Still and Star (2)

Is it brewing? Is it not? I'm still a little unsure. I went in as promised on Tuesday teatime and there were four brown beers on the bar and one harassed barmaid.  There was no smell of brewing or any obvious recent brewery activity.  My inquiry elicited the polite information that there would be no home brewed beer until after Christmas (which I took to mean next year) and that brewing was already taking place.  It may be that the Citra mentioned in my last post was just a trial, but since the poor lass that answered my inquiry was so busy, I thought it inconsiderate to question her further.  So it may be and it may not.  The photo of the board outside which illustrates this post is either information, a teaser, or both. In whatever case it has been updated.

Now Professor Pie-Tin takes me to task about writing about this new venue for a brewery.  He says "You've written an entire post based on a brewpub you haven't been into since it became a brewpub and a beer you haven't tasted. I'm all for clickbait lovey but play the game a little bit at least."  Well I didn't know he cared, but since when did investigating a new brew-pub near where you have a home come under the term "clickbait"?  Should I be miffed?  Not really - it's all part of the game -  but if PPT wishes a few more targets for his disdain, I can point him to many well known bloggers that excel in clickbait.  Bloggers chasing audience or building beery careers are all part of the game. Me? Perish the thought. I'm past all that. Still, he has got me to answer, so a point to him. He's one of my regulars though, so all is forgiven.

In my brief visit to the capital, I had a few pints in a rammed Market Porter.  The beer wasn't as good as my visit a couple of weeks ago and it was rammed then. Just not quite as rammed.  The old enemy of great cask beer, too a high a temperature was the culprit, but the heat in the place made the beer slide down anyway and it was a great atmosphere so all wasn't lost.  In fact following a wise trip to the Dean Swift for very good Dark Star Hophead, an unwise visit to the Draft House in Seething Lane ensued. We left later than we should have and afterwards I found myself somewhat potless* and accidentally pissed.  I felt more than a tad rough on Thursday.  In fact we both did. Been a while since that happened and not hugely enjoyable.

It was an AFD on Thursday and back to Manchester boozing on Friday with my oldest friend Mike. At his request we only did pubs, not bars. On Frantic Friday, it was a good plan.

I was given three bottles of beer by Eileen's colleagues as a Christmas present. Well chosen too. One each from Mikeller, Kernel and Redchurch. Not bad eh?  

* Skint. Getting pissed in London is a dear do.

Still and Star Aldgate

Apparently this pub, nearly opposite Aldgate Tube Station,  now houses one of London's newest breweries as was discussed, I think, on Twitter some weeks ago.  So far, there isn't that much more to go on -  unless you know differently of course - but I have heard nothing. When I was last in London, last week I noticed on my way back to Manchester, that it seemed to be in production. As it was before opening time though, I couldn't pop in to try it out.  This is a pub I have been in a couple of times before, but never found it to be either conducive or welcoming and usually with three or four mainstream brown beers of similar strength in only average condition.  It was therefore a shock to me to hear that a brewery has been added.  Even more shocking I suppose is that they aren't whacking out a Courage Bestalike -  if the photo which illustrates this blog post is anything to go by.

I'm down in London tomorrow again and will take this opportunity to give it a go, as invariably it is at Aldgate I alight when I visit.  It would be nice to have a decent brewpub near my London flat and this would be, by some way, the nearest. You will see they seem to have started off with a Citra based beer. Well we shall see how it turns out and what the brewery is called officially, though if the photo is to be believed, it seems it is just "The Still and Star Brewpub".  I suppose it does what it says on the tin.

I'll let you know how I get on.

I don't know why this is, but I'm not expecting great things here. I do hope I'm wrong.

Not So Smooth Operator

In a quite astonishing spat, JD Wetherspoon has with immediate effect, ended its contract with Heineken to supply a number of drinks brands including Heineken and Foster's Lagers, Strongbow Cider and that old JDW favourite, John Smith's Smooth.

