One to Watch

As a public service I like to let you know the good and bad of British Brewing.  I care about you and your drinking welfare you see.  So here is my latest top tip - pause for drumroll - Buxton Brewery Company.

Tyson and I stumbled across them in the Waterhouse in Manchester yesterday.  There is a "meet the brewer" session tomorrow night, so it isn't too late to get yourself along there and see for yourself, but when we called, by way of a foretaste, there were five or six already on the bar, including the beer which will be officially launched tomorrow night, English Pale Ale.  We tried them all and all were good to bloody good. They all had that clean, full bodied, drinkability that sets the really good brewers apart from the rest. Nor are they mean with the hops. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Head Brewer, James Kemp is ex Thornbridge.

Pick of the bunch for me was Buxton Gold brewed with Amarillo, Nelson Sauvin and Liberty hops, though all their beers were very appealing with top marks also for the Black IPA, Black Rocks.

The good news for the stay at home amongst you is that they bottle too, but you already know that the pub is best don't you?

Learn more about them here.

Early Start

I'm going out with the ever thirsty Tyson later, but I see the bugger has already got a start on me! Going by experience, he'll probably get the better of me at the end too!

Of course he is younger, but I'll still stick to tea in the mornings.

Not Seven Stars

Vienna's brewpubs seem to make little enough of the fact that they brew. Most hardly tell you at all from the outside that they are a brewery and scarcely make a feature of it in the way, say an American one might. It's a kind of understated thing which is puzzling in many ways. Regrettably the beer is usually equally understated and again you wonder why. Siebensternbrau is oddly enough in Siebensterngasse, so at least no puzzle about the name then. It is big, but surprisingly cosy, with warm wood tones, the brewery providing a feature and various raised areas and upstairs rooms breaking it all up. The main areas are thankfully smoke free, the staff gruff, but friendly enough and of course there is home brewed beer.

No Germanic brewpub would be seen dead not offering an unfiltered helles and dunkles bier and here is no exception. The dunkel is billed as being in the Prague style, though I imagine most self respecting Czechs would doubt that this thin, rather bland liquid would qualify. The helles is a lot less cloudy than most and despite the description of "hoppy", what was missing most from this beer was, well, hops.  On the speciality side is a chilli beer, which oddly is pale. Somehow I'd say chilli in beer works best in a really dark beer and then in considerably less Tom Yum quantities than here. This wasn't pleasant.  The other oddity is a hemp beer which was, well, just odd. Not unpleasant - odd and I didn't try the Bamberger Rauch Bier. My dislike of smoked beer is a matter of record. E left grumbling about unfiltered beer, her usual concern in these places.  The pick of the bunch was probably a rather sweet maerzen, so regrettably overall I didn't rate it that highly beer wise, though as a destination it was really rather good and of course, your tastes and judgements may differ and the range does change.  It has a great atmosphere though and is good for people watching and the food was typically filling.

I do have to mention rather a brewpub success though.  Wieden Brau isn't much to look at décor wise, but was genuinely local, the main bar was non smoking and the beers were more than competent with the pils being hardly cloudy at all and a very good chewy dunkel.  The special beer on offer, brewed on the premises, was a Koelsch which was nothing of the kind, but a very decent weizen. I asked the barman about this and was rewarded with a smile and a wink. Make of that what you will.  The food here is good too. I don't think I can face ribs again for the foreseeable future such was the portion!

Vienna has plenty of brewpubs but it is hard to see past 1516 and there are many interesting bars that are worth a look even more than the brewpubs. Watch out for the smoking though.

