Tandleman's Beer Blog

The Quality Thing

2012-01-30T08:42:00.001Z

So now that beer festivalitis has temporarily left me, I can return to the normal world of beer. Saturday saw a pub crawl of Manchester, though unfortunately I missed out on the start at the Port St Beer House, which I like. It was a change from the usual haunts and I was delighted to note excellent beer quality in the Crown and Kettle, the Castle, the Soup Kitchen, the Piccadilly and the Bank. Not every beer was to my taste, but I certainly couldn't complain about the condition or temperature of any. That's a good thing and I will return to this theme of quality much more in the future. Top beer of the day? Well a half of Old Tom was sublime in the Castle. I'm not a fan of Robinson's beers, as I consider the house yeast far too dominant, but a beer such as Old Tom can push that into the background readily enough. On cask and 8.5%, it was probably the pick of a decent day's supping and certainly debunked the myth that you can't put strong beers on cask.

One issue did come up. Jaipur was on in the Bank and once again it failed to hit the mark. Overly sweet and sticky, it just didn't appeal to me or any of my drinking companions and while it may be hitting the spot still for some, I'll be approaching it with much more scepticism than previously as I just don't seem to get a good pint of it and haven't for well over a year.

Returning to the issue of quality, I have become aware of - or rather, been reacquainted with - a fairly widespread problem of pubs that aren't thriving, buying beer in cash as they go along, with many resulting quality problems, such as green beer, hazy beer and beer that has dropped bright, but has not yet conditioned. This affects many pubs and I was advised at NWAF that Adnams are countering this problem by conditioning their beer for longer in the brewery before releasing it. Other brewers may be doing this too or thinking about it, but it is a widespread problem, often affecting tenanted pubs of small regional brewers and is a hidden but pernicious aspect to the doubtful viability of some pubs. The brewery knows a pub is in trouble when the dray order is dropped and the beer is being bought for cash. Alarm bells clang loudly.

Next time you get a duff pint in a brewery owned tenanted pub, consider if you can, that it may not have been presented as the brewer intends for reasons other than cellar incompetence.

Well Wasn't That Fun?

2012-01-25T13:49:00.000Z

Bar the shouting (mostly internal) National Winter Ales Festival is over. It was stressful, but hopefully successful and dealing with the myriad problems thrown up by the venue, the public and the staff reminded me of work, but not in a good way. The public as we know are strangely fickle, but I have to say were mostly a delight. CAMRA members have many qualities and strengths, not all of them immediately apparent, but boy do they work hard. The ones that work at NWAF are dedicated and selfless, but nonetheless, it is all a bit like herding cats, bless 'em. But we got it all done after a fashion and hopefully everyone got something out of it.

Things don't stop though. Apart from the post mortem of NWAF which I'll chair, as the Organiser is buggering off to New Zealand for over a month, we'll have Oldham Beer Festival for my own CAMRA Branch at the end of April.

We must love it really.

My favourite beer? Hmm. Not sure but I doubt if Liverpool Organic's various efforts were surpassed by many.

National Winter Ales Festival

2012-01-18T08:49:00.001Z

It starts today and runs until Saturday night. I'm very much involved, hence my radio silence.

Do come along. It will be great!

National Winter Ales Festival 2012
18-21 January 2012
Sheridan Suite, Manchester

Not Tasting Notes Exactly

2012-01-10T00:43:00.000Z

While in Leeds on Christmas Eve, I took my wallet in my hands and nipped into Zak Avery's shop for a quick peruse. I bought four bottles and had a chat with Ghost Drinker, who seems a very nice chap. All the more so since he recognised me first, though fair enough, I did have an "I am Tandleman" T shirt on.

Two of the bottles remain undrunk and will be saved a for a couple of months, but since they are Schneider Hopfenweisse and are pretty strong, I have no fears for their subsequent drinkability. The other two were from Thornbridge. The first, their Koelsch tastealike, Tzara, described as a Koeln Style Beer and the second, the so very drinkable Kipling. Apart from a bottle of Jaipur when it first came out, I don't believe I've ever had a bottled Thornbridge beer before. Now Koelsch is a beer style I like to think I know a little about, so how does Tzara measure up? Pretty well actually. It has the appealing freshness and clarity of taste that singles good koelsch out, though perhaps, perversely, it is a little bit too good, being what Koelsch ought to be rather than what it usually is. Nonetheless it is a great beer, not over carbonated, smooth and tasty, with just that hint of fruitiness and that noble German hop finish that should mark it out. And does. Overall I wouldn't mind buying a few of these again if I could get them locally at a decent price.

What about Kipling. Again it is the clarity of taste that appeals. Full of tropical flavours and each one pin sharp in a beer that translates brilliantly to bottle. If you want to know more, buy a pint of Kipling, or purchase a bottle with confidence. Well worth the money spent I have to say. Someone at Thornbridge has got this bottling game cracked. OK I only had two samples, but boy were they good. They know their stuff there. They have great brewing skills and technique, bring out some tremendous beers and just quietly get on with doing it, which makes me admire them even more.

Have they sorted out cask Jaipur yet though?

Congratulations too to Beer Ritz, for selling such lovely fresh bottles.

A Couple of Days Off

2012-01-09T10:43:00.000Z

The latest advice on drinking now includes having a couple of alcohol free days a week. While not keen on much of the nanny stateism that comes from the likes of Ian Gilmour, this is a perfectly sensible suggestion I'd say and something I have been doing all my drinking life. In fact I aim (not always successfully) for three. The term AFD (Alcohol Free Day) is weel kent in Tandleman Towers.

While nobody in their right mind believes the government's safe drinking limit, it seems an easily achievable and sensible precaution to me. The liver far from being evil, is kind of a necessity I believe.

Holidays and National Winter Ales Festival are excepted from the above of course.

I was also amazed to hear Gilmour say that having a couple of AFDs is a good indicator that you are not alcohol dependent. Well I never.

Tell Me What You Think

2012-01-06T12:17:00.002Z

We talk a lot in these blogs of ours about this and that. Often though we return to old favourite topics like CAMRA and its role. I am often seen defending CAMRA, but I like to think I take a pragmatic view of the issues, though of course, for me at least, supporting quality real ale is a given.

A couple of days ago, I set a scene as to what I think motivates CAMRA in its dealings with Craft Keg and how I think CAMRA sees the subject contextually against its role in promoting and protecting real ale. I mentioned that for us, the battle to ensure real ale survival will never be won as such. We will just have good times and bad times - ups and downs. I also mentioned in the same blog piece, the new wave of keg beers and beer bars and the resurgence of London as a beery city. These are important to bear in mind. There is change in the air and everyone in the UK beer industry needs to have a think about how they perceive that change, how it affects them and what opportunities it might bring.

We have talked here too, and in other blogs, about how all this fits together and tried, often unsuccessfully, to plot a road ahead. CAMRA, as an important component of the British beer scene is looking at it too and I'm part of a small working party reporting to the National Executive on the subject. We are in the process of formulating ideas and I'd like to hear your views against the background I have set out. While we haven't fixed our remit in stone yet, it is along the lines of "How should CAMRA react to the growth of craft beer and specifically to the small but growing craft keg sector?"

So here's your chance to input to my contribution to the internal debate. Constructive comments about where we are, where things might go and how you feel CAMRA should react will be very helpful to me in forming my input to the process. Views of definitions would be useful, (though trying to define "craft" may be a bit tricky.) If you keep your feet on the ground too, that would be helpful. There is no point in unrealistic demands for change. This is an examination of where we are and how the future might be shaped and not primarily a vehicle for change. Please remember too that CAMRA is a member's organisation and that for any policy change to happen, one has to convince the membership. Sorry, but there won't be much by way of feedback, as our NE will be the first to be informed of what we have come up with, but do let me know how you regard the future and CAMRA's role in it, with particular regard to craft keg beer. (Also, please let me know if you are a CAMRA member or not when you comment and if you want to talk non publicly or off the record about it to me, particularly if you are trade, be it brewer or publican, do let me know.)

Bloggers have a genuine chance here to contribute to my input on the working party on a subject that has already caused a lot of debate within this blog. I hope that as many of you as possible take it up.

Remember too, it isn't just me you need to convince, so please think your arguments through.

Sam's Again!

2012-01-05T12:07:00.001Z

For a man that shuns publicity, Humphrey Smith, Managing Director of Sam Smith's Tadcaster Brewery, doesn't half manage to attract it. Some will recall his spat over the use of the Yorkshire Rose with Cropton Brewery and others may remember another ding dong with a licensee who was locked in the accommodation part of his pub following a dispute with the brewery and had to hire scaffolding to exit and enter via his bedroom window. All great knockabout stuff.

I am grateful to one of my CAMRA members for alerting me to yet another exhibition of oddballery. It seems Humphrey himself, to quote the dear old Oldham Chronicle turned up at a local Royton pub on New Year's Eve and closed it down pronto. "Staff and customers were stunned when one of the multi-millionaire owners of Samuel Smith’s Brewery (Humphrey) walked in and shut down Royton’s Junction Inn at 8.30pm on New Year’s Eve." According to the Chron, this was the culmination of a row over full measure pints. That is serving them, not for not doing so. Sam's, (as I observed last night by reading the brewery signs on the wall in a different Sam's pub,) have a policy of serving 95% liquid and a creamy head and offer requests for a top up only if spillage over the glass can be avoided. Given that most Sam's pubs offer nitrokeg beer, that might be tricky. In my case I was given a pint of Dark Mild with an inch and a half of head and a half pint glass with a smidgin of beer which I could then use to top up at my leisure. I won't name the pub though, in case Humph takes the hump and knocks on their door too.

It seems though this is the nub of the problem in the Junction, though of course there may be more to it than meets the eye. Things aren't always what they seem. I can't put Sam's side of the story though. The Chron obligingly tells you why: "The Chronicle contacted Mr Smith yesterday who said “we have nothing to say” before hanging up.

The wonderful Oldham Chronicle has the story in full.

My pint of 3% smooth mild cost me £1.19 last night. Yes. £1.19. If that is being achieved though by causing ructions with licensees, I'd rather pay a few pence more. Just a thought.

A Slow but Steady Decline?

2012-01-03T00:57:00.002Z

is my blog starting to mirror the British Beer Industry's slow march downhill - in volume terms at least?

Here's the stats:

2012 (1)
▼ January (1)
A Popular Misconception

► 2011 (145)

► 2010 (173)

► 2009 (249)

► 2008 (262)

► 2007 (32)

A pattern is emerging and though like a strong keg beer drinker, I could claim quality over quantity, I won't. So loins girded, I better get my arse in gear this year.

Target? 200.

A Popular Misconception

2012-01-02T12:04:00.002Z

As the Cask Report has amply illustrated, there are only two growth areas in the on trade beer market, the so called "craft sector" and good old real ale, or cask conditioned beer. Real Ale is everywhere and the cask bandwagon eclipses by far the growing keg "revolution" (let's call it a keg "revolution", as by almost every definition, most craft beer in the UK is cask.)

The year just gone has seen an expansion - some call it an explosion of craft beer bars. Explosion would probably be pushing it. It isn't even an explosion in London given the size of it and the relatively small numbers, though London is at last awake and thinking of beer. This trend in London will continue, as that's where the numbers are and more importantly, that's where the money is and it is a good thing. It is too where the momentum is. Craft beer bars will push the envelope in other places, as there is money to be made there too, but they will be limited by population and by lack of such well padded wallets. They will appear though and provide choice. Choice, repeat, is good.

So, if it is such a good thing - and it is in my view - why all the fuss about CAMRA and its attitude to keg beer? Shouldn't CAMRA be praising and supporting it all? To some extent it does. Long since forgotten by many, but among CAMRA principles is the promoting of choice. So, to that extent, there can be little against what is happening now can there? Well, as always it isn't as simple as that. The reason why CAMRA campaigns for real ale - cack handedly at times admittedly - is because CAMRA fights to protect the availability of live beer in the UK. It doesn't, or maybe that would be better as "shouldn't" (and some members need to be reminded of this) fight against other beers or dispense methods, except where that limits choice. Hang onto that choice thing. It is important.

The better amongst these new bars (and sometimes pubs) the Port Street Beer Houses, Euston and Sheffield Taps and the Crafts of this world, mix easily the two genres of imported expensive bottles, keykeg versions of stronger British beers and well chosen and more reasonably priced cask, and are a delight to drink in. The arguments about which type of beer is better is not really relevant there and drinkers mix easily and happily and switch from one to the other as they see fit. Nothing at all wrong with that. In fact quite the reverse. It isn't all that new either, as bars like, say, Fringe in Manchester have been doing it unsung for years, though of course with imported keg products, the British alternative, simply being unavailable.

"But the fight for real ale is won" I hear you cry. Well no. Cask beer is a niche drink, albeit a pretty big niche, but to maintain it there needs eternal vigilance. While cask beer may have an ascendency and CAMRA have a large and growing membership, we must always recognise that like any niche product, real ale is under threat. It is a live and perishable product and that makes it vulnerable to quality issues and the convenience of keg. Also, most of us in the Campaign can remember when we didn't have hundreds of breweries, when choice was hugely limited, when keg and cask were sold through identical pumps, when cask beer took a huge downward turn after the beer orders. We don't want these times again and that's why we fight to protect our kind of beer. I'd hazard a guess that it is why CAMRA has both a growing membership and an increasing retention rate. Despite JDW vouchers (most of which are never used), it is that feeling of supporting something you intrinsically believe in, as you have a sneaking suspicion, that it might disappear if you don't, that results in retention being so high.

Boak and Bailey talk about "thin end of the wedge" in somewhat mocking tones, as if such a thing doesn't exist, or is an imagined bogey man. In the meantime, two producers of excellent cask conditioned beer have announced they will no longer do so. While you can disregard BrewDog and Camden as minnows, they are influential enough to some drinkers and very well thought of by others - well Camden is anyway. That alone should set alarm bells ringing. They are choosing, as is their right, to restrict what they produce, despite these products being beers that sell well and have a keen following across a broad spectrum. Is that the thin end of the wedge? Will Hardknott, SWB and others follow? Would that be the thin end of a wedge? These two cases, small though they may be, illustrate why you can never take real ale for granted.

This isn't a peon of praise or support for CAMRA though some will think it. It is a genuine attempt to explain some of the rationale. Inevitably though some responses will be to attack CAMRA, but I'd like you to think more widely about this and watch my blog for a further posting in which you can help CAMRA's thinking on both keg and craft beer. Things are afoot and I'm a part of it, so rather than knee jerk anti CAMRA reactions, have a think about it all.

Remember what I said about choice and not taking things for granted? Of never assuming that fight for choice is won. It is important to us in the Campaign to protect our unique cask conditioned beer. We believe in it and we don't and won't ever assume that it will always be there. It influences greatly how we think.

This, is as always just my thoughts on the subject and my take on CAMRA policy.

Too Many (Duff) Brewers?

2011-12-28T11:20:00.000Z

I was reading the comments on Dave Bailey's blog about beer duty and one comment by Dave himself said "There is an argument that says there are too many very small brewers who aren't very good." Curmudgeon replied "that's because of the smoking ban". No he didn't actually, but what he did say was this: "Yes, while it has helped good brewers, it has also brought too many half-arsed brewers into the industry" Stringer's Beer sharply retorted "These half-arsed brewers pointed up by Curmudgeon - who's buying (and drinking) their beer? Would that be half-arsed publicans and their half-arsed customers?"

Now when we welcomed the explosion of micro brewers brought about by Progressive Beer Duty (PBD), did we imagine we'd end up with so many? Did we imagine them all to be good? Is it though just PBD that has caused this, or is it the loosening of the tie that we have also seen, leading to an increase of outlets than can take a wider variety of beer? Is the (apparent) view of free houses that you always need to have new beers on the bar a contributing factor and that some breweries,that many of us could name, exist solely it seems on the basis that they can get their beer in a pub, irrespective of quality, as long as it is cheap enough? For most small brewers - and I talk to quite a few of them - it is a dog eat dog situation of continual phoning of pubs, pleading with them to take beer, always at a discount. There is probably getting to be as many breweries now as the market will absorb - at least until the tie loosens further and tied house beer lists expand.

Of course the other side of the coin is that there are small breweries making excellent beer that do not have to discount to a great extent, as their reputation is such that they can sell what they produce. Here we are talking the Dark Stars and Pictishes of this world, but for many it is a relentless slog of seeking customers against fellow strugglers trying to do the same.

Are there half arsed breweries about? Of course there are. Why don't they go bust? Probably because they sell their beer so cheaply, to the same "half-arsed publicans and their half-arsed customers" that buy and drink down to a price.

Dedicated pub goers like me and say, Tyson, have a list of breweries in our heads that screams "Avoid" when we see them. It isn't a small list.

Should I Change My Mind?

2011-12-21T11:28:00.000Z

I named Hawkshead Windermere Pale as my best overall beer of 2011, but I wonder if that is so now. It is still the lovely easy quaffer with a complex hop bill that made me think so, but you know, last night I had a beer - not for the first time - that sent my senses reeling. Actually, if I'd had a couple more, it would have sent me reeling too.

The beer is of course the one illustrated on the left. (It would have been perverse for it to be otherwise, though I did think of putting something else on to throw you off the scent for a couple of lines.) Hawkshead New Zealand Pale Ale is wonderful. It bursts on the palate with a cornucopia of tropical fruits, is bitter and citric and so very, very drinkable for its 6% abv. One isn't enough and three may just be too many, as it commands respect strengthwise, though the alcohol is cunningly disguised.

If ever a beer could be described as dangerously drinkable, this it it. So will I change my mind? No. But you know, in a sneaking way I want to.

It knocks Jaipur, especially in its current sugar sweet, enfeebled state into a cocked hat.

Is a List a Guide?

2011-12-20T14:00:00.001Z

The Manchester Pub Guide produced by CAMRA in Greater Manchester is a handy book listing all of the pubs selling real ale in the City Centre and a couple of districts beyond. It is split up by area and there isn't a lot by way of editorial, rather, the reader - user if you like - is left to make up his or her mind from the pub descriptions. Typical CAMRA guide you might say. Give 'em the info and then let them get on with it. Fair enough? Certainly Rhys Jones, that doyen of many a CAMRA book review thinks so - and why not? In Stockport and South Manchester's Opening Times, he summarises by saying it is "an accomplished and professional volume with little to criticise".

The reviewer in Manchester Confidential toook a different tack. His thoughts are more along the lines that the book should provide recommendations rather than just descriptions. The reviewer, Charlie Butterworth says, "The authors should have been more discriminating. Some inclusions should have no place in this guide. For some places it's best to hire armed guards before venturing in......there's a lack of judgement in some of the choices that is worrying.It appears pubs and bars are included simply because they sell real ale not if they're any good as a pub." Well yes. There's the nub of it. Do you produce a comprehensive list and leave the reader to get on with it by exercising his judgemnent, or do you, as Manchester Confidential thinks, produce a book of recommended pubs with its attendant difficulties of what you put in and what you leave out?

There's a certain degree of missing the point in the Manchester Confidential article which one might think wilful until you read what Charlie has to say. I particularly liked this comment " For instance if I said to my Manchester ale-drinking mates, "Do you want to go for a few in the Lloyds in the Printworks?" they'd think I was already pissed." It's great knockabout stuff, but there is a serious point. Do you prefer a comprehensive list, or do you want to be guided? Clearly Charlie prefers the latter.

Is"guide" the correct title? What do you prefer?

The Manchester Pub Guide is already on a reprint and is available at a giveaway £4.99 from camragreatermanchester.org.uk

A Point of View

2011-12-16T15:47:00.000Z

I was out delivering our CAMRA Branch magazine (which I edit) today. As always I try and have a quick word with the licensee, just to see how things are. Maybe its different elsewhere or maybe we just have a better relationship with ours, but I always find them keen to talk to CAMRA. At one pub the licensee was bemoaning his limited cask guest beer list - a common complaint. He was also denied for reasons of which he was unsure, to a more wide ranging list which the PubCo also runs. I cooed sympathetically and asked "Is it Enterprise?" - as it usually is in such cases. "No" quoth he, I wish it was. It's Heineken. Bastards!".

The licensee also tells me things have got a lot worse since they took over from Scottish and Newcastle. So there. Enterprise aren't, in some eyes at least, as bad as Heineken. That should cheer old Tough Ted Tuppen up.

For all PubCos say about how things are much better for their tenants, I can tell you that's not what they tell me.

At least the pub was busy when I called at lunchtime, so that's something.

Golden Pint Awards

2011-12-13T14:08:00.000Z

It is Golden Pints time again where we choose under a number of categories our favourites and runners up. I'm at a disadvantage here though. I don't tick, I don't buy fancy beers, I don't visit independent retailers to purchase said exotics etc. etc. But you know, even though I may not be the best person to ask, I can give it a go. So here we are. Winners and runners up and maybe the odd honourable mention.

Best UK Draught (Cask or Keg) Beer:

Winner: Hawkshead Windermere Pale (Cask); Runner Up: Osset Citra (Cask)

What can you say about Windermere Pale? It has everything I want in a beer. Sheer swoopability, clean, great taste, loads of hops and you don't fall over after a few. Brilliant stuff. Osset Citra was by far the best of the Citras that dominated for a while. Well crafted beer from a great brewery and that lovely smack of Citra.

