Twissup Manchester/Huddersfield

A 'Twissup' for the uninitiated is the name that was devised to describe a piss up organised by and involving the people who blog, write, sell and above all use Twitter to network and discuss all things beer. The inaugural Twissup was held in Sheffield in January 2010 (which I attended), the next one was in Burton on Trent in May 2010 (which I didn't) and Saturdays venue was to be split between the beery delights of Manchester and my home town of Huddersfield.

As I only had to travel from Huddersfield no early starts were necessary and I rolled up to Huddersfield station at about 10:15am to meet Matt and Mark from Hawkshead and James and Andy from Summer Wine breweries. The train journey passed quickly and after a rendezvous with the other Twissup'ers at the front of Piccadilly station, we were guided by Dom (one of the brewers at Marble) on to the first destination of the day, an eagerly awaited visit to the Marble brewery.

I've made no secret of my love of this brewery and its beers, since my first sip of PINT a few years back I've been hooked on their aggressively hopped beers and contemporary branding. The breweries reputation has been growing quickly in recent years, with their beers often discussed at length online and well deserved acclaim coming from further and further afield.

The tour started with us being handed a glass of Dobber, quite a strong beer to start an all day session (5.9%) but one of my favourites so I wasn't going to complain. The group was split up into manageable portions and we were each given a 15 minute talk through the processes and intricacies involved in producing Marbles beers. The Marble brewers James, Dom and Colin were great hosts, they always give an impression of self deprication and of being slightly overawed at the praise heaped on their beers, praise which to me at least is more than justified.

The brewers then led us 100yds up the road to the Marble Arch, the brewery tap which also used to house the original brewery in its depths somewhere. The Twissup is all about socialising and putting a face to a name while enjoying great beer, and there can't be many better pubs in the country to do that in than the Marble Arch. The pub is a beautiful grade 2 city centre Victorian building replete with sloping tiled floors and and mosaic decoration. My first pints were W90 followed by Bitter, both were bitter, fragrant, hoppy and perfect lubrication for the socialising which was in full swing now.

As the Twissup gained momentum we all pushed on to the Angel just down the road where the drinks of choice were Pictish Centenial (another of my favourite breweries) and Harviestoun Ola Dubh (stupidly strong for 1pm drinking). I can remember very little about what I talked to people about but the great thing about Twissup is that you know the people there even if you don't, and there is always another conversation to be had often inevitably about everyones shared passion.

Next stop was Bar Fringe where I have to admit I can't remember what I drank, or talked about although I did talk to Cooking Lager author of the very funny eponymous anti-beer blog, and thoroughly nice bloke. Bar fringe seemed a nice place with a decent selection and one I'll no doubt re-visit. It was getting to around 4pm by this time and time for the group to press on for the Huddersfield leg of the day. After a brief stop at the Staleybridge buffet bar for halves of porter and bowls of black peas we were on our way to my home town of Huddersfield.

Huddersfield has loads to offer beer wise and it was a bit of a shame that by this time there was no way we were going to fit in more than one or two pubs. As it was en-route we called in first to the Kings Head for pints of heavily sparkled perfectly conditioned beers. This pub is a regular haunt for me, either pre-match or first stop on a night out and I have honestly never had a pint in there that wasn't served in perfect condition. The pub itself isn't the most salubrious but the beer more than makes up for it. I would definitely recommend stopping in there for a pint of something light and hoppy (as the beers there generally are).

As I mentioned before I would really liked to have taken everyone to a few more Huddersfield pubs, particularly The Sportsman, The Star and The Rat and Ratchett. All places deserved of a beer lovers time, but as with the Marble Arch in Manchester, the main attraction on this leg of the Twissup was The Grove at Springwood.

The Grove is a beer lovers paradise. 18 hand pulls, 11 draught fonts and over 230 bottled beers. The pub has permanent hand pulls for some of the UK's best breweries including, Thornbridge, Marble, BrewDog, Gadds, Fullers and Dark Star. I've been spending more and more time in this pub in the last 6months and am always very happy to be spoiled for choice beer wise. I have to be honest and say I used to have a bit of an issue with this pub largely around the fact that they didn't use sparklers even though the pub is slap bang in the middle of northern sparkler country. I do think though that the quality of the beer at The Grove has really improved in the last 12 months and great credit has to be given to Ian, Chloe, Brian and the rest of the team at The Grove for attracting beer lovers from far and wide with their excellent selection of beers.

The Grove had promised to look after us at Twissup and we weren't let down, Thornbridge Halcyon, Moor JJJ, De Molen Blood, Sweat and Tears Bruichladdich cask and Stone Levitation were just four of the beers amongst loads of others I can't remember. It was a great destination and final pub stop for Twissup, and everyone got stuck into the beers with varying degrees of commitment and gusto, (bearing in mind we had been going for around 7 hours). Personally by this point I was doing my best to stay on sessionable beer with a view to not disgracing myself on home ground but remember particularly enjoying the Stone Levitation and Jever pilsner.

