Popping down to Cork

Last weekend saw the annual winter cask beer festival hosted by Franciscan Well in Cork. I travelled down to judge the beers for the inaugural Beoir Cask award with some fellow Beoirites. More on that later. Cork is a fairly compact bi-rivered city, a lough away from the South Coast of Ireland. Until recently it could justifiably lay claim to being the beer capital of Ireland, with four brew-pubs alongside a larger Heineken establishment - but Dublin is now catching up. There are plenty of places to get your beer-on however, with numerous bars and offlicences for whistle-wetting activities. (John did a great write-up for the Beoir mag recently). On my last visit I didn't make it much beyond the festival environs; so decided to remedy that this time. 

My first stop was Market Lane, a reasonably priced gastro-pub come restaurant just a stones throw from the bus station. I tucked in to a belly-pork brioche with home-made fries and Aioli and plumped for the sample tray of four of their beers (€10, brewed next-door by Elbow Lane). All of their beers were competent, free from defects though all a bit under-egged, the lager the surprising pick of the bunch. 

 From there a short stroll took me to Rising Sons brewpub. This had only just opened this time last year; and brewer Shane kindly showed us around. On a Friday lunchtime it was rather quiet; so I had a chance to chat to barman Dave about how things were going (very-well) and a recommendation for somewhere to eat. With a number of seasonal beers available on tap I got my ticking-cap on; and was particularly pleased to find the son of their Belgian Ale (D'vil A Bit) on draught as Little D'Vil. Still quite pokey at 6.2% (v the originals 7.1%) with characteristic Chouffe floral yeast esters and a clean but hearty body to allow them to shine. 

 A quick nip round the corner to the well-stocked Bradley's off-licence before checking in to my hostel, the handily located Kinlay House, roughly midway betwixt two revered beer destinations, the Bierhaus and Abbot's Ale House. I'd gone for the saver value option of a shared dorm, but after gassing with the friendly staff about why I was in Cork was unexpectedly bumped up to ensuite FoC (much appreciated, thank-you) meaning I got a much better night's sleep than I'd anticipated. 

 After an afternoon trip to the festival, I visited the Friary, a short distance from the Well with a small but well-chosen selection of beer on draught and in bottle. I had a half of something (which I can't recall) and had a chat to the barkeep about the DJ set he had-on the next night. A quick visit to the Bierhaus and I was ready for bed. The Bierhaus has perhaps the widest selection on draught in Cork, well supplemented my a range of bottles (perhaps on the pricey side) and a very-well kept of cask (Trouble Brewing's Deception, dry hopped with mosaic on my visit) with a generous discount for Beoir members which I of course I availed of - well it would be rude not to! 

 Lunch on Saturday was perhaps the highlight of my trip. Rocking up at 11:30 I was a little early for food; so ravenous I dove across the road to the recently opened Harley's Coffee House for a salmon bagel and tasty espresso. Temporarily sated I was back across the street to Dave's recommendation from the previous day - White Rabbit BBQ. A long bar with seating to both sides; I chose to sit on a stool and get acquainted with the beer range and co-owner Steve. Coming up to their one year anniversary (they opened St Patrick's Day 2015) the business is doing a steady trade, growing by word-of-mouth without need for advertising. Steve has worked in hospitality for a number of years but wanted his own place. The location was scouted in advance, but not available right away, it finally became free just before Steve's wedding and luckily was still available on his return from honeymoon and everything flowed from there.
They offer a fairly simple menu with a selection of meats to have in a bap or on a tray with two sides. All priced at a recession-beating €7 for baps and €10 for the trays. I had ribs with coleslaw and BBQ beans - the meat just falling off the bones, a crunchy and zingy 'slaw and hearty, juicy beans all washed down with a selection of beers from Rising Sons, with Mi Dzza being particularly suitable plus a few guests.
Steve also stocks a good range of American whisky's with some decent ryes available too; so I finished up with a pickleback of rittenhouse 100 and a shot of their house made pickling liquor. As I was departing Steve brought me a bottle of their house BBQ sauce - made with the aforementioned Mi Dazza - definitely recommended. So impressed was I that a return visit for dinner was necessary and the pork-belly bap with tangy gherkins, spicey sauce and creamy slaw really ended the day nicely - make sure you pay Steve and team a visit if you're in the vicinity.

