Friends…

“Mmm, I’m telling you now, the greatest thing you ever can do now, is trade a smile with someone who’s blue now, it’s very easy just..”

I’d been looking forward this weekend so much. Thanks to Mrs H I had a rare Saturday off and I was heading for my first ever visit to the Independent Salford Beer Festival (ISBF), an event organised and frequented by really good friends.

It started with train delays, pretty much par for the course these days. Quickly topped off with a typical Phil dropping myself in the shit moment. After cows on the line, several train cancellations and the added bonus of Manchester Christmas Market travellers, the already overcrowded cattle wagon pulled into Stockport. As hordes more passengers crammed on and forced their way deep into the carriage, I looked right towards the building carnage and exclaimed “Jesus F@*king Christ”. At that exact moment emerging from my left I found myself face to face with a 6ft plus Krishna monk. Shaved head, tiny platted pony tail, painted face, fully robed up in glowing orange, the complete works. As I finished my three word rant, he stopped, turned, looked me straight in the eye and said quite loudly “Hare Krishna” and walked away without a glance back. I was like, no, sorry, not you, I didn’t mean it like….oh bugger!

Anyway, after fighting through Piccadilly and a short ride with a seemingly deaf taxi driver we made it.

I was met inside by organiser and good friend Jim Cullen, Jim doing his customary Wayne’s World style bow of adoration at my approach, as he often quotes my old blogging & and events as being at least part of his inspiration to do the same. If I have in any way shape or form had any part of what this bloke has achieved over the last five or six years I am very humbled, and it is I who’s not worthy my friend. Anyway, enough of that, it was around 11:50 the place was already buzzing, I was gagging for a beer and there was quite a bit of it about.

I headed straight for the cask area, absolutely over the moon to find that oh so rare cask of De Ranke XX Bitter hadn’t gone yet. It was my first choice and didn’t disappoint, richer and fuller than I’d tasted before with a more intensely bitter finish, delicious! I’m not sure if cask XX is a first, it’s definitely something I’ve never seen before and it’s a beer I love so go figure..

That in itself should give you an idea of the sort of beer list Jim pulls together for this festival. An eclectic mix of gems, from progressively traditional and new wave brewers, one-off collaborations and old favourites, I think it’s called putting the miles in. Cask being served alongside “evil keg filth” and being enjoyed in equal measure for what it is, bloody good beer and nobody dying because a rule had been broken, the way festivals should be.

At this point I should witter on about what beers I drank and what they tasted like but in truth everything was so good I lost track. The “Staggeringly Good” Ekuanodon was staggeringly good and a new brewery for me. “Five Towns & Rivington” Sweet Thing Imperial Fruited Ale was gorgeous, Toms Tap, Bexar County, North Riding all fab, in fact everything I had was excellent, apart from that one that everyone seemed to love except me and which shall remain nameless lol.

One thing that struck me about ISBF was the feel good vibes. From the moment I walked through the door to the second I wobbled out I felt happy, IT felt happy. Perhaps that’s because I was among so many friends, perhaps it was much more of an intimate venue than some of the more well-known festivals, my gut feeling though is that it is by design. The whole thing felt inclusive, there was something for everyone from your Grandad to the new breed Untappd “craft beer” ticker. It had warmth and not just from the non-pretentious hot-pot and chips, no doughnut burgers or deep-fried chaffinch livers in sight here. Simple but tasty honest beer and food served with a smile.

In all seriousness isn’t that what beer should be about?

At this point I’m going to put something out there, not only is this my favourite UK-based beer festival this year (I specify UK only because Borefts in the Netherlands is almost untouchable in my eyes), but if it happens in 2019, #ISBF6 will be first on my hit list for next year. Put it on yours too!

Before I close this out it’s worth saying that I almost never blog these days, since opening Otter’s Tears I generally feel gagged. I write something, think twice about it and don’t post it for fear of my views affecting the business. It’s hard enough without my gob making things tougher.. But here I felt compelled to do so albeit in completely different circumstances. I needed to say something to Jim and to all the folk who support him in making this wonderful thing happen and my rambling away on here seemed the most fitting tribute to folk who have done so much more. So thank you all, I had an absolute blast with old friends and new, who could ask for more.

“So anytime, somebody needs you, don’t let them down although it grieves you, some day you’ll need someone like they do, looking for what you new” Friends – Led Zeppelin

 

 

Macc To Basics

For the oh so many people that have been asking me about this, I can at last confirm that this years Macclesfield #Twissup is go!

As you can probably guess from the lack of updates, since we decided to kill the “Macc To The Future” idea through lack of interest (it seemed a great idea when we were drunk), things have been a little quiet..

I stand and solely take the blame for this, as for many reasons which are now thankfully all gone, I’d lost my drive to drive the event as much as I had in previous years. But thankfully due in truth to the support from you guys, and in particular I’d say Matt at the Treacle too for pushing me on, we going ahead as planned on Saturday 22nd August 2015.

What has made it trickier this time around is that there has been so much going on behind the scenes. Toby at RedWillow building a new brewery, Chris closing and reopening a new, larger and much improved Brewtique, and Bronwyn and Tim with their network of fine establishments. So we decided to take it back to basics (#MaccToBasics) and just go with a great social drinking theme. No big beer launches (unless of course anyone fancies it), just a great range of beer and food, a good crowd of friendly people having a beery bimble around the usual haunts.

So far we have the return of the amazing Great North (breakfast) Pie Co at The Treacle Tap as our starting point at 11AM. Where we will also have the pleasure of an informal Meet The Brewer session with Marble and I’m sure a fine selection of their beers tbc.

