– Cloudwater Double IPA Day
CLOUDWATER DOUBLE IPA DAY // Saturday 7th November // Port Street Beer House // 7pm // free entry
What’s twice as good as an IPA? A double IPA! That’s how it works, right? Not sure but I can tell you this for certain: we are emphatically looking forward to tasting Cloudwater‘s new special edition, super fresh 9% DIPA. As well as pouring their eagerly anticipated double IPA on keg, we will also be pouring their similarly anticipated new IPA on cask. Now that’s what I call a double IPA day!
Join us Saturday 7th November from 7pm to taste both of these new Cloudwater offerings. Here’s some words direct from the brewery to get you juiced,
“The 7th of November marks the first year anniversary of residency in our warehouse in Manchester, and what an eventful year it’s been since we got the keys. Still three months from our first birthday, we’re up to gyle 101, and have made our way through nearly three seasonal ranges.
Back in early September, following a tasting of some excellent, fresher than ever before IPAs and DIPAs brought back from the States, we plotted to brew two hoppy beers that were more balanced, more flavourful, more hoppy, and that would hit our targets more squarely than anything we’ve brewed so far.
DIPA 9%
1500kg of malt, 70kg of the biggest, juiciest aroma hops.
Even a 2oC, with less than 1/3 of the carbonation we’ll package it with, this beer smells and tastes fantastic.
IPA 7.2%
1500kg of malt, 70kg of the biggest, juiciest aroma hops.
This beer is destined to be a very hoppy cask beer that will have cask aficionados and craft beer geeks alike quaffing half after half of what we’re sure will be one of the most impressive cask releases from us yet.
Originally destined for release as part of our Winter range in early December, we’ve decided to release both beers a month early, to celebrate beer at its freshest on our anniversary with the hoppiest beer we’ve made to date, brought to you as early as we possibly can. Both beers are being packaged this week (Wednesday and Thursday respectively), will be cold stored over weekend, before being dispatched early next week to arrive with you as fresh as they can be.
We’re incredibly proud of these beers, but they’re just the start of our next phase, an effort to make some of the best hoppy beer in the UK, and the beginning of a series of one off Drink Fresh, Hibernate, and Small Batch beers you’ll see from us in the coming years.”
Colour us excited.
– Against the Grain Tap Takeover // November 5th
AGAINST THE GRAIN TAP TAKEOVER // Thursday November 5th 2015 // Port Street Beer House // free entry
We are delighted to be housing a tap takeover from Against the Grain – Louisville, Kentucky’s finest. They recently did a star turn at this year’s Indy Man Beer Con, and we’ve long been fans of their brews. It’s rare that we get a keg of Against the Grain (though you’ll always find us holding big bottles in the fridge) so imagine our joy that this tap takeover will present us, and you, with EIGHT AtG beers on keg.
Against the Grain are modern masters in making big punchy, flavourful beers. In their own words,
“At Against The Grain we will always have an offering that puts hop flavor in the forefront. If you love citrusy, floral, fruity, herbal, piney, ‘resiny’, and some bitterness, this is the beer for you! We brew variations of beers that accentuate the distinct flavors that make hopheads go crazy. From the classic, subtle hop flavors in pale ale to, in your face, enamel peeling, double IPA’s, we do them all! Once a hopster…always a hopster.”
Can’t wait. Here’s what you’ve got to look forward to…
KEG:
KAMEN KNUDDELN
Kentucky Common. Dark sour beer. 6.5% ABV.
70K
Double mega imperial milk stout. 13.1% ABV.
35K
Milk stout. 7.7% ABV.
JACQUE’S TRAPPE
Belgian Trippel. 8.9% ABV.
KENTUCKY RYED CHIQUEN
Rye amber ale. 8.6% ABV.
SOMETHING LOCAL
IPA. 6.6% ABV.
CITRA ASS DOWN
Hop forward IPA. 8% ABV.
BO & LUKE
Bourbon barrel aged imperial smoked stout. Collaboration with Brouwerij De Molen. 13% ABV.
– IMBC 15 Review by Cameron Steward
It’s safe to say that the Independent Manchester Beer Convention (now in its fourth year) has outgrown it’s humble, hush-hush beginnings, if it ever were that…The hallowed Saturday evening session sold out in something like 6 seconds, or hours, whatever. It’s now become the UK beer festival to go to for many reasons: the fantastic array of the best of the best British breweries (and a handful of European and US); stunning street food and snacks (good to see the cheese boards return); the gorgeous grade II listed Victoria Swimming Baths. Go on, pick one? Oh you need more…
Well, how about the one-off collaboration brews that the Indy Man team participated in with a handful of British beer barons, concocted especially for the event? I opt for IMBC’s pairing with Weird Beard and Norway’s Lervig which yielded The Frog is Fired (5%). It’s a delightfully sharp and florally refreshing start to the proceedings – though not as spectacular as last years Hacienda. I gallivant through the elegant rooms of the baths with childish glee, attempting to locate my favourites, finding Beavertown (St. Clement Sour – 4.5%), Cloudwater (BA Sour Cherries – 6.5%) and Brew By Numbers (16|04 Red Ale – 6.5%) along the way. BBNo. inch it with their Red Ale with Chocolate and Coffee tasting as velvety soft and delicious as I’d hoped.
