TheNoiseThatWeMade

A festival dedicated to the funkier side of beer launched today at Oedipus Brewing in Amsterdam.  I caught up with Jan from De Bierkoning bottleshop to talk about his love for these organisms with funny names like Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Acetobactor, Torulaspora, Kluyveromyes and Debaryomyces.  Ya dig? Q: Carnivale Brettanomyces "A beer festival dedicated to Brettanomyces  and other wild things"   - please can you share with us how your  festival idea came around, how long you've been going and where the  festival is based? This will be the 4th episode. Number one took place in 2012. It was a one day event back then.  As many things it sprouted during a beery conversation with Elaine Olsthoorn, staff at Bierproeflokaal In de Wildeman . I'm myself am a long time employee at De Bierkoning bottleshop. At In De wildeman they have yearly events, putting certain styles, or countries, in the spotlights. The German beer days, the UK

It must be difficult working for an established brewery, then saying,'look, I'm kinda wanting to do my own thing'. That's what Iain Kenny of North Union Brewing Co decided to do, step out and step up; here a little insight into the thinking behind that move: Q: Tell us about your new brewery  North   Union  Brewing - where are you based, what's your background and what made you start up the business? Currently  North   Union  is a one man band.  I have been in the beer business for as long as I remember, I have a degree in brewing and distilling and I was previously head brewer at Kelham Island.  I set up  North   Union  because whilst there are a lot of great cask ale brewers in the Sheffield area, there didn't seem to be anyone producing more modern craft beer in bottle or keg.  This was an area that was becoming increasingly exciting to me so I decided to go for it.  North   Union  is about producing exciting, quality craft beer with vivid flavours.

Back in 2012 I went to the first Independent Manchester Beer Convention and vowed to go every year. You can read my interview with one of the organisers  HERE  from that year. It was a game changer in the UK beer festival stakes and each year it's reinforced this rep. I'm going to try and dig out the beer lists/program from previous years and my scrawled notes to have a bit of a retrospective added to this blog post. *watch this space* BUT for now here some deets on tickets as advanced ones go up in in 5 days!!!  9am on Monday 1st June  tickets for the 4th Independent Manchester Beer Convention go on sale.  "Once again held in the stunning Victoria Baths, IMBC is an exciting and dynamic celebration of excellent beer from the UK and beyond, and for 2015 this year's event welcomes more beers, more space and more fun." Tickets prices start at just £8, available here:  http://www. indymanbeercon.co.uk/tickets/  

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You know when you have an idea and then you decide to share it with a friend and then it somehow snowballs into something that really happens? Sheffield Beer Week kind of happened like this and it's starting next week on March 16! Take a look over HERE for more on the events taking place. Hope to see you all out and about enjoying the beery good events going on.

Inspired by East Coast American dining this new venue from The Harley crew opened its ‘craft’ beer doors in August 2014. Taking the place of Fitzwilliam and West in their West One location; a sad day to see a Sheffield indie go, but a fitting replacement. Anchorage have managed to strip back the modern interior and re-fit in a creative way to develop a tranquil feel to the open space. With industrial pendant lighting, natural wood fixtures and dedicated art exhibition space ( 3rdRail’s ‘Artist Beer Visions’ currently adorns the walls showcasing fictional beer label artwork from the likes of Tom J Newell and Mr Gauky).   Tom J Newell.....he's a talented geezer Positioned across a trio of levels - the lower floors are more laidback focusing on the deli menu with in house cured meats, cheese platters and sandwiches such as salt beef piled onto rye bread with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and mustard (the Reuben). The top floor is a dedicated restaurant dining spac

I'm sitting in on day 2 of January 2015, it's Friday night, I've got the cat lying contentedly next to me and I've just cracked open Buxton's 'Come Again' sour pale to drink. After spending New Year's eve at the Picture House Social on Abbeydale Road and enjoying De Molen and Alesmith beers before and after 'the countdown', I realised how good and more widely available the choice is - in styles and breweries (from the UK and across the globe). Regardless of whether people think we've hit saturation point, as a beer lover, I feel utterly happy with the variety I have to choose from. I'm not in a hurry to try it all, I'm happy to take it at a steady pace, listen to friends recommendations - whether in person or via social media (and the blogosphere) and savour the experience along the way.  I hope it continues into 2015!  With this in mind it's always good to reflect on the year that was and pull out a few highlights -