They have been trading partners for 35 years, so how has this come to pass?  Well since JDW ruffled feathers in Ireland by daring to open a pub in Dublin, things have been a bit tetchy over there. First of all Diageo, owners of Guinness, were booted out (or rather were never booted in) as JDW refused to pay what they saw as an inflated price for the black stuff. JDW turned to Murphy's Stout made by Heineken and things sailed along nicely, though under the surface, all was not well it seems.  Wetherspoon now intend to open a second pub in Ireland and looked to Heineken to supply it, but there has been a spectacular disagreement.  According to the BBC and other identical statements elsewhere, Heineken wanted to make the CEO of JDW, John Hutson, personally liable in case of a default on any debt, though why they should do so is a bit of a mystery given JDW's £80 million annual profit.  Wetherspoon has basically said and I paraphrase; "Well, stuff you then - take your scabby products out of our nice pubs!"

Now that would be bad enough if this sanction just applied to Ireland, but JDW has effectively said "Get Lost" to Heineken for all of their 900 plus pubs in the UK, blowing a £60 million account out of the water. Someone has misjudged the moment. Or maybe more than one someone.  In a somewhat pained manner Heineken UK said "

"Heineken UK has had a long standing and successful relationship with JDW in the UK market over a 35-year period, and it is unfortunate that commercial issues in Ireland between Heineken Ireland and JD Wetherspoon have led to the current situation. We are seeking a resolution as soon as possible."

Well I bet they are. To lose one account is unfortunate, but to lose 923 all at once is certainly careless, especially when you have been shafted by your Irish compadres. There is of course more to this than meets the eye with JDW undercutting the price of a pint of Heineken by up to €2 and the evil eye of Irish publicans being cast upon Heineken for that reason. Given that JDW has plans for up to 30 pubs in the Republic, this may well be somewhat of a test case, though I doubt that Heineken foresaw the eventual outcome and I very much doubt that this is the end of the matter. It is hard to see how Heineken can do other than to back down as JDW can undoubtedly get beer elsewhere.  There will be further repercussions too likely as not, but it is nearer home to which we must in compassion turn. Nobody in this sordid tale seems to give a monkeys chuff for those most affected, the Nine in the Morning Club.  What are they going to do without John Smith's Smooth? Ruddles just won't cut it.

Sadly it is always the least fortunate in our society that suffers when the big boys fall out.

On a more sombre note, this does show that when big business falls out, who knows where it all might end? Heineken is the world's biggest family owned brewer.

Well Well

I know very little of my own about the brewing scene in Ireland. Fortunately the Beer Nut has his finger on every brewing pulse Ireland has and it is through him that I learn what little I know. I do though glean that the scene there is hotting up, with new beers and breweries sprouting up through every crack in the pavement. Or so it seems at least.

One brewery I do know of is Franciscan Well and when they asked me to come along to the London launch of some of their beers, I jumped at the chance and thus it was a couple of Thursdays ago, I presented myself in the other Smiths. The one in Spitalfields that is, not the better known one in Smithfield. Assembled bloggers (I only knew one) and press types were treated to three different beers and accompanying food. I won't attempt to describe the beers in detail, but all were presented by Des McCann, Molson Coors Beer Champion for Ireland and also described by owner and founder Shane Long. For those interested, Shane founded the Franciscan Well in 1998 on the North Mall in Cork City on the site of an old Franciscan Monastery and Well. Shane himself was primarily a publican (and still is) now turned brewer and having had the opportunity to chat to him for a while, not only is he a thoroughly engaging guy, but rather an enthusiast for the Irish Brewing scene.

The brewery was taken over by Molson-Coors in 2013, but as far as I can tell, Shane still runs the show, albeit overseen on behalf of the parent by Sharp's Supremo, Stuart Howe. They are rather proud of their Rebel Red - an Irish Red Ale -but its caramel and CO2 combo did little for me. Much more to my liking was the Chieftain IPA. Slightly sweeter than a normal IPA, but designed for local Irish palates, Shane called it an Irish Pale Ale. Best of all for me was Shandon Stout, a minerally, deep, dark beer, made luscious by nitrogen presentation and with a slightly bitter-sweet, mineral/metallic finish. I had a decent chat with Shane who explained that the Cork water,(untreated as far as I know) gives the mineral and metal taste that typifies Cork beers. I'll take his word, but I assume that the water for the other beers is treated in some way, as they tasted rather clean. We went on to discuss Guinness which Shane rather likes, though his view is that its good features are ruined by serving it at ice cold temperatures. My own conflicting view that the recipe had been so neutered over the years and the ice cold pour was meant to disguise it, was given a non committal "Well. Maybe". He still thinks it a good beer ruined by presentation. There you go. Either way, chatting to him was an absolute delight. His enthusiasm was boundless.

