The Four Degrees

Now then.....

       no Lazerngennulmurn, this is not a post about a discalculate soul pop covers band, instead it is my musings on a rather magnificent collaboration IPA in a can which I purchased and supped before entering "the dark time" of no frol. Please find hereafter some observances about said luponic compound.

The first thing to mention is Boak and Bailey, erstwhile beer blogging legends, successful authors,  and persons who create a host of reactions queries and debates from readers by writing in a concise but simultaneously voluminous style. I ramble, Boak and Bailey subtly, but intentionally, ask numerous questions in 30 lines. Its quite a skill.

Years ago, in the past, they wrote a brewery map or family tree starting with Kelham Island and Thornbridge breweries. There is a link to the PDf about Kelham here. Using the much over-relied-upon meter of "facts" they sewed together a tapestry of links between the starter brewery and where their former brewers had since gone. Kelham Island, it seemed, had certainly set a lot of brewers careers in motion.

It was interesting therefore to find that the 4 Degrees of Separation IPA was based on a reunion of the current and three previous brewers at Abbeydale Brewery in Sheffield. Especially given that one of the founders of Abbeydale Brewery, Patrick Morton, used to work at Kelham Island Brewery and was featured in that very same article. Abbeydale may not be a brewing family tree, but it certainly has notable links between some excellent and talented brewers. The brewers involved in this were Abbeydale, Magic Rock, Northern Monk, and Siren Craft. All worked or brewed at Abbeydale in the early stages of their career and as the list above illustrates, have since gone on to start successful enterprises of their own.

Alas the can has insufficient space (although it features amazing artwork from Yasmina Kontiki) to tell you whom it is from each so am going to guess that Stuart Ross of Magic Rock was one, since he brewed in Sheffield - I know he did at Crown and am willing to guess he did at Abbeydale too. A prize of the joy of knowledge goes to anyone who can name the other two....

Its great that Abbeydale have branched out into the kind of full on, hop laden, citrus hop smack, fruity, cloudy, and dryly bitter IPA's that I drink so many of these days. Its better still that this type of production sits so comfortably in its portfolio along with Moonshine, Deception and Absolution. Abbeydale produce cask, keg and small runs of cans (I understand they hired a canning machine for this) and whilst they may brew more cask than anything else there is no detectable "battle" for style supremacy. What they have done is forged ahead into new areas of beer style and production, whilst remaining united behind all their products.

As a footnote to this, since you are probably justifiably expecting it, the beer was fantastic. It was very very easy to drink, cloudy, or as I call it "London opaque" (thanks Nate!) and had a wonderful lingering bitterness in the aftertaste.  From memory (AKA the can) I can recall tasting Amarillo, Cascade, Nelson Sauvin and Galaxy in the heady hoppy mix. That last line is simultaneously accurate and dishonest. Not because I couldn't taste any of the hops listed on the can, but because I had to look on the can to remember....

I did like as well that its initial flavour was slightly less juicy hopped than I was expecting but soon became overwhelmingly fruity and dry as I supped. It was a darkly orange 7% IPA of deliciousness, and the glass of it probably lasted me about 15 joyful minutes. A great testament to the drinkability and wonderful balanced flavours in the beer.

I understand some may still be for sale in Sheffield but I also understand it was a limited production  line so I would recommend that you grab some whilst you can. Well done to Abbeydale for not only setting the three protaganists on a career in brewing, but also bringing them back together to treat us to a fantastic IPA, made, of course, in sunny Sheffield.

Your very bestest of healths!


Wee Beefy

Telling them straight?

Lunchtime greetings,

    I noticed a lot of "blog" has been uploaded about the thorny issue of naming and shaming brewers of crap beer. Boak and Bailey (for it is them) kindly recapped some of the responses from the blogosphere in this post and it seems everyone has their own approach. The impetus for this debate was some Bottle Conditioned Ales (BCA's) of vinegrous qualities.

I can assure you that waving goodbye to a foaming mass of BCA isn't unusual. I have been picking up BCA's in pubs or shops since about 1993 and I have yet to find a corner of the country that hasn't spawned a hideous swamp ale, with too many breweries to remember being involved. In terms of identifying them, I, almost always, name and shame. However that's not to say there isn't an alternative.

Lets just make it clear that I love good, well made BCA's. They bring a whole new angle to the taste of the beer as it matures and often refines its character in the bottle. Having been lucky enough to drink a few vintages of Eldridge Pope Thomas Hardy Ale I can assure you that the wonder of in-bottle fermentation is quite real, and can be truly awe inspiring.

When its crap though, I am unhappy. I feel let down. And now I have a blog, I find myself bitching about it on here. Which is fine, blogs are after all solely the embodiment of the authors comment and opinion, but before I had this mouthpiece I used to write to the brewer and express my dismay.


