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.
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So, after a little gentle coaxing and a liberal amount of (metaphorical) prodding, I have managed to cajole a good friend to get in on the act and start doing some writing for me. With a little bit of luck, we’ll get a few articles winging their way over from the far east and roosting here on ElectroKemist Cuisine, giving us some insight into some of the fantastic beers we are sadly missing out on, but may also see soon. Without further ado ladies and gents, please read on for the inaugural piece by Luke Palmer… --------------------------------- So, Summer is here in Hong Kong (it has been a little while) and that surely means it is time to enjoy oneself and participate in a local party celebrating craft beer at the picturesque Pui O beach. This venue for the CBAHK event was the recently opened, featuring delights such as the beach front bar and restaurant, Mavericks. A convivial, lively and colourful venue for the event, considering its philosophy of good drinks, food, beach life and board sports. The organisers behind the event were some of the top craft beer distributors in Hong Kong; distributors such as Americraft (Founders Brewing Co, Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Lost Coast Brewery and Anchor Brewing Company), Hopleaf (Rogue Ales and Baird Brewing) and BestBev (Black Isle Brewery and Matso’s Broome Brewery) to name a few, who were there in full force. Their offering to the lucky people able to procure themselves a ticket for the event was the circulation of a selection of free tasters and to be on hand for the discussion on the beer at the event. Chef and co-founder of Mavericks, Austin Fry, was busy along with his team preparing and cooking some food to compliment the beers on offer, this meant I was able to tuck into some homemade juicy burgers and stunning hot dogs along with the other punters, washed down with a selection of great beers. The event required that a temporary bar be set up; this offered a range of bottled beers and two beers on draft, namely, the draft beers were Young Master Ales 1842 Imperial IPA and Coedo Setsugekka. The bottle beers on offer were sourced from breweries across the world, from the more familiar hoppiness of Brewdog’s Punk IPA, to Tuatara Bohemian Pilsner, Kona Long Board, Baird Single-Take Ale, Cornish Orchards Cider and the locally produced Hong Kong Beer Co Dragon’s Back Pale Ale. All varying styles available at the event and all infinitely drinkable, nonetheless. An enthusiastic crowd descended on the event on the 26th July, eager to enjoy the range of craft beers and beautiful beach surroundings. The weather was initially, not too kind to the revelries, but it did pick up in keeping with the event being held on the beach, resulting in stronger flow from the bars. The presence of Mavericks bar usual premises continuing to provide other drinks gave the event goers even more choice than that available at the temporary set-up. Notable beers included the Young Master Ales summer season offering, “Mo’ Mo’ Wit”; a light witbier, carrying the aroma and flavours of citrus, coriander and some bitter notes, perfect and refreshing for this sunny day and worked rather well with a lot of the food on offer. Alongside the offerings by Americraft and BestBev, an Italian brewery Birrifico Sant’Andrea who are just entering the Hong Kong craft beer scene, were offering tasters of their main beers. In the UK, the presence of some of their Italian counterparts has been notable; it shouldn’t be too long before they make their presence known in Blighty if they haven’t done so already. Among the beers Birrifico Sant’Andrea were providing, was their golden ale “Mozkito” which is described, somewhat amusingly, as a sexy summer beer! Luckily I was able to get a bottle to try and it was a lovely light bodied and refreshing ale, with great taste of orange peel and other citrus fruit that was indeed perfect for this hot summers day. Birrifico Sant’Andrea have four of their beers at The Globe in Central Hong Kong as I write; I am definitely looking forward to trying the rest of their range, especially their beer “Hey Ho! To Go!” as a Ramones fan (it’s close enough!) and it being an English IPA, which is still one of my preferred styles. As to why I was there, not only as lover of craft beer, I was also there working to promote one of my favourite breweries, Young Master Ales. Since the head brewer, Rohit, was unable to attended due to prior working commitments (giving people a tour of the brewery at Ap Lei Chau) I had to take up the reins. The main beer the event had on offer from Young Master was the 1842 Imperial IPA (my personal favourite, making talking about the beer much easier). The 1842 Imperial IPA is a lovely dark IPA, packed full of hoppy flavour, on the floral side with some slight citrus, pine and a touch of cut-grass paired with a solid malt backbone (as the colour would suggest) to provide some body and balance. At 8% (after all, it is an imperial!) the beer maybe could to be said to be a little on the heavy side for a summer event, but it was well received nonetheless by people at the event trying it for the first time, those already familiar to it also made a few return visits for a glass.