Pre-festival on Saturday I also called in to Abbots and managed to snaffle a number of Irish beers I hadn't yet come across whilst coveting an excellent range of Belgian and other world beers (with De Struise a particular strength). I would return later to visit the upstairs bar, buzzing and banging with beers aplenty - my kind of joint. My weekend finishing with a delicious Wired oatmeal pale ale from Trouble - they're really nailing the pale n'hoppy at the moment. I unfortunately didn't make it to Cork's fourth brewpub, Cottonball, but will try to remedy that on my next visit.

So what of the festival itself? As with last year it was sedate during the afternoon, growing busier later on. A range of 30-odd beers were seen over the weekend, with 28 available for the judging. Aside from a few ill-conceived ideas the majority of brews were solid, with some excellent contenders. Unfortunately (as is sometimes the case at these events) a number of beers were (to borrow a phrase from Tandleman) flat as a witch's tit, either through over-venting or under-priming. Also, by the saturday some of the beers were getting a little tired, having been tapped for three days and many casks near empty.
These criticisms aside we pushed through with the judging and four category winners emerged victorious:

Best Lager - Yellow Belly Rosehip Schwartz

Best "Pale" - West Cork Roaring Ruby

Best Stout - Blacks Worlds End

Best Speciality - Otterbank Pine Needle Berlinner Weisse (since named "The Vikings are Coming")

These went through to best in show, with Roaring Ruby emerging victorious with World's End a close second and the berlinner rounding the rankings out in third place. Well done to all involved! Personally I'm not a fan of Irish Red Ales but this one was a particularly good example of the style and fully deserved its award. The Worlds end was far too sweet for my palate - perhaps a product of lack of carbonation but the berlinner was fantastic, perhaps one of the best I've had of the style.

It was a great weekend, Cork has a lot to offer; but always good to combine with a beer festival. The next event is the Easter Fest, which should be on 25th-26th March, take a dander down there!

Red Brick Beer Fest

Factoberfest, Bristol Beer Factory's answer to that infamous Munich event. I enjoyed the event back in September 2011, so was high time I paid the Tobacco Factory a visit again. 

After a fantastic feed in the Souk Kitchen opposite, we popped across to the venue for some beers.

Lots of lovely cask beer!

It's grown in size somewhat in the last two years with 45 cask beers, 13 kegs and 5 ciders appearing over the weekend. The place was packed due to the pissing rain outside, but it wasn't long before Daisy, my dad, his friend George and myself were safely ensconced in a sofa.

Keg this year too! As modelled by brewer Jonny.

 The range of beers was fantastic and it was great to see all of the Bristol breweries represented for the opening night.Wiper and True's Amber in the Pines (back beer below) was highlight of mine Full bodied pine, citrus zest, mango berries a melange of flavours, really impressed. Fairly high residual sweetness balances hefty hopping with a long hop finish. I also really enjoyed St Austel Big Job and Bristol Beer Factory's own Cafe Latte. Saying that all beers on the evening were in superb condition, except the Fyne Ales Rune which I suspect wasn't as it should be.

Beer in all the major colours!

It was great to chat with brewer Jonny Mills and manager Simon plus bumping into Luke from the Bag O'Nails is always a pleasure, even if we only had 5 minutes to chat before I had to run to the bus.

The only downside for me was that I had to leave parts of beers un-drunk as thirds weren't an available measure. This could have been worse though as beers were a very reasonable £1.50 a half or 7 for a tenner and they did get passed around four people!

Yours truley enjoying a half of something tasty.

I'll be back to Bristol next weekend for Bristol beer week (see my t-shirt!), where I hope to try more tasty Wiper and True beers alongside others from Bristol and environs. Give me a shout if you're coming and we can meet up for a beer or three!

