Finally getting decent beer in Belfast

I've been a bit lax with posting recently and this blog is perhaps a month past when it should have been posted, better late than never they say! A lot going on beer wise in NI at the mo, hopefully do a few posts in coming weeks to catch up a bit, not least on new breweries and beer venues in our capital.

Perhaps helped by the appearance of some craft-styled breweries in the North and the resurgence of good beer on the island of Ireland as a whole Belfast will host a new beer festival this Spring bank holiday (May 22nd-23rd). Set 6months apart and serving mostly from keg and bottle this will be a completely different affair to the November CAMRA cask festival held in the Ulster hall.

The listed and atmospheric Titanic Drawing Offices

ABVFest (for that is its name) has been organised by four disparate beer enthusiasts who have come together to bring decent beer to our shores.

Darren met Felicia at a beer tasting event at the National last year and she began to distribute his (Pokertree) beers through her business (Prohibition NI). Whilst they both love the Ulster Hall festival it doesn't reflect where good beer is in Ireland right now and wanted to run an event focussing on quality of beer, regardless of format where a group of enthusiasts could come together and enjoy beers in a more relaxed environment. When Boundary's Matt and Michael came along it turned out they were planning a festival on similar lines; so four people came together with the idea of putting on something a bit different in Belfast, modelled on the likes of Indy Man beer con. This is not least reflected in the choice of venue, wrangled somehow by Matt and Michael is the use of the formerly bustling now decrepit Titanic Drawing Offices. The festival will be the final event there before it becomes a boutique hotel. Of course this does mean if the event is successful they'll need a new venue next year, which is all part of the ethos says Darren!

All four are from different backgrounds and each contributed their own take on what they want from a festival, it really will be a reflection on four people's tastes. Michael's creative eye (he's a photographer by trade) has helped design the style of the festival and as the only non-beer-trade organiser he acts as a proxy for all 1200 attendees to ensure the festival caters for the geeks as well as the brewers!

A Boundary and Galway Collab Brewday
Photo courtesy of Tom Delaney

Each session will be fairly small with 400 people, allowing for conviviality rather than hubbub sometimes seenthe attendees reading like a who's who of the best our islands (and the worldwide brewing community) have to offer. Felicia's extensive list of contacts and good will built among brewers in the few short years Prohibition has been operating has resulted in an astonishing array of beers, the like of which have never before been seen on our shores including a number of festival specials and one-offs (currently held tightly underwraps) plus the official launch of newest Belfast brewery Boundary with their AGM being held on Saturday morning. It will also serve as a showcase for Northern Ireland brewers; all were invited and most were excited to attend, though Darren was at pains to stress that this is not "The Good Food show NI for beer" its a celebration of beer first and foremost, with of course a chance for enthusiasts to put the faces to the brewsters and brewers whose wares they so enjoy. Felicia said "we wanted to create an experience and not just a drinking session,  a festival that could allow people to taste some of the best beers that are available." In that respect ABV will be completely different to anything seen in Northern Ireland to date

And there will be a number of those purveyors of beers present at the event, behind the bar chatting all things beer, ably assisted by a posse of volunteers (including yours truly; who has volunteered to manage a bar for all three sessions). Most of these beers will be served on keg, 40 at one time across two bars, supplemented by a fistful of bottles. A lot will be a single keg only, meaning you'll have to make do with what's on during your session, but working out what's on is all part of the fun! There will also be some ciders for those of the fermented apple beverage persuasion and of course with decent drink must come decent food and a number of proper street food trucks will be in attendance.

Michael said "We've planned a festival that we know we'd love ourselves and I can't wait to enjoy it." He's particularly looking forward to a few "dark beasts" with more details to be released in the coming weeks @ABVFest.Felicia is also looking forward to seeing others getting pleasure from the beers, finding out "how fun and interesting beer can be, trying beers they have maybe never tried before and having a bit of craic." This sharing aspect will be cultured by some special tastings on the day.

Could this vial hold a clue?

I'm most looking forward to trying the Boundary Beers on draught (including some of those aforementioned collaborations)* and meeting a lot of those people who help keep our beer community lubricated plus of course catching up with old friends from around the UK. And for the team behind the festival its all a bit overwhelming but of course very exciting, "it's amazing how many hundreds of people have been so quick to buy tickets and support our efforts to do something different". The Friday, Saturday evening and weekend passes had already sold out one month before hand; so you'll need to act fast to get one of the last tickets for a Saturday lunchtime session (12-5)  and the final Saturday day session tickets sold out shortly afterwards. There is a waiting list, so try your luck on the website, hope to see you there!

*I'll hopefully bring you an update of these as soon as I hear about them!

