One of the most memorable of many poignant accounts from the final moments aboard is the solace eight musicians provided as they played on to the very last. Their valiant bandmaster was one Wallace Hartley, a man born and bred in Colne, Lancashire. He and his fellow players sadly perished but he has never been forgotten by generations of local folk.

Hartley has been honoured by a handsome headstone, commemorative plaques, street names and a bronze bust outside the church where he began his musical career. And a respectful beery nod was forthcoming in 2008 when Wetherspoons acquired the former King’s Head Hotel and christened it the Wallace Hartley.

And to mark the centenary in its inimitable fashion, the Wallace held a Maiden Voyage Beer Festival spanning the dates the Titanic was at sea a hundred years hence. On tap were a multitude of beers fittingly supplied by Titanic Brewery.

Titanic Beer Festival Colne

The first I sampled was one-off collaborative ale by Keith Bott from Titanic and Mark Szmaida of Chelsea Brewing, New York, evocatively named Ship of Dreams. This burnished copper brew was nicely balanced with hints of damson giving way to a sweet and nutty malt finish. I enjoyed it while digesting a felicitously ripping yarn in the form of Treasure Island.

The interior of the Wallace Hartley is bedecked with dark bevelled tiling, wood panelling and bespoke sculptures and paintings creating a tenebrous maritime theme. Characteristically large and open-plan spaces abound with more secluded nooks and crannies for a quieter pint also around.

During the festival most of the dozen hand-pumps carried Titanic beers, with a smattering of regulars and other breweries efforts in evidence. Just some of the themed ales on offer were Iceberg, Lifeboat, Steerage, Black Ice, English Glory, White Star and Nine Tenths Below.

Wetherspoons Colne

Treasured pint

Ship of Dreams

Titanic beer list

I’m a stickler for sampling new stuff where and whenever I can, so I’d previously tested all of these nautical tipples, but one in particular stood out for another slosh: Titanic’s Cappuccino. This potent stout had an über-rich coffee and vanilla nose that really intensified in the mouth. A deeply delicious drink worthy of any occasion.

Although not a beer festival in the traditional sense, this formed a fitting tribute to the Titanic and its heroic home-town band leader. Let’s raise a glass to Wallace!

Fellow tarmac God Jason Hall used to attend barbecues at Denzil’s sprawling estate in Great Heck and took his very nice home brewed ales with him. One balmy summer evening talk turned to what use could be put to the part of Denzil’s manorial holdings which was then used as a workshop for his fleet of state of the art racing motorcycles. “Let’s turn it into a brewery” quoth Denzil and within a few short years, in May 2008, this had come to pass.

Thankfully the disappointment engendered in the hard core of regional club road racing spectators by their idol’s disappearance from the scene has since been more than offset by the delight of those stalwarts who consumed the 435 batches of ale which were produced in the original Great Heck brewery before production was moved, in March 2012 to a new facility on the opposite side of the road.

“My only regret is that I didn’t realise how awesome I was sooner, ” says Denzil, modestly.

By heck! It

Jarl, just think cask

Denzil likes bikes

The Beers

Welcome Denzil! Tell us, which five beers would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island, and why?