The outstanding beers I had at the event included Calabaza Blanca by Jolly Pumpkin, quite light on the palate for a witbier but retains a heady aroma and great sour taste with a strength of 4.8%, the Double Trouble by Tuatara was also highly enjoyable, along with the double IPA and Red Barn Ale by The Lost Abby, the latter of which is a saison with a hatful of flavour. All beers to consider on mail order or look out for should you see them in the UK. Overall this was a excellent and enjoyable event, which hopefully introduced the people of Hong Kong to new beers and showed the strength of the ever growing Craft Beer scene in Hong Kong which is enjoying a parallel to the US and Europe (in places, I understand!). I myself am looking forward to coming back to Mavericks and try the food, enjoy the beach (maybe not the surfing) and definitely take in a few more beers! The next event I will be attending (and hopefully writing about? – Pedro) in this vein will be International Beer Day on 1st August, which I am sure will involve a lot of new beers to try at venues in HK. I hope you enjoying my sideways glance at this event, stay tuned for some more from me in the future! Luke Palmer. As the Summer month roll onward unrelenting, weekends sometimes pass in a bit of a haze, this weekend was no exception following some particularly hot weather. The hot weather does make one thirsty, good job then that the double whammy of a beer festival and a Meet the Brewer Event was possible. Thirst quenched perhaps? Maybe so; having chosen to brave public transport away from the Giants and the throng of Liverpool city centre, the scrum was not totally avoided by having to use the train. Thankfully, the Freshfield Hotel is only a relative stone’s throw from the station on the Southport arm of the Northern Line. It is not a free house, although you would be forgiven in thinking that given the sheer number of guest cask pumps greeting you at the bar. We won’t hold it being a Greene King pub against it too much when they obtain (as standard) a very broad and well-handled line up of ales at any given time. A festival occasion gives further reason to rejoice, given that the equation of Friday plus good beer, plus big range of beers, plus good weather, plus beer garden and a few friends usually equals a pretty satisfying experience. This is not the first visit I have had to the Freshfield; having been on a few occasions previously for dinner and a few drinks with family, but the interior of the pub retains a healthy amount of wood, as would be expected from a country style tavern establishment. It also retains a sense of class and as mentioned, retains a good ethic of treating their beers correctly. The beer garden outside is ample in size, plus the establishment boasts a very impressive slate and stone courtyard for punters to rest their feet with a beer and dinner. The 5th occasion for the Freshfield, the Festival ran from Monday 21st July until Sunday 27th July, with the installation of two additional bars with hand pumps to dispense the extra ales. Sadly, there were no sparklers (which for me being a northerner, is a gripe on occasion) installed on the pumps, meaning some of the beers dispensed lacked that additional texturing supplied by a tight creamy head. Not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things however and definitely more welcome than dispensing straight out of a cask tap. Over the course of the week, the Festival boasted 88 ales, 8 ciders and 5 craft beers on, although not at the same time unfortunately. A similar issue experienced at the Liverpool Beer Expo was that many of the beers sound enticing, or indeed are ones some spotters want to tick off their lists, but they had simply already gone or were waiting to be tapped on another session. There were still enough beers to get excited about on the three bars, although having paid £15 for a sheet of tokens (to be used at the two temporary festival bars only), people had to pay the normal rate at the main pub bar for anything dispensed there. Although slightly confusing at first, an understandable arrangement to keep the pub’s normal operations flowing. A slightly more annoying arrangement was the lack of inclusion of the craft beers dispensed from keg in the Festival token system, although the programme clearly states they are included, the staff informed me that because they were ‘slightly more expensive beers’, they weren’t included in the token system. To be fair, there were plenty of beers to get through without venturing to the main bar for a while, or at least until 9pm when things started to run out and sadly, not get replaced. The beers on offer were, in the main very good, featuring notably amongst others, Blackjack, Marble, Darkstar, Saltaire, Oakham, Thornbridge and Tiny Rebel. The Marble ‘Pint’ was a welcome balm for a thirsty boy, providing the usual Marble competency of flavour with a refreshing body; this was swiftly chased with a pint of their ‘Summer’ beer which went down equally easily. As ever, the Saltaire beers were excellent, with several pints of the festival favourite, ‘Blackberry Cascade’ consumed within the group, but the ‘Cascade Pale Ale’ was another very enjoyable beer met with pleased palates. The enthusiasm of the staff was commendable in both the main bar and on the temporary festival installations, given both that the pub was a lot busier than it usually experiences and that the weather wasn’t particularly amenable to putting effort into anything other than a beer and some conversation. If you haven’t had a chance to visit the Freshfield yet, it may be worth a visit for cask fans, especially given the proximity to the train line. At this juncture I considered making a tenuous link in order to join together the second part of the adventure from the weekend, however, a rather hazy Saturday morning followed and killed any creativity I may have had for considering this. It may be possible that it still is impairing me… as I write at least! Having to steel both brain and stomach in preparation for a second outing in as many days, thankfully, the Meet the Brewer event held at the Clove Hitch and 23 Club once again was only a watered down event, albeit a free one. On this occasion, the Green Flash Brewing Company sent their head brewer, Chuck Silva, to wax lyrical about the launch in the UK of their West Coast IPA (at 8.1% it is a double IPA, although the punch is not quite evident at first). The West Coast IPA was first produced in 2005, a year after Chuck had joined Green Flash following a (as is often the case we find, with many brewers) change of career path and three years after Mike and Lisa Hinkley founded the brewery. The brewery takes its name from the natural phenomenon of the same name, whereby under certain weather conditions and just for a moment, the sun setting with its last rays turn emerald green on the horizon. The last mouthfuls of the beer didn’t turn anyone at the event green, thankfully, but it was a robust mouthful.
