Summer Sun and Sneezing

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Summer is coming! We’ve already had a sneak peak of whats to come with some sunny bank holidays and as the days get longer we can look forward to more outdoor activities as well as warm lazy afternoons. Whilst I look forward to bright, sunny days at barbecues or sat in beer gardens there is one thing that I could do without … hay fever.

Hay fever symptoms started effecting me in my early adulthood and I have had to find ways of managing them. Recently, however, I have noticed a pattern of itchy eyes and sneezing after I’ve been drinking beer both at home or when I’ve been out socialising. I decided to do some research and I was surprised to find out that beer contains histamines. In the human body, histamines are a defence mechanism produced by the immune system which help to get rid of allergens by whatever means possible, for example: sneezing. Histamine is also produced by yeast and natural bacteria during the fermentation process so can be found in many dark fermented alcohols like wine as well as beer. Through the research I also discovered that the presence of sulphites, found in hops (and grapes), can cause allergy symptoms which effect many people who already have a sensitivity to preservatives.

It’s not all bad news though for hay fever sufferers as there are some alcohols that have lower levels of histamines and a study conducted by Asthma UK found that drinking lighter spirits, such as gin or vodka, can minimise allergy symptoms. Great news for breweries that have their own range of gins! I wrote a post last year about breweries producing gins based on some of their favourite beer recipes, which can be found here. Since writing this blog post Tiny Rebel released their trio of beer inspired spirits with Dutty, Cwtch and Clwb Tropicana being given the gin treatment.

Although there is not much written on this subject, I found the research very interesting and I felt that it explained a few things about my experience with hay fever symptoms. Talking to my friends, I discovered that they have also noticed they perhaps felt a bit more sniffly after a few beers during the summer months but they had no idea that there may have been a reason for that. Despite this it hasn’t made me change my drinking habits. I enjoy a gin every now and then, as well as rum or an occasional cider but it doesn’t change the fact that, in my opinion, there is nothing better then a refreshingly chilled beer on a hot summer’s day.

Small Beers – Big Flavours

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“Why don’t more places sell low ABV beers like this?” I asked as I took my first sip of Marble Brewery’s Petite Small IPA.

Fireplace at Marble Arch

After arriving in Manchester a day earlier than expected for the Cloudwater Friends & Family & Beer festival my partner and I used this a good opportunity to try some bars and pubs we had not been to before in the city. We decided to make the trip to Marble Arch, which is somewhere we had always wanted to visit, so we braved the weather and it did not disappoint. The interior of the Grade II listed building is breathtaking with a beautifully tiled floor that leads you towards the bar. The cosy fireplace in the middle of the room was very welcoming and after the walk in the rain I made myself comfortable in a vintage armchair whilst my partner went to the bar. During the course of the day we had both had quite a few beers so I really felt like I needed to slow down a little. It was then I spotted the Petite Small IPA and at 2.8% a pint of this was perfect for what I wanted. As I took my first sip I was surprised that this small beer packs a big punch. With such a low ABV I expected the mouthfeel to be a little thin but I was blown away by how hoppy and juicy my pint tasted. “Why don’t more places sell low ABV beers like this?” I asked my partner. It was then he pointed out to me that my Petite IPA was actually 20p more per pint then his Marble Pint.

Marble’s Petite IPA

My partner, who works in the industry, explained to me that the reason why we don’t see more beers like the Petite IPA could be attributed to the average consumers’ perceived value. When given the choice of a 3.9% beer or a 2.8% priced at 20p more per pint then the average consumer is likely to choose the higher ABV as they may feel this is better value for money. To be honest this isn’t something I have thought about before and it made sense, why would I spend more for beer that has lower alcohol content? My answer was at that particular moment I wanted to slow down after my afternoon of drinking and have something light and refreshing. I was then pleasantly surprised to discover that my pint tasted amazing for a small beer. I then began to think that to achieve a great tasting beer like this with a lower ABV then perhaps more hops have been added into the brew. With traditional recipes hops were added to help preserve beer however in modern brewing techniques they have taken more of a leading role to make up for lack of body as well as produce really interesting flavours. Many of the newer hops can be difficult to get hold of and are often more expensive.

Hops are not the only thing that can be added to a brew to help enhance the flavour and body of a beer. Adjuncts such as fruits or spices can add big flavour but these can also be expensive ingredients. Breweries are also using adjuncts to improve the mouthfeel of a beer and can do this quite cheaply by using grains such as oats or wheat. In January I decided to try a few low alcohol beers, not for any particular reason other then to see what they would be like and I bought the Dry January box from BeerBods. As I was making my way through the box I was amazed at how the beers had a really good mouthfeel and tasted great considering they were only 0.5% ABV. I noticed that these breweries were using more hops or adjuncts to make up for the lack of body and flavour commonly associated with low alcohol beers much like Marble’s Petite IPA.

