REAL BREWING AT THE SHARP END

Nothing is Forever

2012-01-13T09:10:00.000Z

Friday mourning, I’m dressed in black,

Douse the house lights, I’m not coming back. (well, maybe?)

Those of you who know me will appreciate that I don’t really do half-arsed. The demands, pressures and constraints of my life are at present such that my blog cannot be all I want it to be. So, Real Brewing at the Sharp End must come to its end (see what I’ve done there). I would like to thank everyone who has followed, commented, enjoyed or got wound up by the blog for sharing in a couple of momentous years in my brewing life. Most of you may hopefully read my words again in the not too distant.

Au revoir, I love you and whatever happens, don’t forget me.

I used to love Christmas

2011-12-23T18:16:00.000Z

That was before I became a Head Brewer. Now it is spelt S-T-R-E-S-S. The stress comes from having to brew and package more beer than your brewery should be able to make for a couple of weeks and hoping that demand will predictably fall once the resolution season kicks in. This year the Christmas “demand uplift” has been phenomenal. This week we have sold more than 973,000 pints and last week wasn’t far short of this. Fortunately I have a great team and the yeast and equipment have been the epitome of reliability. My brewery is so empty now even the echoes have echoes and it will be weeks until stocks are back up to less worrisome levels.

The tsunami of sales have also seen the last of the DW cross the shop counter and in the New Year Mr Wickett and myself will be presenting Cornwall Hospice Care with a Cheque for around £6500. Thanks to those who bought some and especial thanks to those who helped to produce and package the beer. You should feel proud.

This is will be my last post this year and as well as my apologies for not completing the 12 brews I send my love for the depths of winter.

I leave you with the lines of the poem taken from the St Breward church sundial (pictured above).

Seize the Moments as they fly

Know to live and learn to die

What is Good Beer?

2011-12-03T10:55:00.001Z

I was reading Mark Dredge’s post on using too many hops in beer and the resultant comments and it got me thinking; what is good beer?

The answer to that is simple: Whatever the person drinking the beer is looking for. It’s a bit like a cup of tea. I like a loose leaf lapsang made with soft water whereas most people like PG tips with plenty of milk and maybe one lump or two. Are they all idiots or am I? Don’t answer that!

I must warn you that I am now going to launch into my traditional sermon a lot of which I will have covered before. Sorry but I can’t help it.

You can argue that a beer brewed at high gravity using raw barley, enzymes, maize, hybridised yeast and post fermentation bitterness is a better beer than a reinheitsgebot-brewed, ice cave-aged whole hop pilsner if you are a thirsty drinker looking for cool clean refreshment on a scorching summer’s day. To a hophead who habitually shifts the frame of reference of his palate towards the extreme, a well-balanced, quenching cask ale which tastes of malt, hops and fruit is abjectly inferior to an ultra-pale, 1 Simcoe cone per ml, baseball bat of unrelenting grapefruit pith brewed by a 20 year old with his baseball cap on sideways, in a converted garage.

As a brewer I look for beers which I know are hard to execute, made well. Bunging a load of hops in or putting your brew in a barrel you have bought off a distillery is not difficult and certainly not big and clever. All too often the world of beer writing, blogging and the enthusiast is seemingly equating new and different to good and better. It very seldom is. For some their livelihood relies on uncovering the next big thing. One style of beer or brewery becomes de rigueur before being chip wrapping.

There are of course some drinkers who dismiss the new and innovative as second best to the old fashioned and traditional. In my opinion they are just as wrong as the fashionistas.

There seem to be a lot of people who profess to be beer lovers and yet seem to want to change beer completely. They can’t think that much of it if they champion the new and innovative to the detriment of the classic. A true beer lover embraces change enthusiastically but shows the necessary understanding and appreciation of our heritage and the passion and expertise of the brewer. I think only when you understand the complexities and elegance of brewing can you appreciate the true art of the brewer and how to judge him. You might not agree and why would you? You probably won’t be a brewer and if you are I bet you don’t sell much.

A great Lambic is not the Lambic which has a lower pH than all the others. It’s the one with highest degree of complexity and balance between the components of that complexity. So a great IPA or double IPA is not the one with the highest concentration of iso alpha acid. Very bitter and very strong beers have their place but to label subtle and well-constructed beers as crap because the analytical numbers don’t add up to 10,000 is ignorant and worthy of a slap. Who wants one? Eh?!

You decide what constitutes a good beer but in my experience the more you understand of what goes into a making a beer and the more widely you educate your palate, the more rewarding the experience of the decision making becomes. Everyone is entitled to an opinion but I think everyone should be able to reasonably justify that opinion when it is challenged.

Fashions change, balance and complexity never go out of style.

Look at my Glass!

2011-11-22T21:49:00.001Z

Look at it!!

Not a proper post but an excuse to show off with my huge glass!

It is of course full of low alcohol beer in line with the government’s guidance on moderate alcohol consumption.

The other small bit of news is that I am thrilled to be exhibiting my beers (Chalky’s Bite, DW and Honey Spice IPA) at the British Guild of Beer Writers Awards on 1^st of December. The glass I am afraid will not be going.

If you’re going to the Sloany Pony at the weekend I shall see you there. If not I won’t.

Body off Baywatch - Face off Crimewatch

2011-11-20T11:52:00.001Z

On Friday night I performed my speech to the Penn’s Hall dinner of the BFBI. I rehearsed myself hoarse during the 250 mile drive up the M5 and was word perfect in my hotel room before the event. I arrived at the President’s reception to see the most important people in the British brewing industry assembled, in full evening dress and polite conversation. I was very disappointed at the lack of Ferrero Rocher but didn’t make a fuss.

Through the ropes separating us from the rest of the pre-dinner drinks I could see the Head Brewers and Directors of just about every brewery in the UK sized over 20,000 barrels per year, again in black tie and serious conversation. I began to worry about the content of my speech. I was sat at the top table for the dinner so had to follow the chairman into the dinner to a slow handclap from the assembled guests. All eyes are on you as you progress through the dining hall, tension building with each slap of the hand. At dinner I sat looking around the room at the 250 or so industry VIPs, a lot of whom have been the industry for longer than I have been alive.

The meal was over in an instant and I was being introduced. My legs felt like I had been lifting weights for the last 10 hours and the microphone slipped through my sweating palm. I was expecting the crowd to be sufficiently well oiled to be of relaxed demeanour before I started but all I could see were furrowed brows and serious faces. I began. My voice echoed back at me and I could hear the words trembling off my tongue. I remember thinking all I need is a laugh to settle me down. I progressed to the first joke quickly. It was greeted with a silence and tumbleweed rolling through the middle of the room. I thought to myself work with me for god’s sake (or words to that effect)!

I raced on to the next. This time I heard a giggle from a few separate tables so I slowed up and started to be steadier in my delivery. I was still conscious that I was racing so I paused after the next joke and consoled myself with the fact that conversations were not breaking out. By the end I was at about normal speaking pace for me, which is twice as fast as everyone else.

The rest of the speech was over in a flash with the nods of agreement and laughter a lot more frequent towards the end than at the start. The professional speaker who followed me fared less well than me which was of some comfort but I was disappointed that I failed to deliver the performance I had planned. After the speech I was complimented on the speech by a lot of kind people and got some good honest feedback James Stevenson from Charles Wells “Nice content shame about the delivery”. My favourite comment was from my friend at Wye Valley who was disappointed that I was not wearing the outfit displayed in the previous post.

So here, for your judgement is what I said.

Intro

Good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is Stuart Howe, Head Brewer at Sharp's Brewery.

I am here in my capacity as All Party Parliamentary Beer Group Brewer of the Year to speak to you about the British Brewing Industry.

Groom

I am thrilled, honoured, delighted, exhilarated, elated and generally quite pleased to be here talking about beer and brewing. This speech is a bit like the part of groom’s speech where he dedicates a few words to his new bride because I love the British brewing industry. That of course means you. And looking around the room tonight ladies and gentlemen,” loving you is easy ‘cause you’re beautiful” (in the club singer style). Tumble weed enter stage left

Jedward

Knowing that you love something and being able to properly articulate why is not always the same thing so writing the speech has been a challenge. I was however given some assistance by a small Scottish microbrewery which is run by brewing’s answer to Jedward. They fairly recently came out with a statement claiming that “British Beer is sick and we are the doctors”. They also used the press release to launch two new beers, an India Pale Ale which they are calling “Bhopal Heat Wave” and a beer brewed according to the trappist tradition called “The Reverend Kiddie Fiddler”. I don’t agree with Jedward. British beer is not sick. The beer we are brewing today is as good if not better than it has ever been. There’s nothing like someone having a pop at something you love to bring home to you what it means. So why do I love British beer and brewing?

History

British brewing has centuries of rich heritage. It has given the world some breakthrough scientific knowledge and some of the most important beer styles in the world. Beers like IPA, Stout, Porter, Old Ale, Mild, Tesco Value Lager. Without these beers the US craft brewers wouldn’t have anything in which to put too many ingredients before claiming their versions are more authentic (I love you really).

Modesty

Every day the people in this room perform a miracle. changing a humble seed and some flowers into a delicious drink. We give millions of people joy and pleasure. Much like the people of Britain, British brewing is modest about its greatness. You always hear about US beers being brilliantly innovative, German beers being precision brewed and the flair and flamboyance of the Belgians. In Britain we choose to call our beers Dogs Bollocks, Old Fart and Rat Sphincter. Ok I made the last one up. As well as being charming I think that this modesty is a weakness and leaves our great brews open to attack from those who wish to commoditise and exploit them. Perhaps it’s time that we started making more noise about what we make and how great it is?

Passion

The British brewing industry is wonderfully passionate place. Passion is of course a very fashionable thing. You can’t turn on the TV without a celebrity chef or someone on Masterchef detailing the lengths of their passion. It is tantamount to a penis measuring competition with some of the celebrity chefs. One chef claiming to work 56 hours a day and another showing you the tattoo of a truffle on his left buttock. I think I speak for all the guys in the room when I say that as a brewer I am very happy with the size of my passion but I have no intention of waving it around in public and certainly would not conscience ramming it down people’s throats! I suppose again we are a little too modest about our passion. Although that shouldn’t be taken as an excuse to any passion exposure later this evening!

Inclusiveness

The facet about British brewing which endears it most to me is the friendliness and inclusiveness of our industry. Brewers cooperate, collaborate and we share knowledge. As a brewer you feel part of a band of brothers who share the same goal; making great beer. This is not so in other industries. For example the two former directors of Sharp’s were from the food game. When they heard that I have given Roger Ryman from our direct competition a tour of the brewery they burst into my office to demand an explanation. I was so shocked that I nearly dropped the secretary! I explained that brewers work together for the common good of beer, we don’t steal each other’s ideas. Or as Andrew Wall from Moeschle puts it Brewers are arrogant bastards who think only they are right!

So to the future

What do the next 10 years hold for us? The truth is I don’t know. I haven’t got a crystal ball (looks down to check). What I do think is that the best way for the brewing industry to fight the current pressures on us from the competition for share of throat and increasing taxation is to do what we are best at and make drinks which are so good that consumer doesn’t have a choice in what he drinks. If he wants the very best experience he can only turn to beer.

Toast

I hope that you have enjoyed my speech and I hope my words tonight have made you proud of who you are and what you do. All that remains for me to do is to ask you to be upstanding and raise a toast to the BFBI!

Unaccustomed as I am

2011-11-15T18:11:00.001Z

Tradition dictates that the All Party Parliamentary Group Brewer of the Year gives a speech about the British brewing industry to the Midlands Section of the BFBI annual dinner. This dinner is on Friday so I shall be strutting my stuff (crapping my pants) in front of the great and good of the brewing industry then. Despite the fact that I love the brewing industry and know quite a lot about it, it has been a tough speech to write. During every car journey over 3 miles in length I have recited my lines until the jokes that I started off thinking were amusing are staler than a loaf of sliced white from 1955. I am also a little worried that some of my humour may be a little edgy for the up market audience. I must also resist the temptation to dampen my nerves too greatly with the free beer and end up calling everyone in the room “family” and telling them that I love them.

I will share my speech with you on the blog at the weekend after the event. If you’re going, I’ll see you there and I look forward to your heckling!

I hope you approve of my outfit for the evening. Too much??

Well there'll certainly be some car door slamming in the streets of Kensington tonight

2011-11-10T19:18:00.001Z

Cornwall is a very lovely place. I am told the pace of life is slower but as mine is spent working I can’t really comment. The people are genuine, down to earth, never flash and always friendly. In summer Rock, home of the brewery, moves out of Cornwall in a spiritual sense and relocates in to the SW1 postcode. Herds of “Chaps” called Giles, Sebastian and Jonty appear in the middle of the road through the village wearing red trousers, pink crew tops with the collar starched up using something industrial and a canary yellow sweater thrown jauntily over the shoulders.

One summer Saturday in a very different time I was enjoying a sauna in the mash tun when a Giles peered in through the manway. He asked me when I could show him around. Giles must have walked past 5 no entry signs and vaulted a security fence to get the where he was standing. I told Giles that for his own safety he should leave the brewery immediately (using much more basic words). Rather predictably he replied “do you know who I am?” I thought to myself "you are the bloke who is about to get covered in soaking wet used malt if you don’t get out of the way" and began shovelling spent grains in his direction. After an “I say” I didn’t see Giles again.

A much lovelier SW postcode (in my humble opinion) is SW6, home of the White Horse or Sloany Pony. Since I have loved beer, the White Horse has been the THE place in London to get the very best. My mates all fondly tell stories about being dragged across London just because that tosser Stuart wanted a certain beer at the White Horse. These days of course the choice of excellent beer-themed pubs and bars is growing exponentially in the capital. I still think the Sloany Pony has something special about it. On 26^th November I have the honour of not only three of my hand made creations appearing at their Old Ale Festival but also half an hour of meet the brewer time to talk to the drinkers about how they were prepared. My beers will be there all weekend, I will be appearing at 15:30. Details of what I am sending are provided below for your interest.

White Horse Old Ale Festival Beers

1 year old Black IPA ABV 7.4%

The story

Base beer brewed in November 2010 from pale ale malt roasted barley and maltose syrup. Late hopped with Chinook and Galena. Dry hopped with Citra in Feb 2011

The taste

Nose: Pungent tropical fruits (passion fruit, mango and lychee) with honey and candy floss

Mouth: Big bittersweet explosion with tropical fruits and grapefruit pith balanced by candy sweetness

Finish: Bittersweet symphony of honey, passion fruit and grapefruit zest

3 year old Massive Ale ABV 10%

The Story

Brewed in March 2008 from Pale ale, crystal, and chocolate matls, dark candi sugar, Northdown and Perle hops. Aged in barrel for over 3 years with Stryrian Goldings

The taste

Nose: Boozy mix of aged esters and higher alcohols with bready yeast notes and overripe fruit

Mouth: Initial sweetness swept away by strong alcoholic warmth, complex blend of fruits and age

Finish: Sweetness giving way to warmth and slight sharpness

4 year old Dry Hopped Barley Wine ABV 11%

The Story

Brewed in October 2007 from Pale and crystal malt and glucose with Brewer’s Gold and Goldings hops. Aged in barrel for 4 years with Bobek hops

The Taste

Nose: Melange of preserved fruits with strawberries, poached orange, mixed peel and sloes

Mouth: Full, slightly dusty syrupy malt, freshened by tart aged notes and powerful alcoholic heat

Finish: Surprisingly quick with some aged aldehyde and warming alcohol

I do hope very much to see you Giles, Sebastian and Jonty there!

Viva el Presidente!

2011-11-04T19:24:00.000Z

I have just returned from a friend’s wedding in the Dominican Republic. All week I tolerated a beer which I hope to never encounter again. El Presidenté was worth a great deal less than I paid for it and the holiday was all inclusive. This beer made Tesco Value lager taste like Westvleteren. It smelt of corn and farts and tasted like you were drinking soda water with a bad cold. If you were lucky the dishwasher was faulty and it tasted of lemon detergent. All it was effective at doing was keeping my all inclusive diarrhoea runny and making me belch. In actual fact, I suppose El Presidente did serve to remind me of how good great beer really is. Viva El Presidente!

Anyway, as I sat on my all inclusive khazi sweating, grimacing and calling for my mummy, a very nice e-mail arrived informing me of the success of two of my beers in the World Beer Awards. Sharp’s Special won World’s Best Bitter and Chalky’s Bite won World’s Best Flavoured Beer. Almost the next e-mail to arrive was one letting me know that Honey Spice IPA had won the UK’s best honey beer competition at the National Honey Show. That of course called for a celebratory Imodium and a fight with an American in the pool.

This week on my return we put this year’s single brew reserve to bed. For want of a more comprehensive description it is an Ale version of Monsieur Rock. A single varietal pale ale with first wort and dry additions of the noblest of noble hops, Saaz. The picture below shows Ian the brewing supervisor in his space suit tying the sacks of Saaz to the bottom of CT17. 20 minutes after this picture was taken these hops were submerged under 20,000 litres of freshly fermented beer. I hope Ian taps on the tank when he needs the toilet because I don’t want him spoiling the beer(joke).

On a much more sombre note. Massive Ale is no more. The lovely people at the Portman Group have decided that calling a massive ale, Massive Ale is in breach of code rule 3.2. which prohibits promotion of a drink on the basis of its strength. I had never considered Massive to refer to the amount of ethanol in the beer only to the weight of its flavour. But then I do see the world through rose tinted spectacles and always look on the bright side. I wonder if drinkers in Scotland are prohibited from asking for a wee heavy by this rule? What about beer labelled as strong ale like the excellent Old Tom?

The best compromise we can come up with is to call it Quadrupel Ale which is a bit inaccurate because (intentionally) it doesn’t fit the style particularly well. For the record I have never brewed a beer called Massive Ale, I am certainly not sending a cask of 3 year old Massive Ale to the White Horse Parson’s Green for the Old Ale Festival at the end of November. If you go to the festival make sure you mumble when you order a half or the stormtroopers will descend and you'll be in the stalag before you know it . I will be spending the weekend constructing an Ann Frank style secret compartment in my cellar in which to hide my stock of the Massive Ale that I have never brewed.

Tax me I'm sick

2011-10-22T16:37:00.000+01:00

The cleaner spilt my tea on my lap top and fried my hard drive so I have a shiny new PC. I used to think my old Synaptics touch pad was crap until I tried to use the improved version. I am aware that people in Africa can’t find enough water to survive but I still feel hard done by and incandescent with rage when something which costs a load of money and is supposed to be an improvement causes me to lose half an hour’s work. It is clear to me that Synaptics and the gas monitor company Crowcon are run by an evil genius responsible for all thirst, famine, pestilence, shitty touchpads and personal CO₂ monitors which continually fail to calibrate. Shame on you!

