CBR Magazine Issue 5

MAGAZINE / PROGRAMME

ISSUE 5 SPRING 2016

INSIDE: YOUR CBR 2016 GUIDE / MELISSA COLE ON BEER AND FOOD / PETE BROWN ON CIDER / BEER 52’S TOP TEN / A BRIEF HISTORY OF IMPERIAL STOUT

WELCOME TO CRAFT BEER RISING 2016! – FESTIVAL LISTINGS START ON P6 Welcome to CBR. We’re now in our fourth year and craft beer is still rising! It remains the biggest growth product behind the bar but there’s a long way to go to make sure better beer is available everywhere, although things are heading in the right direction.

This year we’ve brought in a few changes: since our mascot Foxy went missing and we’re unsure if he’s still alive, we thought he should be immortalised. So we’ve rebranded to include him.

We’ve also introduced our ‘Lost in Cyder Space’ area (see p11). Cider, like beer, is growing in popularity and the standards are amazing, so we’ve built a Neon Disco Orchard in which to enjoy this amazing drink.

If you’re returning, you’ll immediately notice the increased scale of the event: we’ve doubled in size.

We’ve created a food court to make finding the right dish simpler. We’ve also reorganised the layout so it’s easier to explore all the brilliant breweries and cider makers. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the presence of some of the world’s best beer (and cider).

Thank you very much for supporting our event.

We hope you have a great time!

The CBR team

MAGAZINE / PROGRAMME

ISSUE 5 SPRING 2016

INSIDE: YOUR CBR 2016 GUIDE / MELISSA COLE ON BEER AND FOOD / PETE BROWN ON CIDER / BEER 52’S TOP TEN / A BRIEF HISTORY OF IMPERIAL STOUT

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS

About the front cover: We hope you like CBR’s new branding, which is inspired by Foxy, our old mascot. Foxy is still missing. He was last seen at CBR Glasgow last year standing at the bar, pint in paw, talking to several craft beer aficionados. We believe one of them was called Bernard. In exchange for Foxy’s safe return we are offering a lifetime membership to Craft Beer Rising and an abundance of FREE beer. We are beginning to fear we may never see him again, so it’s of great comfort that he’s been immortalised in Adobe Illustrator.

PUBLISHER: Elastic (getelastic.co.uk). PRINTED BY: Warners. To enquire about CBR, email Info@craftbeerrising.co.uk Craft Beer Rising 2016 3

Hauntingly good beer...

E HERE AVAILABL BEER AT CRAFT N THE RISING O TAND S ADNAMS

adnamsghostship Adnams_Ghost Ship A5.indd 1

adnams.co.uk 29/01/2016 13:00

THE SOCIETY OF

350+ SIBA Champion Beers • Live Music • Live Rugby • Street Food Sheffield (just 2 hrs from London) Cask, Craft Keg, Bottle & Can BeerX.org/festivalofbeer

SIBA

Independent Brewers

Representing over 850 independent craft brewers.

OUR VISION ‘To deliver the future of British beer and become the voice of British brewing’.

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS INCLUDE: ACCESS TO PUB CO & OFF-TRADE MARKETS THROUGH BEERFLEX QUARTERLY MEMBERS MAGAZINE EXPORT SUPPORT LOBBYING ON BEHALF OF OUR MEMBERS FREE LEGAL & BREWING HELPLINES ACCESS TO SIBA’S TOOLBOX NETWORKING AT SIBA REGIONAL MEETINGS REGULAR INDUSTRY GUIDANCE & UPDATES SIBA’S PRESTIGIOUS BEER COMPETITIONS DISCOUNTS WITH MANY BREWERY SUPPLIERS PLUS MUCH MORE SIBA ALSO OFFERS A SUPPLIER ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP. TO FIND OUT MORE VISIT SIBA.CO.UK

To find out more about SIBA and to join the association please visit siba.co.uk The more brewery representation we have, the more support we can give to Britains’ independent craft brewers.

SocietyOfIndependentBrewers

SIBA01

CBR LONDON 2016 PROGRAMME

BEER HALL Your listings for the biggest and best CBR yet

EXHIBITOR 40ft Brewery Adnams Amber Ales Backyard Brewery Bad Seed Brewery Beavertown Beavertown Bedlam Brewery Big Hug Brewing Co Black Isle Brewing Co Blue Point Brew By Numbers Brewave BrewDog Brewers Project Brewing and Distilling Co Bru Brewery Butcombe

By The Horns Brewing Co Cairngorm Brewery Caledonian Brewery Camden Town Brewery Camden Town Brewery Cave Direct

6 Craft Beer Rising 2016

STAND NO. 70 54 59 108 82 16 18-19 46 14 17 112 65 91 90 125 64 6 72 37 22 71 87 127-128 1-5

The Celt Experience 52 Charles Wells Brewery 129 The Colonsay Brewery 80 Crafted Exports 84 Crate Brewery 123 Crazy Mountain Brewing Co 96 Curious Drinks 73 Dark Star Brewing Co 15 Drygate Brewing Company 50 Elav Brewery 44 Electric Bear Brewing Co 89 Elgoods Brewery 68 Euroboozer 118-122 Farmageddon Brewing Co-op 76 Firebird 100 Firebrand Brewing Co & Black Flag Brewery 10 The Five Points Brewing Company 63 Flying Monk Brewery 74 Forest Road Brewing Co 11 Founders Brewing Co 107 Fourpure Brewing Co 12 Fuller, Smith and Turner 47 Fyne Ales 20 Gipsy Hill Brewing Co 116

CBR LONDON 2016 PROGRAMME

Goose Island Greene King Grimbergen Hammerton Brewery Harbour Brewing Co Harry Bromptons Alcoholic Ice Tea Harviestoun Brewery Heathwick World Craft Beers Heavy Industry Brewing Hiver Beers Hogs Back Brewery Hook Norton Brewery

113 85 109 92 101 66 21 31 81 58 75 49

Howling Hops Ilkley Brewery Innis & Gunn Inveralmond Brewery Islay Ales Keltek Laine Brewing Company The Lagunitas Brewing Company Liquid Projects International Little Bichos Little Creatures The London Beer Factory

60 42-43 27 23 30 7 94 55 98 86 67 57

Craft Beer Rising 2016 7

CBR LONDON 2016 PROGRAMME

EXHIBITOR London Brewing Co London Fields Brewery Lonerider Brewing Maule Brewing Co McGrath’s Premium Irish Ales Meantime Brewing Company Moncada Brewery Mondo Brewing Company Nene Valley Oakham Ales Old Kent Rd. Brewery Point Beer Portobello Brewing Company Purity Brewing Co Rat Brewery The Rebel Brewing Co Renegade Brewery Revisionist Brewing Rooster’s Brewing Co Sharp’s Brewery

STAND NO. 41 78 114 56 88 38 61 62 126 45 110 95 93 29 124 69 79 33 117 99

Shepherd Neame Sierra Nevada Speyside Craft Brewery St Austell Stewart Brewing Tempest Brewing Co Thornbridge Brewery Trilogy Beverage Brands Truman’s Brewery Two Fingers Brewing Co Two Tribes Up North Beers Vedett Vertical Drinks Westerham Brewery Wild Card Brewery Wildman Craft Beer Williams Bros. Brewing Co The Wild Beer Co Windswept Brewing Co

40 48 25 36 28 35 53 39 115 8 13 83 97 102-106 32 34 9 26 77 24

A PAGE FOR YOUR NOTES...

