10 beers to 'go to', AKA my Top Ten goto beers.

I have been monumentally slack in writing any fantastic blog pieces for the last month.  There aren't any especially good reasons for this, but here is my attempt to make my excuses anyway.

Work has been crazy.  Cliched, but true.  My job has recently involved me applying for my own job and simultaneously moving to a new building.  It has been pressured.

Family stuff.  This never goes away (for anyone).  Thus, a rubbish excuse.

Birmingham Beer Bash.  Ah now, this one is genuine.  In [brilliantly] managing the social media arms for this wonderful, upcoming celebration of progressive beer, I have found myself becoming increasingly confused: which 'voice' am I talking in today?  Who am I representing?  Have I got anything interesting to say?  Now on the latter point the answer is obviously 'Yes'.  Why?  Well, the BBB is shaping up very nicely indeed.  Loads of great brewers are on board and people are working very hard behind the scenes. Not me (obviously), but others.  I'm the type of glory hunter who likes to associate themselves with success*, therefore I want to associate myself with this fest.  Keep an eye on local media over the coming months - I will be trying to make myself famous and steal all the credit.

*I'm a Leicester City fan.

Anyway, after that extended preamble, here's the succulent fillet of this post, i.e. here comes some juicy meat.

Top 10s - we all love them.  Here, without ado is a list which I have come up with tonight, of 10 beers which I would like to 'go to' whenever possible.  These are 10 beers I would like to have in my fridge/cupboard/ottoman at all times.  If I won the lottery, I would buy a crate of each and hand them out to tradespeople, whenever the fancy took me. 

For the sake of brevity, I haven't bothered to try and define what constitutes a 'goto' beer.  Use your own interpretative powers - you won't be far off.  <no particular order>.

1.  Rodenbach Grand Cru.  I'm drinking one now.  It's a sour, funky pleasure.



2.  Svyturys Baltas.  A delicious white hefeweizen from Lithuania.  The best looking beer on the planet.
 
3.  Jever.  My favourite lager.  A dry grass temptress.

4.  Lion Stout.  Smooth, strong, supremely drinkable.  I've just entered a competition to win a case of this on Facebook.



5.  Westmalle Tripel.  I have a thing for Tripels.  This may well be my favourite.  Is it yours?



6.  Brodies London Lager.  I want this every moment of the day.  You don't know how much I want it.

7.  Cantillon Gueuze.  I used to underrate it.  I no longer do so.  The fact that the Craven Arms now sells it for a bargain price may have something to do with my new-found, glowing fondness for it. 



8.  Ska Modus Hoperandi.  A canned IPA?  Yes.  Squelchingly hoppy and delectable.

9.  Oakham Green Devil.  If only they'd continue to bottle it (SOB).

11.  Schneider Hopfenweisse.  A booming Weizen Bock, with US hops.  Always a source of fulfilment.

12.  Fruh Kolsch.  You'd have to be demented not to love Kolsch and/or be able to differentiate between different Kolschs.

13.  Thornbridge Jaipur.  Discussed ad nauseum.  For good reason.  

Sorry that was a bit short.  I'll try to feed you some Birmingham Beer Bash snippets in the upcoming weeks.
For the avoidance of doubt, this is NOT a sponsored post.  No one would be stupid enough to pay me for this rubbish.  However, if you are loaded and gullible, why not buy me a few crates of beer? - I'll make it worth your while.**

X

**I won't.

March - Monthly Report FULL OF GREAT STUFF

Realised that I hadn't written anything for over a month. Felt shame-farced, so decided to rectify.

This is a sort of headline thing where I write something about a number of different things, meaning topic. OK.

1. Report on booze-free January

Pretty rubbish really.  A silly idea to give up booze.  Proved nothing, to no one.  At least I managed it though - good old me!

In fact, the first couple of weeks were really hard, but it did get easier.  I ended up dreaming about the aroma of particular beers and looking longingly at beautifully captured beer images.  True story that.

You know the weirdest thing?  On the day that I was once again able to drink, I didn't really fancy a beer anyway.  I still had one (or two), but didn't massively enjoy it.  Why?  Hard to say - but I think abstinence attached a sense of guilt to the drinking, which I couldn't just turn off on 1st Feb - it lingered.