Curious

Our pub sits on a hill, amidst farming territory at the edge of a country park popular with walkers. It is reached by an unmetalled lane a mile from each of the nearest main roads. The area is also a favourite of those just out for a more leisurely stroll. It brings the pub a fair bit of business. When I got there yesterday at around two o'clock, it was pretty empty and while I waited for someone to serve me, (judging by the blue smoke there was a burger crisis in the kitchen) a visitor remarked to me that he'd thought a pub like this would be bursting at the seams on such a fine day as yesterday. It has always been a bit of a mystery to us that drink there as well. On the foulest of days, the pub, despite its relative remoteness, is usually very busy indeed; but often on beautiful days it isn't. I conclude that walkers like to press on when the weather is good, but like to cut short and linger over beer when it isn't. Or just like some locals, they like to sit about their back gardens on a lovely day. Of course like most of these things that rule isn't hard and fast, but yesterday it was mostly us locals and another reminder of the fickleness of the pub trade.
 
Of course walkers, like us locals, are a funny lot anyway, so that might well explain it too.

Fyne by Me

It isn't that usual to come across Fyne Ales beers in this neck of the woods, but last week in the redoubtable Baum I did. Funnily enough when scanning the pump clips I somehow overlooked the Fyne Ales offering, no doubt because I immediately honed in on Mallinsons Europa. (Trust me on this one, Mallinsons are never a bad choice for the lover of pale hoppy beers.) Nonetheless the lovely E is much more considered in these matters and spotted Fyne Ales Hurricane Jack lurking at the end of the bank of pumps and after enquiring after its colour, duly procured a half, remarking as she did that if it was half as good as Jarl, she was in for a treat. Now the Mallinsons was lovely, as they usually are, but the Hurricane Jack was a revelation. A beautifully balanced, hop coated, mouth filling beer of immense drinkability.  When my Mallinsons was done, I immediately procured a pint.  Gorgeous.

So another two top tips from me. Mallinsons and Fyne Ales.  You can't go wrong with either, unless unlike me, you are driving and have to leave after two, when really what was required was a session.

Bottoms Up!

How do you like to ingest your vodka? Presumably the usual way, in a glass, topped up with the mixer of your choice. Not so for German teenagers. The Local has the story.  

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20110330-34051.html
 
You may feel queasy after reading it though!

Austria Isn't Germany

When we walked into the somewhat austerely named 1516 Brewpub, I was immediately aware that despite superficial sameness, I was not, as I often am, in Germany, but non rheinheitsgebot Vienna. A huge and almost physical wave of new world hop aroma enveloped me me and almost catapulted me back into the street. They were brewing and C hop aromas were billowing forcefully from the brewery. I was happy. This was very promising.  1516 is the most innovative by far of the many brewpubs in this lovely city. Down a fairly nondescript side street, it has a nice outside seating area in front and is cozy and dark inside. Beware though. Even when fairly empty it is very smoky indeed and you may wish to choose where you sit outside carefully too, as there as inside, the smoker is omnipresent. Nonetheless we sat in the warm spring sunshine amid a huge crew of noisy French speaking Belgians, there to see there football team play Austria in the European Championship. There were two specials on. Eejit Stout is a roasty, dry and tasty number which was excellent but the stunning star of the show was the Victory Hop Devil take off, which was incredibly bitter and resinous and frankly, a bargain at €3.50 a half litre. Simply a cracking beer.

The beer list here changes frequently and I consider myself lucky to have encountered these two, which were as good for the style as I've drunk anywhere.  Of course all cannot be without fault. E felt her unfiltered pils to be the usual trub laden mess.  All the Belgians drank it though.

The food is fantastic here too and in very satisfying portions.

Hawking Hawkshead

I was at a birthday party yesterday at the well known Angel in Manchester. The pub is normally closed on a Sunday, but my mate Jim whose birthday it was and is a regular there, had arranged for it open for him as a private function. I started with Hawkshead Windermere Pale and such was the appeal of this splendidly hoppy, Citra dominated, pale beer, that I almost continued with it to the end of the do, despite, or possibly because of its relatively weak 3.5% strength. Of course the road to Hell is paved with good intentions and the fast moving Lakeland Gold handpump was far too tempting. Resinously bitter, but easy drinking, it made the stepping up adjustment all too easy. I've said it before and will say it again. Hawkshead have a superb range of beers and they certainly aren't afraid of using hops at the front of each beer , all of which seem to complement each other to a remarkable extent, despite being very different. They are one of the top breweries in the UK presently, with an attention to detail and exacting standars of production that few match. While they do bottle, this has been done mainly by brewing a simply superb range of cask conditioned ales that you want to drink a few of.  And you know, drinking a few pints of beer that you can really enjoy one after the other, is still in these days of edgy, hard to drink beers of doubtful quality, something to treasure.

