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!

Heading to Manchester

Most people who are in to decent beer in the UK will have heard of the Independent Manchester Beer Convention (or Indyman BeerCon for short, or even IMBC if you're feeling particularly lazy) (if not, have you been under a rock?!) but not everyone has had a chance to go. Until this year that is. Yes you lucky people attending the Friday day session will be graced with /annoyed by/indifferent to* my presence.

Running from the 8th-11th October, the festival (now in its 4th year) is going strong with several sessions selling out mere hours after going on release. Fear not as there are still three sessions available to attend at the moment (including the aforementioned with yours truly). The beer list for each day is yet to be pinned down, but going by the murmurings on Twitter and the list of brewers in attendance there will be more than enough to be going at.

Festival is held the atmospheric Victoria Baths
(Picture courtesy of Gary Brown)

One thing that I like about the festival is that a number of collaborative one-offs are brewed, I've managed to try a few of these elsewhere in the past; so if this years are of similar calibre we're in for an oral treat. To mix things up a bit, they pulled styles and names out of hat and arrived at the following:

Weird Beard/Lervig with IMBC: Gooseberry Pale

Northern Monk with IMBC: Quince IPA

Madhatter with IMBC: Seaweed Gose

Cromarty with IMBC: Bilberry Saison

Squawk with IMBC: Fig Stout

Hanging Bat with IMBC: Sloe Wit

The idea of a bilberry saison is doing it for me.

There are also a number of events-within-event with break-out tastings dueing all sessions (many still TBA). One which is likely to be popular is an exclusive meet the brewer and tasting of Mure with Pierre Tilquin, the newest gueuze blender in the Pajottenland (lambic region around Brussels in Belgium). I was fortunate enough to share a bottle of this on my recent trip and highly recommend you try to attend.

For me visiting the festival is more than just enjoying a few beers (which will of course be a large attraction) but also to experience the archetype event, the grand daddy of the new wave of beer festivals as an experience rather than just a giant pub. Venue, food and entertainment have all been carefully chosen to make the event in to something truly special. A small delegation from Northern Ireland attended last year and as a result set up the ABV fest, which went down stormingly in Belfast back in May. If an event can encourage people to stage something similar in the most barren of beer deserts it much be truly special indeed.

Tickets can be purchased here for the lowly sum of £8.88. Hope to see some of you at The Victoria Baths (or general environs) in a few weeks. Those of you not going are free to live vicariously through my tweetings or likely post-event run-down blog or future in person ravings.

Even outside of the festival there are a number of fringe events happening in Manchester and of course there's no shortage of bars available to be getting at...why not even head to Huddersfield to check out the new Magic Rock tap?Cloudwater already in my sites and of course all the usual haunts will be revisited but please let me know if there are other places I should be visiting in the Manchester environs.

NB I have received a free trade ticket for the session (though I would have paid anyway) and the flight+hostel cost the best part of £100; so not exactly a junket.

*Delete as appropriate

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!

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%

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.

Hilden Beer Fest 2012

Its that time of year again, the August Bank Holiday weekend is fast approaching which means the Hilden Brewery are hosting their annual beer festival. Last year's was a great success and if the beer line-up is anything to go by, this years will be no different. * 

I can also reveal that Hilden will be previewing their new bottle range over the weekend. All of the beers have been seen as cask versions but this is the first time they've gone into bottle. Fantastic bold new branding and logo shows Hilden have really upped their game to compete with the newer brewers both here and over the water.

Without further ado; here are the brews, along with Hilden's own tasting notes. Please bear in mind this is not the finished list and is of course subject to change on delivery. There will also be ciders from Mac's and DJs for those of a more fruity bent.

Osset Hopmonster (5%)
Strong Hoppy Ale. A strong, heavily hopped and robust IPA. Moderate bitterness, but intense aroma from new-season New Zealand Nelson Sauvin hops. This unique variety imparts a white wine fruitiness.

