Twissup: Manchester and Huddersfield

My memory of Saturday (the third Twissup - a meeting of beer bloggers and tweeters - following Sheffield and Burton) is patchy at best. I clearly remember the sleepy beginning in Manchester Piccadilly Station and the spicy end in the curry house but the bits in between are like an assorted mega-mix of hops, colour and laughter. That probably means it was a good day out…

First up was Marble brewery where we had a tour around the small unit (it’s amazing what these brewers can make in their varies spaces – the Marble lot is nothing more than an open room with silver kit at the back and a store room in the middle) and a glass of Dobber so fresh I thought it might start sprouting hop shots. From here we walked up the hill from the brewery to the Marble Arch, a wonderfully handsome corner pub. It’s smaller than I expected, charming, interestingly tiled, with chairs and tables neatly tucked in and a bar fully stocked with casks and good bottles. In here we drank lots of Marble beer, looked at our twadges, Avery got his del Borgo out and Cooking Lager unmasked himself and then ordered a stout (we were hoping he’d come in a real ale drinking outfit of sandals, socks and fake beard but no, he clearly couldn’t be bothered to dress up like the rest of us). For many of us it was the first visit to Marble and the Marble Arch and it was great to finally get there and see where the beer is made and served. The trouble is that it’s impossible not to drink lots of Marble beer when it’s on the bar in front of us, making for a dangerous start to the day. I could’ve stayed for hours, ordered food, working my way along the casks, but we had places to go…

The Angel was next. An unimposing back-street kind of place with a good beer line-up culminating like a sentence with an exclamation mark by having Ola Dubh 30 on the farthest right cask. That was one of the best beers I’ve had on cask this year – mouth-filling, rich, chocolatey and spiked with the familiar saline edge of Highland Park whisky – and a real surprise to find it. From the Angel we went to Bar Fringe, a cool place which had a beer called Twitter or Busted on cask (they couldn’t have chosen a better beer – and it was tasty too). It’s around here that the memory disintegrates into a series of disconnected jump cuts.

Next we’re outside, way behind the others, lost in the wilds of Manchester. Then we’re at the station ordering Burger King. Then we’re on a train and Yan is opening random bottles from a magical bag of beers which seems to be refilling itself. Then we pass Stalybridge where the group who were ahead of us were drinking – some get on the train; some don’t. We drink another bottle. We drink in the Kings Head with the most sparkled beers I’ve tasted – I needed Tandleman there to start my pint off for me and battle through the foam – but all of it in great condition and a perfect station stop. Then there’s an underpass somewhere (not sure why I remember this bit). Then there’s The Grove, one of the best pubs I’ve been to for beer selection. Some spicy beef jerky came, which tastes like hot stale carpet, and prompted Fletch to ask for half a pint of milk to fight the fire in his mouth (the reply is unprintable but along the lines of: you flipping tart, grow some). There were a few glasses of Jever, brisk and hoppy; a Gadds’ Green Hop bursting with flavour; a Moravka unfiltered, all buttery and smooth; lots of others which I’ve completely forgotten; and some bottles at the bar opened by Kelly. Some people eat earlier, ‘needing to sober up a bit’, then some eat later – it was one of the best curries I’ve tasted, laid out on shallow trays, served with roti bread and mango lassi (no beer!). As we leave we check the train times and realise that the planned final pint has to be abandoned as the last train home is in 15 minutes. We run to the station. The next thing I remember is a horrible hill in some Leeds suburb and then a slice of Norwegian caramel cheese which was horrific. I sleep like a baby.

It was a crazy day that passed in a blur (quite literally) with lots of good beers, lots of good fun and a great chance to catch up with lots of different people. Two towns was ambitious but we managed it – no one said Twissups would be easy. The Marble Arch and The Grove were the headline acts of the trip and they didn’t let us down – they are two of the best pubs I’ve drunk in this year and worthy alone of a trip to Manchester or Huddersfield.

My mind is already planning the next one… I’m thinking we choose a southern town and a northern one and battle it out in a vote. I’d love to do Brighton with a visit to Dark Star and Harvey’s (we’ll hire a bus!) and then some pubs in town, finishing at The Evening Star, so that’s the southern option. As for the north… how about Derby? We’ll sort out the options and speak to some breweries and then throw it to a vote. Just pencil in the date now: Saturday 5^th February.

