KEN' S BEER BLOG - FEBRUARY BEER OF THE MONTH

We had a CAMRA branch meeting the other week in a pub called The Grey Horse, East Boldon. The usual suspects were on offer, including Hobgoblin, Old Speckled Hen and Landlord. But tucked in the middle was Jennings Sneck Lifter.  As I had not had this strong ale for a while it was an easy choice for me to have a pint. Soon the second pint was going down. Unfortunately I think half the guys at the meeting were doing the same, as it ran out half through the evening, so no third pint !

Still, this has been my favourite beer of the month, despite having competition from Harviestoun Old Engine Oil, Brains Reverend  James and Marstons Pedigree. ( to name but a few)

You may recall Jennings Brewery made the news in recent times, for all the wrong reasons. I'm talking about the devastating floods in Cumbria. Thankfully they are still brewing. I love strong beers and Sneck Lifter ticks all the right boxes. Reddish brown in colour , and at 5.1% is very easy to drink. Its Jennings strongest beer and I just wish it were more readily available in my area.

So where did the name come from. Well a sneck lifter is someone who lifts a catch ( the sneck) on the door of a pub. Some say its the name of a person who does a runner when its his round.**

Drinking it stirred a memory about one of my mates, who lives in Warwickshire. Here is his story :-

" About 12 years ago, when my son was about 9 years old he had been playing junior level football for a local team. They were in the final of the Police Cup and the event was to be held on a sunny Sunday afternoon. It was the junior football event of the year ( around May time) and there was a capacity crowd of several hundred. I can't remember who they were playing but I do remember they went to penalties, which they lost.

We headed back to our local, runners up medals in hand. The guest ale was Sneck Lifter and not being too familiar with it tried some. And very nice it was too . I said to the wife I didnt want to be too long as I had a day of meetings the next day".

Before we read on there are two sayings in a pub that spring to mind here  :-

1. Someone says :" Its my round, same again ?"

2. You say " Go on then , just one more"

Sorry, back to the story.

" After food, the blokes seemed to be huddling together, talking football, telling jokes etc and the inevitable happened. A round started. However I am more of a quality rather than quantity sort of drinker, and trying to keep up with the flow of Mitchells and Butlers session beer was too much. The Lifter was getting the better of me. and three hours later I found myself hanging onto the wash basin in the gents ( in the style of being in a ship in a storm).

The walk home was equally perilous. Two steps forward, one step back, three to the side and one step forward. The beer compass came in very handy and guided me to the front door. Unfortunately after several failed attempts I let a bemused and embarrassed son put the key in the lock.

I'm pretty certain we must have had a power cut because the blackout seemed to last until it was time for work the next day. The meetings didnt go well, I don't think I had enough spit to get out a full sentence.

In the intervening years, I think Ive only tried the beer a couple more times, in vastly reduced quantities"

When we meet up I sometimes bring up Sneck Lifter ( actually bring up in this context is perhaps the wrong term) ; I sometimes mention Sneck Lifter and I detect a look of panic possibly even fear.

But don't let this story put you off this fantastic ale, just don't drink it for three hours that's all !!

** Final thought - if my friend had been a sneck lifter on the day, all this could have been avoided.

 

I CAN DRINK A RAINBOW - A LOOK AT THE COLOUR OF BEER

The appearance of beer is all important. This post looks at beer colour. Most range from pale through amber to dark.  However In recent times Ive come across other colours as well.

One St Patrick's Day a couple of years ago  I was in a pub called The County in Gosforth, Newcastle.  I spied on handpull a beer from Stonehenge Brewery called Luck of the Irish. Always on the look out for something new , I ordered a half. Imagine my surprise when it came out green, with no advance warning from the barmaid. I recall that there was nothing exceptional about this one. Just a standard bitter,  only a different colour.

Time now to report on something with a bit of  a kick to it. So my next choice is from a pub crawl we had around Edinburgh last summer. In a pub called the Guildford Arms I found this one . ( see photos)

It was a Scottish beer called Windswept Maroon - an unfined  blackcurrant wheat beer. The colour was unusual, as was the taste.  I remember the first sip forced my cheeks to suck in till they met in the middle- that would be my face cheeks by the way ! It was 5.2% and I managed to get through it unscathed.

I came across another green beer at the Great British Beer Festival last year. It was called Pot Belly Venom. In the festival program every beer had tasting notes, except this one. All it said was it was green. Great marketing but nothing special about it, like the first one.

 

Ive yet to try a blue beer and  I'm not sure I want to. Ive seen pictures on Tinternet of some sold in  Japan.  Looks like mouthwash.

 
As I'm typing this I've opened a bottle of truly black beer ; Old Engine Oil from Harviestoun. Impossible to see through, just how I like it

This is a 6% porter which I first came across at a local beer festival 5 years ago. For those that are into food/ drink pairings, I had a pint with fish and chips. Probably not what the experts would suggest. I had had a few so the tastes of each probably cancelled each other out.


A previous post looked at the colour of beer bottles. 