Autumn Beer Extravaganza (Wetherspoon Autumn Beer Festival 2013)

Its that time of year again, autumn is upon us which can only mean one thing...Wetherspoon are back with another selection of cask ales for their real ale festival. This time around we have an extra special treat, all ten of the collaboration (collabeeration!) beers (that's 20% fact fans!) were brewed by American brewers with UK breweries. Brewers from 7 states took part producing beers in 8 different styles. Plenty for the tickers amongst you! Remember they're all one offs too; so make sure you get along to try them out. Here's a preview of those beers and others that I'm most looking forward to.

Shaun O'Sullivan from 21st amendment in San Francisco California travelled to Wychwood to brew American Bitter Red a sessionable Amber Ale with "agressive" hopping. 

The brewery is of course named for the repeal of prohibition, without which this brewery and all of the others below would have been unable to exist. @21stAmendmentBrewery

Next up is Restoration Pale Ale brewed by Mark Wilson of Abita Brewing Co with Wetherspoon collaboration stalwarts Wadworth. Normally based in Louisiana Mark rocked up in Devizes and used a large amount of cascade to get plenty of citrus character into this beer. @TheAbitaBeer

Ballast Point are a well known US craft brewer from San Diego California; so  "session IPA" Even Keel brewed at Marstons should be something special (and is a recreation of a 3.8% regular beer in cask form). Again using new world hops; so expect plenty of citrus character but there's also some noble hops in there to provide plenty of bitterness too. @BPBrewing

There's an unusual sounding brew from Will Meyers of Massachusetts' Cambridge Brewing Co - Beatles inspired Sgt Pepper is a saison with rye malt and four types of peppercorn. I think its great that Wetherspoon make this kind of creative ale available to the UK drinking public at large and well done to Everards for collaborating on this!
@CambridgeBrewer





Another fantastic sounding beer is Seattle's Elysian's Avatar, a jasmine IPA brewed by brewer Dick Cantwell with Thwaites on their "Crafty Dan" kit on 17th September.

via Thwaites

Featuring the fairly recent Glacier hop alongside superstar Amarillo and bittering stalwart Northern Brewer. At 6.3% its fairly hefty too and should work well as a warmer for the journey home.
@ElysianBrewing



 Sunshine Daydream is a 5% brew named for a Grateful Dead documentary released in 1972. It was brewed by Matt Cole owner of Ohio's Fat Head's brewery at Batemans on 9th September (welcomed by an Ohio state flag!) with centennial, citra and simcoe triple-teaming on the hop-front to produce a citrus bomb IPA.
@FatHeadsBeer






Harpoon IPA was brewed by brewer Jamie Schier at Bank's. Its been brewed in their Boston brewery for 20 years; so great to get a UK cask version brewed over here.
 @harpoon_brewery






Another uncommon beer style for the UK and the first outing at a Wetherspoon fest is Cream Ale. This one has been brewed by Oregon's Ninkasi at Caledonian in Edinburgh. Cream ale is a light fruity ale using simcoe and liberty for fruity apricot and mango notes, then lagered (cold conditioned) a hybrid style akin to kolsch.
@NinkasiBrewing





 
Mitch from Stone has documented his trip to the UK here. He brewed Supremely Self Conscious alongside Fergus at Adnams. I'm a big fan of Stone beers and Adnams is a well respected brewer plus I love Black IPAs; so this is surely my most anticipated beer at the fest this year.
@StoneBrewingCo







And last but not least is Spike Buckowski of Georgia brewery Terrapin's collaboration with Shepherd Neame - Treehugger. Its another rarely seen beer for the UK a German style Altbier with authentic Hallertau region hops.
@TerrapinBeerCo

I'm also looking forward to Roosters All Star Brewster's Aromatic Porter and even the GK Abbot's Confession. but there should be something for everyone with 50 beers to choose from! I think you'll agree with me that Wetherspoon have outdone themselves with the selection this year, I'm not sure how they'll raise the bar again in 2014!

All the tasting notes for these beers may be read in the festival program, along with interesting background stories for each of the brewers. All of the beers have already been added to ratebeer, so I've linked them in to the above. Remember that you can get three thirds for the price of the pint during the festival, making it easier to try the full range (don't try 50 in one day!)

Northern Ireland CAMRA and Beoir are coming together to celebrate the festival in the Bridge House Belfast on Saturday 19th October, all are welcome. Its a chance for you to meet fellow beer enthusiasts, a brewer or two and hopefully try all ten US cask beers at the same time.

Thanks are due to Gary Holmes and the marketing team at JDWcreative for sending me through a PDF with all of the pumpclip artwork, cheers guys.

A New Beer Festival (With cheese!)

