Zak Avery – beer writer and shop owner

Welcome to the first ‘episode’ of Desert Island Discs, our regular interview with beer lovers. Our first week starts with a bang, with British Guild of Beer Writers’ Beer Writer of the Year 2008, Mr Zak Avery.

Lots of you will know Zak, and many may have read his beer words, for those who are lucky enough to live in Leeds you might have bought a few bottles of beer from Zak’s shop, Beer Ritz in Far Headingley.

Zak’s shop is probably the most welcoming emporium of beer I know, but what will he make of the hospitality on our Desert Island?

Actually, he made himself right at home, taking advantage of our not very stringent rules!

Read the rest of this entry »

Desert Island Beers

A while back we posed the question ‘What would your emergency beers be?’, after a night gazing into the beer cupboard and not being able to choose anything to drink. Usually having a wide selection of beers in the house is great, but there are the days when everything is new, or everything is tired and you just don’t have anything in that shouts drink me.

On the days you something need a fall back, a beer that you always rely on, those tried and tested brews that you never tire of and can always, always rely on to satisfy your thirst.

The responses to the Emergency Beer post planted the little seed of this idea, and got us thinking about ‘What beer would you want if all other beers in the world were destroyed’ and ‘What beer would you want if you were Will Smith in that film where no one else is around?’.

Which led to the obvious question, ‘What beer would you take to a desert island?’.

And that’s exactly the question we’ll be asking you, beer lovers of the world, in our new (hopefully regular) feature: Desert Island Beers.

The concept is simple, just like the Radio 4 show we’ve taken inspiration from, we will be asking guests what beers they would take to a desert island. We’re going to ask each guest to select 3 ales they just could not live without. And as we’re generous island chiefs, we’re going to allow our castaways a couple of extras: a meal to go with the beers, one luxury item and a song or record they’d like to keep their spirits up.

Keep your eyes peeled on the desert island, we have some cracking guests lined up including beer writers, brewers, bloggers, beer lovers and perhaps even the odd B(eer)-list celebrity!

Christmas Beer Gift Packs

Purity Ale gift pack

WARNING: these gift suggestions are not (I repeat not!) suitable for your beer widow!!! Read the rest of this entry »

The Misfortunates

I’ve been meaning to write something about this since I saw one of the best films I’ve seen for ages at the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival earlier this year.

The Misfortunates follows the trials and tribulations of a highly dysfunctional Belgian family, the Strobbes. Gunther lives with his father, three uncles and grandmother and looks set for a ne’er-do-well adulthood just as his male heroes, all veritable Frank Gallagher types. Through copious amounts of alcohol (including a World Cup drinking game involving only Trappist ales), girlfriends, arguments, tears and more beers, the film is a retrospective look back from Gunther on his childhood and a peak into how he ended up.

Read the rest of this entry »

Beer Blogger Awards

Right straight to the chase. I don’t feel I’ve had enough beers in some of the categories in Mark & Andy’s Beer Bloggers Awards. So this very much is what I think is the best few in each category from my experience over the last 12 months.

So…

Midnight Bell at the Midnight Bell

Best UK Draught Beer:

One of Midnight Bell by Leeds Brewery – a consistent dark mild that does what it says on the tin – or Saltaire’s Hazelnut Coffee Porter.

Best UK Bottled Beer:

M&S Cornish IPA, Birds & Bees, Bath Ales Golden Hare and Chaos Theory have all been excellent this year, but some of favourites include BrewDog RipTide, Dark Star Sunburst and Crown Brewery’s Smokin’ Oktoberfest but the beer that I associate with the year and blew my socks off was most definitely Thornbridge’s Halcyon.

Best Overseas Draught Beer:

Leeds is blessed with many pubs and bars serving great bottled foreign beers but is less strong on foreign draught beer (other than the standard lagers). But the Pigs Ear festival in London came to the rescue with the fantastic De Molen Amarillo - a revelation. Sierra Nevada Harvest and Racer 5 by Russian River close behind and both amazing.

Thornbridge Halcyon

Best Overseas Bottled Beer:

A bit more difficult, as I’ve had loads of overseas bottles this year. My favourite so far may well be one of Little Creatures (Australia) or St Lupulin Pale Ale by Odell Brewing Co, but if I had to pick just one then Flying Dog’s Gonzo Stout was bloomin’ excellent both times I tried it.

Best Overall Beer:

Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch waltzed in and out of my life quicker than any other beer this year, but it was tremendous and outrageous in every way. Watch Zak Avery’s late night tasting for more adjectives on this brilliant beer (at the bottom of this post).