Penine Sunstone (4.4%)

Look: Straw in colour

Taste: Smooth, malty and sweet on the palate with a refreshing citrus kick and refined hop after taste.

Smell: Hoppy & malty

Partners Ghost (4.5%)

A pale, full bodied bitter with a fresh gentle nose, taken over by a smooth hop and citrus finish making this ale very drinkable.

Acorn Barnsley Gold (4.3% ABV)

  This award winning golden beer has good bitterness levels, with a fresh citrus and hop aroma.  A hoppy flavour throughout with a well hopped clean, dry finish.   A CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain Finalist in 2004. 

Titanic White Star (ABV 4.8%)

A light refreshing distinctively hoppy beer with a freshness that belies its strength, so easy to drink it will fool all but the crustiest of sea dogs.

Lymestone Stone Cutter (3.7%)

From the very first draught, this pale hoppy ale will slake your thirst. A fusion of Maris Otter malts and Pilot and Fuggles hops explode on the palate as biscuit and juicy fruit flavours give way to citrus and berry hops, good hop aroma and hoppy after taste. A superb summer beer

Allgates Brigantia (4.0% )

Golden Ale "A refreshing honey toned, golden ale" Originally brewed in summer 2009 as Summer Gold, it was subsequently selected by J.D. Wetherspoon’s to feature in their April 2010 Beer Festival when the name was changed to Brigantia. It is a honey toned, refreshing, hoppy, golden ale with gorgeous aromas of tropical fruit and grapefruit sharpness offset by hints of melon and pineapple; the result of large quantities of German, Brewers Gold hops.

Bank Top Flat Cap   (4%)

Our signature beer - a pale bitter with a citrus fruit aroma and hoppy citrus finish. 

Bank Top  Pavilion Pale (4.5%)

Created shortly after the brewery moved site to a tennis club pavilion, this pale ale has a big fruity flavour with a peppery hoppiness and a dry, bitter yet fruity finish. 

Hilden Barney's Brew (5%)

Hilden Brewery's take on a wheat beer brewed to commemorate the inventor of the 'Belfast Penny Bap', Bernard 'Barney' Hughes(1808-1878). Made from wheat and barley, cardamom, corriander and a dash of black pepper, this spicy tipple is delicious and wont 'stick to your belly like lead'

Hilden Belfast Blonde (4.3%)

A wholly natural blonde beer with a clean and refreshing character derived from the use of lager malt along with a small proportion of maize. This mixture of continental and native varieties of late and early addition hops pleases both the nasal senses and the taste buds.

Hilden Cathedral Quarter (5.3%)

A rich warming premium beer. A classic red Irish ale with a full bodied flavour.

Hilden Halt (6.1%)

A premium traditional Irish red ale with a malty, mild hop flavour. This special reserve derives its name from the train line that used to service the local linen mill.

Hilden Twisted Hop (4.7%)
An Irish pale ale. It has a medium-bodied character and good bitterness, complementing the full hop flavour which lingers on the palate and in the aroma.

College Green (Hilden) Headless Dog (4.2%)
A bright amber ale from our College Green range of beers, with an initially smooth taste followed by a hint of Munich malt coming through from the grist. This is complimented by the stronger refreshing taste from this well hopped beer, named after the unusual mural opposite the front door of the brewery.

Hilden Scullion'sIrish (4.6%)
A bright amber ale, smooth initially with a slight taste of honey which is balanced by a long dry after taste which lingers on the palate

Metalman Pale Ale (4.3%)
American style pale ale, dark gold in colour with a delicate white head. Citrus and floral aromas lead into hop flavours characterised by grapefruit and mandarin produced by American hops. A dry bitter finish makes this an eminently enjoyable and refreshing beer.

Metalman Chameleon Ginger (4.5%)
A light summer ale with a ginger twist! A lightly hopped beer, this is an easy drinking summer thirst quencher with subtle ginger flavours and a dry finish. Perfect for a warm sunny day (if we were lucky enough to get such a thing).

