Anniversary of the Book.

It was only the other day when I suddenly realized I had missed the chance to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of myself reviewing beers in my personal beer diary, which I commenced on the 18th of September 2005. Since then I have nearly filled 4 volume in small pocket sized jotters and volume 5 is defiantly on its way. Not only do these books hold dear memories of some of the finest moments in my beer drinking days but also autographs of head brewers and other important people in the brewing industry. Autographs so far include:

John Keeling: Brewing director of Fullers.
Ken Don: Ex head brewer Youngs.
Vankatesh: Head brewer Leeds brewery.
Craig Witty: Head brewer Daleside brewery.
Tom Hicks: Head brewer Allendale brewery.
Martin Dickie: Head brewer Brew Dog.
Brian Westcott: Head brewer Alley Cat brewery (Canada).
Roger Protz: Beer Writer.

Many of these I have considered selling copies of on e-bay but am not sure how much they would make, anyone with offers let me know. I shall also note that since it is IPA month I have decided to home brew my own interpretation just yesterday. My approach has been to make a classic British style IPA of gravity 1.070 and bitterness units appox 70IBU using Challenger, Target and First gold hops. So far it looks like a hell of a lot of trub material has been thrown off by the cold break, probably due to the heavy late hopping. I shall keep all informed on how this one turns out.

India Pale Ale

Greetings once again readers, as you may have guessed this is my first entry in along time now, and that is because I have been preoccupied with end of year project as well as starting a full time job at the Daleside brewery in North Yorkshire. Another thing you may have realized is that I have decided top appoint this month as India Pale Ale month, as it is harvest season and the fresh 2008 harvest hops will soon be out and available to brewers worldwide. But as many will be familiar with IPA as a pale ale that’s higher in alcohol and hop bitterness than usual there are others only familiar with the more modern English IPAs (e.g. Green king IPA or Deuchars IPA) which are basic low gravity pale ales re-labeled.
Over the past decade or so the so called modern style IPA has been fairly common however there has been exceptions in the bottled beer market of stronger ones and of recent times I have noticed some cask version creeping up in gravity to closer to the 5%abv mark. OK, don’t get me wrong I am not discriminating against low gravity IPAs as many modern low gravity IPA interpretations are of great quality. But by definition a traditional IPA should be of considerable strength and hopping rate to enable the beer to survive the duration of long shipping voyages from England to British troops in India during the 1800s. Non the less hopefully this month I shall be brewing my own interpretation of the style at my very own Panda and frog home brewery (/kitchen) which shall be over 70 bitterness units and 7.3% abv. Although the hop combinations have not been fully confirmed, as a first attempt at the style the results should be interesting.

Stone Brewing Ruination IPA a modern extremist version of the style (termed double IPA).

A tribute to the legend

As many of you may be aware, tomorrow (30th august) marks the 1st anniversary of the death of the legendary beer writer Michael Jackson. In his time Michael was by no doubt the worlds number one ambassador of beer. His writings, presentations and documentaries educated and informed those curious of craft beer, whilst being an inspiration to those already passionate. It is sad to say that Mr Jackson was never as well known in the UK amongst the likes of Roger Protz, but unlike other British beer writers he chose to educate his readers on beers from all around the globe without focusing to strongly on British cask ale. But the truth of the matter is it was Mr Jackson that helped get numbers craft breweries greater recognition worldwide as well as educating about beer styles, matching beer with food and how beer is generally, often degraded in quality and image (by global brands)  should be given more respect as the noble and sensual beverage it can be.

A Tribute to Michael Jackson

Because of this tomorrow I shall be in my local, The John Bull Alnwick, to find the finest beer for the moment to make a toast to the legend, Michael Jackson beer hunter. Cheers!

Chance to write for beers of the world.

Recently I have been in contact with the editor of the well known beer magazine beers of the world. According to her I could be in with a chance to enter the magazine as the guest taster by around October time as they are looking for readers or journalists to enter as guest tasters. For me I shall count it as another step towards becoming the next Michael Jackson (our lord). However to get recognised I recon I would have to throw out work comparable to there already well established taster Jeff Evans. Now iv seen this guy at work during one of his beer master-classes and his descriptions are nothing less than concise, accurate and professional and the same can be said for his written work, check him out on http://www.videojug.com/user/UKEX0126.

Also to mention, in relation to my last post, this month I shall be attempting to home brew a my very own example of a historic porter style beer which should be around 6-7% alcohol by volume, over 40 bitterness unites and very black malt influenced. What I can not account for however is that porter in the 18th and 19th centuries was matured in wooden vats for a number of months before going on sale to the public. On the upside this brew should last a long time in the bottle due to the effect of both hops, alcohol and roast malts in adding a preservative effect on the beer, so hopefully my 4 gallons should last all winter, but that’s also affected by how good it turns out.

The dark side of the brewing force

Greetings again readers, and apologies for the later than usual post as I have been currently submerged in my end of year project and new job at a fairly local pub, the Shoulder Of Mutton. Thankfully upon going for the initial interview I realized I would be working in a decent pub, no bumpy-bump music, plastic chairs, disco lights, or hordes of chavs and trendys filling the place on weekends. The three cask ales available include Directors Courage, Deuchars IPA and one guest, all served with sparkler (which does mask the aroma alittle), but non the less a decent beer range on tap with what Iv heard is top quality food served in a relatively ornate interior. On the downside however, I have noticed that around 85% of the clientele order nothing but mass market water flavored lager, chemical infused cider or nitro-keg pap, which concluded that this aims to be more of a pub for everyone, not a true beer haven.
Never the less It was only the other day I got thinking about consumer behavior and how it linked in with my project. Many of my long term readers may recall using the terms ‘brainwashed by the media’ and ‘will live out there lives deprived of any knowledge of what beer really is and can be’ (stuff like that). It all relates back to (and I will cover this in my project), the rise of (what I call) ‘the dark side’. The truth is shortly after the end of the second world war in the UK the brewing industry assembled itself into collated beer companies that later grew into brewing giants (also known at the time as the ‘big six’). These brewing giants expanded there empires, aggressively trying to dominate over the beer market, and this was done in a number of ways, for example;

- Companies established there own tied estates i.e. pubs they owned which thus only sold the beer they wanted to sell.
- Beer became produced in keg and bottled form instead of cask, meaning the beer was filtered and pasteurized for a longer shelf life and a more stable product.
- Beer increasingly evolved into a minimalistic product, brewed with more flavor reducing, cheaper, carbohydrate sources and less hops in order to design beers with lass flavor, aroma, mouthfeel and general character.
- To make sure nobody noticed that beer was so bland, the new generation of beer drinkers of the time were enticed with mass market advertising specifically designed to present the product and product image in a fashionable and appealing way to the target audience. For example bottled lagers were aimed at the trendy younger gentleman, wanting to look cool and laid back at the bar, the nitro-keg bitter is designed for the middle aged straight talking working class etc.

As you might have guessed, the rout of the dark side is to try and push and present beer as a basic staple product, to be consumed in large volume in order to get drunk and be in with the guys whilst steering all away from any thought it could be anything more… And then CAMRA came along.

But the thing is, no matter how many times you grind your teeth over it, when you look back through the history books there’s always been those brewers trying to stock it high and sell it cheap (for example porter ale was often adulterated in the 17-1800s, and mild ale was often watered down to get more out the barrel come the early 20th century). But on the other side there’s always been brewers committed to the art of producing fine brewing, the main difference today is that in most cases its financial wealth that divides the two.

So remember folks, stay away from that dark side, and keep exploring the wonderful world of beer.