Apr 26 2014
Bottled Ales – April 2014 – Pt 4
“You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline – it helps if you have some kind of a football team,
or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.” Frank Zappa
(Nicked without ceremony from the excellent website www.aswiftone.com)
“Between lightning and thunder, 3 seconds the gap. A warm candle glow keeps this wood room from black,
My cat, she sleeps on an old clippy mat, purring out echoes of faint pitter pat,
As the rain pours down in the yard. Rain, that most haunting sound.
Rain, makes beautiful music and rain brings peace upon all whom it pours.”
(“Rain” – Martin Stephenson & The Daintees)
(Video courtesy of GTG5573 on You Tube)
No link to a beer this week for the song. This choice was inspired by just looking outside of my window as I started typing!
Some songs and albums just speak of a time in our lives. Some, not many, can do that and remain timeless. One such album (for me) is Boat To Bolivia by Martin Stephenson & The Daintees. It speaks of a time when this particular young man was a-courtin’ the young lady who was to become (and remains) my wife of nearly 25 years (she’s eligible for parole next year!)
Released in 1986, it is choc full of timeless songwriting. Tackling some heavy duty subject matter with a lightness of touch, from Crocodile Cryer through to Rain – (and the reggae inflected bonus title track), this is songwriting to simultaneously wallow and delight in. Just a joy, and one of the few albums my dearest brought into the marriage that we agreed on! Ah. The memories of my darling hobbit – all 4’8″ of her- having to sit on my shoulder so she could see the band at The International II in 1989! Priceless. A great album, often overlooked. Get on Spotify and have a listen!
Anyway – On to the beer eh?
If you have ever read one of these before, you will know what comes next! If you haven’t….this is the format…
1. The Beer, 2. The Brewer, 3. The Strength, 4. The beer style, 5. The Price & Size, 6. The discount (and why, eg: for CAMRA membership or shop deal, where applicable) 7. Where from, and, If a website for the vendor exists, the hyperlink to the shop / brewer website, just in case you are inspired enough by my ramblings to make a purchase! Here goes….And remember, if you like the look of something, click on the (purple) hyperlink!
1. Pale – Squawk Brewing Company (Ardwick, Manchester) – 4.9% abv – Pale Ale – £2.69 (330ml) – 10% for 12 Bottles – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)
Beautifully carbonated and as gold as a Yukon wet dream, with a white head and a pacific hop aroma that makes me want to break out the grass skirt and dance a hula!
Making me drool. Seriously drool! Oooh Matron! Sharp. Really sharp in the mouth with enough grapefruit to start a fruit shop. A really bold beer! Light to medium-bodied, the initial fruitiness is immediately followed by a bitterness tsunami, crested by piney resins, like white foamy horses stamping around your mouth.
Hugely refreshing and full of flavour, go buy one and treat yourself. Oliver Turton done good. Again.
2. The IPA – Anspach & Hobday (Bermondsey, S London) – 6% abv – IPA – £3.35 (330ml) – 10% for 12 Bottles – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)
A new one to me, this brewery. However, having read some recent “Bermondsey Mile” posts, including one by my beery buddy TysonTheBeerhound I was expecting something interesting, to say the least. This also came with a “Raj Recommendation” too, so, if it was crap, HIS reputation was on the line with me! So…
An enticing deep golden/amber coloured beer with a lasting white head and restrained fruity yet slightly spicy aroma that carried a buttery note. Intriguing…..
Oh boy does this come alive in the mouth with the hops (Centennial, Galaxy & Columbus) singing loud and proud! Big boned ole beer this, with a good toffeeish malty spine augmented with some ripe orange marmalade leading on to a healthy helping of apricot (2 of your 5 a day in one glass. Result!).
Really smooth this, but certainly punching all of its 6% weight. The bitterness is fairly restrained but what there is, is pounced upon by a big sticky resinous finish. Big. Full-flavoured. And the head clings to the glass to the end. Classy IPA.
3. Lupy As A Toucan (Amarillo, Citra, Galaxy, Motueka) – Cheshire Brewhouse – (Congleton, Cheshire) – 5% abv – Pale Ale – £3.50 – 15% for 12 or more – Great Ale Year Round (Bolton Market Hall)
Last Tuesday, I received some intel that a firkin of Deeply Vale’s Tipsy Porridge Stout had been tapped at Dan & Gina Buck’s excellent wee micro bar. Being like a lemming faced with a cliff….It was all lush too…DV8 barrel aged in 20 yr old Bruchladdich cask….A Beergasm…. Whilst there – just before I left – this puppy caught my eye, One of Shane Swindells’ “Lupy” range that I was yet to try….
A deep gold beer with a full white fluffy head and a hugely fruity aroma with peach and pineapple sweetness in the vanguard, Um Bongo time again!
