The collaboration beer was put together to celebration International Women’s Day by Dead Crafty along with Lovelocks, Pretty Vacant and So Coco Rouge, all located nearby one another in the city centre. However, the problematic situation arose from the name of the beer, Savage (a glittery bakewell tart IPA), and probably the imagery, meant as a tip of the cap to Paul O’Grady’s much loved character due to encroachment on the characters Intellectual Property (IP – hold the A). The story made national media, via the likes of this article which was written pretty recently: [https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/paul-ogradys-legal-dispute-liverpool-26643417]; whilst we have to ignore some of the factual inaccuracies (naughty sub editors and journos), it’s evident that O’Grady was not best pleased judging by the quotes taken in the articles on the matter (should they, themselves actually be accurate). The result was a cancelled beer launch, a rebrand/rename (from Savage to Salvage) and a move to donate some of the beer’s profits to local animal charities. Though the aggressive legal rhetoric from the outset towards a handful of small and local independent businesses does seem heavy handed in the least. Whether this change of tack with the beer is enough to placate, remains another thing to be seen. When fully in the throes of churning out articles on a monthly basis for this blog, I was toying with imagery to give social media accounts and this site an recognisable avatar and often we choose things that we love for such things; I’ve used amended Bauhaus artwork on (personal) accounts and to this day, homage type imagery for my admittedly sessile Facebook page, with an altered image of Manic Miner. For those who grew up in the 1980s, Manic Miner was a bit of a cultural watershed in computer games, even more so for those of us who lived around Liverpool. The game and Miner Willy himself were creations of Matt Smith, a young programmer who effectively made the game in his bedroom in Birkenhead, probably unaware of the impact it would have on a generation of gamers. Given my use and amendment of the graphics on accounts (making it quite visible), I decided it would be an idea to contact Matt and seek blessing (or being asked to remove said imagery without receiving a nasty letter in legalese). These days, he is pretty reclusive and the only recourse I found to contact him was via an email address for Elite (a software company, again set up in the 1980s, which produced some incredible games for the Spectrum such as Commando, Paperboy, Bombjack, Ghosts and Goblins, 1942 and Space Harrier (under license from Capcom and other software houses)). I did eventually receive a kind reply from someone at the other end, informing me that Matt Smith was difficult to contact and probably wouldn’t mind – but they would attempt to let him know. Fast forward a decade and I am still none the wiser any feelings on the matter, but I’ve never received a letter in legalese but remain glad I did try to make contact. I’ve also been on the receiving end of content (or IP) that I have produced in my time writing and doing photography, being taken by other parties on more than one occasion. Photographs brazenly used in articles produced on other sites to promote businesses and charging companies (in Liverpool mainly) for the benefit of being on there. I suspect on the occasions that my photographs were taken there was probably an element of ignorance from the person putting the article together, along with a soupcon of thinking they’d not be found out and a small dose of that they don’t care.
This is but the tip of the iceberg for what is tantamount to intellectual property theft across many industries and many companies are probably of the opinion that it is better to ask for forgiveness as opposed to asking permission, which can tie things up with negotiations and additional costs. This is where time can be spent cynically releasing a product or article and it achieve a level of notoriety giving it further reach, when any kind of legal process kicks in and a swift retraction (sometimes) saves cost and face. Whilst some IP theft, copyright encroachment or use of material is done purely to drive sales (more on this later), there is an argument to be made for some businesses doing things out of a nostalgic admiration or love for something a brewer or owner grew up with. We can see the threads of this with many breweries across the world, with notable breweries producing beers with obscure pop culture references, nods to songs, nods to a whole swathe of 8 bit computer gaming and with a handful of UK brewers to wrestling. There has also been some internal churn with breweries accidentally converging on names which fit with the each of the breweries’ standard nomenclature, but one getting there slightly earlier and then issuing requests for cease and desist on the use of said name. Names like Mutiny on the Bounty, Black Ops and Yellowbelly have all fallen foul of such situations in the last decade. That situation just appears to be unfortunate happenstance. We reach the realms of creative things converging in terms of what people produce, some things creep into existence through a subconscious bias. There are countless examples of music that has been written arriving at the same melodic end point; see for example Manic Street Preacher’s ‘If You Tolerate This…’ with The Stranglers’ ‘Duchess’, Lana Del Rey’s ‘Get Free’ with Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ (which in itself can be said to borrow from The Hollies’ ‘The Air That I Breathe’) and Elastica’s ‘Connection’ with Wire’s ‘Three Girl Rhumba’. Beer and brewing are pretty creative industries; owing to recipe development, marketing approach and ever increasingly, strong artwork or imagery placed on small package containers and pumpclips. It is inevitable that there would be overlap and occasional congruence with products. Being completely sensible, it is probably best to err on the side of caution in most things and do some research or ask permission, even if an idea or homage comes from a place of genuine affection. Granted it is not always the case that the parody, riffing, amendment or homage comes from anywhere other than a ruse to ‘make a quick buck’. As we’ve seen on occasion, it can really take an unpleasant turn. That said, there are some businesses that have made encroachments, seemingly out of a will to get a rise from owners of an idea or IP, which is where things get very cynical. Any trouble following on, is probably deservedly invited onto an offending party.
But we still have to ask, is it ever okay to do something from a place of admiration, even love, to promote a product without consent from the owner of the IP? Pedro.
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I recently fractured a finger in an accident with a taxi’s door. It wasn’t pretty, off work for a week with a heavy sprain, broken bones and massive laceration needing strong antibiotics, painkillers, four stitches with heavy strapping – a lot really for such a small appendage. On returning to and then leaving the Royal University Hospital for a change of dressing and check up on my mangled digit, I travel past some old hunting grounds of Liverpool University on my way to get a bus (cheaper and easier than parking by the hospital) home to get my car for work. On this occasion, I noticed that there was a bus route that dropped 30 seconds walk from my house, so opted for that in the interests of getting back home and onto work a bit quicker. Right next to the bus stop, the old foyer entrance to the Guild of Students was now a Starbuck’s Coffee house. The layout has changed a lot in that building since I last frequented it, whilst working for a University start up company some 13 years ago. It got me thinking about something that I had thought about on the odd occasion a few times before, but never quite as acutely. Why is that space a Starbuck’s?* Why shouldn’t it be something local, something independent and something just a bit more interesting? Shouldn’t the University be looking to work more closely with the local community for business opportunities? * or A N Other large-business franchised/chain space, in the context of this piece. Obviously, the answer is money. As it often is. Universities have suffered repeatedly from funding cuts over the last few decades and despite combinations of sky-rocketing tuition fees, research grants and selling off some family silver (land/other University owned assets) they are struggling. Giving up space for rental to franchised business is a solid revenue stream and (nearly) everyone who attends, teaches or works at a University needs caffeinating at some point. The revenue streams from the rent can always have a heftier margin when the taker is a multi-national franchise that won’t baulk at a big overhead even for small profit margins. It’s an easy win for the University and the franchise. Hypothetically though, couldn’t a well-run local independent take this space and still run it under a sustainably suitable profit? I suppose that’s a question for the bean counters and those who would be willing to gamble with such a business proposition. Putting some rosy tinged goggles on and picturing things in an ideal world, shouldn’t an institution such as a University be looking to be more community minded? They often like to talk of being embedded in the community or culture of a city, which provides the living space, social environs and other bedrock of amenities that life as a student (or academic) requires. Would an institution such as a University providing space for a local business owner to sell their coffee, tea and other sundries to students not be a revenue stream but also a tangible action on this statement of being part of a community? I know that this is something of a departure from the beer-talk usually covered on these pages, but there is some transferable application here. The only time I have been aware of a University bar (promoting community) installing local beer was when Melwood Beer Company installed handpulls at the Liverpool University’s Sphinx Bar located in the Student’s Union. It would be good to see more of a commitment from community institutions such as Universities, investing a bit more in local product. Showcase the best of a city or region by buying from local producers and expose them to the students, many of whom are visitors to the city from across the country and many from beyond the UK’s borders. Okay, so the beers present in Student’s Union bars are subsidised let’s not forget, with most University bars selling Carling, Carlsberg, Guinness and the likes of Worthington or Tetley Smoothflow or occasionally something a little more interesting. They are sold at a discounted rate (back in my undergrad days – showing my age, I paid £1.10 for Carlsberg or, when I saw the light in the student hall’s bar I would go on to be assistant manager of, £1.40 for a pint of Lowenbrau). These days, you can pick up a pint of Carling for £2 in the University of Liverpool Student Union, with a pint of the Sphinx cask ale at £2.40, which is not a massive discrepancy. The margins at which macro-brewers and distributors operate probably mean that realistically, the local beers wouldn’t get a look-in and psychologically that 40p adds up to a lot when you're on a budget and you're drinking quantity. The need to provide cheap beer is strong, especially with the current University age generation tending to eschew alcoholic drinks as a trend compared to previous generations. So there is a need to make beer and cider attractively priced for those that are not teetotal and being students, on a limited budget. The lines at these premises are probably tied to a distributor too, twinned with the fact that if the contract the University runs is worth over a certain amount, it can potentially come under a framework agreement (they have to award a fixed term contract to a company or number of companies, who will have the monopoly of supply over the term, unless they breach said contract… or something along those lines) meaning the smaller companies won’t get a look in from that angle either (being unable to supply the quantities big contracts demand, at least at the expense of other custom). This kind of scenario also affects local sports teams. Whilst it might not be the purest example of a tie in to local, the pairing of Tottenham Hotspur with Beavertown is a case where a sports team/business has looked to source something locally and anecdotally from speaking to Spurs fans I am acquainted with, it works and is very welcome. The prospect of being able to sink a neck oil or gamma ray before the match instead of something fizzy, yellow and vaguely ‘beer’ flavoured, works well for a lot of match goers. But the Beavertown/Heineken buyout thing aside, wouldn’t it be excellent if every rugby club (league and union) and football league team had a commitment to invest and source producers locally? Especially those with a distinct regional identity, independent and locally owned.
