Beer Compurgation

 Originally written and posted for the M CR Beer Week blog here. Given the final decision, it may come as a surprise to most that I truly thought long and hard about my choice for favourite pub in the (Greater) Manchester area. We are blessed with many marvellous pubs for a variety of reasons; be it heritage, quality of beer, atmosphere or just the clientele. Yet I can't deny that I was only reaching and searching for anything beyond the obvious choice all who know me would well expect me to choose - because, for me, there is no greater Manchester pub than Stalybridge Buffet Bar. If there are the predictable groans and eye-rolls concerning my choice then allow me to talk of the pub away from my own personal affection as to why it deserves the title, including a little history. Stalybridge Buffet Bar is housed on the current Platform four of the busy Stalybridge Railway station. The station itself opened in 1849 as part of a link between Sheffield and Lincolnshire. I...

This post is quite personal and my apologies for that. Equating everything into beer and written word is clearly my coping device.   It was only last weekend when a friend of mine asked me where to go in Liverpool for beer and I extolled the virtues of the Philharmonic Dining Rooms . I said how sitting with a pint in either the Brahms or Liszts rooms is the most satisfying pub experience in the country. I will make a point of visiting the pub every time I come to Liverpool (drinking) and I’ve even dragged friends and girlfriends with me. But the very first time I was taken to the Philharmonic was by my mother and my Nanna. I can’t remember the exact year but I’m guessing it was either ’07 or ’08. My Nanna was already in her late 80’s by then and it was possibly the last time I ever went anywhere with her where she seemed perfectly mobile and capable. We did a mini pub crawl that day (entirely their idea) – sitting earlier in the War Office room at Ye Cracke before ...

Witnessing the phenomenon of Britain's most famous new wave brewery alongside their people on AGM weekend The sound check has occurred, the stands are filled and the final few who grabbed a last minute beer are taking their floor seats. The background music stops, the light dims and an expectant whooping and cheering from the crowd rises. A pantomime horse jounces onto the stage before separating to allow the fans a glimpse at their band members. They are   James Watt   and   Martin Dickie   performing a routine to a few thousand people, mostly adoring fans. On stage they are comfortable; rebounding off each other like Ant and Dec or   Barry and Paul . The performance's mix between the usual self-fellatio and less familiar self-deprecation draws plenty of laughs and cheers from the crowd. There is the feel of camaraderie between the pair and the easy taunting of each other that has come with years of friendship. Rewind 24 hours and the pai...

Is Family Friendly "Craft" any different from, say, Wetherspoons? This is not an angry rant, nor an aggressive opinion piece. It is merely a recent ponder that came to the forefront during an inaugural visit to Hawkshead Brewery Beer Hall over the weekend.  Let us make it clear, I really enjoyed Hawkshead Beer Hall. In the lovely Cumbrian village of Staveley, it's set across two floors with (what would be) ample seating, a long bar, huge windows and a terrific number of Hawkshead Brewery pumps. Large sections of the brewery itself are visible and free to walk around via viewing platforms. Even free brewery tours are announced every now and then across the Hall to anybody who'd like one. We stayed for hours and I consider it a beer-must-visit, especially for those in North-West England.  It should also be noted that our visit was on Easter Saturday, which could well be a huge factor in the context of this post. There will have been more families ou...

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...

Yesterday marked the third anniversary of a blog post written in a tongue-in-cheek manner about Brewdog. I noticed this because for three solid years that post has been amongst my top 5 most read posts per mont h. Much has changed and developed in three years, especially for the Scottish brewery. I don't necessarily still agree with a ll the points I made in that post; I certainly do not agree with the God awful grammar used in the post's title and throughout. Still, I'm always surprised it's so heavily viewed regularly and consistently this number of years on.  I wouldn't have returned to such a well documented and overly endorsed subject as Brewdog had it not been for a heated discussion that happened in a pub over the weekend that led to me being verbally threatened. I wrote that original post because I was tired of so many Twitter characters and Blog words being used on the damnation of this particular brewery's nature and mission statement. Pe...