Light caramel in colour with an off-white head, the beer was much more heavy in malt tones than in hops for a West Coast IPA. It was also slightly sweet on the nose, using British crystal malts, giving off semi-sweet cereal and biscuit notes. The sweetness carries a little into the flavour, but finishes in a dry manner, especially towards the back of the throat with a reasonable length. The hops don’t quite translate as strongly as they should; with the use of simcoe, colombus and cascade pelleted hops at bittering stage, then a further blast of simcoe, citra, centennial and cascade added at the dry hop stage, you’d expect a bit more. A pretty resinous beer throughout drinking, pleasant and will pair pretty well with food, but the 8.1% is a high strength to pay with relatively low hop return. Having previously had ‘Le Freak’ from Green Flash, I can recommend giving their beers a chance, especially since they have been developing a strong relationship with St.Feuillen. Chuck provided an amenable and friendly afternoon at the Clove Hitch. Until the next time mi rasa! Pedro. ----------------------------------------- The Freshfield Hotel 1 Massam's Ln, Formby, Merseyside L37 7BD Tel: 01704 874 871 Web: http://gkpubs.co.uk/pubs-in-liverpool/freshfield-pub/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freshieformby Twitter: https://twitter.com/Thefreshfield Green Flash Brewing Company 6550 Mira Mesa Blvd. San Diego, California, 92121 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.greenflashbrew.com/home/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Greenflashbeer Twenty Three Club / Clove Hitch 23 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BQ Web: http://www.theclovehitch.com/# Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwentyThreeClub or https://twitter.com/theclovehitch Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Tel: 0151 709 6574 One year on from the endeavours that brought live brewing, some excellent kegged beers and a number of prominent up-and-comers from the brewing fraternity to Liverpool and the Liverpool Beer Expo continued to bring a great atmosphere and some exciting beers to the Baltic Triangle. The Camp and Furnace has played host to some great gastronomical events over the last twelve months; indeed, I have written two separate reviews for the standard kitchen and for Steven Burgess’ one-off Tree Hugger Banquet. This latest event swapped the furnace venue for the other major component of the Greenland Street events space, along with the provision of the Gold Room for additional presentations by visiting breweries. The event was well run and tempered by the exceptionally enthused volunteers throughout the weekend of the Expo, with Paul Seiffert from the Liverpool Craft Brewery taking over the reins exclusively from co-conspirator Terry to drive the event. There was evidence of lessons learnt from the previous year’s event, with the programme being although still on the slightly cumbersome side, being much easier to handle than the 2013 broadsheet, along with an actual itinerary, stating beers, brewer, style, location and abv. Although sadly, some beers were held back throughout the weekend, what was on offer was at times, staggeringly good. Some highlights came from breweries such as the ever quality conscious Wild Beer Company, with two great efforts in the ‘Sourdough’ wheat beer and the ‘Cool as a Cucumber’ Pale. The former was the first beer quaffed of my opening session, carrying a very sharp flavour, nicely balanced acidity and a very palate cleansing quality, meaning it would be very versatile with lighter foods and seafood. The collaboratively brewed (with Fyne Ales) cucumber beer was a wonderfully savoury beer, with a herbal hit from a hint of mint which was refreshing for a summer drink and would work well as an aperitif. On the Thursday evening, Ilkley Brewery were present to give a talk on their efforts along with giving tasters of some of the beers they have been brewing. Working from lighter to heavier hopped efforts, the beers were all drinkable, but with one or two stand outs from some less exciting drinks. The ‘Dinner Ale’ is a light bodied beer with a jab at 3.3% strength, however, this belies the packed cereal and biscuity notes present, along with a light touch of fruit on the nose reminiscent of a good Champagne or Cremant. As the name would suggest, it would work wonderfully well with a lot of foods, although anything robust like a hearty stew might prove overpowering for this beer. ‘Mary Jane’ is another pale beer, close to a kolsch beer in body and at only 3.5% abv, again is deceptive in its make up. ‘Mary Jane’ is a crisp, clean and very balanced ale which has a citrus edge to the flavour and nose, derived from the use of American hops. From the tasting session presented by Luke Raven from Ilkely, ‘The Chief’ (so-called due to its American heritage) and the ‘Ilkley Best’ were less exciting efforts compared to the two discussed above. Another interesting beer from the Ilkley Brewery was presented in the form of the divisive ‘De Passie’. This beer is a white IPA brewed with passion fruit and is a collaborative beer made in conjunction with two dutch breweries; Oersoep and Rooie Dop. ‘De Passie’ imparted a tart, floral and tropical fruit aroma with an excellent dry mouthfeel and very low residual sweetness. This is another great beer from Ilkley Brewery, which is begging to be paired with food. Saturday afternoon saw a presentation given by the Celt Experience in the Gold Room, upstairs from the main event. With two of their beers on offer and some pleasing anecdotal tales from setting up following splintering from other established breweries and a penchant for providing beers to pair with food, the session was informative and entertaining. The two beers on offer were the ‘Année 614’ (A Rye Chocolate Porter; a highly competent collaboration with Paris’ Brasserie St. Germain) and the ‘Ogham Willow’ IPA. The 614 is a wonderfully rich porter with a residual chocolate flavour and is brewed with 30% rye, imparting a pleasing dryness and body to the beer. The ‘Ogham Willow’ was a less pleasing beer, although packing a punch as a double IPA, compared to say, the ‘La Tène’ also on offer at the Expo, which is a much lighter bodied beer (also in strength at 3.3% as opposed to 8.8% for the Willow) but feels generally less overbearing with a low IBU value somehow carrying more flavour than would be expected. The Liverpool Craft Brewing Company themselves had some very exciting beers on offer at their own bespoke bar, tucked into the corner of the Camp. Notably the brute of the Expo coming in at a headsplitting 12% abv and with a name to match, the ‘Zombie Apocalypse Emergency Plan’ is a double IPA which has been double mashed and hopped beyond its life (or un-life) providing a layered and intense beer, which is filthily opaque and has what feels like a cacophony of flavour. Upon taking time to experience each mouthful of this beer, there are a number of flavours, which will reveal themselves; you just have to get past the bracing and amygdala blasting strength! The ‘Hell’s Porter’ and nod to Burgundy ‘Bad Choice Milk Stout’ are both great darker beers, the first providing a fiery punch above smokey layers and the latter being much easier going, with sweet flavours to temper the rich mouthfeel. From a personal point of view, it was great to meet so many enthusiastic people about the brewing craft, from brewers, distributors, fellow writers and other attendees. Despite some negativity from some quarters who (astoundingly) cannot understand the additional dimension given to beers by kegging due to their preoccupation with cask, this event was a wonderful showcase of both cask and keg and broadly supported by the participating breweries in a warming manner. Roll on #LivCraftBeerExpo2015.
