftbeerexpo.com/]. So we’ll see you there then? 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/ Striking pump clip art in the style of street tagging, credible, competent cask and a smattering of classy keg offerings; it must mean Newport’s finest, the Tiny Rebel boys have rolled into town on the back of a tap-takeover at the 23 Club for another Meet the Brewer event. Tiny Rebel are another of the UK’s micro-breweries with a distinctive brand and image in the market place for both Craft Beer and Cask alike; even the Liverpool branch of CAMRA had representation on this occasion. Looking through their portfolio, it is easy to see the penchant for various cask friendly styles that self-professed cask-drinkers Gareth and Bradley would like to imbibe themselves. However, that is not to say how much care they are taking in putting effort to push forward the quality of their kegged beers (point of interest, the one-inch punch – kegged for the evening, was one of the juiciest and refreshing pales I have had for a while). Currently the premises and kit in Tiny Rebel’s arsenal affords them a 12-barrel capacity brew run, but their aspirations are to push up to a 30-barrel brewery, to ultimately increase production whilst maintaining the firm on quality of their beers. In 2014, Gareth and Bradley professed to an output of 1.2 million pints of their beers going to the market place, some going considering they only started producing their beers properly in 2012 (although their first forays began 3 years prior, stemming from their passion for homebrewing). In terms of the transition from homebrewing to having a product ready to be sold in the pubs, Gareth felt that the two years between set up and launch of the brand were crucial and briefly laments the lack of a social life, but not with too much conviction. At the start of the talk, where the Rebel boys start outlining their remit for the brewery and where the origins of their passions lie, Gareth claims to have gotten Bradley into homebrewing whilst the pair where starting off and though there was a massive learning curve with the business, family support has proven both critical and forthcoming. Now the ball is rolling with significant momentum they are looking to make a dent into the market traditionally dominated by Brains, based in Cardiff. Searching for a name for the brewery, the inspiration was drawn from Bradley’s Brother’s company whilst he was working in computer game development, they admitted that the other options weren’t really up to scratch. The eye-catchingly distinctive graffiti style branding is courtesy of an artist originally from Swindon, but initially working in Canada and this is possibly what a lot of people really notice first with Tiny Rebel’s beers. There are plans for a second bar to serve the Tiny Rebel beers; The Urban Taphouse in Cardiff is the brewery’s first premises and has proven very successful. The boys also are looking at releasing a series of single hopped beers working under the nickname of ‘Tiny Batch’ series. So it is clear that there is plenty to look forward to, even for those of us not in South Wales. Speaking technically, the brewery was initially set up for cask, the guys estimated a ratio of 80% to 20% keg, most keg is exported to other markets. Gareth and Bradley stated they do want to bolster the traditional cask market in the UK and keep a backbone of the brewery in UK brewing cultural tradition. With regarding brewing, they like to keep the IBUs under control, as going too heavy isn’t what they want to do with their beers as they feel more doesn’t always translate to a better beer. They tend to use pelleted hops rather than whole cones, feeling that this produces more consistent results in the flavouring, aromas and body of their beers. All Tiny Rebels’ beers are currently fined, something that is becoming less and less popular these days with many brewers, although this provides clarity, there is a trade off to be made. So, how are those rebellious beers? BO’HO Lager A 5% kegged pilsner style lager, golden in colour with thin bubbles and a light head thanks to a ver spritzy level of carbonation. Refreshing, with a crisp malt backbone and very delicate aromas beyond this, although there is also a slight metallic tang in the aftertaste. This was first brewed in 2014 using a specific yeast to give a slight fruity edge to the lager, the obligatory saaz hops and a fortnight period to brew. The beer is also held in conditioning for 5-6 weeks, so it isn’t a quick beer to produce! Billabong Pale Ale A golden cask ale at 4.6% and using Australian Galaxy hops in conjunction with carapils malts and some wheat. Beneath the soft white head, the aromas float out giving a distinctive herbal and slightly coriander laden soapiness along with some soft tropical fruit. A simple and fairly elegant pale ale. One Inch Punch This beer is much fruitier effort than the first two beers, light golden in colour with loads of green fruit, gooseberries, citrus and kiwis along with a touch of mango thanks to a lot of mosaic hops. The addition of crushed oats (crushed at the brewery nonetheless) gives an additional smoothness to the beer. Great stuff. Cwtch With some debate over what ‘Cwtch’ actually translates to (from the apparently incorrect cuddle, to the area of a pub lots will know as a snug), this is a malty red ale using three types of malt and is lightly hopped with citra and columbus, with a bout of dry hopping using citra exclusively. The hops are all non-UK grown in Cwtch, but it doesn’t grab too much fruit character compared to some of the other rebel beers. Loki Black IPA A dark red to brown coloured ale (not quite black) which is hopped using a 70% bulk of British hops, including the newly fashionable Jester. The flavour is a lightly malted hum surrounded by a nutty, caramel cola flavour with only light aromas from the hopping. Coming from cask, this 4.5% beer has a soft rounded body and a pleasant finish. Hadouken! For those people who suffered from ‘Nintendo Thumb’ (or a sore wrist from coin-op arcade machines) back in the early to mid-nineteen nineties, the name of this American style pale ale will hold some relevance. Those who picked up a control pad and were familiar with how to throw a fireball in Street Fighter 2 will drink this and the dramatic punch of a heavily US hopped beer and feel the potency. With a resinous pine-heavy chewy body, a slightly off-sweet finish and coming from one of the Rebel’s early homebrew recipes, Hadouken uses a combination of cascade, chinook and colombus hops. At 7.4% from a keg, it benefits from the freshness afforded by this dispense method. Morning Glory Oatmeal Stout A breakfast stout, which contains lactose and has cocoa nibs introduced to the brew in the bittering phase. The coffee element stands to attention by the use of Nicaraguan coffee beans, without too much exposure via a cold infusion to limit the bitter and often acrid element coffee can introduce to a drink. The use of oats also affords this beer a very smooth mouthfeel and finish, although it does feel a little thin for such a dark ale. As a whole, this is a very flavoursome and sessionable (at 4%) style stout, although there may be a little too much flavour to go a whole session on Morning Glory. Dirty Stop Out (smoked oat stout) The final beer of the night was an oddly subdued effort of a smoked beer, whether this was down to the other beers being a little too fierce to allow the detection of a smoky element. This 5% kegged beer was rather thin on body, plus there was a rather poor head retention. There is plenty of flavour from malts although, the Morning Glory was a much more rounded and flavoursome effort. This event marked a slight change of format from the guys at 23 Club/The Clove Hitch, with a couple more beers and a tapas style delivery of the food. Another fine evening with eloquent speakers and a chance to learn more about another one of the UK’s talented breweries. There is also a follow on from this event, with Tiny Rebel taking over the taps at the Clove Hitch and 23 Club, although they are probably running out… so you’ll need to be quick! Until next time!! Pedro ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tiny Rebel Brewing Company Unit 12A Maesglas Industrial Estate Newport NP20 2NN Tel: 01633 547 378 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.tinyrebel.co.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/tinyrebelbrewco Twenty Three Club / Clove Hitch 23 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BQ Web: http://www.theclovehitch.com/# Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwentyThreeClub or https://twitter.com/theclovehitch Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Tel: 0151 709 6574 |
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