1. Odell Brewing Company – Odell India Pale Ale (Fort Collins, Colorado USA. – 7.0%)
   “This is probably the best bottled beer I’ve ever tasted. Its clean character belies its strength and its lovely low level of bitterness allows the generous palate of hop flavor and aroma to balance the rich, yet clean, smooth, yet dry malt. Not too gassy! The high ABV and easy drinking nature of this beer means I’ll be able to get blitzed very pleasantly before drowning myself in a bizarre swimming accident.”
2. The Brew Company – Hoperatic (Sheffield, Yorkshire U.K. – 4.6%)
   ”Typical excellent English ale with the American influence using Australian hops. Cask ale is my favourite drink and this is one of my favourite ones from one of my favourite brewers, and one of my bestest mates. The beauty of these English cask ales is that they have very light, natural carbonation. I love that when it’s just right and it always is in this brewery’s beers. That’s why there are no keg beers on my list.”
3. Fyne Ales – Jarl (Cairndow, Argyll, Scotland – 3.8%)
   “Similar to the above. This beer demonstrates the quantum shift in brewing which has taken place in Scotland in recent decades. For my money this is the best Scottish beer I have ever tasted, probably even the best British beer I have ever tasted. I first tried it at The Guildford Arms, Edinburgh. My way-too-pretty for me girlfriend and I had just had a bottle of the iconic Sierra Nevada IPA each, followed by a Goose Island IPA, both of which only a few years ago would have seemed radical in comparison to anything from Scotland. Next stop, a pint of a 3.8 session ale: Jarl. Jarl completely blew the American beers away in terms of flavour, and the fact it is a cask ale meant it blew them away in terms of drinkability too. Awesome!”/li>
4. Dark Star Brewing Co. – American Pale Ale – (Horsham, England – 4.7%)
   “Another English brewer whom I really admire. I find Dark Star inspirational in that they have become so successful and produce significant volumes of beer whilst not compromising on quality and the intrinsic joy of brewing and beer. This brewery proves that you don’t need to be a flashy enfant terrible to be a success in brewing. They have achieved it by simply brewing and marketing perfectly, great ales. Sweet!”
5. Great Heck Brewing Co. – Slaughterhouse Porter – (Great Heck, Yorkshire – 4.5%)
   “Not really my favourite Great Heck beer but it’s a great dark beer and there weren’t any in the list for those days when I fancy a change from hoppy beers. This is more or less the beer that started us off brewing back in the day. Developed from one of co-founder Jason Hall’s homebrew recipes, silky smooth, viscous and lush, it really satisfies my dark beer needs.”

And which beer (of those selected) do you regard most highly?

“Fyne Ales Jarl. I rate cask beer above all other forms of packaging and I think Fyne Ales Jarl is the best cask ale I’ve ever drunk. Plus the first time I drank it I was with my gorgeous girlfriend Karine so it’ll remind me of her on the desert island. MWAH!””

The Meal

You can also take one meal to go with your beers, what would it be?
“Cream of cauliflower soup as served at The Bay Horse Inn, Great Heck, followed by a huge Sirloin steak from Rowland’s Butchers in Snaith with Karine Krimm’s hand made chips and salad, followed by an English & French cheese board with toast and butter.”

The Books

You might be waiting a long time on your lonesome on the desert island, so we will automatically allow you a few books to keep your mind busy. You can pick between two beer books and two tomes: ‘The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food’ by Garrett Oliver, or ‘Beer’ by Michael Jackson; plus The Bible, or another appropriate religious or philosophical work

“1. Michael Jackson 2. The Bible. It has some good stories in it.”

You can also take a something a little less taxing on the brain, what would that be?

“The complete works of PG Wodehouse.”

The record

You have a CD/mp3/long player but you can only take one album. Choose wisely!

“AC/DC Powerage. Best album by the best rock band ever!”

The Luxury Item

And finally, what luxury item would help make your stay on the island bearable?

“A huge collection of pornography.”

“An easy one. My Longboard Surf Board.”

Thanks Denzil! For more information on Great Heck’s beers see their “website”or to find out Denzil’s favourite dirty mags are follow him on Twitter.

Have you tried Denzil’s favourite beers? Let us know and many thanks to him for taking part and being our castaway for the week.

This article is syndicated with Allgates Brewery as part of our ‘Desert Island Beers’ collaboration.

It simply doesn’t want to open (the journey back from Belgium wasn’t kind: a contemporary shot it’s load in the suitcase, drenching the stash of bottles and it’s still sticky and downtrodden) but eventually, after much gushing and fizzing, it acquiesces.

Perhaps it’s just the toll of it’s arrival here, but it looks weather beaten like it’s namesakes – a pannepot is a Flemish  fishing boat associated with the town of De Panne, near the French border, and the beer is a tribute to the fisherman that have enjoyed Flemish dark ales over many stormy years.

It’s tan head could easily be it’s fisherman’s beard, home to assorted aromas and flavours caught along the voyage: burnt raisins, sour figs and dry prunes, vanilla, anise, tobacco, brown sugar. Do caramelised chocolate bananas exist?

Pannepot is a smoking thurible of a beer; deep, complex, throat burning, incensed with mellow spices.

