It’s been a pretty hectic year so far for The Dead Crafty Beer Company and indeed, Liverpool in general as it seeks to push forward its reputation as a city mentioned in the same breath as some others when it comes to beer and brewing. One such organisation with this promotion and development at the forefront of what they are driving to do, is the Liverpool Beer Collective. Now for a quick disclaimer; I am part of this collective in so much that I really want to make a positive contribution to a scene which was for so many years, desperately barren and devoid of diversity, so I won’t wax lyrical too much on how positive I think this initiative is (I wouldn’t be involved if I didn’t think that). The Liverpool Beer Collective has been running a pretty visible social media campaign for a while now and is dedicated to promoting a number of breweries, bars and bottle shops across the region in order to provide some joined up thinking and provide for a healthy, vibrant and diverse scene in the city. Things are looking quite fertile in Liverpool at the moment; there are no fewer than another five breweries popping up lately in addition to the five or six covered around this time last year (Neptune, Parker, Red Star, Rock the Boat and 3 Potts – Black Lodge also opened up around this time, also followed by Southport’s The Craft Brewery). There have been a few extra micropubs (Beer Station, CASK, The Alehouse, Grasshopper and Skew Bridge to name a few) and bars (Hard Times and Misery, plus Dead Crafty only opened its doors in March 2016) popping up across the region with the remit to sell cask and craft beers (and small batch spirits) giving people an even more diverse number of establishments to spend their time. Back to Dead Crafty and on the weekend of the 9th until the 11th September, a local tap takeover was held – half the keg lines in the bar were stocked with beers from Liverpool Beer Collective partner breweries and there was the introduction of a loyalty card for prizes donated by members of the Beer Collective along with a tasty 10% discount in the Crosby Beer Bottle Shop for completed cards (think like those coffee cards you get at places around the city). Judging by the turnouts, the event was pretty successful. Both Dead Crafty and the Ship and Mitre shifted kegs and casks of local beers quite quickly (one firkin of a Connoisseur Ales’ Pale lasted no more than 7 hours from being tapped), with plenty of enthusiasm on the day for the takeover event from visitors. The enthusiasm spilled over for the tasting and meet the brewer events that took place as part of the weekend too, with Connoisseur Ales kicking things off on Friday evening in the Ship and Mitre, followed by new kids on the block Top Rope Brewing and Moonsugar Brewing. The events section was rounded off by Mad Hatter Brewing presenting tasters of their coffee IPA and the Wild Night Out (Elderflower) on Sunday afternoon. The talks from Top Rope and Moonsugar were particularly noteworthy, as both breweries are yet to formally release anything officially. There have been tastings at brewing clubs, but nothing to the general public on this scale and both breweries did themselves proud – the quality of their beers was nothing short of astonishing. If they can replicate what they presented at this event in future via keg, cask or bottle, they should be absolutely fine. Top Rope presented the following beers; Orange Soda Gose, Overkill IPA (a tip of the hat to the late Lemmy from Motorhead), Ryecentennial Brown and 8-Bit Pale Ale. A nice rounded and diverse portfolio, with the Gose being a very refreshing and interesting take on the style and the Ryecentennial being a very fine brown ale with tonnes of character. Moonsugar brought along their IPA, Stout and notably, some rather excellent Mead, which is definitely setting them apart from other outfits in the region. Both talks were informative and bode well for two potentially brilliant additions to the Liverpool scene and with any luck, the beers, braggot and mead will filter out from the city and find the rest of the UK (and hopefully beyond). Going forward there is the possibility of more events along the same template as this tap takeover, but the best way to find out is to keep an eye on the Twitter and Facebook feeds which have both been very well managed (so not by me, then).
What would you like to see from the Liverpool Beer Collective and Liverpool’s bars, brewers and bottle shops over the coming months? Cheers, Pedro. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Liverpool Beer Collective Email: [email protected] Twitter: https://twitter.com/LivBeerCo Facebook: www.facebook.com/liverpoolbeercollective
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So, the notebook has a single page of notes made and most of the information from this extraordinary festival of beers is locked up in my head. Not a promising start really, is it? Regardless, I can pick out most of what I was going to write up from follow the breadcrumbs of my social media posts; I was very happy to make it to three of the five sessions up until the Saturday afternoon, though duty was calling for Sunday and best behaviour was required. From the first daunting moment of Thursday evening stepping into a transformed Constellations on Greenland Street of Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, there was almost a sensory overload of what to go looking for and a slight panic adjusting to the layout; much more like a rabbit warren compared to the open nature of the previous events at Camp and Furnace. This took a little adjustment, but the event seemed much better for it. A kid in a sweet shop analogy really doesn’t quite cut it, when considering that feeling of getting started at a festival and there are so many new breweries’ beers to try. There were a number of bars at the Festival, scattered in and outside the venue with a cask bar along with many keg bars indoors, featuring many Breweries’ own personalised bars with more than five taps on most. Camden Brewery rocked up in their van, Beavertown brought their own colour to the event with a spectacular bar and their signature brews, Cloudwater and Fourpure provided additional colour and great beers (with the former circumnavigating some early dispense difficulties with a bit of help!). Outdoors, a whisky den, cider bar and no less than four keg bars awaited punters, including an Imports Scotland Bar and Liverpool Craft Brewery’s own. Plenty of choices, with beers rolling out across the weekend at each bar and a checklist in the foyer area showing those who’d had their day. As Thursday’s trade session departed for the evening’s formal proceedings, I arrived and managed to grab tickets and a quick Brew By Numbers IPA before I was grabbed by the guys from newcomers Red Star Brewery (who you will be hearing about in a upcoming article later this summer) whose enthusiasm for the event and having one of their beers on was highly infectious. A few drinks later, including their own