We went up to @davelozman ‘s where he’d pulled a few special bottles from his stash and cooked a huge chunk of lamb stuffed with haggis, It was then we realised that in our haste to choose some special beers we had ended up with a fridge full of rather strong beer

Funky Label, Funky beer!

in big bottles, luckily the night was young so we set to work.

Bottle one was Mikkeller Funky E Star (9.3% ABV), a Belgian inspired pale ale, the label was brilliant, really psychedelic, unfortunately the notes on the back were all in Danish so we had no idea what to expect. It poured a light copper colour with a little bit of yeast haze, it smelled of sugar and had a prominent yeasty smell too. Taste wise it was smooth, quite sweet and hoppy with a lovely funky spice and some hops there fore good measure, a great start to the night.

Great beer, great cause

Next up was D.W from Sharp’s, it poured very similar to the Funky E Star,  it also had a similar sort of nose, yeasty, sweet and slightly hoppy, this carried through into the flavour, it was a little bit softer, slightly less bitter, more rounded, it hid the ABV very well and despite it’s sweetness it was so easy to drink but never too over the top, to my surprise, I preferred it to the Mikkeller, although it shouldn’t be a surprise as Stuart makes some absolutely stunning beers and is always trying new things.

Beer of the night for me

Bottle 3 came in the delightfully packaged Williams Brothers Fraoch 20th Anniversary Ale, It’s their delicious heather ale that’s been left to mature in single malt whisky casks it weighs in at 11% ABV and pours a really lovely orange marmalade colour there’s definite whisky on the nose along with the some apple and floral notes, It tastes brilliant, beer of the night so far for me, it was zesty, fruity and quite dry with a lovely bitter sour finish that added a bit of spice, I couldn’t quite believe just how drinkable it was, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of the alcohol. I could have quite happily drank the entire bottle of this my self.

Excellent porter but the Peat was MIA

Next up was Moor Peat Porter, this was the beer with the lowest ABV of the night, at 4.7% it was half of just about the rest of the beers we drank, It held it’s own though, it was deep, rich and roasty, it had loads of coffee in it  and just a little bit of dark chocolate, I didn’t get much peat from it but it was lovely and smooth and went surprisingly well with Daves hazlenut and chocolate desert.

Not sure about this one

Bottle 5 was a bottle I’d brought back from GBBF with me, Rouge’s Chipotle Ale (5.5%), I think it was dedicated to a Spanish author who made some sort of ale and smoked chilli dish, but I need to check up on that, It poured a dark amber colour which was a lot lighter than I thought it would be, It smelled and tasted like someone had taken a beer and tipped a bottle of smoked Tabasco in it, there was a little bit of malt on the nose other than the chilli but that was about it. Not surprisingly it tasted much like it smelled, I’m a huge fan of smoked chilli but I’m not sure the balance was right in this one, it was soft and well carbonated in the mouth but all I could taste was the smokey chilli, which soon became over powering, the afterburn was quite nice though, definitely a beer to have in small quantities.

At this point we got a text to see if we wanted to pop round to a birthday party, never ones to turn down the chance of a party we packed the remaining few Open It beers up and headed out of the door.

Peaty whisky beer is great!

After a quick taxi ride in the snow we arrived at the party and promptly cracked open the bottle of Harviestoun Ola Dubh 40, another whisky beer, this time it was a dark one, it poured with a thin creamy colour head, the aroma was predominantly smokey with notes of peat and the whisky. The flavours were quite complex, peaty and smoky with undertones of whisky and oak, the flavours are well balanced and nice and mellow. This would be perfect sat in front of the fire after a day out in the snow.

Another excellent beer from Moor

Bottle 7 was another from Moor, this time the Cider Brandy cask aged Moor Fusion (8% ABV) This was another dark one, it poured with a much bigger head than I expected, the cider brandy was there in the nose as well as some dark sticky fruit, kind of like dates or fig rolls, the flavour was surprisingly mellow, it wasn’t as roasty as I thought it would be, there was oak in there along with some apple and toffee, there was a hint of chocolate there too but only just. This really was a winner but it’s one for sharing.

Proof that chilli and beer can work.

Next up was my last bottle of Crown Brewery’s Ring of Fire (10.3%), A huge barley wine style beer brewed with loads of  fresh chilli, it was as good as I remembered (you can read my review here) It poured with a really thin head and little aroma, although I could just pick out some chilli. The chilli really hits you in the mouth, it gets the back of your throat and warms you through, it’s incredibly rich and the brown sugar in it is  quite sweet, again it’s another beer that’s best off shared between a couple of you.