CBR LONDON 2016 PROGRAMME

Sponsored by Sheppy’s

‘LOST IN CYDER SPACE’ Lose yourself in our new cider area…

W

e‘ve always represented cider at CBR and felt it was time to give it a more prominent place, so this year we’ve created a ‘Cyder Space’ alongside all the amazing beer.

Top quality cider is on the up, with more and more drinkers embracing it. And like its hoppy cousin, cider is appealing to those who are interested in paying a premium for provenance and an artisanal approach.

It’s also finding new fans among those with an appetite for experimentation. Such drinkers are looking to brands willing to push the envelope, be that through barrel ageing, getting creative with flavours or revisiting more traditional themes.

We hope you enjoy discovering some brilliant new ciders – plus a couple of surprises – in our new ‘Lost in Cyder Space’ area. In particular, be sure to check out Mabinogion Mead.

“ W I T H CI D E R , THE BAD STUFF IS S H O C K I N G,W H I L E THE GOOD STUFF I S A M AT CH FO R T H E B E S T BEER, WINE OR C H A M PAG N E” Pete Brown – see p30

EXHIBITOR

STAND NO.

Angioletti Italian Craft Cider Armagh Cider Aspall Cyder Capel Rd Cider Cornish Orchards Cote Breton Brut Cidre Farmer Fear Cider Fetch the Drinks Fynburys Rutland Cider Hogan’s Cider Limited Hoxton Cidersmiths Instil Drinks Co Kentish Pip Cider Mab Mead Maeloc Sidra More Wine Orchard Pig Cider Seacider Sheppy’s Cider Sxollie Cider UK Tempted? Irish Craft Cider The Cotswold Cider Co Thistly Cross Cider Urban Orchard Cider

4 9 16 5 14 3 18 1 2 7 24 23 8 13 22 21 6 19 12 17 15 20 11 10

Credit: Bill Bradshaw Craft Beer Rising 2016 11

LISTINGS

THE FOOD HALL Delicious food from around the world

CLEAVER & KEG cleaverandkeg.co.uk FLEISCHMOB fleischmob.co.uk GINGERBEARDS PRESERVES gingerbeardspreserves.co.uk KARKLI facebook.com/chomponkarkli LITTLE JACK HORNER’S ljhorners.com THE MAC SHAC facebook.com/themacshacuk MAMA’S JERK mamasjerkstation.com

MOONS GREEN CHARCUTERIE moonsgreen.co.uk ORSO PRAIRIE FIRE BBQ prairiefirebbq.com PURELY PICKLED EGGS purelypickledeggs.co.uk SERIOUS PIG seriouspig.london SNAFFLING PIG CO snafflingpig.co.uk SOFFLES PITTA CHIPS soffles.com SQUARE PIE squarepie.com THE WHOLE CHEESE thewholecheese.co.uk

CBR LONDON 2016 PROGRAMME

PRAIRIE FIRE BBQ

P

rairie Fire BBQ was created in 2013 by Michael Gratz, a native of Kansas City. He’d moved to London and fallen in love with the diverse food scene but missed the authentic slowsmoked, Kansas City style BBQ from his hometown.

So Michael started making batches of his sauce, rubs and smoked meats for friends and family. After much encouragement, he decided to start selling his products at various markets around London, and Prairie Fire BBQ was born.

SQUARE PIE CO

S

quare Pie started properly in summer 2001 when a recently unemployed Martin Dewey dreamt up the company’s quadrangular name. As a food lover, Martin had long been frustrated by the lack of quality pies available in London. After finding a chef, Martin remortgaged his flat and set about trying to create the UK’s first gourmet pie company.

Square Pie’s philosophy was the same then as it is now – use the best fresh ingredients available and work with chefs who know what they’re doing and care about the results.

LITTLE JACK HORNER’S

L

ittle Jack Horner’s from Somerset are James, Laura, Alex and Lucy, and their goal is to make the best sausage rolls you can buy. They seem to be doing a good job because GQ Magazine described their creations as “the best sausage rolls we’ve ever tasted”.

James explains: “100% of our outdoor-reared, free-range pork and chicken comes from local high-welfare farms.

The flour and dairy we use for our thin flaky pastry is the best that the South-West has to offer.”

FLEISCHMOB

M

ark Edwards is the man behind Austrian streetfood outfit Fleischmob, which he launched in 2012, inspired by his mother’s upbringing in Stinatz, Austria.

Some of Mark’s delicacies include ‘Rock Me Amadeus’, whose main ingredient is a Kasekrainer – smoked sausage with emmental cheese inside; then there’s ‘Cousin Robert’s Hangover Brunch’ – speck, eggs, onions and fried bread dumplings; plus Mark’s favourite – rare-breed pork schnitzel in light rye sourdough with homemade compote.

MAMA’S JERK STATION

M

ama’s Jerk BBQ marinade recipe was originally made by the founder’s late grandmother.

She came up with her secret recipe in her farmhouse kitchen in the Jamaican parish of Mandeville Manchester, where she created amazing

jerk chicken and pork dishes.

Her marinade was so tasty she could put it on anything.

She passed the recipe down and Mama’s Jerk Station has taken Mama Charlotte’s recipe and today use it to create exciting Caribbean flavours in a new and modern way.

Craft Beer Rising 2016 13

NEW

Montana Red - 4.5%

IPA - 5.3%

Known world over for its wild natural beauty, making it the perfect namesake for our naturally beautiful American style ale.

A true classic.

For over 200 years, it’s been a bastion of all things beautiful about beer.

Plenty of Galaxy hops for a heightened passion fruit palate, Imperial malt for depths of flavour, and rye crystal for a distinctive red hue.

A subject our brewers have been pursuing for at least 170 of those... and they’re not resting on their laurels any time soon.

An American Style Red Rye Ale

WANT TO LEARN MORE? info@westsidedrinks.co.uk www.westsidedrinks.co.uk

A Modern Take on the Classic

Find us at Craft Beer Rising on Stand 47 www.drinkaware.co.uk

Left: Rob da Bank Right: London Disco Society

LISTINGS

Left: Don Letts Right: Drink this when listening to Island Records DJs

MUSIC

From Rob da Bank and James Lavelle to Donna Somerset...

Photo: Liam Ricketts

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26 18.00-19.30: Island Records DJs 19.30-21.00: Don Letts 21.00-22.30: Ross Allen 22.30-00.30: James Lavelle

Left: Coldcut Right: Pete Paphides

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 27 12:00-14.30: London Disco Society 14.30-15.30: Showhawk Duo 15.30-17.30: Pete Paphides/London Disco Society 18.30-20.00: Andy Smith, Boca 45 & Coldcut 20.00-21.00: Showhawk Duo 21.00-22.30: Prince Fatty 22.30-00.30: Rob da Bank LOST IN CYDER SPACE SCHEDULE All sessions: Donna Somerset & The Vintage Disco and Pete Paphides

James Lavelle

Left: Boca 45 Right: Ross Allen

CBR LONDON 2016 PROGRAMME

SHOWHAWK DUO

Y

oung British guitarists Mikhail Asanovic and Jake Wright, together known as The Showhawk Duo, have dazzled audiences worldwide with their spectacular approach to playing the guitar.

