– A Port Street Brew Day Outing / 2nd Anniversary Beer
What a busy time of year! Christmas is just days away, as is the New Year, and that also means that Port Street is nearly two years old. Yes, that’s right, our second anniversary is fast approaching on January 24th. Without giving too much away, a few of the staff went on a brew day yesterday at Outstanding Brewing in Bury — we won’t tell you what we brewed, because of course we hope you’ll come to try it and celebrate with us in January!
Here is a bit of photographic evidence from the day for you viewing pleasure, and feel free to try and guess what went into the brew. Thanks to the gents at Outstanding for having us, looking forward to tasting the results.
Cheers!
(Words and photos by Claudia Asch)
– Review – Kuhnhenn Brewing Company / Fourth Dementia Old Ale – By DJ Adams
Just over one week to go before Christmas, and the shoppers in Manchester are in full swing, dashing round town, bags in hands, pensive thoughts on faces. A few spouses are holed up here at Port Street Beer House enjoying some peace and quiet, and some great beers. A lot of darkness in glasses, the cold weather is properly upon us. Dark nights, dark ales. Heavy beers to warm us slowly from our core outwards. And with that context in mind, I’m about to have my personal and loose definition of ‘beer’ stretched a little bit.
Nestling at the bottom of one of the fridges behind the bar is a brown bottle with a black label and, with that label announcing “Kuhnhenn Brewing Company, 4th D Olde Ale, 13.5% ABV, aged for 9 months”, quite possibly dark secrets. Sitting down at the table, I’m taken completely off track, although not unexpectedly. This old ale sits in the glass like liquid mahogany, barely a trace of head, and what head there was after pouring has quickly dissipated and become a tan ring round the glass. Before I even get the brew to my lips, my nose is hit by the heady raisin, rum and bourbon tones which are as sweet as they are boozy. This is very clearly a sipping beer – hardly any carbonation, and very heavy. So I ready myself for the first sip … and it’s like a Cadbury’s Caramel heavily diluted with bourbon and black cherry liqueur. Gosh. The mouthfeel is just the same, a syrupy malt lacing that fades delightfully turning from obvious sweet to muscovado.
This Old Ale, properly called “Fourth Dementia Olde Ale”, is from the Kuhnhenn microbrewery, in Warren, Michigan, a town due north of Detroit. Looking at the beers on offer, this dark, strong malty and caramel ale fits right in, with Imperial Creme Brulee Java Stout, Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine, Sticke Alt and Hairy Cherry coming from the same stable. That stable was originally a family run hardware store, and when faced with the prospect of losing out to a larger hardware chain that had moved into the area, the Kuhnhenn family, specifically two brothers Bret and Eric, decided to turn their home brewing know-how into a brewery business and reinvent themselves. It wasn’t as unusual a transition as you might expect: Eric had been bitten by the home brewing bug at college, and selling home brewing supplies had eventually become a significant part of their hardware business. Having made the transition to a full brewing business, Kuhnhenn’s is now a highly industrious eight barrel microbrewery.
The folks at Port Street Beer House have a knack for sourcing beer from passionate brewers, and this is no exception. If you’re passing by, or wanting an escape from the cold outside (or the heat and chaos inside the myriad shopping areas) come in and spend a half hour getting to know this old and dark ale. You won’t regret it. And you’ll leave with a warm glow from within, like so many Ready-Brek kids of yore, but with a smile on your face.
Brewer: Kuhnhenn Brewing Company
Brew: Fourth Dementia Ole Ale
Style: Old Ale
ABV: 13.5%
Words by DJ Adams www.pipetree.com/qmacro/
– Festive opening hours
Seasonal greetings to you all!
Hope the year 2012 has treated you well? The past twelve months have been pretty great round these parts, we will be publishing our end of year review next week, alongside a collection of ‘Top Ten beer lists’ – collated from our faithful customers and some of our favourite breweries.
Meanwhile, here are our opening / closing hours for the next couple of weeks :
Tuesday 18th / 4pm – 12am
Wednesday 19th / 4pm – 12am
Thursday 20th / 2pm – 12am
Friday 21st / 2pm – 12am
Saturday 22nd / 12pm – 1am
Sunday 23rd / 12pm – 12am
Monday 24th / CLOSED
Tuesday 25th / CLOSED
Wednesday 26th – CLOSED
Thursday 27th / 2pm – 12am
Friday 28th / 2pm – 12am
Saturday 29th / 12pm – 1am
Sunday 30th / 12pm – 12am
Monday 31st / 4pm – 1am (pre book tables in the saloon from 8pm – more info here)
Tuesday 1st Jan – CLOSED
Wednesday 2nd Jan / 4pm – 12am
Then we are back to our normal opening hours.
Hope this finds you well… All the best for the festive seasons – from all at Port Street Beer House
– New Year’s Eve at Port Street Beer House / Monday 31st December 2012
The upstairs saloon of Port Street Beer House will be available for table reservations on NYE. Tables will be booked out for a minimum of 4 people and bookings will be reserved with a £10 deposit per person. This deposit will be returned to you on the night in the form of a bar tab. For example, if you book a table for 4 people, you’ll need to leave £40 deposit but on the night you’ll have a £40 bar tab set up waiting for you.
We have a limited number of tables so put in a booking request and providing we can accommodate your group we’ll be in touch to arrange the deposit. Please note tables need to be occupied by 8.30pm
In addition to the table booking you can also pre book a special bottle or two for your group or a lovely plate of pie, peas and gravy will be brought to you at your table.
The downstairs bar at Port Street will be open as usual from 4pm so you can choose whether to mingle around or hang out with your group upstairs. Service will be until 1am (ish).
Please email jamie@aplacecalledcommon.co.uk with your name, contact number and how many people you would like to book for.
We will get back to ASAP with a booking form.
Special NYE beers available to pre order :
Alesmith ‘X’ / 750ml – £9
Alesmith ‘Grand Cru’ / 750ml – £15
Alesmith ‘Wee Heavy’ / 750 ml – £15
Alesmith ‘Horny Devil’ / 750 ml – £15
Port Brew ‘Santa Helper’ / 750ml – £12
port brew ‘Santa Aged’ / 750ml – £18
Jester King ‘Noble King’ / 750ml – £12
Brewdog ‘ab:07’ / 375 ml – £9
Brooklyn ‘Sorachi Ace’ / 750ml – price TBC
Ps Unfortunately we won’t be having fireworks