– IMBC 16 review by Cameron Steward
The night before Independent Manchester Beer (and Stuff) Convention (better known to you and I as Indy Man Beer Con, or IMBC for maximum abbreviation) is always one of skittish anxiety and this year was no different. What would be my first beer? Should we get a table first or tokens? What happens if Cloudwater run out of DIPA V8?
My anxieties aren’t helped by turning up to the Saturday Day session at 11:30 on a hilariously tropical October morning only to join the snaking queue some 500 people deep. I’m convinced everyone will be ordering that DIPA first and my strategic master plan will be thrown into disarray.
Upon arrival the Cloudwater team assure me there’s enough V8 to last the whole weekend, allowing my nerves to cease their shredding. Now I am a man with the world at my feet and it’s high time I drank that world, so I start with IMBC virgins Jester King and their smoked malt, juniper-infused and sweet gale Saison, Gotlandstricka (6.6%). It’s as totally mad as that sounds and perhaps defines my whole approach to Indy Man. Y’see, I haven’t attended this festival every year since its inception (5 years) to taste beers I can sample any-bloody-where. I’ve come here to exercise my weird and wacky taste buds, to let my freak flag fly, and as I walk around the festival plenty of beers that fit that description catch my eye and beckon me in.
As always the bar staff are super-helpful, friendly and always up for a chat. Stockport’s Thirst Class have cleverly put a bee in my bonnet and enticed me to their stand with a funky little pun of a title. I exchange some They Might Be Giants witticisms with Brewer and Proprietor Richard Conway as he pours me a thick ‘n fruity third of Farmhouse In Your Soul (5.3%). Later I also regale an unsuspecting bartender that I’m ordering Jester King’s Le Petit Prince (2.9%), as just last week I read the Antoine de Saint-Exupery novella of the same name. She doesn’t even look like she’s humouring me. I’m definitely in my element here…
The food is always outstanding at Indy Man and the tacos from Al Pastor Paul pair stupidly well with the aforementioned table beer. The mole with avocado, chocolate chilli spiked sauce and cheese variety particularly blew my tiny mind!
Other beers of note include Brodie’s Mocha Milk Stout (9%), To Øl’s Roses Are Brett (6%), Wild Beer and Indy Man‘s BA strawberry sour Strawblender (5.5%) and of course Cloudwater’s best in the series so far DIPA V8 (9%). Even better than all of those however may have been when Buxton Brewery decided to out-raspberry themselves with the limited edition Double Raspberry Rye (5.2%) with a soft serve topping. Picture it if you will; the Mediterranean sun causing your delicious raspberry ice cream to melt before your very eyes, your only chance of cooling down, nay, survival, is to whip off your trunks and go skinny-dipping in sweet raspberry coulis. Yes, it was that good…
This year also marked the first time I got to experience a talk – I’m usually too slow or drunk, or both. My fellow blogging chum Matthew Curtis of Total Ales was doing a live tasting of Fourpure and Cloudwater’s Optare (a 6.6% Black Belgian IPA) and of course whilst wanting to see and support Matt, I also really wanted to participate in something as completely nerdy as live beer blogging! The crowd took a while to warm up to both the concept and the beer but I assisted in contributing a few adjectives including “a palate like Victorian wallpaper”, which a gentleman took to so kindly he found me after the talk and shook my hand, still chucking… Fourpure’s Rob Davies even liked my Mo Farah analogy so much he rewarded me with a delicious slice of Shape Shifter IPA (6.4%). Top lad!
And therein lies the key to Indy Man’s continued success; that friendly, free-spirited, open armed, big fun environment, which keeps me (and many, many others) coming back year after year. So, I’ll see you all in 2017 then.
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Words and photographs by Cameron Steward of All You Need Is Beer.
– Siren Tap Takeover review by Cameron Steward
It’s nearing the end of the Siren Craft Brew Tap Takeover when I find myself shoulder to shoulder with head brewer Markus Wagner. I’ve made a modest impact on the extensive selection he’s brought along (7 cask and 7 keg) and at this moment I’m gently nursing a Caribbean Chocolate Cake (8.5%), which tonight has been exclusively ‘nitro-fied’, intensifying the lactose creaminess and ascending an already wonderful beer to some astral plane, upon which only the most heavenly items known to mankind can be found. In other words, I was bloody enjoying it!
