Another Trade Show

Like buses, they all come more or less at once. Hard on the heels of Northern Bar was the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) big annual thrash held in the Liverpool Exhibition Centre.

SIBA BeerX 26 is a massive trade show with a beer competition, many bars featuring independent brewers from the whole country, exhibitors from the trade, industry awards, a series of talks on various beery subjects, debates, seminars and much more.  SIBA describe it as "The UK's largest exhibition of brewing products and services, and a hub for brewing, education and business advice. A must-attend for the brewing industry." ​

The setting on the Mersey waterfront, in a modern purpose built exhibition centre is hard to beat, and the space is big enough to be comfortable in.  It is in a perfect spot when the sun shine, and on what was a lovely sunny spring day the views across the shimmering river to the 'Birkenhead Navy', made everything  pleasant and worth the early start.

I wasn’t there just to drink beer - I was judging in the beer competition. I’ve judged for SIBA before and, despite filling in a form about experience and preferences, the final allocations always feel a bit like a lottery. Actually, I'm not really sure the information you give beforehand is used to its full. Eager to see what we’d been assigned, my fellow judges and I registered: I and one friend had two panels each, while the other friend, to his surprise, had three plus the final. With that settled, we had an hour to wander, catch up with people and take stock. The bar setup was excellent - keg and cask beers were clearly displayed and attractively arranged. As a former Beer Festival Organiser, my critical eye couldn't fault it all. That done, we bought beer vouchers for later and reported for duty.

I judged American Keg Pale Ales which were, frankly, a bit of a mixed bag. We reported one "ringer" a New Zealand hopped wheat beer - dunno what happened to that. My second panel was porters and stouts including nitro. Way better, but then again it is easier to hide faults in a dark beer - and we caught out a couple.  Some crackers though which was a bonus.

We finished by drinking a lot of beer with people we knew. That's the beauty of these gigs, you always meet up with friends and acquaintances. It was good to see Ed Wray - the Beerfather - and I had a quick chat with Laura Hadland.  My mate Matt Curtis was there and lots from the North West beer community from brewers, to judges and all sorts in between.

The value of it all?  Well, it was a lot of fun, and I'm happy to get as much fun in as possible before I peg it. At my age, you don't forget that time flies and time spent with good beer and good people is time spent well.

The Birkenhead Navy, in case you wondered is the various Navy and Fleet Auxiliary ships in the  Cammell Laird shipyard for various renovations and repair. 

The Higsons pump clip was for sentimental purpose only. It tasted nothing like my beloved original. 

I found out today that overall champion cask beer was Almasty Brewery from Newcastle with "Believe" a New England style IPA.  Champion Keg was "Don't Make Me Run", an imperial stout from Lakes Brew in Kendal. Sadly, I don't think that was on my judging panel.

No prizes for guessing the two other guys in the photo, but do tell anyway. 

 

Outstanding

I've been busy and unwell, so this is a bit of a catch up. Outstanding Brewery used to be in my CAMRA Branch Bailiwick, but has recently moved from its rather old fashioned building in Bury to a new location in deepest Salford.  They had a bit of an open day for CAMRA colleagues and their own friends and family a couple of Saturdays ago, so me and the boss went along.

At E's suggestion we walked from Shudehill along the banks of the Irwell as this seemed an interesting way to go.  That was easier said than done as we had to make frequent detours to avoid the intense amount of new builds along the banks of the river and further into the interior. It was fascinating nonetheless to walk in a part of the area that I don't really know and as a bit of a railway buff I really enjoyed looking at the work being done on the Ordsall Curve which will directly link Manchester's Piccadilly and Victoria Stations.

After a couple of miles and an equal number of false starts we located the building, paid a tenner to charity and went in. Two rather large industrial units have been combined into one, divided by stairs to a podium with a bar and sitting area. In the first of these units is Porter Installations the constructor of many of the current crop of UK microbreweries as well as an increasing number abroad.  Run by the eponymous Dave Porter a brewer, brewery builder and much more, partly constructed brew kit could be seen, while Dave himself showing his other side, did the guided tour bit of the actual brewery, while the owner Glen, a brewer himself and ever amiable and I looked down from above. I am unsure of how ownership works out other than that each appears to have a small stake in the others business, while facilities are shared. Or it may be some other odd combination, but either way, it seems to work. The units have been purchased as the rental option was considered dead money. They are modern and flexible. I think Dave, as well as knowing everything and everyone, was an accountant. He'll have done the sums. That's a compliment.

The brewery is large and fairly shiny and produces cask and keg beers. The bar dispensed several of each and while we both started off with a very, hoppy, light coloured Ultra Pale Ale - 4.1% I think, we ended up on Four, a clean, herbal, refreshing keg lager which shows what really can be done with this style. It is worth noting that while the keg lagers are filtered, none are pasteurised.

Nice guys that I have known for years, doing well and producing great beer is all this is about.  This is a simple good news story - apart from losing a great brewery from Bury that is.

The charity tenner got us as much beer as we wanted and a pizza should one be desired, but as usual at these things, it was just great to chat to beery people and talk beer to brewers. 

We got the tram back to Central Manchester. In my usual cack handed way, I only took one photo. See the website linked above for more.