Long it to London: Cask 2019

According to the rather sweary youth on our train, we gather that to "long it" is to spend a period of time travelling to somewhere a fair distance away. For him, this meant travelling to the legendary brewing town of Burton (we reckon not for the beer), which was somewhat fitting for us, who were headed to London for a day of drinking at Cask 2019 - a festival now in it's second year dedicated to serving and celebrating beer from cask only.

We LOVE this as a concept. Cask has so frequently at modern beer festivals been considered as almost an afterthought, seen as a "cheaper" product not worth the hassle of set up and regarded as outdated (we know we're oversimplifying things here, but we want to talk festival not beer politics), all things which organisers Affinity Brew Co aimed to overturn. And we reckon that for, the most part, they massively succeeded.

We all know that cask is being lauded as making a bit of a comeback at the moment (although personally we're not sure it ever really went anywhere in the first place), with breweries such as Cloudwater and Buxton adding it back into their roster after a few years of absence, and the queues outside festival venue TESTBED1 in Bermondsey certainly proved that enthusiasm for cask is truly alive and well.

The venue itself was an odd one - we're of the understanding that Cask was the first large event to be held there (but please do correct us if we're wrong in this). It was an interesting space, described unhelpfully on their Twitter account as "a place for testing", an ex-dairy warehouse in a railway arch. A bit on the damp side, with limited seating and even less in the way of natural light (hence lack of photos!), with the one bar located right at the end of a long and narrow archway, it didn't scream beer festival... but the atmosphere more than made it for it. We had a fantastic afternoon of both catching up with old friends and putting names to twitter handles. The festival staff were faultless throughout, with speedy and friendly service at the bar and security doing a sterling job of stopping people forming a ridiculous single file queue which snaked around the building.

The majority of beers we drank on the day were good, with a few being exceptional... we're looking at you, Brussels Beer Project "Black Swan" - a 9.9% Blackberry Baltic Porter which was in absolute top nick. The Little Earth Project "Stupid Sexy Suffolk" (6.5%) was tasting absolutely incredible as well: flinging flavour to the face, balanced, fruity and acetic with just the right level of astringency in the finish. The Partizan Lager was a very pleasant surprise, and we were smacking our lips at the first cask in existence of Fyne Ales "Deathbed", a 9.5% dark Scotch Ale which we collectively described as liquid Soreen.

However, although it was clear that the casks had been well cared for, there were a few beers that could have done with a little more condition, and we'd love to see some Angrams coming out to play. We did also find ourselves commenting on occasion that some of the beers on offer were clearly better suited to being cold and fizzy. Don't get us wrong, the variety was excellent, and it was obvious that the breweries involved had largely endeavoured to send something exciting and genre-defying, which is great, but we were definitely drawn to the pintable, more straightforward brews that work so well in cask (well done Boxcar for sending a 3.4% Dark Mild - it was exactly what it purported to be and one of our beers of the day).

Overall, we had a great day... as much to do with the company we were in as well as the beer, but hey, in the words of the great Garrett Oliver, "beer is people" and Cask 2019 certainly brought that to life for us. It's about time cask beer had a turn in the spotlight and kudos to Affinity for allowing it to shine. Well worth the trip down to the big smoke, and a festival that's firmly on our beer calendar.

Cheers!

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Prince of Wales, Sheffield

The Prince of Wales, on Ecclesall Road South, Sheffield, re-opened to the public last weekend following a stunning refurbishment and overhaul of its food and drink offerings. We were invited down to sample the new menu and check our the slick and sophisticated interior a few days prior to the full opening. Here's a few words on our experience and photos that will definitely make you hungry...

Upon arrival we were quickly ushered to the bar where Laura swooned over the gin infusion station (and of course promptly ordered a gin). It's like pick and mix for grown ups - once you've got your beverage in hand, you are free to select your own garnish... and there were an abundance of things to choose from, from the standard lemons, limes and mint leaves, to exotic lychees, kiwi slices and goji berries. A BRILLIANT idea on a calm night filled with polite media and blogger types, how this will pan out on a busy weekend is yet to be discovered, but hey, we had fun. Worth noting that the bar staff were confident in suggesting recommendations, too, which was a definite bonus.

