Beer Compurgation

Manchester doing as Manchester does. It’s over and the recovery was a slow process. The efforts were monumental and the attendances were decent. That was   Manchester Beer Week   – in its inaugural 2016 year. It was a week of such beerness that even finding the time to write about it needed to be delayed. I needed a recovery period to find normality again; a sentiment shared by the conductor of this fantastic occasion when I saw him a fortnight ago - acclaimed beer writer   Connor Murphy . It seems so much longer than a month ago but I am still determined to exalt the praises of one of the Manchester Beer Scene's finest hours. There was so much packed in to the week that I did want to produce a post talking about My Manchester Beer Week –   along the lines of this great post by half of my beer week soul mate at Yes! Ale  (where you may also see my hand holding a Biere De Garde) -    and after attending nine straight days worth of ...

What was in the Pulp Fiction briefcase?  Credit http://gapingvoid.com/blog/ Parental Advisory: Explicit Content I hate giving myself the title of "blogger" when somebody asks me what my involvement with beer is. The connotations are so hideously disparaged that it isn’t worth the hassle. The sceptical looks. The scornful faces when they haven’t heard of your blog. That odd head-to-toe sizing up of you people do when you know they’re thinking  “You? Really? What’s so special about you?”  It’s a hobby; one that I love. I write about what I enjoy. I write when I feel like writing about items that I want to write about. Often I don’t post anything for weeks as life and love are more important. This isn’t my job. If people ask me what I do to be involved in beer I’ll mention the blogging. It’s true. It is the reason I get invited to lots of beer events I suppose. But there’s no doubting that people consider the terms  blogger  and  freelo...

 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 ...