South Coast's Finest

An old haunt of mine that I always have to return to when in Southampton, this beer Mecca is still a relatively well kept secret, but more people deserve to know about it! Tucked up a nondescript residential street is Bitter Virtue, my vote for best beer shop in the country. You'll have to make the trip there yourself as (somewhat unusually in this day and age) they don't offer a mail order service.

Walking into the shop you're greeted by either Ann or Chris behind the counter and a whole array of beers spread around and about. To your left is a display cabinet full of glassware and a shelf of ciders. The fridge to your right holds those beers that work well chilled and a smaller tall shelf contains a plethora of exciting strong beers from around the UK.

The next grouping of shelves stocks a range of UK brewers, from local favourites to some of the exciting up and coming UK brewers from further afield. Then there's a German beer section, followed by perhaps the piece de resistance, an extensive Belgian range including a good proportion of Belgian's sour beers. Chris and Ann frequently make the trip across the Channel to restock and often source some interesting gems. Chris is a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and can read Flemish; so consult him if you get stuck! At Christmas time the special beers fly out in no time.

Perhaps one of my favourite features of the shop is cask beer on gravity available to take away in a 4pint container. Priced very fairly and with a try before you buy policy its well worth partaking. I used to buy beer here then go to a BYOB gig venue around the corner and sup out of my tankard...those were the days!

Eyes left now and you're met by a goodly selection of US beers. There's also a table of the more recent and exotic additions to the range, including Italian craft breweries and the now ubiquitous Mikkeller's offerings.

The shop is well worth a special trip to Southampton, though with a selection of decent boozers nearby, why not make a day of it?

What beer shop does everybody else rate? I'd like to see your posts on it, support the independent retailers!

BSF Beer List

CAMRA Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) 2011 is almost upon us, with the first staff being on site at Earl’s Court in less than a fortnight.  I will be there from Saturday 30^th July until Saturday 6th August to work on Bières Sans Frontières (BSF). Yesterday the beer list was released (handily pasted here by Craig) and my, what a beer list it is too. Bigger and better than ever this year with four separate bars (one bar per stillage) there will certainly be plenty to try. In total there will be beers from fifteen different countries for sampling (in addition to the four that make up the UK of course!)

  

American cask beer at GBBF 2004 (from BSF photo gallery)

I’m hoping to work on USA cask beers and decided to take a look at how many beers to potentially expect.  There are 189 beers (cask and bottle) from 89 USA breweries. This is by all means a small proportion of the total but certainly more than in previous years of GBBF. Of these 80 have a cask offering and 9 are only available in bottles. They range in size from big players like Sierra Nevada right down to micros such as Franklin's Restaurant, Brewery & General Store.

Some stats for tickers: 21 states are represented with the top five origin states being Oregon (11), Maryland (10,) California (9), Colorado (8) and Massachusetts (7). 5 breweries from Portland, OR; 4 from Baltimore, MD and 3 from Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s possible to drink beers from breweries whose names begin with 19 different letters of the alphabet.

I’m not sure the exact number of new breweries represented this year, though I’m sure this information will be available in the BSF programme during the festival. There’s a handy list builder on the CAMRA website which can aid you in designing your own drinking plan. There is also a rating and comments system which may give you some indication of what beers will be the most popular. Bear in mind that there may be last minute substitutions or that a beer may sell out before you get a chance to try it; so don’t go getting disappointed if the one beer you visited the festival to try just isn’t available. Deal with it, there’s plenty more to choose from!

I’m not going to go with any plan in mind for which American beers I want to try, I’m hoping to taste as many as possible. There’s plenty of my favourite styles (IPA and porter) and some intriguing other beers (barrel aged, added chillies, rye) to keep me satisfied during the festival. And for post festival I have a shopping list of bottles which I’ll have to narrow down into what can fit in my suitcase. Notice I’m naming no names for a better chance of the beers I want to try being available!