Aside from my battle with the forces of evil it has been a customarily full week. The first of our new range of bottled beers (Massive Ale) is now enjoying a worryingly-leisurely secondary fermentation in CT17, steadily nibbling away at the 10% ABV target in the midst of 20 sacks of dry aroma hops. The customs men, I am sure are salivating at the prospect of their pound of flesh from the strong beer tax.

On Thursday I popped (70 mile round trip) into the Falmouth Beer Festival to enjoy a few good beers swimming in an ocean of hazy beers with more off flavours than an effluent sample. I know that the staff at the festival know what they are doing when caring for the barrels and all of my beers were as I would have wanted so I would discount this as a source of the faults. I do have an extremely sensitive nose and very little tolerance for haze but some of what was on offer was what is technically known as toilet. Whenever I try beers at festivals I tend to put myself in the shoes of the new drinker who is encountering beer for the first time. If the beer is unintentionally not bright, smells of drains and/or is astringent I suspect that the first time drinker is liable to head to Tesco for a cheeky bottle of Echo Falls. Even if they are not as picky as me I wouldn’t expect that the smell of farts and sour milk will be welcome on a drink.

Does rotten egg, butterscotch and haze where it is not intended put you off a beer or do such ‘idiosyncrasies’ add to beers’ rich tapestry?

Au revoir Monsieur

2011-10-16T16:14:00.002+01:00

Last night was emotional. I had my last bottle of Monsieur Rock. Stocks at the brewery had run out in early September but I had a few left over in the cellar. I am not one for aging beer and Monsieur Rock was never designed to benefit from time in the bottle so last night was time to say goodbye.

The temptation of brew another batch is strong and the clamour for the beer seems to have grown throughout the year since it was conceived but I like to think that making it once off makes it that much more special. I have however decided to make an ale analogue of the beer as this year’s Sharp’s Single Brew Reserve. This year it will be all about Saaz with first wort and dry hopping with the noble Czech. Rather than lagering the beer I am going to condition it at cellar temperature with dry Saaz before sending it for bottling. Perhaps if it wasn’t called Single Brew Reserve it could be called Madame Rock.

England Sleeping

2011-10-08T11:44:00.001+01:00

Well, England are out of the world cup so my phone overflowethwith texts from all nations except my own reminding me that I am from inferiorstock. To add insult to injury Wales are through which means my life at the gymfor the next 7 days will be punctuated by huge grinning Welshmen telling mewhere we went wrong and predicting Wales to beat New Zealand by 80 points inthe final. I will wish them well, principally because I value my teeth.

I hope the gloom of England rugby ineptitude excuses thisvery negative non beer related post.

I am passionate man. It is safe to that I am easily annoyed.Some things which others are able to ignore or which some people actually getpleasure from, make me want to commit mass murder. My most acute annoyances tendto change according to my environment. Currently in my top three in order ofincreasing irritation are;

3. Those adverts where actors playing real people talk aboutproducts in a disproportionately passionate way
For example a stringof people from Birmingham who appear to be on the verge of orgasm because theyhave saved £4.28 on a £300 shopping basket in ASDA compared to the same one inTesco. The worst one however is the conveyor belt of the unhinged in a shoppingcentre telling the shiny man that Colgate Sensitive toothpaste has mended theirbroken lives. I suppose what irritates me is not the adverts but the fact thatthey must be effective. Who is stupid enough to not be intellectually insultedby these ads?

2. Intrusive music

I can’t go to a shop,to a restaurant, sports match or watch a documentary without hearing music thatI don’t like, often so loud that I can’t ignore it. When I go to a sportingevent they even employ a tart or a twat to ruin the spiritual experience of hearing 50,000 of your countrymen sing the national anthemby warbling over it. I don’t take a PA system and subject people to the musicwhich I enjoy so why do I have to endure what they care to broadcast?

1. Peoplewho have recently incorporated a throaty growl into their speech because the Americans on TV do it

In the 90s theAustralians gave us the relentless use of sentences which ended with aquestioning intonation. This seems to have been eased out recently by the idiotgrowl. It’s not so much the sound which winds me up it’s the idea that adultschange the way they speak according to a fashion. Surely we all left the pseudo-American accents in the playground?

There we go, that’s that off my chest. Before you say it’s because I’m getting old, I assureyou if anything my tolerance has increased with time.

Coach Trip

2011-10-03T17:44:00.000+01:00

We have a VIP party of 20 or so from our local CAMRA branch visiting on Saturday so have been through my personal cellar, pictured here (I wish!) gathering together somespecial beers for their delectation. I hope they appreciate it.

Ihave done a good many CAMRA group tours and they are generally very enjoyable.Most attendees are knowledgeable, pleasant and friendly people with whom to share a beeror two. One tour however did not go quite so well.

I gave up my Saturday afternoon to host acoach load visiting a brewery that I won’t mention a few years ago. I walkedwith them to the brewhouse to begin my explanation. Barely had I startedtalking when a large, red faced gentleman in a leather waistcoat interrupted, apparentlyoffended at my use of the word enzyme. “you’re speaking gobbledygook man!” heproclaimed. I stopped and pointed out that for some on the tour technicalinformation will be of interest and that he should respect their needs as wellas his own, to which he replied “PAH!”. I carried on. More noises ofexasperation followed as I mentioned the Maillard reaction, the need for oxygenfor cell multiplication and more or less every other bit of technical information.When we got to the bit where I explain how conditioning is used to reduce theconcentration of diacetyl and hydrogen sulphide he shouted “rubbish”. At thispoint I stopped, turned to the rest of the group and asked if they could doanything to either stop his outbursts or whether he could sit out the tour inthe bus. The leader of the group looked at me as if I had violated his grandmotherand said that my suggestion was inappropriate and quite offensive. I calmeddown and carried on.

In the racking hall I started explaining howbecause our beer is triple fermented it does not need to be left to conditionin the cellar and in fact with our cask beers, fresh is best. At this point thewaistcoated beer expert said “I’ll stop you there. I have been running cellarsfor 40 years and I know a great deal more about beer than you. What you aresaying is completely wrong. I won’t even broach a beer until it is past its bestbefore date!” You can imagine my demeanour at this time. I could feel every veinin my body bulging out and could barely see over my chest it was so overinflated.Both my fists were aching they were clenched so tight.

I calmly (probably didn’t come across inthat way) led the group to the back door of the brewery and said “This, ladiesand gentlemen is where the tour ends” and shut the door. As I drove past them millingabout in the car park on my way home I think it dawned on them that therewould be no sampling for their tour!

Saturday’s tour should be a much more savouryexperience. As follows is what awaits them after the gobbledygook and rubbish.. If you’re in Cornwall and a CAMRA member why not come along?

CAMRAKernow Visit to Sharp’s Brewery 2011

BeerMenu

Cask Beers

1. CornishCoaster 3.6% ABV

2. DoomBar 4% ABV

3. AutumnRed 4.1% ABV

4. Sharp’sOwn 4.4% ABV

5. HighGravity Eden Ale 4.9% ABV

6. Sharp’sSpecial 5% ABV

7.       Chalky’sBite 6.8% ABV

Sharp’s Bottle Conditioned Beers (limited supply)

1.       Chalky’sBark 4.5% ABV
2.       DarkSaison 6.8% ABV
3.       Cellaraged 2006 vintage Chalky’s Bite 6.8% ABV
4.       50hop IPA 7% ABV
5.       HoneySpice IPA 7.5% ABV
6.       Chillidouble IPA 7.7%
7.       ChechenGrand Imperial Stout 8.5% ABV
8.       CitrusTripel 8.8%
9.       2year old Soured Abbey Double 8.9% ABV
10.   HoneySpice Triple 9% ABV
11.   DW9.5% ABV
12.   MassiveAle 10% ABV
13.   TrappistIPA 9.5% ABV

William Worthington's Bottle Conditioned Beers (limited supply)

1.Worthington's E 4.8% ABV
2. Worthington's RedShield 4.3% ABV
3. Worthington's WhiteShield 5.6% ABV
4. P2Imperial Stout 8% ABV
5. Worthington's GoldShield 8.5%ABV

Angerfist the Tortoise

2011-09-22T21:12:00.003+01:00

Last week was my first time off in 3 years. I have been away inCrete enjoying the sea, the sunshine and most importantly the fun which can behad with the beer named Vergina. The comic value of Vergina is limitless.Relaxing with a couple of Verginas in the hot tub, enjoying a Vergina on theterrace in full view of the German family in the villa next door, acontemplative Vergina in the still of night, warm Verginas, cold Verginas, foamingVergina, Vergina shandy. I could go on all year!

In true beer blogger style I conducted side by side tasting of thedomestic and international beers and have rated them in this handy table.

I have returned to some exciting developments. Firstly thebrewery has a wondrous new 4” water supply. Mr Sharp was “careful with money”. When he bought a new water supply in2001 it was just about adequate for building the brewery but not really forbrewing beer in it. Mr Baker and Keohane were equally “careful”. The brewingand racking teams and anyone who has tried to fill a kettle upstairs at 3PM orwashed their hands in the upstairs toilet have struggled manfully with thissupply for the last ten years. Recently it has been causing us seriousproblems. With the new supply, for the first time we have enough watereverywhere at all times. A major step forward for brewing, racking and teamaking. This good news has been tempered by an increasingly bleak outlook with regard to getting a large enough quantity of exciting hops for my needs next year.

The second development is the pitter patter of tiny feet inthe Howe household. I am the proud father of a Mediterranean tortoise. She isonly the size of a chicken egg at the moment and sleeps most of the time. Ihave decided to call her Angerfist as it seems fitting for a small docileanimal which lives on a diet of wild flowers. Apparently if I don’t manage to accidentally kill her in the meantimeAngerfist will be the size of a side plate in 3 years.

And finally here's a picture of me and the rest of the Brewer's of the Year.

15 Great Men and me

2011-09-08T16:36:00.000+01:00

I'm writing this on a train back from London. The bloke infront is listening to repetitive African music, the woman to my left is on herphone shouting at her friend. Nothing she has said so far has been worth sayinglet alone listening to. If she is reading this over my shoulder ( I’ve justincreased the font size so she can) she should also note that she is wearing toomuch perfume and has lipstick on her teeth and moustache. None of the above-listedpetty irritations can burst my bubble this morning. Last night I had anotherfantastically memorable night, this time at the Houses of Parliament with 15other All Parliamentary Beer Group brewers of the year.

Walking through the crowds of tourists into the entrance wasquite a novelty. I suspect that in my pinstriped suit and gold tie I looked abit like the MP for Henley on Thames rushing back to vote against a bill to banbadger strangling. Looking around the terrace by the Thames I saw pretty muchevery brewer who I have ever looked up to during my career. Names likePowell-Evans, Theakston, Drury and Wellington conjure flavours of great alesfrom the past and present in the mind. At dinner I was sat between Giles Dennis,formally of JW Lees (the man who gave the world JW Lees Vintage Ale) and mylocal MP the wonderfully down to earth Dan Rogerson.

The dinner itself was likea beer journey back through time for me. I was delighted that Chalky’s Bite wasselected to accompany the starter of gilt head bream. The main was paired with anotherbeer I brewed 12 years ago, McMullen’s Hertford Castle which went brilliantlywith the rump of lamb. And the dessert of Pear tartin was served with Fuller’s Golden Pride, a beer which I used to have to round off an evening on ESBs inthe Boat at the bottom of Gravel Path in Berkhamsted as a teenager. In fact Ithink this very beer was in my stomach when I finally decided that life asanything other than a brewer would be an empty affair.

Being the youngest person in the room was intimidating atfirst (Stefano couldn’t make it) but brewers being brewers I was never short ofwarm company. At least 5 of the brewers have retired but the next generationcontinue on the work they began. Nigel Griffiths the MP for Burton on Trentgave a speech about beer in the UK today and concluded that although beer saleswere falling the quality of beer today is better than it has ever been. The 15men in that dining room last night have all been instrumental in making thatthe case.

I left at 11 with the party still in full swing in the commons Stranger's Bar and walked alone through the deserted vast stone spaces towards the exit. It was magical, right up to the point where the security guard caught me taking pictures on my phone in a restricted area!

I Hate Colds

2011-09-03T17:25:00.000+01:00

I've got a cold. I hate colds.

For someone who spends at least two hours a day tasting and smelling things, the diminution of the ability to taste is the cruellest torture. I could embrace the other symptoms of a cold with gay abandon but an olfactory epithelium covered in mucus makes me want to punch walls until my hands fall off. The virus is thought to have been an important cog in the machinery of evolution.

Today I think evolution is overrated. I’d rather be an amoeba than a brewer with no sense of smell.

The Summer's Young and Helpless

2011-08-26T21:48:00.000+01:00

August bank holiday unfailingly brings scorching weather toCornwall. Such was the heat today that the 2 foot-deep lake left by thismorning’s torrential rain outside the brewery was a mere 6 inch-deep puddle when I left thisevening. I am starting to think that allthe pall-bearers on St Swithin’s re interment must have been Cornishmen. My sympathy for the tourists driving aroundlooking for something to do all day is deep and sincere, right up to the pointwhere they decide to spend the afternoon aimlessly wandering around Tesco, gettingin my way and running my foot over with their trolleys.

Climatically it’s been a strange year. This has upset thebarley plants. This means that malt next year will be more expensive and not asgood for making stable beer. This is not good news for maltsters, terrible news for brewers and depressing and expensive news for drinkers.

In the world of the beer enthusiast, white malt is neverforemost in the mind. But it is what us brewers rely on to provide sugar forfermentation, body for the beer, foam for head retention and the nourishment toallow our yeast to do its magic. The malt is the foundation of the beer. If it isn't right none of the other aspects of flavour, clarity or stability will beright.

Traditionally wine producers had recourse to have a bad yearwhen nature shafts the crops. These days I can’t see drinkers of big winebrands such as those advertised by showing beautiful people being nice to each other, accepting that their Californian White Zinfandel (blended and bottled inAvonmouth by a team of Eastern Europeans on less than minimum wage) is notgoing to be quite as sweet this year. Posher wines of course still enjoy a fewgrand crus.

Brewers are never allowed to have a bad year or a grand cru.I envy the brewers with an ever changing portfolio of beers because these beerstaste how they taste and that is how they should taste. When you have regularbrands they need to taste the same irrespective of the changes in your ingredients. It is in years of bad crops that the commercial brewer really earns his/her money usingexperience, understanding and skill to continue to delight the drinker.

On the other hand, hops look promising but until they are inand dried you can’t start counting chickens or any other fowl for that matter.Although saying that, supply of some of the more en vogue varieties may not meetthe current insatiable demand.

Finally one of my beers appearing at the Rake this weekendwill not taste quite as I had previously indicated. The spontaneouslyrefermented blond came up short of the desired volume so I had to blend itwith an unsoured blond. The result I think is just as good and probablyslightly more accessible to the sourosceptic.

Finally, finally to those who gave special birthday presents this Thursday I thank you for freeing me from my prison of lies. A nice final cut.

Le succès à tout prix

2011-08-21T14:14:00.000+01:00

Having your beer on the One Show is an honour. Many thanksto Des de Moor for recommending it. Having your beer sampled and described as deliciouson TV by the lovely Jane Asher is also a bit of a novelty. It’s just a shame itwas the wrong beer. Please accept my apologies for any confusion or distress. Des’ web site clarifies the situation. JayRayner was also a far better ambassador for snobbery than for beer and food.Shame.

Yesterday I tasted my new limited edition beer, Honey SpiceIPA. I’m not entirely sure that it is an IPA. I’ve done less than 100 bottles whichwill sell through our shop. I’ve allowed this one to be a little OTT hop-wisewhich should please the hardcore and leave those in the hardcore with a pointto prove complaining that it’s too accessible. I have also had the chance to make a followup to Turbo Yeast III Unspeakable Abhorrence from Beyond the Ninth Level of Hades. This time I have made a pale beer with Turbo Yeast and a high alcoholBelgian Ale yeast before warm oxidising and maturing with finely divided oak (toastedsaw dust). I’m not a connoisseur of spirits but to me it tastes distilled,matured and expensive. The name? Turbo Yeast IV Descent into the Burning Lake of Eternal Darkness, but you had probably guessed as much. Both of these beerswill be appearing with me at some meet the brewers I have lined up for theAutumn in London and potentially the North. If you would like me to appear atyour bar, pub, bar mitzvah or WI circle please let me know.

The keen eyed among you will have noticed that my 12 brewproject has slowed somewhat. Owing to the madness of summer and lots of extracurricular activities I have not been able to get away from the brewery. Theplan is now to do three brews in a weekend in the autumn and cram the rest intothe run up to Christmas. I will get there, even if I have to break into otherpeople’s breweries on New Year’s Eve!

Does Size Matter?

2011-08-13T19:46:00.012+01:00

I was recently introduced by someone I have a lot of respectfor as Stuart Howe, a brewer who used to make great beer at Sharp’s inCornwall. I asked him what had changed and he said “well, you work for Molson Coors now”. Molson Coors have made a few changes since acquiring Sharp’s butone of them has not been to put up posters saying “Make Shit Beer”. They havealso not changed any of the brewing team, raw materials, recipes or anythingwhich has an impact on the flavour of the beer. Nor do they want to and nor shall they on my watch.

I can see to a degree where he was coming from. I have knowna few brands which have been commercialised into banality. Chimay beers, in my opinion, are now good when once they were once great. That said historical precedentsdo not provide a crystal ball into the future.

To dismiss a beer because it is not brewed by a smallbrewery or because it not felt to be a craft beer is to me as obscene as goinginto a brewpub and dismissing the opportunity to try sample their wares in favourof a major brand, while defending this choice with “I only drink lager”. Anyform of closed mind when it comes to food or drink is objectionable. Is thereanyone on the blogosphere who is up for a row and wants to defend dismissingall beers brewed above a small scale? As always my mind is open but myconvictions strong.

All organisations that make beer do so to make money, someare more honest about this than others. This is done in the context of themarket. If you want to sell beer you need a market for it. In the last 10 yearsthe market for drinks has become much more sophisticated. Beer writers, CAMRA,and bloggers should feel proud that their enthusiasm for and promotion of agreat drink has changed what the market is looking for in a beer. Supermarketsand multimedia have also been instrumental. People who run large global brewersare clever. They understand that a sophisticated market where people seekexciting flavour and provenance in a beer isn’t going to fall for mass producedsoulless brands, with a nice story and fancy branding. They realise that theyneed to make sophisticated drinks to sell beer to people with sophisticatedpalates.

So I am not Stuart Howe who used to make great beer inCornwall, I am Stuart Howe the brewer who strives to make the best beerpossible in Cornwall and will do for a good many years, with the support ofMolson Coors.

This brings me nicely on to a bit of exciting insiderinformation for you on some new bottled beers Sharp’s have on the horizon. A coupleof the beers which under the last management I had to brew at the weekend andbottle after work, are making their first appearance at a full commercialscale. Massive Ale and Honey Spice Tripel will finally be brewed at a scalewhich means everyone who wants the beer will be able to get it. I hope toinclude an apology on the label to all the people who have asked for Massiveand Honey Spice only to be disappointed. Also Sharp’s imperial double IPA and asingle hop varietal strong golden ale will become a reality this year. None ofthis is official yet (and Ms McCready will probably punch me for revealing it)but they are firmly on my brewing programme.