Mosaic floor at Marble Arch

I would really like to see more small beers like Marble’s Petite IPA in bars and pubs as there is a market for it but I feel that at the moment these are underrated. There is a bit of a stigma attached to people who choose a lower ABV option which is something I have been confronted with before. I believe that to change the perceptions of the average consumer more eduction on low alcohol beers is needed. I think that bar staff should play a large role in this by encouraging people to try samples and discuss that big flavour doesn’t also have to mean a high ABV.

Under the Spotlight: Devitera

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This Tryanuary I thought it would be a good opportunity to visit a local microbrewery that I had not been to before. Devitera is based in the small village of Rowde in Wiltshire surrounded by picturesque countryside and sloping fields of barley. Nearby is the county’s famous Caen Hill locks, a stretch of canal with 29 locks to navigate through, linking Rowde to the market town of Devizes. Devizes has a long history of brewing that goes back to the 18th Century and most notably beer giant Wadworth established their brewery in 1875. Now in Wiltshire we are finding a new breed of brewers who are emerging with more modern techniques and exciting ideas. Glen is the man behind Devitera, who’s name originates from the latin words ‘ad divisas’ (boundaries) and “terra’ (land). Devitera has been created with the idea of making ’beer beyond boundaries’ and using Glen’s unique approach to brewing.
 
Chemical formula of Rowde water
As I made my way over to Rowde, with my Sat Nav route taking me down small and windy country roads, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect on my arrival. I turned into a small access road just off Rowde’s high street and drove into darkness as the street light faded away behind me. The end of the road opened up to a large space and I recognised the Devitera logo on an A board outside the brewery. There I was greeted by Glen who invited me inside to see him prepping for next day’s bottling. “Not many people get to see this” Glen said to me as I watched him thoughtfully set up his bottling equipment. I look around whilst Glen finishes up and we chat about my beer journey before he begins to tell me all about Devitera. 
Following redundancy from his job in IT, Glen decided he would work for himself and set up a brewery. Although Devitera has been 2 years in the making it had a bumpy start. Problems with the premises, legal issues and losing a brewing partner were all a set back. During this time Glen began to write about his experiences in his blog which he had found to be quite cathartic throughout his beer journey. Despite all the problems Devitera has now been brewing beer for the last year commercially and making a name for itself in Wiltshire.
 
Glen hasn’t had any formal training except for taking a standard course in brewing as well as one in business management so he is mostly self taught. Glen started out using pre-packaged home-brew kits in buckets and then worked up to creating his own recipes using his Grain Father which is still used today as a pilot kit for new ideas.He has also been a fan of drinking beer and when I asked him what sort of styles got in him interested in brewing he replied, “everything!”.
 
What struck me about this brewery is that everything has been designed specifically with the beer’s journey in mind. The brewing equipment used to be old dairy vessels which have been modified for the purpose of making beer. Glen has a very engineering mind and is very good at problem solving to help make the brewhouse work for him. This was particularly true when he explained to me that the length of his labelling table was exactly 24 bottles – perfect for a full case of beer! Many of the work surfaces, display materials and cask racks have been made from reclaimed wood and repurposed in an inventive way. 
 
Most of the ingredients for Devitera’s beers are sourced as locally as they can be. The malt is picked up just down the road at Warminster Maltings (one of Britain’s oldest maltings) and Glen has also been known to forage for local hops. I was able to try a sample of Devitera’s English Pale Ale whilst I was at the brewery which to me had some grassy notes and a pleasant dry finish. I had come across Devitera’s beers before and have previously tried their American Pale Ale as well as the Power Fail English Pale Ale, both of which I enjoyed. I was also given a sneak peek at one of Glen’s latest projects working with different types of yeast. He recently acquired some Sicilian wild yeast from a local bakery and did a test brew to see how it would react. When we tasted it we agreed it had a pithy citrus flavour and I am quite excited to see what Glen decides to brew once he’s finished with this experiment. 
 