excellent English strong ale, Partisan, and I found myself being introduced by Glen and Ian to some other Festival newcomers in Wylam Brewery from Newcastle. Sadly, their beers haven’t seemed to have made it this far south and west to date; having been in operation for 15 years, this family brewery has some serious brewing talent and a repertoire of some note. A conversation with Dave Stone garners me with the information that following a 4.5-barrel expansion to 9 in 2002, the brewery having two pubs and Golden Tankard being a best-seller for them, they are now looking in 2015 to expand up to a 30-barrel operation, meaning their beer will be seen further afield in the future. Karkli snacks made an appearance at this year’s Expo, building on what I was told was an already buzzing presence at other festivals such as Indy Beer Man Con over in Manchester. With three flavours to choose from (ranging from mildly spiced through coriander and a light heat, to ghost naga chilli flavour) there is a little something for everyone with these lentil based snacks. They do lend themselves to working rather well with a range of beers, especially heavily hopped and upper level IBU beers which benefit from some salt and spice to allow the taste buds to open up. Kumar, who runs the show with his partner, assured me that he’d be present at a number of other festivals coming this year, so if you keep your eyes peeled you may just find him and his stall waiting to give you a great drinking snack. You can follow Kumar here: https://twitter.com/chomponkarkli Here’s a pretty proud moment for me… Siam Legend was also present at this Festival and those who follow me or follow Liverpool Craft Brewery on social media may have seen a bit of fuss made about this beer. In the weeks running up to the Expo, I was kindly invited into the brewery to work with Terry and Joe Murphy to devise a small batch brew specifically for the event. After a bit of thinking (admittedly, this isn’t the first time I have been invited to work on a collaboration beer, thus have stored up a few ideas!) I decided to plump for something pretty close to my culinary heart by drawing from Thai aromatic ingredients. I’ve seen on Uptappd (for those who’ve not heard of it, it is a mobile phone application for beerspotters) a few guesses at what was in the beer by way of adjuncts, but they are all pretty much incorrect. This heat-building Thai-PA was created using some basic British ingredients and a bit of ingenuity on Joe’s part for getting the aromatic side boosted. I am massively glad for it being kegged too, as the carbonation lifted the beer that little bit more and allowed the acidity to punch a little harder. It worked for me, but I think some people weren’t quite into the combination as others, though I was very pleased with the enthusiastic responses. The event may have seen a few of the organisers, stewards and the odd volunteer looking a bit foxed or bewildered and rushing around, but generally it seemed very well organised; relatively low queuing times, enough room to move around between the bars and well versed volunteering team able to keep a constant supply of the beers going. The session lengths were also probably just about right; five and a half hours is plenty of time to pick up enough from each bar without feeling rushed or like you really must stay for another couple of drinks. Much has been made about the pricing of certain beer festivals around the UK, with some complaining about the cost of drinks and others about the door tax to attend these events. The pricing at the Expo was actually pretty fair, with £10 vouchers stretching to a few drinks and each priced between 3 and 8 (though 7 and 8 beers were rare) and the door tax also coming it at £10. Broken down, this translates into 3 tokens (enough for one of a few lower abv session beers), festival glass (these tulips are usually a few quid, between £3 and £4 for one), covering paid staff, paying for various insurances and events fees and also for the venue hire. It's not a bad deal all in all. Not everything was perfect though, but you're not going to please everyone with an event like this; for me there could have been a bit more indoor seating (though this really wasn't possible due to space restrictions) and the Expo programme was far less informative than the previous year's giant effort. An attempt to list the beers would have been welcome, though understandably difficult as not all the beers are available simultaneously throughout the weekend. As it was, people were restricted to wandering to a bar to check if a beer was available or checking the giant lists in the foyer to see what had been dispatched by festival punters. Anyway, down to business… as with previous years at the Expo, there have been a few beers available that have stood out from the crowd, hoisted themselves above the stillages and screamed to be drunk, word of mouth recommendations spreading like wildfire amongst festival goers only to be quenched by something a little bit special. I’ll attempt to name a few of the beers which really gave something a bit different in their own way, though I will not make this an ordered ‘top ten’ simply for the fact (as explained in an earlier blog) that I drank different styles over many days making it impossible to compare all beers in such a direct manner. In no particular order, my beers of the festival were… 1. Dent De Lion – Kubla Brewery A superb dandelion (which translates into French as Lion’s Tooth) saison from newcomers, Kubla, based in Somerset. This sold out pretty quickly from keg bar number 3 and it was easy to see why. Flavoursome, refreshing, light and balanced, Dent De Lion is pretty much the whole package. 2. Yellowbelly – Buxton Brewery An enigma of a beer, which at 10% is potent, dark as the night, oily and incredibly heady on the nose. Available from the cask bar, it ran dry very quickly at the festival. The depth of aroma and flavour is quite something to behold, not least because it imparts an incredible peanut butter character without using any peanuts, so I am told. 3. Jakehead IPA – Wylam Brewery Apparently this is an invigorating tonic, maybe, but it certainly is a superb IPA and has picked up awards at SIBA to boot. The edge to this IPA was just a bit different to a lot of other IPAs tried lately, though I am not entirely able to pinpoint why. There is a lot going on in this beer, lots of fruit, caramel, pine and other stalwart notes from an IPA base, but the complete package stands out somehow. 4. Hoptart – Fourpure Brewing Company Another saison and Hoptart is something of a move away from the fairly safe path usually seen with Fourpure (pales/stouts/brown ales). They really need to push in this direction more often, the gently acerbic nature along with an overtly fruity and sour finish makes a great sorbet of a beer which is very drinkable. 