Actually, this is wheat beer, very good wheat beer...


I wonder if, as I have commented on the Boak and Bailey post, doing so might remove the thorny question of whether one names or shames? I know that blogging, and more so Twatter, is meant to be up to date and virtually instantaneous, but if you correspond with said producer (this applies more to BCA's than cask) and they reply you can decide then whether or not to mention it. If they are unapologetic or indeed don't reply at all, you can present a fuller picture. Better still, if they take on board your comments, then I would suggest that is a full story with a positive ending. Positivity on blogs! Whatever next...

Well, perhaps this idea of consumer/producer interaction may already be underway. The Pub Curmudgeon has set an interesting challenge on his blog here. The BCA challenge is a request to brewers to send him a bottle of their BCA which he promises to nurture and look after properly in the prime of conditions and then open, drink (hopefully) and review. I haven't seen any reviews yet, so I must drop him an email to find out how things are going, but if we assume no or very few brewers are interested, this poses an interesting question.

Why are so few brewers willing to put their BCA's up for close inspection or review?

As I commented on Boak and Bailey before, there seems a deafening silence from the smaller producers (although some welcome comments on this post ) about BCA, so one wonders if this is a tacit acceptance that their products aren't up to scratch?

Perhaps the best solution is if producers and consumers are equally vocal - with each other. Then everyone knows where they stand.

Wee Beefy

North East beer on TV

Hello,

       welcome to (what was to be) my first post on the new fangled fanny about fairground that is the "new look" blogger. I assume that, not only will you the reader see precisely no difference, but that the latest incarnation of the site will share precisely none of the ideals and business outlook of the popular high street clothing chain of the same name. We can but hope.

And on with the words...

So, Boak and Bailey, homing in now on their 100,000th post this month, have made some very astute points about beer branding and advertising (as is their forte) here. In doing so they have posted a link to the latest set of ads for Newcastle Brown Ale. This was also reported on by Darren at Beer Today earlier in the month.

A proper beer advertisment

Personally, I've never seen any of these ads on TV or indeed anywhere outside of the Internet, but its interesting that even the better ads linked by Boak and Bailey, i.e the last two, are eclipsed by one from probably twenty years ago - but not for Newky Brown.....

Because in my humble opinion, if you want to see a good, knowingly self deprecating North East beer ad you need the Castle Eden one from the nineties (admittedly it may have been penned by Whitbread's London marketing chaps).

It may even be ironic....

I have found a clip, the link for which is below. The only problem is, it being the only clip I could find after, erm, a good minute of searching, is that its a whole roll of ads. So you need to play the clip at 00:45 to get to see the important bit (not at quarter to one in the morning I hasten to add....when you watch the clip from 40 odd seconds in is entirely up to you.)

Apologies for the crap presentation and fannying about required.

Castle Eden Brewery advert


Wee Beefy

Lasting memorial

Hello,

  am afraid my blog tonight (this morning) is really no more than a link. I spotted a link to the blog in question on Curmudgeon's site earlier, and had been on Brew Wales, the destination, a few times in the past.

Many many years ago, late into the early hours, I saw a "new short film makers" programme on Channel 4. I wasn't really paying attention as I was thinking of going to bed. Even though I had never visited it, from photo's and a fantastic book called Britain's Heritage Pubs (or similar) by Geoff Brandwood and Mick Slaughter, I recognised, at least I think, the Dyffryn Arms at Pontfaen, covered already on my blog.

I didn't really "get" the film nor did I enjoy it, but it was significant as a visual record of an unspoilt pub. Years later comedian John Sparks paid a visit in a TV programme he did, I think for  S4C. In my experience, much is written about the traditional basic pub; little is committed to film.

Anyway, what I am coming to is this link : Brew Wales pub short film .

It seems surprising that the film maker is only 18, but what really makes this short film about a village pub a treasure is how detailed, reverent and touching a homage it is. I dearly hope the pub, The Railway at Nantgaredig, finds a new and sympathetic owner, but if  that does not transpire, I think you will agree that this film serves as an excellent appreciation of the role of a community local.

I hope you enjoy the film - for more info see the following links Jamie Wright - and I also understand Boak and Bailey are seeking pub footage at Boak and Bailey want pubs on film - perhaps you may wish to bring the two sources together.

Wee Beefy

Wee Tweety?

Good evening,

    sitting here ruing a lack of necessary funds to go out on a Friday night, I found myself doing a bit of unrewarding pub research, and looking at a few beer blogs. After a comment I made on a post about Public Relations, bloggers and blog types, (see P.R, and the lesser spotted blogger by Boak and Bailey ) they asked me if I was on Twitter.

As if to validate my claim that I am always last man to arrive in discussions, I contrived to miss this question, since I don't always remember to check up to see if anything I write generates a response. So how I am unsure of how best to give my answer.