Franciscan Well – Rebel Red

ABV 4.3%

A malt driven Irish style red ale balance by the hop varieties Fuggles and East Kent Goulding

Bath Ales – Summer Hare

ABV 3.9%

This is a brilliant light and hoppy seasonal beer, carefully brewed using the transatlantic pairing of the UK’s Brambling Cross and Washington State’s own Chinook hops.

Black Sheep -Black Sheep Best Bitter

ABV 3.8%

Peppery hop in the mouth with a long, bitter finish. A classic well-hopped and beautifully balanced beer with a deeply satisfying and refreshing taste that is followed by a distinctively dry and long bitter finish. Best enjoyed in true Black Sheep style, through a rich, creamy head.

West Berkshire Brewery - Mr Chubb’s Lunchtime Bitter

ABV 3.7%

A traditional English bitter with the addition of single varietal hops to give a robust bitterness and a strong hop finish.

Whitewater – BelfastBlack

ABV 4.2%

Roasted barley, rolled oats, chocolate & black malts combine to produce our Traditional Irish Stout brimming with flavour. The gentle coffee aroma is balanced wonderfully by rich hop flavours.

Pheonix Brewery – StrugglingMonkey

ABV 4.5%

Seasonal. Pale coloured, well balanced beer using English and Polish hops.

Harvistoun Brewery – Bitter andTwisted

ABV 4.2%

This is a very well built beer that starts with a delicate hoppy and fresh floral aroma. The flavour is fruity, first you notice the grapefruit and then a good dash of lemon comes through. At the end there is a rounded taste of bitter hops. Easy drinking and very moreish.

Oakham Brewery – JHB

ABV 3.8%

A golden beer whose aroma is dominated by hops that give characteristic citrus notes. Hops and fruit on the palate are balanced by malt and a bitter base. Dry hoppy finish with soft fruit flavours.

Porterhouse TSB

ABV 3.7%

New Zealand hops deliver fragrant aromatic floral notes counterpointed with a mouth of subtle bitterness. Turner would marvel in its composition!

White Gypsy –Pilsner

ABV 5%

Straw coloured beer, hoppy aroma with a hint of grainyness. The finish is clean and refreshing.

Rat - Dirty Rat (3.5%)
A velvetty dark brown mild. Low bitterness with a sweet malty finish from a blend of three malt. The delicate hop aroma is not overpowering.

*Alright, there's nothing with the WOW factor perhaps but plenty of new brews to try. With additional beers the list is now looking pretty decent.

EDIT: Renamed beers (see comments) and more beers added 21/8/12.

26/8/12 Updated with actual beers available.
 

Live Beer Blogging: NWAF

Today I'm at National Winter Ales Fest in Manchester and I'm planning on live blogging what I get up to...

I expect I'll soon get too caught up in beer to remember to update this, or failing that my phone battery will die. I'll probably update it when I get home again with any paper-based notes/ pics I take.

  
12:05 fair sized queue out in the drizzle but its beer time soon.

12:30 After finally getting Blogger to work on Android (had to revert to old interface as can't scroll on the new one) I can report that we secured seats right in front of the German beer bar. To start? A fresh fruh kolsch for her and an astringent and roasted Thwaites tavern porter for me. Off in search of some Hawkshead New Zealand Pale Ale now.

A sizeable crowd

12.55 buggerit, its all sold out. As is magic rock rapture so its a high wire for me. Pretty similar to the bottle on Tuesday but a bit more hop freshness in taste. Very enjoyable. A taste of Liverpool Organic Kitty Wilkinson Chocolate and Vanilla stout, like bristol beer factory chocolate and milk stouts combined.

13.20 FABPOW alert! Okells saison and...a banana! Fruity dry hay and slight spiciness complement richness of banana. Also tried Red Willow Wreckless. Starts off nice enough but a hint of butterscotch ruins it for me (Edit: seems it was a tired cask as tried fresh at "The Bar" in Chorlton it was a lovely drop). Other half is now on Josef Grief Weiss, very pale and cloudy with lemon and cloves. Lots of familiar faces behind the bars and spotted @tandleman on way in.