On the way out we were given a large, shiny, black box by the Molson-Coors PR people.  So large and ungainly, that there was no easy way to carry it. It was also extremely unbalanced by its contents, which were revealed after I'd walked home, stopping to rest my arms frequently, to be a four pint container of freshly poured Chieftain IPA. Worth a slightly uncomfortable walk.

It made a great accompaniment to Question Time and E liked it too.

All three beers are available in London it seems, or the launch was pointless.  Hospitality was courtesy of Molson-Coors

Blowing Hot and Cold

My most recent London visit brought some warm beer to my notice. Well it would, as I was the recipient. It also brought some excellent beer.  There was some in the middle.  So dreadful was a Roosters beer in JDW Shakespeare's Head that I reported it to Cask Marque. (I must ask them what their conclusion was.)  That's one thing you can do if it has the CM accreditation, though I've reported the Brown Bear in Leman St before and the beer was still awful when I watched the football there two weeks ago. Maybe it does less good than you hope? (Apparently miscreants thus reported usually tell CM the cooling was broken that day, or someone new turned it off instead of the light - that kind of thing. CM are meant to follow up with a later visit, but I don't know if they do or not.)  Anyway and either way, I do urge those afflicted by poor beer in a Cask Marque pub to let them know. It might just help.

So to the good news.  I thought the beer in the Hop and Berry in Angel, recommended to me by Matt Curtis, was very well kept and  I was delighted by the truly top quality  I experienced in the Market Porter, a place I don't tend to go in that much, but did, as I had been let down quality wise - well temperature wise - by the usually reliable Southwark Tavern, whose beer I had praised on a warm summer's day. Sadly on a much colder Autumn one, the beer was warm, as was E's lager.  The Market Porter was heaving, but service was quick and friendly and the beer, stout in my case, was sparkled, cool and lively. A sure two pinter.

Lastly a word in praise of the Draft House in Seething Lane. The Tankovna Pilsner Urquell was delicious and at £4.75 a pint, well under the price of most local keg beers on the same bar.  I find that a bit odd.

I didn't realise they chucked out at six on a Sunday in the Draft House. Made my last pint a bit of rush. My own fault.

A Tale of Two Breweries

I was alerted by my good friend Tyson about a new brewery on the Bermondsey Mile. Tyson being at the cutting edge had been there and noted that it wasn't a keg and bottle effort as most of them are, but a cask brewery. Sounded interesting and being at the Tower Bridge end of the mile, it's just a twenty five minute walk from my London place.  So we went on Saturday.

Situated in Druid Street, in the inevitable railway arch and sandwiched between a bakery (see what I did there) and a car repair shop, sits Southwark Brewery.  This straightforward name gives you an idea of what to expect. It's quite a big arch and sported a bar to the right with four handpumps and the usual benches and a toilet stuck near the door. Handy.  We got there at one and it wasn't that busy and in the hour or so we were there, it changed customers more or less, but remained fairly quiet and it was noticeable to this old git, that it was mostly a more mature customer that was attracted.  In other words, other old gits, though there was a few younger ones, wondering probably how they'd got into this fine mess. We sat nearest the mouth of the arch and watched the various hipsters as they wandered up and down Druid Street. One or two looked in and found something wanting and moved on.  Some were bolder and came in, looked round, then buggered off. 

There were four beers on. Each served, Glory Be, by a swan neck and a sparkler, for that is the policy. I was warming to them.  I didn't care much for Bermonsey Best which was reassuringly brown and a decent enough drink if you wanted a malt forward, fugglesy type thing.  But I didn't. However it was to be all good news after that. I liked LPA which was indeed hoppy with citrus notes, Hop-X (I think - I didn't take notes) was a blend of English and American hops, was pale and it worked well and leading the pack at 5.6% was Gold, which just has a sweet hint of alcohol and was a decent drink.  Beers were available in thirds, halves, two thirds and pints and were all under £4 a pint.  Enjoyable and reasonable priced. There were bottles too, including a Russian Imperial Stout at 8.6%. The bottled take away service was doing quite well.  Staff were pleasant and happy to chat.

