Hot Stuff

I've been banging on about cask beer quality as long as I have been writing this blog.  It is a bit of an obsession of mine as I love great cask beer and feel frustrated enough to scream internally when it is not.  The lack of quality in cask beer played a huge part in the rise of keg in the 1960s and keg and smooth beer in the years beyond.  It may well have a place in the rise of craft keg, but that's not the theme of this post. Do however feel free to allege it or deny it in commenting.

The real focus of my ire though is temperature, as it is that above all which affects the condition of beer once it is in the cellar. I've been writing about that since Day One, so love the subject or hate it, I'm at least consistent and while I make many criticisms of too warm beer, I am equally keen to praise the good when I find it. So I'll remind you what I said on that fateful first day of blogging on 26 November 2007:

"Too warm a serving temperature and too little condition are the enemy of cask beer. The latter two statements are also beer FACTS as they have been proved to be true scientifically. Warm temperatures cause dissolved C02 to return to atmosphere and too little condition will have the same flattening effect on beer. Don't believe me? Read "Beer and the Science of Brewing by Charles Bamforth. I have a signed and dedicated copy. Another beer fact!"

Now I could have said that a little better, but the main point is that warm beer will always give you lack of condition and explains why, as it warms up even more after serving, the beer, which tasted reasonable at first sip, frankly, dies on its arse as you go along.  It is important that the drinker and more importantly, the vendor,understands and bears in mind that a warm beer will not only get warmer, but will much more quickly lose its condition. That my friends is basic physics and why getting the cellar temperature and, importantly, temperature at point of dispense, correct. This is a one way street. There is no way back as temperature rises.  Those of you who know me as a cellarman at beer festivals will know that I am equally obsessive there. My reputation is on the line and I don't have a temperature controlled cellar to rely on, which is the reason that many of you will have had to keep your coat on where I'm in charge of the beer. Sorry about that, but hopefully the beer was good.

Now why am I giving this background?  Well I have received a bit of outrage from some about the fact that I dare to challenge warm beer and name names. I've covered this subject before, so I urge you to read this piece from August 2011.  I'll also cover where complaining gets you in my next article.

You might also want to glance through this which is a search of my blog for the term warm beer and because reading my old stuff will be good for you!

I'll also be writing about a pub in London with great quality beer which, oddly is within a 5 minute (or less) walk of our London flat.

What Would You Choose?

As part of the year long celebration of CAMRA's Rochdale, Oldham and Bury Branch (ROB)  40th anniversary, and to add to the veritable cornucopia of fun so far, we have another three functions which hopefully will provide a bit of interest and attract members.  In conjunction with JD Wetherspoon's Area Managers and the managers of the three pubs concerned, we have agreed that ROB will choose six of the beers to be sold  in a JDW in each of the three boroughs, on three given nights.  We can choose from the entire JDW list which has over 450 breweries on it. They will even endeavour to find beers, if chosen, from outside that list.  It has to be said that JDW have been amazingly supportive of us in this endeavour.

How are we going about it? Well, at last night's Branch Meeting, we had a draw to select six winners for the Rochdale event.  The idea is that each will select three beers in a first second and third choice, the theory being at least one choice can be sourced for each person. I didn't win a chance to choose, but I do have another two goes at it. The choices were revealed and as you'd expect, at least half of them, I'd never heard of.  Given that there are so many breweries and beers that's hardly surprising to me at least, but you'd be amazed how aghast many people are when talking to me about beer, that I've never heard of a particular beer or brewery they admired while in Budley Salterton or wherever.  But I digress.

If you'd won the chance to select beers, what would have been your one, two, three?

The beers must be currently commercially brewed and be cask conditioned of course.  I doubt if my first choice, Batham's Bitter could have been sourced, but you never know.

Another Thing the Pub is Best For

One of our Sunday table from the Tandle Hill Tavern has died. We knew it was coming and so did he.  Yesterday after his funeral we met, not at the Tavern, but at the nearby Ship, thus allowing the landlord of the THT to join us to see the lad off in a style he'd have liked. We had a piss up.

It just wouldn't have been the same or befitting in a house or hotel function room.  He was a pub man and only the pub would do.