14:20 Turned to the dark side as recommended by Phil (@filrd) with Liverpool IRS. It's full of flavour but drinks nothing like its abv; Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche next. Smokey but so well balanced - like sweetcured maple smoked Bacon. A quick tsster of an 8% German IPA (not gunna pay £3 a third) proved a damp squib in comparison. 

We're now onto some Offbeat offerings. Way Out Wheat is full of aromatic white pepper and the IPA is as good as any I've tried. Time for a breather methinks

Offbeat Way out Wheat and Out of Step IPA

My takeaway selection

15:30 half an hour off, a purchase of a fuzzy logic book (mainly for cashback) and some bottled beers for takeaway then its back to the draught stuff. A Kirby Lonsdale jubilee stout for me and Red Willow Heartless for her. It's a lovely chocolate stout, dark chocolate, roast barley and a slight sourness work well together. Paired with 70% cocoa chili chocolate its even better. Time for some Shaws beers now if there're any left!

16:20 Reaching the end of the afternoon now and its a Red Willow Smokeless for the lady and Shaws quantum stout tor me. Both are delicious but the Red Willow just edges it. Shame the Stella IPA ran out, I love those peachy antipodean hops. 

Just bumped into Paul, husband of the brewster from Offbeat. There's a new tasty sounding beer coming up. 

Gunna have a final third each then head off to the Marble Arch I reckon. Im a sucker for puns so its Wessex Russian Stoat for me and continuing on the German theme its hacker-pschorr oktoberfest for the other half. (No more updates, need to preserve some battery to find where were booked to eat tonight! Will round it off next tues eve when I get home!)

19:30 at Zinc bar and Grill now. Just been via Marble Arch. Shared 9 cheese plate and 2011 special saison. CABPOM ALERT! Cocktail time now, Singapore Sling and Espresso Martini. They arrived after our food turned up; so we had them taken off the bill...bargain!

21:00 Arrived back at hotel and collapsed on bed.

Edit: Although it may make amusing reading I decided to tidy up the spelling on the post and add some pics. To sum up I really enjoyed the day, even though I only spent five hours in the festival I managed to get through a fair few beers. Best UK cask beer for me was the Out of Step IPA and best German beer had to be the Aect Schlenkerla Eiche (thanks Simon johnson for tweeting about it). I've since drunk all the bottled beers purchased on the day, but not going to blog about them as I didn't really make notes!

All that remains is to thank all of those who put their hard work into organising and staffing the weekend. I know how much effort it is to work at a beer festival and remain cheerful three days in and everyone did a sterling job.

Last fest before the Terrible Teens

I've just returned home from the 12th Belfast Beer Festival, held once again in the magnificent Ulster Hall in Belfast. This year marked the 30th anniversary of the Northern Ireland branch of CAMRA and we had some snazzy commemorative glasses made up as well as t-shirts for staff.

Set-up began on Sunday 13th with the unloading of scaffolding and errection of the stillage and bars. Construction work was finished by Monday afternoon and all cider secured however there was no sign of the beer. A quick call to the couriers confirmed that it was with them and due to a misunderstanding they had been planning to deliver on Tuesday! Luckily a driver was on hand to deliver ASAP and in the end all was stillaged Monday evening ready for tapping  and spiling on Tuesday.

By Wednesday evening most of the quality control had been done, leaving Thursday morning free for last minute checks and set up of the tables and glasses stand. 14 beers were selected by the bar managers for the Champion Beer of Belfast (CBOB) Competition at the final quality check stage and this was whittled down to six for a blind tasting by a group of staff, customers and invited experts. Results were as follows:

First Place: Dark Star American Pale Ale

Joint Second Place: Mordue Newcastle Coffee Porter & Otley Oxymoron

The other beers judged were Blue Monkey BG Sips, Houston Peter's Well and Brecon Pale Beacons. For a more detailled low down on teh judging see The Beer Nut's Blog. Yours truly foolishly volunteered to be the beer runner, bringing fresh jugs of beer up to the awaiting panel. This role was reprised for the 8 tasting sessions which had from 2 to 14 participants, resulting in one very knackered beer blogger by Saturday evening. I'll probably do a separate blog about this one or this will become too gargantuan.