5. Orange Crush – Amager Bryghus An American IPA brewed in collaboration with Cigar City, this has tonnes of juicy hop character and a bit more depth provided by the late addition of citrus (probably orange?) peel to the brew. Only very slightly chewy, gently resinous and just a bit different from a lot of IPAs going around. I even wrote this without wedging an REM joke, although I was out of time. Dammit. 6. Earl Phantom – Beavertown A serious sour ale with a lemon and bergamot hit. A very acidic beer, which works, like the hoptart as a brilliant sorbet beer and palate cleanser. Very drinkable and almost scarily like traditional lemonade making this a summer beer in the extreme. 7. Les Saisonnier – Wylam Brewery A lemon balm and rosemary saison, which I happily recommended to a few people at the festival. There was something very special about this saison, the depth of flavour, the aromatics and the balance of acidic and fruit made it a stand out performer; although others enjoyed it, they weren’t quite as gripped as I was. Lemon drizzle with a delightful finish. More please. 8. Cascade – Wylam Brewery A superb Cascade hopped ale and at 4.1% something that isn’t too strong to drink a little more. Working brilliantly out of keg, there was a great amount of flavour present from such a simple beer; delicate brush strokes throughout of pine, fruit both tropical and citrus, crisp dry finish and a bit of the floral. Solid, drinkable and moreish. 9. Liquorice Lady w/ Raspberry infusion – Ad Hop Brewing Company A beer with deep liquorice character (I wrote about its release last year) now with the added punch of raspberries, meaning a silky, oily mouthfeel and a lot of red berry character thrown into the mix for your palate. This one is very rounded and very complex, the raspberries were a clever yet also straightforward twist on this porter. 10. Sin City IPA – Summer Wine Brewery Another great IPA from Summer Wine, who have a habit of producing very good bottled and kegged IPAs. This is no different, though at 7.2% there’s a bit more punch than with their other IPA repertoire; oily, chocolate orange, spice and some bitter pine in there make it a slightly different proposition. The mouthfeel was also very rich and backed up that this is a beer not to be enjoy too quickly. I could provide a rundown of up to 20 beers, but the line has to be drawn and this makes things manageable! There were a few brews that were not quite up to scratch along some of the lines, but in the main, there was nothing particularly awful, it’s very hard not to see how good the beer was and how well it was generally kept (the only reservations came from some of the cask beers possibly feeling a bit sorry for themselves towards the end of the festival). An eye catching fact from the top ten above is the inclusion of 3 different beers from the Wylam Brewery, but credit where it is due, they really do deserve to be there. Thankyous must go to Terry and Paul from Liverpool Craft Brewery and especially to Joe Murphy for allowing me to brew with him before the event and also everyone who volunteered or organised the event and those who supported and provided feedback on the collaboration brew. A truly memorable event all round! Pedro. One year on from the endeavours that brought live brewing, some excellent kegged beers and a number of prominent up-and-comers from the brewing fraternity to Liverpool and the Liverpool Beer Expo continued to bring a great atmosphere and some exciting beers to the Baltic Triangle. The Camp and Furnace has played host to some great gastronomical events over the last twelve months; indeed, I have written two separate reviews for the standard kitchen and for Steven Burgess’ one-off Tree Hugger Banquet. This latest event swapped the furnace venue for the other major component of the Greenland Street events space, along with the provision of the Gold Room for additional presentations by visiting breweries. The event was well run and tempered by the exceptionally enthused volunteers throughout the weekend of the Expo, with Paul Seiffert from the Liverpool Craft Brewery taking over the reins exclusively from co-conspirator Terry to drive the event. There was evidence of lessons learnt from the previous year’s event, with the programme being although still on the slightly cumbersome side, being much easier to handle than the 2013 broadsheet, along with an actual itinerary, stating beers, brewer, style, location and abv. Although sadly, some beers were held back throughout the weekend, what was on offer was at times, staggeringly good. Some highlights came from breweries such as the ever quality conscious Wild Beer Company, with two great efforts in the ‘Sourdough’ wheat beer and the ‘Cool as a Cucumber’ Pale. The former was the first beer quaffed of my opening session, carrying a very sharp flavour, nicely balanced acidity and a very palate cleansing quality, meaning it would be very versatile with lighter foods and seafood. The collaboratively brewed (with Fyne Ales) cucumber beer was a wonderfully savoury beer, with a herbal hit from a hint of mint which was refreshing for a summer drink and would work well as an aperitif. On the Thursday evening, Ilkley Brewery were present to give a talk on their efforts along with giving tasters of some of the beers they have been brewing. Working from lighter to heavier hopped efforts, the beers were all drinkable, but with one or two stand outs from some less exciting drinks. The ‘Dinner Ale’ is a light bodied beer with a jab at 3.3% strength, however, this belies the packed cereal and biscuity notes present, along with a light touch of fruit on the nose reminiscent of a good Champagne or Cremant. As the name would suggest, it would work wonderfully well with a lot of foods, although anything robust like a hearty stew might prove overpowering for this beer. ‘Mary Jane’ is another pale beer, close to a kolsch beer in body and at only 3.5% abv, again is deceptive in its make up. ‘Mary Jane’ is a crisp, clean and very balanced ale which has a citrus edge to the flavour and nose, derived from the use of American hops. From the tasting session presented by Luke Raven from Ilkely, ‘The Chief’ (so-called due to its American heritage) and the ‘Ilkley Best’ were less exciting efforts compared to the two discussed above. Another interesting beer from the Ilkley Brewery was presented in the form of the divisive ‘De Passie’. This beer is a white IPA brewed with passion fruit and is a collaborative beer made in conjunction with two dutch breweries; Oersoep and Rooie Dop. ‘De Passie’ imparted a tart, floral and tropical fruit aroma with an excellent dry mouthfeel and very low residual sweetness. This is another great beer from Ilkley Brewery, which is begging to be paired with food. Saturday afternoon saw a presentation given by the Celt Experience in the Gold Room, upstairs from the main event. With two of their beers on offer and some pleasing anecdotal tales from setting up following splintering from other established breweries and a penchant for providing beers to pair with food, the session was informative and entertaining. The two beers