Their playing style has broken down barriers between acoustic and electronic music.

They have re-thought traditional musical structure, creating their own allencompassing genre. Whether

playing old-school trance classics or modern funky house, their live show knows no boundaries.

Mik is a classically trained guitarist having studied at Manchester’s RNCM. Jake is an electric junkie and grew up playing in rock and metal bands. Together they create a truly unique and impressive sound, and have turned many “acoustic” nights into thumping raves.

DONNA SOMERSET & THE VINTAGE DISCO

T

he Vintage Mobile Disco is a diminutive, artisan soundsystem, lovingly assembled within a rickety old laundry truck.

The ethos of the Vintage Mobile Disco is very much back to basics: a couple of turntables; four primarycoloured disco lights; one ubiquitous mirror ball; and a dash of smoke from the fog machine. That’s all it takes to evoke the nostalgia of the

discos we all remember from our youth.

Music-wise, there are just a couple of simple rules: seveninch vinyl only; recorded at least 30 years ago.

Expect to hear plenty of soul, disco, boogie, forgotten folk, psych, funk, country, soundtracks, easylistening, and other oddities found lingering in the dusty racks of the forgotten record stores of the English countryside.

PRINCE FATTY

P

rince Fatty is Mike Pelanconi, a British sound engineer and record producer. As a record producer, Prince Fatty has worked with a diverse repertoire of artists and labels, from the acid jazz of the 1990s to rock musicians like Graham Coxon (of Blur), reggae legends like Gregory Isaacs and Dub Syndicate, and pop singers such as Lily Allen.

Other musicians he has worked with include JD from A Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, N’Dea Davenport, Brand New Heavies, Mother Earth, Kula Shaker, The Sugarhill Gang, Little Roy, Adrian Sherwood/ON-U Sound, Lo Fidelity Allstars, Born Jamericans, Luciano, Capleton, Nostalgia 77 and The Skints. Expect a similarly diverse set at CBR.

Craft Beer Rising 2016 17

CBR LONDON 2016 PROGRAMME

TALKS SCHEDULE

Watch, listen, learn, taste, sample, match, pair, enjoy...

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 27

13.15-14.00 BE A KEG STAR

12.15-12.40 INNOVATION, BEER & BANTER

LOCATION: TALKS THEATRE Cellar management is so much more than changing a barrel. Some of the top industry names share their advice including Kegstar, Dolium and Fuller’s.

WITH GOOSE ISLAND BREWER TIM FAITH LOCATION: TALKS THEATRE Chicago’s Goose Island Brewery has been a true innovator on the craft beer scene since 1988. At 12.15pm on February 27 you are invited to hear from Innovation Brewer Tim Faith and sample some of Chicago’s finest beer.

14.00-14.30 THE BEER AWARDS LOCATION: MUSIC ROOM Find out about The Beer Awards, a new beer competition run by The IWSC Group (International Wine & Spirits Challenge). The awards’ aim is to highlight exceptional beers via rigorous judging.

14.30–15.15 ACCESSIBLE CIDER FOR ALL WITH PETE BROWN LOCATION: TALKS THEATRE Cider is the world’s most misunderstood drink. Pete Brown demystifies it via a tasting session that will showcase drinks with depth, complexity and flavour.

15.30-16.15 A SIMPLE HOP TO INNOVATION LOCATION: TALKS THEATRE Simply Hops on hop products of the future; Fourpure on how to thrive in the face of availability adversity; plus other breweries on how they’ve worked with local hop farmers to create experimental hops.

14.00- 15.00 LET’S CHAT SNAPS LOCATION: MUSIC ROOM Steve and Andreas of 40ft Brewery are also renowned photographers and videographers. They will offer hints and tips, plus a hands-on workshop.

13:00-13.45 THIRSTY GARDENERS’ CIDER TASTING LOCATION: TALKS THEATRE These foraging fellows will offer a brief overview of regional variations in cider and then guide you through their tastes and flavours.

14:00-14.45 DES DE MOOR ON LONDON’S BEST PUBS LOCATION: TALKS THEATRE Des de Moor is author of Guide to London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars. Join Des to sample some of the fabulous beers now being brewed in London and learn more about the history of the city as a brewing capital. You can even buy a signed copy of his book!

15.30-16.45 FERMENT+FORAGE+FEAST LOCATION: TALKS THEATRE Take an interactive meander through a wonderland of beery information and treats. Scott Williams on kit brewing; the Thirsty Gardeners on using foraged ingredients; Ubrew on full-grain brewing; and Melissa Cole on pairing food with beer.

Exclusive Beer52 offer for Craft Beer Rising.

Your £10 credit with Beer52: The UK’s No. 1 Craft Beer Club

Visit: Beer52.com/CBR Expert Selected

-

Small Batch - Exclusive Beers

ADVERTORIAL

REAL ALE

We’ve been promoting smaller breweries for over a decade…

T

he multi-award winning liquid range working with different brewers REAL ALE delicatessen, Real Ale, was nurturing creating different styles.

371 Richmond Rd, the craft beer revolution long before it Tim Peyton, Real Ale store manager, Twickenham, was fashionable to do so. It also lists a says: “It’s not so much brands that have Middlesex diverse range of international wines from grown over the past year but styles.

TW1 2EF smaller growers. The philosophy of the More adventurous beers have grown in 020 8892 3710 Twickenham-based retailer from the start, 11 popularity. Low ABV beers and Session www.realale.com years ago, was to offer a wide range of high IPAs have also become increasingly Twitter: @RealAle_com quality but often unknown craft beers, important to the range, such as Kernel’s ciders, and perries made by smaller British Table Beer (our biggest seller) and Siren’s breweries and artisans from around the Half Mast. Our range of British beers, world. Beer has and always will be Real Ale’s passion. many of which are bottle conditioned and all from The shop has introduced over 60 new breweries microbreweries, have also seen healthy sales, during the past year. These include, from the UK: outstripping sales of US and imported beers. This is Magic Rock; Vocation; Northern Monk; Mad Hatter and testament to the increasing quality of UK breweries.

Cloudwater. As well as 500 high quality beers and 300 “Canned products have all seen steady growth artisan wines, the shop now offers a choice of four with UK breweries. Brands such as Weird Beard, rotating fresh keg beers on tap to ‘try before you buy’ Wild Beer Co and Beavertown follow in the footsteps or take away in one or two-litre growlers. These of US breweries that have been canning for years. include Birrificio Italiano Tipopils; Kernel Pale Ale Gluten-free beers such as BrewDog’s Vagabond and and Ubiquitous Pale Ale. Mikkeller’s I Wish have also become more popular”.

In 2015, Real Ale celebrated its 10 year Since 2007, Real Ale has been an official supplier anniversary. To mark this milestone, the company agent to M&S, helping the food business source a launched its own range of private-label beers named range of ales and ciders. Last year, Real Ale Ubiquitous. The first was a pale ale in collaboration launched 113 brewery own-label products into M&S, with Buxton Brewery. Real Ale plans to extend this across 11 different regions in the UK. Real Ale also runs private beer-tasting masterclasses, collaborating with the best beer writers and commentators in the industry, and offers pop-up craft beer bars at outside events.

