>Skipton Beer Festival and Kirkstall Brewery

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The weekend of the 19th of May sees the Skipton Beer Festival, one of my favourites. Why? Well, it’s small, but perfectly formed; and when you’re done tasting and ticking (if that’s your thing), you can grab a pork pie or 4 and head down to The Narrow Boat, my favourite Market Town Tavern. The Beer list is here, and I’ll take a moment to point out what I’d be looking for (assuming you’re interested, which you must be, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading, right?). Durham’s Magic IPA is one of my beers of the year, so that’s on the list. As is Dark Horse’s Hetton Pale; a fantastically balanced-yet-rich pale ale. Five Towns are also always worth a looky.

But the main Brewery I’ll point out is Kirkstall Brewery, Dave Sanders’ (Elland) new venture. I paid a flying visit to the brewery this week, and Dave has high hopes for Kirkstall. Their Porter is one to try – wonderfully balanced, swirling with milk chocolate and drying coffee, and stupidly drinkable. Kirkstall’s beers are filtering through this week, and Foley’s and North will be serving them this week at some point.

>2009 Review

>Well, it’s that time of year when I cast my mind back to what we’ve tasted, seen, and cried our way through in 2009.

My Blog of the Year spot goes to Thornbridge’s brewer’s blog. I like the simple design; the articles are always interesting and present a nice mix of brewing inside-knowledge, know-how, and personal experience. As a budding microbrewer myself, this aspect really interests me – I’ve really enjoyed following thier exploits in brewing and running a growing business throughout the year. For me, Kelly and the gang are always happy to share their experiences, which is again sometimes lacking in the brewer/blogger relationship. Blogging should be embraced by brewers – we are, after all, the beer drinkers that take time to shout from the rooftops our love of their product. And I do love Thornbridge’s beers – to me, they represent a vibrant, young, questing set of brewers who represent this country at the highest level. British Brewing dull? Not these guys. So well done, Thornbridge, and I look forward to drinking in 2010 with you – mine’s a pint of Kipling.

Other honourable mentions go to the ever-excellent Boak & Bailey, Zak Avery’s YouTube Vlogs (still effortlessly head and shoulders above the rest – and apologies for not making the TNP tasting – I was busy failing my driving test) and The Beer Nut, which is consistently engaging and honest.
My Beer Venue of the Year award goes to Pivo, a great beer bar in the middle of York. I’ve always said that York is a real hotbed of great, solid English pubs and beer – and having a little slice of international craft beer on the scene ices the cake, really. It’s very small, but perfectly formed. I’m going to find it hard to visit York without dropping in from now on.
Kudos to Leeds Brewery for opening The Brewery Tap, which brews its own Leodis Lager on site. I’m not massively enamoured of the beer, but I like the idea. What about a Koelsch for the summer, guys?

Beer of the Year – always a tricky one. This year I’m copping out with a tied #1 spot for Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch – which managed to be the hoppiest beer I think I’ll ever drink and yet retain excellent balance – and Nogne-O’s IPA – another masterclass in balance between hops and body. Thanks for the memories, guys.
Also memorable were Dark Horse’s Hetton Pale, Orkney’s Red Macgregor, Dogfish Head’s Johnny Cask, Taddington’s Moravka, Sleeman’s IPA, Stone’s Levitation Ale ,Meantime’s London Pale and Young’s Special London Ale, which I am finding is taking my addiction to one type of beer to a whole new level. Wonderful beers, them all.

Beer Event of the Year goes, without a doubt, to Flying Dog’s tasting, which happened at The Cross Keys in September. The full post is here but it made such a nice change to go a well run event, with great hosting by James Brophy, and meet so many great people who are passionate about beer. Thanks again to all involved. North’s Orval & Cheese day was random-yet-inspired, and The Barge and The Owl in Rodley ran their annual beer & music festival to even greater numbers than last year, proving that the appetite for family-oriented community beer events is still there. Well done, lads.

Next Year? Well, more of the same I hope. I’m getting married in September, and my honeymoon will take in Milan, Florence, Venice and Verona – so I’m hoping to finally fill that black hole I have in my knowledge about Italian Craft beer. If anyone has any pointers for me, drop me an email. Can’t wait.

>Dark Horse Hetton Pale Ale

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I read with interest Chris’s recent post about The Bull, not just because of how wonderful the food sounded (Rabbit Faggots, anyone?) but mainly because of Dark Horse’s Hetton Pale Ale, a beer I’ve had on ‘the list’ for some time.

So when a bank holiday ‘quick bite for lunch’ turned us out onto The Bull (My mum lives nearby), I made a beeline for it. And I’m glad I did – well kept, and a pleasure to drink. Crisp, amber in colour and with a firm, biscuity-almond body, it was a really decent pint. I’m not surprised its won a few awards and seems sought after. One to recommend, definitely.

We did eat whilst visiting, and although Chris’ post goes into more detail, I can say the food was very nice indeed. The Bull makes no apologies for being a ‘gastropub‘ – which in some ways is shame because it really does have a decent, regional ale range (Taylor’s, Thwaites, Copper Dragon), but you’d be hard pressed to find ‘drinking only’ room.

The food, however, is worth the trip, and The Bull certainly does its bit for sourcing local produce – the cheese on my burger came from Shepherd’s Purse (a wickedly tangy Wensleydale– a cheese with balls, for a change), and the rich, tasty Dexter beef from Easingwold. The menu is littered with guides to provenance, and although this makes the food pricey, I feel that you really do get value for money.. There’s nothing on the menu that wasn’t sourced locally, and it simply tastes great without being fussy. One last word – try the home-made ice cream. Fudge and Oats – awesome.