The Deaf Institute café, bar and music hall on Grosvenor Road in
Manchester is part of the group that owns the popular Trofs, Salutation Hotel & Pub and Gorilla (see here).
With their BrewDog Manchester venue now open on Peter St, the Aberdeenshire-based BrewDog
brewery was first started in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie and has
quickly established itself as the ‘naughty boy of British brewing’.
Recently, Trof and BrewDog teamed up
for a ‘beer tasting and food-matching Banquet in the Deaf Institute’s Victorian Music Hall’ and I was invited along
to take some photographs, drink some beer, eat some food and generally share
with you what it was all about.
For £20,
the ticket included tasters of some of BrewDog's award-winning beers, ales,
porters and lagers such as 5am, Punk IPA, Hardcore, Dogma and Lost Dog and some
of their rarities too. ‘A real journey through the ever expanding universe of
craft beer’ - all paired with specially selected dishes!
On their
own website proclaims BrewDog claim
they are, “a post Punk apocalyptic mother fu*ker of a craft brewery.’
As I continue to grow into an ever cantankerous #GrumpyOldMan, I do find
the whole sweary attitude a little tired and passé – more archaic than
anarchic… however, I do in general, approve of the ‘craft beer ethos’ and
‘movement’.
One thing that bothered me recently about the London 2012 Olympics was
the choice of sponsors – particularly the fact that as ‘Britain's leading
brewer’ Heineken UK were granted “sole pouring rights”.
There are some 28
breweries listed on London Brewer’s Alliance website (here) and along with
Britain’s largest ‘microbrewery’ BrewDog, there are numerous other ‘independents’
producing beers worthy of the great games that we put on and our Team GB
athletes.
These independents
include such breweries as: Dark Star, Fyne Ales, Steel City, Ilkley, Gadds’
Ramsgate Brewery and of course Manchester’s own Marble Beers - most beer connoisseurs
(which I am not) would tell you that any of the companies mentioned produce tastier
drinks than the “leading* brewery”
Heineken UK (*using a definition that also sees Vauxhall Motors leading over Rolls Royce and Top Shop over Paul
Smith or Vivienne Westwood.)
I know a counter
argument would be that ‘leading’ does not mean best and that The Fat Duck or
L’Enclume as Britain’s ‘best restaurants’ could logistically not have provided
the same type of service needed at the Olympics that McDonald’s could offer.
I have mentioned ‘ethos’, BrewDog publish their philosophy in their
‘Manifesto for the craft beer revolution’ – point one states: “Our beers are the epitome of pure punk. We brew uncompromising, bold
and irreverent beer, beer with a soul and a purpose. Our approach has the same
contempt of the mass beer market that the old-school punks had for pop-culture.
BrewDog is a modern day rebellion against faceless corporate bureaucracy and
the bland, soulless beer they industrially produce.”
This ‘contempt for the
mass beer market’ sees their beers now stocked in Sainsbury’s, Tesco and, every
punks favourite, Waitrose… where you can also buy Country Life Butter as
advertised by national treasure, John
Joseph Lydon aka Johnny Rotton… “the epitome of pure punk”.
As mentioned, a beer connoisseur
I am not but I do appreciate that underneath this ‘revolutionary’ rhetoric,
BrewDog aim to (and have achieved) bring full flavoured, stimulating and different
beers to a wider market. I may not be a regular beer drinker but as a ‘foodist’
the more interesting flavour profiles do interest me.
The first beer we tasted
was the 5 A.M. SAINT, paired with Mini Yorkshire puddings, pork and sage
chipolatas, tomato, apple and 5 A.M. chutney – Josie, our excellent host
for the evening (from BrewDog) explained the technical stuff relating to
production which included the addition of five different varieties of ‘hops’,
five varieties of ‘malts’ with a twist
of ‘loads of late hops and bucket-loads of dry hops’.
What all this translated
as was a fresh, energetic beer with a smooth finish. Its subtle herbal notes
and the fruity flavours of orange peel went really well with the sage in the
sausages and the sweetness of the chutney.
The second offering was
their number one seller, PUNK IPA
with Punk IPA battered haddock goujons
with homemade tartare sauce – the fish and its golden beer batter were
excellent; billed as a return to IPA’s of our past colonial days, the tropical
fruity flavours of papaya and mango contrasted well and cut through the
richness of the tartare.
