New Briggate Beer Blog

Blend is best

2012-02-24T22:53:00.003Z

This post is prompted by an influx of Southern Tier Gemini in to Leeds - via Beer Ritz of course.

I approached with some trepidation at first...

me: "ooh Gemini..."
Jeff: "hell yeah"
me: "is it fresh though Jeff?
Jeff: "Dunno man, there's no date that's for sure,"
me: "fuck it I can spare £12 on one beer."

*winces*

Despite the ins and outs of spending quite a sum of money on a single beer (I'm fine with it) it is lucky that it WAS fresh and well... Extremely fucking good. You see I had a bottle last year some time in London and it was really disappointing as it had travelled half the world and then sat in a warehouse Sweden for god knows how long, then ended up as part of a trophy collection in a pub with shit service. Hops totally gone, malt bready, flaccid and boring.

So very glad it is fresh then, not quite as fresh as when I tried it first time around in Brooklyn, on draught, but fresh enough. But fresh isn't todays issue.

I popped back to Reer Ritz and purchased more of this cracking beverage. Hazy orange, heady fruit, greenly herbal, hedgy nose, mouth coating mega complex balance of citric, herbal and bitingly bitter hops and really solid, quite sweet & smooth malt core. The great, great thing about this beer is that it's VERY complex but VERY well balanced. The key? Blending two beers.

Blending in the UK has a bad rep, the initial, and noble history of bar and brewery blended beer starts with Entire gives way to Porter and leads to Stout to a practice undertaken in secret by many breweries in the UK, especially the larger ones. It hit the buffers when scrupulous and unscrupulous landlords started cutting corners and blending slops on the fly to try and increase their margins, usually as a result of monopolistic owners squeezing them very hard. It is also the fault of the terrible Auto Vac.

It seems fairly obvious to me that blending is a good thing, I mean why not? Take some good beers, unique recipes, several ingredients. Then mix them, with other beers, with care which also have several ingredients. Find the best combination. Sell the fucker.

It's a technique employed in the greatest of sour wild beers: Gueuze. A practice used by brewers of Flemish brown ale, fans of Black & Tan, hipsters in Scotland and Denmark (the superlative I Hardcore You) and of course our friends and current inspirations across the pond.

It was quite popular in UK a few generations back but the art has been lost or at least hidden. Look in to some of those winter beers you've been drinking recently, look in to those breweries that only brew four or five beers - there might just be a blend in there. Drink a beer like Gemini or I Hardcore You, Drie Fonteinen or Rodenbach.

We have at present some singularly brilliant beers in the UK, but perhaps we should mix it up some.

Beer & Sex pt II

2012-02-03T15:48:00.002Z

BANG!

Industry sexism is right up there on the news agenda due to the 'Top totty' saga currently distracting the likes of Jeremy Vine, the BBC and upwards of 22% of the House of Commons.

If it's passed you by then this is pretty much a pumpclip parade post made flesh by the likes of MP Kate Green who complained about serial pumpclip offenders - Slaters brewery's 'Top Totty' pouring in the Strangers bar in the Commons. Not only is it rubbish to drink, it also has an utterly crap pumpclip featuring a playboy bunny girl from the 70's.

Stupid that it got in to the Strangers bar, although apparently a barman commented that "We haven't had any complaints raised with our bar staff." Clueless eh? Also presumably clueless are our elected representatives who had been quaffing this swill all evening and lunchtime before anyone thought that the breweries chosen method of marketing the beer was so fucking outdated as to miss the point entirely, alienate 50% of the drinking public and firmly entrench Real Ale as a habit for furtive singletons who are 40 years past their prime.

It's stupid that it would get in to any bar, we really should be past this sort of nonsense by now, but still I get 'funny' or 'sexy' beer listings in the post no matter how much I ignore the breweries who send them in - someone is selling this. Beer is not funny or sexy at source, the fact that it can make you funny and probably more likley to have sex is a matter of post consumption.

It's about time the industry engaged all people on a level which is not smirking behind the bike shed, pre enlightenment twattery. That means not just purile pumpclips but sex based marketing as a whole - focus on the damn product for once or in a short space of time you won't have one.

Read a little more right here.

Charts - Sour Beer

2012-01-29T11:00:00.000Z

Oh dammit! I knew I'd come a cropper somewhere on this, 'Sour' just covers beers with sourness, beers made with some prescence of wild yeast. So that ranges from Fruit beers all the way to Gueuze and Flemish Red... Here we go, I make no excuses. There is no way this can ever be a complete list - but then that's not exactly the point...

1. Drie Fonteinen - Any Oude gueuze. Consistently just so very, very good. Incredibly complex, insane length, just brilliant I want one now!

2. New Glarus - Belgian Red. The most cherry beer!

3. Liefmans - Goudenband Drink it, age it, make Carbonnade flamande with it.

4. Drie Fonteinen - Kriek. See above, add cherries.

5. Lindemans - Cuvée René - one of the best places to start for a beginner. Hits every taste bud, sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami!

6. Leifmans - Frambozen (why did they retire it? FFS!)

7. Giradin - Gueuze Black Label

8. Cantillon - Iris, fresh hops in Lambic? Equals Lemony delightfullness!

9. Verhaghe - Vichtenaar. Duchesse De Bourgogne's lesser known more quaffable brother.

10. Rodenbach - Barrel Land!

Lambic and sour beer is consistently one of the most surprisingly wonderful and ethereal experiences available to you - the beer drinker. If you don't like it, drink it until you do and then thank me for making you do it.

xx

The End...

2012-01-23T09:30:00.000Z

Well end of 2011 anyway! HA! How's that for SEO? It's well past that too as I wrote this quite some time ago and forgot about it... 1000 apologies.

Yes and what a year it was, and how huge was it for British beer? Well if I were to tell you that currently British bottled beer is pushing out US craft beer and Belgian beer in the fridges of North then perhaps you'd understand. In a beacon of world beer with 15 keg lines and 4 cask lines British cask is still the best selling product by a good measure. Despite the sustained influx of beer from the US, new craft products from Denmark, Norway and well, Scotland (that top bit is almost Scandinavia in my book) as well as sleeping giant Germany starting to experiment with newer styles the renaissance in British brewing is growing, becoming more diverse and very much going from strength to strength.

British cask and bottles are here to stay folks DO NOT underestimate cask beer and slag it off at your fucking peril. The British cask tradition is the heart of our beer scene and pretty unique, when done well it'll knock spots off any serving method - I triple dare anyone to show me an imperial stout that tastes better on keg than in cask.

Don't get me wrong, I've been pretty closed lipped on this subject, perhaps because I serve a hell of a lot of keg beer, perhaps because all the fuff going round last year is just that. It's certainly a distraction if not a complete waste of time to gibber away over format. Just as in North bar, the holy triumvirate of cask, keg and bottle must and will remain.

There's shit out there for sure, and however unfortunate for smaller local brewers a consolidation will doubtless occur soon. With new and interesting powerhouses of British brewing emerging it will become harder to sell dull beer, which to be honest everyone should be happy about. Beer can and should be outstanding and delicious, indifference is not an option.

I strongly suspect that 2012 is likely to be a bit of a new dawn for beer as the press and recognition people in the industry have been madly craving is slowly coming through. Trade publications (yes the ones with wine and cocktails in) have been gradually increasing their coverage and savvy entrepreneurs are cutting swaths through the traditional image of the beer drinker and leaving old stereotypes by the wayside.

It's a great time to be in the industry and what with some big plans for North's 15th anniversary this year as well as the mega coup that is getting the EBBC in Leeds - it's gonna be fun!

Mephistopheles - Partizan's Advent

2012-01-04T13:30:00.000Z

Hooya!

Alright so I'm writing this on the 3rd of Jan. So, reader, you can surmise that the partizan's advent was a little bit of a failure in terms of being able to write every day. But it was very much an experiment and I've likely learned a lot. What that lot is, however, I will have to think on some.

So, if you will let me transport you back to the dark days of December, back, back... Way back to the 17th... When I had a total god fucker of a hangover. You know one of those when you wake up knowing you've done something severe but aren't quite sure what. All you have is a terrible feeling of guilt, broken nails and a bastard behind the eyes.

Yes at that point there was no way I was drinking a 17.5% turbo yeast beer. Nuh uh, not me! So I blobbed and just went to work and felt like a twat all evening.

But now.

Rejuvenated by a whole 5 days off in two weeks I'm ready to wrestle the demon. Not even the nagging cold I developed (on Christmas fucking eve!) is going to stop me now. Actually, like the cask strength malt I was drinking last night I'm hoping that this will actually get rid of the cold and fortify me ready for a shit arse January. We'll see.

I've tried this beer before, but never on its own - just when it's popped up in a session when Andy has been in the bar that's how we roll over here:). It's a bruiser for sure but fuck the alcohol, especially as I can't really taste that much alcohol except that warmth in the chest that we got in the Milou. Very pleasant. My immediate impression of this is sherry - Pedro Ximenez to be prescise. It doesn't have the thickness of PX but many of the nutty, fruity and slightly bitter characteristics.

There's a touch of smoke and vanilla that works a treat and with the sherry-ness this beer, more than any other, is the one that you could peg as a barley wine. It's as good as any beer I've tried of this strength, and there are few so there's some more praise to pile on the praise pile for the Partizans advent calendar.

Perhaps I should take heart from yr man Goethe

Hail him, who keeps a steadfast mind!

Thou, else, dost well the devil-nature wear:

Naught so insipid in the world I find

As is a devil in despair.

Golden Pints

2011-12-23T11:30:00.000Z

So here we go then! Of course my top bar is always North and my beer of the year is Little Jim BUT I'm not gonna vote for meself am I?

Best UK Draught (Cask or Keg) Beer

Winner: Redemption Big Chief

Runner up:Thornbridge/Kernel: Burton Ale

Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer

Winner: Kernel Export Stout

Runner up: Buxton Axe Edge

Best Overseas Draught Beer

Winner: Sierra Celebration 2011 (Best ever! Lovely jammy swiss roll going on in there!)

Runner up: Uinta Labyrinth

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer

Winner: Stuise Pannepot

Runner up: Anderson Valley Hopottin IPA - best case purchase.

Best Pumpclip or Label

Winner: Magic Rock (any)

Best UK Brewery

Winner: Magic Rock - Never seen anyone hit the ground running so hard. They've set out a whole new way to open a UK brewery.

Runner up: Marble - still dope - for the Belgians especially and letting me clean the kettle...

Best Overseas Brewery

Winner: Brooklyn (watch this space)

Runner up: BrewFist (watch this space > f'kin spaceman!)

Pub/Bar of the Year

Winner:Port Street Beer House

Runner up: The Sparrow

Not in the North of England: Brasserie 4:20 (thanks to the Roma cigar club!)

Beer Festival of the Year

Winner:GBBF

Runner up:Leeds Pudsey

Supermarket of the Year

Winner: I'm not playing

Runner up:M&S (nearest my house)

Independent Retailer of the Year

Winner:Beer Ritz

Runner up: Latitude Wine

Online Retailer of the Year

Winner: Belgium in a box

Runner up:Beermerchants

Best Beer Book or Magazine

Winner: Oxford Companion to Beer

Best Beer Blog or Website

Winner: The Good Stuff - Mr Avery put it best - 'statesmanlike'

Runner up: Hopzine - love the tasting vids

Best Beer Twitterer

Winner: Ben Hodgkinson

Runner up: Beer Prole

Best Online Brewery Presence

Winner: Magic Rock

Runner up: Brewdog¬!

Food and Beer Pairing of the Year

Winner: Imperial Stout & Salt

Runner up: Grated cheddar sandwich, proper thick cut bread, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, tobasco sauce & Sam Smith's Nut Brown ale.

In 2012 I'd Most Like To:

Get published more.

Open Catagory

Top three British brewers to watch in 2012

1. Andy Smith (Redemption)

2. Colin Stronge (Black Isle)

3. Stuart Ross (Magic Rock)

Partizan's Advent Day 14

2011-12-14T11:30:00.000Z

Phew, so I'm two weeks in to Christmas and two weeks in to my case of brilliant beers from Andy Smith at redemption.

If you're interested in some thoughts on Andy's brewing, thoughts on pretty much every style of beer you could imagine or just how I'm managing to keep up another blog over Christmas when clearly there's a fuck load of work to be done at the bar and even more boozing in-between then hop on over to Partizan's Advent...

Marble Brewery & Little Jim

2011-12-08T11:30:00.000Z

So back to a recurring topic to see how one of my all time favourite breweries Marble are getting along since the departure of one Dominic Driscoll to Thornbridge last year. Dom's move did send a few ripples through the beer world with some bloggers even suggesting that Thornbridge might be becoming a bit of a brain drain, i very much doubt this but it was certainly interesting seeing a brewers move to a bigger brewery getting press. Mr Colin Stronge also moved on recently to Scotland's shining new hope - Black Isle, really one to watch as they're picking up a lot of business where the Brewdog bars are setting up and, from what I've heard, somewhat undercutting their wholesale accounts.

I was invited over to The Marble Arch pub and the new Marble brewery to witness the launch of a collaboration brew and a few days later - to help brew one myself.

pic nicked from single track world.com

Old Manchester is a collaboration with a member of brewing's old guard - Fullers. A traditional strong ale with that characteristic marble hop twang and some great complexity. It's an old ale and as such I'll be sticking a bit in the larder to get a bit of age on it. It's worth keeping an eye on Fullers beers, they've got an amazing history and are currently delving through the back catalogue, reviving some of the types of beers that are so inspiring to todays scene.

Also I URGE you to try both of Marble's belgian style beers. The chocolate dubbel is utterly brilliant and I really can't get enough of it. It is quite simply as good, if not better than most of the dubbels I've ever drank, ultra complex nuttiness interplays with caramel and chocolate bitterness and Marble's signature hoppy length. The tripel is also right up there, a truly beautiful drink that's all biscuit and restrained floral notes, super body and long dry finish.

Marble are still doing great, great things and are a truly artisan and experimental operation under the steadfast guidance of Mr James Campbell. They've got a solid foundation and a much bigger and lovely new brewery. Add to that a couple of bars and the legendary Marble Arch - things look good, if you do call by the pub try the gingerbread venison it is, as they say, shit hot.

And so then, on to the brew! Always super exciting stuff and more this time, as I wasn't quite as smashed as when I went to Brewdog last year - well it was my stag do... Again all the credit goes to James as he is a brilliant brewmaster and without his input my beautiful assistant Mark and myself would likely have made a bosh. BUT we had a solid idea of how we wanted the beer to taste in terms of a massive malty body with a spot of balancing rye. The idea being to make a really full bodied ale that displays malt AND hops. This is something I've been banging on about to anyone who'll listen for the last six months!