Kirkstall Brewery Virtuous IPA was the only "craft" keg beer on offer at the time of our visit, although there was a cask line ready to be used (and a cask of Abbeydale Moonshine waiting in the cellar). So despite it not being a beer focused venue, it was really nice to see that there was at least a local and an independent offering.

A selection of canapes was brought over whilst we imbibed, which were all delicious and the first indication that we'd perhaps underestimated the menu we were to be treated to, having expected a more "pub grub" offering. The words "gastro pub" and "elevated" are terms I'm not hugely keen on but it's fair to say that the food the Prince of Wales has gone for is certainly more of a style you'd expect in a fine dining restaurant. Highlights were the delicately spiced and fragrant lamb koftas served with coconut tzatziki, and crispy chilli beef with little pickled onions.

Following our nibble platter we were ushered into the dining area for our main meal. The space is large but still manages to retain a cosy feel and I liked that our table had a view of the kitchen pass - our only criticism being that the "mood lighting" made it a tad tricky to properly see what we were eating and meant we had to turn the flash on our phones as a makeshift torch to get decent photos. Ah, blogger life.

Our starter was a great big dollop of cheese - an unctuous, creamy baked camembert, to be precise, served with (slightly oily, but yummy) dough sticks and sharp cranberry dip. You can't really go wrong with cheese and this was a total oozy, messy treat.

The main menu offered up a selection of the usual suspects, pizzas, steaks, and burgers, all of which were presented with a little more refinement than the standard pub output. For example, in the case of the Wagyu beef burger (already an upgrade on the standard house burger) half a lobster can be added to the side for those inclined to such things.

We eventually selected the chorizo, crab and king prawn linguini, and the roasted pork belly with scallops. Both dishes were beautifully cooked and the scallops were incredible - wonderfully buttery, with a slight bite and perfectly placed within the dish. Great wine selection to go with it all, too.

Desserts were a bit more of a mixed bag - the brownie and chocolate pudding were both tasty but a little on the stodgy side, but the melting chocolate bomb was sensational in looks as well as flavour and Laura had the best Cointreau hot chocolate she reports to have EVER had, not words she uses lightly.

Being completely honest here, it's not the type of place we would usually choose to eat out - owned by one of the big pub chains, we were expecting a relatively straightforward food offering and a not-particularly-exciting drinks selection. However, we'd definitely set our expectations far too low, and were surprised in a very good way at what a brilliant evening we'd experienced. It's definitely somewhere we would go again, and both commented that it'd be a great place for our family members that like to go somewhere formal as opposed to uppity (again, not normally a vibe we go for when dining as a duo!) for a special occasion. The food and drinks are a little pricier than we'd generally spend hence a sense of occasion being necessary, but the value for money we reckon is still there.

If you'd like to know more, head to the Prince of Wales' website where you can also view all of their menus in full.

Cheers,

Laura and Jim

Disclaimer: We were provided with a meal and associated drinks free of charge in exchange for a review. However, this has not affected our opinions, which as always are completely honest and all our own.

Beer Is Our Happy Place

Why we aren't doing Dry January

To all those abstaining, reducing, limiting or quietly enjoying your alcohol intake, during this month we wish you well. We aren't writing this as an admonition, a lecture, a criticism, or as a way to undermine the decision. We appreciate your choice, and wish you well, from the sideline, or rather from a pub lounge, snug or otherwise.

Really we want to say why aren't doing Dry January, a "Dryathlon" and woe betide becoming "Dryathletes."

Just over a year ago, we went booze free for a full month. We made the decision together, around one of Jim's lowest points in his life. A stretch of emptiness and unhappiness, sleepless nights, that led into early shifts in the brewery. A period of too much whisky, which went hand in hand with bad sleep, the cycle of abuse of his body, the wearing down of mind careering to burnout, then..... Chester Bennington.

The death of a childhood icon is hard enough, but when it's self caused, after a period of self abuse despite being surrounded by his family. The situation was too close to home, and it hurt. It Hurt.

Looking back it's a turning point for that wave of unhappiness... there were still lows, but there was a maybe an exit of the quagmire, and we wondered if that could come with sobriety. We set a date, November 2017, postponed (from July) primarily due to the over full calendar of beer fests, events, birthdays and more events.