A treasure worth smuggling home, no matter how bumpy the seas.

De Struise Pannepot 2008

Last Saturday night I opened a bottle that was just that; I opened a beer that was older than me, so that’s over twenty five, give or take the odd ten years. In fact it was a lot older than me, more than twice my age.

It was brewed in 1929 in fact, so that’s 83 years old.

A mate of mine dabbles in buying and selling antiques and I got a call from him a while back…

“You like beer don’t you Gav?”
“Well, yes” I laughed.
“How long does beer last?” came the reply.
“Depends what it is” I say in return, “Why do you ask?”
“I’ve got a couple of bottles you might be interested in.”
“Go on.”
“It’s a bit old”
“How old?”
“1902 and 1929.”

I was silent for a second or two after that.

The beers my mate had come by were Bass King’s Ale (1902) and Bass Prince of Wales Brew (1929). I took a quick look at the bottles and, as he only wanted £30 for the pair, I snapped them up, for novelty reasons if nothing else.

A King and a Prince

Then along comes OpenIt! and I think, what about those Bass beers I’ve got, shall I open one of those? I council a few folks on twitter and by the end of the day I’ve decided I’m taking along the bottle of Prince of Wales Brew to OpenIt! at Mr Foley’s in Leeds. There’s plenty of other curious folks keen to try it too, most of them more beer geekish than I am.

And shortly after arriving the bottle is on to the table with a corkscrew, the remainder of the wax seal is removed and I’m plunging the corkscrew in. With a small lever part of the cork comes away – it’s a bit dried out as you’d expect –  and I need a different corkscrew to get a little more of the cork out and drill a little hole as its pretty stuck in there.

The empty glasses are thrust my way and everyone is keen to try. We all give it a sniff and look at each other slightly nervously. The aroma a little on the sour side but I’m getting a whiff of raisins and we wonder if the beer will taste as sour as it smells.

"Ich Dein" Bass 1929 Prince of Wales Ale

How many men does it take to open a beer?

The slow pour, and it's dripping tasty too!

Here goes!

I take a sip.

How does it taste?

Well it tastes alright considering its age. A nice fruity character. The next offering to my tongue is a good size and I’m getting an idea of the flavour now. I’m very pleasantly surprised, it’s a bit like like an amontillado sherry. It’s stunning that a beer that’s survived for 83 years untouched has this amount of flavour left in it. It’s not nasty at all and most of us are in agreement about this.

Of course I’ve no idea how it was supposed to taste (I’ve no idea what beer tasted like back in 1929 for that matter). Prince of Wales Brew was the second Bass beer with a royal connection after Bass King’s Ale was produced in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII. I’m lead to believe that for Prince of Wales Brew the mash was started by Prince Edward, who later become Edward VIII of course, and sold for around £5 a bottle, a fair bit of wedge back in the day!

So was it worth opening? I took the remainder of the bottle home and then to the local the following day. There was a pretty mixed response from folks who where a little less beer geekish, some of disgust and some of surprise and intrigue. I’m with the latter crowd hence my curiosity to open it.

It’s just amazing to think that you’ve actually been drinking history. A beer that, given its royal connection and price, must have been been painstakingly crafted by Bass master brewers to brew a beer befitting a Prince. I feel very privileged to have been able to try and share it with friends. A great beer experience. I just wish, like most beers really, I could open it and enjoy the experience again.

The Prince of Wales feathers, which are also embossed on the bottle, bare the words ‘Ich Dien’, which means ‘I Serve’. This beer ‘Ich Dien’ with pleasure Your Royal Highness!

Victory! Eventually the cork is breached!

Pouring a bottle of beer older than me

Big thanks to Rick Furzer for organising the Open It session at Mr Foleys, and to Ghost Drinker for the lovely pics of the crew struggling to open the very old bottle of beer!

Gruff toffee dominates the down to earth running order, but to spice things up there are hints of apple skins at silly mid on. A long persistent finish requires a long drawn out last gulp before clunking a foam-laced glass back on the beer mat ready for seconds.

No fuss, no frills, no nonsense, just malt and hops and god’s own water.