Also a hop bill similar to Alice Porter - the idea being to use old school British hops for bittering and mix it up with new world stuff for aroma. In Alice Porter the contrast was fuggles and bramling cross Vs Sorachi Ace. In our new Marble brew we went with Goldings Vs Centennial with a spot of the more herbal williamette chucked in for a laugh! The beer was to be named little Jim after the new born kidder of two ace guys that work as supervisors at North bar.

So fast forward and we're staring in to the mash tun after loading half a ton of various malts in and we're somewhat scuppered by the fact that it's taking 2 hours or so to sparge through. James duly informs us that this massive extraction might just miss our target gravity of around 5.5%. By the end of the boil we're looking at 6.9% - oops.

Now I've always wanted to make a big beer but there are practical considerations. We're going to have a shit load of this brew to sell so it has to be easy drinking and affordable. I reconcile myself with the fact that the last collaboration from my boss at North bar, one mister Christian Townsley, was a very BIG smoked rye beer brewed at Sierra Nevada - lovely but challenging and yes it did make me hallucinate. So fuck it eh?

So I was shitting it a bit when we came to tap the first barrel, I should have had faith knowing the skill that Marble have and the knowledge of beer that we have but I couldn't help freaking out a bit. I needent have worried - it's everything we wanted it to be It’s big and bold on the nose with lovely sweet interplay of caramel, cereal and lovely citric notes and some juicy fruit.

The sweetness of the malt is tempered by a rye tang and more deep earthier notes. It’s extremely quaffable and hides the alcohol very well indeed. Smooth nuttiness hints of cherry and chocolate.Top end it’s that clean bitterness from the centennial, slight citrus and then more citrus from the Citra on the finish. Bit of herbal more rounded spicy notes too.VERY VERY pleased - hope everyone else enjoys it too!

Thanks as ever to James Campbell, the wonderful people at Marble Brewery and my employers at North for letting me do such an ace job.

Partizan's Advent

2011-12-04T01:03:00.000Z

So this is a run of short posts about Redemption Brewery's Andy - @partizansmith and his amazing home-brews. Pretty much everything that I have tasted that Andy has brewed has been brilliant, whether it's been part of Redemption's output or as a home brew.

I was super lucky to win a case of beer for entering his design a label competition on Facebook. This is an extremely good idea and I encourage every home brewer to do the same.

My thoughts on the beers are on this 'sub blog' right > here...

Thanks to Andy and Eve x

Home Brew

2011-12-01T16:29:00.000Z

To celebrate the fact that a bunch of sterling chaps in Leeds have formed a homebrew club I thought I'd open a couple of bottles to see what the potential of the homebrew scene can offer.

Homebrew is pretty big in the US and so very, very many brewers started in the kitchen with a pan and some plastic buckets. This, the romanticised genesis of plenty of breweries has so many possibilities and has been something I'm happy to encourage whether it's saving bottles for eager homebrewers at North or actually getting a kit myself.

Homebrew in the UK is a due a bit of a revival so here's a little rundown of some beers I've tried recently - I hope it reveals some of the possibilities out there and shows you where home brewing can take you!

Red Room by @GhostDrinker is a hell of an attempt for a first time brew, it's a red rye ale, quite strong and quite complex too. Really interesting on the nose with quite a pear like quality and a touch of boozier deeper fruit. The rye's there too, cereal notes and that tell tale sourness that I love about anything that's got rye in. In profile it's got a lot of similar qualities to a rye whisky - which is a good thing - plus more pear and a nice toasty, slightly boozy finish. Very good indeed. Poltergeist is also excellent, full bodied and robust for an amber ale, it tastes to me to be somewhere between an alt and a brown ale - with a lovely hop bite and lingering bitterness.

Konstruckt had been mentioned by a bunch of Leeds bloggers recently, all to do with the fact that @cheeseboiger is part of the prolific Leeds fraternity (and it is a fraternity, not a woman in sight) and the same chap is also firmly behind the reigns of the world famous Roosters brewery in Knaresborough. As we await what's going to happen in this most brilliant brewery with a complete change in management there's a drip drip of interesting beers popping up.

pic nicked from the lovely, wonderful Real Ale Reviews

Konstruckt is intriguing, an Imperial Dark Ale which doesn't really give you too much clue as to what's going to be in the bottle. I was expecting an imperial stout what with the Russian inspired label and imperial moniker but that it ain't. It's a riot of nutty flavours, lovely feeling in the mouth and certainly lighter in body that I was expecting. It's quite reminiscent of oloroso sherry - a lovely drink that is very cheap indeed, if you haven't tried it you should. Nice sharpness and good length to boot - it probably could pass as a doppelbock, something that British brewers should attempt more. So... Very good indeed.

Another local chap who looks like he's going on to great things is Andy Smith, now brewer at Redemption in London and happily brewing some extremely good brews, and helping redemption head up the burgeoning London micro brewing revival. But alongside his day job Andy produces some of the most extreme homebrews I've ever had the pleasure to taste.

Mephistopheles is a bruising quadruppel ale that comes in around 15% - really powerful stuff but delicious and balanced with it. Andys christmas ale was also obscenely strong but went down an absolute treat. His coffee imperial stout has also blown off back doors during Andys brief visit to North for our London beer festival.

So there's the rub - one top blogger brewing dead interesting stuff, one guy starting out at a great brewery, one guy who's well in to what looks like a sparkling career. I've been chatting to various people recently and everyone is in agreement that the UK beer scene is some way off peaking yet, in spite of shit all help from the Government. Whether you want to get a job in brewing or just want to have a bit of fun, get some kit and have a crack.

Want on opinion on your brew? Pop by North Bar, we have some of the best palletes in the business and we'll give you a straight opinion on your brew, we'll also save you bottles in return, and I'll try and blog about as many as possible.

NB. I've just taken part in Andy's competition to win a case of 24 home brews, I won a case and I'll be drinking the majority of them over Christmas, I'll post my notes HERE.

http://leedshomebrew.blogspot.com/

Charts - Saison

2011-11-23T18:03:00.000Z

OOOOHHH!

One of the most consistently satisfying beer styles and perhaps also one of the most misunderstood. There's a double #1 in here as the farmhouse IPA is a hybrid BUT it tastes more saison than IPA so I'm fucking rolling with it...

1. Flying Dog/In De Wildeman - Farmhouse IPA
1. Glazen Torren - Saison D'Erpe-Mere
3. Quintine - Saison 2000
4. Silly Saison
5. Fantome Saison
6. Saison Du Pont
7. Brooklyn Sorachi Ace
8. Saison du buff
9. Saison De Dottignies
10. Nogne O - Saison (draught)

Apologies for the lack of links I'm on t'mobile and blogger isn't playing links today - will update in due course xx.

In praise of MALT

2011-11-08T14:00:00.000Z

HOPS HOPS HOPS, it's all we get nowadays isn't it?

HOPS and MORE HOPS!

I love em of course but malty beers don't get as much of a look in. The mass of new converts to beer seem to progress along a pretty steep curve, as demonstrated thus...

GRAPH

I was training a couple of new staff the other day and found myself dwelling for some time on the subject of malt. Of course my North 'mega beer talk' always starts with malt, it's where all beer starts, it is the main ingredient, beer is essentially seasoned, fermented malt juice! But it did prompt me to get something on t'blog that I've been meaning to do for some time.

Hops have taken centre stage for some years but I feel a clarion call for malt coming on and it all goes back to balance... You see the other day we tried a few beers and yes we had a bunch of hoppy beers on, great beers but the paler beers lower alcohol British beers really didn't come over to the new kids as well as the stronger, sweeter more malty beers.

Case in point 1: trainee A doesn't get the hoppy blonde british ale (we'll call it 'plantagenet') at all - too bitter. But give her a 10% double IPA from bleeding Norway, (we'll call that 'oris') and she's after another one. Now there's a ton of exotic hops in both beers but oris has loads more than plantagenet, but it is also DAMN STRONG and the only way you can get extra strength in beer is by mashing up loads of extra malt. oris is also, a much more balanced beer, now I'm not sure whether it is easier to achieve a better balance simply by putting in more of everything and thus gaining a stronger, bolder and subsequently less nuanced flavour but that perhaps is too much fiddle-de-de. What I'm saying is that my friend that has a very limited knowledge of beer is more charmed by the mad strong beer than the lighter very hoppy beer and the reasons for this are malt and balance.

Case in point 2: The Roosters brewery in Knaresborough is famous throughout the world of brewing for a very specific type of beer. It's the type of beer that really brought British brewing to the fore and that beer is the pale ale. Specifically it's a type of beer that dragged so many drinkers back to cask due to the trick that looks quite like lager and whilst complex is not challenging. Every first generation UK micro has one of these beers, Roosters have taught a lesson through Sean Frankiln's strict adherence to the use of pale malt as a canvas to show of the qualities of aromatic hops. Roosters standard hop presence is ultimately restrained by many of todays standards and has occasionally been denigrated for being too restrained by those new to the scene who have had access to so much extreme beer that they have become... Hop zombies.

What Sean has achieved through his brewing is balance, if you're gonna use pale malt you can't bang in so many of those ultra citric US hybrid hops else you'll loose the character of the malt, and that is a part of the beer that is, just as, if not more important than hops.

Now here's a thing, has balance in beer changed over the years, does it change according to where you're from? Perhaps so or perhaps just truly great brews achieve balance. For me i've been beginning to tire of solely hop led beers - ALL the truly great, extremely hoppy beers are only great in my book because they have a heavy malt presence, very pale thin bitter beers fail to carry me past a pint.

In addition many of the great beers that people hark to in the past seem very much less led by the hop and these great beers are the British tradition and that tradition is balance.

Charts

2011-10-26T11:00:00.000+01:00

Ok, here's an idea that I've nicked off my good friend Nick Frizzell who is a music producer, DJ and music blogger. His blog is lovely and he occasionally produces the odd chart. Not a chart in the top of the pops sense, but a chart of what he thinks is good at the time he is writing.

It's a great way to recommend new music.

So I'm going to give it a go for beer, I'll go a step further and give the charts an occasional theme, the idea being that it's not necessarily number 1 that is the best, more that it's just the one in the forefront of my mind at the time of writing. So a simple list of recommendations and acknowledgement of what I think great beer is, it's pretty personal of course and perhaps may just be for my own benefit in getting the constantly changing list in my head down on digital paper. Who fucking knows eh?

I'll mix up the links so fell free to click em all, and I hope that you'll find something new to try or something you didn't know about these beers. Either way I invite comments and discussions in any form...

Of course...;|)

All time favourites...
1. Orval
2. Westveleteren 8
3. Flying Dog/In de Wildeman - Farmhouse IPA
4. Brewdog/Mikkeller - I hardcore you
5. Zinnebir
6. Unita - Labrinth
7. Schlenkerla Eiche
8. Stone Ruination IPA
9. Marble Dubbel
10. Weltenburger Kloster Asam Bock

*easier than I thought

Beer & Food: Easy

2011-10-15T11:00:00.000+01:00

Beer goes great with food - NO SHIT!

It's pretty straightforward, and I'm going to do this without pitting beer against wine, I'm not even going to mention wine!

Put simply beer has plenty of different ingredients, in that it has many opportunities to pick out, balance, quash or brighten the flavours in your food.

Check it out - malty flavours will balance rich flavours just like the bread they give you with your meal does. It will augment fruit flavours. Rather than fight against foody flavours malt joins up flavours - it is integral to the beer and food thing in that it provides a complete and continuous experience. Soft, sweet, bready and caramelised flavours just melt together and dance across your tongue because that's how your tongue works. Nothing goes beter with deep rich meats than a roubust beer with a strong malt presence.

Bitter or floral hops in beer will lift rich flavours and balance sweetness. Acidity, bitterness and pungency fill the mouth but don't dominate food, they ride alongside. They will balance hot flavours and moreover they are one of the only things other than milk that will quell very hot chilli. They will also cut through fat. Let it be known across the land that it is a travesty that you can't get IPA in curry houses - they are an unexploited market. The multitude of flavours that you find in hops can echo and counterbalance food flavours and provide an appetising bitterness that makes you want more.

Hops are the top note of beer and can go anywhere from extremely bitter to fruity to flowery to any combination of the three, the flowery and fruity flavours complement some subtler dishes like fish and chicken or salads. As a basic rule the stronger tasting the beer the stronger tasting food it will work with.

Fizz is usually provided from CO2 and CO2 is the one thing made when yeast works with sugar. The other is alcohol which is a pleasurably intoxicating thing. Fizz works with lighter, zestier flavours in beer and will lift fatty foods away from the palate, leaving it fresh for more. That yeast presence itself will provide flowery flavours if you're lucky and all sorts of high notes that work with a myriad of different types of food, the more pungent of yeast notes work especially well with cheese.

Most beer will match most food - the right beer will provide a contiguous experience that expands the flavours in both things. I'll be expanding on this theme in the coming months, in the meantime get drinking.

Weisse not...

2011-09-27T11:00:00.000+01:00

Hmm yes... You may hear me occasionally denouncing light wheat beers.

I'm not right keen on em see and there are only a few that I really enjoy and only at specific times.

I'm not that keen on overripe bananas either - they belong in cake. It's something to do with that ripe ester stench, something shared by many wheat beers.But I'm not a total refusenik when it comes to white weisse and Belgian style wit though.

I do find them one of the most palatable drinks when you have one of those crackling, mother fuckers of a hangover.

I'll clarify slightly just to say when it comes to darker wheat beers (Schneider Original being at the lightest end of this spectrum) I'm all over it. I talk a lot about balance in great beers and that extra roasted malt in darker brews for me provides that balance alongside, usually, a higher alcohol content.

But as a little guide for those types of people who are turned off by cloudy bright yellow wheat beers, here's a few that work every time for me.

Standard Weihenstephan is pretty good - it's got the thing I need in weisse which is that touch of acidity that the great ones have, it's brisk and full bodied. Snappy and thirst quenching on the finish.

Beyreuther Bio also has this citric edge that provides balance to the softer fruit flavours. The biggies like Paulaner Hefe that are becoming more and more common in the UK in places like Bierkeller are too cloying for me and that is not something that I want in beer. I can go a few rounds with Erdinger Urweisse and Oktoberfest, they are pretty meaty and celebratory!

If you're looking at Belgium then I'd go for one of the following... Brugs Tarwebier is super refreshing, the Belgians are much softer than their german counterparts but the best have some great bonus flavours that usually come from the addition of orange peel, coriander and other herbs and spices. Another to look out for is Watous Wit, which is interesting for its toffeeish quality.

