– Beers of the Year 2015
Does anybody remember 2015? The beer drinkers below do! Here’s some highlights from our End of the Year 2015 survey…
RICHARD BROWNHILL
Little Leeds Beer House
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Buxton/Omnipollo Ice Cream Pale
Tilquin/Rulles ‘Rullquin Stout’
Wild Beer Co Redwood 2015
Quantum Stock Ale
Moor So’Hop (cans
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Gueuzerie Tilquin
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015?
Five amazing days in Copenhagen – nowhere near long enough. Also another amazing year of festivals – Leeds International and IMBC topping the bill as usual!
—
JAMES MOFFAT
Port Street Beer House / IMBC
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Logsdon Peche N Brett
Boon / Mikkeller Oude Geuze
Buxton Red Raspberry Rye
Lervig / Way 3 Bean Stout
Track Sonoma
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
I can’t choose…Far too many to choose from this year.
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
Working on IMBC was great. Brewing Dark Mass with Quantum.
—
DAVE HARRISON-WARD
Macclesfield Brewing Company
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Yellow Belly Sundae – Buxton/Omnipollo
Flat White – Alphabet Brewing Company
Yeastus Christus – To Øl
Airforce Gator – Quantum
Ahtanum Sour – Chorlton Brewing Company
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Buxton
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
Opening a brewery (Macclesfield Brewing Company)! After that IMBC 2015 of course!
—
ARLO
Port Street Beer House
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Logsdon Peche N’ Brett
Quantum Air Force Gator
Burning Sky Cuveé
Siren/Mikkeller BA Daydream
Track Sonoma
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Siren established / Track new
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
When the American Pallet came to Port Street with Westbrook and Jacks Abbey stuff!
—
CARL MCBRIDE
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Other Half – All Green Everything
Deschutes – Freshly Squeezed IPA
Omnipollo – Noa Pecan Mud Cake
Toccalomato – Zona Cesarini
Epic – Hop Zombie
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Omnipollo
—
LEONA NORBURY
Port Street Beer House
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Logsdon ‘Pech ‘n’ Brett’
Alesmith ‘Vietnamese Speedway Stout’
Siren BA ‘Nacken’
8 Wired ‘Feijoa Sour 2013
Lervig & Way Beers ‘3 Bean Stout’
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Pohjala (Estonia)
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
Borefts Bier Festival 2015 – The Netherlands
—
MYSTERY DRINKER
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Mikkeller/BrewDog Pale Ale Swindle
Beavertown Bloody ‘Ell
Cloudwater IPA
Okologisk Herslev Bryghus IPA
Jakehead IPA
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Cloudwater
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
IMBC
—
LIAM HOWARD
Port Street Beer House Abandonee
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Logsdon – Peche ‘n Brett
The Bruery – Tart of Darkness
Lervig & Way – 3 Bean Stout
Buxton & Arizona Wilderness – Deep Rainbow Valley
Brew By Numbers – 11/03 Session IPA Mosaic
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Track
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
Brewing at Quantum
—
MYSTERY GLUTEN INTOLERANT DRINKER
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Green’s Gutsy Dark Ale
Green’s Discovery
Mikkeller American Dream Gluten Free
To Øl Reparationsbajer Gluten Free
Brunehaut Bio Ambrée
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Green’s
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015?
Brunehaut Bio Ambrée
—
SCOTT KENNETH JACKSON
The Beagle
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Lervig / Way’s 3 Bean Stout (actual favourite)
Brouwerij Alvinne’s Cuvée de Mortagne Pedro Ximenez
Buxton’s Two Ton IPA
Burning Sky’s Cuvée 2015
Hawkshead / Crooked Stave’s Key Lime Tau (UK Version)
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Buxton (honourable mention: Track)
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
Discussing Game of Thrones and sharing that bottle of Pedro Ximenez barrel-aged Cuvée de Mortagne with the best people in the world following my last ever shift at Port Street.
