Cyber Beer Plans for Two Thousand And Eighteen

I have big plans for 2018!  Much travel will be involved.

As I wish to travel elsewhere in 2018, I plan on giving Isle Of Man Beer Festival a miss.

However.....  I am planning on attending beer festivals in Copenhagen, Budapest, Wroclaw, Minsk and Warsaw as well as a two week trip to the US taking in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles!
The US trip is not entirely beer related, but I'm sure I'll find some decent craft beer bars and may decent craft beers on my travels! 

So 2018 will be a pretty packed year.  I will also be taking a family holiday and possibly another holiday, but we'll see about that!

With all the travelling, as with 2017, maybe 2018 won't be the year I invest in my outside bar or nanobrewing kit, or start up the beer import business I thought of a year ago and started putting a business plan together for in the first days of 2017, but the beer festival travelling means making more contacts for if I do try and get that off the ground.

For up to date beer news and reviews follow me on Twitter and Instagram @cyber_beer, on Periscope and Untappd @cyberbeer and on YouTube +Cyber Beer TV .

I wish you a happy new year and all the best for 2018.  May you try many new beers.

Cyber Beer

Two Days Without Beer!

This year I did a "Beer Advent"!  At least one beer a day in December!  I was, however drinking a few days before that too, putting me on at least one beer a day for a month!  

Damn do I feel rough!

So, two days off beer now!  December 27th and 28th have been beer free!  

I am meeting up with friends  on Fri 29th for a few drinks in the afternoon.  

On Saturday 30th I am attending the New Year's Eve Eve party at Dead Craft Beer Company in Liverpool.

New Year's Eve will take me to Chester, where I am booked into a hotel overnight.  After visting a few pubs in the afternoon I will be heading to The Cellar for the main celebrations.

Then...... Bring on Tryanuary!  How many new beers and beers from small breweries can I get in Tryanuary 2018?!

Brewtaps aka Brewery Open Days

The following is a list of Brewtaps or Brewery Open Days.

To add you local brewery (UK only for now) email cyber.beer.reviews@gmail.com with the subject "Brewtap"

Liverpool and Wirral

Black Lodge Brewing

4 KITCHEN STREET

BALTIC TRIANGLE

LIVERPOOL

L1 0AN

Opening Times

SATURDAY 12PM - 1AM

Black Lodge Brewing are a micro brewery and taproom in Liverpool's Baltic Triangle area approximately one mile from the city centre.

They have 10 keg taps and whereas they used to have a few guest beers on, they are now entirely filled with their open brews.

The brewery is in one corner, so the remaining space is filled with tables.  The bar is at one end and there is also a food bar were a selection of cheese boards are available.

23/03/18

Due to a busy brewing schedule, Black Lodge brewtap will now be Saturdays only.

Mad Hatter 

23 Lightbody St
Liverpool

L5 9UU

Currently no brewtap, but does host occasional events

Liverpool Organic Brewery

39 Brasenose Rd,

Liverpool

L20 8HL

Liverpool Organic used to host a £25 all you can drink brewtap once a month bookable in advance through Eventbright.  There is currently nothing listed on the website, so I am unsure wether this will continue next year.  Over the summer it increased from £20 for all you can drink 12pm-4pm and a free glass to £25 all you can drink 12pm-5pm with a free glass.

Liverpool Organic also organise four beer festivals a year, two in Liverpool, one in Waterloo (Sefton) and one in Blackpool.

The brewery is approximately a 5 minute walk from Bank Hall Station on the Northern Line towards Southport.

Peerless Brewing

8 Pool Street

Birkenhead

Wirral

CH413NL

Open last Friday and Saturday of the month except August and December.

Thirsty Friday 4:30pm - 11:00pm

Super Saturday 12:00pm - 5:00pm

Due to Wirral Beer Festival over Easter weekend, Thirsty Friday and Super Saturday for March will be a week later on the first weekend of April.

Chester and Cheshire

Pied Bull Brewery

57 Northgate St.,

Chester

CH1 2HQ

Located inside the Pied Bull, Chester's oldest licenced public house, brewery tours are available by pre-booked appointment.  Bar has a rotating selection of Pied Bull and national breweries.  Pied Bull is the only brewery within Chester City walls.  The Pied Bull is also a guesthouse and is haunted by two ghosts!

