Rob's Beer Quest

Millennium Bridge Ale

2012-01-27T21:27:00.000Z

For those that don't know the Millennium Bridge is a fairly new massive(ish) bridge that crosses the River Tyne and is one of the signature landmarks in Geordie land (North East England). Some Mordue fans may remember that last year we brewed a one-off batch to commemorate the bridge's 10th anniversary way back last august. We were on TV, and remember how odd it was having a film crew in the brewery as the big man Mick Henry took his bad invincible council leading self round our gaff for a short tour of the crib.

If the Mayor likes it, it must be good!

Ah those were the days. Back then, before the Red Rye Riwaka work-a-thon, the Christmas rush and Yeast Maister Dave getting his cask washing level two badge (his celebrations went on long into the night).

But anyway, it seems the time has come for it to be brewed again (as it is the February seasonal) and I sure am looking forward to the brew day. Millennium Bridge ale is one of those simple, straight down the middle beers that's a joy to put together. Like a fish finger sandwich or cheese on toast, the finished article is also damn nice. So in the next few weeks I will have my eye on the orders list to see where I can hunt out this one for quality control purposes.

The bridge in all it's glory

That other good pub in Alnwick

2012-01-17T21:08:00.000Z

Last Saturday I wandered into my second favourite pub in Alnwick, The Tanners Arms. Since I moved to Alnwick I've been a fan of The Tanners. On my visits to Alnwick's award-winning John Bull Inn the Tanners has always been that back-up option that rarely gets used. However recently I've taken a certain liking to the place and at first I was confused as to why this was. The John Bull has has a superior beer range (whereas the Tanners has rarely more than three handpulls on the go at once) and an immense array of over a hundred malt whiskys on offer (the Tanners has an alright range).

But this isn't the point. The thing that's interesting about pubs is that each has its own charm, its own individual vibe almost. Those that know the pubs of Newcastle know that sampling craft brews at the Free Trade isn't the same as knocking back pints of Gladiator at the Crown Posada. The same goes in Alnwick. The Tanners has its own charms, atmosphere, friendly clientele and a tree right in the middle of it. Even though the giant wide screen TV looks totally out of place an a bit wrong the place still gets the thumbs up from me.

But here's the question. How important is it for a pub to have a good beer range? For me it definitely makes a difference especially on first impressions. But without any interesting beers at all I usually end up walking straight back out the door.

Melissa Cole. Let me tell you about beer

2012-01-14T10:31:00.000Z

It all went wrong when they too out that injunction

I would say this was definitely one of my top ten Christmas presents from last year. Let me tell you about beer, by Melissa Cole, does more or less what it says on the cover with the aid of plenty of cool pictures of beer, brewing, beer with food, Melissa Cole, Melissa Cole with beer, bottled beers and so on. The layout makes things easy-going, delivering things chunk by chunk in a Randy Mosher (esque) but not quite so quirky sort of style. The dialogue is easy to follow and comes across quite passionate at times and the contents cover pretty much everything a book on beer should (brewing basics, history of beer styles etc).

One of the strong points about this book for me are the beer style categories, which are really well summed up. Here loads of Cole's favourite beers are in the book exemplifying the different styles covering everything from The Kernel, Great Divide and Mikkeller to Cantillon and Orval to Moorhouses, Adnams and Theakstons and not to mention all those crazy Italian craft brews. So it covers a huge variety of different beers without being one of those 1000 page epics trying to cover every worthy beer on the planet.

In short, its a good book and its approach to the reader is a lot more easy going than a lot of the old CAMRA publications (sorry Protzy, I did nod off a bit during those last couple of books). Basically I can see any beer curious individual taking a lot from this very easily and as an insight to the current world of craft beer, there isn't really anything that's missed out.

So after my strict evaluation of the M.Cole book I have reached the conclusion that its proppa bo!

The twelth beer of Christmas

2012-01-04T18:59:00.000Z

Baladin Xyauyù

Yep, it's more or less all over now. All thats left to do is take the decorations down. To be honest this beer would have been great on Christmas or Doxing Day as an after dinner drink. Ir's bold, approachable and about as far away from a conventional beer as beer can get.

Xyauyù apparently is the name of Baladin brew master Teo Musso's daughter's imaginary friend. To make it even more crazy the 14.5% monster brew is matured in open top tanks as a method to purposely oxidise the beer so it develops rich sherry/Madeira flavours. It pours a deep reddish mahogony brown in the glass with no trace of carbonation whatsoever.

The aroma is fascinating. Sweet fig like fruit and sherry like alcoholic notes, which is similar to how it tastes. This sure is one heavyweight beer, incredibly rich yet immensely smooth with a long silky finish of warming alcoholic sherry and toffee apple. Strangely enough I love it.

Enter 2012. The show must go on...

2011-12-31T22:46:00.000Z

Just like the Queen song, the show must indeed go on. But I'm not complaining, overall it's been a good year for me and certainly no ordinary one. The highlights were obviously moving jobs and hunting beer in Rome. But throw in some great beers, a twissup and an awesome birthday party, one or two beer festivals and many brewing ventures and you get one hell of a year to remember.

To be more conventional I could have done a list of 'greatest beers of the year' or a 'Golden Pint awards 2011' like many others but to be honest my beer hunting this year has been a bit less rigorous. More relaxed you could say (plus I get a good amount of free beer from work). But this time last year I remember doing a slightly less optimistic post. But to say goodbye to 2011 in style I would advise you listen to this track whilst slowly scrolling down the pictures on the page.

Happy New Year!

The eleventh beer of Christmas

2011-12-27T14:22:00.001Z

Williams Brother Nollaig

Gaelic for Christmas, Nollaig is another Williams brothers crazy invention this time incorporating hand picked spruce tips and high impact specialist hops. So kind of like a Christmas tree IPA then. It's very limited edition.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, but think along the lines of strong pale ale with a twist and you won't be far wrong. It's aromas bring pine and juicy lychee hop aromatics over hints of fruit cake. Drinking the stuff brings waves of cakey sweet malt and ginger bread countered by resiny pine needles, gooseberries and an underlying pithy hop bitterness. That latter of these seems to build more and more in the finish as you make your way down the bottle as hops and pine reveal themselves a bit more.

It certainly is an interesting beer and at 7% it may well have benefited from a bit of ageing. My advice is its worth seeking out as I'm not sure if the brothers will be ever brewing it again.

The tenth beer of Christmas

2011-12-25T20:50:00.000Z

St Bernardus Christmas Ale

So here we are, it's Christmas day. But Christmas day wouldn't be Christmas day without a heavy dose of sugars and alcohols would it? Well that's what ths beer packs that's for sure. Sweet fruit cake, candy sugar, raisins and figs all play against a spritzy carbonation here. In the finish you get more winter fruit and sherry.

This truly is a christmas beer. But when that Co2 tires a little, and it warms it tends to mellow out and those warming alcoholic figgy raisin notes really cast a glow on everything (it is 10% after all) then you get a subtle nutmeg and dark fruit lingering finish. Through and through its a classic Belgian seasonal and definitely worth seeking out for the season.

From Rob's Beer Quest, Merry Christmas to all.

Ho Ho Ho

The ninth beer of Christmas

2011-12-24T19:31:00.000Z

Mikkeller From Via To (barrel aged edition)

Mikkeller are a Danish brewer I havn't tried nearly enough given how popular they are amongst beer bloggers. This 8% porter was aged for 8 months in Bourbon barrels. Pours a deep black with a big brown head. The aromas strangely resemble much of the stuff I've given the Elizabeth treatment in my past home brewings (really dry raw woody notes) but with dry cocoa powder, alcohols and hints of citric hops.

This then rolls over into the taste which kind of has a chalky feel to it. Wood, cocoa, big drying fruits, salty notes and dark chocolate lead into big resiny hops struggling to come through in a drying finish that holds a hefty dose of warming fruity alcohols. Overall its damn distinctive, bold and although not instantly lovable it does grows on you to the point that you wish you had a second bottle.

I do love Christmas Eve, probably the ultimate evening to drink specially reserved beers at home before bed. O my present pile looks pretty good this year, and I've already got tucked into some of the stilton. To all RBQ readers, have a good christmas.

The eighth beer of Christmas

2011-12-22T13:17:00.000Z

Madcap Santa's Madness

It was a while back now when I covered some of the Madcap range. Since then they've expanded to a five barrel plant and gained a range of cask ales (bless). Unlike previous reviews I would have to say this has to be one of the strangest Christmas beers I've come across. The nose brings aromas of licorice, leather and peaty smokey hints. The palate brings more peaty, leather dried fruit and a hint of sourness that brings a certain dryness to the finish. It's certainly interesting.

For some reason I'm getting the impression some unconventional micro organisms have had some influence here (whether intentionally or not) but what it lacks from my other experiences with madcap beers is that volumptious almost syrupy thickness that a lot of high alcohol beer can carry. It may have a rather complex aroma, but it does fall a bit short.

The seventh Beer Of Christmas

2011-12-18T21:14:00.000Z

Cropton Brewery Rudolphs Revenge

Rudolph's Revenge is one of those Christmas beers that I end up re-visiting each year among a heap load of other readily available seasonals. The bright labelling, its ruby red hue, bready, yeasty malt-driven aroma and zippy forest fruit notes all bring back memories of many a Christmas past (more specifically knocking it back in a half drunken state whilst trying several other beers at Boxing Day parties).

But take the party out of the equation and you can appeciate this better. Its very orthodox bready berry fruit driven palate is enhanced by the natural bottle conditioning. Like the last beer of the series it's very old world and CAMRA friendly (no shock and awe mega hop impact here). So more or less a flawless traditional best bitter and as for the more new world beers, well we might get to them later in the series.

The sixth Beer Of Christmas

2011-12-14T19:14:00.000Z

Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo

I remember the first time I tried this beer a few years ago. It was Christmas day in fact, I sitting watching Wallace and Gromit whilst eating Wensleydale cheese. You could call it an ultimate Yorkshire experience. It goes well with Wensleydale. Pouring a deep amber with reddish tones Stingo is a mellow, warming approachable winter warmer where woody, dried fruit and vanilla nuances play off sweet caramelised malts. The finish turns slightly dry and the oak influence is quite subtle given that its oak aged.

In a strange way this beer reminds me of when I (just about) lived in Yorkshire. It's smooth, mild, complex and heavy all in one. In the words of an old Dray man I used to work with; '"Nice mouthfeel".

The 5th Beer Of Christmas

2011-12-10T15:12:00.001Z

Hill Island St Oswalds Xmas Ale

That's right, I'm bigging up the local beers this year. Hill Island are one of the slightly newer breweries on the North East scene, but it was only recently that I discovered this Durham based micro. The beer itself, like many other Hill Island beers is simple, well composed and sessionable.

At this point in the post many bloggers may have lost interest. Mainly because the beer is 1; brown 2; orthodox 3; just 4.2%. This is true, but it's also delicious. This beer offers a depth of husky, wholesome chocolate malt grain over dark fruit and toffee. The aftertaste is horlicks and malt chocolate. It sure does go down easy, and after a hard days work it sure is the beer for the moment.

Old Dan with cheese

2011-12-10T11:30:00.000Z

Last night was cheeseboard night. I love cheeseboard night. Getting the cheese out the fridge hours before serving, getting out the knives, chutneys, nuts, grapes and the rest of it all just adds to the experience. Another part of the fun is selecting the right beer to go with it. Thwaites Old Dan at 7.4% was described by fellow blogger Leigh as sweetish toffee-caramel accented beer that drinks a little like a beginners barley wine. In theory, I thought, the kind of beer could nicely contrast the sharp, earthy pungent flavours of various cheeses. So with hardly any other bottled beers left in the house this had to be the one.

The chosen cheeses included Doddingtons own Berwick Edge, a fruity gouda style cheese. Northumberland smoked, Dorset Red (also smoked), Brie de meaux. Everyone's local easy going favourite Northumberland Chevington and the rich, creamy old school classic French blue, Fourme d'ambert.

The Verdict.

Old Dan is indeed a worthy beer. Chestnut amber in colour with fruity alcoholic notes and nutty, caramelised malt. Raisin and fruitcake dominate the finish with more alcohol warmth. With the Chevington and Brie it sails over the earthy grassy textures nicely, but with no fireworks. The two smoked cheeses don't really so much as clash but the smokiness cetainly overpowers.

Old Dan and Berwick Edge have all the right chemistry. Its fruity alcohols really pick up on the tangy fruity notes in the cheese whilst the beer's sweetness contrasts. The problem is at the end of it you can only really taste the cheese. But I can't help it, like many Doddingtons cheeses its bold and full flavoured. But it was the cheese I had never tried that came out top. Fourme d'ambert is a blue cheese that's both creamy, subtle and without the salty tang you would expect. It's rind has a fantastic texture.

Like an old world wine, Old Dan's status as a strong ale is restrained, balanced and easy going. In this case, put both beer and cheese together and they just meld to one. Each one lets the other speak. it might not be the best beer and cheese pairing ever, but probably the best anglo-French alliance since Concord. So in conclusion Thwaites Old Dan is a very versatile beer with many medium strength to mild cheeses and Fourme d'ambert straight rules.

The fourth beer of Christmas

2011-12-07T12:00:00.001Z

Abbaye Des Rocks Speciale Noel

Boom!

That's what happened to me with this bottle. It seems a lot of Belgian bottled beers I store for a while turn lively (probably due to the use of brewing sugars adding fermentables). Though once it's in the glass it doesn't disappoint. Aromas are of up-front clove, orange peel and nutmeg spice combined with peachy fruity alcohols. The palate opens with a dominant, rich, candy-sugar sweetness that's nuanced with more nutmeg spice. Candy, yeast, peachy fruit and caramelised malt. It sure is on the sweet side, and rather drinkable for its 9% abv. Nice on its own, or as I found out, with cheesecake.

The third beer of Christmas

2011-12-03T17:30:00.001Z

Mordue Headmasters Christmas Sermon

Deep ruby nectar straight from the conditioning tank

Now and then it's always nice to brew something slightly higher gravity. HXS (as its abbreviated) is quite the heavyweight for its 5.2% abv. Deliciously full-bodied and packed with rich fruit cake, berry fruit and caramelised malt leading to sweet candy-sugar notes contrasting prickly challenger hops in the finish.

From memory the brew day went really well. We had a lovely time. A straight-forward big-bodied beer that's now available in cask or bottle. I'm thinking of saving a bottle for the big Christmas day line up, ether for Christmas dinner, or the evening.i

The second Beer Of Christmas

2011-11-30T17:50:00.004Z

Ridgeway Warm Welcome

Ridgeway Warm Welcome is a 6% seasonal brown ale that's more rich amber golden than brown. By the looks of it it was brewed for the US market. Its aromas are of sweet nutty malt and alcoholic fruit. The more I look at it the more I notice how pale it is for a brown ale (maybe if you drank it with the lights dimmed you wouldn't notice). The palate is a rich layering of honey and caramelised malt that quickly leads to hints of pepper, allspice and warming alcohols.

Nice enough beer, though I still don't get the brown ale bit. It reminds me more of a malt-balanced Belgian pale ale, though you do get some nutty malt influences. Slightly two-dimensional but pleasant enough.

The first beer of Christmas

2011-11-26T10:48:00.000Z

Fullers 1845

Yep, it's that time of year again. Many readers may remember Rob's Beer Quest's twelve beers of Christmas from last year, and since last year a great number of seasonal/seasonally-suited beers didn't make it to the chosen twelve then... Here we go again.

Those familiar with the theme will know that the beers involved are kept a secret untill the next post is released (a bit like an advent calendar). Only a chosen few know what the next beer will be (usually just me) and those that do know won't be leaking anything to the press (don't want those national newspapers spoiling all the suspense for worldwide fans).

Anyways. I remember last Christmas like it wasn't that long ago. The blogging world was alive with reviews of seasonal beers, recipies for seasonal foods and the big discussion of 'what beer will you be opening first on Christmas day morning?' seemed to never stop. We had Open It! Reviews of the year, the Golden Pint Awards and Baron Orm's set of video beer reviews.

Well it sure comes around quick and to open the twelve beers this year I bring you the classic English strong ale that is Fuller's 1845. An all so familar interplay of big fruity bready malt and goldings hops finishes with sherry-like warming alcohols. An ever reliable winter warmer that I don't manage to get hold of so much these days. I would advise trying it with cheese or hearty meat dishes. Great stuff.

Winter Tyne

2011-11-24T17:28:00.000Z

I will always remember the first brew I invented as a commercial product. The very first batch of Daleside's Autumn Leaves was fermented in fermentation vessel 1 (or FV1). The fermentation was worryingly rapid so intermittent cooling was applied to calm her down. I remember my first taste of it in the early hours of a Monday morning before it was transferred to Daleside's holding tank 17 (they love to collect holding tanks).
Since then its been a bit of a rollercoaster ride of big forward orders, cleaning, more cleaning, learning more about process control and the practical side of brewing for a commercial venture (something home brewing experience and a brewing degree doesn't really teach you in the same way). It was always going to be exciting scaling up home-brewed experiments, but maintaining a level of discipline and integrity in what you do will always be more important.

I'm not saying I'm that disciplined, I'm just saying I'm with the Mr Miyagi mentality on this one. If only it was him teaching me how to clean casks on the cask washer all that time ago.

Cask on... Cask off... Cask on... Cask off... Cask on... Cask off... Cask on... Cask off... Cask on... Cask off... Cask on... Cask off...

Anyway I digress.

As I mentioned in a previous post the management has given me the freedom to re-invent long-established Mordue Winter Tyne to however I see fit. The 3.9% abv had to stay the same, and I didn't want to change the amber brown colour too much. But using different malt combinations and getting new, never used before hop varieties ordered in is becoming a habit of mine. God I love Bramling Cross hops.Their woody, spicy notes marry perfectly with the dark winter fruits and subtle spicy notes from the complex grist.

The resultant beer is traditional at its core but packed with floral berry fruit hop notes interplaying in a symphonic harmony with subtle spice and a mellow, fruit cake like malt centre. Being 3.9% it certainly is sessionable.

Just imagine you're in a forest, in winter, surrounded by trees covered in leaves that aren't actually leaves but bines of deliciously fragrant bramling cross hops. There are elves in the forest. Hundreds of little Geordie elves in Newcastle United football strips all drinking delicious Winter Tyne nectar singing and dancing merrily outside the local forest pub. Inside the local boozer the Penguin bar man hands you a brimming pint of Winter Tyne and escorts you to your chair by a roaring fireside. A group of Polar bears, also in Newcastle strips talk football by the bar whilst a badger suddenly starts up with 'Blaydon Races' on the pan pipes in the corner. Ahh the perfect setting.

Note to the Mordue Management: If this doesn't sell the stuff, I don't know what will.

Panda & Frog becomes Panda Frog

2011-11-17T21:53:00.000Z

Well not exactly. What the title is acually implying is that where my home brew kit is called the Panda & Frog brewery, the commercial version (which is actually Mordue Brewery) is to be called Panda Frog. The beers are all my own (but thanks go to Matt Fawson for intitiating the thought process for one of them), but the concepts, ideology and pumpclips were all kind of a collaboration between myself, Matt, wingman Dave Kerr and a local artist.

Pandazilla, the first beer of the series, is to be released in April. Compared to the home brew/Panda & Frog tried on the twissup, the debut beer will cut back from 7% to 6.3%. other than that it will be kept mostly the same. Lots of Carafa and dark crystal malts with no fewer than 8 hop additons using five different hops (mostly Galina and Summit). IBUs push on about 70, so my craving for adding hops will be surely satisfied. Basically Im just been given permission to go crazy.