If there are people who will, with closed mind, reject my beers because I work for the UK's biggest brewer I am not overly concerned, bigots like this don’t deserve it anyway!

Panic on the streets of Bodmin

2011-08-11T10:26:00.002+01:00

This mornin’ I woke up in a curfew. Not really but thatlyric leads me nicely on to our subject for this post, the Rock riots. Our riotshave been somewhat unreported and for the sake of Rock's reputation for up marketholidays I will divulge very little. Sufficeit to say the lady from the pasty shop was very put out and neither of the seagullshas been apprehended. I blame the parents.

As we approach the August bank holiday I am excited to havea few of my handmade creations appearing in the capital. At The Rake an 18month old Abbey beer aged with Brettanomycesand a 3 year old spontaneousy refermented blonde. Both beers appear courtesy ofSt Roger of Ryman who is allowing me to join in his St Austell Brewery beerfestival. I am particularly pleased with the blonde which is bone dry andbeautifully lactic. It was made by fermenting a wort using Saccharomyces until fully attenuated and then left in an openvessel until a pellicle forms. The beer and the pellicle were then transferredto a wooden cask for 3 years of microbiological rioting and looting.

At the White Horse Parson’s Green two of my Belgian-themedbeers are appearing at the Belgian Beer Festival. The 18 month old Abbey as previouslydescribed and cask 2010 Honey Spice Tripel which was tasting too good for wordsearlier today, if I do say so myself.

Further delight comes having DW and Monsieur Rockrecommended ahead of wine as partners for food at double Michelinstarred Restaurant Nathan Outlaw. If I could blag my way to getting a table I’dgo and check it out but I suspect they are booked up until 2020.

The Council will convene and decide your fate

2011-08-06T17:08:00.005+01:00

I have always wondered how the Champion Beer of Britain isjudged. Now I know.

I’ve judged a few competitions and the CBOB definitely ranksas one of the best-organised. The structure of the panel is also very goodwith each section panel comprising a brewer, a flavour specialist, a couple of CAMRA tasters, a drinks industry professional and lay person. The panel I wassitting on was judging category winners for their suitability for supremechampion. Adding the scores from the preceding round took longer than expectedso our panel waited for an hour to do our tasting. I did get quite tense, acondition not helped by being directly under the PA speaker which seemingly hadnot been adjusted since the Slayer concert last week.

When the beers came out it was good to get going. The firstwas evidently brewed with Citra with all of the panel enjoying the aroma butbeing underwhelmed by the flavour. It was interesting that although the rest ofthe panel did not know the names of off flavours they all considered the beersto less appealing as a result. There were varying degrees of sensitivity todiacetyl and H₂S on the panel with one taster being blind to each (butnot both) of them at the concentration in the beers we sampled. I suppose thatthis is valid as it probably mirrors the spread of capabilities in the generalpopulation. The rest of the panel were treated to an exhibition of the cocky brewer (me) getting carried away with identifying the flavour compounds, hops,fermentation temperature, salt balance and yeast variety. For this I apologise!

There was unanimity in the panel on our two favourites but wemust have been low markers as neither were in the top 3 on the day.

The CBOB competition does not enjoy the best reputation forfairness with brewers around the country (the ones I have spoken to at least). Alot feel that there is always an air of wheelswithin wheels about it. The processfor getting a beer into the final has been described to me but I stillstruggled to understand it. It also seems to change frequently. Once I was toldthat regional festival winners automatically got through but speaking to a fewregional winners this week none of them had progressed. A few breweries havehad several beers getting to the final for several years in a row withoutmedals. Surely if the beer wasn’t good enough for two years in a row it shouldbe moved aside for another brew? Maybe it’s time for an X factor style beercompetition where progress from the auditions to the final is plain to see? Iwould volunteer to be Simon Cowell but I could never get away with the trousersand jumper puppies.

Having judged the final I can reassure all brewers that thisaspect is well designed to find the best beer in the field on the day. It wasan enjoyable experience and I am still delighted to have been asked.

Finally I would like to pass on my congratulations to John Boyce for his win. He’s a good bloke and it’s a great beer.

Greatness in all its Glory

2011-08-05T10:12:00.006+01:00

Instead of trying to accurately describe a day at the GBBF, I thought iteasier to list the people I can remember meeting. The GBBF is not only the bestplace in the UK to sample great beer it is also a collection of the loveliestpeople in the UK. After meeting the following perhaps it was no surprise that Ifell asleep on the 18:06 from Paddington and nearly missed my stop. It was great to see you and we must doit all again next year!

Simon Loveless (Princetown)

Mark Dredge

Darren Norbury

Kristy McCready
Paul Corbett

James Clarke (Hook Norton)

Sue Novak

Fran Novak

Martin Cullimore (Batemans)

Peter Robson (Muntons)

Andy Mogg

John Palfrey

Peter Simpson

Angelo (Brew Warf)

Richard Simpson

Flo Vialan (Purity)

Paul Halsey (Purity)

Roger Ryman (St Austell)

Tim Webb

Bill Dobson (Brains)

Pete Brown

Melissa Cole

Zak Avery

Peter Ells (Tim Taylor)

Andy Leman (Tim Taylor)

Hardnott Dave

Mrs Hardnott Dave

Kevin Mitchell (Murphy’s)

Chris Kay (Bristol Beer Factory)

“Mr Drink and Eat”

The Beer Monkey

Mark Tetlow (Everards)

Steven Crawley (Calendonian)

Armin Palmer

David Nijs (Marstons)

Rhys Laurence

Stefano Cossi and Mrs (Thornbridge)

Matt Brophy (Flying Dog)

Glyn Roberts

Michelle Perret

Adrian Tierney-Jones

Adrian Redgrove (Castle Rock)

Steve from (Marstons)

Richard Knight

Chris Hearn (Loddon)

Nigel Stevenson (James Clay)

Mark Slater (St Peter’s)

Fergus Fitzgerald (Adnams)

Krijn Kraak

Fantasy and Superstition

2011-07-27T09:23:00.002+01:00

Today I am wearing my lucky Wednesday socks. You may thinkit strange that me, a man of science would have superstitions. Brewing is anart which relies to varying degrees on luck. Sometimes in the best runbreweries where everything is measured and controlled the biological nature of theprocess leads to a change which is undesirable. In fact undesirable doesn’tcover it, a living hell and a waking nightmare comes closer.

Since I have been brewing I have accumulated a laughablerange of superstitions. The day begins with getting up at a time where theminutes are not 13. 5:15 is fine, 5:13 spells disaster. The lucky socks arethen donned with the right one worn inside out. The magpies encountered on theway into work must be saluted, called lovely, and asked how their wives are. Imust then spit and touch blue then black. Also on my route in I must weave inand out to avoid the manholes in the road. This superstition has led to a few nearmisses and one finger greetings from oncoming motorists.

On arrival I must follow my usual routine of checks andlater when I read the micro results this must be done in a specific orderstarting with getting the anaerobic bag out of the incubator. The time 11:11 islucky and I try to look at clocks around this time. Unfortunately eleventhirteen (I can’t write the numerals out or this post will be blighted) is veryunlucky, so my timing must be good. The brewery boiler is kept running by arusty horseshoe on the burner cover. This horseshoe was moved across from theold burner when we up-scaled. It has not proven to be overly effective over theyears but we persevere.

Should my superstitions not do the trick I hedge my bets byworking hard and maintaining a healthy level of distrust of all equipment andanalyses. As I have discovered this week there are some things in life whichyou can’t gain through hard work, superstition or luck.

Be lucky

See how your rules spoiled the game

2011-07-19T23:04:00.006+01:00

There is a fact which is oft quoted, “On average when acustomer has a good experience they tell two people. When they have a badexperience they tell ten”. This may be true, partially true, based on the truth or inaccurate. I would love to see the surveytechniques, population and the statistical analysis behind it. I had a goodexperience on Saturday night with the best meal I have had in recent memory soI thought I’d do my bit to shift the statistical balance and tell you, thethousand or so people who view my blog each week. The meal at the Longcross Hotel, Port Isaac was solid, unfussy, flawless and satisfying. As an aperitifI had a bottle of Cuvee Saint-Gilloise which was sensationally fantastic andcould have contributed a slight halo effect, as did the very well kept Sharp’sserved at the bar.

I would like to pass on my commiserations to Brewdog forlosing their pitch at the GBBF. There is a silver lining of course. In cancellingtheir booking CAMRA have managed to remind Brewdog that they do in fact hateCAMRA and everything they stand for. I wonder how such strong feelings couldhave been forgotten so readily? It seems now that they were only going to buy apitch there to save drinkers from the scourge that is cask ale and beer made withoutAmerican hops. The thousands of pounds saved should be some consolation and couldbe used to stage a radical stunt out the front of Earl’s Court involvingburning effigies of middle aged people with sandals and beards or perhaps atissue paper model of a noble hop cone. I’m sure that as people with integrityand a respect for beer and brewing they will let their boycotting of the eventdo the talking, I for one hope so.

Winning the X Factor

2011-07-14T15:31:00.006+01:00

Sometimes by accident or imposition I watch some of the X Factor and the now, very similar, Masterchef. At some point in these programmes you encounter the inane interview with contestants who have to confirm to the producers that winning does indeed mean everything to them with varying degrees of conviction, hysteria and sincerity. The first time I saw one of these I asked myself what achievement would mean that much to me? Winning the rugby world cup would have been nice and a number one single for my band Snot Trof would have been an unlikely but welcome financial gain. The All Party Parliamentary Beer Group Brewer of the Year however has been my X Factor for as long as I have known of its existence. Yesterday I found out I had won.

When I started my training back in 1996 I read in The Brewer Magazine that the Head Brewer of Marston’s, Paul Bayley had won the Brewer of the Year. I used to drive 20 miles to buy nips of Owd Roger when I was 18 and Pedigree was my Geography teacher’s favourite beer. At the time I thought one day I would like to work for him bringing happiness to chubby 18 year olds and geography teachers. I never dreamt that in 15 years time I would be receiving the same award. I still can’t quite take it in (clichéd but true). Looking down the list of great brewers who have won the accolade before me I felt somewhat of an imposter. This award is another dream that working for Sharp’s has helped to realise and I owe a vast debt of thanks to the team at the brewery for making the beer and the business what it is today as well as tolerating me day in day out!

While I am about it I should thank all those who have helped make me the brewer I am. Jean-Marie Rock, Tony Skipper, Chris Evans, Peter Scholey, Jeff Drew, Martin Kelly, Andy Rolstone, Kevin Mitchell, Paul Corbett, Peter Simpson, Buster Grant and Ade Redgrove have all been a pleasure to work and trade with and have shaped my career by varying degrees. Thanks should go to the Beer Writers; the late Michael Jackson, Tim Webb, Roger Protz, Adrian Tierney-Jones and Jeff Evans for helping ignite the spark of beer love back in the mid ‘90s. Thanks also to all brewers around the world who make the beers that I love and continue to be an inspiration to me.

Before the event I was pleased enough to have my beer paired with the starter, I never imagined I’d be getting the award. To anyone who was at the dinner last night I apologise sincerely for my appallingly unBritish reaction to the award. Seeing a grown man cry is never pleasant, especially one as big and ugly as me. Trying to compose myself after I received my tankard was not made any easier by Dave Wickett receiving a very well deserved lifetime achievement award directly after. A very emotional moment. Seeing Dave and watching him accept his prize made the evening complete.

Why write, and then leave me cold?

2011-07-09T12:10:00.006+01:00

It is a tired Friday night. My conditioning tanks are nearly all empty. My fermentation vessels full, a scenario which spells busy! I saw a hand-written letter on a desk in telesales at 7PM and for an hour or so the stresses and strains of the week seemed insignificant. The letter was from a landlord complimenting Sharp’s on our beers and saying how they are the most popular beers on the bar. Competition wins and critical acclaim are great but for most brewers what counts most is the voice of the customer.

Some brewers are able to be philosophical about their beer. They prefer people to like them but aren’t overly worried if some don’t. I’ve never managed this. To me if people like my beers I’m elated and if they don’t, devastated. A former boss said to me "don’t worry it’s only beer". My response did not do a great deal for my prospects of a pay rise.

We once had a landlord who would sell loads of our beer all year with no problems at all. A month away from the price negotiations he would start to pick fault with what we sent him. He would suggest that it had changed and was not the beer it once was. He would also hint that he could slag our beer off to his customers and promote the competition if we did not reduce his prices. When he visited the brewery to negotiate next year’s price it was suggested that I was locked in a cupboard to prevent me from getting near him. They didn’t have to in the end because I was busy elsewhere but put it this way, I’m glad that I didn’t see him (but not as glad as he would have been!).

Making something you love and sending it to a customer feels as if you are laying yourself bare. Like asking the girl you fancy for a dance at the school disco. Approval is food for the soul, rejection is insult and heartbreak. Sounds a bit dramatic but when you care about what you do that’s how it is. It doesn’t make for a contented life because the lows are felt more acutely than the highs. The highs however are so fantastically intoxicating that it’s addictive. When I worked at the Berkshire Brewery making Fosters and Kronenbourg I missed the highs so much that I only stayed for three months. The fact that the flavour panels were a chore also contributed.

Spare a thought for brewers like me when you are sampling beer but most of all be honest and constructive with them. Some of the most important improvements I have made to my techniques have been wrought from criticism. The most profound betrayal of a brewer is to slag his beers off behind his back.

Bier met liefde gebrouwen drink je met verstand. If ever a phrase had been brutally raped it is this one!

Do hear me as you sleep?

2011-07-05T22:36:00.002+01:00

A quick post just to let you know that a couple of 9s of 18-month aged honey tripel will be on sale at Chelmsford Beer Festival. It is leaving the brewery as a 9% ABV of balanced flavour explosion (if I do say so myself). I hope that it finds you in good order.

A Date with Density

2011-07-02T13:07:00.008+01:00

My blog has become boring. How do I know that? Because my mummy told me. She said a tiredness has crept into my writing and my prose has become sloppy. For this dear readers I apologise and I will try harder to tease, entertain and scintillate. This week has been one of those weeks. Last week was also one of those weeks so I am hoping for a not one of those weeks next week. If you get my meaning.

On Thursday Sharp’s said adieu to Mike Queenan our Molson Coors health and safety guru. Mike has been with us for a couple of months and has coped admirably with trying to help us raise our game in terms of health and safety. The health and safety professional is a modern day crusader riding in on a white horse and converting the unenlightened masses to the gospel of the risk assessment and safe working practice. Revered by all, they bring meaning to an otherwise directionless world. I hope irony can be sensed through a screen. I didn’t envy Mike’s role one bit (although the wages would have been nice). As a stranger to the company, Mike had to come in and make busy people’s lives more complicated and accept as much cooperation as you would expect under the circumstances. Mike has left Sharp’s a safer place than when he arrived. I shall miss winding him up to the point where his head starts to glow.

After supermodels and brewers, chefs are my favourite company when enjoying a few moderately consumed beers. Last night I was out with one of Rick Stein’s head chefs and along with passionate discourse about food safety regulations we discussed the celebritisation (a word which I have just invented) of the gastronomic arts. Like me he was passionate about getting the fundamentals right before playing around with challenging and innovating. He said since the advent of the celebrity chef most of the new chefs entering his restaurant are trying to run before they can walk. Simple food done well with clean and clear flavours beats elaborate dishes which are poorly conceived every time. I think the same applies to beer. There are a lot of brewers talking about which strain of Brettanomyces they are going to use in the 80 year old sherry cask to age their 14% Centennial barley wine but don’t understand what the figures on a malt analysis sheet mean. I once heard a brewer describe his elaborate temperature controlled mashing regime which was quite unnecessary for the malt he was using. In the end it turned out to be entirely pointless because the thermometer on his mash tun hadn’t been calibrated for two years and was 10oC out!

I was asked yesterday what my favourite beer is. That’s an easy question for me because it’s Duvel for reasons previously explained. It did lead me on to thinking about my top 10 favourites. Modesty of course prevents me from naming anything I am currently making. As you will see they range from the slightly unfashionable to the very unfashionable.

1. Duvel

2. Westmalle Tripel

3. Courage Directors (1989)

4. Sierra Nevada Harvest 2008

5. Orval

6. Ind Coope Burton Ale (1991)

7. Cantillon Gueuze

8. Dupont Avec les Bon Voeux

9. Harpoon IPA

10. Brakspear Ordinary (2000)

If you don’t agree let me know. It won’t change anything but at least we can have a row!

Taste me you will see - More is all you need

2011-06-26T12:10:00.001+01:00

I heard on Wednesday that I achieved a merit in this year’s Master’s degree so I am quite pleased. A distinction would have been nice but I have the excuse that my job is quite demanding at times (when there is a y in the day that is).

Friday was a fun non-brewery day with a few hours spent at Ringwood, a brewery which puts most other 50k barrel per year breweries to shame. For that matter in terms of engineering it casts a pretty significant shadow over my 110k barrel per year brewery. After spending an hour or so sightseeing in Bath (from a near stationary car in a traffic queue) I arrived at the venue for the BFBI banquet. It was a good night and I met some lovely people and caught up with some old friends. As I always say after these events, I am sorry for anything I did or said which was obnoxious. I’m sure I didn’t but the mind plays tricks when one gets tired and emotional. It was a privilege to hear a speech by Gordon Banks. The 1966 world cup was nearly a decade before I was conceived and football is an ugly game played by ladyboys but hearing Gordon’s recollections took you to the changing rooms and for a few drunken minutes you could feel just what it meant.

After a rather unpleasant journey back from Bristol I returned to the brewery to find Ian Scott, the Chairman of the of the BFBI and host of last night’s Banquet on his hands and knees picking swarf out of the vacuum relief valve of FV23. How’s that for customer service!

Beer is finally in FV24 and FV 25 will be filled tomorrow.

My Heart Beats for You

2011-06-21T13:22:00.004+01:00

I have just finished caressing the 9s of a special beer for the Stratford on Avon beer festival. The beer for want of a better name is to be called Wild Amber Massive (not my fault). It is an amber beer fermented very warm in an open tank with abbey yeast. The beer was then racked into casks with a blend of wild yeast strains only one of which survived to do anything. The beer has been rounding off for the last 3 years in the cellars and tasted very good when sampled yesterday. The original beer was light for its 8.8% strength. Thanks to the wild yeast and the long maturation the final beer is incredibly dry for an amber ale at 9% ABV. If you are going I would value your comments.

If you are organising a beer festival, why not ask me for a special beer? We can do business, I'll do ya a very special price.

I have used all my restraint to not quote Shakespeare in this post. I have always wondered how people who live in Stratford feel about him, given that everyone they meet will probably say “ah Shakespeare country!” when they hear.