Just a quick one today to let everyone know of a cheese and beer festival to be held at the Strongroom in Shoreditch next week (5th -9th June). As you're all tired of hearing by now, cheese is another love of mine alongside beer and if I were based in London I'd certainly aim to be there. (I was asked to help out, but didn't have enough time to make it happen!)

 There sounds to be a good range of cheeses available plus a great selection of 65 beers from 22 breweries, (see below for more details) including some that only opened this year! There's a few festival one-off specials too for the tickers amongst you. And for those of you who don't fancy beer, fear not as ciders are available.

There are also tutored cheese and beer pairing sessions, something which is close to my heart. You can book in advance here, which I'd advise doing as they're sure to be popular considering the lineup of experts and beers.

Obviously being in trendy Shoreditch there's plenty of decent food and music too, but the main event is obviously the cheese and beer.

The festival opens from 5pm Wednesday, see here for further details. If you do head along, let me know how it goes and highlights and I'll certainly aim to make it along in 2014!

Strongroom Bar & Kitchen
120 Curtain Road
Shoreditch
EC2A 3SQ

@StrongRoomBar
Facebook

The Beers!

BARNET

Barnet (2013)
Pepper Porter
Porter 5%
Palamino
Pale 4%

PORTOBELLO

Ladbroke Grove (2013)
Star
Bitter 4.3%
American Pale Ale
APA 5%

BRUPOND

Leyton (2013)
Sweet Bee Honey’d Wheat
Wheat beer 4.5%
Tip Top Hop
Pale 6.0%

CLARENCE & FREDERICK BREWING CO.

Croydon (2013)
Strong Mild
Mild 4.1%
Golden Ale
Golden 3.8%

WEIRD BEARD

Hanwell (2013)
Black Perle
Coffee milk stout 4.5%
Marina Trench
American Pale Ale 5.3%
Hit The Lights
IPA 5.8%

CRATE

Hackney Wick (2012)
Crooked Stout
Stout 4.6%
Golden Ale dry hopped with Motueka (one-off)
Golden Ale 3.8%

HACKNEY

Hackney (2012)
Golden Ale
Golden 4%
Best Bitter
Best Bitter 4.4%
American Pale Ale
Pale 4.5%
New Zealand Pale Ale
Pale 4.5%

ADVENTURE

Chessington (2012)
East
IPA 6.6%
West
Porter 5.8%

BOTANIST

Kew (2012)
Gone Pacific
Golden Ale (4.2%)
Kew Green
Wheat Beer 4.8%
Humulus Lupulus
Pale Ale 3.8%

EAST LONDON BREWING CO.

(Clapton 2011)
Foundation (dry-hopped with Pacific Jade– exclusive to festival)
Amber/ Best Bitter 4.2%
Quadrant
Oatmeal Stout 5.8%
Jamboree
Golden Ale 4.8%
Orchid (new!)
Vanilla Dark Mild 3.6%

BY THE HORNS

Wandsworth (2011)
Double Diamond Geezer
Red Ale 5.5%
Lambeth Walk
Porter 5.1%

LONDON BREWING CO.

(Highgate 2011)
Highrise
Pale 3.9%
Blood orange IPA
IPA
Ginger Ale
Ginger Ale

LONDON FIELDS

London Fields (2011)
Weiss Monkeys
Wheat beer/IPA 5.5%
Shoreditch Triangle
APA 6%
Black Path Porter
Porter 4.2%
Hackney Hopster
Pale ale 4.2%

MONCADA

Notting Hill (2011)
Notting Hill Ruby Rye
Ruby Ale 5.2%
Notting Hill Bitter
English Bitter 3.8%
Notting Hill Amber
Amber Ale 4.7%

A HEAD IN A HAT

Herne Hill (2010)
Tommy
IPA 4.2%
Trilby
XX Mild 4.0%
G ‘n’ T
Golden Ale (made with botanicals from City of London distillery) 4.3%
Camembeer
Full-bodied Golden Ale made for cheese – exclusive to the festival 4.4%

WINDSOR & ETON

Windsor (2010)
Park Life
Bitter 3.2%
Kohimoor
Classic IPA 5.5%
Conqeuror
Black IPA 5%
Guardsman
Best Bitter 4.2%

REDEMPTION

Tottenham (2010)
Trinity
Light Ale 3.0%
Hotspur
Amber Ale 4.5%
Big Chief
IPA 5.5%
Pale Ale
Pale Ale 3.8%
Urban Dusk
Dark Ale 4.6%

