There is a general love-in in blogworld today for Kelly Ryan of Thornbridge Brewery who has made the decision to return down-under to his homeland, New Zealand. The respect that the beer blogging world has for Kelly and his efforts to bring us good tasty beer as well as his clear passion, knowledge and skill is immense and he truly deserves this slap on the back to say farewell.
The inspiration for this post came from Jeff Cioletti, the editor of Beverage World magazine and the full editorial of the July edition can be seen here. I am just going to lift a few passages to illustrate the point that one of the unique selling points of craft and cask ale is its passion.
Jeff writes : "You don't need me to reiterate the obvious: craft beer's volume and dollar gains as the rest of the beer market declines, evolving consumer tastes, affordable luxury, etc. That's not news .......
What I believe is under-reported is the emotional component, the passion.
Craft beers don’t have consumers, they have fans. That’s one of their key distinguishing factors...... And they can be quite the passionate lot.
The passion of its fan-base is one of the visible elements that's been putting wind in craft beer’s sails (and sales), but it's actually rooted in the passion of the people behind the brands, many of whom left other stable careers to do what they truly love. And the fans feed off of that.
In this new era of engagement, consumers are looking for brands that are not only about the finished product, but the types of people behind it. Increasingly they don't want to buy from companies that see the product as just another widget or something that was created to fulfill someone's MBA requirements.
They want to put their hearts and souls behind brands created by individuals who put their own hearts and souls into, whether it's a craft beer, an organic ready-to-drink tea, an artisanal soda with its own unique story or what have you.
Passion begets passion and is the key ingredient in converting consumers to fans."
Kelly, you have played a major part in converting consumers of Thornbridge beers into fans. We have enjoyed your company, your enthusiasm, your knowledge and most of all your beers. We wish you well in the future and very much hope to get to try the juices of your heart, soul and passion in the future. Cheers !
Showing posts with label Thornbridge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thornbridge. Show all posts
Monday, 8 November 2010
Monday, 6 September 2010
Brewdog or Marble ? or Both ?
Busy week this week sees a Brewdog tasting at the Rake on Tuesday at 8pm followed by a meet the Marble brewer at the Cask, Pimlico on Wednesday.
Sometimes you can't get to every event that hits your mailbox and personally I am less enthusiastic about a thimbleful of stupid percent beer poured from a stuffed animal than I am for a bar stacked with ten beers from one of the country's finest breweries.
I have always been well impressed with beers from the Marble Brewery in Manchester and I was blown away with this one last week - found in the Southampton Arms, Gospel Oak (more about this pub later).
Marble 57, so named because it is 5.7%, (or is it the brewer's fifty seventh brew ?) gave me a real Jaipur moment. Hopefully it will be available on Wednesday at the Cask.
Like hops ? Don't miss this.
Sometimes you can't get to every event that hits your mailbox and personally I am less enthusiastic about a thimbleful of stupid percent beer poured from a stuffed animal than I am for a bar stacked with ten beers from one of the country's finest breweries.
I have always been well impressed with beers from the Marble Brewery in Manchester and I was blown away with this one last week - found in the Southampton Arms, Gospel Oak (more about this pub later).
Marble 57, so named because it is 5.7%, (or is it the brewer's fifty seventh brew ?) gave me a real Jaipur moment. Hopefully it will be available on Wednesday at the Cask.
Like hops ? Don't miss this.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
US beers at myBrewerytap.com
I'm continuing on a theme of American Craft Beer as we lead up to Independence Day and the US beer festival at White Horse, Parson's Green at the end of the week.
I am pleased to report that myBrewerytap.com now offers some American beers as part of their ever growing range.
They now list full cases from Anchor, Brooklyn, Dogfishhead, Flying Dog, Goose Island, Sierra Nevada and Victory as well as a selection of mixed cases.
They are continually adding some of the best UK breweries such as Dark Star, Thornbridge, Marble and Saltaire and together with their new range of US beers, it makes myBrewerytap an essential visit in one's quest for good beer by mail order.
myBrewerytap.com is fast becoming another hero for the armchair beer drinker in the hunt for great beer.
Sunday, 11 April 2010
We Love Hops / Hops A-Z
This is a bit of a lazy Sunday type of blog post - as indeed was the last one on Friday - but there are a couple of web-sites that may have passed you by that deserve a wider audience.
