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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Apart from learning a dubious word for a rather rude word, allegedly Dutch in origin, much was learnt from a recent trip over to Brussels, especially about the glut of styles, flavours and histories of their excellent beers. The only real regret about the trip is that one’s liver, kidneys and belly can only take a certain amount of punishment before they decide that you’ve had enough and starting screaming at you… (well, your stomach tends to do it first!) so you can only try a finite amount of the drinks on offer in the various establishments around the city. After an initial snoop around some randomly chosen establishments and taking in some amber and blonde beers (including those which were brewed in-house at a more expensive gaff on grand place – still good, but overpriced) and then some bottled beers of varying styles at the Poechenellekelder [http://www.brusselspictures.com/2008/04/20/the-poechenellekelder/] (which happens to be right next to “Mannekin Pis”). We did return to this place on our final day, however if you visit be prepared to face a lot of creepy puppets adorning the walls and ceilings. There doesn’t seem to be a website for this bar, there are very mixed reviews floating around the internet; however and some are not very generous unfortunately. Our experience was very pleasant, although the server was a bit aloof and cold, his knowledge of the beers was spot on and the service was efficient. The beer menu was also very clear and categorised into amongst others Blond, Amber, Gueze/Lambics and Trappiste beers (as it was in many other places we visited it has to be said). I’d proffer that it is worth a visit to make your own mind up about the place, but in our trip the overall experience was a positive one. The most time spent in one bar was for the tourist trap that is the Delirium Café [http://www.deliriumcafe.be/]. The very long beer list which was standing at 2,004 different brands in January 2004 (as recorded in the The Guinness Book of Records – there’s a certificate on the wall down in the basement café) is rather remarkable. Over 60 countries are represented on the menu in there, including plenty of Belgian beers. The bar is in the small alley called Impasse de la Fidélité/Getrouwheidsgang just off Rue Des Bouchers. Délirium Café has been expanding internationally recently too, opening franchises in Rio De Janeiro (2010) and in Japan (2011). Even though the bar is incredibly busy later on in the evenings, especially at weekends, it is well worth a visit. The atmosphere was great and the different beers on offer provided a perfect foil for what was a slightly more lively venue compared to some of the other cafes and bars in Brussels. Upon receiving a text whilst meandering about some bars in the city on the Saturday afternoon, I was informed that I was needed across town in a bar called La Coq at 3pm. Finding it was a bit of an issue initially, but upon entering, our group were sat down and welcomed to our Beer Tour [http://www.localbrusselsbeertours.com/#features] by a gentleman by the name of Oscar. For the following 3 hours, we were taken to 3 different bars that we would have never ventured into had it not been part of our tour, but we were immensely glad that we did. Over the course of the afternoon, we tried no less than 8 beers (smaller measures, as I am sure you understand full bottles would have left us destroyed at 6% abv and counting up to 12%), including many I would have usually avoided based on their content and colour. Sticking to my own personal preferences for a beer wasn’t really an option, but I did however learn that ‘Tripel’ beers are usually of a lighter nature than ‘Doppel’ although with a higher alcohol content, some of the trappiste (beers brewed at Abbeys and sometimes tended by Monks or sponsored by them) beers with higher alcohol contents take on remarkable fruit characterists in their flavour. Halfway through the tour, some exceedingly pungent and ripe cheeses were wheeled out in front of us, tasty… but I couldn’t really abide the aroma of one or two of them. I can’t really recommend undertaking one of these tours enough, you’ll see a bit more of the city than you otherwise would and you’ll certainly get to know some new bars and new beers better than being left to your own devices. The tour guide (Oscar) even stayed behind when we offered to buy him a drink as we enjoyed our tour so much. At Є35-40 some people might think it a bit on the steep side, but for 3 hours of someone’s time who will definitely provide you with an education and some tasty drinks and cheese; it really is rather good! Ethiopian restaurant (Kokob) [http://www.kokob.be/] was a pitstop for a Sunday afternoon spot of lunch (or more accurately, brunch, due to our revelry the night before taking a relatively heavy toll). Have eaten this cuisine before, I was still pleasantly surprised at the quality on offer. The style of service is highly unusual, from a complimentary amuseé bouche of spiced lemon rice to the platter brought to us with the base Injera (Millet bread – similar if you can imagine a very large Staffordshire oatcake you get in British supermarkets?) onto which all the lentil, lamb, cheese and spinach dishes were placed. If you ever have the opportunity to try Ethiopian cuisine I would recommend it; it is a very sociable way to have your dinner! Make sure you follow up with a traditional coffee too, you might be bouncing around a little afterwards but it definitely was an added positive to a great experience.
In your face (as they say in Brussels apparently, I forget the Flemish phrases exactly – it’s a direct translation, trust me). Pedro. x |
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