I was thrilled to get a call from one of the men responsible for developing my love of beer yesterday. Saint Roger of Protz called to ask what I am brewing this year for inclusion in the Good Beer Guide. I still get a little tongue tied when I speak to him. Not least because of the time I tried to kiss and cuddle him in a pub car park. Better than inner city sumo I suppose.

If anyone is wondering, the “real” ales Sharp’s are making this year are

Cornish Coaster
Doom Bar
Sharp’s Own
Sharps Special (bottle and cask conditioned)
Chalky’s Bite and Bark (bottle conditioned)
Single Brew Reserve 2011 bottle Conditioned

Seasonal beers Atlantic IPA, Honey Gold, Autumn Red and Abbey Christmas

As well as 20 or so one off brews

I’m sure this will all be reported in the GBG.

I leave you with this thought. How stupid do you have to be to buy an automatic soap dispenser which is designed to stop you getting your hands dirty when dispensing soap?

Always and Forever

2011-06-17T09:25:00.005+01:00

Dirty Daphne the DAF unit was brought on line yesterday. Daphne weighs 3 tonnes, blows air through the waste water from the brewery and is making the project engineer’s Portakabin smell worse than normal. Daphne is beautiful because she reduces the brewery’s waste by removing solids from liquid effluent. Working in a larger brewery gives you an insight into all kinds of interesting albeit smelly technology! Next year we will have a machine which turns waste water into energy for brewing. Modern day alchemy, as long as it works.

Next Friday I have day away from the brewery planned to visit Ringwood Brewery to see the UKs finest racking line. I also hope to bump into my former boss Jeff “zippy” Drew a man who puts all of us mortal Head Brewers to shame by running two regional breweries simultaneously. In the evening I shall be attending the BFBI western section annual banquet. The Howe dinner jacket gets its annual airing.

I got an e-mail this morning from Will at Van Dieman Brewing in Australia telling me how he made a beer similar to my Winter Berry Ale. I must say his version sounds better than mine. If you’re reading this in Oz I would suggest that you seek it out. My sample is apparently on its way around the world. Can’t wait.

For every beat of yours, mine beats in time

If you ever listen to the song

Trust that the words are true

All this must be very clear to you

The Rain in Spain

2011-06-11T11:33:00.003+01:00

A quick post taking advantage of the lull in the proceedings of the arrival of FVs (fermentation vessels) 23, 24 and 25. By Thursday these 3 x 45,000 pint FVs will be full of fermenting Doom Bar and Honey Gold. We seem to have come a long way in a short space of time. A couple of months ago FV installation was undertaken by me, the crane driver, Captain Chaos and a big hammer. Today we have a team of 10 blokes with hard hats, high viz vests and clipboards scurrying around with laser rules and spirit levels.

I was delighted, thrilled, excited and enchanted to learn yesterday that my beer (Chalky’s Bite) has been chosen from a 25 strong shortlist for serving with the starter at the All Party Parliamentary Beer Dinner in July. It’s the second time I have had this honour but this time, work allowing, I will be attending. I have been invited along for the last three years only to have to cancel at the last minute due to an issue in the brewery. I hope it’s third time lucky this year. I have downloaded a "how to speak posh in three weeks" audio course so I should be fluent by mid July.

It's Show Time

2011-06-08T17:38:00.006+01:00

Every June the area around my house is transformed from pastoral calm to gridlocked mayhem. Not as a result of an influx of tourists but by a procession of country folk attending the Royal Cornwall Show. Like Royal Berkshire I am not quite sure why the Cornwall show is especially regal. It just is. As certain as the sun rising, mid June sees a flurry of holiday requests and a string of life threatening illnesses amongst my team which mean they are unable to work. One year I saw one of the brewers who informed me of impending paralysis and coma on the phone at 6:30AM propping up the bar in the beer tent at 2:30PM. Perhaps with such healing powers it should be called the Holy Cornwall Show?

I am afraid that as a townie much of the show activity is lost on me. Although I do remember being fascinated by the level of cleanliness achieved in the perianal area of a cow in 2006. I shall be there on Saturday this year checking that the beer being sold in the Sharp’s bar is up to standard. After a week of antibiotic-derived abstinence I anticipate my sensory analysis will need to be quite exhaustive.

I have just heard from the living legend that is Jasper at Camden Brewery that our blend is to be unleashed on the public. He has confirmed that it will be available at the following top line establishments at some point in the very near future: The Horseshoe, Southampton Arms, Jolly Butcher and Euston Tap. I was honoured to learn that it is to be called Camden Howe. I hope you manage to get your hands on some.

Aqua Vita Benjamin - Aqua Vita

2011-06-04T13:14:00.002+01:00

The circle of life continues. My old brewhouse has just rolled past my office window while my new reverse osmosis machine is being brought to life in the new brewhouse. Reverse osmosis is a wonderous process by which more or less everything that is in water is stripped out. Water remains one of the areas of brewing where even the educated consumer tends to be misguided. I have heard so many times that the same beer can’t be brewed elsewhere because of the water. You also get brewers who claim that their wells were blessed by ancient water fairies and hence have magical properties.

Water is H2O. There cannot be an argument about that. The same H2O flows out of the Grimsby sewage works as flows out of the filling machine on the Evian bottling line. What makes water different for brewing is what is dissolved in it. Being the 21st century brewers can adjust what it dissolved in the H¬2O without the need for water fairies. The first step is to remove what shouldn’t be in there. This is where reverse osmosis comes in. There are thousands of barriers to making the same beer in two breweries but the water supply is never one of them. Having an ancient well below your brewery is of no consequence to the quality of the beer you make today unless it is poisoned. When I am feeling particularly boorish and someone asks me where the water I use comes from I say the oxidation of hydrogen!

I hope someone is still reading. Today I received a bottle of the banoffee imperial stout that I brewed with Sam from Sipsmiths. I was there for the brewing and left Sam and the film crew to look after the fermentation and packaging. I was impressed with how it came out. Here’s the objective feedback I provided:

“Plenty(!!) of carbonation due to incomplete primary fermentation. The banana flavour from the yeast hasn’t come through greatly. This is probably because the temperature of fermentation wasn’t high enough. Beer smells inviting with good roast and a nice edge of hop resin. Flavour; very rich with good bitter, sweet and roast balance. Finish is big with long bitter and roast notes. Very much in the mold of a new world (US) imperial stout. Doesn’t taste oversweet which would be a concern at the high gravity at bottling. This because very high rate of the hops and roast barley. A sound example and a very good beer considering the constraints of production, just a shame about the lack of iso amyl acetate on the nose. I did an ABV on it and it’s surprisingly up to 7.8%.”

My flavour panel were very impressed by the beer which was surprising as they tend to favour lighter coloured drinks.

I did a parallel brew on my pilot equipment a couple of weeks ago and will bottle that next week to send up for their opinion.

I have just been evaluating my progress towards the 12 brews in 12 breweries and have had to call on a little poetic license to get to 5. Here’s where I am at so far.

1. Otter at home

2. 69 Hops with Brew Warf

3. Blend with Camden

4. White Shield with Steve Wellington

5. Banoffee Stout in a Sam from Sipsmiths’ kitchen

The next two are likely to be although yet to be definitively confirmed a collaborative brew with Alistair Hook at Meantime and something exciting with Adrian Redgrove at Castlerock.

Fairwell, Fair Cruelty

2011-05-27T09:05:00.004+01:00

I was sat down on the sofa in Chateau Howe to finish this post and I turned on the TV for a bit background noise. I was confronted with Zoe (26) from Maidstone who has a fishy “down below” on channel 4. I think entertainment like Embarrassing Illnesses, showcasing victims of bacterial vaginosis shows how far we come as a civilisation since the dark ages. Are we to believe that Zoe’s kipper-flavoured lady problem was too embarrassing to show her GP so instead she decided to expose it to half of the UK? I’m sure the few hundred quid that Zoe has earned from her appearance will more than compensate her for hearing “Oi! fishy fanny!” from white vans, pubs and building sites across Kent over the next year or so. If I was a cynic I would say it’s a glorified freak show exploiting the afflicted and desperate. I know that this is not a TV blog but sometimes it draws me in.

This week I am saying goodbye to the old brewhouse. Our 50 barrel plant is slowly being dismantled to allow for its transportation to another brewery. I have some fond memories of that equipment and some very “unfond” memories. Getting the 50 barrel brewhouse up and running was my first job when I arrived at Sharp’s. I did this while I was on shift, brewing the beer and taking over running the rest of the brewing operations. The plant as first installed couldn’t make beer so the first few weeks were hard. I used to get Saturdays off in those days and I would sleep from Friday night until Sunday morning. I lost a stone in weight in 3 weeks.

Eventually we managed to get some great beers out of this brewhouse and it was working 24/7 when the 150 barrel plant was commissioned in 2008. I’m sure that the team at the brewery where it is destined to next reside will enjoy it and the beers it can produce. I haven’t got time to be sentimental but seeing the mash tun hanging from a crane should make me stop and think for a while.

I still hold the record for speed digging the 4 tonnes of spent grains out of the mash tun. Not because I am superhuman but because none of other brewers were stupid enough to rush. I learned in during my first couple of attempts at glory that Cornish for “tosser” is tosser. I think the same can be said for my hop back digging record at Brakspear. The picture at the top of this post shows a former stalwart of the brewery Bald Mike resting during a mash dig on a winter’s night. I think you’ll agree the image has a dantesque feel to it.

New Seasonal - Honey Gold

2011-05-25T20:53:00.005+01:00

I was searching for interesting facts about honey for this post. The first place to look for such things is of course the internet. Facts on the internet and chain e-mails are much more interesting than real facts because someone has made them up. For example I read somewhere that an apple has more stimulant in than a cup of coffee, a swan can break your arm with a blow of its nose and that you can overcome cardiac arrest by coughing in a determined way (the middle one was a Peter Cook line but the other two were real). If this tells us anything I suppose it is to never believe anything you read on line, particularly on this blog.

According to a honey-themed website, 80% of all plants in the US are pollinated by honey bees. I was left wondering how this fact was arrived at. Did they film all the flowers in the US and find that honey bees pollinated 80% of them? Another interesting fact was that drone bees do not collect nectar or possess a sting. Instead their sole purpose in life is to fertilise virgins. So the insect equivalent of a Spanish holiday rep.

Honey is once again on my recipe spreadsheet for the next seasonal beer, Honey Gold. Honey is an aqueous sugar solution produced by bees from nectar collected from flowers which they regurgitate when back at the hive (mmmmm bee vomit!). One of the sugars in honey is melibiose which is a disaccharide of glucose and galactose. Traditional ale yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae cannot ferment melibiose although lager yeast Saccharomyces ~~uvarum~~ pastorianus can (have I lost you there?). Honey can therefore be used to add sweetness to ales. This is a good thing because it allows ale brewers to use more hops and still achieve a good balance. I like to take this a step further and use some spice to further sharpen the flavour. Honey aroma is also a very good canvass on which to paint with citrus and spice hop notes as it is warm and earthy. In this beer I have Simpsons low colour cara to boost the honey’s presence in the body without adding the darker toffee notes associated with crystal malt. This affords even more hop presence without pulling the beer out of shape.

And so to the hops. Hop addition in this beer is pan-global. Galaxy hops from Tasmania (don’t ask me where I got them from!) rub shoulders with Aurora from Slovenia and Citra from the US. All three of these varieties provide fruit notes but from a complementary angle. The blend it is hoped will be irresistible. I say hoped because the beer is still in FV21. Supporting this, Pilgrim and Northdown provide a typically English moderation to the bitterness. Spice comes in the form of Indian ginger which is included as much for heat as it is for confectioner’s ginger notes.

I hope that you love it and trust that you will tell me otherwise!

Much love

Time to Put the Leaking Dog Down?

2011-05-22T12:44:00.009+01:00

I have found this website where scary “facts” about beer are uncovered. The website must have been designed by someone who hates beer and everyone who relies on working in the brewing industry to put bread on their table. They expose the horror that is isinglass and suggest that bigger brewers use isinglass more routinely than craft/micro/regional brewers. This is of course opposite to the truth. Most big brewers have centrifuges which remove yeast before filtration so don’t waste money on isinglass. Very close to 100% of the cask ale for sale in the UK will contain isinglass.

The site also exposes the deliberate destruction of beer flavour by putting beer in clear/green glass. They further underline their expertise in brewing by publishing a picture of an iso humulone molecule (one of the hop compounds responsible for bitter sensations in beer) and claiming that it has a lightstrike aroma. In the interests of balance I trust they will go on to enlighten people to the penomenon of off flavours produced by poor oxygen control in small scale keg breweries. And also cover how lack of routine microbiological testing can also lead to unpleasant off notes and inconsistent brands.

They also might want to cover how some “radical” brewers use other rather less radical brewers to make their brands and sell it as the same beer as is produced at home. Although I suspect they won't.

Whoever is responsible for this ordure should be ashamed of themselves and should have respected the consequences of trying to undermine beer and everyone in the UK brewing industry. To me, beer is the most important thing in the world. They can insult the intelligence of their customers as frequently and egregiously as they like but when they undermine beer, in my opinion they cease to have the right to exist in the family of brewers.

Last Night a Blogger Saved my Life

2011-05-21T16:35:00.004+01:00

I have just got back to the brewery after my return journey from London. I stood behind the stand up comedian Tim Vine in the queue for the buffet. Not entirely sure if that’s relevant but celebrities are a novelty when you live in Cornwall. Did you know that he’s Jeremy Vine’s brother? Needless to say I had the last laugh.

Last night was without question the greatest honour of my career so far. If, when I started out breaking up hops at Brakspear you would have told me that in 14 years I would be having my beers matched with food at a dinner for some of the most influential people in the world of beer I would have laughed or kissed you. I was worried that bloggers would perhaps not be in tune with all of my beers but on the basis of what I saw and heard they approved.

All the bloggers I met were passionate, knowledgeable, polite and dare I say it sexy people. It was great to enthuse about beer with them. To anyone I didn’t manage to get to speak to in person or speak to long enough, please don’t think it is because I don’t love you.

Credit must go the organisers and backers of the event (in particular Mark Dredge and Kristy McCready) which is a very big thing for beer. If I was them I would be proud and grinning smugly.

Rollmops is a Dish Best Served Cold

2011-05-13T18:14:00.001+01:00

Today as you will have had pointed out to you by the boring bloke at work is Friday 13th. I am also wearing one of my lucky socks inside out. Nothing has fallen on me yet and no men in hockey masks have forced me to drink a pint of Magners at gunpoint (I’d rather take the bullet). I seem to have gotten away with it, although I did get a visit from Andy Hepworth. I love you really Andy!

Today also concludes a working week which has seen bold steps forward. I now have a second brewer on the way. Alex Bell (not pictured above) formerly of O’Hanlon’s is joining the fray at Sharp’s in June. I’m sure you will have tried some of Alex’s splendid work in the past and are as excited as I about what he can contribute to Sharp’s. Without wanting to disrespect his previous role I would venture that Sharp’s represents a significant step up in terms of intensity and challenge, certainly in terms of scale. I’m sure that Alex is up to the task. I also have some qualified help on its way from Burton. Adam Gibney is an American Heriot-Watt Masters graduate on an internship with Molson-Coors and has been given the challenge of coming to Cornwall and helping me with the task of harmonising Sharp’s FEMAS, HACCP and EH&S and QMS standards with those of our bigger brother.

Next Friday I am back up in London. I was delighted to be asked to attend the Blogger’s conference next Friday and even more delighted that my beers are being served with the dinner. Rather appropriately two are beers born of the 52 brews blog project.

Aperitif: Monsieur Rock

Starter: Chalky’s Bite

Main: DW

Dessert: 52 brew No. 21: Gorse Strong Ale

Digestif: Turbo Yeast Utter Abhorrence from Beyond the Ninth Level of Hades III

Also available will be Single Brew Reserve 2010 and an obscure brand called Doom Bar, you may have heard of it. I will be around to talk about my beers, engage in banter and express my love for all beer bloggers. You will be relieved to hear that my offer of DJ Stuart’s Gabber Overdose mobile disco for the after dinner “party” was not taken up by the organisers. What a party of beer bloggers will look like after the Turbo Yeast Utter Abhorrence from Beyond the Ninth Level of Hades III has wreaked its havoc is not something I want to visualise. I hope they have a mop and bucket.

What's my Motivation?

2011-05-07T19:45:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago on a day I otherwise want to forget I got an e-mail from a very nice man from Maverick Productions. He wanted to speak to me as I was apparently an expert home brewer. I suppose that as I spend more time at work than at home, I officially live at the brewery and everything I make is home brew. He explained that he was doing a programme about the sexy subject of home produced drinks. A presenter will be travelling around and learning how to make beer, wine and cider in an entertaining way. The man on the phone went on to tell me that they have been challenged by Channel 4 to make a banoffee pie stout. He told me that some other home brewers he had spoken to suggested that the best way was to brew a stout then to drop a banoffee pie in it. While this clearly showed outside of the box thinking and an implicit understanding of the craft of brewing, I suggested a more scientific approach to the brief was much more sensible and interesting. The basis of my recipe is thus.

Banana: Iso amyl acetate from a warm fermentation of a heavily oxygenated wort with Weihenstephan yeast

Toffee: High rate of 140 colour crystal in grist giving Maillard derived aroma compounds and butterscotch from diacetyl producing bacteria

Stout: high rate of roasted barley

Tomorrow I join Sam Galsworthy, the presenter (and gin distiller) in his Hammersmith kitchen to brew the imperial banoffee stout. Hop wise we are using Target, Goldings and the brutal Summit. Hopefully these and the roasted barley will prevent the beer tasting like banoffee pie in a liquidiser by giving some balance.

Mum has given me some advice for my TV moment. She said that I should be myself. So you can expect me to swear, get overexcited and fight with the presenter!

I was devastated to learn that the filming has been moved to the morning which means that I now have 6 hours to kill before my train. 6 hours in London with several superb pubs on the route back to Paddington, not sure what I’ll do.

nb this post was written on Thursday

In Bed with William Bass

2011-05-07T10:45:00.003+01:00

I now know that I use the words honour and privilege too flippantly. I feel like my time at Burton didn’t happen, like it was a dream.

Suffering a journey on a Cross Country train did at least take the edge off the excitement. Whoever designed a train on which the carriages smell like a gastrointestinal ailments ward and there is so little room between the seats that you have to lean your laptop at an angle should be strung up in my opinion. I was met by Steve at Burton station, very much the man about town in his convertible Merc with private plates. He was as affable as I remembered and he told me that he had reserved me a room in the Town House. The Town House doesn’t sound especially impressive until you learn that it is a grade 1 listed building in which William Bass lived and died.

The evening with Steve was very civilised, incorporating a good Thai meal before we retired to the Town House to sample some of Steve’s creations. I also got to meet Steve’s assistant brewer Jo. Steve openly admitted that his beer would not be half as good without the talent and dedication of Jo. Behind every great man, there is a great woman. On their departure I did not take the option of overindulging and finishing the courtesy fridge full of beer. I’m officially grown up.