Granted, I could reply to their comment, but in the uber fast world of beer blogging, that post is nearly 3 days old man! Its so last Wednesday! And since I fail to monitor my comments based on them being somewhat thin on the ground, I have to assume that they follow the same approach (but for radically opposite reasons)

Despite this I mulled over the phrasing of a response, and , having considered my never to be given answer I realised that there was a certain contradiction at work. My reason for not going on Twitter is a refusal to have to communicate in precisely the type of short, punchy style that makes B+B a good read*.

For the record my Twitter-unsuited answer would be:

" No, sorry, I am not on Twitter, because I would be sent daft trying to get my comments within the character limit. Besides, I enjoy the freedom to indulge in the type of reckless outpourings of slightly supercilious over-detailed reportage that my blog affords me. And whilst I crave interaction, I can't bear to suggest a theory or even pose a question without first dissecting it and then repeating it smothered in a cloying blanket of caveats, justifications and example similarities, which, is a self defeating strategy, as it then makes it much harder for people to comment on said idea"

Now compare the above outlook with a quote I read on a website that made me think I ought to have a look at B+B's blog (alas I can't recall the name of the site I read it on or the exact wording, so have recolluggested the content for your convenience) :

(unq) Boak and Bailey don't say very much but you can't help wanting to read them (unq)

So, I refuse to sign up to Twitter, yet a few lessons in editing or carefully selecting the most concise yet interesting ways of communicating ideas might make my blog more accessible. How we are mocked by the extent to which we understand ourselves, readers.

Wee Beefy

Example caveat 1 :
*(am not comparing their output to some of the text speak and dumbglish shorthand that I understand Twitter is famed for, rather the knack you would have to have to get across what you were saying well, but in the shortest possible way)

Legendary houses that sparked my interest in unspoilt pubs

Good evening browsers,

  I was going to post a comment on the Boak and Bailey blog (see: Boak and Bailey answer a query about traditional pubs.) but, as is usually the case, I only really go on tinterweb in the late evening, likely at gone 22.00, by which time the beer blogging community has got in there and made most of the worthwhile salient points, and the blog authors, have, gawd blezzum, most likely gone to bed. Or the pub. Usually, if you find a comment of mine on a blog post, its number last. People have already moved on by the time I've dragged my sorry arse on to the topic....

So, this time, I thought, No! I'm not going to be Billy no follow ups.

Instead, I'm going to tell you something that I was inspired to think about by reading the comments in the above post, which has formed the cornerstone of my endless search for amazing pubs over the past 20 years.

End of Memory Lane

When I was 18, maybe 19, WF took me on a day out, or rather a hastily arranged afternoon and evening out, to that Manchester. We were to have a walk in Daisy Nook country park, and hopefully climb the tower at the very top. There was snow on the ground and it was cheerlessly cold as we set out from a dark car park which was crying out to be locked on our return, or the scene of a car theft. Great.

We yomped through the park in fading light roughly following the river for some part, but we had taken a little longer to arrive than anticipated and it soon became clear we wouldn't reach our destination. Besides which said edifice wasn't lit so it seemed unlikely we would get access to the tower at all. We returned to an intact car and drove towards the top of the hill. Wee Fatha mentioned a pub he hadn't been to in decades which was really unspoilt and well worth a visit. Even at my tender late teensage,  I had got used to this phraseology. Usually we arrived at a private house. Or a car park. But ever so rarely, very occasionally, we would hit pay dirt. And we did then.

Colliers Arms

The Colliers Arms at Mossley was a legend. Certainly to anyone who knew it - certainly to my Dad who took me there about 20 years after his last visit, and absolutely, to me. I was bowled over by this time warp, this enchanting oddity, this echo of the past. This treasure.

Basically, we turned down a mostly surfaced lane which became a track and then a path. Before the road stopped, on the right, was a cottage, with a low light outside, and a dark almost unreadable sign across it. There were 3 vehicles parked at the lane end with their lights on. People were having a pint in these vehicles. As we parked up amidst a sea of potholes and track lakes, someone got out of one of the cars and said "evenin" as he headed to what looked like an outhouse. He wasn't of course. He was off t't loo.

We entered through a door with another sea like puddle in front of it and I thought we had gone into an adjacent house. A bell sounded, I think, and we saw a corridor to our right. WF reckoned there was a room down the end, but couldn't remember the location of the bar. As we pondered in the dim light the landlord came out of a door on our right.

Apart from saying hello, I kept quiet because I was a bit slow taking this all in. WF on the other hand didn't even blink an eye when the landlord opened up a stable door to his kitchen (you know, whats it called, a two piece door? You get the picture) and proceeded to inform us that Toby light was the beer of choice. There was a font or possibly a handpull (it seems unlikely you could have got cask light, but there you go) on the kitchen side, which me and WF both got a pint from, and being a yoouv, I had to get crisps as well. These were kept in his kitchen cupboard.