—
MYSTERY DRINKER
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Beavertown Bloody ‘Ell
Omnipollo Bianca Mango Lassie Gose
Mikkeller / Lindemann Spontanbasil
The Kernel Table Beer
Pressure Drop Pale Fire
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Beavertown Brewery
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
What’s Brewing, Stavanger, Norway
—
ANDREW BAUCKHAM
Port Street Beer House
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Jack’s Abbey – Hoponious Union
Lervig/Way – Three Bean Stout
Wild Beer Co – The Blend 2015
Logsdon – Peche ‘n Brett
Marble – 125 Imperial Russian Stout, Burgundy
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
The Bruery
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
Supervising at IMBC
—
MYSTERY DRINKER
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
To Øl Black Malts & Body Salts
Evil Twin Citra Sunshine Slacker
Dieu Du Ciel Disco Soleil
Cloudwater IPA
Rule of Thirds IPA
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
To Øl
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
Weekend trip to Copenhagen
—
MYSTERY DRINKER
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Yellow Belly (Buxton / Omnipollo)
Nebuchadnezzar (Omnipollo)
Two Ton (Buxton)
Fuck Art Let’s Dance (To Øl)
Molotov Cocktail (Evil Twin)
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Buxton Brewery
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
Indy Man Beer Convention
—
MYSTERY DRINKER
FAVOURITE BEERS OF 2015
Black Jack Dragon’s Tears
Weird Beard – Double Pearl (MacCallan barrel)
Wild Beer – BrettBrett
Cloudwater – Autumn NZ Hopfenweiss
Wild Beer – Redwood
FAVOURITE BREWERY OF 2015
Wild Beer
BEST BEER EXPERIENCE OF 2015
Any trip to Cloudwater Tap
– Hawkshead Tap Takeover
Wednesday 16th December 2015 // 7pm // free entry
This is going to be good. Hawkshead, one of our favourite breweries, join us at Port Street and they’re bringing out the big guns…
BEER LIST
CASK
WINDERMERE PALE
3.5% Pale Ale
DRY STONE STOUT
4.5% Stout
IPA
7.0% IPA
GREAT WHITE
4.8% Wheat Beer
CUMBRIAN 5 HOP
5.0% Pale Ale
NZPA
6.0% Pale Ale
KEG
TONKA BEAN
8.5% Tonka bean stout
ITI
3.5% Pale Ale
NZPA
6.0% Pale Ale
WILD SOLAR SOUR WHEAT
4.0% Blend of Wheat Beer & Berliner Weisse
BOURBON BA OAT WINE
9.0% Bourbon barrel aged oat wine. Collaboration with Wild Beer
WILD WHEAT
4.8% Wheat beer
BRODIE’S PRIME EXPORT
8.5% Stout
SUNDOWN
4.5% Amber ale
KEY LIME TAU
6.3% Key lime pie sour beer. Collaboration with Crooked Stave
CROOKED STAVE KEY LIME TAU
7.0% Crooked Stave’s version of Key Lime Tau
+ + +
3 varieties of Oat Wine in bottles. Standard Oat Wine, Bourbon BA, Cider Brandy BA.
Mission statement from Hawkshead…
At Hawkshead Brewery we make the sort of beer we like to drink. We brew distinctive, flavourful, modern beers. Hawkshead is one of the most successful of the new wave of independent breweries which have ignited public excitement about beer and furthered the renaissance of British brewing. Our beer is full of flavour, handmade, crafted, bold, personal and made by people who LOVE BEER for people who love beer.
– Old And Dark Week
23rd November – 30th November 2015
These days it’s dark outside when you get out of bed. You potter about your flat wondering if it’s too late to have your first cup of coffee. Unsure of the time because your phone’s out of battery & the clock fell off the wall & has been stopped at 8.32 ever since. You haven’t bothered to get a new one yet but you like that clock in that space on the kitchen wall so you’ve just put it back up & now it hangs there useless & lifeless & silent. Much like you now staring at the stove still wondering if you should make a coffee. It could be the middle of the night. It could be 5pm. It could be 5am. It’s dark outside. That’s all you know. You charge your phone just enough to find out the time. It’s the evening. Maybe a bit late for a coffee. Maybe time for a beer. It’s getting colder. Maybe it’s time to dust off one of those imperial stouts you’ve been ageing. You’ve been looking forward to trying that one you brought back with you from a trip to America last year. You wanted to keep it a bit longer. Share it with some friends on a special occasion. It’d be a shame to open it now. You reconsider. If only there was somewhere you could go to get a decent stout & then you could save this bottle. You stop just before you open it. You remember a night in Port Street Beer House. You’re sure you were there around this time last year drinking some imperial stout with bacon in it or something. You remember really enjoying it. You remember there was a whole week dedicated to your favourite style of beer. Your phone now has enough battery. You start browsing the internet trying to find out if it’s happening again this year. You’re in luck. It is.
OLD AND DARK WEEK
A week long celebration of old and dark beers featuring highlights in the shape of…
Against The Grain 70K
Lervig Barley Wine
Moor Fusion
Siren Chocolate Caribbean Cake
Westbrook Mexican Cake
and many many more
P.S. There will also be young and light beers available.