Up next, a Mature cheddar cheese rarebit matched
with HARDCORE IPA – the Hardcore
features twice the amount of hops than Punk and if then intensely ‘dry hopped’
post fermentation (a time consuming technique that apparently adds aroma and
flavour at a stage when most beers are finished) – this ale certainly had a lot
of intense flavours, including rich caramelly, toffee notes, with grapefruit
and hibiscus flowers. With a subtle sweetness from the alcohol (9.2%) but an
overall bitterness this refreshed the palate and cut through the richness of
the melted cheese and would be a good match for full on flavours and spice.
For our next beer our
host announced that we would be ‘going over to the darkside’ with DOGMA paired alongside Individual Lancashire cheese hot pots with
homemade pickled Dogma cabbage. This turned out to be my favourite – it
uses a low amount of hops compared to most BrewDog brews (just two) but ten
different types of malts and heather infused honey: smoky, rich and a with hit
of licorice, it really helped to pick out the flavours of the lamb and
intensify the Lancashire cheese. I’d like to taste it with other red meats or
game.
Next up, ALICE PORTER, paired with a blue, Brie and goat’s cheese and Alice
Porter chutneys. Flavour wise, this drink took it down a notch to the
previous couple of offerings – a subtle hint of vanilla sweetness with
blueberry and plum notes complemented the mild cheeses. The rhubarb in the
chutney also made with the Alice Porter was excellent.
The last (and possibly
best) food pairing of the evening saw a rich, moist and indulgent Chocolate brownie matched with LOST DOG an imperial porter with notes
of red berries created in collaboration with the award-winning Lost Abbey
brewery from California. During production they went ‘hell for leather’ with
amount of malts added; rum soaked raisins and rum casks also helped to created
sweet, fruity, chocolaty, coffee notes reminiscent of fruit cake.
After the food had been
served, a few people left but the hardcore stuck around to taste a couple of
BrewDogs ‘rarities’ – the first of these being the PARADOX JURA: a robust Imperial Stout with 15% ABV – having been
aged for nine months in Jura whiskey casks, there are obvious peaty, smoky,
whiskey tasting notes and aromas with hints of chocolate, miso and molasses. (I
want to try this with one of my wife’s rhubarb crumbles because she uses
Billington's natural molasses unrefined cane sugar in the recipe.)
It was at this point
that I overheard a comment that you don’t oft hear in wine drinking circles,
the phrase, "That's got a fu*king good nose!" Based on the folk I met
at The Deaf Institute, I’ve decided that I like the craft beer crowd – they
seemed knowledgeable and interested to learn more (whereas, I’ve found that
‘wine snobs’ often come across as poncey, boring as though they think they know
everything).
This wasn’t an evening
about for ‘booze monsters’ aiming to see how much they could pour down their
necks. It was quality not quantity… something I think the final beer of the
night showed:
The final drink of the
night was the one time* ‘Strongest
Beer in the World’ TACTICAL NUCLEAR
PENGUIN – at 32% ABV we were served what could be described as a ‘wee dram’
that resemble a spirit or sherry in aroma and appearance. The beer had
apparently been double barrel aged for 14 months, maturing in Whiskey casks and
then three times frozen to create the high alcohol content (and provide the
name) – it was really interesting to try. BrewDog state the beer is about ‘pushing the boundaries’ and ‘ taking innovation in
beer to a whole new level'.
Most certainly taking
things to a new level, is the current ‘Strongest Beer in the World’ a 57.5% ABV
behemoth made by a German brewery. This came about due to BrewDog’s ‘subtly
named’ 41% ABV ‘SINK THE BISMARCK’ response to the beer that took the ‘title’
from the Tactical Nuclear Penguin… the ball is in now BrewDog’s court.
A good night was had by
all! Service and hospitality throughout the evening from the Deaf Institute and
BrewDog staff was excellent. As far as I am aware, this event was a ‘one off’
although who knows, it seemed a success and they may decide to repeat it! In
the meantime, I suggest a pub crawl around visiting Trof, the Deaf Institute,
BrewDog Manchester and any other venues you see along the way that offer these
interesting and full flavoured tipples – but remember: drink responsibly
;-)
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