At 2am I awoke with a start. A strange ghostly noise emanated from the table in the corner. It wasn’t William Bass calling to me it was broken chain by Crucifier announcing the arrival of a text message joke about Bin Laden. Joking aside, sleeping in the house where one of history’s greatest brewers lived is an experience which is as spiritual as they come.

At 7:30 Steve collected me and we drove to the brewery for the 8am mash. The brewery is housed in the National Brewing Museum. You pass a massive steam engine and the White Shield bottle van to get to the bijou but beautifully engineered brewhouse. Steve stood at the helm while Jo busily fluttered in and out making things happen. Steve brews by eye and by feel. A talent which I am afraid I would never have the balls to master. I couldn’t live without my flow meters and digital readouts. Steve told me later that he had a pilot’s licence. I’m sure he flies like he brews, calmly, accurately and authoritatively. Aside from gawping and listening intently I was occasionally of assistance and helped with mashing in, cleaning out the copper and adding the late hops.

As I left Burton I remember thinking that I am a very lucky brewer. I sat grinning like an idiot all the way home on the train. Got a few stares but then that’s not unusual.

The Soul of an Angel - Touched from Above

2011-05-04T18:07:00.002+01:00

Please accept my apologies, this post is two days out of date. Time is my enemy.

My afternoon with the angels and then with a hundred or so enthusiasts and casual passersby has led me to the conclusion that:

A beer tasting with the brewer is the most potent sales tool in the universe
All drinkers understand “good” flavours
Doom Bar is enjoyed by serious beer aficionados but they don't discuss it

I owe a debt of thanks to the Draft House on Tower Bridge who thought that the amount of beer I sent up was generous until everyone turned up and drank it all! It is a great pub staffed by great and beautiful people. In the next 7 days I am destined to work in 4 different breweries (if you count Sharp’s and Sam the distiller’s kitchen).

Today I am travelling up to the cradle of pale ale to brew a world classic beer with a world classic Brewer. Sir (only a matter of time) Steve Wellington is letting me brew a White Shield at his William Worthington's Brewery. The William Worthington's Brewery sounds like it’s Coal-powered and operated by ponies and blokes in flat caps. In fact it is newer than Camden. I have heard all about it because the man who designed it, built it and is still responsible for the pressure systems in it is running the project to install an anaerobic digester at Sharp’s. It sounds very plush, modern and well engineered.

For beer lovers in their thirties like myself, White Shield is almost certainly the first British bottle conditioned beer you tasted. While it is debateable that the method of bottle conditioning would have died out without the beer you have to admire the fact that it stayed put when most others had gone down the filtered and pasteurised route. Steve Wellington is a superb statesman for beer and from what I remember of the last time we met a sound bloke. I say from what I remember because it was after an afternoon at Nottingham’s Vat and Fiddle with Ade Redgrove and a CBOB presentation dinner. Tonight Steve is showing me all Burton on Trent has to offer.

Friday I'm in Love

2011-04-30T10:42:00.008+01:00

Chapter 1
Bank holidays, lovely idea unless you have to work them or you run a department which depends on deliveries around them. I’m on a train destined for London to begin my beer themed London weekend in London. There is something about train journeys from Cornwall which is relaxing and always reaffirms my love of England. The wilds of Cornwall giving way to the verdant fertility of Devon and Somerset and then the lush calm of Wiltshire and West Berks. After Reading excitement builds with the stunning Slough, Feltham and finally Paddington in all its dirty glory. I’m looking forward to the funny feeling that only London can bring.

My week in the brewery has been positive with the pressure on capacity providing a challenging balance. Last night Sharp’s said goodbye to the old management/owners, Messrs Baker and Keohane, who had been working as consultants since the sale to Molson Coors. They are off to grow another brand, this time in the world of Chocolate. The next comment is entirely conjectured but I wouldn’t be surprised if the brewing industry saw them again at some point in the future. I didn’t get the chance to have a final firm handshake because I was in the brewery until late. I wish them well and thank them for giving me the opportunity to contribute to a success story as well as a few very good rugby tickets.

Next week sees me away from the brewery in Burton and London for a lot of the week so I am hoping that the brewery doesn’t miss me so much that it spontaneously implodes as is typical.

Chapter 2
It is now 10 o’clock on Saturday morning and I am sitting in front of the laptop, full of Premier breakfast after what was an exceptionally beautiful evening with the Camden team. Everything about Camden is impressive; the beer, the equipment, the passion but most importantly the people. In Troels Prahl they have an exceptional brewer with a very bright future ahead of him. Camden have more control over their beer than breweries in the UK who are 20 times the size. Camden beers are clean, crisp and brilliantly professional. Our blend promises to a very interesting beer. An aged 10% barley wine brewed before Camden opened, blended with their crisp, fresh weissbier, beers between which there were more differences than similarities. There are also plenty of synergies and notes which dominated each beer have been brought into line in a wonderfully even flavour profile. The finished blend should be complex and dangerously-drinkable for a 7.5% beast.

The afternoon and evening spent there is the highlight of my year so far. As we sat talking about beer, brewing and brewers there was a connection of brewing souls, hearts and minds. The stresses of the week melted away as the London sunshine leaked in through the arched windows. The sheer enthusiasm and energy of James and Jasper was both inspiring and corrupting to a man fighting an obsession with beer!

I am 3 hours away from meeting the Barley’s Angels. I hope they are gentle with me.

No lights, No music, JUST ANGER

2011-04-23T08:35:00.004+01:00

Outside was calm. The dawn chorus was tuning up in the half light amidst the stillness of a country morning. Three blackbirds played like children across the dew-kissed lawn. I failed to notice this as I shut my leg in the car door on the way to work this morning and treated my neighbours to my own expletive-strew dawn chorus.

Despite the third ominously flawless flavour panel showing in a row and sales of 751,176 pints of Sharp’s beer, this week left me somewhere between seething and despondent with a side salad of defeated and exhausted. This morning this is replaced by a large helping of angry. My search for a second brewer remains a fruitless one. It has got to the point where I am disappointed that people who represent a massive compromise, decline the job offer. Maybe it's the thought of living close to the sea in the most beautiful part of England? Maybe it's the thought of working for a kind and understanding boss? Maybe the qualified and experienced brewer is an endangered species?

It is difficult to describe to someone who isn’t a commercial brewer what the word brewer means to us. Even those who work in the 10-20 barrel brew length world may struggle to understand. To me a brewer is someone who implicitly understands all aspects of beer production down to the scientific principles which drive it. The brewer knows through science and experience how to brew, how to fault find beer, brewing, packaging and engineering to keep consistent beer flowing out of the brewery gates. The brewer can do this by managing people, engineering and suppliers effectively. His/her decisions and actions are guided by science and experience not what he has read on a ”brewer’s” forum on the internet. The brewer can do all of this within the context of a business which needs to generate profit to survive. The brewer does not concern him/herself with bullshit, science fiction or fantasy. To me great commercial brewers are akin to virtuoso musicians performing to millions of people. It seems today there are plenty of musicians who play their guitar in the bedroom in front of the mirror and those who perform in a covers band in the local pubs but the virtuoso is a dying breed. I suppose the option of doing a brewing course, buying a cheap 10 barrel brewery, declaring yourself god’s gift to brewing while inconsistently copying easy to execute American-style beers is a much faster route to greatness. Shame. By the way, before you assume, I don’t consider myself as a virtuoso. Cage fight anyone?

On to less aggressive matters, I travel up to London on Friday afternoon to get blending with Camden and then I am showing my appreciation for the ladies of the Barley’s Angels next Saturday. At 3:30PM the Doors of the Tower Bridge Draft House will be thrown open to all comers and beers the like of which you will have never seen and will never see again will be on offer. The 2008 Vintage Massive Ale should be the star of the show in my utterly humble opinion.

I leave you with a few maxims:

If you brew without understanding science, everything you make will be subject to luck. You may make good beer for a while but one day your luck will run out (JMR 2010)

In the world of health and safety management, common sense, misfortune and stupidity don’t exist. (Howe 2011)

Never trust a journalist (Cope 2001)

What is love? Baby don’t hurt me (Haddaway 1993)

Trust your doubt. Always fight for your beliefs. That is the path beyond thought (Segal 1997)

Even geduld aub, niet verliezen het geloof

2011-04-15T21:39:00.001+01:00

Of late, my weeks seem to be rollercoaster of crushing lows and intoxicating highs. It’s not really a happy balance but it keeps you striving. I won’t bore you with the darker aspects because as the man from Virador Waste Management once said "you don’t want to hear my problems". On the brighter side the team at Camden have confirmed the date for my visit and it sounds like the blending night will be a meeting of passionate minds and good craich. I also heard about a secret and exciting project which hangs tantalisingly in front of me like a bottle opener in a sample cellar at 10:30 on a Saturday morning. On the even brighter side the interest in my beer tasting the next day at Tower Bridge Draft House is developing nicely. The Turbo Yeast Utter Abhorrence from Beyond the Ninth Level of Hades II, I did as a speculative project for this event is 23% ABV of balanced flavour subversion the like of which I have never tasted.

I have decided to prime the alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes of my liver ahead of tomorrow’s technical trip so I’m having a few medicinal sofa-based beers this evening. Clearing out the Director’s office I found a bottle of Leffe Ruby which was purchased because it was in a champagne bottle and left untouched ever since on my advice. I decided to give it a go as it was destined for the effluent plant and can report that it is unutterably appalling. I have spent the last hour apologising to my Westvleteren glass for exposing it to such evil. I would not be surprised if a shiver had crossed the shoulders of the brothers this evening. Aside from the flagrant exploitation of a romantic story can anyone explain the point of an abbey ale with berries rouge?

I digress. The line up for the 30th is:

1. Cask Atlantic IPA
2. Cask 3 year old Massive ale
3. Turbo Yeast Utter Abhorrence from Beyond the Ninth Level of Hades II
4. Monsieur Rock
5. Single Brew Reserve 2010
6. DW
7. Something even more exciting

I hope you can make it!

Technical Visit

2011-04-11T13:27:00.001+01:00

Although slightly later than is traditional, Saturday has been set as the day for the annual production team technical outing. The technical outing is designed to give the team a technical insight into the operations of another organisation. As well as full environmental health and safety risk assessments, the day normally involves presentations on world class manufacturing, 5S, breakthrough performance benchmarking and flower arranging for beginners.

This year we are visiting Driftwood Spars Brewery, pub, hotel, restaurant and theme park in the breathtakingly beautiful St Agnes. The brewery is a small 5 barrel plant presided over by Pete “Fluffy” Carvers. The brewery produces beer for the pub and selected outlets across the UK. Pete’s Alfie’s Revenge which was brewed in honour of a stuffed squirrel (rather than being forced up its Gary Glitter) has recently been shortlisted for the Champion Winter Beer of Britain.

The first stage of the technical visits is for a minibus which can only be described as well-stocked to carry the team to their destination. Last year’s trip to Palmers started at 8am and after a 3 hour drive several of the team forgot what we were doing before we arrived. One brewer was cold during the tour so went to get his coat from the bus. He returned 20 minutes later having to failed to locate is coat, the car park, the bus and then the brewery.

This year’s trip is the first trip for some of the newer members of Sharp’s Brewing Team perhaps most notably Naked Ian. Naked Ian is a 20 stone rugby player of simian appearance who becomes a naturist when sufficiently hydrated. He also carries a photo album of him engaging in leisure activities that would make a Tory MP look like a monk, which he is prone to subject people to after a few drinks. Naked Ian is being encouraged to be on his worst behaviour.

The CD player in the minibus this year has been disabled to prevent a repeat of the universally unpopular gabber, industrial speedcore and death metal soundtrack to the last year’s trip.

85% Joy

2011-04-08T15:54:00.002+01:00

85% as a number doesn’t sound overly impressive. An 85% chance of survival is not good news and getting 85% of the wages you have earned is downright toilet. 85% isn’t 100% or even 90% but in terms of flavour panel scores it is close to the Holy Grail. This week was an 85% week, the first since the panel first sat. The fact that we got it this week when we are brewing 680,000 pints a week with our backs to wall in terms of staff levels and capacity puts it in my opinion next to splitting the atom and putting a man on the moon. To use more percentages, life as a Head Brewer is 10% about making great beer and 90% about the distractions, obstacles and challenges which stand in the way of that goal. 85% from the flavour panel make that 90% seem insignificant.

I love beer and today I love my team!

I'm too much in love

2011-04-06T21:20:00.002+01:00

My Atlantic brew in March remains a target for next week.

The pace of change at Sharp’s at the moment is greater than ever. Numbers like £4m for expansion, 280k hectolitres per year are no longer pub fantasies but enthralling commitments and milestones. If you had told me when I did my first mash in the 50 barrel brewhouse in 2002 that within a decade the brewery would be twenty times the size and I would be part of the team driving that change I would have phoned Bodmin mental hospital to alert them to their latest escapee. There was an ugly old-looking bloke on the BBC South West breakfast news, he reminded me of me. The cost to me of all this is less time in the gym, less time for brewing experimentation and less time on the blog. For this, my faithful friends I apologise.

12 Brew four: Camden Brewery

You don’t need me to tell you that Camden Brewery is new, shiny and sexual. I should however be able to give you an insight into the team and their ethos as brew 4 progresses. I am most of the way to sorting the details of April’s brew. This one is going to be a bit different (aren’t they all?). I am taking 400 litres of a 3 year old cask-aged barley wine (10.1% ABV) up to the guys at Camden Brewery, then we are going to select (brew?) some beer(s) to blend it with to make a two-brewery-brewed blend collaboration. Ahead of my visit, I have sent up a couple of bottles of the beer so they can get a shortlist of beers and then we are going to get together, select the beer and produce the blend. The beauty of this is that it will involve the need to sample the prospective beers, then the various blends of these beers until we hit the winning combination or the floor in a heap of alcoholic dysfunction. This beer will then be packaged and sold by Camden. I would claim that this is a novel approach to collaborative brewing but I’m sure that a load of brewers in America will be yawning at the idea.

A lot remains to be finalised on this one and a few logistical questions need to be addressed before it can go ahead. Not least how I am going to get 400 litres of beer in the boot of my Z4.

Citra is dead, long live the King Singers.

I am a poor, freezlingly cold soul..............................

2011-03-30T17:29:00.001+01:00

Bit of a Richard (cockney rhyming slang) of a week. I had to cancel the brew at the Atlantic Brewery due to someone attempting to win the 2011 Darwin Awards. I am due to go down there anytime soon when I have a few hours to spare, which may not be anytime soon. I received a sample of 69 hop last weekend which while unexpectedly malt-accented was still a thoroughly good beer. I also got a case of P2 from the loveliest of lovely people at Molson Coors and a surprise visit from Alex of O’Hanlons Brewery (very nice man) and his Friend Thomas Hardy (very, very nice man). That’s it really.

Is it really so strange that I can work 90 hours and still have nothing substantial to blog about? I lost my bag in Newport Pagnell.

Shimmering Bargain

2011-03-23T13:49:00.003Z

Tired of carrying barrels around? Tired of seeing your staff standing around with a pressure washer? Fed up of barrels not being clean and sterile? Looking to speed up racking to free up time for the important things in life? Can’t afford a ££££Microdat washer? Then this stunning Gimson Cask Major, cask washer is just what you are looking for. The Cask Major is 5 station walking beam washer capable of washing up to 120 casks per hour. The stations are:

1. Bung finder and external wash

2. Gunge wash (reclaimed rinse water)

3. Detergent wash

4. Hot water rinse

5. Hot water / steam

Sharp’s used this machine from 2003 – 2009 . We have had it as a back-up washer since then. It is a great first automatic cask washer with pneumatics and a simple PLC controller. It is avialable now in as seen condition or for extra cost fully refurbushed. Details of a company to service and maintain the washer will be provided with purchase.

Any serious offer considered.

Toight, Toight like a Toiger

2011-03-19T11:41:00.003Z

It’s an exciting Saturday. I awoke before my work alarm with none of my normal post-week fatigue. As I write an England rugby team are preparing to break my heart yet my inner boy is still electric with anticipation. An extra layer of excitement comes from the newly-arranged visit to London at the end of April. I shall be strutting my stuff and exposing my wares to a room containing 30 glamorous ladies at Tower Bridge Draft House on the 30th. 30 women in a room with me, Stuart Howe, the 13th Duke of Wynborne, with my reputation? Has no one thought of the consequences? It has worked out quite well really as I will be in London the day before doing Prince William’s pre-wedding bikini wax.

The event at the Draft House has been organised by THE Melissa Cole for the Barley’s Angels. There will be a public event afterwards for all genders and species. I am not going to select beers which I think will specifically appeal to women because I am of the opinion that a human being’s ability to enjoy sophisticated drinks is not affected by the possession of a front bottom. The beers on show for tasting are yet to be completely finalised but won’t be too far removed from:

Cask Atlantic IPA
2010 Single Brew Reserve
69 Hop IPA
Monsieur Rock
Sharp’s Special
3 year old cask Massive Ale
DW
Turbo Yeast Unspeakable Abhorrence from Beyond the Ninth Level of Hades

I will update with timings and exact tasting journey on a later post. I do hope that you will be avialable to attend.

And when I thought that Saturday could not get any more excitifying. I have just found that 2010 Yearmix is available to download. I'm listening to it now. It’s toight, toight like a toiger!

It's Hoppy and it's Out There

2011-03-18T11:24:00.001Z

12 Brew number two, the 69 hop beer was unleashed on the public last night at Brew Warf. I am not sure if the rumours that it is called 69 Hop Oral Stimulation are true. I have just heard from Steve Skinner that it is superb “Creamy, nice body, hoppy but not over the top”. If I wasn’t spending my weekend doing what Alfa Laval, the commercial embodiment of Satan should have done for me along with trying to get the next batch of Altantic IPA ready for Monday, I would be in Brew Warf nervously sampling a pint or two. If you do try some please let me know what you think.

As those of you in possession of a calendar or similar digital device would know we are approaching the end of March. Yesterday I finalised the details of my March brew with Stuart Thomson Head Brewer, Head of Sales, CEO and Managing Director of the Atlantic Brewery in Newquay. I am going along next Friday and we are brewing an 8ish %ABV organic vegan blonde ale with organic vegan citrus peel.

The Atlantic Brewery is a wonderfully idiosyncratic brewery producing sustainable, vegan, organic beers in the middle of nowhere. I have been supplying Stuart with his yeast for a few years. I shall provide more information on the brewery and the brew in a subsequent post.

I had some feedback from Keith from Otter on 12 Brew number one, our Pilgrim Barley wine yesterday. Keith’s scale of measurement for beer quality is a simple one. He has two terms, crap and all-right. Crap is beer which is undrinkable or lacking in substance. All-right describes everything from acceptability to perfection. To my amazement Keith has broken with tradition and rated our effort as “nice”. My flavour panel will meet the Pilgrim at their tasting this afternoon. We shall see if they are equally moved.