Fred Trueman Yorkshire Ale

Meantime Union shares a similar contradiction. Broody and brown, this is is no pale bodied pushover. Lagered it is, and a tad metallic to boot, coupled with a dark caramel composition and a surprisingly roasted finish suggesting mustard seeds, honey-soaked biscuits and bitter Bourneville.

Union shares the creaminess of some of the golden pilsners that stole a march onn Vienna style lagers many years ago.

It’s enigmatic to say the least. Coloured like a bitter, tastes like a bitter, but brisker, bolder, livelier. It’s interesting, ebbing and flowing between it’s different elements, but it’s hard to see how it would fit into my everyday drinking.

Except for with pizza. Michael Jackson recommended amber beers with pizza and at a basic level this shares many facets – creamy texture, bitterness, effervescent, mouthfilling malt and sweet roasted finish.

So being under £2, being under 5%, and offering refreshment, intrigue and solace, this is one beer that will be on the shopping list alongside doughballs and garlic bread.

Caught my eye as I thought it was a football beer!

A Union of dark malt, pizza and beer. Mmm.

Vienna style beers have a special place in my heart as I once named a Vienna influenced beer. Thornbridge Equinox was a one off ‘Vienna IPA’, so a little different from the copper coloured lagers of continental Europe, but I only ever got to try one pint of it. I’d love to try it again one day!

For the last ten years he has also been involved in providing technical education to the brewing industry, mainly on behalf of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling but also through his own company “The Brilliant Beer Company”. He was one of the founders of the Beer Academy and one of the core lecturers. He is passionate about good beer, and really enjoys passing his knowledge onto people not necessarily connected with the brewing industry.

In addition to all of the above he is also an auditor for Cask Marque, a beer journalist, and was a former technical editor for the Brewers Guardian. He continues to write and has published over 250 technical and educational articles.

Tim believes that brewing and beer should be fun and interesting. In Summer 2011 he organised the Great Baltic Adventure taking 14 different samples of cask Imperial Russian Stout by sailing ship from London to Saint Petersburg and then judging the beers to find the beer which best survived the journey and have it crowned as “ A Beer fit for an Empress”.

His mission in life is to prove that drinking beer is an enjoyable pastime and likes to share his enthusiasm with everyone but says that like all great things, beer has to sampled and enjoyed in moderation.

Tim on his adventure

Stouts set sail!

Imperial Stout list

1664 was a good year...

The Beers

Tim, welcome aboard our desert island. With your experience in sailing beers around the world we fear you may not be here long though! Whilst you are, which five beers will you be enjoying?

1. Frederic Robinson Ltd “Old Tom” (Stockport, UK– 8.5%)
   “This is a classic example of an old ale with rich dark fruit notes a well balanced bitterness and sweetness and full of rich flavor. This is a beer I would enjoy on a chilly evening after the sun had gone down and is typically the style of beer I would drink at home after a long day to relax when I wanted a night cap.
2. Thornbridge Kipling (Bakewell, UK – 5.2%)
   “Thornbridge brewery has developed a exquisite range of cask & bottled beers, most of which would be a delight to drink during my time on a desert island. I chose Kipling because not only does it have the fine malt flavours balanced by a fierce hop bitterness but it comes with the wonderful aromas of New Zealand Nelson Sauvin which gives this beer an extra dimension through its intense fruity aroma of lychee and mango. A refreshing beer to be enjoyed in the shade at midday on the tropical island.”
3. Stärker Aromatic (Malaysia – 5%) brewed by Napex and distributed through the Over Time Pub Chain
   “This is truly one of the first fresh beers to be available in the Tropics. It is sold un filtered and unpasteurized and its only means of microbial stabilization is through a short shelf life (less than 10 days from racking to dispense) and being keep cold (less than 3C) throughout the supply chain. In consequence it delivers a crisp clean flavour augmented with delightful aroma and taste of citrus and coriander, popular in Belgium wheat beers. Served ice cold it refreshes all parts of the body regardless of temperature. Winner of two gold medals in Brew Asia in the last two years.”
4. Kronenbourg 1664 (brewed in the UK by Heineken (and sub contracted to Coors) although the parent brewery in France is owned by Carlsberg (what a contractual mess) – 5%)
   “Ironically I prefer the UK brewed Kronenbourg and it was one of my favourite beers when working for Courage in Reading and is in my opinion the best UK brewed lager. This beer was chosen as a session lager which is easy to drink and is very refreshing when cold. When in good condition is has malt notes and a fresh citrus aroma from Hersbrucker Hallertau and I think more recently Strisselspalt hops which gives it the clean aroma and palate.”
5. Harveys Brewery Sussex Best Bitter (Lewes, UK – 4.0%)
   “When looking for a no nonsense good traditional beer whose pedigree and style has remained unaltered over the decades it would be difficult to find a better example than Sussex bitter. A well balanced session bitter with a sensible alcohol strength with a good robust aroma and bitterness from English hops. This well favoured beer has won many accolades and gold medals but is only available near the brewery and in a few selected London pubs. My concern would be getting fresh supplies to my desert Island!”