The other three beers, to be released June, September and December, I will keep a secret for now. Mainly because the names and pump clip designs aren't finalised but I can tell you they won't all be on the hop forward side. Besides, Panda Frog isn't just about pushing boundaries, extremism or trying to copy whatever's trendy. It's a mix of unorthodox beers, some bold, some subtle, some a bit wierd. All are product of an overactive, slightly deranged imagination.

To tell the truth I've probably never been more excited (OK, my wedding day and Christmas at 8 years old compete strongly). All the beers are on paper waiting for me to brew and present Panda Frog to the world. Four single batch reserves, that's all it is so it will definitely be about quality not quantity. Basically I know what this bad-ass project is all about and at the end of the day I could feed you a load of ideologies about being rebels or re-inventing beer style,s but whatever you make of it, is what you make of it. For now I'm going to have to wait until about March for brewing to begin, until then the unstoppable force that is the mighty Pandazilla will sit waiting for its resurrection. Long live Panda Frog.

Don't diss, I got a C in art man

November 12th 2011, twissup in the toon.

2011-11-13T18:08:00.001Z

I have to say the Newcastle twissup has been a lot different from the adventure in York last time. It started with a familar face. Since I was the first to arrive at Tynebank brewery for the brewery tour/talk I got chance to catch up with former Mordue brewer/current Tynebank brewer Mark McGarry before the twissup crowds arrived.

Mark gave everyone a talk, we got to sniff some hops and try free cask samples. Out of the beers available I remember eventually deciding on the deep amber golden Monument Bitter as my all round favourite with its biscuity malmalade and blackcurrant like hop notes. The cherry stout was a hit with the ladies and even though I thought it had a lot of richness Mark wasn't quite happy with it and wanted it richer. He also explaned that Castle Brown ale had in no way stolen any name ideas from the famous/over rated Newcastle Brown or Newky broon (as the locals say).

Many samples later it was time to head to the The Free Trade Inn to see how my Pandazilla cascadian dark ale tasted now that it was in the cask and free to try. It had plenty of takers and a lot of people seemed to give positive comments but even when the beer didn't, the pumpclip certainly caught a lot of attention.

Thanks again to assistant brewer Dave's mate for that, it's a shame I still haven't met the artist. The beer itself poured an almost jet black with just a touch of condition. The crazy thing about it was the obvious difference between with citrusy almost flowery nose and sappy, heavy sherbet-like sweet palate that's laced with berry fruit flavours and chocolate. Compared to the very alcohol-laiden samples that were tried at the brewery this sure had improved. I wanted it hard hitting (like a giant 200 foot tall Pandazilla monster trampling on buildings and destroying all in its path) but more than anything I was chuffed about its approachability.

Moving on I decided to go for the bottled offering from Stateside gypsy brewery Pretty Things. I'd been trying to hunt down Pretty Things since their UK Debut at Zak Avery's shop a short time back and it didn't dissapoint. Jack D'Or is a creation from ex-Daleside brewer Dan Paquette. Like I expected very Belgian farmhouse ale-esque, peach and pear like subtle fruit combine with savoury grain and yeasty flavours. Very balanced, a touch quirky, a touch familiar and finishing with a nice rounded malt sweetness. It drinks like an old world Belgian and I could imagine it being immensely versatlie with food, especially cheese. Loved it.

Covenant Aromatic Red from Summer wine brewery was another memorable number. Lots of floral Centennial like hop notes over a smooth but light malt background. A nice interlude of session beer before I ended up trying Woolpacker Dave's 11% monster Imperial stout Vitesse Noir. Infused with chocolate, coffee and vanilla it sure is a huge powerhouse of a beer. Great flavours especially when served with chocolate truffles. Its only downside was the slight lack a little carbonation.

Jeff laughs at Dave's headbanging

Anyways... From recollection after that Mordue's Matt Fawson turned up on the scene and I got a free lift to the Cumberland Arms. I think the consumption of quite a few over 6% beers early in the day really hindered my stamina. I do remember Thornbridge Crux being loaded with upfront catty hop resins over smooth malt and Boggart Walnut Porter being deep brown, quite dry, biscuty and nutty. It was about half eight when I threw in the towel, maybe I'm getting old? But overall a great day out, and it was great to see the old twissup crew, Dredgy, Rob from Hopzine, Wooly Dave and this time even Olly Fozard turned up.

Not sure what was going on here, I don't remember this being taken.

A Panda & Frog brewery announcement

2011-11-09T20:36:00.000Z

Early suggested pumpclip idea

You heard it first here, I'm being given my own beer range starting next year. Four single batch reserves, starting with Pandazilla, a cascadian dark ale, which will be brewed in limited quantities from January onwards. If my project is continued on for another year after that then I have plenty more ideas for crazy stuff.

That's right, it's going to straight kick ass, and from what I've heard a few ferkins of Pandazilla have already been sold so there's no turning back now. As you can tell this is something that's been planned for a while now, and it's not just this, loads of stuff is going on at Mordue brewery this winter. We'll have three seasonals on the way. I'm being given the privelege of completely re-inventing Winter Tyne (as long as the abv stays the same), and Ive also been been contemplating a few beers to brew for Christmas on the Panda and Frog kit.

Just recently has been the long awaited transfer of the 7% Pandazilla cascadian dark ale. This trial batch
has been sent to the Free Trade Inn to be served this Saturday on the twissup. It didn't really attenuate out as much as I wanted, and the brew day was a bit of nightmare (technical problems with the copper) but the resulting beer was a little booze and malt heavy but nice enough. It should be interesting to try this from handpull on Saturday. Since my last twissup (which was awesome) I longed for the day it finally came to somewhere closer to home. Sadly no one seems to have blogged about it much this time. But I'm looking forward to getting a longer innings than I did in York.

See you all there.

The obvious divides in brewing

2011-11-06T12:13:00.000Z

This is subject that's been blogged about a fair few times. Dredgy gave a good overview here and In my time I've realised that the brewing industry and the consumers supporting it are an opinionated bunch. I've heard plenty of old blokes go on about how beer was so much better back in the 1950s, and read plenty of hype supporting crazy new world inventions of the brewing revolution. I've seen plenty of new world IPAs cast aside as over hopped, over hyped or too extreme and plenty of old school brown bitters called just boring. Many people have been under the impression that I back one side or the other but really I'm not on the fence, but back both. Here's what I think;

In one corner: The old school brewing traditions.

Things I like about it;

It gave us classic best bitters, pale ales, Belgian strong ales, pilsners and Barley wines. The templates for virtually every beer in existance. Old school brewing doesn't try and re-invent itself, it's about quality, consistency and usually, simplicity. I love brewing simple beers. Daleside Bitter was always easy peasy and Mordue Workie Ticket is a bundle of joy. Crystal malt and English hops are as compatable as ham and pease pudding.

Things I dislike about it;

Ok, even though it sounds wrong I have to say it. Image is a bit of a problem here. Traditional old pump clips and a thousand and one products that all taste more or less the same triggers nothing but old fashioned perceptions of beer and a stagnating beer scene. It's been blogged about many a time but many small breweries have had the tendency to follow the heard.

That's not to say in twenty years' time when everyone's drinking high octane kegged IPAs and Imperial Porters the next big thing could be cask conditioned pint of mild.

I also have a grudge about a lot of supermarket bottled ales. A 3.8% traditional bitter can be delicious, but after it's been forced through a filter, pasturized and force carbonated it loses more than a lot of that subtle character and becomes something else. The word 'bland' comes to mind. These bottled products don't win the craft brewing industry any fans, even if the cask versions might.

In the other corner: The new wave radical brewers.

Things I like about it;

Big hops, oxmoronic beer, crazy ingredients, edgy fonts on labels, lets get some attention. The brewing revolution is more than just evolving existing beer styles. For the outside its about changing the perceptions and stigmas associated with beer. For the insider its about capturing the imagination and expanding product diversity. Basically radical brewing encaptures just about everything that's new and exciting in the beer world.

Things I dislike about it;

Dangerous territory here as a lot of bloggers reading this may disown me. But truthfully, I have pondered over the odd over hyped beer and thought I'd rather just be down the pub drinking bitter 'x' from brewery 'x'. Are extreme beer just too extreme? For me, sometimes, but the majority of double IPAs, imperial porters and oak aged barley wines are great in small doses.

On thing I have realised is that at times I have found the whole craft beer movement/revoultion in the UK to get a tad arrogant. This can be towards anything mainstream or traditional in the industry. Beer geeks who take this stance generally come across as beer snobs whose attitude ends up deterring people from trying new beers.

So there we have it, my take on it all. The question is can a happy medium be found between the two ideologies in the modern brewing industry? I would like to think so, and from what I've seen not many British brewers strictly back one side or the other. Most upstart brewers from the 80s and 90s started out with a range of traditional products but are now branching out to new ideas.

Multi-award winning

2011-10-31T18:39:00.000Z

AWARD!! AWARD!!

That's right, after victories at Darligton and Alnwick beer festivals, Mordue's Northumbrian Blonde has now gained a silver in the SIBA North competition.

Fun to brew, fun to drink and a great all round session blonde ale. It has been a privilege to be part of the beer's development. See the rest of the winners here, and don't forget to check out Mordue IPA at the Free Trade Inn, Newcastle this week, served exclusively in keg form for the first time ever.

And not to pimp up the pump clip...

Shamone!

Roast Venison with Traquair House ale

2011-10-29T20:36:00.000+01:00

Traquair House Ale is one of those classic Scottish ales you instantly fall for then end up not seeing for a good length of time. It's also one of those beers you don't see mentioned on beer blogs often. Nowadays most are too fixated by the more modern hop-forward beer styles to give time to old classics like this.

The first thing you notice about House ale, besides its appearance is its dark fruit and sweet caramel like character. Lots of malt presence, warming alcohols but not as heavy bodied as you would think. With venison it's fantastic. I loved the way the robust dark malts found harmony with the gritty textures of the meat and the caramelised sweetness from the beer just seems to mellow everything out.

The venison was marinated in lemon infused rapseed oil, crushed garlic and fresh rosemary and was served with redcurrant sauce. Overall an awesome synphony of flavours that was mainly put together by my lovely wife Helen. Without her in my life my diet would be restricted to waffles, baked beans, oven chips, random stir fries and omelettes that fall to pieces after a few minites in the pan. Cheers Helen.

Shamone Helen!

Autumn

2011-10-23T19:03:00.000+01:00

Autumn is my favourite season. It hasn't always been, but a while back I just decided it was. A similar thing happened when I was about eight years old when after long periods of thought I decided my favourite colour was green (the trendy kids always liked red or blue). But overall summer is nice, winter has it's strong points and spring is just boring. But autumn is a great season, and the seasonal beers it brings range from brown ales to nutty auburn-hued bitters to the elusive pumpkin ales.

This autumn has been a nice enough. Plenty of brewing and planning new projects. I also managed to get the old Panda & Frog home brew kit back in action. After not brewing on my kit for such a long time I was very eager to get mashing. This time the brew in question was a collaboration between myself and Mordue brewery's brewery wing man Dave Kerr. Bear Hug is a 4% golden ale brewed with naked oats and honey. A nice easy batch to get things going again.

But there's more to life than brewing, at some point you have to dedicate some time to drinking the stuff. So while the Bear Hug ferments it was time to get into the first of my colder weather beers. Port Brewing's Old Viscosity is a 10% imperial stout with a big mocha chocolate aroma and a rich, assertive palate of dark chocolate, raisins and some vinous fruit. The hop bitterness is firm and backs everything up before plenty of heavy alcohols and berry fruit warm the finish.

So a pretty intense beer. I would advise drinking this with medium to full bodied cigars. A solid winter warmer. Its a shame I can't get hold of another bottle.

Finally

2011-10-13T20:03:00.000+01:00

After ringing up the various Wetherspoons pubs of Newcastle, re-ringing them up and trailing round them all on a Saturday night we finally found some Mordue Red Rye Riwaka on cask. The honour goes to the Job Bulman of Gosforth after a tip off from the boss man Gary Fawson. Mind going straight from work I got a few odd looks walking in to the pub half wet covered in malt dust and yeast stains but it had to be done if I was to get it before the festival ended.
It seems as though the approach of rotating all the listed beers randomly has been taken instead of the traditional 'put everything on at once' approach. This is probably more practical for the pubs involved but not ideal for your average beer geek excited about trying certain beers. But during my time hunting the elusive Riwaka some interesting beers were found. For a start Bell's Kalamazoon Black Silk was pretty unique, like a cross between a dark mild, an Oatmeal stout and a chocolate milkshake. Moorhouse's Pendle Porter showed the weird effect of using Green Bullet hops in porter and St Peter's Golden ale was straight forward and delicious.

As for the Red Rye Riwaka I found the thai spice, leafy hops and red fruit notes a little more dominant and the body a little less smooth than the sample I had tried previously from the Free Trade Inn, Newcastle (a non wetherspoons pub that took on one of the left over Riwaka casks). Overall I was quite pleased. Sadly I didn't get to try many more and soon enough it will be time to say goodbye to Red Rye Riwaka and hello to the few more projects at Mordue I have up my sleeve. But I won't mention that just yet.

Random beer and food pairing: Asahi Black with Smokey sausage Haggis and chips

2011-10-08T10:37:00.000+01:00

Ahh smokey, haggis and chips, straight from the fish and chip shop. A meal fit for a king. But before some of you think I'm going all Cooking Lager on your ass your wrong, Asahi Black is a beer I consider respectible. A smooth chocolaty malt driven dark lager. First discovered by myself at a Chinese restaurant (and not many have it) it's smooth...

With the smokey and haggis it's peculiar. The malt picks up on the sausage and texture of the haggis ok but the acidity of the vinegar on the chips spoils it a bit. Then throw in a load of different sauces and you can't tell where this is all going. To be honest, this beer was better served with Chinese food.

Conclusion: Don't try this at home.

Norfolk Red Ale

2011-09-30T21:45:00.000+01:00

Flanders Red is a beer style you don't come across too often. So when I spotted this example brewed in Norfolk I was instantly intrigued. Ole Slewfoot Red Wing Flemish style red ale is a 5.1% ruby red interpretation of a classic spontainiously fermented Belgian beer style that comes in a paper wrapped champagne corked bottle. Spontaneous fermentation means that no yeast is used to pitch the wort, all the fermentation work comes from wild yeast that drift in from the air and micro-organisms hidden within the oak barrels used for fermentation. Flanders Red is usually made from a blend of old and new products, with this one I'm not sure.

On the nose it smells like being back in Brussels. Tart cherry and raw earthy, funky yeast, it sure smells Belgian. The palate sure opens well, loads of barnyard yeasty spice, caramel and sweet cherry with a subtle acidic sourness throughout and a medium slightly oily texture. I'm giving it the thumbs up, good complexity yet quite subtle. What I found it lacked, compared to the Belgian original versions of the style was that hardcore sourness in the finish that really adds a kick. Perhaps my bottle could have developed it better with age but to me it seemed a bit like listening to Dragonforce without the guitar solos, it was just that one element away from being truly awesome (but still sour enough to make the wife pull a funny face). Despite this, still worth a try.

Community spirit

2011-09-26T21:17:00.000+01:00

As the folk of Alnwick are aware, last weekend was the annual Alnwick Food Festival and Alnwick Beer Festival all taking place in the centre of our market town. Many of my favourite stands were out in force, cheeses, meats, ice cream, spiced chutneys and relishes, it was all there, and being a volunteer this year it was all about the community spirit, mucking in for the event and celebrating local produce.

Local cheesemaker Margeret-Ann Maxwell ran the Doddingtons cheese stall

Allendale Brewery completed the food festival with a range of bottled beers

So with a good turnout and the sun shining all was set for a splendid and entertaining weekend. The same faces, the same costumes, the same good cheer and the same end of festival freebies, in this town the food festival surely signifies the end of September and rounds off the summer. It was great being a volunteer, and this year we not only got illuminous green tops to show how important we were but our own walkie talkies. So with organisation and staff co-ordination stepped up it really made me feel safer knowing that if any trouble did occur I could easily radio in an air strike at any time.

"Alpha one this is Gray Wolf, we have a situation here at stall five involving a dog and some upturned bins, requesting an Apache strike, over"

You can probably guess why mine was confiscated.

Cookery demonstrations were frequent in the Northumberland Hall and this year celebrity French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli was the star of the show with his cookery presentations. Additionally this year there were a few cook-offs between (mostly) different chefs from around the region. The most controversial of these was obviously the local derby match between the lovely Miss Northumberland (Laura Hickey) and Miss Sunderland. I'm not sure what was cooked but the good word was out that Laura pure destroyed her ass so good for her. I suppose we can't just keep leaving it to Newcastle United to maintain the natural order of these things.

Lewis's rendition of Slipknot's 'Duality' was excellent, but it did seem to intimidate passers by and upset a few children

Anyway's on to the important bit.

From out of town visitors to festival workers and John Bull locals, like most people, I ended up at the beer festival... More than once. Even Miss Northumberland stopped by for a few beers. The fifth Alnwick beer festival, for some reason this year was dominated by Scottish beer.

Stewart Brewing, Fyne Ales, Williams Brothers, Cairngorm, Belhaven and more, beers I had not seen on a regular basis since my time at Heriot-Watt University. So in short a lot of big guns from across the border dominated this year's beer festival. Not that I'm against that, the Scottish brewing scene of today is varied and innovative yet some brewers still hold a torch for tradition. Raj IPA for example from Tryst brewery was a brilliant take on an old school British IPA. Inveralmond Trappledouser was straight-forward enough and the Fyne Ales beers were as big and as hoppy as ever. But you wanna guess which beer sold out first, claiming the prize of beer of the festival???

Beer of the festival

Back of the net!

Since Alnwick beer festival has existed, Hadrian and Border brewery's Tyneside Blonde has won beer of the festival. All respect to them, but this year Mordue's newest core brand has breaten them to it. Head brewer Andy Burrows was probably grinding his teeth for a long while when he found out. He maybe even did an 'Eastenders' and shamshed the place up a bit in a distressed rage. Sorry Andy.

But anyways yes, Alnwick food and beer festival, a splendid day out for all.

Mr Flibble says......

2011-09-21T21:36:00.001+01:00

GAME OVER BOYS!!!

That's right, just like the death of the sinister puppet Mr Flibble in the BBC programme Red Dwarf the madness is indeed over. That's not saying that the last few weeks have been anything like being chased round a spaceship by an insane hologram with his sinister homicidal puppet. But the surge of relief once the several hundred casks of Red Rye Riwaka were taken away was almost similar to that felt by the characters of Lister and co in those penultimate moments of the quarantine episode of Red Dwarf..

But it hasn't all been about the hard work, in fact it's been quite eventful. Just the other week the bad ass Jeff Pickthall took his bad, invincible beer blogging CAMRA bashing ass to visit our crib. Here he got free samples of our Red Rye Riwaka beer and he himself said it was the dogs bollocks. There you have it, straight from the horses mouth. Then just the other day saw a visit from (long time no see) Daleside breweries (often tired at laybys) number one dray man Dave Pritchard, who picked up a cask of Red Rye Riwaka for a beer festival down his neck of the woods.