on offer were the ‘Année 614’ (A Rye Chocolate Porter; a highly competent collaboration with Paris’ Brasserie St. Germain) and the ‘Ogham Willow’ IPA. The 614 is a wonderfully rich porter with a residual chocolate flavour and is brewed with 30% rye, imparting a pleasing dryness and body to the beer. The ‘Ogham Willow’ was a less pleasing beer, although packing a punch as a double IPA, compared to say, the ‘La Tène’ also on offer at the Expo, which is a much lighter bodied beer (also in strength at 3.3% as opposed to 8.8% for the Willow) but feels generally less overbearing with a low IBU value somehow carrying more flavour than would be expected. The Liverpool Craft Brewing Company themselves had some very exciting beers on offer at their own bespoke bar, tucked into the corner of the Camp. Notably the brute of the Expo coming in at a headsplitting 12% abv and with a name to match, the ‘Zombie Apocalypse Emergency Plan’ is a double IPA which has been double mashed and hopped beyond its life (or un-life) providing a layered and intense beer, which is filthily opaque and has what feels like a cacophony of flavour. Upon taking time to experience each mouthful of this beer, there are a number of flavours, which will reveal themselves; you just have to get past the bracing and amygdala blasting strength! The ‘Hell’s Porter’ and nod to Burgundy ‘Bad Choice Milk Stout’ are both great darker beers, the first providing a fiery punch above smokey layers and the latter being much easier going, with sweet flavours to temper the rich mouthfeel. From a personal point of view, it was great to meet so many enthusiastic people about the brewing craft, from brewers, distributors, fellow writers and other attendees. Despite some negativity from some quarters who (astoundingly) cannot understand the additional dimension given to beers by kegging due to their preoccupation with cask, this event was a wonderful showcase of both cask and keg and broadly supported by the participating breweries in a warming manner. Roll on #LivCraftBeerExpo2015.
Hasta luego amigos!! Pedro. Something has been rumbling for a little while now in the Baltic Triangle area of Liverpool, located just a stone’s throw or three from Liverpool One the Camp and Furnace has gone modestly about garnering Liverpool with an impressive creativity. The creativity has seen the arrival of the Threshold Festival, Food Slam Events with new venues and ventures adding to the buzz including the Baltic Bakehouse, Unit 51 and Siren amongst others. It would possibly take another five articles or more to break the surface on each of the interesting aspects of the happenings at the end of Jamaica Street. Over the August Bank Holiday, the Camp and Furnace played host to the Summercamp event; a music and street food extravaganza featuring some pretty good bands and providing a contrast to the more mainstream pop on display down the road at the Pier Head and down at Sefton Park. Within the Summercamp itself, there were several pop up banquets alongside the music, cocktails, Craft Beers and street food vendors. These banquets have been orchestrated by the Camp and Furnace's very own Steven Burgess. Chef Steven Burgess has been heavily industrious of late, cultivating a reputation for inventiveness and impressive fastidious culinary skills. There have been a few events to date where Burgess has put forth banquets of his own for conceptual evenings both in praise of meat and vegetarian diets, so much so, the Treehugger's Banquet at August’s Summercamp event was to be followed by a visit by the yummy brummie himself, Glynn Purnell. The Treehugger's Banquet was a 10-course showcase of some relatively simple ingredients with touches of panache and the aforementioned inventiveness. Recently Marina O’Loughlin writing in the Guardian mused that anything beyond 11 was stretching not only the waistband a little too much, but also the attention span and capacity for enjoyment – more can be seen here on this interesting piece: [http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/aug/26/restaurant-pet-hates-ruin-my-appetite]. Thankfully, the ten courses fell below this bracket, although had it been more, I would have had no problem sitting for just a little longer to be both entertained and stimulated by flavour, excellent use of colour and presentation. The opening gambit of the banquet was a homemade cracker and cream cheese combination, decorated with fresh herbal sprigs and nasturtium flowers in a gentle and effective manner. Delicate flavours were paired with a sharp and grassy Sauvignon Blanc, with the dish itself balanced with great contrasts of texture. The second dish paired an egg yolk with potato cooked as a mousse and as small but crisply delicate puffs, punching in a surprisingly citrus flourish alongside a rich and creamy base to the dish. Possibly the most triumphant dish in the menu followed the potatoes, the use of a slow roasted garlic, duck egg and goat’s curd was magnificent. The heavy tang was frittered away from the garlic, leaving sweetness and a light pungency to sit with the rich duck egg and excellently accompanying curd. Here is where Burgess has and should continue to capitalise, simple and elegant flavours teased from excellently sourced produce. The Adobe Chardonnay accompanying the roasted garlic also paired well going forward into polenta, juicy gordal green olives and smoked tomatoes, allowing all the elements of the dish to work together giving a smoked sweet verdancy in the mouth. The Cauliflower dish was well thought-out, but possibly needed a stronger cheese in the flavour of the pannacotta to break up the velouté and caramelised cauliflower. The viognier wine pairing worked perfectly bridging the cauliflower dish and the course of sweet carrot, caraway and cumin dukkah; which gave an excellently worked earthiness under the sweet tones of the carrot and apricot. Tempting and competently baked beetroot macarons followed; deliciously crisp, creamy, sweet, earthy and chewy, they ticked all the boxes of expectation which precipitate from presentation of a macaron. The Rosé was possibly the weakest of the wines on display, yet it still found a suitable pairing with its dishes and paved the way for a Lancashire Cheese roller, rather heavier on flavour and texture than I would have expected, but not totally out of place. The ascorbic sweet and sour of the apple sherbet was a welcome touch on a doughy focal point and worked surprisingly well with a touch of the Branston pickle, secreted by the roller. Finally, the sorbet gave one last flourish from the banquet; resting atop a honey parfait, with the honey produced by local bees no less. The contrast in textures again, was well worked along with relatively safer flavours; safe possibly in context, but no less rewarding. The standard has now been set high by Burgess at the Camp and Furnace, with excellent diligence and competency from the front of house, the bar has been set refreshingly high in the most unusual of settings.