As the evening moved on everyone's thoughts turned to food and I was happy to send an advance group a few hundred yards to the excellent Kabana in Trinity Street for their famous BBQ platters which we refer endearingly to as "bin lids" (see the picture for why). This is a great Indian restaurant for hungry drunk people, the food is served without cutlery in a very communal way (basically everyone dives in) which really suited the atmosphere of Twissup and was a great end to the day.

After settling the bill and leaving a few coats we made our way back for a swift nightcap at the Kings Head before people caught there Trains on to where they were staying or back home. I'd had a great day, which again enforced my positive opinions on the people who surround and are part of the beer trade. I'd been pretty apprehensive on attending the first Twissup in Sheffield in January, but just 9 months later many of the people I'd met then are starting to feel like old friends.

Big thanks go to Andy Mogg (beerreviews) and Mark Dredge (pencil&spoon) for doing the majority of the organising for this Twissup, and also Dom (& Janine), James and Colin for the Marble tour and Ian, Chloe, Brian and Staff at the Grove for making us feel so welcome. Oh and of course the Kabana for yet again staining my fingers yellow for the next 24 hours.

I also really enjoyed chatting with - Matt and Mark from Hawkshead, James and Andy from Summer Wine, Rob and Matt from Hopzine, Martin, Steven from Aletalk, Zak Avery, Glynn from the Rake, Kelly (and Cat) and Caolan from Thornbridge, Yan from The Sheffield Tap, Baron Orm, Mark from Realalereviews, Mark beerbirrabier, Leigh Goodstuff, Chris McBride, Edwards80, Dave and Anne from Hardknott Brewery, Cooking Lager, Tandleman, Matt and Karen from The Evening Star and anyone else I missed. Roll on the next one! (apologies for only taking 1 picture on the actual day).

You can buy Marbles excellent range of beers here. And like The Groves excellent Facebook page here.

Guest Blog #5 - Graeme Hilton on Autumn 52wbc

I started my last blog entry with a little explanation of how great it is to get free beer, especially beer of this quality. The next step on from receiving beer is giving beer, which is what I was doing last weekend at the inaugural Woolston Beer Festival in Southampton. I was volunteering behind the bar on Friday evenings's sellout session. There was one customer who professed he was a lager drinker and hadn't a clue what to ask for. Great! A chance to demonstrate to someone what good beer is all about! He was duly given a couple of tasters before he decided on a Barbury Castle from Three Castles Brewery . This is a light, hoppy, easy drinking pale ale. Excellent starter at 3.9%. I had hoped the customer would return and say "That was fantastic, what else can I try?", but instead he said "That was fantastic! I'll have a pint of that." He returned to the bar five times and each time had the same beer. Now, I can't criticise because he was drinking and enjoying cask ale instead of his usual Fosters, but I can't help feeling he was missing out on tasting any of the other twenty real ales, three ciders and a perry that were on offer. That's enough from the soap box, on with the beer-tasting!

These five beers are in the mid-range of the autumn selection, going from Summer Ale through Golden Ale to Bitter. These are all slightly darker than the previous ones I've reviewed here.


1. Hawkshead Lakeland Gold
Even while pouring you can smell the enormous fruitiness of this 4.4% golden ale. It starts with a sweetness that soon gives way to a mellow bitterness. You can detect that these are the same hops as used in the Saltaire Cascade as it has the same zesty freshness combined with the fruits.


2. Crouch Vale Brewers Gold
This pours an extremely pale golden colour. The aroma reminds me of the Williams Bros. Good Times. The flavour starts very light with a slight sweetness going on to a gentle bitterness, but tempered by some tropical fruits. An extremely well balanced beer, as noticed by the judges of the Supreme Champion Beer of Britain competition in 2005 and 2006. As with the Lakeland Gold, this is one you won't get tired of.


3. Inveralmond Ossian
The third Scottish brewery that I've tasted in this selection, and probably the least well known of the three. Which is a shame because they produce some excellent ales. Ossian gives off a powerful aroma while you're pouring. On the first sip you notice there's a slight rawness to the flavour which I think comes from the wheat that's included in this recipe. The initial malty sweetness is carried away by a citrus bitterness that also clears quickly. Very drinkable.


4. Marble Manchester Bitter
A small brewery in Manchester which is making some fantastic beers. Manchester Bitter is a light golden colour that pours with a loose head which quickly dissipates. The aroma is chock full of grapefruit. I could happily sit all night just sniffing this, but I suppose I'd better taste it for you. As expected, grapefruits, but I also detect a hint of vanilla which is pleasantly surprising. As this is a bitter, you'd expect it to be, well, bitter, but I didn't think it was overwhelming so, unlike the next beer.


5. Mallinsons Station Best Bitter
This is a bottle-conditioned beer so be careful pouring it, and leave the last 1/2 inch or so in the bottle. Even so, so of the sediment escaped into my glass which is why the picture shows a slightly cloudy pint. With no head, and a cloudy appearance I was a bit worried about this beer. However, it smells and tastes of nothing but citrus. It's not as sweet as grapefruit, but definitely has lemons, possibly limes. At first I thought it was too much tartness, but as the level in the glass went down so did my worries. Stick it out, it's worth it.