You might see some places serving this type of beer with fruit, I'd avoid it in general. It is practiced in Germany, Belgium and Holland and if you try it and feel it's better then go for it. But beware - for me the addition of lemon, lime or orange is often used to bulk up the flavours that should be prominent in the original beer. Blue moon being a particularly shitty example of this habit/marketing tactic.

I haven't ever had a brilliant US version but Sierra Kellerwiesse works and Flying Dog do a decent job too.

So to summise then; some are better than others, but don't be put off if you try one and don't like it try some more. Once you've tried lots you can then form an opinion. How's that for lazy blogging...?

Licensing gets tough?

2011-09-16T14:00:00.000+01:00

SoI'm an advocate of the pub industry, I believe that alcohol is a valuablesocial lubricant and that under the right kind of supervision great fun can behad, great ideas can be exchanged and great relationships formed.

For me pubs and bars are a vital part of communities and, when looked after by responsible owners, landlords and managers, are the best places for the consumption of alcohol to take place.

What really grinds my gears though is walking through town and seeing once great pubs and some potentially great bars suffering in the recession. Further on you go past 'super bars' and tacky shit holes which are full to the brim with gyrating masses laced out of their tiny minds on chemically produced beer, fluorescent fizzy cocktails in bottles and semi viscous, flavoured and coloured industrial spirits.

Why's that then? Because if you make products very cheaply you can sell them very cheaply. Sell cheap - attract customers, young customers who want to fraternise with other young customers and find that getting smashed as quickly as possible is the best way to do that.

So here for once is the licensing authorities doing something half decent that should level the playing field for those who sell proper drinks at responsible prices and still uphold the duty of care that everyone in this industry should uphold.

Please see the message below from West Yorkshire Police Licensing:

WithFreshers' week approaching West Yorkshire Police and Leeds City

Councilare more than aware of some of the heavily discounted prices of

alcoholbeing advertised throughout the city at various premises on their

specificstudent nights. We view some of this pricing and the associated

promotionsas completely irresponsible. I write to remind you of the

mandatoryconditions on all of your licences in relation to irresponsible

promotions.I also warn you that we consider 'students nights' and severely

reducedpricing of alcohol at these events to fall under the following:

'activitiescarried on for the purpose of encouraging the sale or supply of

alcoholfor consumption on the premises in a manner which carries a

significantrisk of leading or contributing to crime and disorder,

prejudiceto public safety, public nuisance, or harm to children.

Shouldpremises choose to continue with these irresponsible promotions West

YorkshirePolice will have no option other than to consider review

proceedingsagainst their licences. Please remember that we will also

discloseevidence at any hearing of other incidents associated with your

premises.

Thisis the first and only warning we will be giving and we expect

appropriateaction to be taken immediately.

SO...

As the students return to their universities let's all show them what drinking and pubs should be about. Many of us have suffered from the media portraying the industry as unhealthy and debauched - we need to teach these 'students' what it's all about...

The man from ranti - BEER SOMMELIER?

2011-09-04T10:26:00.000+01:00

Beer sommelier? BEER SOMMELIER?

Give me a break. Whilst all quarters of the beer community should be rightly proud of the progress that beer has made in recovering ground lost to wine in the last 30 or some years it's important not to forget the roots and potential of our national drink.

Yes - beer is by far and away in almost all cases the most appropriate beverage to enjoy with many foods but we must steel ourselves and refuse to indulge in pretentiousness.

With the proliferation of new, delicious and complex brews is coming new and more complex understandings of a humble drink. Don't get me wrong I love new interpretations of beer, drink them regularly and of course I spend much of my time indoctrinating new followers to the massive possibilities and exciting flavours that are available like never before in the UK. But as one majorly influential and highly respected purveyor of great beer noted to me recently; we must guard against the 'wineification' of beer.

It's a difficult task - the vocabulary of describing beer is derived directly from the techniques used by experts in analysing wine and thus it's hard not to sound preening when talking about 'nosing' a beer and discerning the metaphorical flavour associations of multi level flavours. We also need to redress the balance as regards food and 'go after' the wine drinkers for sure. But hoighty toi ghettoisation ain't the way. People need to be engaged and remember that in the UK we are lucky to have the perfect platform for furthering our cause - we still have (for now) tons of pubs.

As we slowly convince down at heel landlords about the benefits of great beer the customer will respond in demanding better drinks in the bars, 'gastropubs' and restaurants. Yes of course there's going to be some top down influence but on its own, top down will isolate the ordinary drinker and provide yet another platform for people to look down their noses from.

It will also lead us further down the path of singular venues with great beer selections that are poor in almost every other area. Bad staff, horrid decor, high prices.

High prices is the elephant in the room here of course as I often have to defend the prices I set, it's fair enough criticism, it is expensive to drink super serious beers in North but we always make sure there are some very competitive options as well. But remember tax on beer has increased 35% in two years, imported beers have had huge price increases due to the crazy fluctuations of the euro, dollar and pound and ingredients - especially barley malt - have also soared in price.

That's not to mention all the myriad costs of running a small independent bar in a city centre... But that's by the bye, you pays your money and takes your choice. Trust me when I say we're working really hard to try and get some great deals in the coming months and years. But still if you don't have a brilliant experience in North then you are likely dead (!) We compete through great service, brilliant booze (yes that does include the one of best selections of spirits in the land and yes wine and yes cocktails) the importance of music and atmosphere on an afternoon or night out. This is something that I have not yet found in venues purely focused on beer.

It's really hard not to appear snobby when you know a lot about something but everyone needs to at least try...

Alice Porter 1 year on...

2011-08-21T23:15:00.016+01:00

Well it's been around a year since I dragged a bunch of loyal mates to the arsehole of world to brew at one of the worlds finest breweries.

I can confirm that I am still married and the former Alice Porter is in great condition - but what about the beer eh? HO HO!!

Well... Super high marks on ratebeer and beeradvocate, it's also cropped up in various far flung places across the globe and has received some brilliant reviews and been drunk by many, many people in bottle, keg and cask. It's pretty amazing really as this beer was conceived in a truly advanced state of refreshment, but then it was my stag do.

We did have an idea of what we wanted to make, a strong baltic style porter around 6% it needed to be rich and balanced with a porter type tang plus if we could squeeze some smoke in there - all the better. Well hot damn - with the help of the legendary brewery team at Brewdog, it worked!

this is what a legendary brewer looks like

I've saved a good size batch of the original brew with the intention of seeing how it ages. I also bottled a little right from the keg and dosed it with Belgian yeast and a bit of rudimentary brown sugar syrup. More on that another time though, lets stick to the original.

So a year in the bottle and I've got some interesting developments and I'm pleased to say that the beer has improved - it's deeper, better balanced and more intense. There's tons of fruit on the nose and that touch of German smoked malt comes through lovely - something that I have noticed improves with time in the cask.

Please believe me when I say I'm trying to be objective here... But it's just a really great beer despite my obvious bias. It's also much better for a years ageing, the intensity is great and it's still very much a classic porter. I'm very happy with the combination of hops we used; there's some great traditional Fuggles fruity bitterness in there but the stars of the show are the Bramling Cross which gives you all those lovely deep blueberry and soft fruit flavours and of course the Sorachi Ace which we added to see if it would help achieve that porter-y acidic tang. It does add a touch of citric sharpness and also that creaminess which makes Sorachi ace such a difficult hop to like in lighter beers and IPAs but perhaps a really, really great hop for darker beers - take note brewers!!

There's also that touch of vanilla in there and the mystery ingredient just seems to bring the whole thing together (what is it eh?).

So anyway I'll pat everyone who was involved heartily on the back once again and watch as our creation goes global... Alice Porter will be available in a shop, supermarket, bar or pub near you pretty much NOW!

pic courtesy of digital newsroom

Beer and Sex

2011-07-26T11:00:00.000+01:00

Watch out for the hits! Here they come!

But sorry to disappoint any one who's looking for a beer related wank as I'm moved to write about the nagging subject of beer and Women. Or rather the disgraceful attempts by various brewers to 'appeal' to the female market and the laughable response from some of the beer community in attempting to handle this issue.

Put simply the overwhelming majority of beer drinkers and beer industry types in the UK are male. As such the overwhelming majority of coverage and marketing is dominated by men. Like any clique, beer fanaticism is naturally exclusive and tends towards insularism, despite the efforts by enlightened individuals to widen the appeal of this particular beverage. The sticking point comes when some bright spark in the marketing department of a global brewer of 'shite' decides to come up with a 'womens' beer... Cue pink beer, lychee flavour and flowers on the label. Utter rubbish in other words.

I hold a very simple view - beer is a drink. Anyone can enjoy beer and these poorly executed and utterly sexist beverages and marketing campaigns serve to defeat the purpose they were conceived for.

If you come in to North and turn your nose up at a curvy half pint glass you will be told straight that it's a glass and as such is sexless, if you order 'something a girl would like' you will be questioned as to your motives. If you're a brewer and think that putting 'buxom wenches' on pump clips or 'cheekily' named brews will impress people you'll get no dice with me. Mass marketeers beware - you will fail in these outings because there's no bloody need to add silly ingredients to try and entice the other 50%. You cannot polish a turd so why don't you drop the patronising rubbish, make something decent and advertise it responsibly.

Taste is pretty much universal, now instead of ghettoising any section of society we should all just try and use your passion to sell beer to people who don't know enough about it? The reason why we have such a low percentage of women drinking beer in this country is because like so many human endeavours the beer industry is so utterly and disgracefully sexist - we need to change this now.

Read around the subject a bit folks, everyone likes a drink!

Pete Brown

Melissa Cole

vice Versa

2011-07-06T22:00:00.001+01:00

Yeah!

US beerfest time at North - I'm currently musing over an arrogant bastard whilst musing over an incredibly successful Tuesday night whilst musing over the fact that beer interest is so high at the moment.

Why, even the mainstream press are writing about it!

Even... People in London are in to it!!!!

It's funny how the US kinda gave us back our beer culture.

Now I'm not under-doing the sterling work UK brewers and UK beer types have put in BUT the proliferation of beer, beer bars, beer interest and the explosion of enthusiasm in all beery walks of life has been stoked by the influx of new thinking from the US, and it isn't just the UK that's feeling it.

Look at any of our exciting breweries and you'll see at least one world class beer being made and I bet you a dollar that it's got some American hops in it. When the US got serious about hops they found that what they were growing contained new flavours; brighter, sharper, more resinous and more bracing flavours. They also did what the US does best and gave us more variety, way more variety.

Eat it up - I'm not shitting you and I'll challenge anyone to give me a better explanation.

It's led to a rediscovery of styles. We were so complacent as to almost forget some of the UK's most brilliant beverages, but the US has been directly responsible for the rehabilitation of IPA and Imperial Stout. Also they've lovingly delved through The Worlds back catalogue and revived so bloody much and, very importantly, they've adapted them in to influential new styles.

You likes a double IPA? I fucking do too!

Hyperbole?

Raise a glass, I know you will.

This post is dedicated to Ghost Drinker coz he remembrered me to write somat...

Cloudy with a chance of idiosyncrasies part 2

2011-06-14T19:00:00.000+01:00

So leading on from my pondering over cloudiness in the last post here's some examples and explorations...

You'll find many, many British bottled beers with instructions to "pour gently to leave the sediment in the bottle." But Each beer is different and using the sediment will have different effects.

Duvel is a classic case of a beer that is better without sediment, it dulls the bright snappy classiness of the beer. When you get your Duvel in a straight glass that you have to top up, or worse you're just given the bottle and no glass you know you're being served by a plankton who knows shit all about his/her job. I've nearly set about people who insist on swirling the Duvelsediment and chucking it in the glass. I've found that this is best done with a dimple tankard.

Buxton's excellent Moor Top has a fair amount of cloudiness to it - I poured it pretty steadily and it has a beautiful golden haze, this is due to a touch of hop haze as well as a touch of loose sediment. The beer itself is delicious; light on the palate, brisk but firm bitterness balanced by fruit and a full, long finish. It has a haze regardless of how you pour it so don't

The Kernel's beers have a massive amount of sediment in them and for me you don't want it all in the glass, again it tends to dull the beer very slightly and there's so much that you do feel like you're drinking beer milkshake. The ideal serve for me is to leave the sediment and a bit of beer in the bottom of the bottle swirl it and then serve it on the side as a shot. This is common practice on the continent for heavily sedimented Belgian beers and it should be more common in the UK as it's a really nice touch that gives you options. Try one beer with sediment added and one without, or perhaps keep the sediment back and just stick it in halfway through your drink. The hardcore types will just shoot it down. I've heard tell of pubs and brewery taps in Burton actually keeping a supply of sediment to serve to punters as a tonic.

Marble's Tawny no.5 ale is one of my all time favourite beers - it's really up there with the best but the most recent bottled batch fell a bit short of my expectations. That is until I realised I was being a softy and forgetting to get the sediment in... BANG there it is - that full juicy, tannicalmost woody, bitterness. The sediment adds just that touch of body that the beer lacks when clear.

So from here on in I don't want to hear any complaining about the look of a beer until you've tasted it, you just don't know until you experiment.

Now labels and pump clips - they are a whole different ball game...

Cloudy with a chance of idiosyncrasies part 1

2011-05-08T22:10:00.000+01:00

We're pretty proud of our idiosyncrasies in the UK - you know, things like our wonderful sense of irony and intimate understanding of sarcasm.

Interesting headwear, tea drinking, stoicism and a tendency towards inebriation on holiday, at the weekend, midweek and at weddings, births or funerals.

A confusing propensity for self flagellation in our inability to understand the terrible nature of the Conservative party and thusly electing the fuckers again and again...

It has been said that we enjoy warm beer (not always a bad thing) and are somewhat obsessed with clarity in our beverages.

Now I like a beautifully clear golden pint as much as anyone else but it doesn't always have to be like that. If the beer has a haze or is cloudy it doesn't automatically mean it's off now does it? There's plenty of reasons why a beer could be cloudy and most are to do with GOOD STUFF.

Just looking at a couple of beers I've had recently there is plenty of cloudiness or haziness about, but you still get the odd punter bringing them back or turning their nose up - but why do we care about this at all?

I trace a hell of a lot of drinking habits back to the bad old days before CAMRA took hold of the cause of championing real ale in the UK. I say this as I've found that gentlemen of a certain middling age (yes only gentlemen!) get quite freaked out about their beer being served in a dimple tankard. One of the explanations for this is that they were once closely associated with gentlemen of a certain older, flat capped generation. Another is that they make fairly solid weapons in a bar 'swedge'.

My informed opinion is that the aversion to cloudy ales comes from a similar time when cloudiness indicated an oxidised and thus 'off' beer. There's some mileage in this explanation as it was common at one point for a landlord to save his waste beer to squeeze a little extra profit. So old beer, bar and cellar drips would go back in to the barrel. More oxidisation will usually mean more chance of the beer spoiling and getting infected with dirt, unwanted wild yeast and bacteria, sling this back in to good beer and you're going to turn it sour.