So what does the future hold for Devitera? Glen explained to me that eventually he would like to be able to open up a tap room within the current brewhouse and sell his version of Weissebier, which is one of his dream brews. It is obvious that Glen is very passionate about what he does and it shows in his attention to detail from the cleanliness of the tanks to the way the bottles are packaged. He sees his product from start to finish making this a true artisan beer. I hope to see more of Devitera in the future and will keep an eye out for their beers not just this Tryanuary, but all year around.
Devitera Website: https://devitera.co.uk

Golden Pints Awards 2018

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It’s coming up to the end of another year so I thought I’d take the opportunity to reflect on some of the best beery experiences I’ve had this year and write up my own Golden Pints winners for 2018. For my list of categories I looked at a few other blogs and podcasts and chose the best based on my year of beer. Without further ado here are my Winners and Honourable Mentions for Golden Pints Awards this year!

Best UK Cask Beer
This year I have tried to drink more cask ales as part of my New Beers Resolutions 2017 by going to more festivals and trying out more traditional beer styles. For this category I have awarded my winner as Covert from Stealth Brew Co as this has been the cask beer that I have enjoyed the most this year. Stealth Brew Co is my local brewery and Covert has been my cask ale of choice over the summer at the brewery’s open weekends as it is packed wth refreshing Citra hops making it very drinkable.  

Honourable mention goes to Arbor’s Shangri-La which was a very close second. Another cask ale that if I saw was on the menu I would order a pint or two! 

Best UK Keg Beer
There was no question who this was going to get awarded to. It has been one of the most talked about beers this year and my first choice keg beer, Keller Pils from Lost & Grounded. This has been my go to beer of the year and I think it has changed some people’s opinions, including mine, on lager beer styles. 

Honourable mention to Burning Sky’s Coolship Release No. 1 which was brewed for Burning Sky’s 5th Birthday. I was fortunate to try this at Small Bar Bristol who were one of the venues involved holding an event on the the release of this beer. I really enjoyed the tartness and it reminded me of some of the saisons I had tried in Belgium last year. 

Best Collaboration
This was a tricky award to pick as there’s been so many great brewery collaborations this year so I decided to choose a collaborative project as my winner. I’ve chosen the North Sea Bridges, a project with Scottish and Scandinavian breweries collaborating to reflect on the historic trading links between the two nations. I really enjoyed working my way through this box and I can’t wait to see what the project comes up with next year when the Scandinavians host Scotland. 

Honourable mentions go to some of the other collaborative projects I’ve had this year, Wylam’s Northern Powerhouse series and the Rainbow Project 2018. I also wanted to give a shout out to Buxton and Omnipollo who’s range of Ice Cream beers have always been exciting, especially with the soft serve option. We might be saying goodbye to Yellow Belly but hopefully we can still see some great collab beers from these guys next year. 

Best UK Brewery 
My winner for this award is Mills Brewing who I discovered this year. Based in Gloucester, Jonny and Gen are using wild fermentation and blending to create some amazing lambic beers. I really like the Belgian influence of their beers and I particularly enjoyed drinking Running Beer this year. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Mills Brewing. 

Best Pub/Bar of the Year
Caskaway gets my first prize for this category as it is one of my favourite places to visit when I am in Southampton. Ian, Alex and the team are great hosts who always make you feel welcome and there is always great beers on the menu. I don’t get to go to Caskaway as much as I’d like so I always make sure I visit when I’m down by the South Coast.  

Honourable mentions go to The Convivial Rabbit in Dorchester who’s cask ales are kept in really good condition and to The Vaults in Devizes which I credit as one of the places that got me started on my beer journey. 
Best Brewery Tap Room
I visited my winner for this award on a trip to Leeds and Huddersfield just before Christmas. Magic Rock is one of my all time favourite tap rooms and I have enjoyed many a beer in there. The tap room itself is a great sized space and there is always a good range of beers on keg as well as cask. I really like that you can see through a window to some of the brewing equipment which keeps the tap room connected to the brewery. I’ve also enjoyed some really great street food here from guest food vendors who pitch up outside. The only problem is that Huddersfield is quite far from where I live so whenever we’re heading up North I always make sure to pop into the Magic Rock tap room. 

Honourable mentions go to Moor and Lost & Grounded as I have spent a lot of time this year in these tap rooms. I’ve spent a few afternoons at Lost & Grounded for their Summer Brewhouse Sessions and Winter Blowout as well as an exclusive tasting during Beer o’clock show’s #CrimboCrawl2018. Moor isn’t too far from Bristol Temple Meads train station so it’s always a great way to start or finish a day out in the city. 