Perhaps the month would push toward clearer, happier minds. Maybe some good sleep, maybe better skin, shift some weight and have a few more quid to take towards Christmas. So, through tired and teary eyes, a kickstarter was set up, and a little hope glimmered.

The month itself was a long one, without fanfare we plodded through the days, still hoping for clarity, both of mind and skin. a lighter step, through fewer hangovers and a little weight loss? But as the month passed alcohol was replaced by cheese, and the positivity of pub companionship was replaced by boredom and restless isolation. (in no way a reflection on our friends, who were all very supportive, but a general feeling of self-inflicted inadequacy). None of the enthusiastic promises that campaigners for sobriety chime were delivered.

While we did head out occasionally, the lack of appealing choice that wasn't a saccharine pint of fizz was pretty much non existent. For those of us (which is both of us) who like the bitterness found in beer, or the dryness in a red wine, essentially the only thing to drink was tonic. While periodically we would stumble across a good Root Beer it wasn't in our usual haunts. Laura turned to tea in abundance.

And so, after a month of abstemiousness, which came to an abrupt end with the work Christmas outing on December 1st (what could possibly go wrong? Ask the Beer O'Clock Show Crimbo Crawl lot...), we had raised a massive £1000 for CALM (a charity which works to raise awareness of and make moves to combat male suicide - please do look them up if you aren't already aware of them). A humbling amount of money and overall worth it to give up something we genuinely enjoy for the cause. But we didn't feel a sense of achievement. We weren't worthy of any sort of accolade. We just stopped drinking, and largely stopped enjoying ourselves.

What this month off did give us was a reassurance that our drinking habits aren't doing us any harm. Rather they offer us an outlet for enjoyment, for shared experiences, and job satisfaction. By the end we just really clearly appreciated what we had missed - yes, the flavour, but more importantly the pubs and people and comradeship.

We are mindful of our drinking choices - always have been, but even more so following the month off. Whilst we do drink alcohol most days, often this will be one carefully selected bottle or can of beer which we'll share and enjoy. Quality over quantity is a much used mantra but it's something we like to apply to our lifestyles, not only in terms of alcohol but also in the food that we eat and the clothes that we wear. We support local businesses, we buy ethically sourced products wherever we can.

The pub is an institution, a community asset, and across the nation we are in danger of losing our locals and we will use them all year round. We'd like to at this point direct you to a campaign which we believe shares these values - Tryanuary. In championing local beers and venues, Tryanuary supports the beer industry during a month which can be particularly difficult.

Maybe this is less about the January thing and more about our love of the pub, and of what else it can bring apart from "just" a pint. They are our happy place, and if you haven't already found yours, there is a window seat, booth or corner with a beer mat waiting for you to fill it. Go and discover yours.

Cheers,
Jim and Laura

*Written in part in the pub - Pour, to be precise. We had a lovely time.

Happy Place

PS - Jim's doing ok. While there are still some times of darkness, there is much that is light. There's no magic solution, no "off" button on the brain, but we still see the decisions described above to be part of an acceptance, a self-awareness and a realisation that it's good to be open and most of all to TALK.

If any of you read this and need a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, or a pal to have a pint with, please don't keep quiet. We're both here, and we're listening.

Pps - our fundraising page is still active, justgiving.com/mashtunandmeow if anyone would like to support the work of CALM. 

2018: Golden Pints

This year for us has been a wonderful blending of threads between people, beers, events, and countries. As such, you'll see a few themes starting to come out of our thoughts below, we've tried to avoid being repetitive but some of the things we've imbibed and the experiences we've had are just that good they needed mentioning twice. We've not massively stuck to the standard categories or formats of the original Golden Pints awards, just written about the things we've loved in the wonderful beery world in which we live.

Best UK Cask

Winner: Torrside - Rauchwine - consumed at the wonderful Smokefest at the brewery itself.
You can read more on our thoughts on the festival (caution, they're somewhat gushing) here. Fun fact - this is the third year in a row that Torrside have won this category for us, following on from Candlewick in 2016 and Route 366 last year. All totally different styles too, these guys are true champions in our eyes.

Honourable mentions: 
Fyne Ales - Jarl. An absolute classic and tasting at its fynest (see what we did there) at Fyne Fest.
Gibberish - Cole Porter (Shakespeare's). The best classic porter we've had in a long time.
Siren - Suspended In... series (Ekuanot, Cereal, Citra all good).