Now I've said it before and will do so again. Will those drinking craft keg please stop saying it costs just a little bit more. We left Southwark Brewery and walked the few yards to Ansbach and Hobday where the beard and too small jacket brigade were in full swing. It was, as we say in Scotland, "hoaching". Busy.  We had a look and noted that all beers were £6 a pint -  even those at 2.8%. No chance. Like a News of the World reporter in a knocking shop, we made our excuses and left.

So what's it all about? The lure of superior keg beer, the attraction of being with fellow types?  Why was one heaving and the other, a stone's throw away not?  Will cask beer crack the Bermondsey Beer Mile?  You tell me.

 But it isn't all bad news. At least they'll have me from time to time. Cool and sparkled beer in London? Why ever not?

This is of course a tongue in cheek post, but I really do wonder. Is it just that Southwark Brewery aren't on the radar yet I do hope so.

A Bone Picked Out

Ed set the cat among the pigeons with his controversial (though he'd say tongue in cheek) post about the so called elitism of craft beer.  There was a flurry of responses, probably by now not far short of 100 of them. I don't think it unfair to say that these generated more heat than light, but also a fair degree of exasperation. There is an amount of defensiveness in the crafterati and a large portion of doubtful economics on the side of those that think craft is overpriced for what it is.  That generated a lot of passion, but you must pick the bones out of that yourself, though I do wish that craft aficionados would stop saying that it is worth paying "a little more" for "better beer". It is rarely a little more. It is a lot more. And it isn't always by any means better.

In all this I would like to commend to you for consideration the words of Yvan Seth when he says "And hell, £1 more for keg because I don't have to play cask-quality-roulette and I can just get on with my drinking without the fuss of returning beer or putting up with a semi-drinkable pint. This is a point I have made before (hence my liking it), but it harks back to why keg was so welcomed in the 60's when cask quality was thought to be uniformly dire.  It took the lottery away when purchasing a pint. This quality lottery goes a long way towards explaining why when I'm in London, I quite often end up drinking commodity lager. Yes I know where to get good beer, but despite the beer revolution in London, you still have to travel to get that good beer. Random decent looking pubs will often disappoint.

Then Yvan goes on to say something with which I more or less totally agree. It is worth repeating here:

"[IMO, if there is one thing CAMRA could *really* do for the future of cask ale, & the good of the cask ale drinker, it would be to drop most of what it does now and focus entirely on quality of beer at point of dispense. Because on average it is abysmal. This might even help save flagging pubs."

I have said until I'm blue in the face that quality at the point of dispense is cask beer's Achilles Heel.  It might well be in an advanced state of decrepitude in London, but it has problems in cellar skills everywhere. We have all played the cask beer lottery and all lost.  Yvan is absolutely right that CAMRA does not do enough about that. I'm not yet sure what that might be. I'm thinking about it, but it shouldn't be that difficult to come up with something. After all it is the "raison d'etre" of the Campaign.

There are those that say the CAMRA battle has been won. Real ale is indeed everywhere, but as long as a quality pint remains elusive, CAMRA still has plenty to do. We  need to fight the right fight though.  Keg beer, in whatever form is not the enemy. Lack of quality cask beer at the point of sale is. 

I watched Scotland win last night in my local London pub. My pint of Gales Seafarer (see above) was a warm, flat mess. I'd have had three or four pints if the beer was any good. I had one Gales and a pint of Becks, which was awful in a different way, but at least cold and with condition. Bad beer loses pubs money.

A Tale of Two Bloggers

I was invited to the launch (or should that be revitalisation) of the new "Let There Be Beer Campaign", but couldn't go due to other commitments that meant I'd be in the Grim North instead of Millbank. Others went and liked what they saw. One or two most certainly didn't like what they saw, so much so, they were still spitting hops days later and could only write about it after they'd calmed down. Interesting stuff.

The focus now is "There's a Beer for That". Two bloggers I like and respect wrote about it. One, Matt, was in the "Incandescent With Rage" Corner" and t'other Ed, in the "Seems All Right to Me" Corner. Other bloggers (I like them too) have also written about it - for example Pete Brown has done so and was broadly in favour, while Beersoakedboy was agin it on the whole, but in quite measured tones, seemingly more concerned about lazy stereotypes and likely poor impact, than Matt, whose main and recurring theme was that it sat on the backs of the smaller craft brewers in order to get a better view. "It's the better that the people behind this campaign are worried about, craft beer is bucking the industry trend and growing at an exponential rate........... Craft beer hasn't just got its foot in the door to the mainstream, it's already in the room throwing a party and it brought beer. So why do we need There's a Beer for That? Well, multinational corporations really don't like it when small businesses infringe on their market share. That's pretty clear. Craft doesn't need the big brewers, so bog off. 