Things got a little hazy here

Last but not least was Brewdog and Mikkeller Devine Rebel Mortlach Reserve 2008, bottle number 290 of 1000, it’s another barley wine that’s been singled hopped with Nelson Sauvin then aged in the Mortlach malt whisky casks, it was at this point the tasting notes on my phone got a bit jumbled and my tweet of the picture simply said “hell yeah”, the few notes on my phone said dates, chocolate and lots of booze followed by the words “Grzd stiff bt neds longe in bottle” which I think translates as great stuff but needs longer in the bottle….luckily I’ve got a bottle in the cupboard which I’ll save for when Dave and my self are a little less worse for wear.

Beer of the day was certainly the Williams Fraoch 20th Anniversary beer, I really need to find some more of it.

And that’s it Open It day 2 …well and truly done! I think tonight’s Open It will be a little more sedate and I might just open the one beer….we shall see.

Before things got too heavy..

For me it was meant to be a quick stop off for a pint on the way back up north, but one thing lead to another and I ended up spending the day there.

We worked out way through many of the great beers the tap has to offer,  including Thornbridge Jaipur, Meantime IPA, Thornbridge Wild Swan,Thornbridge St Petersburg, Thornbridge Raven, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, All of the Moor beers (Half & Half, Millys, Northern Star, JJJ IPA, Old Freddy Walker, Hoppiness, Somerland Gold, Ported Peat Porter, Peat Porter, Merlins Magic and Revival)  from the various taps and hand pulls situated on the huge bar. We also got a quick tour of the cold room where Yan stores all his precious wares, including a rather impressive range of bottles and glasses. It was here when Stu spotted a keg of Sierra Nevada BigFoot Ale that things really started to get a little messy.

Some of the beer we had already drank wasn’t exactly “weak”, JJJ for example is 9% ABV,  but BigFoot was that next step up, which on a Sunday afternoon and surrounded by all the beer you could ever need, in great company is, well,  a little bit on the crazy side. If Stu had gotten his way, none of us would have got a look in,  thankfully he was in a sharing mood and distributed the beer around the table. This was the first time I had had BigFoot on keg and it was mind blowing, bitter sweet, perfectly balanced malt and big hops, yum yum yum.

Stu and BigFoot

Then from somewhere a couple of bottles appeared on the table, these included a Thornbridge Murmansk, Westvleteren 8, Hardknott Granite and a couple of unlabeled bottles of Matthews home brewed beers, which were meant for Yan to take home but as ever he played the generous host and cracked them open. The Westvleteren was a bit of a gusher, not being one to waste beer, a certain member of the group decided to slurp it off the table, to be honest he had the right idea as its a bloody good beer and doesn’t come cheap.

However this wasn’t the silliest thing that particular member of the group did that afternoon, as he got up to go and catch his train he decided to perform a party trick of his, which is apparently staring to happen more often and proceeded to smash a bottle of Stuart Howe’s Chilli IPA all over the floor of the tap, this not being bad enough he then sucked some of the splash back from his trainer, which resulted in some rather odd looks from others in the pub.

Thornbridge Raven on top form

One by one the group dwindled and it was soon time for me to hop back on the train  and head home, I just wish I had left time for some food as an afternoon on strong beer after a full day of drinking during Twissup started to take effect, to put it bluntly I was bolloxed.

I had wicked day despite constant ribbing from Matt about my accent, it’s just as well his homebrews were pretty damn good and he also has a wicked sense of humour which lead to a couple of texts to our lass saying I wouldn’t be home any time soon as I had been arrested.

All the beers I drank were in tip top condition, really well kept and the range of beer available is simply stunning and is due to get bigger very soon. They all easily surpassed the bottled versions of the beers I had. I just wish I could get beer this good locally.

Big thanks to Yan for being so hospitable, Kelly and Scoop for sharing their knowledge and passion and to Matt and Stu for making me laugh more than I have in ages, hope to do it again very soon.

Please forgive the name dropping above,  it’s not often I get to drink in such illustrious company (outside of Twissup that is) They were/are a great bunch of guys who know their stuff.