Best Food and Beer Destination
This award has to go to Bundobust. I’ve had the pleasure of going to both the Manchester and Leeds restaurants and both times the food and beer menus have been incredible. I really like that some of the local breweries produce beers in collaboration with Bundobust so that they compliment the food, my particular favourite being their Bombay Dazzler Indian Witbier produced with Northern Monk. I also really enjoy that the food is a bit like Indian Tapas and I quite often order 4 or 5 things off the menu to share with my boyfriend, including the infamous Vada Pav. Keeping everything crossed that a Bundobust might open a restaurant further down south so I can get a regular fix.

Honourable mention goes to Wings Diner at Small Bar Bristol who produce some of the best fried chicken I have ever had and the Korean dip is insane. A must if your feeling peckish on King Street! 

Best Bottle Shop
My Golden Pints winner for the Best Bottle Shop of the year goes to Independent Spirit of Bath. This bottle shop always has a great range of beers and is where I stocked up on rarer beers this year. The guys in there are very friendly and knowledgeable about beer as well as spirits, including whiskey and rum. Independent Spirit also hold tasting events and this year I attended their beer ‘off’ flavours workshop to brush up on my knowledge. Overall the service I get in the Independent Spirit is above and beyond compared with other places which makes them my winner this year. 

Simon Johnson award for Best Twitterer 
I’m giving this award to Tom @CraftBeerHour for his weekly #CraftBeerHour segment. Tom organises for guests and followers to get involved every Tuesday to drink and talk about beer. He also organises competitions with help from breweries to boost interaction and up until recently has also been the face of the Tryanuary campaign. He is enthusiastic and engaging with his followers which is why he deserves to be recognised for this award. 

Honourable mention goes to Doreen @ourdoreen for her #LetsBeerPositive initiative. In a year where there has been quite a bit of negativity within the beer industry Doreen’s weekly beery questions help us to see and share our positive experiences with others. 

Best Beery Adventure
My highlight of the year has been travelling to Berlin and drinking so much German beer. I’ve been to some great bars and tap rooms within the city thanks to recommendations from my followers and my favourite memory will be sitting out in warm autumnal sunshine at Stone Berlin. Thank you everyone that got involved and offered me suggestions for places to visit for great beer! 

Honourable mentions to East Bristol Brewery Trail and to Beer o’clock Show’s Bristol Crimbo Crawl. 

Best Beer Festival
My final award for Best Beer Festival goes to Indy Man Beer Con. I’ve been going to IMBC for the last 4 years and it is always the highlight of my events calendar. It is one of the largest festivals of the year with a huge collection of independent breweries and is held at the Victoria Baths in Manchester. When you enter IMBC it is a bit like feeling like a kid in a sweet shop and I never know where to start. This year I really enjoyed the Buxton X Omnipollo Ice Cream soft serve and had the opportunity to try a range of beers over two sessions. The food choice was also amazing at the food court outside and as always the annual cutting of Wild Beer’s Westcombe Cheese was frenzied. There really is something for everyone at this festival which is why it has to be my winner for the Best Beer Festival. 

Honourable mentions go to St Austell’s Celtic Beer Festival and Frome Craft Beer Festival. It was the first time for me this year to attend these two festivals and they were very different in their own way. In the summer at the Frome Craft Beer Festival there was a battle between Brewed Boy and Palmer Street Bottle, two bars in the town, to see who could bring the best beers to the festival. I had a great day at this event as I got to try some amazing beers. Hopefully Brewed Boy and Palmer Street Bottle will run it again next year. 

In November I was invited to attend the Celtic Beer Festival as my boyfriend works for St Austell and I was blown away by the scale of the event. I really enjoyed drinking the St Austell small batch beers produced especially for the festival and one of my highlights of the day was watching the Commitments perform live at the end of the evening. 

So that concludes my summery of this year’s Golden Pint Awards. I can’t wait to see what next year will bring to the beer industry. Although some things will be ending hopefully there will be some new and exciting beginnings. 

Hoppy New Year Everyone!

Summer of 2018 – The Year of the Lager

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The Summer of 2018 will be remembered for many things. We cheered on the England football team in this year’s World Cup truly believing that it was “coming home”. We also had the Royal Wedding and to top it all off we had one of the hottest summers on record in the UK. But helping to celebrate all that there was one particular beer style that was on everybody’s lips, lager! I, like a lot of others this summer, have craved the light, clean and crisp taste of a cold pint of lager. In the Cask Report 2018, lager accounted for 65% of on-trade sales in the UK making it the most popular beer style in the country. This is mostly thanks to the macrobreweries but they have also given the style a bad reputation amongst beer lovers. Like many other people, macro lager was the very first style of beer I tried but back then I didn’t drink it to savour it. As I started trying different beer styles I admit that I did get put off from lager, finding it was a bit bland and overly carbonated. However this year I have discovered that more breweries are producing their own versions of lager to a much higher standard. One brewery who have led the resurgence of quality lager are Bristol based brewers Lost & Grounded, who since starting in 2016, have produced one of the most talked about lagers this year with their Keller Pils. When I tried this lager it completely changed the way that I perceived the style and has become a go to beer for me on numerous visits to their brewery as well as at home with their cans becoming a fridge staple. When I saw that BeerBods were doing The Lager Box 2018, championing some of the UKs best interpretations of the style, I knew I had to snap one up.
 