Funerals are big business for pubs in this area and, I suppose in others. It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

Do We Like That One?

I'm not a drinker of own brand beers really. I kind of think they are likely to be not very good with one or two exceptions.  These exceptions are usually where a very good brewery has been commissioned to produce a particular kind of beer as part of a range.  But what about those low end "cooking lagers" which aren't brands, but are set up to compete with "brands"?  The nice people at Aldi sent me some beers for me to find out for myself.  A pretty unusual task for this writer, but I thought it might be fun and that I might learn something.

Now I'm a fan of Aldi.  I like many of their things, though like all supermarkets, you have to pick and choose. I have bought beer from them in the past, more of which later, but not their canned offerings,  competing with the big boys on taste and bettering  them on price.  On a sunny Saturday afternoon, me and E decided to give them a whirl. I set them out in order of strength and one at a time, off we went.

First up was Galahad Lager. "Crisp and Refreshing" is the claim for this four percenter. The beer itself pours a nice clear gold with a lasting white head. E picked out the metallic nose straight away. High carbonation and a thin body followed with a touch of wheat spiciness and a slight lemony taste. The verdict? You could do worse actually and it does what it says on the tin. Crisp and refreshing? Yes indeed.

No range it seems these days would be complete without a French 25cl stubby bottle. Brasserie Premium is just such an animal and displays all the usual faults of the breed. All taste and character has been brewed and filtered out to leave a thin, brasso like fizzy liquid. Buy on price only.  At 4.5% Lowenstein gives every impression of being brewed in Germany, down to the rheinheitsgebot conformation, but it is brewed yet again in France. All barley this time and you can smell it on the toasty nose, but it is let down by thinness,  lack of a hop presence or any depth or body from the malt.

Last up is St Etienne which is set to compete with Stella. So brewed in Belgium then? Sorry, no. France again.  I read up on this one on the web and it seems it used to be brewed in Belgium, but now isn't. Commentators have noted the tail off in quality.  The beer manages to be both sharp and sweet simultaneously. It has a bit of a wet dog nose, no hop presence and sort of dies in your mouth.  Pretty horrid really and not as good as the Galahad.  E chucked hers into the hedge after a few sips.

Now I pointed out above that I used to buy beer from Aldi. That beer was Wernesgruener Pils, a real classy German Pils, alas no longer stocked in the UK.  I'd recommend that Aldi find a decent German import again in 33cl bottles, or re-stock Wernesgruener. Branded German beer is cheap as chips to buy and even with UK duty added, well worth the effort.  Those of us who aspire to something better would certainly appreciate it. Those that just want a cheap quaffer could do a lot worse than buying the Galahad.

Oh and maybe don't have all your own brand beer brewed down to a price in France. 

I do know that from time to time Aldi does have branded German lagers in stock, but these tend to be offers in half litres.  

Take Three Beers

It was the CAMRA ROB fortieth birthday bash (yet another) last night. This time it was a curry - a ruby for a ruby. Geddit? We assembled for pre-curry drinks at the Regal Moon. My first choice as it always it when I see it on the bar is Hawshead Windermere Pale, full flavoured, hoppy and a mere 3.5%. If there is a better 3.5% beer in the country, I've yet to taste it.* It was a great start to what would be a great evening.

Next up was a beer about which much has been written and which at its best is brilliant, but which often disappoints. Jaipur India Pale Ale.  Now I tend to try Jaipur when I see it and can say that I usually feel good about it about half the time. I suspect that is little to do with the brewer and a lot to do with pubs serving it before it is really ready.  I have a habit of texting @ThornbridgeDom with reports, but last night I was too busy enjoying the occasion to do so. It was Jaipur at its best. Clear as a bell, precise flavours and surprising drinkability for its 5.9% strength. I bashed two down.

When we repaired to the brilliant Asia Curry House in Rochdale, there was little by way of choice, so I drank Cobra as you do in such places. Actually once it had lost a little of its intense carbonation, it wasn't a bad drink at all, and it gave the shiraz I also had a good run for its money as a curry washer downer.

So there you have it. Three pale beers and each holding its own in its own way. Beer. You just can't beat it can you?