Craft Beer Rising 2016 21

TEN BEST OF THE

BEER52 REVEALS THE BREWS THAT WON THE MOST PRAISE FROM ITS MEMBERS IN 2015…

22 Craft Beer Rising 2016

BEER52’S TOP TEN 2015 was an incredible year for Beer52 and we featured many, many super-tasty beers. So when asked to come up with our top ten it was always going to be difficult.

How do you choose from such a huge selection? So, of course, we looked to our members!

Looking at feedback we were able to determine their favourite beers over the past 12 months or so. This is their definitive list of the best Beer52 beers of the past year! We hope you agree that there are some extremely special brews in there.

DE MOLEN

Hamer & Sikkel

(5.2%)

Hamer & Sikkel is a robust porter with a roasted malty character from the Munich, chocolate, brown and oatmeal malts. This gives it strong chocolate, coffee and wood flavours with a hint of blackberries, all finished off with a soft but intense bitterness. Bottle conditioned.

BRUSSELS BEER PROJECT

TO-ØL

Reparationsbajer

Dark Sister

(5.8%)

Dark Sister is Brussels Beer Project’s dark Belgian saison. It pours mahoganyblack with a lightbeige, moussy head.

It has an attractive bouquet of milk chocolate, spices, blood orange, grapefruit peel, coffee grounds and caramel. Medium body and carbonation with a dry finish and wellbalanced bitterness.

Enjoy her dark soul!

Sometimes you need a good ‘recovery beer’ (in Danish “reparationsbajer”).

After years of hard work, all results have been gathered and the conclusion is clear: the best way to remove your hangover is with a potent pale ale that has powerful and aromatic American and New Zealand hops combined with a nice, round malt profile. It massages the palate and reinforces the belief that one shall survive another day!

(6.66%)

Craft Beer Rising 2016 23

BOULEVARD Single-Wide IPA

(5.7%) American hops have an unmistakable aroma and flavour of citrus and tropical fruit. They’re so impactful they’ve changed drinking habits around the world. IPA is the flagship style of craft beer and something people now ask for at the bar without even looking.

Single Wide is a beauty of a beer.

Juicy fruits, loads of peach and grapefruit, then a bitter finish that makes you thirstier as you drink. Brewed in Kansas City, this goes well with slowcooked, smoked barbecue.

By Mark Dredge

18 Craft 24 CraftBeer BeerRising Rising2014 2016

BIRRIFICIO ITALIANO Tipopils

(5.2%) This is one of the best beers in the world and one of the most important for Italy and beyond.

Birrificio Italiano was the first Italian craft brewery. It invented the word Birrificio (meaning ‘small brewery’) and with this beer created the Italian Pilsner – this winedrinking country’s first local beer style.

Now many imitate it. Tipopils is a German-style Pilsner that’s dryhopped to give a huge herbal, grassy, lemony aroma.

Have a really good pizza with this one.

By Mark Dredge

FOURPURE

WILD BEER CO

(4.7%)

(4.2%)

Fourpure’s Dry Hop Pils is a superlative example of what happens when a great brewery spins a classic German lager with the modern taste for aromatic hops. It’s dry and clean, quintessential of a great German-style Pils, then those hops power through.

Lager is so often dismissed as inferior to ale, almost by default, but I think that’s stupid because so many of the finest beers in the world are lagers – this is one of Britain’s best.

Try it with SouthEast Asian food, ideally Vietnamese.

By Mark Dredge

I like drinking straight from the can or bottle. The beauty of having Bibble from the can is that cracking the ring-pull is like setting off a fruity firework display that blasts the smells of juicy oranges, mangoes and grapefruits right into your face.

This is a session IPA, which is probably the fastest-growing beer style in the world today, and it’s dry, clean, smooth, bitter, fruity and ever so bangable.

Try this with pork belly and honeyroasted root veg.

By Mark Dredge

Dry Hop Pils

Bibble

BEER52’S TOP TEN

ABOUT BEER52

VOCATION & BEER52

REBEL BREWING

(4.5%)

(8.5%)

Them & Us

This was brewed as an exclusive collaboration between Vocation Brewery and the members of Beer52.

As they asked, we used loads of Mosaic hops from West Coast USA, kept it to a sessionable strength, and gave it a beautiful ruby- red colour. Mosaic is known for its tropical fruit character, which we think works really well with the red maltiness of this beer. Thanks to James Harrison for naming this brew. It is will soon be available to buy from our online shop.

Mexi Cocoa

Mexi-Cocoa is a devilishly delicious chocolate and vanilla stout. Tripleinfused with chocolate and vanilla at every stage of the brewing process, this strong, dark stout is a perfect after-dinner beer to be shared.

OSKAR BLUES Pinner

(4.9%) Pinner Throwback IPA, at 4.9% and 35 IBUs, is a very drinkable IPA that uses several varieties of hops to create the everevolving flavour.

With tropical fruits, citrus juices, pineapple and spice berry up front in the aroma and flavour, the biscuit and toasted bread at the back balance out all the hops and make a great finish.

Beer52 is a craft beer discovery club that sends its customers a different selection of beers each month. “We want to take you on a journey and share our favourite beers from around the planet with you!” says founder James Brown.

“Whether you have just discovered the fast-growing world of craft beer or you’re an aficionado, our boxes are designed to fuel your passion for flavour and to learn a little bit about what’s in your glass along the way.”

To find out more visit blog.beer52.com and beer52.com.

‘WE WANT TO SHARE OUR FAVOURITE BEERS FROM AROUND THE PL ANET WITH YOU!’ Craft Beer Rising 2016 25

THE

BEER AWARDS HIGHLIGHTING EXCEPTIONAL BEERS

COMING

SOON OPEN FOR ENTRIES AT THEBEERAWARDS.COM @thebeerawards

/thebeerawards

ADVERTORIAL

CHEERS CHARLIE! Our new Charlie brand was born last year...

C

harlie Wells – a range of beers born from the spirit of adventure, of discovery, of heritage, but with a modern, trendy twist – continues its voyage of success with a new crew member.

Arguably our coolest range of beers yet, Charlie Wells reflects the colourful heritage and character of our brewery, which we’re all so proud of. In 2015, visitors to Craft Beer Rising were the first to taste our first Charlie Wells beer, the fresh, contemporary Dry Hopped Lager, which has since hit bars around the UK. It’s proved so popular that it is now even making its way overseas, just like Charlie Wells himself, to France and Italy, and also to the US and Canada where it will be sold in a new can and bottle format.

Fittingly, on our 140th year of brewing, 2016 will see our own voyage of discovery continue with a new addition to the Charlie Wells brand, Triple Hopped IPA, inspired by our founder’s sea-faring days, in particular by his first voyage to India in the 1800s. We’ll be launching this beer at this year’s Craft Beer Rising at STAND 129.

The brew Master Brewer Chris Reid wanted to make sure this tribute to Charles was as authentic as possible and dug deep for inspiration. He visited a library in London to track down old brewing records, then translated his recipe of choice into something that we could brew on our modern plant here in Bedford. In the brewhouse he

kept the recipe traditional, using Golding hops which would have been used for the old IPAs from the 1800s, but gave it a modern twist by maturing the beer with New World hops from the States and Australia.

Chris wanted to get a low colour for the beer – traditional IPAs were as pale in colour as the brewer could get them – so blended Maris Otter, Pale Malt and some lager malt to achieve a lovely light-golden tone.