Also interestingly, during booze-free January I felt rubbish.  My health was up and down and low-level depression which perhaps would ordinarily have been chased away by beer, was instead allowed to drag it's heals.

Might not bother next year.

2.  Birmingham Beer Bash Update

Eagle-eyed viewers will have been pleased to see the recent BBB updates regarding the involvement of Purity, Freedom and Thornbridge.  This is really fabulous news and shows the World (and ourselves) that we mean business.  This is real.

We saw our venue in action at the recent Whisky Birmingham Festival.  It is such a cool place: the canal, the railway arch, the rooms, the space.  Everything points to a chilled out venue for a buzzing beer sipping experience.

Our logo is now out and looks grrrreat.  Our website will be launched shortly and, at that point, you'll be able to bag your tickets.  

3. Memorable Beer Tasting Evening

Myself and two great chums* convened round the house of one of them, one evening in mid-February and supped a simmering succession of some of the greatest beers ever brought together on an occasion when I've been present.

3 Fonteinen Armand’4 Oude Geuze Herfst - a peerless Gueuze
Rodenbach Caractère Rouge - a marvellous Sour Flemish Red Ale
Struise Black Albert- and bone crunching Imperial Stout
The Bruery Tart of Darkness - a scintillating and pretty much perfect Sour Ale
Magic Rock Clown Juice - a thick and sweet draft Belgian Wit
AleSmith Wee Heavy Scotch Ale - a malt heavy US Scotch Ale
Nøgne Ø Citrus Hystrix IPA - a fruity IPA
Evil Twin Even More Jesus - a big, smooth and brutish Imperial Stout
Cantillon Mamouche  - a blisteringly good Elderflower Lambic
Ragutis Smetoniška Duonos Gira - an almost undrinkable Kvass, which featured the most rankest stench ever encountered in a beer.

The company was excellent, the cheese was great top.

Unprecedented quality all round.  

4. Craven Arms makes it a hattrick

Birmingham's "brand new" craft beer quarter now has a third spoke in it's erm tripod.  The Craven Arms formerly a lovely but scary place, has now been acquired by Black Country Ales and is being landlorded by friend** of Mediocre Beer Adventures Chris Sherratt.  Offering a range of handpulled bitters, cobs and Cantillon Gueuze (at £3.90), the Craven has quickly vaulted towards the top of my Birmingham pub ranking system (DBPRS).  Add in the fact that it sits atop a lovely hill behind the Mailbox, the other fact that it has comfortable seating and the erm other and third (probably last also) fact that it is very easy to pop into the Victoria and/or Brewdog on your way there/back and you have a winner on many (all fronts) fronts. Yes.

Fronts.

Best.

*I'll insert their names if they allow me.
**Well, he said "hello" when I walked up to the bar and "thanks" when I paid for my drinks.

Taking ones own advices

Some while ago I wrote a post about the ideal Birmingham pub crawl - it's here.

Now over the course of the year this has proved to be quite popular (in so far as my blog statistics appear to show).  This post also seems to have had bursts of sporadic popularity, where I am gratified to say, people appear to be actually using it to plan real-life crawls.  So I decided to do the same.

The opportunity throated itself when my long-standing and brilliant chum @joneso76 came a-visiting from Leicester.  He's fairly new to Twitter and had quickly become enraptured by the exciting adventures that the West Midlands beer community always seemed to be involved in.  So, on arrival in Brum he begged for the chance to hit as many hot 'spots' as possible, during his one-day duration. This situation seemed set-up for revisiting as many of the locations on my ideal pub crawl, as could reasonably be fisted into a day.

Before my arrival in the centre, Jones already ticked off Brewdog and walked past Post Office Vaults (2 down).

We rendezvoused in the Victoria, where we were honoured to be the first people in the pub to ever sample cask Magic Rock.  In fact, we were possibly the first people to ever sample cask Magic Rock, in the whole history of Birmingham.  Ku.  dOS.  It was Curious.  It was history.

After the Victoria it was back to Brewdog for some delicious Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast and a chance meeting with two of Birmingham's foremost international beer connoisseurs Hazel and David.  Unfortunately Brewdog didn't have any lager from Bhutan, so they had to drink something nice instead.  Ho hum.