If you are anything like me, you will have noticed over the last couple of years the increasing importance of hops in beer. As the golden style of beer has become more popular, so has the more adventurous use of hops, both British and International, in those beers giving more distinct aromas and flavours and high, sometimes huge, bitterness.
Much of brewing remains a dark art to an enthusiastic consumer such as I and there is little by way of sophisticated information to educate one in the science of the hop. A couple of blogs though have recently provided a worthy public service about hop types and I commend them to your attention :
At the Thornbridge Brewer's Blog, Kelly Ryan elaborates upon the wide range of hops that are currently available from their hop merchants Charles Faram here.
and Simon Johnson aka Reluctant Scooper has spent the last month or two researching the hop and most of his blog postings recently have been in the series : Hops A-Z. Check it out here.
I know I like hoppy beers, perhaps now I am on my way to knowing more about why I like them so much.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Sheffield Tap
Last week, I was talking about breakthrough bars in London and I was reminded about this on a short trip to Sheffield at the weekend. Surely the greatest and quickest breakthrough bar lately is the Sheffield Tap on platform one of the station.
The bar opened in December and was quickly flagged as must-visit notably by leading beer writer and Yorkshireman, Pete Brown. The pub has quickly become something of a weekend destination bar with capacity being reached by early evening. This is not your bog-standard station buffet !
They are now running brewery showcase months and on my visit last month there were four Brewdog pumpclips alongside the regular four from Thornbridge. This month they are bringing Dark Star beers to the beer lovers of South Yorkshire.
Of course, if you are not taken with this choice of casks there is a list of over 200 bottles and plenty of tasty kegs from around the world.
A major achievement happened last month as they announced that they had broken through 6,000 pints sold in a week - some breakthrough bar and definitely recommended.
A couple of other points about Sheffield. If you are in the area for a few days with a car, take a copy of Bob Steel's Peak District Pub Walks - a life saver (should that be thirst-quencher ?) when seeking to take in some decent beer among the fabulous scenery in the area.
I'm glad to see Thornbridge Jaipur advertised as being available at Student Union Bars - who said yoof was not interested in fine beer ?
I also note that the Kelham Island Tavern is CAMRA's national pub of the year for 2008 and 2009; Yorkshire pub of the year for 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and Sheffield pub of the year for 2004,2005,2006,2007, 2008 and 2009. A remarkable feat given the number of good pubs in the city they call beer mecca.
The bar opened in December and was quickly flagged as must-visit notably by leading beer writer and Yorkshireman, Pete Brown. The pub has quickly become something of a weekend destination bar with capacity being reached by early evening. This is not your bog-standard station buffet !
They are now running brewery showcase months and on my visit last month there were four Brewdog pumpclips alongside the regular four from Thornbridge. This month they are bringing Dark Star beers to the beer lovers of South Yorkshire.
Of course, if you are not taken with this choice of casks there is a list of over 200 bottles and plenty of tasty kegs from around the world.
A major achievement happened last month as they announced that they had broken through 6,000 pints sold in a week - some breakthrough bar and definitely recommended.
A couple of other points about Sheffield. If you are in the area for a few days with a car, take a copy of Bob Steel's Peak District Pub Walks - a life saver (should that be thirst-quencher ?) when seeking to take in some decent beer among the fabulous scenery in the area.
I'm glad to see Thornbridge Jaipur advertised as being available at Student Union Bars - who said yoof was not interested in fine beer ?
I also note that the Kelham Island Tavern is CAMRA's national pub of the year for 2008 and 2009; Yorkshire pub of the year for 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and Sheffield pub of the year for 2004,2005,2006,2007, 2008 and 2009. A remarkable feat given the number of good pubs in the city they call beer mecca.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Cask Pub and Kitchen
Every now and then a pub or bar breaks through the mediocrity of London's pub scene to offer something generally accepted as out of the ordinary.
The last exceptional newcomer was probably the Bricklayers Arms in Putney which resurfaced five years ago offering the full range of beer from Timothy Taylor Brewery in Yorkshire - it is rare to find their complete range in Yorkshire let alone London. The Bricklayers Arms has gone from strength to strength over time expanding the offering to include guest ales from microbreweries and hosting regular beer festivals. They have been twice winners of the CAMRA Greater London Pub of the Year and their latest beer festival last week must have been the best pub beer festival ever hosted in London with 140 beers from 67 Yorkshire breweries.