The beer Traditional IPAs had to be high in alcohol to withstand the sea voyage to India. While we want to keep the beer as authentic as possible, we don’t want to destroy people’s taste buds, so have created a 5.2% ABV beer which is highly hopped, dry and crisp to give that moreish taste that will entice people back for another pint.

The beer has a fantastic white head, a lovely burnished gold colour from the malt, and gives an aroma of tropical fruit which hits the palate before finishing with a gentle creaminess and bitterness.

We’ve been testing the beer in Charles Wells sites and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

IPA is a popular style in a category that is growing, particularly craft keg. There are two types of IPA commonly seen in the marketplace: classic English with a lower ABV and American-influenced, typically with a higher ABV. Ours is the best of both!

Follow us on Twitter at @charliesbeer

Craft Beer Rising 2016 27

A STAR IS BORN A big, bold lager that is delicately balanced, full bodied with a hint of sweetness that compliments the aromas encapsulated from the carefully selected hops. Enjoy a spicy herbal nose and a crisp quaffable elixir.

www.wychwood.co.uk/kingstar

16185_KINGSTAR_CBR_AD_A5_V1.indd 1

Hobgoblinbeer

hobgoblin_beer

hobgoblin_beer

18/01/2016 17:19

T

his year, for the first time, Craft Beer Rising is shining the spotlight on cider, hoping to give it the same exposure given to great beer over the last three years.

When you get craft-anything, artisanal-this or premium-that, there’s always a journey of education for the punter. Do you remember the first time you tasted sourdough bread?

Assuming you liked it, how long did it take you to find out what made

it different and special (assuming you have)? What about the first time you tasted a super-hoppy beer and learned about different varieties of hops, or why wild yeast made beers taste different? Most people know a little bit about what’s in their glass or on their plate now, and learning more about what makes it taste so damn good is part of the fun. It’s not just eating and drinking, it’s educational, feeding the mind as well as the body. Anything tastes

better with a good story behind it.

But however much you know about the beers, the dirty burgers or the super-premium crisps you’re about to try at Craft Beer Rising, it’s safe to assume you know a bit more about what’s going on with them than you do about cider. If I’m wrong, hats off to you, sir or madam – you’re one of a rare breed of knowledgeable cider drinkers. But chances are you’re a bit in the dark. There’s precious little written about cider,

BLUFFER’S

GUIDE TO CIDER

A crash course by Pete Brown to ensure your trip to this year’s ‘Lost In Cyder Space’ area is both far out and fruitful…

PHOTOS: Hogan’s Cider & Bill Bradshaw

30 Craft Beer Rising 2016

CIDER and even some self-proclaimed experts allow their personal preferences to cloud their judgement. Even in craft beer bars, staff who can talk expertly about beer styles and hop varieties will invariably mumble, “Oh, I don’t know much about cider” if you ask them why their range is so small, or why they take such good care of their beer selection and then list a couple of glorified Swedish alcopops under their ‘cider’ section. So here it is: a bluffer’s

guide to the various attributes of cider that (usually) make the difference between good and bad.

With cider, the bad stuff is shocking, while the good stuff is a match for the best beer, wine or Champagne. This article should help you spot the difference.

Brewing versus making Cider is not brewed, like beer. It is made, like wine. That might seem like a pedantic difference, but it’s not. Brewing – think beer or tea –

involves adding something to boiling water to create an infusion.

Both cider and wine are created by pressing fruit, collecting the juice and allowing it to ferment. If a cider maker tells you that they brew their cider, they’re either deceiving you or don’t know what they’re talking about.

Sweet, medium or dry?

This is the main set of flavour descriptors for cider, but it’s not quite adequate. Sweetness is

Craft Beer Rising 2016 31

dependent on whether or not the cider is high in sugar, but dryness doesn’t necessarily mean simply an absence of sugar. The flavour of apples is determined by three things: sugar creates sweetness, acidity creates sharpness, and tannins create structure, body and a slightly bitter dryness. Cider can be high or low in each of these three components, so it can be sweet, sharp, dry, or a balance of all three. A cider that’s ‘dry’ because it has a really solid body of tannins, like a red wine, can be quite different from one where the acidity holds the sugar in check, like a ‘dry’ white wine. The former will have bitter notes, while the latter will have sharp notes. Or you could just have a dry, chalky cider where all the sugar has been fermented out, but there’s little else in there.

Juice content Cider’s made from apples, right?

Well, it should be, but some commercial ciders contain as little as 35 per cent apple juice, with the rest being water, sugar, chemicals and sweeteners.

Incredibly, this is legal, and the cider maker is under no obligation to tell you how much apple juice is in their product, so most don’t.

Now, there are some truly awful 100 per cent juice ciders – but in general, the higher the juice content, the better the cider. Ask a producer about their juice content, and if they won’t tell you, that’s because they think you’d be pissed off with the answer.

(Not from) concentrate Shipping apple juice is expensive.

To make it cheaper (and more environmentally friendly) juice is often boiled down to a concentrated gloop, then reconstituted with water later. This can affect taste, giving a burnt, cardboard character, although it doesn’t always. Again, many larger

32 Craft Beer Rising 2016

Pouring from height aerates the liquid. Spanish sidra is traditionally served like this

cider makers simply refuse to answer questions about concentrate in their products. But if you don’t use concentrate, this limits the amount of cider you can make with apples grown locally.

That’s why many craft cider makers are small, with only regional distribution.

Apple varieties Plant an apple from a seed, and you’ll likely get a completely new variety of apple. Named apple varieties are all descended from one original tree – the Bramley from a garden in Nottinghamshire, the Granny Smith from a suburb in Sydney, and the Yarlington Mill from north Somerset. There are over 4,000 named apple varieties grown in Britain, all with different characteristics. Just as the best wines are made from a mix of grapes, most craft cider is a blend of different varieties, balancing sharpness, sweetness and tannin.

Apples being washed at Hogan’s Cider in Warwickshire

Any decent cider maker will be impatient to tell you what apple varieties they’ve used – as well as Yarlington Mill, the superstar varieties for cider are Kingston Black and Dabinett, each of which are balanced enough to make great single variety ciders.

CIDER Cider is made – not brewed – by pressing apples to extract juice and then fermenting it

Others prefer to exercise more control. Adding Champagne yeast to the fermentation will kill off the wild yeasts, and provide a cleaner, crisper product.

Carbonation and filtration Just like the real ale dinosaurs of yore, there are some hardcore cider enthusiasts who believe that filtering, pasteurising or carbonating mean the cider is not ‘real’. It’s a matter of opinion. But it’s also nonsense. A clean, gently carbonated cider that’s been made with a high juice content from good quality cider apples is a different drink than a still, cloudy scrumpy, but both have their place in a good cider range.

‘SOME COMMERCIAL CIDERS CONTAIN JUS T 35 PER CENT APPLE JUICE... THIS IS LEGAL’ whopping tannic punch, but which make a fine fermented drink.

Beyond that, adding small proportions of other fruit to cider such as berries has been common since at least the 17th century. But that’s a far cry from modern ‘fruit cider’, which often contains no real fruit at all, just flavoured, sugary syrups. Some cider purists argue that any fruit cider is bad, but they’re missing out on some good traditional products.