So now all I need to do is get myself to my nearest Wetherspoons when the Octoberfest beer festival is on to try my creation straight from the hand pull. It shouldn't be too hard now I've got my life back. I can also do stuff like have breakfast with the wife, go to the pub in the evening, and even get stuck in traffic on the way to work. It's all to come.

Recovery time

2011-09-18T11:13:00.000+01:00

Well it's been a long week, and next week all the Mordue crew are very excited about the big Red Rye Riwaka order going out. Hundreds of parcels of joy to be delivered all around the UK, it sure is gripping stuff.

Anyway, this weekend (due to lots of hard work) I have had the pleasure of a Saturday off work, and by some wierd coincidence the sun decided come out. So out to one of the many awesome rural pubs of Northumberland it was, and the Joiners Arms in High Newton-by-the-Sea was not a bad choice.

It was also the first time I had been to a pub serving only Daleside and Mordue beers on cask (for those that havn't read the small print, Alnwick IPA is contract brewed in Harrogate). So to start things off I decided to quality control some excellent St Mary's Ale, straight-forward golden British bitter with a subtle kick of lime and spice. It paired brilliantly with some outstanding fish and chips.

A classic British combo, fish and chips with a pint of bitter

I did wonder for a moment if Alnwick IPA could match fish and chips better so I gave it a go. I was also curious of how my ex homies back at Daleside were doing and if their product quality had changed. Funnily enough it tasted just how I remebered it but with fish and chips it seemed distinctly malt balanced. My conclusions; St Mary's Ale rocks with fish and chips but Alnwick IPA went better with the wife's Ploughmans. None the less, it was time to move on.

Back in Alnwick I got to watch the sun steadily go down as I supped on a Rogue Yellow Snow IPA. The thing is, getting a staff bonus for extra hours in beer has its advantages. The main one being that if I had got it in cash the wife could have got hold of it and used it for other things. So all the beers I've previously wanted but couldn't budget for at Coppers I now had access to. One of these gems was the excellent Weihenstephaner Vitus Weizen bock which paired excellently with the wife's seafood concoction of lemon sole and seabass with a creamy scallop, mussel and chorizo sauce.

The silky smooth texture of the beer simply glides over this dish, harmonising with the sauce whilst subtle clove and spice gently enhancing herbal lime notes in the dish. Honestly the 7.7% abv is hardly noticable and the beer drinks more like an excellent regular Weizen than a Weizen bock. German wheat beers are incredibly versatile food. Fish, seafood, Brockwursts, Thai, Chinese and even desserts they really do rock and I really should give them more attention.

So overall a rather relaxing if somewhat fish themed day. But to finish things off...

It has to be the cheese!

Coming to a Wetherspoons near you this October

2011-09-09T21:47:00.001+01:00

Apologies for the lack of posting folks, but recently things have been rather busy at Mordue Brewery. On top of the seemingly endless hours of racking, brewing, washing casks, sorting out brew schedules, rescheduling brew schedules and so forth has come the risks of utility and ingredient shortages and the burden of watching over so many fermentations. Why do they come to me to die? Why do they come to me to die? For the last few sundays now (the only day I'm not working around 12 hours) I have felt unable to do hardly anything at all but sit slightly traumatised for most of the day within a fantasy world of lying on a reclining chair sipping camomile tea in a Japanese garden with no sound but that of the running water features.

Brew 1, first mash, 7:30am: Check ma bad invincible brewing self.

But anyway, one of the best things about Riwaka hops, apart from there broad spicy lime and Thai spice like characteristics is the sound of the name spoken in a North East accent. Here you can really exaggerate on the Ri-WA-KA! It sounds almost like a word of the native dialect but sadly these hops aren't grown on the banks of the River Tyne but hail originally from the Riwaka hop research centre of New Zealand. They are quite up front, and combined with a couple more of my favourite hop varieties, malted rye and various caramel malts the results are intriguing.

For my first Mordue beer, I'm chuffed I've pulled off something quite individual and it seems more composed than my home-brewed version. Like I wanted it bouncing with lime and spice intertwined with dark berry and stone fruit before finishing with dry peppery notes. Not over the top but commercially the craziest beer I've ever produced.

But even though were working our asses off, the best thing is that this stuff's going to be served to the Wetherspoons pubs around the whole nation during the Wetherspoons annual Octoberfest beer festival, which is quite an exciting prospect. I myself am hoping to get myself down to one during the festival for some quality control tastings. As you can see ma man Matt is helping himself already to the pre-conditioned stuff.

The boss man brewing in the crib, Matt Fawson help himself to a Red Rye Riwaka

I sure can't wait for the festival, but for now readers, see you on the other side.

Beers of summer

2011-08-31T21:01:00.000+01:00

I could have called this post 'beer drinking highlights of summer 2011' but it's mainly a tribute to my summer of bottle beer drinking in the garden. This has been novel to me because I have only owned a garden for about a year now and the experience of kicking back after a day's work by the lawn on a nice summer's evening with a beer or two is quite pleasant. OK it hasn't been the best of summers, this year's been mostly about the sunshine and showers, but at least it hasn't rained the whole time. Sadly though (or at least in Northumberland) it seems the summer is over and we are now entering that transitionary period between late summer and autumn.

Stone Vertical Epic 2008

A big 8.6% powerhouse of a Belgian inspired IPA packed with big bready, yeasty phenolic notes. Bananas, spiced apple and clove are also featured in my tasting notes.

Vedett Extra White

At the other end of the spectrum was the quenching bubblegum tang of Vedett Extra white. A very refreshing Belgian style wheat beer with an extra delicate light wheaty texture.

Mordue Northumbrian Blonde

You can't have a summer without a low gravity cask conditioned blonde ale in there somewhere. Northumbrian Blonde has obviously gained popularity since its spring release this year. I myself love its Amarillo hop influenced tang

Fuller's Discovery.

75% continental pilsner, 25% golden ale, that's what I make of it anyways. It works great as a bottled beer both clean and flavouful and great for the sunny days.

Williams Brothers Seven Giraffes

Another one of William's brothers multi grain, multi hop 'lets go crazy' sort of beers. Grassy citric hop notes over subtle grainy textures. Your usual well balanced golden ale with a twist.

Baltika 7

Not really a memorable summer discovery but more of a staple. Months back before I discovered that Tyneside does have some specialist beer shops this Russian brewed Dortmunder style lager helped make up the volume of quenching session beer in the fridge. Malt driven with a clean grainy texture I would argue that it is worthy and not cooking lager.

Well there we have my beer of summer but for now it looks like we'll be saying goodbye to the Northumbrian summer.

A one for the locals

2011-08-28T12:20:00.000+01:00

Northumberland Coquetdale is by a distance my favourite cheese of the North East region. It's uncompromisingly earthy, full of texture and has a slight tangy fruity finish. Some call it strong, but cheese lovers seem to think of it as a middle weight.

For a year of so now I have been working on finding the perfect beer paring for this cheese but its strength in flavour and slight dry astringency has made it difficult to pair with many of the local session beers. But out of much trial and error and some success with Belgian Pale ales and strong English pale ales it seems Durham Brewery's Benedictus has proved itself as the ultimate match for this characterful local cheese.

According to the website Benedictus is a Barley wine, but it doesn't seem as heavy as many English Barley wines. Deliciously fruity, malt driven and with a nice drinkability it seems to marry brilliantly with the flavours of the cheese. Both show a similar strength of character and the rich malt sweetness of Benedictus seems to contrast any rough characteristics of the cheese. I have to admit this is by far my favourite beer and cheese combination of the year so far and probably the best local pairing ever. It's almost like the two were made to be together.

Mordue Brewery on TV.

2011-08-23T22:07:00.000+01:00

That's right, on the news for the resurrected Millennium Bridge Ale. check it out here.

A splendid day out in London

2011-08-21T17:49:00.000+01:00

England vs India, day 3 at the Oval

Ahh the cricket. Binoculars in hand and lunch box at the ready, that's the ideal way to watch our lads totally dominate over the teams of the old Empire.

But wait, an hour later and the dark clouds loom over and play is delayed. This cannot be, our lads need enough playing time to totally destroy India and further prove that they're a bad invincible world dominating superteam. But luckily enough for us our research had previously indicated that the Oval cricket ground is close to a place called Borough Market, home of the much blogged about specialist beer bar The Rake.

Damn right

Since the early days I have hoped to one day visit The Rake. Mentioned in many British beer blogs and the host for countless product launches and beer tastings it was time for me to finally discover this beer haven that one could almost call the very centre of the UK beer blogging universe.

As expected the the place was small, with a big extravagant beer range covering cask, keg and bottled beers from around the world. The big question mark: no Thornbridge, Brew Dog or Dark Star on tap (shock) but I'm sure the big trendy new-world brewers have adorned the Rake taps many times already.

First up for me was a nice chilled schooner of keg Raging Bitch, from the Belgian yeast influenced IPA from the Denver brewer Flying Dog. I was shocked that my Dad, usually the 4% session ale man, also thought it was great. But I think the effect of being surrounded by beer geeks drinking IPAs and the desire for something different took me to my second choice.

Nogne Porter is a hop forward 7% Porter style beer from Norway. Opening with big dried dark fruit over sappy citrus hops it leads into smooth coffee chocolate notes before more pithy hops resins and warming alcohols continue in the finish. A totally awesome and individual Porter that seemed to make rain and lack of cricket play seem insignificant.

A wall of written tributes decorates the far wall

So as the rain continued so did the session. It's been a while since I've got hold of Great Divides mighty Yeti Imperial Stout. Bold, smooth, warming, chocolatey and one of my all time favourites of the style.

At 9.5% it sure made the walk back to the cricket ground more interesting

So as the sun came back out back to the Oval we went. The Rake sure was a better alternative than waiting around in the rain, and returning to a score line of India 8 for 1 was also well received.

Weekend recap

2011-08-14T22:00:00.000+01:00

Well, it's been a pretty good weekend. For a start England are now finally the official greatest test cricket team on Earth (woopee!) and I finally got to check out the food at The Broad Chare with its excellent beer range.

As I mentioned in the last post, this weekend was also the exclusive preview tasting of the Mordue Red Rye Riwaka at the Free Trade Inn, Byker. A ten litre polypin connected up to a hand pump provided free halves all round for anyone who wanted to try it and although the feedback I got from it was mostly positive I had noticed an obvious change in the beer compared to how it was raw from the fermenter. It seemed the beer's originally forward hop attack had subsided and given way to the malt and rye backdrop. Some of the aroma also seemed missing but then again I sensed it hadn't developed much condition in its plastic container.

I myself have never been a fan of plastic polypins but the most important thing was that the fundamental characteristics of the beer were largely unchanged and those who tried it seemed to like it. I also explained to a few people that we were planning to make the commercial version a bit more red and less 'London Pride' esque coloured.

Anyway, Saturday a trip to work to check some fermentations was combined with a long anticipated visit to a little shop called Coppers in Gosforth. A kind of regular corner shop with its own section of bottled beers. So like Rehills but with out the cigars and elaborate collection of spirits. My conclusions on the region's beer shops are simple: For American craft beers Coppers edges it, for Italian and European specialist beers go to Rehills but if you're after only local beers Rothbury Wines is the one.

So after the night out came the night in with a Rogue Juniper Pale Ale. Full bodied, and bold with drying spicy juniper notes in the finish, it sure is drinkable. I also discovered how well the Russian Dortmunder style lager Baltika 7 goes with gammon steak. A beer and food pairing advised by the master himself Garrett Oliver.

A Mordue/Panda & Frog brewery announcement

2011-08-09T21:53:00.000+01:00

For a long while the fact that Mordue brewery were developing a Rye beer was a closely-guarded secret kept by only a chosen few (though I do remember Chris Mansfield blurting it out in the comments of someone else's blog at some point but never mind). Red Rye Riwaka, which was not so long ago to be called Rye Aye Man (fittingly Mordue) is to be a 4.5% red (ish) ale loaded with lime, orange and peppery spice due to be released nationally in October this year exclusively for the Wetherspoons Octoberfest beer festival.

The creator of this beer was me. Though the idea came from the founding brothers' desire to develop some kind of rye beer. I decided the use of the crazy 'in your face' Riwaka hops with their weird Thai spice and lime notes would be a good idea and we took it from there. A trial batch of this beer, using my very own Panda & Frog home brew kit was brewed a few weeks back and for publicity purposes a ten litre polypin of Red Rye Riwaka will be available for anyone to try at the Free Trade Inn in Byker on Friday night this week. I will be also be there but like I say it's only ten litres so when it's gone it's gone.

Mordue meet the brewer. Mordue brewery. 30/07/2011.

2011-07-31T11:12:00.001+01:00

"One. Two... One. One, two" taps the mike "One. Two... One. One, two"

Meanwhile head brewer Craig would be handing round samples and chat to pub goers. During my time at Daleside I was the official roadie for parts of the Daleside meet the brewer tour. But this time it would be different, I would be the brewer, and support man Dave would be the one holding back the crowd surfers. Another big difference would also be that this meet the brewer would be exclusive to the North East CAMRA branch, held on the home turf of Mordue Brewery itself. Additional to this the CAMRA group would also witness a bit of the magic of the brewing experience themselves as (due to it selling out so fast) I would be in brewing a batch of Northumbrian Blonde.

So, knowing I would have to manage both a tour group and brewing, much preparation was needed. Everything was weighed out in advance, malt samples were prepared and the answers to many obvious questions were revised;:

'yes, I'll sign your sandals'
'yes I'll sign your tickers book'
'yes I'll sign your girlfriends ass'
'no I won't sign your girlfriend's dog's ass'
'no, I'm not sure how many barrels per year we produce, but give me a minute with a calculator and I could have a good guess'

But in the end none of these answers were needed, and our CAMRA friends got a nice tour whilst my batch of blonde sat quietly steeping in late hops. Boss man Matt Fawson and Dave 'the yeast-maister' later took over as various beers were sampled. I even ended up showing off Elizabeth (currently not in use) and some bottles of oak aged 1750s porter (bottled a few months back from Elizabeth herself) were cracked open.

So all in all not bad for my first meet the brewer as the brewer and the CAMRA crew were rather entertaining. Lots of more technical than usual questions and was totally digging the beards. I myself might get the Zakk Wylde look one day. So all in all a grand day out for all.

Growing my own hops

2011-07-26T21:20:00.000+01:00

Now I am aware of a few bloggers who have done this and reaped the rewards, but none of them in anywhere as far north as Northumberland. But as it was my birthday present I thought I would finally get round to giving it a go. Apparently the tubs have to be kept indoors for a few weeks and germination takes 2-3 months. After that they are unleashed into the elements of Northumberland and if I will be very chuffed if I get any cones off them.

Sadly it doesn't tell you what hop variety your growing but if I do manage to grow any hops from it my plan would be to use them for dry hopping.

Some old school beer literature.

2011-07-18T23:15:00.000+01:00

The world was a very different place in the 1970s. Judas Priest were at large, classic films like Rocky and Scum were invented. CAMRA was just making a name for itself and beer blogging didn't exist. I didn't exist.

Richard Boston's Beer and Skittles is a book that provides a very informative and personal perspective of the British beer scene from the '60s and '70s when beer meant mild, bitter, stout/Guinness, occasional strong ales or the growing trend that is continental lager beer. Pubs were architecturally sound havens for the working man to smoke, drink and play pub games like billiards. They were also under constant threat from the unstoppable evil empires of tied pubs owned by the infamous 'big six' whose tied houses were constantly being adulterated and manipulated by the brewer to suit commercial needs.

The book, like many other beer books, briefly covers the the history of beer going back to ancient civilisations and (just like Pete Brown did many years later) the origins of the pub are also explored. The brewing process, homebrewing (very popular in the 70s) and pub games are also covered to some extent. The strong support of pairing beer and food doesn't really go into any guidelines of how to pair beer and food but does give a lot of old-school cooking recipes such as Guinness stew, and steak, kidney and oyster pudding which include beer. Back then good bottled beer apparently meant Worthington's White Shield, Guinness (then bottle conditioned), Newcastle Brown Ale and keeping beers such as Eldridge Pope Thomas Hardy Ale (RIP) and Courage Imperial Russian Stout.

The thing I find most interesting about this book, is that it gives an insight to a bygone era.
Admittedly a lot of it did remind me of the numerous occasions I've got chatting to old pub locals about beer. Many an old local has the opinionated old codger in the corner rambling about how things were 'back in the day' and how much better pubs and beer were before the 60s. Perhaps one of those old codgers was Richard Boston? Who knows, but what I did realise was that where most modern beer authors rave in celebration about the successess of CAMRA and artisan beer over the decades this literature gives the reader the impressions of an underlying insecurity from the author. The tone is fiercely defensive of all that is small, traditional, original and authentic or in short all that was under threat in an era that was progressively becoming more mainstreamed, mass-marketed, mass-advertised and just boring.

But my favourite part of this book, is the bit that illustrated that some things haven't changed. Apparently many followers of the 'big six' and the new kegged beer had written off the 'real ale' market as small, dying and comprised of old flat caps who in ten or twenty years or so would have all died off. Now where have I heard that before? Funny how I'm reading this over thirty years later and the 'real ale' market looks far from dead, yet very occasionally I still hear this same opinion.

So in conclusion, not a bad read at all. To celebrate finishing it I thought I'd crack open an old school beer so without the much mentioned White Shield at hand I thought I'd go for a Directors Courage, one of the first bottled beers I ever tried.

Is it cos I is black?

2011-07-16T15:50:00.000+01:00

Black IPA can be a contraversial subject these days. I mean isn’t India Pale Ale meant to be mean pale? That’s like painting a black Labrador white and calling it a white black Labrador (WTF!). OK not the best example. But I think part of the concept of the style's inception was to be totally rebel, new world and bad ass. That’s why many people snub it and that’s why it’s sometimes given the alternative name Cascadian Dark Ale.

Up till now my best impression of a black IPA have been from the all powerful Stone Sublimely Self Righteous ale, that goes brilliantly with steak (topped with the strongest Stilton cheese you can find) and chips, but this Italian beast, picked up at Gradi Plato in Rome tells a rather different story.

Birrificio RuRAle Castigamatt, at 7.5% is jet black in colour and has a bottle label that looks like it’s been styled from a super bike or formula one racing logo. The aroma is slightly baffling and seems to switch between liquorice, coffee and dark chocolate one minute then perfumed tangerine and spicy hops the next. Then on the first taste it starts with this slick oily mouth feel, sherbet, orange roast grain then all of a sudden… WHAM! The full force of high alpha American hops comes at ya like a tiger in an intense finish of bitter espresso coffee combined with a super crisp dry hop bitterness.

The thing with this beer is it kind of grows on you the more you drink of it. Once you're past the shock and awe the intensity is embraced, but don’t get me wrong this beer isn’t just about boldness. Compared to Stone’s version this beer has a lot more mystery and subtle nuances with a sort of smooth espresso like intensity. Honestly I wasn’t expecting to like it this much so that’s a thumbs up from me.

All Romed out. Holiday conclusions.

2011-07-12T21:31:00.000+01:00

It was only three days ago now that I spent my last beer of the Rome holiday sat in Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fa (aka the Football pub) enjoying the last beer of the holiday. The German smoked Bock Gaenstaller Brau Affumicator sure leaves you with a craving for smoked cheese and bratwurst sausages.

A tiny little pub with football strips and scarves adorning the walls and a beer range largely dominated by European imports it's a good place to stop by for a few beers before or after dinner. This is quite convenient as it's directly opposite Bir & Fud and it's definitely worth mentioning as the last of the big four beer hunting destinations of the holiday.

