– Best of 2016
The results from our best beers of 2016 survey are IN! You guys filled in more forms than ever (well, than 2015 at least…I have a short memory) so below are your answers in full. 2016 was a great year for beer.
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JAMES MOFFAT
PSBH Manager
- Brewski – Passionfeber
- 6 Degrees North – Lindsaymans Framboise
- Omnipollo / Dugges – BA Anagram Blueberry Cheesecake
- Way – Red Wine Saison
- Firestone Walker – Rye Double DBA
- Cloudwater – DIPA v3
- Lervig/Way Beer – 3 Bean Stout
- Dugges – Tropic Sunrise
- Cloudwater – IPA Citra
- Buxton / Omnipollo – Yellow Belly
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- Pliny the Elder – Russian River
- Lords of Acid – Lindheim Ølkompani
- Booming Rollers – Modern Times
- Anagram – Dugges x Omnipollo
- Duet – The Alpine Beer Company
- Cloudwater – DIPA v10
- Beavertown – Lupuloid
- Beavertown – ‘Spresso
- Cloudwater / To Øl – Imperial Stout
- Magic Rock – Salty Kiss
- Alphabet – Nouvelle Saison Beetroot and Horseradish
- The Cloudwater DIPA series
- Galway Bay – Two Hundred Fathoms (2016)
- Thirst Class Ale – Kiss my Ace (Salford Beer Fest)
- Marble – Ibuki’s Beer
PAUL HALLOWS
- Cloudwater – DIPA v2
- Maui – Big Swell IPA
- Beavertown – Bloody ‘Ell (keg/can)
- Brewdog / North – Sour Bru
- Kernel – Pale Ale (can’t remember which one though)
- Omnipollo & Tupiniquim – Polimango
- Siren – Vanilla Weisse
- Northern Monk – Mango Lassi Heathen
- Brew by Numbers – 5503 DIPA
- Marble – Into The Void
- Brouwerij De Dolle Brouwers – Cosmos
- Siren / Cigar City – Eisbock BA Caribbean Chocolate Cake
- Logsdon – Peche ‘n Brett (again)
- Firestone Walker – Rye Double BDA Vintage 2016
- Cigar City – super fresh Jai Alai (air-freighted over for their TT at Magic Rock)
- Omnipollo – Noah
- Jester King – Le Petit Prince
- To Øl – Sur Simcoe
- Magic Rock – Human Cannonball (canned February version)
- Verhaeghe – Echte Kriek
- Buxton / Omnipollo – Vanilla Ice Cream Pale
- Vocation – Smash & Grab
- Hawkshead – Tiramisu Imperial Stout
- Magic Rock – Inhaler
- Track – Double Sonoma
- Cloudwater – Small Beer
- Marble – Portent of Usher
- Chorlton – Dark Matter
- Magic Rock – Bearded Lady Gran Marnier Choc Orange Stout
- Cloudwater – DIPA v6
- Cloudwater – IPA Citra (V1 with Vermont Yeast)
- Cloudwater – DIPA v3
- Cloudwater / Magic Rock / JW Lees – Three’s Company
- Hawkshead / Cigar City – Tiramisu Imperial Stout
- Magic Rock – Inhaler
- Northern Monk – Malt
- Burning Sky – Saison a la Provision
- Rodenbach – Alexander
- Cloudwater – Citra IPA
- Alvinne – Ich Bin Ein Berliner Framboos
- To Øl – Sur Citra
- Magic Rock / Beavertown / Siren – Rule of Thirds
- St-Feuillien – Belgian Coast IPA
- Sentinel – RRG
- Lost Industry – Pineapple Yogurt Sour
- Magic Rock – Bearded Lady Dessert edition
- Buxton / Omnipollo – Yellow Belly
- Cloudwater – DIPA v9
- Logsdon – Seizoen Bretta
- Magic Rock – Hypnotist
- Track – Sonoma
- Cloudwater – DIPA v8
- Oakham – Green Devil IPA
- 90/90 Black IPA
- Oakham – Citra
- White Rat
- Oakham Citra
- Bradfield Brewery Farmers Blonde
- Lowry
- Omnipollo – Noa Pecan Mud Cake
- Cloudwater – DIPA v7
- Brewdog – Elvis Juice
- Fourpure – Juicebox
- Magic Rock – Inhaler
- Beavertown – Bloody Notorious
- Cloudwater – DIPA
- Vocation – Life and Death
- Brewdog – Elvis Juice
- Beavertown – Lupuloid IPA
- Cloudwater / Magic Rock / JW Lees – Three’s Company
- Beavertown – Skull King
- Buxton/Omnipollo – Yellow Belly
- Siren – Proteus IPA Vol. 1
- Cloudwater – DIPA v8
- Northern Monk – Double Heathen