Other fruit Strictly speaking, cider is made from apples. Perry is cider’s cousin, a drink made using the juice of pears. Like cider, perry will usually be made with specific varieties of pear that aren’t pleasant to eat thanks to their

Yeast Ever thought that a wild yeast beer or a natural wine tastes a bit cidery? Wild yeasts live not just on the skins of apples, but also lie dormant in the fruit itself, coming to life when the apple rots or is crushed, and fermenting the juice naturally. Some cider makers believe passionately that the only way to do it is to allow the wild yeasts to party on, imparting funky, farmyard characteristics.

Regulation and labelling The regulations governing cider are surprisingly vague. A cider maker doesn’t have to tell you how much juice is in their product, or what else they’ve put in instead of pure juice. Rather than arguing over the definition of real cider and worrying about small technical issues, any true cider lover should be campaigning for more transparent labelling. As things stand, it’s safe to say that if a cider maker is proud of what’s in their product, they’ll tell you about it, and if they’re not, they’ll be cagey. So look out for labels that boast of 100 per cent juice, and give you tasting notes that talk about the different apple varieties.

Ultimately, any preference is down to taste, and if you like drinking sugary ciders with little real juice in them, that doesn’t make you a bad person. But if you want to learn more about cider, and discover just how fine it can be, these are the attributes that will guide you there. The best ciders are harder to find than the best beers, but that’s part of the fun. Who wants everything handed to them on a plate?

Happy hunting.

Craft Beer Rising 2016 33

19347 Craft Beer Rising Advert.indd 1

11/01/2016 15:15

BL ACK AND

BEAUTIFUL After facing extinction, imperial stout is back with a bang.

Martyn Cornell traces its fall and rise

36 Craft Beer Rising 2016

IMPERIAL STOUT

O

f the 50 top-rated beers on the Ratebeer website at the time of writing, no fewer than 32 are imperial stouts.

Over at the rival Beer Advocate site they are less obsessed with the style: it has only 17 imperial stouts in its world beer top 50.

For a beer that almost died out at the end of the 20th century, and was mostly a minority taste across nearly all its 200-plus years of existence, this is impressive. But the high alcohol levels, thumping roast-grain flavours, powerful estery aromas, chewy mouthfeel and, frequently, massive bitterness that characterise the style have meant that in the past ten years imperial stout has become popular with modern “extremophile” drinkers, who relish beers most folk would run away from. Today there are more than 1,500 imperial stouts from Japan to Argentina on sale around the world. In the US in particular some imperial stouts have achieved cult status, such as Three Floyds’ Dark Lord, which is only released on one day in April every year, when thousands turn up at the Three Floyds Brewery in Indiana to buy a bottle.

Imperial stout is born Imperial stout has its origins in the extra-strong porters made in London at the end of the 18th century, which found a market in the Baltic lands, and most famously at the court of the Tsar in St Petersburg. The Anchor Brewery in Southwark, by the Thames, owned by Henry Thrale, and later by Barclay Perkins, specialised in this type of beer.

The landscape painter Joseph Farington wrote in his diary for August 20, 1796: “I drank some porter Mr Lindoe had from

Catherine the Great (1729-1796) enjoyed strong UK-imported stout, which gave rise to the name ‘Russian imperial stout’.

Thrale’s Brewhouse. He said it was brewed for the Empress of Russia and would keep seven years.”

“Porter” and “stout” were interchangeable terms for many years, with “stout” simply meaning “strong porter”. When the word “imperial” first became applied to the extra-strong black beer brewed for the St Petersburg court is not known, but a mention of “imperial porter” is found in 1821, and “Barclay, Perkins and Co’s imperial double stout porter” was on sale in Australia the following year. By the second half of the 19th century, a number of brewers around Britain were advertising imperial stouts, including Bass in Burton upon Trent, Tennent’s in Glasgow and Watney’s and Young’s in London.

Strong as an ox Meanwhile Barclay Perkins’ strongest porter, with a strength of 10 or 11 per cent, was still being exported to Russia, as Imperial Extra Double Stout, albeit by an independent bottler and shipper, A Le Coq & Co. The owner, Albert Johann Ludwig Coq, is frequently today described as a Belgian, but in fact his family were Prussian

Craft Beer Rising 2016 37

At the time of writing, Toppling Goliath Brewery’s Mornin’ Delight, brewed in Iowa, was the top-rated imperial stout on Ratebeer.com

North Coast Brewing’s Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

‘P ORTER’ AND ‘S TOUT’ WERE INTERCHANGE ABLE TERMS Huguenots, who had fled from religious persecution in their home in Metz, Lorraine to Germany in 1685. Albert came to London in 1830, initially to develop a trade in Britain for the family wine business in Germany, branching out only later into exporting beers. He retired from the firm in 1870, leaving it in the hands of a partner, Oscar Sillem.

The business of exporting extrastrong stout flourished, with Oscar never having to visit Russia himself: the beer was shipped out, and the Russian merchants who bought it would turn up unannounced at A Le Coq’s offices in London to make advance payments in Tsarist gold rubles.

However, in the early 1890s the firm’s trade began a rapid decline, and in 1895 Oscar sent his son

38 Craft Beer Rising 2016

Herbert to St Petersburg to find out why. He quickly found there were two big problems. The first was the high tariffs imposed on imported beers, coupled with the high freight charges put on foreign beers by the Russian railways. The second was the enormous amount of fake A Le Coq Imperial Extra Double Stout being produced: Herbert Sillem found “huge” warehouses in St Petersburg filled with counterfeit A Le Coq beer.

Russian instability The Sillems decided the most effective answer was to brew the beer under licence inside Russia.

But it took 16 years, until 1911, before a suitable site was found, the Tivoli lager brewery in Dorpat, Livonia, the town now known as

Tartu, in modern-day Estonia. An English brewer and maltster were recruited, and the first batch of A Le Coq brewed-in-Dorpat Imperial Extra Double Stout appeared in April 1913. Alas, just 16 months later the First World War erupted, with Russia eventually banning alcohol as part of the war effort.

Then came the Russian Revolution, which cut the brewery, now in an independent Estonia, off from its previous main market.

The Sillems kept ownership of the brewery and, in 1926, began brewing imperial stout there again. But sales were tiny, at just 0.4 per cent of production by 1937.

Then came the Second World War, Estonia’s annexation by the Soviet Union, and the brewery’s nationalisation, with the stout disappearing once more.

FO

MS

IMPERIAL STOUT In decline Meanwhile Barclay Perkins was still brewing imperial brown stout itself. The labels, from 1931 at least, now said “Russian Imperial Stout”. In 1970, by which time Barclay Perkins had been taken over by the neighbouring Courage Brewery just down river, the name on the labels was tweaked to say “Imperial Russian Stout”, and it is this form of the name that influenced the many subsequent revivals of super-strong stouts.

The beer was still naturally bottle conditioned, and given as long as 18 months of conditioning before being put on sale.

After Courage’s brewery closed in 1982, John Smith’s Brewery in Tadcaster made the beer until 1993. That year was the beer’s last brewing, with low sales being blamed for the descent of the axe.

A number of brewers in countries such as Denmark, Poland, Sweden and Finland were still making

SOME IMPERIAL STOUTS TO TRACK DOWN… CL A S SIC S Harvey’s Imperial Extra Double Stout Sussex, UK, 9% Inspired by the beer brewed in Estonia before WW1 for the Russian market, this is thick, tarry and warming, with a touch of sour beneath the burnt coffee sweetness.