Announcing: The Next Beer Swap and Twissup!

Beer Swap and Twissup are back!

First, Beer Swap. The ‘let’s send each other beers we can’t get near us and then use social media to talk about them’ game. The same rules apply as last year and if you blog or use twitter to talk about beer then you can enter (it is probably still GB only until we find cheap ways to ship outside of our little island). Here’s the deal:

• You need to find four local beers (use your discretion on ‘local’ but try and make them small breweries, also, choose good beers).

• No more than two beers from one brewery. Feel free to send homebrew, but only two bottles and then send local beers too. Or you can send homebrew as an extra.

• You will send them to another Beer Swapper and you will be sent four beers from someone else (it won’t be the person you send to).

• You then drink them and tweet and blog about them – send messages to @beerswap and use the #beerswap hashtag.

• The dates: The end date will be the 14th May. You have until the 28th March to join in and then Andy and I will sort out the sending. You will need to post out your beers by April 16th.

• To enter, go here and submit your details on the form (we need you to use the form to collect up all the names and details – your information will be kept secure, of course). We will sort them out and get them ready for the next stage.

Last time we had issues with postage and Collect+ didn’t really do it for us (the dreaded #collectplusfail). This time we need to do something different, so if anyone has any ideas then please let us know. We will advise on the best service when we announce the next steps after the 28th.

Who wants to swap some beer?!

And Twissup... Sheffield will be hard to beat but we’ll give it a damn good go! So, get the 15th May in the diary as we’re going to Burton-upon-Trent! (assuming the National Brewery Centre is all open and up and running). All the details will come soon but it will hopefully involve a brewery, a museum, maybe a maltings and definitely lots of pubs and beer! It’ll be a great follow-up to Sheffield! There's also a facebook group for #Twissup.

Now, there’s just two questions:

1) Beer Swap: Are you in? (If yes, remember to fill in this form!)

2) Burton Twissup: Are you in?

@Sheffield, #twissup was awesome

Well that was fun. The pictures say it all (especially this one, although this is my favourite thanks to the hilarious caption). Take 30 people, a combination of bloggers, brewers and drinkers, mix them up inside three breweries and lots of pubs, soak in beer for up to 12 hours and it’s a good recipe for a cracking day.

Thornbridge and BrewDog lined the bar in the Sheffield Tap at midday (Black Dog is the best looking beer I’ve seen in ages); a pit stop in the Harlequin which broke up the long walk; a Kelham Island brewery tour where everyone was drinking Marble Brew No.14; to the current CAMRA Pub of the Year, the Kelham Island Tavern, for a Thornbridge Samhain; to the Sheffield Brewing Co, another tour, a couple of beers; to The Hillsborough Hotel, to a bar lined with Crown Brewery beers, a Marble, Thornbridge and a Pictish; the most to-the-point-brewery tour ever (that’s the mash tun, thanks); Ring of Fire 2009 being tapped; a tram and a bus to a sandwich eating competition and a pint of something from Abbeydale; back on the bus to the Devonshire Cat and a pub full of drunk people drinking Ruination and heading straight for just that; and onwards still, back to the Sheffield Tap, for more, and more; and then food, the missing ingredient of the night, some chicken things, chips and potatoes cooked in southern fried chicken batter; a taxi; a broken key; a shared bed; too-little sleep; the worst hangover ever experienced; a delicious breakfast that couldn’t be eaten as all focus was on controlling the body functions; and then to Leeds; a round of juice and tea in Wetherspoons; taxi to Avery at Beer Ritz; Rooster’s fantastic American IPA on cask got me back on track; a dizzying selection of bottles; bye to Zak, hi to North Bar, for cask, keg and bottles, for bread and fantastic cheese, for a Raging Bitch; then the best pint of Sam Smith’s OBB I’ve ever had; a quick Old Peculiar; another train; a couple of half pints in the Sheffield Tap; Burger King; a four hour train journey made into a five hour train journey by missing the connection by one minute; finally getting in and realising the text I sent to Lauren to tell her I’d be late didn’t actually send; unpack, sit down, pass out.