Spitting Feathers

COMMON FARM
WAVERTON
CHESTER
CH3 7QT

No Brewtap as such, however this farmyard brewery offers "The BrewBarn Sessions".  Pre-booking is essential and costs £25 + bf, but is inclusive of all food and drink.  Here are the 2018 dates.  BrewBarn Sessions are 2-6 on a Saturday.

March 24^th, April 21^st. May 19^th, June 16^th, Sept 8^th, Oct 13^th, Nov 10^th

There is also an annual charity beer festival on the farm.  2018 date is 21st July and is ticket only.  This explains why there's no BrewBarn in July.

The brewery owns two bars.  The Brewery Tap in Chester and The West Kirby Tap in West Kirby Wirral.

Beartown Brewery

Bromley House,

Spindle Street
Congleton,

Cheshire

CW12 1QN

No brewtap, however Beartown do own their own pub in Congleton called The Beartown Tap.  Brewery tours are available on advance booking and payment for groups of 12 or 25.  Brewery tours cost £8.75 per head and must be paid for a week in advance.  A food option is available for and additional £4.25 per head.  Tours are on Saturdays at 2pm, 4pm and 6pm. Whether these tour spaces must be booked at once or are available to individuals on a first come first served basis is unclear.  

Offbeat Brewery

Units 4 – 5 Thomas Street,

Crewe 

Cheshire

CW1 2BD

Offbeat Brewery at Crewe is open Thursday to Saturday 5pm - 10 pm and on the first Friday of the month, known as Firsty Friday, from 12pm - 10pm.  There is no Firsty Friday in January nor will the brewery be open the first week.

Manning the bar will either be owner and brewer Michelle or the eccentric Lancastrian beer blogger Otto The Bier Dude.  Both are knowledgeable about beer and are happy to engage customers in conversation, as long as it doesn't interrupt serving.

Manchester

Cloudwater Barrel Store And Tap Room

13 Sheffield St,

Manchester

M1 2ND

Opening times:

Friday 4-9pm
Saturday 12-8pm
Sunday 12-5pm

Cloudwater used to have the brew tap at the brewery, but in 2017 opened up their barrel store as a tap room on weekends.  

It is located in the railway arches behind Piccadilly station and is about a ten minute walk from there.

There are upto 12 keg lines available as well as fridges with bottles and cans to drink in or take home.

Brewery tours are still available on Saturday mornings by pre-booking.

Track Brewery

5 Sheffield Street

Manchester

M1 2ND

Opening Times:

Friday 6 - 11:30pm

Saturday 11:30 - 9:00pm

Less then a minute's walk from Cloudwater's Barrel Store is Track Brew Co,

Track is located in the same row of railway arches.

Their brew tap bar hosts six keg lines.

Alphabet Brewing Company

99 Northwestern Street

Manchester

M12 6JL

Opening Times

Saturday 12pm - 10pm

Located approximately 10 minutes walk from Manchester Piccadilly Station, Alphabet Brewing Company (ABC) is on the city centre side of Northwestern Street, which is divided in half my the Mancunian Way.

A large warehouse with a large outside area, its not difficult to miss if you go the right way!

They have 8-10 of their own beers on and the large courtyard outside hosts a weekly rotating selection of food trucks.

Beer Nouveau

75 Northwestern Street

Manchester

M12 6HU

Opening Times

Friday 4pm - 10:30pm

Saturday 12pm - 10:30pm

Sunday Occasional special ticket-only events

Located approximately 15 minutes walk from Piccadilly Station, Beer Nouveau  occupies a railway arch on the other side of The Mancunian Way.  (Don't worry, there are surface crossings on this busy road, but only at the Manchester end).  For those less inclined to walk, or if the weather is bad, the brewery is also approximately 5 minutes walk from Ardwick station.

With entrances on both Temperance Street and Northwestern Street, finding it can be a bit tricky.  I generally used the Temperance Street entrance and there is a sign outside the door.  

The bar is manned by owner and brewer Steve and occasionally his wife.  Steve is always happy to engage in conversation as long as it doesn't disrupt beer sales.

