Beer Compurgation

I've said before, and I'll start this particular post in the same vein that I rarely do individual beer reviews. They won’t happen unless a beer is particularly worth writing about or unless it serves some higher discussion purpose.   So I suppose the reason I am happy to break this for Magic Rock’s Strongman was based on this post I published after the crazy reaction to the release of Un-Human Cannonball from the same brewery. The hype, furore and general geekiness left me in a rather disillusioned state about this beer passion of mine. I no longer knew where the line between actual fan and fanboy existed. I had been alarmed to see tweeters and bloggers I respected caught up in the general hype. Yet, I could not deny, there was an element of jealousy to my dismay. I completely missed out altogether on Un-Human Cannonball and to this day still have no idea what it tastes like.   But, I was much more impressed with the release of Magic Rock’s Barrel Ag...

It’s a well-known fact that people who drink Real Ale are superior to those who don’t. (People who drink “craft” beer are in a different stratosphere altogether.) But all groups and members of society need an arch-nemesis, a rival, an enemy to counter their beliefs and fight for justice. Sonic has Robotnik. Professor Layton has Don Paolo. Krill have whales. And we Real Ale drinkers have lager louts; fiends who take it upon themselves to disturb and disrupt our noble way of life. The lager disease has never been more apparent than on one Trans-pennine Real Ale Trail – yes, I am returning to this topic once more. I covered it last summer after a rather ridiculous amount of attention. I reviewed it again this May, after partaking in the fiendish event. And now I draw to it a final time to bring joyous tidings: the Enemy has been defeated. There has been an on-going war for at least three years on the militant train line between Stalybridge and Batley. Here the honourable and ...

With all great loves and passions sews a degree of despise, resentment and pessimism. At some point, very few regular tweeters or bloggers have avoided the trap of just being a big ol’ grump. We’ve moaned. We’ve put down everything with a tiresome inevitability. “This beer is OK, but everything about the industry right now is rubbish.” I hate to return to that most famous of divisive breweries, which I have both defended and abused in equal measure. But my epiphany of pointless acrimony happened in BrewDog Manchester via that little appreciated piece of beer beauty – the beer mat. It was a joyous day a couple of weeks ago when I, along with two friends, last visited BrewDog Manchester. I wanted to drop in to try a couple of the guests, and also two of their new brews, Electric India and #mashtag . Whilst sampling a couple of these brews, conversation turned to BrewDog as a company. I was filling my friend in on the recent Equity for Punks launch and the blog post from AllG...

It was never my intent to use this blog as a stage for personal vents on alcoholism, but after writing about a man I know, Steve (not his real name,) earlier this year, I feel compelled to add to the story once more. It became apparent in a conversation today, after The S*n’s ridiculous campaign begging people to not serve Paul Gascoigne a drink after his most recent, sad relapse. What followed on Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 show was a stranger discussion in to whether it should be made illegal for people to buy known alcoholics drinks or for bartenders to sell drink to known alcoholics. Whilst the sentiment seemed reasonable, we all know such laws would be impossible to police and would never be realistically practical. What finally struck a chord with me though was one caller, a bartender by trade, who said that it was not her responsibility but “the responsibility of Gazza’s, or any other alcoholic’s, friends and family to stop them drinking.” Some people truly have no idea. Th...

Around a month ago I visited HulaTiki Lounge in Manchester’s Northern Quarter for the first time. I’d wanted to visit for a while, hearing my friend talk about all the specialist rums after he’d done the Rum Trail. But too often I was swayed into visiting the likes of the nearby Common and Port Street Beer House for some decent beer instead. Also the place seems continuously busy and popular, which isn’t a bad thing, though the queue is exhausting. Being the Northern Quarter they hate men. Always take a lady on your night out to the NQ. If you are 3+ males, you are not going anywhere. I’m not a huge spirits drinker. I’ve long wanted to enjoy whiskey and scotch, hoping some dormant adult admiration for the drink will arouse, especially as everything peaty or smoked appeals, but I just have a childlike palate. What I can appreciate is decent rum, neat and over plenty of ice. I’m not an expert on this spirit though. I am, however, more partial to a spiced rum. Perhaps it’s my sweet...

Though I have two favourite websites to purchase beer from – Beers of Europe and Beer Ritz – I am always willing to try other companies if the choice excites me. After getting excited about the choice on Beer Merchants, only to find they have nothing in stock, I stumbled across Alesela via reading somebody’s blog (that I have since forgotten whose, apologies.)   I was impressed with the offerings of predominantly Scottish brewers, many of whom I was unaccustomed with, and decided to place an order. Many of these Scottish Breweries unfamiliar to me here are brewing beers in the styles favoured presently; Black IPA’s and such forth being my meaning here. Many of the product descriptions seemed to refer to American hops and big, aromatic flavours. So I tried to purchase a range that would give me good judgement on these new breweries. I purchased at least two beers from most of them. Below is a quick summary of one of the beers tasted from the majority of the new breweries t...

I feel I have done a disservice to a good old friend of mine and it would be prudent to put that right when possible. You see, I recently wrote a blog post praising the opening of Beermoth in Manchester, I even wrote an e-mail to Beers of Europe giving them praise after they did me a particular favour. But I have neglected to give the required veneration to one particular shop that I probably frequent for beer more than any other. For Christmas 2011 my Father bought me a bottle of Millstone Tiger Rut. This in itself may seem unimpressive to you, despite my praise of Millstone’s beers in various blogposts , however the significance of this purchase was not lost on me. Where the hell did he find it? Although Millstone are the most local of local breweries to me, I had never seen them in bottles. Mossley Organics he said he had found it and vowed we’d go up together soon. Now, Mossley Organic Shop is less than 3 miles away from my house but, not visiting the town centre often ...