Next up, Citra and delicious Thai grub at the Bartons, having walked through Bacchus en route.  The Bartons never disappoints, although the lack of bottled Green Devil IPA did remind me just how baffled I am that Oakham will no longer be bottling it - madness.

From there to the Lord Clifden, where it was yeasty Budvar and one of the city's most impressive hand dryers.

The LC is an Urban Art Bar, as is the Red Lion, which I'll come to in a minute.  But before that, it was the Drop Forge and a pint of Malvern Hills Black Pear.  What a smart place.

So then, the Red Lion for more lager- this time some Estaminet Pils, which was extremely tasty and served in a splendid, ribbed beaker.  Golf.

Finally, for a quick pint of Bathams (which turned into several), it was to the ever [and always] brilliant Black Eagle.  It has been too long since I visited this esteemed and fabulous location, which seems to transcend the vicissitudes of beer fashion; so I made the most of my stay.  1) Free chips.  2) Bathams served in tip-top condition. 3) Dancing with, and for the entertainment of, an older and surprisingly sprightly clientele (old ladies).

If I say one thing about the above mentioned pub crawl, it is this: it was brilliant.  If I say a second thing, it's that Birmingham has loads of great boozers, and sometimes I forget that.  I increasingly find myself drawn to a handful of crafty joints in the city centre these days, but in order to de-narrow my beerview, perhaps I need to be more stringent in making sure I remember to visit the other venues of legend, in this, the Second City.

~ ~

In the coming weeks, I will endeavour to bring you posts on the following:
i) The greatest beer tasting evening I've ever known
ii) My reflections on a booze-free January
iii) An update on the Birmingham Beer Bash   

The 2013 Top Ten Movers and Shakers on the Birmingham Beer Scene

A year ago, I done a blog post, which I was actually rather proud of.  It constructed a list of the 10 most influential people in Birmingham's crazy 'world' of good beer.

12 months on and much has changed (or is in the process of changing), therefore we need to do a follow up.  The only slight problem is that the formulae used to determine how influential people were/are, and therefore where they ranked in the list, has disappeared into the mists of time - in fact these formulae may never have existed in the first place.  As such, these ten are served up to you in alphabetical order (by surname).  Annnnnnnnnnnyway, here is this years list - the Top Ten Movers and Shakers on the Birmingham Beer Scene for 2013.

Nigel Barker (Wellington and Post Office Vaults)

The Wellington yet again took CAMRA's top prize as the Birmingham pub of the year, but it was with Nigel's newer venture - the Post Office Vaults, that he made the biggest impact on Birmingham this year.  With a mind boggling range of Belgian and German beers, crammed into a tiny space, the POV has quickly become a staple of any Birmingham pub crawl, and finally (FINALLY) offers somewhere for us to consistently drink world classics such as Orval, Rodenbach Grand Cru and De Molen Vuur and Vlam.  Tiny Rebel often feature on cask too, which is a big plus.  Strictly speaking, this ranking is sort of shared between him and Mike Perkins, with them both being co-owners of the POV, whilst Nigel, is sole licensee of the Welly.

Dr Paul Bennett (Beer Geek Brewery)

Launched in February 2012, Beer Geek are a common sight in the pubs of Birmingham, plus their excellent branding is now being recognised in London and other faraway places.  Following the demise of the Two Towers' brewery tap at the Brown Lion, Beer Geek are now Brum's most recognisable local brewer and have the chance to broaden their range to seriously tickle the fancy of the city's swelling band of actual beer geeks.  

Marverine Cole (Beer Beauty)

Not just an award-winning beer blogger and former Sky News presenter; this local-girl come good, is also a veritable tour de force banging the good beer gospel on television and radio (as in here).  Savvy, well connected and glamorous, Marverine is ideally placed to use her national celebrity and local pride to bear on the Birmingham beer scene, with hopefully marv-ellous results.   

Paul Halsey (Purity)

If this list had been written in a few months time, I would expect Paul to be higher up the list*.  This would be because of the projected opening of the Purity Craft Beer bar, which is, I believe, due to touch down near John Bright Street to form (along with Brewdog Birmingham, The Victoria and the also imminent Craven Arms) the city's 'Craft Beer Quarter'.  However as it stands we don't yet know what the new place will look like.  Purity Mad Goose is still delicious however, and with their three beers still being ubiquitous in Birmingham, Paul is still a shaker.