Best Overseas Draught Beer:

Winner:1516 Brewing Company, Vienna, Victory Hop Devil; Runner Up: Tegernsee Spezial

The 1516 version of Hop Devil was stunning, with booming C hops, great body and sheer beery enjoyment. It achieved rare drinkability for such a strong beer. Spezial is pale, blond, bitter, full bodied and at 5.6%, far too easy to drink. Both beers drunk at the brewery taps.

Best Overall Beer:

Hawkshead Windermere Pale

Best UK Brewery:

Hawkshead. Everything they do is brewed with such attention to detail and to being able to drink a few of them. None are sticky. All have that cleanliness that I just love in a beer . Runner Up: Buxton Brewery. Clean, well crafted and seek out beers. Honourable mentions: Pictish, Kernel, Thornbridge

Best Overseas Brewery:

1516 Brewing, Vienna. Runner Up: Augustiner, Munich. Again it is that drinkability thing, though it always reminds me of good times and that's worth a lot.

Pub/Bar of the Year:

Winner: The Southampton Arms London. Everything I want in a pub.Great beer, appropriate food, a wonderful atmosphere and my sort of customers. Runner Up: The Angel, Manchester. Great beer, great staff, great prices and it's on my bus route. Honourable mentions to The Regal Moon, the White Lion Delph and the Tavern. (My locals and my friends go there or are there.)

Beer Festival of the Year:

National Winter Ales, of course. Runner Up: GBBF of course.

Best Beer Book or Magazine:

Book: Great British Pubs, by Adrian Tierney-Jones Magazine: Beer - CAMRA

Best Beer Blog or Website:

I've thought long and hard about this. A blog to me has to be independent and personal. So all the band wagon jumpers and clones are out (you know who you are). So overall it has to be:

Winner: Pete Brown. Independent and personal boxes ticked and he writes so well, wears his heart on his sleeve and talks (mostly) sense.

Runner Up: (Joint) Boak and Bailey. They don't say much, but somehow you like them just the same and they are independent and personal. Reluctant Scooper: Independent, personal and so well written. Honourable mention: Stuart Howe. Brewing at the Sharp End. In case you didn't notice. I like independent and personal blogs. Blogs that reflect the likes and dislikes of the writer. And Boak and Bailey.

Best Beer Twitterer:

Simon Johnson of course. Nobody in the same league is there? Runner Up: Stringers Beer. Does he actually have time to brew?

In 2012 I’d Most Like To…

Get back to Belgium. It has been a couple of years. Or more. I fancy some lambic, or kriek or.....

Now it is time I went for a drink.

Sorted. Now Roll Up

2011-12-12T09:18:00.000Z

I attended my last National Winter Ales Organising Committee Meeting on Saturday. Last this festival I mean. Almost everything is arranged. Last minute snags were identified and decisions were made and we are good to go - though of course there will be more last minute hitches and more decisions needed. I spent quite a lot of time last week doing a tortuous risk assessment for Greater Manchester Police and updating our internal stuff. Others have sweated over beer orders, cider orders, what we need from HQ stores, what we have to buy locally, how we will steward the event, advertise it, get sponsorship, print tickets, discuss and agree food availability, order glasses, design signs, design the programme, order transport for goods and staff, sign up staff to work, arrange duties and a million other less obvious things. It is a giant jigsaw that has to come together by the trade session on Wednesday 18th January. With Christmas and New Year, it doesn't leave a lot of time and plenty of us will be dedicating some of that holiday time to ensuring there are no last minute problems. I for instance will be pulling some stuff together for some of the legal requirements that we have to follow, but then forgetting about it for a week or two. Hopefully.

Those of you that are interested in the beer list can find it here, with foreign beers here and real ale in a bottle here. As always, genuine beer bloggers are considered as trade, so if you'd like trade session tickets and are a blogger, please let me know and I will arrange for them to be sent to you.

This really is a cracking festival with a great choice of beer, a friendly outlook and of course it is held in Manchester, one of the finest beer cities in the UK. What's stopping you? See you there then.

National Winter Ales Festival: The Sheridan Suite, Oldham Rd, Manchester from 18th to 21st January 2012

Cask Phased Out?

2011-12-10T11:11:00.000Z

I read a tweet the other day from some geezer or other. It was re-tweeted by someone else, as these things are. It said in essence that BrewDog are going to phase out cask beer from next year. I asked the originator, copied to the others, including I think BrewDog James, if that was true, but in the time honoured Twitter "being of the moment" and therefore transient, nobody has replied.

This morning I read on Pencil and Spoon of the opening of BrewDog Camden, which like the others offers no cask beer. Mark praises its reasonable prices (apparently you get change from a tenner for most bottles, so that's good) and compares it to Craft, which in my humble opinion is absolutely incongruous. Limiting itself to keg beer, served in uber trendy surroundings, to skinny twenty to thirty year olds can never be compared directly to Craft, which has a much broader appeal, a much wider range of beer and beer styles and is above all, a pub and has all the inclusiveness you go to a pub for. It sells cask beer too, in case no-one noticed.

As an aside, there is little doubt that some new bars (and Manchester is full of them) are great places to go and remarkably inclusive. A trip to Chorlton to see how it should be done is a must. Here in the Grim North, we do things differently it seems. Our trendy young people mix and match beers easily in the same bar and customers, while generally young, are leavened by the odd old git, happily enjoying the offer. Almost all of the really successful bars in Manchester serve excellent and well chosen cask to complement their keg offerings. That's good isn't it? I have wondered before and wonder again, just how successful the new BrewDog Manchester will be when it opens next year, offering keg only in such a cask bastion as Manchester?

Anyway, I have wandered a little from my original point. BrewDog bars are different. They are in effect tied houses, that choose as company policy, not to sell the company's cask products. Now I will happily say that I think BrewDog's cask beer offerings are generally superb. I remember some wonderful pints of Trashy Blonde and Alice Porter. I really think they should do more, not less of them. While I might speculate that more profitable keg to offset less profitable supermarket beer is one reason, the real point of this is, does anyone know if the rumour is actually true?

I certainly hope not.

Amazingly I got an invite to the formal opening of BrewDog Camdem. Cool or what?

Way Out East

2011-12-09T10:14:00.001Z

Another day in London and another new beer bar. Both new to me and E and new(ish) overall. Fortunately, unlike some of the new bars which involve tortuous journeys across London by bus - trying but interesting - Tap East is relatively quick and easy for us. A quick stroll to Tower Gateway, a change at Canning Town to Stratford International DLR, pass the new Olympic Stadium and that odd piece of sculpture and you are dropped more or less at the door. Good old Docklands Light Railway, though the TFL site tried to send us by bus, ferry, pony express and camel train, and by an entirely different and wholly inappropriate route. But I digress.

The Westfield Shopping Centre (or is it Mall?) is the destination. Out there in Olympic Land. Hop off the DLR, pass the Olympic athlete's village, go through the airport like ticket hall, look right and there it is. All glass fronted, wide open to the shopping centre (more of that later) and looking like a cross between Costa Coffee and an American Brew pub is Tap East. An L shaped bar, tables and stools, nice chairs and sofas, big windows. It is roomier than you'd think too and pleasantly laid out. Of course beer is the attraction but not being a geek, I didn't count the fonts for keg beer, nor the handpumps, but there was certainly enough to go at and my choice of cask beer included two from the brew pub, Thornbridge Kipling and Dark Star American Pale. I started with the Tap East Pale Ale (I think). Deeply bitter, with a good malt backbone, this was am enjoyable beer which perhaps needs a lighter more floral or tropical finishing hop adding, but was very drinkable indeed. Thornbridge Kipling followed and was in great nick. All it needed was a sparkler to make it perfect. There was of course, being an Utobeer outlet, a large array of bottled delicacies too.

On a Saturday afternoon the pub was pleasantly busy. Being in a shopping centre, there is a natural degree of transience about the customers. People come and go, but that isn't an issue to me, as this aids people watching, a prime pub pastime. Downsides? Well yes. Being open to the shopping mall on one side, makes the bar feel more airport like than perhaps a dividing wall otherwise would. Being a bit more separate would also aid its identity hugely in my view. The other downside is the mall's musak, which is piped in at a volume that makes it impossible to tune out for long. The usual Christmas songs (on a one hour loop) must drive the staff to the point of distraction and certainly provide a degree of irritation for the customer.

Service was quick and friendly and despite the fact that we sat with manager Glyn, looking around, it was just as good for everyone. We ate too; a doorstep sandwich for E and a superb pork pie from Borough Market for me. Just the type of thing you need from a pub in my view, being something substantial enough to blot up some beer without being stuffed. Glyn brought me a sample of the stout too, but this to my mind needed more work , being brown and not roasty at all. Talking of the brewery, this is clearly visible from the inside of the pub and is satisfyingly shiny.

Overall Tap East is a pleasant place to be in, has a great choice of good quality beer (no warm, flabby cask here), is well run with pleasant staff and very handy for Waitrose and the DLR. What's not to like? Get along there and try it. We'll certainly be back.

Top Tip: Avoid Westfield Shopping Centre by using the DLR. It seems the tube involves hoofing through the mall.

A Word to the Weisse

2011-12-08T11:55:00.002Z

I have written before about Schneider und Sonne, the renowned German wheat beer brewer. You can read my original article here, but I don't think I've ever drank any of their beers in the UK. Not until one night last week that was.

Much is written about the Port St Beer House and their beer tasting nights, but little of their older sister Common Bar, in the trendy Northern Quarter of Manchester. It was Common, an edgier, funkier, artier, music led type of place and haunt of pretty studenty young women and skinny, hairy, leery, gawky lads, that hosted a tasting of Schneider beers. This was held in what could be described as a back room, but since it looked out onto the street, plainly wasn't. In our room, the audience was mostly young by my standards, so think late twenties, early thirties, but no doubt regarded as a load of old crinklies by the eager young crew next door. They all looked pretty damned serious. Until the beer flowed that is. What a leveller beer is and what a leveller it should be.

This was billed as a "Beer and Cheese" evening and the cheesy part was hosted by a Swiss Cheese producer, but since there was no hand-out of what the cheeses were and the descriptions and names were rattled out at top speed, we'll pass on the cheese part for now and concentrate on the beer. Now Schneider only brew wheat beer, so all the beers were of that ilk. That's fine, because Schneider, unlike many other German producers have used their imagination more than a little, so subtle and not so subtle variations of the wheat theme were the order of the day. We started off, somewhat surprisingly, with their newest beer, a supposed "one off". Nelson Sauvin uses the hop of that name and is bottle conditioned in champagne style bottles. The beer is 7.3% and while some of the promised, flowers, kiwi and gooseberry could be detected, overall, I didn't think this worked that well. Still, interesting and more variations please. The basic premise is a good one.

The beers came thick and fast. Next up was Mein Blonde, a traditional pale wheat beer that ticks all the boxes. Spicy, citrus, subdued clove and banana. A bit of Bavarian summer in a cold and grey Manchester. Kristall, is a filtered version. Clear as a bell and refreshing enough. Maybe it is just preference, but it doesn't do it for me in the same way a cloudy wheat beer does. Then my Schneider favourite and my drink of choice when I'm in The Weisses Bräuhaus in Munich. Original is said to be the recipe of the original wheat beer brewed by the founder. If so, it has been cleaned up in recent years and is now an outstanding wheat beer of great complexity. Bottle conditioned, it has the full banana, clove thing going without excessive sweetness, through to a bitter-sweet finish. A bit darker this one, but a cracker in every way for the wheat beer fan. I'm one in case you didn't guess!

An odd interlude then. I don't believe I've ever ordered an alcohol free beer in Germany. Mein Alkoholfreies is said to taste like "ripe corn fields, sparkling and malty-aromatic". Well, to me it tasted like unfermented wort, which is probably what it is. I wasn't alone. It was the only dumper on our table. Back to normality then with Aventinus, a dark, luscious doppelbock; oh an somewhere in between (by now the beer was taking effect and the noise levels were a notch below cacophony) we had Mein Grünes, another fairly new beer. Organic and 6.2% this has delicious lemony citrus overtones and traditional wheat beer spice. Very easy going to drink and refreshing too. This is another great beer and one which I will be drinking next time I'm in Munich for sure.

Then the beer that knocked John Clarke's socks off. Hopfenweisse is heavily hopped with American "C " hops. It has a big booming taste to go with its big booming 8.2% alcohol. It is wonderful and dangerously and deceptively drinkable. Schneider say "This extreme wheat beer shows how far wheat beer taste can go." Indeed it does.

Oh yes. The cheese. I said I'd come back to that. Delicious though they were, they came in such minuscule portions that you couldn't really taste them with the beers. A touch more would have been nice and really have made it a food and beer matching. No such complaints about the beer though. A great night ended with a second shared bottle of the Hopfenweisse and we left having experienced what a great brewer can do with a style that most others merely produce to a single repetitive standard. Well done Schneider. Our experience was enhanced by our two charming table companions, whose attractiveness to us was enhanced in no small way by generous donations of beer to three old soaks.

Young people today aren't all bad.

Beer of the night? For me and my companions, it had to be Hopfenweisse. My thanks to James Clay for their kind invitation

A Quick Word of Praise and a Moan

2011-12-05T09:44:00.000Z

After much nagging, led by me (I think) and supported by many others, the Dean Swift in SE1 sorted out their (lack of) cooling for its cask beers sometime back in what passed for summer. I called subsequently and the beer was much transformed and in a good way.

Yesterday we nipped in again and found the cask beer in perfect condition and temperature. Oakham JHB was the beer and after one, a second was needed just to be sure. It was great too. That's gratifying. Now could they have a word round the corner at another well known venue?

In the same area, both the Horniman at Hays and the Pommeler's Rest, both very reliable in the past, seem to have taken quantum leaps backward in cask beer quality. In the former, the hefty price should at least guarantee a tip top pint.

Both these pubs are Cask Marque. Hmmm.

Camden Capers

2011-12-03T10:15:00.003Z

The Beer Writers Guild do was good, with decent company and some good beer. I liked the Orange Peel beer from Wadworth particularly, as did Eileen, but we could have done with a bit more of it. My pre dinner tipple was Thwaites Wainwright. Re-racked bright, but still in excellent nick and very drinkable. Thwaites are doing a lot of things right and will likely continue to do so I fancy.

The day after the do saw a nice invitation from Mark Dredge to visit him at Camden Town Brewery. Tyson and I set off in reasonably good time, but got lost and despite the good intentions of those that directed us onto various wrong buses, we made it, almost an hour later than intended. We declined Mark's kind advice to scale the fence to get in and were admitted more conventionally through a gate. The brewery is spread under a set of railway arches and is bright and shiny German made stainless steel and mostly automated, with its own small kegging and bottling line. It is all carefully fitted in to the tightest of spaces.

Beers on offer were the noted Camden Hell which was spritzy and refreshing. The Pale was lightly hopped and is apparently being tweaked at present. The two stars of the show for me however were the new stout, not yet released, so rather exclusive. Nitro kegged and very, very drinkable, with a clean, bitter taste, roasty malt and some sweetness. It should do well and of course, it knocks Guinness into a cocked hat. A German style hefe weizen, was deliciously bang in the middle of the style, while the Belgian witbier hit all the right notes. None of the beers are pasteurised, which certainly gets a tick in the box from me. The company was good too, with fellow bloggers Mark from Beer Birra,Beer making a late appearance and Fletch from Real Ale Reviews too, who seemed to materialise from nowhere, but as always was great fun to be with. They all were, even if these lads make me feel even more geriatric than usual!

Camden are doing lots of things right. There is a dynamic enthusiasm there and most of all, the beers are bloody good. Drink them with confidence.

Thanks to Mark D for the tour and the hospitality.

To Swig or not Swig. That is the Question

2011-11-30T11:31:00.000Z

I read a lot about the beer revolution that is sweeping through a (relatively small) number of beery establishments and its small but growing band of devotees and noting what Zak Avery says here, offer a few observations.

It seems to me, irrespective of a sterile and futile keg versus cask debate, that the main dichotomy in beer drinking is coming from the increasing divide between those that like to, for want of a better term, neck a few, and those that want to have something stronger and more complex (harder to drink) in much smaller measures. The other great divide that is emerging is that between the younger more experimental type of beer drinker and those more traditional types that drink mostly cask beer in volume. I am ignoring for the purposes of this argument, the vast majority of beer drinkers that do neither, preferring their tipple to be Carling, John Smith's or whatever. (It is instructive sometimes to remember that whatever we imagine about the beer scene, most people neither drink cask nor craft keg, so in one sense, whatever camp you mainly fall in, the so called discerning beer market, whether craft keg or cask, has more in common than we sometimes recognise.)

While stereotyping is lazy, in some ways it does serve a purpose when identifying trends. When I visit places like Craft or the Port Street Beer House (less so) , I'm concious of the fact that I am one of the oldest there. It doesn't mean that people like me don't drink beer any more, but they don't necessarily drink it in the same places as the new emerging beer enthusiast that prefers to pay top dollar for something either exotic, from afar, or both. There is also undoubtedly a snobbish element about this too. Just look at Twitter to see what such people are drinking. They boast about beers I have never heard of, not so much to tell you how wonderful they are, but how unusual they are. And often, how strong they are.

Zak mentions the growth in this niche market in his blog - and he is right. It does have some legs yet, but I doubt if it will take over the British beer drinking scene to any great extent, though grow it will. London will set this trend. It has been the sleeping giant for far too long and now awakened, there is plenty room to both catch up and exploit a still affluent market further. Other beer drinking cities will follow to a lesser extent. Further from the capital though, there is only so much money to go round and those willing to pay nine pounds a pint, or whatever, are limited in number and will further be weakened as economic gloom continues. To that extent, going back to Zak's title, the revolution can indeed be economised.

There is of course an up side. These new drinkers and new beers and brewers bring a vibrancy and enthusiasm which should be welcomed, but as the exotic beers get ever more expensive, most of them will inevitably be drunk at home too. Zak and other retailers are already exploiting this demand, but all home drinking has a knock on effect on pub and bar drinking. It could not be otherwise.

I assume the reason for the expensiveness of such beer is initial cost, rarity, mark up and the need to keep a lot of relatively low turnover stock on hand to satisfy choice. Cask beer, with its limited shelf life is more immediate and is consumed quickly and with gusto. Those that do best mix and match the two. I have long thought that without CAMRA there would be no "craft" and now I imagine the volume drinking cask drinker plays a large part in the mixed economy of the pubs I mention. Maybe we need each other a bit more than you'd think? That's something BrewDog may find out when they open in England. It is all very well selling exclusively keg beer in their Scottish bars. Scotland to all intents and purposes is a keg bastion. Will that work just as well in England? We'll see.

As I said, these are just observations. I am delighted to see such interest in beer generally, despite reservations about emerging snobbery. (Of course the same charge can equally be levelled at some cask drinkers too.) I would also guess that most of us reading this are pretty well attuned to drinking in volume sometimes, but sipping at others. There is no conclusion to offer you, except perhaps that whatever and wherever we drink, we should remember that beer might well be the best long drink in the world, but at the end of the day it is is just malt, hops, yeast and water. Sometimes these simple ingredients are in perfect juxtaposition and often they are not. Drinking expensively does not guarantee drinking well - price does not necessarily equate to quality. Sellers should also be aware that beer doesn't have an intrinsic value that can only go up, like gold in a depression. (To go back to why you pay much more for craft beer things, I leave you with a quote from the Economist. " By selling more profitable “craft premium” beers, in the marketing lingo, they can thrive where other pubs have failed. As always - follow the money." Of course cask beer, the volume drink in these places, is also expensive.

In the end, maybe the one rubs off the other, enabling both to have a place in these new beer bars and a new generation of open minded beer drinkers would be a good thing, but new drinkers, like traditional ones, should avoid painting themselves into a corner.

This piece draws on the Economist article that Zak mentions. I won't mention his photo, except for one thing. Anyone watch Emmerdale?

Reinheitsgebot - Einheitsgebot

2011-11-28T09:57:00.001Z

For those of us interested in the state of German brewing - me, Boak and Bailey and Robsterowski mainly - there is, in the Brewer's Guardian, a fascinating interview with American Brewer in Bavaria, gone not quite native, Eric Toft.

Eric argues that German brewers have in effect led themselves and their customers up a blind alley of sameness, by interpreting the beer purity law in a singular and unwise way. He says in effect that there has been a gaderene rush to produce identical beers, dictated not by the Reinheitsgebot, but a lack of vision. He points out that "the Reinheitsgebot says nothing about what hop varieties and barley varieties and yeast strains you should use" and that "the Reinheitsgebot should be an inspiration to try and create within these so-called ‘confines". Like so many things in life, it isn't what you've got, but the way that you use it that counts.

He has put this into effect in the brewery where he is Head Brewer, Privat Landbrauerei Schönram, a 55,000hl rural Bavarian brewery, by producing porters and IPAs alongside the more usual helles and pils, pointing out that particularly, these small scale experiments are well liked by women. (A separate issue, but yet another pointer that silly spritzer style beers for women are doomed to failure).

It is good to see this streak of common sense and adventure, albeit on a tiny scale, so let's hope he can convince more of his brewing colleagues and the wider drinking public in Germany.