Locally on Merseyside, Glen Affric Brewery have beer being sold at the Tranmere Rovers Fan Club Tent, but not actually within the football ground. This exposure has definitely had some input in increasing awareness of locals and match goers to the fact they have a brewery and associated taproom on their doorstep. Whilst this association is not an ‘official’ one in regards to a link with the football club, it has anecdotally given a boost to the brewery according to co-founder Craig McCormick. “Whilst we have had some beers in the Tranmere ground on one occasion, the uptake of our beers at the fan tent has really given some extra footfall to the taproom and people do recognise the brand and what we have on offer. Whether the level of success we have experienced could be much greater by actually having our beers in Prenton Park is anyone’s guess!” Visitors to any city or region often have a thirst for the unique experience that place has to offer, sports tourism is massive and refreshment is a major element of that. Being able to drink or eat something produced locally not only invests in the community being visited, but provides a sense of place. Would visitors be so ready to have a break in a location with the ubiquitous character as their home town or another place they have visited? Let’s face it, drinking a latte and eating a pre-packed cheese sandwich in one branch of a chain coffee shop is much the same in another branch, regardless of where you are in the UK. Granted you know what you’re getting and it often saves having to do much research when you just want a coffee, but it’s all rather soulless. Despite playing devil’s advocate in a business sense here, surely there is some mileage in ‘community minded’ institutions departing slightly from this model and giving some kind of opportunity to local businesses? If they wish to extol their credentials as some kind of active participant in a community, they need to put their money where their mouth (and property portfolio) is. Pedro. It’s been a roundabout trip for Terry Langton from Love Lane to the Albert Dock, but his current (dis)position finds him again cooped up in an historic Liverpool brickwork structure creating drinks for discerning adults to enjoy. The bar is due to open its doors to the public early February, due to a number of delays which have meant missing the Christmas deadline but Terry asked everyone to be reminded that the best things come to those who wait, given a rushed opening would not leave the quality impression he wishes to be associated with. Terry began his journey (as covered in this blog: [http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/blogs/the-rise-of-liverpool-craft-brewery]) with Liverpool Craft Brewing as a joint venture with Paul Seiffert (now at Black Lodge/Love Lane) before the company was sold for investment and growth (and a name change to incorporate the brewery’s flagship beer ‘Love Lane Pale’ as the brand rather than a product), he also helped set up the initial incarnation of Black Lodge before eschewing the beer for developing his own brand of Gin, Vodka and bitters under the guise of ‘Turncoat’. The Turncoat project is very much a grassroots and family orientated business, with wife Jo and other family members such as Jasmine (the new Bar’s Front of House) mucking in at events and at the office/distillery. But its inception wasn’t plain sailing, despite Terry’s experienced hands: “Everything has had teething problems, EVERYTHING!! Though realistically speaking, you cannot expect to open such a large bar in a Grade 1 Listed Building without hitting some bumps in the road. It does feel like anything that could go wrong in the lead up to getting things rolling, has indeed gone wrong. It has been a tough journey, but the team behind both the bar and the distillery have performed really well to get things going in the right direction. We also have a great Landlord and the supply chain for the bar is based locally, which makes getting the support we need so much easier. It’s been quite a humbling experience to have received so much good will and support from people, the bar will be a really positive step to take for the distillery and Turncoat’s journey. Hopefully it will be a roadmap in becoming a major independent distillery and business in Liverpool.” When asked about why he felt that Turncoat needed its own licensed premises, Terry was very clear about why they have taken this route: “I think we have a quirky message that we’d like to communicate. We’re not corporate or looking to brand jump on any bandwagon. We’re a group of passionate people who don’t take ourselves too seriously, but do take our output in a serious fashion and a great deal of pride in it. The product itself, the Gins especially, we’re proud of. Having a bar will enable us to get behind them and communicate what we’re about in a clearer manner. It feels very personal too, having a premises in such a prestigious location and being able to showcase an array of local beers and spirits. Since 2010, all the projects that I have been involved in have received support from other local bars and independent outlets, it feels great being able to pay some of that back into the wider scene. Having grown up in Liverpool though the last few decades, I have seen first-hand the change that the Albert Dock has undergone (from its dilapidation and disuse in the early 1980s, through to the regeneration and integration/link up with Liverpool One) and it now being a major tourist attraction in the city. Being a lad from Toxteth and being able to start something independent which is able to support other local and independent businesses is great, it does feel that we are taking back a piece of the Dock back from corporate holdings for Liverpool, which is a good thing for putting a stamp on the local heritage. We do love the tourists that come into the city and the best way to make them welcome and give them an experience is to provide a ‘real Liverpool’ and all the creativity it holds. Having local support for this is absolutely essential too and that’s definitely what we wish for.” Terry is also very clear of the regard he holds for the Landlord of the site, who seems to espouse the same wishes for a local and independently dominant presence in the city to encourage character and community. “JLL are amazing, we’ve been working with them for a year and given Turncoat an opportunity of a lifetime. It is really refreshing to be on the same page with our outlook on the business climate and how to contribute to that. We can’t ask for much more.” Terry does miss making beer, but not at the expense of the distilling which now takes up his thoughts. The focus on detail whilst managing logistics and other elements took up a lot of his thoughts, but he remains quite philosophical about any kind of return:
“It’s nice to mix things up, I do keep promising to do a collaboration brew and make some beer again, but I never seem to find the time to arrange it. I think the elements I most miss about brewing are the details in a brew day, having a fermentation vessel full and ready to start its journey to becoming beer whilst the smell of hot hops and sight of a clean brewery that’s ready to go again the next day are massively rewarding too. It’s a very satisfying process when you nail things right and I do miss that feeling. Currently, I run around like a headless chicken whilst our Head Distiller, Joanne and our warehouse manager, Rolf, take the brunt of production work. I am looking forward to the bar being open and getting back to being involved in the production side of things; the predictability and the order reminds me a bit more of brewing and distilling, whilst I feel I’m currently wading in chaos!” The bar itself is slated to be stocking the obligatory Turncoat range of Vodka and Gins, along with the array of bitters they produce. There are also rumoured to be other local spirits taking their place on the back of the back along with some bespoke specials produced by Turncoat especially for the premises. There will be 15 different lines of craft beer present at the bar, along with a healthy number of fridges readily stocked with an array of beers. Terry has suggested that we prepare for beers from the likes of a lot of local favourites and Siren, Lervig, Magic Rock, White Hag along with more continental gear and by virtue of their existing collaboration, some beers from Purity Brewing. “We have also installed, at great cost and by no small feat of logistical magic, a massive Gozney Wood Fired Overn, ready to be smashing out pizzas all day and night. We will of course be focussing again on local ingredients whilst twisting things around a Neapolitan style. If that wasn’t enough, the bar will also be doing Afternoon Tea (with Gin), Prosecco, cocktails and of course, normal tea. There’ll be an on-site bakery for the pizza dough, cakes and sandwiches too. Finally, there will be a ‘snug’ in the bar, where we can allow for groups to gather or for meetings to be held, I expect to be hosting a lot of tasting events in there too." ---- Site opens to the public Friday 7th February 2020. I know I can’t wait! Pedro. [some photos provided by and copyright of Turncoat] Puffed out cheeks accompany a long exhale when I ask Dominic Hope-Smith if he thought that Carnival Brewing would ever reach this stage. It’s been a slow burn for both him and Adrian Burke in getting Carnival into permanent premises with a fixed kit to call their own, located between the ‘Ten Streets’ area of Liverpool and its central business district. Evidently the trials and tribulations in setting up a brewery are not all based in finances and building a steady network of customers, logistics and luck play their part too. Timing can be everything, the right time and place with the right network and right recipes can be make or break a fledgling outfit. Dom’s response is somewhat weary but tinged with a hint of an optimistic tone and no shortage of surprise... “Nope! I still can’t quite believe that we are doing this. It is slightly surreal when you consider that it has been an ongoing project for so long, taking in lots of twists and turns along the way. It sounds pretty obvious, but we both really love craft beer and the culture surrounding the industry. I have been a keen homebrewer for a few years now and at one point Adrian (the other half of Carnival Brewing’s founding team) tried some of the beers I made, he suggested that I should start making them a bit more widely available. From this point, Carnival Brewing was formed.” The early days of Carnival also saw Dom’s homebrew touted to bar staff and select guests at Liverpool’s 23 Club, with high praise heaped onto the homebrewing duo and their wares. The follow up to this initial buzz was sadly and heavily delayed (as alluded to above). There was participation in the first Liverpool Beer Week with a pre-launch event at Hard Times and Misery (now known as Dickens and King). This in itself was followed with a trickle of keg and cask beers to local bars such as Pi on Rose Lane and central Liverpool favourite, the Grapes. These were the only clues as to Carnival’s activities before the news broke that they had found and procured a site from which to base their operations. Ade and Dom first met at the Clearview Charity Carnival in Mossley Hill in 2016 via an introduction from a mutual friend, the grease to the wheels of the relationship was Ade spotting Dom’s Flaming Lips tee shirt; Dom suggests that his attire at the time is probably what made Ade form a positive opinion of him initially. I was lucky enough to appear on Beernomicon’s Podcast during the Summer of 2019, chatting about the second Liverpool Beer Week. As part of the Podcast, I was joined by Black Lodge’s Rob Tuffnell and both Ade and Dom from Carnival. Dom was very upbeat about the opportunities for beer and brewing in Liverpool and contributed well: [https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/beernomicon-lv-liverpool-beer-week/id1130929820?i=1000444035776] This was not his first foray into broadcasts either, appearing on BBC Radio Merseyside in promotion of the Mossley Hill Beer Festival earlier in the year and conveying a message about beer to a wider and possibly less informed audience on matters of brewing and craft beer/real ale. Things have now progressed for the Carnival team since the broadcast and ground was finally broken at the new Carnival brewery site in October 2019. This in itself was not without difficulty; the aforementioned tribulations of setting up a brewing outfit for Carnival included some practicality issues for brewery infrastructure, but thankfully ones that were not insurmountable, as Dom confirmed: “Originally, our scheme was supposed to take shape in South Liverpool and this had to change for a number of reasons. We then stumbled onto Unit 3 not far from the city centre and decided that it could provide us with the perfect blank canvas for our vision and ideas. The process so far has been excruciatingly slow and has involved some pretty complex lease negotiations, planning issues and dealing with licensing. Add the technical difficulties of the build to the mix and you get quite the cocktail. The build has been difficult but steady in all consideration and it is certainly the most challenging thing I have done. We have worked with R2 Architects who are based just off Hardman Street in Liverpool and they have helped us create a phased scheme, providing us with a large enough area for our current brewhouse and tank farm with the ability to respond to capacity growth requirements. We also have quite a substantial cold store, a great bar space, new toilet facilities and the foundations are in place for a mezzanine should we push for that.” In terms of brass tacks, the brewery kit itself will be 16 hectolitres in size (four fermenters and a carbonation tank, with some additional kit coming in the new year), therefore the aim is to be capable of an output of 3,000 litres of beer a week. The brewery has a taproom attached to it, which is expected to evolve over time in keeping with the status of the brewery, the beers and other factors. The Taproom will be opening soon, with the opening hour being Thurs-Fri 4m to 10pm, then Saturday 12pm to 10pm, Sunday 2pm-8pm. Dom conveyed his excitement further about this space: “We are going to be community focused, so expect a variety of cool events, pop ups, art shows, live music and food-orientated events. We are planning to host regular nights with local music promoters to bring artists to a wider audience. As you can tell, music is pretty important to us and we’re having it as central feature along with the beer! The part of town that we are based in is not currently known as a place for night-life, so we’re aiming to inject some life, promote a safe and inclusive environment and animate it with good happenings." So what beers can we expect from Carnival?
“Our tasting room has 12 keg lines and two cask lines, we are aiming to get these flowing as quickly as possible. We’ve got some special releases saved ready for launch, including a robust porter called Transmission which will be on cask. Our Imperial Stout, Moose Stack, which has been quietly maturing in oak barrels with toasted coconut should be ready along with kegs of our session pale ale (All Clouds Are Silver) and some cask Macau (a cream pistachio pale ale). We’ve yet to decide on what beers will be first to go on our big kit, so you’ll have to watch this space! Trades lists will probably be ready to go out shortly after Christmas in time for New Year deliveries and we’re also buying in a range of used spirit and wine barrels to kick off a barrel-aging programme in earnest.” What do you think the next five years holds for brewing in Liverpool and specifically with Carnival? “I’m really excited about the future of Liverpool’s scene actually. It feels like we’re gaining some momentum, with the increase in the number of independent bars, pubs and restaurants in the city, the outlook is positive. Seeing the likes of Bundobust, Honest Burger and Albert’s Schenke to name a few pitch up with a really good beer-orientated offer is great; especially as they want to work with local breweries to stock their beers and integrate with the local scene. We have big ambitions to thrive in our new site, create great space for people to meet, relax, enjoy great beers and music. There is more to it that just that though, but I’ve got a few ideas and tricks up my sleeve that I’ll keep to myself for a while longer!” Carnival Brewing and tasting rooms are now open and welcome to accept customers in this unexpected gem of Liverpool’s waterfront. --------------------------------------------- Many thanks for reading everyone and sorry my output has been a little sparse (a lot sparse) recently... but we do have another article coming soon! Cheers! Pedro. There has been some turbulence in Liverpool on the beer scene of late; another black-armband moment late in the year added to the angst that many already felt with a slice of beery bedrock being pulled from under them (admittedly, myself included). Thankfully the void, whilst not totally filled (and may never be in the case of both Mad Hatter and 23 Club) has left some oddly-fertile uncertainty for a few new breweries to begin trading across Merseyside from West Lancashire. Step forward Clay Brow Nano (they have been bottling their beer for just over a year), Conch Brewing, Uncanny Valley and Brooks Brewhouse. All four are relatively small outfits, brewing mostly bottles, cask and generally less frequent kegged offerings. Visibility is also quite low at the moment, given that they are all relatively new and feeling their way into the market place (for example, Brooks Brewhouse has had cask beers on at the West Kirby Tap, but to my knowledge, none has made it across the water into a venue in Liverpool). That said, this takes the number of breweries in the Merseyside region up in no small measure; variety is the spice of life and it is always good for a drinker to have some new ideas ready to try on the bar. So what will these newcomers be bringing to the pumps? Read on. Brooks Brewhouse Based in Hoylake, Brooks is a very small outfit producing what seems to be bespoke orders (mostly in bottle and only by request in cask) for the local market; hence the lack of any visible marketing or presence on the northern side of the River Mersey to date. The brew kit is described on their website as a nano-size (up to 3 barrels per batch), with test batches brewed to a meagre 20 litres and only brewed up to 200 if proving successful. The beer range for Brooks appears to be a spread of traditional British and some newer American styles double dry-hopped IPAs, early grey infused IPA, a Porter, best bitter style and English IPA all appear on the website. The brewing roster appears to show some reverence for older styles, but a willingness to enter the fray on newer hoppier and experimental adjunct styles. Sales from the brewery appear to be only to trade for the time being. You can check out more information on the brewery here: [http://www.brooks-brewhouse.co.uk/] Clay Brow Nano Another small operation based in Skelmersdale, Neil Parkin set up Clay Brow Nano follow a decade long affair with home brewing. Currently at half a barrel in size, an expansion is in the offing, with Neil looking at maybe expanding to a 1 barrel brewery the middle of 2019. Neil states: "It took me a while to Design and build my wooden structure in the garden (some would call it a shed) to house the