But now, with it all over, some Rob's Beer Quest Awards...

Best overall beer range: Brasserie 4:20. If you count the bottled beer list that included vintage lambics, US craft limited edition beers and even vintage bottles of Hardy's Ale going back to 1995 costing over 100 euros a bottle you could also say it has the most expensive beer range.

Best place to embrace the Italian beer: Open Baladin. Co owned by Birra Baladin and Del Borgo brewers Open Baladin is no less than a world class palace of worship for Italian beer. Here I discovered many of the most exceptional beers of the holiday. Although the food menu is a little limited to mainly burgers, chicken wings etc it's still exceptional.

Best beer of the holiday: Montegioco Open Mind. Never tried anything quite like it and according to the bar man wine wort was used in its production. Interesting indeed.

Best food: Bir & Fud (but the desserts at bar 4:20 are still hard to beat).

Best beer and food pairing: Del Borgo Re Ale Extra with a pizza at Bir & Fud. Totally effortless. Can't remember the name of the pizza it but it had sausage and potato on it and although any hoppy pale ale would have done the job this one was exceptional.

Best staff: Brasserie 4:20.

Best Place for a session: Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fa (it's also marginally the cheapest)

Most decorated bar: Open Baladin..Especially with the giant hanging transparent picture of Teo Musso (Baladin) and Leonardo Di Vincenzo (Birra del Borgo) holding a giant goblet of beer in some kind of garden displayed above the bar.

That's it, happy times. But remember if you do go to Rome to look out of the small armys of little Indian blokes hanging around big tourist attractions trying to sell you umbrellas, roses, hats and the like. Then you have the blokes dressed as Roman soldiers trying to get pictures of you posing with them for 10 euros... And don't give tips, as I said to the wife, "were British, not American and we don't do that unless we think their worth it".

Rome part IV

2011-07-09T14:29:00.004+01:00

The Trevi Fountain

In short, my Rome holiday so far has been truly awesome. Combining great beer and being surrounded by history, culture and architecture has been a brilliant combination. But don’t expect hunting beer in Rome to be easy. Unlike destinations like Brussels or California, you will need to look a bit harder for great beer and when you do find it, it won’t be cheap. The Italian craft beer movement is still currently blossoming and if you have trouble finding the likes Bir & Fud or Open Baladin a small number of bars and restaurants around the city do have small range of craft beers available.

St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

So after the last post I managed to talk the wife into a further trips to Bar 4:20 where I tried some Nogne Imperial Brown Ale, double IPA from Japan and 8Wired iStout from New Zealand before I was finished off by a De Molen Bommen & Granaten barley wine style ale (memories of this were quite vague though you can just about read it in the notebook). Open Baladin was also re-visited for a taste of some Del Borgo Genziana, a saison with a spritzy red fruit like character. Opperbacco Tripping Flowers was another delightfully subtle, elegant example of Italian craftsmanship with sweetish elderflower like notes. Exceptionally fresh.

My first Open Baladin experience

Another interesting beer of the holiday was the Stone-Baladin collaborative brew, Super Arrogant. An 8% powerhouse that looks very similar to the original Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale. The aroma is intense and threatening, like you can tell a brutal burst of aggressive hops is upon you on the first taste. In short it smells a bit like Arrogant Bastard Ale. But the wave of cascading citric hop resins swiftly opens up to bold caramelised malt and sappy red and stone fruits. It doesn’t hit you as hard as Arrogant Bastard Ale will, and even though I’m an Arrogant Bastard Ale fan I do find this more interesting, like an Italianised version of the original.

Chocolate cheesecake made with Baltic Porter matched with Baltic Porter.

After this we headed off to Bir & Fud for the second visit of the holiday for some pizza, Extraomnes Zest and a few more Del Borgo beers. But it hasn’t all been about beer hunting. I’ve checked out the Colosseum, the Spanish steps, tried my first Campari and orange juice, endlessly avoided people trying to sell us hats and umbrellas and tried some really nice Chanti whilst watching the world go by sat outside a street restaurant.

I tried cigars with smoked beer, imperial stout and red wine but still think malt whisky and dark rum are the best matches.

In many ways the Italian brewing scene has taken on a similar approach to what the Americans did, taking on any worldwide beer style as their own. But where the yanks frequently set out to make things bolder and more in your face the Italians turned to straight creativity with an open mindedness and respect for the balance and subtlety that was so valued by their influencers. Many are probably aware by now of the strong Belgian influence in Italian brewing, and like them their practices draw no rules, borders or boundaries just possibilities. It’s this kind of attitude that’s given Italy such a diverse array of craft beers in the such short period of time the Italian craft beer movements been around.

The beer list at Open Baladin

And as we come to the last day in Rome, tonight we will be visiting the last of the top 4 beer bars in the city - Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa, or the Football pub. Hopefully there will be some good beers on the menu to round off a great holiday.

Lapping it up at Bar 4:20

Rome Part III

2011-07-07T16:00:00.011+01:00

Bir & Fud is a must visit place for beer hunting in Rome. Its ethos is simple and patriotically Italian -craft beer meets the beautiful simplicity of Italian cooking. The best part is that the pairing of pizza and beer requires very little thought processing, it’s a very difficult thing to get wrong and if you like pizza then this is the place for you.

The other half of the menu (that’s not pizza) is comprised of various antipasti dishes including the local dish of rice balls stuffed with mozzarella which for some reason tasted familiar.

The Pizzas were also amazing and the beer list filled by an array of Italian craft beers. The uber-fresh unfiltered tasting Italiano Tipo Pils and highly quaffable Orsoverde Wabi went down nicely and for me the beer of the night was the Italiano Vu-Du, a Dunkel Weizen with a silky soft chocolatey mouth feel and notes of bubblegum and banana.

But after so much beer hunting, the next day we decided to do a bit of sightseeing and walk up to Quirinal to the Trevi fountain then to the Piazza della Rotonda to see the ancient temple known as the Pantheon.

It seemed surreal walking the busy cobbled streets then suddenly, round the next corner, the giant historic structure emerged. Inside it was even more architecturally awe-inspiring containing the tombs of Raphael and Italian royalty.

To me this came as a bit of a shock as I never knew about it. I mean ever since the movie and the early episodes I was a childhood fan and Raphael was one of my favourites. But I’m sure the likes of Michelangelo and the other Ninja Turtles are getting on a bit now.

Moving on and it was time to get lunch and have a wonder round Piazza Navona before heading back to the hotel to prepare for another evening of beer hunting. So far, it's been an awesome holiday, the next aim is for more time in Open Baladin and maybe Bir & Fud.

Rome part II

2011-07-06T06:16:00.000+01:00

Day two and we decided to have a morning walk out to the Trastevere, check out the sights, market and see if we could find Bir & Fud for an evening meal later on. I must note that it isn’t the easiest places to find but we got there in the end. Rome has all the ambience of a very ancient city, but with a modern element built into it. Cobbled stone streets, lots of old buildings, fountains and churches. The bonus of the trip was definitely discovering the fantastic beer shop Gradi Plato almost by accident whilst leaving the Campo di Fiori market. A tiny little shop packed to the brim with mostly new school world beers. Choices were made carefully under the full awareness that whatever was bought would have to be walked back with me. I also got chatting with the bloke behind the counter, he seemed interested in my blog and Mordue brewery.

So with all thoughts on beer and one our core targets Open Baladin nearby the obvious next move was to head for Open Baladin to check out its glorious well decorated stylish bar harbouring a huge range of Italian craft beers. First up for me was the Troll Dau’, a light quenching 3.9% saison style beer that was just the thing considering the hot weather. Helen also liked it, and preferred it to her delicious hop-forward golden ale Troll Dorina. I preferred the Dorina so we made a good swap.

My bets were that Helen would the like heavy sweet nature of the historic recreational brew Baladin Nora and I was right though she seemed to like my Montegioco Open Mind even more so to the point she found it hard to put down. To date one of the most exceptional beers of the holiday its aroma seemed fairly mute with a touch of that brettanomyces character. On the palate however it was fantastic, think soft peaches and cream with a tart berry sourness contrasting it perfectly. Then in the finish a creamy soft honey sweetness comes back followed by more echoes of tart berries. This beer has the balance of being light yet fullish bodied, soft, composed and elegant with a very controlled sourness.

Additionally the 7.5% seemed to speed up the walk to our next destination, lunch at Caffe di Marzio at Piazza de Santa Maria in Trastevere. More specifically this meant the very dry, resinous cascade hop influenced Lariano Extraomnes Blonde with a selection of cheeses before we found ourselves sat by a fountain in the sun eating the most delicious chocolate and hazelnut ice cream I had ever tried. With it not even being evening time yet I had to agree that this day was straight kicking ass.

Bellissimo

Rome Part I. Brasserie 4:20.

2011-07-04T14:48:00.001+01:00

My Rome adventure started 3am Friday morning forcing oneself up to get the early flight. The three hours airbourne would take us to Rome Fiucimino airport where we would wait a tedious hour or so for our coach driver to arrive to take us to the hotel. By this point a power nap was required if we were to survive a first night session at the much acclaimed Brasserie 4:20 which thankfully was just a short walk from the hotel.

So after having to take a de-tour or two we finally got to the stage where we could see the giant bright green 4:20 sign just down the road. This is what I had been waiting for, finally after a good eleven hours travelling and suspense we were finally there I thought as I pace walked oblivious to all surroundings like a transfixed beer hunting zombie towards the big green digits. I always get these moments of suspense and uncertainty before finding a big beer hunting destination. What if it’s closed? Or we can’t find it? Or we get lost? You know how it is, but a few moments later and I realised the wife was trailing 30 or so yards down the road trying to keep up as I had subconsciously picked up the pace .

“Rob, wait for me!”

Woops

Anyway inside looked pretty damn awesome, and a good ten minutes were needed to scope the beer range before finally decided to start on a Nogne Pale ale straight from the keg. A textbook American Pale of excellent quality. In short the options were between a good number of cask or keg conditioned beers complemented by a separate set of fridges for your bottled beers. I found a lot of focus was given to international , especially American or American inspired beers. Lots of big Imperial Stouts, Porters, US style IPAs and so on with quite a few Belgian Sour/spontaneously fermented beers thrown in the mix. Like Zak menitioned, lots of big names from the new world of beer are there. De Molen, Jolly Pumpkin, Lost Abbey, Mikeller, Stone, De Struse… So basically a beer bloggers paradise.

It would be almost logical to think that whoever decided on the beer list was reading a lot of UK beer blogs for a while. They were probably like ‘hey, the Beer Nut thinks this one’s good let’s get it’ sort of thing. Not that that’s a bad thing. Every single traditional element of your regular pub is absent. Instead you get super modern, super new wave, new age this is the beer revolution! An attitude I have often secretly yearned for from my Alnwick local the John Bull to adopt. I’m not saying the John Bull should become another Bar 4:20 or anything (it would totally alienate the locals) but an element of progression of some sort would be nice.

Ahh the takeover fantasy floats to my mind this very moment, the little hanging pub sign replaced by giant bright green digital letters ‘JOHN BULL’, a row of craft keg taps replace the John Smiths tap, food cooked with beer and (former) landlord Gus Odlin foaming at the mouth with anger in a cage somewhere nearby.

Anyway, we ordered some food from the slightly small, rather sea food influenced menu and to start I tried pairing up Boon Foederhio with Oysters. Beforehand I was thinking I really needed a middle of the range Irish Stout for this but the nice quenching sourness of the Geuze seemed to work brilliantly with the slippery, slightly salty nature of the Oysters and a squeeze of lemon enhanced this even more. Brilliant.

Next up, a hop burger with cheese was paired up nicely with a Revelation Cat West Coast IPA . A nice clean, slightly light bodied IPA with citric floral hop resins cascading in the finish, the chips were mega crispy too.

To finish things off myself and Helen shared for the chocolate cheesecake made with Baltic Porter with two different beers (the one I thought would pair best and the one recommended by the waitress to pair best). An Imperial Stout by De Molen was one. This bold, thick bodied roasty monster matched the cheesecake well but the bitterness of the roast grain and hops seemed to roller coaster over it a bit. Uncommon Baltic Porter on the other hand, which was very coffee, hazelnut and toffee like seemed to blossom into this symphony of chocolate and creamy dark fruit when paired with the cheesecake.

After this it was time to call it a day. Satisfied with the first day it was back to the hotel for us.

Gone to Rome

2011-07-01T12:00:00.002+01:00

That's right. Zak did it, Mark did it, and now I'm finally checking it out - one of the current hottest, trendiest locations to explore great beer.

The Vatican, the Colosseum the Sistine Chapel the Pantheon it's all there. But the main question is which one of them has the most exciting range of bottled and draught beers? Or is that just a bad joke?

Anyway I will be using the guidance from Mark and Zak to hunt out the various bars and specialist beer shops around the place and do some sightseeing on the way. In the meantime I will be leaving Matt (the Daddy) Fawson and new man Dave (former Cameron's micro lab elite) to keep the Mordue brewery working soundly.

More to come...

27 today!

2011-06-26T16:26:00.000+01:00

That's right, another year older. As they say not long till I hit the big three zero now. Though I don't really feel any older but over the years I think I have realised a few things and maybe even mellowed out since my college and university days. Here are a few of the things I have learnt over the years;

You don't need to use over 8 different malts and 13 different hop varieties to brew a good beer.

Global breweries and big mega corporate brewing mega brands are not all that evil. Their products have a place on the market, they even help out the smaller brewers in ways and provide that essential yin for that yang that is beautiful craft beer.

The running of a real brewery is not in any way similar to a magical wonderland of fantasy where everything goes to plan and everyone goes about their daily duties of brewing and delivering beer with glee.

Certain beers can be awesome with desserts, even ice cream.

Radio 2 isn't all that bad.

I need more practice with Barbecues.

Never oak age beer in a very small wooden cask for over a month, the results can be overpowering and nasty.

Anyway this year I decided to celebrate my birthday with a Barbecue. I mean, I have a garden now, and a barbecue, so why not. Luckily, after a very overcast start to the day the sun came out shortly before guests started arriving. My 3.4% golden ale had been vented since the previous night and it was all conditioned up and ready to go, The only problems were its less than optimal head retention and the fact I struggled to keep its serving temperature down with ice packs from the freezer.

Other than that I was chuffed with it. Aroma wise you had hints of grassy citrus, grapefruit and the bready yeasty notes of the Mordue house yeast strain. On the palate it sure was easy to knock back. Light bodied with a broad bitterness coming through from those cascade and Hersbrucker hops. Citric fruit, herbal notes and a touch of pine with a slight grapefruit hint coming from the Amarillo hops that were added after the boil.

So after the first few quality control pints all was set for a prolonged session in the (intermittent) sun. With me not being the sort of bloke who drinks the same beer for an entire session I got round to cracking open some Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat. A pleasant enough beer but to me it just seemed indistinct from any other American wheat beer. After this I managed to share round some Baladin Wayan, another crazy Italian take on Belgian beer, in this case saison. A nice golden fruity malt driven ale with banana and spice. Very enjoyable and once the barbecued food was flowing a nice bottle of Flying Dog Doggy Style pale ale came in handy for standing up to all those spicy relishes whereas my Anchor Porter latched on the to caramelised meaty texture of the burgers and sausages yet found a better friend in the the chocolate cup cakes for afters.

At about this stage things turned a tad more hard core as the 8% Hardknott Queboid came out with its interplay of bold malt backbone, assault of tangy, grapefruit like hops and crazy funky Belgian yeast. Then from one big untamed beast of a beer came another tho I didn't originally intend on opening my only bottle of Brewdog Tokyo* it was more of spur of the moment/live for the day sort of thing. I agree with all the bloggers who have called this beer under-rated. It got the spotlight in its heyday of being Britain's strongest beer before it was over shadowed by a bunch of freeze distilled, over priced super high gravity offerings that semi-resemble beer. The truth is I would choose this immense 18.2% Imperial stout over a bottle of Tactical Nuclear Penguin any day, it's boldness expresses a much more structured, composed array of flavours as opposed to it just taking your throat out.

Anyway, the rest of the night was a bit of a blur people leaving, snacking on party food and fond memories of everyone sitting round outside late at night. A few Cigars and drams of Laphroig and Ardbeg were involved and that about finished things off. So happy times indeed, and what was more impressive was the amount of free beer you get when people are stuck for birthday presents for you but know you love beer. This year I managed to bring in quite a good range.

This should keep me stocked up for a while.

Session Beer

2011-06-21T19:40:00.000+01:00

Just the other night I was in the John Bull with a mate who didn't know what a session beer was. The truth is its just broad terminology for any beer you can happily knock back several pints of without falling over. You don't have to look hard to find them, they're everywhere, and its not just their approachability that makes them popular.

In the brew house your light golden session ale is easy to brew and cheaper to produce. Runoffs are quick and easy, ingredient costs are low, tax is reduced, and things like extract efficiency notch up a bit. Its also nicer to dig out a mash tun short of a hundred or so kilograms of spent grain.

Light golden ales are sure fun to brew, that's why last Saturday I decided to fire up my little Panda and Frog home brew kit at Mordue brewery for the second time to brew my own 3.4% summer quaffer. Just a little mash made up of Lager malt, Extra pale ale malt and wheat before it was hopped with Cascade, Hersbrucker and Amarillo hops in the copper. You could call it my take on the eminently drinkable 3.6% Mordue Summer Tyne, which we will be brewing a lot of this summer, but at 20IBU's my birthday barbecue next weekend should finish off most of the batch.

The Broad Chare, Newcastle

2011-06-13T12:14:00.001+01:00

The Broad Chare is a recently opened pub situated in the Quayside area of Newcastle. It has a modern, smart interior, nice looking menu and a great range of bottled beers. A good reminder that Newcastle still has plenty of great pubs and that I don't get myself there nearly enough.

So to start I went for the very straightforward Wylam Bitter. I have enjoyed Wylam beers many times in the past. From memory Silver Ghost was brilliant on form, Locomotion No1 and Bohemia are good takes on tradtional lagers and the likes of Rocket, Angel and Admiral Collingwood were also well-crafted session beers. So the new beer Writer's Block, brewed exclusively for the pub got my attention this time.

Sadly, the cask version was not available

Despite the slightly pale golden hazy appearance the aroma is fantastically up-front and fragrant with distinct lychee and citrus fruit notes. Apparently this beer is dry hopped, check out the video for it here. The palate is light bodied and loaded with more lychee, lime and spice finishing with lingering dry, sharp hop resin like notes. Loads of hop flavour for a low abv beer, the only downsids being it was served a tad over-chilled and a slight catty astringency in the finish spoiled it a little. Other than that, a sound beer.

Anyhow, after going through a few from from the bottled beer range we headed off to the Bridge Hotel where (by some strange coincidence) we ran into the Daleside brewery brewed Alnwick IPA on cask. Then in the Head of Steam we got hold of some Mordue Geordie Pride, a beer recently manipulated by myself to my own liking.

Like they say; 'I is gettin high on me own supply'

But soon enough the temptation to finish the night off with some Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout became too strong so back to the Broad Chare it was. It is an awesome pub that would have been better if more of the hand pulls were active. Really I should have booked a table but there's always next time and given how lively the place was I have a feeling it will be sticking around for some time.

Cooking my own beer dinner

2011-06-11T10:56:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I cooked. When I say that I mean properly cooked. I have often felt the urge to cook up my own beer-food preparations in the style of Leigh or Dredge but from experience I know that leaving it to the wife is the safest bet for consistently great meals.