Best UK Keg

Winner: Siren - Odyssey 009 (Funk Fest) - This beer is quite simply a wonderful example of barrel ageing. We blagged this as a pre-release keg for Funk Fest, the beer festival we organised at our workplace Abbeydale Brewery. It's a blend of soured stout, saison and straight stout aged in PX, bourbon and sherry barrels. Layers upon layers of oaky complexity, with tart cherries and heaps of dark roast coffee. Simply wonderful and we cannot wait for the full release.

Best UK Bottle/Can

Winner: Marble - Sunshine Radler (2.8%)- wonderful in can straight out of the fridge in the garden on the hottest day of the year. Fruity, refreshing, glorious.

Honourable mention: Fallen - Double Barrel Chew Chew (Red Wine edition). OK so this was a 2017 release but we didn't drink it until early this year. Sumptuously slurpable and oh so rich and velvety.

Best Overseas Draft

Winner: Verzet - Kameradski Balsamico. Words can't describe how much Laura in particular has become obsessed with this 13.5% imperial stout/oud bruin hybrid. We first sampled this in bottle at Fyne Fest, where a kindly stranger brought it over for us to taste pre-noon. We were dubious at first but it blew us away. We then found it on draught at the wonderful Foeders in Amsterdam. We were eating a mountain of cheese with mustard and apple dips at the time and the combination of all of the things was so good Laura cried. It's sticky, it's sweet, it's deep, it's fruity, it's bold, it's elegant, it's BEAUTIFUL. And we can't find it anywhere, so please give us a heads up if you spot it!

Honourable mentions:
Oak & Dagger - Cryin' Over My Mojito Gose - drunk at Beer Temple, Amsterdam.
We also went to Krakow this year and as well as an admirable display of forward thinking tasty keg beer, we drank A LOT of very cheap (and very good) Polish lager. Warka came out on top, for anyone interested.

Best Overseas Bottle/Can

Winner: 8 Wired - Bumaye. A 16% New Zealand Pinot Noir aged Imperial Stout, need we say any more. We will though, because it was outstanding. Loads of body from the bold alcohol content, something we've stopped expecting from aged imperial stouts, which we often find thin out a little over time. A wonderful layer of deep grapey fruitiness that just lingered and lingered. Plus we drank it in a hot tub. A sure fire way to upgrade your drinking experience.

Honourable mentions:
Jolly Pumpkin - Turbo Bam. An upgraded version of the core and original Bam Biere, but with additional layers of spices including szechuan peppercorns, and lemon peel.
Magic Factory - Lickable Staves. A frankly wonderful red wine aged cherry sour. We drank this in the Rutland Arms during a slightly over the top bottle share.

Best Collaboration Brew 

Winner: De Kromme Haring and Wilder Wald - Kraftwerk. Brewed for Carnivale Brettanomyces, one of our festivals of the year (more on that below). A peach lichtenhainer with a modern twist and brewed with a yeast blend known as Mud King (a collaborative effort from Milk The Funk forum users). Soft tartness and true orchard flavour from the peaches. This beer got us both feeling better after a heavy night, sort of like the Bucks Fizz of the beer world.

Best Branding 

Winner:  Left Handed Giant. With an ever changing series of artwork across the beers, the brand always still feels cohesive and joined thanks to the intricate and cleverly crafted work of artist James Yeo. What a talent.

Honourable Mentions: 
Wander Beyond - essentially for the axolotls. Super cute.
Lewis Ryan (Lewy) - disclosure, some of our favourite beer art of the year has graced Abbeydale cans, but we feel that Lewy's eye for design, colour and theme is amazing and we feel genuinely honoured to have worked with him this year. Branding probably isn't the right word here as he's created pieces for a number of breweries (we particularly love the work he's done with Amundsen) but it seemed the most sensible place to put this.

Best UK Brewery 

Winner: Burning Sky - all round amazing at everything. But this year the standout beers of interest for us have been the Imperial Stout - a straight up stout, not a pastry in sight, just layers upon layers of malt. And their Coolship is arguably a landmark beer in the UK beer scene as one of the newest operational coolships in the country, to see this traditional method of beer production happening here with such balance in a finished product is an exciting start to this ongoing future.