Anything that shakes the German brewing industry out of its lethargy cannot be a bad thing. I say more power to his elbow.

The full interview with Eric Toft can be downloaded here.

Family Brewers to Keep Tie

2011-11-24T16:01:00.001Z

The Government ended uncertainty about the future of the tie as it pertains to the vertically integrated family brewers - that is - those family owned breweries such as Adnams, Robinsons, Bateman's Lees etc. that both brew, and own pubs which are tied to their beer.

In a response to the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee’s tenth report of session 2010-2012 into pub companies, the Consumer Minister Edward Davey recognised the importance of the tie to the longevity of breweries and success of tenant licensees. It is instructive to my mind at least, that "During this long enquiry, successive Select Committees received no complaints about brewery tenancies." This contrasts somewhat vividly with the complaints received about Pub Companies. Paul Wells speaking for the Independent Family Brewers of Britain (IFBB) was pleased saying (among other things) "In my view, many family brewers will now increase investment into their pubs because of the support the Government has announced for the traditional brewery tenancy agreement and the beer tie."

All well and good - and I welcome the decision - but maybe now that this uncertainty has been removed, IFBB members who have not woken up to the beer revolution around them, in addition to tarting up their pubs, can turn their attention to more vibrant brewing in this new stable environment. It will be a hollow victory indeed if they have stability for their tenants and future business, only to see it diminished by moribund beer ranges, dull brewing and a "we know best" attitude. As the Government and commercial logic forces PubCos to concede more choice for their lessees and micros offer more and more beery options, IFBB members cannot allow themselves to fall (further) behind the curve.

The beer market is at its most volatile for years. Innovation and experiment is all around. Beer drinkers are more and more discerning and demanding. This provides opportunity, but it also provides pitfalls. Let's see IFBB members rise to the challenge of the times.

A lot of my drinking is done in IFBB pubs, so I declare an interest. And I care about them.

Two Beers - Two Breweries

2011-11-23T09:59:00.000Z

When people rave about breweries, it is often about those that brew beers that are, shall we say, at the more exotic end of the spectrum. There are rarely glowing reports on ordinary supping strength beers, even from me and that is almost all that I drink. I of course rarely write about individual beers, so that's my excuse, but with the exception of say, Dark Star, Marble or the odd London brewery, there isn't much. Some yes, but not much, despite those kind of beers being what nearly everyone drinks.

So I'll redress the balance just a little. On Monday night, in Oldham, I had two different beers (though not just two beers) from two exceptional breweries. Both are, gratifyingly in my CAMRA branch area, and it was a CAMRA meeting that caused me, rarely, to be drinking beer on a Monday night. Both were 4.5%, which is just a touch above my normal drinking strength, but when the beers are from these two, you know not only that you can drink them with confidence, but indeed you must.

Funnily enough, one of the breweries, despite a great reputation is fairly hard to come by, though being brewed only 5 or 6 miles from where I live. (The other is even nearer.) The brewery brews at capacity, has no plans to expand and when I looked at its web site for my blog post, I realised I hadn't ever had the vast majority of their beers, such is their comparative rarity. The other brewery also brews to capacity most of the time and is much bigger. I have tried the vast majority of those beers many a time and always with great pleasure.

So who are they? Pictish and Phoenix of course. The beers on the night were Pictish Little Gem, a wonderfully tasty and hoppy, pale golden beer loaded with hops, this time in the unusual combination of Bramling Cross and Pacific Gem, giving a beer that was just sublime. In our meeting venue, we had Phoenix White Monk. An old favourite this and different in many ways to the Pictish offering, but wonderfully balanced between malt and hop. Don't ask me what hops, as I don't know and I bet if I asked the brewer, he wouldn't tell me.

So there you are. Two top tips. Phoenix and Pictish. Seek them out and don't forget the sparkler.

Pictured is Tony Allen of Phoenix with (possibly) a pint of White Monk.

Handing on the Baton

2011-11-21T09:18:00.000Z

Tyson has mentioned the Bury Beer Festival and Darren Turpin here. This used to be run by CAMRA for many years - in fact I've organised it more than once - but is now run by the hall owners themselves, on a different basis. CAMRA did run a small membership stall this year though and I did my bit on Friday afternoon, by spending a few hours there with my "Ask me about CAMRA" badge on. Quite a few did and one of the questions I was asked more than once, was "Why isn't CAMRA doing it now?"

There is no one answer, though lack of willing local volunteers was a pretty big factor, but my personal feeling is that for us, the event had run its course. We had done ourselves proud over the years and could now bow out, especially as the hall owners had their own thoughts about how the festival could develop and change. Also, clearly, one of the biggest expenses is the hall hire and that is something owners don't have to pay for and through letting out concessions to sell beer, they don't have to worry about the cost of buying it, or staffing the stalls, to nearly the same extent. In short, they have many advantages and have an ability to run things slightly differently to appeal to a different audience - in this case combining it with frequent live musical acts, but it could be anything.

When we started doing the Bury Beer Festival umpteen years ago (well over 20), beer festivals were the sole domain of CAMRA. Now others do it and Bury has quite a few. We blazed the trail and now many others are copying it, adapting it and taking the strain, as well as promoting cask ale to others. Is this a bad thing? No, it isn't. We in CAMRA campaign for real ale and if our campaigning has inspired others take the baton up and promote the same kind of beers we do, in their own particular way, at their risk, then surely that's no bad thing?

One thing though. Most of these festivals have a commercial element to them (as CAMRA's) festivals do.) Many support worthy causes and some, like Bury are run purely for profit, (though keeping the Met Arts Centre going could certainly be described as worthy). Beer festivals aren't the intellectual property of CAMRA, but often we are asked for advice and kit to help run beer festivals and we do give general advice and guidance, based on national policy. When we are asked for kit, we hire it. It takes effort to get the stuff from store and to clean it afterwards and CAMRA and its branches do still need campaigning money.

Beer is increasingly expensive to buy, and venues, in these difficult times are expensive to hire. Beer festivals can be a risky business when money is tight and you have to charge a fair old whack just to cover hall rental. When you have a town like Bury, with a healthy real ale scene, that can be a big ask of customers, who can get great choice at no entry cost in the local pubs. In short, the figures just don't stack up sometimes, so don't be too surprised if the odd, small, local beer festival is no longer run by CAMRA. I must say, I enjoyed my few hours at Bury, not having to worry about staff and whether we were going to sell enough beer to pay for it all.

At the other end of the scale though, larger festivals on a well established basis, like GBBF, National Winter Ales, Peterborough and the like in big cities, will continue to be CAMRA run, as indeed will very many small festivals. But there is a place for a different approach in certain circumstances and where it happens, there shouldn't be too many concerns about that*.

* You will no doubt understand that I am stating a personal point of view here.

CAMRA's Great British Pubs

2011-11-15T10:49:00.000Z

There is a plethora of books about beer and fortunately there seems to be a fairly never ending set of customers for them. One of the first in the UK to take up this theme was, oddly enough, the Campaign for Real Ale, who have been producing beer related books for many years, as a follow on from their first effort, the Good Beer Guide. They are still doing it.

Well known beer writer Adrian Tierney-Jones has ducked under the CAMRA Books umbrella for his latest offering, CAMRA's Great British Pubs. However this is no grim list of back street dives, but a well chosen selection of some of the most characterful pubs in the UK, cleverly chopped into sections such as "The best riverside pubs", "the best heritage pubs", "the best family pubs", "the best pubs to take your pet monkey to" -OK I made that one up, but you get the drift. This is a shrewd move as it breaks the book up neatly into type, rather than location, which makes for a more interesting read, though wisely there is an index by region to pull the whole thing into some geographical context and increase its usability as a guide.

This is no dry volume. Neatly studded throughout, like gateposts to lean on as you take in the scene, are one page articles such as "Edinburgh pub walks", "How cider is made", or "Fictional pubs" and there are appendices of beer styles and "how beer is brewed" to ease you out of the book and provide a practical aide-memoire. But what of the pubs? Like any list of pubs, there are those that would argue that such and such a pub should be included at the expense of some other. That is to miss the point. This is no complete guide to the best, but like beer itself is a snapshot. The writing is direct, personal and can be as delicious as a favoured pint. Take this about the Beacon in Sedgefield: "Come far?" asked a genial chap in the tap room as I sipped the Dark Ruby and looked about the equally genial surroundings. I replied yes, but I really wanted to say that distance is relative: a visit to the Beacon is a journey through time as much as space."

I know the pub and know what he means. Perhaps the test of this book is how it describes and brings to life pubs you already know. It does this in spades. Tierney-Jones has a great eye for a pub. No dry commission this, done for the shilling and little else. This is a labour of love and you can tell this was written by a pub man. The pubs are brought to life and perhaps best of all, it makes you want to visit the ones you haven't been to. It can be used as a guide, or just to read for the sheer pleasure and envy of it all. So many pubs - so little time.

Given that this is a snapshot of 200 or so pubs, the opportunity of a follow up second volume would be a possibility in due course, but if Adrian does it, he may need some time to recover first. Thoroughly recommended.

Published by CAMRA Books at £14.99 (or join CAMRA and get two quid off) Review copy provided by CAMRA Books.

Briefly in Glasgow

2011-11-11T20:01:00.000Z

Visiting my old Mum involves going though Glasgow en route to the Clyde coast and Dumbarton. Shaking off the effects of the journey usually has me nipping in for a quick pint before catching the train from Queen St, a five minute walk from Central Station. I used to always go to the Drum and Monkey, but for a while it has been reduced to the ubiquitous Deuchar's IPA and the ridiculous Caley 80 bob, so I by-passed it for the cavernous Counting House and its many handpumps. There was a lot of unappealing dark stuff on, but my eye alighted on a Nelson Sauvin pumpclip. Such was the crush at the bar, I couldn't get to see much more, but it was from Tryst brewery and a fine and distinctive quaffer, which hit the spot after my journey.

A quick visit to the nearby - well just over the road - Camperdown Place, saw a poor choice. I plumped for Goff's Jouster after a taste, but it was one of those beers that fools you. The more you had of it, the more unpleasant it became. I ditched it and had a half of Abbot, my first in years and you know, I quite enjoyed it.

The next day saw me window shopping in Glasgow prior to taking Mum for a curry. Back to the Counting House, with Mum remarking that she misses her odd outing to them, as "a pub is a much better to have a drink in than home". Indeed Mum. Jaipur was a touch green and not clear, as often it seems to be. My twitter enquiries about other folks' experiences with this beer fell on deaf ears however. Is it just me then? Our curry house was two doors up from BrewDog Glasgow. We were between buses, so went in. I liked the place a lot and though they were probably bemused by both me and Mum, they treated us well. All keg of course and my half of 77 lager was unappealingly watery - that again - and the Zeitgeist had somehow mislaid its mojo on the long journey from Fraserburgh to Glasgow. Still, it had to be done and it was.

I'll draw a line under our late lunch the next day and my pints of Draught Guinness and Tennents Lager. Both awful, but suffice to say, Guinness particularly seems in rapid decline taste wise, with its over-cooked, stale cardboard flavour and its thinness. The Tennents just tasted watery and watered down, which it is. A couple of days later, on the way back to Manchester, I had a quick pint of Harviestoun Natural Blonde which was pretty good, with a snappy, refreshing hop taste and a slight spicy wheatiness. The pumpclip may well offend some though. Time for one more before my journey. I popped into the Drum and Monkey and five beers were on. I opted for a half of Ilkley Lotus IPA. I had to ask for a sparkler, which caused the very personable East Coaster behind the bar to grimace, confiding in me that he disliked them. We agreed to differ and chatted amiably. He now looks after the beer and is a stickler for both choice and quality. He berated the previous regime, as is customary, but I surmised instantly that he'll be an asset to the pub. As always in pubs, get the staffing and beer right and you are on a winner. The Lotus was splendid, so much so, that I had another quick half, before hot footing it round the corner to Trans Pennine Express and the railway line southwards.

So a mixed bag in very limiting circumstances in Glasgow, but overall, not so bad.

If you ever want a very decent curry, tapas style, Mother India Cafe can be combined with BrewDog Glasgow, right opposite the Kelvin Hall.

Can I Have a Taste of That?

2011-11-03T10:36:00.000Z

We are told that one of the best ways of encouraging people to try cask beer, is to offer tasters. Indeed the principle can be stretched to all beer, but I'd guess that it is to cask beer that it most often applies, given the huge number of different beers available and the lack of information provided about what's on sale in most pubs. There is a touch of psychology involved here too. Perhaps it is a British thing particularly, but there is a degree of obligation then put on the drinker, in his or her mind at least, that having tried a beer, you must buy a beer. I can't recall many, if any times, where I or others having tried a sample or two, then said "No thanks" and left. It is you would say, a "win win" situation. The drinker gets a beer they are more or less content with and the pub makes a sale. Simples.

Stepping back from this a little and broadening things out, there is still a distinct lack of information about beers on sale in most pubs. Bar staff are often guilty of complete lack of knowledge of even colour, despite serving the stuff - even sometimes it has to be said - at the end of a shift. Boards rarely indicate style or colour and the Cyclops scheme of how a beer appears and should taste is yet to make much of an impression. At least, nobody has ever read the Cyclops tasting notes back to me.

Last week in Liverpool I came across something that has only happened on the odd occasion. In one pub, a request by my drinking companion for a taste was politely refused, citing company policy. In another the very helpful barmaid explained that third pint tasters (as a pint) were available, so that you could make up your own mind at your own cost, as the burden of paying for tasters had proved uneconomic to the pub, mostly due to abuse of the system. Interesting stuff.

Now it may be that they are just a mean lot in Liverpool, but I doubt that. Personally I'd rather the pub factored in the cost of tasters in their pricing, as I'm sure most do, but given the wide variety of beers and beer styles available and the huge lottery of buying the unknown blind, I'd say pubs are missing a trick if they don't offer free tasters and make more effort to tell folks what the beers available are like. On the subject of third pints and three for the price of a pint in particular, I've noticed this becoming more common. It is a good thing, but not as a replacement for a quick taste to see if I'd like it in the first place. For the record, I've never come across any pub that sells a third of a pint on its own. Does that happen anywhere?

Tasters can be misleading of course as most drinkers know, but at least they give you a fleeting impression of the beer, but more product information is never a bad thing. The customer not only deserves it, but with huge choice, actually needs it.

I have even heard of CAMRA run festivals where the third has replaced tasters. Bad form.

And the Winner Is.....

2011-11-01T16:49:00.000Z

Hawkshead Windermere Pale. The Champion Beer of the Society of Independent Brewers Northen section and very well deserved it is too. I first alerted my readers about this beer way back in 2009. You can read about it here. For those that don't know it, Windermere Pale is a very pale, highly hopped beer of a mere 3.5%. When we read so much about hop monster triple IPAs or other such, weighing in at 9% plus, it is good to remember what we are, possibly uniquely, so great at brewing on these islands - very drinkable low gravity beer that you can just straightforwardly sup in volume.

I was able to congratulate both the brewer and owner after the result was announced at the Great Northern Beer Festival last week in Manchester. The beer is one of my favourites and though judging was blind, I was pretty sure that it was one of the beers I judged, but I'll never know for sure, as I'm not anal enough to write down the codes, thus enabling me to find out later. I know it is a cracking beer though, as does Matt the brewer and Alex the owner. For those that don't know it, Windermere Pale is hoppy and refreshing, pale gold in colour with a long bitter finish with hints of grapefruit. The fruity hop flavours come from a medley of traditional and modern hops in which Citra - no surprises - features. As Alex said " “Windermere Pale is a very popular beer, it has a lot of fans. It has become the best selling beer in The Beer Hall at the brewery. It is one of those beers that is winning converts to real ale. I’m so glad competition judges like it too.”

If you come across it, seek it out and insist it is both cool and sparkled.

You'll also wish to know that the festival was a great success too. More on that in due course.

Keykeg Question

2011-10-26T10:02:00.000+01:00

I am still getting my head round keykegs. OK, I've examined them at close quarters at GBBF and understand how they work, but my question is about how they are filled and how the beer inside gets its CO2. Now a conventional keg, is filled upside down (usually) through its central extraction spear. Is it the same for a keykeg where the bag takes the place of the spear? Additionally since a keykeg is not subject to applied external CO2 being in contact with the beer and therefore does not "gain" CO2 from the dispense process, my assumption is that the volume of internal CO2 is set as (or before) it is filled and then it stays at that rate during dispense, as it is pushed out by the collapsing sphere. Is the beer pressure set at the filling unit? Can they be filled with beer set at whatever CO2 content the brewer needs?

Essentially how is the internal CO2 pressure set? Anyone care to enlighten me?

The Great Northern Beer Festival

2011-10-25T12:24:00.003+01:00

For the second time Manchester is hosting this prestigious event, with beers being exhibited by most, if not all, SIBA North members. There is a new venue too, at the Ramada Piccadilly Hotel (though since booking, it is now actually the Mercure Piccadilly Hotel - hotels change hands a lot) and bang in the centre of the city. Publicity has been a lot better this year too - we do learn as we go along - so combined with that and a new and reduced pricing structure for entry, we should hopefully see a huge turnout. All cask beers will be served by handpump and will be sparkled and served with a tight Northern creamy head, as the brewers and God intended.

The festival itself is a joint venture between SIBA (Small Independent Brewers) and CAMRA Greater Manchester, with SIBA underwriting the event, providing the beer (of course) glasses and cooling equipment and running the beer judging competition, and CAMRA who are providing the cellaring, bars and staffing. The cellar is huge with 250 or so casks racked in a temporary facility above the serving area. Cellar technicians are, as I write, running cooling pythons from above and installing the handpumps. It is a rather unusual arrangement, but hopefully it will all work.

My modest role yesterday was to ensure that the racked beers were in the correct serving position, stable and ready to be cleaned before tapping and venting. Tomorrow I'll be doing Health and Safety checks, as I will on Thursday before we open to the public and throughout the event. I'll also be a judge in the beer competition and looking forward to that too.

It really is an immense and complicated thing to organise, but I rather fancy it is going to be great. If you are coming along, do come and say hello. If you are not coming along you'll be missing a treat.

The list of beers can be found here.

This also provides me with a chance to try Hawkshead New Zealand IPA at last. Hooray. I also have my eye on a few interesting bottles.

7 – 29 OCTOBER 2011
RAMADA PICCADILLY
MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE

OPENING TIMES:

THURSDAY:
DOORS OPEN AT 4PM – 10.30PM FOLLOWING
SIBA NORTH’S ANNUAL BEER COMPETITION

FRIDAY & SATURDAY:
NOON – 10.30PM

ENTRY:
£3, INCLUDING £1 REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT ON A SOUVENIR GLASS
Concessions Apply

Tandleman - Bottled Beer Man

2011-10-20T11:56:00.000+01:00

All Our Yesterdays was a lovely TV programme that only us old farts can remember. It looked back on the world as it used to be and was a nostalgist's wet dream. It is also nice sometimes, to look back through your drinking career and remember how things used to be and recall with rheumy eyed affection, the times when seeking out the new and unusual beer wise, was not only immensely enjoyable, but overwhelmingly exciting and when I used to drink a fair bit of bottled beer at home and even, God forbid now, lug them back from my holidays.

In a fit of nostalgia, earlier today, I was looking back at my old beer reviews on the Oxford Bottled Beer Datbase. Along with some other dodgy characters like Des De Moor and Jeff Pickthall, I used to search out the exotic and write about them for the benefit of the great unwashed and was part of a beer community before blogging and while Usenet was still going strong. I had forgotten some of the beers I reviewed and that, in part at least, I used to be reasonably good at it. I have proof of that, which I'll share with you later.

Most of the stuff I wrote was around 1999/2000 and the list of beers includes rare Dutch and French artisanal beers, American beers that even now you don't see here and even the odd supermarket atrocity, plus loads of German ones. Names to conjure with include Yellow Rose Vigilante Porter, St Martinus Rabenhaupt Witbier,San Miguel Cerveza de Invierno 98/99, Great Lakes Brewing Co. Burning River Pale Ale, De Tesselse Bierbrouwerij Skuum Koppe, Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes La Salamandre. Names that don't exactly trip off the tongue, even now.

Looking at some of the reviews I did of beers that still exist, it would be interesting to see if these self same beers would be written about by me in the same way, or whether they or me have changed so much, that it would appear to be a different beer entirely. That's the thing about beer reviews (and other things too), they are a snapshot in time and things change. Some obviously and some subtly, but few beers remain the same, even if the recipe doesn't change. I think most of us that drink a local beer by choice and habit are aware of that, some of us more poignantly than others, as to my mind at least, beers rarely change for the better.

I know I sometimes scoff slightly at exotics and the drinking and praising thereof, but looking back, I suppose it is a phase you go through on the path to true beery enlightenment down the pub. It was fun though and while I don't cart beers back these days, it was kind of exciting at the time. Who can forget the thrill of untangling beers from used socks and shirts and finding them still intact? Happy Days, but things move on and offer some unanticipated compensations. While there aren't many when growing old, looking back and saying "been there, done that", preferably with a shit eating grin, is one of them and smugly satisfying.