Toby is again opening up RedWillow brewery for us to try a few beers and take a look around the new brewery building so that you can see it as a work in progress.

Chris at The Wharf is escaping on holiday, but again is happy to welcome us and put on some “cellar specials” as well as the normal top range. He is also hoping that folk will take an excursion up to the new shop which now has beer on tap including a dedicated sour line. It’s probably not feasible for us all to go “en-masse”, but we should have plenty of time to visit as they are open all day till late.

Finishing off the day as last year in RedWillow Bar, which I am sure will have enough to keep you all happy on the cask, keg and gin front among other things. Molly and the team will I’m sure pull out the stops to make the days beer board as amazing as last year.

Full details to be confirmed for all venues as soon as I have them on the likely beer lists, venue timing itineraries, food etc. “So keep em peeled”. Hope to see you all soon.

Cheers

Building blocks #bCubed

Think of your favourite beer festival, all that lovely beer just waiting to be poured, supped and savoured.

Think of the vast selection, the nibbles, even better, the pulled pork oozing from golden brioche buns. That ‘oh so” DIRTY burger, or that pizza, so screamingly hot but so irresistible you are unable to wait long enough to tuck in. Think of that bloody annoying cheese coated blister just behind your teeth as a result..

Then think again, think of it like this, an empty blank canvas.
Or even like this, the lightbulb moment, “ooooh I now, lets create a mahoosive beer festival right in the heart of one of Britain’s biggest cities”..

I recently signed up to help out at Birmingham Beer Bash or #bCubed as it is known in the Twittersphere. Mixing serving days with drinking days was always going to be tricky (and expensive) for me as I was already committed to Thursday and Saturday afternoon sessions beer sampling.

So I decided to go and help set up on Tuesday, right at the beginning, but of course that wasn’t really the beginning was it?  The pictures above were taken at around 11am on Tuesday morning (the rest at various points throughout the day), the venue having being open from around 8:30.

There were a few folk milling about when I finally made an appearance mid-morning. Eager volunteers ticking the few beers that had already arrived off lists, some creating more lists, gathering pump-clips, trying to look busy. Others were out and about, gathering bar equipment, BARS, furniture, stuff! The bits and bobs that they just know is going to be required at some point.

A large van literally packed to the ceiling with “stuff” turns up, is quickly unloaded and contents shifted to the back of the still echoing hall ready for distribution when the time is right.

It is starting to get busier now, suddenly there are no folk “milling”, all are rushing about, lugging this, dragging that, pushing the other. The mornings relaxed start now starting to be a worryingly distant memory, are there enough of us, there is a lot to do..?
Then the “Beaver-bar” ships up, it’s big, it’s complete, it is beautifully crafted but also very heavy. Fortunately it is on a pallet.

Unfortunately, it won’t fit through the doors as it is too high, but with a bit of twisting, turning, leaning and strained cajoling, she’s in… More bars arrive, the room is staring to take shape, time to take stock, have a breather and a quick but well earned sandwich. In no time we are back at work, as fridges, cask stillages, chiller units, more bars, glasses and even MORE beer arrives and everything is checked off.“Almost” everything that was due to arrive today, and a bit more, has done and now we have to make sense of it all. Bars are moved into place and made ready to go, spaces are left for those due back to help tomorrow. Stillages are set up and cooling fitted in readiness for casks. Time to organise beer!

Casks are sorted and rolled around the room, a few laps apiece. Kegs are examined and placed in sections, lager, sours, international and everything else, then sifted and dragged into some sort of alphabetical order in readiness for the Wednesday crew. Things are starting to get heavy, as are my aching feet.

A pensive bar manager, what have I forgot?

Before we leave though, those casks need racking. Did I mention the heavy things and my aching feet? Suddenly it’s almost 7PM and time for another breather as we wait for that one last elusive delivery, stuck somewhere in Birmingham traffic. Time for a beer or two from the fridge, handily placed there earlier by Mr Shipman, who’s brainchild this all is. No doubt from previous experiences knowing this would be required.  

At last, at 7:30PM the day is done and we trundle wearily off to the Craven Arms for several glasses of well earned liquid refreshment.

Later, as I sat on the train home, completely knackered, I couldn’t stop thinking about the organised chaos I’d witnessed. I say chaos, but what I mean is, it was manic, it has to be, but everything had a place, each arrival was expected but also beyond control.

I also thought about me, I was tired yes, but I was a tiny cog in a massive wheel, I did one day. “ONE DAY”! Some of the volunteers were doing three to five, the Beer Bash crew will be doing it even longer as it all has to be taken down again and some of them have been working on this for a full year. All this doesn’t organise itself.

The festival of course was stunning as usual, the venue is great, the beer was great, the people are great, it was you guessed it GREAT! (Is this starting to grate?)

You can read a little more about how it all went here, via Simon at CAMRGB.

The next time you arrive at your favourite festival though, be that bCubed, Indy Man Beer Con, Craft Beer Rising, Leeds, Liverpool, GBBF, you name it, think about that beer lined room you rush eagerly into, beer list clutched excitedly in hand. Think about that room being completely empty, your footsteps echoing back at you as if in an empty church. Think about all the hard work that went into filling it up and the wonderful people like those behind Birmingham Beer Bash. Then rush to the bar and fill your boots!

A massive thanks to Dave and all the bCubed crew for all their hard work in making this wonderful beery extravaganza happen, you guys rock!