Venture to the Baltic Triangle while you can, the talent on display here has brought Simon Rimmer and Glynn Purnell and will no doubt please you. I know it has pleased me. Pedro. ----------------------- Thanks to Lian Challis for the post-dinner tour and insights. Special thanks to Jon Young for the excellent Photographic contribution. Occasional Supper clubs and Food Slam Fridays (usually on every Friday evening at the Camp and Furnace) More information on the Camp and Furnace can be found here: http://www.campandfurnace.com/ To follow Steven Burgess on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rhub_custard To follow Camp and Furnace on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CampandFurnace Let’s dispense with the usual Beer Festival anecdotes about them being frequented by Gandalf-a-likes from Lord of the Rings and those dressed like Steampunk enthusiasts, but also steer clear of references to more contemporary groups that begin with the letter ‘H’. There was more than a healthy spread of the UK’s demographic present at the Camp and Furnace over the third weekend in June, all of whom seemed happy, enthused and remarkably positive about yet another shot in the arm for the City of Liverpool in its own ongoing gastronomic proliferation. The usual pattern was followed by my companion and I, upon entering an event such as this – retrieve glass and programme, wander about like a lost soul for ten minutes, find a shady spot to call our own for the duration of said event and then finally wander off to find our first victim. That is, our beverage of choice (if you thought anything else, you’re weird). The first beer went down a little slower than is usually to be expected, primarily a courtesy of the reveries from the evening before, but thankfully things were able to gather pace after that. Pace, just in time for my pencil to decide to give up on me (a retractable in case you’re wondering), robbing me of an ability to note any of the hazy observations about the beverages on offer and make succinct tasting notes. However, that was never really going to be the raison d’etre for this piece, so there is no real huge loss. The usual system of tokens was in place; a crisp £10 got you a card of 20 tokens with the beer prices coming in at around the 3-6 token mark generally speaking. The beers were served both from keg and cask across a number of bars spread around the periphery of the Furnace. Aside from smaller blackboards, pump clips at the bars and a larger ‘masterboard’ (which was often inaccurate) at the door into the Furnace, there was little way of deciding what your next beverage would be. A minor failing in the whole process for such an event was not to put any tasting notes or comprehensive list of the beers on offer in the actual event programme. This therefore failed to mitigate the trying of a beer which may have initially sounded enticing, but turned out to be a rather dull brown offering or a bog standard mild with a very misleading name (I hasten to add that this wasn’t exactly the case – but on more than one occasion I was stuck with half a pint of something not exactly pleasant to my palate). This failing was in part dealt with by many bartenders offering small tasters of a beer prior to taking away the half pint, which was a very welcome facet to proceedings. There were a number of beers pushing the envelope with regards strength, usually the 6 token beers, which had ABVs in excess of 8-9% and I do think I spotted something at over 11% which is Saison Dupont Rochefort 10 territory – offering very deep and complex beers with figgy and dried fruit characters to rival some wines. The only problem at a beer festival is being rather picky about which of these stronger beers you go for without ending up a bit of a mess by the end of the session! Some of the ales on offer were more standard offerings of citra and cascade hopped beers nestling alongside some excellent IPAs and a number of complex stout ales. There has been mention in national press (the Guardian no less, at least, prior to the event slipped into an article about the ‘rise of craft beer’ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/jun/13/craft-beer-guide-beginners]) of the endeavours undertaken by the Expo Liverpool Echo posted this piece about the Expo: [http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/review-liverpool-craft-beer-festival-4325877]. There is even some footage posted right here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3kZxuiq6i0] with a nice panoramic shot of the Furnace for all to see. There was even some blogging (shock horror) on the event, although I’ve not had a chance to trawl them all, Allgates Brewery did post this: [http://allgatesbrewery.com/allgates-brewery-blog/2013/06/liverpool-craft-beer-festival/]. Pricewise, it was in keeping with usual goings on at the Camp and Furnace, with the burgers hitting the £6 mark, similar to those installed at the Food Slam events that take place on a Friday in the venue (which, all things considered are pretty steep). The flavoured popcorn is always a good accompaniment as a bar snack, as were the rather large bags of crisps, something to help soak up the beers and thus appreciate the convivial atmosphere always goes down well. The chance to watch some live brewing was also a welcome and interesting touch, with the likes of Beavertown, Camden and the hosts, Liverpool Craft Brewery all displaying their talents.