So ending on a high note, Uncle Tanders even gives you hope for the future when you are in your dotage. Things might not get better, but you were there first, in some ways at least.

Oh yes - I said I'd give you proof of my beery descriptive prowess. It doesn't get much better than this quote from my description of Mendocino Brewing Company Blue Heron Pale Ale on the Oxford Bottled Beer Database:

"Not Mendocino's greatest achievement flavour-wise (Peter Alexander's description is spot-on as usual) but a very beautiful bottle and label design which qualify it for my "Hall of Fame" bottle shelf above the bar."
Jeff Pickthall

What more proof could anyone want?

Dark Beers for Winter

2011-10-17T08:30:00.001+01:00

I have noticed that some pubs and publicans have decided, now that the weather is colder and nights are drawing in, that a dark beer, or sometimes several dark beers should replace lighter "summer" offerings. This seasonality seems logical enough to them presumably, but speaking as someone that likes his quaffing beer pale and hoppy, I don't see it that way.

While I have no objections at all to a handpump in a multi pump house being dedicated to something dark, I do have severe objections when the change of seasons means a gaderene rush to choice limiting dark beers, that are often much of a muchness. While I am at this theme, why are there so many awful porters about at the moment? Equally why are there so few decent bitter stouts around?

I do like dark beers, in fact I love them, but they need to have character. Just making a bland dark beer doesn't cut it for me at all and in my view, a pale hoppy beer is essential at all times in most pubs. (I also have long harboured the belief that brewing faults are far more easily hidden in darker beers and that isn't welcome either.)

What do you reckon?

On the same theme: St Austell Proper Black - Black IPA or a roasty well hopped stout? Opinions?

More Supermarket Beer Bollocks

2011-10-12T13:55:00.000+01:00

Having an upmarket break from skulking around Lidl and Aldi, in Morrisons and having bought all the Branston Baked Beans I need for the foreseeable future (best standard baked beans bar none), I thought, like you do, I'd have a gander at the beery offerings. Bloody Hell they are cheap. No need to buy the fizzy pop so beloved of Cooking Lager, as you could get quite royally pissed for a tenner drinking some decent beers and reasonably merry for a fiver if you could force Courage Best down your neck. No wonder people drink at home.

However what caught my eye was this little shelf strap underneath Lees The Governor Ale (Brewed for top chef Marco Pierre White). I spotted something wrong with it. Know what it is? Well I'll tell you. Since it was only brewed for the first time earlier this year, it would have had a bit of a job being "2002 Supreme Champion Beer of Britain". ( In fact that honour went to Caledonian Deuchars IPA.) While one might also look askance at the claim that it has "intense hop flavours" - in fact it is pretty damn malty - that could be regarded as a matter of opinion, but the 2002 claim clearly is not.

Now I don't know if this is a local or national problem, but don't these supermarket types check things out with people that know before shoving nonsense onto their shelves and thus misleading the public? Not that hard is it surely?

Top Tip: There is a very good price on Moonraker Strong Ale - 7.5% for £1.85 and it is bloody lovely stuff too.

Beer Bottle Sizes to be Hit?

2011-10-11T09:42:00.002+01:00

It seems that some beer bottle sizes are set to shrink as the industry ponders how to keep up their discount offers in the face of price rises and tax increases. Sales of smaller size spirits are increasing already, with unfamiliar 50cl bottles becoming more common and it looks like some beers may follow to allow the same price to be maintained for multi pack offers. Hardly surprising as everything seems to be shrinking to maintain price, from Dairy Milk to toilet cleaner.

Now this is of course unlikely to affect the 500ml size preferred for most premium bottled beers, but maybe, just maybe, it would be possible that we will see some bottle size reductions in the over 7.5% range, recently hit by extra beer duty. We will have to wait and see on that one, but it could be that some producers would rather see the price increase "absorbed" that way.

Bottled beer sizes and prices are unlikely to affect me unduly of course, as I don't drink much of them, but the subject does allow me to link to my recent experience as a guest at the judging of Sainsbury's Great British Beer Hunt Final - an all bottled beer event and thus a rarity for me. There was eight beers to try and most weren't bad at all, but overall it reinforced in my mind, that drinking even decent British standard beers at home is unlikely to give you the same taste experience as drinking them cask conditioned in the pub. (Hardly news I know and I would say that wouldn't I?) Funnily enough it is to my mind the bottled versions of what you might called "bitter" in all its forms that suffers most from bottling. Stronger, darker beers tend to taste better and speciality beers probably do best of all, with pale hoppy ones also standing a very good chance of success.

It was nonetheless a very enjoyable event and good to meet a number of interesting and pleasant people. The winner was, perhaps then unsurprisingly, a dark beer, Good King John from Ridgeway Brewing, who remarkably had two beers in the final eight. The runner up, Caesar Augustus from William Brothers, could be described as a "speciality beer" being a hybrid of lager and IPA, though to this drinker, it had more characteristics of the former than the latter. It was an enjoyable beer though, like most stuff from this brewery and worthy of its place in the top two. My own favourite was Wild Hop IPA from Harviestoun. I could imagine a few bottles of that would not be a hardship at all, though that's clearly not what the judges thought. Some veterans of Sainsbury's Beer Hunting remarked to me that the best beer wasn't there, namely Williams Brother's Profanity Stout and certainly this has been echoed on the blogosphere, though I can't opine, as I haven't been able to find it myself.

So all in all a very enjoyable and different afternoon, superbly organised by Sainsbury's and brilliantly hosted by wine buff Ollie Smith who professed to being a beer lover too.

And you know what? He seemed such a genuinely nice guy that I believe him.

The full Sainsbury story is here.

Showing How its Done

2011-10-07T15:19:00.003+01:00

The Wetherspoon Beer Festivals are eagerly anticipated, largely for the thrill of the chase, as we seek out those beers brewed by foreign brewers and other top picks. The most recent festival started on Wednesday, but the official launch for our area was yesterday and in the superb Regal Moon to boot. Other JDW pubs from the area were represented too and hopefully were impressed. I had a chat with two very enthusiastic managers and at their invitation, gave them some advice about beer selection, drawing heavily on Cask Report tips. The Area Manager also promised me an ad in our CAMRA Branch Magazine, so all was well so far.

It was an august crowd that gathered to sample the early array of beers on offer, but most of us were awaiting the simultaneous unveiling of all five Yankee beers at 2 o'clock. Tyson the Beerhound was present, as was the Landlady. Gerald Nodding of Winter Ales fame was there to see how things are done, Eddie Senior and Archimedes made guest appearances and even Joe Stalin turned up, ate all the pies and went. The early beer offerings were a mixed bag of ordinariness to downright unpleasant, the unpleasant being headed strongly by Traditional Scottish Ales Taking the Pith - a beer made from lemon and lime pith. Everyone agreed they were indeed taking the pith. Wadworth Octoberzest tasted like a fruitier version of 6X, with the Wadworth house style showing strongly through, but was pleasant enough. Double Maxim Andersons Best Scotch was unfortunately forgettable in every way. Caledonian Imperial Russian Stout was said by the landlady to taste of truffles. This was not a consensus view, but on the agreement side, nobody liked it. Tyson remarked that Rooster's Last Stand was a belated return to form of Sean Franklin, just before he disappears to Canada. It was indeed a fine beer with pronounced hoppiness.

A murmur of excitement ran through the room as pumpclips appeared on the last bank of six handpumps. No thirds were available due to late delivery of glasses, so halves were procured. Bend Eclipse Cascadian Dark Ale, wasn't that dark really and though the hops showed through strongly, it was oddly watery. Stone San Diego Session Ale was much better, but again somehow didn't quite hit the spot. Odell's 90/- was dominated by caramelly malt, which managed to overwhelm the Perle and Cascade hops. Fathead's Yakima Sun was more pleasing, though again malt seemed to have won its battle with hops. Last up was Kalmazoo Black Silk, which was to my mind, the best of the bunch, being toasty, smooth and moreish.

So why the title? Occupying last place on the handpull bank was Adnams American style IPA. What a great beer. Resinous, oily hops, a firm smooth and biscuity malt base, a tight creamy head and at 4.8% proving you don't need to overwhelm with alcohol to make a bloody great beer. I switched to pints and filled my boots, leaving too late and somewhat the worse for wear.

So Adnam's teach the Yankee Brewers a lesson in making American style beer. Who'd a thowt it? But they did.

The JDW Festival runs until the 23rd of October

Good Stuff from Cask Marque

2011-10-05T14:57:00.000+01:00

Beer wise I had variously good experiences and bad in London last week. On the good side obviously was the lovely weather, which made a little outdoor drinking possible, as well as pleasant strolls to and between pubs. Lists can be boring, but I won't let that stop me, so I'll mention some of the best, just so you know where to go. The Gunmaker's Arms as always keeps their beer immaculately. Landlord Jeff even took me into his cellar to try an impressive new beer from East London Brewing. I suspect that they may be one to watch, so let's er.. watch them. Making a handy little pub crawl is nearby Craft. I've praised them before for very well kept beer and do so again, this time enhanced by three (or was it four?) Mallinson's beers. Only black mark was the mind numbing overly loud music, but then to this old git, modern repetitive beats go into my head like driven nails. None of that nonsense in the Euston Tap though, where I enjoyed my farewell to London beers. I have never had a badly presented beer here.

Another highlight was Kernel Brewery, where we dropped a lot of money in very short order, drinking some very impressive beers. This is an interesting venue under some railways arches, attracting a lot of yuppie and know-all types, but nonetheless, in the sun, rather fun, though it took some finding. I had to check on the Dean Swift too. Since its new cask cooling has been installed, I haven't been in London, but the system works well and the beer is cool and drinkable. The pub listened to comments and acted on them. That's great. We like it a lot and will be back.

It can't all be good though. On Sunday - a very warm day - the beer in the Harp wasn't standing up well at all. One pint was sufficient on this occasion. A couple of poor shows in Nicolson's pubs on the Strand too. That's disappointing as I regard Nicolsons as generally good. And of course there is the delightful Draft House on Tower Bridge. I love the place for the decor, the big windows and the buzz, but please cool the cask beer. Please, please cool the cask beer.

London has its warm beer issues and none more so than one of my local pubs, but lo, it now sports a Cask Marque sign, so in we went. The beer was so undrinkably warm, that I felt moved to complain to Cask Marque. They inspected it on Monday and fed back to me that the beer purchased (Sharp's Doom Bar) was an unbelievable 23.5C. That for us old chaps is 74.3F. Astonishing. They will follow up with two more unannounced visits to check for improvement. I suspect I may be reporting more to them, though as winter approaches, cellars will cool. Still splendid service from Cask Marque. Well done chaps.

Of course the other thing about London is how good the pubs invariably are. Traditional, lovely to look at and to be in. I love London pubs above most others. They are just so.... so......... pubbish.

Let's get the beer right though and a word to the wise, refrigeration is not a bad thing.

I won't name my local pub on this occasion until I know how things turn out.

Do You Believe This?

2011-09-27T13:24:00.001+01:00

According to HM Revenue and Customs, illegal imports of beer - beer that has not had UK duty paid on it - amounts to 14% of UK beer volumes. Now I am assuming here that legally imported beer for personal consumption is not included in these figures, but then again can that be so, as including those beers would make the problem much worse? On the other hand then legally imported beer for personal consumption can be sold illegally. Is that what they are saying, or is it some kind of some kind of combination? What do these guesstimates really mean? It's as clear as mud.

The problem with this sort of thing is that when you start to think about it, the whole premise becomes less and less likely. Where does this beer come from? Where does it go? Is it being imported in such quantities when we are told supermarkets are giving it away? It can't be being sold in pubs to any great extent either can it? For such quantities to be true, you'd have to import it by the truck load rather than the (white) van load and surely HMRC and the Immigration Department still check loads, even if it is just for VAT, security and illegal immigrants? It all seems rather far fetched to me.

The Revenue say that the country is losing (in 2009/10) an incredible £800 million in duty due to this. (Spirits which to me is more believable, account for another £440 million). This is up an incredible 40% in one year.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

Coming on the day after the publication of the Cask Report, this would mean that illegal beer imports exceed total cask beer sales.

Cask Still Doing the Biz

2011-09-26T11:25:00.000+01:00

The Cask Ale Report for 2011/12 is out. Well sort of. You can't download it from their site yet, so if you want to know what's in it, you have to rely on its author Pete Brown (who better?) or the good old Morning Advertiser.

The key message is that in a beer market that declined by an overall 7.8%, cask declined by only 2.3%, though there is a complex scene of increasing cask beer drinking (especially among the young), more pubs stocking it and cask now taking 15% of the on trade market, which itself declined by around 7%. Any further number crunching will have to wait until I get my mitts on the report itself.

Crucially Pete Brown, quoted in the MA says; “Cask ale can help pubs to not only survive, but to thrive. It’s attracting new drinkers who spend more in the pub than non-cask drinkers, making them valuable customers," This is a very important point. Cask beer drinkers, by and large aren't sippers of beer. They drink it freely and that means more spend. The attractiveness of cask mirrors my own recent experience. I had two phone calls from landlords asking for my advice recently. One has been now given by his (very small) pub company, freedom to pursue a cask beer policy and wean customers off smooth in an all smooth pub and the other has bought an excellent pub, which had been ruined by Enterprise and wanted advice on how to rebuild the cask ale trade when it re-opens. Optimistic stuff indeed.

There is a host of opportunity here and hopefully more and more pubs will take it. I am not one of those that thinks the future of real ale is assured. It is still a niche product (though a big niche) and still needs to ensure quality is always top notch, but the trends are good. Even family brewers (a particular interest of mine)are upping their game. In this area Thwaites, by sheer power of will and canny marketing, as well as producing beers that people really want to drink, have transformed their image. They have become nationally known and are doing a lot right. Robinsons promise great things and innovative products, from both a new brewery and a new brewing team. Adnams are already well down that path and others are looking for ways in which they can up their game. Staying as you were just isn't an option. What's the point of being vertically integrated, if all your pubs are empty because your products are out of step with the times? Owning a brewery and pubs gives family brewers the opportunity, perhaps not to lead the revolution, but certainly to take great advantage of it.

Cask ale has a bright future and what we need both locally and nationally, is to keep pushing forward with great products, fantastic quality and a touch of innovation. Those that don't, those that rest on their laurels or past glories, be they pubs, PubCos, or breweries, will end up down among the dead men.

I'd have liked an advance copy of this, albeit an embargoed one.

Short Measure Riles

2011-09-23T14:50:00.001+01:00

There are quite a few siren voices that complain about CAMRA's stance on full measure pints - a policy I don't particularly see the need for when there are bigger priorities - but I didn't know the Germans were concerned about this aspect too and that there is actually an organisation that you can join to combat it. Even more astonishing, to me at least, is that the group concerned is over 100 years old.

I have noticed a fair bit of short measure in Germany, even though oversize glasses are always used. Like most I have just put up with it, while noting grimly that the benefit of the doubt almost always seems to fall to the server of the beer rather than the customer. It varies a lot of course, with Cologne to my mind, being the worst culprits. Now the Oktoberfest is notorious for short measure. You just have to look at the photos to see that. It seems though the the VGBE (League Against Fraudulent Pouring) - don't the Germans just love a snappy title? - are kicking up a song and dance about it. With the price of a litre of beer at €9 each on average, it seems that many maßkrugs are only being filled to 90 percent. This is because Munich’s government allows a variance of up to 0.1 litre. I think it fair to say that this variance is rarely in the customer's favour. Anecdotally according to one commentator, a kellner (pourer) can squeeze up to 200 litres out of a 100 litre cask, though that seems more than a tad optimistic to me I have to say.

“The tolerance level has to go,” said the VGBE’s president, Jan-Ulrich Bittlinge, who called the results of the test “sobering.” “We ordered and paid for seven mugs in every tent. But, in fact, we received on average only six litres of beer.” Some results were particularly bad: In one tent the mug only contained 0.73 litres of beer, meaning the customer was cheated out of €2.43 worth of beer.

So, a couple of things. Doesn't seem that the VGBE has been that successful in the last 100 years does it? And secondly, if you didn't have a good enough reason not to go to Oktoberfest (the only valid one to go is to see the lasses in dirndls) then you have now.

I like the sound of this though. The Beer Inspectors use a mobile phone app that measures the beer content by photograph. Handy. Pun intended.

Gratuitous dirndl photo and story details courtesy of the local.de

Noisy CAMRA Types

2011-09-22T09:15:00.000+01:00

I was struck by a remark of a commentator on my blog about CAMRA people. Saga of Nails said " A problem that CAMRA has is that most people's impressions of the organisation stem from the standard but vocal CAMRA drinker that they see in the pub." Let's think about this. I'm casting my mind back and believe me I drink in a lot of pubs and have done for around forty years and I have had very few experiences of this kind of thing. Obviously I do go to pubs where they know me, but I just mind my own business about what people are drinking and if I have a problem with the beer, I have a quiet word with the bar staff. On the contrary I am often engaged by people to talk about beer. I also go to many pubs where they don't know me from Adam and just quietly enjoy (or not) my drink. I think I am fairly typical, except of course I write a beer blog. (The fact that I may report my findings here isn't covered in this case.) I certainly don't stand at the bar banging some kind of CAMRA drum.

I can remember once at a pub beer festival (at the Rake) some CAMRA beer bores going on about this and that, but the problem was to me only that they were blocking the bar. So how common is this experience of my commentator? What are these people being vocal about? How often does this happen and what annoyance is caused? Am I just tuning out this noisesome behaviour somehow? Clearly of course there will be times when, mob handed after a meeting say, there will be loud talking and dominating space, but is that somehow different to other such groups as football teams, quizzers etc?

In my experience CAMRA people go to pubs in the same way and with the same intentions as anyone else - that is to have a good time - and rarely (no more than the pub bore) bother anyone. In most cases, you won't even know they are there. Proselytising is unusual and if it atypically happens, it is probably done by the CAMRA equivalent of the aforementioned pub bore. Agreed it may be unwise to engage some CAMRA types in conversation, (no more than most types though) that's not the allegation. Is it true that most people's impressions of CAMRA members are derived from overly vocal behaviour in the pub?

Let me know what you think. I am genuinely puzzled and interested to know your thoughts.

I'd be interested to know too, the definition of the "standard" CAMRA drinker

Authentic?

2011-09-21T11:32:00.000+01:00

Manchester Food and Drink Festival is a bit of annual fun which culminates in various eating and drinking events in St Annes Square in front of the impressive Town Hall. This year Robinson's will have a pub and there will be a Bavarian Beer Keller as a tribute to Munich's Oktoberfest. Sounds like fun, with a load of German beers to swig while being oompahed along the way. Not quite. The sole beer will be Veltins Pils. I quote "This year we're creating a full-on Bier Keller on the Square - the perfect Autumn pop-up drinking destination. There'll be Bavarian beers provided by Veltins, one of Germany's oldest and most established Braueries, and steins of their refreshing pilsner will be the order of the day

So what I hear you cry? One small problem. Veltins hail from Meschede in North Rhine Westphalia, not Bavaria. I know it won't matter to most, but surely if they want it to be Bavarian, rather than just German, they could have got beer from Bavaria?

After all, there is around 640 breweries to ask.

Still a lot of fun though and worth a look if in the area.

A Bit of Fun or a Serious Proposition?

2011-09-21T10:55:00.000+01:00

You will all no doubt remember the recent (and ongoing)arguments about craft beer and how difficult it is to decide what constitutes craft brewing and all the circumlocutions consequently being trotted out? These sort of amounted to "well it is done with care and love" or some such oily euphemism, which meant really, that "craft" is what we want it to be. Fine and dandy I suppose, but maybe one reason why the nascent organisation Craft UK, seems on the face of it, to be dead in the water. Won't this bird fly then? "No" would seem the ready answer, as it makes itself difficult to identify with, seems complicated and without any real conviction. It kind of whistles in the dark. I think if I were a craft brewer, I'd prefer SIBA to carry my torch.

If defining craft is difficult enough, we now have the new (though Zak Avery says it came first) intending to appeal to all comers, Campaign for Really Good Beer. Not good beer mind you, but really good beer. Try defining "really good beer" in a way that anyone will agree with, though I suppose that isn't really the point. The point is probably to cock a snook at CAMRA, to subtly and not so subtly pressure them to change in some way and to have a bit of a laugh all round. The problem with that approach is somewhat obvious. If you don't set out clearly defined aims and don't take yourself seriously, then in the long run, nobody else will either. As Zak Avery says here about Craft UK, though it would seem to fairly apply to both, "it is somehow simultaneously so broad and so narrow as to be meaningless".CRGB seems particularly vulnerable to lack of definitive purpose

So is either actually a bad thing? No of course not. I'm very relaxed about it, both from a CAMRA and a personal point of view. It is good to see that people (however inadequately) are prepared to stick their heads above the parapet and try and kick off something that they feel is needed (however poorly judged) and it does indicate at least that people are taking beer a bit more seriously - more seriously in fact than their curiously ill defined organisations seem to be doing - but that's fine. It takes time to get a proper track to run on, so we have to wait and see in some respects. It could be big, though I have a sneaking suspicion it won't be. Personally though, given that they bothered at all, I'd like to have seen a Real Keg emphasis, as that at least could have begat a movement that could be generally understood, had some ready proponents and would have filled a gap in the market. Neglecting to find a gap, territory that can be claimed, a place of their own if you like, to my mind dooms both of these organisations to being sideshows at best. The other obvious problem as I see it, is that there are overlaps with existing organisations such as CAMRA and SIBA. It is difficult enough to elbow your way into a gap, but much more of a mountain to climb, if you want to challenge existing incumbents.

