– Cloudwater vs Fourpure: head to head
Tuesday 14th June 2016 / 6pm
North vs South. One of Manchester’s finest, Cloudwater take on one of London’s finest, Fourpure. For one night only, Cloudwater and Fourpure will take over the taps at Port Street Beer House for a fierce (but friendly) head-to-head. Happening as part of Manchester Beer Week.
Fourpure will be dishing up…
KEG
Hop Trick (Session India Pale Lager)
Burnt Ends (Smoked Porter
An as yet unnamed Barley Wine
Planet Simcoe (Single hop pale)
Shape Shifter (IPA)
Skyliner (Bavarian Wheat)
Cloudwater are holding…
KEG
DIPA v3
Pioneer Lager
Clausenii Stout Red Wine BA
Session IPA Simcoe Centennial
CASK
Pale
Session IPA Mosaic Centennial
Come and dip your beak!
– 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
– 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.