HA’PENNY

Ilford (2008)
London Stone
Amber Ale 4.5%
London Particular
Ruby Beer 4%

SAMBROOK’S

Battersea (2008)
Wandle
Best Bitter 3.8%
Powerhouse Porter
Porter 4.9%

BREW WHARF

Borough (2005)
Cranberry Common
Steam Beer 4.3%
Imperial Jack (collaboration with 21st Amendment Brewery, San Fran)
Imperial Bitter 7.2%

TWICKENHAM FINE ALES

Twickenham (2004)
Pale Beauty
Wheat 4.7%
Hornet
Pale Ale 4.4%
Naked Ladies
Golden Ale 4.4%

FULLERS

Chiswick (1845)
Golden Pride
Strong Golden Ale 8.5%
London Porter
Porter 5.4%
Summer Ale
Blonde 3.9%
Wild River
APA 4.5%
ESB
Extra Special Bitter 5.5%

Wetherspoon Spring 2013 Beer Festival

Wetherspoon do a lot to further the availability of real ale in the UK and the biggest push comes twice a year during their fortnight-long real ale festivals. The Spring 2013 list has just been released and seems to feature even more international collaborations than ever, including one with the illustrious Kelly Ryan of Good George (formerly Thornbridge and Epic).

It runs from 3rd to 21st April.

By my reckoning there are 34 new beers, which is a major improvement on previous beer festivals, though there a lot of similar breweries again. There a umber of interesting styles including the obligatory spiced beer, but there is also a California common beer and two black IPAs as well as a Belgian dubbel brewed by a Trappist monastery's head brewer.

I'll be looking out for the Corfu coffee porter, the Deschutes beer, Wadworth's strong anniversary ale and the IPA from Acorn.

Read on below for more info on the beers and Ratebeer links. As always I'll post some thoughts on whatever beers I get to try once the thing's over.

Arundel Budding Beauty
Inveralmond Frisco Steamy
Shepherd Neame New World Pale Ale
Titanic Molly Brown
WharfeBank Spring Hop
Otter Seville Bitter
Cairngorm Pollination
Marstons Single Hop Pacific Gem (cask)
Conwy Riptide
Leeds Vienna Mild
Lancaster 1842 Pilsner
Corfu Ionian Coffee Porter (cask)
Lodewijk’s Fly By Night (Cask)
Banks’s Cereal Thriller
Hawkshead American Red
Skinners Sennen
RCH Wheat Beer
Pivovar Kocovnik Vivat Bohemia (Cask)
Robinsons Hoptimus
Elgoods Spring Gold
Central City Red racer IPA (cask)
Nethergate Bowler
Hydes Burnt Sienna
Wadworth 6X Anniversary Ale
Everards Malty Tasker
Vasileostrovsky Siberian Red
Devils Backbone American Amber

Deschutes Twilight Ale (cask)
Celt Experience Continental Drift
Acorn Barnsley IPA
Orkney 1878
Daleside Spring Tide
Good George Pacific Pearl
Hilden Number Four   Rudgate Pursuit of Hoppyness Caledonian Brewer's Passion Phoenix St George's Flag O'Hanlons Red Brains Willy Nilly Holts IPA Belhaven Black Lymestone Pounamu Wickwar Station Porter Adnams Belgian Style Abbey Ale Batemans Mocha Moorhouses Amber Rambler Mauldons Blackberry Porter Wolf Tasmanian Wolf Thwaites Daniels Hammer Wood's Twist Grip

A Hilden Narrative

I spent a good chunk of yesterday at Hilden Brewery Beer festival. After spending all of last year working at the festival it brought a different perspective to be on the other side of the bar. I went along with some CAMRA friends and Reuben (Tale of the Ale).

Feeling more than a little delicate after the previous night's tasting I needed to line my stomache with some decent grub. Thankfully the grill was fired up and i got me a tasty ale-marinaded pork belly with pesto. Also available were Lamb burger with goats cheese, steak chilli con carne and various other tasty morsels. It was a good plan to grab food quickly as the queue grew to over an hour in length later in the day!

My first choice of beer wasn't available; so went for the Hilden twisted hop. This is as good as other people have said it is, with a good dose of bitterness in the finish, reminding me somewhat of Fuller's Wild River.

Moving south of the border Metalman Pale ale on cask was tasty. I later tired Chameleon Ginger, another decent pint but my taste buds had been pummeled by the spicy Barney's Brew just before. The festival then got packed out with everyone turning up just before 4 to take advantage of free entry (£12 after that!)

A highlight beer wise for me was Ossett Hopmonster. With fresh Nelson Sauvin hops involved the beer was in American-hopping territory with lots of juicy oranges on the nose and mango rind in the flavour. Another  Ossett-brewed beer, this time from the Rat brewers was a close second. Dirty Rat (a 3.5% mild and a new addition to the beer list) pours thick black-brown with good tan head. Plenty of flavour packed into this one, touch of roast barley, coffee, chocolate, full mouth feel, it wiped the floor with the Whitewater Belfast Black on cask, which just tasted of water in comparison.