Next time I'll have the last four beers from the case, the darker, more autumnal end of the spectrum.

Thanks again to Graeme for a great review, Graeme's thoughts on the remaining beers in the case coming soon!

You can sign up to the 52 Week Beer club here. This selection is also available as an individual mixed case here.

Thornbridge Kipling

This is the fourth bottle to get the new Thornbridge 'treatment', that is the fourth to be prepared using their new bottling procedure and branding, and as no-one seems to have reviewed it yet as far as i know, I'm going to have a bash.

I was probably more excited by the news of the new bottled Kipling than any of the previous newly bottled Thornbridge beers, as its been a favourite of mine since I first tasted it. If you don't know, Thornbridge Kipling is a pale ale (they label it with the appealing title.. "South Pacific Pale Ale") which uses the New Zealand hop Nelson Sauvin . This is a hop that has created a big stir in the UK brewing scene in recent years, and one which I really latched on to.

The first time I tasted a beer which used this hop (Marble's Pint) I was amazed. This hop transforms beer into another realm altogether. The hop imparts an incredible tropical fruit flavour to beer, a fruit juice character which is really surprising and very moreish. Nelson Sauvin judging on the beers I've had seems to work especially well when used as a late and dry hop, ie, used at the last minute (as you might do with Coriander in a curry) to let the flavours and particularly the aromas really sing.

Anyway on to the tasting...

Cap Off, and straight away I get the tropical aromas, Passionfruit and Pineapple, candied sweets. The beer pours a beautiful pale golden colour as you might expect. There's a nice head, but not too much (this is a fairly new bottle so carbonation will probably increase with bottle age).



Taste, you drink beers like this as much with your nose as your mouth, you get the aroma a split second before the beer hits your mouth and the same aromas explode on your tongue, bringing through more assertive bitter fruits now, grapefruit, and kiwi maybe.. Then the malt comes, sweet caramel, enough to let the hops do their thing but no more.

Aftertaste, the malt dissolves into superb biting hop bitterness, which in turn is washed away by the carbonation which is perfect. Not biting but enough to cleanse the pallet and make you want to taste again.

This really is exceptional beer, Jaipur has taken more plaudits generally and deservedly so (although Kipling has taken its fair share of Gold Medals including most recently at the Nottingham beer festival), but Kipling has always been my favourite of the Thornbidge beers, most likely born out of my love of Nelson Sauvin. I keep toying with the idea that I'm tired of its overtly fruity 'in your face charachter' it is brash in some ways, maybe a bit obvious? but its so moreish and flavourseome and it continues to appear in all my favourite beers... Pint, Dobber, Kipling... If you haven't familiarised yourself with Kipling or Nelson Sauvin, I envy you... check it out... ale will never be the same!

You can buy Thornbridge Kipling here and the rest of Thornbridge's fantastic beers here...

Guest Blog #4 - Graeme Hilton on Autumn 52wbc

When Richard asked if anyone would like to review the 52 week beer club case I jumped at the chance to get some free beer! As Cooking Lager so eloquently put it: "Free beer is, I have decided, one of my favourite things in life. [...] People that send you free beer are clearly among the finest examples of humanity on the planet. If there is a heaven, they have their place, secured by the happiness they have created."

Having already sampled a few of these beers before, I was keen to try and capture their flavours on paper. I've divided the Autumn case into three instalments and the first includes the four hoppiest, lightest beers. Hopefully we'll have at least a couple of sunny days to enjoy these!

1. Saltaire Cascade
Cascade by name, cascade by nature. This pale golden ale is bursting with fresh zesty flavours. Best drunk slightly chilled - say 20 minutes in the fridge. The citrus freshness is nicely backed up by a slight sweetness from the malt. And at 4.8% it's a beer you could drink several of in a night!

2.Williams Bros Good Times
I don't know where to start on this beer. Pour carefully and then take a long deep sniff at the glass. Now, do the same again. I know! Good isn't it! The meadowsweet and elderflowers really come through on the nose, but not so much on the palate where the freshness of the hops dominates. There are also oats in this beer which give it a slightly silky mouth feel. Dangerously drinkable.

3. Thornbridge Jaipur
This modern classic starts with a sweetness that fills the mouth, but it swiftly gives way to tropical fruits and then a huge,almost overpowering bitterness which washes through the sweetness. It's difficult to emphasise just how well balanced this IPA is. The huge bitterness might be too much if it wasn't tamed by the juicy tropical fruits. Truly excellent.

4. Brewdog Punk IPA
Apparently based on the same recipe as the Thornbridge Jaipur this 6.0% IPA takes it up a notch. Bursting with huge tropical fruits and a decent backbone of malt this is a beer I keep coming back to. One thing, and as with all highly hopped beers,I would drink this young, and often.

Thanks Graeme! we'll have more of Graeme's thoughts on the current case soon.

You can sign up to the 52 Week Beer club here. This selection is also available as an individual mixed case here.