Craft Beer Explosion

Keg and cask to keep everyone happy!

Bristol is awash with decent new bars and breweries at the moment. Fresh on the heels of the Barley Mow's refurbishment comes the change of use of one of Bristol's iconic gig venues, the Croft, now the Crofter's Rights. I called in for their soft opening last Friday to find a place almost unrecognisable from what one stood there. The staff have been hard at work refitting the place to host a bustling craft beer bar, with taps in the wall a-la Euston tap now de rigeur for such venues.

Ideal if bricks and mortar are your thing

Of course, not everything was ready with a smell of fresh paint in the air, but we were able to try some excellent, well-kept beers from the likes of Magic Rock and Camden Town. The toilets were a little hair-raising, with a tight spiral staircase for access and no doors yet in place but these should all be sorted in time for the full launch!

Also recently opened is the Bristol Beer Emporium, a subterranean beery Mecca that on our visit was rammed due to the Bristol Harbour side festival also happening that weekend.

Fairly unassuming from the outside.

A good range of both local, national and international brewers on cask and keg, there were no seats left so we stayed for a swift half before heading out for some more Gromit hunting. I shall certainly be returning here when its not quite so manic! I particularly liked their branded glassware and the food menu sounds good too.

And so onto the breweries...

Great branding guys!

I managed to snag the final third of Rocket Science's Oort Cloud Wit in the Barley Mow. Not so much wit as weisse, there's plenty of wheat character in there and served from keg on a summers evening it was very refreshing, but I was just looking for a little bit more stand-out in flavour.

This I got from New Bristol Brewery's Flame. Its a hop-forward amber ale a la Brewdog 5AM Saint though with more of a focus on pine hops. Dark amber, with mango pithiness and a dry, slightly chalky finish, this beer could develop into something of a regular. Certainly hope to try more from this brewery.

There are plenty more breweries and pubs to explore in Bristol. A third new craft beer bar is due to open in October handily located off St Nicholas Market; so you can get some decent beer after having your fill of decent food. Right next door to the Beer Emporium is the newly refurbished "craftised" Famous Royal Navy Volunteer, focussing solely on UK beers a la Hanging Bat. Four new bars following hot on Brewdog's heels...were they the motivator or simply a vanguard?

October sees the inaugural Bristol Beer Week, check out their website and follow them on Twitter for more details. Hope to see you there!

Hunting Gromit

(Or a stealth pub crawl in Bristol.) 

Wake up, sweltering heat not entirely all there from the night before

Long wait for packed bus courteous shirtless belying stereotypes

Dog disguised as a dinosaur, dog in drag

An old new bar, welcomed by staff

An old old pub, welcomed by staff

Beers supped in each, great quality

Roadside jerk chicken, don't mind if I do

Clocked location of new new bar, will return soon

Semi-expected deluge miles from anywhere

Cake and coffee in a garden centre

Wet feet, harbour side gravity stillage, don't mind if I do*

Floored drunk revellers eating peanuts from a wok

Stuff face with excellent Tapas

Return to new new bar, salivate, drink new wheat beer.

Spectacular fireworks, then home for a nightcap.

See you again soon Bristol.

*An unexpected find, Siren on cask in Bristol, was impressed, hope to see this London Brewery out and about more.Also on offer: tynebank, harbour, magic rock, hand drawn monkey a well chosen, none too common selection, well done to the venue in question.

#TheSession #78: My Elevator Pitch for beer

First Friday of the month means the session is here again; this month hosted by James of Beer Bar Band. We're asked this month to argue for beer in 250-words or less in the style of an "elevator pitch" (or lift spiel if you will). Ignoring the practicality that most people don't talk to each other in lifts (and that you shouldn't really criticise people for their own drinking choices anyway) here is what I'd say.

"Hiya, I see you're enjoying a beer, great to see that you're drinking something that Britain is famous for. There's been a lot of breweries opening in recent years; with all manner of interesting beery flavours. Here try this...*tosses can of Brewdog punk IPA*. You can pick these up pretty cheaply in the supermarket its a good reflection of what is good in UK brewing at the moment and you're supporting a British company whereas a lot of other widely available beers are owned overseas. Plus the beer is unpasteurised which means the flavour is fresher. Besides the cans are smaller so can fit in your fridge more easily and you can pretend its a soft drink so get away with drinking it in places where beer isn't allowed*"

Person leaves lift pleased to have received free alcohol.