Hasta luego amigos!! Pedro. Gone is the first Bank Holiday weekend of May, along with it, a multitude of Beer (and some food) festivals across the Northwest (covered in a previous blog: [http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/1/post/2014/04/may-bank-holiday-round-up-2014.html]), at least for another year. Whilst the weather held until the Monday evening, the majority of us received some warm, if somewhat grey conditions in which to indulge in some fine ales from up and down the UK. Unfortunately, already making arrangements for the Mad Hatter Brewery Tap opening on Friday evening and for a trip to Bispham Green into West Lancashire, it left little time to head elsewhere such as the Aigburth Cricket Club Beer Festival. There was however, a chance on a Sunday afternoon to wander down to the Old Christchurch in Waterloo to indulge in the embers of the seventh festival held at the remarkable environs. Journeying by train out to Ormskirk from Liverpool and then onward to the Eagle and Child pub in Bispham Green, between Mawdesley and Parbold is now an annual treat for me and a few other regular accomplices. The pub is owned by the Ainscoughs (also of Racquet Club fame) and run as a ‘gastropub’ – the term usually makes me shudder, but it isn’t too ill fitting here as the pub does indeed present some superb, honest and fairly priced meals. The tranquil settings are excellent at the beginning of our session, from 4pm onwards things tend to get noisier, with the live music sound checks and a larger number of locals heading down to the venue. A single large marquee is stationed to the rear of the pub, with the bowling green and other patio areas soon populated with revellers, getting in early with picnic blankets is highly recommended. There are usually around 50-60 ales on offer along a single row of stills, alas keg has yet to catch up here. There are a large number of ciders to compensate, although these have a tendency on warmer occasions to run out by the Saturday afternoon. A £10 door tax returns the festival pint glass, a programme and around £6 worth of festival tokens, with halves being around £1.50 to £1.75 depending on the ABV, meaning this is one of the better value beer festivals around in terms of entry costs. Food is available at a tuck shop and with proper chips and a rather enticingly aromatic hog roast also to the rear of the pub. The Festival at the Eagle and Child is now heading beyond its 19th year and is as popular as ever, but the setting is by far and away the greatest asset; few beer festivals feel as relaxed as this when the weather is dry and warm. The beers were of a usual standard for such beer festivals, alas none of them were listed in the festival programme. Sadly, the first festival where they have left it out, this was a glaring omission from previous festivals, where the presence of the list made planning your beers a much easier and stress-free task. Breweries such as Propsect, Southport, Allgates and Burscough, Frodsham and Phoenix all have a heavy presence at this festival; producing some excellent English pale ales, best bitters, red ales and stouts, although there wasn’t too much of variation beyond this. Coach house Brewery from Cheshire did supply many fruit infused beers such as the very drinkable ‘Pineapple’ and supermarket friendly ‘Blueberry’ – again though, these beers are all pale ale, where the Coconut they brew jarred with the hopped pale ale style when best paired with a darker ale in stout or porter style. An extra two hours was added to the session at Waterloo by the Liverpool Organic Brewery guys, making an 8pm close the order of the day. Luckily the session was not sold out, so being able to pay on the door was a blessing, although many of the first choice beers had gone in the previous sessions. With allegedly some 200 beers on offer (and excellently, some keg for the first time at the Waterloo iteration) alongside the ciders, Liverpool Gin, Peninsula Pies, Liverpool Cake Company and the ever-present Liverpool Cheese Company. As with many other festivals, there is live music alongside the beers, but the main attraction is the well organised and well stocked feel the festival has. As the festival has grown, attracted sponsorship and added a greater variety of beers to the repertoire it has also very gradually increased the cost of the sessions, sadly with overheads spiralling in all industries, this is sadly inevitable, but the festival does remain good value for visitors with the added attractions of great food from the aforementioned contributors. Attendance does feel as though it has slipped ever so slightly in the last two years most likely due to a saturation of the marketplace for Beer Festivals (where demand is thankfully still remarkably high), but the event still sells out on the Friday and Saturday evening sessions in a heartbeat, meaning slightly easier going sessions during Thursday, Friday and Saturday daytime and Sunday can be less crowded to get around. The beers at the Waterloo festival are again, as with the Eagle and Child, all run off stillage, aside from two groups; the Liverpool Organic Beers on cask hand pull and the craft keg beers from the likes of Mad Hatter, Saltaire and Tiny Rebel. Long may these two excellent festivals continue to provide a gateway for new beer enthusiasts, great beers and a convivial atmosphere in which to enjoy them. Pedro. ------------------------------------------------------------ Eagle and Child Malt Kiln Lane, Bispham Green, Mawdesley, Lancashire. L40 3SG Web: http://www.ainscoughs.co.uk/The-Eagle-Child/eagle-and-child-home.html Telephone:01257 462 297 Email: [email protected] Liverpool Cheese Company 29a Woolton Street, Woolton Village, Liverpool. L25 5NH Web: http://www.liverpoolcheesecompany.co.uk/ Telephone: 0151 428 3942 Email: [email protected] Liverpool Cake Company Web: http://liverpoolcakecompany.