The BeerCast

Sadly, Doctor, I have a previous engagement to attend

We’re still in the midst of our strong beer protest month at the moment – but we’re going to waver very slightly for the next few paragraphs. This week sees the SIBA Great Northern Beer Festival take place in Manchester, and we’ll be there on Thursday and Friday – doing some judging, and drinking some beer. With that in mind, a session-strength preview post is needed to look at some of the good – not to mention new – things on offer.

Being a SIBA festival (run in association with Greater Manchester CAMRA) the majority of beers on offer will be well below the raised duty threshold. Having said that, the comprehensive beer list does include three entries over 7.5% – Cumbrian Croglin Vampire and Hardknott Queboid (both 8.0%), and Stringers Mutiny (9.3%) – we’ve sampled the Hardknott beer before, but will definitely try the other two if they appear during our time there.

We frequently bang on about festivals being a great chance to try something new – and this one does that in spades, being far from our tartan-decked homelands in the frozen north.* Having our hop-honed noses close to the grapevine (hopvine, surely) breweries such as Hawkshead, York, Daleside, Marble, Coniston and Dent have all featured on our BeerCasts at one time or another. But in a festival setting such as this, each will be bringing several of their range to try – e.g. Hawkshead NZPA (6.0%) and Coniston Infinity IPA (6.0%) – two must-try beers.

For me – and it may be the bloggerati gene talking here – it’s always the ultra-rare that jump off the beer list. Things from producers I’ve never heard of. In the same way as visitors from far afield to the Scottish Real Ale Festival head straight for something like Tin Pot Mango Pot (something even I’ve yet to experience), I’ll be after the likes of Hopstar Smokey Joe’s Black Beer (4%) and Milltown Slubber’s Gold (4.2%). Producers who bring only one beer – such as Old Bear Great Bear (3.9%) – are also compulsory in my book.

Other things I’m looking forward to include the beers from RedWillow and Offbeat breweries. The former have been winning rave reviews since ex-homebrewer Toby McKenzie took that brave step into production last year. The chipotle-infused Smokless (5.7%) sounds fantastic, as does his big IPA Ageless (7.2%). Offbeat were also founded in 2010, by Michelle Kelsall – who previously produced the wonderful Windie Goat beers in Ayrshire. Now re-branded in Crewe, hopefully they are just as good.

So plenty of things to look forward to – the festival takes place at the Ramada Picadilly in Manchester. Doors open at 4pm on Thursday the 27th, running until 10:30pm. It then opens 12pm-10:30pm Friday and Saturday. Entry is £3, which includes a £1 deposit on a tasting glass. We’ll be there on Thursday helping out with the SIBA judging, then all day Friday – including a special appearance with my bitter-loving father. Check back for reports on what happened just into the start of November. If you see me, come and say hi. Cheers!

*Even if I was born 35 miles from Manchester. As my dear old Nanna used to say – “Are you a Scotchman yet, Richie?”

SIBA’s GNBF Official website

Note to self…remember to take photo before drinking the beer

If you’ve been following the BeerCast for the past couple of weeks, you’ll (hopefully) know we’ve been talking a great deal about a recent piece of Government legislation. On the 1st of October, the UK Treasury raised duty on all beer over 7.5% – ostensibly to tackle ‘problem drinking’. We’ve written several posts on why we feel this is a bad idea (here, here and here) – and so today we’re holding a protest podcast. Richard, Shovels and Grooben get together to sample four British beers over 7.5%, and debate the state of UK alcohol taxation (along with vikings, addictive coffee and why you can never lose a greyhound). The four strong beers we drink responsibly are:- Sinclair Orkney Skull Splitter (8.5%), Traquair House Jacobite Ale (8.0%), Thornbridge St Petersburg (7.7%), and BrewDog Abstrakt AB:06 (11.2%). Fight the power!

1. Orkney Skull Splitter (8.5%abv)
Sinclair Orkney Brewery, Quoyloo, Orkney Islands.
330ml glass bottle

Founded by Roger White in 1988, the award-winning Orkney brewery are another local producer who started in untypical surroundings – in this case an old school house in Sandwick. In June 2004 they merged with the Atlas Brewery of Kinlochleven, to form Highland and Islands Breweries – which in turn was taken over by the Sinclair Brewery Ltd in 2006. All the way back in January 2008, we sampled Orkney Dark Island as part of BeerCast #11. Drinkers in North America may know the brewery best for the very beer we’re sampling today – Skull Splitter is seemingly far more popular over the pond than back home.