And which beer (of those selected) do you regard most highly?

“Probably if I was there a long time and could only sample one beer I would stick with the session lager or ale and in view of the heat probably chose Kronenbourg provided it could be kept and served cold. In my sessions I hope I won’t have to drink alone and that a Man Friday or preferably a Girl Friday would turn up and share the drinks with me.”

The Meal

You can also take one meal to go with your beers, what would it be?

“Because of my interest in beer and food pairing (and ignoring the weather) even tropical islands have winters I would prepare a banquet to support my five desert island beers.

Starting with fish – possibly fish and chips or if I was feeling healthy baked fish I would enjoy it with my Kronenbourg.

To be healthy I would chose a salad maybe with some of the local fruits and some goats cheese and that would be complimented with the fruity and hoppy notes from Kipling.

Coming to the main course we would have beef or even a rich meat pie such as steak & kidney pie all washed down with fresh cask conditioned Sussex Bitter.

I love cheesecake and assume a tangerine topping that will go well with the Stärker Aromatic wheat beer.

To finish and to wash the meal down I would enjoy cheese (strong cheese such as stilton and mature cheddar) with the “Port” of beers – Old Tom.”

(Dan, that’s three meals but we will let you off, seeing they are beer and food matchings!! Just this once)

The Books

You might be waiting a long time on your lonesome on the desert island, so we will automatically allow you a few books to keep your mind busy. You can pick between two beer books and two tomes: ‘The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food’ by Garrett Oliver, or ‘Beer’ by Michael Jackson; plus The Bible, or another appropriate religious or philosophical work

“I have just bought the Oxford Compendium to Beer edited by Garrett Oliver and since I have not had time to read it I hope I can take this along with me to improve my beer education.

Following on from my Great Baltic Adventure I am in the process of writing a book and so I would chose to take Pete Brown’s book about nearly taking IPA all the way from London to India – Hops and Glory – to see if I can pick up any useful writing hints.”

And a non-beery book?

“I should read more as I only read brewing books and rubbish fiction when I am travelling or on holiday. If I had a reasonable amount of time without wanting to completely chill out I think I would like to read Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species as it’s a book that changed the world and to I’d like to follow how a great intellect argued his points in forming his ideas.”

The record

You have a CD/mp3/long player but you can only take one album. Choose wisely!

“I like music particularly from the 1970 & 80’s but don’t listen to it as much as I should. I would therefore choose some compilation such as the “More Than This”, the best of Brian Ferry & Roxy Music or Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits.”

(And that’s two albums!)

The Luxury Item

And finally, what luxury item would help make your stay on the island bearable?

“Other than the obvious of a bottle opener and fridge for the regular beers and a stillage and hard and soft pegs for the cask beer, I think I would chose to take my diving gear so I could swim around and enjoy scuba diving. It may also be useful in helping me collect lunch from the sea.

P.S. Also could I please have some sun cream and insect repellant as well.”

Many thanks to Tim for taking the time and trouble to be a castaway. For more on Tim and The Brilliant Beer Co. check out their website. And we’ll be looking our for the story of the Great Baltic Adventure too! Thanks also to Elena Pakhomova for the picture of Tim.

Have you tried Dan’s favourite beers? Let us know and many thanks to him for taking part and being our castaway for the week. This article syndicated with All Gates Brewery blog as part of our Desert Island Beers series.