brewery, but following encouragement from friends and family, I eventually got there. My Ales are bottled mainly and I have just started racking into cask during last November and December, which so far is having very positive feedback from customers". Upon asking Neil where his beers would be available whilst noting he had a bit of a thing for darker hued ales, he responded: "Currently, I have two firkins which are heading for Prospect brewery's bar (Editors Note: This was last December), Beer Central in Wigan in 2 weeks time which i can not wait to see on there bar. Yeah, I have a bit of a thing for stouts and dark ales, though I do also enjoy a decent hoppy IPA. About 20 years ago I stumbled across a mobile travelling Theakston's Bar; a few pints of Old Peculier later, that was me hooked on dark ales! I am planning to brew a few more stouts next year and to bring my two NEIPAS, Juicy Lucy & Zulu, back out in March for drinkers to enjoy. At the moment, I really want to push the notion that a stout is for all year round and not just for the Winter, I want to change the perception that some like to think it is only a cold weather style." You can follow Neil and Clay Brow Nano on Twitter, here: [https://twitter.com/Clay_Brow_Nano] Conch Brewing Mike Petersen is another homebrewer turned professional on the scene, with the 200 litre kit at his disposal, he has been steadily producing some very interesting pale brews. I asked what styles he predominantly expects to be putting out in the near future and what dispense we as customers can expect to see: "I've only been brewing commercially since July 2018, and my first batch was an 'Imperial' 8.3% stout that went out in 330ml bottles. I have since then brewed a fruity New England style IPA at 6.8%, which again went into bottles at 500ml with a small keg for an event at Cathop Beers. Since then I've brewed an Old Ale for release late season 2019, a massive 16.8% impy stout which was brewed in collaboration with Clay Brow and Neil Ashton at Cathop Beers (we all love dark beers) - I'm really excited about how that brew is going to turn out! I've also brewed a more traditional 5% Porter which is aged with bourbon oak, it debuted at a taster event at Craft Taproom on Smithdown Road in Liverpool but it will also be on cask and bottle in very limited amounts elsewhere. Planning ahead, I'm ruling nothing out. I do love big beers like the Old Ale and the Imperial Stout, so there will be loads more of that in various styles. I do Love dark beers, so stouts and porters will always be on the menu too. I'm a big fan of British Beer and historic beers too. Obviously not macro-produced twig-water clones, they're an abomination to me to be frank, but I really love barley wines and Old Ales and would Iove to put a spin on some old recipes that I have found." Upon asking Mike about dispense style and whether he had a prefence, his retort was: "Whether the beer ends up in cask, keg, bottle or can doesn't matter to me. But I currently don't have any facility for canning. There's something magical about beer and wood, so Barrel aging, Brett and sour tradional styles are 100% on the horizon." In terms of inspiration and motivation, Mike replied to be asked about what drove him to brew: "I'd been home brewing for a long time, so it was just a natural next step in a way. I brewed to make beers that I couldn't buy from shops, as back in the day it was a lot more limited in the bars and shops compared to where the market is at now. Brewing commercially was a long held ambition, but I'd always had this belief that it wasn't viable without a lot of investment and total career change. The thing that changed my perception was when I read a blog about a guy in Manchester who set up a nano brewery in his bedsit; eventually expanding it into his shed. A bit later I met others who had set up in a similar fashion and guys like Ivor who used to run Bridgewater brewing supplies. Meeting these others who'd made the cross over to commercial brewing from small beginnings was really inspirational too; guys like John Marsden at Melwood in particular. One evening late autumn 2017, I just sort of decided I'm gonna do it and get brewing commercially. Within two weeks I'd bought a second hand rig, I sort of had to crack on with making beer then! I then probed a bit further by asking Mike what sort of beers he really liked drinking at the moment and how he felt about the market becoming increasingly saturated with competitive products: "This time of year I'm getting stuck into big dark beers. I have been drinking some DIPAs and NEIPAs too, though most of them I'm picking up at Cathop Beers and drinking at home as I'm a dad to two boys and don't get out a while lot these days! In terms of the competition and getting a foothold, it holds no fear for me, partially due to my size and the fact that I have a full time job beyond the brewery, there's no pressure on me to sell huge amounts. That means I can just brew with a focus on quality rather than profit and as a result, I feel able to take risks and experiment thus have a bit of fun; I'm hoping that will be coming across in the beers. " Finally, I asked if there are there any other unique or interesting facts about the set up or remit as a brewery with Conch: "With my latest beer Im giving 100% of the profits to Claire House Children's Hospice. I'm hoping maybe I can encourage other local brewers to do a bit of the same, but in any case this is something I'm gonna do again." You can follow Mike and Conch Brewing at: [https://twitter.com/BrewingConch] Uncanny Valley I caught up with Uncanny Valley's Ged Courtney and asked him for an overview of Prescot's new and only brewery and the about waves he plans to make in the local area with his beers. "The brewery is tiny by comparison to most in the area, I'm only operating on around 200 litres, so approx. 1.2bbl per brew. At present I brew a West Coast IPA (Icarus), a single hop Pale Ale (Electric Dreams) and a Milk Stout (Event Horizon). I have plans to add a NEIPA and a Berliner Weisse at some point, but I think I need a bit more practice on the sour side of things before that becomes available to the public! At present the beer is available in 330ml bottles and on Keg (Eco or Key Keg depending on bars preference). I've currently no plans for cask beer, but I'd never say never, especially given the mini-revival we're seeing with some breweries making a return to the dispense. I've always been a big food and drink nerd and have always wanted to make things 'from scratch', over the years I've had a number of life consuming hobbies but home brewing was the one that stuck. I started making beer on the kitchen stove and when I brought some sample bottles into the various craft places I used to drink, they were always complemented - I think that gave me the confidence to push onward. After a few too many drinks in Hard Times and Misery one night, I decided I'd see if it was viable; lots of internet research later (and a great series of articles by Carbon Smith) led to me getting permission (from HMRC, EHO and my fiancé) to turn my one car garage into a fully licensed and authorised brewery. Having seen the likes of Top Rope also coming through on similar set ups gave me the confidence that it was at least possible." In terms of what he likes to drink at the moment, Ged was quite forthcoming: "I enjoy most beer styles but at the moment have a real love for juicy NEIPA and Pale Ales. There will always be a place in my heart for the bitter, resinous West Coast hop bombs that still got me into craft beer though. I think most probably that DEYA's Steady Rolling Man is a great example of the beers I most like to drink at present." So what does the future hold for Uncanny Valley? "I'm in a very fortunate position in that brewing is not my full time job and I own the premises where the brewing takes place. The competition is immense at the moment which is a credit to the quality of the local beer scene. That said, producing four kegs and a half dozen cases of bottles per run is a lot easier to shift than the volumes of beer needed by the bigger guys who've got wages and rents to pay. Keeping a stock of products is tricky at my size, but equally I suppose I can be more flexible with my brewing rota. I'm essentially brewing on a scale that would be most brewery's pilot kit." You can follow Uncanny Valley further here: [https://www.facebook.com/Uncanny-Valley-Brewing-Co-605765986541387] Tyton Brewery
A 'big' name for a small microbrewery, Tyton Brewery based in Ainsdale, just outside of Southport are another new set up to keep an eye on for 2019. Tom Anderson, who developed his craft brewing in the former Wapping Brewery set up underneath Liverpool's Baltic Fleet pub has taken on kit formerly used by another Sefton outfit, 3 Potts who ceased brewing around a year ago. Tom informed me that the viable brew size is 480 litres, although the more likely standard brew size will be 250 litres in terms of consistency. Tom also said: "There will be three core beers to start; Tawny (3.8% Amber Bitter), Morepork (4.2% NZ Hopped Pale) and Western Screech (5% US IPA). Initially these will all be starting off in cask and will eventually be moving to bottling and kegging products, that will hopefully be within a few months. The brewery going forward will be based on a good backbone of reliable standard ales and a wide range of changing experimental beers, including Lemongrass, Kaffir Lime, Habanero Sorachi Ace Hopped pale inspired by Thai Cuisine. Brewing appeals because it allows for both creative thinking as well as a strict set of rules to go by. There is always something to learn, and it is always challenging." In terms of what got Tom's creativity flowing and what he enjoys from other brewers, he was very definite about what he likes: "I've been really into sour beers for a long time, Suggestions Tropic Thunder being a personal fave, as well as a lot of Dank heavy IPAs. For Tyton going forward and how it will sit in the market, I feel I'm happy enough to enter into a big market at the moment. The size of my kit is a small drop in a huge ocean of others. I'm happy and confident that good beer made with love and purpose will always win. In terms of beer nomenclature, all the beers are inspired by, and named after owls. It's kind of a tradition thing between me and my dad. We're both kinda obsessed with all things Strigiformes!" You can currently follow Tom on Twitter: [https://twitter.com/morporkiwi] You can ask yourself the question over and over again, you can ask it to friends or colleagues, to a number of people from any given city across the UK and you will likely get some overlap with quite differing answers every time. What makes the city you like in like nowhere else? There may be some overlap, obviously the people and their influence on a city's make up, then there's the geography, links to transport nodes, weather and other environmental factors (water chemistry and quality for one). These may be the more holistic answers you'll get, but what about the same questions, but in terms of a local beer and brewing scene? Does each major UK city really have a distinct identity that sets it apart from the others? Each city now, does have festivals that punctuate the calendar of many ardent beer enthusiasts; equally they have some stand out bars or pubs along with one or a few 'headline' breweries. With the rise of 'beer tourism' (heading to a city for a week trip to try out it's most prominent drinking establishments, taking in heritage pubs and brewery tours in along the way, along with the obligatory feed) it means that social media and blogs across the internet are awash with articles and posts signalling that we are away for a weekend and indulging in locally brewed beers which might normally not reach other parts of the UK. The rise in popularity of certain types of festivals has been interesting, with some giving validation, that certain cities with rich heritage and a population to sustain such a venture, to the notion of a beer week. Having visited many of these cities myself, wandering the bars and searching out local beers which I do not normally get on Merseyside, each does have its own charm and hotspots - but does that mean each city has a unique outlook on beer, something 'je ne sais quoi' when it comes to providing for indigenous drinkers and tourist visitors alike? It's not a question with a straightforward answer or a straightforward argument to be made either way. The best approach I could render was to ask several bloggers, beer enthusiasts, writers and brewers to sum up in some of their own words what makes their back yard so different from other cities; does an intrinsic facet to their beer scene make it reverberate above in what is a pretty noisy background? Consider the brewing heritage of Germany. A country that has some entrenched attitudes towards beer and brewing (see the Reinheitsgebot for example, effectively eliminating adjunct brews from being classified as 'beer'), but it also have some distinct behaviours and brewing habits attached regionally. Traditions are a given, from Kolsch in Cologne, sour and cloudy Berlinner Weiss in Berlin, Gose from Leipzig and the Helles and Weizen brewed in Bavaria, there is some strong identity within cities and regions in terms of their heritage. On the face of it, the UK by comparison is much less orderly, with Burton upon Trent being heavily associated with brewing and associated with hoppier ales due to it's access to an amenable water chemistry, whilst London has a fairly strong link to brewing Porter ales, beyond this the scene and heritage seems to be pretty well mixed, even moreso following the last decade's influence on UK scene from across the Atlantic. Before we get down into the detail, ever so kindly provided by contributors, I do have a caveat - I have asked for contributions from some of the more prominent cities around the UK; there may be some gaps, but please do not take that as a snub. This article is not meant to be a compendium to cover every corner of the UK and more of a manageable piece of musing from myself with aid from others! If you wish to fire thoughts on your hometown onto the readership, please drop a comment in below. It would be good to hear additional thoughts. Birmingham First up, We head to the midlands and to Birmingham, a city not often spoken about as a conventional beer destination, but maybe some words from Midlands Beer Blog contributor, Catherine Webber will change that for you: “I moved to Birmingham 12 years ago and the beer landscape has changed beyond all recognition in that time. The big change came here, I think, with the opening of Brew Dog. That was 2012….. Since then we’ve seen an exponential rise in bars in the city and surrounding areas serving great beers as well as bottle shops and breweries. I often hear people talk or see comments on social media that Birmingham is the poor relation of some other UK cities and that there’s nothing to come here for. I couldn’t disagree more. Yes we might not have a high concentration of bars all within spitting distance of each other as some places do but we have quality here and unique spaces like Tilt (pinball anyone?) and Clink (yes it really did used to be a custard factory). We have cosy places like Cherry Reds (what’s better than beer and rainbow cake?!) and we have great, award winning, breweries like Burning Soul (they won the Thirsty Games at last year’s Indy Man, plus Rate Beers’ Best New Brewery in the West Midlands). You can eat good food and drink local beer at Pure Bar, DigBrew Co and Indian Brewery. We’ve one of the best cask line ups in the country at The Wellington (great in the summer on their outside roof terrace too). We’ve got some exciting new friends coming to join our beer family in the shape of Head of Steam, Pint Shop and Thornbridge who are all opening this year. We’ve also recently added Bonehead to the food and beer line-up – a small but interesting bar serving some pretty stunning fried chicken in the upstairs restaurant. And don’t forget under the railway arches in Digbeth we’ve one of the best burger places in the UK (the world?), Original Patty Men, who partner with Siren for their beers and have just opened the new 15 tap Kilder Bar next door serving both local and international beer along with tasty meat and cheese boards to snack on.
Also a short train or a bus trip away are The Inn on the Green (our CAMRA pub of the year) and its neighbour the excellent Bottle Shed which provides both beer on tap and a large range of interesting bottles. Nearer to the city is the Jewellery Quarter which is making a real come back in the last year – we now have The Pig & Tail, 1000 Trades, Rock and Roll Brewhouse (surely the quirkiest taproom ever – they play vinyl!), The Wolf and The Gunmaker’s Arms (now home to Two Towers Brewery) as well as the aforementioned Burning Soul. Again all within a 5-minute walk of each other. I think this is what makes our city a little bit different, we may not have the high concentration of bars in the city centre like some other places but we have these unique and different enclaves within and around the city allowing people to visit a number of places in a day and sample a great range of different beers both from the source and the wider world. We also don’t seem to shout about what we have as much as other cities, whether this is because we are slowly building up our repertoire or because we don’t want everyone discovering our hidden gems I don’t know. But as our profile increases with more festivals (Birmingham Beer Week, Cotteridge Wines’ Birthday and Lock & Key this year alone) and more publicity for our breweries I think Birmingham is going to be a big hitter in the UK beer scene. Of course there is room for more, I feel we could do with more good beer and food places (or for existing food places to do better beer) but I think our new openings this year will help with that. I also think a bottle shop near the station would be a great addition – doesn’t everyone love a train beer? It also does seem a shame we didn’t get a ‘Birmingham Tap’ when the station was revamped – still Cherry Red’s, Bonehead and Brew Dog are only 2 minutes away. Our community may not be big but as Shakespeare said; “and though she be little she is fierce” - we are slowly getting better at shouting about our city, its bars, bottle shops, festivals and breweries! So look out UK beer scene the Brummy Bull is coming for you!” You can follow Catherine on: [https://twitter.com/cathw1901] Photos courtesy (and copyright) of Catherine Webber. Edinburgh Taking the reins for Edinburgh, we have the Bottle Baroness herself, Robyn who runs a fine establishment with her other half, selling beers to the denizens of Edinburgh: Despite my living in Edinburgh for over 10 years now, I can firmly say that I think it’s one of the most wonderful cities in the world. I’ve by no means seen all there is to offer in the UK, but I’ve seen enough to know my preference for this city, both in terms of living and what it has to offer. Edinburgh has a unique layout, winding streets and closes meet modern architecture in a harmonious way that’s quite particular to this bit of rock. One thing that is always noted when we have visitors is its ease of access. You really can walk from one end to the other and find an abundance of beer related activities within the city limits. Not too big, not too small. Just right. There’s no need to get two trains, a taxi and walk ten minutes in order to reach your favourite haunt.