Damn it was a good time. I felt like hell all day yesterday but who cares, it was worth it. Sheffield is a seriously good place to drink seriously good beer (and if you go then stay at The Hillsborough Hotel, it’s a great place). Jaipur was my first and last of the weekend and just delicious; the Marble Brew No.14 was fantastic; Crown Pale Ale and Stannington Stout show how good a brewer Stu is and then his Ring of Fire blew me away with its green-chilli fruitiness (that was beer of the day); Ruination IPA was a glass of peaches and apricots that kicked my arse; bottles of Orval and geueze ended one day and left their wrath on the next.

A day spent drinking, talking about beer and enjoying it is always fun. Thank you to everyone who came, it was great to meet you or to see you again – I hope everyone had a brilliant day. Special thanks to Alex from All Beer for sorting us out a lot of extra treats and brewery tours and hurrying us along when we floundered. Now we just need to sort out the next one! So far we’ve had suggestions for Manchester (Tandleman, we’ll need a guide!), Oxford or Cambridge, Norwich, Derby, Newcastle (Jeff Pickthall offered to guide us around there), or even Belgium. Plus there’s GBBF, but that one’s a gimme. Where do you fancy going?!

Thanks to Matt for the photos. Check out the #twissup timeline too, it makes for fun and interesting reading! 

Sheffield Tweet-Up: Are you in?

Just a reminder… The beer blogger tweet-up is still on for Saturday 23rd January. Get your tickets booked and sort out your hotels if you want to go. A couple of us are staying at The Hillsborough. If you are travelling up from London then check the best prices from East Midlands trains (you can get £5 fares). The plan is still to meet at 12pm in the Sheffield Station bar (eight Thronbridge on tap... we might never leave!). From there we can work our way around the city – there’s a lot of good pubs to drink in. A few of us will be drinking in Leeds on the Sunday and everyone is also welcome.

If you are definitely coming then let us know. It’s going to be great fun – I’m really looking forward to it now! And if you know Sheffield then a possible route would be quite handy to those of us who don’t.

And how about a small beer swap with whoever comes: everyone brings one local beer and swaps it in person with someone else, then take it home and drink it and blog it later? Everyone up for that? Just one, good, local beer.

See you there!

I got the image from the Brewers Association website.

Beer Blogging is Cool

A few of my posts have discussed twitter recently, but it’s important. And it’s becoming increasingly important all the time. Beer Swap is a prime example: that started as a blog project but rapidly, through the power of twitter, turned into a social media project (the hashtag of #beerswap seemed to pique interest from all over the world with many people asking what it’s about and how they can be involved). This also highlighted something else: the number of people who write regular tweets about beer and the number of people who actually write blogs about beer.

I’ve only been writing Pencil&Spoon for a year, but in that time the number of other beer blogs has increased massively, especially in the last few months. And there’s a new trend now, which is interesting: beer bloggers are getting younger. Have you noticed that? Hop around the blogosphere and see how many beer bloggers are in their 20s. Brewers are getting younger too and they are having an influence (the New Wave cometh). Combined, these are changing beer in Britain, keeping the traditions of old but invigorating with US boldness.

In blogging terms, I think twitter has a lot to do with it. Everyone knows the sociability of the beer scene and there really is nothing like it – our love for good beer inextricably links us and is the match to start our friendship. Take that sociability, take the curiosity to know what others are drinking, take the fun and drunken tweets, the honest and real-life stuff, the 140-character conversations and soon it’s like sitting in a virtual pub with mates (blogging is the same, just with unlimited letters to do it). What twitter has done is highlight those who are really interested in good beer and opened the community; it’s made it inclusive, it’s shown that there are a lot of people out here who want to drink good beer. And thanks to a few twits and bloggers I think it’s shown that writing about the stuff you drink in the pub, or the bottles you open while watching TV, is pretty good fun.

It boils down to this: Beer blogging is cool. And real ale is cool, too. It’s no longer solely the realm of the old, bearded guy; it’s slowly crept into a young man’s thirsty territory. Beer can’t survive and grow on the old guard alone (although it’s very important, and let’s not forget, age is a state of mind as much as it is a number); it needs new blood, new invigoration and new passion to take it to new places. BrewDog have helped (although this post links in well with the debate sparked from James’ recent interview with FullPint) as have other young brewers, and interest in interesting beer is increasing all the time. British beer is more than murky best bitter and its future ascension rests in the brewing hands of those who make it and those tapping fingers of those who use technology to write about it. With every blog written, every tweet sent and with every new and different brew that hits the pub we are promoting (marketing and physically) British beer.