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liverpoolcakeco Telephone: 0151 734 0761 Mobile: 07864 069 105 Email: [email protected] Liverpool Food and Drink Festival has been growing with each year it pitches up at Sefton Park, with more local food and drink producers, more restaurants and more punters present time. The two day Festival itself signals the beginning of a week of events in the city which have included some independent supper clubs and pudding clubs held in the city, a pop up restaurant in the Palm House courtesy of Amber Lounge and a wine tasting in the same venue a few days earlier. Despite a rather rainy start to September, the Food and Drink Festival was still in rude health across the weekend, especially during the downpours from the scouse skies on Sunday. Despite a grey ceiling, the visitors were not put off, simply electing to find cover and a stall to grab something hot and tasty. Wednesday was no different with its weather, but the Palm House is a more than adequate shelter, providing lovely tropical floral surroundings in which there were six companies exhibiting typical wines from their selections; Roberts & Henry Fine Wines, Vinea, Origin Wines, Wine Time at Scatchards, Belpasso, Cultural Wines. The wines each of the stalls had to offer ranged from fizz such as Fragolino, Prosecco and an Australian pink Moscato through many styles of white into Beaujolais and then to full on chewy reds from around both New and Old World. Pleasingly, there were a few dessert wines on show at 3 of the exhibitor tables and each was very different but high in quality. There was also the opportunity to have a more formal tasting session at the venue, with a separate area set out to allowed for structured instruction in a variety of wines that the exhibitors were selling and allowing for tasting. These structured sessions were available on a first come first served basis at the event for no extra cost. The event provided an excellent opportunity to interact with Liverpool’s (and indeed, slightly further afield) most prominent wine merchants outside the comfort of their shops. Sadly, many people are put off by the thought of going into any wine shop and searching the shelves for something to enjoy for a Saturday night in with a film and a few nibbles, or for a dinner party gift or indeed to just compliment Sunday lunch or midweek dinner. This event happily showed that with an inquisitive demenour and a willingness to indulge in conversation, there is much to learn and the world of wine is simply not as daunting as many suspect it to be. All the stalls were headed by knowledgeable and friendly people, keen to share their wines with the visitors to the Palm House and engage in depth if necessary. Should you ever find yourself in R&H Fine Wines, Vinea, Belpasso, Scatchards or Origin, you should (on this evidence) be made to feel most welcome and provided with some excellent opinions for all occasions calling for a drop of wine. There were simply too many wines at the event to comment on here, but there were a few stars of the show. Vying for top spot were the Dominio Del Bendito El Primer Paso (using Tempranillo grapes, 2011) from R&H Fine Wines, Nativa Terra Reserva, Cabernet Sauvignon (2009) from Vinea and the Ottavia Rube Rosso (using Dolcetto and Croatina grapes, 2012 vintage) from Origin Wines. Each of these was a fantastic full bodied red in their own way and worthy of pairing with red meat, deep stews or cured meat if not simply on their own. The dessert vines briefly touched upon earlier were also outstanding and often overlooked by many, but paired with a fantastic dessert (remember, the rule of thumb is that the wine should be sweeter than the dessert) they get a chance to shine. One such wine was the ‘Chocolate Shop’, a non-vintage chocolate wine blended in the UK which sounds less than promising; paired with a baked chocolate and beetroot gateau this sang brilliantly with lovely chocolate and cherry overtones and a mellow earthiness which complimented the beetroot. This event was thoroughly enjoyable and a superb chance to interact with the wine community, showing that despite TV experts best efforts to give the impression it’s all affected gesturing, precocious language and pretentiousness, wine really is something that can be enjoyed in a simple way. Happy drinking guys, catch you next time!! Pedro. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can find each of the merchants online or otherwise here: R & H Fine Wines Twitter: https://twitter.com/RHFineWines Web: http://www.randhfinewines.co.uk/ Address: 12 Queen Avenue, Queens Insurance Building (off Castle St/Dale St), Liverpool. L2 4TZ Telephone: 0151 345 0306 Vinea Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vinealiverpool Dan Harwood Twitter: https://twitter.com/danharwoodwine Web: http://www.vinealiverpool.co.uk Address: Vinea, Unit B7, Britannia Pavilion, Albert Dock, Liverpool. L3 4AD Telephone: 0151 707 8962 Origin Wines Twitter: https://twitter.com/originwines Web: http://www.originwines-spirits.com/ Address: Origin Wines & Spirits Ltd, Unit A2, Enterprise Court, Wigan Enterprise Park, Seaman Way, Ince, Wigan, Lancashire. WN2 2AG Telephone: +44 7816 162687 Wine Time @ Scatchards Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jonthewine Web: http://www.winetimewines.co.uk/ Address: Unit 1, 209 Great Howard Street, Liverpool. L5 9ZH Telephone: 0151 2071134 Belpasso Oil and Wines Web: http://belpasso.co.uk/ Address: Unit 4, Malthouse Business Centre, Ormskirk. L39 1QR Email: [email protected] Telephone: 01695 581 176 Cultural Wines Web: http://culturalwine.com/wines.html Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Telephone: 07841 248758 or 07747 052890 Something has been rumbling for a little while now in the Baltic Triangle area of Liverpool, located just a stone’s throw or three from Liverpool One the Camp and Furnace has gone modestly about garnering Liverpool with an impressive creativity. The creativity has seen the arrival of the Threshold Festival, Food Slam Events with new venues and ventures adding to the buzz including the Baltic Bakehouse, Unit 51 and Siren amongst others. It would possibly take another five articles or more to break the surface on each of the interesting aspects of the happenings at the end of Jamaica Street. Over the August Bank Holiday, the Camp and Furnace played host to the Summercamp event; a music and street food extravaganza featuring some pretty good bands and providing a contrast to the more mainstream pop on display down the road at the Pier Head and down at Sefton Park. Within the Summercamp itself, there were several pop up banquets alongside the music, cocktails, Craft Beers and street food vendors. These banquets have been orchestrated by the Camp and Furnace's very own Steven Burgess. Chef Steven Burgess has been heavily industrious of late, cultivating a reputation for inventiveness and impressive fastidious culinary skills. There have