Best UK Brewery:

Dark Star are fast becoming a favourite whilst BrewDog continue to push innovation (or whatever you prefer to call it) and for me the most consistent beers I’ve had have come from Bath Ales and Leeds Brewery. But for the rawness and taste of their (or his) beers, Crown Brewery (aka Stuart Ross) takes my vote, producing some of the most exciting beers of the year.

Best Overseas Brewery:

I haven’t had enough Mikkeller to name check them here, although they seem to push boundaries in a similar way to BrewDog. Goose Island and Sierra Nevada have both released good seasonal ales and every week I’m finding Belgian ales that I can’t believe I’ve not tried before. But the brewery who I say wow to most constantly is De Molen.

Best Bottle Label/Pump Clip:

BrewDog’s Atlantic IPA and Zephyr wins hands down thanks to the talents of illustrator Johanna Basford.

A Timothy Taylors at the Top Brink Inn, Calderdale

Pub/Bar of the Year:

It’s been a quiet pub year with most of my drinking done at home or in the fancy bars of Leeds, but for service, friendliness and setting, The Top Brink Inn at Mankinholes is more than deserved of a mention, an oasis after a long day on the Pennine Way.

So many places in Leeds deserve a mention (Mr Foley’s, North Bar, PIN, The Adelphi, Cross Keys and more) plus The Market Porter in London.

Beer Festival of the Year:

Having only been to a handfulthis year (Norwich, KWV and Saltaire) I’m limited in selection, but because it was part of a brilliant weekend in great company and provided one of the best beers of the year, the Pigs Ear in London takes my accolade.

The Sainsbury's Beer Competition gave brewers a 'one off' chance to hit supermarket shelves, but Booths continually stock local micro brewery beers all year round in their 200+ strong beer range.

Supermarket of the Year:

This is between Sainsbury’s, Co-op, M&S and Booths. I enjoyed the Sainsbury’s competition and M&S’s new range, and Coop is often overlooked despite a good range of ‘own brand’ beers. But it has to be Booths for depth of range and supporting local brewers.

Independent Retailer of the Year:

Not just cos it’s in Leeds, but because all the staff are great, the range is interesting and inclusive, and the prices remain reasonable, it is of course, Beer Ritz.

Online Retailer of the Year:

I’ve only ordered beer online once this year, from BeerMerchants (I’ve been to Beers of Europe physical store when I bought from there) so it will have to be them. Their safety conscious packaging and strong twitter presence would probably win them this anyway!

Pete Brown reads Hops & Glory on his UK launch tour

Best Beer Book:

Of course it’s Hops & Glory. Pete Brown rightly deserves his ‘Bill Bryson’ of beer writing moniker.

Best Beer Blog:

Wow, there’s so many I read on daily basis. But for me, I love Knut Albert’s writing and his interesting anecdotes. Mentions to Zak Avery for his video tastings which are of the highest quality, Dave Bailey for educating me on so many points of view I wouldn’t have considered and Martin Cornell’s Zythophile which I could spend hours poring over.

And I can’ help myself but mention the quality that doesn’t end there with great words this year by Ally, Pete, Reluctant, Boak & Bailey, The Beer Nut, Laura, Matt and Rob, Jeff, Leigh and lots of other people I’ll unfortunately need to leave off.

Of course Mark & Andy’s blog are both great too

Best Beer Twitterer:

The twitter community welcomed @realalereviews with open arms and without the many friends we’ve made via micro-blogging we wouldn’t be here still blogging and writing and sharing our beer drinking. But if I had to pick someone who’s 140 character musings keep me always entertained, I’d pick Woolpack Dave’s tweets from his far away corner of Cumbria (and Woolpack Ann’s replies!) or John Duffy’s tweets from across the Irish Sea.

Rick from Bier & Co shows off a carton of Raging Bitch, Flying Dog's 20th Anniversary beer, and my Beer of the Year

Best Online Interactive Brewery:

As an online marketer this one has me asking all sorts of questions, (especially to do with the nomenclature of digital communication) like what makes a ‘best online interactive brewery’. If it means ‘making noise’ online then BrewDog make a big argument, but if it’s who’s sold the most beer by communicating via internet channels, then I don’t have that stats to answer? If it’s friendliest brewery online then Purity Ale have a good shout and most advanced technically, Flying Dog or Brooklyn Brewery over in the US should probably win.

So to cut a long story short I can’t really pick!

Food and Beer Pairing of the Year:

Smoked venison with goats’ cheese, fig and apple juice terrine and
Duchesse de Bourgogne at the British Guild of Beer Writers dinner. Sublime (and I don’t even like goats cheese!). Full menu from Adrian Tierney-Jones.

Open Category:

To copy Mark Dredge verbatim : Best Beer-Related Thing about 2009 is…All the new friends I’ve made and all the great new people I’ve met through beer. Oh and setting up a beer blog of course!

