When you love something so much, what do you do about it?

You make a beer after it, that's what you do.



Helen's beer (5.7%) is packed with sweet marmalade, toffee, chunky yeasty fruit, bready malt and subtle orange like flavours. Big, bold and approachable with some nice rounded fruit flavours (enhanced by the use of Amarillo hops) present that are intended to exemplify Helen's more bubbly outgoing character. This is layered over the rich malt mouth feel created by unmalted oats and large quantities of crystal malts to express the rich, warm nature of my lady's personality.

I quite enjoy making beers after things I like. So far I have done my wife, a relative, my Scottish friend Mark (an 80 shilling) and my next challenge, the Dog. If anyone were to read that last sentence alone without the '(an 80 shilling)' part, they may misinterpret and be slightly shocked. None the less, I will be tweaking this brew as part of its development.

Another great beer and cheese pairing

Strathdon Blue with Brewdog Punk IPA.



Strathdon is a Scottish blue slightly milder and creamier than Stilton. With respect, this is a beautiful cheese. In this pairing earthy, milky, salty rounded flavours from the cheese are embraced by the full on floral hops and broad bitterness that cuts straight across the fat. This works mainly on the basis of contrast but the C hops really pick up on the earthy creamy texture, something I have found with beers heavily hopped with bold, pungent American hops, they work well with creamy blues. The only non-ideal part of this pairing is that it's the day after St-George's day and I'm drinking Scottish beer with Scottish cheese.

Where the recognition should be going

I have numerous memories of chatting to American people and the conversation often following on the lines of "so where abouts in England are you from?", "Newcastle" I reply. "Ah" they answer, "famous for the beer". Referring to the chemical laden slightly thin Newcastle Brown Ale. I have also met people who have (trying to gain appreciation from a beer obsessed Geordie) said they really love Newcastle Brown ale. But of recent times North East craftbrewers have been sticking to roots and knocking out some great Northern style Brown ales. First we have the likes of Mordue Wallsend Brown ale, Hadrian & Border Tyneside Brown ale and now this.





Jarrow Brown ale is truly a solid Brown ale, packed with bold nutty, grainy, bready malt and rounded burnt toffee like flavour over earthy English hops. Superb stuff, I would say this one even gives the likes of Brooklyn Brown ale a run for its money. To be honest this brown ale, and the various other North East craft brewed variants beat the infamous Newcastle Brown like a dog.

Coors clear beer: Trying to wean the ladies onto something bland and innofensive.

I remember when I started getting into metal music at university me and my metaller friends would hang out listening to heavy metal, Thrash and Death metal mostly. Often we would have a moan about how the metal bars and clubs played music mostly for teens into more pop influenced metal termed 'nu metel'. We felt it unjust that these bands could play songs of just a few chords, sell out and get more famous than the immense musical talents of some of our favourite bands such as Dream Theatre and Judas Priest. But as much as we hated the music we remembered that most hard core metal heads we knew grew up listening to this kind of 'nu metal'. It's all part of a progression similar to how Mark Dredge described beer drinking. Early on your beer hunting days concentrate on cask golden ales, bitters and the like before you turn to bolder, stronger more challenging beers, Belgian Dubbels, Imperial Stout, Lambics etc.

This got me thinking about the latest news of Coors' new Clear beer that is being brought out marketed at women specifically. Detested by bloggers such as Melissa Cole, could this 'product' actually be a kind of a blessing in disguise? The limp biscuit of beer so to speak that could lead great numbers of women to drink quality beer?

On thinking twice my own opinion turns to.. No.

No, this kind of pap has evolved because the market research goons of the global brewers (or as I say, the dark side) have realised that if females were not so detracted from drinking beer, a vast new customer base could be established. Which (as they represent the lagers segment of the brewing industry) is exactly what could be needed to save the slow dying beer industry. The problem is (as we know) that the proportion of women that drink beer in the UK is incredibly low, compared to the likes of the US and Germany. If places like that have a beer culture that women feel accepted into then why cant the UK?