You can view my pics from the day here

Deep, dark and delicious

As is usual with the sample bottles Stu sends the bottles were absent proper labels, he did send the image file so I could make my own but I made a hash of it so as you will see in the photo I just stood it up next to the beer.

The beer opened with a nice hiss, so it was off to a promising start, it poured extremely dark, almost completely pitch black. It had a thin to medium head that was a really lovely caramel colour.

The aromas were of really roasted malt, hints of smoke, chocolate and coffee, yum!

In the mouth it was medium bodied with a nice amount of carbonation, as a result it felt silky smooth.

The flavour was lovely, deep, dark roasted malt, wafts of chocolate and coffee intermingle with the malt giving it a lovely sweetness there’s also a slight liquorice flavour in the background this all leads to a lovely clean roast almost finish. I didn’t quite get the smokiness I originally put in my phone so maybe I was a little bit worse for wear after all.

In all honesty this is a really, really good stout, Stu has pulled it off and it’s bottled really well. I might use some of the other bottle for steak and ale pie, I have a feeling the big roast flavour will go brilliantly with some mushrooms and steak.

If you want to try it then you can buy it here, you can visit the Crown website here, Follow Stu here, visit the facebook page here or read my other Crown Brewery beer reviews here.

Before I drank and photographed them a little bit of Blue Peter magic was needed, I managed to get a copy of the label from Stu via email, printed and cut it out, unfortunately I didn’t have any sticky back plastic or prit stick so had to make some double sided tape out of bog standard sellotape. As it happens it worked out quite well and My Brewery Tap are even using one of the pics on their site!

Crown Wheat Beer, perfect spring supping!

Anyway enough of that and onto the beer, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect as Stu hadn’t told me much, what I did know was that the contents of the bottle came close to Wheetie Bits or Wheat Stout then Stu was on to a winner.

The beer opened with a slight fizz and poured a lovely light golden colour, it had a small thin head and the beer had a slight haze, common to almost all wheat beers, I took more care pouring the second bottle and it came out a little bit clearer, so if you prefer a clearer beer – pour more carefully.

The aromas are typical of a German wheat beer, hints of banana and peach combine with a bready yeasty smell to produce something that smells rather delicious.

The mouth feel is silky and smooth and the carbonation is low, meaning it slips down and absolute treat, you barely notice the 5.9% ABV, The flavour is subtle yet tasty, fruity, hints of sweetness with a well rounded bready characteristic all finished off my a slightly bitter and moreish finish.

Hat’s off to Stu , this is really a tasty beer, it could possibly do with a little more carbonation but it is perfect for sitting in the garden with some spiced BBQ pork on a warm spring evening.

Crown Wheat Beer comes in 330ml bottles and retails at around £2.50 per bottle, yes thats a little more expensive than your average supermarket Wheat Beer, but  this is a hand crafted beer and knocks spots off the stuff in the supermarket.

You can follow Stu on Twiter here, read his blog here, visit the crown website here or buy his wonderful beers on My Brewery Tap

The 3 beers awaiting opening

I also had a couple of other IPA’s kicking around in the cupboard but in order to keep things simple I decided just to add just one more to this battle royale, this came in the form of Crown Brewery‘s excellent and often underrated Unpronounceable IPA.

I nagged Emily into trying to pour each beer the same, washing and drying the glass (My new favourite Duvel Glass) between beers and to make sure I didn’t know what was in each glass,  so that I was completely in the dark and couldn’t make judgements based on what I thought of the brands or brewers.

Beer number one arrived, it was light golden with a thin, pale white head, the lack of aroma took me by surprise, I was expecting something bigger and bolder on the nose, there were hints of citrus, hops and a little spice, but they were all really faint and it took me a while to pick them out.

The body was light and smooth, flavour wise it was quite and peachy there were hints of tropical fruit, nothing huge, as the beer warmed the malt came through as did a little caramel. The finish was hoppy and bitter, the bitterness lasted ages. I plumped for this one being Brewdog‘s Punk IPA.

Once finished, Emily kindly washed the glass out and poured mystery beer number 2.

The first thing I noticed about this beer was that it’ head was a lot bigger and frothy. It was a similar colour to beer number 1 but maybe a touch darker.

The aromas were of a fair bit stronger than beer number 1, citrusy hops, some pine and really strangely some caramel popcorn.

