QIPA, I have heard........

                Evening readings - soz for the lack of recent posts. Since my thus far unreported meet up with chums in Shakespeare's fabulous beer and cider house the day before my birthday, have probably only been out four times, and even then, not to anywhere new. Not that they have been uninteresting.......so, tonight am here to describe a recent haul reflected move towards a reference, to what I imagine may have started in Belgium - to the suggestion of a quadruple IPA.

At the point I type this I can hear the mutterings - surely its just a triple IPA, surely there is no history of QIPA's, surely its just a fad - or, more ridiculous - "ar lass drunk keg back in 1969 n v nivver done sor since" - a scarcely reasonable quote from 2012, which I still hear from CAMRA remembers far too frequently. And which am not yet over.

So I bought a can of Fresh from the North, a 12.2% QIPA from Northern Monk, in can from the future, at the beginning of the month. Tonight I found it's best before was the 8th July, but if I had been more careful reading the label I assure you I would have supped it last week. That said it is 12.2%. I think, and now know, it doesn't disappoint.

I saw my chum, and possibly yours, Robert J Ward, supping and revealing this delight once arriving, or perhaps the night before going to, Seahouses in the marvelous North East. I may have already secured one - if not I did straight away, or ASAP. Tonight I finally opened it - and as hoped, it successfully blends a slab of hops with the natural and seemingly unavoidable "joy" of alcoholic sweetness. I also have to admit that I have found about a 5th of a pint of soup in the can bottom, and heinous as it may sound, I have very much enjoyed adding it to the glass!

So is it a QIPA? Well, sadly, after my all too regular search of the first page of google for info, details of QIPA are at best thin on the ground. The review that came up was for Polly's Spectrum, featuring possibly Spectrum hops, but definitely Mosaic and Citra. Am sure it was ace - sadly that is now sold out. Otherwise it's just Pomona Island and Northern Monk, that have brewed this style, although am sure that others exist. A following search to include "Belgian" at the start brought no other info. Whilst admittedly an at least poor search, I have to say that to start with at least, QIPA has not existed for very long at all. Please feel free to correct me if am wrong.

For me I can see that the issue stems perhaps from the idea of using 4 times the amount of hops and perhaps malt in any brew - already modern brews contain an oft increased and simultaneously amazing amount of hops, so arguably that would not be required. Except - in this case - the strength of the alcohol means that a large slab of hops in fact benefits the taste throughout.

Am still very slowly and I admit enjoyably, drinking the brew now. It is in fact a very admirable undertaking. I know that I like Northern Monk but am happy to say that not only does this creation not disappoint, the lack of specific detail of the type of brew style available,  means that this is in fact a successful undertaking.

I hope that you also get chance to try a taste of this brew!

With kindest regards

Wee Beefy

Arpus

Eefnin,

        am willing to admit that after a short period without luffly bowze, today's delivery from Bar Stewards (and with the help of the lovely Laura and Anthony), may have stemmed a worryingly early desire to spout praise about "just another" boohar. But to be fair, the reviews on Ratebeer, for what that is worth, are very high, and even though am only just finishing my first ever beer from them, I have to join the melee of praise and compliments myself.  So what do I know about Arpus?

Well, firstly, the letter A should have a small line above it, similar to an Umlaut, but only because I know the name of that. Secondly, the folk making this glorious potation are based in Latvia - a country which I have both never been to, or tried beers from. I did pop on their website and Friendache pages quickly, but apart from finding out that they chose Arpus as the name of their escapade in beer because it was a local or at least Latvian word, am not sure where they are all from. For example, The Donkey brewery on Santorini (now called Santorini Brewing Co or such...) produce excellent beers, and this may stem from the number of nationalities involved in the beer's production. Regarding Arpus am happy to confirm that my lack of knowledge of such facts does not reduce my appreciation of their output.

Am trying a can of DDH Nelson IPA, a worryingly easy to drink, and thankfully easy to enjoy, soup of Nelson Sauvin hops, unless there has recent;y been a new hop called Nelson, which I have missed. As with many new (to me) breweries I am happy to report that it may be the addition of oats into the beer, and perhaps its combination with the wheat used, which makes this beer so very easy to drink. Its also described (answering my previous question) as a double dry hopped Nelson Sauvin IPA. There is, in reality, very much to anticipate enjoying.

The other beer of theirs that I have but have not yet tried, is another DDH IPA this time with Nelson and Citra - as a proven Citra fiend I am saving that until later in the next week to treat myself to. Unless I drink it tonight.... I also saw that they produce an NE DIPA at 8% or so which of course I would very much like to try. With just a third of a pint of this left am willing to claim that the blend of flavours has settled superbly, and even though it has slightly warmed up, am not remotely disappointed.