In terms of what there is to be proud of, well…the possibilities are endless. Edinburgh is certainly the hub for craft beer in Scotland, with an ever-growing community to lend the backbone. Shops, pubs and breweries are popping up left right and centre with no real end in sight, solidifying the fact that there is a real demand for good beer here. People are flocking here to work, live and experience this city for what it is- a completely unique location. Edinburgh thrives off independent business; Clerk Street – where we’re located - is a perfect example. Artisanal coffee shops, bakeries and the likes have saturated our streets and it’s a brilliant sight to see. This has aided to putting us as a city on the map in terms of beer. Countless independent retailers and bars have made a name for themselves nationwide and dare I say, internationally, not just within Edinburgh. Beyond this, I think it’s the people that have really put the edge on when it comes to likeability. I’ve long lost count of the amount of wonderful people I’ve come to know not only working within the beer industry, but also those that keep this business booming - the customers. That certainly must count for something. Whilst I think Edinburgh is perfection if I had to choose, there’s only one weak spot when it comes to making Edinburgh the perfect city; breweries. Whilst Scotland itself has an abundance of craft breweries, Edinburgh has few and far between. I think this mostly boils down to building standards and high rates, rather than them being non-existent. There are a handful within the city limits, but I’d love to see more within this ‘accessible’ region I’ve spoken of. Pilot, Campervan (who have opened their own tap room) and a few others have made their mark here but I’d love to see more pop-ups in the next few years. If I could drink a number of breweries wares on their premises as fresh as possible AND make it home in a timely manner, I’d be one happy girl. You can follow Robyn here: [https://twitter.com/Bottle_Baroness] Photos courtesy (and copyright) of Bottle Baron/The ElectroKemist Glasgow Rob Pickering (Robsterowski) kindly provided his thoughts on what makes Glasgow different: “Off the top of my head there are three things that strike me in distinguishing the Glasgow beer scene. They are all related too, though they might not seem to do so at first.
The second thing that stands out is that Tennent’s is the best beer you will get in some of the city’s best pubs. Don’t get me wrong, I do love an “old man” pub, or pub with character (especially as I get closer to being an old man myself) and we have plenty of excellent examples up here. Sadly, there isn’t a connection – as there is elsewhere – of the best pubs serving the best beer in Glasgow, as often you have to choose between them. In Glasgow, I find many of the places with the most interesting beer (not to single any one place out above others) don’t have much atmosphere, which is a shame; losing quality in one aspect to gain another is disappointing. In the 1960s we actually lost a lot of handsome pubs during the slum clearances and I do wonder whether this might be part of the reason for the situation the city now finds itself in. The third point about the scene in Glasgow is the way that a rather vibrant small-scale brewing scene exists despite the dominance of the beer discussed above, they really are producing some very good beer. Annoyingly, it is still very underground in that there are hardly any outlets in the city for it. We are well served with good bottle shops which carry the latest from brewers such as Up Front, Lawman, Dead End Brew Machine, Gallus, Out of Town, Ride … I could continue, but almost nowhere in the city will you be able to drink their beers on draught, which is deeply frustrating. I have known some of these guys since they were homebrewers and it has barely got any easier to find their beer! I would say the most needed improvement would be to get better beer into the nice pubs…” You can follow Rob here: [https://twitter.com/robsterowski] Photos courtesy (and copyright) of Robbie Pickering, Gaynor Doyle and Kirsty Morgan Leeds Luckily, I was able to get two contributions on the city of Leeds and given it’s prominence in the North and rich brewing heritage, it is only fair; we have contributions from Simon Girt (Leeds Beer Wolf) and Gareth (BarrelagedLeeds). Simon says: “There is always an argument between Manchester and Leeds as to who is the best beer city in the North and each does have its own case, however, Leeds is one of the best beer cities in the UK for various reasons. Manchester may have the breweries, but for me Leeds has the edge with its bars and pubs.
However, Leeds had to wait till 2008 until it gained the next independently owned 'craft beer' destination, this being ‘Brewery Tap’. A few years later, in 2012, Friends of Ham followed the forerunner onto the Leeds scene and since then, Leeds has developed a reputation for thriving independent venues. This for me is what makes Leeds so great.” You can follow Simon here: [https://twitter.com/LeedsBeerWolf]
A benefit and also a drawback in some respects, is that Leeds is a compact city – great for a pub crawl (the one and a half mile stretch between North Brewing Co and Northern Monk Refectory must be one of the most densely beer-focused places around) – but it also leaves a sense that soon, any available room for newer operators may be at a premium. Expansion of the city centre is being fuelled by larger developers and unlike Newcastle or Liverpool, there is less in the way of brownfield areas ripe for re-use within a short walk of town.” You can follow Gareth here: [https://twitter.com/barrelagedleeds] Photos courtesy (and copyright) of Simon Girt (Leeds Beer Wolf). Liverpool Sadly, I’ve not found there to be too many writers available in my home city of Liverpool (though the other writer that I was looking forward to using – as her output is very good – has managed to damage herself and not be available to contribute), so you’re stuck with me, Pedro: “Liverpool as a city has always had a bit of a different attitude in most things compared to the rest of the UK, this in part has been to a number of things; the burden of former importance, the hostility and prejudice directed onto the city, some defensiveness borne of that projection and being an outward looking port city all have played their part. Oddly though, for a city that historically was a major gateway to the rest of the world to the UK and Europe from the New World, it does not seem to have the rich brewing heritage of some of its northern counterparts. In part, what has been accomplished recently has been built from scratch with no little talent and passion. Historically, big names like Cain’s and Higson’s flew the flag for Liverpool, though with the latter dying out in 1990 before coming back into existence in 2017 and the former falling apart just as the rest of the scene was kicking into life for Liverpool, the scene has been pretty disjointed albeit quite colourful, with small breweries such as Cambrinus and Passageway coming and going down the years.
The majority of drinkers go to pubs and bars and settle for beers made by conglomerates and big breweries, rather than searching out and supporting their local brewers, which is a very stark juxtaposition to their often-obvious civic pride. There are great pubs in Liverpool and a handful of excellent taps and craft beer bars, the likes of Dead Crafty, Ship and Mitre, The Grapes and Black Lodge are backed up by a bedrock of a few older city centre pubs still providing good cask options such as the Belvedere, the Lion and Roscoe Head, not to mention a new wave of bars and taps over the last year in the form of the H1780 Tap and Still, Glen Affric Tap, Craft Minded, Handyman Pub and Brewery, Gibberish and Craft Taproom. All these places are quite close too, a quick bus journey to Smithdown Road just beyond the city centre or a train under the Mersey will take you to the outreaches, whilst everything else is within walking distance of each other. The Northern line provides quite a good corridor for micropubs too, taking in Crosby, Formby, Freshfield up to Southport to the excellent Tap and Bottles. There is plenty of space to be exploited in the city, plenty of unusual spaces to be exploited, but again it just feels like there is veil or an erratic nature to the whole scene where things could change at any moment. It’s tricky to know what Liverpool needs to take that step forward, as it does feel like it is playing catch up in a lot of ways to many other cities, but there is a huge amount of latent potential in the scene and some very talented brewers present. For me it feels like a few things are needed; everything needs to be let off the lead in terms of creativity, though there are brewers and those venues in the city getting there but also, there needs to be greater support from the wider population in terms of getting into good beer (again though, I suspect this is not a unique thing for Liverpool!). In a lot of ways, it is a fledgling scene on Merseyside, but one which is slowly but surely growing into itself.” You know where to follow me! London Very kindly, PJ McKerry and Rebecca Pate have stepped up to cover our nation’s capital city; no meanfeat given the geography and scope I am sure you’d agree. First up, is Rebecca; “Looking at East London specifically, we have a wonderful co-existence of traditional boozers and contemporary taprooms. With the enduring popularity of craft beer and evolving tastes of drinkers, Hackney has plenty of authentic neighbourhood pubs contented to stock local breweries. I must mention The Cock Tavern, a local institution that carries a keg selection to rival any modern craft beer bar in addition to their first-rate cask line-ups – and if you haven’t been to The Cock, it has a uniquely dingy charm that taprooms just can’t replicate. I recently drank in The Hare, again in Hackney, which is distinctly the type of place I wouldn’t normally visit based on my personal ‘if I can’t see through the windows, I’m not going in’ mantra. But they had Beavertown’s Neck Oil and Five Points Pale on keg comfortably sitting next to Timothy Taylor’s Landlord on cask and a pub cat, so I was swayed. Aside from the boozers, Hackney Wick boasts the on-trend craft beer destinations, such as Crate Brewery, Howling Hops, Mason & Company and now the Beer Merchants Tap Room, all clustered across a small radius. There’s also the original Mother Kelly’s site in Bethnal Green, which was my first taste of a New York style taproom. Expect industrial-chic in abundance alongside your 3/4rd of beer in most of the aforementioned venues. This is indicative of an area of London that’s balancing the new with the old; traditional pubs are offering cask, for instance, but don’t expect to see a hand pull in a taproom. The ecosystem of drinking establishments in East London is probably reflective of what is happening everywhere – I was in Cambridge last weekend and drank across the dichotomy of traditional pubs, flashy craft beer bars and tiny brewery taprooms, all within walking distance of each other. But the lack of choice when it comes to cask beer (particularly cask that’s kept and served appropriately) is felt in East London as much as it is in the rest of the city.
My own perception of drinking and appreciating beer was dramatically altered because of London’s breweries. London offers plenty of destinations for a manageable beer pilgrimage these days, from the Bermondsey Beer Mile to Tottenham and, of course, Hackney Wick. I firmly believe that nothing beats drinking fresh beer underneath a railway arch inside a crowded brewhouse. It feels intimate and personal. With over 100 breweries alone – notwithstanding the craft beer bars popping up in every neighbourhood – there’s a lot to see in London, but I would advise visitors to do some due diligence to avoid the overcrowded taprooms of the more popular breweries. Some breweries have thrown a lot of money into shiny new spaces, which are fantastic for events, but my love of drinking at clumsily positioned communal beer tables within eyeshot of a fermenter tank will never wane. That’s perhaps the most authentic experience of craft beer in London that you can get (and if it’s raining, consider this the premium experience).” You can follow Rebecca, here: [https://twitter.com/rpate] Here’s what Peter had to say: “What makes London unique as a beer city? Well, in the UK context it's its size and composition. London can be regarded as a series of villages, each one with its own sense of identity. I've always lived in the east or north of the city and was based in Stoke Newington, a somewhat bourgeois enclave of Hackney, for many years. I embraced my adopted community and was on particularly good terms with the proprietors of my local off-licence, boozer, and kebab shop. I was primarily a drinker of Guinness and bland lager and only beginning to explore cask when the British brewing renaissance (™) began in earnest. It was an exciting time with Pressure Drop, Beavertown and Five Points et al all beginning to assert themselves and attain local shelf space. That these breweries producing punchy, flavourful beers were all based in my neighbourhood was amazing to me, and I'm sure others have similar testimonies from elsewhere in the capital. Fast forward to the present day and my current home, which is Hornsey in north London (literally referred to as Hornsey Village, albeit mostly by estate agents). My local, a mere five-minute walk away, is the Fuller's-owned Great Northern Railway Tavern, which boasts twenty taps from the country's finest breweries. I also live within walking distance of the triumvirate of Small Beer, The Prince and The Duke's Head, all owned by the same small company, and each one among the best beer pubs in London. The capital boasts 110 breweries (at the time of writing), a number that is a testament to its size. It has it all: from the UK's first dedicated tank bar (Howling Hops) to regular tap takeovers of a major cultural institution and even a nascent a lambic blendery. So could London be improved as a beer city? Well, the issues that hold it back are the same issues that affect the entire country: cold storage and transportation, the treatment of cask ale and most importantly the lack of diversity. However, as a beer city measured against all others, I personally believe that in a UK context London is as good as it gets.” You can follow Peter McKerry, here: [https://twitter.com/PeterMcKerry] Photos courtesy (and copyright) of Rebecca Pate. Manchester Taking the reins for the Manchester entry is Connor Murphy, the man who has put together Manchester Beer Week: “I believe Manchester acts as an intersection between history and innovation in a way no other city in the UK can match. In the Greater Manchester area, we are in the unique position of having four family brewers still plying their trade, the oldest of which was founded in 1828. This is a situation that isn't replicated anywhere else because so many of the UK's traditional family breweries either ceased trading or were swallowed up by bigger breweries during the spate of mergers in the mid-20th century. So this has provided the city's beer scene with a historical reference point and, perhaps more importantly, has ensured the cask beer tradition stayed alive among drinkers. I, like many people who grew up in Manchester, gained my introduction to beer through pubs owned by the four family breweries, so this provided a grounding in cask beer that acted as a starting point for me to explore the craft of brewing in a bit more depth than most people. But while Manchester has always paid healthy respect to the innovators, a desire to be positioned at the cutting edge is also a common cultural thread in this city. The people of this city have always liked to think they do things differently - Tony Wilson famously said words to that effect - so it seems to make sense that many modern breweries have thrived here, using the platform laid by the family brewers but exploring new ideas and increasingly pushing the boundaries.
