Jul 6 2013
From Grain To Glass – Allgates Quaker House Oatmeal Stout – Joshua Brooks 05/07/2013
(Congratulations Boys – You’re now the proud fathers of a bouncing baby beer!)
The journey began some time in May. when yours truly stumbled across an offer to two noted beer bloggers/writers Tyson the Beerhound and Tandleman from David Mayhall co-owner of Allgates Brewery in Wigan, being naturally curious and a bit of a cheeky blagger(sic), I finagled an invite from Mr Mayhall and so, on the 8th of June, I found myself along With Tyson, Tandleman, David and Jonathan Provost (head brewer) making a beer (read all about it) !
David and Jonathan kept the three of us regularly updated on the progress of the brew and, as the weeks went on, anticipation grew. The aim was to make an Oatmeal Stout at around 5% abv, but to make it hoppy. At the end of the brew day, David generously offered each of the three of us a firkin of the beer for us to sell to the pub/bar of our choice, the proceeds to go to a charity of our choice.
My choices were fairly simple and were given on the spot. I wanted the beer to go to Joshua Brooks and the charity to be St Anns Hospice in Little Hulton. Joshua Brooks, because it is my favourite bar in Manchester. Over the last year, since I first visited the place, I’ve developed a fondness for the place. The ales are kept well by the managers James, Jon & Nicola, there’s lots of lovely leather seating, the background music is pretty much always to my taste and the beer is excellent value.
I chose St Anns Hospice because nearly 2 years ago, when my Dad passed away from Stomach Cancer, they gave fantastic support (along with Macmillan) to both Dad and us in his last few days. I’m not one to normally support health charities as I am a firm and passionate believer in, and advocate of, the NHS. However, the people at St Anns do a fantastic job in extremely trying and emotional circumstances.
As I said earlier, we were kept updated about the progress of the beer and started to look forward to the day when it was released “into the wild”. Tandleman was the lucky sod who got to taste it first in a pub. He sold his firkin to the CAMRA National Pub of The Year, The Baum, in Rochdale and tasted it on Tuesday before, during and after his local CAMRA Branch meeting. His report whetted my appetite. He’s no mug, and he committed his thoughts on the beer to his excellent blog. Read it here
Tyson has sold his firkin to Trackside in Bury (the bar at the East Lancashire Railway station) and it may hit the bar on Tuesday or Wednesday, I hope to sample it there myself .
However, mine went to Joshua Brooks. I asked that, if possible, it could go on on Friday 05/07/2013 as I REALLY didn’t want to come to Manchester on a school night and have to restrain myself! However, when James tweeted the message on Thursday evening “It’s on!”, I was mortified. I desperately wanted to taste this beer in Joshua Brooks. Some friends also wanted to try it, so we arranged to meet in the pub at 19:00. I felt like an expectant father pacing up and down on a Maternity Ward!
As myself, Colin and his lovely wife Sue entered, it looked quite busy. With a cheery word from the doorman, I hastened to the bar where, someone else had ordered a pint. Irrationally, panic set in. Was there any left? Of course, I needn’t have worried, as the usual dimpled pint mug met the swan neck and the beer was pulled.
(Come to Daddy!)
Black, with a reassuring off white creamy head and a lovely subtle chocolate aroma, initial sensory information was promising much. In the mouth, Daddy was a very proud man indeed! A gorgeously creamy texture, lovely chocolaty notes with a dry, quite bitter hoppy finish. I think it’s safe to say that we achieved what we set out to do. We helped to create a quite creamy, dry & hoppy stout. It is a truly lovely beer that is right up my personal beer street. Conversing with Jaz, whose opinions on beer are usually spot on, summed it up for me. He labelled it as a 5 Star beer. He doesn’t rate many as 5 Star!
Those who drank it really enjoyed it and it was gratifying to receive universally excellent feedback. I was a relieved, happy and refreshed man.
(A cracking line up!)
The was an excellent beery lineup as usual. With beers from Allgates (Gin Pit), Ilkley (The Mayan) and the excellent Privateer (Vanilla Jack), there was plenty of choice for me and my pals.
After another Quaker House, I opted for a Gin Pit and The Mayan. Rather strangely, the Gin Pit had virtually no head but tasted superb, with more of the slightly astringent juniper flavour than I recalled when I had it at Trackside. A nice refreshing pint, as is standard from Allgates.
Sue, on returning from the conveniences, told me that there were some artists creating a mural on the walls with marker pens. Intrigued, I had a look….
(The full wall)
(Detail – Note the Kim Jong Il lookalike!)
….I had a chat with the two guys who were creating the “Muriel” (ah…Hilda Ogden…). I can’t speak for all, but this looks superb.
The Mayan was a beast of a different hue. A chocolate and chipotle chilli stout at 6.5% abv. Black, with a creamy head (both colour and texture) and huge dark chocolate aroma. Lovely and creamy, lots of chocolate, slightly smoky with a gentle spice heat building the deeper I waded in. First time for me with this beer. I’ve previously seen excellent reports from others on this beer. All justified.
After having the Mayan, I bottled it with the Privateer Vanilla Jack not thinking I could do it justice after such a big beer. Colin gave it a big thumbs up and I will drink that one soon, especially as they’re brewing it again. I decided therefore to venture back to the beery cradle for another Quaker House. Mmmm…lovely!
(Cheers!)