I have to say that when I poured it I was initially worried about the strength of sweetness in the aroma - but I was immediately calmed by the simplicity of the ingredients, the fact that its double dry hopped, and also it's soup like appearance. Possibly due to the use of Nelson Sauvin, and oats, its also reassuringly more orangey than some UK brews I have tasted for the first time - exactly the right colour to persuade appreciation. Am not suggesting for a moment that I don't like pale beers of course, because as a fan of, what it pains me to describe as "craaft" based on the assumptions of others I have to admit - I realise that does come with an emphasis on the joy of pale. And this delivers a lot of joy in that, and numerous other, areas..

Looking at their list of products, whilst admitting an appreciation of certain hop types in DDH and similar beers, I have to say that I am very much looking forward to finding more of their treats in other venues here in fine sunny Sheffield.

In the meantime - if you spot some - I would suggest you buy it!

Cheers!

Wee Beefy

Indy Man Beer Con 2015

Hello,

                  this year I was once again offered the chance to attend the Independent Manchester Beer Convention (or Conference?) in, surprisingly, Manchester. Here are some memories of what I, and Tash, found.

Firstly, lets make this clear - I bumped into, on the train, two gents from the Australian state of Lougabarougah, or Loughborough in Leicestershire, as its more commonly known. I'd seen one take a bottle of porter out of his bag for a pre festival snaffle, and asked if they were going to Indy Man. They were, Rob and Justin one of whom runs the Hoptimism beer shop. So I offered to let them share a taxi with  me and Tash since I had been before. It would, I said, cost about £6.50. Arriving at Chorlton Baths, it transpired I should have asked for Victoria baths. In Chorlton on Medlock. On Hathersage Road. A quick trip through Moss Side later with taxi driver Daniel, and we were 40 minutes and £15.00 down. Sorry Rob, Justin, Tash, and myself.

Once in things improved. I took Tash into the main room to buy some tickets - £1.00 each and in my experience between £1.50 and £2.00 a third. This meant that most, indeed almost all, of the beer, was expensive. However, most, indeed almost all, was keg, strong, and unique.

We started at the Quantum brewery stand. Our first two beers were their Gose for Tash and a beer for me called Gin and Juice, a 6.5% sour orange peel and I think elderflower gin flavoured wheat beer. These two thirds came to £3.50. The tone was set. Mainly, if not exclusively, because both beers were excellent. We enjoyed them outside amonsgt the tents and food stalls in warm sunshine.

Inside next we tried an IMBC collab with Northern Monk called Quinceessential. This was a quince IPA at 6.0% and was very easy drinking. So far, I had tasted two beers at 6.0% or more. This, I was to learn, was far from unusual at IMBC.

A trip into the far bar followed including a taste of and a third of the Tilquin Draft Gueze. It was here that we bumped into Rob and Justin and their friend, still talking to us, and supping a third of the bottled Grande Gueze at an eye watering £5.00 a third. I also tried or rather supped a third of Hawkshead Sundown red ale at a "meager" 4.5% and some Chorlton Farmhouse IPA at 7.0%. We sat down with a photographer and a guy from Lancashire called Mike who was really enthusiastic about the styles on offer. Tash also went to try a third of the strong Thistly Cross dry cider, and talked to the who ran the firm.

From this pint on, its probably best if I try and remember enough of the beers I tried to list them. So, with that in mind, other beers tried included:

Zapato and the Beak - Little Leeds Pale, and Raspberry sour
A Bilberry saison which isn't obviously on the list
Cloudwater IPA
Almasty Imperial Stout (10%)
Tuatar NUI (BIG) IPA

Whilst supping and wandering we saw a few Sheffielders - the guy with the name and his friend from the Bath hotel, Sean Clarke from Beer Central, the lass form Mashtun and meow who might be called Chloe (but probably isn't!), Stuart from Magic Rock Brewing (who is at least a Sheffielder by association, and the manager of the Sheffield Tap. We also met up with Jules and Will from Hop Hideout, who were my friendly and supportive hosts last year.

We also went for a sit down on a green-bag in the dark end room and listened to a DJ set whilst snaffling our pork pies and sarnies, and supping amazing LSD (Little Sour Delight, a young sour at 6.8% from Lervig in Norway, along with their Lucky Jack IPA. This was a lovely space and a great opportunity to wind down from the pressure of trying to sample as many beers as we could before 16.30.

At a point after that, things became a little less good. With two tokens left I discovered the bars weren't serving and so I headed to the ticket booth to get my money back, and was told they couldn't do that. I have never come across that at a beer festival before. When I protested I was advised to go and get a canned beer to take out - they, admirably, canned draught beer for supping that day but it was 4 tokens. I was going to give my tokens, which I had paid for, to the guy from Zapato but someone mentioned I could use them next year - so still have them. I don't, however, understand why I couldn't exchange them for cash.

That was the main downside if am honest, along with a lack of cask beers. A guy behind the cask bar said that not enough was sold the year before so they had to give it away. Whilst I understand this is not a viable sales pitch, its still a shame to see so few (10 I think) cask beers on sale from such an extensive list - the link to which is here.

