Win Free Jaipur for a Year... The Winner!

We had a fantastic response to our competition to win free Jaipur for a year, click the video below to see who won! (apologies for the film quality, we will invest in a better camera once we've sold some more beer).

Win Free Jaipur For A Year from myBrewerytap on Vimeo.

Don't forget you can still get 15% off a case of Jaipur by using the discount code GBBFJAIPUR when purchasing a case of Jaipur here...

Saltaire Brewery with Oz and Hugh...

I don't need much of an excuse to visit a brewery and so when Tony Gartland of Saltaire Brewery invited me along to a special event at his brewery I wasn't about to say no. The brewery has been gaining a reputation and awards in the last few years for its flavourful beers and this had obviously been noticed by Oz Clarke (or his programmes production crew) as they were due to film a section for his new "Oz and Hugh Drink To.." series.

As I wrote about a couple of months ago here, Saltaire Brewery regularly opens its doors for its "beer club" where local beer lovers come to enjoy the Saltaire brews from the source. The invite I received from Tony said this was to be a special "beer club" for invitees only, there would be a free bar and we were needed to help participate in tasting some beers that Oz Clarke and Hugh Dennis had brewed and give our verdict.

I arrived on Wednesday afternoon just after 4pm and met Rob from Hopzine and his wife and about 50 other people milling around outside. We weren't allowed in the brewery yet as they were filming something or other, but the Saltaire staff were mingling taking drinks orders.

After 10 minutes or so we were ushered inside to participate in the filming. After a brief run down from the director on what was going to happen, Oz and Hugh emerged with trays full of sample glasses of the 'beers' they'd made. One was supposed to be a stout type "beer" and one a weird fruit "beer". As far as I can work out they'd both been given a table full of ingredients and been allowed to do what they want with little or no guidance, and it showed.. I wasn't really expecting them to be good, but they were both comically, un-drinkably bad. The 'stout' had a disturbingly sweet, cloying hot chocolate flavour which wasn't pleasant at all, (presumably because one of them had gone mental with the Triple Chocoholic ingredients). The 'fruit beer' was thinner and tasted strongly of cherries but not in a nice way. It reminded me of Rinstead pastils or warm dentists mouthwash. Not good.

Oz and Hugh then passed through the crowd filming reaction to their beers and chatting with the audience. We didn't get filmed but managed to grab Oz for a chat and a quick picture. I don't know how much beer he'd had but he came across well and was happy to chat for a while admitting that neither beer was up to much. I'm not sure how long they'd been filming for but both of them looked pretty bleary eyed to me.

After voting on our favourite of the two offerings the results were read out and the last section filmed. We then headed upstairs to taste some Elderflower Blonde, and the aforementioned Triple Chocoholic , which as expected were tasting great, especially after what we'd just tasted. I left soon after, conscious of the fact that I was in a brewery with a free bar on a school night.

If you want to know which 'beer' won watch out for the next series of Oz and Hugh Drink to.. I'm not sure when its on but I'd expect around Christmas time.

You can buy Saltaire Brewery beers here.

Guest Blog #3 - Adam Bruderer on Summer 52wbc

The third part of guest blogger Adam Bruderer's review of our current 52 week beer club case...

9. Oakleaf Brewery Co Hole hearted – A surprisingly powerful golden ale. Hints of floral aromas and a strong after taste. (3.5/5)

10 Felinfoel Brewery Stout – Ah, stout! I’ve been looking forward to this one. A typically rich full bodied stout. A thick creamy head, smooth and malty. Very drinkable (3.5/5)

11. Belvoir Brewery Melton Red. Full flavoured with bitter undertones, typical of a red beer along with a strong aftertaste. One to be drank slowly and savoured (3/5)

12. Atlantic Brewery Gold is described as an organic pale ale spiced with ginger. So here was an opportunity to do a taste test and compare it with Williams Brothers Alcoholic Ginger Beer. The ginger flavours of the Atlantic Gold were much more subtle. Not the ginger-y kick of the Williams Bros beer but refreshing none the less. (3.5/5)

13. Finally Acorn Brewery Conquest. As a fan of Acorn beers and IPAs, I left this one until last and it did not disappoint. This golden IPA is full of hoppy goodness and an enjoyable bitter aftertaste (4/5)

Well, that brings to an end my first stint of beer blogging. I hope I have done all the beers justice. Many thanks for myBrewerytap.com for supplying the beers and if anyone would like me to review any of their beers, please contact me!