What They Say -
“Sophisticated, satiny smooth with a deceptively light character, it is a tribute to our colourful forbear Thorfinn Einarsson, the 7th Viking Earl of Orkney.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Classic Skull Splitter aroma – sweet fruity caramel 7½
Shovels – Not as syrupy as I remember, good balance 7½
Grooben – I do like it but probably wouldn’t drink it much 6

2. Traquair Jacobite Ale (8.0%abv)
Traquair House Brewery, Innerleithen, Peeblesshire.
330ml glass bottle

Traquair House is an extremely impressive, and very old, country estate about an hour south of Edinburgh. Famed in Scottish history for it’s association with the Jacobites, it also contains a thriving microbrewery – which begun in the 18th Century, brewing for the estate workers. The 20th Laird of Traquair re-founded the brewery in 1965, and they specialise in Scottish styles – that are all rich, dark, and above all – strong.

What They Say -
“Brewed to celebrate the anniversary of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion the ale proved to be so popular it has become a permanent addition to the range. Based on an eighteenth century recipe the ale is spiced with coriander which gives a remarkably fresh aftertaste.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Shovels – Spices linger at the end, needs a bit more body 7
Richard – Not as spicy as I was expecting, it’s a nice old ale7
Grooben – Doesn’t bash you around the head for an 8%er 7

3. St Petersburg (7.7%abv)
Thornbridge Brewery, Bakewell, Derbyshire.
500ml glass bottle

The first Thornbridge beer to make it onto one of our BeerCasts was their chestnut honey ale Bracia, back in BeerCast #61. A 10% powerhouse of flavour, we’re following that with another of their big hitters – the fantastic Russian Imperial Stout St Petersburg (7.7%). We already know it’s fantastic, as it was awarded one of our much-prized Best New Beer Awards for 2010. Doesn’t mean we can’t put in on a podcast…

What They Say -
“Rich and dark with smoke, subtle peatiness and the power of the dark malts. Molasses and liquorice and chocolate goodness all wrapped up in a smooth, warming liquid.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Black, roasty, creamy, chocolatey, smoky, love it 9
Shovels – Lovely flavours – one of my favourite beers 8½
Grooben – Doesn’t have any bitterness at the back of the palate you get with some strong stouts 8½

4. Abstrakt AB:06 (11.2%abv)
BrewDog, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire.
375ml glass bottle

BrewDog are without doubt the most talked-about brewery in Scotland, with their charismatic press releases and wacky ideas. Not afraid to experiment, there’s no denying they always elicit strong opinions. What is often overlooked amidst all the hoo-hah is that they have only been going for just over three years. Their ‘concept beer brand’ Abstrakt is already on the 7th version (a whisky aged Scotch Ale), the original, AB:01, made it to our most recent Beer of the Year Show, and AB:04 (a coffee, cacao and chili Imperial Stout) might just be the best beer they’ve ever made. Can AB:06 cut it?

What They Say -
“AB06 is a 11.5% Imperial Black IPA which has been triple dry hopped. This beer is savage; boasting more bitterness and more hops than any BrewDog creation to date, combining loads of awesome malts and monumental amounts of our favourite hops.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Shovels – You can definitely tell it’s dry hopped, love those hops 8½
Richard – Very good beer, this could be a great regular 8½
Grooben – Decent, but I expected it to be better 7

Panellists – (clockwise from top left) Shovels, Grooben, Richard

BeerCast panel verdict
Thornbridge St Petersburg 26/30
BrewDog Abstrakt AB:06 24/30
Sinclair Orkney Skullsplitter 21/30
Traquair House Jacobite Ale 21/30

• Listen to the episode on Soundcloud here:

• Or here if you’re on iPhone/iPad: BeerCast #64 – Big BeerCast
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Please keep those comments and emails coming in, and check back in a couple of weeks for our next podcast. In the meantime, keep drinking those strong beers wherever you are. In the UK, you can sign this petition against the duty rise. For the BBC article on responsible drinking we discussed during this episode – click here. We’ll be continuing with our strong beer month right the way throughout October. Fight the power!