Finally I would like to send my love and consolation to the team from Beer Ritz and Beer Paradise. True strength is forged on the anvil of adversity.

Light up the sky like a flame

2011-03-15T16:29:00.000Z

You may have picked up on the fact that I am a busy boy from previous posts. I need help (people have been saying it for years). I am looking for an excellent person to dedicate themselves to helping me take Sharp’s to the next level in terms of production volumes and technical standards. If you are interested please click this link. If you think you have what it takes please apply.

To Win a Pilgrim

2011-03-11T20:24:00.000Z

The Howe vs Bennett, Pilgrim Barley Wine is ready. A cask has gone to Keith at Otter and the rest is in our cold store. As a bit of fun I have decided to run a competition for a minikeg. I am looking for the stupidest thing anyone has ever said to you about beer. Just leave your beer stupidity as a comment below. You need not name names. The minikeg needs to be consumed soon so the competition will run until Wednesday. I will get the beer to the competition winner by Friday (terms and conditions apply).

As encouragement to enter I would add that it is a good beer. The ABV is 9.4% and the flavour is a classic barley wine with an added edge provided by a massive amount of dry hops.

Anyone who can get me a qualified second brewer will win a lifetime's supply of any beer.

Dentists, The French and 69 Hops

2011-03-05T17:16:00.003Z

I hate dentists. Sorry if you are a dentist but in my experience all dentists hurt you, cock up your teeth and charge you for the privilege. They slag off every other dentist you have had and offer advice which is guided solely by their desire to empty your wallet. If their treatment doesn’t work they still charge you and then offer to carry out more work at more cost to put right their cock ups. When they have your jaw clamped open they tell you about the restaurant they have just bought or the fact that they only work mornings because they like to play golf in the afternoon. They then imply that that all the pain and expense is down to your fundamental ineffectiveness as a human being. If they were builders they would all be on rouge traders. More about this later.

It doesn’t seem like a week since the 69 hop IPA became a reality. It has passed in the blink of an eye. This is especially surprising as so much has happened since. I had a splendid non-brewery day watching England bludgeon Les Bleus with the charming Fergus Fitzgerald from Adnams, the incomparable Gary Todd of Thomas Hardy and Mr Richard of Simpsons Malt. Ever heard the joke about the Englishman, the Irishman, the Scotsman, the English-curious Scotsman and a French rugby fan who wouldn’t sit down? I’ll tell you that one later. I enjoyed the game, their ears did not. Sunday and Monday were spent plumbing my new FVs in. Tuesday was the kind of day you dream about with wall to wall meetings and audits only punctuated by having wisdom teeth out. On Wednesday the Molson Coors project engineer arrived to start to take the burden of engineering project management off of me. This week has taken me from brewing in a brewery which makes 200 barrels per year to discussing engineering with a man who built part of one making 7,000,000 barrels per year; beer, brewing and life are fascinating.

On Thursday I gave my new 160 barrel FVs a caustic soak and yesterday I filled them with wort and yeast. FV 21 and 22 are go! Good timing really as sales are now growing by over 60%. We sold more beer in the last week of February than we sold at Christmas and Atlantic IPA looks like it’s going to break our seasonal sales volume record. I have broken my personal record for working hours in a week already and it’s only Saturday.

Back to 69 Hop, I have been checking on its progress via text and e-mail all week and it seems to be progressing well. Not being able to physically check on a brew is like being in prison. It has cost me a few hours of sleep. I would have hoped for a more rapid fermentation but oxygenation is not possible at Brew Warf. Looking on the bright side the more leisurely fermentation means that less hop volatiles are lost so the aroma should be stunning. My latest communication from Steve included full Brew Warf sensory analysis. The beer is “roasty and hoppy with the characteristic flavour of Sharp’s yeast”. ABV should be around 6% I can’t wait to try it.

69 Hop would have been a mere pipedream if it hadn’t been for the world’s finest hop merchant Charles Faram. Will and Paul are gods amongst men and British beer would not be as Great without them.

Fleet Films have made a sensational film of the 69 hop day which is available to download here until 14 March. Before you watch it I would like to assure you that I am a lot uglier in real life.

69 is a magic number

2011-02-27T17:49:00.004Z

The 69 hop varieties stretched across 15 metres of Brew Warf floor

We did it! Thanks to a well stocked hop store at Brew Warf and Melissa Cole allowing us to raid the cupboard at Lovebeer, 69 hop IPA is now a stark reality. I won’t bore you with a big long list again but Motueka, Glacier, Nelson Sauvin, NZ Cascade, Strisselspalt were added to the other 64 varieities to make the task of choosing a name for the beer a great deal more enjoyable . Now is a good time to introduce my brewing colleagues for the most numerously hopped beer ever to be made ever in the universe ever.

Steve Skinner
Not to be confused with Steve Skinner the Archbishop of Truro, Steve Skinner is an American brewer abroad. Steve grew up in Michigan and was an avid home brewer while he worked as a personal chef and butler to someone very rich and very lazy. It was only when he met Phil Lowry that he started to brew on a commercial scale. Steve has “been around a bit” in terms of collaborations, consorting with a list of names which reads like a who’s who of the London craft brewing scene.

Phil (Phillip to his mum) Lowry
Born Bertram Prendergast, Phil grew up in leafy Kent. Schooled at Eton and Winchester Phil developed a love for beer at a young age and after completing his degree in cookery and needlecraft at Oxford he embarked on building his own beer retailing empire. Phil’s greatest achievement was introducing me to Jean-Marie Rock. Passionate and knowledgeable, Phil will have tried more different beers this month than most people would drink in a lifetime.

Angelo Scarnera
Very much the quiet man of the Brew Warf team, Angelo is set to take over the reins when Steve returns to America. A deeply passionate brewer and a nice chap!

The Brew
With this brew we were pushing the Brew Warf equipment to its limits and Steve had to be on his game to keep it from derailing. I wasn’t really any help as I spent most of the day playing up for the cameras, complaining about my hangover and dragging random people through the brewery to meet the team and watch the brew going in. Ever the goal hanger I did personally add all 69 hop varieties. The hopping rate of the beer turned out to be 8.75g/litre or 3.1lb per barrel.

For the first time in my brewing career I sampled a few beers while I worked. Phil and Steve kindly provided me with an unending range of bottled beers from the US, London, Yorkshire and Kent. Some were superb, some were not!

The wort that is in currently in the fermenter tasted very promising. It should be ready to sell by mid March in cask at Brew Warf and other leading beer houses.

Radical and hardcore are just words

2011-02-17T16:59:00.000Z

The date: 25th February

The place: Brew Warf

The Hops:

1 Sovereign

2 Challenger

3 Northdown

4 Goldings

5 Pilgrim

6 Fuggles

7 Boadicea

8 Progress

9 Pilot

10 Pioneer

11 Phoenix

12 Target

13 Bramling Cross

14 Admiral

15 Beata

16 First Gold

17 Saaz

18 Bobek

19 Atlas

20 Aurora

21 Lubelski

22 Marynka

23 Celeia

24 Savinjski Golding

25 Saphir

26 Tradition

27 Mittlefruh

28 Magnum

29 Spalt

30 Tettnang

31 Northern Brewer

32 Hersbrucker

33 Perle

34 Herkules

35 Brewers Gold

36 Mount Hood

37 Cascade

38 Amarillo

39 Willamette

40 Centennial

41 Galena

42 Santiam

43 Sterling

44 Ahtanum

45 Simcoe

46 Citra

47 Warrior

48 Cluster

49 Palisade

50 Crystal

51 Vanguard

52 Apollo

53 Chinook

54 Sorachi

55 Nugget

56 US Northern Brewer

57 Summit

58 Bravo

59 El Dorado

60 Sonnet

61 Columbus

62 Delta

Tell me how to win your heart, cos I haven't got a clue

2011-02-14T17:46:00.001Z

Google stole my idea.

Brew one is in the 2^nd FV and looks and smells good.

Brew 2 is now planned for 25^th February. I am booked into Brew Warf with Phil Lowry and Steve Skinner (not that Steve Skinner). The beer will be a double IPA with at least 50 hop varieties. I'm hoping for 60 but time will tell. I am struggling for a name for it though!

12 Brew one Sharp's and Otter Imperial Pilgrim Barley Wine

2011-02-10T09:16:00.002Z

Otter Brewery

In my 12 brew posts I want to steer clear of history, the colour the pump clips, what flowers are growing around brewery gates and other such irrelevancies. Beer is as always the important thing. Otter is such an exceptionally beautiful brewery, in a stunning location, making beer in a gentille English way that you can’t discuss its beers without mentioning these things. The brewery is in glorious isolation in a green and tranquil valley. The few times I have visited there I have felt like I was on holiday. Otter make some excellent cask ales but if beer tasted of where it was made they would be among the very best in the world. Otter brewery sell more beer than Thornbridge and Brewedog combined but you probably can’t remember the last time you read about them on a blog. You get the impression that they don’t much mind this low profile (sorry Patrick!).

Otter beers are all-malt, whole-hop ales fermented using the dropping system. The dropping system involves carrying out the first day of fermentation in one tank before using gravity to transfer (drop) the beer to a second vessel to complete the job. The thinking behind this is to get the beer off of the trub and provide a second charge of oxygen for the yeast. The result is a clean yet complex beer.

Keith Bennett

Keith went to a Rudolf Steiner school where the kids make their own rules. He has never really recovered from this. Keith is Keith, you can take it or leave it but you won’t change it. After he graduated with a degree in pure mathematics he took the logical career step of getting a job as a Postman. It was only a matter of time before his love for beer drew him to the mash tun via Heriot-Watt University. At university Keith was known for his love of the student union and ability to survive on a liquid diet. He was also quite proficient at getting me kicked out of lectures by throwing his voice (that’s my story anyway). Perhaps Keith’s proudest boast is that he is the most fertile man in the universe. He has successfully sired three children despite his partner taking the contraceptive pill, although even Keith’s monster sperm have yet to find a way through his sutured vas deferens. Keith’s other special talent is doing a spectacularly accurate impersonation of Dr Evil without even trying.

Brew Number 1

Our one avowed intent will be to brew an Imperial Pilgrim barley wine brewed from English ingredients using the dropping system (can you see what I have done there?). The recipe is well modified Concerto pale ale malt, Optic crystal and roasted barley hopped with Pilgrim hops in the kettle, hop back, Fermentation and Conditioning. Pilgrim is quite a new hop and is an excellent all rounder providing a rounded bitterness and hoppy aroma (yes sometimes hops do smell of hops!), perfect therefore for a classic barley wine. The only unknown is how well the Sharp’s yeast responds to being “dropped”.

Prologue to 12 Brew One: Otter Brewery and Keith Bennett

2011-02-06T20:24:00.001Z

You have probably seen the film Misery. The first scene involves James Caan's character finishing a book and following a time-honoured ritual of drinking fizzy wine and smoking. A similar ritual involving neither the smoking nor rotten grape consumption took place in my front room on Saturday. In a scene repeated every year for the last 10, I celebrated my end of term with a couple of Orval, a Westmalle Tripel and a few other beers which feature a dangerous paucity of hops (I know I’m shameless). Fortunately I wasn’t visited by a rotund mentalist trying to break my ankles with a sledgehammer.

Next Saturday sees the first brew in my 12 brews in 12 months. This one’s a bit different to the others because I’m playing at home. My brother in beer for the first brew Keith Bennett, Head Brewer of Otter Brewery is coming to Rock to make our brew. The beer will be a strong ale, the full details of which will follow in an forthcoming post. I’ll also use that post to tell you a little more about the charming Otter brewery and its slightly less charming (in the best way) Head Brewer.

New Seasonal - Atlantic IPA

2011-02-04T18:42:00.006Z

This is the first post since I have entered the magical world of having 100+ followers. Bless you, you beautiful, beautiful people. Love is too trivial a word to fully convey what you mean to me.

The winter stout is sold out. I could have made more but I’m out of the specially roasted coffee and without it the beer would not be the same. So unpack your Speedos and thongs, spring is officially here!

Atlantic IPA, like IPA, is a name of a beer which is not constrained by having any specific meaning. I did argue that it was a silly name when we first used it back in 2003. You could sail the Atlantic forever and still not arrive in India. Since then another brewery have used the name to convey the American nature of their Atlantic IPA so I suppose the Atlantic aspect of the name (nomenclature) qualifies the IPA rather than describing it. For a few years Sharp’s Atlantic IPA has only been a bottle brand but now it has returned to the cask in a new guise.

Rather like a celebrity who puts on a load of weight before losing it and making a fitness DVD, Atlantic IPA is back and far sexier! When I walked past FV14 (containing the Atlantic IPA) at 6 the other morning I found myself stricken by an attack of Tourette’s. I don’t know what possessed me but I spontaneously shouted “sex!”. Fortunately none of the brewing team were in the vicinity to misinterpret this as a request. I have since determined that the root cause of this reaction were the hops in Atlantic IPA.

The pulse quickens as I type Centennial, Simcoe and Citra. Yes the hops which automatically make you a good brewer are finally in my hop store and this beer. I am shifting the stock of my trophy cabinet to accommodate the variously-shaped accolades which are sure to follow. Citra as you are no doubt aware is very high in linalool, geraniol, beta-citronellol and alpha-terpineol all of which are found in various fruits and scents from the across the natural world. This means that the fragrance it imparts in beer is reminiscent of these alluring natural aromas (grapefruit, passion fruit, gooseberry, lime and lychee). There is a line of argument which suggests that if you are going to selectively breed hops to have high yields of these oils you might as well add a blend of the purified essential oils to beer to give you the notes on the aroma. That of course is wrong because purification is unnatural and forcing hops to breed in a state of the art laboratory until the DNA analysis reveals that you have the right genotype is simply giving Mother Nature a helping hand.

Along with the vast quantities of fragrant oils Citra et al. have very high levels of bitterness (alpha acids). I have added all of the A-list hops to Atlantic IPA in the hop back to control the extracted bitterness. I have also used a hot thick mash and low colour special malts to balance the bitterness with sweet fullness.

The beer is yet to be racked but I am very pleased with how it is tasting in FV. I am going to run the beer past the flavour panel before I release it, just to check that I haven’t happened upon a Tourette’s-inducing beer.

Sharp's

2011-02-02T16:23:00.001Z

I found out on Monday that I had new bosses. Forgive me for not revealing this earlier!

Sharp’s former owners have always been in the brand building and selling game so I knew that at some point the business or its brands would be on the move. So far every conversation I have had with the new powers-that-be has made me more excited than the last. We are staying in Rock as exclusive brewers of the Sharp’s brands and it’s business as usual but with more support and investment. The prospect of taking beers I have nurtured for years to a new level of consistency and technical excellence makes me as excited as it is legal to be.

In terms of the blog, Molson Coors are very happy for me to continue uncensored and the 12 brew project is still very much on track with two brews nearly confirmed for February. My suggestion of Carling Brown Label the offal-flavoured lager is being considered by the board but I don’t expect it to make it to market.

In the words of Anthony Newley “It’s a new day, it’s a new dawn, it’s a new life, for me oooooooo and I’m feeling good!”

The HAND of happiness

2011-01-30T12:49:00.002Z

Something magical happened yesterday.

When I first started brewing, beer was considered by most people in the UK to be a simple thing to be drunk in volume. People’s interest began and ended with how easily it got you pissed. If you showed it excessive reverence you were a trainspotting paedophile with no friends. Yesterday I spoke to around 40 people about my beers. These people listened, enjoyed the beer and asked intelligent questions. Most of these people were young, beautiful and as far from a trainspotting paedophile as you can get. I had read that beer is becoming fashionable but was sceptical, yesterday I saw the evidence. The beer went very well, everyone had a different favourite and we raised £90 for Cornwall Hospice Care with the DW we sampled.

Pete, the man behind HAND is a complete diamond. Every town needs a Pete.

Tonight I celebrate my love for you

2011-01-28T18:10:00.003Z

Another Friday another post-flavour panel flop in front of the lap top. When I started the flavour panel a few years ago, we were tasting around 5 brews. Today we worked our way through 18 tanks. The difference can be measured in the degree of calm exuded by the Head Brewer as he walks back to his office for a pot of lapsang, today is a calm day. I taste the water, the worts and the beers all day, every day and over the week nagging doubts build up about a bit of dryness here or a hint of a flavour fault there. You never really know how you've done until the panel have sat. A satisfactory flavour panel soothes this tension and makes Friday night and my Saturday morning 7:30 lay in worth all the preceding hours of effort.

This week we tasted the beer I sent up to the Brewing Industry International Awards. I selected it personally from the gyles being racked this week. I was pleased that the panel agreed with my choice. All agreed that it was a good example of the brand. The BIIA is the one that commercial brewers want to win. It's judged by commercial brewers on the basis of quality and commercial value. Any off notes, hazes or lack of balance and you're left in the stalls.

Tomorrow I shall be at Hand in Falmouth doing my beer talk. I am very excited about it. Here are the power point slides for the event.

Finally, the 12 brew project is developing nicely with a few more brewers approaching me to join them for a brew or a day of male bonding. Most thrillingly it is likely that I will get to join Mr White Shield, Steve Wellington for a day’s brewing in his sparkling new brewery at the epicentre of the universe of pale ale. The words honour and privilege are just not sufficient.

The news was nearly as exciting as being invited into Zak Avery’s kitchen!

2010 Single Brew Reserve in 2011 with Bobek and Pamela Anderson

2011-01-25T08:58:00.000Z

Once a year I like to treat myself to a solo full scale brew and make our bottled beer Single Brew Reserve. Last year I didn’t manage it as I was distracted by 52 brews, 60% volume growth, 4 too few brewers, 18 regular brands and a partridge in a pear tree. That is why Single Brew Reserve 2010 was brewed last Friday which even if you are Chinese is in 2011. The solo aspect of the brew was also somewhat less solo than is traditional thanks to assistance from the crown prince of the brewhouse Wes. If it’s any consolation it is a one off!

For the last 3 years I have stuck the same recipe because it has been popular and I didn’t want to upset anyone. This year I have changed it. Not because I want to upset people but because the Hallertauer Brewer’s Gold which are key to SBR’s flavour are a bit crap (technical brewing term) this year. This (last) year’s SBR is a very selfish beer because I have opted to use only my favourite hop. “Which is your favourite hop Stuart?” I hear you say. She is Bobek, a fragrant and mild Slovenian with a delicate and diminutive cone. Some brewer’s have posters of the American hops on their messroom wall. American hops are like Pamela Anderson in her prime, stunning, exciting but simple and partially synthetic (I know that she's Canadian). Bobek is an unassuming beauty and her allure is rediscovered with each meeting, a beauty of which one could never tire. She’s too classy to be spread across a poster. Don’t get me wrong, I love American hops it’s just that I feel that Bobek eclipses them.