Thanks Adam. More un-biased guest reviews of our cases soon! You can sign up for the 52wbc here, or buy the mixed case with the same contents here.

Pieminister Pies

We've recently started listing pies from Pieminister for sale on the site. As a big fan of pies in general (who isn't), I thought I'd test them myself (I was also keen to see how they'd stand up to delivery) and so put in an order.

I hadn't heard of the pies myself prior to us listing them but was assured on Twitter and Facebook of their quality and reputation, after checking out the different pies on offer my mouth was literally watering as I typed the ingredients when adding them to our site.

Pieminister was started in 2002 by Jon Simon and Tristan Hogg with the intention of offering the British public a true gourmet pie experience. Make no mistake these are no ordinary pies, ingredients including, goats cheese, chorizo, olives and vermouth (not in the same pie) make these very much 'gastro' pies. These are pies to be made a proper meal of rather than shoved down at the footie with a Bovril chaser.

I decided to order the 'Mixed Pieminister Box' of 12 pies and arranged for them to be delivered to our holiday address. The pies arrived within a couple of days of ordering and were packed extremely well. Pieminister has developed a bespoke box for transit in order to make sure the pies arrive in top condition. They were individually boxed then placed within a plastic bag which sat inside the outer which was also polystyrene lined to maintain freshness. There was also sheet of Pieminister plastic ice cubes within the box which although no longer ice had clearly kept the box nice and cool on its journey.

The pie that appealed to me most was the 'Matador Pie' made with 'Free range beef steak, chorizo, olives, tomato, sherry and butter beans'. I was a little confused initially as to whether I could just start chomping on it as I would do with a butcher bought pie, but the instructions on the side seemed to suggest it needed cooking (25mins) so I whacked the oven on and got cooking.

On to the pie... mmmmm I wasnt dissapointed , the first thing I noticed was the quality of the ingredients, the beef was succulent and tasty, the chorizo juicy and the olives soft and tender. The pastry was also spot on, dense but not greasy and a perfect contrast to the juicy contents of the pie. The Matador as you might expect with the herbs and sherry had a grown up Mediterranean flavour so not perhaps what the kids are going to like but perfect for a posh pie. The only criticism I could level at this pie was that it the Chorizo could have perhaps had more of a spicy chilli kick. This is possibly just my Chilli damaged taste buds though and is easily rectified with a splash of whichever is your chilli sauce of choice.

So there you have it, one pie in and I'm impressed. Obviously at £45/12 (+£5.99 p&p) these are not a flippant purchase. However they do apparently freeze very well and basically you then have 12 restaurant quality pies in the freezer at less than £4 each, which is pretty good all things considered. Ideally you'd probably want to add some chips or some special peas or beans (thanks Beer Reviews Andy) but I enjoyed the pie straight up, and it sustained me for a 20 mile bike ride an hour or so later...

You can see the full range of mixed Pieminister boxes we're offering here.

Hawkshead Summer Beer Festival

Driving towards Windermere last Monday at the start of our summer Lakes holiday I noticed a sign advertising Hawksheads Summer beer festival. After excitedly checking my calendar I was very happy to realise that the festival was the following weekend.