*Actually there is another 3.5% beer even better though harder to come by. It is Iti an all New Zealand hopped beer from, well you might have guessed, the brilliant Hawkshead.  Brewing beer from water, malt, yeast and hops still works best and will never go out of fashion.

Even More Murky News

I read in Jeff Bell's blog that Kernel are ceasing to be part of the Bermonsey Beer Mile, as they cannot cope with the hordes that descend on them, though they are continuing to sell their bottles directly from the brewery.  Not surprising as the whole Bermonsey Beer Mile thing has got out of hand.  When we used to go - and it is convenient for us so we went quite often at the beginning - but latterly we missed out Kernel as it was always packed and anyway, their expensive murky bottles and draft don't hugely appeal to me, or indeed, E.  Nor it seems to some of Jeff's commenters, one of whom describes their customers as "imbeciles".

Nowadays we stick to Southwark Brewing at one end and Fourpure at the other. It makes more sense just to enjoy the walk between the two and neither rip you off on price, or sell you beer that looks like electric soup. 

Kernel are seeking another solution for on sales.  Not surprising really as it must be quite lucrative for them and hard cash is always difficult to replace.   Ironically this comes as the Piccadilly Beer Mile in Manchester officially becomes a thing.

More Murky

I was out in Manchester on Saturday night. Unusual for me.  An American mate of mine was in town with his girlfriend, so I made my way across town to the Knott Bar, a place I know, but due to its distance from my bus route, not one I go to very often.

After a few pints, I changed my drink to Magic Rock Rapture. I like their beers but was surprised to find it opaque and muddy, almost like the last pint out of a cask.  A barman who hadn't served me noticed me examining it and said "Is that the Magic Rock?"  I replied in the affirmative. "Yes" he said, "they've stopped fining their beers and we are getting complaints. I'll change it if you like." I liked, adding that it just didn't taste right at all.  Now I don't know whether this change to no longer fining beers is true or not, but I have looked after Magic Rock beers before and they always dropped bright. Has this changed really happened or did I just get a bad pint?  Back to the same old problem. The certainty is being swept away. You just don't know any more. Either way, this murky thing has raised its head yet again.  The only saving grace was the barman handling the situation with skill and changing my pint happily.

That is by no means certain if we see more and more unfined beer served without a warning.

My Yankee chum also ordered a bottle of Rochefort 10.  It was my round and set me back £7!

Back to a Grim and Unwelcome Reality

Readers will probably know I don't like murky beer and since Rob Pickering first coined the term, I've become an avid fan of the descriptor "London Murky", though it equally applies to Manchester - or for that matter, Anywhere Murky.

On my return to London from our Spanish holiday, we were both knackered. Handy for our London flat is our local JDW, the Goodman Fields, so we headed along for a quick meal. Our skinny steaks were delicious - surprisingly so perhaps - and the place was rammed. I remember when it opened and for some years after, it used to be empty, so Timbo saw its potential, now clearly fulfilled. I ordered a pint of By the Horns Stiff Upper Lip, though it isn't a beer I'm at all familiar with. Bloody thing was cloudy.  Now here's the problem. How do I know if it is meant to be cloudy, or if it on the other hand, has been slung together by some numpty who doesn't now how to brew beer. Or, possibly, put on too early by a dopey cellarman before it has dropped bright. I don't and can't know of course is the answer.  Now you may say "What does that matter if it tastes all right?" Well it won't taste all right to me and it is me that is buying it.  It will likely taste of yeast and protein trub, because that's what causes it.  Now of course it is a matter of personal taste whether you like this kind of  flavour, but I don't. I like clear, clean, precise flavours in my beer. To my mind if brewers wish to sell the unsuspecting public beer, they should at least have the decency to warn us and hence the pubs that sell it, that it might be cloudy (hazy in murkyspeak). Then at least you have a choice.

When this first became a "thing" like many I'm sure, I thought to myself, "It won't last", but in fact it has. It has actually become more common, widened and deepened.   It is particularly common in London and not only there. It is slowly undermining public confidence in cask beer.

It is also very, very depressing.

I did get in touch with the brewery who said "It is meant to be fined".   They also said something else but that's for another post.

Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Manchester Beer and Cider Festival 2016 will be at the amazing venue of Manchester Central.  It's been a long haul but after many months of searching, negotiating, rejecting and dismissing, Greater Manchester CAMRA Branches have finally come back to our first choice venue for Manchester Beer and Cider Festival.  Since (at the insistence of the main tenants Team GB) we were kicked out of the Velodrome, we have been looking for a new venue.  One of the things that many people, even beer festival goers, just don't understand is how difficult it is to find a large venue in a big city at the time, duration of hire that we need and at a price that we can afford.  Manchester Central has always been where we wanted to be. Formerly known as GMex, this former railway station, now a huge conference and exhibition centre, has proved elusive, but thanks to some hard negotiations and the fantastic flexibility shown by the venue, agreement has been reached.

Now the hard work will really begin as we have a huge space to fill. It's all on one level, bang in the centre of town with bus, tram and rail links right beside it. We can drive our kit straight in, we will have an amazing number of chairs and tables and of course a fantastic selection of beer. I'm not giving away any secrets (I hope) in saying that we are aiming to take full advantage of the recent CAMRA AGM decision on keykeg which allows us to serve cask conditioned beer from those containers. Watch out for a lot of innovation and a lot of new breweries.  You really must be there.

So here's the official press release, but watch out for more info here and on our website

Six months of meetings and negotiations has seen the organisers secure their first choice venue which will allow them to retain all the features which attracted over 11,000 drinkers to the 2015 festival and is expected to attract even more at its new central home. The festival will feature a massive choice of over 500 beers, ciders and perries across a range of bars. Work is already under way on selecting the beers with established favourites including Marble Beers, Hawkshead Brewery and Brightside Beers already on board alongside relative newcomers to the local beer scene including Cryptic Ales and Seven Brothers.

 Festival Organiser Graham Donning said "We are very excited to be bringing the festival right into the heart of the city. With direct access from the newly improved Deansgate-Castlefield Metrolink station and Deansgate rail station, we couldn't have a better location for our customers who flock from across the region and indeed from all over the country to attend." When asked about the process of selecting a new venue he added "The last few months have been very busy behind the scenes as we sought the perfect venue. Myself and my colleagues have visited numerous venues across the city and held countless meetings to discuss available dates, logistics, budgets and all the other dull details which the drinkers never see. We are delighted that we have been able to secure an agreement with what was our first choice venue. "

Although only three years old, the Manchester Beer & Cider Festival has established itself as one of the top beer festivals in the UK, with one of the largest ranges of beers and cider. Up to 13,000 visitors are expected to travel from all over the country and beyond to attend the festival which compliments Manchester's growing international reputation as a centre for craft beer. Hundreds of volunteers will spend four days setting up what will become Manchester's largest pub serving over 50,000 pints over the four day event.

 Tickets for the event are scheduled to go on sale on Tuesday 1st September via the festival website at www.mancbeerfest.uk

Oh and I'm Deputy Organiser again, so it's bound to be good. Get the dates in your diaries now and spread the word please. 

Prices will be very reasonable compared to privately run festivalS and we will have a gobsmacking choice of beer, cider and perry.  The Foreign Beer Bars, not mentioned above will be brilliant. Just come along and see, travel to the venue is easy. .

Venta Socorro

While beer may play an increasing part in the lives of the urbanites of large Spanish cities, in the countryside it is more utilitarian than that, being a small drink of a quarter of a litre to have as a quick refresher, or just as an accompaniment to sit with while chatting.  In Gaucin, a white village perched high in the hills above Gibraltar, bottles of (usually) Cruzcampo were the normal drink of choice amongst Spaniards, while us Brits, when asking for a beer, were automatically given draft in thirds or half litres.

We didn't go to Venta Socorro much. It was underneath the village on the road leading to Ronda and while there was a set of tables, watching the traffic was about the best you could do, though the views upwards across the hills were splendid - and it kept odd hours. It did though have the local cake shop adjacent and was on a good spot at the end of our afternoon walks round the village in searing heat.  It wasn't always busy.