Is the virtual pub becoming as important as the physical pub?

The Crown Jewels/A Royal Twit

As with a lot of things nowadays, it started on twitter. Andy from Beer Blog posted that he was drinking a 10.3% chilli beer from Crown Brewery, Sheffield. Having met Stu, the brewer from Crown Brewery, at GBBF, I asked nicely and he agreed to bring me a few bottles when we were both at the opening of the new Thornbridge Brewery. Social networking at its very best.

Stu brought me three bottles: Unpronounceable IPA, Wheat Stout and Ring of Fire - a veritable threesome if ever there was one (in human form these beers would make a crazy-cool punk girl band). The brewery is based in the cellar of The Hillsborough Hotel, making the beers downstairs and selling them upstairs alongside a selection of other casks (they twitter the beer list in photo form - I wish more pubs would tweet to say what’s on).

I started off with the Unpronounceable IPA. It’s a punchy 7% and pours a royal crown gold with a fluffy white head. It’s hopped with 5kg of Bramling Cross (5kg in a 4 brl plant) and they come straight out in a plume of earthy blackberries – it’s got a great nose, really fruity and juicy and reminiscent of picking berries from the bushes with pink-stained fingers. There’s a great kick of bitterness to begin and then it gives way to more fruity berries and hints of apple sucky sweets. It’s easy drinking, full flavoured and really very good, plus it’s a nice adversary to the super-hopped US-style IPAs that I’ve been gulping back recently. Nice one.

Next came Wheat Stout, a 6.6% thick black oil slick with a great looking bubbly brown head. The nose had me doing somersaults trying to work out exactly what I was getting and I never quite got to the bottom of it. What I did get was roasty and dark, chocolatey, spicy like wheat beer and slightly creamy. All of these come through in the taste department too, with more spice and coffee and a dry berry fruit bitterness in there as well. There’s also a sweetness which reminded me of oyster stout. Really interesting and enjoyable.

I saved Ring of Fire to last and I don’t mind admitting that I was pretty scared about opening this thing. My previous experience in this field is Crazy Ed’s Chili Beer which is just about the worst thing I’ve ever tasted (on a side note, my mate loves super spicy food so we made him strawpedo a bottle of Crazy Ed’s one day, he’s never been the same since…). So it was with some trepidation that I popped the cap of this 10.3% beast brewed with fresh peppers and poured out a headless deep and dangerous chilli con carne brown beer with fiery red edges. I dipped my nose in and tentatively sniffed, fearing an olfactory burn but you know what, it smelled bloody lovely – dried fruits and stone fruits like a barley wine and then right at the end, like a cheeky little surprise, comes the fresh and slightly warming aroma of chilli (you know the one you get when chopping them, an earthy aroma, a little fruity, like fresh green peppers). But what about the taste… I was still worried at this point, not wanting to scold my lips, but there was none of that at all, no vicious burn, no hellish flames and instead it has that barley wine taste of a sweet, full bodied and richly fruity brew and then right at the end the chillis come in like a garnish of fresh green peppers – it tingles but it doesn’t burn and this warming tingle is really fascinating as it builds throughout. This beer seriously surprised and impressed me, in fact all of the beers did.

It started with a tweet and me asking for a few bottles of beer. Now I think there could be some pretty cool adventures to be had with twitter, think Yes Man with Tweets or Six-Degrees of Separation. “Come to Sheffield and stay at The Hillsborough”, Stu said to me on the way to Thornbridge, “they’ve got eight handpumps.” I might just take him up on that one day, although it might take a tweet to persuade me.

Some notes: Andy at Beer Blog (and Chilli Up North) has also written about Ring of Fire and Unpronounceable IPA. Stu has a blog here. Follow us all on twitter, you never know what you might happen. I couldn’t decide on which title to go for so I went with both. And I did listen to Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire while drinking the beer, it felt right.