As I've mentioned in previous blogs I'm a big fan of Hawksheads beers but our regular visits up here never seem to coincide with their festivals. A quick check of the beer list for the festival and I was even more excited, the list was a who's who of the best of the UK beer scene with only a few notable omissions (no Marble for example), there was however going to be beers from Thornbridge, Dark Star, Brewdog, Saltaire and Highland Brewing Co. amongst others.

After much pleading and bartering of family duties, I finally managed to get to the festival on Saturday afternoon ready to get stuck into some quality beers. Myself and roped in family friend Dan (a beer festival novice) headed over to Staveley around 4pm. Unfortunately on arrival I realised that Saturday afternoon was too late as many of the beers I'd been looking forward to had already run off.

The festival had been running since Thursday and I guess had been very popular everyday. This scenario is common of many beer festivals these days and obviously a sign of their growing popularity. I appreciate it must be difficult and this isn't a criticism aimed particularly at Hawkshead but I do wish festivals would plan to have enough beer for the Saturday night which traditionally is when the main entertainment is planned and should be there busiest night.

To be honest I was half expecting this to be the case as its the same at a lot of the other festivals I've been to recently, unfortunately I wasn't able to get there any earlier on this occasion.

Luckily there was still a number of beers available including one of my favourite beers Thornbridge Kipling and a full compliment of Hawksheads range: Lakeland Gold, Red, Bitter, Brodies Prime, Organic Stout and Damson Porter. We also tried tasty beers from RCH, Greenmill and Purity Brewing. To be honest I could quite happily spend all my Saturday nights at Hawksheads beer hall regardless of there being a beer festival, so I wasn't too upset.

I also remembered that Matt Clarke, Hawkshead brewer had told me to come and say hello if I made it to the festival. A member of staff located Matt; and after brief introductions Dan and I were soon being treated to a behind the scenes tour of the Hawkshead operation. These are exciting times for Hawkshead, since there beginnings in 2002 they've expanded rapidly and are currently in the process of creating a new modern visitor centre/bar in adjoining buildings at the Mill Yard Staveley.

The brewery currently a 30 bbl set up was full of beautiful sparkling German stainless steel vessels, including some large new fermenters waiting to be enclosed behind glass in the new brewery tap. I'm sure I'm not alone in loving being shown round breweries, Its great to see behind the scenes especially when the brewery in question is one of your favourites.

Inevitably there is also usually some special or at least very fresh beer involved in brewery tours and at this point we were treated to a taste of a special one-off brew that Matt has devised which was just in the process of conditioning. Matt (like Kelly Ryan of Thornbridge) is from New Zealand originally and the beer: "Captain Cooker Manuka Beer" is infused with the leaf of New Zealand's, Manuka plant giving it a slightly perfumed, sweet, spicy, tea like quality. it tasted great, experimentation with ingredients like this is to be encouraged as far as I'm concerned and I'm hoping to be able to try this beer again somewhere soon.

We also checked out some fermenting Hawkshead Red, discussed the planned new developments and beer in general. After shoving my head inside a bag of Citra hops (like a demented dope fiend), we returned upstairs to the beer hall to be met by Dave and Anne and friends from Hardknott Brewery and enjoyed another couple of pints and some friendly conversation before arranging our taxi home.

After my initial disappointment at missing out on many of the beers at the festival, I'd come away having had a really enjoyable few hours and I've made a promise to myself note to visit the festival earlier next time. If you're in the area you really should check out the Hawkshead beer hall and its excellent beers, if you've never tried them you really should. Hawkshead are to my mind masters of flavour and consistency. The new brewery tap looks like its going to be very impressive indeed (unfortunately I was enjoying myself so much I didn't take any pictures).

The epilogue to this blog is the great news that we will shortly be listing Hawkshead's bottled beers on myBrewerytap, with any luck we'll get the bottles into our 52 week beer club and mixed cases soon as well.