I believe the best way to convince people to think about new beer is to get them to try it, no amount of talking is going to persuade them. If you offer them a free sample then they don't even have to part with their money.


*Busses for instance..ahem

Drinking in Edinburgh: An #EBBC13 roundup

First beers of the weekend in the
Red Squirrel, which became a regular haunt

Last weekend was spent at the beer bloggers conference in Edinburgh. We had all manner of interesting sessions to attend and certainly no shortage of beer. (I tried 65 new beers over the three days!) But it wasn't just a chance to score free beer, there was also some serious ideas sharing going on too.A number of people have posted some of their thoughts, here are some of my own  

(and I'll try not to make it seem like a beer diary!*).

Robert and Craig consider which beer is best in the Bow Bar

One of the highlights of such an event for me is to be able to meet up with friends old and new and "talk shop". We're in a room where everyone understands the language of beer, to such an extent that we're no longer really aware that there is a fair amount of jargon used in beer writing. Susanne reminded us that we need to be mindful that our audience aren't all beer geeks like the rest of us and that we should reflect that in our writing. Perhaps one of the reasons wine has grown its market share so rapidly is that despite being a highly technical subject, none of that is put on the bottle, whereas therecan be a tendency for "craft beer to sound like a chemistry experiment" (Garret Oliver) with IBUs, EBCs, etc. 

Matt from Pilgrim and Progress and Beer Norway's Christer
discussing the finer points of beer rating at Stewart's

But at the same time, we shouldn't talk down to our audience. In all likelihood they know more than us, certainly their palate could be more experienced than ours. Try to find the similarities between beer and other beverages to give people a reference point. Never assume that a beer is "too much" for someone as we have "no idea what they can handle" (Garret Oliver outlining how he'll take whatever beers he fancies to a beer tasting because unless someone has a chance to try something, how do we know whether they like it or not?)

JohnMartin presents...The Shilling System

We also had a great session on the history of Scottish beer from John Martin (Scottish Brewing Archive Association), especially they fairly confusing shilling system and discussions in similarities between Scottish beer and continental brewing styles among other juicy tidbits. Who knew that the first lager brewer in the UK was John Muir in Scotland? Tax protests aren't a new thing either; long before the beer duty escalator the treaty of the union was delayed due to the English trying to impose a malt tax on the Scots and later 9 people died in the riots that ensued following a rise in malt duty.

The Shilling System Today

Designation	Name	Strength (ABV%)	Example
60/-	Light	<3.5	Belhaven
70/-	Heavy	3.5-4.0	Tinpot
80/-	Export	4.0-5.5	Stewart
90/-	Wee Heavy	>5.5	Luckie

Wouldn't mind a fireplace like this
at home - Edinburgh council chambers

Edinburgh has some fantastic buildings both old - from the vaulted ceilings of our conference venue, the Ghillie Dhu and the wood panelled interior of the old council chambers to the brand spanking new Stewart's brewery that we had a chance to visit on the Friday night. Our hosts Jo and Steve Stewart's enthusiasm really reflects their position in the vanguard in the newly emerging Scottish craft brewing sector. I see new breweries opening up on an almost weekly basis...now if only Northern Ireland could get a few new breweries open up...

Reuben enjoying a Brodies in Cask and Barrel Southside.

Pubs too are not in short supply. I'd been in a number during last year's Edinburgh Independents Beer Festival but the shabby chic of theHanging Bat and the old school polished wood and mirrors plus half island bar of the Cask and Barrel southside were particular highlights this year. See Robert's Beer Lens blog for some better (i.e. not taken on a phone!) examples.

As an aside, Edinburgh seems to be trying to compete for the most unusual toilet accessories. The Hanging Bat has half keg sinks and the urinals in the Ghillie Dhu... well see for yourself (right).