Next Year I’d Most Like To..:

If I win the lottery, join Mark in the USA and get to my Brooklyn Brewery tour that I missed in 2007. As well as keep writing for the people that like reading!

On Sunday a bunch of friends in Leeds are having Christmas dinner. We’ll all be going our separate ways for the festive period so it’s a chance to catch up, eat and drink together, play some board games and enjoying finally admitting that we’re adults with houses now and not students still.

I’m in charge of beer and cheese, after picking some fancy samples at Lincoln Christmas Market earlier this month.

So I’m basically just looking for suggestions, as tomorrow I’m off to Beer Ritz to purchase the beers and on the way back stopping at Leeds Markets for the cheese.

Cheeses I have so far:

White Stilton Strawberries and cream – I’m thinking a strawberry Belgian beer

Yorkshire Black - a local Yorkshire beer?

Maplewood Smoked (just like Applewood smoked really) – a smoky porter or Rauchbier

Lancashire Apple, Raisin and Cinnamon – I’m stumped on this one!

I also have a bottle of aged Orval, but I’m greedily undecided as to whether I’m willing to share this with anyone!

Cheese selection at Lincoln Christmas Market. The difficult bit will be finding beers to accompany all of these!

Colonsay 80/-

It has been some time since the prelude to this particular dream was published but I am now finally (and I apologise for the delay) in a position to let you all in on my part of the fantastic experience that has been Beerswap 2009. For those who don’t remember I was sent a selection of refreshing beers from North of the border by Robbie @ I Might Have a Glass of Beer and this is what I thought… Read the rest of this entry »

After a hectic day out on Saturday in the bustling streets of York complete with Christmas Market, I needed to relax with good food and beer when I got home. I’d been eyeing up three Harvey’s beers in my cupboard for a week or so and had been planning to drink them all together. Saturday night seemed perfect, with the promise of a hot curry and Christmassy afters.

Harvey’s Blue label

The first of three Harvey’s beers, I was hoping this would nicely wash down a Thai green chicken curry. It’s a coppery pale ale and poured with next to no head. I was expecting something lively from this diminutive bottle, but it was generally flat and a bit watery. Having heard lots about Harvey’s beers my first impressions were a little underwhelming.

Harvey's Blue Labvel - I love the simple branding and label design

It had a really nice, subtle aroma of lemons and limes, and there was a limey tang in the taste. It was super drinkable being soft on the palate with a smooth mouth feel. It wasn’t very bitter (the bottle says a ‘delicate bitterness’ which is an understatement) as you might expect from a beer weighing in at just 3.6% ABV. There was a sweet maltiness in the finish. I believe this beer is dry hopped which may explain some of its character

This did actually live up the bill, kind of accidentally, as it did wash down the green curry well in taste and texture, but I’m not sure this could become a favourite, and I’m not sure I’ve had the best bottle of it. One to give another go… Read the rest of this entry »

When I went down to the British Guild of Beer Writers dinner a couple of weeks ago I had a fantastic night. But the day after topped it all off with a pub crawl around London starting with Mark Dredge, Tim Hampson and Zak Avery in the Market Porter, and continuing across London town with Knut Albert, Ally Shaw and John the Beer Nut (via The Rake, Greenwich Union, The Wenlock Arms, The Gunmakers Arms and beyond).

I knew I’d taken a group photo at some point, I clearly remembered balancing my camera on a precipitous ledge in the Wenlock Arms, but for the life of me couldn’t find the resulting image.

Until now! And it made me smile and remember how great it is to meet up with like minded beer folk and talk beer and drink beer.

Beer bloggers unite over a pint or three in the Wenlock Arms

To good times, sláinte!

From left to right: Ally Shaw (FeralStrumpet), The Beer Nut (John Duffy), Knut Albert, Mark Dredge and me, FletchtheMonkey (Mark Fletcher, Real Ale Reviews).

Beer Swap Pt 2

It went right to the wire but I did manage to drink my beer swap beers just in time to write about them this week. I had two beer swap partners, I was sending to Adam Croft who has written about the two Leeds Brewery bottles I sent him so far, and my sender was a mystery person.

Lovibonds Henley Amber - bitter but refined

My beer swap sender turned out to be a wine blogger, none other than Andrew Barrow aka the Wine Scribbler who is based in South Oxfordshire at the exact opposite end of the county I grew up in.

And judging by the beers, there’s a wealth of brewery action in that area, the four beers coming from parts of shires Oxford, Buckingham and Berk that were close enough to home when I grew up to appear on the local news, but that I’ve never explored before.

First up was Lovibonds Amber Ale, a 3.4% premium pale ale in a 330ml bottle. Read the rest of this entry »