As we approached one afternoon though things were different. On the first table, there was a well dressed old gent with a cup of coffee and a crossword. The next table was empty and we sat down, looking on with interest at the five or six workmen, dusky from the sun, but tinged white with cement and dust getting stuck into the booze.  The old gent ignored us, but cheery "Holas" were shouted by the workers.  They'd obviously had a few, but their drink of choice was gin and tonic.  Now I like a gin, but we ordered tubos (33cl) and enjoyed looking on as the lads grew increasingly inebriated. As the conversation and banter flew back and forth a more gins went down red lane the drinkers grew more animated.  The old gent didn't look up at all, he just carried on with his business. After we'd had a couple of beers the crossworder got up and with a cheery flick of his paper as a way of saying goodbye to all, he was off. We followed a few minutes later and as we climbed back into the village, we could still hear the shouted conversations of the gin drinkers below and round the corner..

While it may not have been beer, I reflected that really you could imagine a similar scene in almost any local pub back home.

I didn't take a photo of the bar, but this painting by Jack McKenzie shows the place and is used in accordance with the terms on his blog.  Cheers Jack.  The coke bottle isn't there any more and the village behind has grown,  but the scene remains essentially the same.

The Great and the Good

No, not a run-down of bloggers and their foibles- I'll save that until another time - but a visit, on Saturday evening,  to my Branch area by the CAMRA National Executive and Regional Directors, who are collectively known as the NERDS. See? Even at the top, CAMRA does tongue in cheek.  Sortof.
 
After (a dry*) meeting in the Lancashire Fusiliers Museum in Bury they'd hot coached it to Rochdale where the National Chairman no less was going to assist me in presenting two Pub of the Year Awards to the Baum.  I don't exactly need help after 20 odd years of doing this and saying a few words, but hey, when the Great Chief is in town it would be rude not to. Besides Colin is a splendid fellow. It was also a chance for the NERDS to visit this recently former National Pub of the Year, which many hadn't been to.

They leapt or limped off the bus like a broad section of Viz stereotypes and sweeping all before them hit the bar and ordered pints. It was a mixed scene. Not so many beards, in fact hardly any and there was even a fair sprinkling of women amongst them.  They were a cheery bunch and added to the general buzz on what was a sunny early evening in Rochdale - in itself worth putting out the flags for.  We went outside for the presentation and photos. The Baum has a large and very nice beer garden.  I said a few words, Colin said a few words, Simon from the Baum said a few words and returned to his duties inside.

The NERDS left for their next engagement and we returned to the serious business of supping. It had all been very pleasant really, like most CAMRA events.

 *When I say dry, I mean they drank no alcohol during the meeting. And yes it was dry too.  Apparently.   I'm off on my hols now. See you all in a couple of weeks and on Twitter.

More Sun and More Beer

After a lovely walk in the sunshine through some of my childhood haunts including Levengrove Park, which is more or less unchanged since I was a boy and still kept very well, I crossed the old bridge back into Dumbarton and headed for our new local Wetherspoon which has the bonus of a beer garden. This is further "bonused" as it were, by being 90% non smoking. 

I was hot, the beer garden was hot, the sun was hot, so lager had to be the beer of choice, but I set myself apart from nearly everyone else by not ordering Tennents, which I observed, perhaps in an understated way, is rather popular in these parts. Being mid afternoon, it wasn't too busy outside, but there was a good enough crowd.  I sat, somewhat soporifically with a great view of the Rock and River Leven (see photo), being lulled into a state of torpor by choruses of "Aye" which is not only Scottish for "Yes" but has a wider meaning really. A bit like "genau" in German it is used where "exactly" would fit. There was a lot of agreement that afternoon.

Ah yes, the beer. It was Innis and Gunn Lager. Quite malty, but not over-carbonated, it was just the job. So I had two.

Pretty busy looking glass though.

Dumbarton is where the Cutty Sark was built by Scott and Linton and completed by rival Wm. Denny when they went bust. Wm. Denny and another shipbuilder John MacMillan gave the land and the money for Levengrove Park.The park cost Denny and MacMillan £20,000 to purchase and develop in 1883.

Bass in the Sun

You don't encounter Draught Bass that often these days in my experience. I know of a couple of places where it is sold, but I wouldn't go there just to seek the beer out as such. It wasn't always so. I used to make many a pilgrimage to the White Star in Liverpool in the early eighties, where the Bass, from Burton Union  sets was worth seeking out. The pub also sold Worthington and Bass Brew X as I recall, but I digress.