So seek them out and to enjoy at their best, make sure the beer is sparkled as the brewery intends.

Back in the Loop

Friday saw my first real foray into the JDW Fest. Somewhat surprisingly, bloggers seem to have largely ignored this event, so I was somewhat in the dark.  Thus, on my way back to Manchester,  I spent a couple of hours in Glasgow, where there are three JDWs within a cockstride of Central Station. I started off with my new favourite, Camperdown Place, which alas did not meet the standards of the esteemed Barm. However I have no inbuilt anti Wetherspoon bias and very much like chatty, helpful and pleasant bar staff, a comfortable atmosphere and proximity to a station, so it is just fine by me. Pick of the bunch I tried was Oakham Taipan which, despite the absence of the promised ginger, was very fine indeed. I also enjoyed Holden's April Showers which was remarkably bitter for a Holdens beer. My least favourite here was Hydes Plum Treat which was neither remotely plummy, nor a treat. On a similar vein, Thwaites Bloomin' Smoky wasn't remotely smoky - a good thing in my view - but do you see a theme emerging here of promised ingredients not delivering?

The Counting House just across the road, had been forced to wake up from its dark Scottish beer coma and had a few different beers on.  I liked Bateman's All Seasons, which tasted exactly like any other Bateman's beer you have ever tried, but is a taste I like. Less keen I was on Lancaster Kingmaker, which was sugary and unbalanced; Jennings Cocky Blonde  was green, hazy and not ready for serving. It shouldn't have been on the bar, but you certainly couldn't complain about the lack of blackberry in Mauldon's Blackberry Porter, as it was hoaching with them - too much so in fact and while Brain's Milkwood was good, Wolf Blonde was a big miss for this reporter at least. Last of the Central Station trio was the Sir John Moore, where Elgood's Spring Challenge was the only beer (of three) I hadn't tried. It was rather decent too, in a splendidly old fashioned way.  This pub probably fits the JDW stereotype much more than the other two, but ho hum.

As I was meeting E at Manchester Piccadilly, I had time to break my journey in Preston. The Greyfriar was literally eight deep at the bar at around six thirty,  I couldn't even see what was on the forest of pumps which, like a distant mountain range, was tantalising but beyond my reach, though somehow I managed to weave my way up through a raised seating area, to a corner of the bar, dragging my luggage behind me.  I could only see two handpumps from this rather poor vantage point, so halves of Green Jack Orange Wheat and Triple F Ramble Tamble were ordered, both of which were excellent, with the TripleF shading it.  By this time the gap at the bar, like a time portal, had closed for good, so back to the station I went.

Normal service is resumed.

Out of the Loop

I'm stuck in less than optimum beery climes. The West of Scotland can clearly be deemed as such - no bloody arguments please - unless you have easy access to a small part of Glasgow. I am marooned thus by a family death and while it may seem insensitive to complain about the lack of beer, good or otherwise, (though as I type this, my Asda bought bottle of Pivovar Herold, tastes pretty damn good), it clearly doesn't compensate for missing out on the JDW Fest, or pleasant pints with my mates in the Regal Moon tonight.

They do other things differently here. The wake was tea, sandwiches and cakes. I am pretty well caked out in fact. Empire Biscuit anyone? No maudlin piss up and probably better for that. This separation from good beer makes me realise how lucky I am beer wise. The fact that I helped carry the coffin, rather than being carried in it, also makes me feel lucky.

I could still murder a decent beer and for me, hopefully, there is always tomorrow.

Empire Biscuits - What a great treat!