Baltika 7 makes a nice appetiser
So given my very limited cooking skills (scrambled eggs, jacket potatoes, oven chips and steaks deliberately done seconds each side to watch them bleed all over the plate (yeah!)) I knew I had to choose something simple. So with a bit of planning I was ready to go the whole three courses.

To Start.

Baked camembert with caramelised apple chunks served with Jennings Sneck Lifter.

Basically this was chosen by the wife and is a simpler version of what was seen here. The simplification being that the cranberry sauce was redcurrant sauce and came from a jar and no parsnip crisps were involved. I also forgot to season the Camembert, but it was still delicious.

So basically the Camembert went in the oven whilst I heated up the sugar and margarine and fried the apple chunks in the mixture till they softened. After about ten minutes it all goes on the plate with some redcurrant sauce.

Delicious. It's just a shame that the beer of choice didn't do much for this dish. Maybe if I had chosen a bock or sweet stout it would have been better but the robust roasty character of Sneck Lifter just didn't do it. I get the impression this beer would be more at home with a hearty roast beef dinner or similar, but never mind. As they would say on the telly 'Im sorry Sneck Lifter, but it's a no from me'.

Next up. The mains.

Roast Chicken, carrots and Gruyere mashed potatoes with Hook Norton Old Hooky.

Another simple one. The chicken was stuffed with garlic and stuffing and roasted whilst the mash was adapted from my Lucy Saunders The Best Of American Beer & Food book. The tricky bit was converting the units.

3 potatoes
50g double cream
25g margerine
25g sour cream
50g grated gruyere

(serves two)

Potatoes were boiled up, drained and mashed before being mixed in with a pre-heated mixture of butter and cream. Then I mashed in all the sour cream, gruyere and seasoned with salt and pepper. I also boiled up some carrots to go with it and served it with cranberry sauce.

Overall, a very enjoyable preparation, nice flavours, but it was a tad dry. Old Hooky was a nice match for the chicken and married nicely with the savour flavours of the stuffing and cheesy nature of the mash. The wife was also impressed and even admitted that I had now finally proven to her that beer can go great with food. The trick here was using a nicely food versatile pale ale, so a thumbs up to that one.

The dessert.

Black forest Gateau with Lindermans Kriek.

Another one that went down well with the Wife as Helen generally likes fruit beers. As for the preparation. Well, truth be told, I cheated.

None the less, the Kriek went brilliantly and the original idea came from Fiona and Will Beckett's book An Appetite for Ale. Chocolate, fruit plus sweet fruit beer equals a nice approachable combination for those easily intimidated. But even though I cheated on the dessert at the end of the day I quite enjoyed the cooking experience and Helen enjoyed not cooking even though she did the washing up and had to offer a bit of guidance at certain points.

From the folks at the Panda and Frog home brewery; Cheers

Rob's Beer Quest Celebrates Post 200!

2011-06-07T13:06:00.000+01:00

Rob's Beer Quest makes it to post 200!

First of all I would like to thank the fans, followers worldwide, and not least my wife Helen for all the support. All the staff at Daleside and Mordue breweries. Friends and family. All the great bloggers out there. Kerry King (feel free to visit the brewhouse any time mate). Jeff the milkman. My West Highland terrier Troy and Chewbacca.

Thanks for all the support and inspiration over the last 3 years of Rob's Beer Quest. It's been a long and eventful quest so far even though most beer bloggers I know, unless they started recently have already passed the 200 post mark. But it's not a big deal, I take my time. Beer blogging has taught me a fair deal about many of the new beers and emerging beer scenes around the world. I realise that if I had just kept my beer geekery to myself and not got into blogging, it wouldn't have been nearly as exciting.

Like I mentioned in post 100, the beer blogosphere is like a soap opera, constantly evolving and changing. New blogs start up while others hand in their badge. New subjects, new controversies, new product launches. They all get the attention as many beer blogs provide an insight to the opinions and perspectives that are constantly developing within the world of beer. But amongst all this it is important not to lose track of the here and now, the real world as some may call it.

As some have heard, recently my time at Mordue brewery has taken an unexpected turn. My co-brewer Mark has taken his bearded self to work at the up and coming Tynebank brewery and has left me as the sole brewer at Mordue. A few posts back Ed mentioned that now I'm the only brewer, I must be (by default) the head brewer. Technically being the only brewer makes me the sole brewer, but does it make me the head brewer? My duties are the same, but I do have more responsibilities and obviously I have more work to do. But it's not always so lonely, boss man Matt Fawson watches over me and keeps a check on how things are going a bit like the old Darth Vader - Darth Sidious relationship. He helps out when he can.

"Rob, did you remember to put up those two nines for the Woodman's Arms next thursday!?",

"Yes Master."

But as many of you know I am a collector of head brewer, brewery owner and beer writer autographs (as long as they work for and support the right kind of brewery) so if I am the head brewer that technically means I need to get my own autograph. After a long time pondering, and confirmation from Matt (he even said I could have a special 'head brewer' tea mug) I have came to the conclusion that I am in fact the brewing being of Mordue brewery.

Here goes, my own autograph.

I should get a badge or something

I never thought I'd see the day. But anyway as it's post 200 I thought it would be the done thing to celebrate with another beer just like I did with post 100. Where last year's beer was a straightforward well crafted session ale, this year's has new world limited release written all over it.

Goose Island's Pepe Nero is an American take on the Belgian beer style Saison. The twist is that they've made it black and thrown black peppercorns into the mix. An intriguing concept and in fact not long ago Rob Derbyshire did some good coverage of this on HopZine. He sure is right, it does have a lot of that Belgian yeast influence, a bit representative of a dubbel but without the body. To me it seems a little dry with a medium to light body and plenty of complex spice, funky banana and subtle black pepper notes going on. As you go through it the banana and Belgian yeast influence builds and so does the melody of black pepper, spice, plump malt and subtle hints of vanilla and cardamon.

An intriguingly deep, complex, balanced and interesting beer with plenty of subtle twists and turns to keep one interested. It's the kind of beer you would want to ponder over when contemplating a thesis, engaging in poetry or eating peppered steak. Not in your face but full of hidden depth. Nice. It's a good job I know where to pick up another one.

An old friend

2011-06-04T14:40:00.000+01:00

Occasionally during one's quest of beer discovery comes moments of almost re-discovery. Whilst the beer-hunting instinct is to continually move on and hunt out the next new exciting craft beer, moments can occur when forgotten gems from eras past can be re-discovered.

A long time ago now, before my time brewing or Rob's Beer Quest, Hop Back Summer Lightning was frequently found in my fridge. In time it became harder to find in the local supermarkets, I moved out, moved on, and even when I did come across it, it was overlooked for the next new beer style or special release. But just the other week I happened to be in the Lake District at a lovely supermarket with a great beer range called Booths.

But Summer Lightning isn't just a classic for being a great beer, in the 80s Summer Lightning represented an evolutionary point in British brewing. It's a fore father to the style we know today as the English golden ale. Although today virtually every British brewer has some form of golden ale not many of them are 5%. Pale golden and well composed with fruity English hops throughout and a balancing quenching malt backbone. Summer Lightning sure is a re-discovery from the past that's great when enjoyed outside on a summer's evening.

Granite 2009 meet's Colston Bassett Stilton

2011-06-01T20:06:00.000+01:00

It's one of those matches where you can just tell it will go well together. A bit like Rauchbier and bacon, salt and pepper or Batman and Robin. I bet when Batman was interviewing for the position of sidekick and Robin walked through the door in he just knew he would fit the role (I mean he's got it all, the costume, the cape, acrobatics, cheesy lines). But I digress. Granite and Stilton even sound compatible, and the bottle label does advise it.

But did it live up to the hype? Well the beer certainly did. A 10.4% barley wine that pours a might dark shade of ruby brown (could this be from that extended boil time Dave was on about?). Aroma wise I get vinous fruit cake notes. Plenty of alcohols and a touch of smoke. The palate is a bold array of sweet alcoholic notes over underlying caramel malts and a rugged smokey peaty edge. This is a huge characterful, untamed barley wine and the lush creaminess that Colston Bassett has to offer contrasted it well.

I love Colston Basset Stilton. It's not the strongest of Stiltons but it has a great balance of texture, acidity and flavour. Granites bold malts just wrap around it and the bold alcoholic notes play on the sharpness of the Stilton. As far as beer and cheese pairings go, this one was immense. One of the best I've ever tried and definitely the best for Stilton (and that's beating many shit hot barley wines, imperial stouts and Belgian strong ales). I just wish I had another bottle.

CAMRA strikes back. Colin Valentine vs the Bloggerati

2011-05-29T20:44:00.000+01:00

"Down bloggerati scum!"

I have just been reading the new major debate of the blogging world on Martyn Cornell's Blog. It seems that after the seemingly endless posts slagging off CAMRA by various bloggers over the years, CAMRA boss man Colin Valentine has finally had a poke back during a CAMRA AGM. Check the video here.

His talks about "the bloggerati" or beer blogging community being a bunch of trend chasing Internet elitists who only care about the next new beer and constantly slag off CAMRA for dismissing craft/keg beers. In reply various bloggers have pointed out how narrow minded and poorly thought out his speech was. At one point during discussions anti-CAMRA hard man Jeff Picktall threatened to get involved, and you know he won't be taking no prisoners. But to me the argument all seems a bit dumb.

First of all, as others have mentioned many bloggers are CAMRA members and vice versa. I am a CAMRA member, and at the end of the day both groups, broadly speaking, promote the same thing. Consumer choice for great beer. Not all of CAMRA solidly objects to the concept of great beer coming from a keg and not all bloggers think of CAMRA's current existence as pointless and an offense to the British brewing scene. I'm with Tandleman on this one, can't we all just get along?

Plus I'm sure Colin isn't a bad bloke in real life and probably doesn't wear a black and silver mask.

Rehill’s Specialist Food and Wine Merchants, Jesmond

2011-05-28T13:04:00.000+01:00

It's kind of cool uncovering hidden treasure. Especially when it's right on your doorstep and you hadn't known about it for years. But this little shop first caught my attention in Cheers magazine, a publication I've been reading a lot from recently since I was covered in it.

From the outside it looks like a regular corner shop, with the exception of the bottles of beers and spirits adorning the window display. Again inside it looks like a large corner shop until you find the small descending stairs to the cave like oasis of beer, cider, wine and spirits. A very impressive range for somewhere this local (before this I thought my best options were Rothbury Wines or Sainsburys) with a decent coverage of Italian, American, Belgian, German and British beers. They even have a nice range of cigars too.

It was one of those moments where you wished you had a huge wad of cash. But I didn't over spend and the missus didn't get mad. I even got to chat to Tony, who runs the place and found out that I wasn't the first one to discover the place throught the recent Cheers magazine coverage.

But the best thing is the store is right on the direct route between work and my parents house, so whenever I want to hunt out some great bottled beers, I know where to go. My days of tolerance to the mediocre beer ranges of Sainsburys, Lidl and Morrisons are over. A great little shop, and thanks again to ma man Gilmour for bringing it to my attention.

English hops

2011-05-26T07:30:00.005+01:00

In today's world of new wave radical brewing, English hops seem to have fallen out of fashion. Go back a decade or two and virtually every small, regional and microbrewery of the British Isles had the minty, grassy, earthy Fuggles and the mild spicy, peppery fruitiness of Goldings as the hops of choice for their portfolio of brands. I imagine some still do.

So what changed? Was it a combination of the development of the ever expanding array of new exciting hop varieties and the changes in attitudes and inspiration from the US craft brewing scene? Probably so, but the fact of the matter is that most trendy American and New Zealand varieties have more power, flavour impact and flare than their UK counterparts. Bred to hold heaps of aromatic oils and bittering (in some brews throat attacking) high alpha acid contents. But I'm not being no fanatical traditionalist in defending good old English hops, I'm just pointing out that they have their place and are not to be dismissed as bland and old fashioned.

Thinking back to those first cask ales I ever tried. The pints that drew me into beer geekism in the first place. Timothy Taylor's Landlord and Mordue Workie Ticket weren't loaded with IBUs (international bitterness units) from a charge of American hops. English hops are not just about balanced, drinkable and flavourful beer, they are fairly diverse. From the tangy orange and spice of First Gold to the sweet rounded progress to the woody-blackcurrant notes of Bramling X to the clean fruity-spiciness and versatility of challenger. English hops have their place, they rock!

So remember folks advocating English hops isn't all about growing a beard and banging the drum of tradition. To check out more check them out here.

Al' Wheat Pet

2011-05-20T22:23:00.000+01:00

Out of all my favourite beers of the North East region, this one has to be in the top five somewhere. Mordue's Al' Wheat Pet is a 4.1% British wheat beer, which in other words means a cask conditioned golden session ale with wheat influences. My fondest memory of this beer was when I first tried it at the Tankerville Arms, Eglingham. It was a few years back now and me and Helen had just moved to Northumberland and enjoyed a great lunch on a laid back summer afternoon in the beer garden. It was crisp, light and well composed with delicate herbal hop notes throughout.

A couple of years down the line and it's selling out early at the Newcastle beer festival. As a seasonal/special it's difficult to get hold of but this year, since I'm brewing the stuff I shouldn't find it too hard to track down. It's sure been a while since I tried this one.

So anyway, friday morning comes along and were ready to rock!

Mash goes in.

Now for the sparge.

The run off was nice and easy, this can be watched from the underback, a peculiar piece of kit I had never used previous to my time at Mordue. This is an intermediate vessel situated between the mash tun and copper that lets you watch the wort majesticly flow between the two vessels (below). It is however very easy to let it overflow if your not careful.

Next stage; the copper boil and in go the hops.

After this the boiled wort was transferred to the fermenter where it was introduced to our friends the yeast. By now it should be happily fermenting away. Next week we shall be tasting the stuff and drinking through my mini cask of Marynka pale ale. But all in all not a bad day's work.

Homebrew project: Marynka Pale Ale

2011-05-16T18:33:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I brewed a proper session beer. Every last drop of my 1750's Porter was needed to fill Elizabeth and supplies of my P45 Brown ale (my last brew at Daleside brewery) are dwindling. So after getting the approval my kit was deployed for my first out of hours brew at Mordue brewery.

This one wasn't over planned though, just a quick brew to see how the Panda & Frog kit would handle in it's new surroundings. The grist was composed of mostly left overs (pale malt with a touch of crystal). For the hops the experimental option of Marynka came about simply because I'd picked them almost randomly months ago and never got round to using them. I have never brewed with Polish hops before and they do smell rather nice with a sort of spicy, herbal, slightly grassy like character about them. I decided to use them for both bittering and then late in the boil in combination with Fuggles and Cascade hops. With an original gravity of 1044 it should be a fairly standard brew that is so far fermenting steadily. I'm looking forward to the results, and the steady flow of pints coming from the kitchen in the coming weeks.

Ultimate beers for cheese

2011-05-14T12:09:00.000+01:00

The pairing of beer and cheese can be quite an opinionated subject amongst beer enthusiasts. There are plenty of no brainer pairings, for example IPAs with cheddar, barley wines with Stilton and smoked beers with smoked cheese. Not every variation of every textbook pairing works, and everyone seems to have slightly different opinions on the best pairings. Trying to pair beer and cheese randomly can also be a bit of a minefield. But put aside pairing individual beers and cheeses, what beer would you pair off with a cheeseboard?

Now I could have just done some sort of list for this, but that would miss the point. What the literature tells you is that the first rule of the cheeseboard is to choose a beer capable of standing up to the strongest cheese on the board. So usually something relatively strong and flavourful is the way to go, but it doesn't always have to be overly alcoholic. If a Belgian yeast is involved, this usually helps. Many of my favourite beers for cheese are Belgian. Belgian yeasts bring funky, earthy, phenolic characters to beers that strengthen affinities with cheese. Another feature that often helps is a bold malt sweetness. This can contrast sharp acidity whilst letting the natural malt flavours of the beer pick up on grassy, earthy textures from many cheeses.

For me, Westmalle Dubbel was probably the first mega cheese versatile beer I discovered. A big funky Belgian Dubbel that's fantastic with cheese and great with rich red meat and game preparations. Later I found that Belgian Saison style beers or a French Bier De Guard can also have great versatility with cheese. You get the idea, it's no wonder the Belgians have been into beer and cheese for so long.

Looking to British beer though the general consensus is that Barley wines are kings of the cheeseboard. Extra or Imperial Stouts work well with strong blue cheese or some hard nutty Swiss cheeses. But it's not always about the high abvs, plenty of classic IPAs and malt balanced strong ales have great cheese versatility. A pint of best bitter with a Ploughman's lunch never goes wrong either.

But perhaps the most interesting beer vs cheeseboard experiment I ever did was with a Belgian Gueze. Its sharp acidity can contrast and cut across the fat heavy nature of any cheese on the board. Some are a fan of Gueze with goat's cheese. Though what I haven't had much success with is the pairing of overly hoppy beers with cheese. There's been the odd one, but apart from that I haven't had much success with aggressively hopped beers.

So at the end of the day a lot of it is about experimentation and finding what works for you. Guidelines can help, but seeing what works yourself is the way to go.

Rob's Beer Quest makes it in Cheers Magazine

2011-05-11T20:27:00.000+01:00

It was just a few weeks ago now that Alastair Gilmour, editor of Cheers Magazine and contributor to various other publications stopped by the brewery to get my photo.

I was surprised to find that one of the North East's leading beer writers is a fan of the blog. But there you have it, some hard core publicity.

FABPOW: Crackshot with oven roast chicken wrapped in bacon.

2011-05-10T19:44:00.000+01:00

FABPOW meaning 'food and beer pairing of the week', as term coined by fellow blogger Dredgy.

Daleside Crackshot is a highly versatile beer with food. Malt balanced with textures of oats and grain with subtle earthy hops taking a back seat. Similarly chicken is a highly versatile ingredient in cooking. So wrapped in bacon and served with roasted butternut squash and other vegetables the two make a great pair, that was almost chosen at random. Filled with cream cheese the sweetness of the chicken and butternut squash lock in with the sweet nature of the beer whilst high notes from the bacon play on the grainy textures of the beer.

So here's how it was done, many thanks to the wife for this simple but delicious offering.

The recipe.

Take two small chicken breasts (for one person, four for two six for three etc) flatten them out lay one down and put 50g of philidelphia cream cheese with garlic and herbs on it. Then place the second chicken breast on top and wrap with lean bacon making sure all the sides are covered. Then wrap in foil and bake in the oven for about 40 mins.

For the roasted veg, spray an oven tray with oil, cut up butternut squash, courgette, cherry tomatoes on the vine, onion and carrot, put on tray and spray with oil then bake for 40 mins.

Happy times.

Radgie Gadgie

2011-05-07T11:04:00.000+01:00

As the story goes, it was hundreds of years back when the native tribes of Tyneside lived in a peaceful existence around the grasslands of Wallsend. Through the days they would hunt wildebeests and wild pigs for food and at night head to the local boozer to knock back pint after pint of Mordue Workie Ticket and 5 Bridge Bitter. However, after this peaceful existence had proceeded for many generations one day the tribe lands were invaded and the Wallsend tribe destroyed by the deadly rival tribe known as the Radgies. The leader of that tribe was known as the Radgie Gadgie.