.I'm really proud of the role Manchester has played in helping to move the UK's beer scene forward. Marble were one of the key innovators who provided a bridge between British tradition and a bold, experimental approach influenced by the US craft beer movement. Beers like Lagonda and Pint are modern British classics. Marble are still at the forefront of the brewing scene but have now been joined by the likes of Cloudwater, Track and Chorlton, who are helping to keep the city at the cutting edge. None of these breweries are afraid of challenging perceptions and adopting new ideas to ensure their beer keeps developing and improving in quality. But behind all of this, there remains an inherent respect for tradition and this is important too. If we lose our links to history, we will lose many of the characteristics that make British beer so unique and respected. In order to make things perfect, we could do with more venues doing great beer AND great food. There are a few that get this right but definitely not enough. That's why Bundobust was such a welcome addition to the Manchester scene as they instantly provided a food offering that was on a par with their outstanding drink offering. GRUB are doing good things too in presenting the best of the region's street food alongside a bar stocked with an excellent range of beer, mostly from across the north. But Manchester's restaurant scene still seems quite risk averse when it comes to beer - they either don't know how to approach changing their beer offering or are unwilling to break from established practice. Given the amount of superb beer being brewed on our doorstep, it seems ridiculous that restaurants don't put the same thought into their selection as they do the ingredients in their food.” You can follow Connor here: [https://twitter.com/likethemurphys] Photos copyright The ElectroKemist. Newcastle This section on Newcastle is being described by Daisy Turnell, who not only works for Head of Steam in their marketing department, but also runs Craft Beer Newcastle (an independent guide to bars, bottle shops and events the city): So, what is it that makes Newcastle a unique beer city compared to the rest of the UK? Hmm... that’s a tricky one to answer, but I like a challenge so I’ll give it a go. I put it down to the great balance of three main factors; places, people, and pride. First up - places. From the moment you step off the train at Central Station, you’re seconds away from an eclectic mix of pubs and bars; The Box Social, Head of Steam*, Town Wall, Tilleys Bar... the list goes on. Wander up into town (Lady Greys, dAT Bar, Bierrex), down to the Quayside (Crown Posada, The Bridge Tavern, Red House), or up to the Haymarket (Town Mouse Ale House, Mean Eyed Cat), and there is always an array of options for a great pint. And I’ve not even mentioned the two things that probably get the biggest wow from newcomers to the area; Wylam Brewery’s new home, and the Ouseburn. Ah, the Ouseburn. Lovely, lovely Ouseburn. Free from the madness of a city centre, and all within staggering distance of each other are a group of pubs, which have my heart. You ask why? It’s the unpretentious mix of great beer and people, cosy pints and folk music on tap at The Cumberland Arms, watching bands with a great beer in hand at The Cluny (the best independent live music venue in the UK. Don’t argue – I’m right on this one), and drinks with friends in the (albeit rare) Newcastle sunshine in the beer garden at The Free Trade Inn. I must have a hundred photos of the view of the Tyne from there, but it still doesn’t stop me feeling like it’s the first time I’ve really appreciated it every time I’m there. Nostalgia overload, people. Moving on, the nostalgic old merges with the exciting new in the city in a way that seems quite unique to the UK beer scene; the Wylam Brewery cask beers I poured when I worked behind the bar back in the early noughties still exist today, and is now complemented with the 2.0 version keg and cans, and the most stunning brewery location in the UK (again, don’t argue – it is). Brewery-wise, there’s a fantastic range for a city this size (alongside Wylam there’s Almasty, Anarchy, Box Social, Errant, Mordue, Northern Alchemy, Tyne Bank, Brinkburn Street and many others). Did I mention there’s also a brewery inside Newcastle University? Nope? Step forward, StuBrew. There are so many more to mention, but time to move on to something relatively new – bottle shops. Pretty much every key area of the city and surrounding areas now benefit from having a great bottle shop, usually run by people who know and really love their beer, and always go that extra mile to help customers at every stage of their beer journey. Block & Bottle, Champion Bottles & Taps, Coppers/Hop Secret, Nord, CentrAle, Rehills, Yard House... we really are spoiled here (especially me, as I happen to live 2 streets away from one of those).
Finally – pride. An overwhelming pride for so many people from different backgrounds to come together and share their passion of beer and pubs in the area. We’ve got a dedicated magazine, Cheers North East, Toon Idols beer bus tours, beer-based podcast (NE Sippin Forecast) and Brew Stories, too everyone supporting each other and working together on events and projects. I set up Craft Beer Newcastle to try and share everything happening in Newcastle, and it keeps me mega busy in my spare time trying to catch up with it all. Not that I’m complaining, as it’s great to have so many people get in touch about what they’re doing and planning next. So, what does the future hold for Newcastle? Exciting times! There are some amazing new projects being worked on (looking forward to the Northern Powerhouse collab.), plus other collaborations with brewers across the UK and beyond, pop-ups at festivals, tap room openings, new bars (Mean Eyed Cat has just opened, and Beeronomy is next up from the guys at Mordue Brewery), plus a new local beer delivery service has just launched from Brew Stories + Coppers in Gosforth. So many people are working on pushing boundaries and creating new ideas to keep us at the forefront of all things beery (and meaty, in the case of Block & Bottle, who are just over the bridge in that there Gateshead, but most definitely form part of the Newcastle beer scene). So now I’ve wittered on about how great Newcastle is, want to see for yourself? Come and visit for a weekend (*cough* tickets are on sale now for Craft Beer Calling in October *cough*). Oh, and if you’re reading this Virgin East Coast, this is my plea for you to get some decent local beers on the train coming up North. Thanks in advance. *Disclaimer: in my day job, I work for Head of Steam HQ. But it’s also where I’ve drank for nearly two decades, so it’s on my list and it’s staying there. **Disclaimer: I wasn’t born and bred in Newcastle, so there’s my excuse if you ever meet me and I’m awful. You can follow Daisy here: [https://twitter.com/daisy_turnell] Photos courtesy (and copyright) of Daisy Turnell. Sheffield Taking responsibility for describing Sheffield is Jules Gray, co-owner of Hop Hideout and Director of Indie Beer Feast in the city, her words are as follows: Each city has its own equilibrium and uniqueness - with Sheffield it is definitely the balance of being a city of makers, little mesters if you will; independent business that allows it to thrive and be such a hotbed of exciting and creative endeavours. It's an outdoor city where countryside meets city living and I think this is carried through in the beer landscape. Where you'll find countryside farm breweries like Bradfield to industrial situated concerns like Neepsend or Kelham Island next door to nano-breweries like On The Edge. There’s not a one-size fits all in this city it’s very idiosyncratic. Tradition meets modernity seems to be inherent. Cask ale dominates slaking the thirst of locals and those who travel to tick round areas like Kelham Island in addition to a number of local cask leading breweries like Abbeydale who are adding new styles such as kettle-sours, canning and kegging beers from their range or young breweries like Lost Industry who focus on big experimental flavour combinations (and package in keg and bottle). It's a naturally evolving beer landscape without the sudden sharp spikes. There's a great range of independent beer led businesses with their own personality - Rutland Arms, Shakespeares, Hop Hideout beer shop, Beer Engine and more. To beautiful tiled historic pubs with real character like The Bath Hotel or The White Lion, Heeley. There’s modern takes on craft beer bars like The Old Workshop, a flurry of micro pubs and a couple of brewpubs too like The Sheffield Tap and Sentinel Brewhouse. How does Sheffield fit with the rest of the UK? I'm not really sure, all I know from people's comments is that its interesting, creative, friendly, welcoming, good quality beer offerings and reasonable prices. We might not be pushing any boundaries (though that could be argued!) but we are building a sustainable scene. There's rumours of a new brewery opening soon which has a very interesting back story! Wish I could say more, but my lips are sealed; what I can say is that I'm excited for the potential of an international leading brewing light shining a beacon from Sheffield shores. I think Sheffield's sometimes forgotten about in certain beer stories, so setting up Sheffield Beer Week was a way to beat our unison drum and tell our own story. I think in the desert of the 90s Kelham Island Brewery via their Fat Cat pub really held the mantle and kept the candle going to inspire many others along the way. Thornbrige were one of those who received words of wisdom from Kelham's Dave Wickett and though they brew in the neighbouring Peak District, have many pubs in Sheffield and are themselves now a leading light in the UK craft brewing scene and around the World. I'm also hugely proud of Sheffield Beer Week - it's been going roughly four years and we always try to forge our own path. This year we celebrated women working in the beer industry as one of our key strands and I was hugely proud of being able to shout about that - The Rutland Arms hosted a brewsters tap takeover and we hosted Ladies That Beer and Fem.Ale collectives to put on tastings. There was a collaboration pomelo kettle-sour brewed at Lost Industry called Emmeline (inspiration from the Suffragette movement) and Mark Newton exhibited photos from his Yorkshire Beer project all around the city too, each with a different focus. Sheffield can really bring people together and I think that climate is unique and beneficial. This year was the first time I organised an independent craft beer festival - a huge amount of work but I was so happy to see 100s of people enjoying the beer at Indie Beer Feast. I think the next few years in Sheffield are really going to go on fast forward and I’m hugely excited at what’s coming from all the talent in the city. Making Sheffield a perfect beer city? That’s a difficult one! I think as it is, it's a great ale destination. I personally think there could be more variety in terms of styles and countries covered in the daily beer trail - but I absolutely love Belgian beer, culture and lambic, so that's swaying my answer. It'd be great to see more beer and food winning combinations - you have a good few trying with Beer Engine's tapas, Rutland Arm's small plates, Devonshire Cat's take on pub classics, Sentinel’s cooking with beer but I think there could be far more places really pushing the boundaries. But wine and spirits always seem to win over some of the foodie places rather than beer. It's a shame. I’m not saying do one or other, I’m just saying if you’ve really put a huge effort into the food menu and wine offering, why not the beer selection too? With the huge varieties of styles and flavour beer can offer some superb food pairings. You can follow Jules and Hop Hideout here: [https://twitter.com/HopHideout] Photos courtesy (and used under copyright) of Mark Newton. ---------------------------------- Thanks for reading, as ever, if you have any comments or think there’s something to add about your city (if listed above, or even if not present…) then please drop a comment in below! Pedro. We’re hurtling towards Christmas now… it’s all too close. But before you make too many plans for nights out and about around Liverpool city centre, have a little read of this. There are quite a few new places that are now open, or about to open their doors in time for a proper knees-up. Most of them are supplying more than a fair share of really good beer too! Scroll down and see if anything gets those festive thirsts tickled… Craft Minded Craft Minded is the brain-child of Gareth Kellett and friends, looking to bring a hefty slice of craft beer sensibility to the Cains Brewery site. Whilst there are some decent beers on offer at other locations, the Baltic Triangle is still rather patchy on what is available. The Baltic Fleet, Black Lodge, Constellations and to a slightly lesser extent Baltic Social, have been flying the flag for craft beer and real ale without much baseline support beyond the odd bottle of Mad Hatter finding its way into more coffee orientated establishments. Gareth’s background in the hospitality/service industry will no doubt stand him in good stead when it comes to the crunch time for Craft Minded. At time of initial writing, the venue was undergoing some serious interior works, with articulated seating areas, a six-line keg bar and an array of fridges around the bar area all slated to make an appearance. Throw into this the lean-to at the rear of the premises in the old boiler house of the brewery and there will be a kitchen area, storage and conveniences leaving room to free up more seating. The area around the old boiler house has also rather brilliantly been allocated to the plot, meaning potential for outdoor seating and expansion for Craft Minded. The full long term stock is yet to be confirmed for Craft Minded, but expect a mix of local craft beer in keg and bottle alongside some of the more nationally minded brands that have been making waves in the UK, thanks in part to the influence of Crosby Beer Bottle Shop on Gareth’s infectious enthusiasm for good beer. The launch saw the six keg lines taken by two local collaborations with Craft Minded, Wylam’s Jakehead IPA, Mad Hatter Fat Stout, Brass Castle’s Bad Kitty and Chapter/Fourpure’s Roadside Picnic sour. The bottle fridges were full of goodies from Vibrant Forest, Wild Beer, Wylam, Sweetwater and many many more. Craft Minded is now open, from 1pm on Saturdays until 1am, with other hours as per their website. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craftmindedliverpool/ Gibberish The scene in Liverpool seems to move in a very jagged and erratic fashion, rather pertinently as this round up article shows (with five new significant locations for beer enthusiasts to get onto). The city can go through a relatively quiet period with little changing for a few months whilst a few rumours circulate and then things either go very quiet, or pop into life. This period is certainly the latter for Liverpool. Since Gareth Matthews announced on Twitter his intention to leave Mad Hatter Brewing Company to pursue a new project, Gibberish has managed to get some beers together ready for a launch sometime at the end of 2017 or possibly in January 2018. Gibberish is Gareth’s new project and will be taking off in the Baltic Triangle area of Liverpool. The former site of Mad Hatter’s operations on Caryl Street (before their shift to the Liverpool Waters area) will continue to host brewing by day and in the evenings, will become a fully-fledged brew tap. This tap will get on with selling cask and kegs beers, which Gaz can rule with a vice like grip to ensure the beers are served as he would want (given the shift away from cask by Mad Hatter a few years ago, simply due to being at the mercy of outlets). The remit of Gibberish is simply to make interesting beers based on ingredients with good provenance where possible. The name of the new one-stop-shop for beer is linked partially to the madness of Gareth’s brewing and also to some of the pretence that Gareth feel surrounds the scene at times. The brewing itself will likely be as it was in the early days of Mad Hatter, with a cornucopia of hoppy and strong pales, Belgian influenced yeast monsters and an array of sours and saisons, with a fair old space present Gareth is also considering room for a meadery in the corner of the brewing premises to offer further interesting facets to Gibberish’s output. The thinking behind Gareth’s new venture is that whilst Mad Hatter became successful on the back of the weird and wonderful, this brewing project can focus on smaller batches with more expensive ingredients and still work due to being sold on the premises. Gibberish is set to launch from the evening of Thursday 14th December, though there is no word on permanent opening hours at the moment. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GibberishPub/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GibberishPub Glen Affric Taproom It may seem like quite a lonely and awkward location for a tap room, but the Lightbox units in Birkenhead are actually rather accessible by own vehicle, public transport and on foot. Located overlooking the Birkenhead Mersey Tunnel (The Queensway Tunnel), Glen Affric’s premises have grown ever more impressive as time has passed. A ten minute walk from the Wirral Line station, Hamilton Square, will get you there to sample some of their beers at a rather reasonable tariff. The Glen Affric Tap opened mid-November 2017 and is still in its relative infancy, but the work that has been put in really does make it seem that the team are quite an old hand at getting this kind of thing together. Well laid out seating areas, booths with USB ports, 8 keg lines (7 for Glen Affric’s own brews and one guest line) along with a couple of fridges for other stock are talking points for the tap room. Build in bespoke fashion, the whole installation is a testament to graft and upcycling of palettes of wood, reclaimed furniture with flourishes of newer elements and some obligatory brushed steel surfaces. Glen Affric are currently pushing their core range on the taps, but as time goes on, they intend on having some more diverse beers present coming through the lines. As well as their current kit, the brewery has a larger set up waiting to be plumbed in and also a smaller kit ready for pilot and experimental brews. Glen Affric will be looking to get up and running with off sales too in the new year, with a number of set backs on their own canning line kit, they will look for alternative solutions and likely have canned beer such as their Payload Pale, Highland Suntan and Lazy Haze good to go at some point in early 2018. The Glen Affric Tap opens on a Saturday from 4pm until 10pm, but they are opening up on further evenings in the run up to Christmas (at least Friday to Sunday) to enable patrons a chance to try some locally brewed craft keg beers. It is quite easy to lose a few hours in this tap, being strangely relaxing given its industrial setting outside and in proximity to very shiny brewing kit inside. Web: http://www.glenaffricbrewery.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlenAffricTap/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlenAffricTap Higson’s Brewery (aka H1780 Tap and Still) Since Stephen Crawley (formerly of the MD Caledonian Brewery) bought out Liverpool Craft Beers and acquired the Higson’s Brewery intellectual property, things went a little quiet in terms of what was actually going on with the two brands. Nuggets of information dropped out at the Liverpool Craft Beer Expo approximately 2-3 years ago, with a suggestion (now seemingly confirmed by the website branding) that Liverpool Craft would shift into its most famous moniker with ‘Love Lane’ (the site of the former Liverpool Craft Beer brewery premises) and the Higson’s brand would be coming back into the consciousness of the city it departed in 1990. Though the Higson’s brand came back briefly thanks to Liverpool Organic Brewery circa 2010-12, none of the beers such as ‘Double Top’ came back into mainstream production; only the best bitter and stout made the roster. Now it seems that the team behind Crawley are going to make the brand a force again in the city it once called home, along with a distillery (Ginsmiths) and the Love Lane brewing (a ‘craft beer’ arm to Higson’s) in the new Higson’s Brewhouse on Bridgewater Street in the Baltic Triangle. Bookings are being taken at the moment for tours and for tables (they are planning on doing food at the tap house too) and information is gradually trickling out all the time. A Twitter account for the H1780 brand and for the tap and still have come online recently, along with an announcement that the brewery will be open from 16th December to the public. Luckily, I had a few questions for new MD, Stephen Crawley that he kindly answered: Though this has been on the boil now for some time, what made the company think now was the time to bring Higson's back? Did they feel that there is a place for another 'traditional' brand given the shift in interest to newer and more innovative brewing? I genuinely believe the time has been right for some time! – BUT to try and rekindle this brand in a really positive way that looks forward and genuinely give it the best chance of success has sadly slightly longer than we hoped – but that is in the past now and we are really excited by the future! Liverpool is the UK’s 6th largest city and it does not have a brewer of a regional scale…. E.g. Manchester and its environs has JW Lees, Holts, Hyde’s and Robinson’s and some high profile craft brewers. We’re proud of the innovative past that Higson’s has and it does not preclude brewing modern drinkable brews that the city can be proud of! We do not see Liverpool as traditional, though there would be an opportunity if we did, as Liverpool does not have a traditional brewery – But I wanted to ground Higson’s in an urban setting and build something that could be seen as a real outpouring of confidence in the modern Liverpool and deliver 21st century beers! So, what was the thinking behind buying out Liverpool Craft Beer, when Higson's could have been a stand alone brand? It was going to take time to build the new brewery and the guys at TLCBC bought into the dream of building something that aspired to regional scale and they had a site they could not afford to develop in Bridgewater Street. It was going to be a much stronger proposition to add Higson’s to an existing business and it gave us time to plan whilst talking to pubs and drinkers about Liverpool and plan what we were going to create, get planning permission and so on. Higson’s we suspect will not be a big seller in the UK outside ‘Greater Liverpool’ whereas Love Lane will and does already sell further afield… I genuinely felt we would be a stronger business with the Love Lane and Higson’s! I notice that there is going to be a shift from Liverpool Craft Beer to 'Love Lane' for all the beers made by the former - does that mean Liverpool Craft Beer will be consigned to the past once that rebrand is completed? Not necessarily – but we have Love Lane, Higson’s, H1780 Tap & Still and The Ginsmiths of Liverpool to get moving and we feel that is enough for now – we will revisit TLCBC when the dust settles. Essentially though we have lots of positive traction with bars and drinkers with Love Lane over the past 12 months. Will any of the old Higson's beers be making their way back onto the market - e.g. beers like Double Top? Never say never – but as you asked earlier – is there an opportunity for Traditional? But who would have though Pabst lager could have become a retro sensation in USA amongst the craft beer phenomena. I noticed the first beer out of the traps is a lager - I assume that the Higson's Best and maybe the Liverpool Stout will also be coming back, but are there any other plans for developing a core range? We wanted to get the lager right – not easy to produce – and we are very happy with where we are with Higson’s Pilsner. The next two products will be cask and we are excited by the response we have had to the prospect of two new Higson’s cask beers that will be very drinkable and sit nicely on the bar as an alternative to National brands. Higson’s Best and Mild were beers that polarised opinion – we aim to make our first two cask beers that Liverpool can be really proud of. At the brewery/still - is the tap room going to be open all week, or is it just going to be a weekend? We have invested a considerable amount of money in our new home. The brewery, distillery and our offices will share the site of our Tap & Still and be called H1780 Tap & Stll – a nod to the past – but proud of the future. We have wanted to create an ‘urban home’, a home that could easily be on the east coast of America, a home that is not polished concrete, chipboard and grungy but timeless and well invested with lots of original brick – a colour scheme running throughout and lots of steel. We look forward to hearing peoples reaction – but we hope we have built something that is a real positive statement of modern Liverpool. So, are there going to be any other exciting interactive elements for the public with what Higson's are doing? I think a new home, new Higsons beers, Love Lane, new gins from The Ginsmiths of Liverpool, 3 bars, a well invested kitchen, a tasting room, tours, tastings and events are probably enough for now. We have lots of other ideas – but we will focus on the above for now! Another interesting development in the Baltic Triangle means, more than ever, the area is a draw for those seeking a night out, interesting venues and options for the discerning beer drinker. Web: http://www.h1780tapstill.co.uk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/H1780-Tap-Still-122976508413774/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TapandStill Tank Room To my knowledge this is amongst the first ‘Tank Beer’ outlet in Liverpool and for the moment, the one of at least three (Porky’s Ski Hutte and Haus being others). Whilst most places that indulge in dispensing Tank Beer in Manchester and Leeds have gone with Czech brand ‘Pilsner Urquell’, Tank Room has selected the Slovak brand ‘Krusovice’ as its lager of choice. The bar is located on the site of the former Cain’s Brewery and is currently rubbing shoulders with the Dock Leaf and Bedouin at the rear of the main former brewery building, by the canning hall. As the site goes from strength to strength (with the food hall and its numerous pop ups and central bar, Ryde café, Alhambra, The Brewery Tap, Kiosk, Dock Leaf and other new addition the Old Gas Station at the North end of the site), competition is going to get quite fierce and only time will tell how each of these bars will play to their strengths. Tank Room is quite a sparsely kitted out space, rectangular in shape, with a bar at the top end away from the door, two tanks of lager above the bar (with blackboard stating date of tapping) and a heavy blue paint adorning all the walls it’s not the most warming of places. There is plenty of seating and standing room and if you’re not keen on lager, there are a few other beers and other beverages to satisfy one’s thirst. Maltsmiths and Lagunitas IPAs are present on draught, along with Orchard Thieves draught cider, Guiness and Amstel. The fridges are a bit more inspiringly stocked, with Yeastie Boys cans, Liefmans and Mongozo bottles also present. Curiously, they also stock the IPAs in bottles, which seems a little like a waste of space where there is room for some more diverse beers. There are also wines and spirits available for other drinkers; the gin selection looks reasonably competent at first glance, though it is likely that local brands will find their way onto the shelves at some point. Tank Room opened in November this year. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetankroomliverpool/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/tankroompool In other news… in the run up to Christmas There are a number of events and launches amongst those mentioned above, here are a few things to put into the calendar! Black Lodge Brewery – 2nd Birthday celebrations, Thursday 14th - Sunday 17th December from opening until late close. Expect loads of great one-off brews, music and plenty of food and good fun. Tap and Bottles Biscuit Brew Off – Saturday 16th December, from 5pm onwards. Local collaboration project with six new collaboration beers, flavoured themed on biscuits! Neptune, Chapter, Handyman and more making the beers! The Dead Good Bottle Society – Dead Crafty Beer Company, 7pm Monday 18th December. Top Rope Brewing’s Ben will be taking people through another selection of bottled brews. Tickets now available at Dead Crafty.