Flavour wise the hops come first, citrusy, bold and grassy then the caramel malt comes in, this again becomes more prominent as the beer warms up and where I think the caramel popcorn in the aromas came from. The finish is a lot less bitter than beer number one, smoother and more refined, this makes it mega drinkable. I put this down as Jaipur.

Perfect day for drinking Jaipur, Punk and UIPA

Emily then cleaned and dried the glass again and poured beer number 3.

It was a bit cloudier and a darker amber than the previous two beers, the head was huge and a really tight foam. The aromas were boozy, fruity and a little bit yeasty.

Flavour wise there was grapefruit, hops a hint of sweetness and touches of malt, the finish was hoppy and bitter, the bitterness was somewhere between beer 1 and 2, not quite as bitter as the first but slightly more bitter than the 3rd, process of elimination and familiarity had this one nailed as Unpronounceable IPA.

So out of the three and without knowing which was really which, I marked number 2 down as my favourite followed by number 3 and then number 1, I loved just how drinkable beer number 2 was and how really well balanced it was, it was a beer I could drink all night every night.

Emily then revealed which beer was which, I’ve put them below with a bit of information about each and where to get them so if you want to give the blind tasting a go you can get your hands on some beer.

Beer Number 1: Brewdog Punk IPA, 6%, £1.49 per 330ml bottle, available from the Brewdog website, Tesco and Sainsbury follow James on twitter, follow Martin on twitter or follow Bracken on twitter here.

Beer Number 2: Thornbridge Jaipur, 5.9%, £2.00 per 330ml bottle, available from My brewery tap and selcted Tesco stores, visit the Thornbridge website here or follow Kelly on twitter here

Beer Number 3: Crown Unpronounceable IPA, 7%, £2.50 per 330ml bottle, available from My brewery tap, visit the Crown Brewery website here or follow Stu on twitter here.

Smokin Oktoberfest is  Crown Brewery‘s take on a seasonal Oktoberfest beer so it is only produced once a year and only in small batches. It comes in at 5.7% ABV so I was expecting it to have a fair bit of flavour.

Smokin Oktoberfest

Once I had mopped up the spillage I got to check how the beer had poured, it was a lovely rich dark reddy brown colour with a rather large head, which disappeared as I poured more beer into the glass.

The aromas certainly live up to the smoke in the name, it really does smell of a lovely sweet smoke, like the smoke you get when you BBQ beer soaked meat and the marinade drips onto the hot coals. You also get bags of malt with a hint of booze creeping through, Interesting stuff in deed.

Flavour wise there was a lot of malt which was then bathed in bitter sweet smoke that cleansed the malt away leaving a lovely bitter aftertaste that had just a hint of the smoke that had preceded it. I drank the beer at room temperature and did wonder how the beer would react to being chilled, I have a feeling that this might be one of those beers that may benefit from being slightly chilled and may add another dimension to it, I will report back once I’ve got some more to try it with (this might not be until later in the year though)

Smokin Oktoberfest isn’t a beer I could drink lots of but it is a beer I will drink again, It shows just how diverse the Crown Brewery is and all credit to Stu for coming up with such a splendid beer.

Read my reviews on their other beers here, Visit the Crown Brewery website , follow Stu on twitter here or join their Facebook group

You will no doubt read many reports of what did and didn’t happen between 11:00 on Saturday 23rd and 17:30 on Sunday 24th January 2010, these will more than likely differ from blogger to blogger, but one thing I think know they will all have in common is that everyone had a fantastic time (well, apart from Mark at Real-Real-Ale-Reviews – who was maybe feeling a little guilty over “keygate” – you can read his version of events here).

What a bunch of twissers

The epic began just after 11:00 when I arrived, after a rather crappy train journey, at The Sheffield Tap, a rather fancy new pub based at Sheffield station, which over the weekend was to almost become our second home.  While I waited for other bloggers to turn up I quietly sat in the corner of the bar, slowly supping a rather delicious glass of Thornbridge Kipling, this was the start of  what, will one day surely become a pub crawl that is etched into blogging legends or as someone mentioned on twitter, become the face of a new alcohol awareness campaign.

Just as I supped the last fruity and hoppy mouthful of my Kipling, Steve  aka Aletalk wandered across and asked if I was Chilli Up North, perfect timing – it was now his round.