been a few events to date where Burgess has put forth banquets of his own for conceptual evenings both in praise of meat and vegetarian diets, so much so, the Treehugger's Banquet at August’s Summercamp event was to be followed by a visit by the yummy brummie himself, Glynn Purnell. The Treehugger's Banquet was a 10-course showcase of some relatively simple ingredients with touches of panache and the aforementioned inventiveness. Recently Marina O’Loughlin writing in the Guardian mused that anything beyond 11 was stretching not only the waistband a little too much, but also the attention span and capacity for enjoyment – more can be seen here on this interesting piece: [http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/aug/26/restaurant-pet-hates-ruin-my-appetite]. Thankfully, the ten courses fell below this bracket, although had it been more, I would have had no problem sitting for just a little longer to be both entertained and stimulated by flavour, excellent use of colour and presentation. The opening gambit of the banquet was a homemade cracker and cream cheese combination, decorated with fresh herbal sprigs and nasturtium flowers in a gentle and effective manner. Delicate flavours were paired with a sharp and grassy Sauvignon Blanc, with the dish itself balanced with great contrasts of texture. The second dish paired an egg yolk with potato cooked as a mousse and as small but crisply delicate puffs, punching in a surprisingly citrus flourish alongside a rich and creamy base to the dish. Possibly the most triumphant dish in the menu followed the potatoes, the use of a slow roasted garlic, duck egg and goat’s curd was magnificent. The heavy tang was frittered away from the garlic, leaving sweetness and a light pungency to sit with the rich duck egg and excellently accompanying curd. Here is where Burgess has and should continue to capitalise, simple and elegant flavours teased from excellently sourced produce. The Adobe Chardonnay accompanying the roasted garlic also paired well going forward into polenta, juicy gordal green olives and smoked tomatoes, allowing all the elements of the dish to work together giving a smoked sweet verdancy in the mouth. The Cauliflower dish was well thought-out, but possibly needed a stronger cheese in the flavour of the pannacotta to break up the velouté and caramelised cauliflower. The viognier wine pairing worked perfectly bridging the cauliflower dish and the course of sweet carrot, caraway and cumin dukkah; which gave an excellently worked earthiness under the sweet tones of the carrot and apricot. Tempting and competently baked beetroot macarons followed; deliciously crisp, creamy, sweet, earthy and chewy, they ticked all the boxes of expectation which precipitate from presentation of a macaron. The Rosé was possibly the weakest of the wines on display, yet it still found a suitable pairing with its dishes and paved the way for a Lancashire Cheese roller, rather heavier on flavour and texture than I would have expected, but not totally out of place. The ascorbic sweet and sour of the apple sherbet was a welcome touch on a doughy focal point and worked surprisingly well with a touch of the Branston pickle, secreted by the roller. Finally, the sorbet gave one last flourish from the banquet; resting atop a honey parfait, with the honey produced by local bees no less. The contrast in textures again, was well worked along with relatively safer flavours; safe possibly in context, but no less rewarding. The standard has now been set high by Burgess at the Camp and Furnace, with excellent diligence and competency from the front of house, the bar has been set refreshingly high in the most unusual of settings.
Venture to the Baltic Triangle while you can, the talent on display here has brought Simon Rimmer and Glynn Purnell and will no doubt please you. I know it has pleased me. Pedro. ----------------------- Thanks to Lian Challis for the post-dinner tour and insights. Special thanks to Jon Young for the excellent Photographic contribution. Occasional Supper clubs and Food Slam Fridays (usually on every Friday evening at the Camp and Furnace) More information on the Camp and Furnace can be found here: http://www.campandfurnace.com/ To follow Steven Burgess on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rhub_custard To follow Camp and Furnace on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CampandFurnace British Bank Holiday weekends are invariably washed out affairs, much more suited to sitting wistfully on a window ledge staring outside at the rain trickling down the pane. Luckily, the last two Bank Holiday weekends in May of 2013 have been gloriously bright affairs. That type of weather definitely lends itself to sitting out with friends in a Beer garden, having a picnic and a few cold drinks in the park with the family or even better, attending a beer festival. There have been a few of late and there are a few more to come in Liverpool over the next few months. I spent the first May bank holiday at the Eagle and Child beer festival in Bispham Green (near Parbold/Mawdelsey). Typically, this festival experiences excellent dry weather and is generally superbly run and friendly affair. The addition of hand pumps to a few of the cask ales on offer this year is a definite improvement and a step upward from the usual high standards in the grounds of the pub owned by the Ainscoughs (of Racquet Club fame). The most recent Bank Holiday weekend was also spent investigating a slightly smaller scale beer festival, this time by the banks of the River Mersey in Otterspool at the Otter’s Café at Active Adventures. Having ventured down on the Saturday and Sunday, the clientele was mixed to say the least, with a market having brought some people out and the remainder either those wandering along the promenade for a walk and an ice cream or those specifically for the beer festival. There was even room for a Hen do oddly enough! Rather than a pub or association running this event, the crowds were treated to some local brews organised by the Mad Hatter Brewing Company. The Mad Hatters Brewing Company is the newest addition to Liverpool’s ever-increasing craft beer and real ale scene with Head Brewer Gaz and partner in crime Sue, initially taking things a little more seriously in 2007. With the burgeoning interest in Liverpool (as with the rest of the UK) in food and more pertinently, drink, driving the demand for