 
Inside the BeerBods Lager Box there was a selection of 15 lager styles from a range of British breweries, some well known and others who were new to me. A few of my highlights I enjoyed included Vocation’s Yakima Pilsner and Stroud Brewery’s Light Organic Lager (LOL) both of which were really light, crisp and refreshing which is just want you want from this style of beer. One of the beers that surprised me was Summer from ShinDigger which was packed full of fruity watermelon flavour. This was really refreshing and very sessionable, perfect for lazy summer days or BBQs! There were also some great crowd pleasers in the box, most notably Magic Rock’s Dancing Bear, Thornbridge’s Lukas, Tiny Rebel’s Boho and the infamous Lost & Grounded Keller Pils, all of which would be my ‘go to’ lagers. Whilst working my way through the box I did find that one or two of the beers reminded me of macrobrewery versions however I felt that this has been a great display of British lager and can’t wait to try other brewery’s versions of this underrated style. 
 
To finish off my summer of lager I took a trip to Berlin with my partner to drink the beer style close to its original source. Lager was first produced by the Germans in Bavaria in the early 19th century and the name is derived from ‘lagern’ (meaning to store). It didn’t take long walking around Berlin to find classic German lager. As well as going to bars and beer halls around the city you can also buy lager at street food stalls, which is where I found myself trying Berlin’s famous sausage dish – Currywurst. Whilst in Berlin I went into a couple of traditional beer halls (Hofbrӓu and Augustiner) who were serving a range of lagers as well as Märzen, a style traditionally brewed for Oktoberfest which can be read more about here. It was hard not to order a litre stein of lager especially when the weather was unexpectedly sunny with temperatures of 25℃ in October! There is no style of beer that you would think about ordering in litre measures except for lager. I thought that the larger measures would mean you wouldn’t have to order more beer too frequently, particularly in a busy beer hall! However I found that it is interesting to taste how the flavour changes as it warms up, much like how we serve lager in tall glasses in the UK and other parts of Europe.  
Lager is very accessible style of beer which is noticeable when you go out with a group of friends as the experience of drinking it can be shared. Quite often I find when I go out for a beer as a group we will all order something different and we treat the beers like Pokémon, trying to taste them all. But if we see L&G Keller Pils is on the menu we all order pints and drink it together. In my view this year has seen the revival of lager with more breweries tackling the style and making it their own. Lager has come a long way from the macro styles I used to drink as a teenager and it has definitely changed my perception of this beer. Now that autumn is upon us and the nights draw in we will look to darker beer styles for comfort, but we will always remember the summer of 2018 as the year of the lager!

Ein Prosit to Oktoberfest!