Before either of us had finished our beers (I had a Thornbridge White Swan and I think Steve went for their Lord Marples) Dave and Ann appeared, they’d been in Sheffield since Friday as they had a long way to come from the Woolpack, as the beers went down, more and more bloggers were appearing as their trains pulled into the station, before we knew it the place was packed, people had really pulled out all the stops, coming from far and wide to meet their fellow twissheads!

After a few more beers were sank, travel stories shared and gifts exchanged (beers/chilli seeds/some rather lovely glasses from Alex at All Beer) we were shepherded outside for a quick photo, before heading off to the next stop on the Twissup Map.

In truth a certain person who shall remain nameless took us on a slightly longer route that detoured by the Harlequin pub, after a couple of swift halves in there we moved on to the Kelham Island Brewery where we had the rather delicious Marble Brew 14 and a whistle stop tour of the brewery before heading to the Kelham Island Tavern for some Thornbridge Samhain, Milton Marcus Aurelius and one of my beers of the day Brew Co Pete‘s Ginger Stout.

Ruination in the Devonshire Cat

Next on the agenda was a tour of the Sheffield Brewery, a couple of beers in there and a chat with them guys before onto the Hillsborough Hotel, where we were subjected, sorry treated to a brewery tour by Crown Brewer Stu, here we supped more beer, had a hastily arranged beer swap and I got to watch Ring of Fire 2009 being tapped, this is the beer I helped Stu brew and used my home grown chillis in. It seemed to go down really well, Mark Dredge has even given it his beer of the day (WHOOP).

The atmosphere in the Hillsborough was possibly the best of the day, great banter, great beers (including Thornbridge Equinox and Crown Samuel Berry’s Pale Ale)

From here we split into two groups, some went to watch 22 fellas kicking a ball around a pitch and the rest of us headed via various modes of public transport to The Rising sun for a couple of beers and some much needed sarnies, Kelly from Thornbridge‘s competitive side came out here when he scoffed the majority of the tray of sarnies that myself and Pete B found on our table.

Our stomach’s thinly lined with sarnies we headed down the the Devonshire Cat, here we found the awesome Stone Ruination IPA on, it wasn’t cheap at £2.80 for half a pint but it really was worth the money, here I also tried my first non beer drink since breakfast, a rather tasty rum that was packed full of vanilla and nougat flavours (thanks to Brew Co Pete for letting me try that)

It was now getting to the time were some unfortunate people had to get the train home so we headed back to the The Sheffield Tap where yet more ale was consumed from both cask and bottle, This included Hop-it, Tokyo*, Jaipur and various other beers and beer styles.

Twissup on the tram

Once we had waved those unlucky few off we went in search of food, somehow we ended up in a kebab shop that resembled a fancy dress shop, which sold a strange array of battered products which were mainly thrown in the bin.

Those of us that were staying at the Hillsborough headed back there, where a certain person broke someone else’s key in the door, leading to a few room changes and a lot of ribbing for Mark at Real-Real-Ale-Reviews and a rather funny (if inconvenient) end to day one.

Day two started with most of us feeling a little worse for wear, this being helped by the brilliant breakfast served up at the Hillsborough before packing our bags and heading off to see Zak Avery in Leeds.

Zak had very kindly arranged for a pin of experimental beer from local brewer Roosters to be waiting for us at his shop, It was delicious and just what we needed to get the day’s drinking started, although I think it may have sent Pete B over the edge. I think everyone bought a few beers from Zak which is almost impossible not to do.

Next off we headed off in the Wooliemobile to North Bar in Leeds, for yet more ale and some great cheese made by the bloke from blur who used to drink rather a lot of booze in his wilder years…quite fitting and bloody delicious, this was quickly followed by a couple more rounds of cheese and bread and meat and bread, all pubs should do this, it’s a fantastic way to soak up the booze.

Up next was some Sam Smith’s OBB in a rather unfriendly pub hidden down a back alley, promptly followed by an Ilkley Brewery Mary Jane before myself, Pete B and Mark D headed for our train back to Sheffield, luckily on arrival back in Sheffield we had time for one last pint in the The Sheffield Tap, I went for Kipling again, It seemed fitting that the beer I had first should also be my last.

Picking up my rather heavy bag and my rather horrible burger I headed for the most depressing and disgusting train I have ever been on and headed home…

Thanks to all that turned up, chatted, drank, swapped beer, gave gifts and organised treats and tours along the way, I will be sure to raise my next glass of beer to you, although that might not be for some time..