The optimistic scenario is that CAMRGB will somehow become a populist movement, but there are obvious problems. Really good beer is really just "beer I like". No common sense of purpose and lack of easily assimilated definitions will be a deterrent to many. And if a charge starts to be made to be a member, it is unlikely to retain more than a handful.

No-one wants to pay something for nothing and "really good beer" is as glib as it is meaningless. Both organisations have missed the target here.

Just Another Commodity

2011-09-19T18:12:00.002+01:00

Beer is. In Spain, or at least the lovely part of it I was in. The little town of Orgiva is full of bars (and the great unwashed). We didn't try them all - the bars that is - preferring a couple in the centre and two on the long walk back up the hill to our rented place, some distance out of and above the town. (For the record, we didn't try the various great unwashed at all.) Beer in Andalucia is it seems, a cold pale tasteless fluid that means so little its brand name isn't even listed in most menus. You have to find out by a quick shufti at the bar on your way to the bogs, or take a punt that the name on the napkins or chairs is actually what is being served. I am pretty sure that over the piece we had, in no particular order, San Miguel, Cruzcampo, Alhambra, Mahou and Estrella. All much of a muchness, as was the own brand stuff from supermarket chain "Dia", which at about €6.50 for 24 x 25cl, was just as good as the rest really, made a good poolside sun quencher and had the straight to the point and perfectly logical name of "Lager".

What was interesting too, was that most of the bars seemed to be thriving inside, even though we sat outside, sun starved as we were. The recent smoking ban seems not to have dampened down enthusiasm much and all seemed lively most of the time. Another oddity was the prevalence of non alcoholic beer and its relative popularity. So while it is bloody freezing here, it is nice to be back and have to have a genuine choice of beer again, both in brand and in style. Not that I drank that much beer, preferring often to have a cold glass of white wine, though I do confess to the odd "tubo". I can't say I missed beer that much, though perhaps tellingly, before going home, we headed straight to the Angel in Manchester, where the Hawkshead Windermere Pale didn't touch the sides. Hops. Yes I missed hops.

Despite complaints about this and that, it is a useful reminder that we are a beer country here and that makes me both pleased and grateful.

Actually, Alhambra Especial, despite the maize, wasn't too bad, with better body than the rest.

Pause for Hols

2011-09-02T17:08:00.000+01:00

Sorry this blog has been a touch quiet of late, but I'm on the downward slope to my hols and am struggling for inspiration. And yes, despite retirement, my batteries, particularly my beery ones, need recharging and I need some sun. So a couple of weeks of the odd Spanish beer, mostly Cruzcampo I suppose, a lot of wine and gin and two weeks with the lovely E and a load of books is my plan. That should do the trick.

So be good and watch out for a tweet or two over the next two weeks.

Hasta la vista.

It Doesn't Mean There is Anything Wrong with You

2011-08-25T11:18:00.001+01:00

There is a saying in Bavaria. "Nur ein schwein, drinkt allein"- "Only a pig drinks on its own". That I dare say is more to do with the local sense of "gemutlichkeit" or sociability, than a statement about the inadvisability of doing so. Drinking alone can be both liberating and uplifting if you allow it to be. It most certainly should never considered taboo or abnormal, unless it is of the destructive kind. But that of course applies to all drinking.

The quiet contemplative pint is so often an enjoyable experience, sitting in a carefully chosen corner, sorting out the myriad troublesome trifles of life in your mind. Or where more neutrally, you just drift, mind vacant and at ease, while your pint waits patiently for the next absent minded sip. There are many variations to this basic theme. The newspaper reader, enjoying a simple moment of solitude while catching up with the news or footie. The crossword puzzler, brow furrowed, pen poised, looking heavenwards for inspiration. The betting man, mulling over his next flutter, at peace with the world and with hope coursing through his veins. The old gent, in his usual chair, nursing his beer while watching the varied goings on with practised interest and deriving great pleasure from the quiet familiarity of it all. The quick pint grabbed at the bar as a break from a trying day, the eagerly awaited pint after work, when cares can be thrown off, just for that brief time and when the mind can be quietly re-ordered and perspective, put back in its place. The uplifting moments of a nod here or a quiet word there, reminding you that your presence has been noted. All fall within the remit of drinking alone, but none seem sad to me.

Sociability has its place of course and going to the pub with friends is indeed a wonderful thing, but being in your own company with a pint of good beer in your hand can be an excellent way of recharging your batteries and recalibrating the day. Indeed in the right circumstances, being content with yourself and just being there is a quietly uplifting experience. There's a great big world inside you and you know, it can be explored rather satisfyingly, beer in hand, in a conducive pub.

If you think about it anyway, you aren't really that alone. The best pubs provide a connection. They draw people together in a shared existence, however fleeting and on your own or not, you are a part of it.

Do you enjoy a drink on your own in a pub sometimes? Are these old Bavarians maybe missing a trick after all?

Oh and do exercise a bit of common sense. Do this when you feel like a quiet beer on your own, but are otherwise chipper and avoid it when you are suicidal, or if your self loathing is already brimming over.

Beer is Best

2011-08-23T16:34:00.000+01:00

Beer was more nutritious in these days I suppose.

Sup up Mum.

I'd like to say no babies were hurt in making this ad, but I can't be sure.

Juke Box Blues

2011-08-23T10:18:00.000+01:00

There's something about Liverpool that excites. As soon as you get off the train at Lime Street Station you feel it, A sort of electricity in the air. I last lived there over 22 years ago, but it still feels familiar, though it has changed. The centre has gone all posh, as if you've stepped into a parallel universe where everything is nearly the same, but isn't quite.

I was there a few Saturdays ago with my exiled Scouse mate Mike, with whom I worked many years ago. We had to visit a venerable icon and an old haunt. In Hope St, in the sight of Paddy's Wigwam, (aka the Catholic Cathedral) is the Philharmonic, a magnificently interiored, Grade 2 listed building with Grade 1 listed urinals. A fantastic choice of beer awaited us, though I immediately felt compelled to try Camden's wonderful Inner City Green. Properly conditioned, cool and sparkled as God intended, this was superb. Juicy malt, pronounced hoppiness and a lovely creamy head to drink it through, it deserved another, so we had another. The only two pinter of the day. Around us the pub throbbed with life. Wedding guests from the nearby Registry Office (or maybe the cathedral) provided a touch of glamour. It was busy and we recalled many a night in the Brahms Room, a long time ago over pints of Warrington brewed Tetley. Only one discordant note - unwanted music was just loud enough to be intrusive. No need for it here when the buzz of animated conversation was heady enough to get you drunk. But worse was to come.

Now the Swan is a bikers and rockers pub. Led Zeppelin was blasting out and the place looked more or less as it did twenty odd years ago. Pints of Phoenix Hopsack were procured (naughtily unsparkled) and we stood at the bar as more rock tracks came on the juke box. Great stuff and in context to the place and its customers. Bear that in mind. It is important. Less great was our next pub, the Richmond. The beer was fine, but required top ups which were a bit grudging, but not only was the music boomingly loud, it was also loud on the street where external speakers blasted out, numbing the mostly middle aged customers and passers-by into submission. Surely that should be banned ? Similarly in the White Star and on Matthew St itself, the jarring cacophony from external speakers was very unpleasant. OK - no nanny like bans on glassware like Manchester, but a racket like you've never heard in all your life. Which to choose? Plastic glasses or peace and quiet? Close call.

This isn't a go against background music. It is about appropriateness and volume. Despite the title, you don't even get to choose your own noise anymore - it is inflicted by the staff. To my ears their is nothing better than the buzz in a busy pub. It is called atmosphere. Surely a little more discretion could be used?

We didn't get a duff pint all day either, but I didn't come across the re-brewed Higsons. Pity that.

The Great British Beer Trade Exhibition

2011-08-22T13:16:00.001+01:00

Today's Publican's Morning Advertiser has a piece by Tony Jennings of Budvar in which he argues that: "It’s time to sell GBBF to the wider world". What does he mean by this? It seems Tony feels that there are tricks being missed by CAMRA and that CAMRA should (among other things) use the Great British Beer Festival as a means of helping British Beer exports and by so doing, attract government involvement. CAMRA should encourage more foreign brewers to exhibit. (I think we had a couple of hundred this year). It should look more at beer with food and it should get itself round the country, citing the NEC in Birmingham as a possibility.

Now there's the thing. What the GBBF isn't is a trade exhibition. It is a festival of beers run to promote CAMRA and its aims - and to give everyone that attends it a good time. It isn't there to do many of the things that Tony suggests and to move in his direction, would over time, take the GBBF from being a bottom up drinkers run event, to be a top down business run event. It would certainly change it and arguably, it would ruin it. While David Cameron, if he thought about it, might agree with Tony that the CAMRA volunteer system, which makes it the success it is, is the Big Society in action, you always have to be careful not to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Volunteers do what they do for reasons that aren't entirely logical. But they certainly do it to support CAMRA and the festival, not to promote a trade run (or oriented) show and while some of Tony's individual ideas may have merit in themselves, his main one would almost certainly invoke the law of unintended consequences.

The old joke of "what do we want? - Gradual change" - "When do we want it? In due course" fits the GBBF (and to some extent CAMRA itself) like a glove. It evolves and gets better, slowly, year by year. It doesn't need to change its purpose or emphasis to do that. It isn't and should never become a trade exhibition, let alone one with Government involvement. Where would the fun be in that?

No doubt Tony's intentions are good and his kind words about the professionalism of the volunteers is welcome too. He is also right in suggesting fresh ideas, but while continuous improvement is a must, it should never become a trade show. Tony is looking at the GBBF through the wrong end of his telescope.

Moving to the NEC would likely represent a huge financial risk to the Campaign among other negative factors)

Two Thirds Legislation Delayed?

2011-08-19T11:44:00.000+01:00

The Publican's Morning Advertiser had the news the other day that Heineken is to launch a range of two-thirds pint glasses to trade customers from November 2011.They say that "Under new regulations coming into force on 1 October, pubs will be able to sell draught beer and cider in two-thirds glasses"

Now a little bird tells me that this legislation has been delayed until next spring at the earliest and that UK glass suppliers have no samples to offer breweries. I quote from my source "As a result of knowing this, our manufacturers currently have no pre-production samples or images yet as styles for production are still being decided.". Clearly this would, if true, disappoint some and be a matter of indifference to others.

Has anyone else heard this and does anyone know if this is actually the case?

My proposed article about the two thirds measure is delayed until the position becomes clear. And the first person that calls it a schooner to me will be knocked out.

My Old Local

2011-08-12T13:06:00.005+01:00

I've always had a local pub. The one I worked in was my first, though I drank there already. It was a friendly village local which had its own idiosyncrasies, not least of which was the fact that back in the days when all Scottish pubs shut on a Sunday, we as a bona fide "Inn" were open. It was a tad busy shall we say, as hordes came from near and far for a drink. But more of this another time.

To have a local has always been important to me; it's just how I am. I like to walk in and enjoy the fact that people know me, call me by my name, ask how things are and that I know them. It is comforting and inclusive. Like a little family of sorts, where there are all the usual bickerings and disagreements, but so much bonhomie and laughter. It still does it for me when I walk in to my local and someone calls me by my name.

I was jerked back to one of my former locals the other night, when a tweet was received which advised that one of my old locals had been vandalised in the Liverpool riots. There was good news though. In an area which when I lived there was tremendously highly pubbed, the Earl Marshall was still trading. I have looked around the web and a lot of the others aren't any more. I know it closed for a bit and was boarded up, long after I left, but still it is open now. How brilliant is that?

When I first saw my little house, still being built, three doors down from the pub, that was the place that I went to have a pint and think about the whole thing. It took a while but I became a regular, part of the scene and able to knock on the window after closing time and get in. I was part of the half past four mob that were friends of the landlord and were exclusively admitted before opening time. (They'd all be pissed from lunchtime and singing.) I was protected from the rougher elements, able to take draught beer home in a glass while watching telly, did the Guardian crossword at the bar in my suit and was part of a thousand stories and good laughs. Eileen even got her shortened nickname of "E" there. There was a delicious time when the landlord Wally - an ex Liverpool taxi driver - parked his car on my drive, as there was work being done which took up his space at the pub. Beer was on the house for a couple of weeks despite my (feeble) protests.

The Marshall was a Tetley house then and when Walkers was revived, a Walkers one, but we used to go to all the other pubs too, in fours and fives and sometimes mob handed, drinking Higsons, Greenalls, Whitbread, Bass and the rest. All were within a ten minute walk. Everyone knew what pub you drank in then. It was a small world in a big city. Wally died just after I left and I dare say many of the hard drinking locals of 20 odd years have gone to that great pub in the sky too. But I remember them all. They looked after me and I had a great time with them.

So I'll raise a glass to the Marshall tonight and be glad that so many years later, I still have a local and have the friends I have made there and hope that not so many miles away, the Marshall will still be pulling pints for their locals. Maybe even, for some of my old mates? I do hope so.

My little house is in sight on the bottom picture. It was 3 doors along.

The Case for Naming and Shaming

2011-08-11T10:31:00.002+01:00

Mark has written a very good piece about bad beer and bad drinking practices on his blog. He remarks about a frank exchange of views on Twitter (involving me) about just such an experience and wonders how best to go about things when you are less than satisfied. A good question.

I am often thought of as a "namer and shamer" and indeed when I see it as justifiable, that is indeed what I do. Of course I praise far more pubs and beers than I ever criticise and that's as it should be. You ought to find good beer far more than bad in your travels and that should be reflected when recounting your experiences. There is no point in simply trotting out a serious of negatives. Of course there is a view that such naming is inherently counter productive and that a quiet word will solve the problem. You know what? It almost never does in the beer business and I have been around that business a long, long time. How many times have you complained at the bar that a beer "might be a bit off" or "near the end of the barrel" - always said deferentially and apologetically and usually by way of a circumlocution - when you know in fact that it is undrinkable? The typical response is to have your view either denied, or at best an exchange given, while the beer continues to be served to the next mug. How many times have you felt the beer is too warm, or too cold, or flat, or old, or any number of other faults? Have you had that quiet word, or just accepted it as a fact of life? Do you repeat that experience in the same pub time after time, or go elsewhere? Badly presented beer loses customers, whatever they either say or don't say to the management and it puts people off drinking beer.

Then there is the brewer and his reputation. People don't always make the correct association between "bad" beer and bad cellar practice. They often blame the brewer. Unfair? I'd say so. (That works in reverse too). What about the cost? You can shell out up to £4 a pint for beer and for that, don't you deserve a beer on top of its form? Curiously there is an unjustifiable degree of public tolerance for bad beer, bad service and a bad experience in pubs, which is strangely at odds with our views elsewhere. Would you be happy at Tesco if your roast ham was clearly past its best? With Sainsbury's if your milk was on the turn? More tellingly, would they? Would Waitrose say "well everyone else is eating it?" when you expressed doubt about the freshness of their quiche? No. They'd be horrified and be unable to do enough to make amends. That's the attitude we ought to encourage in pubs surely?

And then there is focusing on the positive. This is good as far as it goes, but when it happens, should the bad be overlooked? Does the restaurant critic hold back on his findings? Of course not. But that's their job you holler? Well maybe, but my aim as a blogger is to give opinion based on experience and knowledge. That's my job if you like. I rarely have anyone deny the message, tell me I'm wrong about what I say, or that what I say just isn't so. They just tell me that it should not be said. "Bad form Old Boy."

So back to naming and shaming. Mark says rightly, that this has to be given proper consideration. I agree and despite some cynicism, I suffer too much from the triumph of hope over experience, so it is rare that I'll go into print about something that has happened, unless it has been more than once. That isn't to say a mention won't be made in passing, or as a recounting of an experience. As I really believe that quality is absolutely important, if you knowingly and repeatedly fail to deliver that quality, then yes, I will likely name and shame you. It is a discourtesy to beer and to my readers not to issue a warning where one is needed. The reader can then make their own mind up. (Interestingly publicans never respond with outrage either and if it was me and it wasn't true, I'd be spitting tacks.)

I was a fully trained barman under an old school boss when I was 18. High standards of customer service and quality were drummed into me. As part time bar staff we did everything in the customer facing part of the pub, from serving and changing beer, cleaning lines and even toilets. I have looked after more beer (both in festivals and in the pub) and drunk more beer and beers than most people have had hot dinners and I do know what I'm talking about, but you know what, that isn't the main point? Above all I'm a customer and I like things to be good.I was taught that one bad experience will poison the customer's mind and the minds of those to whom he or she tells the tale, while a good one will do the opposite and bring more customers in.

I am bitterly disappointed if my experience isn't good - that the publican doesn't care as much as I do - and I may just tell my readers about it. It is disappointment and the taking away of my enjoyment (as well as my money) that really irks me and motivates me to comment on it. Above all it is just feeling let down.

Mark's other point about the increasing influence of bloggers is interesting and relevant, but is for another time.

Craft

2011-08-05T08:38:00.001+01:00

The new pub in Leather Lane, Clerkenwell that is. I went there last night with the lovely E and enjoyed it very much, though it was a little smaller than I expected, but nonetheless an excellent job in bringing vibrant new life to an old pub. Cask beer was in very good condition and at perfect serving temperature. Well done on that one. The house lager (by Mikkeller I am told) was excellent in every way. There was also a well thought out choice of imported keg beers, though of course having come from GBBF, where we have hundreds, I didn't bother with any. The staff were well trained and motivated, so really, nothing not to like as far as I could see. OK, it is a bit expensive, but the pub itself is splendid and you get a completely good experience for around the same price as some others who don't do it nearly as well.

So back to GBBF and Frantic Friday. If you are there come and say hello at the German and Czech bar. If I'm not around, I'll be schmoozing in the hall somewhere. It isn't all work you know.

PS Top insider tip. A German Imperial Stout on our bar. A ten percent delight.

So Far, So Good

2011-08-04T08:49:00.001+01:00

It has been hot, nay hot and humid in Earl's Court. That's my first observation from a staff point of view and judging by the sweaty, red, flushed faces, the customers are feeling it too. Or is that just the drink? One old fashioned type among our lot measured the air temperature behind the German/Czech Bar. An astonishing 90F. And as humid as Hong Kong. That's made it hard for us. The customers at least aren't flying up and down serving beer. The staff all seem cheerful enough though and so do the punters.

Talking of beer, there was little discussion among us about the Champion Beer of Britain being a mild - maybe a few eyes were raised heavenwards - but those that react with astonishment might like to consider the make up of the final judging panel. I was told a few names. I don't know it in its entirety, but put it this way, some judging will fondly remember mild when it was much more widely available than it is now.

BSF has been split up and scattered across the hall, which has disconcerted and disoriented a lot of us. The geeks are vexed too. It has meant an expanded Czech selection for us and some are crackers, particularly the IPAs and the one infused with ginger. Some seemed works in progress, but show a lot of innovation and promise. The American cask beers have been roughly divided into two sets in my mind. The almost undrinkable and those that go further than just a ton of hops and over the top alcohol. I enjoyed quite a few of each and you know, the cask conditioning was spot on. That's an improvement too. I haven't come across the London Dark Lager yet though, but will be looking out for it today. Of other beers tried, two lovely draught krieks on the Belgian bar and one or two cask ales also seemed top notch, but that's all I have been able to try so far. Again the cellarmen have been on top of their game.

It has been very busy at times, but I have no idea of numbers through the doors yet. Trade Day was fun, with many old friends met and lots of people to chat with too. I won't say which well regarded beer writers were more or less completely pissed, as more or less, they all were. Bloggers too were numerous and sufficiently oiled to be going on with.

So, so far so good. Three days to go and though my feet are sore - the floor in Earl's Court is hard - 'm surviving. Today it is ten degrees colder and I have a night off. I might take E for a drink. Gunmakers and Craft?

The Great British Beer Festival at Earl's Court continues until Saturday.

A Pre GBBF Thought

2011-08-01T08:41:00.000+01:00

I have limited time, but I wanted to get this little post out before I pack my bag for London and the GBBF.

When reading a comment on Boak and Bailey about what CAMRA ought to do, there was one helpful comment. It was along the lines of "What are CAMRA doing about quality?". I couldn't agree more. Those of us that spend a lot of time drinking cask beer in pubs know that it can be a lottery, with even so called top pubs unable, or unwilling, or for God's sake unaware,that they are selling sub standard product. In these trying times you don't want to spend £3+ on less than optimum beer. You don't want the embarrassment or hassle of sending it back, using euphemisms such as "I'm not sure this is quite right" or "Has this reached the end of the barrel?" when you know very well it is undrinkable piss. At the same time the bar staff should know. (The best pubs will have the manager sipping the odd mouthful to check from time to time.)

There are some dodgy arguments about new craft going around, but one thing is reasonably certain about craft keg. That is, that while it may well be cold and gassy, it is unlikely to be actually "off". This to me is where we came in many years ago with keg, though of course, current pricing and availability is likely to leave craft keg as a minority sport, but that can't be relied on forever.