In the mush…. Mmmm…Really fruity! The first mouthful yields a luscious peachyness upfront, then a full-on bitterness, feels like there’s more to this…so, peeling back another onion layer….orange and tangerine, followed by that wave of bitterness again. This is another lovely beer…Oops..another layer…some mango too. Then that bitterness as night follows day….Really dry bitter and grassy finish to this too. Another cracker from Mr Swindells in “The Congo” (Rhymes with “Um Bongo”…No? Ach nuts! I’m no poet. And I know it!)
4. Niamh’s Nemesis – Five Towns Brewery (Wakefield, W Yorkshire) – 5.7% – Strong Pale Ale – Direct From Brewery – 0 –
Is there a pub out there that would do me a favour, near Manchester. Get some of this beer in!
This was among 13 other bottles that I liberated from Malcolm Bastow’ s boxes when I recently popped in to collect some casks for the Allgates Road To Wigan Beer Festival. Thank you Malcolm! (On a winner immediately with the Gaelic name!)
A golden beer with a nice white lacy head and an aroma bursting with grapefruit and apricot tartness.
Really fruity again this. Full of body, with a light biscuity malt, bitter fruitiness gatecrashes in with more grapefruit and some nice tart gooseberry (hopped with Nelson Sauvin & Cascade). Fruity mouthful after fruity mouthful, this is one superb Pale Ale. I could swear I got a taste of rhubarb in there too…..
Each mouthful is followed by a good strong bitterness and the finish is really dry with those piney beasties just lurking around the corner in that aftertaste, for the unwary. This is really easy drinking, perilously so at the strength. Another corker from Outwood!
5. Mystery Beer 002 – Craft Rebellion (Who knows?) – 5.9% abv – Milk Stout – £0 (500ml) – 0 – Direct by mail
Nice shape to this bottle! The second beer to try that I’ve received from this shop. The idea of the Mystery being that you try it and see if you can figure who it is. Of course, I’m rubbish, ‘cos I’d never have had the 001 (Saison) as Partizan! Saisons may not be my personal luggage of choice….a Milk Stout however….
“Oooooooh….STOP!” (Listening to “Where Is My Mind” by The Pixies as I drink this!)
Impenetrably black. (Always a good start with a stout!) A beautifully full cappucino coloured head and a nose full of…freshly roasted coffee!…Yummy!
Bloody hell this is SO good! The first thing I get is a full-bodied, creamy smooth mouthful with that bitter coffee, like the reveille being sounded on Sgt Bilko, eye-opening!
Then, like another one of those onion layer things….that lactic sweetness pops its head out and says “Hello!” This is lush! That milky sweetness slips down oh so beautifully and reveals something slightly warming as it slides. The finish for this is slightly sweet with that bitter roast for balance. A cracking Stout!
6. Smoked Porter – Saltaire Brewery (Shipley, W Yorkshire) / Northern Monk Brew Co (Holbeck, Leeds) – 6% abv – Smoked Porter – £1.80(I think!) (500ml) – Saltaire Brewery Bottle Shop
Another collaboration from those nomadic monks, this time staying a little closer to their Yorkshire roots. (Should be brewing in their own brewery in Holbeck about now!). Have enjoyed each beer thoroughly so far, I couldn’t see a collaboration with the reliably excellent Saltaire being any different!
Almost totally black beer with a latte coloured head and an aroma with some treacle toffee and a gentle whiff of wood smoke.
This is full-bodied and really silky smooth in the mouth (oat malt). Slightly sweet, there is definitely something of the bonfire about this beer, treacle toffee certainly and a definite subtle smokiness. There is a gentler bitterness to the finish, quite dialled down on the scale, but nonetheless, there is a grassy note in the finish along with that subtle smoke. It’s a cool evening tonight and this is perfect! Please brew this again fellas, this autumn would be nice!
Another cracking batch there. Next post might be a wee brief review of the CAMRA Bolton Beer Fest from this weekend.
On that note…’til next time….
Slainte!
Jun 27 2015
The Inexorable Rising Of A Yeast Driven Brewery – Tickety Brew MTB 25/06/2015 – The Prairie Schooner in Urmston
(Ruthlessly appropriated from Website!)
My relationship with the beers of Tickety Brew didn’t exactly get off to a flying start. The first beer that I tried was Dubbel. I am no connoisseur of Belgian beer, (some would argue of any beer at all!) so the Belgian yeast thing….didn’t gel with me. A bold move, in the age of ever-increasing IBUs and hop rates, but – initially, I just didn’t get it.
I tried the Pale, more my kind of thing. And the yeast thing, didn’t seem to bother me so…..
I loved the idea of a couple making a bold move into brewing. And doing something different. Then there was the branding. Simply astonishingly distinctive.