Once we were served, and having established that he'd been forced to stop using the room down the corridor because it was too cold, we  were led into the living room. He cleared some personal mail and some newspapers off a large table and we sat down with him to watch TV. As you do. So as not to make the experience too incongruous WF set off on his trademark detailed breakdown of our route so far, and to come, and tried, with encouragement but resigned lack of confirmation form the landlord, to recall exactly when he had last been in.

Meanwhile I recall it was something like That's Life that was on, but that's impossible to be sure of, and I  didn't really know what I should be doing in this alien environment. So I thumbed through the Radio Times. Meanwhile, The beer was grim and the crisps had more salt than a Utah lake but I didn't care. I knew I was going to have to remember every last detail of this visit. And I think I managed it.

After we left, one of the blokes from the car came in for a sit down, and there were still two left outside supping a pint at the wheel. Its probably a heinous crime, but thinking logically, they were parked up on the pub premises. Really they were in the beer garden. No-one was driving with a pint in one hand. So I guess that was OK... Later we went to the Vale Cottage in Gorton and a rough as you like Holt's pub where we were roundly mocked for having a half. I just wanted to buy a half for under 50p. But to be fair I'd had my highlight already.

Grand old Duke of York

From this point on, I wanted to visit pubs that the very occasion of going in was like a magical story, a yarn in the making. In fact, originally, I even named this blog after my interest in just that type of pub experience, and just that type pf pub.

To tenuously draw you back to the Boak and Bailey link, I should explain that at no point was I going to mention a closed pub ( we went back to the pike about 3 years ago and the pub had been closed a while then) in response to their hosted questions bout homely, traditional hostelries in the UK. I was however reminded of a list of Britain's unspoilt pubs that I had. Now you may think this is another subtle hint about the National Inventory (see my Friends and Links page), but its not.

Although, that and various descriptions in copies of the GBG have been my planning apparatus, it was on my first visit to the brilliant Duke of York at Elton in 1999, (above) some 6 years later, that I was handed a pamphlet by a one time visitor that listed his choice of the finest basic unspoilt pubs in Britain. The thing is, I still have that list but its in a box of paperwork somewhere I guarantee.

So imagine my delight about 3 years ago at finding that someone had hosted the most recent list (updated in 1994) on the internet. I can see from the web version that I had a more up to date version, probably reflecting the author's continuing research, and the fact that some of the pubs on the link below had shut, such as the incredible Hop Pole at Risbury, and the Maenllwyd, at Meidrim in Carmarthenshire. (its not been a pub for a long while, but here is a pic I found on Geograph, submitted, if not taken, in 2007 : Geograph picture of the Maenllwyd Inn, Meidrim.  He had also, by that stage, added the Duke of York, and the fabulous Turf Tavern in Bloxwich. Just to throw you off the scent, below is a picture of a pub that isn't on the National or this inventory...

Anyhoo, here is the link of the Internet copy: Classic basic unspoilt pubs of Great Britain 1994 . Given that the authors own introduction suggests that he only started his research in 1993, its perhaps not surprising that some truly brilliant hostelries are missing from the list, although he does claim that he only includes those selling real ale, which regrettably bars some of the more basic entries, and he doesn't appear to have ventured into Scotland, for instance to the Fiddichside Inn at Craigellachie.

Gems to find

Either way though, this is a truly fabulous list, and in some ways, because its not purely architectural as the National Inventory is, its a more vibrant and interesting list, and its very personal attributes are what make it such a treasure.  I'd love to think that if RWC was still trawling the UK for examples of basic pubs he or she'd have come across the Butchers Arms at Reapsmoor, Staffordshire, Milbank Arms at Barningham in Co Durham or the redoubtable Cider House in Defford, Worcestershire or the 3 day (maybe only 2 ) a week opening Royal Cottage at a remote crossroads on the Staffordshire Moorlands, (although I concede, he or she would have had to relax their no real ale rule in all but the Butchers!)

Its a sad tale that so many of the pubs on that list and later and which could have been inlcuded have now closed. I note that the Maenllwyd, which I never had chance to visit, was a listed building from April 2002. It seems very surprising then that it was allowed to be converted into  a house. Since that list was compiled,  The Red ion, Stoke Talmage, the Horse and Trumpet, Medbournbe, the Buck and Bell Long Itchington, the Slip Inn Inn, Barras, and the Queen Adelaide Snelston Common, even the Lodge or Bill and Ben's above Stretton in Derbyshire, have all closed. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

So if nothing else, whether you recognise any of the places on the list, or which I have described, or even if you don't, I can't recommend a better use of your time than to do a modicum of research on the tinterweb, and go out and visit an unspoilt pub today.

Happy hunting!

Wee Beefy