On a gorgeous summer's day last week, I was meeting a friend in Helensburgh, a town I know well from my youth in the West of Scotland. The Commodore Hotel is an imposing white building at the far end of this  neat little riverside town. It has a magnificent beer garden and wonderful views across the Clyde to Greenock one one side and the Gareloch on the other. It has changed considerably since the days when me and my plooky chums from Dumbarton used to infest it on a Sunday night in the vain hope of attracting girls. It certainly didn't sell real ale then, but it does now and is considerably more tarted up. Cask Marque accredited too, so I ordered a pint of Harviestoun's Bitter and Twisted with confidence and took it outside to savour the view.  It was cloudy - not the weather - but the beer. I knew it shouldn't be and sipped it cautiously. It tasted fine. Hmm. It was too good a day to bother taking it up with the barstaff, so I just got on with it.  A few minutes later, on entering the bar once more to purchase a glass of wine for my companion, the barman who had been friendly and chatty, asked me what I thought of the beer. "It's a touch cloudy" I said, "but tastes fine". His face clouded like my beer. "It shouldn't be. Have something else". I demurred, he insisted,  I chose Draught Bass and he went off to check the cask.
 
Outside it was hot and my half finished pint was starting to clear a bit. It had been a chill haze, albeit a quite severe one. Ah well.  The barman had done the right thing and I had a free pint. That's the way it goes sometimes.  As we sat chatting and watching a submarine, surrounded by escort vessels, slowly enter the navigation channel and make its way at snail's pace to HM Naval Base Faslane, I sipped my Bass. It was rich and malty, but really rather good. Oddly it seemed to suit the hot weather and as the afternoon slipped by, more Bass slipped down nicely.

It was pleasing to me that a beer with such a great past could still show its class and compete with a modern golden ale. Who'd have thought it?  Not me I admit, but it did.

The photo shows my pint before it cleared, which it did, though it took some time.  I also wrote about Draught Bass here.

This Is Lager?

It isn't often that I disagree with the Beer Nut when he describes and recommends a beer, above all because I rate his beer tasting notes as second to none and therefore his recommendations as ones to be taken very seriously indeed. As I neither have his dedication nor inclination, I'm generally happy to enjoy his tastings vicariously and of course, being a lazy git I'd rather sup beer than write tasting notes. So very unusually and with a caveat, I'm going to tentatively disagree with the Beer Nut over this post about BrewDog's This. Is. Lager. (TIL).  The caveat is that the Beer Nut describes the bottled version in his post and I have been drinking the draught version.

Now given my poor views of the state of cask beer in London,  I tend to drink a heck of a lot more lager there. And a lot more gin too.  Drinking cask beer in London (an aside in this post) is far to often the triumph of hope over experience, with its attendant coming down to earth with a bump.  This brings me back to TIL. I was very pleased when BrewDog introduced it and looked forward to it when I heard it was coming to JDW. But it is so variable.  All too few times the beer is clean, hoppy, full bodied, mouthfilling and refreshing and all too many times,  metallic, ridiculously over-carbonated, brasso like and weedy.  I asked E whose palate is excellent and who likes lager nearly as much as I do, to describe it. She summed it up thus: "It's usually too harsh. I used to like it, but I don't now". How can this be?

I offer two explanations. First the old BrewDog problem of inconsistency of product is one possibility and this may or may not be the case. I just don't know. The second and possibly more likely one, is that I'm drinking it in the wrong place. I drink it in Wetherspoons. Why should that be an issue I wondered?  I turned to a friend of mine who manages a leading JDW for his thoughts.  "It doesn't turn over as quickly as it needs to to be fresh and consistent" he said.  "And most people just don't like it."  So is that the explanation?  One piece of evidence for this, in this neck of the woods, came on Saturday in the Art Picture House in Bury.  This Is Lager was being offered (or was it remaindered?) at £2 a pint. E had a half and didn't have any more. She didn't like it.  I tasted it and found it thin and unappealing. Going back to the Beer Nut, I'm not quite so tentative when I say I am somewhat taken aback when he says "Put it in a grown-up serving size and you'd have a rival for Pilsner Urquell"

I disagree. On draught at least, for me and in my opinion, This. Is.Lager doesn't have the same complexity and consistency as PU. Moreover, to me, it just hasn't got the sheer quality of PU. Maybe though I'll have to find a bottle one day to see how that stands up.