Quite a few places still use the dreaded 'auto vac,' basically a drain in the drip tray that recycles the drips back in to the line or worse into the barrel. For me it's too much of a risk and strikes me as a little tight, and I'm a Yorkshireman.

All of this however should not put you off drinking cloudier or hazy ale. Most bottled ales will have some sediment in, and stronger hoppier beers will carry a 'hop haze'. Don't panic! Taste the beer and trust your tongue!

A little bit of backbone

2011-03-24T20:57:00.000Z

Quick one...

I've been stoking up my cellar a bit, firstly because I like a stash of beer. Secondly because I like a stash of beer.

My general opinion of keeping a well stocked larder is that you need enough in it so that when you hit it hard you'll have a job to get through the lot.

I do keep, or rather, collect beers for ageing as I've always been a collector of stuff and beer is much better than the other things I've collected in the past. These being coins, matches, beer mats, stickers, interestingly designed wrappers, bouncy balls, tickets, bottle tops, stones and at at one point in my life you could say I collected experiences.

So anyway I've got a crate going which has recently been full of beers I wish to drink without worrying about them getting better over time. It's full of hoppy beers then, it allows me to forget about the stuff that's ageing whilst still drinking good stuff at home. It got me to thinking about the massive amount of hoppiness going on at the moment in beer and how I've been a little disappointed by some beers that lack body.

Here's something for you brewers out there, IPA needs body and backbone, this is provided by malt and the subsequent sugar it produces in the brewing process. The more IPA becomes a dominant style in craft brewing the more I almost cringe as approach a new one. They get thinner and more bitter and in some cases blacker and I think that sometimes people are missing the point.

You need to balance a beer to make a truly great one and that means malt and hops together. The more bitterness the more sweetness is needed.

I'm drinking a beer right now that exemplifies this balance: Bell's Hopslam.

Donated to me by Michigan (Agent) Al, and I am drinking this in honour of the brief closure of the Beer Ritz bottle shop in Leeds. If you haven't gathered by now it's been closed and now it's open again! Yes shut, the world is a lesser place without it but as much as I mourn its semi passing I celebrate the amount Zak at al have contributed to the cause of beer in the UK and of course my drinking life. If I look at the top beer bloggers in the country I'd say the majority have been to beer ritz and many have been inspired to write by trips to Beer Ritz. I'd also like to add that something of this stature and someone of Zak's expertise will not be held back for long - something new and exciting will come from this no doubt.

Hopslam is more eloquently described my Mr Zak right here but in my opinion it is a tour du Force and rightly rated as one of the finest in the world.

You can smell the hops and honey all round before you even get to drinking. Heavy bitterness on the tongue at first is just chopped neatly down with every second that passes by in to candy sweet honey and pineapple, orange, mango and peach. It's as gluggable and easy to drink as I Hardcore You (which has not yet been beaten in this category for me) because it has that real deep malt and honey sweetness that exemplifies a proper backbone.

WE interrupt this broadcast

2011-03-15T00:17:00.000Z

Justr to say that I'm rekindliing a great love for barley wine...

I love Brooklyn but Mr Oliver's balery wine ins incompplpetgv

Sauljlel sikiothsjk isnnmoihuibs

Oh god but strong golden!

A war of admiration...

2011-03-10T10:50:00.000Z

There's nothing that gets people frothing at the mouth more than perceived bias. There's a thread rolling around the beer world at the moment in which the admirers of beer are being pitched against the... Admirers of beer!

There is it seems a perceived or real disconnect between the lovers of broadly traditional type ales and the lovers of, broadly, more modern type ales. Essentially people who like one type are likely to slag off the other type! It's a war of the beer geeks people and you should all pick sides immediately!

I've witnessed some of the skirmishes in the build up to this battle first hand. I've seen big, burly, beardy men attack skinny bespectacled men with ancient yeast strains and I've seen stars and stripes wrapped 'hop bombs' lobbed directly in to CAMRA meetings! It's not fucking pretty.

More realistically I've talked to utterly respectable CAMRA top bods who completely dismiss the entire range of certain modern, sharply marketed, breweries with no heed to taste whatsoever. I've also had heated conversations with younger savvy drinkers who will slag off more subtle traditional British ales whilst rendering their palettes entirely useless with yet another 'edgy' 1000000IBU, hard to find uber beer.

It's all well and good but where does it get us?

One of the actual real life problems that is exacerbating this disconnect is that you find some classic ales in some dubious locations. I was slagging off London Pride in an earlier post, the reason being is that it's widely available and can end up in the hands of landlords who don't know or care about keeping beer well.

If beer is not kept properly you are likely to find that at best it's flat, at worst it's vinegar. This unfortunately happens a lot and can happen to all beers as breweries grow and get their beer in to more pubs. More pubs mean more sales but less control over how the product is sold.

Thus the modern beer type who drinks a classic ale like London Pride can be disappointed, I'd say that this is often to do with the way it's kept and how it is served. This doesn't do the brewer any favours. We do have standards like cask marque but really, I've seen it in plenty of shit branded pubs. I've also been served plenty of rubbish in cask marque accredited pubs so that's not doing anything for anyone.

You've also got to take in to account the level at which people enter the market. If you start off, like many people these days, drinking hoppy IPA's like Brewdog Punk you're going to struggle to get the subtlety in a softer but complex pint of traditional bitter.

But what of the traditional types? Well to be honest the ones I come across on the whole really appreciate all types of beer, they have their favourites and that's just fine. Most are knowledgeable and are perhaps just a little irksome about the stereotyping that can go on in the growing, trendier circles of the beer world.

There's no point in brawling it out, I think brewers have an important role to play in backing the full gamut of ales and physically getting in to the places that sell them to make sure they are being served properly. True appreciation of beer about open-mindedness and experimentation. That works both ways - god I've had some obscure stuff in my time but I'll still tell anyone who wants to listen than one of my best pints was a super malty, fruit gums juicy, John Smith's Magnet in the boozer closest to Northallerton train station about 5 years ago.

I've gained my knowledge by working with beer, talking to people who know about beer and reading about beer. It's up to people like me to help to educate the new market and it's up to the new market to educate themselves too - this is not about ticking boxes or bragging, bandwagon jumpers and trend followers will show themselves up eventually...

Oh yeah and beer should in pretty much all cases should be served through a sparkler! What the hell is wrong with you bloody southerners and your crappy bubbly heads eh???

Arsing about in London - day 2

2011-03-07T17:23:00.001Z

Well we've got some work done today!

We visited one old friend Andy (@partizansmith) and one new friend Andy at the Redemption brewery in the depths of Tottenham. Now I've been extremely lucky to try a good few of Andy's home brews and they are seriously good work, his Christmas beer was one of the top beers I drank last year. This brewery is without doubt one to watch, the range of brews we tried was lovely and they brew in a modern British style - that is the beers have depth and balance with plenty of thoughtful hopping.

I can also say that due to the beer spotting bun fight that appears to be hitting London currently I have decided to rise above and transcend the beer 'box ticking' stage and am now a brewery malt delivery system spotter. Every brewery I've been to has a different Heath Robinson type contraption for this job. I feel that this is going to be the new 'passion' for many as they tire of yet another conversation that entails what rarities they have quaffed, where and when and why they know more than you when they patently don't! I could perhaps of course be guilty of this on this very blog but then I do try not to be a cunt.

Anyhow perhaps we should get back to the point with a soothing picture of Andy Smith and his homemade heat exchange...

Ahhhh that's better - thanks Andy you're a true gent.

We had lunch in the wonderful BaShan on Romilly street, I can confirm it's one of the best Chinese meals of my life and Chairman Meows braised pork is a gift from the gods.

Next up the harp, CAMRA pub of the year no less, lovely joint, kinda mostly brown and slightly theatrical feeling. Good knowledgable staff and brilliant beer.

I've been using facebook to 'check in' to places which simply to wind up everyone that's at work. It's also been quite funny as a good friend of mine who's been in more pubs than most, posted that when he was in this award winning pub he found the atmosphere a bit snotty, which is exactly what I got when I answered my phone in the Harp. Admittedly in a slightly loud Northern way but was a slightly discomforting air of self satisfaction and some rather large red noses were being looked down, this really grinds my gears so onwards...

Pip pip to the White horse! The aforementioned Andy and many others say this is their favourite watering hole in the big smoke. I'm inclined to agree with them as I've just had a chat with a brilliant bar man who took me through the finer points of the three Vintages of Lees harvest ale that they stock! Really comfortable, wecoming and not too pretentious .

Which is more than I can say for the Euston tap. Don't get me wrong this is a great bar, it's an inspired location and really interesting US style set up but I do have a gripe or two.

This leads on from my experience at CASK and a general feeling from people I've spoken to. These places lack atmosphere! You can find the beers you want and the rarest of beers you didn't even know you wanted but really they are for ticking boxes and geekery. This is fine but fails to address the reason most people drink in pubs, in cask the music was like listening to a car stereo in a ford fiesta, in the 80's. Same in the tap.

I'm FIRMLY in the music in pubs and bars camp by the way. It should be as diverse as possible and at appropriate levels for the atmosphere, no music only suits busy old school pubs - too much is made of silence!

Both places are also a tad uncomfortable, I'll let the tap get away with this as it's in a teenytiny building which is interesting in it's own right but CASK should sort out the badly designed chairs and planks of wood that you have to sit on immediately!

Hey ho - I'm sounding old now, that'll do...

Arsing about in London day 1

2011-03-06T14:23:00.001Z

Alright so here's some real time boozing and writing in the big smoke...

I'm in the Pembury Tavern in Hackney quaffing the first of the day. It's a bit of a gem from the Tring brewery - Colleys Dog. At 5.2% it's an eye opener and is a pretty fine ruby ale with plenty deep malt and a satisfying fruity hop bite.

Now I've obviously had a couple while I've been down here but I've been in west Sussex limbo for 24hours and drunk a little too much ordinary brown stuff for my own good. I don't mind a maltier, brew at all but London Pride is only really good for a pint, I am also firmly in the sparkler camp - I'm a tight northerner and like a tight northern head on my pint...

The Pembury is well worth a visit, open plan, feels a bit like it's got some history to it, if you visit the website you'll find an appeal to anyone who knows about the joint so we're none the wiser... The boozer is nice and airy with a lovely selection of ales and a kinda community pub feel. Nice way to start a Sunday..

Getting a whole lot more hardcore we head o'er to CASK in Pimlico, loads and loads of amazing beer! Loads! There's pretty much everything you could want EVER. This is tick list time - we have Southern Tier, loads of Mikkeler, UNITA, Nogne, De Molen, Founders, The Bruwery, Shorts!!

Oh my fucking lord! Cancel all other plans... I'm staying here

The food is good, although the chef needs educating on how to make a proper Yorkshire pudding. Although he more than makes up for this aberration with the sticky toffee pudding.

We drank a super opaque mikkeler IPA, lovely if a little unbalanced as mikkeler can be sometimes. Currently on a Beer Here Lupulus which is gentle enough pale ale with enough malt to deal with the roast beef.

Next up some 8wired hop wired IPA, outrageously fruity, deep satisfying IPA.

Ok so it'd be rude not to, let's go mikkeler crazy!

Mikkeler coffe IPA - good, curious, it works but I'm not gonna drink pints of the stuff. Beer geek breakfast - bacon is really thick and deep, very bitter mouth-coating stout. Very long smokiness - bacon? Not really bacon just smoke... If I were to make a beer and call it bacon I'd be looking for some of that sweet, meaty, saltiness in there... But that's me and I'm not a brewer at the moment.

What I am however is a terrible bore to my drinking friends as I'm writing, and not talking so I'll bid you adieu for now. The next beer is Mikkeler protégés TOØL black ball...

Ladies and gentlemen: We are descending in to darkness!

Location:London,United Kingdom

Open it! Don't open it...

2011-01-30T01:52:00.000Z

Open it! Don't open it... OPEN it!!!

Don't

ok do... *sigh*

Yeah so it's the end of January and I'm still catching up on some interesting threads from last year. Who knows? Perhaps by the end of 2011 I'll have dealt with all the loose ends rather than sitting in the larder looking at the 'collection' of beers I've managed to gather up, painstakingly working out which one is the PERFECT beer for this particular moment...

I was semi-inspired by an initiative towards the end of last year from Mark Dredge called 'open it'. Essentially a rallying call to beer types to get out those beers that have been lingering in the cellar. Those beers that have become resident, hoarded or stashed. Those special beers regarded by oddballs like myself as to be worthy of not being drunk just yet, they are being saved for the perfect moment.

If you have a bottle of Ambrosia - do you drink it straight away? Or do you save it for the evening before the Great Reckoning?

Well the gods seem to have omitted guidance on bottle ageing and certainly didn't give a fuck about best before dates or suchlike.

That's the problem with collections you see.

I suspect that most bloggers/experts/aficionado/nerds are collectors or indeed hoarders. It doesn't necessarily mean they all have cellars full of hard to find delights (they do). It does mean they collect experiences, tastes and memories (and beers). That's what's unsettling about an initiative like 'open it'.

I regularly find myself sitting in the larder procrastinating over my small but respectable stash, angst ridden, attempting to decipher which particular drink fits the moment perfectly. That's also why I'm ohhh 7 weeks behind the rest of the beer blogging world (and a comfortably detached 52 in the wikio wankings).

So in mitigation...

I did open a few from the stores over December they were lovely, I'm not going to brag... but they were all rare and all aged to perfection! HA! You see I run a brilliant bar, as such I drink fair bit and drink well. I drink fresh beer, aged beer and everything in between. I constantly train people and I sell people stuff that they have never tried before (it's ace!) It's my bread and butter. I also quite like drinking brilliant beer in the company of friends, in bars and sometimes in a state of disrepair. This clearly does not lend itself to good writing and thus, reader, I have spared you the details.

Apologies to Mark Dredge

- OPEN IT - I HAVE BEEN DRINKING -

Hitachino Nest - Red Rice Ale - 7%

Hmm, now then, Rice Ale? Now of course I've slagged off the use of Rice in beer on many an occasion, Budwieser are the most prominent 'bastard adjunct' brewer but this is different of course and is a beer brewed with Red Rice - apparently it's ancient. It certainly makes for a bonkers ale.

Golden amber with a reddish tinge, strawberry scented, grapey and tangy with gentle fermented rice almost miso edge.

There's a little bit of umami soy sauce-ness there along with Blackpool rock. It's a bit like a tripel in body but is tangerine-tart enough to quench a 10 hour bar shift or indeed a 3 am thirst.

