Having to go near enough a month without being able to really review, or even enjoy a decent beer was pretty tough. Throw into the mix the fact that I had to give Indy Man Beer Con a miss and it was a bit of a wash-out of a month. Though I am still not quite right, I managed to knuckle down and hit November with a vengeance, partially to give me something to do, but also to try and make some space for getting some beers in ready for Christmas. As ever, there are a number of styles and throw into the mix a trip back north of the border to check out the bottle shops in Edinburgh (no to mention getting over to Andrew Usher and Sons for a Mad Hatter Brewing Co tap takeover which was serendipitously taking place), then we have some really good things to discuss this month. Special shouts out again to Great Grog and especially to the guys at Bottle Baron, which I visited to the first time and was made to feel very welcome. I'll be reviewing a bit more of what I picked up from Scotland in next months blog, but there are a large number already making their way into this month's selection. So what of the beers? Read on...
And that's about your lot from this burgeoning round up! Hopefully this will give you some good ideas for Christmas beers wherever you are going to pick them up from.
Happy hunting! Pedro.
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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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