Dead Crafty Christmas Quiz – Wednesday 20th December, 7pm. £5 ticket for the quiz, includes a mince pie and a beer with great prizes to be won! Connoisseur Ales – Tap Openings. Every Saturday before Christmas from 12pm until 10pm, beers on cask draught and bottle packs available for off sales. ---------------- Pedro. Some of the images are used from the venue's/business's social media feed and with permission. The copyright remains with them. The second event held in the relatively new branch of Head of Steam in Liverpool saw wares from Stone Brewing hit the keg lines in October. Following on from the launch of the venue and the Neptune Brewery Meet the Brewer event, Arrogant Beers (a brewing arm that split from Stone Brewing in 2015) came to the Head of Steam to promote four of their rather powerful beers. The beers range from the Little Bastard (a 4.7%), the seminal Arrogant Bastard (7.2%), to the Double Bastard (11%) along with an 8.1% spiced milk stout, Xocoveza, but more on that in a bit. The Little Bastard is a toned down version of the (in)famous beer that Greg Koch and Steve Wagner stumbled upon in the mid 1990s, although only 4.7%, it does carry a lot of the character that has made Arrogant Bastard the milestone beer that has spawned many tributes and inspired many a homebrewer to take the plunge into the professional pursuit of brewing their perfect beers. Just as with Arrogant Bastard, this little Brother has plenty of caramel and resinous character of the American Strong Ale; it isn't an easy drinking session beer as there is still a high level of complexity and depth, plus a big residual finish doesn't lend itself too well to a chugger of a beer! The bigger brother, Double Bastard, is much in the same vein as it's lower abv counterparts; lots of big flavours, lots of complexity and a huge malt character along with the big alcohol presence; loads of nutty notes, pine and dark dried fruit along with the caramel notes mean this is a proper after dinner sipper. Xocoveza is frankly, the most elegant beer of this lot and for me, the most accomplished. Anyone who can make a spiced beer palatable on the level of Xocoveza knows exactly what they are trying to achieve and how to do it. Allegedly at 50 IBUs, it is much more bitter than most beers in the style of a mocha stout would be, but the residual sweetness from the lactose and spicing means things are incredibly round with this beer, not only in mouthfeel, but in the finish and early structure too. Notes of vanilla, nutmeg, chilli and cinnamon meld incredibly well with the chocolate and coffee notes present in the beer and this really is something to savour, especially on a cold winter's evening with a dessert. After the tasting, I managed to catch Brand Ambassador, Will France for a quick chat about Stone's presence in Europe and about their impressive beers: Hi Will, can you shed a bit of light on why Stone chose Head of Steam to push out their range? Stone Brewing Berlin has been working with a whole cross section of bars across the U.K. since January 2017 to host our events and tastings, from Scotland to London and everything in between. It's been a lot of fun! The tap takeover with Greg at the Three Johns was a highlight as well as the Berliner launch at Port Street. We also did an event at the Tate which was AMAZING! The event at Head of Steam was in support of their new great outlet in Liverpool city centre. We have a great relationship with all their venues across the UK so wanted to give something back by running a tasting. So, how come there's been a bit of change of branding from the usual Stone Brewing to 'Arrogant Beers' for these events and for the beers on Untappd etc? Good question the Arrogant beers now fall under “Arrogant brewing”. The Arrogant Bastard has a personality and mind of his own and a cult following, so it was only right to give the Arrogant range its own platform to develop separate from the Stone Brewing range. We brew Arrogant Bastard Ale and Little Bastard Ale in Berlin and we also make available alimited amount of other beers in the Arrogant range from the US such as Double Bastard &Arrogant Bastard Bourbon Barrel Aged. We decided to use the Arrogant beers at the event at Head of Steam as they are quite a rarity here in the UK and it’s fun to explore the different Arrogant beers side by side. Bearing in mind they've had a launch in Liverpool now, will Stone look to engage a bit more with the local craft beer scenes in each UK city; and linked to the next question, is there a danger of Stone being seen as 'too mainstream' to be stocked now in these places? So far we've been working with local bars and retailers in most of the major cities in the U.K.,including some amazing festivals we've been lucky to be part of such as the recent Beavertown Extravaganza and upcoming Edinburgh beer festival, but yes we'll be continuing to do this, and have lots of exciting stuff planned across the country over the next few months. A big part of our plan for next year is to get involved with the local events in each city. Stone Brewing has been at the forefront of craft beer since 1996, focusing on quality andinnovation and challenging style guidelines. Our heritage and reputation means we appeal to a whole range of bars and retailers, and we have an amazing range to choose from, from our classic west coast IPAs to our collaboration and experimental beers from our 10HL brew plant in Berlin, as well as rarities shipped directly over from the US. With Stone Brewing making inroads via Brewdog bars and now being present in many UK supermarkets, do they think they'll become ever more mainstream in UK pubs, becoming maybe as ubiquitous as Heineken, Stella Artois and Carling etc? We don’t have a masterplan to become as ubiquitous as the macro brewers, but we do plan to grow organically and work with a whole variety of bars and pubs we know care about beer and will serve it in the best condition possible. Ultimately craft beer is becoming more widely available to consumers, meaning more people can get hold of better beer which has to be a good thing. On a more political note, how is the general feeling with the guys at Stone about the UK market, since they opened the Berlin site prior to Brexit? The U.K. market will continue to be a focus and an important part of our European plan, butobviously brexit has presented a lot of unknowns. Brexit or not: The UK deserves fresh big bold character beer, same as mainland Europe. Are there many more dates across the UK where these tastings and MTB events are going ahead? Yes we have loads of great events coming up, in Liverpool on the 28th of October we have aHalloween party with our friends at Dead Crafty and more events lined up nationally at amazing places like Cafe Beermoth Manchester and Arcade Beers Huddersfield with some more London dates to follow. Watch this space through @stonebrewinguk on Twitter to get the latest. Whilst this is a good to get a range of styles to contrast the cask lines, Belgian brews and macro lagers present on the bar at the head of Steam, it might be a bit of a challenge to push them out to some of the Head of Steam clientele so far - it has yet to fully click with the local craft beer enthusiasts. Time will tell, but there are many more events coming up at the Head of Steam which may entice a broader spectrum of drinker in, so it is best to keep an eye on their social media streams for information. Go forth and seek out these and see if you are worthy! Pedro. Edition five, done, dusted and bundled into a neat compartment somewhere in everyone who attended's mind, probably in a box of 'good memories'. That's definitely where my thoughts on the event reside, however, these days I suppose I am more invested in the event than most, especially given my involvement with the Liverpool Beer Collective and us having a bar at the event, hosted by the five local breweries (3 Potts, Connoisseur Ales, Glen Affric, Melwood and Top Rope Brewing) who managed to each shift a fair bit of beer over the course of 4 days. In the run up to the event, there were murmurings circulating that there may be some beer festival fatigue setting in amongst the populous and that the beer list didn't quite look as exciting as it could have been. The murmurings were ushered away some weeks before the event with the announcement of some excellent and very solid breweries joining the bill at the Constellation's held festival. There were some pretty big talking points and notable things about this Expo; I will get to each of them individually, because I know how much people love a list, this will go neatly alongside a second list of my top ten (I struggled to keep it down to only ten...) beers from the event too. Suffice to say, at the end of the event, I personally (along with the rest of the Collective bar members and especially our hosts in the Expo Team) was exhausted and couldn't even contemplate putting the thoughts and feelings into an article for your consumption... not even a week later, so perhaps there is a bit of lag time here, but it's often better to ruminate than to make snap decisions on things which benefit from reflection. So, those notable things... 1. The Takeover of Greenland Street It was announced relatively shortly before the Expo that they would be releasing an extra 100 or so tickets for the Saturday sessions to cope with demand and the expansion of the Expo site was set. Spilling out onto the top end of Greenland Street (the northern end is already blocked off by bollards and pavement from the rest of the road network), this gave extra space for row of another set of bars, taken for a ten-tap rotational and by Brewdog, Northern Monk, Lines and Gipsy Hill (along with Wild Beer, as covered below). This expansion added some more space to allow Expo-goers some elbow room, places to sit and stretch their legs and given the weather (again, below) this was exceedingly welcome. However, there was the feeling that this possibly detracted from the bars inside experiencing some additional attention and atmosphere. Hopefully next year, this expansion will be retained or perhaps event added to again! 2. Wild Beer Company's Massive Container Having spent a couple of hours working with Andy, Theo, Theresa and a lovely energetic volunteer called Anna, the Wild Beer Container was a bit of a feature for the Expo. Piecing together various conversations with people, it wasn't particularly cheap to get it to Liverpool from their Somerset base, but it was truly welcomed. Slinging out beers left, right and centre was the order of the day, not to mention how many Gin and Tonics were shifted in the sunshine (using Wild Beer's own Sleeping Lemons Gin), it was good fun, if a little exhausting. One minor criticism (from a servers point of view) was the fobbing (for the uninitiated, foaming from the tap) of the beers, which made serving a bit of a slow process from time to time with certain beers. I really hope to see the container present again next Expo. 3. The presence of a large number of New England/East Coast Murky IPAs Rather than dredge up an argument that has been fermenting across the Atlantic in the United States (no pub intended) over whether East Coast/New England IPA is actually a style or not, the fact that so many brewers are now aping what (apparently) Alchemist started with their Heady Topper is not surprising given the amount of fruit and ease of drinking that these beers impart. There were a number of beers brewed to this style at the Expo this year, with the likes of Ad Hop, Lervig, Wild Beer, Top Rope and Black Lodge all putting these beers out over the course of the event. The best thing about it was that they were all discernibly different from one another, some more savoury in the finish, some juicier, some cleaner as less residual. It was good to see a number of beers based around one 'style' given so many levels to enjoy and not just make a beer based on throwing in as many aroma hops as physically possible. 4. The continuing dominance of Barrel Aged Imperial Stouts Judging by the enthusiasm with which some of the higher abv beers were received over the course of the Expo (admittedly, including by myself), there is still an appreciation for the style even when the weather is hotting up and the beers themselves offer huge leaps in quality and complexity to the enthusiast. AB22, 3 Bean Stout, Parabola and the Lord Smog Almighty all made some of the people I chatted to very, very excited about what was in their glass. Barrel aging of bigger, darker beers has been around for a few years now, but the push to get more complexity, smoother textures and more subtle structured beers is continuing judging by the reception and indeed, the number of these 'bigger beers' that were tapped. Anecdotally (and yes, I accept this is not the be all and end all for a study!), it seems most people's top 5 beers from the Expo this year would probably contain one if not two to three of this style. 5. The need for more food... A bit of an issue judging by the grumbling from both Expo-goers and volunteers; two food stalls wasn't really enough given the queues and minor chaos around the stalls from Friday to Saturday evening. Though the food in the main was good, there were insufficient outlets to enable people to eat without disruptive queuing (especially for volunteers) taking anywhere between 15 and 40 minutes in some cases. One big loss this year was the absence of any beer snacks (Kumar... and your Karkli where were you?!), which hopefully is something that can be remedied in time for future iterations of the Expo. 6. The weather played its part It was hot, it was sunny (aside from really weird 30 second shower on the Friday) and it helped the beers fly out to people; thirst quenchers went out when the Expo sessions kicked off, with people becoming more adventurous as they wore on. Nearly perfect weather (I prefer it to be a little cooler, plus helps keep the beers cooler for serving). 7. The breakout of new and smaller breweries The Expo always throws a curveball or two my way in terms of new breweries that I haven't heard of and beers I am yet to try. Last year, London Beer Factory rocked up at the Expo with their dispensing taxi, which was fun - their beers were actually pretty handy too. This year, the presence of Mondo Brewing and Lines was a nice addition and gave me a chance to try out some gear from breweries I had yet to read about, try their beers and have a chat with. Sadly, I didn't get round to having much interaction with Lines, but the presence of Battersea's Mondo Brewing Company was most welcome and they had some excellent brews, not least their session IPA, Little Victories, their DIPA (Sitting Bull) and the Blueberry Wit beer. Other first timers that attended, albeit more established ones, in North Brewing and Gipsy Hill provided a few talking points over the weekend too, with the latter covered a bit further down in my top ten! Lastly on this point, I would be remiss to leave out the growth of the local scene in Liverpool, with more local breweries represented than ever before at the Expo. Neptune and Chapter added to things with their own bars, along with established Expo mainstays like Black Lodge, Ad Hop and Liverpool Craft (Love Lane), whilst some other local breweries banded together under the Liverpool Beer Collective to host a bar stocked full with local brews. Great work from 3 Potts, Connoisseur Ales, Glen Affric, Melwood Beer and Top Rope over the course of the weekend! I think we can all expect things to push on a fair bit in the next twelve months from these local brewers. 8. Beery Afterparties Two main bars took the party on into the wee hours. Black Lodge Brewery was the official after party location, with Tap Takeovers on each night from Thursday to Saturday (one each from Beavertown, Firestone Walker and Kernel) at the brewery and tap - brewers from the Expo were even spotted getting behind the turntables and inciting dance riots (Dave from Wylam, I am looking at you). Dead Crafty also hosted a number of people, as they did last year, taking many Expo goers later on into the night with a number of beers from their week's festivities (hosting launches of Fourpure Juicebox and quiz, a Hawkshead Tap Takeover and a Founders loves Left Hand event). A surprise tap takeover was dropped on the premises from Sierra Nevada on the Friday, with a keg of Hoptimum (triple IPA) making its way out of the taps very, very quickly! Next year has a lot to live up to for post-expo exploits. ------------------- I did actually speak to a few people and try to see what their impressions of the Craft Beer Expo were after a period of reflection, luckily I did get some words back from a few people and this is what they thought; Richard Gormley, Liverpool Round Table: "The atmosphere and the unique venue and location. A bit different than the norm. I think the good weather helped too. It would have been a different experience if it was raining! There was a great selection of beers and other drinks to try out. We all tried something different and were spoilt for choice. The pricing isn’t too bad either. Not sure what could be improved. Would live music go down well? Different styles of music playing? I must admit I am terrible at remembering the names of the beers especially after the number we consumed but the lads did enjoy visiting the Love Lane bar and the Liverpool Beer Collective bar in the outdoor area. I did enjoy the 3 Potts Short Circuit kiwi beer and the Melwood Marmalade Skies; I seem to be going through a fruity beer phase at the moment! I thought the event was ran really well. There was a relaxed feel to the whole event with everyone enjoying themselves. I will be back for more next time!" Emma C'Ailceta and Andrew Crawford, Expo goers: "We had quite few beers from the outside area, as the weather was amazing. There was so much choice, we just didn't get round to trying as much as we would have liked, but had a few from Brewdog and from Love Lane, there was also a mango beer which totally blew us away! A few notes on the programme would have possibly been helpful in making our selections and navigating the Expo, but the atmosphere was brilliant and good natured for our session on Saturday day." Joe Rimmer, Liverpool Echo and Londis Penny Lane: "The Liverpool Craft Beer Expo was probably at its very best this year. Aided by the weather, the Saturday evening slot was great fun. As always, time seems to fly by so quickly, but isn't that the way when you're having fun. It was great to see the Expo extended further into the street, and I can only hope that it creeps further and further.. Some beer highlights were Chapter's collab with Fourpure,a celery sour. Couldn't quite get enough of that one. Fantastic to see Lervig there, a personal favourite of mine and Top Rope continue to make some cracking beers too. In terms of what could be better, maybe some more food options at better prices, wouldn't go amiss. Perhaps a little more music. Oh and less of the Prosecco. It's a Beer Expo!" Now for another list and one that you are more than entitled to disagree with if you think something has been missed out (as always, express your displeasure or otherwise below the line in the comments section!), but here are the top ten beers (that I tried) at the Liverpool Craft Beer Expo... 10. Mondo Brewing - Global Heresy v2 A blood orange saison, brewed in collaboration with Heretic Brewing from California. This was one of the first beers I managed to get my tastebuds around at the Expo and it stuck in my mind, so much so that a repeat taster was needed. Another refreshing saison that made its mark with grassy herbal notes, a lightly peppery finish and quite a bit of rich citrus along with sour and refreshing hints at the edges. There was something very satisfying about this beer, again, like many of the other top ten, there was possibly a sense of place for it at this year's Expo. 9. Beavertown - Kneadless Violence A 1.9% strength Kvass brewed from a sourdough culture yeast and infused with fennel, caraway and lemon zest, this remarkably refreshing brew is part of the Tempus Project (in collaboration with 35 bakery for wasted London). Loads of citrus on the nose, a quite complex background in the finish and a sour edge make something which raised quite a few eyebrows at the Expo. A 200 year old sourdough culture is not to be messed with lightly! 