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.