My journey to this part of the night was littered with other glories; highlights including Vanilla Weisse (a 4% vanilla-infused Beliner Weisse), which was sharp and fully rounded, with the vanilla ironing out those acerbic edges. There was also the Caribbean Chocolate Orange Cake (8.5%), which took the original Triple C and made it taste like Liquid Terry’s Chocolate Orange. Needless to say it was decadent beyond belief!
It was equally excellent to revisit Undercurrent (4.5%) an Oatmeal Pale and finally try Liquid Mistress (5.5%), a zingy Red Ale, both on cask. However a couple of pales didn’t quite reach the heady heights of their more established brethren, with Proteus (4%) lacking the hoppy punch it promised and Vermont Tea Party (a 3.6% pale with Earl Grey and lemon zest), although kinda resembling the magnificence of their other Earl Grey-infused wonder Love of Work, just wasn’t as spectacular. New kid on the block Peligrosos (5.6%) on the other hand was a dangerously juicy IPA, bursting with peach and magic.
So we’ve come full circle and back to the exchange between myself and Mr. Wagner, where I manage to prod him about hops and the recent influx of Double and Triple IPAs. He confesses he’s no real interest in these, opting for weirder, darker delights and bizarre concoctions that hibernate in barrels before reaching the high standard he brings to the brewery – he cut his teeth as part of the barrel ageing and sour beer-ing programme at Firestone Walker don’t y’know?! And just as he reveals this information I receive a thimble of their collaboration with Mikkeller and Hill Farmstead, Whiskey Sour IPA (10.2%). A beer that effortlessly (although I’m sure loads of effort went into) showcases the best example of barrel ageing I’d ever laid my lips on. Offering a wealth of sharp citrus, delicately hushed by the sweet bourbon, both of which sing in perfect harmony. There’s also a deep, rich oakiness and soft vanilla sweetness that compliment every languorous sip.
I’ve been called to the deep. And I don’t wanna go back.
Words and photographs by Cameron Steward. Check out Cameron’s excellent All You Need Is Beer blog
– PSBH is 5 (and a bit)
Words by James Moffat / PSBH Manager
Remember the days before Port Street? When you’d finish work on a Friday & head straight home & just sit there staring at the wall waiting for someone to invent Netflix? Before you were invited to 9 different events every Saturday by people you haven’t spoken to in person since high school? I still remember my first trip here, long before I ever stepped foot behind the bar, when I came in on my birthday to sample some new beers! Hard to believe that was five years ago.
Anyway.
PORT STREET IS FIVE YEARS OLD!
We got pretty busy in the run up to our birthday travelling around & brewing some beers for you to enjoy at our birthday celebration.
First up was Arbor where we collaborated with them to produce PSBH Bomb. Based on their brilliant Bomb series but this one’s hopped with Pacific gem, Summit, Bravo, mt Hood. We forgot to take any photos of this brew day or we all had broken phones & no one carries a camera these days!
Shortly after we popped down to see Cloudwater & try some of the stuff they had in tank & brain storm some ideas which became a Lapsang Lichtenhainer. Combining our love of smoked & sour beers.
Next up was a double brew day with some of us heading over to Leeds to see Northern Monk to brew an imperial mild, Life On Mild.
Meanwhile, Edward headed down to Squawk on his own to collaborate with Runaway, Squawk & Track on 5 Alive, a pale ale with a big citrus twist!
Lastly. After a long walk up what I’m told is the longest continuous gradient in Europe! We got to see Vocation & brew a massively hopped American pale ale, Lost & Found!
Hope you enjoy them all!
Birthday pump clips by David Bailey
– We now do Growlers!
Did you know that we now do fresh draft beer growler fills to take away? I know! 2016 just got verified!
We offer up two sizes of growler: 750ml (bottle of wine) and 64oz (3.3 pints).
It goes a lil something like this. You choose your growler size and buy it outright, it’s then yours forever! 750ml = £10. 64oz = £12.
The fun doesn’t stop there. Now you just need something to put in it. Choose any draft beer, keg or cask and receive a 20% takeout discount off the price of the beer fill.
Your beer will taste at it’s fresh optimum, if unopened, for up to five days. Once opened you are advised to consume within a day for the best taste.
Remember to bring your growler back next time, we will clean it and you can start all over again.
Here’s some handy illustrated instructions by Alan Dalby! Thanks Alan!