Then we should maybe also remember that going back half a century women weren't socially accepted in pubs, they just didn't do it. Then we have the way beer is marketed, which has been largely at men. For a long time cask ale brewers kept with the defensive stance of keeping marketing aimed at who they thought their core audiences were, namely old bearded guys. It was only when more progressive brewers came into the UK market that anybody had the balls to move away from the norm.

Then we have the image problem, take the stereotypes, Al Murray for example. Beer has been given this image, the image of masculinity, old guys drinking cask ale and young blokes drinking mega brand lager. Some may remember a long time back, I posted this. Now I have noticed a lot of people drink what alcoholic drink they drink for a series of reasons. Brand familiarity, image and the general ritual of sticking to what they know are some main ones.

But the most offensive part of the whole clear beer project is the marketing, this is covered well here, here and by the much respected Melissa Cole.

I know women who drink quality beer, and just because they are female doesn't mean they taste things completely differently. But I have also met girls who can't stand the merest hint of challenging flavour in a beverage, and get intimidated by the merest thought of trying a beer (but I have met just as many men with the same tastes). The difference between the men and women here is that the men usually choose to drink bland mass market beers, the women alcopops, wine, cocktails, all just to stay with the crowd, follow the heard. The major step of individualism, trying something new, comes from curiosity, and for the majority of beer enthusiasts I know, this curiosity was spurned from dissatisfaction. But think about it, to someone potentially curious to try beer what triggers the curiosity the old school pumpclip labelled 'Rumpypumpy old sheep rustler bitter' (or similar), or bright ornate or edgy fonts boasting 'Raspberry infused porter style ale'.

But those wishing to evangalise beer for women must remember; Shifting a stereotype or product image doesn't happen overnight. Since the early days beer has been seen as the drink of the barbarians, the liquid bread of the people, brewed for sustenance, pleasure and hydration of bodily fluids. Today beer is not the liquid bread of the people, it's brewed for pleasure alone, but with real science, superior brewing techniques and real passion.

In my opinion women deserve and have the right to real beer. Especially considering all those years they spent brewing the stuff for us blokes before the industrial revolution. To me some beer-alcopop hybrid seem pointless because the market it's really going to capture is the alcopop market, and probably only for a short time 'til the trend change. I say give women real beer, beer that's diverse, well crafted and sublime and let them make their own minds up.

This ones for the folks back home

4.5% Alnwick IPA, a modern-traditional (but more modern) style IPA featuring peppery, fruity, citric hop notes over medium bodied biscuity malt.

As many are aware I have two homes, one where I work in Harrogate through the week, the other in the market town of Alnwick up in Northumberland. Yes that's right Northumberland, that county right at the top of England. Now many folk living within or nearby Alnwick are probably familiar with the bottled beer contract brewed by my work, Alnwick IPA. Go to Alnwick and you will find it sold in bottled form in many pubs. Well as it happens last Wednesday, as I am now a trainee brewer, I was given the privilege to brew Alnwick IPA for the first time.

When I say trainee I mean more amateur as I have over 12 brews under my belt now, including a Stout and a Morocco ale. So I am well under way to becoming an official brewer (big time). By now I am fully aware that brewing using the Daleside kit is a lot different form brewing with my Panda & Frog home brewery kit involving loads more valves, pumps and laborious work. But for some reason I just love brewing this beer, the formulation has so much integrity and simplicity, a classic British IPA at heart. Or it could be that I just love throwing in the copious amounts of hops into the copper. Don't get me wrong Daleside don't brew hop bombs, in fact their stance is always against them, but out of all Daleside beers I have tried this one has the highest perceivable bitterness, which still is not excessive.

What I aim to achieve over the next few months is to gain a more intimate understanding of the Daleside brew kit, like wise brewer once say, one who understands one's brewing kit is one who is truly at one with the brewing force. This I must achieve, and this time it's the folks back up North who will consume my end product. I suppose everyone needs to do their bit for the community.