Now, shortly after the Radgies took control of the brewery it became derelict and the site was eventually converted to an ancient Indian burial ground. But centuries later the brewery was re-built and as we all know in the 1990s brewing was re-started with the premises being initially bought out by Jimmy Nail and Tim Healy. Though it wasn't long before Jimmy and Tim sold the brewery on to Gary and Matt Fawson (current owners) to prioritise their acting career whilst Matt and Gary basked in the glory of winning champion beer of Britain in 1997.

So there you have it, Roger Protz style coverage of the story behind the beer for those who didn't know. Though it is said that some descendants of the Radgie tribe can be found wandering among North East folk today. Sometimes in the Bigg Market or on the streets, you may know a Radgie yourself. But anyway, here's to the sound, uncompromising rich golden Mordue best bitter that is Radgie Gadgie. With its juicy bready malt and berry fruit hop flavours, at 4.8% it's a characterful beer.

Calvors. British Lager.

2011-05-02T11:54:00.000+01:00

The summer time is great for kicking back with a cold lager (is it summer or spring? It's hard to tell). But it;s not just your Pilsner/Hells pale lagers, Amber lagers, Dortmunders, Dunkels and the likes are also great, especially when when you're bringing out the barbecue. It seems the relationship between British Beer and Lager has been long and changeable. A few decades back many CAMRA folk would have Lager down as a swear work (I wouldn't be surprised if some still do). But the likes of Meantime and H2O came along. Beer writers and enthusiasts became interested in beers from around the world and stopped ruling out the bottom fermented as bland, pale and just fizzy. Things became more open minded, and the acceptance of lagers, well that was just the beginning.

It's a happy story. But just the other week I was on the way back from a lovely southern county known as Kent and me and the missus stopped by at an old farm shop she knew where I managed to pick up a few bottles of British Lager from a fairly new brewery in Suffolk called Calvors. So with a long weekend ahead and the sun shining I thought I might as well get them opened.

To start things off, Calvors 3 Point 8 at (you guessed it) 3.8%. This is obviously meant to be the most laid back easy drinking session beer of the group and pours a very pale straw in colour, about as pale as beer can get before you get to the likes of Sol and that nasty clear beer muck. Very faint aromas, maybe a touch of spicy hop. On the palate more subtle spicy hop notes over a very faint malt backbone finishing airy and bone dry. A tad two-dimensional and a touch watery. So all in all not far off mass market cooking lager, but I'm guessing the product is aimed at that kind of market.

Next up, the 4% Amber gives a far better impression. Golden bronze in colour it brings juicy, toasty, smooth malts and noble herbal hop notes throughout. Again the finish is a bit short and dry but still respectable at 4% drinking a bit like a toned down Sam Adams Boston Lager, Brooklyn Lager or anything of the style. Good, but didn't quite beat the deliciously smooth, toasted grain and milk chocolate notes of the 4.5% Calvors Dark.

That's how dark it is

Light of body but well-composed and delicious throughout. Slightly subtle for an authentic German Dunkel but with simple, refined, well composed flavour. Much appreciated, and after this I found the 5% Premium to also be another well-crafted affair. Pale straw with plenty of herbal hop flavours and aromas, crisp, clean and quaffable, finishing dry. So basically a textbook Bavarian pilsner, done rather well.

So in conclusion Calvors offer a nice approachable range of beers. They probably won't be grabbing the attention of many geeks and I myself would probably only bother getting the Premium or Dark Lagers again. Still, they were well worth a try.

Durham Brewery Something Blue

2011-04-29T21:14:00.002+01:00

Greetings readers, it's good to be back. After recent illness I have now been given the privilege of doing a bit of dray work. To those who don't know that means delivering beer. Yes that's right, the glamour, the romance, the look of joy on the landlord's face as you deliver those 9 gallon parcels of joy to his hatch.

Prior to this last week I had not delivered a single cask of beer on my own so being let loose in a transit van around Newcastle city centre was quite the challenge. I'm no Dray Master, like Daleside's Steve or Mordue's Draymaster Col (both were trained at the same at the same training camp in Tibet). But the main thing, as I have stressed, is that all the beer was delivered and there were no fatalities. That's all you need to know.

But anyway as it's a nice Bank Holiday break and I have finally managed to bottle the contents of my barrel Elizabeth and re-fill it with some 1750s Porter I thought it might be a good time to open a beer. Something Blue from Durham Brewery was previously reviewed by Leigh. Brewed for the Royal Wedding. A bold 10% English style Barley Wine from the North East's most adventurous brewery. On the nose, loads of almost perfume like alcohols. Taste wise, again loads of warming alcohols and waves of candy sweet malt, orange and a slight cinder toffee like note. Then more bitter orange and warming alcoholic notes follow through in the finish.

I like Durham brewery. Not all of the beers I've had from them have hit the mark but many have been excellent and I like their daring approach and creativity. I do like this one though, and for a 10% beer it's not overly heavy on the body but it is mightily sweet with lots of powerful fusel alcohol/ester like fermentation flavours in abundance. In Leigh's words 'powerful', but none the less it remains to be a relatively balanced, solid example of good old school Barley wine.

Newcastle Beer Festival

2011-04-17T09:36:00.001+01:00

Last Wednesday saw the opening of the 35th Newcastle Beer Festival. Every year I traditionally try to get to it on the first day at least half an hour before the doors open, but the last few years (partly due to living in Harrogate half the time) it hasn't worked out that way. This year however, heading to the event with the Mordue crew I could not only get in the first day but got to visit the exclusive Mordue beer festival at The Hotspur on the way as a kind of warm up. After that brief venture we headed straight to the main event where we got let in with all the trade and sponsor people before it became open to the public (back of the net!). As a bonus I even got my own special VIP badge.

Spelt wrong but it still made me look important

So quite a few faces of the North East brewing scene were around. I got to chat to Mick Hegarty of the Ship Inn brewpub, ex Barefoot brewery head brewer. Gus Odlin from the John Bull also made an appearance and behind the bar today was North East blogging man Chris Mansfield. With my notepad in hand it was time to start things off with some Dark Star Mai Bock. A well rounded interpretation of the German lager style. Its pale appearance gave nothing away of its subtle fruit and complex malt notes. Next up a modern take on classic IPA, Highland Brewery Orkney IPA had soft caramel underpinnings with under pleasant fruity floral hops. After this I headed back over to the Mordue section to check on the Northumbrian Blonde and the Mordue Ginger ale which came across as a delicate golden ale with ginger overtones. Subtle and pleasant I quite like it, even if the rest of the Mordue staff think it should be something more hardcore. I noticed Allendale Jaspers had a similar subtle ginger influence, but was more amber hued with a caramel malt background, reminiscent of all those other amber hued session beers of Allendale Brewery.

The edgy Tempest Re-Wired Pilsner was vibrantly hoppy with lychee citric notes. A great beer, though it did drink more like a golden ale than a pilsner. Not much to say for the Durham Apollo, that was aching to be brilliant, but seemed a little on the green/young side.

As a sideline some of the students of Darwin Brewery's Brew Lab were out in force advocating two beers from two brew teams made for the festival. The two brews were in direct competition with each other and votes were being collected to determine superiority between the opaque, coffee/liquorish like 3.8% Chewys Wook Stout against the deep amber bronze 4% Mini Kilt Scottish ale, which tasted damn rich and toasty for a 4% beer. Hats off to the Mini Kilt team on that one.

So overall a great night that finished sooner than usual after starting mid afternoon. I failed to determine any such 'beer of the night' on this occasion. Many were good but a lot of people seemed impressed by the Fyne ales range. I had held back on them as I had already tried most of them at my Alnwick local the John Bull. Definitely an under-rated Scottish Brewery. The change of venue to the Northumberland University students union also put a refreshing, more spacious spin on things compared to previous years. Jolly good show.

Inedit

2011-04-12T10:15:00.002+01:00

Here's a bottle I picked up from Barcelona airport on the way back from my recent weekend break. With its fancy packaging and its own informative card handout and bottle leaflet. From the makers of Estrella Damm, Inedit, it says is a unique blend of lager and Wit bier styles and is designed for fine dining by being highly versatile with 'the most exquisite and challenging foods'. Apparently Inedit is named after the concept and means "never been done before" (your kidding me, right?). But coming out of a beer desert such as Spain, it sure is promoted with confidence.

So despite the hype, I've seen a lot of beer enthusiasts slag this beer off. Was it because it's a Macro beer, or because it just falls short? Take for example the Beer Nuts take on it. When you try it the term diluted Hoegaarden really does ring true tho. On the nose it's pleasant enough, coriander spice with subtle clove. Palate is very light but soft before the macro-lager influence gives a slight toasty, dry, watery effect that tones down the whole Belgian Wit Bier experience before fading to a dry finish of nothingness.

So I can see why beer enthusiasts wouldn't be drawn to this beer, or even hate it. The marketing really comes across as patronising and dismissive to what the worldwide brewing scene already has to offer. It assumes those reading it know beer only as a yellow fizzy mass market produced watery liquid to be served ice cold and are like 'wow a beer to be served with food, what a novel idea!'.

But despite the criticism I myself am giving this the benefit of the doubt. Think of it in the context of a nation with a relatively boring beer market (i.e. Spain) and how this introduces something a little different, or at least raises intrigue in that market. The beer has some character (although minimal) and what character it doesn't have it makes up for by being almost as bland and refreshing as most other Spanish beers. It's not quite 'lowest common denomenator' and to most beer drinkers at large it sits on the metaphorical line between blandness and interesting. But for a brewing scene such as that found in Spain, it has be a good thing that will hopefully lead drinkers to seek out and explore the world of beer.

Anything like this released over here tho, I would say down with this muck!

Northumbrian Blonde

2011-04-07T22:28:00.004+01:00

Finding a beer on cask that you yourself helped brew is always a worthwhile experience. It was right in the first week of my Mordue brewing adventures that the very first batch of this 4% Amarillo and New Zealand Green Bullet hop influenced golden ale was pending. Then looking at the forward orders last week I discovered this stuff's going to my local, the mighty John Bull, Alnwick.

So I stroked the two nine gallon casks goodnight and vowed to get myself down the John Bull in the following week to do some on trade quality control. Out of the conditioning tank it was nice enough, but from the handpull it's even better. The aroma brings punchy grapefuit and orange notes that protrude into a hop forward, tangy bitter palate that's balanced by a residual malt sweetness. It has that uncompromising robust Mordue house character. For a 4% golden ale it's not light or elegant but zesty and packed with hop flavour. Nicely drinkable tho.

The good news is this one alongside our seasonal release of Ginger ale, (which I myself helped brew and force the raw Ginger through a blender) Northumbrian Blonde will be available at the Newcastle Beer Festival on April 14th and at the Mordue beer festival at The Hotspur starting on the same date. Alternatively if you wanted a pre-taster you could always pop by the Mordue Brewery shop on April the 9th.

I myself will be at the Newcastle beer festival on the first day as soon as I can possibly manage to get there, It's gonna be huge.

Elizabeth II, first tasting.

2011-03-31T07:32:00.000+01:00

Straight from the oak (left) and unoaked (right) samples of Elizabeth II Old Ale.

I'm happy to announce that unlike last time, no saltiness was detected at all from my barrel aged old ale. After about a month in the barrel its aromas are quite sweet, almost port like with oaky tones. Another positive was the lack of harsh alcohols that were a bit of a problem from the previous batch. The words madera like and sweet come to mind, with rich molasses. The challenger hops are still in there, but seem more abundant in the un-oaked sample, that tastes a bit more like a heavier straight-forward-strong-ale without the resinous woody notes building in the finish.

Overall I'm quite chuffed with it. Its quite balanced and drinkable, and the oak aging seems to have mellowed everything in the beer and added an extra layer of complexity. My next challenge is to get my finger out and get brewing that replacement beer so I can get the stuff bottled before it tastes like nothing but wood.

John Bull Awarded North Nothumberland pub of the year 2011.

2011-03-27T10:39:00.000+01:00

Landlord Gus Odlin (right) receives the award.

Gus; "Check ma bad invincible award winning self!"

That's right, for the third consecutive year the John Bull in Alnwick is hailed by CAMRA as the North Nothumberland pub of the year. The best thing is it's my local so long live the mighty John Bull, the greatest pub in Alnwick.

Spring brewing adventures

2011-03-24T11:34:00.002Z

This blog post is technically two posts in one. The first bit covers what you could call my first brew for Mordue Brewery, 10 barrels (so a half batch) of the spring seasonal, Bunny Hop, which to date has only been brewed three times. A big step for me in getting to know the kit and although some minor anomalies occurred in the process the major disasters were averted. Highlights included a super fast transfer to FV and the raw pleasure of getting into a mash tun still half full of grain to dig it out. Hardcore.

Bringing the wort to the boil after sparging was a tricky moment. Especially with a copper that’s as wild as an untamed beast with a reluctance to boil over. A steam fired trouble maker. In fact if it was a 20 barrel brew (and the thing was full), considering where I was standing, I may well be up there with Michael Jackson Beer Hunter in that brew pub up in the sky by now.

But at the end of the day it was all great fun. At the moment things are going splendidly, my only concerns are with my beer supplies. I have plenty of viciously bitter un-named IPA and delicious P45 Brown Ale left from my brews at Daleside brewery on my own kit but am still to face the challenge of getting the kit up and running in the kitchen at home.

I need to tackle the new water chemistry, temperature controls, the kitchen layout and concerns from the wife. But I have some answers lined up;

“yes, I will clean it up afterwards”

“yes, the house will smell like a brewery for a day”

“no, it has to stay there for a week till it’s fermented”

I've been there before. But it’s all well and good having a constant supply of beer at your disposal but for my first home project that won’t be part of the objective. Rob’s Beer Quest readers will remember Elizabeth. Or Elizabeth II in this case. Well next month I plan to empty her to bottles and re-fill her with another brew before she ends up sitting around picking up infections. The question is what to brew?

Elizabeth poses in front of the kitchen door "smile for me darlin'!"

I know what, I thought, I’ll go old school again and do a robust porter style beer. I’ve always wanted to do one. Then I suddenly remember an old book my dad passed down to me years ago from the Durden Park Beer Club from 1976. As many know the Durden Park beer circle is a group of enthusiastic home brewing types dedicated to replicating old beer styles.

You can tell it's ancient just by looking at it

Although I’ve never been one to follow brewing recipes, I find the idea of trying to replicate historic beers intriguing. The recipe I have chosen to carry out is the one for a 1750s original Porter, or Entire Butt as it was called back then. An almost identical recipe from the one in the book can be found here, and if you convert the weights of grains to percentage extract contributions the grist reads something like this;

1750s Porter.
Pale malt: 75.9%
Crystal malt: 9.3%
Black malt: 4.7%
Brown malt: 10.1%

(OG: 1090 to finish at 1010-1025)

Bittered with 70-80 IBUs worth of Fuggles hops and no mention of any late hops.

It’s gonna be a beast, and a four gallon batch should nearly over fill the mash tun, so I better watch out with that. The three hour mash stand time is something Im not sure on tho, it may be shortened. I almost forgot how lovely the kitchen (/garden/driveway/entire house) smells during home brewing, so will be looking forward getting stuck in.

Brewing it for tha toon! My first week at Mordue Brewery.

2011-03-18T21:16:00.000Z

Mr Millichamp, meet your new kit...

And look, a posh little shop at the entrance.

So all said and done I arrived at Mordue Brewery at the rather relaxed time of 8:55AM Monday morning. No more forcing oneself out of bed at 4 or 5am for me. Inside things become more clear. The atmosphere is youthful and laid back. The floors are super smooth and easy to clean below a nice tightly packed set of square fermenters. I meet Matt and Gary Fawson, am welcomed in to the company, and then it's time to get down to some work.

I find it interesting how different and yet somewhat similar things are here compared to my old workplace at Daleside Brewery. Things seem a bit more relaxed with less emphasis on spreadsheets, timings and various other calculations. Somethings are easier to do, other things are harder. Lunch is when ever you want till whenever you want, whereas at Daleside it was from 12 till whenever Craig and Col finished the crossword in the Daily Star (so anything between 15 and 45 minutes),

But don't get me wrong, there's plenty to do here, it's no easy ride. Matt could have well have given me that famous line from the from the film Scum; "Theres no dolly mixtures in here, poofter, I'm the Daddy and don't you ever forget it!"...

But he was a nice enough bloke not to.

Up to now I have a decent understanding of the brewing system, but have yet to independently brew my first brew. I'm very excited to find out what it will be. The kit's a bit different to what I'm used to, but like they say all breweries are individual. Some like to say one's brewery is as individual as one's woman. Treat it the right way, and it treats your beer well. Others compare them to cars, they all do the same thing but work slightly differently.

I remember my first car. An old Peugeot 106 I used to call Star Bug (after the space craft in the series Red Dwarf) with no door handles but flicky up leavers to open the doors and a radio that only worked on about four stations by manual tuning. Now I have a Peugeot 206 with power steering, air con and a digital display thing that tells you the external temperature and how many miles you have left before you need to refuel.

Brewery wise I seem to have gone the opposite direction. But I'm not saying that's a bad thing. The more simple something is the less that can go wrong. I used to love that old Peugeot, the way it throttled when you had to get it past 60mph, the way you had to force the steering wheel round on those corners. The way you could almost imagine being in a 1940s armoured fighting vehicle driving it. It never broke down and always got me from A to B. It's a bit of an exaggerated comparison on how things are between the Daleside and Mordue brew kits, but its no disappointment. After all this is the kit that's putting out those iconic North East beers and its my honour to master it.

An evening of Beer and Cheese

2011-03-13T10:09:00.000Z

So here we have it, Saturday night, a busy pub and all preparations complete. Ticket sales had forecast that we were expecting 26 customers with some possible late sales. Quite a boost from the last attempt. What was slightly concerning was that we had only just enough cheese for around 30 servings (at a push) so late surges of ticket sales would have made things tight. The principles were simple, the more people turn up the less cheese and beer they get, but in the end due to cancellations we ended up just a couple short of 26 people, meaning everyone got a more than decent serving of cheese and beer.

Thankfully my audience was good-natured. Plenty of old-school experienced beer drinkers, couples, cheese enthusiasts and an interesting chap from Hadrian & Border brewery called Chris Brown who I got to chat to at great length about the North East brewing scene. As a change I decided that this time I wouldn't be standing in front of everyone lecturing through each pairing. Instead I made some table cards/menus explaining everything, a much more relaxed approach.

So from the start, here were the proceedings;

1. Van Eecke Watau Wit with Rosary Goat's Cheese

Belgian wheat beer meets nice soft fluffy goat's cheese. Yep, the exact same opening pair I used last year. It's a subtle refreshing combination that would have worked better if I'd managed to get the beer temperature just that bit colder. Even so it was still well recived.

2. Hadrian and Border Farne Island (on cask) with Northumberland Original

To some extent you have to keep it local. After trying this combination out with the bottled version I was apprehensive, though I was convinced a cask conditioned beer would lend more to this and I was right. What wasn't expected was the great number of people who thought it was the best pairing of the night. That's more than you can ask from a 4% session bitter.

3. Daleside Crackshot with Berkswell Ewe’s

Was this my swansong to my old company? You could say so, and from my mental counts I would say a good 40%-50% of everyone thought this was the best stand alone beer, and a good pairing. Originally I had these two down as substitutes so I'm glad I made the right choice.

4. Worthingtons White Shield with Green's of Glastonbury Farmhouse Cheddar

Again straight from last year's washout. Except last year the people who were there seemed to be all over this combination, not so much this time.

5. Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen with Ribblesdale Smoked ewe's

This one sure turned some heads with plenty of comments like "this is the weirdest beer I have ever tasted" and "it smells like kippers". As I say it's one of those odd-ball style hybrid type beers you don't come across so often. What makes it even more odd is that it's German. The cheese tastes a bit similar to smoked Wensleydale, with that same crumbly consistency. As expected many people didn't know what to make of this one, some liked it, others didn't.

6. Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout with Colton Bassett Stilton and Walnuts

By this point I was in my element. Talking to the clientele more or less endlessly about beer, whilst lapping up copious quantities of Imperial Stout with mighty strong blue cheese. Sadly not everyone was convinced by the clash of this one's balancing pungent intensities. Some liked the beer alone, others the cheese alone whereas the people who thought this pairing scored top seemed to be the hard core beer enthusiasts.

As some might have guessed I used Stilton for the finale of the last year's Beer-Cheese night attempt. But remembering how much financial suffering was caused by the price of Anchor Old Foghorn Barleywine Style Ale I found a decent, cheaper substitute in Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout. For me I would say the Old Forgorn has the edge when paired with Stilton but one of the those things I had to accept is that financially I wouldn't be able to put out all my dream beer-cheese combinations and keep ticket prices affordable.

Another thing you have to accept is that not everyone will like everything you serve up. But like I was explaining to one couple, part of the nature of craft beer and cheese is diversity. None are designed with the intention of appealing to absolutely everyone. But in the end everyone seemed to have a good time and many stopped to chat till long after the event was expected to finish. As a bonus we also got some pictures taken for the local papers.

Saying goodbye: Daleside tribute post

2011-03-08T19:18:00.001Z

Well, looks like this is it, the final countdown is almost over.

My last mash. my last Sparge, and my last time scooping out the hops from the copper, my last racking session and my last transfers all await.

My Last brew will be Daleside Spring Frenzy, a 3.4% golden ale that’s easy to brew and easy to drink. I was hoping for a Bitter or Leg Over batch to see me off but it’s all cool with me. I’ve had it all now. The beer festivals, the brewing, the occasional screw ups, inventing my own beers (anyone who’s tried ‘Old Winter’s Tail’ I apologise) and enjoying the joys of life in Harrogate.

Daleside are a company with an un-compromising traditional Yorkshire attitude, an admiration for simplicity and a solid core range of beers. You could say their old school. I would and have always had the opinion that Daleside would get more publicity in the blogging world if they didn’t name so many beers with the name ‘old’ at the start of them. But old school things are cool, like Iron Maiden or Monty Python.

Personally I can’t wait to move on. Especially to a brewery I’ve been familiar with since my very first few pints of cask ale. I remember well Eric Lucas (Daleside MD) asking me what I had learned from my time at Daleside, a question that would require at least a 5000 word essay in itself to answer. But since I had only found out I had the Mordue job 20 minutes previous all I could reply in my state of mind was “lots of stuff”, which about covers it. But what I should have said was “more than I ever did from my MSc in brewing and home brewing experiences put together”, which would have been more accurate.

Being in real brewing is where I wanted to be, and that's where I am. A big thanks goes to Craig (head brewer/the daddy), Matt (Brewbo), Col (man of action) Dave (number one dray) and the rest of the Daleside crew for all the guidance, support and generally looking after me. Compared to all the other jobs I have ever had, the whole experience of my time at Daleside brewery has straight ruled beyond imagination.

Let the countdown continue...

Three days to go.

The last of the winter beers

2011-03-07T09:10:00.000Z

I usually find that not much goes on around this time of year. A few beer festivals here and there and most spring seasonal beers are released or in the making. Usually that is. This year I have an imminent Beer and Cheese Evening, some gardening and a job move to deal with. Oh, and congratulations to Dredgy for finally smashing the number one spot in the Wikio rankings recently. I'm sad to be demoted again (probably from lack of posting) but don't care at the moment because news has it my Beer and Cheese night has sold more than three tickets! Yes more than the last one (and before you ask it's not four. Or even five. It's even more than that).

But anyway, I digress. What I was really meaning to discuss was this awesome beer hailing from a relatively new Yorkshire brewery. Wensleydale Brewery Beaters Winter Ale at 8.5% was a bottle I almost put aside for next winter, and am glad I didn't. On the nose; sweetish malty chocolate and dark fruit. Palate wise it's beautifully rounded with rich fruit cake and silky smooth chocolate throughout leading to a balanced lingering bitterness and burnt grain. It's bold yet very subtle, hiding the 8.5% abv well. It's kind of reminiscent of Old Tom but far less (dare I say it) over rated.

A sound winter warmer well worth seeking out again. But from the few Wensleydale beers I have tried I have liked them, but have only really found them at beer festivals. They seem worth checking out.

The Sparkler Argument

2011-03-05T17:59:00.000Z

Tug the rope showdown; Holly vs Troy the westie, who do you want to win?

Ah the sparkler argument, that old chestnut.

For those who don't know. A sparkler is small plastic device that can be attached to a swan neck of a beer engine that disperses beer as it's pulled to create a creamy head. This removes CO2 from the liquid and into the head. Carbonation has obvious effects on flavour perception. For a start it reduces the perception of bitterness, which has understandable benefits for Yorkshire beers. The claim that it reduces aroma makes sense but I've still had plenty of sparkled pints with a decent aroma.

To be honest, when I first started drinking hand pulled beer I was completely unaware of sparklers or the difference between sparkled and non-sparkled beer. I take every pint as I get it. But being involved in a beer drinking community you realise that some people hate sparklers, whereas others demand them.

Some good opposing views can be found here and here. I myself would like to say I'm on the fence but recently I've been weighing-up the pros and cons. For instance I prefer mild ales and Yorkshire bitter served sparkled. But sometimes the sparkler effect can be overdone. Another advantage is that say for example you decided to borrow a hand pump and pin from work (perks of the job) to fill your home brew with and take to a party where you only had 3 or 4 hours to vent your beer, a sparklers offers a collar of foam to the unconditioned pint.

But to be honest. To be really honest, if I was a landlord and had a perfectly conditioned quality cask beer to die for, I would take that sparkler off. So whats your preference sparkler or no sparkler? The argument between old CAMRA folks can be just as dramatic as watching Holly vs Troy playing tug the rope. Who wins? Well that's just a matter of opinion, that's as relevant as the outcome of the Holly vs Troy stand off?

In the end though I do believe it was Troy that was victorious.

My first Twissup

2011-02-28T22:59:00.002Z

11:45am, March 26th the morning of my first Twissup.

This would be it, first contact with the blogging world (well I say first contact I already know one or two bloggers but out of this group Woolpacker Dave would be the only one I had met previously). Our journey would begin outside the York Brewery for a brewery tour before an epic pub crawl around York.

As everyone arrived my first surprise was how many bloggers are actually familiar with Rob's Beer Quest. I felt a bit guilty that I had only glanced at the sites of other bloggers I met from time to time . But you know how it goes, you just get used to following the same old blogs and when I get round to it I do follow more and more sites.
The UK beer blogging scene is sure becoming big these days, but much thanks to Rob from HopZine and others for providing acquaintance early on. Soon enough I finally managed to meet the likes of Leigh, Woolpacker Dave and the mighty Dredge, as well as various website owners, newcomers to blogging and those just tagging along because they know people from twitter.
Overall a great day filled with great beer and many interesting people to meet. My only regret is not knowing about some the awesome bars visited a year and a half ago when I could have visited them on my stag night, but it doesn't matter.

The first of these previously unknown bars is a little place called Pivni. An interesting yet slightly hidden tiny three level pub with a great range of cask and keg beers (many of them Brew Dog). This was where I got to try the excellent Camden Park Pale Ale and some exclusive pre release samples of Aether Blaec, kindly handed round by Woolpacker Dave and his wife (above). I also had a good chat with Thornbridge brewer Dominic Driscoll, who made blogging news a little while back when he left Marble brewery. We talked about everything from hops to the joys of Belgian yeast strains and I got a taste of the new Punk IPA from Mark Dredge (which reminds me, I still owe him a beer).

Leigh and blogging master Dredge upstairs at The Bottle

Following this various pubs were visited all of them harboring great beer. To be honest I couldn't remember them all and in what order, it was all too much of a blur of talking about beer, drinking beer and then talking more about beer to various other beer obsessed folk.
What concentration I did have to spare was used to not get lost from the group. But I do remember Schlenkeria Rauchbier Weizen, Tripel Karmeliet and Sharp's Cornish Stout alongside various other beers I got noted down in my beer diary/tickers notebook. But even though I got the early train back at half six I have to admit the whole thing ruled and I hope to join the next Twissup whenever it is.
Many thanks to Beer Reviews Andy and Dredge for the organisation.

And a bit from the Mrs. Rob failed to add that despite getting the train home at 6.30pm he didn't actually make it home until 1.30am. You see he fell asleep, missed the stop, ended up in Edinburgh. The had to get a coach to Alnwick, which forgot to stop, and he finally got off in Morpeth, 20mins down the road, where I had to collect him at 1am! And all in the name of.......BEER!

Harrogate Beer Festival

2011-02-27T11:05:00.000Z

Last Thursday was the first night of the Harrogate Round Table 21st Annual charity beer festival. Making the most of my time left in Harrogate I decided to go along and join Daleside number one dray Dave and former Daleside brewer Ed Sutcliffe. Both Ed and Dave would be carefully watching over operations, I would be quality control checking any beer I liked with the help of my special 'free beer' arm band (for sponsors, beer festival workers etc) all my beer was free. Happy days.

To start things off Dave kindly pulled me some Brewdog Trashy Blonde, Following this Acorn Bullseye, drank more or less like the 4.5% Brown ale it was. Not a bad choice at all. Mordue Millenium Bridge seemed light, subtle and quaffable whereas Old Mill Spring Eternal seemed a bit sulphury, oxidised and slightly wrong. But this was compensated for quickly by the luscious smooth roasty mild that is Thwaites Nutty Black. Then from the same bar York Motueka brought instant memories of that all Motueka brew I did way back last year. My brew was an Amber, but this was a delightfully clean 4% session golden ale that seemed to be very popular.

After this it was back to the Theakstons bar for a Leeds Best Bitter and some Saltaire Cascadian Black, a black IPA that after a while drank more like a very hoppy stout, with hop pine and chocolate notes combined.

After this me and Ed hung out with the barrel master/copper himself Johnathan Manby of Theastons, creator of Elizabeth, who was carefully watching over operations. It appears that everyone now knows about my move to Mordue, even those I didn't think would know yet. All found out from the grapevine as they say. But head brewer Craig is already re-training his elite team of brewing monkeys he keeps in his shed. By the time I leave they will be ready to deploy as my replacement.

Coming soon, twissup coverage.

Announcement

2011-02-22T08:00:00.002Z

Today I am officially announcing to the blogging world (or at least those who read this stuff) that from March 14th I will be officially terminating my employment with Daleside Brewery. From then on I will be working back up north in my homeland for a little brewery that a lot of North East drinkers may well have heard of called Mordue.

Am I serious? I'm deadly serious. Look, this my deadly serious face.

It's rather similar to my serious face.

As far as I know Mordue seem a nice bunch a lads and I'm quite excited about working for them. To tell the truth I'm just as excited about a lot of other stuff. Like getting to come home to my wife and dog in the evenings. Going to the local pubs more often and not having to fork out for rent each month for an accommodation that I only really half live in. The wife was even more pleased, so pleased she made me a Chocolate Porter Cake (pictured above), a recipe adapted from The best of American Beer and food by Lucy Saunders.

I should be excited, I'm about to become a permanent resident of Nothumberland. And I mean this without any disregard to Daleside. I have learnt a lot at Daleside, and had a great time. But since its the only brewery I have ever worked at I'm curious and excited to find out how a different brewery operates. It should be fun. So to all readers, if you can see that little Daleside logo on my page (scroll down a little and its on the right)?
Well from March 11th that little logo will be replaced by this one......

Beer from the Toon. For the Toon.

Am gannin back yem lads! Top a tha Tyne is all mine all mine, top a tha tyne is all mine!

Sundays

2011-02-20T18:10:00.001Z

As you might have guessed, it's Sunday.

No other day of the week is quite like Sunday. Shops are closed, pubs are open for Sunday lunch and people start to think about the week ahead. Some of the best Sundays can be a calm interlude between the weekend and the upcoming week. A time of careful reflection on what has passed, and what lies ahead. Relaxing in a beer garden with delicious pint of cask ale with lunch is much advised (if whether permits) or simply just chilling out.

But drinking beer on a Sunday is always a cautious affair. It's a simple relationship; the more beer you drink the harder the monday morning (especially in my case, Mondays I have to be up by about 4:15am).

But this Sunday has been quite a relaxed affair. Back in Harrogate Elizabeth II is steadily fermenting away whilst I enjoy a lamb roast accompanied by a 2008 Luis Felipe Edwards Carmeneve from Colchagua Valley, Chile. As far as red wine goes Chilian ones usually win me over, and this one has a nice spicy blackberry flavour, medium body and moderate acidity. It's a good equaliser for Northumberland Cheviot cheese.

So as far as Sundays go, it's been alright. Nothing much on TV, as usual. But there will always be one Sunday I will never forget. It was following one of our Saturday night cheeseboards and a fair bit cheese was left over, much of it from the Northumberland cheese company. The wife had just baked a fresh loaf of bread from the bread maker. It was still warm. At the time I thought, I’ll crack open a bottle of my own home brewed Belgian style Golden Ale it might be 8.5% but just the one.

Soft crusty bread with butter slowly melted into it meets Northumberland Coquetdale cheese meets fresh fruity home brewed Belgian strong ale… That’s what I call a Sunday to remember.

Elizabeth II

2011-02-16T21:35:00.001Z

Here it is folks. I finally got round to the remake to hopefully compensate for the disaster that was operation Elizabeth I. After dwelling on the various ideas of what to brew I decided to stick to my guns and keep with a similar but different old school formulation than the last (IPA's, Belgian strong ales, Imperial Stouts and experimental spiced ales can all wait, I want to get this one right first). Here is the new formulation.

OG 1084.5.

I'm hoping to bring it down to around 1018 with the Daleside house strain for an 8.8% abv.

Grist.

Optic pale malt 83.5%

Torrified wheat 4%

Crystal malt 9%

Black malt 3.5%

(all percentages refer to the percentages of fermentables each malt accounted for)

Mash stand was 1 hour at 65.5oC.

The mighty Elizabeth II mash

In Copper boil.

90min: Challenger hops (7.78% alpha) for 25IBU

45min: Challenger hops (7.78% alpha) for 21IBU

5min: Fuggles 5.26% 5IBU
5min: Goldings 8.6% 7IBU

(Lots of hops!)

The copper boil in action next to the spent mash

In theory the hops are left to settle at the bottom after the boil. In this case the hops were the bottom.

Runoffs (no pumps involved, as my kit is a simple thing) were slow and sparging took nearly two and a quarter hours. An anomaly also occurred during the runoff to fermenter. Sadly, because this was the first of a double brew, I needed the copper emptied of Elizabeth and ready sharpish for the next brew. Usually I can get it all into the fermenter inside of 15 minutes, but not this time.

The copper to fermenter transfer was about as fast paced and dramatic as a world championship staring competition, so me and co-worker Matt had to adopt the old school, rather crude method of lifting and slowly decanting the hot wort from the copper through a series of sieves held above the fermentation bucket (kind of like in extract brewing). The sieves worked well but some small fragments of spent hops ended up in the fermenter with (probably) excess trub. Apart from this all is going well so far. I awoke the following morning to a fermenting tub brimming with a mighty head of yeast and kicking off heaps of wonderful aroma. I learned from Elizabeth not to over pitch so this time instead of quadrupling my usual pitching rate I doubled it. It's going strong and fermenting at about the rate I want. So far so good.

Black and Blue

2011-02-11T17:48:00.000Z

Everyone knows Barley wine goes with stilton right?

Well if you're a beer enthusiast maybe. But what about the potential of pairing stout or Imperial stouts with blue cheese? I have pondered on the subject myself and decided to conduct a little beer-cheese pairing experiment. Take three stout/imperial stouts and three blue cheesess, try each cheese with each beer to ultimately find which is the best combination.

As you may have guessed this event was done for research purposes in contribution to my next beer and cheese evening at the Bamburgh Castle Inn, Seahouses. All are welcome especially beer bloggers. I know what your going to say. You have something else on, a weekend away, yoga classes or you missus is giving birth. Well whatever it is, cancel it and call 01665 720 283 or email enquiries@bamburghcastleinn.co.uk now to book a table for an evening of Beer and Cheese.

Anyway, back to the tasting. Here's how it went.

The Venue: Kitchen.

Attendees: Just me.
The occasion: It’s Thursday.

The Cheeses:

Blacksticks blue: A unique soft blue veined cheese from Lancashire. Rich and tangy with grassy earthy tones.

Old Mrs Bells. A Sheeps milk cheese. Creamy, slightly sweet, mid strength and a touch peppery.
Colton Basset stilton: Acidic, salty, poignant and rich. An old favourite.

The Beers:

Marble Stouter Port Stout 5.1%

Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout 7%

Durham Brewery Temptation 10%

Starting with the lowest abv beer I decided to try the Marble with the Blacksticks blue. The beer itself gave a good impression. Really forward and roasty with an assertive but not overpowering dark fruit and burnt grain character that's almost like chewing on black malt. With the cheese it's fantastic. Earthy tones and slight acidity really play on those roast grain notes and the cutting, bitter nature of the beer really contrasts the richness of the cheese.
Moving on to the Mrs Bells and this time I wasn't so lucky. The sweet creaminess of cheese seems to blunt the edgy character of the Marble and other than that they didn't seemed to do much for each other. Opposites of character don't always attract I suppose. On the other hand the Stilton went fairly well with this beer with its upfront acidity and salt meeting upfront grain bitterness. It might be 5.1% but it just about stands up to the cheese. The chemistry is there, but you get the impression this cheese really demands something more imperial.

Next I moved on to opening the Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout at 7%. A more sophisticated, well reputed, well recived classic Imperial stout that pours a thick black with a nice roasty, coffee bean aroma. With this one the Mrs Bell's blue was again just too mild and creamy for a stout and I was wrong in thinking it might work just because both products are from Yorkshire. It did however find some chemistry with Blacksticks Blue though I found the cheese was more rugged and original, and the stout more refined and fruity. It was worth a try. In the end the real partner for the Samuel Smiths was the Stilton. Power and acidity meet bitter grain, dark fruit and espresso coffee. A beer well suited for stilton. It’s a shame that by this point only a tiny amount of my 355ml bottle remained so I was a tad gutted.

Next up, Durham Temptation at 10% from up my neck of the woods. It's sure strong. The characteristics of this beer I can best describe as; inky, mollasses, burnt candy, esters, sharp fruits, alcoholic, heavy. Very unrefined and would have maybe done with more age on it and sadly I found little chemistry between this beer and the Mrs Bells Blue or Blacksticks.

With Stilton however it worked quite well with a nice contrast between alcohols and salty acidic cheese (a little reminiscent of the old port with stilton combo). The dark grain/coffee element also really harmonises with the pungency. The pairing is balanced, mostly contrasting, and although not as good as the Samuel Smiths pairing, pretty damn good.

Conclusions

The top three pairings were as follows;

1. Samuel Smiths-Stilton
2. Marble-Blacksticks
3. Temptation-Stilton

And Mrs Bell's may have been better more mature but overall I would never let it near an Imperial Stout (so remember, if you ever find yourself in the presence of both, maybe you're being offered both together, just say no!). So there you have it, Imperial Stout, a refreshing alternative to Barley wine for pairing with strong blue cheese.