I also managed to meet up with a number of friends from last year and some Ratebeerians/ Twitter types who I'd arranged to swap beer with. Thanks to everyone who brought me beer and to The Beer Nut for my new Beoir T-shirt as well. Adam from Leggygowan cheeses was also giving out samples alongside his goat's milk fudge, all excellent. They're certainly ones to watch and will feature on my blog in due course. I also met Mark from Clanconnel, and Grainne and Tim from Metalman were back up for the day too (doing a stint on the bar to help alleviate the queue!)

The day passed swiftly and in no time at all the train beckoned and we headed back to Belfast for a night-cap in the Bridge Bar, where I bumped into Tale of Ale again (who had gone to Belfast for dinner at the excellent Molly's Yard restaurant)

Now I'm set to be staying in Northern Ireland for the foreseeable future it looks as if I'll be attending a good few of these yet. The weather held-off and we enjoyed a baking day with some decent beer, great grub and a spot of music. Recommended.

Despite having my camera with me, I completely failed to take any pictures getting caught up in conversations with old friends and new on all manner of topics. Sometimes its best to leave your blogger's hat at the door and just enjoy yourself.

NWAF Beer List

Camra's National Winter Ales Festival (on Twitter here) opens in 2 weeks; so thought I'd post the beer list as it stands. There are 256 from 113 breweries cask beers on offer (barring any changes or counting failures) as well as a good selection of continental draught and bottles from all over the world. There's cider too if you like that kind of thing. I've got a few ideas of what to go for (and avoid!); I'm heading along on Friday, maybe see some of you there! 

1648
Ginger No1
Triple Champion

Acorn
Barnsley Gold
Gorlovka
Old Moor Porter
Winter Pale Ale
Yorkshire Pride

Allgates
Mad Monk
NZ Cascade
Palo Santo Porter 
Pretoria

Sloe Stout


Amber
Chocolate Orange Stout
Imperial IPA
Winter Ruby

Angel
Angel Ale
Banefyre

Ascot Ales
Anastasia’s Imperial Stout
On the rails

Bank Top
Leprechaun Stout
Port O Call

Batemans
Salem Porter

Beartown
Ginger Beer
Polar Eclipse

Beowulf
Dark Raven

Big Bog
Quagmire
Swampy

Black Hole
Asteroid Ale
Black Hole bitter

Black Sheep
Riggwelter
Ruddy Ram

Blythe
Johnson’s Porter

Boggart Hole Clough
Cascade
Rum Porter

Bollington
Best
Long Hop
Night Porter
Oat Mill Stout
Winter Reserve

Bootleg
Black Widow
Mistletoe

Bradfield
Farmers Belgian Blue
Farmers Blonde

Brecon Brewing
Genesis 1:ii

Gold Beacons
Prophet Porter

Bridgehouse
Heathcliff Stout
Stokers Bitter

Brunswick
Black Sabbath
Father Mike’s Dark Ruby

Burscough
Black Canon Stout
Ringtail Bitter

Bushy’s
Manx Bitter
Ruby 1874 Mild

Cairngorm
Black Gold

Cambridge Moonshine
Black Hole Stout

Chalk Hill
Flintknapper’s Mild

Clearwater
Real Smiler
Winters Ale

Coniston
No 9 Barley Wine
Special Oatmeal Stout

Conwy
Telford Porter
Cross Bay

Cross-Bay
Dusk

Nightfall
Sunset
Winter Moon

Dent
Porter
T’owd Tup

Derwent
Auld Kendal

Dow Bridge
Decimus
Praetorian Porter

Driftwood
Alfie’s Revenge
Lou’s Brew

Dunham Massey
Dunham Porter

Elland
1872 Porter

Frodsham
Sledgin’
Wintafest

Fullers
Black Cab Stout
Chiswick Bitter
ESB
Gales HSB
Gales Seafarers
Golden Pride
Jack Frost
London Porter
London Pride