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This year my partner and I decided to book a trip to Berlin for our annual holiday. “Is it a good idea for us to be booking a trip to Germany in October?” I asked as we were booking the flights. I, like probably a lot of other people, believed that Oktoberfest is celebrated in October to coincide with the end of the harvest. It wasn’t until I did some research into Oktoberfest that I discovered the true history of the Bavarian festival. I purchased a box from Beer Hawk of official Oktoberfest beers brewed by Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrӓu, Lӧwenbrӓu, Paulaner and Spӓten (unfortunately I was unable to get hold of a bottle from Augustiner), to get a taste of this traditional German festival. I also bought a range of ‘Crafty Oktoberfest’ style beers by breweries from the rest of the world: Erdinger, Tempest Brewing Co., Goose Island, Thornbridge and Blue Point, to try their interpretations.
The first Oktoberfest event took place in Munich on the 12th October 1810 to celebrate the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The citizens of Munich were invited to a fairground on the fields at the city’s gates for the festivities and a parade was held in honour of the marriage. The fields were later called ‘Theresienwiese’ which translates as ‘Theresa’s Meadow’ after the Princess. Today, the locals shorten Oktoberfest to ‘Wiesen’ after the original fairground fields. The wedding celebrations went down so well that it was decided Munich would continue to hold an annual festival and in 1811 a horse racing event began. Over the next few years more activities were added to the festival including carnival booths, swings, bowling alleys as well as other attractions. 
Over the years there have been historic events which have affected the running of Oktoberfest. An outbreak of cholera and war, in particular World Wars 1 and 2, lead to the festival being cancelled. Despite this Oktoberfest has only missed out on 24 events since it began in 1810. At the end of the 19th Century Oktoberfest was re-organised and beer halls (bierkellers) with live music were introduced to the festival. The first Bratwursts were sold in 1881 and in 1892 beer was first served in glass steins/mugs (bierkrugs). 
Oktoberfest as we know it today began in 1950 and is held from Mid-September until the first weekend in October. The festival is opened in the same traditional way in Munich starting with a 12 gun salute before the first keg of Oktoberfest beer is tapped by the Mayor at 12:00pm who shouts ‘O’zapft is!’ (It’s tapped!). The first litre of beer is gifted to the Minister-President of the state of Bavaria and then the festival begins! 
Each year Munich’s ‘Big Six’ breweries; Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrӓu, Lӧwenbrӓu, Paulaner and Spӓten, are the only ones permitted to produce a special Oktoberfest lager for the occasion. To be an Oktoberfest beer it must have been brewed within Munich’s city walls and must conform to Reinheitsgebot. Reinheitsgebot, which is sometimes referred as the ‘German Beer Purity Law’ in English, is a regulation limiting the number of ingredients used in the production of German beer. Large quantities of beer is usually consumed at Oktoberfest, as you can imagine, and in 2013 it was reported that 7.7 million litres was served!
After all this research I couldn’t wait to start trying the Oktoberfest beers so I started off with the traditional styles followed by the ‘crafty’ box. As expected the traditional Oktoberfest beers have similar flavours due to the purity law but there were one or two differences that helped make them stand out. Out of all the traditional beers I tried my favourites were from Hacker-Pschorr and Paulener. The Hacker-Pschorr Oktberfest Marzen was really sweet with toffee and nutty flavours. The Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier was not as sweet but was really crisp and more lager-like in flavour. It reminded me of a Keller Pils and was very drinkable. I found that the ‘crafty’ Oktoberfest beers were more hoppy in flavour. This was especially apparent with Tempest’s A Touch of Prost where the hops gave a real citrusy flavour. However my favourite of the ‘crafty’ Oktoberfest beers was Thornbridge’s Feallen as I felt it was the truest to the traditional style with it’s sweeter, caramel flavours. 
Today we associate Oktoberfest with Lederhosen, Oompa music, German beer and fun! Last year Adidas produced a range of trainers designed to be beer/vomit repellent, poking fun at the boozy side of the festival and this year Munich football club released a 1860 Oktoberfest themed football kit especially for the event. Since the first Oktoberfest the festival has become a big tourist attraction in Germany but it is also widely celebrated around the world. In this country supermarkets such as Waitrose and mail order websites like Beer Hawk are selling more German beers, giving us more access to these styles. Perfect for if you want to celebrate Oktoberfest yourself without getting on a plane! So Ein Prosit (a toast) to Oktoberfest!

Cask Ale Week 2018

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This week is Cask Ale week and it got me thinking about my New Beer Resolutions I wrote about back in January for #Tryanuary, one of which was a pledge to drink more cask beer. I wanted to drink more cask ales as usually I avoid them for more unusual flavoured beers and crazy kegs! I used to think that cask beers were all about best bitters but I felt like I needed to broaden my beer horizon and learn about more traditional styles.
To help meet this resolution I have consciously tried to attend more cask ale festivals and events this year. This summer I went to the Southampton Beer Festival as well as a local one in Devizes. I was surprised that at both of these events there was such a variety of beers on offer from both traditional as well as more modern breweries and I didn’t struggle to find something I’d like. In August I was also fortunate enough to be able to attend The Great British Beer Festival at The Olympia in London which I have previously written about here. Although I was unsure what I’d think of the GBBF I came away feeling that this festival really did change my perception of cask ale. I felt like I was a kid in a sweet shop, the variety of beer styles made it really hard to choose what to drink next. I particularly enjoyed the Thornbridge Brewery bar where I tried the Melba and Jessamine although it was hard not to have a pint of cask Jaipur!
I’ve also been drinking more cask beer when visiting pubs, the stand out has probably been my new love for Arbor Ales cask beer! When I saw on social media that a cask of Shangri-La came on at a local pub we just happened to be visiting that night I was genuinely excited to order my first pint, and it did not disappoint! Another cask ale I cant get enough of at the moment is Covert from Stealth Brew Co. who recently underwent a re-brand of the brewery which you can read about here. This summer Stealth has held open weekends and although they have some other brilliant beers on I just keep going back to the Covert. It has the perfect hoppy hit from the Citra that leaves you wanting more with exceptional drinkability. 
I feel like I’ve come quite far in just this year considering I didn’t think that cask ale would be for me. I’ve found some new favourite cask ales as well as discovering the breweries behind them. The beer festivals I’ve been too have also shown me that cask ale is much more than traditional bitter and I’m excited to keep discovering more favourites!
 