You will never mistake a Tickety Brew beer for anything else on a shelf! They nailed it from the off.
There were two moments that sealed their place in my heart.
The first was the ludicrous attack by Halewood International, who – conglomerate that they are – sought to bully a small independent Micro. All over a catchphrase. “Tickety Boo”. For some reason, they thought that people might be confused into buying a tasty beer made with Belgian Yeast, when they actually wanted sweetened alcoholic pap. TB was seriously under threat. A new young brewery, trying to make their way in the world.
Twitter was pissed off. And Twitter does pissed off REALLY well.
Halewood saw sense. Hoorah for Twitter and Hoorah for Tickety Brew!
The next moment was directly beer related.
In 2014, Stockport Beer Festival created a Bar Nouveau, with all new local beers. One of them was Black IPA, by Tickety Brew. It blew me away. It was my favourite beer of the festival. And there were some BLOODY GOOD BEERS there too.
I met Duncan Barton (Owner/Head Brewer) over a beer or 91 at a recent Home Brew Off at Brew Dog. It’s not difficult to dazzle me with technical knowledge of brewing. But he did. And his passion for beer shone through. So, when I heard a rumour about an MTB with the aforementioned Mr Barton. I hopped on the bus (see what I did there Mr H?). And the train.
Two hours later (and NO diversions), I arrived here
I had never visited the Prairie Schooner. Urmston hasn’t drawn me for over 30 years. But this looked VERY promising. Busy. Good beers on tap. A Meet The Brewer. And a chat with some good friends. Nice outside drinking area too out front!
I was expecting a little Micro Pub. What I got was a charming distinctly two roomed bar with functional tables and bar stools to the front, with a really cosy space at the rear with some comfy chairs. Really charming place.
There were 5 beers on cask, served on gravity dispense from Slaters; (a rare outing up North for Kent’s) Caveman – with an excellent refreshing Citra Pale Ale and 3 from Stalyvegas’ own…
Following a good beery chat with Jeff, Dec and (Urmston’s own) Mr Heggs, Mr Barton stepped forward. With a pint of the Wit (luckily, he actually lives just around the corner!) And he was a natural. Talking about their formation in 2013 and how it enabled Keri & himself to spend more time with their young family, their decision to go with the Belgian yeast and be Yeast led rather than hop focussed and their gradual expansion to the point where they export their beers to Italy.
A question was asked as to how they trial their beers and experiment, I loved the self-effacing way in which Duncan discussed how they make their experimental “Tickety Few” range by what feels right. No small-scale test brews, just getting on with it. And how several of those beers have ascended to the regular or core range, like Jasmine Green Tea, Coffee & Star Anise Porter & Rose Wheat Beer.
Q : “Why a railway arch in Stalybridge”? A : Cheaper than Manchester….
This just felt really relaxed and informal. The customers interacting with the brewer, rather than bowing down and worshipping.
Duncan praised his assistant brewer Paul Walker, whilst simultaneously feeling wistful that Paul would be the one to brew a new beer “Manchester Tart”, (loads of raspberries, vanilla……). There were a few murmured “Can’t wait for that”…..
That is one of the things that has impressed me consistently with the beers that the brewery have put out this last 12 months. A sense of evolution, not revolution. Not following anyone else, but ploughing their own creative furrow. For those that know (and now those that didn’t!), TB have a regular outlet for their beers at the Crown & Kettle in Manchester. I think that I can say without fear, that over the last 9 months or so, each beer from their brewery that I have had on cask, just seems to get better and better. Consistently excellent and constantly improving.
To a stage where they are up there in my favourite 3 breweries (and there is a lot of competition for that in Manchester alone!)
The three TB beers on the bar were Pale (the darkest Pale Ale I think I’ve ever seen), NZ Pale (a MUCH paler offering) and their Wit. Each really refreshing with that slight spicyness from the yeast probably more prominent in the Pale.
I’ve spoken with Keri on a number of occasions now. Bit of an unsung heroine…… And I’ve managed to chat with Duncan a couple of times now too, they’re good people. They work well as a team up in Stalybridge. And churn out some – quite simply – outstandingly good beer.
I have a feeling that they may be putting in an appearance at a certain beer festival in late October….. 😉
This was an excellent and intimate event. Informative and friendly and relaxed. In keeping with the venue, a classy little place with a personal touch. And excellent beer. And a nice knowledgable crowd of people. Can you see where I’m going with this?
Yup. Beer People Are Good People.
On that note….
Slainte!
Big thanks to Alison & Andy for the pictures – my camera being crap!
By • Uncategorized • 1 • Tags: Caveman Brewery, Citra, NZ Pale, Pale, The Prairie Schooner, Tickety Brew, Wit