fashionable food and beers with character, there is certainly room. The latter of these demanded items is something that the Mad Hatter is able to provide in abundance. This is more than evident, with some 16 different styles of beer lined up at the brewery, perhaps more once confidence has grown – and a range of brewing techniques not generally used in the UK. Some departure from academia up in Lancaster, I am sure most would agree, but a brave and highly welcome decision for a lot of us. At the festival, there were a few ales on offer from some of the usual suspects on the Liverpool Beer scene in the shape of Liverpool Organic Brewery, Liverpool Craft Brewery, Wapping, Brimstage Brewery from Wirral and another newcomer in the shape of the promising Melwood Brewing Company. The undoubted stars of the show at this festival were the beers on offer from the Mad Hatter Brewery. The unusually potent ales conceived by the Mad Hatter himself were present in fridges, which were stocked full as to be curiouser and curiouser; leporine artwork by Emily Warren of Stealthy Rabbit adorning a variety of exciting bottles promising much. Emily's thoughts are given in a bit more detail than I can divulge right now over on: [http://thestealthyrabbit.blogspot.co.uk/]. Over the course of the weekend, I made it my duty to try and characterise as much of the wonderland made real by the brewery as possible. However, with an ABV of usually over 7%, care must be taken – an easy task it was not!! The brewery was keen to provide something as an alternative to the usual session beers on the market, offering viable alternatives for food pairings to the usual fallback of a bottle of wine. Here are a few of the tasting notes I made whilst I was able to stave off falling down the rabbit hole:
2. Imperial IPA: Using Simcoe hops, the pine notes in this beer are deeply embedded and very obvious, at 7.3% it packs quite a punch and has quite a sharp edge with some good acidity. Very, very hoppy!
That’s your lot for what magnificence I tried on offer at the Beer Festival, but your extra reading after this blog is to go and check out the Mad Hatter Brewing Company website (conveniently located here: [http://madhatbrew.co.uk/] and for more up to date information, search facebook for Mad Hatter Brewing Company, or follow them on twitter, @MadHatBrew] with a run down of their beers and details should you need to contact them. Their beers will be available from the following outlets: Beers are available in Liverpool from: Stamps Too, (CAMRA pub of the year, Liverpool) The Dispensary, Renshaw St The Ship and Mitre And also soon from: 23 Club, below the Clove Hitch Pod, Allerton Road Manchester: Pie & Ale, Northern Quarter, The Port St Beer House, Northern Quarter And also soon from: Joshua Brooks, Oxford Road The Magnet, Stockport (CAMRA pub of the year, Greater Manchester) Unfortunately, you can’t buy from the Brewery direct at the moment, so you’ll have to go hunt down these bad boys from one of the outlets above if you’re feeling impatient!! A tip of the (mad) hat should also go to the guys down at the Otters Café for putting on the mini market and beer festival. They have an aerial assault course in the vein of Go Ape! there alongside a maze and the café and lovely riverside views. The coffee and cakes is pretty good there too! Full details of the venue are just a click away: [http://www.activeadventuresliverpool.co.uk/]. Until next time guys, I’ll see you through the looking glass! Pedro x I love beer. To an unhealthy extreme some might say. They’re probably right, but I don’t really care, it really is something to get genuinely excited and passionate about… plus it’s something that the British are exceptionally good at. The ales we produce in these fair isles are pretty much second to none in some categories. There has been a surge in the popularity of microbrewery wares in the last few years, this is probably due to a combination of factors including the skills of the brewers pouring their hearts, souls and bank account contents into their projects and sharing the fruit of the labour with the rest of us. Another big factor believe it or not, has to be attributed to former Labour Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. Mr Brown introduced a tax break for small breweries in the UK in 2002, the number of microbreweries has proliferated to double the number that year (http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2079988/CITY-FOCUS-Raising-glass-micro-breweries.html). Sadly, the number of pubs has been declining due to the harsher financial times we are all experiencing, but the quality certainly has been going in the opposite direction in some towns and cities. This is due to better food on offer, but more importantly a better range of beers with significantly better quality also present at these establishments. A recent visit across to Brasenose Street in Liverpool to pick up some goodies for Christmas (2 crates of very excellent brews) from the Liverpool Organic Brewery (http://www.liverpoolorganicbrewery.com/) warmed the cockles of my heart. The brewery, who are currently preparing for the Waterloo Beer Festival (http://www.waterloobeerfestival.com/) and increasing the range of the beers they have developed over the last 3 and a half years (since September 2008), has gone from strength to strength and also had a major presence at the National Winter Ales Festival over in Manchester. The National Winter Ales festival was held over 4 days just outside the city centre in Manchester, so after a train from Lime Street to Piccadilly and a short walk via meeting some friends, we built up a bit of a thirst whilst wondering what beers would be represented. I was slightly dubious about what would be on offer, as traditionally the beers at this time of year tend to be darker and heavier… more Stouts and Old Ales, accompanied by treacle, toffee, autumn leaves and heavily malted flavours. I was pleased at some of the easier-going drinks that were available at the event, but also managed a fair share of some rather less pleasant offerings. The atmosphere at the event was pretty good, there were a few seasoned veterans (you always get the obligatory ‘Stetson hat with goggles strapped to the top’ type along with several guys who look like they’re there for a Gandalf look a like convention) a few less eccentric people and surprisingly a lot more girls aged 20-30 which is something of