The live online beer list doesn’t seem to be fully functioning, which is a shame. There was pleasure to be had in scouting the rooms for ones next tipple but I definitely would take the tried-and-tested paper list any day. The bright and airy Pineapple room is hosted by Manchester newbies Cloudwater and they’ve brewed up a storm for the weekend. Their Sour White and Yellow Peach (5.8%) aged in Sherry barrels shows a depth and experience which belies their youth, having only served their first beer in March of this very year. They also provided this years stunning glassware, so three cheers for those beauties!
Time for another collaboration but this time in snack form and Worksop-based Karkli have teamed with those Weird Beard dudes (get around a bit don’t they?) for a beer meets Lemon and Ginger twist on their traditional Indian snack. It’s milder than their usual produce and teams really well with Space Phantom (3.7%); Beavertown‘s Berliner Weisse, hopped to the end of the universe and back with Galaxy.
My following beers take me back to a more simple time with Burning Sky’s Flanders Red (6%) and Buxton’s Old World Saison (5.8%). Before I’m fully submerged in the past and donning robes, sandals and yielding a pitchfork (yes, a farming monk) I take a trip to the dark side with Left Handed Giant & Beavertown’s Sour Belgian Porter (6.8%), which tastes something along the lines of a boozy Black Forest Gateau stuffed with Haribo Tangfastics – damn, I love this festival!
It’s at this point where food is needed and to bring me back into a very British reality I select the Mince and Onion Pie by Great North Pie and a traditional Fish and Chips by Fish&. The pie is succulent and rich, the battered cod is light and crispy, and I am one satisfied gentleman.
My next wander takes me to Room 1 where I unearth Celt brewery’s Bleddyn AP Brett (5.9%), which tastes like Orval’s little brethren. It’s pretty decent even in Orval’s shadow but then Atom Brewing get all unstable and unleash bottles of their porter Dark Alchemy (4.9%), delivering free splashes to your nearest receptacle. I collide mine with a drop of Bleddyn Brett and fuse a superheavy, rich and funky delight. I’m like some sort-a genius…
I sampled plenty of other great beers including Beavertown’s BA Moosefang (9%), which was initially too cold and would have benefitted from being served on cask, as when it warmed up the magic truly began. But my favourite of the proceedings was recommended to me by a representative from the NZ Collective bar whose tantalising tip-off of Cromarty Brewing‘s Udder Madness (1.6%) was too intriguing to resist. A vanilla milk sour which tasted like a cream soda. Or more like a dream soda! I could have drunk it all night but instead I went home. Because I was drunk.
Of course the party didn’t end there, I took full advantage of the ingenious take away canning service provided by WeCan. This proved a great way to either take home your favourite find from the event or grab something that you didn’t get round to nursing. I boosted my beer count with Elgood‘s lip-smacking Lambic, Coolship Fruit (5%), Tuatara‘s juicy IPA, Hapi Nui (7%) and Magic Rock‘s succulent hop-bomb, High Wire Grapefruit (5.5%).
And just like that it’s all over and we have to wait another year for what feels like the most significant annual event in my calendar. We’re talking better than Easter and Christmas rolled into one. Yep. See you in 2016 then…
—
Check out Cameron Steward’s excellent blog, All You Need Is Beer. Thanks for the write up, Cameron!
– Indy Man Beer Con Launch at Port Street
INDY MAN BEER CON LAUNCH // PORT STREET BEER HOUSE // WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 9th // 7PM // FREE ENTRY
Indy Man Beer Con is upping sticks from its Victoria Baths home & coming to show us Port Streeters a good time. Expect unveilings ahoy regards this year’s much anticipated brewery list & taps galore from breweries that have been collaborating with IMBC ahead of the 2015 festival in October.
Read on…
“We’re having a small party at our brethren Port Street Beer House to unveil some tasters of what to expect at this year’s Indy Man Beer Con.
Consider it an announcement of everything that is going to be going down at IMBC. Brewers will be unveiled, eating houses unlocked, and special events earmarked.
Expect beers across the boards at Port Street from the breweries that we have been collaborating with ahead of IMBC. Details on that soon.
Food will be on hand from Epicerie Ludo, expert snack vending from the award-winning Chorlton deli. Take in all the information we’ll be laying down with an Aficionado soundtrack ~ provided by kingpin, Jason Boardman, who will again be curating some of the sounds at this year’s IMBC.
There will also be cans galore from the go to craft canning canners, WeCan. Find out all about their crafty can plans for IMBC…
Hope you can join us. Rolling out the IMBC 15 good times from 7pm. Free entry but of course.”
Facebook event page hither: https://www.facebook.com/events/1615656378696193/
