Its That Time again

This weekend sees the start of a couple of months of excitement for us beer tickers, with the Queens Jubilee, followed by the football Euro 2012 championships, and then the Olympic Games. Plenty of opportunity there for brewers to come up with new beers especially for the occasion. Or is there ?

It's that old chestnut again. Is the beer I am drinking a new beer, or merely an old beer rebadged to fit the event ? How do I know ? Often I just have to trust the brewer. If they say a beer is a new beer who am I to dispute this ? Let's face it, they are not likely to say this is usually called 'Best Bitter' but to up our chances of selling it we are calling it 'Jubilee', or 'Olympic Beer' are they ? I know most small brewers are  honest in what they do and each new beer gets a new name, but I am sure that a percentage will brew one beer and rename it three times.

Nevertheless, it should be a good time for 'tickers'. I have already had a beer called 'God Save The Queen', suffered one called 'Street Party' and am eagerly awaiting one called 'Beth's Bitter' and that is just for starters. Let's hope there are plenty of new beers about to whet our appetites through the next few weeks, and the nation's microbrewers can do us proud and show why Britain's brewing industry is the best in the world, whatever the beer is called.  

Hawkshead US PA

I have previously spoken in glowing terms of Hawkshead Brewery's offerings, they seem to be a brewery that can turn their hands to any style of beer, be it strong or weak, dark or light. I am always happy to find their beers on a bar. Usually their output is concentrated on their regular beers, not that there is anything wrong with that, but occasionally they brew something new.

This week I have come across their 'US PA'. It is a stunning beer. A 'proper' IPA, 6% gives it lots of body, and the strength to carry off its hop combination. As would be expected, the hops used are all American varieties, Cascade, Simcoe, and Columbus. The beer has a fruity nose, and the combination gives a massive hit of citrus fruits on the tongue, and a fine citric-bitter finish.

Surprisingly, I first came across the beer in 'Spoons, but have since found it in the Grove, both times the beer was on excellent form, and very moreish, which is dangerous for a beer of its strength. Another classic beer from a classic brewery.       

All Change at The Rat

During last weeks spell of internet inactivity, one of the  events that I missed out on covering was the last day of Rob Allen at the Rat & Ratchet. He of the cowboy hat and ponytail has moved to pastures new, of which more later, and been replaced by Katie Green. Katie came from the Shepherds Boy in Dewsbury, which is where Rob came from when he became manager, coincidentally. Katie is no stranger to the Rat though, having worked there before taking over the Sheps.

Rob has left the pub trade completely, but has gone into partnership to sell beer. He has obtained premises on Wood St, and is converting them into a beer shop, hopefully selling more than bottled beer. We will keep you posted .

Good luck to them both in their new ventures.

Fieldhead Fest

The Fieldhead at Quarmby is holding a small festival over the bank holiday weekend. From the 1st to the 4th June, 30 beers including 2 or 3 "Jubilee" specials will supplement the normal 4 on the bar.

The pub is well worth a visit (even outside festival time), particularly if the weather is fine, as there is one of the best beer gardens in Huddersfield, with wonderful views of the Colne Valley and Pennines beyond.

Navvy Festival approaching

One of my favourite local pub festivals is on the horizon again, and this time promises a selection of beer from Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. There should be 40 beers available at any time with some in reserve should they be required. The festival runs through from the 28th June until 1st July at the Navigation pub in Mirfield, a short walk from the railway station. Sounds like another winner !

Nook Brewery Tours

If you at a loose end over the Jubilee Weekend, and can drag yourself away from watching all the celebrations, the Nook Brewery at Holmfirth are promising brewery tours throughout the weekend from the  Ist of June through till the 5th.

The cost is £4 per head and run at 2pm and 4pm daily from the Carniceria, Victoria Square. The price includes the tour and a cream tea, or ale.

Barge & Barrel Festival

The pub where I first discovered the joy of real ale was the Barge and Barrel in Elland. I used to go across quite regularly until I found other pubs which satisfied my needs better closer to home and gradually my trips across there became more infrequent. However, when I heard that Andrew, the new licencee, was holding his first beer festival it seemed a good chance to reacquaint myself with the place.

Since my last visit it has been done up and is now a far cleaner pub that previously, when it had taken on a slightly careworn appearance. It has new signage outside but the interior of the pub is much the same as before, with the central bar serving a large seating area and a small pool room and snug. 

The festival itself was in the snug, with 18 barrels dispensing beer on gravity, rather than through handpulls which seems the norm at pub festivals these days. There was beer on hand pump though and the regular 6 beers on the bar had been augmented with another 6 pumps filled with beers from the festival list.

A festival glass cost £2 but was refundable, a programme cost £1, with proceeds to charity and beer cost £1.40 per half, so for £10 I was set up for an afternoon's sampling. The beers on the bar were interesting although not especially unusual, but those on stillage made up for that. The majority of them came from the Midlands with a few from over the Pennines and plenty of breweries rarely seen in these parts. 