People who I have spoken to about this brewery have variously described their beers as OK, brilliant, cute or intriguing. I am falling in to the latter camp, this is a very good beer - it takes the japanese sweet/savoury umami sensibility and holds fourth a complex, slaking, oddity of a beer.

Oh yeah and it's dead fucking cute and their website is suitably bonkers...

Hitachino

A bit of a year in beer?

2010-12-28T23:05:00.000Z

What ho!

Oooh inactive for two months eh? Broken computer innit guvnor? Can't write proper posts on them damn mooble phones...

Thought I'd do a bit of a catch up then and hopefully a little round up of some of the good stuff that happened this year. Let's see how it pans out...

I got on the radio again the other day - it was yet another industry opinion needed to try and rationalise some inordinate twattery by the government or scientists of somewhat. My advice to everyone - let the craft beer industry do its work. It has incredible potential to provide work, products and exports that we can be proud of. Drop the taxes on craft beer, penalise irresponsible pub management, and stop people selling chemical drinks for stupidly low prices.

Society will thank you for it.

In a similar vein I urge everyone to resist whatever government cut is relevant to them - it is your responsibility. We need heavyweight politics now and what we have, on all sides, are lightweight ideas that have no respect to the progress human beings have made in the last century.

ENOUGH! That's politics out of my system...

I noted that Zak Avery ran a competition to write something about 'beer' and 'time' I of course am ready and on hand to delve in to my most creative depths. Although I wasn't and thus missed the deadline. But better late than never.

HA! All I did was googled beer and time!!! You can almost see the 'A hole' there!

Anyway the following entry to Zaks competition did inspire me no end and I feel was the most eloquent exploration of the theme. Apologies to Stuart - it wasn't an instant association with the image above

Now please do not feel this video mere whimsy - this is one of the UK's finest brewers in action! We've had the pleasure of many a Crown brewery beer at North bar this year from the inspiring heights of Django Reinhardt, named after my cat, a wonderful collaboration with the aforementioned Avery. A deep fruitful damson porter (often surreptitiously spiked with port by the denizens of North).

Crown's Brooklyn heights is also been an utter winner this year - now this is no lie - I haven't heard anyone mention this wonderful bright hoppy ale without waxing lyrical about its brilliance. SERIOUSLY! Good fucking work Stu, please someone get this man a bigger brewery!

The other big hitters for me were Marble and Brewdog. For me these seem at almost opposite ends of the spectrum, which is just fine.

Marble have upgraded this year and have produced some stunning beers which have now stepped fully in to the national market. Dobber! Good god man this beer is such a brute! Probably one of the finest IPAs I had and I have had a hell of a year folks.

With a solid stable of regular beers, marble do the job right. But the specials have been of such a high quality too - Ginger 6 on draught, Special, Vuur & Vlam and their peerless Chocolate Dubbel. Just reciting those few beers makes me want to get on the train to Manchester and go burgle the brewery right now!

Of course there's no review of the year that can be complete without mentioning Brewdog. Fine tuning in the brewery has turned brilliant US inspired beers in to flawless UK classics. Hardcore IPA anyone? I've a man in the bar that pretty much goes through an entire case a week when it's in. It's genius and deserved winner of gold medal in the World Beer Cup.

5am saint in kegs? Tokyo? The Mikkeller collaboration beers?

I have never smelled mangoes like I do in I Hardcore You - not even in mangoes. This sums up the beer, with the irksome omission of mangoes.

Of course the highlight of my year was my role in picking the hops and malt for this beer.

It was made as a one off. It has been drunk and appreciated beyond my wildest dreams and is actually in production now (!!!). Considering the rather chaotic inception of the beer I'm so pleased that it came out so well. It's a testament to the guys at the brewery could turn a somewhat deranged concept in to a winning beer.

I can't help but gloat of course - it wouldn't exist without me and a few 'artful' friends...

And yes of course my wife... and of course getting married was the non-beer highlight of my year darling xxx

Oooh look I got through that whilst drinking a DFH Palo Santo Marron and a FD Raging Bitch and I don't think I made any spellingg mistakles.

Blockage in a de sistim...

2010-12-11T11:02:00.000Z

New computer on the way... I refuse to post using my phone as it will give me arthritis in later life and I have people to socialise with...

Why don't you go and read a book?

Like this,
Or this...
Or this...
Or THIS!

Or just listen to sense and start questioning the system we are allowing to rule us... http://www.dancarlin.com/

Stagger do! My Visit to Fraserburgh to brew something NEW

2010-11-03T18:49:00.000Z

You may or may not know and perhaps care even less, but I've recently tied the knot! It was brillant actually and wholeheartedly recommend it to all of you!!!

So of course it was my stag do a few weeks back and rather than going go-karting or some other nonsense we decided to pay a visit to the chaps at brewdog where Brewdog's Emperor Penguin had invited us to try our hand at brewing. How good was it? FUCKING BRILLIANT! The guys up there are fantastic and incredibly hospitable. It was, despite my somewhat accelerated state of stag do 'refreshment' a really great insight in to what goes on at this now world famous brewery and what makes it utterly special.

It was pretty damn interesting for me to feel the atmosphere of the brewery and to meet the brewers and workers - there's a great collegiate kinda feeling with young brewers from around the world as well as local lads doing what must be one of the hardest and most fun jobs you can do! Brewdog have a great background in collaboration with the likes of Three Floyds and Mikkeler - the gypsy brewer, it's the way it should be and I congratulate James and Martin for fortering this kind of atmostphere. Frazerburgh is one hell of a place, right on the very edge of Scotland, stuck right out in to the North Sea. It's a place of extremes. Extremes that I discovered whilst camping in the most unsheltered campsite in the UNIVERSE and I didn't feel so fucking clever at 4am in the morning, clutching a bottle of Sink the Bismark while my tent whipped around me in the salty lashing rain, 'you should have pegged it in properly' I hear you say... No that campsite is the devils own work, don't go there in Winter, you'll die.

It makes sense that what's made there is equally extreme and Brewdog have made such an impact on the UK scene, they've ruffled plenty of feathers and in the process have created some beers of true brilliance. Several of which I sampled, regularly, throughout the weekend... In particular we drank a shed load of 5am saint right from the tank.

I was pretty lucky to try a brand new IPA made Bramling cross hops which was bang on. Bramling is a British hop with a distinctly American aroma but a brilliant British fruity taste. The beer is cracking and has a juicy traditional IPA roundness, coupled with a great level of bitterness and a salty bite - this in particular is intriguing and something I've only really noticed in a couple of beers before now. I love it. Is it something to do with brewing with the North Sea literally at your back door? Is it something to do with my tastebuds being fucked after the weekend?

We're just about to put on our creation at North Bar. It's named Alice Porter in honour of my wife (her maiden name) and of course it's a porter! It's 6.2% and smooth as hell, we used alot of the aforementioned Bramling cross as well as a great hop called sorachi. The idea was essentially to brew something pretty stout but use the fruit of the Bramling and the lemony-ness of the sorachi to add that porter tang! It's worked and has produced a highly quaffable beverage along the lines. If you can't get down to North over the next month or so then you may find it at Further North or the Marble Arch in Manchester. A small amount has also been released in London and Aberdeen under the name 'Santa doesn't exist'.

So there you go - ace eh. I must credit the brewers with the creation of the beer - we picked hops and malt and did a load of donkey work, those guys are amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing them at North so I can return the favour... So to speak...

Raise your glasses!

2010-09-24T18:03:00.000+01:00

I was interviewed by Radio Aire today.

"What did they want?" I hear you cry... In my head...

Was it for some insightful advice on the Craft Bar scene? To talk about North's brilliant Oktoberfest that starts, incidentally, next Wednesday... To recommend that people drink sensibly and carefully and eschew beers made of corn industrial enzymes and rice syrup?

Nooooo. It was about the proposed ban on Glass in pubs. Yes this is a real hot issue and no mistake. Up and down the land marauding thugs are slashing innocent punters with stella 'chalices', bludgeoning with branded tankards and slashing with Strongbow etched nonics...

Nonsense.

Far be it for me to make light of a serious issue, a 'glassing' is a nasty, vindictive act which permanently damages the recipient physically and mentally - I've seen it and it's horrible.

Not at North of course... Why is that then? I mean if it's such a problem as to require a total ban then surely it must be A HUGE PROBLEM???

No, it's not. The problem is... The people who hit other people with glasses. Now how do we deal with this. Simple - good staff and good security. In 'cattle market' venues this seems to be and thus trouble can lead to violence. But for the majority of licensed premises well trained staff will refuse service to people who have had too much and people who are aggressive. Well trained doormen know not to let in known troublemakers, they will also, in one or two swift sentence be able greet the punter and discern whether they have had too much or are likely to be aggressive. People who know their jobs, know the signs and thus are able to deal with problems before they turn nasty.

Of course there is always the chance that perfectly calm and sober people could suddenly lose it and smack some poor fool in the face with a glass. They could also use a chair, I mean they are heavier and better for bludgeoning... They could tear the pictures from the walls, the bottles from the bar, pool cues and bits of the staircases in some kind of mock cowboy brawl. They could use guns or knives!!!! God the world is scary!

Don't fucking believe it. The streets and bars and pubs are safer now then they ever have been. Horrible things can happen but it's well within our means to keep them to an absolute minimum.

Bars and pubs with persistent problems should have their licenses revoked. Venues with good training and good records should be held up as examples to the rest, not tarred (yet again!) with the same brush as irresponsible booze trough venues.

This sort of nonsense puts fear in to people's minds so they stay in their homes and drink; 'unsupervised' towards a miserable, frightened, cheap booze soaked death.

The glasses aren't the problem. It's the hands that hold them...

Of course we could always ban hands, have everyone drink their allotted number of units through a fucking straw and then stagger back in to the streets and bash together like a half pissed army of demented weebles...

Of course if you do get in to a bar fight a bit of advice is always useful:

Czeching the Saigon situation

2010-09-23T18:26:00.001+01:00

Ha now there's a good title, czeching! Ha it's a pun... And we all love a pun don't we? Don't we?

Yet again you find me in another improbable beer drinking situation, a Czech style brewpub in Ho Chi Minh city, known locally and formerly as Saigon. I'm quaffing the local Hoa Vien Tmavy Lezak... That's a mouthful, quite literally!!!! Ha ha ha ohhhhhh. Yes dark roastily bitter Czech style beer in Vietnam and brewed in the lovely copper brewhouse right on the premises...

Beer is great eh? It's something that seems to transcend boundaries, borders, classes... Every great pub, brewhouse or bar seems to me to have a similar mix of young and old, both sexes, loners and boozy groups. It's commonly said but I'm going to do it again, beer is an unrivalled social lubricant!

It must remain as such.

In the whirlingly stupid morality of today we are within the reach of legislation to curb drinking. I see it regularly in reactionary local policing and council anti binge policy. Did you know that it's now illegal for me to pour booze in to someones mouth in a pub?

Nice work the council!

When I was in Erding a couple of weeks ago on a bit of a jolly I was stuck by the unity of the people of the town at their annual harvest festival. Erdinger beer IS the focal point of that little Bavarian town, young and old rally around it and all hang out together in their massive beerhall, eating stupid amounts of pork! They are inspired to wear leather shorts and chicken hats! Even the cool teens get in on the act sloshing down litre after litre of the stuff.

Now what the hell is wrong with that?

Anyhow, I can say with pretty much complete Euro-beer-snob authority that I am drinking the best beer that Vietnam has to offer, lovely shit and no mistake.

Now, where's my fucking weiner schnitzel?

Nam!

2010-09-17T16:42:00.001+01:00

How's about that then? I'm in Vietnam on my honeymoon and I'm on a beach with tropical flowers, palm trees, coconuts, amazing seafood, mopeds and amazing beers!

Fucking a!

Travelling through the forests and jungles of Vietnam is amazingly like watching the films I so loved in my youth. You almost expect hueys to come panelling over the horizon and hard bitten GI's to start shouting shit about DANANG and LV'S!

Of course they don't and clearly the 'traveller' world has moved on a bit since I took a drug addled year out in Mexico some 11 years ago. Back then (yes I cringe to say it) all we had was an out of date rough guide and a will to get smashed on anything we could get our hands on. Cue dangerous incidents in shanty towns, loud hallucinations and worrying weight loss.

Right now I'm sitting in an agreeable colonial-ish bar on a strip of road, adjacent to a beautiful beach, listening to a big Mexican chap playing Eric Clapton, Louis Armstrong and Hey Jude and bleeding Lady in Red! Fuck it eh - wherever you go in the world there's always a fat Mexican playing the Beatles...

It's nice!

Even nicer as this particular bar is Joe's and Joe, knows good beer. We have all the Belgian biggies and a spot of Hofbrau too... Granted in comparison to the, very good, Saigon beer it's a bit pricey but hey what's £2 when a lobster costs you £4?

So Saigon export red is tops, clean and full and not so far from a Dortmund lager, saigon green is pilsner-esque and lighter but unfortunately not better than the local brewed heineken.

My Chimay has travelled many miles and is better for it, we get through plenty at north so it's aleays pretty fresh and the stuff I've put down to age really isn't ready yet. So of course I have to come all the way to Vietnam to try the aged stuff...

Genius eh? While all the nobs in Europe are buggering around with this and that there's brilliantly conditioned Trappist ale right under their noses at the other side of the world!!! Goddamittttt.

This Chimay red is woody to smell with a sherry barrely thing going on, get inside it and there's tons of fruit. Predominantly and unexpectedly it's strawberry that really comes through followed by layers of malt and softer fruit flavours, hints of pear, Blackcurrant, berries etcetecye.... Nice? O god aye...

I'll go do a blue...

Trading on ale

2010-08-15T04:27:00.001+01:00

phew...

that was a sweaty night - busy again at North, which is great, there's something to be said for putting everything to one side and just hammering out loads of great beer to happy punters. The last year or so has been difficult for the on trade. Disastrous for many landlords I'm sure but I'm lucky to run two great forward thinking craft bars that can adapt to the new market...

YES the new market. You see the recession has hit pubs and bars just as it's hit everything else, the reliable routines have become erratic and the tea time rush/11pm rush/last orders rush have gone out the window and licensees have been fretting as people just haven't been drinking in the same way as they did in the early part of the 2000's.

For those who haven't picked up on the craft beer boom the recession has been a sorry tale. Yet despite pressure from the Government, the prohibitionists, the scare-story-medical-bandwagon and underhand supermarket 'below cost price selling' tactics, pubs and bars who have embraced real ale, decent drinks, food and service are glimpsing light at the end of the tunnel.

Eyes are open once more to the immense potential of beer and it's wondrous health giving properties! There's a million reasons why the on trade has been in decline but it's a fact that the rediscovery of real beer in its many forms has become a rallying cry and a boon for those who give a shit about pubs and the communities they maintain.