A house warming party.

2011-02-07T19:15:00.000Z

Finally we got round to it. After the delays, decorating, trips to Cuba and various other things we finally managed to pull off the much anticipated house warming party featuring a few select guests including Daleside brewery's number 1 dray man Dave. But no, this wasn't just any house warming party, this event was the ideal stage for me to finally get stuck into my first brew of 2011, an amber session beer I have named 451803 Amber. A slightly experimental number at 4.3% made with Pale, Munich, Crystal, Cara and special B malts and hopped up to around 35IBU with Amarillo, Centennial, Riwaka, Chinook Cascade and Bobek hops. I then dry hopped with more Centennial and Riwakas in the keg. Well recieved by most but some thought it was a tad complex and heavy for a 4.3% beer. For me I would say it was a good start to the brewing year tho it could have done with a tad more condition.

Welcome to the Panda & Frog home brewery bar.

Apart from staging my beer, quite a lot of bottled beers were opened and shared round. Cantillon Grand Cru Bruosella 2006 was a good appetizer. As my first ever neat lambic I was expecting something way more sour, but it would be more accurate to call it rather cider like with an elegant balanced acidity than viciously sour. Great stuff from Cantillon. At about this point we tucked into some pork buns and an awesome cheeseboard featuring some of my favourite Northumberland Cheeses and this was an obvious cue to open and share round some more beers. Chimay Tripel is another instantly cheese compatible beer and Number 1 Dray Dave got his first try of some Trappistes Rochefort 8. The highlight for me was the classic St Bernardus Abt 12, which we tried before opening some of my own Panda & Frog 2010 Vintage, my take on a Belgian Quad. Only 6 months old now and still syrupy and rich on the palate, but pleasant enough.

As the night got moved towards it's conclusion some rather large looking Cigars that Dave had brought over were smoked whilst guests were introduced to my precious whisky range. For the moment I stuck mostly with the rather impressive sherry cask influenced Suntory Yamazaki 18 year (a great Christmas present) and the highly complex and very potent Ardbeg Uigeadail vatted malt.

After that more beer was drunk but not much else happened. We watched a couple of Iron Maiden video's on the net and talked a lot about beer. Or at least I did. All in all a rather splendid evening, and I would have stayed up later, but in the the words of Rowley Birkin; I'm afraid I was very very drunk.

Beer and Cheese... Round 2.

2011-01-30T18:11:00.000Z

Good news folks, looks like I've managed to get myself another chance at doing a beer and cheese evening, but this time at a completely different venue.

Confirmed for Saturday the 12th of March, at the Bamburgh Castle Inn, Seahouses. Starting at 8pm, it should be a busy affair with hopefully more people turning up than last time. I'm figuring that since this time the event is being held on a weekend (and not mid week), and at an actual pub (not some remote country club), in a densely populated area that's easily accessible via public transport the chances of gaining ticket sales are better. Furthermore, this time ticket prices at £10 per head instead of £18 (I always knew that would burden things).

As for the set up. Well that I'm keeping more or less the same. Six beers, six cheeses with a few extra bits. Some of my old pairings from last time will be changed, others will be re-used and the presence of a few hand pulls and decent bottled beers at the bar should add appeal for attending beer enthusiasts.

If anyone wants to go, just let me know. But until then I have a bit more research to do.

Operation Elizabeth (the sad demise of)

2011-01-27T15:19:00.000Z

It has been almost 3 months now since my newly acquired cask Elizabeth was filled with 8.7% old ale. Since it's filling I have refrained from touching it, but have sampled occasionally from the one gallon of un-oaked old ale I had left to one side (as a sort of a control sample).

Just the other day however, temptation got the better of me and I cracked open the shive and syphoned off a sample. With this I could compare my oaked sample to un-oaked samples from my one gallon demi-john. Here's some overview.

Appearance: Very very dark brown almost black (coloured malts were accidentally overdone remember), some, but not much clarity.

Aroma: Venous, almost cabernet sauvignon-esque. Lots of alcohols (but not too much), yeasty dark chocolate hints and loads of oak. Massively different from the un-oaked sample.

Palate: Starts with venous alcoholic notes then becomes massively salty and dry. Waves of salt over-ride the after taste with the base beer more or less in the background.

I'm not a fan of it, and in the words of Ice Box (from my previous post); "to put this in the politest way possible Rob, that is absolutely f***ing rank!". It's hard to think of any way of rescuing it? Even with blending I can't see a decent product coming from it and sadly it may have to go down the drain. It's never nice to throw beer beer away. Like taking your old dog to the barn. But things must move on.

It seems the problem lies from my process, or more accurately from when I soaked the barrel over the weekend in hot water saturated in salt before filling. I did wash it out with sterile water afterwards but that wasn't enough I thought. So after a few words with Elizabeth's creator Johnathan Manby it became apparent that the only possible cause of the problem was that I didn't wash the barrel out thoroughly enough after the salt water step and obviously underestimated the effect of soaking the wood three whole days. I should have probably used copious amounts of hot water, cold water, more hot water and maybe some steam. This is what I plan to do for my contingency plan: Operation Elizabeth II.

A day in the life of... Me

2011-01-23T19:17:00.004Z

A lot of people in the past have asked what I get up to all day in a brewery. Here's some typical goings on....

6:11: Arrive at work, switch boiler on, assess and contemplate tasks of the day.

6:15: Boss man Craig arives and Brewer Matt turns up to prepare mash tun for the daily brew.

6:20: Check progress of all ongoing fermentations.

6:40: All transfer apparatus is assembled. This involves assembling the pipework to transfer fermented beer from fermentation vessel to secondary vessels.

7:30: Dray men Draymaster Steve and Number 1 Dray Dave arrive, have a coffee and commence loading vans.

Steve and Dave load vans using the Daleside cask elevation system (DCES) shown right, some people call it a ramp.

As some may remember, I mentioned Draymaster Steve way back. His 18 years of training still serve him well. Rumor has it he once navigated his van through the city centre of Leeds blindfolded. Guided only by his Chi Dray senses, Steve managed the one way system and executed his 27 drops within 1 hour without error.

Thats what I heard anyway. Dave uses a sat nav.

07:35: Our resident caskwasher Matt AKA Ice Box, master of the cask, turns up to commence a long day of cask washing.

Knocking out clean casks faster than a Japanese hamster with a sample can up it's ass. Ice Box works this ghetto style.

07:40: With vans loaded and cast out into the world, the daily transfer of beer can begin.

08:00: Any forward orders are prepared and/or malt or other materials are received and put in stock.

09:00: Breakfast time; toast and coffee normally. This is also a good time to check if anything exciting is going on in the beer blogging world.

09:30: Completed transfer apparatus is cleaned out and put away. The empty fermentation vessels are subjected to CIP (cleaning in progress) which involves more pipes, a pump, and cleaning agents such as hot caustic.

10:15: Mash tun ready (meaning the mash/grains are finished with). Spent grain from the mash tun is discarded into our spent grain skip via a large metal shoot. Here it is in action.

Ice Box (in da house) separates the spent grain in the skip with a rake.

12:00: Lunch time. Have lunch, check again for anything new and exciting happening in the beer blogging world.

12:30: This is about the time when my casual blog browsing stops and I ring the office to see if the all the orders for the following days deliveries/collection are confirmed and on the system. Stuart (below) is the man with the scores for this one.

Office staff sometimes come over to visit us. Here Stuart boasts with joy about how he had just cracked level 14 on space invaders 2 at the desk. Happy days.

12:31: THE PICKING LIST IS READY! This is our cue to move to deathcon 4. Casks out, pipes out, sample glass ready.

12:32: Some go outside for a smoke to ease the tension.

13:30: Racking in progress. Meaning casks are filled with beer ordered by customers.

14:45: Racking complete. Pipes are washed out, floors cleaned down.

15:00: Our brewer has usually completed his transfer to the fermentation vessel by this point, its time to start wrapping things up.

15:00: Dray men Dave and Steve return from ~~long hours of vegging out in lay-by's to pass the time~~ delivering beer drop after drop, pub after pub after shop.

15:15: All ongoing fermentations are checked again.

15:20: It's around this time the farmer turns up in his truck to collect his spent grain. This gets used as feed for his cattle. Sometimes however he runs a bit late and does't make it till the next day, in such cases head man Craig sends a gentle reminder text to help things along.

Craig texts:"Get your fat, black, lazy carcass off the Virtual Agriculture 4 and get down here to collect your grain. Bitch!"

It's ok, Nigel doesn't read this blog. (I bloody hope not!)

15:30: Our brewer finishes things off up in the brewhouse (or as I call it, theatre of beer). The copper boiler is cleaned out, floors are cleaned down and kit is pre-prepared for the next days brew.

15:45: Staff room cleaned.

16:00: Ice Box finishes up on the cask washer. It'll be back to the ghetto for him soon.

16:15: With everything switched off and cleaned down, it's time for a bit of a natter, mostly about Dave and Steve's daily encounters.

16:25: Go home.

One I brewed earlier

2011-01-18T17:05:00.000Z

Reader's of Rob's beer quest will remember this post from awhile back. Happy days ay.

Well, it's been about a year now, so I decided to crack open a bottle. Or should I say another bottle. After bottling I kept sampling 'The Megalodon' on a bi-monthly basis. When it was young it tasted a tad harsh... Like battery acid. A barrage of alcohols competing with hop resins and various other flavours trying to develop. Even after nine months it still tasted like battery acid. I was even considering changing the label from the giant shark to some old tramp passed up on a park bench. Or maybe just ditching the whole batch.

Last night tho, this baby showed some promise, coming across as something resembling a heavily hopped Barley wine that needs a tad more time to develop. Carbonation has improved a little, and the brutal hop assault has mellowed a bit tho it still possesses the pine-resinous notes from the Simco hops and a bit of that pithy, sherbet like effect you get from extreme hopping with C-hops (my wife describes this effect as tasting like 'fairy liquid'). An oily viscosity dominates with plenty of fusel alcohols giving the perception of richness and lots of alcohols (over 9% alcohol, remember).

It's nothing special, and difficult to drink after about half a pint. I'm in no rush, I'll give it more time.

Knaresborough; A great place for a booze-up

2011-01-15T18:00:00.000Z

Last Wednesday was an official work social with a difference. A meeting of Daleside staff past and present including Olly Fozard (now at Copper Dragon) and Dan Paquette (of Pretty Things), also blogged about here. So it was cool to meet all the old crew and finally visit the quality pubs of Knaresborough.

First up, Blind Jacks. A quality little pub with a good cask and keg range. One of those places you could sit in all day slowly going through the beer range. After this we visited The Marquis of Granby, a very popular place amongst Yorkshiremen (it's a Sam Smith's pub).

Dan likes brunettes, this one could knock back a few pints

Beer and darts, not the best pairing

The Daleside 'past masters' social continued to the Osset Brewery owned pub The Cross Keys. More great beer, ramblings about brewing and the industry with the odd moan about Brew Dog. About three hours later I woke up for work... Not pleasant, but happy times.

The 2/3rds-pint schooner; progress, or just wrong?

2011-01-06T19:50:00.000Z

It's the hot topic of the week, the introduction of the 'schooner' or 2/3rds of a pint glass.

In one corner; the fierce traditionalist of the British pub scene, who thinks it's all just a ploy to get more money out of the customer whilst confusing bar staff with the extra glassware. Then after that there's the fear that if it takes off things could change. The ways of old; blokes on the town, knocking back pint after pint, whoever drinks the most is the most manly. Not that that doesn't still happen.

But then in the other corner; numerous beer enthusiasts across the nation, the British Beer and Pub Association, Brew Dog, beer writers and almost everyone else who thinks it's ether responsible or good for consumer choice.

At the end of the day, the customer decides what they want, and if they have more options to choose from then all the better. Right?

For me, well I'm not one for getting all patriotic about the 'British pint' Al Murray style. I like a pint of real ale, but find the whole term 'pint of real ale' a bit dated. For a start I only really drink pints when presented with a narrow range of beers to try, if the range is broad I usually get a half of various (more choice, same volume). Secondly the term 'real ale' is just an explanatory term invented by CAMRA in the 70's to differentiate to their target audience the difference between cask and keg conditioned products. But since cask beer is basically now revived, I say call it cask/naturally conditioned beer and ditch the 'real'. But that's a different blog post in itself.

Lets not digress. The option of getting beer served in a 2/3rds pint glass sounds to me like a great idea especially for pubs that offer 8+ different beers on tap. Customers who want to try an unknown beer but were usually deterred by the thought of being stuck with something they don't really like will benefit. Those who drink the same beer frequently and are intrigued to try something new will benefit, and those who are driving or only have only a limited time in a pub will benefit.

But here's the best thing, and its from a point made here.

“While the pint remains a great British icon, the two thirds pint will give greater flexibility over how beer is served. This is particularly important when it comes to getting more women to choose beer, as many avoid the traditional pint glass”

It's what Cole, Brown, Brew Dog and the rest of them have been ranting on about for such a long time now. If the move changes the image of beer in the UK to be more approachable to audiences that previously turned their backs on it, then this is surely a great move, and that's even if converts only a few people to great beer.

The last feast of the festive season

2011-01-03T09:21:00.000Z

Just the other day, as the wife was cooking up dinner I decided to open my very last seasonal beer. My last beer of Christmas, as you could call it was the Belgian 9% Abbaye Des Rocs Spéciale Noël, the beer I never got round to opening over Christmas (it was kind of a backup beer). A sweet centred Belgian strong ale with upfront carbonation and spicy mixed raisin like fruit notes. Worth getting again next Christmas I would say, but more memorable for how awesomely it pairs with sugar glazed ham and layered potatoes, my complements to my missus Helen for this one.

Firstly the gammon joint was boiled to remove it's salty edge before being simmered in cider with onion, cloves, bouquet garni and peppercorns. After this the ham was roasted with wholegrain mustard, cloves and dark brown sugar resting in more cider. Whatever liquid was left in the roasting tin was used as sauce.

It sure is delicious, and pairs effortlessly well with this beer. Upfront carbonation lifts the fat whilst the beer's sweet, spicy centre marries well with the sweetness of the glaze. Subtle spicyness is a big feature, and sweet clove notes really resonate together between the beer and the ham. In conclusion, it rocks even more than the Christmas dinner or Christmas pudding pairings of last year. As a bonus it was even picked at random (being one of those beers your sure you've tried before but can't remember) so a new resolution for this year is to keep up the beer-food pairing experimentation.

New Year Post; some random thoughts

2011-01-01T12:01:00.001Z

When you first start getting into beer, its all about the beer...

The beer, the label, the brewery, what it's like, how it's so individual. Picking out ones you haven't tried in a pub, supermarket, farm shop or off licence. Oh, I haven't tried this one, but then the book you got last Christmas tells you what beer style the beer is, about the brewer and what hop varieties they used. Where this style of beer originated from and how the beer got it's name.

I remember it was Michael Jackson beer hunter who once compared the understanding of British beer to sex, meaning the more you know about it the better it becomes. True to a certain extent loads of British beers are instantly lovable.

The road to beer geekism can be complex and revealing. Some beers you hated years back can become favourites. Other beers can raise your expectation of beer entirely. But read more books, meet more beer enthusiasts, try more beer and food pairings. Beer and cheese, beer and chocolate, beer and sausages and every ones favourite, beer and more beer.

Life is like a giant pint of beer... Don't ask me why, it just is.

Then after studying brewing at University and a whole bunch of homebrews things get even more involved. Maybe I over attenuated that last batch, or what if I changed the hop additions in the next? Now I know why that bottle of Brew Dog Punk IPA throws a haze too long in a really cold fridge. Why the flavours of naturally conditioned beer can change over time. Why cask ale is a more inconsistent product in pubs that don't really care much for it but just take it on because it's the way the markets going.

But at the end of the day real beer is about real people. The people who craft it, drink it, love it, and are inspired by it. To others beer might be just about getting hammered, refreshment just enhancing ones image of masculinity. But beer means different things to different people, which is a signature reason of
/hy the beer blogging world is so diverse. And why the beer blogosphere involves so much debate, camaraderie, disagreements and sometimes conflict.

Sometimes I think, maybe I should blog more about the issues affecting the brewing industry today, maybe it might get me a higher rank in Wikio. Probably not. But to me, making a point count often seems futile. No matter how much Pete Brown's argument tears apart the governments reasoning for tax hikes or the like, or how many bloggers fight the corner of the developing craft beer scene nobody, except other bloggers seems to take much notice. I could be wrong, there could be numerous MP's on the side of the beer enthusiast. But the way the brewing industry has segregated and evolved has ensured that the beer enthusiast is is part of a developing niche, but the CAMRA member recognised is represented. Luckily the two groups do cross over a lot, and for the new year, I would advise all UK beer bloggers to keep the faith in our developing craft brewing scene and take heed of Rob's beer quest's new year message...

So when the duty is due to rise,
and no one else seems to care,
and the government wants to be seen as responsible by pointing fingers.
alcohol concern!
Tax the abusers!
Above 7.5% is irresponsible!
Pubs are closing everywhere,
and every news story about alcohol abuse sports the same old picture of someone pulling a cask conditioned pint,
extinction for the pub looms, only fond memories will remain,
The malt prices are going up, hop prices are going up
And all this time your 5 barrel plant is running at a loss,
Then when you tell people you like beer they only seem to associate you with the lager louts or old bearded CAMRA stereotype blokes.
It might not be as bad as it seems, it might be exaggerated,
but even so, just remember this video
And have a cracking new year!

The twelfth beer of Christmas

2010-12-30T18:30:00.007Z

Hook Norton Twelve Days

Well, this is it folks, the last beer of Christmas. And I think we've had enough left of centre foreign brews for this series, time for a no nonsense British winter warmer from a highly respected British brewery. The twelfth and final beer of Christmas, Hook Norton's Twelve Days, is one nicely rounded malt driven beer with a nice roast malt bitterness. It has a dark chocolate note, with subtle winter fruit and hints of spice. Covered by the Baron here, and like he says, a nice beer to savor by the fireside on a winter's night.

Well, sadly that's it for Rob's beer quest's 12 beers of Christrmas. I sure had a good Christmas. As expected the majority of my stock of seasonal beers have now been replaced by beers from gift packs (tho I havn't seen much coming in from the Asda 3 for £5 range this year). But we all know from now on it's all down hill. New year resolutions, taking the decorations down, assessing the financial damages and oh crap, I've just put on like a stone in weight in four weeks! You know how it goes. But anyway, a happy new year from Rob's Beer Quest.

The eleventh beer of Christmas

2010-12-28T09:34:00.000Z

Castle Brewery Samiclause 2010

Hardcore 14% Doppelbock lager from Austria, formerly the strongest beer in the world (it seems so long ago now). This beer undergoes 10 months of lagering before filtration and bottling. I remember years back having bad first impressions of this beer, but I've grown to like it. It's heavy going, and surely the ultimate beer for being stuck indoors on a blisteringly cold winters night.

Very deep golden bronze with plentiful carbonation but never any head retention. Expect lots of boozy warming alcohols, virtually no hop presence, and a rounded warming sweet sherry, syrupy, toffee sort of character finishing with heaps of warming alcohols. The carbonation keeps the sweetness in check. It's also a great talking point at parties as everyone seems to make something slightly different of it. Alternatively you could cellar it a few years or more, it should age well.