 

Collaboration Beer Projects

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After five years the Rainbow Project is ending and going out with a bang with their limited boxes of barrel aged beers. Having followed the project for the last three years, I was a little gutted that it was over so soon. The project was first set up by Siren to promote collaboration and creativity of the beers brewed. It’s been really great to see how breweries have thought outside the box with their colour themes to produce some really innovative beers, the most famous being Yellow Belly and Key Lime Tau. The best outcome from the Rainbow Project has to be the new friendships created from the collaborations. Perhaps this is why the project has met a natural conclusion. More breweries than ever are collaborating together to produce special editions as well as beers for events and festivals. Previously I’ve had to plan weekends to go and try the Rainbow Project beers as it seemed like a huge event but this year it seemed more readily available at venues and with mail order cases. There also doesn’t seem to be as much hype this year then it has done in previous years. I’ve always been very excited to hear about the releases as well as who’d paired with who but I didn’t really feel the buzz this year. I’ve seen people comment that they felt this last box was a little too heavy on sour beers. This didn’t bother me as I enjoy sour styles and saisons are good for barrel ageing. However the project could have been more diverse with beer styles and it would have been nice to see an impy stout or two. Despite this I still really enjoyed spending an afternoon with my Rainbow Project box with my highlights being the Rosa Rouge by Wild Beer & Side Project as well as Saison Green by Partizan & New Belgium.
 
 
This year I have also tried a few of other limited edition beer boxes, the Northern Powerhouse 2018, Fullers and Friends and the North Sea Bridges. The Northern Powerhouse series, the brain child of Wylam Brewery, was created as a celebration of the North of England. The box championed the region’s independent brewers with the can designs reflecting the landmarks of the towns and cities the beers were produced in. There was a huge buzz when these beers were released and the full boxes were limited to only 6,600 cases so you had to be quick to get your hands on one. Fullers and Friends, on the other hand, were much more available as they were produced on a larger scale at the Griffin Brewery. What made these beers different was seeing one of Britain’s oldest breweries team up with six that are up and coming. The result was a mixture of traditional and modern brewing techniques creating six unique and very drinkable beers. 
 
This year was the launch of the North Sea Bridges Project which was born from the historic trade relations of Scotland and Scandinavia. Dubbed as the next Rainbow Project, this collaboration saw six Scottish and Scandi breweries randomly paired together to learn from each other, forge friendships and produce fun beers. This year the brewing has been done in Scotland and next year will be Scandinavia’s turn to host. I really enjoyed drinking my way through this box and if I had to choose a favourite then I’d go for the Cowberry Heart. It was fruity with a tart finish from the Lingonberries but all the beers from the project tasted amazing so its hard to just pick one!
Although the end of the Rainbow Project is sad I am glad that there are other special limited edition ranges being created. Each of these boxes are a bit like a music album. They are bodies of work where the singles compliment each other to tell a story. These boxes have brought breweries together to from near and far corners of the world as well as help encourage growth of knowledge amongst the brewers. I feel that these collaborative projects are a great platform for lesser known breweries stand out as well as fuelling peoples urges to travel to try new beers. The Rainbow Project was one of the first annual beer events I got excited about and I’m glad it wont be my last.

**UPDATE** 29/09/2018

Yesterday Siren announced that the Rainbow Project isn’t ending. In their latest blog they explain that although they will not be continuing to host the project they have decided to pass the torch onto Left Handed Giant. LHG will be continuing the Rainbow Project with other young breweries (3 years old or less) with a view to create a platform for a new generation. This is really exciting news as I have really enjoyed following the Rainbow Project over the years. I first tried the Rainbow Project at Small Bar Bristol and have continued to follow it since by attending other launch parties as well as buying boxes to drink at home. I look forward to seeing the new Class of 2019!