Fuzzy Duck
Cunning Stunt
Mucky Duck

Goachers
Old 1066 Ale

Great Gable
Yewbarrow

Hammerpot
Bottle Wreck Porter

Happy Valley
Black Magic
Little Rascal

Harbour
Winter

Hawkshead

Brodie’s Prime
NZPA
Stout
Dry Stone


Heart of Wales
High as a Kite
Inn-stable
Welsh Black

Hesket Newmarket
Old Carrock Strong Ale

Highgate
Davenports Saddlers Ale
Highgate Old Ale

Holt
Bitter
IPA
Maple Moon

Hopback
Entire Stout
Odyssey

Hornbeam
January Special?
Top Hop

Howard Town
Dark Peak
Robin’s Nest
Wren’s Nest

Hydes
Dark Mild
Manchester’s Finest
Winter Fuggle
XXXX

Ilkley
Mary Jane
Stout Mary

Imperial
Bees Knees
Blonde

Inveralmond
Duncans IPA
Thrappledouser

Irwell Works
3 Bad Shepherds
Copper Plate
Tin Plate

Isle of Skye
Black Cuillin
Cuillin Beast

Jennings
Sneck Lifter

Kelham Island
Kelham Best
Easy Rider

Pale Rider
Riders on the Storm

Kinver
Over the Edge

Kirkby Lonsdale
Jubilee Stout

Lancaster
Amber
Black
Blonde
Red

Lees
Bitter
Brewers Dark
Moonraker
The Govenor

Leyden
Crowning Glory

Liverpool Organic
Best Bitter
Empire Ale
Imperial IPA
Imperial Russian Stout
Kitty Wilkinson Chocolate & Vanilla Stout

Lymestone
Foundation Stone
Stone the Crows
Stoney Broke

Lytham
Gold
IPA

Magic Rock
High Wire
Rapture

Marble
Chocolate Marble
Ginger
Manchester
Pint
Stouter Stout

Mighty Oak
Oscar Wilde – CBoB 2011
Plum Pudding
Yellow Snow

Milestone
Dark Galleon
Dark Knight

Milk Street
Gulp
Zig Zag Stout

Moor
Old Freddy Walker

Moorhouses
Black cat
Blond Witch
Pendle Witches Brew
Premier Bitter
Pride of Pendle

Nant
Mwnci Nell

Nethergate
Old Growler

Northern
Deep Dark Secret

Oakham
Attila
Inferno

Offbeat
Out of Step IPA
Way Out Wheat

Okells
Aile
Alt
Saison

Outstanding
Matron’s Delight
Pushing Out

Palmers
Dorset Gold
Tally Ho!

Peerless
Dark Cascade
Full Whack
Jack Frost Blonde
Red Rocks

Pictish
Alchemists Ale
Porter

Redwillow
Heartless
Smokeless
Wreckless

Robinsons
Chocolate Tom
Long Kiss Goodnight
Old Tom

Rossendale
Glen top
Sunshine

Saddleworth
Shaftbender

Saltaire
Blonde
Cascadian Black IPA

Scottish Borders
Foxy Blonde
Game Bird

Shaws
Quantum Stout
Stella IPA

Springhead
Roaring Meg
The Leveller

Strands
Barley Wine

Sulwath
Black Galloway

Solway Mist

Tatton
Yeti

Theakston
Lightfoot

Old Peculier
XB

Thornbridge
Black Harry
Saint Petersburg
Sequoia
Halcyon

Thwaites
Old Dan
Tavern Porter
Wainwright

Titanic
Full Steam Ahead
Stout

Tunnel
Northern Lights
Rodger The Reindeer

Ulverston
Fra Diavolo

Wapping
Smoked Porter
Winter Ale

Wells & Youngs
Courage Directors
Wells Bombardier
Young’s Bitter
Young’s Gold
Young’s Special
Youngs Winter Warmer

Wentworth
Auzzie Blonde
Bumble Beer

Wessex
Russian Stoat
Warminster Warrior

Wharfebank
Tether Blond
WISPA

Wickwar
BOB
Station Porter


William Worthington’s
Red Shield
White Shield
Winter Shield


Windsor & Eton
Conquerer Black IPA
Windsor Knot

Wolf
Straw Dog
Woild Moild

York
Centurions Ghost
Dark Knight Porter

(NB I am not involved with the organisation of the beer festival)

Wetherspoon Festival roundup

Yesterday marked the end of the second of 2011's JD Wetherspoon beer festivals. I've just got back from a great weekend visiting the Northern Ireland Wetherspoon pubs and got a lot more beers tried. Before the festival I was sceptical about the beer line up, so how did my experiences pan out?

The Good

By far the stand-out beer for me was Adnams American Style IPA (good brewer vlog here). It pissed all over Stone's effort (which I was disappointed about) and I enjoyed it so much I managed to fit in three pints of it over the weekend. For such an unassuming amber beer it is packed full of hop flavour, with character from each of the five hop types used, perfectly balanced. I only hope Adnams make it a regular brew, hop availability permitting!

St Austell Proper Black was even better in cask-conditioned format than the afore-tasted bottle.

Bend Eclipse Cascadian Dark Ale was the best of the American efforts. Plenty of cascade hops on the nose with a balance of sweet lemon and bitter chocolate and great condition made it very moreish.