Of course the argument that advertising such as this is kind of lowest common denominator stuff can easily be made, but advertising does work, though only the very cleverest of advertising can make those who do not wish to engage, engage. Nonetheless if the phrase "There's a Beer for That" sticks in the mind of those sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and makes them think of beer, wouldn't you think that a good thing? I think I would. On the other hand though I take Matt's point about the overwhelming wish seems to be for those funding the campaign to be the biggest beneficiaries of it. Mind you, it would be somewhat remarkable if they didn't.  It is maybe worth pointing out that few of us came to craft beer by starting out that way. Most of us started out with a pint of Harp, or Carling and moved on. Or didn't. And that's the point. Craft may be rising, but it doesn't rule the world just yet and is for most a destination that they may never consider visiting, not a journey's start. Most beer drinkers drink the good old cooking stuff and why shouldn't they? Matt's love of craft beer is legendary, but he wears his craft credentials on his sleeve. Not that that's a bad thing. He probably hides it less well than those that funded the Let There Be Beer Campaign hide their intentions. But like them it does colour his view somewhat. They are maybe not so different then in some ways?  Matt certainly isn't the target audience.

So what does Ed say? He has only a few well reasoned paragraphs, culminating in this " I have to say I'm quite pleased to see a generic campaign to promote beer." He gets far fewer comments, but John Clarke, quite a craft beer supporter, weighs in by saying "I have to say that I'm a little bemused by all this outrage. If it's a generic promotion to raise the profile of beer does it really matter who funds it?" That would I suppose only be true if you don't mind what beer people drink, as long as it is beer.  I'm not sure that's the message I'm getting when I read what Matt has to say.  "People are drinking better etc."  Is it that old beer snob thing again? I hope not. The truth is, that for most people, "There's a Beer for That" is unlikely to mean craft, so to that extent Matt has a fair point.  An analogy is that over the years, when campaigning for real ale (and it still is true), that as an advocate for cask, you have to accept that your view of beer is a minority one.  Craft keg is no different.

On the balance, Ed has the right of it.  More people drinking beer is good for everyone. When the craft beer movement can throw ten million quid at it, they can do it their way. Until then, let's get them to drink beer first, then worry about them drinking "better" beer later.

This isn't a go at Matt by the way. His passion for beer - craft beer in particular -makes his views worth commenting on.

Prententious? Moi?

The cartoon that illustrates this post was sent to me by one of my Yankee chums. My American friends seem to like it, but I'm not so sure.

Let's have a look. It is contemporary being next month's New Yorker magazine. We have obvious hipsters. It looks like it is in a trendy bar, not a restaurant and it has no caption. Does that mean it is self explanatory? Is there some article inside that puts it in context? I don't know. On the face of it, it is a guy having a taste of beer before he confirms his purchase in the same manner as he might with wine. Would that be a bad thing however unlikely? Is it a pop at perceived pretentiousness? Is it a go at hipsters with their pernickity ways? Is it a New York thing or is it more general? I really can't say.  

What's your take?

Whatever it is, I love the look on the waiter's face. 

Mature Matters

I was going to write an article about how little I'd enjoyed the beers brewed by overseas brewers for the current Wetherspoon's Beer Festival.  The Regal Moon in Rochdale had nine on the first day of the festival and some I thought were quite poor and others tasted of acetone or other brewing faults and some were just pretty bland. Or odd.  It was a bit of a depressing list, so I just didn't bother.

At the moment there is no cooking facilities in our house as renovations near the end and a new kitchen is being fitted.  After my usual Sunday session at the Tavern, we decided to nip into our local JDW, the Harbord Harbord,  in Middleton for something to eat.  Before you condemn me, trust me, there isn't a lot of other choice in Midd at half past six on a Sunday, unless you want a curry. And while there are few times I'm not up for a ruby, E didn't fancy it so JDW it was.