- Grapes BFM √225 Saison
- Firestone Walker – Parabajava
- Cloudwater – DIPA v8
- Dugges / Omnipollo – Barrel Aged Anagram
- Omnipollo – Noa Pecan Mudcake Stout
- Cloudwater / Magic Rock / JW Lees – Three’s Company
- Omnipollo / Buxton – Yelly Bellow
- Atom – Mars
- Siren / Cigar City – BA Caribbean Chocolate Cake
- Beavertown – Skull King
- Cloudwater – DIPA v3
- Track – Cotopaxi
- Cloudwater – DIPA v5
- Beavertown – Capt Hasta
- Cloudwater – Vermont ESB. I could drink this forever…
- Cloudwater – PX Imperial Stout
- Thornbridge – Love Among the Ruins
- Sarah Hughes – Dark Ruby Mild
- Buxton – Tripel. The beer I’ve drunk most this year.
- Omnipollo – Noa
- Omnipollo / Buxton – Ice Cream Pale
- Wild Beer Co – Modus Vivendi
- Magic Rock – The Upside Down
- Buxton – Trolltunga
- Lervig – 3 Bean Stout
- Wild Beer Co – Pogo
- Tring Brewery – Pale + Four
- Allgates Brewery – Blue Sky Tea
- Mikkeller – Sponton Lingonberry
- Omnipollo Noa
- Cigar City Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout
- Buxton Guatemalan Coffee Extra Porter
- Track Pekoe Blue Lady IPA
- Orval
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2016
– Wild Beer Co. Tap Takeover 08/12/16
WILD BEER CO. TAP TAKEOVER
Thursday 8th December 2016 / 4pm-end times / free
Probably our biggest tap takeover of the year falls at the feet of Bristol’s favourite sons, Wild Beer Co. Line-up and more info to follow but this is going to be big so save the date. Talking exclusive tastings with Wild Beer and a full Wild Beer spread across cask and keg. We are commemorating the event with a special poster by HimHallows. Look out for that and maybe even pick up a limited edition print.
– IMBC 16 Ticket Launch
IMBC 2016 TICKET LAUNCH
Wednesday 15th June 2016 / 6pm – late / free entry
at Port Street Beer House
Manchester Beer Week
Join us for an Indy Man Beer Con 2016 ticket launch party at Port Street as part of Manchester Beer Week. This will be your first chance to buy tickets for this year’s IMBC (Victoria Baths, 6th-9th October) and will be available on the night in advance of general release. General release tickets will happen at 9pm so get in a whole three hours early – a great chance to secure your place at the winner’s table for those savoured IMBC sessions.
We’re exciting to be hosting the ticket launch (alongside sister pub, The Beagle) for our very own beer festival, Indy Man Beer Con.
To celebrate we are offering up free beer from Against The Grain (Kentucky, USA) and complimentary snacks from everyone’s favourite Indian street food supremos, Bundobust. Keep an eye and ear out for pop-up bottle tastings throughout the evening from Siren Craft Brew, Northern Monk, and Runaway. Manchester Beer Week favourites will also be in full effect across the bar, naturally.
Come along and raise a glass to #IMBC16
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Indy Man Beer Con / Thursday 6th – Sunday 9th October 2016 / Victoria Baths, Manchester M13 0FE
www.indymanbeercon.co.uk
Independent Manchester Beer Convention (Indy Man Beer Con/IMBC) is a world class showcase for the best breweries from the UK and beyond. Taking over the stunning surrounds of the Grade II listed, architectural gem Victoria Baths for its 5th year from Thursday 6th October to Sunday 9th October, IMBC brings together the most progressive, forward thinking breweries from across the UK, Europe and USA for a multisensory, headlong, hop- forward beer extravaganza. And then some!
– 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