Last Week

I've been busy with this and that including family illness, but of course beer has featured. A trip to Glasgow brought two bonuses. Firstly the beer revolution (a real one) that has been sweeping through the Nicolson's chain has reached the immensely handy for Glasgow Central Station, Drum and Monkey.   Pints of Jaipur on the way to and from my Mum's were both excellent and reasonably priced. Now up to six cask beers are offered which is good news. Nearby,  I used to like the huge and imposing former Bank of Scotland building that is now the JDW Counting House, but the beer range has failed to impress on my last few visits. It seems stuck in a dark, sweet, Scottish  beer groove, chosen from a select band of breweries, most of which need a kick up the arse. On my last visit a few weeks ago, I noticed that a new JDW was being worked on a mere 20 yards or so from the Counting House.  Camperdown Place is now open and offers a very decent selection of beer in a pub that is most unJDW-like. A very fine spot for a quick pint before descending (or ascending depending on destination) into Queen St station. Acorn IPA did not suck at all.

Back on home ground, I introduced the lovely E to the Port St Beer House. On Friday night it was healthily busy and while unable to paint  a surreal picture of it for you, I was, not for the first time, slightly underwhelmed by the cask beers on offer. Not the condition mind you which was and has been on every visit, excellent, but am I alone in thinking that Prospect and Boggart are less than inspiring choices? That and  Lord Marples, the runt of the Thornbridge litter made my beer selection easy.  I was completely impressed by Hardknott Dave's Interstellar Matter, a porter of considerable complexity and poise, which deserved more than just a second half, but I was limited severely by driving.  E was less than taken with the keg Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, that she thought tasteless and gassy and as she remarked, not a patch on the bottled version.  She also  remarked on the almost complete absence of beards among the fairly affluent customers and then wryly added that "you can't say that about the bar staff".  Indeed all four men sported beards of which Jim Morrison or indeed Ulysses S Grant would have been proud and were as hairy as their customers were not. Not sure what that does to those who like to stereotype. All offered fantastic service though and I must put on record that unfailing good service has been noticeable on my visits so far. We will keep coming back, so another winner, albeit qualified by a niggling concern about cask selection, though of course I accept fully that I may just have been unlucky.

On Saturday a trip by coach to Hawkshead Brewery to their new Beer Hall. Well ,extended Beer Hall.  I was unable to take up the opening day invitation, by my wish to have E accompany me, so ironic it was, that after all, she had to stay at home with her unwell mother. Still with Tyson and his coterie, John Clarke, a clutch or Marble and ex Marble brewers and many others I know, it was still a fine place to be.  The investment here is tremendous and the beers were, as Tyson reports, unfailingly good and served to perfection.  I want to proclaim Hawkwshead as one of the most underrated breweries in the UK. Their range is superb, their attention to detail second to none and the presentation of the beers absolutely spot on. "Quality in everything" could be their motto. Seek them out.  I worked my way through the hard to move away from Windermere Pale (3.5%) dominated by Citra and drinking like a 4% beer, to the wonderful, full bodied and bitter Lakeland Gold and then to Citrilla with its cunning and stunning blend of Citra and Amarillo hops.*

So to copy Tyson.  Beer of the week: Hawkshead Citrilla.  Pub chain of the week, Nicolsons.

*I missed out on Stringers Yellow Lorry and Fyne Ales Jarl. Rumour has it that Tyson supped the last of both.

CAMRA At It Again?

It doesn't do to go rubbishing other people's choice of drinks does it? We are all more or less agreed on that one I think. Accentuate the positive we are urged.

Why then do we get this?: "We want the public to realise that the fizzy, yellow so-called ‘beers’ pushed on the unsuspecting public by big breweries should be treated as a crime..... Crap beer’s days are numbered. The time for revolution is now......to prove to beer drinkers that have previously put up with these tasteless, insipid mainstream lagers that things have changed."

Hang on though. It isn't CAMRA that say this, but Brew Dog in announcing " a crap beer amnesty" this month for drinkers to trade in big brand cans for their about to be nationally released canned Punk IPA.