As I say, time is short, but one of the recommendations of the review of CAMRA that I was a member of, was to campaign for better cask beer quality. When CAMRA sets its priorities, that should be number one, top of the tree etc. While we are at it we should encourage brewers to provide cask beer in as small a quantity as the pub wants. Too big a container limits cask beer's ability to compete on short run speciality beers. Keykegs may be part of the answer, but the good old pin (4.5 gallons)should be brought back in great numbers, breweries should use them to produce short run exciting and innovative beers. If a brewery can't do short run beers and it is of any size, it needs a pilot plant. A sound investment and cheap as chips too.

Who says innovation should be the domain of craft keg? Craft keg brewers that's who. It is one of their main selling points (though you could argue that umpteen variations on an IPA theme is hardly cutting edge).

Other brewers need to wake up and take them on at their own game.

Next time you get a duff pint, send it back. And a question. How do you send a pint of craft beer back if you think it is too cold and gassy? I honestly don't know.

Empire Building for Punks

2011-07-31T14:06:00.000+01:00

Scotland on Sunday has a good piece on you know who. I like these two quotes: "a style bar is where they spend £6m on the fit-out and serve the same shit as they serve next door". And " CAMRA is staid, it's tacky, it's conservative, it's old fashioned, it would put your grandparents to sleep. I'd gladly line up the lot of them and fire cans of Punk off their heads."

I work out from the article which isn't yet on line, their production is around 18,300 barrels a year. The proposed new brewery will allow five times more production.

I think I must be virally infected or God forbid, I'm coming round to them.

The title above is the SoS article title should you wish to browse for it in the future.

Let's Just Have a Good Time

2011-07-28T10:43:00.000+01:00

Last Tuesday I read a comment (by someone called String)on Mark Dredge's blog which made me a little annoyed. Well maybe not annoyed - exasperated would be a better description. This is what the commentator said with regard to the Brew Dog and the Great British Beer Festival "issue". "I think the main issue is that the Great British BEER Festival is festival celebrating BEER. Personally I wonder whether that means that the GBBF is outgrowing CAMRA & their approach. Is it time someone else organised this countries flagship beer festival? I think so."

The comments about CAMRA and Brew Dog were equally odd and one has to wonder why Brew Dog inspire such loyalty in some limited quarters and why their supporters use anything they can as a stick to beat CAMRA with. Continuing with that metaphor, I reckon though that CAMRA undoubtedly made a rod for their own back in trying to accommodate Brew Dog in the way they did. It would have been far simpler and less open to manipulation or interpretation, just to say to Brew Dog "of course we'd love you to come under the same conditions as everyone else. Supply cask beer in 18s (as you do to the pub trade) and we'll sell it accordingly." In my view, given Brew Dog's reputation, anything else was leaving CAMRA as a hostage to fortune. And so it came to pass, despite claim and counter claim.

Given that the Great British Beer Festival is coming up next week, let's have a look at the title. It is short and to the point. It is well known and it describes I believe, the fact that is a festival and a big one, with beer. "Great" seems reasonably OK in that context. What about "beer" then? Well there will be beer - well over 1000 different ones - and while you can argue about whether the term encompasses all beer, it would still seem reasonable that as it is CAMRA's Festival, CAMRA can call it what they want and sell what they want. I am willing to bet that apart from a few geeks and disappointed brewers, nobody else gives a hoot. Everyone else will just be there enjoying themselves and will have in their hand, a beer that they are very happy with. Beer is after all of the moment.

So back to the comment above. Firstly it may well be the leading beer festival in the country, but it isn't the country's beer festival; it is CAMRA's. That means that CAMRA runs it as it sees fit and does what CAMRA wants to do to promote its aims. The idea that this could be handed over to anyone else to run is ludicrous, would make a cat laugh and is just plain daft. Any commercially run beer festival on a similar scale would likely be prohibitively expensive to attend and to buy beer. Does anyone doubt the immense subsidy CAMRA volunteers provide by their free labour and expertise? Not that this means it can't be improved. Each year changes are made to many things to try and make it better, but there will always be some that feel it should have this or that beer, or that some aspect could be changed for the better, but at the final reckoning, very few will leave disappointed by what is on offer to them. There will be something for everyone. And despite Brew Dog claiming that CAMRA festivals are “stuffy, boring or misguided” I rather doubt that they will be missed, or that anyone there won't have just as good a time without them.

So let's look forward to next week. So many beers to try, so much good fun and good company. There will be a great atmosphere and a fine old time to be had is far more important than worrying about areas of contention that are of limited interest to the vast majority of attendees.

Let's just all go and have a good time.

And dammit I have ended up talking about you know who again. It still works for them.
Nor am I saying that a large non CAMRA run festival couldn't be organised, but don't doubt the difficulties in doing so.

Service with a Smile (2)

2011-07-26T12:39:00.000+01:00

I mentioned here the exceptional service I had when judging pubs for the Greater Manchester Pub of the Year. Then I didn't want to mention the name of the pub, as judging was still taking place.

When we called at the pub there was around eight beers on the bar. The barmaid (who turned out to be the landlady), immediately offered to talk me through the beers, made me feel very welcome and recommended what beers I might like on the basis of asking me what I was after. She watched over the entire proceedings in the pub and was clearly, but subtly running the show. A smile here, a chat there and all the time, ensuring service was quick, efficient and that glasses were cleared. It was effortless, non corporate and genuine, but so impressive (and rare) to see. She even introduced herself by name. Brilliant stuff.

The Bank Top Brewery Tap is well worth a visit. A good range of rarely seen Bank Top beers, as well as the more usual Flat Cap. All I tried were pretty decent.

And no, I have no idea how it has gone on in the Pub of the Year competition.

Normally I'd have put a Bank Top photo of some sort on, but the web site is one of these shitty "flash" built ones. Ah well. You can't have everything.

Amy Winehouse and Me

2011-07-25T10:16:00.001+01:00

You don't hear me mention music much. I ain't really a musical kind of guy. My music is mostly confined to the radio, or what I hear in passing, but really, these days, that's as far as it goes. When I was younger things were different, but even today, like most people, some music reminds me of particular occasions, or times in my life, but most of that would be best left for another time. Except this, as there is a beer connection. And it is topical.

When we returned from our trip to West Lancs, (see Tyson's blog for details), we heard of Amy Winehouse's untimely death. An accident waiting to happen perhaps, but it caused us, independently to think back to a sunny November day in New York a few years ago. Having wandered round Little Italy and surrounding areas, a beer was required. We came across a little corner street bar, which at around 4pm, was pretty empty. We sat at the bar and ordered whatever IPA was on the go. As we sat and chatted about our day, we became aware of what was playing in the background. We stopped talking and listened. We both said "Bloody Hell that's good" - or words to that effect. E asked the barmaid who the singer was and was told "Amy Winehouse". Neither of us had heard of her. Our bad. Next day a visit to the Virgin Megastore in Times Square was arranged and the CD "Back to Black" purchased.

The tragedy of drink and drugs in her case is well documented, but when I think of Amy Whitehouse, I am taken back to a happy hour in a New York dive bar where the background intruded, for once in a good way. It's probably not a bad way to remember her.

I think the CD must be in London. Can't find it here!

Brewers Bollocked in War of the Roses

2011-07-22T14:46:00.000+01:00

You may have read about a dispute between Cropton Brewery of Yorkshire and the much bigger Sam Smith, the ~~oddball~~ idiosyncratic Tadcaster mob. The dispute was over the use, on a Cropton bottled beer, of a white rose, which the more educated among you may just recognise as the symbol of Yorkshire. So think about that one. Yorkshire brewer uses Yorkshire rose shock horror. Sam's however claim the rose as their trade mark. The nub of the argument runs thus: Cropton claims the rose is the symbol of Yorkshire and there is no reason why it should not use it, but Samuel Smith’s claims it is an infringement of its trademark and confusingly similar to its rose which it has used since the 1960s.

Now the even more anal among you may know that said oddballs, sorry, idiosyncratic brewery, has, for the last umpteen years, been stripping from almost everything, including its pubs and drays (though not its bottled beers admittedly) said cherished trade mark, (the Yorkshire rose.) You may also think that this is one where surely they could have got together and solved this little difference of opinion. So did the judge, though he did rule in favour of Sam Smith's in the aspect of the disputed beer, though not in the case of another beer, brewed for Marks and Spencer by Cropton.

Mr Justice Arnold said it should have been settled "a long time ago", without the enormous cost of a High Court hearing. He said: "The dispute is one which ought to have been capable of settlement out of court a long time ago. Instead it has grown into a case which is out of all proportion to what is at stake in commercial terms." I can't imagine though, that particular aspect will bother Humphrey Smith who has deep pockets, but it will surely be a needless cost to Cropton.

Yorkshire pride and stubbornness is well reputed. Here it is illustrated. Fun though to the outsider.

I am grateful to the Yorkshire Press who seem to be the only ones arsed to report on this titanic struggle.

New Blogger?

2011-07-19T07:23:00.002+01:00

In Sheffield last week we were on our way to the Wellington for a beer or three and happened on a pub that looked bright and attractive. I can't recall its name, but there was a decent enough selection, though the Greene King ownership was clear. Nonetheless we stopped for one, which became two.

The young - well mid twenties - that's young to me - barmaid offered us tasters and to talk us through the beers. Excellent. She chatted amiably to us old guys and then said. "Do any of you know anything about blogging? I'm thinking of starting my own beer blog." I asked her why and she said she had been inspired to do so by a beer tasting by the Beer Beauty that she had attended. So well done her.

I did mention one or two things about the blogging world, but hopefully in a positive way. I do hope she does take it up. She has a degree in English too and in writing, though what sort, I can't remember, so she might well be good. Whatever. We need more female bloggers. Preferably opinionated ones. I believe blogs should be personal and opinionated. That's just a personal opinion though!

OK - I did mention my blog and showed it to her on my smartphone. Wouldn't you have?

And she was a nice lass and works in a pub, has a great attitude to beer and service, so that's good too. We were all impressed.

Been Here Before?

2011-07-18T15:35:00.001+01:00

Two old stories, made new again, are jumping around the web. The first is our old friends Brew Dog are on the earhole again. Having found only £750,000 out of a hoped for £2.3 million in its first go at Equity for Punks, they have whipped up £500,000 in two days in a new scheme. As the last lot was achieved over 5 months, I can only conclude that either the new offer is much better than the last one, or there are a lot of people out there that are prepared to take a punt for a discount on beer and other incentives. Not that I think this kind of fund raising is necessarily a bad thing. I know of one pub company that wanted to borrow a large sum from the bank to refurbish a new acquisition. The bank either hummed and hawed too much, or refused - I can't remember which - and the PubCo went straight to various associates and friends and raised the dosh overnight. Alternative means of raising money aren't new and aren't bad. The respective arguments for and against in the case of Brew Dog are put by Dave Bailey here and Allgates Brewery here. I must say that Allgates make the more persuasive arguments to my mind, but you must make your own up.

The other old story - I say old, because this kind of thing has been tried before I think - is that Carlsberg and Molson Coors are both releasing beers aimed at women. This has set off the old arguments about whether this is patronising or not and whether most women are perfectly happy to like beer or not on their own terms. As a fanatical believer in equality, I tend to believe women are quite capable of making their own minds up and women who don't drink beer are just people who don't drink beer and therefore a blank canvas in terms of what they might or might not like, but either way, there is certainly an untapped market and we should be attracting more women to try different beers. Makes the pub a nicer place for a start. So, in short, I empathise with the aim, but it just seems to me that this is unlikely to be the best way to achieve the outcome. The industry would be far better starting with environment, cleanliness and glassware, than inventing "special" beers for women I'd venture.

So what of the beers? I don't know what they taste like, but there does seem a little stereotyping going on here. That's hard to avoid when you do this kind of thing frankly. Carlsberg say "Many young people aren’t keen on the bitter aftertaste of beer. Here our surveys show that with Copenhagen we have created a highly drinkable beer with a balanced taste — a real alternative to white wine and champagne." Hmm. Forget the champers, get the Carlsberg out. I don't think so. I'm guessing too that it will be bland. Molson Coors has gone for a mixed approach, but seems only marginally less patronising. Animee, from the French word for motivated, is billed as “bloat-resistant” - less gassy and lighter tasting than most beers. It will be available in 275ml bottles in three varieties; standard, rose and citrus.

Whether patronising, or well meaning, will these initiatives fail? In Molson Coors case, despite good intentions, if the internet reaction is anything to go by, likely I fear . As for Carlsberg? Probably!

"The number of UK women drinking beer in the UK is almost the lowest in the world - we won't change that by just doing what we've always done" Kristy McCready - Molson Coors." I have a lot of sympathy with this statement.

Wow!

2011-07-16T07:52:00.000+01:00

I've been away for a few days beer hunting in Yorkshire. More of that later. When I was away I received an email from my boss at the BSF (Foreign Beer) part of the Great British Beer Festival. It tells me that there are 540 beers this year, although a few of these will be duplicated between bottle and draught. Five hundred and forty!!

Belive me there are some absolute crackers there and so many rarities that I expect there will be a such sea of bloggers, geeks, tickers et al, that we'll need to have resuscitation equipment close at hand to cope with the excitement. This is a seriously good beer list and is a festival in its own right.

Details are here. See you there.

This year all the BSF Bars are separate, which will make it easier for the customers, but more difficult for the staff. Especially for tastings.

Bottling It

2011-07-11T11:35:00.002+01:00

As I don't drink much bottled beer, I don't come across this situation very often, but it seems that bottled versions of draught beers are often sold stronger, sometimes significantly so. You will notice here that I say sold "stronger" as, inevitably, the beer will be brewed to a higher strength, then "liquored down" for the draught version. Watered down that is. Now I know of course that there are various reasons for this differentiation in strength, from both a practical and a marketing point of view, but it seems to me when a draught version is, say, 3.9% and the bottled version is around 4.8%, leaving the method of dispense aside, that you will have an entirely different drinking experience. In fact you may almost have entirely different drink.

Now it may be of course, even though they have the same name, that the bottled beer drinker knows this and in fact regards the drinks as entirely different. Or acceptable variations on a theme perhaps? Nor do I know whether drinkers of such bottles resort to the bottled version of the draught beer usually, or just sometimes, when they buy such things; or indeed, whether the brand loyalty of a cask beer drinker extends in any way to the equivalent bottle, though I'm sure marketing geeks would say they do. The world of the standard bottled beer is somewhat shrouded in mystery to me. For all I know, bottled beer drinkers simply don't know or care about this aspect at all.

If I were Mudgie, who is interested in this kind of thing, I'd set up a poll, but I can't be bothered. Instead I'll just await comments.

Tegernsee

2011-07-06T14:16:00.000+01:00

For years now we have sold Tegernsee Spezial at the Great British Beer Festival. As a consequence, each time I go to southern Germany, I promise myself I'll go there, to the source, to see the place for myself; each time, I overlook it and don't, but this year I did. Train from Munich to Tegernsee, five of us on a Bayern Ticket and I was sorted. Set in gorgeous countryside, Tegernsee is a large lake, 2,500 ft above sea level and about 12 miles from the Austrian border. It is more than a bit nice and it has a rather good brewery when you get fed up of all that lakey gorgeousness.

The brewery and beer hall are pretty damn big. One thing the Germans don't do by halves is beer and beery things. (Well they do do half litres, but you get my point I'm sure). The Tegernsee Brewery's record of beers sold in one day is 3600 litres. They won't run out of beer either. They keep 14,000 litres chilled and ready to go. As I said, they take their beer very seriously there.

We normally sell Spezial at the GBBF, but I started, as we all did, on the Helles. Clean, herbal and very drinkable. But that wasn't my mission. No Sir. Spezial was required and procured. It was indeed special, with a more full bodied and bitter taste and dangerously drinkable despite being 5.6%. It made the rain, which temporarily marred a lovely day, all the more bearable, particularly as we were under cover. Well most of us were. I seem to recall Tyson got a bit wet. Collateral damage if you like.

It wasn't exactly a sentimental journey, but it was along those lines. Go there if in the area. It is very highly recommended.

Being an hour outside Munich, the beer was around a euro cheaper too.

Service with a Smile

2011-07-04T13:36:00.003+01:00

On Saturday, witnessed by my good lady, so it must be true, I had some of the best service I've ever had in a pub. And that it was done so effortlessly and naturally, made it so much the better. It wasn't corporate, forced, or scripted. Just properly done.

Where is this gem? Well I can't tell you yet, as I encountered it when I was judging pubs for the Greater Manchester Pub of the Year and I don't want to prejudice anything. The closing date for judging and scoring is up soon, so I'll tell you then.

I'm still pretty chuffed about it, which shows how bloody rare it is.

I Echo What Tyson Says

2011-07-01T16:38:00.000+01:00

After a hectic day which included a visit to a far off world to judge a pub in the Greater Manchester Pub of the Year competition, I thought I'd come home a write up a few lines on our own Pub of the Year, the Hare and Hounds at Holcombe Brook near Bury, well Ramsbottom, which is near Bury. But I find that newshound and beerhound Tyson has beaten me to it, so I'll have to think of something else. Tyson had complained to me earlier last night about me stealing his thunder when we went to the American Beer Festival preview at the Port St Beer House, so I suppose that's all fair enough.

The pub is the current runner up as Publican Cask Ale Pub of the Year to none other than the Sheffield Tap (so it must be good - right?) and previously has won the award outright. I can only echo as Tyson recommends, that you should indeed visit the Hare and Hounds for top quality cask beer.

None of that flabby, over vented, warm stuff is offered and the beer is all around £2.60 a pint.

Beer of the night was Oakham Inferno. It didn't last long.

Craft Beer and the Recession

2011-06-30T12:37:00.001+01:00

I have written in the past about the price of beer and craft beer in particular. I mentioned it here when I posed the question "how much can this market stand?". There wasn't much by way of conclusive response and one does wonder in these recessionary times whether there is still potential growth in the market.

Now comes some hard evidence, not from here, but from that other place, the USA, that craft beer might just be weathering hard times much better than you'd think. Sales for Budweiser, the flagship brand for AB InBev, plunged 7.3% in 2010, driven it seems by the fact that the unemployment rate among core blue-collar beer drinkers remains three times that of more affluent, white-collar consumers.

On the other hand, craft brewers have had a different experience. Sales at Boston Beer Co., the maker of Samuel Adams and the market share leader in this category, edged up 1.7% in 2010. Sierra Nevada Brewing increasing its sales by 7.8%, Magic Hat Brewing gained 14.8% and New Belgium Brewing soared by 18.3%. "Craft beer costs more, but the consumers are saying, 'We're getting something different here and we're willing to pay for it.'"

Other reasons given for this success include that US consumers show a preference for craft beer with stronger and more experimental flavours. IPA sales for example, are are up over 40% compared to a year ago. Local loyalty is another reason it seems, with consumers willing to pay extra to support independent brewers in their own communities.

Now here isn't the USA (despite the wishes of some) and "local" certainly isn't much of a factor here - that's reserved for largely for cask - with imported beers dominating the emerging craft sector. But it seems likely that the craft beer market in Britain has a good chance of emerging from the recession in growth, albeit not enough of it indigenous. (My own view is that the new London brewers can locally exploit this gap if they are smart and nimble enough.)

In this niche there is a lot to fight for and maybe this is why we see so much fuss being made about craft beer, though the answer seems to be in taste and innovation, not copying cask by producing keg versions of cask beers, though of course it could be argued that this itself is a niche within a niche.

So back to the question of "how much can this market stand?" "More", it seems, is the likely answer.

I Want One of These

2011-06-29T11:14:00.001+01:00

I like sparklers and have quite a few of all shapes, colours and sizes, so it is always interesting when a new one comes along.

According to the marketing blurb:

"The Vari-Head is a unique beer sparkler which allows you to tailor the head on hand pulled real ale without having to remove it from the beer engine.

It fits all existing beer engines with no modification, and is made from food grade plastics and 'o' rings and stainless steel screws.

The Vari-Head also increases your Hygiene levels due to the fact that it is operated by the inside of a clean glass not a server's hand."

We all know the sparkler should be compulsory, but here we may just have the perfect solution for those misguided souls that reckon otherwise. I say "maybe", as I'd have to try it out first to be sure, but it should at least be something many pubs in the grim unsparkled part of the country could consider?

I may have to send off for one, but who knows, maybe the company will see this and send me one for some road testing.

The details are here.

Talking of sparklers, if anyone has a working "dog's dick" sparkler they don't want, do let me know. I used to own one, but no idea where it has gone.

Yankee Doodle Dandy

2011-06-28T17:18:00.000+01:00

The Port Street Beer House kicked off its American Beer Festival with a beer tasting event last night. Now I'm not much of a one for these things and Monday nights as we all know are reserved for Coronation Street, but Tyson, that inveterate socialite and attender of all things boozy, dragged me along.

