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.
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Beard, Beard, Beard, Beard’s the word… and everybody’s heard about the word. Well, hopefully by the end of this piece they will have. Weird Beard hail from West London, which has somewhat a dearth of reputable drinking establishments, the White Horse in Parson’s Green aside from what I had experienced from a recent visit (although it should be noted, I only had one day to scan the area and went off recommendations from acquaintances and friends). Following a wealth of experience (and some awards) two brewers by the name of Bryan and Gregg decided to take the plunge and swap their respective small batch kitchen based enterprises and go full on with their brews. The remit of their beers is the use of hops to pack as much into their beers as is possible, whilst wearing rather fetching facial hair. Okay, I did make that last bit up, as I doubt things would grind to a sudden halt should one of them decide to defuzz. Weird Beard started their experiments in February of 2013 and over the course of the following 12 months received the accolade of being in the top 5 or 6 of new brewers in the World. It may not sound like too much of a deal, but when you consider that during this period for nomination, some 2000 new breweries began operations. Remarkable. Weird Beard are apparently at the stage of considering more space to continue their quest to deliver more beers out into the world, they currently have 3 full time personnel on the brewing and are even considering a tap room from which to directly dispense their wares. And so, onward to an early May Monday evening, one of the chief beards, Gregg Irwin is stood in front of a crowd awaiting stories (of which there were many) and some of the fabled Beard brews. Mariana Trench The most popular beer of the Weird Beard stable, an American Pale style using Citra and Pacific Gem hops which started life as a homebrewed beer; this was initially called Mariana’s Trench, with the ‘s dropped due to some rather rude connotations (I’ll leave that to you guys). At 5%, this soft, slightly sour beer has a character with some stone fruit including mango, tropical passion fruit a notably peachy finish, a slight haze and orchard fruit aromas. The name is clearly derived from the geographical reference to use of trans-pacific hops. 5 O’Clock Shadow This American style IPA uses four different hop types; Citra, Apollo, Summit and Colombus. Heavy hops flavour and a ABV of around 7% gives this beer a slight savoury edge with yet more apricot and nectarine aromas, though the presence of these on the nose did not quite convey into the flavour. The beer is dry hopped at 8.5g hops per litre and started life as a darker product. K*ntish Town Beard A very interesting story reared its head in the presentation by Gregg resulting in the current name we have for this beer. It started life as a collaborative beer, brewed in conjunction with the Brewdog bar based down in Camden with a name that made another prominent brewery rather unhappy, although this has now been firmly resolved and the beer is a delicious American style wheat beer. The use of Willamette hops in the initial hopping and then with Centennial in the boil, Centennial and Cascade are finally used in the ferment to great effect. The Willamette provides the woody spiciness often conveyed by Simcoe. This interesting beer comes in at 5.5%. Fade to Black Another Weird Beard beer of homebrew origin, this excellent black IPA weighs in at 7.1% with a low payload of roast for something so dark. The use of three different hops in Sorachi Ace, Citra and Summit give plenty of flavour hit, which has depth and length without issue. Some slight chocolate flavours hum in the background along with a hint of toasted coconut, something which has been played upon with the follow up version of Fade to Black. Fade to Black (coconut) A one-off brew playing on the original beer above, this iteration removes the use of the Sorachi Ace hop and came about through a mistake with a hot liquor tank and the elements remaining on for much longer than anticipated. This beer is almost at a level where you’d classify it as a liquid chocolate bar inundated by toasted coconut, which is testament to the amounts of coconut that was thrown at making this beer, although it did have the unwanted side effect of clogging up lots of equipment with coconut. Fade to Black (coconut) was not dry hopped, retaining some more stout character as opposed to the black IPA and comes up with a strength of around 6.1%. Decadence Stout The use of 10 different grains and predominantly US Chinook and Goldings hops, this 4.8% stout uses no roasted barley and concentrated on the use of less acidic malts to retain a full body and chocolatey flavour with a hint of coffee and pleasant creamy mouthfeel. Boring Brown Beer This rebrew of the first ever beer Weird Beard made, with the possible exception of Hit the Lights, this 8.2% monster is based on the beer ‘Arrogant Bastard’ by Stone Brewery and was brewed with Chinook hops in a Pale ale style. A tinker with the yeast to a specific type helped fine tuning with the brew and a ferment temperation of 29 degree Celsius helped keep some ester compounds (ask an organic chemist, not me… I do know, but it’s the wrong branch of Kemistry, arf arf) to convey a fruity flavourful beer. This ‘Imperial Best’ beer has notes of raisins on the nose and in the flavours and over 100 IBUs, which would do well from aging both in cask and bottle. All in all, a very informative and engaging evening with Weird Beard; great beers, although some not quite to my own taste, the story telling was excellent and will make for a entertaining event.