a shift in the demographic over the last few years for Real Ale/Bitter drinkers. This speaks at length to how the image has changed for these types of beverages down the years. With regards the drinks that were tried at the Festival, the 1/3rd measure of beer available was immensely helpful for those who wanted to broaden the range of drinks they were able to partake in; especially useful since there were a number of barley wines available (typically higher alcohol contents and much stronger all round). I have a full list of tasting notes and ticks next to all the beers tried at the Festival, but suffice to say the results from the CAMRA judging panel did pick out what I regarded as one the best of what was available by the Saturday session for an award. The full results can be found here: (http://www.camra.org.uk/article.php?group_id=4140). The two favourites on display for our group were both Stouts and significantly more delicious than Guinness (in our opinion). First up, related to the prose above, Liverpool Organic Brewery’s Russian Stout was a big favourite in the absence of Kitty Wilkinson’s Chocolate and Vanilla Stout. The smooth finish on the smoky velvet texture belies the strength and although I was no stranger to the stuff, our mancunian counterparts were suitably impressed with it. The second stout was that produced by the excellent Coniston Brewery from Coniston in Cumbria. Their Special Oatmeal Stout was exceptional, even better than the excellent and very interesting No.9 Barley Wine (which is very strong, but has unusual cognac and marzipan qualities) which won the Gold Award in the Barley Wine category. The tasting notes described the Stout thus “Oats used in the grist give body and smoothness, enhancing the roasted barley, giving it complex flavours reminiscent of dark chocolate and coffee”. The dark chocolate note was spot on, as was the description of its smoothness. There was a very rich and satisfying undertone to the Oatmeal Stout too, meaning it stood out above most of the other beers that were tried in our group. Moorhouse’s Pendle Witches’ Brew was also on, which is simply one of the finest ales I have ever had, on its day of course. But I have to shine the spotlight elsewhere now and again! Unfortunately, I have to caveat that this was not a scientific assessment of the beers available due to many of them simply having been demolished in the previous 3 days of drinking. This is something of a bugbear for me, but running out of a beer at a festival, especially ale that does sound incredible only for you queue for 10 minutes to be told it is all gone. The logistics of a festival are difficult at the best of times and an establishment simply can’t store as much ale to double up on what they provide, as such I know I can’t complain too much but maybe one day something will be done to ensure exciting sounding offerings such as the Lytham Gold will still be on for the final day of a festival! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Threshold Festival and Liverpool Craft Brewery Linking into the beer theme, some of you may have noticed there is a recent addition to the current crop of Merseyside brewers in the Liverpool Craft Brewing Company (http://www.liverpoolcraftbeer.com/). They have recently created two new brews to add to the Liverpool Icon, Icon Dark, Viking and Hop Beast in their range. Most recently, Tane Mahuta has been pushed as a result of tinkering with the Hop Beast recipe. Intriguingly, there has been an ale which the guys have specifically brewed to link into the Threshold Festival which takes place in Liverpool (http://www.thresholdfestival.co.uk/). The Threshold Festival began life as a collaboration between the Contemporary Urban Centre and Under the Influence in order to bring opportunities to push music, live performance, theatre and visual arts in a single setting. It is soon to have unshackled itself and pushed to be held at a multitude of venues to champion the grassroots artists that it prides itself on providing a platform to. The details of the venues and shows on offer are best sought out on the website for the Festival or by contacting the Festival organisers. Following the success on a maiden voyage and going into its second year, the festival has won many friends and some critical (including journalistic) acclaim in many quarters. Kaya Herstad Carney, ------ said of the collaboration with the Craft Brewing Company: “When Paul approached us and asked if we would be interested in having Liverpool Craft Beers making a special Threshold beer, the answer was indeed easy - Of course! Being able to be part of the process, even from the measuring and mixing to separating vanilla pods just made it perfect for us; DIY with a root in knowing your craft and a big measure of passion: Ingredients.” Rachel Dyer, a Festival Coordinator for the Threshold Festival also commented that: “It was great meeting Liverpool Craft Beer, I've never tasted beer let alone been to a brewery! Paul and Terry introduced us to the whole process and got involved with weighing ingredients, mixing and starting the brewing of the Threshold beer. The beer grain was so tasty I carried on nibbling at my sample! It's clear how passionate they are, and being self-taught independent and innovative, they're exactly the kind of people we want to call friends and work together for Threshold Festival 2012. Can't wait to see the final result!” The festival takes place between the 10th and 12th February 2012 and tickets for many of the events are available now. Heading along, spreading the Valentine’s love and having a look and trying a delicious pint of collaborative ale would be the only sensible thing to be doing! Links: Threshold Festival 2012 (10th til 12th February 2012, Baltic Triangle, Liverpool). Bigger Better and Baltic Bound! Facebook for Threshold Festival: https://www.facebook.com/undertheinfluencenight?sk=app_134506053246185#!/undertheinfluencenight?sk=info Follow the festival on Twitter (@thresholdfest), Tumblr (Thresholdfest) and Flickr (Thresholdfest). Buy advanced tickets through Skiddle. Follow Liverpool Craft Brewing on Twitter (@Craft_Beers) Follow Liverpool Organic Brewery on Twitter (@LivOrganicBrew) All the pictures for the Threshold Beer visit were kindly supplied by the organisers, therefore, it's their copyright too. ;o)
Catch you all next time dudes! Pedro x |
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