Amongst beer running, glass washing, punter serving and the occasional burrito or pasty I managed to try a good few beers from my planned list. I posted the full beer lineup here before the festival and all beers were in attendance except the Hopback Entire Stout, which arrived but had an unfortunate mishap (read: blew its keystone and dumped 18 gallons over the stillage/floor).

Summerwine is a brewery I had wanted to try for a good while. Last weekend I had a chance to try the Covenant at #Twissup; so I was excited that both barista and diablo would be on offer at Belfast (at my suggestion)* Barista is an espresso stout. Its my kind of beer. Its how I remember the Dark Star Espresso used to taste before it became considerably less caffienated. The smell of cold coffee escapes the glass from the moment it is poured and a lovely hop bitterness contrasts the coffee astringency in the mouth.  Diabolo is a different beast. At 6.6% it was the strongest non-silly** beer on offer. A strong citrus nsoe continues into the taste with a good grapefruit and orange bite and long finish. Very refreshing and easy-drinking it belies its strength. Definitely one I shall be seeking out again.

The Cider Bar

Another beer high on my hitlist was the Ards Ballyblack (having interviewed the brewer for this here blog last month). It poured a dark brown black with a thinnish white head. It seemed a mix of a sweet stout and an Irish dry stout, with the roast barley and dark chocolate notes of the latter attenuated by a sweeter milk chocolate in the finish. Lovely stuff and very impressive for a first attempt at cask beer.

Other beers I enjoyed included the 3 CBOB winners, Bowman Elderado (from my old Stomping ground), Ilkley Black, Leeds Midnight Bell and Youngs Bitter. I also got to try Toby's Cider on draught and Tempted's special festival blend made with a higher percentage of cider apples, which added a tannic edge to the fairly sweet cider.

I met some fellow Beoir memebers and proudly received my membership card from John (#149). Reuben (Tale of Ale) kindly brought me a bottle of Franciscan Well Shandon Century, which I expect to crack open later in the week. He was pleased when I showed him the direction to Boojum burritos. I also had a special treat in meeting a fellow ratebeerian who had created his own braambes lambic. More on this beer later!

So exhausted was I that by 6:30 on Saturday evening I was ready for bed. I returned bright and early (read: 11am) on Sunday morning to help with takedown. Everything has to be done in one day, a mammoth task when everyone is so worn out after a long week. My bus was at 4ish; so I stayed until 3. The scaffolding had been sent on its way, the van of Northern Ireland kit loaded and the flying firkin dray had arrived. Only the CAMRA van needed fillng; so I'm sure everyone was finished up before 6pm.

It was another great festival, great to see new and old faces and see the hall so packed every day. It seemed to me like there was less leftover beer this year too; so will be interesting to find out how it all went at the wash up meeting next month.  Its a great wee festival which you should consider coming to in 2012 if you've never been, Belfast is a great city for a short (or long) break with plenty to see and do besides the festival.

*Beer orderer Adrian (branch secretary) believes in a democratic approach to beer selection, with the Flying Firkin being circulated amongst all interested branch members in order that they give their selections. He does his best to accommodate everyone (even those who go overboard and suggest about 20 beers...ahem) as long as price isn't too high. We aim to have as many Northern Ireland ebers as possible and to this end all local breweries are invited to supply. Unfortunately Clanconnel had just mioved premises and were unable to produce any beer in time and Innishmacsaint is having trouble keeping up with local demand. Hopefully we will see beery offerings from both of these next year.

**We have a silly beer on each bar. These beers above 7% ABV are only sold in halves and this year comprised Orkney Skullsplitter, Burton Bridge Thomas Sykes, Otley O8 and Green Jack Ripper Tripel. As with previous years, these four had no problem in selling out.