Courage Imperial Russian Stout Bedford, UK, 10% A direct descendent of the beer exported to the Baltic region more than 200 years ago. Violently

FOR MAN Y Y E ARS “strong porters” that were clearly descendants of the imperial stouts imported from England in the 18th century, though they were frequently brewed with bottomfermenting lager-style yeasts rather than the warm-fermenting yeast Barclays used, and they were almost never sold outside their home markets.

A Scottish brewer called Bert Grant had started a brewpub in the hop-growing centre of Yakima, in Washington State, in 1982, and soon after he began brewing an imperial stout, though at a historically inaccurate seven per cent alcohol. In 1984 the beer won first prize in the “consumer preference” poll at the Great American Beer Festival. Two years after that the Yorkshire brewer Samuel Smith was asked by an

hoppy when young, with masses of coffee, ginger and chocolate.

Fuller’s Imperial Stout London, UK, 10.7% It needs at least a year of ageing, but delivers beautifully for those who wait: liquorice toffee, golden syrup and plain chocolate digestive biscuits, with a hint of roses.

Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout Yorkshire, UK, 7% Less alcoholic than its rivals: roasty raisin flavours along with coffee and plain chocolate.

Zywiec Porter Poland, 9.5% A fine example of Baltic porter, the style developed locally to compete with imported English imperial stout.

Creamy, with roast barley, raisins and coffee flavours.

NE W WAV E North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout California, USA, 9% A pioneering American imperial stout, initially sweet, with a long toffeeand-coffee, bitter aftertaste. Also available aged in Bourbon barrels.

Thornbridge St Petersburg Derbyshire, UK, 7.7% From one of Britain’s most highly regarded

new brewers, made with Muscovado sugar and peated malt in the mix, to give a long, slightly smoky finish.

Emelisse Imperial Russian Stout Netherlands, 11% From a relatively new Dutch brewery, founded in 1998, this is a strong, meaty take on the style, offering roasty flavours, a hint of mocha and a touch of umami.

Three Floyds Dark Lord Indiana, USA, 13% One of the most sought-after beers in the world, made with molasses, vanilla beans and coffee beans as well as dark malts and roast barley.

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter Colorado, USA, 9.2% Named in honour of the great American journalist Hunter S Thompson: lots of smoke, lots of roast coffee, lots of black chocolate.

Craft Beer Rising 2016 39

IMPERIAL STOUT American importer to make an imperial stout, which again came in at seven per cent. With the disappearance of the former Barclays beer, it looked as if these would be the only examples of imperial stout left in the world.

Three Floyds Brewery in Indiana holds its Dark Lord Day every April, when thousands turn up to buy its Dark Lord Imperial Stout (see picture below).

The beer is released on that day only

Credit: barlowbrewing.com

The revival begins However, in 1995 the brewer at North Coast Brewing in California, Mark Ruedrich, decided to produce his own version of Grant’s Imperial Stout, calling it Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, and putting it out at a more authentic nine per cent alcohol. It gathered fame, and awards, and a growing wave of imitators.

As the popularity of the style increased, in 1998 another American importer decided to try to get an authentic version of the beer recreated and contacted the now independent A Le Coq brewery in Tartu. The firm agreed to put the A Le Coq name to the beer, but said it should be brewed in England. The company chosen was Harvey & Son of Lewes in Sussex. Harvey’s head brewer, Miles Jenner, set about trying to recreate a recipe for Imperial

IN 19 95, NORTH COAS T MADE ‘OLD R ASPUTIN’ S TOUT Extra Double Stout, leaning on the memories of brewers who had produced Barclay Perkins Russian Stout in the 1950s.

The first brew was made in 1999, and after nine months of conditioning it was bottled in corked bottles and released for sale in February 2000. Drinkers loved it. But something was still happening in the beer. Unknown to Harvey’s, a wild yeast was lurking in the bottles, and after another nine months it began making itself known, consuming the remaining “heavy” sugars and producing carbon dioxide, which

40 Craft Beer Rising 2016

started pushing the corks out.

Luckily, the wild yeast added even more complexity of flavour to the finished beer, as well as raising its level of alcohol, and Harvey’s has been happy to leave it to do its work. The final conditioning by wild yeast is, in fact, a last touch of authenticity: there is no doubt that the original 19th century Russian stouts would have been part-fermented by wild yeasts such as Brettanomyces as well.

Back with a bang Finally in 2011 the Bedford brewer Charles Wells, which had bought

the rights to Courage beers, resurrected Imperial Russian Stout after almost 29 years, with Wells and Young’s head brewer, Jim Robertson, a former Courage employee, setting out to recreate the Courage IRS he remembered from the start of his career as a brewer, with pale, amber and black malts and lots of Styrian Goldings hops. The result is that as well as all the modern versions, drinkers can try two different beers, from Harvey’s and Wells, that are both descended from the brew that the Empress Catherine so enjoyed.

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ADVERTORIAL

CUCAPA MEXICAN CRAFT BEERS

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exican craft beers are the exciting new kid on the block. Just arrived in the UK, the Cucapa range presents a different attitude to brewing, incorporating the best of the Americas. The beers have been influenced by the US (the brewery is in Baja California, just over the border from the US), and embrace US brewing techniques with more than a dash of Mexican flavour and culture added.

Founded in 2002 in Mexicali, Cerveceria de Baja California was one of the first microbreweries in Mexico and is revered as an innovator. Over the next three years, as well as opening a brew pub in the city of Mexicali, the brewery began planning its first production and bottling plant. Launching a range of beers in 2006 called ‘Cucapa’, the name means “people of the water” and is in honour of the native tribe of Baja California. The Cucapas are pioneers of the region and their love for water and nature took them to live in the delta of the Colorado River.

With beers made from local ingredients, Cucapa has the highest ranking of any Mexican brewery at the Beverage Tasting Institute.

The range includes Clasica Blonde, Honey Amber & Chupacabras American Pale. Sample them at the Heathwick World Craft Beer stand (No. 31).

MIS SING A TRICK We Brits are underselling our national drink as the perfect food partner, says Melissa Cole

B

oy am I excited about launch of an interestingCraft Beer Rising sounding new beer this year. I’ve been competition. And if you’re the talks caretaker – coming to pay us a visit on or just straight-up carer the Saturday, strap yourself at times – at all the CBR in for a fun ride: Thirsty Melissa Cole on stage events, but this year we’re Gardeners will be talking cider at CBR last year taking it up a notch or three (you’ll be pleased to know there (see p18). On trade day we’ve will be samples for all), and Des de got experts showing bar staff how to Moor will be rocking out his Londontake care of things in the cellar themed tasting to celebrate his book. (hopefully meaning better beer for you), Then we’ve got the thing I’m most we’ve got experts talking about how looking forward to… the Ferment+ best to stock great cider, and also the Forage+Feast feature. It’s designed as a

A beer dinner at Goose Island’s Elk Mountain hop farm in Idaho, USA. The author believes that the US is streets ahead of the UK when it comes to treating beer as a food partner

44 Craft Beer Rising 2016

BEER AND FOOD

‘ WH Y AREN’ T MORE UK DRINKERS DEMANDING THAT THEIR LOCAL RE S TAUR ANT S S TOCK A BE T TER BEER R ANGE ? ’

Craft Beer Rising 2016 45

compact voyage of discovery and creativity in beer taste and flavour. Designed as a semiinteractive series of mini workshops, it starts with Scott Williams showing that kit beers have moved on from the things your parents bought from a certain well-known pharmacy chain and allowed to explode in the airing cupboard. You’ll then be put into the hands of the Thirsty Gardeners, who will show how you can elevate your home brewing with cultivated and foraged herbs, spices and flowers. Ubrew will also be there to show you how to take the leap to full-mash geek. And finally, you get to spend some time with me, you lucky things, as I show you some of the basic dos and don’ts when cooking with beer and also my top three sublime beer and food pairings.