In this homage to Bobek the malt can only ever play a supporting role. Although a supporting role, the correct degree of caramel, sweetness and depth is vital to adequately frame the beauty of the hop. High colour, well-modified pale and 140 crystal are used to give a deep golden colour and that full caramel sweetness. Bobek is added at first wort, copper up, hop back and finally at 1kg per hectolitre to the conditioning tank. The result of this hopping regime lays bare all that Bobek can be, from sharp bitterness through sumptuous density to fragrant citrus and pine. I have just noticed that I have drifted into my fantasy of what this beer will turn out like. It’s currently in CT16 where it will sit soaking up what Bobek cares to give for a couple of weeks before it travels to the bottlers for filtration and bottle conditioning. At the moment it’s so far so good.

Single Brew Reserve 2010 will be available from mid February. Thank you Wes and thank you Bobek.

Well Done Nathan

2011-01-19T09:17:00.000Z

Our local Chef and Restaurateur, Nathan Outlaw has just been awarded 2 Michelin stars. This is nothing more than he deserves. He is a great chef a top bloke and sells excellent beers in his restaurant!

Congratulations to Nathan and his team.

Here’s a picture of me standing next to him.

Thank you all very much for the suggestions on the blog, e-mails, phone calls and text messages. I’ll post a revised 12-brewery hit list when I get a minute.

"12"

2011-01-18T09:45:00.000Z

To put an end to your clamour, lack of sleep and general stress I can now announce the big plan for Project 2011. The guesses below are as raconteur, Roy Walker would put it, “good but not right.”

This year instead of 52 brews in 52 weeks I am aiming to brew at 12 breweries in 12 months.

I have a few already confirmed and so far the breweries I am quietly confident of brewing with are:

Atlantic

Brew Warf

Castle Rock

Hepworth’s / Ridgeway

Otter

Loddon

Lovibonds

Rebellion

Others which I would like to work with I won’t be so bold as to list before I contact them. If you are a brewer or you know a brewer who you think would like a big ugly bloke shouting a lot in your/their brewery for the day please let me know. If you have a suggestion for someone to approach please also leave a comment. I will be constrained by geography although I am quietly confident of brewing with at least 1 non UK brewer.

Some of the brews will be collaborations and some will just involve me pitching in with the day to day stuff. What I am aiming to get is a feel for the brewery so I can write about the experience and the place here on my blog.

I suspect that I will not be able to brew every month. I may have to brew more at the start and end of the year so as to avoid being away from the brewery during the madness of the summer. One of the brews may involve a cage fight.

Project 2011

2011-01-17T12:01:00.000Z

Quick note: I am sorry but the event at HAND has now sold out. If you are still interested please let HAND know and they will put your name down for a forthcoming one.

2011, another year another challenge. I have brainstormed, engaged in blue-sky thinking and pushed the envelope to conceive of this year’s project. Curiously it involves beer and brewing.

What is this year’s challenge?

What do you think it could be?

Anyone care to guess?

Anyone care?

Talk to the HAND (see what I've done there?)

2011-01-13T16:19:00.001Z

On 29^th January at around 3:30PM I will be personally introducing Monsieur Rock (the beer rather than the man) and a few speciality blog brews to anyone who will listen at HAND-Falmouth. I am also going to do a slightly informed tasting of Orval and its American tribute Matilda. HAND is (I have heard) a fantastic bar selling good beers from across the globe some of which some people would call craft beers. It is a ticket only event so if you are interested please contact HAND to book a place. I assure you that you will get to drink beer worth a great deal more than the price of a ticket. The list of beers for tasting at the event will be:

I hope to see you there.

Patience is a Gift Only You Can Give

2011-01-04T14:46:00.002Z

With the 52 brews complete in terms of fermentation, this year's major expansion to manage and the submission of my thesis at the end of the month, I am not going to get the opportunity to post very much in January. Please don’t think it’s because I don’t love you. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If you have come here after reading the label on the back of a bottle of Monsieur Rock, the information you require will be found here here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here

Whatever happens, don’t forget me.

New Seasonal - Cornish Winter Stout

2010-12-31T16:17:00.001Z

This write up is a bit late. Our last seasonal, Abbey Christmas was phenomenally popular and sold out before early December. This beer was then used to stem the flood of disappointment from the trade. Cornish Winter Stout is my first foray into stouts in terms of recipe writing on a commercial scale. I am very pleased with the second batch. The first batch I will not mention and you will never see. Cask stouts can be awesome but often are just awful. I remember tasting stouts at a beer cask ale competition once. After 4 beers my palate was a mess, after 8 I wanted to stop sampling and after 12 I wanted to stop breathing. I felt sorry for the brewers of the last 3 that I judged because what had gone on before had reduced my taste buds to what felt like a full ashtray covered in treacle and the best beer in the world would have tasted like sewage. A lot of the entries subscribed to the more flavour = better beer philosophy and used so much roasted barley and black malt that I find it hard to believe that there was any room for pale. Others obviously weren’t happy merely using too much special malt and threw in enough hops to keep drinkers with no bitterness perception happy for a century. The result was olfactory Armageddon. Please don't get me wrong, there are some excellent stouts out there and everyone's palate is different.

Cornish Winter Stout is packed with flavour and tastes stronger than the badged ABV but there is still the inexorable tug back to the bar of a beer brewed for drinking rather than ticking off or discussing. Malt is pale ale, 140 crystal, roasted barley and crystal rye for tartness in the midst of all these heavy sweet/roast sensations. Hop notes come from the ever-versatile Hallertauer Northern Brewer and late hopping with the American monolith Apollo. The Apollo is there not for its earth shattering bitterness but for the pungency of its oils. A less strident hop just won’t compete with noise of the malts. To add a rich tiramisu roast note I have had some (120kg) of Peruvian, Cecovasa coffee specially roasted for me by the clever people at Origin Coffee. It has been roasted beyond the level felt acceptable in coffee made for drinking directly so that it stands out against the backdrop created by the roasted barley. From the amount that has disappeared from the stock room since we took delivery I think that my brewing team feel that it still makes a very good espresso!

Cornish Winter Stout is available from now until Spring. I hope it takes your palate to roast-accented heaven rather than olfactory Armageddon.

The Highlight of 2010

2010-12-30T17:19:00.003Z

52. Imperial Black Golden Mild Pilsner

2010-12-30T17:15:00.001Z

And so the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. No it’s not a funeral in Essex, it’s the last brew in the 52 brews in a year. The 52 brews has been a fantastic journey. You could say it’s a bit like rowing across the Atlantic; exhaustion, naked swimming, endless blue ocean, huge beards, violent storms, imminent danger, visits from friendly whales and dolphins, a camaraderie which will last a lifetime. You could but you’d be mad.

But as I approach Lands End I feel that I will be losing a friend. My pilot brewing equipment is looking tired, burned-out, heating elements litter the malt store, casualties of the war against the boundaries of brewing. My tattered hop strainer looks back at me forlornly as for one last time I ask it to brave the dark boiling depths. But at the same time there is trust in its sorrowful expression, a bond between master and servant which binds us tightly and drives us towards new horizons. (it’s all getting a bit stupid now) And so it is with heavy heart that I describe to you, my beautiful-souled blog followers, brew 52, Imperial Black Golden Mild Pilsner.

Is it possible to make a beer black without having the flavour associated with roasted or caramelised malt? The reactions which produce coloured compounds in malt also produce those which are flavour-active. Some of the compounds formed through the malting process are both coloured and flavour-active. So the answer in a sane world is no, we cannot brew a black blonde beer. Well this isn’t a sane world. This is the world of 52 brews in year, this is the world of a beer coloured with squid ink!

There are two risks in this brew. One is that the pigment in squid ink will make a blue beer rather than a black one. The other is that the brain will superimpose dark flavours on the beer despite the absence of dark beer aroma compounds. Flavour is sensed in the nose but processed by the brain. You can only taste what your brain allows you to taste. For this reason in beer flavour profiling and difference testing, opaque glasses are used to prevent the eyes overriding the palate.

I want this beer to be as dry and “blonde” as possible so I am using pilsner malt, a very thin temperature programmed mash with plenty of sugar. To this I am adding loads of citrus hops to lift and sharpen the flavour.

Tech Spec:

Malt: Pilsner, sucrose

Hops: Cascade, Brewer’s Gold

Yeast: US Pilsner

Spices: Squid ink

OG: 1058

51. Imperial Noma Beer

2010-12-29T10:00:00.001Z

This picture poses more questions than it answers

Foraging is great if you own a Danish restaurant. You get your team of foragers to pop down the local forest, pick a couple of kilos of grass and weeds and then arrange them tastefully on a plate. Idiots then come to your restaurant and pay you hundreds of pounds to go home hungry. Bigger idiots them come along and give you awards for excellence in cooking. Thank god that craft beer has not yet descended to this level of emperor’s new clothes.

If you are brewer in Cornwall and it’s December the proposition of foraging is a less attractive one. According to a very informative web site my trip into the wilds of North Cornwall should have yielded the delights of exciting herbs like sea beet, hairy bittercress, three cornered leak and moist mangina (I made the last one up). Even with this helpful guide I struggled. That was until my foraging expedition lead me to a clearing in the forest where, like a mirage, a range of potential brewing ingredients sat on a well-lit shelf under a sign saying fruit and veg.

The security guard didn’t seem to fully appreciate the concept of foraging for free food and after a short discussion I foraged via the self service till.

This brew would maybe be best undertaken in the summer when herbs are growing rather than rotting.

Tech spec

Malt: Low colour ale and crystal rye

Hops: Citra, Nelson Sauvin

Yeast: Unnamed Northern English brewery

Spices: Lime zest, pepper and tarragon

OG: 1081

50.Imperial Sage and Onion Saison

2010-12-24T13:13:00.001Z

When I was in my late teens I went round my then girlfriend’s house for Christmas dinner. Her family lived in the better part of town, only ever shopped at Waitrose and had a hostess trolley for use at their evening soirees. My family were proudly working class and had never been to a soiree. I remember thinking that I was in for a taste sensation having a posh Christmas dinner. I was even permitted to forgo the rotten grape juice in favour of a selection of Belgian and British strong ales.

The homemade, slow-cooked, hand-reared, free-range organic squash and cream soup with herb croutons starter was good although my mum’s prawn cocktail urinated on it from a great height. I learned that one does not pronounce the s in croutons. The main course looked impressive with a huge, fresh rare-breed turkey and all the trimmings. All the trimmings is a singularly stupid phrase. Surely the trimmings are the crap you throw away? On my plate next to the slices of turkey breast, where the stuffing should have been, was a grey-brown lump of something. I politely enquired as to the identity of the grey-brown stuff and was told that it was homemade fig, walnut and honey stuffing from a recipe by Delia “sausage fingers” Smith. It was according to sausage fingers far superior to Paxo and kept the bird beautifully moist. I tasted some of the superior stuffing was horrified to discover that it tasted like something you would leave out for the birds in the depths of winter. I did not consider this stuff to be superior to anything apart from maybe leaving the guts in the turkey when roasting it. That day I learned something, well two things actually. One was that people’s taste is subject to influence beyond that of the biochemistry of the olfactory system and the other is calling your bird’s mum’s stuffing “rough” is not a viable social tactic.

Every year you see celebrity chef’s attempting to justify their existence by either telling you what you should already know about cooking Christmas dinner or subverting and bastardising classic combinations like turkey and sage and onion stuffing. I think, although you may not agree, that most of the time, the little extras and new twists just detract from a classic meal.

“All this from a bloke who makes beer out of pig’s insides!” I hear you say. It’s a good point and one with which I agree. Beer is best left as good quality water, malt, hops and yeast brought together by skilled processing to make a well-balanced, fresh and moreish drink. Playing around and pushing boundaries is fun but for me the art of brewing is subtlety, consistency and balance and what real brewers should excel at.

This brings me on nicely to today’s unsubtle and outlandish brew. Sage and onion saison is a saision spiced in the kettle with sage and dehydrated onion. For a complete explanation of what a saison is see Here or buy a book written by Zak Avery or Adrian Tierney-Jones.

Malt: Pilsner

Hops: Strisslespalt, Saaz

Yeast: Dupont yeast

OG: 1068

Merry Christmas from the Naked Brewer

2010-12-23T09:39:00.001Z

There is a serious message behind this image. The man in the picture (me) drinks beer moderately on a daily basis and occasionally immoderately and yet is fitter than 98% of the population (based on scientific tests involving women in white coats with clipboards). This means that as Christmas approaches you need not fear the consequences of beer related indulgence. Just avoid the pies, puddings and anything promoted by Jamie Oliver or Nigella Lawson.

49. Imperial Dirty Bloody Mary

2010-12-21T16:29:00.002Z

I recently read an excellent post on another blog about the Cheeky Vimto. Drinks like this are enough to make you want give up brewing (almost but not really). I mean why bother going to university, working years of unsocial shifts, long hours, sampling beers from far and wide, understanding flavour and how to affect it and all the trials that you must face to become a proper brewer, when you can buy a nice shirt and an androgynous hairstyle and serve blue stuff, made of crude oil and beet starch, in a jug full of ice to halfwits? It’s a bit like a chef who buys in readymeals and cooks them at your table in a musical microwave before juggling with the plastic tubs, setting them down in front of you and sticking a sparkler in the top.

The Cheeky Vimto gives serious mixologists who spend thousands on their costumes a bad name. Why the tirade about cocktails? Because today’s 52 brew beer is based on a cocktail. When I was in the states I went out for a meal with the other brewers and the marketing company. The guy from the marketing company had a Virgin Bloody Mary which is a Bloody Mary without the vodka. The ever so subtle Australians call it a Bloody Virgin.

There is apparently some debate about the first mixologist to make the Bloody Mary. This is unsurprising as it is just a mixture of drinks which other people have made and the idea of pouring them into a glass together is hardly a work of genius. My Dirty Bloody Mary is a strong ale mashed with carrot and sweet potato with the malt grist. Tomato puree is then added in the boil to turn the beer blood red. I am hoping that the boil removes most of the tomato flavour leaving just the acidity to balance what should be a very sweet beer. The sweet potato and carrot should only contribute fermentable sugars so will not add to the flavour.

Malt: Pale ale

Hops: Chinook, Mount Hood, Cascade

Yeast: American Ale

Spices: Sweet potato, carrot and tomato

OG: 1087

48. Imperial Hoisin Beer

2010-12-17T18:52:00.002Z

The 52 brews has seemingly captured people’s imagination. Today I have spoken to a lady from BBC World Service in Brazil, a man from the Brewer’s Guardian and received an e-mail from the Tripe Academy (yes there is Tripe Academy) asking me if I would consider brewing a tripe and onion beer to help raise the profile of tripe in the UK. The prospect of becoming the face of tripe in the UK fills me with the kind of excitement normally associated with an X factor contestant. I have also heard that Mr Blumenthal who Heston’s Offal Ale is not really a tribute to (honest) is interested in tasting his namesake and some is wending its way to him. It all illustrates the power of the media or really the power of Mark Dredge!

Interestingly hoisin translates as seafood even though the sauce is not derived from or associated with fish or fish dishes. For me the crispy duck course is the highlight of any Chinese meal and failing to control myself when faced with a big plate of duck has ruined many a main course and led to arguments about which fat b4stard has eaten all the pancakes. Hoisin is the crispy duck sauce which with the julienne salad balances the full and fatty duck so perfectly. This is beginning to sound like a food blog.

Commercial hoisin is bean-derived starch, sugar, vinegar, chilli and a few other spices. My hoisin beer will be designed to have the features of hoisin, namely sweetness, sharpness, fullness and juiciness. The sharpness will be contributed by the maceration in sour kea plums which I have just found in the brewery freezer. They were left in there after they were too sour for a seasonal beer a couple of years ago. Everything else will be from malts, hops and spices.

Thick sweetness will be conferred by a high rate of low colour cara and crystal malts along with a hot and thick mash. Spices will come from chilli and Chinese five spice and juiciness from late hopping with Aurora. I am hoping that the beer will good for sipping with a meal rather than dunking pancakes into.

Tech spec:

Malt: Low colour cara, pale ale, 80 crystal

Hops: Perle and Aurora

Yeast: Belgian Strong

Spices: Kea plums, chili, Chinese 5 spice

OG: 1081

Monsieur Rock est Arrivé

2010-12-17T18:30:00.001Z

Monsieur Rock is back in Rock and in my opinion is sublime. It’s one of those beers which it almost physically hurts to stop drinking. The flavour panel were silenced by their first encounter with the finished article. Usually a new beer is greeted with unabridged discussion and more often than not, disagreement about its attributes. With Monsieur Rock there was just silence and knowing glances.

Although the ABV is 5.2% it tastes like a soft drink. I am fairly sure that the battery terminal-level bitterness brigade will judge it to be wishy washy. If you think this might be the case for you, I would suggest that you buy a pot of isoalpha acid from a home brew shop to sip alongside it.

I do feel so extremely lucky to have worked with Jean-Marie. I have made a great beer, learned a great deal and made friends with one of the world’s greatest brewers. Thank you Mr Lowry.

I hope I am not raising expectations excessively.

47. Imperial Dampfrauchbier

2010-12-16T10:06:00.003Z

52 brews is riding on the crest of an international media wave. Thanks to Mark Dredge, my new best friend and godfather to my future children, the 52 brews story has been featured on a Dutch blog and Radio 2 with more exposure in the pipeline. On Tuesday next week the Oz and Hugh programme on which I give a masterclass in Cornish pasties and taste Heston, Jellyfish red and the Cardamon Wheat will be shown on the Beeb. Needless to say my blog is getting more hits than a Cardiff housewife after Wales lose to England in the 6 nations.

It’s a bit of a shame that the final flourish of the 52 brews has to combine two brews in a single week. There is always a concern that I won’t be able to give them my full attention. But as (distastefully insert suicide bomber’s name here) would say, it’s better to go with a bang rather than a whimper. It’s not such a bad time to do it really. People always assume that breweries are insanely busy at this time of year due to brewing the beer for Christmas. In actual fact at the moment we are brewing for the rather less than busy January. That said at our prevailing growth rate and with bottle stocks to recoup after a focus on cask, no weeks are that far from insanity.

I apologise in advance for the boring uncle Brian joke in the next sentence (and the previous reference to domestic violence after rugby matches). When I first saw the name damp-frau-chbier in the suggestions an image of wet German ladies sprang to mind. That says more about my mind than my understanding of German and its beer styles. Dampfbier direct translation is steam beer. A more accurate description of the beer is a weissbier without any weiss. The steam reference comes from the German view that 21C is a dangerously warm fermentation temperature. The rauch bit is obviously the smoked malt. To add an interesting twist, instead of the German weissebier yeast this beer will be fermented by the beautifully fruity Belgian wit yeast. Interesting?

Tech Spec:

Malt: Pale malt, smoked malt

Hops: Saaz and Styrian Goldings

Yeast: Belgian Wit

OG: 1070

The Imperial Climax

2010-12-13T09:40:00.002Z

Many thanks for the suggestions. The temptation to create roadkill porter was agonising to resist. Who knows what will happen if I encounter an appetising flat pheasant or eviscerated badger on the way in, in the next few days.

