– Moor Moor Moor!
Well, we finally managed to organise getting some beer from one of the UK’s most highly regarded breweries, so here are a few words to give you an idea of what the fuss is all about. I had better write this pretty quick as the beer is practically walking out the door.
Tucked away, down a picturesque Somerset lane is the recently expanded Moor brewery, the brewer is one Justin Hawke, an American brewing there since taking over in 2007. Justin’s beers are multi award winning and it’s a struggle to get them out of the county, so we feel very privileged that he sent some up for us. His Californian roots and west coast brewing attitude are evidenced in these beers, particularly in his liberal use of hops. However, these are far from US clone beers, these are some of the finest contemporary English ales you are likely to find, packed with flavour, a perfect blend of innovation and tradition. That, I suppose is what has lead to such huge demand, accolades, awards and general all round kudos.
Justin, it strikes me, is a man of strongly held beliefs, which, admittedly is prevalent among brewers. One of these beliefs is about finings and the use thereof, Justin speaks at length about this here. We’re happy to be showcasing some of his unfined beers over the next week or so, all his dark beers are unfined and we have waiting in our cellar a couple of firkins of unfined Revival. So how important is a clear pint of beer to you? Finings inevitably strip out a lot of flavour giving funk from the beer and it could be said this is purely for aesthetic reasons. Why go to all the trouble of making a full flavoured beer only to fine it clear and lose some of the character, I suppose it’s the same argument brewers have about filtration, pasturisation, etc but taken one stage further. Please let us know what you think on the subject and what you think of the unfined beers we have from Moor, and whether you want to see more unfined beers on the bar.
Finally before you ask we weren’t able to get any of the famous JJJ IPA as there isn’t any, potentially until next year. Maybe we’ll try and get some Moor beers next year, if he’ll let us! Boom boom.
– Port Street’s new website is live!
Welcome one and all to our brand spanking new website, we hope you like it. We’ll still be running the blog as previously but we’ve just tarted it up a bit, we now have a separate section for events and we have undertaken the mammoth task of trying to get our bottle list online. Latest cask and draft will still be via twitter but it will also be brought straight through on to the website, I’m sure you can appreciate this changes so fast it’s impossible to keep them up date even with this posh new site. As for the beer list feel free to browse our bottles at your leisure and comment and share the beers you’ve enjoyed or even plan your next visit. If you have any comments on the site, good or bad, then don’t hesitate to let us know, we know you’re a very discerning bunch!
Ps. Keep your eye’s peeled as in the next couple of weeks we’ll be launching a mobile version.
– A Shot In The Dark / by Jay Krause
Autumn is in the air. The cool mornings of summer are giving way to the crisp early hours of my favourite season. The evenings are getting shorter and the cars are switching on their headlights sooner. The midday sun is present but weaker, getting further away in accordance to our orbit. In the early evening, bars in pubs are becoming places of sanctuary and the pumps are seeing the introduction of more and more seasonal dark beers.
This is all very welcome to me, and one of the reasons autumn is my favourite season. I absolutely love dark beer, in all its forms. Stouts, Porters, Dark Milds, Schwartzbiers, Dunkels, Black IPAs, and every other type of beer which absorbs light – I love them. (more…)
– Hop-topia Palate Cleansing tips.
Hey guys. Not long now until our Hop-topia tasting event here at Port Street Beer House.
Trying 19 single hop IPA’s in one intense session.
For the people lucky enough to get a ticket we have a few ground rules that are recommended before taking part in such an onslaught on the Palate.
On the day strong flavours need to be avoided to keep your tongue up to scratch, you will need to avoid tea, coffee and smoking (within reason). Preferably no spicy food would have been eaten for 48 hours prior and definitely not garlic for 24 hours.
We will be offering water and palate cleansing items to rid your kisser of the pungent hop.
We will need everyone here 6pm prompt as we have a strict schedule that needs to be adhered to, if not Will will have a barney.
Roll out experimenters.
PSBH