The bad

Caledonian brewery and Doug Odell got together to produce cask 90 shilling. The beer was basically pure butterscotch and not at all pleasant to drink. Conversely, some people really enjoyed this.

Taking the pith had far too much peel added making it seem like drinking washing up liquid, I'd like to see future versions with much less.

The ugly

The first third of Everards Whakatu I tried was undrinkable, horrible beer a real butterbomb. I put this down to brewery error and it was the first beer in about three years I've been unable to finish.I gave it another try back in Belfast and itwas much better, perhaps a little thin but a decent NZ-hopped session beer. It goes to show that for all the decent cellar managers Wetherspoon ha, there are still those who don't know how to look afterbeer properly

My biggest disappointment? Caledonian Cossack Imperial Russian Stout. Neither fullbodied nor complex as the tasting notes suggested. Very little hop character andtasting more like a low ABV stout than something of 6%, verydisappointing indeed.

In all theturn-outwas mediocre at best thistime around, with a couple of hidden gems that I'd drink again. I got through 30 of the 50 beers, not bad going for living in the arse end of nowhere! If you're interested in what I thought of the other beers than check the ratebeer thingummy over there --->

As  always, I'm nosy and want to  hear your thoughts on the festival selection or your reasons for avoiding if that was the case.

There are a few other festival write-ups already online. The beer monkey did a Glasgow perambulation whilst Tandelman got a chance to try a lot of beers in one night and agrees with me Re Adnams.

(I'll update this post with other links if I find any more!)

Rubies and Pearls

Most people will be aware by now that CAMRA reached the venerable age of forty this year, though its a much smaller group who are privy to another anniversary, namely CAMRA Northern Ireland's 30th. Thirty years ago to the day (17th October 1981) English ex-pats Cherry and Adrian Saunders were attending Hilden brewery's first brew-day and decided that Northern Ireland needed a branch to campaign for ale availability of what was (and still is to a large extent) a Diageo dominated pub landscape.

Since then five other breweries have opened their doors (the most recent being Ards brewing co earlier this month) and the branch membership has reached 270 members. This is still small fry compared with some of the branches on "the mainland" but we see a bigger proportion of our members at events, Saturday's anniversary bash showing interest in real ale in Northern Ireland is alive and well with almost 20% turn-out and some new faces. Many beers were supped by all (myself included, look out for my Wetherspoon beer festival round-up after next weekend's beerstravaganza) and an ample buffet provided.

Another event that sees a lot of our members congregating in one spot falls one month from today: Belfast Beer Festival 2011 will be gracing the inside of the Ulster Hall yet again and the beer and cider lists are now live on the website. Obviously the usual disclaimers apply that beers are subject to delivery but it looks like we have a good selection this year with a good showing from both local brewers and cider producers. I've reproduced the list below with links to tasting notes from the brewer's websites where possible, or ratebeer if not. Hopefully some of you can make it across, for Northern types Easyjet has just started a flight from Manchester and tickets are pretty cheap at the time of writing.

NI BEERS

Ards Brewing	Ballyblack	4.8%
College Green	Headless Dog	4.2%
Clanconnel	McGrath’s Irish Black	4.3%
Clanconnel	Weaver’s Gold Blonde Ale	4.5%
Hilden	Hilden Ale	3.7%
Hilden	Scullion’s Irish	4.6%
Hilden	Barney’s Brew	5.0%
Whitewater	Belfast Ale	4.5%
Whitewater	Belfast Black	4.2%
Whitewater	Clotworthy Dobbin	5.0%
Whitewater	Copperhead	3.7%