Perhaps someone that regularly drinks it in BD pub could give their views? On the plus side, and thinking on, at £1.99 a pint, it is most certainly "Craft Beer for the People"!

I note too that BN had a few eyebrow raised comments about his views and some support.  That's interesting.  Maybe he just got a very good bottle of it?

Manchester Brew Expo

I haven't read much about this event in blogs and was expecting the Manchester bloggerati to save me a job, but looks like I'll need to help shoulder that burden.

What is it I hear you ask? Well it's a collaboration between some of the newer and maybe trendier Manchester brewers to "celebrate our brewing community". And why not? While London is getting many of the plaudits, up here in Manchester we have been getting on with it for years and produce, dare I say it, beers that are the equal of the best London breweries and in fact, much better in many, many cases. There were two events - one for breweries near Piccadilly Station and one for those in what was called the Green Quarter - a term I have never heard of - but turns out to be the area near Victoria Station. So that's all good. I bought into the Saturday one which was the Piccadilly gig. A tenner got you a drink at five breweries, a map of brewery locations, a badge to wear and a fetching pint glass to add to the too many I already have. Still, even if it did mean lugging it about, it meant drinking out of a decent glass. That's good too.  The price was excellent value as it included, should you wish, brewery tours, tastings and the like which had to be pre-booked. Well done on that front.

I started at the new Cloudwater Brewery which I was keen to see. Now I've been to countless breweries and they can pall after a bit, but I am a sucker for stainless steel and I'd seen the photos of this bespoke plant.  In a very large warehouse type unit it certainly looked the part and I joined a party that was being given the spiel by one of the brewers, Paul Jones and enjoyed what was an informative and interesting discussion which included sampling some beers straight from conditioning tanks.  Quite a novel feature and while I liked some beers, I wasn't so keen on others. In particular the sours didn't do too much for me, but maybe with age in a bit of oak that might well change.  I did really enjoy the Märzen, brewed in collaboration with Camden, which had the mouthfeel and colour of the style with a very clever touch of hopping to lift it to a much higher level. I really appreciated too the chance to talk with Paul afterwards. As well as being a thoroughly nice fellow. He has some fine ideas about brewing.  The whole place exudes professionalism and it is done with charm and appeal. I liked it.

After a few (too many) more Märzens and a chat to Manchester Beer Royalty in the form of Beer4John, I was joined by E and we set off on the fairly long trek to Ardwick and Squawk Brewery. We liked it there - oddly homely - with an unusual assortment of mismatched second hand sofas and chairs, it was a comfortable (if very quiet setting) in which to enjoy our beer. Cask and keg on offer here and the beer was very good.  Breweries came thick and fast then with Privateer where I enjoyed cask Dark Revenge, a railway related discussion with the brewer and a loll outside in the sun with its shades of Bermondsey Beer Mile -  but again very quiet in terms of customers, Alphabet which was much busier with Expo Explorers awaiting the "Meet the Brewer" and tasting event.  Keg only these I recall and not really to my taste, though I did enjoy the atmosphere here, with plenty of room and street food.   Finally and very near Piccadilly Station was Track (cask and keg here) where we again bumped into Mr Clarke propping up the bar. I can't tell you which beers I had in the the last two as when I'm enjoying myself, my notebook, as usual, didn't leave my pocket - one of the many reasons I am one of the least reliable reporters of beery events around.  Also, I may or may not have had one too many by then. I'm not saying


All in all a good day out. Superb value for money especially if you signed up for tours and tastings and if they do it again, count me in. I'll be sure to fire up my notebook too.

Oddly apart from a few CAMRA types, mainly at the first and last breweries, I met hardly anyone I know. It was though a pleasure to see so many enjoying the beers and talking and learning about the process.

As you see from the photo London Murky is present in Manchester too. Fortunately only in one brewery.