An education, an experience and most certainly, overall, a pleasure; here’s to the next one! Pedro. x ------ Many thanks to Jon Young for his photography skills on the afternoon. You can follow Liverpool Craft Beer Expo on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Livcraftbeerexp And Liverpool Craft Beer here: https://twitter.com/Craft_Beers British Bank Holiday weekends are invariably washed out affairs, much more suited to sitting wistfully on a window ledge staring outside at the rain trickling down the pane. Luckily, the last two Bank Holiday weekends in May of 2013 have been gloriously bright affairs. That type of weather definitely lends itself to sitting out with friends in a Beer garden, having a picnic and a few cold drinks in the park with the family or even better, attending a beer festival. There have been a few of late and there are a few more to come in Liverpool over the next few months. I spent the first May bank holiday at the Eagle and Child beer festival in Bispham Green (near Parbold/Mawdelsey). Typically, this festival experiences excellent dry weather and is generally superbly run and friendly affair. The addition of hand pumps to a few of the cask ales on offer this year is a definite improvement and a step upward from the usual high standards in the grounds of the pub owned by the Ainscoughs (of Racquet Club fame). The most recent Bank Holiday weekend was also spent investigating a slightly smaller scale beer festival, this time by the banks of the River Mersey in Otterspool at the Otter’s Café at Active Adventures. Having ventured down on the Saturday and Sunday, the clientele was mixed to say the least, with a market having brought some people out and the remainder either those wandering along the promenade for a walk and an ice cream or those specifically for the beer festival. There was even room for a Hen do oddly enough! Rather than a pub or association running this event, the crowds were treated to some local brews organised by the Mad Hatter Brewing Company. The Mad Hatters Brewing Company is the newest addition to Liverpool’s ever-increasing craft beer and real ale scene with Head Brewer Gaz and partner in crime Sue, initially taking things a little more seriously in 2007. With the burgeoning interest in Liverpool (as with the rest of the UK) in food and more pertinently, drink, driving the demand for fashionable food and beers with character, there is certainly room. The latter of these demanded items is something that the Mad Hatter is able to provide in abundance. This is more than evident, with some 16 different styles of beer lined up at the brewery, perhaps more once confidence has grown – and a range of brewing techniques not generally used in the UK. Some departure from academia up in Lancaster, I am sure most would agree, but a brave and highly welcome decision for a lot of us. At the festival, there were a few ales on offer from some of the usual suspects on the Liverpool Beer scene in the shape of Liverpool Organic Brewery, Liverpool Craft Brewery, Wapping, Brimstage Brewery from Wirral and another newcomer in the shape of the promising Melwood Brewing Company. The undoubted stars of the show at this festival were the beers on offer from the Mad Hatter Brewery. The unusually potent ales conceived by the Mad Hatter himself were present in fridges, which were stocked full as to be curiouser and curiouser; leporine artwork by Emily Warren of Stealthy Rabbit adorning a variety of exciting bottles promising much. Emily's thoughts are given in a bit more detail than I can divulge right now over on: [http://thestealthyrabbit.blogspot.co.uk/]. Over the course of the weekend, I made it my duty to try and characterise as much of the wonderland made real by the brewery as possible. However, with an ABV of usually over 7%, care must be taken – an easy task it was not!! The brewery was keen to provide something as an alternative to the usual session beers on the market, offering viable alternatives for food pairings to the usual fallback of a bottle of wine. Here are a few of the tasting notes I made whilst I was able to stave off falling down the rabbit hole:
2. Imperial IPA: Using Simcoe hops, the pine notes in this beer are deeply embedded and very obvious, at 7.3% it packs quite a punch and has quite a sharp edge with some good acidity. Very, very hoppy!
That’s your lot for what magnificence I tried on offer at the Beer Festival, but your extra reading after this blog is to go and check out the Mad Hatter Brewing Company website (conveniently located here: [http://madhatbrew.co.uk/] and for more up to date information, search facebook for Mad Hatter Brewing Company, or follow them on twitter, @MadHatBrew] with a run down of their beers and details should you need to contact them. Their beers will be available from the following outlets: Beers are available in Liverpool from: Stamps Too, (CAMRA pub of the year, Liverpool) The Dispensary, Renshaw St The Ship and Mitre And also soon from: 23 Club, below the Clove Hitch Pod, Allerton Road Manchester: Pie & Ale, Northern Quarter, The Port St Beer House, Northern Quarter And also soon from: Joshua Brooks, Oxford Road The Magnet, Stockport (CAMRA pub of the year, Greater Manchester) Unfortunately, you can’t buy from the Brewery direct at the moment, so you’ll have to go hunt down these bad boys from one of the outlets above if you’re feeling impatient!! A tip of the (mad) hat should also go to the guys down at the Otters Café for putting on the mini market and beer festival. They have an aerial assault course in the vein of Go Ape! there alongside a maze and the café and lovely riverside views. The coffee and cakes is pretty good there too! Full details of the venue are just a click away: [http://www.activeadventuresliverpool.co.uk/]. Until next time guys, I’ll see you through the looking glass! Pedro x Hello Everyone!