Thanks to steelrazor for taking some awesome pics, You can view my photos of the event here and some other pics in the Twissup flickr group

Ps for those of you interested the beers that I remembered to log as I drank were: Thornbridge Kipling, Thornbridge White Swan, Thornbridge Lord Marples, Brewdog Black Dog, Tiger Tops Ginger, Abbeydale Genesis, Marble Brew 14,Thornbridge Samhain, Milton Marcus Aurelius, Brew Co Ginger Stout, Kelham Island Pale Rider, Sheffield Five Rivers, Sheffield Paradise Pale, Thornbridge Equinox, Crown Ring of Fire 2009, Crown Samuel Berry’s Pale Ale, Burton Tweetie Pie, Thornbridge Jaipur, Brewdog Tokyo*, Brewdog Punk IPA, Brewdog 5Am Saint, Brewdog Equity For Punks, Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Sierra Nevada Anniversary, Stone Ruination IPA, Sierra Nevada Pale ale, Urthel Hop It, Roosters Experimental, Sierra Nevada Celebration, Ilkley Mary Jane, Sam Smith’s OBB and various sips of other peoples beers of all sorts of styles.

Samuel Berry’s Pale Ale is named after the original brewer and is a regular at the Hillsborough Hotel, where I know Stu the brewer, drinks a fair bit of this stuff after work…in fact I have borrowed one of his post work photos to use on here, as it was better than my poorly poured and photographed effort.

The beer comes in at 5.1%, this makes it ideal for an evening pint or two but possibly not for lunchtime drinking. It pours quite a pale yellow, with a bit of sediment from the bottle (this wasn’t present in the hand pull in the pic), It smells of malt and has a certain floweriness to it with hints of dough or yeast, the head is quite thin and slightly bubbly.

Taste wise it’s light and refreshing, slightly bitter, slightly hoppy and then you get the floral notes and some malty sweetness before the bitter and dry finish.

Personally I think this makes for a rather tasty ale, not quite as punchy and raw as UIPA, it could possibly do with a bit more of a hoppy punch but other than that it’s just about right. I’m hoping to try it on cask before long so that I can compare the too, I’ve got a feeling that cask will quite possibly give it another dimension and make it even better.

Crown Brewery and brewer Stu are definately one to watch, they make some fantastic beers and have some fantastic ideas, I for one think they have a big future ahead of them.

Check out the Crown Brewery website here and follow Stu on twitter here, you can also become a fan of theirs on facebook here

Stu doing what he does best

It’s been said before, that the internet is a wonderful thing, it helps people from all over the world communicate, meet new people and learn new things.

Thanks to social networking site Twitter I go the chance to meet someone new in the form of Stuart from Crown Brewery along with learning an awful lot of new things about brewing beer. This came along due to Stu inviting me down to help him brew his chilli beer, Ring of Fire, on the condition that I provided the chillis, I jumped at the chance and as soon as I could jumped on the train to Sheffield.

The journey started well, I enjoyed a couple of my favourite ales on the train and managed to read a fair chunk of my book (Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and Heinrich Harrier’s White Spider)

I was greeted at the station by Stu (who thought it would be funny to have a little sign reading Chilli Up North – my twitter alter ego), He swiftly whisked me through the hi tec parking system at Sheffield station and into the first pub of night, The Devonshire Cat, and what a pub it was,  it hasv12 proper ales on at all times and a bottle selection that most specialist shops would be proud of. We had a quick half of the legendary Jaipur (separate blog post on Jaipur, coming soon) and it was off to The Hillsborough Hotel.

I was introduced to Andy the Landlord and then had my first Half of Hillsborough Pale Ale, a lovely light pale ale brewed with cascade hops, right below the bar by @crownbrewerstu this was followed by a sample of what i think was the 13% version of HPA bloody good it was too. I then sampled the Ring of Fire, which was even better from the cask than in the bottles i tried before, Stu then left me to it so i decided it would be rude not to try the Stannington Stout, which was a lovely coffee and liqorice flavoured ale and a great way to end the night, or so i thought, i ended up trying another couple of beers that they had on at the time but i can’t remember the name of them apart from one called Sweeny’s, all i can remember is they were light and refreshing but not a patch on the beers i had drank up until that point.

I headed off up to bed thinking that we were staring @ 8am only to find out at 7 that Stu was already mashing in, luckily he meant the cuppas!