Click here if you've not read it :- 

THE COLOUR OF BOTTLES

This subject is not often covered and never discussed in a pub, to my knowledge anyway 


I was enjoying a bottle of Marstons Pedigree ( birthday present from last year ) the other day and I spotted this on the label :-

Marstons Mark of Quality :- All Marstons beers are bottled in amber glass to avoid unnecessary deterioration sometimes experienced with clear bottles, ensuring the highest possible quality at all times 

Now I was aware of this "phenomenon" , if that's the right word but Ive not seen it printed on any bottles by a brewer before. This got me thinking. 

I received for Xmas just gone a fascinating book called "So You Want To Be A Beer Expert?" by Jeff Evans. This book covers all aspects of beer, including how its brewed, how to taste it and the many styles available. 

One section looks at bottles and the issue of clear glass used. Mention is made of the fact that the taste of a beer   in clear glass bottles can be affected by sunlight. Also  that beer stacked on a supermarket shelf, under bright lights, can be affected in the same way. A quick survey of my nearest supermarket revealed about a quarter of bottles were made from clear glass, some of which were on the top shelf nearest the lights. Hmm..

Now I have to say I have not experienced this so called problem and I don't know anyone who has. I have 37 bottles at home ( how many ? ed). Yes 37 - mostly birthday and Xmas pressies - I'm easy to buy for.  Now, only 3 of them are made from clear glass. Besides they are all stored in a cupboard, so no problems there. Well apart from  the fact Mrs Ken keeps going on about the weight may pull the cupboard off the wall. 

Writing this, I've been trying to recall how I knew about the clear bottle issue, then I remembered. It was a book I was given a couple of years ago called CAMRAs Good Bottled Beer Guide. ( I told you I was easy to buy for ). Anyhow, the author of this guide is non other than.............Jeff Evans. Basically he has recycled some information from this earlier work. 

Having said that, both books are worth a read by the way ; recommended.  

End of part 1, the next one will look at the colour of the stuff that goes in the bottles.

Oh no,  what was that loud crash in the kitchen ? 

REMEMBER VAUX BREWERY ?

Before Xmas 2015 a planning application was submitted for the development of the Gill Bridge Avenue area of Sunderland. This was a derelict piece of land between St Marys Way and the River Wear. So what ? Well this is the site of the former Vaux Brewery, which closed in 1999. 

Now before I proceed,  for non locals Vaux rhymes with forks, and not gateaux. This is relevant for later. 

Also before Xmas I got a book out of the library called " Brewer At Bay", the memoirs of Sir Paul Nicholson. He was the former chairman of Vaux  who fought unsuccessfully against the closure of the brewery. Worth a read if you are into that sort of thing.

After closure of the brewery demolition followed soon after and has been a city eyesore until only recently. I don't intend to dwell any more on this as it has already been documented in the above book, and also Vaux History Vaux Brewery Images  which are worth a look.

What I also found last year brought back me memories for me. Every weekend, there is a market held in Tynemouth Station, with stalls selling antiques, CDs, books and magazines. One such stall was selling old Sunderland and Newcastle football match programs from bygone years. A Sunderland program from the 70s was advertising Lorimers Best Scotch ( see left )

I then had one of my, "whatever happened to moments". 

Whatever happened to Lorimers Best Scotch ?     ( for southerners, this is a  beer, not a whisky). 

Unlike some of Vaux's others brews ; Double Maxim,  Samson and Lambtons have all been resurrected by Maxim Brewery in nearby Houghton Le Spring , while Waggledance is brewed by Charles Wells in Bedford. Lorimers Scotch has disappeared. It was brewed at the Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh, part of the Vaux Empire from 1947 till 1986. 

I have found a website, which looks grand, but none of the links in it work http://www.lorimersbestscotch.co.uk/.

End of the trail then. 

Now I may be wrong here but I think my first ever brewery tour was at Vaux. They had a pub called The Brewery Tap where we ended our tour with the obligatorily samples ( this would be the mid seventies) . One of my mates reminded me of the time he came into the "Tap" after work one day for a pint. Two student types with southern accents walked in.

One of them said " A pint of Voh please" ** 

Much laughter in the bar after this little gem.

** Remember the gateaux reference near the beginning of this ? 

 

KEN'S BEER BLOG ; BEER OF THE MONTH

Every month I will try and feature a beer of the month, something that has stood out and hopefully has a story to go with it. 

So here goes with January. Despite all the bollocks about dry January and people telling us how much we have to drink, Ive had some interesting beers.

Black Sheep Riggwelter, Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA,Hop Back Entire Stout along with others have been enjoyed. Even a week in the sun in Lanzarote came up with some interesting German beers , Franzishaner Dunkel Weissbeer among them@@.  But the winner this month goes to (drum roll)  Robinson s Old Tom.

I had it on handpull for what i thought was for the first time at the Station House micropub in Durham at the beginning of the year. At 8.5% this one packs a hell of a punch. I have it every so often in bottle form, with the label "Best Beer in the World 2009" .I was struggling when I started writing this to recall when I first tried it then,  suddenly it came to me ; it was at the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival 10 years ago.