Jaz and Kal Kandola (Cotteridge Wines)

This time last year I didn't even know that Cotteridge Wines existed.  Now they are a nationally recognised off licence, with a range of 700-800 different bottles, offering access to US brewers not previously glimpsed in our city.  It is an astonishing rise. Via a twin assault of well priced UK craft beers (and a big range too), plus access to foreign beers (Mikkeller, Evil Twin, Anchorage, Bruery et al) Cotteridge now present an irresistible offer, which has undoubtedly diversified the craft beer audience in Birmingham.

Gerry Keane (The Anchor)

The Anchor keeps rocking and rolling.  The line up of great cask beers keeps coming, with a excellent representation of lesser known brewers from around the country.  Also their range of beery events is as impressive as ever.

Dan Muldoon (Brewdog Birmingham)

Finally, in December, the big boys arrived.  Brewdog, undoubtedly the superbrand of UK craft brewing, finally killed off Brum's reputation as a desert for kegged craft beer.  With a dozen or so taps of unadulterated quality, BD now bring us their own highly flavoured offerings, plus guest beers we would previously have had to get to London to sample (Nogne, Mikkeller, Evil Twin, Brodies etc).  With imperial stouts such as Tokyo, AB:12 and Paradox they are the first place to offer high strength beers on tap.  With regulars such as Dogfight, Punk IPA and 5AM Saint, they are pretty much the only place in Brum to guarantee hoppy draught choices.  Two big pluses.  Since opening, they have also killed off the myth that Birmingham couldn't support such a 'craft' establishment, or that there simply wasn't the demand in our great city for premium beers.  The place is rammed each night - go figure.  With a De Molen tap takeover on the horizon, and other such events in the pipeline, we now have a place to light up the beery imagination of a generation and blaze a trail for independent outlets to follow.  He built it. We came.

Jen Nadin (Cherry Reds)

Cherry Reds is a wonderfully homely and friendly bar/cafe in Kings Heath, which has made a concerted effort to stock good beer in bottles and on tap.  Jen has also programmed a consistent range of themed beer tasting events, and a held their second annual beer festival last August.  This would be enough to earn Jen a place on this list, but, coupled with her participation in the Foreign Beer Bar at the Birmingham Beer Festival, and, perhaps more intriguingly, the projected opening of a city centre version of Cherry Reds this year, Jen is right at the heart of the good things which are afoot. 

Krishan Rajput (Stirchley Wines and Spirits)

Krishan and his father are Brum beer pioneers; perhaps last year was the year where we saw his spiritual children begin to emerge, blinking, into the Birmingham sunlight.  Stirchley Wines and Spirits continues to be a nationally recognised off licence, with an awesome range of bottles, PLUS they now have their own tap, offering fresh, draught craft beer to take away - to my mind, one of only two places in the city to offer this!  In addition, Krishan again brought beer quality to the Birmingham Beer Festival, with a powerful selection at his foreign beer bar.  


Matt Scriven (Bitters and Twisted)

Matt's Bitters and Twisted chain continued it's expansion this year, by opening the steak-fuelled New Inn in Harborne.  More importantly (for me) however, this year the beer range in his pubs was certainly on the up.  With consistent cask offerings from Dark Star, Thornbridge and Red Willow and with a range of excellent bottles, the choice of good beer for Brum beer geeks suddenly got better overnight.  Not only were the Victoria, New Inn, Jekyll and Hyde the first pubs in the city (to my knowledge) to stock beer from UK craft brewers such as Kernel, Summer Wine and Arbor, but they remain amongst the few to do so.  (plus Magic Rock on tap is in the pipeline...) 

---

Initial observations on the list?  Well clearly it shows the importance of entrepreneurs.  12 months ago, there was space on the list for people who headed up national companies - this is no longer the case.  In fact, apart from the Brewdog, whose brand power in the world of 'craft' beer is irrefutable, all of the other people who make this ten are local, highly motivated individuals, seizing Birmingham's beer scene by the scruff of the neck.

Next year (if I'm still alive) I fully expect the following people to appear in the list, for a variety of reasons: David Shipman (Birmingham Beer Bash), Keith Marsden (Prince of Wales, Moseley), Chris Sherratt (Craven Arms).      

Having completed the above list, I sit here perambulating in my own glory.