Where's this all leading?  Well I had two different foreign brewer's beers that I had had on that first night in the Regal Moon and I thought both really rather good.  It occurred to me that they were older.  Both seemed rounder, fuller and more polished.  More mature and less harsh in fact. It is often overlooked these days that beer in cask needs a little time to be at its best and for the flavours to fully develop.  Often, due to lack of experience in cellarmanship, the difficulty of storing beer, both in terms of space and cost, means a lot of cask beer is sold before it has reached its best in the cask. It is often referred to as being "green." There isn't an easy answer to this, but the difference you taste in the same beer in different venues may well be down to this,  resulting in a beer that tastes young, thin and not as good as it could. As most live beer will develop in the cask, only a short time more in the cellar will make a difference in many cases.

So publicans, if you can afford to, leave (unbroached) beer a little longer in the cellar.  It'll pay in flavour and condition and your customers will notice a difference.

The practice of serving beer immediately it drops bright isn't always helpful either.

You will see that Thwaites used to call their real ale "mature." 

New and Recommended

This is a beer blog, so occasionally I talk about beer rather than pubs and beer, or beer politics - yes my friends such a thing does exist, as evidenced by recent twitter outpourings. But no mention here. This post is all sweetness and light.

On Tuesday I popped into the award winning Baum in Rochdale to say hello to Alex Brodie owner of Hawkshead Brewery, who was there to do a "Meet the Brewer" session. Regretfully I couldn't stay long due to a prior engagement, but it was good to see him as always and to have a pint.  Knowing I'm an unashamed fan of his beers, Alex was surprised I hadn't tried my chosen beer before.  Iti is Maori for "small" and is described by the brewery as New Zealand Pale Ale's little brother. A souped down version of NZPA? Will that work? The answer is an unequivocal "Yes."  At 3.5% it is a belter, full of luscious New Zealand hops and surprisingly full bodied from the low colour Maris Otter barley used.  Seek it out.  In fact, seek out any Hawkshead beer.

On Thursday, I encountered the legendary Hawkshead Windermere Pale once again in the Angel when out discussing Manchester Beer and Cider Festival business.  It is not that though to which I wish to draw your attention.  A couple of us finished off with a pint of Se7en Brothers Brewing Stout.  Dark, full bodied, touch of roast, some resinous hops and sheer drinkability that belied its 5.2% strength, made this another to recommend to you.  Se7en Brothers (see what they did there) Brewing is a newish Salford brewery run by, er, seven brothers.  On this evidence I'd watch out for them.  My colleague has had their IPA and he thought highly of it.

There you are. Two recommendations you know you can trust, just in time for the weekend's boozing.   That's good isn't it?

Alex, who is actually a Rochdale lad (he left when he was five though) was very favourably impressed by the Baum. That's also good as is the fact his event was a sell-out.

Sorry, but the Se7en Brothers Website has no useable, relevant images to regale you with.

Nothing New Under the Sun

Chris Hall is promoting his idea of "juicy bangers" to describe beers that, to borrow a phrase, "hit the spot". It is an interesting concept when you extend it to beer design, but otherwise its probably just a bit of fun, though with a serious point underneath.    Boak and Bailey, extending this simple idea to one a tad more complex, are asking on their blog for suggestions for further categories.  They are even getting some, though perhaps it's just me that finds people giving pet names to beer styles a bit odd. It's all a touch anal for me, though that perhaps isn't the best word, considering what I am about to say.

Back in the good old flame throwing days of Usenet, probably in the late 1990s, I am pretty sure that Chris's juicy bangers would have ended up very scorched and unpalatable indeed, such was the snappiness of those involved. Any whiff of juicy bangers would have been ruthlessly taken apart. Nonetheless we did discuss ad nauseum the difficult subject of beer styles.  Odd really when then there weren't many. Or rather there were, but either they were categorised differently, or they were obscure foreign styles which at best were lumped under "foreign", or they hadn't been like saison or Imperial IPA invented. Or re-invented, since Ron Pattinson has long since proved the title of this piece.  Back then, at worst, beers styles were scarcely understood at all by many and the subject of violent disagreement. There were those (and they still exist) that simply referred to and rigidly adhered to, American beer judging guidelines. Others, as now, were subjective more often than not and maybe the most sensible of a pretty leery bunch. Beer after all is a pretty subjective thing.