In those days Theakstons Brewery ( of Masham N Yorks)  had their own bar, always selling Old Peculier. To wind the bar staff up I remember wearing a Black Sheep Brewery   T shirt (also of Masham N Yorks). Jokingly the barman said " sorry mate can't serve you wearing that !!". Anyhow he did and we enjoyed the beer whilst browsing through the Festival Programme.

One eagle eye spotted the entry  Robinson's Old Tom 8.5%. I believe at the time it was the strongest beer available on the day . Some of us said,  a bit like a builder giving you a quote with a sharp intake of breath, " Not touching that, too strong !". However three of us decided to try it as our last drink of the day, so as not to tip us over the edge into insensibility for the rest of the afternoon. There was a collective " ooh that's good " soon followed by a collective glazed look. This one had the desired effect as we weaved our way to the exit.

Fast forward to this month. The cask version was still as good as I remember , and have just savoured the bottled version.

As you can see from the picture, it looks black, but viewed from above is a deep red colour. Now unless a beer has chocolate in it I'm usually crap at smelling beer. I'm told Molasses and Fruit and Chocolate feature in the aroma. I got a hint of an unfamiliar smell so it must have been the molasses.

So now the taste. This is classed as on Old Ale, but really tastes like a Madiera wine, preferably served in a wine glass. Its best sipped and savoured, and not thrown down your neck. The beer comes over as fruity and warming, perfect for a winter month.  Its been brewed since 1899 and has won several awards, including Champion Winter Beer of Britain in 2005. In my opinion a worthy winner. 

I usually ration myself with this one; familiarity breeds contempt so would I reckon about 6 times a year will keep me loving this beer. 

Thanks to the Station House for giving me the chance to try it from a cask, after all these years. 

  

@@ see previous post. Click here for more on Dunkel ale

 

ON THE SUBJECT OF DUNKELS

WHAT IS A DUNKEL ?

Remember the TV panel game show, "Call My Bluff" from the 60's to 80s?  A team of three had to guess the meaning of an obscure word, as described by a second team of three. One definition was true, the other two were bluffs.

I can imagine the word "Dunkel" appearing in the show , but have no concrete evidence of this. 

So what does it mean ?  Well here are three definitions :-

1. A type of car engine

2. A character from the  Harry Potter series

3. A type of German Dark Lager or Wheat Beer.

Well given this is a beer blog, its safe to say the first two are bluff, the last is true.

So why go on about Dunkel ? Well, Mrs Ken and I have just returned from a week in Lanzarote, part of the Canary Islands. I figured 25 degrees in the January sun was worth missing out on some decent beer. Sure enough the hotel and most of the supermarket stuff was as predicted, yellow and fizzy. ( San Miguel anyone?)

However found some bottles from the German Franziskaner Brewery. There were three Wheat Beers, Naturtrub, Crystal, and a Dunkel. See picture, taken on hotel balcony in bright sunlight just before sunset . 

Now Dunkel means "dark" in German and the term applies to dark lagers and sometimes dark wheat beers. The style had died out and took an young entrepreneur called Prinz Luipold, who took over the Kaltenberg Brewery in 1976. Rather than brew what everyone else was brewing at the time,  he reintroduced Dunkel, in the form of Kaltenberg Konig Ludwig Dunkel.

The beer I found was from a different brewery and is actually a Dunkel Wheat Beer. It is a red brown fruity 5% drink and very palatable. Needless to say, brought some back with me.( no room for wine in the cases this time I'm afraid dearest!!) 

If you can find any this or any other Dunkel style in the UK, give it a try. Recommended. 

A FREE PACKET OF ROLOS

Have you ever been offered a free tube of Rolos in a pub ?     Well I have !!

 

I was in a pub in Gateshead for the first time the other day with Mrs Ken when this once in a lifetime offer occurred. So where was I ?

Every year, in November,  I attend the Tyneside Model Railway Exhibition at the Gateshead International Stadium. When I leave I turn left and head east for home. If I had turned right and walked a quarter of a mile towards the River Tyne I would have come across a pub I had read about but never visited. It has appeared in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide for the last 2 years. I am talking about the Schooner. 

Being midweek, it was fairly quiet. The pub is yards from the River Tyne, but on a grey winters day the scenery looked a bit uninviting , so straight into the pub. 5 of the 6 handpulls were in use with a mixture of local and regional ales. I started with a pint of Summit Single from Northumberland brewer Allendale. Although radiators were on it wasn't that warm so hot food was needed. My pint went well with some bangers and mash. 

Playing on the speakers from an Ipod was a fantastic range of pop songs from the 60s onwards. Good foot tapping stuff, including one I hadn't heard for ages, "Something Else" by the Sex Pistols, the only song of theirs I ever liked. 

A second drink beckoned, this time a 7% IPA called Ossett Rampart , with a powerful hoppy kick. This is a collaboration between  two Yorkshire breweries; Brass Castle and Ossett.                   ( no, I don't know why either ).

Time to go . Saying goodbye to the friendly barman, he offered us , by way of dessert, the free tube of Rolos ! Apparently left by a sales rep over Xmas.

The Schooner is worth seeking out for the beer range and the food. I can imagine in summer it would be quite pleasant supping a beer and watching the river flowing past. But I think the Rolos will be all gone by then.