– Up and Coming / Burning Sky
Burning Sky. Kind of Old Testament apocalyptic, no? Death raining from the sky, that sort of thing. Well you’d be quite wrong to think that. Actually, if you did, shame on you. It’s more like a Slayer song title.
Amongst other things, Burning Sky is a song by Paul Weller-led erstwhile Mods, The Jam, who split up and then Paul Weller, for some reason, formed the Paul Weller-led The Style Council. He now makes solo records under the name ‘Paul Weller’. He’s a caution, that one.
Burning Sky is also a skydiving collective that jump out of planes over spectacularly tedious hippies/hipsters-in-the-desert festival, Burning Man. Their parachutes are, alas, in tip-top condition.
More important than any of these, though, if you are a lover of beer, at least, Burning Sky is the new brewery from Dark Star co-mastermind and all round good egg, Mark Tranter, very ably assisted by Tom Dobson.
Now, anyone who knows beer surely knows the Sussex brewery Dark Star, which started life under the Evening Star pub in Brighton in 1996. We’ve sold them here at Port Street since we opened, such is their quality and consistency. There were bemused stirrings on the Internet when Mark announced he was leaving to pursue other ventures. What would it be? Where would it be? How long until it opened?
All these questions were answered earlier this year when, in typical understated fashion, Mark announced Burning Sky would be starting up in the autumn, located on the Firle Estate in East Sussex, upon which Mark also lives (he’s not a big posh sod with plums in his mouth, though, he just rents a cottage there). They are based in a converted stable in a tiny village with a crazy (in a good way) vicar.
Burning Sky are ‘Artisan Brewers and Blenders’. Blenders. That’s what excited me most of all. It suggests one of my favourite types of beer, the sours of Belgium. I was lucky enough to visit the brewery just after it was finished, but before brewing had commenced. They had a test batch of the Saison a la Provision that I willingly accepted a sample of. Well, a half. And then another half. It’s remarkable, it really is. Fruity, tart, slightly spicy – everything you’d expect from a Saison, and the best I’ve tasted outside Belgium.
Anyway, all this bluff and nonsense is leading up to our announcement that we have taken delivery of five of their beers – Saison a la Provision (6.5%) in keg, Saison L’Automne (4.2%, with rosehips – keg), Plateau Pale Ale (3.5%, cask), Aurora strong Pale Ale (5.6%, cask), and Devil’s Rest IPA (7%, cask and keg). We’re very excited about this development, and we hope you are too. They’ll be on sale in the near future, so keep an eye on our Twitter feed, @portstreetbeer, where we’ll be posting when they go on sale.
– Festive Opening Hours 2013
Hello.
It’s soon turning into the season of much joy, frivolities and very fine ales. So we have extended a couple of extra opening hours plus we are welcoming you to spend some time with us on a Monday?!? Who would have thought it, Port Street opening on a Monday, it must be Christmas!
Thursday 19th – 2pm until 12am
Friday 20th – 2pm until 12am
Saturday 21st – 12pm until 1am
Sunday 22nd – 12pm until 12am
Monday 23rd – 2pm until 12pm / Open for festive fun(S)
Tuesday 24th – CLOSED
Wednesday 25th – CLOSED
Thursday 26th – CLOSED
Friday 27th – 2pm until 12am
Saturday 28th – 12pm until 1am
Sunday 29th – 12pm until 12am
Monday 30th – CLOSED
Tuesday 31st – 2pm until 1am (bookings in the saloon from 8pm – more info HERE)
Wednesday 1st Jan 2014 – CLOSED
Thursday 2nd Jan 2014 – Back to normal – HAPPY NEW YEAR!
– Up and Coming / Northern Monk Brew Co.
Our ‘regular’ feature of Up and Coming breweries raises it head once again, this time with Bradfords’ finest Northern Monk Brew Co. Here are a few words direct from the the monks mouth :
Established early in 2013. We are currently nomadic brewers and take our inspiration from what we feel is the best of the global beer scene; the history, heritage, provenance and tradition of a quintessentially British drink, combined with a progressive and open approach to branding, brewing techniques and dispense. Our aim is to follow in the footsteps of some of the more forward thinking breweries in the region and build on the developing beer scene in Northern England.
Since the release of our first beer in June and our launch party at The Sparrow Bier Cafe we have enjoyed the support of some of the best of the UK’s speciality Beer pubs, bars and bottle shops and have just returned from Birmingham and our maiden beer festival at the fantastic Beer Bash. Brewing awesome beer, helping to raise the profile of Northern British craft beer and having some fun along the way is our goal, and we plan to bring you more collaborations like our Belgian Triple – Bad Habit – with Weird Beard Brew Co in the coming months. With Leeds International Beer Festival just around the corner and with exciting plans for next year, we are brewing once a month to add to our New World IPA and establish our core beer range. Being on the bar at Port Street means a lot to us and we can’t wait to drink our beer at one of our favourite pubs.
Our New World IPA is inspired by and intended to be reminiscent of IPA’s of old through using a similar approach to technique and hop ratios used in the 1700’s but re-inspired with the addition of New World hops; Cascade, Centennial and Chinook from the US and Galaxy from Australia.
Words by Russell Bisset
We will serving ‘New World IPA’ on keg especially for #IPA Day – TOMORROW (Thursday 1st August) read more here
http://www.northernmonkbrew.co/
https://twitter.com/NMBCo
– 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