I sampled Beowolf 'English Horseman', a 4.2% English style best bitter, good but not too exciting. Likewise was the Mallard  'Decoy', but things improved with the Milestone 'Green Man', with its subtle use of malts supporting an interesting blend of New Zealand hops. Star 'Wandering Star' from Salford, was a more malty brew, but still pale with some hop character. However the real star was a beer from Blythe in Staffordshire. 'Ridware Pale' was 4.3% with plenty of hop taste and a flowery freshness.

All the beers I had from stillage were in good nick, plenty of condition and crystal clear, but rather than sample another from there I decided my final beer had to be the 7% festival special from Milltown. 'Epic' was unusual for them, I have never encountered a strong beer from the brewery and was interested to see how they fared. To be quite honest, it did not really hit the spot with me, it did taste strong but the balance I had hoped for seemed to be missing, with it tending to be rather malty and cloying. 

If you want to have a look, then the festival is on all weekend starting at 12 noon. All in all, not a bad attempt for a first festival, and hopefully the first of many. It will not be too long before I return.  

They cannot be serious, but they are!!!

Other Hops are Available

Once upon a time there were two bears, there would have been three but one was on holiday due to European Working Time directives. They set up a brewery, they were bruins! (I know its crap and trust me, it doesn't get any better!) . The bruins set up a brewery in the woods and everyone said how good they were. They went from strength to strength, brewing more and more beers and the bruins' beers could be found in all four corners of the Kingdom. They had all sorts of ideas about bruin (sorry brewing), and wanted to use the best ingredients that the world could offer. They bought hops from all over the place, really pushing the envelope of brewing. They started to brew single hopped beers, using interesting and unusual hops that came from places across the sea. They heard that Koala bears had been brewing with a hop called 'Stella', they had to get some and see what they could do. They made a 'Stella' beer, and made it again and again, and even put it in bottles. They used a light blue pump clip and a light blue label for their beer. All was going well, until one day the big bad wolf came across the bruins' 'Stella'

The big bad wolf was a bit dischuffed, in fact he was not happy at all. The wolf, we will call him Bev for the sake of argument, took one look at the bruins' pump clip and took exception to it. He was a brewer too and thought the bruins pump clip was far too close to his advertising for comfort. After all their font on the clip looked just like  the font on his clip. All right, the background was red but that made no difference. The bruins used the name of the hop, as many other brewers have also done, with no intention of upsetting Bev. In fact, how could a name of a  hop be confused with a trade mark ? Surely it was in the public domain. Even Bev's beer, sorry lager, tasted nothing at all like the bruins beer. It had been made by a different process, tasted totally different, and even looked different. It was served in a different glass, poured in a different way. Surely no one could confuse the two?  But Bev and his mates have been making their beer for years, and did not want the bruins muscling in on their territory. They asked the bruins to change their beer, or at least their point of sale. Change the name, change the font on the pump clip. After all, they were using Bev's trade mark, or so he said. 

I rarely get political on 'A Swift One' but this seems a case of a massive world wide industry throwing their weight about, and trying to stop a small regional brewer making a living. I know that it is easy to change the pump clip to satisfy Bev, but change the name? It is the name of a hop, not anyone's trademark. It is descriptive, which is more than Bev's lager. The punter can read up on the hop, find out more about the ingredients in his beer. It describes the product at the point of sale. And if someone cannot tell the difference between the bruins' product and Bev's product, then Bev's massive advertising revenue issurely a waste of money. To satisfy Bev, and to to stop him blowing the bruins' house down, no doubt they will have to accede to his requests. It is a shame at the very least, that the big bad wolf has nothing better to do; and a sad indictment that he is not content to let everyone live in peace and live happily ever after.     

Relief Tinged with Sadness

As someone (thanks Pete) pointed out to me, the First Division play-off final is not about two football teams but rather a contest between the best two drinking towns in the country. Why not forget the football (unless the blue and white team come out on top) and just vote for the city or town where you would rather spend your Saturday's next year.

Sadly though, before I wrote this I read of the death of Dave Wickett, a man who has done much to place Sheffield on the beer map. The head brewer of Kelham Island died after a fight against illness at far too young an age. I never knew him, but frequently raved about his beer. He will be sorely missed.  

Calypso - another new hop to try

As regular readers know, one of the things I like to try are single hopped beers, and should those beers be made with a new variety of hop the pleasure is doubly increased. Yesterday, to make up for the disappointment of the previous post, I came across one such beer, made by one of my favourite breweries. It was a win-win situation.

Pictish 'Calypso' is a 4.2% beer, light coloured, and with subtle rather than aggressive hop flavour. I had been told by someone who has had another brewery's take on the beer that it had an almost overpowering taste of mandarin, but I did not experience this, whether that being down to Pictish's brewing skills or the use of a different amount of hops I cannot really be sure. My first impression was more of apples or pears in the background, and a pleasant tang of citrus on the tongue. For a hop fairly high in alpha acids (12% or thereabouts), it was not especially bitter or astringent. Other flavours did come through during my pint, mostly fruit flavours but difficult to distinguish. It is an American hop, derived from Nugget and another hop whose name eludes me at present.

So should new hops be your thing, keep a look out for it. The Pictish version is available in the Rat at present and another barrel is in the cellar at the Star, and no doubt other breweries will find it and try it. At first try it seems a winner, but only time will tell.