On occasion, Beer Nouveau hosts other micro breweries from around the country on a second bar.  This is a popular feature is already booked up well into 2018. 

There has also been a pop-up bottled beer vendor in the past.

For those who like a bit of fun with their beer Steve provides a Nintendo Wii!

There are usually four cask beers and upto 4 keg beers.  Occasionally some in wood casks too!

Steve is a lover of "Heritage Beer" and will often brew to historical recipes!.

The GWAF is no more!

In a bizarre move, only worthy of a bureaucrat or an advertising executive, CAMRA's Great Winter Ales Festival has been rebranded....to......

Wait for it......

The Great British Beer Festival Winter

Wow!

I wonder how many months of thought went into that name?!

What a total waste of time, effort and money!

And you know what?  Those loyal to the festival, who have been attending for years, will continue to call it The Great Winter Ales Festival.

The festival will be held in St Andrews And Blackfriars Halls (The Halls) Norwich, where the
Norwich Beer Festival was recently held.

The festival on from 20th - 24th February 2018

Oktoberfest Come To Chester

What a total waste or money!

£17.60 a ticket!!  The only "German" beer was Erdinger Weissbier, which the value sells anyway, and    Holsten Vier.

They had a very cheesy interactive um-pah band who tried to get everyone in the main hall going and even the halftime music was cheesy!  You couldn't even get away from it as they were mirroring the sound in the other room!

I was expecting a German Beer Bar with a decent selection of German beer!

I'm off to The Cellsr for some real German beer!

If you see this event near you, don't bother!

Check Me Out On Social Media

Hi guys,

I'm more active on social media than I am on here these days.  

To find out what I'm drinking head to my Untappd page https://untappd.com/user/CyberBeer

To find out what I think of what I'm drinking catch my live reviews either on my Twitter @cyber_beer or on my Periscope channel https://www.periscope.tv/CyberBeer.

I always live review when I'm out and about in pubs, so following my Twitter is probably your best option.  I am also on Facebook.  www.facebook.com/CyberBeer though |I don't update this as often a Twitter.

I also post beer and pub photos on my Instagram.  www.instagram.com/cyber_beer

Have a great time drinking and stay safe

Cyber Beer

Micropubbing in Liverpool 11/10/17

This evening I visited two Liverpool micropubs. 

Catching the train one stop from Liverpool Lime Street station to Wavertree Technology Park, I had a mile walk to my first destination, Liverpool's new micropub, The Ale House in Old Swan. 

This large, single-room pub was friendly and inviting.  Area wise it was a lot larger than what I would generally class as a "Micropub".  The lady serving was nice and the regulars were friendly.  I didn't get too many odd looks when reviewing, but it was quite quiet for 5pm on Wednesday afternoon.

The beer range was a mixture of big national brands and smaller breweries along with four real ciders.  They have their own beer from local brewery Big Bog called Black Swan, however I suspect this may be Big Bog's Stog Milk Stout rebadged!

From The Ale House I walked a mile to the Cask Micropub.

Cask is small, a single room pub, but about half the size of The Ale House, its capacity must be about 30-40 people!

Cask can have up to six real ales on, but mid-week was only serving three.  They also have a well stocked bottle fridge, with its own printed menu, containing a good range for popular Belgian beers to bottles for Liverpool's Mad Hatter brewery.

Upon leaving cask I walked the 10 minutes to the nearest bus stop to get back into the centre of Liverpool.

I had a great evening, The Ale House has been on my radar to visit for some time and I hadn't visited Cask since June 2016.

Xtreme Ales Evil Pigeon (New Format)

Duplication Isn't Always Bad!

I spent over an hour last night typing up the brewer interview from Marble.

This morning I discovered I did actually type it up about a week later!  So it I now have a duplicate transcript!  Duplication isn't always bad.  A year later I can look back on it and also comment on events and progresses since, such as the release of the subsequent beers in the "Marble Metal Series". The four beers in this series are Damage Plan, Built To Fall, Your Betrayal and Into The Void.  It also gets out fresh to my readership.