Last year, my favourite breakthrough pub was the Bull at Horton Kirby - not really London but close enough for a regular visit to their brewery showcase weekends with special beers from special breweries. The Bull went on to be CAMRA's Kent Pub of the Year for 2009.
In 2010, I have high hopes that the next pub to surge to the attention of London's beer drinkers will be the Cask Pub and Kitchen in Pimlico a 7-8 minute walk south of Victoria. It has been advertising in London Drinker for a few months and I was impressed with the beer, the choice and the enthusiastic attitude of the bar staff when I visited for the first time just before Christmas.
On my second visit a couple of week ago I was greeted with a second bank of handpumps (now 8, previously 5) serving three beers from Thornbridge Brewery and two from Dark Star. The other pumps also carried beers from microbreweries rarely seen in London. I sampled the Thornbridge Vienna IPA and the Thornbridge Exposed and they were both excellent as you might expect, the latter being a rare stout brewed with strawberry and pink peppercorns. The popular food match working beautifully in a beer with the strawberry and pepper complimenting each other but not too overpowering to spoil the roasted flavours of the stout.
The cask ale is complimented with some German, Czech and British lagers and a bottle list of at least 30 Belgian and over 100 German for those who like to go continental.
I am by no means the first to sing their praises and you can be sure I will not be the last. Boak and Bailey have written about it here and here.
The pub is situated at 6 Charlwood Street, SW1V 2EE and I recommend a visit.
The last exceptional newcomer was probably the Bricklayers Arms in Putney which resurfaced five years ago offering the full range of beer from Timothy Taylor Brewery in Yorkshire - it is rare to find their complete range in Yorkshire let alone London. The Bricklayers Arms has gone from strength to strength over time expanding the offering to include guest ales from microbreweries and hosting regular beer festivals. They have been twice winners of the CAMRA Greater London Pub of the Year and their latest beer festival last week must have been the best pub beer festival ever hosted in London with 140 beers from 67 Yorkshire breweries.
Last year, my favourite breakthrough pub was the Bull at Horton Kirby - not really London but close enough for a regular visit to their brewery showcase weekends with special beers from special breweries. The Bull went on to be CAMRA's Kent Pub of the Year for 2009.
In 2010, I have high hopes that the next pub to surge to the attention of London's beer drinkers will be the Cask Pub and Kitchen in Pimlico a 7-8 minute walk south of Victoria. It has been advertising in London Drinker for a few months and I was impressed with the beer, the choice and the enthusiastic attitude of the bar staff when I visited for the first time just before Christmas.
On my second visit a couple of week ago I was greeted with a second bank of handpumps (now 8, previously 5) serving three beers from Thornbridge Brewery and two from Dark Star. The other pumps also carried beers from microbreweries rarely seen in London. I sampled the Thornbridge Vienna IPA and the Thornbridge Exposed and they were both excellent as you might expect, the latter being a rare stout brewed with strawberry and pink peppercorns. The popular food match working beautifully in a beer with the strawberry and pepper complimenting each other but not too overpowering to spoil the roasted flavours of the stout.
The cask ale is complimented with some German, Czech and British lagers and a bottle list of at least 30 Belgian and over 100 German for those who like to go continental.
I am by no means the first to sing their praises and you can be sure I will not be the last. Boak and Bailey have written about it here and here.
The pub is situated at 6 Charlwood Street, SW1V 2EE and I recommend a visit.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
CAMRA's Peak District Pub Walks
Open Letter to Bob Steel,
author of CAMRA's Peak District Pub Walks
Dear Bob
I am writing to thank you for the part you played in a short break that my wife and I spent out of town recently.
It was on the strength of your previous work, CAMRA's London Pub Walks, that I purchased your later effort on the Peak District.
The London book is without doubt the best book of pub walks in London that has ever been published and is an essential buy for anyone with an interest in London's pubs and their history.