Other beers

ACORN	Gorlovka Stout	6.0%
ALLGATES	Twitter & Busted	4.0%
ARUNDEL	Autumn Old Ale	4.6%
ARUNDEL	Black Stallion	3.7%
ATLAS	Latitude	3.6%
B&T	Black Dragon Mild	4.3%
B&T	Two Brewers Bitter	3.6%
BANK TOP	Bank Top Dark Mild	4.0%
BANK TOP	Gold Digger	4.0%
BATEMANS	XXXB	4.5%
BEARTOWN	Bear Ass	4.0%
BLUE MONKEY	99 Red Baboons	4.2%
BLUE MONKEY	BG Sips	4.0%
BOWMAN	Elderado	3.5%
BOX STEAM	Dark & Handsome Stout	5.0%
BRADFIELD	Farmers Blonde	4.0%
BRECON BREWING	Broomstick	4.7%
BRECON BREWING	Pale beacons	3.9%
BURTON BRIDGE	Thomas Sykes	10.0%
BUSHY'S	Old Bushy Tail	4.5%
CAIRNGORM	Cairngorm Gold	4.5%
COACH HOUSE	Blunderbus Old Porter	5.5%
COACH HOUSE	Innkeepers Special Reserve	4.5%
CONWY	Autumn Red	4.5%
CONWY	Welsh Pride	4.0%
CORVEDALE	Dark & Delicious	4.6%
CORVEDALE	Norman’s Pride	4.3%
DARK STAR	American Pale Ale	4.7%
DARK STAR	Hophead	3.8%
DERVENTIO	Cleopatra	5.0%
ELLAND	1872 Porter	6.5%
FUZZY DUCK	Tangerine Duck	4.4%
GREAT ORME	Celtica	4.5%
GREEN JACK	Orange Wheat Beer	4.2%
GREEN JACK	Ripper Tripel	8.5%
HADRIAN & BORDER	Ginger Beer	4.0%
HAMBLETON	Stallion	4.2%
HAWKSHEAD	Hawkshead Red	4.2%
HOPBACK	Entire Stout	4.5%
HORNBEAM	Lemon Blossom	3.7%
HOUSTON	Killellan	3.7%
HOUSTON	Peter’s Well	4.2%
HUMPTY DUMPTY	Little Sharpie	3.8%
ILKLEY	Ilkley Black	3.7%
KIRKBY LONSDALE	Jubilee Stout	5.5%
LEEDS	Midnight Bell	4.8%
LITTLE VALLEY	Hebden’s Wheat [Cloudy]	4.5%
MAULDONS	Black Adder	5.3%
MAULDONS	Micawbers Mild	3.5%
MILE STONE	IPA	4.8%
MORDUE	Newcastle Coffee Porter	5.1%
NAYLORS	Pinnacle Porter	4.8%
NETHERGATE	Umbel Ale	3.8%
NORTHUMBERLAND	Bucking Fastard	4.0%
OAKLEAF	Hole Hearted	4.7%
O’HANLON	Firefly	3.7%
O’HANLON	O’Hanlons Port Stout	4.2%
OLD MILL	Yorkshire Porter	4.4%
ORKNEY	Skullsplitter	8.5%
OSSETT	Silver King	4.3%
OTLEY	Oxymoron	5.5%
OTLEY	O8	8.0%
OUTSTANDING	Standing Out	5.5%
PEERLESS	Dark Arts	4.1%
PHOENIX	Arizona	4.1%
PURPLE MOOSE	Madog’s Ale	3.7%
RCH RUDGATE	Pitchfork Rudgate Ruby Mild	4.3% 4.4%
SALOPIAN	Golden Thread	5.0%
SALTAIRE SKINNERS	Raspberry Blonde Ginger Tosser	4.0% 3.8%
SKINNERS	Keel Over	4.2%
SUMMER WINE	Barista Espresso Stout	4.8%
SUMMER WINE	Diablo IPA	6.6%
THREE B’S	Bee Blonde	4.0%
THREE B'S TITANIC	Tackler's Tipple Captain Smiths	4.3% 5.2%
TITANIC	Iceberg	4.1%
TRYST	Carronade IPA	4.2%
VILLAGE	Old Raby Ale	4.8%
WELLS & YOUNGS	Young’s Bitter	3.7%
WELLS & YOUNGS	Bombardier	4.1%
WILLIAMS	Ceilidh Lage	4.7%
WILLIAMS	Fraoch Heather Ale	4.1%
WILLIAMS	Midnight Sun Porter	5.6%
WOLF	Golden Jackal	3.7%
WOLF	Norfolk Lavender Honey	3.7%
YORK	Centurion’s Ghost	5.4%

We also have a much improved cider line-up planned for this year, so much so that it will be on its own separate stillage away from the main bar.

Biddenden Cider	Bushells cider	6.0%
Biddenden Cider	Biddendens Kentish Medium Cider	8.0%
Mr Whitehead’s	Equinox	4.5%
Mr Whitehead’s	Midnight Special Perry	5.0%
Moles	Black Rat Cider	6.0%
Thatchers Cider	Heritage Cider	4.9%
Thatchers Cider	Cheddar Valley Cider	6.0%
Gwynt y Ddraig	Two Trees Perry	4.5%
Gwynt y Ddraig	Haymaker	6.5%
Toby’s	Dry cider	6.0%
DJ’s	Medium cider	6.0%
Broadoak	Perry	4.5%
Westons Cider	Bounds Brand Scrumpy	4.8%
Westons Cider	Herefordshire Country Perry	4.5%
Westons Cider	Traditional Scrumpy	6.0%
Westons Cider	Old Rosie Scrumpy	7.3%
Westons Cider	Marcle Hill	5.0%
Westons Cider	Organic Vintage Cider	7.3%