Of course if CAMRA had said this, the CAMRA bashers would have been out in force condemning them as out of touch, etc. etc. But it wasn't CAMRA, so that's all right then isn't it?

And yes, I've fallen into the Brew Dog trap once more. But at least I resisted illustrating this with a Brew Dog can!

All in the Same Boat*

Pete Brown wrote an emotional and excellent piece pleading for unity in all things beery a couple of days ago. It attracted quite a bit of comment and the usual "black spot" for CAMRA. Pete is concerned that "factionalism and blind prejudice – on various sides – is threatening to kill, or at least stall, the beer revolution."

Well OK. Let's accept there is a beer revolution, though Pete doesn't define it for us and many would say it isn't actually a given. But let's just say there is. He calls for more tolerance, which is a good thing and gives us something to chew on. He doesn't like people slagging off other people's choices of beer. Now I agree with this and like him I dare say I have to plead guilty for doing so from time to time, though trawling my blog, I couldn't actually find any examples where I've done that. I can find a few complaining about a landlord's choice of beer, or about the quality of a beer at a given time or place, but that is surely legitimate? I'm a consumer and blogger after all. His concerns are presumably mainly directed at the industry at large which is legitimate. Slagging off shouldn't apply there either.

Pete is also concerned about squabbling. Squabbling kids in fact. He doesn't say who the squabblers are though.  If he means bloggers, even if it is so, which I rather think it isn't, who'd give a monkey's chuff? I doubt if we count for that much.  Each of us may well disagree with some of what other people write, but I don't think we slag each other off as much as we maybe should even, nor do I believe we feel particularly  alienated by those that disagree with us. We are pretty well behaved for a passionate lot really, so though he doesn't say, I think he is looking wider.

As Ed says in a very good piece in his blog, there are wider concerns within the industry. The policy disagreements between the BBPA and SIBA make the differences between keg beer brewers and CAMRA absolutely pale into insignificance in scale. The role of the PubCos and their stranglehold on pubs and the BBPA doesn't get a mention in Pete's blog, though clearly they have had a dramatic effect on beer, pubs and industry over the last 20 years or so. The attitude of the BBPA, who are trying to look many ways at once, while totally failing to take the industry lead, is to say the least, worrying. Disagreement on policy is rife between on and off trade, the minimum pricers and more. It doesn't paint a pretty picture.

So what should we be positive about? Well supporting British beer of course as Pete says and if your tipple is generic lager or John Smith's Smooth, well that is entirely up to you and fine by me. If you want to drink "Gales Seafarers, Adnams Bitter and London Pride" that's also just fine and dandy. I actually drink more "brown boring beer" by way of Lees Bitter than anything else, so on a personal level,  I'm already doing my bit.  I most certainly understand that these beers are still what most drinkers actually recognise, identify with and yes, like. I also welcome the new brewers of keg as they provide choice and choice is always good.  It's a CAMRA aim is choice. (Mind you I'm still entitled to remark that if you are the publican, I'd like some greater variety please.)  If you want to drink imported beers (though I'm not sure how that helps British beer)or keg beer, that's up to you too. I do wish you'd do more of it in the pub though, as I like pubs and want there to be plenty of them, so I can go to them, but if you don't, well that's up to you too. I like to think though that I passionately  support British Beer and British pubs and if there is a call for unity around that, I'll sign up now.

Oh yes. CAMRA. Of course aren't they always the problem?  Stick in the muds who want to continue to support in their own way, a cause that they were founded for and have always believed in.  I emphatically agree that CAMRA members should not slag off other kinds of beer in a generic and offhand way. That should be actively discouraged.  People that do so are no friends of British beer and in fact no friend of the Campaign. They should grow up. As for changing though, when "new keg" has gained its foothold and has enough support to sustain itself, then CAMRA members might be convinced that definitions should be changed. (Old CAMRA,(to use Pete's term,) members will mostly be dead or inactive by then, so that should make that much easier!) Until then what would be in it for CAMRA? A major split probably.

