Factory beer?

Hard to miss!

Not by a long shot, no. Bristol Beer Factory is very un-factory-like and that is certainly a good thing. BBF has long been a favourite southern brewery of mine I was pleased to be invited along for a few beers and a snoop around by head brewer, Chris.

New 20BBL conical awaiting
comissioning.

The brewery can be found just a stone's throw from arty venue the Tobacco Factory and next door to a decent bakery in part of an old brewery closed by the George's brewery. Inside is currently a 10BBL plant, but this is being pushed to the limit, with two brews a day scheduled all the way up to Christmas. A couple of new 20BBL fermenters have arrived that take two brews to fill, the first has been commissioned and the second lies awaiting its beery cargo. This should tide them over capacity-wise until next summer when a 30BBL is due to be installed along with what seems to be a must-have for brewery expansions; a mezzanine floor! It takes a bit of tweaking and a change of yeast from top-cropping to bottom-cropping but in the end the conicals should give better yield than open fermenters.

The original open fermenters

There are also a number of conditioning tanks, some of which have followed Chris from his previous employ at York Brewery. Perhaps the most exciting section of the brewery is the barrel store. Tucked up in here are a couple of stouts for this year's "12 Stouts of Christmas" (details under tight wraps I'm afraid!) and their collaboration (with Dark Star) NZ IPA Southern Conspiracy ageing in white wine casks with gooseberries. There are some empty rum casks to be filled with an Adrian Tierney-Jones brew and some other barrels into which Melissa Cole's brew next week will be filled.

The barrel store!

Speaking of Southern Conspiracy, I popped into one of BBF's venues in Bristol, The Barley Mow, and was pleased to find this on tap. I'd neglected to check the closing time and arrived at last orders but thankfully managed to grab a pint and I'm so glad I did. I think I may have found my best beer ever, certainly if how the Ratebeer score came out is anything to go by. The influence of Mark Tranter at Dark Star certainly makes itself known, the beer reminds me a lot of Hophead. I'm very much looking forward to the white wine version then!

All that remains of current cask stocks.

There's also a new saison in the works, with a different recipe to last years successful effort. That, alongside newer beers Independence and West Coast Red sees a solid range of new beer styles alongside No.7, which is still their biggest seller at around 40% of output. Its a struggle to fit the Christmas stouts into the brewing schedule, Chris admits, but there are a few spare days at the end of next month.

Bottled beers.

Whilst there I got to try this year's home-brew competition winner Bete Noire. Its certainly different to last years winner, also a black IPA- Indian Ink. Pours transparent Brown-black like a schwarzbier with plenty of condition. Citrusy simcoe? nose with plenty of dry fruit bitterness of kiwi hops. Touch of burnt toast astringency in the finish is all that there is to remind you this is a black and not regular IPA.
A bottle of Glenlivet Imperial stout has mellowed somewhat and in my opinion is the better for it. The whisky punch has died back somewhat and the flavours have married somewhat, creating a dangerously drinkable stout, which compares favourably to the bottle of Brewdog Paradox I brought along to share.

Even @1000 bottles/hr it still takes
two people a day to bottle a fermenter's wort

There's also talk of being able to hold tastings in a new coffee shop being built as part of the bakery next-door, current tastings being held in the brewery with perhaps 2 private tours a week at the moment. Couple this with the double-brew schedule and Chris and team are set to be very busy indeed.

Chris is on Twitter: @BeerFactoryCK9 and the brewery is here: @BrisBeerFactory. If you've not yet come across BBF beers than I urge you to seek them out and keep your eyes peeled for this year's 12-Stouts of Christmas as they are bound to fly out! See Bierebelle's review here for a dfifferent perspective.

Collabeeration

Something that I very much like within the beer world is how brewers share ideas, expertise and even ingredients amongst one another like one big family. Rather than trying to out-compete each other, many brewers are happy to help each other improve.

Sometimes the help is more basic, but nonetheless valuable like the sharing of yeast (Dark Star gave Saioson yeast to Bristol Beer Factory) or expertise, often done through Twitter, when homebrew enthusiasts can chip in too. In fact there have been home brew beers brewed in breweries, not to mention home brewers starting up full-scale.