A good time to drink exceptional beer then, tonight I had a good hour or so after a busy night having the obligatory after work bevvy with my staff. I've been fairly exhausted over the last few weeks what with one thing and the other and I've been eyeing the 2008 JW Lees harvest ale, knowing that with 2 years of age on it there will have been some fantastic things happening inside those bottles.

Aging beer can be a little hit and miss, some won't take it - others, especially those with lower ABVs might only improve slightly before dropping off. Even then light, temperature and randomness can damage beer. Not so for the good barley wine of which JW Lees are purveyors of.

Harvest is regularly right up there with the best, a UK beer coming top of the polls in the mainly US based beer advocate. When I first tasted it there was full fruit, massive oloroso sherry-ness and a swish of bitterness to balance a very sweet beer. I caned it occasionally and it occasionally took the wheels off leading to out of hand whisky type incidents that I won't bore you with tonight. Two years in the cellar and it's even more delicious - light enough on the tongue but choc a bloc with amazing walnutty depth, datey sticky toffeeness and yet that tiny bite of bitterness that balances the sweetness. Marvellous.

What to follow that with? Well I'm on the case of a Paradox from Brewdog - Isle of Arran to be precise. It's heavy but the Arran cask that this imperial stout has been aged in has treated it well. You get all the wonderful bitter chocolate and lively espresso flavours that you expect but with a dollop of vanilla ice cream too...

You like the sound of that? If you're a licensee open up you mind and your pub to craft beer - you won't regret it. If you're a punter - don't accept anything less than a really great, satisfying drink, if your local doesn't do good beer, ask why, demand it. You might just be doing them a favour...

NORTH

JW Lees

Brewdog

Great British booze haul

2010-08-03T14:35:00.000+01:00

Reet! So right now I'm writing from the Great British Beer Festival, this is an experimental post to see what happens when I try writing through a session.

A quick note on our morning as Mark and myself popped to the ace St John bread and wine for a coffee and some madeira and seedcake at breakfast after a gruelling national express ride in the bogey seat right by a particularly fruity bog. Apt I suppose as St John is the home of the nose to tail eating of Fergus Henderson. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go the whole hog (HA!) but the Madeira set us up nicely to ease in to the festival. If you ever get down to the big smoke please visit either restaurant, they do some great stuff with some dubious animal parts - the food is amazing and it's really well priced.

Replemished by madeira and joyous of a public transport system that works, we are in full effect and have a crate in tow so we can haul some treats back to Leeds and a loaf of brilliant sourdough to soak up the booze.

For a few days a year Earls Court turns in to the centre of the beard wearing world as thousands of beer botherers descend to get rotten pissed in a celebration of beer. It's like any local CAMRA beer festival but MASSIVE and today is trade day so it's full of jockeying press types and strug out bar/pub workers dearly in need of some time off.

We quickly realised that buying thirds is the way to go... Taste as many as possible, and you know, pulling a third ain't so easy, the venerable voulenteers at the GBBF quite often miss the line, which for our purposes, is just the ticket.

Flash forward 2 hours and we've motored through through 14 beers and now been joined my mr Ed. Standout beers so far? Tons!

Thornbridge have managed to make a balanced eldeflower ale in which the elder matches the hop in a way that is so fucking good that it seems obvious, I've never tasted an elderflower beer like this and it's brilliant. I'm not always as convinced as most as to the brilliance of everything Thornbridge do but this is tops and highly recommended.

There's a beer from Spectrum in Norfolk called Stoatwobbler which I urge everyone to try for its sheer brilliance in malty depth, powerful fruit and balanced bitter core.

Flash forward another 2 hours and the sourdough loaf from st john is really showing its worth. A third of old hooky is a little bit of a levller after some discombobulating ales from Liverpool organic - their IPA is as true to the traditional style as you can get and delicious to booot.

Shoom! Forward to 4pm, an hour left and things are starting to go west I think I just confused Pete Brown or someone who looks like Pete Brown with some heavy ipa form Green Flash. He's smaller than I expected and the IPA much bigger, I feel that the combinatiknof these achievemnts makes me level. So. on to de molen....

Crap... The de molen is better, it points out the
K utaec I'd British berr when something ha suceh abcenyw. Nwybny. KoeUZ

z)) nuyj

The. End. Only my good friends know the rest x

De Molen

Spectrum Brewery

Liverpool Organic Brewery

Green Flash

Flim fram...

2010-07-22T01:24:00.000+01:00

I've been in the middle of a post about 'balance' for some time now, four or five weeks at least... I clearly can't write properly in Summer, or some other such excuse... Perhaps 'balance' is too poncey a subject, we'll see...

Good, now I've got that out of my system I'm going to talk about raspberry beer or rather framboise or even frambozen if you fancy.

I don't drink a great deal of fruit beer but I certainly appreciate a good one. For me a good one has to be lambic, a beer made with wild yeast. The wild yeasts in lambic beer create a multitude of sour flavours - perfect to balance fruit. Some use just this type of brewing some a portion of lambic added to a more robust ale. Get in to lambic - it's ace...

I was dismayed when duvel moortgat decided to kill off Liefmans Frambozen. This beer was a thing to behold, a Flemish brown ale laced heavily with raspberry and for me one of the truest expressions of fruit beer. Sweet and perfumed with the fruit and the complex sour maltiness befitting the king of Flemish brown ales. Unfortunately the big boys didn't see it that way and tossed the little pink beverage into the canal... Beautiful packaging and all.

This left somewhat of a void in the world of raspberry beers. The better known Timmermans falls at the first hurdle by 'virtue' of being utter rubbish. Bacchus stepped in and made a perfecty good brown ale based Framboise that North still sells on draught. There's also a very good one from lambic superstars; Lindemans but it's two and a half percent alcohol so really it's a fizzy drink. Incidentally it's a good beer for anyone who's lost faith in rehab or indeed has only just fallen off the wagon - we have a good offer on at North, I won't tell...

The other I know well is Girardin, this is a famous lambic house that makes spectacular, balanced gueuze - blended young and aged lambic. The Girardin framboise is light, bracingly sour and almost champagne like in its sherbet fizziness, this is truly a beer to rival the frambozen BUT it's not got everything I want, it's amazing but not so balanced and not as good as what I'm drinking now...

A while back I met a lovely chap called Alan Kovan, it was actually about a year ago during our US beer festival. I took him on a boozy tour of north's finest tipples and, bless him, he gave me a bottle of unbelieveably brilliant Belgian red from New Glarus in Wisconsin. It was a cherry beer of true distinction and considerable rarity. I've only ever seen empty bottles since as it cannot be exported from Wisconsin. The empty bottles are usually on the shelves of the type of people who speak about beers like this in slightly hushed tones if you catch my drift...

Cut to the chase - my good, old friend Mr Simon mentioned a few weeks back that he was on his way over to that part of the world. I duly lashed him to his chair and made him promise to bring back New Glarus beer... Thanks Si!

I'm drinking some Raspberry Tart right now... It's delicious, the smell of the damn thing hits you before you take a sip and is so bleedingly perfumed and bright that it actually makes you stop before take a sup. The beer is a raspberry shotgun full of sherbert and sorbet and bang! It lasts forever on your palette and has a brilliant almost salty bite... Yes Salty!

If you are ever in a situation where you can get hold of anything from this brewery... You bring me some back... Fucker...

New Glarus

Lindemans

Girardin

Genitalmen prefer blonde

2010-06-08T08:10:00.000+01:00

It's nice when summer kicks in isn't it?

Just the changing of the seasons makes you think of new drinks... Yellow ones!

Surely every hankers for something clean, bright and blonde on a warm day, you know; Sun scouring your shoulders, invisibly, relentlessly... silently. The deceptively quaffable 'summer water' slipping down, intoxicating slowly but surely... Until you eventually end up frazzled inside and out and wake up in the pissing rain, sunburnt to fuck.

OH BUT OF COURSE! I'm only joking, we're sophisticated drinksers here I'll have you!

Yellow beer was invented ages ago, it comes in many variations and has similar characteristics; Lager type beers, blonde or pale ales and light wheat beers are all blonde or indeed yellow in colour in the most part light in body and easy on the tongue. Lagers have an intense history and run the gamut from majestic golden refreshing brews, to dry but bright pilsner and indeed piss water laced with rice, corn syrup or some other unnecessary complication of the relatively straightforward brewing process.

Light wheat beers criss cross Europe and range from complex, phenolic German types to subtle, delicate and zesty Belgians. Cloudy but bright, big on refreshment and good with food. The former you can slosh about all day and night long, the latter deserves to be quaffed from a smaller glass next to a canal...

British pale, or more correctly; golden or blonde ale also has a deep deep history. But many of the beers you'll find on the wickets in your local 'decent beer' establishment are a slightly different breed from the traditional amber beers of this particular island. Bright, blonde or golden ales have surged in popularity and good job too as they were developed as a response to the rise of the afore mentioned piss water. The lightly roasted malt makes light beer and a great background for more volatile flavours, many of these subtle and lingering. The best way to drink these is in a good boozer, from the cask.

Ahem - you can of course get shite wheat beer and shite British ale of course, it's just the unfortunate state of affairs that the lager brand shite is particularly pervasive.

Anyhow, you want really great blonde ale? Try Roosters, Crouch Vale or indeed Wensleydale's Semmer Water which is fucking magnificent and has an amazing 'working brewery' pong.

We've been getting through a few of the Americans at North recently, especially the super snappy Brooklyn summer - a beer that I tried straight from the cask at the brewery. The bottled version is bracingly bright and fresh. Also one of my all time favorites of which I'm partaking of right now... Also Sierra Nevada and Goose Island Summer beers are worth looking up.

Anchor Summer is made from 50% malted wheat and the other half malted barley. A 'modern American wheat beer' no less... It's a down and out winner and I try to keep a case in at home all Summer. It marries the best of ale traditions with a dose of bright wheat, clear golden colour and fizzy fun-time! It's smooth, snappy and bright - the wheat brings a touch of acidity and a really good length...

heh... length.

Dogging...

2010-05-27T00:54:00.000+01:00

Yeah ok so I haven't been writing much recently... May is a busy one for me and I've been doing some partying which is lovely but means that I don't feel right motivated to write.

Ho hum - I'm not going to harp on about it, I'm just going to post some links instead to get the ball rolling again.

I8NY

This is the quarterly night I help run and DJ at, we play a big mix of genres and have a great time. Fear ye not beer lovers as I haven't written anything recently so I'm not neglecting you.

http://vimeo.com/7812379

The chaps dressed as penguins are the people behind some of the most interesting developments in UK beer brewing and marketing. They brew some pretty amazing stuff and are actually top guys to boot. It's easy to love what they do and easy to knock it, as many beer bloggers have done. James came over to do a tasting with us at the Cross Keys the other night which was top flight and one of the best we've done, due in no small measure to the utter enthusiasm and dedication of James and Brewdog... Oh and Tokyo* is a work of genius.

I'm currently eating a cheese and mayonnaise sandwich with tobasco, salt and pepper. This is also a work of genius, I'm washing it down with 2 day old Sam Smiths oatmeal stout. It's better than it sounds and still a bit fizzy...

Asam Aleikum

2010-04-20T20:46:00.000+01:00

Christ... So a fair bit's happened happened since my last post. To be honest I found writing about my holiday a little trying...

I had a really amazing time as you may have gathered, but I don't like feeling that I must to write something and one of the original intentions of this blog was to publish writing and tasting as I am doing it... With hilarious consequences!

So I'll get back to that eh...

I've been damn busy recently, if you've not been to Leeds recently then you've won't have seen our festival and you won't have seen me sweating cobs over a shit load of Belgian beer at North.

I'm really happy with the way the whole thing went down, it's amazing how people have become so much more receptive to new beer in the last few years and it's great to now be in a situation where some of these weird and wonderful examples of the brewing art aren't such a hard sell as they used to be.

That said and thoroughly ... and flying in the face of such a wonderful experience, I'm just getting down some German beer.

Weltenburger Kloster - Asam Bock

My fucking christ what a beer.

Smooth as hell, like being thrown down some 'block o flat' stairs whilst wrapped in a duvet. It has bumpy caramel malt like nothing else and deep hops, god knows, perhaps they are hallertau... I don't right know but I've reached a point in German beer where I'm starting to marvel about the nutty, tawny, fruitgum flavours that seem to run through so many beers of so many styles....

This is one of the best beers I've ever had.

kloster

Brooklyn Brewery Part 2: Blast & Wild 1!

2010-04-08T23:42:00.000+01:00

HOT DAMN!

NYC is really leading the world in terms of beers and bars. FACT, whatever you think of the US they embrace variety and quality more than anyone else. The service is second to none and an experimental attitude is ingrained in the craft beer industry across the board.

Most of the bars I visited also had 15+ beers on tap and the majority were over 5%. They were also innovative and engaging venues and the staff were really knowledgeable and more importantly friendly and engaging.

Barcade in Williamsburg

The Black Rabbit in Greenpoint

Of course my view could possibly have been tainted by the fact that I went to all the best places dahling... Aged beer night at Barcade anyone? A bar full of 80's arcade machines, 15 aged imperial IPA's, Imperial Stouts and Barley wines on draught aged Gonzo, Brooklyn intensified coffee stout?... Come on now.

Britain and British beer are of course my first love but we're only very slowly waking up in this country - I'm sick of hearing about the "cask ale revolution". It's a fucking "revival!". In the past there were masses of beers on offer in pubs of varying strengths and compositions. It's only since pale cask conditioned ale came back into fashion that modern British brewers have started to delve in to the past. The "Great British Public" are slow to pick up on the diversity of ale available.

As such we're getting there but resting on our laurels is something we do in this country all too often.

As such Brooklyn beers in the UK have taken a while to take hold, whereas in the US everyone seems to be sampling the many and varied delights of Mr Oliver and his brewing chums! So lets think back a little to a couple of weeks ago... Through the mists of drunkenness to Williamsburg and the Brooklyn brewery.... diddley doo... diddley doo... diddley doo

One of the first beers we tried with Garrett Oliver was Brooklyn Blast! A US double IPA that really exemplifies the style. US IPA was the first time for me that I was convinced that the US has a style to call their own, extremely bitter, dense and sweet with a complex depth of flavours.

Blast is a wonderful honey orange beer with big big hops. The hoppiness is on the floral side and for me that's something you don't get so often with US beer. Garrett had a lot to say about balance in ale, he's schooled in the UK you see and that subtle approach has translated in to something quite profound in the US - full flavoured, distinctly American beer with a nod to the past. So Blast! is choc a bloc with tropical flavour, sweet malt and flowery cannabis-y goodness. It also has a notable dry finish which make it super moreish...