Mr Oliver enjoying a self-poured Pilsner

Some tips for reaching a wider audience include using Pinterest and Instagram as a lot of people are visually stimulated. We need to write for our audiences but first and foremost we should make ourselves happy. I'll leave you with another Garret Oliver quote "if you aren't making people happy you're doing everything wrong and for all the wrong reasons". Something to bear in mind whether a brewer or a blogger.

Massive thanks to everyone who presented sessions, donated beer, organised food or muled beer for me over the weekend, much appreciated. Fab work once again from the conference organisers, for another conference summary you could do worse than zephyr adventure's own thoughts on the weekend.

*I may post a roundup of the very enjoyable pre-conference pub crawl pub amble and evening activties if I feel like it, though I didn't really take many pictures, ratebeer tells of the many fantastic beers enjoyed anyway.

Topping Out with Edinburgh's Newest Brewery

Edinburgh used to be one of the biggest brewing cities in the country, but over the years this has been whittled away by fires, mergers, closures and bankruptcies. Today there are only a handful remianing but last week's Edinburgh Independents Beer Festival saw the launch of a new concern at Cloisters.

If you've never been to Cloisters then you must make it a priority, a pub in a converted church replete with spiral staircase with a range of cask beers from Scotland and further afield. An ideal location to host a brewery launch...except on the hottest ever day in Scotland. Arriving the next day the staff are still shattered from the night before but still take the time to chat to us and text the next bar on our route to find out what's on - now that's service.

For the launch seems to have been well attended for Top Out* with standing room only, but myself and Reuben popped in the next day to sample the two cask beers. I was immediately attracted by the stand out oversized pump clips shouting at me with their elegant design. I listened and bought a half of each.

Staple Pale Ale (4%) was first up a decent session quaffer with apricots on the nose, sweet with mangoes and a hint of butterscotch that doesn't detract from the overall beer and a dry finish that leaves the tongue gasping for more.

Even better is the Smoked porter weighing in at 5.6%, the level of which is spot on, with arich bacon savoury character on the nose, reappearing again in the finish as a dry umami note cavorting with chocolate, oak and roast barley. It finishes fairly dry, but with enough residual sweetness to balance. This would be fantastic with all kinds of food.

After an afternoon visiting some other pubs, we split a bottle of Dark Abbey, the 8.9% bruiser of a Belgian strong ale. However this is unlike any dubbel inspired ale I've ever tried (I actually liked it for starters!) Rich coffee and yeast esters dance on the nose. Its a hazy ruby brown with rich, demerara, plum sweetness,finishing with what seems to be a trademark dryness- possibly a more voracious yeast strain eating up as much sugar as possible. At £6 a bottle its more expensive than some comparable Belgian's but I enjoyed it much more.

With these beers Edinburgh goes some way to regaining the status it once enjoyed.

Top Out
@TopOutBrew
Facebook

*Top Out are based out in Loanhead as are Edinburgh Stalwarts Stewart - 9 years old this year (whose new premises we had the good fortune to visit during the beer blogger's conference).

Brewery Speed Dating

Live beer blogging sees brewers given 5 minutes to share their beers with bloggers whilst they review them, beery speed dating if you will. There are no beer reviews here. Plenty of the 70-odd people in the room will be blogging their thoughts on the beer; some already have (and if you're really desperate to find out my thoughts check ratebeer). Something Susanna from Drink Britain said during her presentation struck a chord: you have to find a different angle to keep people's attention past the first paragraph. So I'm going to look at some of the people & stories behind the beer as after all "beer is people" as Garret Oliver reminded us.

One-off Oloroso

Innis & Gunn is a beer for the 21st century, turning a waste product that would end up down the drain into a successful brand with plenty of extensions to keep it going. We were treated to an Oloroso (great article from Drinks Advice here) aged variant, with the base beer designed to match the character expected from the barrel. There is also a bourbon barrel aged beer brewed with rye crystal to be released later in the year and a re-release of the successful Irish whiskey aged stout next St Patrick's Day.

A surfing hop-bine, what else

Surfing Hop from Toccalmatto is a double IPA done differently. Dry-hopping is usually performed in cold conditioning (Temperature below <5°C) but Bruno dry-hops this beer at 23°C for 15 days which gives it a completely different flavour profile. Would love to do a side by side comparison.