<5 minutes elapse>

In this post-perambulation period, I have also come to a sort of encapsulation regarding exactly what it means to be a 'mover and shaker' on my list.  It is part to do with the impact on the progressive beer scene in the city, and secondly, it's to do with the personal trajectory of the individual - have they improved or remained steady, etc etc.  I hope that's clear.

*even though, as Carl Durose has pointed out - this sentence is complete nonsense. After all, for someone to move up the list, it would involve them knobbling all/some of the people ranked alphabetically higher than them on the list.  Watch out Paul, Nigel and Marverine!  Happy now?

The Birmingham Beer Bash, which is a progressive beer festival

This is unusual.  In normal circumstances, when writing a blog post, I just sort of prat around and generally make rather a show of myself.

This time however, I want stroke a differing note.  This time I am reporting on something meaningful, concrete and above all - exciting.

The Birmingham Beer Bash is a festival which will take place on 26th and 27th July.  It has been in the pipeline for a while, but having settled upon a brilliant, city centre location, it now has no choice but to be real.  No longer will it exist only as an abstract possibility; but by sheer force of intent and raging desire, it hath forced itself skywards, screaming for life.

The main thing I'd like to say at this stage is/are theses:

1) Our festival will be a collective effort. 
The organising team are not hardened marketing gurus, or grizzled brewery tycoons - we are beer fans first and foremost.  We (and I include I in this) have sat back watching the craft beer scene bubble and fizz in cities around the UK, wondering when our turn would come.  In the end, we decided to make it happen for ourselves.  In putting this fest together, we are going to utilise hard work, passion and the spirit of cooperation.  We are reaching out to like minded, prospective partners: people who also want to deliver a shed load of the very best beers into the mouths of an expectant Birmingham audience.

2) We love great beer. 
Let's talk about quality.  It's a matter of opinion, certainly; but it's also something tangible and tantalising.  Our team shares an appreciation of what the UK's best brewers are creating right now: a scene stuffed with hops, flavour, wit and style.  We want to bring the very brightest British and World brewers under one roof, (located in a Birmingham postcode), to give the venerable folk of the Midlands, a chance to be a part of this revolution, which is now encroaching upon our beer drinking lives.

3) It won't be much of a festival without you.
 I mean that.  We mean that.  We are bringing the best beer to Brum, so that you can drink it.  We will try to drink it also, but we'll be busy serving you.  So please come. Bring your chums and sample some fantastic brews.  See what the fuss is all about.  Have a ball.

We will keep you up to date via Twitter and Facebook.  Our website will appear shortly.

I will, at some point, introduce you to the team behind the event; a team you can join as a volunteer (which is what we are also).

As for me, I have but a small part.  You may read my words promoting this event, but most of all I hope you will read my passion and excitement.

Until July then.  Let the days count down.   

Giving up drinking (for a bit)

(I was going to post this at the beginning of January and then do a comparative piece in February, but got sidetracked. I am awfully sorry, therefore, for the delay).


What is the point of giving up drinking?  Rehab is for quitters, blah blah, blah.

This January I decided to see if I could quit beer (and indeed alcohol generally) for one month.  Why?  Well that's an interesting question.  In part it was personal challenge - the sort of pointless masculine test of mental strength, by which Gamma males are supposed to define their faculties.  It was also a response to post-Christmas guilt.  Having done my bit to party hard during the festive season, I got to Boxing Day feeling portly and guilty at the levels of my excess.  In short: physically and mentally jaded.  In truth also, having reached my late 30's, I have all of a sudden become [slightly] aware of my own mortality.  Perhaps that is being overdramatic.  Oh well, I like being dramatic, darling.  At the very least I have become aware of my own ability to pile on the pounds.

In any case, I decided to have a month off.