I was also incredibly privileged to try a beer called Wild 1. This is a bit of an experiment that has been kept within the brewery and is not available to the public! OH! In simple terms it's Brooklyn Local 1, wine barrel aged with brettanomyces added. Oh god how we love the wild yeast - it does something like no other to beer. Wild 1 has a nose like nothing I ever smelt before; full, dusty, winey, sour and utterly spectacular! The beer is ultra complex and intense with spice and citrus alongside fuller black grapey, raisiny, woody notes. A bit of a Willy Wonka beer.

I suppose you'd call it a double saison or something then... Cheers Garrett!

'Representing' in the Brewery

This is exactly what many US brewers did from the word go but then they had a bit of catching up to do I suppose.

And now for something...

2010-03-30T09:01:00.000+01:00

So just before I go back to my adventures in Brooklyn I just thought I should draw attention to cask ale week. Like it really needs boulstering any more to be honest - cask ale in the five years I've worked at North has gone from being something that had to be really pushed to the general public to No.1 in sales.

It's natural in most cases, it's FACKIN BRIDDISH MAYTE, in most cases it's very good indeed, in many it's exceptional and unique and it's ALIVE!!

GO ALE!

Brooklyn Brewery Part 1: Garrett Oliver's Dark Matter

2010-03-20T15:21:00.000Z

I'm not given to hero worship... I try to avoid celebrities if I come near them, as I always like to speak to people on a level which is difficult when said people are interesting, inspirational or extraordinary. Also I have a tendency to trip them up, trip myself up, spit in their face or make fumbling, embarrassing remarks about their shoes. Despite this, oddly enough I seem to meet them quite regularly.

The head brewer at Brooklyn, Garrett Oliver, is an absolute legend and the foremost authority on beer in the US so i was a touch nervous. Mr Oliver's beers are renown throughout the world and his collaborations with brewers, chefs and fancy cocktail types are the stuff of beer legend. Moreover I was in a bit of a state from the silly amount of strong beer and rye whisky I consumed the night before so the whole meeting heroes thing was on my mind a little.

We had brilliant tour with Carla at the Williamsburg brewery who was utterly wonderful to us and took us through some lovely beers - in particular a cask of Brooklyn Summer that was a year old and tasted really fresh which was remarkable for the low alcohol level. Then Garrett rocked up and showed us things in a bit more depth.

I had a butchers at the conditioning rooms and some of the stuff that they have been working on recently. Garrett, luckily for me, was tremendously affable and interesting and had some unique insights into some great great beers which I try and incorporate in the next few posts. In particular on Dark Matter, Blast, Local 2 and Wild 1.

Brooklyn Dark Matter is a brown ale aged for four months in bourbon and rye whiskey barrels. Some barrels previously held a beer called Black Ops, some contained a beer called Manhattan Project, others came straight from the distilleries as soon as the whiskey was decanted.

It's a great brew with that wonderful bourbon vanilla cask-ness but with a soft milky chocolate sweetness and a rye beer oiliness that coats the mouth. Not too much mind blowing alcohol taste which means that it creeps up on you a bit. Bearing in mind that it is 7.5%... Yes... It creeps up on you a bit... Bearing in mind that we had tasted pretty much everything else available it was probably time to get on the road before I did anything daft...

Brooklyn Brewery

Garrett Oliver

Outtatown! BROOKLYN & NYC

2010-03-18T21:40:00.000Z

Oh yes I am!

Holiday time and I'm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I really hate flying (all the best people do) and I think that it seems that my horrible flight with American Airways ended in disaster as I have crashed and died and gone to beer heaven!!

We went out for a couple of scoops last night in Greenpoint and over the frigging moon with the number of beers available and the quality of the bars...

The day had started in rather a different fashion at about 9am in Heathrow having a Guinness and a Jamesons for St Patrick's Day - that was fairly ropey and put me off having another one all day but at least I'd payed my dues to my 25% Irish blood.

Get out ye snakes!

Greenpoint is just above Williamsburg in Brooklyn, you're constantly aware of the madness of Manhattan on the skyline but it feels a world away, it's fairly quiet but in a gnarly NYC way. Plenty of Polish delis (that's another 50% of blood accounted for) and some great great bars...

In particular the Black Rabbit which is a fantastic bar, it's a perfect balance of old black wood fittings and booths and quirky mismatched lighting and paintings. It has a really classy beer menu and cracking snacks including mini burgers! I drank some cracking 'soft hoppy' Green Flash IPA and Black Rabbit porter which was also a rather good, caramelllllly and fairly light bodied session-er.

Also on my list was Diamond which was also quite lovely, with a classy, wooden, curved bar and an ace mini shuffleboard which caused no end of amusement despite the 'no shouting' rule! I had some cracking malty German Maibock on draught whose name escapes me and some Otter Creek Copper which was an alt beer - another malty beer style which I have a great amount of time for. This one was fruity and smooth.

So we crawled on a little - starting to feel a touch lagged - to the Brouwerij Lane, a smashing little beer shop with space to have a drink and 20 beers on draught... Yes. owner Ed Raven has been collecting great beers for 10 years and the selection in here is second to none... The phenomenon of the Growler is very much in effect here - essentially a half gallon jug which you fill up and take home. It hasn't quite reached the UK yet but I'm sure it will... Watch this space.

We'd popped in earlier and had a glass of Southern Tier Unearthly IPA which was utterly brilliant, along with super resinous hops it was extremely thick and bitter which sounds a bit much but it really worked. It also has a really interesting pear drops kinda thing going on which I thought was smashing.

So anyway we brought home some Pigslap pale ale and some Hitachino Nest beer. The pigslap was mentioned by Leeds blogger Leigh a couple of weeks ago and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to try it. Quite interesting - good beer in a can! Kinda creamy, tropical-fruity, buttery APA and rather good. The Hitachino has probably the cutest label in the world but I ain't drunk it yet...

So looking back that's a good amount of beer to drink after an 7 hour flight combined with 4 hours of pissing about in airports... I've drunk some great stuff today too and I'll let you know about it soon no doubt...

The Black Rabbit

The Diamond

Brouwerij Lane

Supermarket beers 101

2010-03-13T06:00:00.000Z

Soopermaaarkit! Soopermaaarkit! Why has there never been a song about supermarkets?

Why? Because they are horrific places... Conveyor belts of woe, choc a bloc with stuff you don't really need, let alone want. Their myriad sins are only just being figured out, that's right figured. We have had to look extremely closely to understand the crazy shit they have been able to pull off.
That said, they do sell some stuff that's good, if they didn't no one would go eh? Luckily for drinkers and unluckily for pub goers they do sell booze. Usually at a loss! Ha! How can a boozer compete with that? We should start selling beans at a loss in pubs... That would confuse the fuckers.

Anyway I decided a while ago to start an ongoing post about supermarket beer, I made some notes and then realized they were rubbish and so started again and got to here... I'll update this as I go...

M & S

My closest supermarket, the domain of cosseted mummies and mummies boys, home comforts and posho ready meals. They probably do the best food of the lot and have recently opened up their doors to all comers including HP sauce and, predictably, beans.

London Porter (Meantime)

There's a good fun beer somewhere here but it's the colour of coke and has the same fizzy-as-fuck-ness. Why is it so fizzy? There's good chocolately malt and a hint of bitterness but it dies in a jacuzzi of burpy CO2.

Lincolnshire Bitter (Batemans)

Malty Maris Otter and soft hops, good solid brown beer.

Irish Stout

Very good, dry as Irish should be, toasted and nicely bitter - hint of fruity hop. Raisin, good dark chocolate not too sweet.

2 Westvleterens died to make this post...

2010-03-04T22:24:00.000Z

So much good beer.

So much.

Do you know that good beer has penetrated pretty much every market? Did you know that excellent beer is available if you are willing to spend just a bit of your spare time looking?

Really top class beers are there, ready to drink, more readily available than ever. You just have to give a fuck...

Easy for me to say as I'm sat watching Question Time reverently sipping wes-T-fel-eter-en, with"an air of nonchalance". It's one of the holy grails of drinking. It's truly unique.

It has however, been joined in recent years by several other beers. Yes, there are other beers that claim to be utterly excellent, and yes, some of them are. Moreover the stage has been set for beer to take the initiative... and it has. There is nothing on earth that displays the range of flavours available to the human palate quite like beer.

That said; I know NOTHING of the palate held by dogs, cats, alligators, fishes, deer, meerkats or indeed any of the animal kingdom. Or crustaceans.

But they can't write so it's beside the point. Beer is great, and it's just getting better and betterer. Drinking Westvleteren is tremendously enjoyable. It has the most wonderful, all encompassing 'rotting rum barrel' smell. It has a still look about it. It's light in body but really very deep in flavour. It's long and deep flavour has a particular and dryness which all of the truly great beers seem to carry. It's sweet, savoury, dry... wet, it's soft but not subtle.

Sherry, vegetation, rum, alcohol, measured hops, raisin, stewed dark fruit bitterness.

Bob on eh?

It's made by monks who don't really like to sell loads of it and as such it's hard to come by, by limiting supplies and making it utterly brilliant the monks make this beer extremely valuable. Luckily it is, otherwise it would be monk spaff...

Food for thought eh? Or perhaps not...

AN=D HERE

An Orcadian

2010-02-26T03:36:00.000Z

So I've been a little slow on the writing for a couple of weeks. Excuses - I have a few...

You can possibly see in my last post that I've been having a little fun, that particular post was a bit of a struggle despite being only a few lines. It was really one of those where I was writing with one finger and has one eye shut... To use the technical parlance I was 'shitted'.

I also see looking back that I was having some sort of existential crisis, I was wanting to tell people about particular drinks whilst NOT ACTUALLY DRINKING THEM. My self imposed rules plus a large glass of whisky did for me. I had to give up and go a wake the missus to explain to her that at 5:30am it was essential that I hang my socks in a small tree in the bedroom. I'm told I was somewhat flamboyant in this act.

So do I take notes on beers and then diligently transcribe them for the small number of 'unique visitors' to my humble blog or do I carry on getting home after a load of drinks and try and cobble some 'entertainment' together.

Perhaps I should put up a poll?

Orkney beer anyway... I knew bugger all about it until Mr Zak brought a bottle by the bar the other day. A bottle of Orkney Blast, no less, from the Swannay Brewery. Really good stuff, so I bought a few when I was back home in Knaresborough.

Quite odd really because Orcadians have popped up throughout the start of this year, I've met a couple of inhabitants and also been asked a couple of times for Orkney beer. Woooo! Perhaps it's fate that this brilliant stuff landed in my glass.

Blast is 6% and powerful at that, it pours a warm gold colour with an egg white head. It's choc a bloc with juicy malty goodness from the nose to the tongue. It's exceptionally well balanced with plenty of hops that are certainly there but don't take the lead in the flavour.

It's MERINGUE-Y! Yes there's a definite meringue kinda thing going on, at first I thought it was just me but the crunchy, frothy edge to the blast is also carried by a couple other of their beers. It's most likely something to do with the yeast. Most brewers have a house yeast and I love brewers that manage to keep the same character running through their products whilst making them distinctly different things.

Real top stuff - I'm looking forward to getting some casks in at the bar. Now I've got to find something for Mr Zak which is no mean feat as he has supped of many a beer.

Swannay Brewery

wokkin like a dog

2010-02-20T05:11:00.000Z

Loads going on,

just finished work, plenty of really lovely new beer being drunk. I had a couple with my good friend Jimmy James Wood this evening post labour.

In particular...

Marble Special

Double Dog

I have words about

Sierra Nevada - Unrivalled

Carnegie Porter

Will I get round to writing them? Who knows?

I'll attempt to avoid bullshit and shit beer, I'll try to write as I drink the beers and I promise not to:

1. Be aloof.

2. Twitter on.

3. Lie.

4. Get needlessly technical.

So I'd be breaking my own rules to just post some notes about UNR that I made earlier.

Or summat.

ta ta

the winter olympics is wonderful

On the mend with Gadd's

2010-02-07T16:03:00.000Z

WOW.

I haven't spent 4 days on my back with flu for ages... It was rubbish!

I'm on the mend now and it's time for some fortifying stout. As soon as I came down with the flu I was instantly urged to drink stout both by my boss Christian and a good friend Mike. Of course I'm aware of the power of stout but at that particular moment I was slightly more occupied with alternately shivering, sweating and contemplating my demise.

The 'elixir' case is made for so many alcoholic drinks and the health giving properties of stout are often trumpeted and often maligned.

Stouts were marketed as healthy due to properties ranging from a high iron content to their various different additives. Among these; lactose in milk stout and oysters in oyster stout, both of which of course have proven health benefits. Milk stout marketing hit the rocks with a government ban on the link between booze and milk - fair enough a suppose, you wouldn't want to give booze to the baby.

Some people don't dig booze, that will always be true. Some people want to impose their viewpoint on others lifestyles which is the reason why sober types rail against so called healthy alcoholic drinks.

I'm finding this Gadds' Black Pearl oyster stout particularly rejuvenating so prohibitionists can fuck right off.

I mentioned a little while back about tastes that take a while to acquire, well oysters was one for me but now I'm in to them I really appreciate that minerally, fresh-air-soft-saltiness. Gadds' stout has this in spades, combined with a winey richness on the nose and tongue and a full dark caramel, malt backbone. It has length of flavour with a slightly savoury penny bun mushroomy quality.

Altogether a great beer, and a real recovery star for me. Is it making me feel better? Yes. Is it improving my health. Who knows? Surely both are desirable but are they always necessary simultaneously?? HMMM?

Gadd's

Stout

Sod's Law

2010-02-05T19:06:00.000Z

Well, there's a surprise...

After congratulating myself for avoiding being ill for sometime I've ended up getting the flu. Drinking's pretty off the cards save for the odd hot toddy and a strong stout when I get to the other side of this miserable illness.

I'm vaguely enjoying watching 3 hours of Star Trek a day though...

My hot toddy goes like this if you're interested...

Juice of one lemon

2 cloves

1 stick of cinnamon

Shot of Islay whisky - or whatever you prefer.

Teaspoon of honey

Boil water and let cool for a minute or two, mix, drink, feel slightly better.

Anyway here's someone who's not ill taking about beer...

A touch of smoke...

2010-01-28T04:28:00.000Z

I spent burns night hosting a beer dinner at the Cross Keys, it was a wonderful evening helped along by some real quality food courtesy of the Cross Keys kitchen team headed up by Brett Barnes and some excellent drinks in particular the malt whisky and tutored tasting provided by Jamie Nicholson.

The thing that particularly stuck me was Laphroaig.