All this month we are featuring beer over 7.5% to highlight the madness of the UK Treasury increasing duty on beer over that alcohol by volume. It’s extremely frustrating for drinkers to have to pay more for our favourite products when the reasons for raising prices seem so contrived. But for British brewers, it’s far more than a mere annoyance. Some of the UK’s most innovate breweries have recently commented on how the HSBD (High Strength Beer Duty) rise will affect them – such as Hardknott, Gadd’s, and Magic Rock.

In particular, one post that stood out was from Justin Hawke of Somerset’s Moor Beer Company. Established in 1996, since they were taken over by Justin and his partner Maryann in 2007 they have gone from strength to strength (if you’ll excuse the pun). Justin used experience gained in his native California, and from travels in Europe, to produce a range of beers for cask and bottle. He took time out of his busy schedule to speak with us about the HSBD. Fans of Moor’s strong beers – look away now…

Justin first explained his brewing ethos – to foster a bond between the producers of the local brewing ingredients, himself as the brewer, and the drinking public. When customers head to the farm shop near the brewery, they not only buy his products – these relationships benefit communities of producers, whether they are farmers, cheesemakers, or brewers. Wherever possible, Moor beers are unfined – he really seems to want to go about things the right way, and to educate drinkers on the choices they have at their local pub or bottle shop. This is one reason he’s so against the HSBD rise:-

“We make strong beer for sharing, we try and do interesting things. Of course our session-strength beers are important, but stronger beers have more scope. I don’t want to be constrained and compromised. People will still find cheap things to get from A to B if they want to drink – we aren’t competing with that.”

Justin had written in his post that they will be re-thinking all of Moor’s stronger beer as a direct result of the duty rise. Running through the list, we spoke about each one in turn:-

Old Freddy Walker 7.3% (cask) 7.5% (bottle)

“We just didn’t get enough guidance from the Government on exactly where the threshold would fall – we had a label run to produce – so we erred on the side of caution and are dropping it to 7.4%.”

Fusion 8.0%

“We won a Platinum medal at the 2011 Mondial de la Biere festival in Montreal – I’m showcasing Fusion again at this week’s Mondial festival in Strasbourg. But we’re not brewing it again at present.”

JJJ IPA 9.0% (cask) 9.5% (bottle)

“The current run in bottle shops at the moment will be the last for the UK – we’re suspending domestic production. We send between 90-95% of JJJ IPA to Europe, as there’s no duty payable for export.”

Imperial Stout [in the pipeline]

“We had been thinking about an imperial stout, somewhere in the mid-8% range. But we’re not going to be producing it now, and I don’t want to compromise by dropping the abv below 7.5%.”

So you want a definite outcome of the increased duty? There you go – one of Britain’s more forward leaning brewers is re-thinking all of their strong beers. The creativity involved in formulating these beers is something that can really help a brewer – and this duty rise has instantly taken the momentum out of Moor Beer Co. Not that they can’t – or won’t – still do well with their core range, but it’s easy to imagine how frustrating this is for Justin and his team.

The supreme irony in all of this is that he’s heading over to Europe to showcase a multi award-winning beer, in the full knowledge that he won’t be producing it again for a while.* Arguably their most favoured big beer – JJJ IPA – will be extremely rare to British drinkers, with the vast majority heading overseas for export. Beer fans over the Channel and the North Sea – count your blessings. Those closer to home, support Justin and his fellow brewers as much as possible, while you can…

*There is another reason for this – Fusion is barrel aged, and the current shortage of barrels means there’s very little storage space available. But at 8%, if they can produce another run, at the very least it will face a significant price increase.

Many thanks to Justin for taking the time to speak with us. You can visit Moor’s website here…

The packed open day a few days after my visit (photo courtesy Erica Wong)

Throughout human history, every good idea there’s ever been has occurred in the pub. It’s no coincidence that as soon as the ancient Sumerians discovered brewing, they immediately invented the wheel (or something). The flowing of alcohol in a comfortable setting is proven to loosen tongues and minds, and promote blue-sky thinking. For one example, look no further than this travesty of a beer website, assembled by the motley crew on the right after an idea fledged in a local public house (although I can’t remember which one, so blue plaque on hold).