See you all there soon!

A confession

I have a confession: I love JD Wetherspoon. Not that any of their pubs would be in my top ten, but who ranks pubs in order of preference anyway? 

Wetherspoon as a pub chain will always have its detractors – in part due to its success at a time when still 25 pubs a week are closing their doors for ever. In 2009 they announced they’d open 250 new pubs and create 10000 new jobs. This year they went even further with chairman and founder Tim Martin announcing his intention to double the size of the company in the coming years.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Wetherspoon pubs. As a student in an unfamiliar town I knew I would at least be able to get a pint of decent ale from them. Moving to Northern Ireland 18 months ago would have been a lot harder had it not been for the fact that Wetherspoon pubs are dotted around the province. Without them the only place I could get a pint of cask beer would be Belfast. The food menu is varied and consistent from one place to the next, which is handy for a vegetarian as I know there are dishes I can eat. But it goes beyond that. Wetherspoon more than any other pub chain I can think of make the effort to be appealing to the full range of possible pub customers. From the early morning coffee gulpers to the lunchtime pinters to the full-on session fanatic. Its somewhere I could comfortably take both grandparents and grandchildren* and know they would be welcomed.

Aside from the community pub aspect Wetherspoon does a lot to promote good beer. They hold twice annual festivals with 50 beers from up and down the country.  When the festivals aren’t on they make an effort to support local breweries and at all times they allow people to try before they buy. They also pioneered the use of third pint glasses for sampling during beer festivals which is a great way to discover new favourite brews. Recently they’ve also been making an effort to reach beyond the borders of the UK with brewers being flown in from far flung corners to brew for their festivals.

People might bemoan the fact that as a larger company they can demand prices close to the cost of production for breweries, but they are able to take beer close to spoilage that other pubs wouldn’t touch with a bargepole because they know they can shift it. Their nationwide presence means that any beer that gets onto the seasonal list can be sure of plenty of promotion up and down the country. Being able to buy the beer for less means that they can sell it for less and if people see that they can get a pint for cheaper they’re more likely to give it a go. There’s still a huge proportion of the UK that have not even tried real ale, but if even one percent of these can be persuaded to try real ale and one percent of those (that’s 0.01% fact fans!) go on to further explore beyond the confines of mass-marketed lager brands then that surely can only be a good thing.

Other people do not like the atmosphere, describing them as “soul-less drinking barns” this may be the case with some but I’ve also found some very warm and welcoming pubs within the chain too. They also make an effort to preserve historical exteriors and convert buildings to pub use (see photo), something that should be applauded with pubs being demolished left right and centre. The lack of background music (which yes, is probably a cost saving on broadcast license) means that you can have a good conversation with your neighbour without having to shout.  There are generally plenty of tables too, how many town centre pubs/bars can boast that these days where vertical drinking has become the norm.

The Old Court House, Coleraine, a conversion to pub use.

Yes, Wetherspoon are not perfect. They are frequently understaffed but I find those staff that do work there to be well trained, professional and polite. There’s always room for improvement. I’ve had some dire pints in Wetherspoon pubs but no more so than in any other pub up and down the country. I’ve equally had some of my best drinking experiences in a Wetherspoon pub. Every year the Belfast Bridge Bar organizes a two-day coach trip around the Northern Ireland establishments to sample beers during the beer festival. This is free for participants and includes breakfast each morning too. I fully intend to go along this year too (stay tuned for the blog in November).

People are fully entitled to their opinion about Wetherspoon. CAMRA members who receive discount vouchers don’t have to use them. I don’t want to hear about your self-righteous non-use of them at the AGM or any other event.  It’s your right to choose not to frequent Wetherspoon pubs but equally it’s our right to make up our own minds without hearing all of your negativity.I for one will continue to frequent their fine establishments.

So fellow bloggers, what‘s your take on Wetherspoon?

*I’m not even a father yet.

full disclosure: I am a CAMRA member but am in no way affiliated to JD Wetherspoon