I'm a late convert to whisky, it took me some time and persistence to come around to the particular nuances of malt. I often find that many of the great tastes in life require the period of acquisition. I don't believe anyone who, when first tasted, truly enjoyed such delights as oysters, beer, wine or whisky. Understanding that great tastes need a little dedication pleases me somewhat.

So rather splendidly I had a bottle of Laphroaig at home which was given to me some time ago and I'm having a blast on it. Laphroaig is somewhat odd, TCP + smoke but soft too and suggesting fruit which on further examination is a bit like that slightly dusty element to mango. It's odd but fantastic, the length and depth is remarkable and the finish, that dry, smoky, salty heather is truly excellent.

Smoke is something quite amazing in a drink, it really strikes a chord with me; misspent youth burning things in my back garden you see. As the man of the house (my parents divorced when I was young and I lived with my Mum for 75% of the time) I was in charge of many of the garden clearing duties and thus got to burn loads of stuff. This was ace and a major attraction for my friends. Also being born on the 4th of November bonfires are part and parcel of my make up. The smokiness in drinks gets right into you.. literally. Just like being consumed by clouds of the stuff whilst ruining neighbors wash days or indeed accidentally setting fire to a skip and having to call the fire brigade.

In terms of beers that perfect that smoky flavour Aecht Schlenkerla Marzen is surely one of the best, it has that beechwood depth and full nasal smokiness that none other seems to have. Goeller Rauchbier is also excellent but is more subtle which is nice as there's a honey character too and a refreshing nature.

Smoke I'd also put in a similar category as extreme hoppiness and sourness, these tastes for me act as a proprietary, resetting the pallet ready for the more subtle flavours hidden later on in the profile. This is something that I'm rather interested in and I'll come back to it at some point soon.

Links
The Cross Keys
Laphroaig
Schlenkerla
Goeller

The Mad Brewers

2010-01-16T22:46:00.000Z

Ahhh... De Dolle.

Wet and strong!

Anyone who combines the condition of insanity and the craft of brewing has my vote.

I'm an Englishman and as such, eccentricity is one of my favourite traits. The Belgians do it with aplomb. It's most likely something to do with the fact that their beers are so strong, they start drinking at around 10am and their first drink is likely something akin to a Duvel. The Belgian canon of ales is of course notably powerful, in favour and of course in alcoholic content. Whilst this clearly seems to disturb some people it's one of the things that makes Belgium so great at beer.

De Dolle don't fuck around in this department.

I remember clearly the last time I drank Stille Nacht I was in North bar with two friends, we had several of these 12% seasonal ales, we were somewhat 'euphoric'. I can remember deconstructing the flavours of the beer, I can remember that I was startled by a particular nuance of the beer. Something completely unexpected and utterly wonderful. I'm quite sure I evangelised for some time. So incredibly insightful I was to detect this!

I haven't a fucking clue what exactly that was. Which troubles me somewhat as I prepare to taste Stille Nacht once again.

It's like a liquid form of the marzipan that comes off a Christmas cake. Then it's like tropical fruit, then it's hoppiness and sherry alcohol combined. Sweetly intoxicating, incredible character, length and depth. I often describe beers so certain beers as 'Willy Wonka' beers. I always feel a little daft when saying it but I can't think of a better way to describe this kind of thing, such complex flavours that unfurl like the Wonka chocolate factory chewing gum.

Anyway, length, depth, strength, smooth body... That's the fucker... What I was thinking, about this time last year, was that every sip is different in this beer it just keeps going and gong. Now we have apricot, raspberry even and oloroso - its a real joy it really is.

De Dolle FTW £best number one brewery for me in Belgium.

Ha, so this hasv taken ages to write as my missus fell asleep after drinking a few sips of hers so I've had iy away and drunk it. And I'm just finished watching the Incrdibles which was quite fun.

Bedytime...

(spooling mistooks correct at time of going to press)

Salem Smoked Oatmeal

2010-01-06T22:58:00.000Z

This is lovely, brewed by a friend and colleague, I tried a few Salem beers recently and have been impressed. This is extremely small scale brewing but already there is real promise.

I've tried a California Style Beer and a Marzen. The Smoked Oatmeal - brewed for another friend's birthday no less. It's just come out of the larder, which I suspect is colder than the fridge at the mo so I've left the beer for a moment to open up and lose the chill. Dead good - there's something about mid strength stouts (5-7%) that's really working for me at the moment. I recently tried Coopers Best Extra Stout which was a revelation.

Salem's Stout is full of dried fruit initially on the nose but mellows and almost ages over a very short time to a deep treacle and burn caramel. The taste is complex with good body and a smooth texture - the result of the oats. Really, very tasty applewood character and nice smooth traditional malty/hoppy length... Well done Gordon mate.

Right I'm off for a quick Foghorn before bed... so to speak.

Get your stoats!!

2010-01-06T21:10:00.000Z

Ahhh stout... it's probably my best friend, when all else fails a good stout works all year round. The optional additions to stout also rarely fail;

damson, oyster, port,

oats, lactose, coffee.

Yes... Full stop. As far as I'm concerned (at this very moment... unless proven otherwise) there is nothing else you worth adding to stout. Chocolate is the obvious one I suppose, but really, those utterly wonderful chocolate flavours in most cases are best obtained from the malt.

Every stout I've had with melty brown stuff added has been... Well... "shit". That's one of the things about beer, you can do a hell of a lot with the basic ingredients. Think about it for a minute, wine is made from grape juice, flavours may be added via barreling and blending different types of grape juice. The complexity and prestige of wine is well documented. Now look at beer you've usually got grain, water, yeast and hops... I'd say grain and hops in all their incarnations each have just as much complexity as grape juice... SO YOU"VE ALREADY GOT TWICE THE BLEEDING COMPLEXITY... There's no need to start filling it with fucking dairy milk...

Anyhow... Some additions work, not many but some, I've had some wonderful examples recently, Crown's collaboration with Zak Avery was one of the highlights of last year. A 'Double Damson' beer, the wonderfully named Django Reinhart (incidentally a name I chose for my last cat) was heady, deep and fruity with an inspired kick from Belgian yeast.

Other winners were Flying Dog's Gonzo Porter, Marble's Irish and Chocolate Stouts, Brooklyn Chocolate 08/09, De Dolle Stout plus HP's from Riverhead, Brown Cow and Elland AND a memorable espresso moment from Saints and Sinners - the delectable Insomniac!

So anyway that was supposed to be a review coz I got my laptop charger back so I'm... well... back. It got out of hand I admit.

Here's some drinking and writing.

Christmas drinking...

2009-12-29T16:48:00.000Z

GAH!!!

I'm still embarassingly out of action on the Computer front and as you can appreciate the bar is mental at this time of year so very little time to post and no 'in situ' beer tastings for now...

However it would be churlish not to harp on a little about some of the stuff I've been drinking recently...

some 'special marbles'

In particular Marble's latest offering 'Special'. Marble are very close to my heart as firstly I think I was the first person to bring them to Leeds (only about 5 years back - please correct me if I'm wrong!) and also they make really great, incredibly informed, beers that are distinctive and forward looking whilst also remaining traditional in terms of 'flavour profile'...

Special is a Barley Wine, it's beautifully packaged and is brand spanking new. When the chaps over the Pennines told me about this a few months back I deemed it necessary to ask them when it was ready pretty much every week until it was... Just before Christmas.

It's corked and wax sealed, and once I got round that I shared a bottle with my missus... The nose is a very fresh, resinous hopsack affair. I touch of iron and a real soft, pink grapefruit aroma. The beer pours tawny brown and is quite light in body considering it's 10.7% ABV. Many barley wines can be syrupy which is not necessarily a bad thing but sometimes makes you not want another for some time (see lees harvest ale).

Which in itself is not necessarily a bad thing...

Anyhow the special has a plummy fizz and soft hops, building as you go, a touch of dandelion leaf bitterness (credit the missus for that) and a really silky vanilla note. Sod that it's actually creme caramel and then vanilla fudge.

Exceptional beer, well composed and potent. It's making me feel better about watching Oz Clarke, I wonder about his sanity to be honest, he always seemed rather hoity toi but composed but recently he seems to be completely soused and buggered up... Someone should tell him that he'll never be Floyd...

Anyway...

Marble are ace - they also brought out 'Decadence' which is a Imperial Stout, equally wonderful but I reckon that it needs a little time in the cellar so I'll come back to it...

I have also been drinking plenty of Anchor Christmas 2009 which is the best I've ever tasted (think pine resin and cola cubes!). Brooklyn Chocolate 2008-09 which is great and in my opinion better than this years offering. Tactical Nuclear Penguin which is daft but entirely refined actually and some pretty amazing 'jazz stout' from the Crown Brewery of which I will write more. Suffice to say Stu is brewing some extremely good stuff at the moment...

Later x

Blockage in a de sistim...

2009-12-15T08:27:00.000Z

My laptop is bust... Hopefully just the charger but for now posting is going to be somewhat infrequent...

For now be content with having a look at some beer dudes quaffing... Well... It's only the strongest fucking beer in the world!

Just click the Avery...

5 am saint

2009-12-05T05:47:00.000Z

I'm drinking this beer at 5:48am is that ok?

I'm past caring now, what I can tell you is that if you have in your possession and it happens to be 5am you'll end up drinking it.

What can I say... ha ha.. is it... 'iconoclastic'?

Of course! I'm past caring...

Super hoppy amber ale, perhaps the starting point was How to Disappear Completely. It has the same lack of sweetness but luckily, 5AM Saint opens up nicely, and has the all important jelly tots/midget jems back end that I really appreciate.

It's good BUT.

Stick your nose in and it smells like fucking dishwater...

Which is a shame.

A punk and a curry

2009-12-04T21:47:00.000Z

I'm on my break which gives me just enough time to have a quick go...

What's best with curry then? Lager most would say, the more knowledgabel might point you in the direction of a nice Burton-esque IPA. I'd agree with both of these, keeping my fingers crossed that the lager would be decent stuff (follow the Reinheitsgebot and you shouldn't go to far wrong) and the IPA is as hoppy as you can get hold of.
Whilst the classic IPA's of Burton are, on the whole, fantastic and moreover 'the originals'. The hop profile has been eclipsed in recent years by US brewers and their IPA's and doubles. Let me say now that the first time I had Double Dog I changed my staff training from...

"America does some amazing copies of various brewing styles across the world."

to

"America makes every style of beer, but the one which is truly their own is the ultra hoppy IPA."

So taking this all right back, British IPA goes great with a curry, what goes even better is an even hoppier style. There's something about that resinous bitterness from the US or NZ that balances spiciness and wins through the flavour onslaught that is Curry!

So tonight in honour of the marvellous yet ridiculous Brewdog saga I'm revisiting PUNK IPA and washing it down with a top lamb curry from no other than Zam Zam which is across the road from North... Punk is the perfect foil to something a bit spicy, there's grapefruit and astringency but to me there seems a soft body to the beer that helps it slip down nicely. It balances the heat of the curry really well and doesn't taste acrid like some other drinks do when faced with a touch of spice...

Anyhow - back to work

A weekend of beer...

2009-11-30T22:47:00.000Z

So then, there are no posts over the weekend due to excessive drunkenness.

Amongst several other drinks, I drank...

Haandbryggeriet 'Norwegian Wood'

brilliant

Mikkeller/Three Floyds 'Oatgoop'

awesome

I ended up on a mad mission to Wetherby in a Mercedes (don't worry I can't drive). After negotiating some dubious establishments containing 'tattoo be-necked' locals drinking Carling, I ended up in an old faithful... The Sam Smith's pub on the High Steet, god knows what it's called (the internet seems not to have reached Wetherby properly yet).

Thank goodness for

Sam Smith's Nut Brown Ale

Anyway, I'm not drinking these now and so I'm not writing too much about them. This has the added benefit of me being able to drink them all again and is a good excuse to fuck off...

Toodly pip!!

Parma, then... Tokyo

2009-11-24T23:52:00.000Z

So... after a cracking pint of Outlaw Boneshaker and a half of Sam Smiths Nut Brown Ale (more on which I'll write later) we got on the 45 and went home.

I cooked Aubergine Parmigiana which is mildly laborious, yet soothing to cook and an ultimately satisfying dish. It's also the most diplomatic vegetarian dish I know, it's dense, full of favour and will satisfy veggies and meat eaters alike... If you'd

like the recipe just ask.

Beer One:

Panil Barriquée

(Sour 8%) from Parma. Italian beer is perhaps on the cusp of acceptability. I am hearing a considerable amount about it and I'm expecting to be tasting plenty in the next year. I don't know much about Italy's beer but I do know there is tradition and artisanship. Which will do.

Panil falls somewhere between a flemish red and a gueuze in style having both the sweet/sour of the former and the dry length and complexity of the latter.

Initailly I'm a little confused: It seems to have a very modest profile, it's the length that draws you in. As the air gets in it opens up: Soft, delicate, red fruit, dusty, tart raspberry then strawberry juice that just lasts and lasts. It reminds me of old Drie Fonteinen but the red fruit replaces the apricot. It fits excellently with my tea but would go even better with some really good Parma ham.

Drinking Panil reminds me of drinking good Perry, it has a strong alcoholic effect that is euphoric and affects your vision somewhat... It's very good indeed, very appetising, and has piqued my interest in Italian brews.

Beer 2: Original Brewdog Tokyo (12% when it went in to the cellar) this is a beer that I've fallen out with twice. The first time it was because I didn't think it was that great, it was too confused, too much of the cranberry, muddled. I figured that I should abandon it for a while to think about what it had done.

While my 12% Tokyo was languishing in the cellar i fell out with it again, this time though it was in a new incarnation - the tabloid baiting 18%.

Cue mass hysteria...

Does beer need to be 18%? Why is it in the news? Who cares? Alcohol content is a side issue... Something to be considered yes. But we don't freak out about sherry, whisky or wine for fuck's sake. Taste matters and that's it.

So i'm glad to say I've made up with Tokyo after 2 years in the cellar the fruit is still there but is tempered by full toffee, complex coffee and then a big hit of black malt. Time has softened the beer and sorted out the favour profile, which is a relief. The viscosity is just right and it's become a real contender.

I might just have to stick a couple of 18%ers in there and then of course there is the Thermonucler Penguin on the horizon... Brewdog eh...

Off we go...

2009-11-24T23:15:00.000Z

oh hi...

Well this seems to be the done thing these days... Drinking beer, writing about beer, blah blah... I like beer, you like beer, we all like beer... I know about beer having drunk a goddamn lot of it, this is by virtue of being the manager of North Bar in Leeds and Further North in Chapel Allerton.

Read on and I'll attempt to avoid bullshit and shit beer, I'll try to write as I drink the beers and I promise not to:

1. Be aloof.

2. Twitter on.

3. Lie.

4. Get needlessly technical.

i might add to that but for now... i'm having a drink...