Welcome to 2013!! Well, I guess it is a little late for that having only just got my act together to write something up nearly a fortnight into the year, but you can’t blame me too much. It has been rather a busy time of late with the Laboratory playing host to the families for Christmas Dinner and then a leaving party for a friend on NYE, but that doesn’t mean the experiments and observations have stopped at any point! As alluded to in some of my (less than occasional) twitter updates, there is much on the horizon this year to get gastric juices flowing and to feel rather excited about in the first few months of this year at least… I have no doubt there will be much more in the pipeline later on too. First up is the CAMRA Winter Ales Fesitval which is taking place again over in Manchester [http://nwaf.org.uk/] which we attended last year and were pleasantly surprised at some very good beers on offer. Full details can be seen here: [http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/1/post/2012/02/threshold-festival-gets-its-own-beer-plus-the-camra-winter-ales-festival-in-manchester.html]. However, due to the seasonality and hop availability, you must go expecting the more Chestnut and Amber Ales to take the place of paler counterparts. Bear in mind that there are some exceptional Stouts and Porter Ales also available, not least last years superb offering from Coniston Brewery in the form of an oatmeal stout. The festival is running from the 23rd to the 26th January at the Sheridan Suite in Manchester, Saturday and Friday tickets are £5 for the session and you will be charged another £1 at least for a programme! Also described in the article linked above was the Threshold Festival [http://www.thresholdfestival.co.uk/], which is back this year with a vengeance. Holding the festival in March will mean slightly more clement temperatures than those experienced last year, but the Camp and Furnace will be ready for more great music, art and Threshold’s own delicious beer from the Liverpool Craft boys. More details on the festival will be given in another article at some point soon!! The Laboratory is considering some events of its own this year, in lieu of the successful Wheat Beer tasting that was run during the summer of 2012, there is going to be an introductory wine tasting conducted at some point (explaining the very basics of wine, vintage, grapes etc). Stay tuned for details on this; the pricing is likely to be in the region of £12 per head (with all wine and probably some cheese and nibbles included!) and places are going to be limited based on the venue we have available. There may be follow up tastings based on the success of this event with some more experienced speakers, so I will keep an eye on things and keep you all informed! The second event that the Laboratory is hatching is going to be a pub crawl, which was conducted last year to great success across the city centre, picking people up along the way and finishing with a curry at East Z East at the King’s Dock on the waterfront. The event will be completely free aside from providing your costs for booze and food should you feel the need, but at some point soon, a map will be published showing the likely establishments that the Kemistry will be taking place. Full details will be given soon. A return visit to the Liverpool Organic Brewery has been booked for the 2nd February, a full review of this can be seen here: [http://electrokemistcuisine.weebly.com/1/post/2012/11/liverpool-organic-brewery-tour-november-2012.html]. I shall report back if anything has changed, but suffice to say, the event was great and there are two extra dates planned in March (Saturday 23rd) and in May (Saturday 18th). You can book onto the Brewery Tour events here: [http://lobtours.eventbrite.co.uk/] Finally, I shall leave you with a brief write up of a restaurant we attended at the back end of last year for a break at the Manchester Christmas Markets, as always, no marks out of five or ten, but our best descriptive offering should suffice! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ElectroKemistry Review: Phetpailin – 46 George Street, Manchester Disclaimer: This review was conducted in December, so it is possible the menu and prices have changed. After picking up a couple of decent bottles of vino from Hanging Ditch (located near the cathedral), we headed to this place on the recommendation of a friend who was due to attend the following week for a Christmas meal with work colleagues. All in all, we were not disappointed with the food on offer and the experience was overall, a very pleasant and positive one. The ambience of the restaurant is pleasant enough, with the usual Thai paraphernalia placed around the restaurant along with various greenery, although this does make it feel a touch more claustrophobic with the premises being relatively long and narrow as it is. With the restaurant busy or 'ticking over', you can still hold a conversation without too much raising of voices, again, another positive. The food was very very good, all presented very well and cooked perfectly. The dishes our party ordered ranged from sharing platters of spring rolls, bite size entrees and dips to excellent Peanut (penang) Curries with King Prawns and the 'Weeping Tiger' (sirloin steak sliced and cooked with spices, beanspouts and other vegetables). All the food was delivered in a timely manner and with a friendly smile. We had expected some fuss over the wine we brought, but a cooler was brought without fuss for both bottles. I would definitely recommend this place for a visit, the pricing was reasonable for all dishes, plus being able to bring your own drinks means it works out a lot cheaper to pair beer or wine with your meal should you want to give the soft drinks a miss. One minor quibble was that over the charge we incurred for asking to take some leftovers (of which there were a reasonable amount - portion sizes are fairly generous!) away. A surcharge of 50p per plastic tub was added to our bill, which while no great shakes in the grand scheme of things, is a pretty poor touch considering the restaurant had scored highly for everything else in our evening. I would suggest this is scrapped in the interests of their reputation. Short of ideas? You could do far worse than giving this place a visit, just remember to bring your own drinks! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, that was rather a jam packed episode this time around! I hope you stayed focused and are rubbing your grubby palms with glee at the prospect of the forthcoming events in Liverpool? I shall endeavour to keep you all abreast of the events as details reveal themselves to us at the Laboratory and bid you farewell for a couple of weeks until more information hits us! Adios mi todos! Pedro. I love beer. To an unhealthy extreme some might say. They’re probably right, but I don’t really care, it really is something to get genuinely excited and passionate about… plus it’s something that the British are exceptionally good at. The ales we produce in these fair isles are pretty much second to none in some categories. There has been a surge in the popularity of microbrewery wares in the last few years, this is probably due to a combination of factors including the skills of the brewers pouring their hearts, souls and bank account contents into their projects and sharing the fruit of the labour with the rest of us. Another big factor believe it or not, has to be attributed to former Labour Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. Mr Brown introduced a tax break for small breweries in the UK in 2002, the number of microbreweries has proliferated to double the number that year (http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2079988/CITY-FOCUS-Raising-glass-micro-breweries.html). Sadly, the number of pubs has been declining due to the harsher financial times we are all experiencing, but the quality certainly has been going in the opposite direction in some towns and cities. This is due to better food on offer, but more importantly a better range of beers