It seems to me that the very small amount of "new keg" beer that is around at the moment is still looking for consistency, quality, distribution and most of all, legitimacy. I'd guess that's what they really want from CAMRA. Legitimacy.( I'd also venture that in purely beer terms, the new keg beer movement doesn't actually need CAMRA, so goodness knows why they are so obsessed with the subject. People in CAMRA aren't obsessed with them for sure.) None of that should matter though.  You don't have to agree on everything, or change your basic views, to work together and I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing for a coalition of all aspects of the beer industry to fight for common interests.  In fact I have actively advocated such in the CAMRA review.

Finally far more worrying to my mind, isn't CAMRA's views of beer conditioning and dispense, but how it handles its status as a consumer champion. That's where the real issues are and where power lies.  It is there that CAMRA could best be influenced and persuaded in the cause of British beer and beer drinkers. The bigger picture mentioned by Pete can be served best by helping CAMRA tread the right path as a super complainant and for the industry side to sort itself out and start speaking with one strong voice. That is a much bigger task. There is far more danger in getting that aspect wrong and giving all the help possible and working with CAMRA to get it right, would be a far more productive path to follow than the normal (uninformed)  CAMRA bashing.

So maybe we can't always be "cheery beery", but at least let's all work together to support British Beer and Pubs.


CAMRA has a policy on keg beer. Keg is not precluded in the Memorandum and Articles of Association. So it would be policy that would have to change, not CAMRA. 

*Having read through Pete's comments since this was written, I don't think he and I are a million miles apart. 

Cartoon with the help of Stringers Beer.

The Governor

Yesterday I went along to the Northern Food and Bar show at Manchester Central (though I still find it easier to call it GMex). My local brewer JW Lees had a stand, so I went along to chat to those present and watch the official launch of the new beer Lees have brewed for top chef Marco Pierre White. The great man was there himself and was rather a hit with the ladies who were falling over themselves to have their photo taken with him.

This was the first time the new all-malt beer had been served outside of the brewery and I was lucky enough to be given a sample by the MD himself (William Lees-Jones) and though I didn't meet Marco, I enjoyed the spectacle very much. It has to be said he has incredible presence. The beer, named after a champion greyhound owned by the chef's father,  was rather good. Firmly malty in the Lees house style, but with a very good hop finish, it will be widely available from April.

Another beer hit was Holts IPA. Only 3.8% but a delightful hoppy number that you could swoop a lot of pints of. It is a permanent addition to the range.

Apart from being a handsome bugger, Marco also looked as though he'd be pretty useful if a ruck started.

Getting Better

What is? London is. There is a step change in what is happening in the capital. More choice and better choice, new bars opening, new breweries appearing and getting space on bars because they are local. (Not yet because they are universally good.) Better awareness of beer all round it seems too and it is happening fast. Very fast. Publicans and pub chains are thinking about beer and how they can make something more of it and that is fantastic and overdue.  London has great pubs and now we are on the way to great beer. Brilliant.

There are still problems, though most can be easily eradicated. First range and choice. Too much samey brown beer. The golden, hoppy, quaffing beer is still hard to find and when you do it is likely to be Dark Star Hophead. No bad thing in itself, but there are others out there. Variety is important and if like me you are unattracted to a certain style of beer, you will have lost a customer if there isn't a bit of real choice, rather than just a variation on a single theme. When choosing beers, spread the choice and broaden the appeal.

The second is temperature and condition. There is still too much tired, flabby and overvented beer being sold at over 16C- and sold for top dollar too. That's easily sorted and it is instructive that you are at least as likely to get a properly conditioned pint, served at cellar temperature in a JDW or a Nicolsons (haven't they improved?) than you are in some of the the new fancy beer emporia. Particularly disappointing as you would hope that the new specialist beer bars, appealing to younger drinkers and beer enthusiasts as they do,  would be leading the way on this.

So with a few caveats, great stuff and huge potential for more, but the old mantra of quality, quality, quality, can never be repeated enough. While it may be needed more in London, it should be the watchword of every publican in the land, particularly in these difficult times.