Walking in Derbyshire is more of a stretch than a trot around three or four pubs in the Capital but my appetite was whetted when I saw that the British Guild of Beer Writers were hosting a seminar on Barley Wine at Thornbridge Hall, right in the middle of the Peak. Using your book as a guide we planned our visit.
Your book led us to our first stopover at the Old Poets' Corner in Ashover, a real find and surely one of the best real ale destination pubs in the country. One night here was not really enough but I was on a barley wine mission.
From here we drove into the heart of the National Park to our next stop The Monsal Head Hotel, which lies a mile or two from Thornbridge Hall. You describe the walk in this area as the best one in the book. We were not disappointed; riverside paths, a railway viaduct, open views and natural and industrial history; a ten mile walk pausing halfway at the Red Lion, a lovely pub on the village green, and finishing back at the hotel bar, a converted stables, which provides 5 real ales including local offerings from the brilliant Thornbridge Brewery. The hotel has slipped from the 2010 Good Beer Guide but I can vouch for the choice, service and beer quality - all excellent. The food served in the bar is the same menu as that offered in the hotel restaurant and proved to be first class. The hotel itself cannot be beaten for location and sits high on the hill overlooking the disused railway viaduct over the picturesque River Wye. Another real find that we will return to.
Bob, we had an absolutely excellent few days which would not have been nearly as good without your steer towards the best pubs and walks in the area. I will definitely be recommending CAMRA's Peak District Pub Walks to others. Thanks again.
By the way, I was hoping to attach the photo that should appear on page 66, the one in the book being use of "creative licence" but all the same a "red herring". Unfortunately, my camera was lost on a recent beer trip so that photo is also lost.
Best regards
Steve
Friday, 16 October 2009
Barley Wine Seminar
Decided to get out of the smoke for a few days this week by telling Mrs W that we were going to spend a few days in the Peak District. Little did she know that my cunning plan included spending Monday at a seminar on Barley Wine organised by the Guild of Beer Writers and hosted by Thornbridge Brewery - a match made in heaven.
My notes are copious so I must have learned something but it was followed by a long tasting of various barley wine style beers so much is now dead brain cells. I will do my best to share some highlights without getting bogged down in the detail :
Some 50 beer writers and brewers pitched up at Thornbridge Hall such was the pull of barley wine for an afternoon of speakers and tastings. First up to speak was Mark Dorber who gave a talk on the style of various strong beers; followed by John Keeling from Fullers to share the history of Golden Pride and Fullers Vintage and the merits of using a parti-gyle brewing method. Next came Steve Wellington of White Shield Brewery to give the history of barley wine from a Burton perspective and lastly an American viewpoint by Steve Grossman from Sierra Nevada Brewery.
A short break here for a cheese and beer tasting. Woodforde's Headcracker matched with a Cheddar, Fullers Golden Pride together with mature Stilton and Thornbridge Alliance with a Somerset Brie; perfectly illustrating that beer (particularly strong beer) is a far better match with cheese that the more populist "cheese and wine".
Back to the classroom and we were entertained by wise old beer sage, Barrie Pepper; the micro brewers perspective from Steve Gibbs at Durham Brewery; Jeff Rosenmeyer of Lovibonds Brewery then gave the story of his fabulous Wheat Wine, a barley wine in a wheat beer style (of which more another day), and finally Peter Brown with his views on how to sell the stuff.
This was followed by some tucker and an unrivalled selection of beers to taste including a Fullers Vintage from 1999 to show how such strong beers are able to mature once bottled, a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot that had been highly hopped (never ?) and matured in whisky cask, and the Lovibonds Gold Reserve, the Wheat Wine loaded with honey and on draught, (CAMRA activists look away now) and served chilled with a CO2 dispense.
The bus taking most of the delegates back to Sheffield station left at 7.15pm at which point I wandered off down the pitch black, tree lined lane to feel my way back to my hotel a mile or so away.
A great day ! Hopefully the legacy of the seminar will be more barley wine produced by brewers large and small. There were certainly some enthusiastic brewers there on the day and hopefully enough writers will follow it up to demonstrate that barley wine is no longer a drink for the old ladies to drink while their hubbies take a pint of mild. It is a beer style that can accommodate different drinking occasions, matches with good food and is very approachable in small volumes - a single serve nip or a 70cl bottle made for sharing - before, after or during a meal, or just a quiet contemplative warming glassful at the end of a long day.