After a quick health and safety lesson we got down to business, Mashing in – for those of you who aren’t familiar with it this is the process of mixing the raw ingredients of the beer with hot water to create wort which is the liquor that eventually becomes beer.

During this process the brew house is rather warm as the water needs to be kept at a constant temperature in order to release the best bits from the ingredients, it also involved a bit of effort on my part as i had to stir the porridge like mash in order to make sure it was all mixed in.

It was then time for breakfast – and a great breakfast it was too, just what you want after a night full of beer and an early start. Big thumbs up the chef at the Hillsborough, they certainly know how to make a breakie!

Sparging

After breakie it was time for sparging, this basically involves spraying the mash with hot water in order to flush the goodness out and into an under back, it was time for me to earn my keep and pass some of the wort back into the mash tun, here it was we had a little hicup, the mash turned out a little bit thick so Stu had to work a bit of magic and pump some extra water in under the mash to free it up.

Next it was time for me to earn my keep again, but not before a quick bottle of wheatie bits, lovely and refreshing, just what we needed!  now the mash was free I had to make sure that the under back doesn’t overflow by pumping it into the boiler, While I was doing this Stu was cleaning casks, which he assured me was his favourite job and a job that all brewers love, this is confirmed by the number of times that the brewers on twitter mention it. He also found time to rack some beer and have a quick tidy up before putting the wort on to boil, we headed up stairs for lunch.

Steak and ale pie, chips and mushy peas – all home made were just what we needed, and very very good they were too, the pie even had Stannington stout in it. It was accompanied by a quick half, i can’t remember what it was but it was another light and refreshing ale and went well with the lunch.

Lunch...mmmm

After lunch we added my home grown chillis and and what looked like an awful lot of bags of sugar, after this Stu was kind enough to provide some samples of Samuel Berry’s Pale Ale – a rather tasty pale ale named after the original brewer at the hotel. Stu thinks it needs more hops and im not going to disagree as I love my hoppy ales. I also got chance to try a bitter Stu had brewed, wasn’t so keen on this as it was a bit weak for my tastes, finishing off the samples was the Damson Porter that he had brewed with @ZakAvery, it wasn’t quite ready but it had the makings of a really tasty and interesting fruity porter (which i hope to try the final version of…hint hint)

While i was sat back enjoying the beers, Stu was busy taking readings and making notes with some rather impressive bits of kit which really do make your average home brew kits look a bit rubbish, though they should for what they cost.

Once the boil was finished, all that was left to do was to transfer the liquid gold to the fermenter and clean up,  Stu did all the work here and soon had all the kit looking spotless. Before we parted ways Stu kindly gave me a bottle of Smokin Oktoberfest, Sam Berry’s PA and my favourite Unpronounceable IPA, which i learnt was named after a guy nicknamed Unpronounceable Dave.

Overall i had a brilliant time, Stu and the staff at the Hillsborough were all very friendly and always had a smile on their face, the food and beer was top notch, and the actual brewing experience was great, very informative, enjoyable and something I will do again.

Wheeteie bits

The one beer that blew me away was inevitably Ring of Fire, it was totally different to the bottled version, smoother, slightly more fiery and an absolute belter – it’s in the running for my beer of the year!

If you fancy a go at brewing with Stu then get in touch with him and for a small fee I am sure he will happily oblige and don’t forget if you are in Sheffield to call in for some food and a pint or two.

Oh i nearly forgot – keep an eye out for Ring of Fire 2009, its not the 10.3% that the 2008 version but Stu assures me it’s a cracker!

To view more pics from the day click here

Crown What Stout

Wheat stout pours very well, with not too much fizz, it has an amazing really really dark brown head which lasted extremely well (I will get a picture when i open another bottle), The head might actually be slighter darker than the one on the Thornbridge Bracia i had a few weeks back.

It had a lovely wheat, vanilla smell with a little hint of yeast, it was surprisingly light for a stout of over 6%,  i would probably class it as medium bodied, which to be fair is just about right as you could quite easily drink a bigger bottle of it.

Taste wise it was lovely it had a lovely deep roasted flavour with hints of the vanilla and yeast from the aroma coming through, there was a little bit of sharpness in the finish which was just enough to keep your thirst going and help the beer slip down.

I was pretty impressed with Wheat Stout, it wasn’t quite as complex as the Bracia. and maybe not as well finished but it was still a bloody good beer and something i will happily spend my hard earned cash on.