Another, and infinitely better example, is the new London Fields Brewery in Hackney. Co-founders Ian Burgess and Jules Whiteway had businesses in coffee and gardening (respectively), until a session in the boozer convinced them they should start producing beer instead. And why not? After a stint in Manchester learning the trade, several important phone calls, and presumably more pub visits, four weeks later they produced their first brew. Yep – four weeks.

Clearly go-getting types, I visited their Helmsley Place lockup to see what was going on, and found them racing around organising a brewery open day. Until they can expand into a big enough kit to supply local pubs, the only way of getting their beers out there is to sell casked and hand-bottled batches to people who come to their brewery (which I can heartily recommend). With negotiations in progress to move up from their three barrel starter kit, Ian and Jules are keen to crack on and start making money.

I asked Ian – who seems to run the business side of things, whilst Jules is the head brewer – what kind of beers London Fields were aiming to produce, and where they saw themselves in the burgeoning brewing scene in the city. Like BeerCast-favourites the Kernel, the guys at London Fields want to brew things they enjoy drinking – although they seemingly prefer beer towards the session-end of the spectrum, as opposed to what Ian jokingly described as ‘knife and fork’ beer.

The first few beers have been well-received, and on my visit Jules was agonising over a new lager – to be ready for the upcoming open day, but due to the production process it would be untested before then. This is something of a trend, clearly the two are learning as they go along, which must be fantastically exciting/terrifying. Rows of kegs and casks sit there, ready to go, waiting only for the product to fill them – everything’s a can-do work in progress.

To highlight this, Jules and Ian didn’t even allow the recent London riots to hold them back. With a brown ale on the go, and rampaging youths moving over from Tottenham, they locked the gates, barricaded some pallets behind, and lowered the shutters. As cars burned on the intersection of Mare Street, just round the corner, and not being able to go anywhere, they quietly carried on with the brew. Once finished, they named it Love, Not War.

I got to try a bottle of this as the guys were running around doing various jobs, such as supervising the construction of a stage for their open day. A malty brown ale, it was really good – the balance of the different malts was fantastic. Jules kindly gave us some other unlabelled bottles, so once they have finished conditioning we’ll post a review here on the BeerCast. If their attitude is anything to go by, the London Fields brewery has a bright future.

The brewery holds open days, with food, music and beer. See their website for details. Located at 374 Helmsley Place, Hackney, the best way to get there is National Express East Anglia from Liverpool Street to London Fields station, or to take the Central Line tube to Bethnal Green and walk north. Tomorrow on the BeerCast we look at another drinking destination making waves – and inspiring a mini-empire – the Euston Tap.

For more open day photos, visit Erica’s website…

Lagerboy likes discovering new words – ideally on the side of a green bottle from which something fizzy has just been released. So imagine his textual joy when reading the back of the label from his latest conquest – St Austell Korev (4.8%) – he found another way to order everyone’s favourite beverage.

Ko•rev (cor-eff) n. traditional Cornish word meaning beer.

Can’t argue with that (although a quick Google reveals Korev is also a Yiddish word for relative, and a system of planets in the Star Wars Universe*). St Austell have been brewing since 1851, and this, apparently, is their first lager – or the first produced by current head Roger Ryman.

It pours a brilliantly clear golden colour, with lazy rising carbonation and an inch-high head – looking quite the teutonic pilsner. There’s a slight grassy herbal aroma, alongside a fair hint of grain (flaked maize having being added). It’s reasonably crisp on the palate, although the finish arrives pretty quickly.

It’s certainly a drinkers lager – the mix of hops (Perle, Hersbrucker and Saaz) just about make themselves known. The (locally grown) lager malt comes out on the taste, along with that typical creaminess you get from be-maized lagers. Carbonation is quite evident, although never over the top.

The Publican predicted late last year that 2011 could be the year of the craft lager. Whilst that fills Lagerboy’s head with wonderment, often those two words placed together just don’t deliver. Korev is well-made, and certainly more than a step in that direction.

*They are far, far away

Many thanks to Harriet Bremner at St Austell for the sample – we received other beers from the brewery at the same time, look out for other reviews in the near future…