Honourable Mention: Torrside, for their incredible affinity for rauch malt and putting on a jolly excellent festival.

Pub/Bar of the year

Winner (UK): Rutland Arms, Sheffield. Our adopted local and last year's winner for us too. Always an excellent selection across both cask and keg, food that inspires as well as fills bellies, and great staff who really know their stuff.

Winner (International): Foeders, Amsterdam. The sort of place where there are free monkey nuts on the bar and you are encouraged to dig in and throw your shells on the floor is inherently the sort of place where you feel instantly at home. Keg lines for days and mountains of cheese. We sat at the bar and the locals treated us like friends. Just the most welcoming bar we've ever had the pleasure of whiling away an evening in.

Best Taproom

Winner: Brew York. A great addition to the York beer scene, Brew York are doing many great things in the city. As well as the original tap room with a good number of cask lines and handful of keg taps in the corner of the brewery unit, Brew York have this year opened up a Beer Hall, with a 50 line keg wall, Asian street food and excellent beer cocktails.

Honourable mentions:
Griffin Claw based in Detroit are a brewery Jim brewed with earlier in the year, and their tap room cum full restaurant poured some of the best beers of the trip alongside some amazing food.

Best Beer Event

Winner (UK): Fyne Fest - Our first Fyne Fest but their tenth year, held in the glen behind the brewery farm, with more than 1000 people camping and a massive selection of cask, keg and small pack from some of the countries best breweries. Just the nicest vibes.

Winner (international): Carnivale Brettanomyces - A fantastic cross city collaboration across the beer bars, bottle shops and breweries across the city of Amsterdam. The festival as you may have guessed focuses on mixed fermentation, Brett beers and sours from around the Europe and the US. The bars of the city came together to showcase some awesome beers, our favourite venues included Foeders, Walhalla Brewery, and Proeflokaal Arendsnest. All totally different but all places we'd happily spend a lot of time in if we were resident over there.

Best Beer Snack

Winner: Smoked blue cheese a la Smokefest at Torrside Brewery. An absolute gamechanger.

Best New Brewery

Winner: Duration Brewing. We haven't had the opportunity yet to drink much from Duration, but what we have had has been absolutely solid and we are super excited to see how they grow and develop. Great team, too.

Twitter Account/ Beer Blog of the Year (we've combined the two as we chose the same winners for both!)

Winner: @ShinyBiscuit - Katie is a beautiful human and her writing is emotive, informative and inspiring. Personality just oozes out of every single piece.

Honourable Mention: @MarkNJohnson - honest, wry and always fair with his opinions. Bonus points for regular pictures of chickens. V pleased we've had the chance to catch up in person more this year too.

Here's to 2019.

Cheers!

Jim & Laura

BONUS CATEGORY: Beer Dog of the Year (Also potentially the reason you've carried on reading this far)

Winners (joint): Kami (Torrside Brewery resident pooch, we are excited to meet their new addition too!) and Stan (@Beerhoundergen). Two very worthy champs.

Honourable Mentions:
Marv, who we are yet to meet but want to cuddle
Marley, who we are also yet to meet, but Laura will continue to tell @MarkNJohnson she loves his dog every time she sees him
Barley, for joining us in a tent at sunrise
Alfie, for bringing the word "Affenpinscher" into our lives
Digby, our most local beer pooch who we hope to see more of now that Pour is open just down the road!
Plus a shout out to everyone who sent Laura a dog photo when she was neck deep in beer festival organisation and decided this wall was a good way to keep calm. It was a roaring success.

Smokefest @ Torrside Brewery

There is a growing trend of themed festivals popping up all over the country, with Hop City and Dark City hosted by Northern Monk (Leeds) celebrating hoppy and dark beers (respectively, obvs) and Sesh Fest at Magic Rock (Hudds). These festivals are a showcase of what the majority of modern beer drinkers like to hype over and while these are more obvious in terms of their appeal, more niche fests still run and function incredibly well albeit a little more under the radar. Like the one we help to organise through our day jobs, Funk Fest at Abbeydale Brewery (Sheffield) celebrating mixed fermentation, and the excellent Cask Fest at Affinity Brew Co (London) celebrating secondary fermented ales served without extraneous gas added. Then along come Torrside to showcase arguably the most controversial flavour in beer... Smoke.