Despite the above this was another excellent showcase of a wide range of UK and International beers - whether you define them as Craft or otherwise. The beer is expensive, but pushes the boundaries of taste and your expectations in a wonderful and excellent quality way -  we didn't try a bad one. The venue, as mentioned last time, is outstanding, and the atmosphere was great.

A thoroughly enjoyable festival!

Cheers


Wee Beefy

SIBA BeerX Sheffield 2013

Now then,

      I managed to get to the inaugural national SIBA event twice in my home city and thought I might share my observations about it.

Its my own fault I didn't get Thursday - a bit annoying it was ticket only but I'd have missed the Maharojah if I'd gone so it all evens out. Friday I got a ticket but I could have paid on the door. Entry fee covers a very large programme and a glass. Which, as I quickly worked out, is replaced with a fresh one (unless you helpfully offer to reuse, as we did when the glass washer broke) for every beer. An unusual idea, slightly wasteful on the face of it although it was incredibly thin glass - does that make it easier to recycle?

The programme was, well, quantity over quality am afraid. Being set out by region was a fine idea, but the beer rotation scheme meant you had no way of knowing when anything that took your fancy would be available, so was more of a reference point for where the brewery was based rather than a useful way of locating the ales you wanted. And the alleged regional split on the bar was not rigorously adhered to. That said, the cyclops ratings were interesting, and I enjoyed the challenge of identifying which county every single brewery location was in. Its a geography nerd thing.

Beers? Well, Christ, if you're going to showcase British beer its nailed on that getting on for 500 brews is going the right way about doing so. New, old, micro, nano, piko, mega and medium breweries from all over the UK were on offer, all at the same price.

Given recent understandable debate about piss taking prices of craft beers (whatever they are) and the absurd premiums attributed to Keykeg beers the festival's flat £3.00 per pint price  was a fantastic opportunity to try a mixture of strengths and dispense methods without paying any extra. I was going to take this as a rallying call for pubs to take less liberties with the single use keg costs but someone, indeed manyone, mentioned that the beer was donated to the festival. So that kind of wipes out that argument if it's true. I genuinely don't know if it is, but it would also help explain the great value of some of the stronger beers.....

Selecting from a mix of cask bottle and Keykeg also gave me the chance to follow a heavy cask beer with a palate cleansing lager or wheat beer. The Hawkshead Lakeland Lager and Hop Studio Pilsner were two of the most quaffable beers I've had in years, but packed with flavour, and from a decent range of lagers. British brewers have learned that simply adding lager malt and some German hops to a cask beer does not a lager make, and that it can stand a little chill. And that was another bonus - drinkable Keykeg! No asking for a warm glass form the glass washer like in Thornbridge pubs.

However, back to the slightly less positive, and the need for cold drinks number two - it was boiling. Given the abject fiasco of the Sheffield Fest in 2011 when the place was like a sauna, you'd think that the organisers would have stipulated a cold venue - if they did, and Ponds Forge (or whatever the distasteful corporate insignia is) failed to deliver, you'd have to ask whether they are really up to the job.

Meanwhile, I got back in Saturday having cashed my tickets in Friday night, and although you still have to pay a fiver (so its £10.00 for two visits, arithmetic fans) the fact that it was quickly becoming my favourite festival of the last decade meant I managed to let this go. On reflection now, I admit that this was actually quite an expensive festival

Plus there was some absolutely brilliant beer on.

Beers of the festival for me were the impeccable Oakham Green Devil IPA, Fyne Sublime Stout, Anarchy Sublime Chaos Breakfast Stout, Art Brew Orange IPA, Hop Studio Pilsner, Allendale APA, Marble Dobber and Pin Up Milk Stout. The only beer I didn't like was one that I love - Dark Star Revelation. Having had it on gravity as well as handpumped dispense, it was nice to get a chance to find out that handpumped cask was it's best and Keykeg it's worst dispense, without being shafted for the privilege.

And of course, there were 3rds. Brilliant. An ideal solution for the long festival visit - owt over 5.5% have it in a 3rd. Owt below, have a half. Easy. A great way to try more beers without necessarily getting more pissed.

Finally - the rotation. A logistical nightmare as some said, and a bit puzzling to the casual visitor, since you walked up at times to sections of the bar with 10 handpumps turned round. I later discovered that some beers were taken off before they ran out and put back on later, so if you went to one session and saw a beer go off, you might still try it at the next. The main and most impressive feature of this system was there was absolutely loads of beer still on sale when I left around 20.00. Not even Magna managed that. Great for late arriving customers.

So, SIBA Beerx made a big and very good impression. It offered choice of beers styles and dispense method but all at the same price. It offered third or half pint measures, and a greater chance of trying beers that you had your eye on. It was funny watching the tweets coming up on the screen above the band on Friday (not so for them maybe) and it was great bumping into folks from the world of beer, as it always is. And without starting a debate all over again, I didn't have my bag searched, twice. Just saying....

Please can we have a cool venue next year though, that's all I ask.

Wee beefy