So how did we deal with this eternal conundrum? While we couldn't solve the unsolveable, or change human nature, we did come up with a solution of sorts.  It was a simple really. In the end we boiled it all down to something simple. Something easily understood and effective, though not perhaps in a particularly sophisticated way.  The question to ask about a beer was "Is it good or shite?" 

Unless you are particularly enamoured by over analysis, it works. Good old Usenet. We got to the bottom of things then.

It was suggested by Rich at BeerCast that I sometimes write tongue in cheek.  Perish the thought.

BlackJackpot

It was a busy old day on Saturday.  The Manchester Beer and Cider Festival Organising Meeting in the Angel was (unusually) businesslike and brisk. It was gratifying to see that not only do we have a great team running things, but excellent progress is being made. Lessons learned from last year are being applied and that's as it should be. It'll be bigger and better, with more seats, beer on two floors, a greater selection and more. If it isn't in your diary, put it in now. The link is below. Also gratifying to this reader at least, was ideal organising meeting beer in the shape of an old friend and favourite, Hawkshead Windermere Pale.  At 3.5%, you can sup a few without your concentration and ability to contribute being adversely affected.  It was in tremendous form too, though another bar person wouldn't have gone amiss in what was a very busy pub, especially when you have to wait behind someone paying for a couple of beers with a credit card.  That's a pain in the whatsit to put it mildly.

Afterwards a few of us nipped into the recently renovated Smithfield, which has been opened out a bit, cleaned up tremendously and dragged into the 21st Century. It had sorely needed it. Sadly there was only two cask beers on, Lytham Gold and a variation thereof with added berries and fruit.  I didn't try that, but my "ordinary" Lytham Gold was fine, if unexciting. I noted too that Heineken had clearly put money into the place, the viewing lager cellar somewhat giving the game away and the adverts, brewery signs, John Smith's Smooth and Fosters point of sale visible everywhere, providing ample confirmation. At least we were spared Deuchars IPA, though.  This is a venture on which the jury is still out I think. Round the corner, the Crown and Kettle was busy and had a good choice to go at.  I settled for my first ever Brewsmith beer, their 6% IPA, cashing in my previous weak beer credit all at once.  I enjoyed it and it certainly seemed appropriate, having met brewer James and his wife Jennifer at IndyManBeerCon only the week before.  I'll be taking up their kind invitation to visit, even though their premises are, sadly, just a mere 200 yards of so outside my CAMRA Bailiwick.

No trip to Manchester is complete with popping in to the Marble Arch. I've not been in for while and had hoped for great things following the appointment of a new head brewer. Marble Best was brown, full of crystal malt and pretty much a standard, English Bitter.  One for the malt fans I think.  A half of Chocolate Marble wasn't as good as I've had it before on this showing and neither retained their heads,  indicating that perhaps there is some way to go.  Pint too, drunk by a colleague, lost its head immediately.  On the plus side, service was noticeably friendly and quick. The visit was saved though by a recommendation.  Blackjack Stout, dispensed by nitrogen mix, was smooth, bitter, strong (ish) and quite delicious.  But then, I'm a bit of  a sucker for unpasteurised nitro stout, as it gives lovely mouthfeel and a gorgeous thick white head.  Stouts simply look and taste better through a tight white head.* 

Your mileage may of course vary on that one.  Probably does in fact.

Manchester Beer and Cider Festival details are here. Open from 21st- 24th January 2015 at the Manchester Velodrome.

*Cask conditioned stout through a tight sparkler is also delicious, if not more so.

When Guinness Was Real

When did Guinness stop bottle conditioning?  I'm not actually sure, but certainly some time in the early nineties I'd say, even though here Martyn Cornell says in the eighties.  I was interested in this when reading Boak and Bailey and a suggestion - quashed as a possibility by the Beer Nut - that they start bottle conditioning their beer again. Going back to when they stopped, how do I know it wasn't the eighties?   Well, while checking through some old stuff as part of a fairly fruitless endeavour to get rid of some junk, I came across a stash of bottles including the one you see photos of.  It is "ordinary" bottled Guinness and  bears the following words on the back label "ingredients - barley, malted barley, hops, yeast and water - combined with a secondary fermentation to condition the beer in the bottle."