C’mon UK, sort it out...

Musing on the whole beer and food thing brings me on to something that’s been baffling me a bit in the UK, so I thought I’d shamelessly use this article to take some soundings from you guys (please talk to me on social media – @melissacolebeer on Twitter or MelissaColeBeer on Facebook – or come and see me at the show of course!).

There are some that find the whole idea that you’d want to

PERFECTING THE PAIRINGS Here are some hints to make sure your beer and food matching at Craft Beer Rising 2016 goes down as smoothly as your first beer through the door. Check out the food vendor list on p12-13.

46 Craft Beer Rising 2016

A beer and food pairing session at Craft Beer Rising 2015

match a pint with anything other than another pint or some pork scratchings an abhorrence; there are some wine snobs who scoff at the idea that a beer could ever be anything but a novelty item on a fine-dining establishment’s list; and there are those who like the idea but don’t have much of a clue where to start.

And we’ve been stuck in this holding pattern in Britain for years

DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOP

– and all the while the same brewers over the pond that have been providing inspiration for the UK scene for well over a decade have been galloping ahead. In my opinion, US brewers have understood that beer and food matching is a great way to engage with drinkers, expand sales and, frankly, put beer back where it belongs – next to food. We in the UK on the other hand appear to

I’m putting this first because I know what a bunch of hop heads you are – so, if you don’t want to melt your face off and wreck your taste buds then listen to this advice: malt and chilli are friends; hops and chillies want to have a nuclear war in your mouth. If you’re going to chomp on the ghost naga chilli snack from Karkli, Cleaver & Keg’s hot strips of beef, or Snaffling Pig’s habanero crackling, then you want to err on the sweeter side of life with something like Thornbridge Otto or Williams Bros’ Fraoch. The same principle goes for highly acidic cheeses, so if the Whole Cheese is serving up some decently aged cheddar with its delicious bite, then softer, low hop beers are your friend.

BEER AND FOOD

‘US BRE WERS UNDERS TAND THAT BEER AND FOOD M ATCHING IS A GRE AT WAY TO ENGAGE WITH DRINKERS AND BOOS T S ALE S’

The Culinary Institute of America lives here – it has teamed up with the US Brewers’ Association

be going backwards. Now, don’t get me wrong, I stand with those people who think a good oldfashioned session beer accompaniment should be no more ambitious than a bar snack – but that’s not through some sort of inverse snobbery, it’s entirely to do with the fact that they work.

I’m not interested in reinventing the wheel here; I’d just like it if we weren’t trying to pull the craft

BEAUTY IN BALANCE

beer wagon on square ones.

But, I am beginning to wonder whether I am one of a few lonely voices destined to shout at cows about this, so I turned to my good friend Fred Bueltmann of New Holland Brewing, author of the Beervangelist’s Guide to the Universe and one of the pioneers in beer and food matching in the US. Fred said: “For me, the inspiration to dive into beer and

However, with those sweeter, more gooey cheeses, you can go a bit bigger with the hops: try big IPAs like St Austell’s Big Job or Celt Experience’s Willow.

Cutting through it all with some acidity is never a bad idea either. You could do this by just buying a Purely Pickled Egg, or you could pick up an Elgoods Coolship Dark to maximise your Mac Shac experience. Alternatively, balance the unctuous Prairie Fire BBQ with the tannic bite of Harry Brompton’s Ice Tea. Finally, don’t mess with perfection. With classics like pies, charcuterie and sausage rolls from Square Pie, Moons Green and Little Jack Horner’s respectively, keep it simple and go for classic beer styles like a Keltek King, Fuller’s Oliver’s Island or Adnams’ Ghost Ship – job done.

food pairing began personally. As a young entrant into the world of craft beer and a former home brewer, I discovered both a knack and a passion for helping people connect to flavour, more than stats or technical elements behind constructing a beer.

“As I developed this passion, I was also teaching myself to cook and found myself drawing on many food analogies and descriptions. Ultimately, as I was invited to my first beer dinner in about 1995 and then became more familiar with the unending possibilities and how beautiful and enjoyable it was to artfully bring beer and food together, it informed how important I believed it was for our brewery.”

OK, so that was 20 years ago in the US. How has it progressed?

Well – apart from the fact that over the last eight years all but two of my most memorable beer and food moments have come

Craft Beer Rising 2016 47

BEER AND FOOD Fred Bueltmann of New Holland Brewing

‘I DISCOVERED BOTH A KNACK AND A PAS SION FOR HELPING PEOPLE CONNEC T TO FL AVOUR’ FRED BUELTMANN, NEW HOLLAND BREWING

from the US – there are books aplenty, multiple beer and food events happening every day and, most tellingly, the US Brewers’ Association has joined up with one of the most august American cooking schools – the Culinary Institute of America – to create a three-day beer and food course.

The cookery school boasts such alumni as Grant Achatz (one of the world’s most awarded chefs), Anthony Bourdain, Anne Burrell, Scott Conant and Michael Symon.

What I’m trying to say is: the Brewers’ Association has teamed up with a not-forprofit organisation that is training the hospitality industry from the get go to bring beer into the equation… I can’t even get someone to take me up on an offer to lecture for free!

What’s in the UK psyche that we don’t want to support our national drink? Why aren’t more consumers demanding their local restaurants stock a better beer range?

What can we all do to make this happen? Or am I just one of a select band who have deluded ourselves that this is right? I’d love to find out what you think – answers on the modern equivalent of a postcard please!

48 Craft Beer Rising 2016

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S H E P P Y ’ S A R E P R O U D S P O N S O R S O F L O S T I N C Y D E R S PA C E

Help us celebrate our bicentenary and launch of Old Conky Cider at stand no.12 in

Lost In Cyder Space

Old Conky Cider celebrates Sheppy’s bicentenary, history and location near the famous Somerset town of Wellington, with the great Iron Duke’s famous victory at the battle of Waterloo just over 200 years ago.

He was sometimes affectionately known as “Old Conky” because of his conspicuous nose.

This finely crafted medium cider is available in 500ml bottle, 20L BIB and 50L keg.

www.sheppyscider.com @SheppysCider

Sheppy’s Cider Ltd

vi si t u s

SIBA Bee stand

101

craftsman

Contact UK & Ireland: European Malt Company Ltd. Phone: 0 14 44 - 45 18 34 info@europeanmalt.com

rX

www.VEDETT.com Beer brewed carefully, to be consumed with care

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䨀伀䤀一 吀䠀䔀 刀䔀嘀伀䰀唀吀䤀伀一

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