The place was buzzing, filled not only with rheumy eyed old farts like me, but with sweet young things, the chicks all tattoos and attitude and the men all facial hair. A smattering of in betweens gave a fairly mixed crowd. CAMRA types were also there in abundance too, all to try out the kegged offerings supplied by James Clay and Vertical Drinks. American nibbles were provided, though corn bread is a taste I wouldn't want to acquire and judging by the left overs, not one that'll catch on here all that quickly. As always, there was an opportunity before festivities began to get some ale down our necks. Tyson and I both chose Dark Star Americam Pale, which was oddly sweet.

So to the first drink. This was Left Hand Brewing 400 Pound Monkey, described as a balanced English Style pale ale. Of course with American 2 row barley, the ubiquitous crystal malt, plus Munich malt and wheat, it certainly wasn't. OK there were some English hops in it, but the whole impression was one of sweet imbalance. None of our party particularly liked it. Next up was Great Divide Espresso Yeti Oak Aged Imperial Stout, a whopper at 9.5%. This was rather good, though it needed a swirl or two to get rid of the carbonic bite. Roasty, coffee and alcohol in a complex and demanding brew. It was very tasty, though the proffered sixth of a pint sample was probably enough. Sierra Nevada Stout followed which was a large step down after the Yeti. At 5.7% it seemed dull in comparison, but slipped down well enough. The final beer, to "oohs and ahs" from the assembled crowd was Sierra Nevada Torpedo on cask. Assertively hoppy, rather smooth, but with some sweetness from the dreaded crystal malt, it delivered great gusts of Magnums, Cascades and Citra and was pretty well liked by all.

The bar was then raided, with various brews being passed around, though I quickly settled on a beer that was neither American nor kegged. Cask Magic Rock Dark Arts, a stout, did it for me, with loads of lovely roast, liquorice and hop flavours combining to make a drink that was too lusciously drinkable for a 6% beer.

So all in all a good experience. The American beers were all fine, though some more likeable than others. In small quantities, the high carbonation didn't matter and all were surprisingly fresh tasting. Well done to Port St Beer House. It was a good do.

The festival is open to the public from today until all the beers have gone. And don't worry about the quality of the cask beers here. They are spot on.

Tailor Made

2011-06-24T19:40:00.000+01:00

I used to regard the Weisses Bräuhaus in Munich mostly as a place to sit outside of on a lovely summer's day, while watching the traffic go past. You can't really watch the people on the pavement, as most seats face the wrong way. It isn't in the most picturesque of locations in fact, though the building itself is quite grand. Why not sit inside then? Well, until the smoking ban, it was really rather a hell hole, with a leather curtain always drawn over the door and a fug that required an iron lung to negotiate. Then there was the beer, a kind of muddy wheat beer, which was neither dunkles nor helles.
The Weisses Bräuhaus was the brewing home of Schneider und Sohn until one gloomy night in 1944, when the brewery in Tal and the Weisses Beer Hall were destroyed in an RAF air raid. It had somehow managed to survive around 10 major raids before its luck finally ran out. The company then, as now, owned a brewery in Kelheim in the countryside and all operations were moved there. The pub was rebuilt after the war, but the brewery never was. Now Schneider is a major player in the wheat beer game and the Kelheim brewery is extensive and modern. The beer range has been modernised too and now that the smoking ban is firmly in place, the doors have been flung open and a bright but traditional interior revealed.

We went mob handed on a very wet Saturday, though I had sneaked a couple of beers outside earlier in the week in warm sunshine and I was astonished at the improvement in both beer and pub. I reckon they must have a new brewer along with the new range. Original is firmly auburn in colour with orange highlights. Full bodied, slightly bitter, not too heavily carbonated, with heady banana and clove esters and is very moreish. It may well be brewed to the original 1872 recipe, but I reckon someone has tidied up the processes. There is a pale version too and a green one, as in organic. Aventinus, a weizenbock, still sets the mark for beers of this style. 8.2%, complex and dangerously drinkable, this is one not to miss. Nor should you miss Hopfenweisse with its distinct American hop nose and IPA like drinking, but with obvious wheat undertones. It is a stunning beer and markedly different to anything you'll encounter in Bavaria, but again at 8.2%, not for the unwary. It is temptingly only 30c or so more than the Original, which may or may not encourage recklessness.

Food here is superb, the dirndled waitresses a mix of matronly and young, the customers the same and the place is jumping at all times with a great atmosphere. Don't miss it if you go.

The photo shows various stammtisch or locals table "markers". When the group come on, say, a Tuesday night, out comes their particular sign to reserve it.

Good and Not Quite so Good

2011-06-23T13:35:00.001+01:00

I have to say I like the Euston Tap. I like the fact that it is where it is and it does what it does. On the minus side, it is a bit too pokey and on the neutral side, it is a bar, not a pub. Back to location. Pubs are usually good for people watching, but here you are best to do this outside, as the hustle and bustle parades before you, conveyor belt like, in and out of Euston Station. Inside it sells good quality beer in a very polite way. It offers tasters, it has both keg and cask beers and enough bottled ones to keep most enthusiasts happy. It is immensely handy for the weary passenger tottering off a train, dragging their thirst behind and you know what? They actually know their stuff cask wise. The beer is invariably good, fresh, clean and lively. It is also for London, for cask beer at least, very reasonably priced. So for me, a cask man through and through, it ticks a lot of boxes. I recommend it 100%.

I have to say I like the Dean Swift. It is handy for our flat, it has the most amazing customer service, (amazing to the point of disconcerting almost.) The food is fantastic, the pub is bustling and cheerful. It sells a wide variety of cask, keg and bottled beers, so there is something for everyone? Well not quite. I am sorry to say it, but after four or five visits, each widely enough apart, I have to say they don't do cask beer at all well. Warm, oxidised, over vented, flabby beer. Shame. Now I know many don't like negative comments about pubs and actually I don't like to have to make them, but you know, this just isn't good enough. They really should get the cellar and dispense temperature down to around 12C and check how the beer actually tastes and is presented to the customer. It is pricey enough after all. The pub claims "Here at the Dean Swift we are passionate about amazing beer." All I ask is that they live up to that. I still recommend it highly though. Just not for cask beer.

So there you have it. My opinion. I am not just a beer blogger, I'm a customer. In both cases, I'd urge you to check for yourself and let me know what you think.

At the Euston Tap recently I had my only pint (so far) of Camden's Inner City Green. Very good indeed. I want more of it.

Pricey Keg?

2011-06-14T09:31:00.000+01:00

You all know me. An open minded sort of a guy who takes things as he finds them, doesn't get hidebound by outdated definitions, always willing to try new things, never stuck in the past and very, very, generous with my moolah. A kind of modern day Adam Adamant. A few extra coppers here and there for beer? No problem if it is something I want to drink; no problem if it has quality running through it and it came a long way; no problem if it is in London where that's just the way it is, again as long as the quality is right. But what if I'm expected to pay extra for a beer that would cost me a lot less on cask? Less in the same pub even?

Back to the open minded bit. I'm stung, nay, cut to the very quick by those misguided miscreants, those picky trouble makers, those poor deluded souls that think I don't like craft keg beer out of badness. I've been complaining about the lack of availability of British craft keg up here in the grim North as I have had little experience of it other than a bit in London and Sheffield, but here we have in Manchester the chance to try it. Port St Beer House has installed extra keg taps for British craft keg, so me and E hot footed it there last Friday. E somewhat grudgingly it has to be said. It seems my keg drinking plan didn't meet with her approval. Cutting remarks such as "we could go to the Marble for a couple of decent pints" show you Dear Reader, what I'm up against in the search for enlightenment.

So I order a couple of halves to prove my doubting better half wrong. "A half of Schiehallion and one of Jaipur (both keg) please." "£4.50 of your British pounds" quoth the bearded barperson. "Fucking Hell" quoth me and her indoors in unison. Now there isn't a keg price-list in the PSBH - an oversight I'm sure - but there is one for cask. It's in the photo. Keg is apparently pricier. Lots pricier. What did it taste of? The Schiehallion of carbonic acid and metal, the Jaipur, like a fizzy, pale shadow of itself , which might just have suited a hot summer day in a beer garden, but on the whole just appeared to be rather pointless, especially in the PSBH where I have to say, they know their stuff cask wise and would have presented the real thing in all its glory. We reverted to the much cheaper and better cask and noted that Thornbridge appear to be labelling some beers as "Thornbridge Hall". New and old breweries I assume.

We burped all the way home, remarking that CAMRA has little to fear from new wave keg. At this rate it will price itself out of the market, so don't be afraid to pile on the cost new wave brewers. Oh I know it has extra production costs, but don't worry about price. Nor you Dear Landlord. Make the pips squeak. You both owe it to your followers.

And you my keg loving lovelies? Drink up. I've seen the future and it certainly works for me!

This is a bit of fun really, but it does illustrate a serious point on price. Just how much will that market stand?

Falling and Rising Numbers

2011-06-10T20:01:00.002+01:00

In our CAMRA Branch, our Pubs Officer is on the ball. He produced some figures the other night, which I have laboriously put into a table after crunching the numbers, probably incorrectly.

Rochdale, Oldham and Bury now has as off April 2011, 626 pubs. The corresponding number in 2010 was 643. That's a drop of 17 overall. The surprising thing is that while pub numbers overall have fallen, in each year, in each area, the number of cask pubs has risen and keg pubs declined. Now you may be surprised at the number of keg pubs we have - I was for sure - but then again, this is mainly a poor area and poor areas have keg pubs and lots of them. At least in this neck of the woods. The North that is. We have though gone from a cask minority to a cask majority, so that is pleasing to me at least.

Now I'd like to spot trends, identify market weaknesses and do many other things, but I won't, except to say, if you run a traditional keg pub, better start thinking about changing over to cask if you want to increase your survival chances. The other trend of course is that from a CAMRA point of view, we have far too many keg pubs in our branch area and we need to target some of the better ones for change - for a bit of good old fashioned campaigning in other words. There's loads of other things to spot though, but keg isn't doing well out of the decrease in pubs year on year, here at least.

As for new wave keg pubs? We don't really have any. Not any that sell British new wave keg anyway.

Here's the details.

God knows how Ron does his tables and makes it all so neat. It took me ages and I'm not doing it again - even if the arithmetic is skewiff.

Dear Do at Oktoberfest

2011-06-09T10:41:00.004+01:00

Prices have been announced for this year's Oktoberfest and for the first time prices per litre will break the €9 mark. This has been met with predictable howls of outrage and complaints of profiteering against a background of huge under-filling of glasses. Brewers in turn blame the state which requires much stricter anti terrorism measures, pushing up costs

One philosophic type though has rationalised the issue thus:

" Here is how I plan to consider it:

Beer cost: 6 euro.

Dirndl viewing surcharge: 3.20 euro.

Somehow, this arithmetic makes the beer taste a bit better"

He probably has a point!

The Hofbräuhaus currently charges a mere €7.30 per litre

This Seems Like a Good Idea

2011-06-04T13:01:00.000+01:00

I read in the Manchester Evening News that a London based company is aiming to breathe new life into struggling Manchester pubs by creating 'no frills' accommodation for backpackers and travellers. Journeys converts sections of pubs into hostels by installing bunk beds for visitors who can then boost landlords’ food and drink takings through their added custom.

Apparently the company has four such sites in London and one in Brighton. On the face of it, a rather good plan and with the no frills aspect, fairly straightforward to operate. Profitable too potentially, as Journeys say one of their first sites, which has been running for two years, was created in a dilapidated pub and in its second year of trading turned over £630,000, yielding a profit of £221,000.

That's clearly the sunny side, but it seems worth exploring for some.

The MEN has the full story here.

Beer from the Brewing Grave (2)

2011-06-01T18:57:00.001+01:00

After I ran out of Hoegaarden (Hoegaarden is my beery dirty little secret) on Saturday night when watching the football, I was tempted into trying the bottle of Rochefort 8 which I mentioned here. E was watching some scabby film or other, so I sought solace in Twitter, where Ghostie egged me on to do live tasting notes. It was actually pretty good though, with just a hint of staling coming towards the end as it warmed up. It started clear as a bell with perfect carbonation. Light chestnut in colour. Nose was slight, but of perfumed honey. Same perfume in taste - rose petals - with an underlying dry pepper note and alcohol warmth. The middle was spicy and figgy, but still fresh, though a touch thin. Finish was cough linctus with tongue coating dried fruit and alcohol and that's where the cardboard just crept in. In truth it stood up well, but I wouldn't leave it 15 plus years.

Thus giddy with excitement and inflamed by the Hoey, I rooted around and pulled out one of two surviving bottles of Hen's Tooth brewed by the long closed Morland of Abingdon. The brewery was taken over by Greene King and closed, though GK brewed Hen's Tooth for quite a while, though I don't know if they still do. I reviewed this beer here in December 2007 and it was stunningly good. Would it have survived another three plus years? I needn't have worried, though the beer had become a darker brown if memory serves. Here's the notes: Best before 9 Feb 2000. Sharp hiss of carbonation. Clear and properly carbonated with a firm sediment. Russett brown in colour. Caramel malt nose. Slight metallic notes lead to a complex taste of alcohol, vine fruits and malt loaf. Not at all tired, though the Seville Orange I noted then has now matured into raisiny vine fruits. Finishes with plenty bitterness and alcohol. No evidence of staling.

This was a piece of brewing history. I wasn't too surprised that it was still good, but I'd be pushing my luck to keep its surviving sibling much longer. All in all I enjoyed my little trip into the past, though of course, I'd rather be tasting a fresh one from a still existing Morland.

Now I know what you're thinking. "Fine for a sad old fart like Tandleman to spend a Saturday night on Twitter, but what the feck was a fine young man like Ghostie doing?" And you'd be right of course.

Influencing and Shaping

2011-05-30T07:51:00.000+01:00

Ten Inch Wheeler has upped sticks and moved to WordPress from Blogger. No, I'm not following him there. Seems too much like hard work, but it got me thinking as I amended his link in my list. I thought "Time I updated my links list."

I noted though as I looked at my list, that there are a lot of new bloggers around and some old ones (and they probably were the old ones) have dropped off the perch, so if you'd like to be on my links list and aren't already, just let me know and if I like the cut of your jib, I'll add you. I'll be getting rid of those that don't blog any more too, though it saddens me that so many of the older generation of bloggers (not as old as me probably) have turned up their toes, handed in their keyboards. It cuts down a lot of the range of opinions and attitudes in British blogging and that isn't good.

I was similarly struck by this note in his website about the Beer Blogger's Conference by Matt Eley who seems to be a pretty cool dude himself: I thought , it will be packed with the same rotund beer monsters you find at festivals up and down the land who have discovered another forum to push forward their views? Wrong, wrong, wrong! In fact I could not have been wider of the mark. Instead of either of the above scenarios I found myself in a room full of people so young and fashionable that it could have been a scene straight out of Hollyoaks.

Well really? Young and fashionable in beer blogging is clearly good it seems. Had everyone just stepped off the Hollyoaks set? Did Matt simply not notice the odd podgier or older person? Did he just ignore them, or more worryingly, were there none? Is the inference that social media is just for the young and trendy and by extension, the future of beer drinking and writing? Worrying thinking I'd venture. Referring back to my first paragraph, diversity in beer blogging has seemed to me for a while to be in decline - oh not at the more scholarly end of things, where Martyn Cornell and Ron Pattinson put in the graft - but in general beer blogging and that cannot be a good thing. Nor am I sure that I can fully agree with Matt's other observation that "despite the well documented struggles of the UK beer market the ‘next’ generation have their fingers at the ready to defend, promote, praise, hold to account – and indeed consume – our national drink"

In Diary of a Hop Head, another young thing says " What I saw on display was a group of clued up, modern and trendy people who are setting the industry standards.". Setting the industry standards? Perleeese.. So back to Matt. Is the future of British beer drinking in safe hands as he asserts? I don't doubt the "praise" bit, nor the "consuming" - though what is consumed needs to be examined quite closely . Does it follow that fashion, rather than the obvious inadequacies of a lot of British brewing, explains the gaderene rush to drink and promote exotic keg craft or bottled beer, often imported, in trendy bars or at home, by many younger bloggers? That can be glossed over no doubt, or denied, or explained away as generational, but what cannot be is the "holding to account" by many bloggers. It doesn't really happen, with an overt agenda of "cheery beery" and a very uncritical eye. (Only today Beer, Birra, Bier wrote "Generally I don't see the point in posting negative articles on this blog, I'm usually of the mind that if you don't have anything good to say then it's better to say nothing at all. ")

Since writing the above I have seen this by two Dutch attendees. Here's a flavour translated from the Dutch (by a translator package - not me. I personally don't go as far as the Dutch blog in directly relating benefits given, to generally uncritical coverage of beer. The reasons for that are far more complex, but you do need to keep a measure of distance and independence.

"Okay, okay, beer is more important in England than in the Netherlands, but these are all people who are not employed by breweries. Who would not let themselves be guided by excesses provided by a supplier and still remain objective?
Well, not really. They really let themselves be guided by such actions. Many bloggers in the UK admitted beer that they write only when they like something. If not, then they just shut their mouth. And shutting your mouth is exactly what not to do as a blogger. You find something, you have an opinion, you let us hear. Tell everyone what you think about everything around you. Is anything good? Shout it from the rooftops! Is something not good? Yell as loud. If you are afraid to lose all your free beer then do something else. Only if you're critical, your opinion is relevant."

It is clear that there is an increase in beer blogging in the UK, but are numbers alone enough to give both momentum and credibility? It seems to me that the number of comments on blogs is decreasing all the time, so clearly something odd is going on. Has Twitter largely marginalised UK blogging? Is it a broad enough church, or does it myopically concentrate at what is cool, sexy and exotic? Is blogging about beer in the UK at least, becoming a young man's (or woman's) game? Is it partisan and/or uncritical? Is the diversity still there? Is holding to account not part of the blogger's remit? Who does or doesn't blogging influence?

Is the future really assured? My jury is out, but at least I'm secure in the knowledge that we are all getting older (even the young and beautiful) and things will change. One way or another.

This piece took me ages to write and still isn't exactly as I'd like it. The aim is to spark off some thoughtful debate. Please comment in that spirit.

Much Ado About Nothing

2011-05-29T13:42:00.003+01:00

Seems a few bloggers have got their knickers into a twist over CAMRA Chairman Colin Valentine having a pop at the "bloggerati" at the CAMRA AGM. It was kind of kicked off by Martyn Cornell in a vitriolic, spittle flecked rant, in which he accused Colin of telling lies. Strong stuff. Seems Colin got himself in trouble by actually stating what he believed and for re-iterating clearly that insidious pressure by some bloggers for CAMRA to change would avail them but little.

Across the pond, Canada in fact. there is more - and reading the comments I'm somewhat suprised to see people chipping in about CAMRA who cheerfully admit they know nothing about it. Many of the comments also seem, on both sides of the argument, to veer off rather into tangents. Nearer home Rabidbarfly chips in his ten penn'orth and vows never to be a member as long as Colin is in charge. That'll teach him.

You can probably guess that my view is not quite as agin Colin as some. Sure he had a pop, but it's all good knockabout stuff. The serious message is that all the chipping away at them will not change CAMRA's focus on real ale. He could have sugared the pill of course, but Colin chose to say it in his own forthright way. Here's what I wrote to Glyn on his blog in response to what he said.

"But in any event, so what? CAMRA Chairman Robustly Defends Real Ale Shock. It is odd isn't it, a kind of cheek, that many in the blogging world feel free to attack CAMRA and its members in the most pejorative of terms, but throw a hissy fit when the CAMRA chairman decides to hit back a little. (More than you have blogged about this, one in particularly hysterical terms.) As for the jibe about the best beer being the next, many bloggers do butterfly around the exotic and rarely extol cask. Many bloggers do promote and encourage keg beer. Many bloggers do seem to promote new and exciting - whether you think that a good or bad thing is a point for debate - and many do struggle to define craft and what it is or isn't, while rallying around the term and using CAMRA's non support of it as a club to beat them with.

Can't have it all ways and if stick is dished out, sometimes stick has to be taken. "

At least it has provoked a bit of comment, but at the end of the day, as I said in my piece in Beer Magazine, I rather think that a bit of mutual respect is better. but if you can't do that, on whatever side of the argument your sympathies lie, don't expect the worm never to turn.

You will also find, I'd venture, quite a bit of trouble in finding lies in what Colin said.

Ossett on Fire

2011-05-26T11:27:00.000+01:00

No, not the brewery, but the beer. Last week's visit to the Regal Moon brought the reward of perfect Ossett Citra - one of my top beers of the year so far - and last night it was back to an old favourite, Ossett Silver King. In brilliant nick and tasting wonderful, this was a reminder, as if one was needed, that good breweries usually stay good. Ossett are on top of their game at the moment and are well worth seeking out.

The beer was flying out and the only worry was that it wouldn't last until bus time. But it did, so happy days.

An honourable mention too for my final half of Acorn Gorlovka Stout. Another tremendous beer.

Singing from the Same Hymn Sheet

2011-05-25T17:01:00.000+01:00

Back in the days when I was an IT Project Manager, delivering multi million pound projects (on time of course) we used to have a lot of jargon and management speak. It was the culture of projects, though personally I liked to bring people on board without resorting to that sort of thing.

While the phrase that heads this piece is kind of clichéd, it does describe in a way most people can understand, that when working together to deliver something, everyone needs to understand exactly how it all is meant to fit together, in order to reach a common and defined goal.