You have probably been living under a rock if you don't already know that we are BIG TORRSIDE FANS. Having loved them from their humble beginnings (a little more on how we got to know them here) to having the opportunity to brew with them earlier this year, they are a fantastic bunch who make a complete roster of outstanding beers.

As we see it, their success has largely come from two ends of the beer world - well hopped light pale ales, that pack flavour and have great condition on a bar. And on the other end of the beer spectrum is what really sets them apart as one our favourite breweries and a cut above many other smaller breweries - the "Monsters". These big parti-gyled* beers pack the kind of welly that you wouldn't expect a brewery of Torrside's size to churn out other than for the occasional anniversary beer, but with a total of 37 listed on Untappd, they aren't mucking around.

Torrside's propensity for smoke and ability in using smoked malts in their beers is absolutely second to none in England at the moment, using beechwood, oak smoke and peated malts, they push all aspects of what smoke can do. Beechwood smoke being generally synonymous with the Rauchbier of Bamberg, featuring a sweet smooth smoke that works incredibly well with toasted malts. Oak smoking, which is traditionally used to dry wheat (rather than barley) showcases loads of vanilins, and is less subtle. Then peat, which the household consensus is our favorite wood for smoked liquids, but not quite so for food**. We were honoured enough to make our very own peaty Monster earlier this year, Power Stance, a parti-gyled peated ginger barley wine coming in at 12.5%, a surprisingly subtle balance of fresh, aromatic spice and sweet, almost saltiness, all dug from the earth.

Anyway. Onto the festival! The grey November day came, as did a pair of trains that journeyed us safely to our destination of New Mills (New Town rather than our usual Central***), and the unit that Torrside share with a private Marina, it's basically Monte Carlo for central Derbyshire. In the brewery we found a huuuuge selection of beers all featuring one or more of the aforementioned smokes, plus a sea of friendly faces. Smoke might be a divisive flavour in beer but it sure brought all of us together.

We opened with two Torrside beers - Hopfenrauch (Jim), a well balanced smoked bitter with a hop zest cutting through, and Sto Lat (Laura) a Grodziskie - a Polish style of light low ABV lager, featuring oak smoke that adds a layer of complexity to this eminently sessionable beer. These first beers, along with our seconds, were included in the entrance price, as was the glass to take away. The £12 even stretched to a portion of Pie***.14, with additional food (including smoked ham and a wide variety of smoked cheeses including a blue version which Laura hasn't stopped thinking about since) all being reasonably priced. Overall the festival certainly more than covered our expectation of what our ticket price offered. We even got a little goodie bag to take home, the My Little Pony chocolate coins were excellent Train Strike Return Journey sustenance.

Amongst the guest beers on offer were featured Ashover (another local favourite of ours), De Molen and Kees, but as soon as Jim saw the beer list a couple of weeks before, there were two at the top of his hit list from Yeastie Boys and Schlenkerla which feature as regularly in his drinking habits as possible but never before on draught. Rex Attitude and Helles couldn't be any further from each other, one 100% peated malt, the other no smoked malt whatsover (but made in a sufficiently smoky atmosphere to still impart oodles of flavour). We've said in the past that Rex Attitude is one of the most deliciously obnoxious beers we've had, tasting like lightly hopped Laphroaig wash wrapped up in a TCP shot, it's everything that isn't subtle, like drinking a Viking burial. Bury Jim in Rex. Schlenkerla Helles by contrast is made of 100% unsmoked pilsner malt, but with a soft vanilla cigar sweetness, that comes from the lingering smoked malt. If like Schlenkerla you make a lot of rauch it seems you only make rauch... it clings to the mill, the auger, the mashtun and beyond.

From this we obviously moved on to drink some Monsters. One of our number came across with half a pint of cask and a glint in their eye, clutching a dark brown, bordering on black cask beer. With a pale krausen and a warming waft of smoke the Rauchwine became introduced to our table far too soon (or not soon enough?!), the rest of us sat in envy after a nose and a wet and the next drinks were decided instantly. We think we've found our cask beer of the year a couple of months early. The Dogs of War series were also tasting absolutely incredible and of course we had to sample our Power Stance collab, which was delicious if we do say so ourselves.