A special shout should be given to Kusina ni Lola for providing the cooking at this event, four excellent courses to accompany the beers were provided and from the taste (and photos above) they were excellent – you can catch them occasionally at the Foodslam events at the Camp and Furnace, infrequent pop up events or at the Albion Market in Crosby, North Liverpool. Until the next time…. Pedro. x --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weird Beard Brew Co. Unit 5 Boston Business Park, Trumpers Way, Hanwell. W7 2QA Tel: 0203 645 2711 Web: http://www.weirdbeardbrewco.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeirdBeard_Brew Twenty Three Club / Clove Hitch 23 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BQ Web: http://www.theclovehitch.com/# Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwentyThreeClub or https://twitter.com/theclovehitch Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Tel: 0151 709 6574 Kusina Ni Lola Twitter: https://twitter.com/KusinaNiLola Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kusinanilola The Meet the Brewer events across the UK are proving to be exceptionally popular ways to spend an evening. Twinned with the relatively rude health of the cask and craft brewing scene, social occasions with the additional spice of running shoulders with a brewer and imbibing a brewery’s best wares have given rise to the building momentum and thirst to try new brews and catch glimpses of beers that are otherwise stocked sporadically in drinking establishments. In the latest iteration of Liverpool’s Clove Hitch and 23 Club outings and following the successful Brewfist tasting in December 2013, Logan Plant, son of the erstwhile Zepellin frontman, presented six of Beavertown Brewery’s flagship beers for an eager crowd to experience. Set up in partnership with Byron Knight December 2011, the brewery began in relatively modest surroundings of a kitchen of Dukes Brew and ’Que, De Beauvoir in Hackney. Incidentally, a colloquial twisting of the location gave rise to the brewery’s name. Fast forward to March 2013 and the Beavertown boys set up new premises to grow their capacity and cement a reputation at Fish Island, with future plans to get canning. According to Logan, Beavertown’s beginnings were seeded long before 2011 and a while before his epiphany in New York and subsequent realisation. Teenage ale infatuation with a session beer, spending afternoons sinking a few beers in the beer garden was a precursor to a later moment of clarity. Whilst part of a band playing in New York, Logan was having to eat rather late and therefore experienced American style craft beers and barbecued meat, giving a push to exit stage left from gigs and the recording studio and thus into the brewery. Back to present and to Liverpool, the Monday Mersey evening air is chilly, but Logan’s passion has given rise to 6 beers that we are presented with for delectation…. First up was the proverbial ‘Neck Oil’, a veritable session beer if ever there was, weighing in at a reasonable 4.3% and bursting with citrus lemon and cut grass freshness. It is a very easy drinking, straw coloured and dry hopped number; something apparently influenced by Logan’s Grandfather who referred to an estimable drinking session at his local as the time for the ‘application of neck-oil’. A slightly stringent mouth-feel gives this beer a pleasant edge if you’re wanting to partake in a few. ‘Gamma Ray’ is the second and possibly one of the most common of Beavertown’s beers to be had. A former employee at the Kernel (another brewery in London) was the first recruit to Beavertown’s brewing team and after a couple of iterations, hit upon a dry hopping ploy with Amarillo, Calypso, Columbus and Omega hops for this tasty and light bodied American style pale ale. There is plenty of flavour, similar to the Neck Oil with citrus character, but a more coating mouth-feel and plenty of fruit. It will be the first to be canned when Beavertown roll out their new venture soon. Third up was the ‘8-Ball Rye IPA’ which was a much softer edged beer than the previous two. The initial process was using 3 grains and approximately 17% rye in the malts, there was some difficulty sparging due to the finely milled particle size provided by the supplier. Upon a solution being achieved through supply chain amendments, an earthy, spicy beer with a cloudiness has been created, using a combination of US and New Zealand hops to bring out a delicious IPA at 6.2%. ‘Some Like it Hot’ was next to hit the taste-buds; a chilli and lime saison, with the addition of raspberries and apples from Chegworth Orchard, giving rise to a standard sourness, but twinned with a very interesting tart-heat in the aftertaste and mouth-feel. The acidity is finely balanced with the level of hopping, giving an intensely fruity beer which was influenced by a cocktail mixologist who recommended trying to achieve something similar to a cocktail. The dry hopping with chillies provides a clever dimension to the beer providing some depth of flavour plus the expected heat. Onto the darker stuff with a black IPA named ‘Black Betty’. A beer which allegedly came about by a happy accident in the brewery, aiming for a beer that was reminiscent of the popular and nostalgic ‘black jacks’ chewy sweets so many of us of a certain age will remember. Coming in at 7.4%, there is