– Eurotoberfest / Monday 30th September – Sunday 6th October 2013
Winter, as they say, is coming. Well, we’ve autumn to get through first, but you get what I mean.
As the end of September draws near, so too does our annual ‘Eurotoberfest’. It is, as the name suggests, a celebration of all that is tasty and exciting in the world of brewing across our fine and varied continent of Europe.
We’ll be launching it on September 30th, with one of the most exciting Meet the Brewer events we’ve had (especially for those of us with a love for Belgian beer!). Yvan De Baets, from Brussels’s self-styled ‘boutique’ brewery Brasserie De La Senne will be joining us to introduce some of their beautiful modern Belgian beers including Taras Boulba and Zinnebir. A handful of tickets are still available for this event, priced at £14.
Staying in Belgium, we’ll also be getting, for the first time, some rather splendid Viven beers. Viven, set up originally in 1999 by Willy de Lobel, and brewed just two beers, Chapel of Viven, a blonde, and Monastery of Viven a brune, both brewed at De Proefbrouwerij, a well-known brewer of beers for third parties in Lochristi in the East Flanders region of Belgium. In 2003, Willy decided to hand over the Viven reins to Tony Traen, the son of a local liquor dealer. Both Chapel and Monastery of Viven were quickly rechristened Viven Blonde and Viven Brune respectively. Six years later, Tony felt the desire to expand the range with Flemish takes on non-Flemish beers. Out of this desire were born Viven Ale, hopped with English Goldings hops, the delightfully smoky Viven Porter, and the incredible Viven Imperial IPA, heavily hopped with Tomahawk and Simcoe. Of the range, we’ll be stocking the Blonde, Porter and Imperial IPA, which really has to be tasted to be believed! Look out for the bottles in the Belgian fridge.
Finally for this little preview – we’ll be profiling other breweries nearer the time – those of you who attended the Toccalmatto Meet the Brewer back on June 10th will be pleased to know that we’ll be having plenty more beers from them during Eurotoberfest and beyond. Bruno Carilli and his team make some of the most exquisite beers ever to come out of Italy, and are spearheading the ‘craft’ beer revolution currently taking place in this famously wine-loving country. Few who have tasted their remarkable ‘Zona Cesarini’, showcasing the peculiar but amazing Sorachi Ace hop, developed by Sapporo brewery in Japan, will ever forget its citrusy delights.
And there you have it. There is too much going on to mention everything, but suffice as to say, we’ll be stocking special beers from Belgium, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and beyond. We’re working on some last-minute additions, too, so watch this space!
Cheers/Salute/ Proost,/Skål/Santé!*
*Delete as appropriate.
Words by Jamie Hancock / Artwork by Steve Hockett
– Meet The Brewer with Brasserie De La Senne / Monday 30th September
5.30 pm (doors) event starts at 6.15pm
£14 advance from the bar or call 0161 237 9949
Have we got a treat for you on September 30th. To launch our now annual ‘Eurotober-fest’, we are exceedingly proud and excited to announce that we’ll be hosting a Meet the Brewer with the really rather good indeed Belgian brewery Brasserie De La Senne.
These guys make some of the most exciting Belgian beers you can imagine. Yvan and Bernard started brewing in 2003, albeit under a different guise back then, and were ‘gypsy’ brewers (brewing at the bigger premises of friends, essentially) for a time, but opened their own own brewery in 2010, with their first beer being brewed in December of that year. Their name comes from the river Senne that flows through Brussels, where they are based.
De La Senne beers have been talked about in mightily excited terms since their ‘discovery’. Their pale ale, Taras Boulba, and blonde, Zinnebir, were game changers as far as Belgian beers go. Low(ish) in alcohol, and beautifully hoppy and bitter, their like hadn’t been seen before.
We’re really lucky to have them coming over to visit, as, like the best Belgian breweries, they very much put their home market to the fore, with Brussels being their main market, then Belgium. However their beers are so acclaimed that they’re sought after in the US, Italy and Japan, not to mention here in the UK.
We really are tremendously excited about this MTB, and sincerely hope that you will be too.
– Rainbow IPA Challenge – Thursday 26th September / 8pm
What are two things that everyone loves (unless they are full on foolish)? Rainbows! And IPAs! As there are some borderline hippies amongst the brewing community, they’ve decided to combine the two! It turns out that hippyish tendencies coincide nicely with excellent brewing abilities, so we’re really rather pleased to be hosting the following event.
If you would care to join us in appreciation of this colourful IPA challenge that involves Siren, Partizan, Buxton, Brodies, Magic Rock, The Kernel and Hawkshead each interpreting the colours of the rainbow in beery form, then please do so! Thursday 26th September at 8pm is the time and Port Street Beer House (as always) is the place. There might even be a few brewers around to schmooze for those starry eyed beer geeks among you! Peace, love and beer…perhaps not in that order.
More information about the challenge can be found here : http://www.sirencraftbrew.com/colours-of-the-rainbow-ipa-challenge/
* Rainbow IPA image by Rich Norgate
The full colour of the rainbow will be as follows :
Red : Siren Craft Brew
Orange : Partizan
Yellow : Buxton Brewery
Green : Brodies Fabulous Beers
Blue : Magic Rock
Indigo : The Kernel
Violet : Hawkshead
– Ashover Brewery – Launch 12th September / 8pm
Once in a while, we come across secrets. Ashover Brewery in Chesterfield, Derbyshire is one of these best kept secrets. Tucked away in the back of the Old Poets Corner pub on Butts Road, Janine Shorrock brews a variety of ales for the Old Poets Corner and other fine local establishments, though some of her beers also make it to festivals further afield.
We are pleased to have her very first Berliner Weisse beer, Cloudy Sour, on the bar and in keg, no less, as well as Butts Pale Ale, her take on an America Pale ale, on the pump. So come down on Thursday, 12th of September, meet Janine, and try some tasty beers from Derbyshire!