I was drawn to look at BrewDog's site, simply as it headed up the list on Zak's blog, which I use as a reference point as he subscribes to lots of blogs I don't and it makes things quicker. Seems they've employed a new Brewery Manager. I was struck by what he is expected to do. It seemed reasonable, being to "to orchestrate the planning, production and packaging of countless gallons of BrewDog from the raw materials to finished product, every day." Quite a responsibility I'd say. There followed an interview with the putative manager "what sort of tasks does Nikola foresee filling up the rest of his day?"

“As a newcomer to the BrewDog brewery, I’m going to presume how my days are going to run but I think, in general, it’s going to be a heady mix of brewing, planning, tasting, meeting, some more brewing, deliveries, maybe a bit more tasting, driving the BrewDog-mobile and then some more brewing. All in all, a pretty cool number.”

Well I'm glad he remembered the planning, but otherwise more or less a complete mismatch. Better get the hymn sheets dusted off in Fraserburgh! Unless it was all tongue in cheek of course. With BrewDog, you just don't know.

The Last Brews

2011-05-23T23:00:00.000+01:00

Two for you here. No prizes for guessing the breweries, but like Goal of the Month, have a go, just for fun.

I wonder what they'd taste like, but I'm not about to find out.

A Brace of Bloggers

2011-05-22T12:49:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I met Rabidbarfly in the Marble Arch for a pint or two. The beer of choice for both of us was Pint, which was on splendid form. The pub was awash with a sea of blue and Suvern accents, as it had become, temporarily, a home for the cask ale seeking, play off attending, AFC Wimbledon fan. They all seemed to be enjoying beer from the wickets at what was, for them, bargain prices. The odd Luton fan was there too and Glyn and I remarked how often a subset of football fans seek out the better pubs. I remember that too from my Oldham FC days, bumping into blue clad Latics fans in decent pubs in Nottingham, Sheffield and other such places, back when Oldham were in the Premier League. (And less salubrious places when they weren't.)

Later that day, after my meeting and after a few throat charmers, I called in to the Angel for a last couple. Hawkwshead Five Hop and Windermere Pale were the beers of choice in a pretty packed pub. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned round to see a grinning Darren Turpin of Blog O' Beer who was out celebrating his wedding anniversary with his lovely wife Jo. I thoroughly enjoyed the chat with them, while hoping I wasn't spoiling their evening too much, as I felt I may have just been slightly the worse for wear by then.

So there you have it. Two bloggers in one day. Great to see them both.

For my London readers, that white thing on the beer is a head!

Competing Priorities

2011-05-21T11:25:00.000+01:00

In a minute or two I'm off to see Glyn of Rake fame for a pint. He is in Manchester to watch AFC Wimbledon and I am in Manchester to attend a National Winter Ales Organising Meeting. The first meeting to start organising next year in fact, so as Deputy Organiser, I couldn't really miss it.

That's why I'm not at the Beer Bloggers Conference, but I'm not letting anyone but myself down by not being there. If I didn't attend my NWAF meeting I would be.

Simples.

As is our choice of venue. The Marble Arch

Saddled with a Mystery

2011-05-20T11:53:00.000+01:00

I had a quick couple of halves in the Baum in Rochdale the other night. A pretty decent, nay rather good, half of Brighton Rocks from Edge Brewery, a brewery I'd never heard of, but despite this appearing to be a bog standard brown bitter, it was lifted by careful hopping to be above just pleasant.

My second half was a different beast. Hop Bomb it was called and this hazy little number immediately gave off huge wafts of piney, resiny hops and was exactly the same to drink. Absent was that cloying crystal malt, so beloved of Yankee brewers and instead a good biscuity malt base was interwoven with hops piney, hops bitter, hops resinous and hops perfumed. This was a cornucopia of hoppy goodness. It did in fact exactly what it said on the tin. It was a hop bomb. A perfect example of Gazza Prescott's Mid Atlantic Pale Ale and strangely, from his neck of the woods it seems.

Annoyingly though, these two different beers suffered from the same "unrelated to brewing" fault. I couldn't tell anything about where they came from from the pump clip. Neither here nor there you might think, but why hide your light under a bushel? I want to know more about these breweries and importantly tell people. T'internet doesn't help much either. I can find nothing definitive on Edge but with the help of the kindly barmaid at the Baum, who went to the cellar to look at the cask, I find Hop Bomb is from Windsor Castle Brewery.* The web tells me that this is owned by Sadler's Brewery, but Sadlers does not list anything under the Windsor Castle name and Quaffale and Beermad send you round in a frustrating circle. Doh.

So a plea brewers. You are in business. Don't make it hard for us to find out anything about you.

*I now understand this to be a brewpub in Stourbridge. Possibly.

Treasure Trove

2011-05-19T15:41:00.000+01:00

I was tidying the garage (unsuccessfully) earlier and came across these two lovely looking chaps stored away with some other oddities, in a sealed box.

Have a look at the dates on them. The Boon will be the year of bottling I assume and I suppose that will be the same for the Rochefort. It couldn't be a best before date could it? No. I doubt it.

Anyone jealous? Anyone reckon they won't taste good?

Click on the photos to enlarge and get a better look.

A Right Lot of Re- Tweets

2011-05-18T15:18:00.001+01:00

I've been noticing on Twitter that some of the re-tweets recently tell me more than I need to know about the writers and quite a lot about the re-tweeters. In fact there are some people that I follow that are going to take the knock soon for continually re-tweeting drivel. Of course most Twitter content is drivel, but I like to think I've followed a lot of discerning people that won't in effect spam me. Is it too much to ask that you don't inflict other people's scary or stupid political/humour/miscellaneous guff on me and others?

Now I have no objection at all to the personal stuff. I love to know who has had what for brekkie or lunch or whatever, or when the guff I receive is beer related. That's Twitter and I live with that. I also hope on my few re-tweets, that it is at least usually, only beery stuff that I re-direct to my beery followers. But I have a hit list of those that don't. I don't suppose they'll care if they get de-followed, but they are beer people whose beery thoughts I do want to hear. So, think before you re-tweet. Please.

Back to beer and another re-tweet. Does Thwaites really want their Old Dan described thus: "very enjoyable thick caramel favour (sic)nice alcohol burn, sweet smooth finish"

Makes you want to rush out and buy it eh?

Feel better now I've got that off my chest!

Rumbling On

2011-05-17T18:53:00.000+01:00

The cask versus keg and "what is craft?" debate is still bubbling away. My friend Nick who likes to dabble on Ratebeer, has drawn my attention to some discussion there, which kind of mirrors the various discussions that have taken place within this and other blogs. What is craft? Can cask be craft? Is all "new" keg craft? Is all craft beer good etc.etc. You know the kind of thing.

Following my article in CAMRA's Beer Magazine in which I defended CAMRA's position, I had thought I might get quite a lot of flak, but I haven't, though of course my position on this one has been made clear and few bloggers seem to be CAMRA members. Last night on Twitter I had the opportunity to cross swords with Hardknott Dave about the more specific subject of keg and CO2 and though it was a lot of fun, it generated more heat than light, as these things tend to. It is nonetheless certain though, that the subject of keg and craft causes passions to become inflamed, with keg evangelists every bit as ardent in support of their cause, as CAMRA is in support of cask. In many ways it reflects the early days of CAMRA, where the noise generated was inversely proportional to the numbers actually involved. Given that "craft" keg is even smaller than cask was then in availability terms, this is particularly noticeable. It is that I assume that caused Roger Protz to refer to "noisesome bloggers".

My guess is that this will continue, though I wonder if somewhat uncritical coverage of keg will really further their cause. Is it always served just as the brewer wanted it to be? Is it always unpasteurised? Just as cask can be too warm, is it too cold? To return to my discussion with Hardknott Dave, I suppose my particular contention is that in most cases, keg beer is served way too carbonated. Whatever the brewer wanted from it, anything around 2.8 vols of CO2 would seem typical. That is pretty gassy. I postulated to Dave thus: "fizzy* is keg's Achilles heel, just as poor, flabby, vinegary beer is cask's". We all know and admit that cask can suffer from a myriad of faults. Is keg fault free? Is there really no bad craft keg?

In the end I suppose, sales will tell and the drinker will decide, but in the meantime, any views?

* "Fizzy" is seen as pejorative by some. Substitute "highly carbonated" or "gassy" if you prefer.

Come and Join Us

2011-05-17T15:10:00.000+01:00

Well, that great CAMRA basher BrewDog is at it again in an odd kind of way. The prolific proclaimers of keg are taking a stall at the GBBF to peddle their cask wares.

Is this a case of a sinner repented? Have they seen the cask ale light? Unlikely. Is this a case of not wishing to miss the exposure to 80,000 beer drinkers? Likely. Is it a good thing? Yes, as their cask beers - oh yes they brew them all right - are in my opinion a lot better than their keg products, though you are welcome to disagree.

Whatever way you look at it, it seems that CAMRA aren't quite so irrelevant as some people think, if the great Gods of keg come to worship at our altar.

Thornbridge will have a stand too. Excellent.

That Time Again

2011-05-16T15:40:00.000+01:00

Once again it is that time of year when I need to fill my form in for the Great British Beer Festival. It's the last ever one at Earls Court if the current plans to demolish it go ahead and for those that dislike its permanent non natural light, that will be a relief, though of course it does make the future of this great festival that bit more uncertain. Next year, when the Olympics are on, we'll be back at our former home in Olympia, which has undergone massive refurbishment and has the advantage of oodles of natural light. We are assured there will be enough room and even the heaviest of thunderstorms will not be able to find their way in and flood the place. Personally I'm quite happy with this, though it means having to leave earlier to get the last tube back to the East End.

I've already mentioned one or two things here, but you will probably be interested to know that BSF (Foreign Beer) will be split this year into different bars. The USA and Rest of the World will be near the main entrance, while German and Czech, where I will be, will be at the back. Belgian is somewhere else too, so you'll all have to do some careful planning. I'm told too that there will be a fourth BSF Bar, but I have no idea yet what that will be.

We must have been really naughty to have been broken up like that.

The Great British Beer Festival - Earls Court London - 2-6 August 2011

The Skipton Trip

2011-05-15T11:55:00.001+01:00

Copper Dragon Brewery is clean, modern, efficient and the beer is well made, though lacking a little in excitement. You won't find any beers stronger than 5% as the brewery - or rather its owner - firmly believes that beer is a volume based drink and as such his beers should be easily drinkable. The exception is Conqueror, which is chock full of American hops and drinks well above its weight, though the exception here is in taste, not alcohol. Conqueror is only 3.6% and joins a growing number of beers that combine great flavour and drinkabilty with lowish alcohol. It was probably the beer of the day. The people there are charming and fun - yes not a dour Yorkshireman in sight - though the brewery while claiming uniqueness in design, seemed to me to be pretty standard for any brewery that uses dual purpose vessels. They are in the process of expanding capacity up to the limit of Progressive Beer Duty and things seem pretty healthy now, their previous troubles apparently behind them.

The Bistro is pretty good too and provided much needed sustenance for a three hour pub crawl of Skipton, which I won't bore you with in any great detail. The best pub was the Narrow Boat which is something of a classic and a "must visit" if you are in the area. The Narrow Boat also provided the second low strength/high taste beer of the day in Ilkley's Mary Jane, which has a lovely hoppy taste from Amarilo hops and is only 3.5%.

So there you have it, a good day out to a nice town and a very pleasant brewery. On a personal note, the most striking thing of the day perhaps was to bump into a lass that used to work for me over 20 years ago in Liverpool. She lives on the Fylde now.

What a small world.

A quick couple of pints of Ossett Citra back in Middleton also impressed. Ossett are going great guns at present.

Copper Dragon

2011-05-14T10:15:00.009+01:00

By the time you read this, if read it on Saturday you do, I'll either be on my way to Skipton to Copper Dragon Brewery, or be there. Or have been there. Will Golden Pippin be as good as ever? Will I enjoy the Narrow Boat as much as last time? It's a while since I've been, but what a great pub I recall. There's a fantastic pie shop in Skipton too, by the canal, but as we are eating at the Copper Dragon Bistro, that might not be needed. It's nice to visit old haunts.

If you are good I might tell you how it went, or then again, I might not.

They are looking for a brewer I notice from their web site.

Save the Best Till Last

2011-05-13T19:22:00.001+01:00

A pleasant little pub crawl yesterday took us eventually to the Port St Beer House and a nice talk with the Manager William. He is a bit of a keg beer fan it seems, though oddly he drank cask with us. Maybe it was out of sympathy more than solidarity, but he's a splendid fellow nonetheless. I enjoyed BrewDog Trashy Blonde a lot less than usual. It seemed off form and it had seemed off form earlier in another pub too, but that happens. I felt I turned a corner on Thornbridge Hopton though, which I have never been that sure of, but last night I really liked it.

On the way home, as it is on the 17 bus route, I called in the Marble Arch intending to have a pint of Manchester Bitter to send me home rejoicing. Alas it went as I was having my pint poured, so that plan was scuppered. My replcement choice was Best, a beer again that I haven't really got into for some unknown reason, but which was in such good form I had two.

So there you are. You can teach an old dog new tricks, every beer deserves at least a second chance and there's no harm at all in changing your mind.

Oans, zwoa g'suffa

2011-05-11T19:36:00.000+01:00

I've got a nice five days away coming up in a month or so. Once again to my favourite city, Munich, this time accompanied by twenty odd CAMRA chums, as this is an official "do" and of course, the lovely E. This trip wasn't planned by me, but by our Social Secretary, Stopwatch Sid. I met him last night to discuss the gig as I know the place quite well. That is I know the boozers quite well and we wanted the gang to get the benefit of a quick tour round, so as not to waste valuable drinking time.

Over excellent pints of Ossett Yorkshire Gold - a perfect crossover beer if ever there was one - we knocked up a rough itinerary for the first full day and agreed a Sunday trip to Kloster Andechs, out in the countryside, but with superb beer and a balconied beer keller overlooking lovely countryside. I have been before and may therefore go instead to Bräustüberl Tegernsee, whose beer I have been selling for years at the BSF Bar at the Great British Beer Festival. It's on a lake and it will be nice to see where it comes from and it will please E.

One thing we both agreed on as a must, is a visit to the famous Hofbräuhaus. This huge, rambling, raucous, beer hall is seen as typical by many foreign visitors, but is actually a very rare beast these days. Often looked down on as a tourist trap, it does in fact offer one of the best drinking experiences of your life if you just go with the flow. I can't wait to grab a Maßkrug of dunkel and just have a good time.

How many readers of this blog have been to the Hofbräuhaus or would like to go? Is it on your "must do" list? If it isn't, it should be.

Wonder What They'll be Selling?

2011-05-10T18:58:00.000+01:00

Or where exactly? This mob have been dropping hints on Twitter, so looks like even more craft beer for London.

Kinda set their stall out clearly though.

Funny or Not?

2011-05-09T19:43:00.005+01:00

Have you heard of Oban Bay Brewery? No, me neither. Not until I read yesterday's Scotland on Sunday. Seems they produce beers with "jokey" names (aimed at tourists they say) and that's got them into hot water with the Anti Alcohol Lobby and CAMRA.

The cause of this stooshie? A beer called Ginger Jakey - a jakey being a colloquialism in Scotland, for an alcoholic down and out. I'd have shown you the offending beer label, which is printed in the paper, but not on line, nor on the Oban Bay site, but instead a similar one from their web site.

Make your own mind up. SoS has the story here.

Some Bottle!

2011-05-08T12:49:00.000+01:00

Some months ago, - not that many - honest, I was given a bottle of Kernel Black IPA by Glyn of Rake fame. He'd brewed it with the Kernel lot and bummed about it being pretty good. It sat in my London fridge for a few weeks then was given a new home in my Manchester one. When I moaned the other day about my lack of free beer, my benefactor rightly enquired along the lines of "Oi Bollocks. What happened to the free beer I gave you then?"

Well as mentioned above, it was safe and sound and yesterday I promised I'd drink it this weekend. Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, as my favourite poet once said, so last night in a rare bout of Saturday night Match of the Day watching, rather than my usual Sunday morning one, as E had gone to bed, I thought, I know, I'll have a couple of beers. So first up to warm up the old taste buds was Hopback Summer Lightning. Now this isn't the greatest cask beer in the world, but it translates into BCA form rather well. It was a good beer and one I'd drink again when the sun shines. Then I opened the Kernel Black IPA. As soon as it went "hiss" I knew I was in for something special. The fresh hop aroma just jumped out. The taste was sublime, the body, mouthfeel and carbonation perfect, the head retention good and the complex, balanced roast and hop flavours a marriage made in heaven. It was also a masterclass in how to use hops well. I was brassed off big style that I only had one. I won't mess you about. This is simply one of the best bottled beers I have ever tasted and I don't give such praise lightly. Oh and if you want full tasting notes - see the Kernel chaps. I was just drinking it.

Naturally this morning I let Glyn know I'd drank and enjoyed it and asked if it was still available. He confirmed it is now a permanent addition to the Kernel range. Now maybe I just touched lucky with this bottle and the length of time I kept it. I don't even know if it is bottle conditioned, but who cares. Next time I'm in that there London, I'm going to Kernel to buy some.

You should too. Trust me on this one.

Life's a Gas

2011-05-07T13:04:00.000+01:00

And so was Odell's 5 Barrel last night in the Port St Ale House. Boy was it fizzy. I'd guess at least 2.5 volumes, but quite possibly a fair bit more. Once I'd knocked half the CO2 out of it, there was a decent but thin beer underneath, with some piney hops edging into soapiness. Nothing particularly classic about it. E asked me the very pertinent question as to why the beer we drink in Germany doesn't feel as gassy. They don't seem quite so fizzy in the US either and certainly not in Belgium, so I am a bit at a loss, as I've yet to find a UK served "craft beer" that doesn't seem well over gassed. The search continues, but it is a dear do doing so.

I couldn't provide a definitive answer to E's question. Of course it could just be us, so used to cask, that the beer seems more gassed than it is. Are these beers served entirely by CO2? It seems like it, but surely not? Perhaps some are served with a touch of nitrogen via an in cellar gas blender, or more doubtfully through pre-mix standard gas bottles, though I suspect not.

Anyone know the full SP on this? I am genuinely puzzled and it isn't a pop at keg. Frankly it is a gap in my knowledge.

Best moment of last night was the look of incredulity (and rebellion) on the barman's face when a customer asked for a pint of Bacchus Kriek with a lemonade top.

Lovely Free Beer

2011-05-06T14:49:00.000+01:00

I rarely get sent free beer despite my extremely educated palate and my record of beer tasting going back donkey's years, as well as my leading blog status. I think I protest too much about not drinking at home. However the nice people that do the UK PR for Duvel-Moortgat kindly sent me a couple of bottles of Vedett and I've gone and drunked them.

I remember visiting Duvel many years ago and the hospitality was mighty. They brewed a pilsner then too I recall, so whether this is the same one or not, I have no idea. I do though remember, distinctly, the feeling of impending doom when they let us loose in the hospitality suite and our concerns amid a sea of Duvel, Duvel Green Label (it goes back years folks) and Maredsous, that by the time we got to De Koninck later that day we'd be pissed. I needn't have fretted. By the time we got to De Koninck we were indeed completely pissed, but happily, no longer worrying about it.

Back to Vedett then. Not the most complex beer ever, but I doubt if it is meant to be. Crisp, a bit of hop, very highly carbonated and would be great in the sunshine, or just as I did as a thirst quencher. It feels far cleaner than a lot of pils type beers and I like clean in a beer. You don't need to know any more really.

So there you are. Send me beer and you'll get history, provenance and usually an anecdote. Oh and possibly a nice mention too. Get sending then.

German News

2011-05-05T14:20:00.000+01:00

According to the Federal Statistical Office, Germany sold 20.8 million hectolitres of beer in the first quarter of 2011. That was a decrease of 0.1 million hectolitres (–0.4%) from the corresponding period of the previous year. So gloom there too.

It seems too that the Germans are getting round their somewhat loophole filled smoking ban with comparative ease. Despite widespread smoking bans across Germany, more than four out of five corner pubs and bars still have patrons smoking inside, a study released on Tuesday has found. A survey of nearly 3,000 eating and drinking venues in 10 major cities found that complex and numerous exemptions are being widely exploited to allow smoking to continue.

Since August 2007, laws have been gradually introduced in all German states to protect people against passive smoke. However many exemptions exist. Düsseldorf had the most smoking bars and also the most breaches of the law with 41% of all hospitality venues still allowing smoking, but failing to warn their patrons that they do. Munich came out on top. A general smoking ban has been in force there since August 2010. Yet even here, 17 percent of bars make use of the single exception that is still possible in Bavaria – that smoking is permitted in private clubs or associations.

Meanwhile the German Brewers Association revealed that Germany has 1,325 breweries currently though warning at the same time that this number is likely to fall due to takeovers.

Finally, I'll leave you with this quote from a contributor to a discussion on the beer purity laws. "lots of countries in Europe allow brewers to use chemicals ,the lager in the U.K. has no natural things in it at all."

Oh well. But if you look at the photo, perhaps their beer is just too natural?

My thanks to The Local