Sat in the centre of the brewery surrounded by good friends, with a phenomenal beer range, some delicious food to accompany, relaxed and surrounded by dogs, this was really what festivals should be about. Smokefest had all of this in absolute spades and we left feeling all warm and fuzzy and not just because of all the imperial strength smoked beers we'd consumed. We definitely hope that Smokefest will become an annual fixture, but in the meantime the pub beckons... tis the season, an all that.

Cheers!

Jim & Laura

* splitting strong, first runnings from the mash to create stronger fermentable wort
** it's cherry, in case you were wondering
*** Train Strikes
***.14 Rauchwine and steak flavour! (It's a Pi joke).

Because it wouldn't be a proper post about how much we love Torrside without some Kami love...

Arran Whisky Tasting at The Rutland Arms

It was the height of the summer heatwave when the sweltering upstairs room of the Rutland Arms played host to David from the Isle of Arran Distillery and Sam from Indie Brands, a distributor focusing on a portfolio of spirits and cocktail producers from around the world, in an evening organised by our favourite spirits shop Starmore Boss.

We opened with the flagship release, the Arran 10 year old, while we were shown a short video about the distillery, based near the village of Lochranza on the north tip of  the Isle of Arran (We visited in 2015). The whisky itself has a smooth sweetness with heaps of vanilla and a little touch of white chocolate, that continues across the palate with apples and custard. The bourbon influence is massive, and we all agreed this was a great way to open the evening and an excellent choice for those not already familiar with the distillery to get a clear idea of its character from the off.

The next dram was a big step in age to the 18 year old release, which is delightfully refined. Finished in sherry casks to help round the flavours and add a wonderful punch of sticky dried fruits, raisins, prunes and a little cherry, bolstering the overall profile which holds a delicious dark chocolate character. The whole thing comes together in a way very much reminiscent of Rocky Road.

The brand new release Brodick Bay followed, the oldest of the evening at 20 years old and one of the most accomplished. The distillery itself being only 23 years old, to have the quality of spirit to release a drink as defined as this one is a monumental feat. This particular release is limited to 9000 bottles and bottled at cask strength of 49.8%. It has been aged for 8 years in ex-bourbon Buffalo Trace casks and sherry hogsheads before being blended and finished in Oloroso sherry casks. The palate holds plenty of dry sherry, but still loads of dried stone fruits, a little touch of spice and perhaps a little cinnamon. The wood character is clear and bold and really transfers a lot of the quality of the wood into the enjoyment of the spirit.

The Amarone is a whisky we've drunk before in the distillery, so there are more detailled notes here. It was interesting to drink this in such a different context, from the cooling winds of the Irish Sea to the sticky stillness of summer time UK '18. This was cleverly paired with a chunk of dark chocolate also made on Arran. The addition of a rich, bitter flavour really opened up some of the finer points of the dram and enhanced the sweeter underrepresented aspects of the whisky, simply wonderful.

The final whisky of the night was Machrie Moor, a NAS peated whisky, that is perfect for those unsure of their peat reek limits - soft and rounded with just a little sweetness, not too much in the way of high alcohols, merely a warmth that comes from its slightly younger age. A very accessible dram.

What really excites us about Arran is the ongoing construction of their second distillery, in which they will focus on producing only peated malt throughout. Although it's going to be a few years in the making, it's definitely one we'll be keeping an eye on and we're looking forward to following their progress.

A big thanks to the Arran team for a well curated selection of drams, to Jeff from Starmore Boss for organising the evening and inviting us along, and to the Rutland for always being top notch hosts.

Slainte!

Fine Pups of Fyne Fest

With one of the most relaxed beer festivals we've ever been to over, and many people already (and justifiably) singing its praises, it's definitely easy to say that Fyne Fest surpasses most of the expectations of a great festival. Calm, well organised, a wonderful mix of clientele (from the most ardent RateBeer ticker to people who just want a pint of Jarl), family friendly, a beer list to quench the most demanding of thirsts, bands to keep you dancing to the early hours, and all in THE most beautiful of settings.

Also, there were dogs. Lots and lots of dogs. Here are a few of our favourite woofers...

This year was our first trip, but it certainly won't be the last.

Thank you to Iain and the entire Fyne Ales team for an amazing weekend, and to all the campers in "The Village" for making us feel so welcome. We can't wait for next year!