I recall buying it as part of a four pack in Belfast and you will see that the best before date is 29-11-95,  indicating a bottling date of maybe nine months, or slightly more, before that.  Interestingly it is bottled by Guinness Belfast.   I'd imagine the beer is still pretty well drinkable, as it has sat in the dark these last 18 or so years, though I may be wrong.  Maybe I'll try it and maybe I won't. Can't be that many of them around though, so maybe I'll keep it a bit longer.

Going back to Boak and Bailey, I was astonished at the praise from some about the two new Guinness Porters.  My view and that of many others is that they are complete gack. After giving it short shrift on Twitter and getting the odd disagreement, I agreed to try the West Indies Porter again.   At the Baum last week as part of a double tasting with the Dublin Porter, it was still a horrid, sweet, fizzy mess, as was its partner in crime.  No-one that tried them that night thought them that good at all.  Still, as I said on BB's site, beer is a broad church and I didn't even think of mentioning duff palates there. Perish that thought.

Sadly and truly, the best thing about the new beers was the labels.

The label from the early nineties is rather good too.  Bit of a classic. Click on photos to enlarge.

What's Up with IndyManBeerCon?

There's a great post about IndyManBeerCon by Phil from Oh Good Ale.  It tells in a humorous way his reasons for not attending this much praised and sought after event.  While I don't agree with them all, I can see where he is coming from. It is a particularly different type of beer festival to most and to some not at all their cup of tea. For many others though, it is a "must", which in itself must surely make it worthwhile?  Give the people what they want and all that.

One of Phil's main gripes - and it would have been one of mine too had I paid - was the £13  entrance fee which got you a glass, a programme and nothing else.  As I was there as trade, I didn't pay and glad I am too that I didn't, but I do know that many felt it a bit steep and that many more either didn't, or didn't care that much.  You see, for many, IMBC has become a place to be seen at. That's worth a lot to them as social cachet apparently, but then again, in the non beer world, there are plenty such events and while we may shake our heads about Glyndebourne, Henley Regatta and Last Night of the Proms, if it gives pleasure to attendees and a good time is had, I for one say "Good Luck to Them".

It was the first time I'd been to Victoria Baths in the daylight and while always thoroughly convinced that this event would be a lot less attractive if held elsewhere, I moved the dial over even more. The venue is tremendous. Magnificent in fact and the perfect backdrop to the event itself.  The usual mix of keg and cask seemed to veer more to keg this year and that's what I mainly drank.  Prices varied from a pound a third to £4 a third, with most somewhere in between and exhibited the usual bizarre differences. A 3% and a 6.7% beer on the same bar at the same price is odd to say the least, but then again, I have no idea how things are priced up there and who decides.  And someone has to pay for the set up, brewers etc.

So how was it for me?  Well, as always I find this kind of do a place to meet people I already know or know of.  It is the social interaction that I enjoy, the putting of faces to names and the meeting up with fellow beery friends that I only see now and again.  It may well be heresy, but the beer is rather incidental to me and I don't therefore sit scribbling notes about this or that beer.  I'm there for the crack and all the effort in the world to put on this or that saison, sour, or (yawn) collaboration, is merely backdrop to that particular aim. The venue wasn't without its problems though. The room with the food was too smoky from much grilling and the room with the ceiling under renovation was pretty gloomy, but both were easily dealt with by nipping in, buying your beer and retreating elsewhere to drink it.  The beers were interesting enough to provide talking points and were all well presented.I didn't find much wrong with the beer once you'd swirled some of the excess CO2 out of it. I'm guessing too that Manchester has a lot less hipsters, so the crowd was pretty mixed, with plenty of CAMRA types there also and many of then serving as volunteers. We laughed at one customer who thought a photo of three CAMRA chairmen all drinking keg might have been newsworthy (it isn't) and generally had a good time with beery people.

IMBC is a great event. It is all done on a very human level and for most of its customers it's a pleasure. Can't see much wrong with that really.  Nothing suits everyone and you don't have to go.

 One or two beers disappointed, but what festival does that not happen at.  Mostly though, these are beers for sipping, not supping.  That changes the dynamic  of the event too and one well known brewer told me his cask products were suffering from that aspect.

The photo shows the sort of shenanigans that goes on there.  I think they may still have had their trousers on at the point I took the photo.

I guess too there would be many more hipsters and trendies there in the evenings.