plenty of punch to this dark IPA along with lots of fruit from the hops and a coffee and chocolate infused depth provided by the use of 5 types and especially darker malts. The aromatics kick quite a lot of arse here, belying any indication of a heavy body and any expectancy of a greater amount of chewiness. Finally we hit the big brother to a standard Beavertown brew, the ‘Imperial Smog Rocket’, which weighed in at a hefty 10%. Using smoked malt and brewed in the imperial style popular with Catherine the Great, the Imperial Smog Rocket was built as a foil for some collaborative work performed with the Brewdog boys. They created an Imperial Stout which was named ‘Catherine’s Pony’ (do an internet search for stories surrounding Catherine the Great and horses… just don’t complain when you find out why they named the beer as such, the dirty boys), but Beavertown decided they could raise the bar from the collaboration and thus launched the rocket, creating a thrust of big chocolate and coffee oiliness. Magnum and Chinook hops sit atop a mountain of malts, drifting in and out of liquorice, with some vanilla and smoke. A must-try beer, but perhaps stick to one or two eh? An excellent evening with affable hosts as ever, Logan has promised to make some more rounds when the canning gets going, I suspect we will be seeing a lot more Beavertown if they keep the bar as high as the above beers are set.
Until the next time…. Cheers! Pedro. --------------------------------------------- Beavertown Brewery Web: http://www.beavertownbrewery.co.uk/ Follow Beavertown on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeavertownBeer Clove Hitch/23 Club: https://twitter.com/theclovehitch / https://twitter.com/TwentyThreeClub Tel: 0151 709 6574 Address: 23 Hope Street, Liverpool. L1 9BQ 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 Brewery tours and beer festivals are always a welcome weekend distraction for me. Receiving an email from the Liverpool Organic Brewery in the early Autumn/late Summer was even more of a pleasure, since I had heard that they had planned to do a brewery tour much earlier than 3rd November 2012. However, the business of running a brewery is definitely a painstaking one and concentrating on what they do best (making beer) rather than invite people to the premises for a presentation and few hours of hospitality was on the back burner for the most of this year. Cain’s Brewery is currently the only Liverpool based brewery that conduct regular tours, which is made much easier by their vast premises (compared to the other breweries located in Liverpool). Their tour was not quite as pleasing as the one I attended most recently at the Organic Brewery’s Brasenose Street headquarters; however, it is still rather interesting. The brewery tour for the Organic Brewery comes in at the moment at a superficially steep £20 per head, but once you’ve completed the tour of duty in the midst of their fermentation vessels, you will probably feel as I did that the value of the tour was well worth the cost – not just based on the refreshments provided, but the intimacy of the event. Managing Director, Mark Hensby, gave a very personable account of the set up of the brewery through to the brewing they carry out and into visions for the future of the business. The other members of the brewery staff all excelled when asked various questions during the remainder of the tour in which guests are given a few nibbles and as much beer as they can hold over the course of three hours (along with complimentary glass); they were both friendly and knowledgeable (no mean feat when faced with lots of drunk punters!!). The beers on offer at the event were based on the availability of what had been brewed, luckily that included two of my personal favourites in Honey Blond and Iron Men (along with St. Anthony’s Ale – Cambrinus and the Liverpool Organic Best Bitter). The tour is by no means planned to be an isolated event. During the talk, Mark Hensby intimated that two more could be planned for later in the year both taking place in December, with the possibility of a Beer Festival taking place in the same month in the future. Good tidings! The beers on offer will no doubt rotate based on the hops that the brewery have at their disposal, with summer now over (as if we had one…) the lighter New Zealand and Cascade hops will have been used up in Iron Men and Cascade etc, so expect darker brews during the Winter and early Spring. In terms of the breadth of beers that the brewery produces all year round, there is the possibility in a reduction of the number due to ongoing logistical pressure within the business; which is sad thing, but if it means assuring the quality of the beer produced at any given time then it is a positive longer term for drinkers. In short, the tour is in early stages, but still very enjoyable and great value for money. Stay tuned, join the Facebook group or follow the brewery on Twitter to get information on when the brewery tours will be scheduled. I will no doubt spread the information too on my Twitter and ElectroKemist Facebook feed. Happy Drinking!! Pedro. (Further details on Liverpool Organic Brewery can be found at: http://www.liverpoolorganicbrewery.com/ and they can be contacted on 0151 933 9660) 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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