A swift incidental half of Harbour Pale Ale (keg) from Cornwall was my final at JB. Hazy and pale with a lovely mango and grapefruit nose and and really refreshing citrus flavours in the mouth. A really good beer and surprisingly refreshing for a 6% abv beer, nicely balanced. (I DO like an incidental!)
Having heard from Nate Dawg, another excellent beer blogger that there might be some beers from Redwell (new Craft brewer from Norfolk) on in Font, I thought we’d better pop in!
Font was as busy as usual. No sign of the Redwell. Maybe it was in bottles, but I wasn’t in a bottle mood. I spied a Pale Ale Citra by Quantum and looked no further. 4.5% abv and er….pale, more Citra mango and grapefruit aroma. Lovely and smooth, lots of citrus flavours and a nice bitter dry finish. Another belter from Mr Krause.
I hadn’t been to Paramount for a while to have my Paramount (Elland 1872) Porter nightcap, so, I did. It is what it is, this beer. Chocolate, coffee, smoke and OH SO creamy and delicious. A deserved award winner and a permanent at Paramount. £2.60 a pint. It felt like I was stealing it!
With Colin & Sue being my chaperones and guaranteeing my safe return home, we headed off for the usual First Bus chariot. The No 37!
An excellent evening with some of my best friends. My baby tasted superb. Excellent conversations and fun lubricated by superb beer. Tandleman would most certainly approve!
(Courtesy of the generosity of David Mayhall, Allgates Brewery & those nice people at Joshua Brooks, a substantial donation will be delivered to At Anns Hospice tomorrow. A sincere thanks to all involved.)
On that note….’til next time (probably a Bristol pubs write-up)
Slainte!
Mar 25 2018
A One Pub Afternoon – Trackside, Bury.
I know I’ve recently written about Trackside – you can read that here – but this increasingly impressive pub bears greater (and closer) scrutiny. And bears it well.
Some time ago, our little group – based on some tantalising beer list tweetage – had resolved to get to Bury to have a closer look. To see if the talk was walked. This assembly is never simple, especially when you’re pulling people together from South Yorkshire, Cheshire, East Lancashire etc to a pub nearly 10 miles north of Manchester.
But – sickness and incapacity aside – we made it. Including some who’d never been before.
As well as being a “bit” of a beer nerd, I’m also a British history nerd too, from pre-Roman to Stuarts, my fascination is boundless.
I say this, not to embarrass myself (that is rather difficult) but to emphasise the point that, the first time I entered Trackside, it reminded me of my idea of an elaborate Saxon Longhouse. Long, (relatively) narrow, vaulted ceiling, thronged with people.
The only things missing were a mid-room firepit, a smoke hole in the roof and a few sheltering cows and goats.
For a while, the beer range had gotten a bit stale, unexciting. Quite…… Boring. I hadn’t been for years. Then Ben from Rivington Brewing messaged me to say I should REALLY take a look.
The reasoning is clear
And that was just PART of the cask range – it omitted the 11.5% abv Rammy Craft Imperial Mancunian Stout. More about that later…
And as for the keg, a Track TIPA, Rivington American Barleywine, do I need to go on?
Don’t get me wrong, Bury doesn’t seem blessed with great beer – Tyson may tell me different – but that didn’t seem to matter. With good company, this was a destination in itself.
Rammy Craft “Titch”. Track “Simcoe”. North Riding / Magic Rock “Stu’s Company”, Rivington “Days of Candy”, Rivington / Beatnikz “Vermont California”, Cwrw Ial “Tan Halen”. The Track TIPA, Rammy Craft Imperial Mancunian Stout.
All tried. All exceptional. I blended the TIPA / Mancunian Imperial Stout. It was ludicrous. It was delicious. Stupid. But delicious.
The pub is a way station for another thing. The volunteer run East Lancashire Railway. Steam pulls. In more ways than…..
The line terminates at Rawtenstall. Where there is another ELR pub. The appropriately named “The Buffer Stops“. With Will (the Trackside custodian) likely to be involved with both, this shall be subjected to a summer visit. By steam.
The Railway Children Revisited.
James and Andy (Brewsmith & Rammy Craft) joined us for a beer. Both had beer in the bar. Both were exceptional. Again, we chatted. #ISBF5 may have come up in conversation (pretty much my life right now)
Stanley was after my lunch (Rag pudding). He got none. Just too delicious. He tried to cute me into submission, but not even a Canine Legend / Supermodel gets my grub. Oh no.
The image of failure.
It goes without saying that we stayed a few hours. The right pub, with good company, does that to you. The exceptional beer list meant that we neither needed nor wanted to move. Sunshine faded into evening before we made our “excuses”
It was an excellent afternoon. In a hugely impressive pub.
You’d be mad not to. Honestly.
Back soon. Jx
N. B.
1. This is not “paid for”. This pub is simply too good to miss
2. Thanks to Barbara for being completely unaware that I shamelessly stole some pictures.
3. Thanks to Steve, Jock, Barbara, Jen, Linda, Stanley, James and the two Andy’s. Without whom I’d have gotten pleasantly drunk on my own. But WITH whom I had a lovely afternoon
By • Uncategorized • 0 • Tags: Beatnikz Republic, Brewsmith Beer, Cwrw Ial Brewery, Magic Rock Brewing, North Riding Brewery, Rammy Craft Brewery, Rivington Brewing, Squawk Brewing, Track Brewery, Trackside