– Christmas Hampers
Available now at the bar
You’re surrounded by loved ones & some other people you haven’t seen for a year. There’s a tree in the house. None of you have been sober for weeks. You’re all wearing torn paper hats & telling awful jokes. Later you’ll eat the worst cake you’ve ever eaten & you’ll have to wash it down with a beer that for some reason has loads of cloves in it. This doesn’t have to be the case. You could pick up a hamper from Port Street Beer House & actually enjoy something on the 25th of December.
THE PORT STREET CHRISTMAS SELECTION BOX £32.50
1. Leipzig Bayerischer Bahnhof – Gose
Because whoever cooks dinner is going to under season it!
2. Siren/Cigar City – Caribbean Chocolate Cake
Why would you want to eat a fruit cake in the first place? Let alone one with marzipan? Have a Caribbean Chocolate Cake as dessert instead.
3. Buxton – Red Raspberry Rye
You’ve never made jam before. That’s why you made a mess of it! Why do you think people want your awful home made jam anyway? Give them a Red Raspberry Rye instead. It’s far better than anything you’re going to make.
4. Evil Twin – Freudian Slip
You’ll probably be needing something a little more boozy later on to help you through that 4 hour game of Monopoly.
5. Northern Monk/Nomada – Frate Nero
I always find dark beer goes great with beef. You’re having turkey? Why would you have turkey? It’s just a bigger, uglier, horribly dry chicken!
6. Firestone Walker – Union Jack
Give the gift of hops this Christmas. To yourself. Go on. You earned it. You’re definitely more deserving than those ungrateful friends & family members who are all asking if you kept the receipts.
CANS £25.00
Cans are perfect stocking fillers. They’re also perfect for the long train journey back to the middle of nowhere that you grew up. You can even spread the Christmas cheer by sharing them with your fellow travellers. Or just keep the cans to yourself to make putting up with being crammed into a busy train, surrounded by people shouting at each other on phones, eating noisily & listening to music through headphones at a volume that must be causing them some serious ear trouble just that little bit more bearable.
No I don’t want a mince pie from you, thanks.
Oh, you’re just going to leave your bags on the seat while I stand for 2 hours?
It’s great that you find my shoulder so comfortable but could you please sleep somewhere else? Somewhere far, far away from here.
1. Vocation – Heart & Soul
2. Roosters – Yankee
3. Evil Twin – Molotov Lite
4. Firestone Walker – Easy Jack
5. Sierra Nevada – Nooner
6. Northern Monk – Northern Star
USA £35.20
Oh America, you gave us so many terrible things. You’re responsible for Black Friday, the Kardashians & Comic Sans. It’s a good job you produce some amazing beer, otherwise I could never forgive you. The one thing I will never forgive you for however, is saying “I could care less”. Why do you keep saying you could care less when you have no interest in something? What you’re actually saying when you say you could care less is that you do care. You have to care a little bit to be able to care less. I could care less about these beers.
1. Stillwater – As Follows
2. Two Roads – Workers Comp Saison
3. Against The Grain – MacFannybaw
4. Founders – Centennial IPA
5. North Coast – Old Rasputin
6. Sierra Nevada – Hop Hunter IPA
UK £31.80
& what were we doing in the UK while America was coming up with Comic Sans? Not a lot. We were all too busy playing cricket to notice one of us had come up with the pay toilet. Yes, we’re to blame for there being toilets in train stations that earn more money than most people. Bravo UK. Well done. We’re also responsible for you having to pretend you care about one another at Christmas by exchanging bits of card with people you’ve only spoken to in the last year to complain about their cat doing its business on your lawn.
1. Northern Monk – New World IPA
2. Siren – BA Forgotten Journey
3. Magic Rock – Salty Kiss
4. Partizan – Porter
5. Buxton – Ace Edge
6. Mad Hatter – Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte
GLUTEN FREE £28.00
There are some people who can’t drink beer. Seriously. I hope you folks find some comfort in the fact that there’s some people out there making some amazing beer that you can drink!
1. Mikkeller – Peter, Pale & Mary
2. Mikkeller – I Wish IPA
3. First Chop – DOC
4. First Chop – HOP
5. Green’s – Premium Pils
6. Green’s – Dark Ale
The only Christmas spirit you need is whisky.
Thank you.
Merry Tuesday 24th November!
PS. As a special gift to you all this Christmas we’ll be throwing in an extra bottle to every hamper. I suggest you drink these yourself rather than giving them to the people you bought the hamper for. You already bought them six beers. They should be grateful enough for that. I’d be pretty happy if someone bought me six beers. Well, maybe not happy, but you know, drunk?
Words by James Moffat