So here we have the flourish leading to the climax of my brewing journey from the sublime to the imperial.

47. Imperial Dampfrauchbier (Smoked malt wort fermented with wit yeast)

48. Imperial Hoisin Dessert Ale (Imperial Barley wine used to macerate plums with chef’s special spice blend)

49. Imperial Dirty Bloody Mary (Imperial Tomato, sweet potato and carrot ale)

50. Imperial Sage and Onion Saison (dry Belgian style ale with sage and onion added to the boil)

51. Imperial Noma Beer (Imperial red ale with novel ingredients foraged from within half mile of brewery)

52. Imperial Black Golden Mild Pilsner (An imperial black beer without any discernable roast character)

Flavour Panel Christmas Tasting - Around the World in 12 Beers

2010-12-12T10:41:00.002Z

Another year, another flavour panel Xmas tasting. This year Ann, Jax, Phillipa, Clive, John, Les, Ian et al. sampled their around the world as illustrated below.

In a just for fun rating game the panellists marked the beers out of 10. The mark represents the panellists' preference alone and does not take into account trueness to style or factor in ABV etc. Although the flavour panel are all screened and trained tasters they are not afficionados of modern craft brews. The recurring theme was that amount of hop bitterness in some of the beers made them unpleasant to drink. As one of the panel said of 5 AM saint "It's like Hawaii on the nose and Chernobyl on the palate!" The results are illustrated on the tasteful graph.

46. Rye Stout - More Suggestions Please

2010-12-10T09:30:00.004Z

The 52 brews project is a little behind so I am going to have to double up on brews for the sprint to the end of 2010. I am also out of brews so can I please request that you provide me with some more outlandish suggestions. Remember, there are no stupid suggestions.

This week’s beer will be a rye stout where the only special malt is crystal rye. Crystal malt for the uninitiated is malt which is modified to greater extent than normal malt and then kilned at high moisture levels. This process is designed to produce as high as concentration of flavour and colour as possible by creating conditions which favour the Maillard reaction or non enzymic browning. For more information of malt modification please read my bit on malt which will be published in the next BEER magazine. Rye gives a red colour and sharp rye bread tartness to beer. This beer should be tarter than a bright orange single mother called Chelsea from Basildon.

Tech Spec:

Malt: Pale ale, rye crystal

Hops: Glacier, Pilgrim

Yeast: Belgian Strong Ale

OG: 1086

Brewed in the USA

2010-12-09T10:32:00.003Z

I’m sat in the departure lounge of Newark Airport. It’s 7PM here but way past bedtime back home. I am looking forward excitedly to the prospect of an 8 hour flight followed by a 4 hour sub zero drive back followed by 4 hours of work in the brewery tomorrow. The purpose of my trip as you may know was to make Doom Bar in the US and it's mission accomplished although not quite on the scale I would have liked.

I have also had the displeasure of driving the best part of the way into New York thanks a Sat Nav which couldn’t pronounce the word route (rout) and was seconds from being thrown into the Hudson River or stuck up the car hire rep’s “tail pipe”. Over the 3 days I have been in the US I’ve met brewers from 3 breweries and sampled about 40 different beers. It is good to see that it isn’t only British brewers who suffer from flavour faults and hazy beers. 30 out of the 40 beers I tried had hazes which would have been out of spec in most breweries. The low points for flavour were:

An under-carbonated, oxidised spiced “lager” which tasted like mouthwash
A pilsner which tasted only of diacetyl
A golden ale which was so badly oxidised that it tasted like it had been filtered through chip paper
A tripel which tasted of autolysed yeast
A Flemish-style red ale which had so much diacetyl on it that it made me feel sick
A boiled cauliflower-flavoured lite beer

Two of the beers I tried were probably the worst I can remember. One was indescribably woeful. I name no names as it may have been a problem with the kegs but I suspect not. I was drinking with Johannes the Brewmaster from Eibauer in Germany who was even more fastidious about acceptable flavours and he couldn’t find a drink that he could finish. The bar staff thought with good cause that we were insane.

I did try a few good ones as well. Harpoon IPA, Six Point Otis and Jack & Ken’s Ale were very good indeed.

An exciting aspect of the trip is that I have been asked by the US marketing company to brew 50 Hop IPA in the US for the American market. Organising delivery of 50 different hop varieties to a brewery the other side of the Atlantic may present a challenge.

45. Balsamic Barley Wine Vinegar

2010-12-01T09:47:00.000Z

The world of vinegar is a bit like that of alcoholic drinks. You have a malt based option which is dirt cheap and associated with the lowest of convenience foods and you have wine vinegar which comes in posh bottles and costs from twice as much to two hundred times as much. Even cider vinegar seems to have greater culinary cache than the humble malt-based product. At the top of the tree you have balsamic vinegar which is the best because;

1. It’s not British

2. It’s made of grapes

3. It’s aged in a barrel

I’m going to start a revolution, right here right now. Ladies and gentlemen I am the first craft, malt vinegar maker. Within a year I foresee a website called ratevinegar.com and vinegar geeks, or Acetoheads as they prefer to be known, will debate the best volatile acidity level, trueness to style and world's best producer of craft malt vinegar. Vinegar bloggers will debate the definition of craft vinegar and vow to drizzle their mixed salad leaves with nothing else. A video will be produced with a stream of attractive and quirky people saying "I drizzle craft vinegar" to a soundtrack of a power ballad.

Two Acetoheads throwing signs to a rival tribe

Just after I had written the last passage I thought I’d double check that there wasn’t already a burgeoning craft malt vinegar industry. I googled “craft malt vinegar” and found that some of the US brewers are in fact years ahead of me. With reddened face I ask that you to ignore my claims of boundary breaking. I suspect that Scotland’s largest independent brewery were similarly red-faced when they realised that their claimed “radical reinvention” of brewing and beer imagery had already been done by several US brewers a few years before they finished their Highers.

My craft malt vinegar will differ from traditional malt vinegar in that it will be hopped and fermented like a beer before oxygenation and acidification with Acetobacter and aging with oak, grape skins and dry hops. I can’t find any evidence of dry hopping in the other craft malt vinegar brewer’s products so mine will automatically be superior. The production of vinegar is a pretty fascinating process when you look into the science but only if you are already interested in science. As with beer the craft approach is much sexier and easier on the little grey cells.

I expect this one to be ready in about 2015.

Tech Spec:

Malt: Pale ale, crystal

Hops: Goldings, Saaz

Yeast: Sharp’s

OG: 1080

Spices: Grape skins and bacteria

Monsieur Rock Has Left the Building

2010-11-30T12:06:00.002Z

The picture above is the sight glass on the tanker main glowing with Monsieur Rock on its way to the tanker destined for Hepworth’s Brewery in Horsham. There my colleague Mr Hepworth will filter and reseed the beer before bottling and sending it back to me to condition and sell. I have warned him that if he messes this one up he’ll have a Transit full of monks with baseball bats to deal with. All being well this should not be necessary and the beer should be ready to go before Christmas.

The sacks of Saaz after 6 weeks cuddling up to Monsieur Rock in the lagering tank

I am also temporarily breaking my chains and leaving the brewery Stuartless for the longest period of time since February 2009. On Friday I fly to the USA to brew Doom stateside. I am not due back in the brewery until next Wednesday. That is the plan of course. The weather is already showing signs that it may thwarted as was the case with the Icelandic dust cloud earlier in the year. I would like to apologise in advance to anyone inconvenienced by planning to travel on the same day as me.

44. Turbo Yeast Unspeakable Abhorrence from Beyond the Ninth Level of Hades

2010-11-25T21:23:00.004Z

November has spawned a monster

Since my first bloody encounter with the demonic fungus known as the prince of lies, the root of all evil, the master of darkness or according to the packet Turbo Yeast™, a sachet has been sitting nefariously on top of the filing cabinet with the health and safety documents in it. I have decided to unleash its diabolical power on beer 44 of the blog. This week Turbo Yeast is fermenting a super-high gravity wort. If the malt had been kilned using the heat from a satanic orgy involving virgins, goats and Bill Oddie it would no doubt be slightly more evil but Simpson’s finest has to do in this instance.

The brewing team were allowed to get dressed up for this one

If the beer attenuates sufficiently this brew will have an ABV of 22.2. Mathematicians among you will have no doubt noticed that this number (for it is a human number) is the number of the beast divided by thirty. The hops are an unholy alliance of Mittlefruth, Strisslespalt and Marynka. These were chosen not for their brewing properties but because their names sound like dogs guarding the gates of Hades.

This beer will make Turbo Yeast Abomination from hell look like a soft drink for old ladies. It should probably never be let out.

Tech Spec:

Malt: Pale Ale, glucose

Hops: Mittlefruh, Strisslespalt and Marynka

Yeast: Lord Satan

Bittersweet Success

2010-11-23T18:21:00.002Z

On Monday one brewer went sick and we ran out of barrels and had to stop brewing. On Tuesday two brewers went sick and one brewer spent the day doing not very much very badly and we ran out of barrels and had to stop brewing. I have rewritten my brewing plan for this week so many times that Excel is no longer asking “do you want to save the changes to Brewplan.xls?” and instead just flashes up “are you taking the piss?”. Such is life at 60% growth approaching Christmas and it’s a nice problem to have (so I am told).

On the positive side I have just been shopping and am most of the way to having bought a second boiler, two new FVs, cask handling systems and an new such and such. I also got 60 for my last assignment in this year’s Masters thesis. Abbey Christmas is going very well. The initial brew of 600 barrels had gone before the first week was up. A cask of it will be down at St Roger of Ryman’s Charity beer festival on Saturday.

Owing to my current struggle with demand and supply and my impending transatlantic brewing expedition I am having to forgo an evening with the beer writers and a jolly watching England dismantle South Africa. But I’m not bitter, I always prefer brewing beer to talking about it and the BBC3 highlights are very fine as long as you have managed to avoid the media and your in box all day.

To anyone who is going to the BGBW dinner on Thursday I hope you have a great evening and enjoy the Indian-style food with the American-style beers.

43. Seaweed Wheat Wine

2010-11-19T21:00:00.001Z

Live mussels were in the marked down section at Tesco on my way home from work on Wednesday. I am very partial to a bowl of mussels in beer so I remember thinking that my luck must have changed as before this my day had been a filthy nightmare of no barrels, vessels, and water due to a burst main. That was until I awoke at midnight with excoriating indigestion and delirium. I should have stuck to the safe option and gone for the tub of jellied eels. The reason for this week’s excess information about my intestinal health is a subtle link into the 43rd brew in my odyssey. We once again head seawards with the Seaweed Wheat Wine.

Seaweed is not as strange an ingredient as you might imagine, oh no. Almost every commercial beer in the UK has seaweed in it. The finings used to encourage the formation of trub in the copper (kettle) are made from the red seaweed Chondrus crispus and are known as carageenan. Carageenan is a polysaccharide which has a wide range of uses from making ice cream creamier to use as a “personal lubricant” (this is my new favourite euphemism). I have been out to Port Quinn which seems to be the seaweed capital of North Cornwall to harvest my seaweeds I have a few different varieties only one of which I have been able to identify, bladderwrack or Fucus vesiculosus.

Seaweed is one of those foodstuffs which is either in and out of fashion as a superfood (or a health food as they used to be known until that phrase was rendered meaningless by misuse). It may or may not have properties which will make you a superfit, superfertile, energy machine who will never get cancer depending on what version of the truth the media is currently peddling. I have absolutely no doubt that this beer will make you younger, fitter and irresistible to the opposite sex.

The seaweed will hopefully give some marine freshness to my very strong wheat wine. I am using 70% malted wheat in the grist to give tartness. This brew is more or less all uncharted for me so all that remains to be seen is if the surprise will be pleasant or unpleasant.

Tech Spec:

Malt: Malted wheat, Pale Ale and sucrose

Hops: Magnum, Perle

Spices: Seaweed

OG: 1111

Massive Ale dans la Poney Debonaire

2010-11-17T09:45:00.001Z

I have just waved goodbye to a cask of 1 year old Massive Ale blended with an unnamed beer which was conditioned with a highly attenuatative wild yeast which I can’t afford to have completely identified (probably Saccharomyces diastitcus). The Massive is (in my blinkered opinion) good in bottle because of the high CO2 level which helps break up the thickness of its 10% ABV body. At cask CO2 levels it is too syrupy on its own so I have blended in some of the superattenuated beer to give a bit of cut to the Massive Ale’s thrust. The Massive is destined for the Old Ale Festival at White Horse, Parsons Green where it will rub shoulders with beers from some excellent breweries and Brewdog.

There may be a slight haze on the beer because the mystery wild yeast may not fine effectively. I wish I was lucky enough to be going to the event but I remain under Alfa Laval house arrest.

Finally whoever Telly Savalas is thank you and I’m sure the feeling is mutual.

Fish Giblets

2010-11-15T10:41:00.001Z

As you sit enjoying your sparklingly clear pint of brewer’s brilliance you probably don’t think about the processes which have taken place in the cask to make it that way or why sometimes it’s far from brilliant. When the cask is delivered its contents look like something between cloudy beer and potage de jour. Either way you wouldn’t feel warm inside paying your hard-earned for it. The magic which transformed this turbid chaos into the beautiful order of crystal beer is electrostatic interaction.

Being aficionados of cask ale you will of course know of Isinglass and its origins in the belly of a tropical catfish. If like me you carry her picture in your wallet, you will also know that our beloved Saccharomyces cerevisiae resembles a tiny balloon. The active part of isinglass is a long stringy collagen protein covered with an electrostatic charge. The collagen molecule of isinglass is not quite dense enough to interest Lesley Ash so is easily dissolved in beer and floats around covered in (mostly) positive charges. The yeast balloons which are (mostly) covered in negative charges are drawn to the irresistible allure of the isinglass proteins’ positive charges. Like estranged lovers at the arrivals gate at Heathrow, the yeast and isinglass collide and embrace. These collisions and bonds occur millions of times to build up flocs (lumps) containing millions of yeast cells stuck to isinglass proteins. Watching the action of finings in a glass is quite impressive (if you’re easily impressed). Within minutes you can see the cloudy beer change to a clear beer with big lumps in it. After about an hour the big lumps are sediment and the beer above is as bright as a button. So why is my pint occasionally hazy you ask?

The interaction between finings and yeast relies on the correct conditions to work. The three most important conditions are:

1. Correct concentration of yeast

2. Correct concentration of isinglass

3. Correct pH

The first condition is hardest for the brewer to achieve. Bigger brewers use a centrifuge to remove the most of yeast before adding back the correct amount of yeast to condition the beer and fine effectively (in the case of one brewery, immobilised in calcium alginate gel beads). For smaller breweries the yeast in the cask is what is left over from fermentation in the brewery and the brewer must play a waiting game for the concentration to drop to the correct level before filling the cask. If you allow too much yeast into the cask there are too many suitors for the alluring Ms Isinglass and some of the yeast remains floating around as haze in the beer, probably feeling sorry for itself like a fat kid at the school disco. If there is not enough yeast, the sediment is too light to fully settle and chunks of it can be drawn out of the cask into your glass as haze or ‘floaters’. The same is true for too much isinglass.

pH is important because pH affects the charges on the isinglass and the yeast. pH is the concentration of positive H+ ions. If there are too many or too few of these, the allure of the isinglass or the randiness of the yeast will be reduced and your beer will be dull and murky.

The condition of the yeast is also important. Yeast cells change according to where they are and how they feel. When they are tired, emotional and facing starvation they tend to want to cuddle up to other yeast cells to increase their chances of survival. To do this they pepper the outside of their cells with charges in order to attract other yeast. If the brewer has left a load of sugar or other nutrients in the beer the yeast will be disinclined to leave the dining table and stick to other yeast or the isinglass. If the yeast is sick or dead it may also not have the capacity to be fined.

Another source of haze is of course an infection in the beer. If this is the case, you should be able to tell as the flavour of the beer would range from unusual to wrestler’s armpit.

42. Wormwood Hallucinogenic Bitter

2010-11-12T21:44:00.003Z

I was sat in my office today and I realised that I what I thought was a Staples economy office chair was in fact the spleen of a lime green elephant called Keith. I was surprised at how comfortable Keith’s spleen was and marvelled that I could rotate through 360 degrees on it. In the floor where I usually leave my gym kit there was a Vogon being licked by an exclamation mark with an afro. I could see a phone ringing in Baltimore which struck me as odd because it was ringing in orange rather than red. Did all this happen or was just a side effect of the wort from my Wormwood Hallucinogenic Bitter? Is any of this real or are we just a reality TV show for a higher intelligence?

Two botanicals are being used in my hallucinogenic bitter are Wormwood and Salvia. Both of these herbs have a long history of use as a means to escape reality. The psychoactive agent in wormwood is thujone which is a gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor and 5-HT3 antagonist giving drifts in consciousness and at high levels causes spasms. The active compound in Salvia is salvinorin A which is a kappa opioid agonist which provides a range of psychedelic effects like vivid memories, merging object and overlapping realities.

To paraphrase a sample on Knock Out by Nosferatu from the neoclassic Assault on Precinct 13 "It's the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria"

The question is, is this responsible?

Tech Spec:

Malt: Pale ale malt, 140 crystal

Hops: Challenger

Yeast: Sharps

Spices: Wormwood and Salvina

OG: 1050

I’ve got to go now Keith wants his spleen back. Ik wil hakke!

New Seasonal - Abbey Christmas

2010-11-10T19:42:00.000Z

Every week I learn that l was wrong last week when I thought that I couldn’t get any more exhausted or stressed.

Our last seasonal, Autumn Red sold out nearly a month before the end of the season so the festive offering is nearly just in time. Let me first distance myself from the name. It is a Christmas beer and it is fermented with a Belgian abbey yeast but that is where the justification for Sharp’s first foray into punland ends. I suppose that like your grandmother's brussel sprout enduced flatulence, it's fun and it's festive.

The beer is a generously hopped dark mahogany ale. I have tried avoid brewing a flattish, watered-down abbey dubbel by compensating for the lack of alcohol with extra body, extra hops and the interesting contribution of yarrow and camomile. Malt is pale ale with loads of roasted barley and even more high-colour crystal. These malts give huge roast and caramel on the nose but principally in the mouth. Hops are Northern Brewer, Bobek and Galena. The oily American hop works really well with the Belgian yeast to give bubblegum esters slipping seamlessly into piney hops. The herbs give an extra depth of flavour without jumping out and saying look at me!

I wasn’t sure how the abbey yeast would work in a cask ale but flavour wise it is blinding! My brewing team like it so much they have been asking me if we can change to it for all our brands. I’m not sure how it will fine, I find that out tomorrow when I check the CT sample.

The beer (see how I have managed to avoid using the name) will be on sale from 15th November. I hope you manage to track some down.