The Great British Beer Festival 2018

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On Tuesday I had the opportunity to go along to the Trade Session of The Great British Beer Festival 2018 at the Olympia in London. This year marks the 41st GBBF for CAMRA and was set to be the biggest yet. To be honest I’ve not really rushed to attend this festival as I didn’t feel it was for me. However this year I pledged to drink more cask ale as part of my New Beer Resolutions so I thought I’d give it a try.
The first thing that struck me was the sheer size of the event’s venue. The Olympia was so much bigger than I was expecting, as well as light and airy under the domed roof. Then I found myself quite overwhelmed by the number of beers available. The festival boasted featuring over 400 breweries pouring more than 1000 beers, ciders and perries. It felt like being in a sweet shop and I had no idea where I was going to start. I always thought that at this type of festival there would be a lot of perhaps ‘old fashioned’ traditional ales but I was wrong. There were the styles you’d expect to see like mild, golden ales and porters but as I went along the bars I found there were a few more modern takes on traditional brews. One that stood out was Melba by Thornbridge Brewery which surprised me with how peachy it tasted. The International Bar also didn’t disappoint as it showcased some top breweries from Europe and America. Unfortunately the American beers were not available for the Trade Session but there was plenty of other great international beers to try!
I had the privilege of meeting some of the guys from Siren Craft Brew and congratulated them on winning Champion Beer of Britain with their Broken Dream Breakfast Stout. This was well deserved as Siren have produced so many great beers, a couple of my highlights include Limoncello IPA and more recently their collaboration beer with DEYA Brewing Company, The Sky Was Pink. I asked them what they’ll do now they’ve won CAMRA’s highest accolade and they said they will probably brew more crazy beers! 
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed The Great British Beer Festival. I was concerned that it would be a bit old fashioned for me but I was impressed by the range of more modern takes on traditional ales. I wasn’t stuck for things to try and I felt that although there might have been too much choice, there were enough beer styles to suit everyone’s tastes. I think that the experience has definitely made me think differently about cask ales and I feel that it has given me more confidence to try a few more!

Under the Spotlight: Stealth Brew Co.

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The market town of Melksham in Wiltshire is home to the Stealth Brew Co. Formally known as the Kennet & Avon, the brewery has been given a new guise so it stands out within a traditional market. In a county where there are many large and well established traditional breweries, Stealth Brew Co. have stepped out from the shadow with new branding as well as some more experimental and exciting beers. The brewery have produced some more modern, hop forward brews and have added some keg beers to their existing portfolio of cask ales. I have been familiar with Stealth Brew Co. since visiting their micro pub, The Vaults, in Devizes four years ago and have since come to know the team. I caught up with one of the brewery’s partners, Malcolm, to ask him a bit more about the change in identity.  

The process for the new branding started in September 2017 with the final decision made in April 2018. The team felt that the old brand, Kennet & Avon, localised the products too much and felt that they were always having to explain the concept to anyone outside of the South West.  “We felt it’s important to have a brand name that doesn’t need any explanation or point to the area it is made, the brand lets the beer do the talking” says Malcolm. With the local area flooded with traditionally brewed styles, Stealth made it their mission to differentiate themselves. One way I feel that they are achieving this is by their decision not to use finings in their brews and producing naturally hazy beers. This was really important to the team at Stealth as they found a huge difference in flavour between fined and unfined beers on testing. It was then they decided to choose quality of flavour over clarity which has been well received by the regulars. Malcolm explains that they have clearly marked the beers as hazy and that this has not deterred consumers. 
 

Stealth Brew Co. also champion gluten free ales after a friend of Malcolm’s explained she was unable to drink beer like everyone else due to her gluten intolerance. This is a growing concern in the food and drink industry with 1 in 100 people suffering from coeliac disease so after investigating various brewing techniques Stealth launched their first gluten free stout in 2015 with more styles brewed since then. Many of the beer styles produced by the brewery are favourites of the team as well as by customers. “We are now brewing modern beers that we love to drink ourselves, by doing that it is a lot easier to sell it because you’re passionate about it.” says Malcolm. When I asked which was his favourite beer from the range Malcolm said, “That would have to be Camouflage”, which is Stealth’s stout/pale ale hybrid with a sessionable ABV of 4.7%. Malcolm also goes on to say that on a hot day he loves the citrusy flavours of Covert and I have to agree. This has got to be my favourites from the range however I’m looking forward to trying their new double IPA Surreptitious on keg!

 

Future plans for the brewery include canning their range of beers to open up a wider market as well as working towards opening another micro pub by the end of the year. Stealth Brew Co. would also like to develop the Tap Room and Backyard so that they can open it more on a weekly basis. Over this summer Stealth are hosting Pop Up Beer Garden Open Weekends to show off the new beer range with more dates lined up for August and September. 

So with Stealth Brew Co. lifting the veil, I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the future!