Ken of Inveralmond pouring Blackfriars

Ken of Inveralmond describing his beer in 5 words said "gorgeous, delicious, scrumptious, amazing beer". Named for the abbey King James I was assassinated in its not often available in the UK with most of it ending up in Scandinavia. Perhaps it competes favourably with Baltic Porters. It apparently works best with dark meats and bizarrely blueberries, one that needs trying to be believed perhaps.

Beer and chocolate,
almost as good as beer and cheese

Harviestoun brought a pre-release of their 30th anniversary special aged in first-fill sherry casks. A completely different use of sherry butts to the above example. We were lucky enough to hear a talk from head brewer Stuart McCail on the process of aging beer in whiskycasks, summed up very well in Hot Rum Cow by Rich of the Beer Cast. The beer worked fantastically with the 72% Madagascan chocolate from the Chocolate tree (not just cheese that pairs well...)

The original golden ale

This next beer is a triumph of brewer over marketing department - a beer in brown glass; so different is it that the Bottle Shop have actually chosen to stock it. Brilliant Ale is brewed from an original recipe predating the recent "advent" of golden ale by some 150 years shows that nothing is truly new in brewing.

Summer quencher

The best news from WEST's Ruth Oliver is that now third pints are available at the brewery in Teku glasses no less to allow the beers to be tasted properly. There's an expansion in brewing capacity is planned; so potentially more of their beers could be bottled and hit the shelves.

Liquid chocolate pudding - with chili kick!

The Mayan is a beery version of the Aztec hot chocolate given out on tours of the Cadbury's factory. Its good to catch up with brewer Luke again, who lugged the beers up on the train. The experimental range has been so successful that some of the beers are now being aged in whisky hogsheads, including the fantastic Siberia Saison.

Sppok-tacular special

The second annual release from Badger (available direct) is named for a Dog of the Damned who eats the souls of its victims, taking their eyes as part of its cost...how gruesome. Luckily the beer is less demonic but has lead me to discover the Dark Dorest website, which will steal many hours from my life.. the dog has claimed another victim it seems...

Traditional masterpiece

We finish the frenzied session with a bewer that has earnt the contemplation time that the final spot allows, Traquair Jacobite. Some lucky so-and-sos were allowed to stay over at Traquair House and the lady Catherine Maxwell is a lovely Brewster who certainly knows her stuff.

A big thanks to all the breweries for providing samples and everyone who spent time talking to us nosy bloggers about them!

More posts looking at EBBC from a different angle still to come!

More facial hair

As promised, here are my thoughts on some more Weird Beard Brews following a post earlier this month. Four saisons and an IPA.

Saison 14 gives everything I look for in a saison, Belgian nose of honeyed yeast esters, big wheaty spicy body and a little funkiness in the finish. It made an excellent dry pre-dinner aperitif and one i will be visiting again. On a par with their Black Perle and fighting for top place with Fade to Black.

The same can't be said of Saison 42 (a hitchiker's guide to the galaxy reference and a collaboration with new Swedish micro Sad Robot) which is rather flat and tasteless. It finishes fairly sweet and heavy too, maybe it has a lower proportion of wheat in it?

Its quirkier brother 42e is more like it, primed with elderflower cordial in the bottle it has a wild feel to it. There's some heavy candy sugar towards the end but it sings with a floral elderflower refrain that demands another glug.

Collaboration is the name of the game as the next saison is also a colabeeration with Andy (@tabamatu) or more rightly a scale up of one of his many successful home brews. Cheers Andy for lugging this up to Edinburgh for me! A great showcase for the gooseberry side of the Nelson sauvin hop, though perhaps a little too high in alcohol for my liking. Well made and pretty well balanced, seek it out if Nelson Saison your thing!

Finally Hit the Lights is the IPA Miss the Lights was planned to be. I certainly preferred it to the earlier iteration. Well balanced with red berries and sage/ lemon balm in the aroma. It drinks well, with more of those red berries, though is a little to hefty to make it sessionable.

Weird Beard has two other brews that I've not yet had the chance to try and narrowly missed out on trying at EBBC13 this weekend! Ah well, you can't try it all. More on EC13 later this week (when I have my notes and thoughts in order!)