TheNoiseThatWeMade

My Fermentation Smells Funny By   thenoisethatwemade • 03 Sep, 2017 • My fermentation smells funny, yup, you read that right! Thanks to Katie at Camra HQ a book entitled  'Camra's Home-Brewing Problem Solver'  landed in my post box. As I run a bi-monthy home-brew group and am sporadically brewing myself, I was naturally interested in the subject. Written by founder and head brewer of  Mystery Brewing Company , North Carolina - Erik Lars Myers with additional consultation from all round nice guy, Andy Parker from  Elusive Brewing  based in the UK. This is tapping into the brewing resurgence and is kind of like a home-brewing problem solver 101. With the format of the book starting at common issues or mistakes that a home-brewer may encounter on their journey. Cue titles like 'My fermentation smells funny' to 'My mash efficiency is low'. On the surface I see the thinking behind the format, it's highlighting possible areas where things go wrong in home-brew

Huddersfield Day Tripping By   thenoisethatwemade • 03 Aug, 2017 • I can't remember when we actually visited Huddersfield but looking at the photos Hali was still working at The Grove. So if he's reading this and would like to remind me, that'd be nice. Anyway, time is just a concept, where as this blog will sit in the ether for infinity or until we disappear in a nuclear cloud, as Frankie Boyle hypothesised recently. Well back to Huddersfield. Over the last 18 months it's become a very appealing destination for a beering day trip - with Magic Rock's taproom, Mallinson's new bar and Arcade beer shop newly added to the existing route of good pubs. This is by no means an exhaustive list of places to go, only where we went the day (whenever it was!) we visited: Magic Rock Brewing Taproom Our day trip somewhat reduced in venue visiting due to the fact we stayed at the Magic Rock's tap for quite a few hours. You can't say anything but glowing statements for t

Amsterdam Beer & Food Explorations By   thenoisethatwemade • 18 Jul, 2017 • A city where beer and windmills combine to glorious outcomes. That's Amsterdam. Luckily due to family connections, it's a place I get to visit at least once a year and each time the beer scene develops. Here a little guide to a number of places, it's not a definitive list, just a list, my list and I hope you enjoy it: Brouwerij 't IJ A great place to start is this brewery tap room, situated at the foot of a windmill, not far from the city centre stretch of Amsterdam. You can walk, you can also jump on a tram. We did the latter. You'll only really find Brouwerij 't IJ own beer on the draught taps, but with the variety in styles that isn't a problem, as you'll find plenty to work your way through. There's a paired down food offering including meatballs and cured sausages. De Bierkoning A long-standing specialist beer shop around 15 minutes walking distance from Central Stat

Beer Cocktails By   thenoisethatwemade • 18 Jul, 2017 • Beer cocktails can easily divide people and to be honest I've had more poor attempts than actual combos that have worked. One thing I do know is that the team at Sheffield venue,  Picture House Social , know their spirits, liqueurs, garnishes, bitters and foams more than most! So if anyone can pull off a beer cocktail it's this team. The idea actually came about from a  Sheffield Beer Week  event in 2016 and the team came up with the above three combinations. I wanted to share the recipes here as all three worked a treat, so the learning is - start by knowing your ingredients, think classic cocktail recipe inspiration and then bridge the flavours/texture a beer can bring to the cocktail. Hurrah! My favourite of the evening was the Kraken rum and coffee cocktail using the Crate beer to make a stout syrup and topped with a coffee foam. Cocktail 1: Kraken, Creme de Mure, coffee, Crate stout - heat to reduce and make a syrup,

Reflections – Manchester Beer & Cider Festival 2016 By   thenoisethatwemade • 18 Jul, 2017 • My blog has stood still for quite a few months...well seven to be exact. I've really not had the inspiration to write outside of the normal day job. I guess that could be seen as an unusual thing to say considering I work in the beer industry and spend most of the hours in the week buying, invoicing, stacking, selling, shipping and occasionally drinking the stuff. But sometimes you just want to enjoy the downtime and get out of what seems like a constant echo chamber from the usual voices. Saying that I kept getting messages on my phone about storage issues so I've finally succumbed to writing as I didn't want to delete all my photos, but rather document them somehow and somewhere! In a funny way it puts a different angle on things when you can reflect back. With that in mind, I was leafing through these photos from  Manchester Camra's Beer and Cider festival 2016  held at M

Golden Pints 2016 By   thenoisethatwemade • 03 Jan, 2017 • What are Golden Pints? Started by  Andy 'Beer Reviews' Mogg  back in 2009 alongside Mark Dredge & Fletcher. Evaluating the last 12 months of beers, events & more, before looking forward to the next. Why join in? A moment to reflect & share your beer journey (& discover others). This is my fifth year of  Golden Pints & it's a process I really enjoy going through. It's often the kick-start to rediscovering my joy of writing about beer each year. I also like Boak and Bailey's take on it (' AKA Our To Do List '), where they create a list of beers/breweries to try from a selection of others' Golden Pints.   Drum roll...... Best UK Cask Beer –  Dark star 'Creme Brulee ' -   I sampled this on cask at the  Manchester Beer & Cider Festival  & it was the standout of the festival. Lots of rich vanilla, dark, sweet licks. Even with the new keykeg bar area (controversial?,