with significantly better quality also present at these establishments. A recent visit across to Brasenose Street in Liverpool to pick up some goodies for Christmas (2 crates of very excellent brews) from the Liverpool Organic Brewery (http://www.liverpoolorganicbrewery.com/) warmed the cockles of my heart. The brewery, who are currently preparing for the Waterloo Beer Festival (http://www.waterloobeerfestival.com/) and increasing the range of the beers they have developed over the last 3 and a half years (since September 2008), has gone from strength to strength and also had a major presence at the National Winter Ales Festival over in Manchester. The National Winter Ales festival was held over 4 days just outside the city centre in Manchester, so after a train from Lime Street to Piccadilly and a short walk via meeting some friends, we built up a bit of a thirst whilst wondering what beers would be represented. I was slightly dubious about what would be on offer, as traditionally the beers at this time of year tend to be darker and heavier… more Stouts and Old Ales, accompanied by treacle, toffee, autumn leaves and heavily malted flavours. I was pleased at some of the easier-going drinks that were available at the event, but also managed a fair share of some rather less pleasant offerings. The atmosphere at the event was pretty good, there were a few seasoned veterans (you always get the obligatory ‘Stetson hat with goggles strapped to the top’ type along with several guys who look like they’re there for a Gandalf look a like convention) a few less eccentric people and surprisingly a lot more girls aged 20-30 which is something of a shift in the demographic over the last few years for Real Ale/Bitter drinkers. This speaks at length to how the image has changed for these types of beverages down the years. With regards the drinks that were tried at the Festival, the 1/3rd measure of beer available was immensely helpful for those who wanted to broaden the range of drinks they were able to partake in; especially useful since there were a number of barley wines available (typically higher alcohol contents and much stronger all round). I have a full list of tasting notes and ticks next to all the beers tried at the Festival, but suffice to say the results from the CAMRA judging panel did pick out what I regarded as one the best of what was available by the Saturday session for an award. The full results can be found here: (http://www.camra.org.uk/article.php?group_id=4140). The two favourites on display for our group were both Stouts and significantly more delicious than Guinness (in our opinion). First up, related to the prose above, Liverpool Organic Brewery’s Russian Stout was a big favourite in the absence of Kitty Wilkinson’s Chocolate and Vanilla Stout. The smooth finish on the smoky velvet texture belies the strength and although I was no stranger to the stuff, our mancunian counterparts were suitably impressed with it. The second stout was that produced by the excellent Coniston Brewery from Coniston in Cumbria. Their Special Oatmeal Stout was exceptional, even better than the excellent and very interesting No.9 Barley Wine (which is very strong, but has unusual cognac and marzipan qualities) which won the Gold Award in the Barley Wine category. The tasting notes described the Stout thus “Oats used in the grist give body and smoothness, enhancing the roasted barley, giving it complex flavours reminiscent of dark chocolate and coffee”. The dark chocolate note was spot on, as was the description of its smoothness. There was a very rich and satisfying undertone to the Oatmeal Stout too, meaning it stood out above most of the other beers that were tried in our group. Moorhouse’s Pendle Witches’ Brew was also on, which is simply one of the finest ales I have ever had, on its day of course. But I have to shine the spotlight elsewhere now and again! Unfortunately, I have to caveat that this was not a scientific assessment of the beers available due to many of them simply having been demolished in the previous 3 days of drinking. This is something of a bugbear for me, but running out of a beer at a festival, especially ale that does sound incredible only for you queue for 10 minutes to be told it is all gone. The logistics of a festival are difficult at the best of times and an establishment simply can’t store as much ale to double up on what they provide, as such I know I can’t complain too much but maybe one day something will be done to ensure exciting sounding offerings such as the Lytham Gold will still be on for the final day of a festival! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Threshold Festival and Liverpool Craft Brewery Linking into the beer theme, some of you may have noticed there is a recent addition to the current crop of Merseyside brewers in the Liverpool Craft Brewing Company (http://www.liverpoolcraftbeer.com/). They have recently created two new brews to add to the Liverpool Icon, Icon Dark, Viking and Hop Beast in their range. Most recently, Tane Mahuta has been pushed as a result of tinkering with the Hop Beast recipe. Intriguingly, there has been an ale which the guys have specifically brewed to link into the Threshold Festival which takes place in Liverpool (http://www.thresholdfestival.co.uk/). The Threshold Festival began life as a collaboration between the Contemporary Urban Centre and Under the Influence in order to bring opportunities to push music, live performance, theatre and visual arts in a single setting. It is soon to have unshackled itself and pushed to be held at a multitude of venues to champion the grassroots artists that it prides itself on providing a platform to. The details of the venues and shows on offer are best sought out on the website for the Festival or by contacting the Festival organisers. Following the success on a maiden voyage and going into its second year, the festival has won many friends and some critical (including journalistic) acclaim in many quarters. Kaya Herstad Carney, ------ said of the collaboration with the Craft Brewing Company: “When Paul approached us and asked if we would be interested in having Liverpool Craft Beers making a special Threshold beer, the answer was indeed easy - Of course! Being able to be part of the process, even from the measuring and mixing to separating vanilla pods just made it perfect for us; DIY with a root in knowing your craft and a big measure of passion: Ingredients.” Rachel Dyer, a Festival Coordinator for the Threshold Festival also commented that: “It was great meeting Liverpool Craft Beer, I've never tasted beer let alone been to a brewery! Paul and Terry introduced us to the whole process and got involved with weighing ingredients, mixing and starting the brewing of the Threshold beer. The beer grain was so tasty I carried on nibbling at my sample! It's clear how passionate they are, and being self-taught independent and innovative, they're exactly the kind of people we want to call friends and work together for Threshold Festival 2012. Can't wait to see the final result!” The festival takes place between the 10th and 12th February 2012 and tickets for many of the events are available now. Heading along, spreading the Valentine’s love and having a look and trying a delicious pint of collaborative ale would be the only sensible thing to be doing! Links: Threshold Festival 2012 (10th til 12th February 2012, Baltic Triangle, Liverpool). Bigger Better and Baltic Bound! Facebook for Threshold Festival: https://www.facebook.com/undertheinfluencenight?sk=app_134506053246185#!/undertheinfluencenight?sk=info Follow the festival on Twitter (@thresholdfest), Tumblr (Thresholdfest) and Flickr (Thresholdfest). Buy advanced tickets through Skiddle. Follow Liverpool Craft Brewing on Twitter (@Craft_Beers) Follow Liverpool Organic Brewery on Twitter (@LivOrganicBrew) All the pictures for the Threshold Beer visit were kindly supplied by the organisers, therefore, it's their copyright too. ;o)
Catch you all next time dudes! Pedro x |
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