Guest Blog #2 - Adam Bruderer on Summer 52wbc

Here's the second part of guest blogger Adam Bruderer's review of our current 52 week beer club case

4. After one Best Mates Brewery Vicar’s Daughter which was as sour as a Van Bommel tackle (had to get that line in!) I tried a second which was considerably better. This bottle conditioned IPA poured slightly cloudy with no head but was easily drinkable. A slightly hoppy taste made for a refreshing pint. (An acceptable 2.5/5)

5. Cotleigh Brewery Barn Ale: fine dark premier ale. Good head, rich and malty, smooth and fruity. One of the best of the batch so far, I’d look out for this one again. (A great 3.5/5)

7. Wold Top is a brewery I’ve come across before and found their beers enjoyable. And I wasn’t disappointed by the Wold Gold. Having had a very good beer in the Cotleigh Barn Ale, this was immediately surpassed by the Wold Gold. A delicious tangy blonde beer with a refreshing fruity taste. Great for a hot sunny day; it’s a pity this wasn’t one! (A highly commendable 4/5)

8. “Your beer cupboard is getting very full” says Ryn. Guess I’ll just have to drink some more beers then! Next up was the Potton Brewery Shambles. Best described as a light Friday evening session beer with some subtle undertones, detected by both me and Ryn. (2.5/5)

9. RCH Brewery, Pitchfork. This was an extremely lively RAIB. After waiting patiently for the large head to clear, this light golden bitter had a slightly sweet and citrus taste. Another good Friday evening beer. (3/5).


More from Adam on the beers in this Quarters 52wbc case shortly.

Anyone who's interested doing a guest blog on one of our future cases please get in touch: richard@myBrewerytap.com

You can sign up for the 52wbc here, or buy the mixed case with the same contents here.

Guest Blog #1 - Adam Bruderer on Summer 52wbc

It's become apparent to me lately that keeping up to date with this blog on top of other commitments and daily running of myBrewerytap is not easy.

As a solution to this I decided I'd ask (via Twitter) if anyone would be interested in helping me add some content to the blog by writing guest beer reviews.

I had a great response, and was pleased that each person said they'd not blogged before but was happy to give it a go.Hopefully this will become a regular feature on the blog where we get guest reviewers to blog on the contents of the 52 week beer club selections. Each guest will submit a few reviews for the case.

First up reviewing the Summer quarters case is Adam Bruderer from Manchester, over to Adam...

“Is there no end to your geekiness?” despairs my long suffering partner, Ryn. “You’ll do anything for free beer”. Well - not absolutely anything, but with a request from myBrewerytap.com for people to review beers, how could I resist giving it a go?

Having spent my formative years collecting beer mats and pub names, progressing to photographing pubs and amateur scooping, it was kind of inevitable. As a subscriber to the myBrewerytap.com 52 Week Beer Club, I am familiar with their varied selection of mainly light beers. My mission was to review the Summer 2010 case.

1. So I started off one sunny Wednesday evening sitting in the garden with an IPA. It’s all the Raj. Ossett Brewery Excelsior to be precise. It poured light and clear with a good head and unusually lively. A good thirst quenching beer, described as an IPA but more like a golden ale to me; darker than an IPA and hasn’t got the hoppy kick. Aren’t true IPAs supposed to be above 6% ABV? Goes down easy – not as formidable as the name may suggest. Halfway down the pint still has a head and is active (a drinkable 3/5)

2. Derventio Emperor’s Whim is slightly darker, creamer and more bitter than the Excelsior. Definitely a golden ale. Less distinctive than the Excelsior and pretty nondescript really. (a slightly below par 2/5)

3. Time for a bit of World Cup Final drinking. Hidden Brewery Old Sarum is a dark traditional bitter. With a strong fruity malty taste, it resembles Courage Directors of old, but better. (an enjoyable 3.5/5)"

More from Adam on the beers in this Quarters 52wbc case shortly.

Anyone who's interested doing a guest blog on one of our future cases please get in touch: richard@myBrewerytap.com

You can sign up for the 52wbc here, or buy the mixed case with the same contents here.