Cyber Beer

Mable Beers Interview - Damage Plan Launch (19/02/16)

On February 19th 2016, after seeing a notification on Facebook, I went to The Marble Arch in Manchester for the launch of Marble Brewery Damage Plan, which became the first in the "Marble Metal" series.  Afterwards I spoke for a few minutes with head brewer J.K.

CB: Interview with J.K. Marble Beers on Damage Plan
CB: Why did you decide to do such a strong beer?
JK: It's not strong.  Erm.  7.1%, its a nice cheeky IPA strength I#d say.  As the years have progressed with American brewing being the driving force behind most of the brewing in the world, beers have got stronger and we're just going what we need to do the stay current with the market really.  It's a simple one.
CB: It's weak compared to Belgian beers
JK: It's a good session strength, You can drink schooners of it and you're okay.  You don't have to dink pints an pints of it, its not that sort of beer.
CB:  It's a more European style, a casual beer
JK: Yeah, exactly.  You can drink it with food,
CB: How did you come up with the name?
JK:  Ah, yeah.  You see, I'm a massive metal fan and my favourite guitarist is Dimebag Darrell and Dimebag split away from Pantera with his brother and started Damage Plan and now he's dead it my kind of homage to Dimebag.
CB: What kind of hops do you use?
JK:  Summit, Equinox and Mosaic are the three main hops we've used in this for aroma and flavour.
CB: And what kind of malt?
JK: Low colour Maris Otter.  That's it.  We used a few acidulated malts to change the PH of the mash and that's it really.  Just very simple matls, it all about the hops really.
CB: What's your target audience for this beer?
JK: Erm....
CB: It's a difficult question!
JK: Yeah, I mean, I brew beers that I like to and want to drink, so when I'm thinking of a beer to brew, it's something I'll like and I hope everyone else does really!
CB: Is this your fist foray into "craft beer"?
JK: No. No. No.  I used to work for Thornbridge,   I've brewed for Thornbridge, I've brewed for Fullers, I was the head brewer at Buxton for a couple of years and I've home brewed since I was about 15.
CB: And you're done a few Marble "craft style" beers?
JK: Oh yeah, yeah.  I did a beer with James when he was here.  I did a couple of beers with Matt.  My ex-assistant brewer at Buxton was Joe, who's mum owns Marble.  I've known everyone for years, we've been inextricably linked.
CB:  I see you have a schooner in your hand, which answers my next question, have you tried it yet?
JK:  Yes, yes, yes
CB: Your opinion as a brewer of your beer?
JK: It's good.  I'm actually really pleased.  Usually there's always something wrong with the beer you brew.  It needs a touch more carbonation, but that's it.  I'm well pleased with it.
CB: Well that's it
JK: No worries, mate,

I concluded the interview by saying I'd get it typed up in the next few days, it's actually taken me a year!  Sorry J.K.!

I wasn't expecting such a detailed answer to my question on J.K.'s brewing history, the question in my mind had been about specifically at Marble.  I meant to ask "Is this Marble's first foray in craft beer?" but I got a better and more insightful answer than I had hoped for!  And I refined it to Marble with my impromptu next question.

Leeds CAMRA Beer Festival Ditches Halves (And Jokes About It!)

According to the website for LeedsCAMRA this year's LeedscBeer Festival (Which is actually in Pudsey!) will no do half pints.  They even make a joke of it.  The website states, about three quarters of the way down "*Glasses lined at one third and two thirds only - no half measures!"

I can only assume this is a cost cutting measure so they don't have to have two sets of glasses.  One of the traditional ale drinkers and one for the craft ale drinkers.  I still don't understand why a half line couldn't have also been included.  Maybe they thought four lines on a glass would be too confusing!  Who knows?  It does, however, suggest that Leeds, along with several other CAMRA beer festival, will be including Key-Keg craft beer.  It's nice to see so many local branch beer festivals embracing craft beer despite CAMRA's official stance on keg beer.

As a ticker and blogger, I tend to only drink halves at beer festivals (unless its something I know I love) so the removal of the half line is a big turn off for me. I haven't attended Leeds Beer Festival since 2004 and this change does not encourage me to return!

I hope this isn't a trend that will catch on.  I will be a very sad day when a half is no longer considered a standard measure!