Now this presents a number of challenges, which are summarised as follows:

One) I spend most of my waking life daydreaming about beer
Two) All my social life revolves around pubs
Three) In these days of marriage, parenting and responsibility, it also happens that most of my active friends, are people from within my interest/hobby group (e.g. beer)
Four) I am a beer blogger.  Not drinking beer may have a potential impact on my output*
Five) Beer defines me, it makes me the interesting*** person I am

OK, so for a whole month, I have to deal with these things.  In that 'dealing', I will run into these sorts of problems:

i) Twitter.  All the people I follow on Twitter are beer people.  They will all be talking about the delicious beers they are drinking and the marvellous pubs they are in. There will be photos also.
ii) There will be times, like this week, where I have a spare hour after work, when I would usually nip into Brewdog Brum for a quick snifter. No more.
iii) Every time I get pasta or teabags out of my kitchen cupboard, I will see this.  It will hurt me. 

iv) What will I do in the evenings?
v) What will be my reward for a hard day/week at work?  It'll have to be a Biscuit Boost or summat.

All of that is, of course, rather flippant.  It's also true BTW, but it is flippant.  The serious point underlying all of this, and yes there is one, is this: have I been drinking too much?  How much beer is too much?

Being a beer geek is brilliant. We all know that.  But isn't all this beer talk getting a bit much?  In terms of being part of the beer community, I sometimes feel pressure to keep up, pressure to try the latest beers, hit the latest pubs and collect enough fresh experiences, to fuel Twitter and Ratebeer conversations over the coming days/months.  Ratebeer urges me to try new beers and keep rating.  Twitter stokes the embers of beer desire, making me salivate via vicarious sampling.  Has anyone asked or dared to wonder whether we {me}are drinking too much?  It's different for every person (obviously) but for a fingersnap of time over Xmas, I felt perhaps I was over my limit.  So I decided to take a step back, a chance for reflection and a breath.

Yet darker thoughts also cloud my mind; namely, at what point does extreme beer geekery/obsessiveness become borderline alcoholism?  What do beer geeks think about alcoholism?  Do we turn a blind eye to this potential outcome, or do we refuse to let the possibility enter our jolly good world?  If we don't ever talk about the big AA, why not?  

Yes, there's a lot of bravado in beer and drinking generally.  There's also a lot of escapism and making merry.  I'm prepared to spend this empty month, making sure that beer is an accoutrement to my life rather than something which I'm using to fill a yawning chasm in my soul.      

What an effing downer.



*Who knows it may actually make it more** interesting***.
**Although 'more' is a very perjorative term
***Ditto for 'interesting'

Superfluous Beer Photos

In a transparent attempt to put out a blog post which doesn't require much text, here are a few beer photographs (all taken by myself), which I have taken during the past few months.

1. The truly delicious Baltas from Svyturys.  This is a Lithuanian Hefeweizen, although actually, I think it sits stylistically, mid-way between a German Weisse and a Belgian Witbier.

 2. Castel from Ethiopia.  Pretty ropey Lager.

3. Phoenix from Mauritius.  Another pretty ropey Lager.

4. Coral from Madeira.  Another pretty ropey Lager.  (Is this getting boring yet?)

5. Oakham's AWESOME Green Devil IPA.  Justifiably considered one of the UK's greatest beers.  Pictured here in the lovely Bartons Arms. 

6. The highly delicious Schneider Hopfenweisse, a hoppy German Weizen Bock.  Yum. 

7. Leute Bokbier from Belgium, in the Post Office Vaults.  Note the extremely strange glass, which is egg-shaped, sitting on a wooden block, with concave gap.  (Sorry for rubbish photo).

8. Idiot [Imperial] IPA from Coronado.  A delicious assault on all the senses. 

9. The awe inspiring Beer Geek Breakfast from Mikkeller.  Truly one of the world's great beers. 

10. From the sublime to the ridiculous.  Saris from Slovakia - an average Lager. 

11. Volfas Engelman Stalo - a rather dignified and tasty Lithuanian Lager.  (n.b. the Tic Tacs were not mine, so I can't confirm whether they tasted as good as they looked). 

12. The Waggon and Horses, Halesowen.  Awesome boozer.

13. The Windsor Castle, Lye.  Imperious brewery tap for Sadlers, and inaugural winner of Mediocre Beer Adventures' Birmingham and Black Country Pub of the Year 2012.  

14. The rather ropey and duplicitous Zlata Praha from Ukraine, which masquerades as a Czech Lager.  For a few days after drinking this I rather thought it had given me the 'two-bob bits', but 'luckily' it turned out that I merely had Norovirus, so that was a relief.

16. And finally, always a pleasure - SCANNERS from Kernel, in collaboration with Brodies.  Because hey, you can't drink mediocre beer all the time.