One area that is becoming more popular is collaboration brewing. Over the last few years there have been a slew of beer writer brewery collaborations (Otley Thai-Bo, hedgerO and O'Roger; Brewdog Avery Brown Dredge to name but a few) and also brewery-brewery collaborations (not necessarily limited to just two!) with recent efforts from  Magic Rock+Dark Star & Brewdog+Lost Abbey springing to mind, not to mention the Wetherspoon organised trans-Atlantic collaborations for their beer festivals. 

I'm going to review a few of these here.

Looks and tastes good.

Bristol Beer Factory/ Arbor Ales/ Zero Degrees -Collaboration Tripel (6.8%)

This one has been sat in my parents garage for 6 months since I picked it up at Westcountry Ales before heading to Glastonbury Festival earlier this year. A very clear amber-brown with bubbly white head and gentle carbonation. Plenty of yeasty esters on the nose with noticable pineapple, but also some melon. In the mouth its a typical triple, without the cloying sweetness sometimes found in the style, there's a balance bitterness from the addition of new world hops, though their flavour has long since faded. A lovely beer, which I suspect would have been even tastier fresh.

A "quick one" in Sheffield Tap
Burton Ale in the middle

Thornbridge/ Kernel Burton Ale (7.2%)
There's a slew of these historical recreations coming up, with Fulelrs making their Past Masters and Kernel themselves brewing old London Recipes and this can only be a positive thing. This is a historic style of ale recreated from historical research. I was lucky enough to find it available in the Sheffield Tap. Ruby amber with thin white head. Ripe cranberries and washed rind cheese aroma. Initially sweet and Fruity with dry bitterness and long dried fruit finish. Would love to try this with a washed rind hceese such as Aardharan or Stinking Bishop.

Black Tokyo Horizon

Brewdog/ Mikkeller/ NogneO - Black Tokyo Horizon (17.2%)
I was prompted to open this for stout day, but never actually reviewed it. Have tried Mikkeller Black and loved it, wasn’t so keen on Brewdog Tokyo* but need to get hold of Horizon! Pours viscous and dark brown with an instantaneous cola coloured head that soon disappears. Slightly acetic rich chocolate and alcoholic nose. Initial burst of milk chocolate and shortbread. Very sweet and rich in flavour. Hint of alcohol and long finish. Probably the most expensive beer I've ever bought, but definitely worth it.

At 17.2% ABV I'd recommend sharing though!

Brewdog/ Three Floyds - Bitch Please (11.5%)
A lighter beer than I’d anticipated, chestnut brown with cream coloured head and a light level of carbonation. Fantastically complex nose, I can detect toffee, hops and smoked malt with some oak wood character. Smoky/peaty flavour certainly to the fore on the first taste with noticeable alcohol presence and a fruity sweetness that reminds me of toffos. Finishes with unmistakable sugar butteriness of shortcake an alcoholic warmth and the ghost of the wood. A good solid beer.

Brewdog/ Mikkeller- Divine Rebel (2010)(13.8%)
Ruby brown beer with fruitcake aroma, fairly sweet with plenty of noticable booze in aroma and in body. A sticky texture with robust malt and alcohol burn, though otherwise a bit disappointing. Very little hop character, the whisky takes the fore here. Much prefer Fulelrs Brewer's Reserve.

Actually much redder

The Kernel/ Redemption/ Dark Star/ Zero Degrees/ Brodies/ Brew Wharf- Big Brick Red Rye (8.9%)

The Kernel look set to challenge Brewdog for their collaboration supremacy, and with their prolific brew releases it may not be long for this 2011 BGBW Brewer of the Year. Pouring a hazy amber-red with fluffy cream head the noticable aroma is pine resin. Tasting fairly pithy up front the flavour becomes resinous and quite boozy but with a very smooth body and fruit flavours with a long bitter finish.


2011 has indeed been an excellent year for beer and long may it continue. I'd like to see more collaborations like this in 2012 because everybody benefits!

Addendum: Got a chance to try the Magic Rock/ Dark Star at the York Tap and it is a lovely beer.