8. Blackjack Brewery - Bretted Full House DIPA A highly unusual beer here in the flavour, having tasted it initially blind (I wasn't told what it was before the sniff and taste) I thought it might have been a cider or perry, given how much character was similar to a wine (though in my defence, I did have rather a lot else to drink too beforehand!). The aromas and flavours are very citrus driven, but the mouthfeel was pretty heavy and residual along with a very wine-esque dry finish. Complex and really rewarding. Clever stuff and great use of a brettanomyces yeast, aging in red wine barrels and generous hopping. 7. Wylam - Sticky Bud DIPA Back in the Expo top ten again, Wylam make a habit of making some brilliant beers that make their way onto the taps once at a year at Constellations. This hefty double IPA is brewed using similar materials as the Magic Rock tall boys that have been doing the rounds recently, using the T90 Lupulin powder blend, but with having the back bone malt bill to stand up and make this beer really work in balance. There's loads of fruit and loads of depth and it's all a bit too easy to drink in the sunshine despite the 8.7% strength. 6. Lervig - Perler for Svin Another big and juicy 6.3% New England IPA, brewed with Azacca, Mosaic and Simcoe, Perler for Svin is a cloudy orange brew with loads of tropical fruit present in the aroma and the taste. As with many of the other pales in this top ten, it was almost perfect for the conditions at the Expo; fruity, light and only lightly residual, it was a great refreshing hop-loaded IPA without too much of a coating character. 5. Wild Beer Company - Fixer An infinitely drinkable New England IPA from Wild Beer; loads of fruit, heady tropical and juicy aromas and a lovely mouthfeel to give something which was again, perfect for the weather and the occasion and a lovely balance. I found myself drawn to the tap on a few occasions, especially when giving Wild Beer a hand on their bar. With a strength of 4.5%, it meant that it wasn't wiping you out in one or two drinks either! Solid and enjoyable work once again from the Somerset outfit. 4. Chapter Brewing vs. Fourpure - Roadside Picnic A 4.3% celery sour beer, which on the face of it sounds like quite a few people's worst nightmare. Bare with me though; this was probably the biggest surprise of the weekend, since the premise sounds quirky enough and despite the talent for such a new brewery and the unquestionable quality from Fourpure, this really was an excellent collaboration brew (as for me, around 7/10 are usually below expectation). Refreshing, tart and with a delightful savoury tang, this was absolutely spot on for the weather and the event. Bravo guys, bravo. When are the cans coming out? 3. Lervig - 3 Bean Stout A big, big stout with unbelievable depth and structure, the 3 bean stout is brewed with cocoa, Tonka bean and vanilla present and it tells, especially when used in tandem with a very competent malt bill. Expect massive amounts of chocolate, spice and coffee in the aroma, leading through to a silky and hefty body with a very pleasing finish. Incredible and a beer revisited by many, despite the strength (13%), the hefty token tax and the warm weather. 2. Gipsy Hill vs. Deya - Ramblers
A thick and very rewarding 8% Double IPA collaboration brew laced with oats and loads of late addition stateside grown hops gives something of one is frequently called a 'juicy banger' by many. What I experienced was something remarkably enjoyable to drink, having covered many bases of refreshment, good structure and complexity. The tidings that this beer is available in bottles fills me with glee if I am totally honest! 1. Firestone Walker - Parabola A beast (14.5% - wow) of a Russian Imperial stout full of coffee, chocolate, vanilla and many other elements, Parabola is an impossibly dark proposition and frequently rated amongst the best beers on the planet. It's easy to see why with the 2017 edition; aged for 12 months in Heaven Hill barrels it has a depth that is often unmatched and despite the big alcohol content and sharper notes in the stout the body remains tempered by silk and satin, it has a superb all round character from the aroma, right through the structure of the beer. Brilliant, brilliant stuff. --------------------------------------------- In summation, it was great fun once again, with some things to perhaps rectify, but a lot to enjoy and therefore a lot to probably look forward to for the sixth edition of the Expo next year. Until next time, Pedro. In 1962 at 461 Smithdown Road, the Handyman Supermarket came into being. Its bright yellow signs and horse's head have been a recognisable façade on the thoroughfare for over 50 years and under the stewardship of Roy Wilson for some time. The tenure providing locals with various hardware, tools, key cutting and other odds and ends came to a close at the end of 2016. Thankfully, as one door closes, another one opens... or at least a window does, or something along those lines. Step forward the Emporium Collective; a group of individuals who have come together gradually over time through academic acquaintances, professional or friendships and have finally stumbled on a suitable premises for their vision; a locally iconic landmark to host a brewery and brewtap to fit into the local landscape. With Smithdown Road undergoing something of a renaissance of late; Craft Taproom, Defend Vinyl, Naked Lunch co-operative café/restaurant and a host of other solid independents, this is another promising addition to the road. I was lucky enough to catch up with a few of the Emporium Collective members at the launch of their first brew in collaboration with Manchester's Runaway Brewery in Kelly's Dispensary and again a bit later with Patricia O'Callaghan who was kind enough to sit and entertain a few questions regarding their exciting project… Hi Tricia, so, have you got a firm opening date in mind (I seem to recall a July estimate)? “Yes we will be opening in July. We don't have a firm date unfortunately until we start work but envisage an 8-10 week build. We are hoping for a soft open on 8/9 July or 15/16th at the moment. Though we must open then as we have LIMF after party booked in following weekend and want to tap into the crowds at that!” Other than Colin Stronge from Buxton Brewery, the guys at Blackjack and Mark from Runaway, do you have any other firm commitments from brewers to come in and get involved in producing beers for you? I am assuming that Suzie (formerly of Liverpool Organic Brewery) is the permanent fixture brewer too? "Yeah, Suzie and Colin will be chief brewers in place for all our brews. They both are shareholders in brewery side of business. In relation to other brews we have done another collaboration with Blackjack this time; A pale ale at 4.3% abv. We don't have any others lined up at present but would love to do some with Liverpool breweries. The focus has been on festival opening so we will hopefully start some negotiations once that is over." Have you got any ideas about the beers that you're going to brew and those that you are going to stock when you open? "In terms of stock we will be stocking white hag a brewery from Sligo. Suzie recommended them. She has brewed a coffee porter and peaches and cream ale for festival too. These will also be featured regularly. We also intended to stock cloud water, ABC, we haven't firmed up who else at minute. Waiting on prices for line installations before deciding." What made you choose the location, given the area hasn't, in terms of recent history, been a massive rich vein to tap (the Brookhouse/Dispensary/Wilowbank excepted...) on the face of things? There's a bit of a student population at the moment, but they aren't exactly cash cows...? “We choose the area mainly due to the building and its character, it has heart and soul.also having a good customer knowledge of the area and listening to feedback. Smithdown is up and coming and people want diversity in terms of what the area has to offer. We hope that what we offer will attract people and if we get it right it will become a destination. Also properties in town are difficult to secure.” How big is the place going to be (how many people are you looking at accommodating)? ”With regards to capacity we hope to accommodate 120-150 people, with around 60-70 covers in front bar and 70-80 in the back bar/ cutting room. We are keeping the name in there too. This space will be very versatile with removable furniture.” What size/specs is the brew kit that you're going to be using? ”The brew has just been upscale actually from 200l to 400l (2.5BBL) kit as we have more room for kit than first expected and also due to the response we have had with our initial brew of the IPA. In terms of spec it will be clad with stainless steel and will be visible to the public above the bar in front.” What made you all get together and decide that you'd be doing a brewpub/micro? ”We all came together through our individual jobs and friendships really. Toby, Luke and Andy are all architects and do a lot of bar refurbs and new ventures in Liverpool, London and Leeds for their clients and wanted to tap into this for themselves, after seeing their ideas flourish for others. Myself and Kev both have bar backgrounds for 15 plus years and the dream is always to have your own bar and do it for yourself. Getting to create the Handyman from scratch is just mind blowing. Kev knew the other boys from his university days and I obviously work for him in Kelly’s Dispensary on Smithdown Road and hold the licence there. The 3 boys also met Colin through his time at university, when I think he studied to be an architect too. Then Suzie met the boys when she was planning a venture of her own (a micropub in Crosby, North Liverpool) that they were doing the plans for, sadly it fell through. However, it has brought us all together which is a happy ending and we all gel really well together. I think each of us brings something different to the table; many connections to breweries and local musicians between us all. So basically our passion for beer and amazing spaces made us want to find a bar. The five of us have been looking for a premises for over two years, we came close with a few but nothing felt right until we found the Handyman. Due to the sheer volume and scale of the premises this allowed us to incorporate a brewery. This also adds another dimension to the bar and taps into the skills we have on offer within the group.” Have you experienced any difficulty with the planning process or any local opposition with what you are looking to do? ”Sadly yes, we did have some objections but nothing too serious or insurmountable. One example was with the Council; they were cautious that deliveries are scheduled outside of peak hours to minimise traffic disruption to locals, they want us to open daytimes as well as nights because they don't want Smithdown full of shutters in daylight. The bin storage area is indoors now too, as they were concerned about large waste containers outside that would contain glass, which sadly could be used to cause damage to the public or property by vandals, this also ensures the area is kept tidy. We’re going comply with all this and ensure all precautions are taken to reduce noise pollution so we will insulate parts of the building and must maintain the vestibule entrance and two doors. The landlord has replaced the glazing in the roof so it is efficient and reduced the glass panels above bar area to minimise sound escaping. All pretty standard stuff really.” So have you any plans that might placate or bring locals on board or ways in which you are looking to do some 'public engagement'? ”We want the building to be as versatile as possible. That's why the two zones will really work. Midweek, the space could be used by community groups if they approach us, maybe mother and baby classes etc. On May 6 & 7th we returned the building to its former use as a Picturedrome. We worked with Empty Spaces Cinema to show three films during the course of the weekend that are under the hammer and nail theme, Withnail & I (Saturday) sold out quickly, Wreck-it Ralph is a kids film that showed on the Sunday at 3pm with free arts and crafts session from 2pm, then we had The Hound of the Baskervilles in the evening. We want to offer something for all ages. We are also planning further cinema events during summer and in October for Liverpool Irish festival, Halloween and Christmas. We would also like to do a carol service around Christmas and maybe even incorporate some local schools choirs. We intend to be a part of the community and hold fund raising events periodically too. The cutting room will also be available for hire for parties and functions (funerals, birthdays, christenings, baby showered, graduation etc).” I recall that there was a bit of a chat about the buoyancy of the brewing scene over in Ireland at the moment; is there going to be any plan to get some of their beers over here? Given Liverpool's historic and immeasurably strong Irish ties, it seems odd we've never had much come over other than obviously, Guinness and the odd bit of craft stuff coming online at 23 club in the city. ”Yes we are having an Irish beer festival in October that will run along Liverpool Irish Festival (Dates and details to be confirmed soon!). This is a growing event year on year and Smithdown has a huge Irish population as well as myself, Suzie and Colin influencing this beer festival in Handyman. I have been in discussion with a couple of breweries who are going to come and showcase some of their beers and do a meet the brewer event. We are currently in talks with plenty other breweries in Ireland who we would like to do a tap takeover with. You’ll have to stay tuned to our media channels to see what’s coming up, but it’s very exciting!” Do you have any current plans for say, MTB events/Food Pairing nights/Quizzes etc? ”We will have live acoustic music weekly and have some mellow tone events scheduled as well as the LIMF after party I mentioned earlier. With regards to quiz nights I can imagine we will but we haven't got down to that type of planning as yet. We have a French film night pencilled in after being approached by a member of French community who would like arrange this for fellow French people to network and get to know others in the area. We are open to all suggestions and the Smithdown Festival will be a great chance to meet the locals and potential customers and hear their ideas. We may use the back room to screen events, but will never put screens in front bar!!! The screen will be retractable and only down when in use. We will do beers from around the world events and wine & cheese tasting events in collaboration with our wine merchant. I think we will also run a gin festival too at some point, we want the room to be used as much as possible and would like a mini market to showcase local independent produce, maybe on a monthly basis. As previously mentioned we will obviously do MTB events with Colin and Suzie and have had many enquiries from home brewers who want to come down and help already. On the food front we are hoping to keep it simple; just some rustic homemade food, things like Scouse, pies, homemade soups etc. We endeavour to keep produce local where possible. We have so many plans but nothing written in stone yet but we will keep you in the loop as we know more so will you!” So now you know, Handyman will be up and running and will be doing some very interesting, tasty and exciting things from this Summer onwards. I for one cannot wait.
Pedro. -------------------------------------------------------------- Handyman Supermarket (and Brewery) 461 Smithdown Rd, Liverpool, L15 3JL. Twitter: https://twitter.com/handymanbrewery and https://twitter.com/handymanSmarket Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handymanbrewery/ |
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