And there’s something modern and well designed about the branding, even if it is a bit cosy and predictable and ‘marketing agency’ developed.

Blonde is the playful peer of Brunnette, cheeky takes on pale and amber ales.

Morrissey Fox Blonde

The former is a skinny beer perfumed with uncooked dough, and it’s smooth as silk as it coats upper lips around the bar with a (possibly) Cascadian caress. It’s an pleasant, if slightly banal first date.

Back at home a bottle has the same mellow tangerine tang that firmly plants this in session ale territory. Bitterness is minimal, the body is barely there, lager-like without the fizz – it’s just dry enough to demand the next quenching gulp of citrus scented liquid bread. Is it ever interesting enough to seduce though?

Love or loathe boys playing with their toys, Morrissey and Fox have cooked up a perfectly decent beer with perfectly contemporary branding for perfectly discerning pub goers. It’s all perfectly fine for a Saturday afternoon pint really.

It’s a good few months since we found this in a bottle, and quite a bit longer since on cask. We’ve not seen or heard anything since then, is a Strawberry Blonde on the cards or has this relationship hit the rocks?

Then, Friday night, supermarket near work. Rain seeping from a pitch black sky. Wind billowing huncalife katalog through cable-knitted layers. Puddles underfoot and wiper blades on frenzy-mode.

The shopping list is simple: pizza, beer, home. Supermarket hunca life katalog time is kept to a minimum: in and out. Fast track tills. Self service.

And then, out of the blue, “Do you have any ID?”

A question that a decade ago hunca life my side-burned seventeen year old self dreaded, as I joined my contemporaries on the gauntlet of pubs, bars and clubs that made up an under age Friday night in market town Oxfordshire.

Dodging bouncers was our profession then, at 27 and 11/12s it seems I’ve merely exchanged hunca life burly men for ample checkout assistants.

So back to the lashing rain, water running across my smooth chin (the smoothest it’s been since I paid £5 for a fake college identification which still required begging to work); the smell of wet concrete, frenzied wipers, the 11 mile drive to a more price competitive supermarket, where a dash of common sense prevailed and I left with heavy bags: pizza, beer, cat litter, mushrooms, milk, rosé wine – and other victuals that a trip for just two things inevitably ends up becoming.

And the beers?

Old Empire, Old Peculiar, Old Speckled Hen and Old Thumper. 4 for £5. Just to prove a point.

So to accompany this feast and herald a climax to the Yuletide festivities, I brought a centuries old recipe back to life in the form of wassail.

This winter warmer is a heady concoction of dark ale and spices fortified with a splash of something a little stronger. It’s a bit like mulled wine for real men.

Various versions of this traditional English beverage are described, many based on cider, some on wine, others on ale. Many recipes involve mixing raw eggs with hot beer rendering a rather bizarre form of eggnog, but I fancied something a little more palatable.

Thankfully – and somewhat miraculously – I still had a third of a barrel of home-brewed stout left over from Christmas. The perfect base for my wassail was at hand!

Wassail and toast

First off, I threw a couple of apples into a moderate oven for about half an hour. Once these sweet and shrivelled beauties were cooked and cooling, I carefully warmed a couple of pints of stout on the hob, adding some sugar, ground ginger and nutmeg, a cinnamon stick and glug of port (brandy, sherry, Madeira or whisky would also do).

I whacked a slice of brown bread in the toaster as the resinous mixture heated through, its enticing aromas wafting around the kitchen, and stirred until the sugar had dissolved and spices fully infused.

When all was ready, I popped one of the oozing baked apples into a suitably wide glass and poured over a hearty measure of the fragrant warmed ale. I stacked a couple of chunky wedges of toast atop the glass and voila, welcome to the 16th century!

A lovely, warming combination of sweetness and spice with a tart edge from the bobbing apple certainly made me feel all festive. And the toast ‘sops’ dipped into the mulled ale worked a treat, though strangely they seemed to soak up only the tannic elements of the beer.

Definitely one to try throughout the winter months…or as an accompaniment to lasagne!

Wassail made with homebrewed stout

Unsuspecting wassail guinea pig (my sister!)