Beer Compurgation

Soft Serve Trolltunga After stepping through the doors of Indy Man for the first time in October 2012 , I knew I was experiencing something different; a beer festival like no other I’d been to. I was sure that we were seeing a shift in the way things were done and the future.  In the years that followed came the event's  steady rise and progression – from the opening of more rooms in the building, changes in the layout, desperate scrambling for tickets, visitors from all over the world and then the moment I didn’t seem to know any beer person that wasn’t going. We came full circle in 2017. This year the build-up seemed to involve a touch less “fuss.” The tickets had still sold-out as quickly, but some of my favourite beer people weren’t doing the traditional journey to Manchester. Indy Man Beer Con had lost its place as the number one beer event on the calendar. In fact, it became almost cool to boast that you weren’t going. It wasn’t about mournin...

I'm sat at my kitchen table, laptop in front of me, leant back, arms folded, brow furrowed, staring ponderously at the glass of beer in front of me. It's a pose I strike only three or four times a year, perhaps. It's the pose that asks the question 'What   is   this that I'm drinking?' I'm drinking a beer from   Torrside brewery   based in New Mills, Derbyshire. Officially opened last year and taking their name from the Torrs gorge running through the town, the brewery is the creation of three Manchester-circuit well known ex-homebrewers;   Chris Clough ,   Peter Sidwell   and   Nick Wright . At the moment, Torrside are making gentle waves in Manchester bars with their moreish range of pale ales, though they are yet to establish a core range. This is perhaps unsurprising with the trio of brewers still working full time jobs around their recent venture.   "Our initial plan was to brew a series of different beers over our first y...