My notes are copious so I must have learned something but it was followed by a long tasting of various barley wine style beers so much is now dead brain cells. I will do my best to share some highlights without getting bogged down in the detail :
Some 50 beer writers and brewers pitched up at Thornbridge Hall such was the pull of barley wine for an afternoon of speakers and tastings. First up to speak was Mark Dorber who gave a talk on the style of various strong beers; followed by John Keeling from Fullers to share the history of Golden Pride and Fullers Vintage and the merits of using a parti-gyle brewing method. Next came Steve Wellington of White Shield Brewery to give the history of barley wine from a Burton perspective and lastly an American viewpoint by Steve Grossman from Sierra Nevada Brewery.
A short break here for a cheese and beer tasting. Woodforde's Headcracker matched with a Cheddar, Fullers Golden Pride together with mature Stilton and Thornbridge Alliance with a Somerset Brie; perfectly illustrating that beer (particularly strong beer) is a far better match with cheese that the more populist "cheese and wine".
Back to the classroom and we were entertained by wise old beer sage, Barrie Pepper; the micro brewers perspective from Steve Gibbs at Durham Brewery; Jeff Rosenmeyer of Lovibonds Brewery then gave the story of his fabulous Wheat Wine, a barley wine in a wheat beer style (of which more another day), and finally Peter Brown with his views on how to sell the stuff.
This was followed by some tucker and an unrivalled selection of beers to taste including a Fullers Vintage from 1999 to show how such strong beers are able to mature once bottled, a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot that had been highly hopped (never ?) and matured in whisky cask, and the Lovibonds Gold Reserve, the Wheat Wine loaded with honey and on draught, (CAMRA activists look away now) and served chilled with a CO2 dispense.
The bus taking most of the delegates back to Sheffield station left at 7.15pm at which point I wandered off down the pitch black, tree lined lane to feel my way back to my hotel a mile or so away.
A great day ! Hopefully the legacy of the seminar will be more barley wine produced by brewers large and small. There were certainly some enthusiastic brewers there on the day and hopefully enough writers will follow it up to demonstrate that barley wine is no longer a drink for the old ladies to drink while their hubbies take a pint of mild. It is a beer style that can accommodate different drinking occasions, matches with good food and is very approachable in small volumes - a single serve nip or a 70cl bottle made for sharing - before, after or during a meal, or just a quiet contemplative warming glassful at the end of a long day.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Around Bruges in 80 Beers
The best travel writing is a book or article that makes you get off your backside and actually visit the place. Last week I took myself off to Bruges for the day. I didn't actually go to Belgium, you understand. Let's say, it was more of a virtual trip.
A quiet day started well by reading from cover to cover a new book : Around Bruges in 80 Beers by Chris "Podge" Pollard and Siobhan McGinn. This is an updated, second edition and covers that famous Belgian city with a full colour page on each bar, restaurant or shop coupled with a beer to drink there. As in the London edition of the same series, all of the favourite bars and beers are covered plus many others that may not be so well known. It gives an excellent flavour to a great city. Do not travel without this essential volume if visiting. You can buy it here where you can also find out more about the beer tours of Belgium that Podge leads.
I enjoyed the book so much that I really wanted more. So I nipped down to Waitrose to buy some mussels, steamed them in some wheat beer and settled down to watch the movie "In Bruges" that I had sky plussed the week before. A crap film but set in a wonderful location bringing back good memories of the beers and bars of the city.
The nearest I could get to a local beer without a special trip to the bottle shop was a Biere de Garde from Lost Abbey - California (being near enough to Belgium for me) and a bottle of Bracia from Thornbridge Brewery.
The Biere de Garde was a traditional farmhouse brew with a lovely malty sweetness and a spicy finish. 7.5% bottle conditioned in a wire corked 75cl bottle - a real mouthful.
The Bracia is a dark bitter 9% beer infused with Italian chestnut honey. It has a rich flavoursome mouth feel with coffee, chocolate and licorice flavours and a warming, alcoholic aftertaste. If you see it, buy it - you won't be disappointed.
Even if you are not planning a trip to Belgium, with a cover price of £7.99, Around Bruges is the cheapest weekend away you will ever have.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)