Liverpool Beer Collective Blog

LIVBEERCAST #1

4/3/2021

We did it!!!

We finally plucked up the courage to put together a bit of beer chat for you to watch and listen to in your spare time.

Download, or tune in and relax.

For the inaugural videocast/podcast, we have a bit of discussion between LBC Chair, Pedro and fellow Committee Members and Brewers Mike Corbett (Handyman Brewery), Jack Walker (Love Lane Brewery) and special guest, Ade Burke from Carnival Brewing.

We chew over pubs reopening on the 12th April (as things stand!), the state of the beer scene in Liverpool, how are venues are going to proceed with opening and how they’ve faced a bit of difficulty over the last few months in balancing output and preparations.

Find the videocast here on our YouTube Channel (or below).
Here's our new Podcast homepage: liverpoolbeercollective.podbean.com
Find the audio download here: click and save to listen later.

We hope you enjoy and hopefully we shall find the time to do some more of these interviews and discussions!

The LBC Committee.

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Beer Pairings For Global Scouse Day

1/16/2021

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Global Scouse Day is approaching. For those unfamiliar with it, it is a day (February 28th) in which we celebrate all things Liverpool and usually with a pan of Scouse – the stew with which the city is synonymous.

More on what Global Scouse Day is about can be found on the official website, here: Global Scouse Day

You can follow the Global Scouse Day Twitter feed right here at this link:
https://twitter.com/GlobalScouseDay

With a few weeks to go until the big day, we’ve decided to pick out some beer pairings you can try out with your Scouse – be it blind, with lamb or even with beef. Ultimately, you can drink whatever you like best with your Scouse, but in the spirit of all things Liverpool, we’ve picked some options out for you all. It just so happens that many of the Liverpool Beer Collective’s member breweries make some superb beers to go with Scouse and we’ve listed a few of them here and places where you can pick them up.

Photo courtesy of Black Lodge Brewery

Black Lodge Brewery
Combine our Minds - Black IPA
Black IPAs are often tricky beers for those unfamiliar with them; the debate still goes on whether an IPA (India Pale Ale) can actually be dark given the nomenclature involved, but that’s not what we’re looking at here at all.

Black Lodge Brewery’s recent foray into this style of highly hopped darker beer, Combine Our Minds, goes rather well with a meaty or hearty and rich stew. Better than you would expect, even.

A rounded caramel-malt, nutty backbone courtesy of the malt bill and then the fruitiness from late hop additions in the brewing process go well with Scouse. The balance of sweetness and bitter flavours along with the rounded mouthfeel of this ale mean it provides a competent foil to goes with your stew and brown bread.

Carnival Brewing
Urban Shaker – Oatmeal Stout
Sometimes eating Scouse, you just have to think of something deep, dark and rich which will stand up as a pairing. If you want this but don’t want to wander into double figure abv territory, this Oatmeal Stout from Carnival fits the bill nicely.

The use of dark malts bring chocolate flavours and hints of umami to the front, which in turn bring out the best in the meat your using. The subtle sweetness of the ale does bring an added dimension to the pairing too.

Photo courtesy of Alex Jackson

Alex Jackson's Instagram

Chapter Brewing
Puck at the Helm – Golden Ale
A Golden Ale is often regarded as a simple beast and usually underrated on the whole as a style when compared to other beers than are vying for the spotlight.

Again with this pairing, the balance between the sweeter elements of the beer derived from the malts are played off and reined in by some gentle hopping, just enough to provide a gentle bitterness and to add to the mouthfeel of this brew.

The bready flavours also present from the malts are a welcome change of gear in pairing with the stew (and compliment the brown roll or crusty bread you have at hand to mop up the excess stew!

Glen Affric Brewery
Rutting Stag – American Red Ale
The combination of different roasted malts in tandem with a hoppy push gives a few notes in this Red Ale to bring attention to and compliment your dish.

Red malts give rise to sweet, but gently spicy notes, toast, honey and a nuttiness which should all bring something different out of your stew.

Photo courtesy of Glen Affric Brewery

The use of hops to bring bitterness and juiciness and the level of residual sugar should also give a soft mouthfeel with enough lightness to cut through any fattiness or richness presented by the stew.

Photo courtesy of Mike Corbett

Handyman Brewery
No.03 Sour Ale
A slightly different take on things here, with a sour beer providing some very contrasting character which will bring the best out of both the beer and the Scouse.

Sour beers are often excellent accompaniments to food and whilst they can be intimidating for those who’ve never tried them, it’s a chance worth taking.

The acidity and carbonation of this beer will provide a clean cutting edge to deal with the richness and fattiness of the lamb and/or stew.

It also provides flavours and aromas of hibiscus, dark berry fruit such as blackcurrant. It also carries a gentle earthiness that works wonderfully with sides of beetroot or cabbage and the stew itself.

Love Lane Brewery
Imperial Stout
An Imperial Stout could be just what you fancy to provide something big, luxiorious and flavoursome to go up against your pan of Scouse.

This offering from Love Lane Brewery is a rich and warming brew with a broad flavour profile, from coffee, dark chocolate, toasted nutiness through to liquorice.

Photo courtesy of Jack Walker

It should play well with the umami notes of the lamb, with the earthier aromas and flavours pairing well with the cabbage or beetroot you choose to go on the side of your stew to make a thrifty meal into a veritable feast, fit for royalty.

Photo courtesy of Neptune Brewery

Neptune Brewery
Abyss – Oatmeal Stout
There are some great beers bein brewed over in Maghull these days, with Neptune cranking through the gears with ever new and excellently executed recipes. This is one of their tried-and-tested core beers though and it just so happens that Abyss works wonderfully with Scouse.

An oatmeal stout, with roasted nutty malt flavours, plenty of coffee and chocolate in the flavour profile and a nice hum of umami to bring the best out of your stew and has an earthiness to work well with sides of either cabbage or beetroot.

A smooth and full-bodied stout, this ale should help you get the most of of your Scouse and side dishes.

You can pick some of these beers up or great alternatives in places across Merseyside and Wirral like the following (for delivery for most, given the circumstances!), links to webshops or social media as appropriate:

Craft Taproom
Haul Beer Shop
Hobo Kiosk
Londis, Penny Lane
The Ship and Mitre
Dead Crafty Beer Company
Tap and Bottles
The Black Toad
Hop House

Have a boss Global Scouse Day everyone!!

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LOCKDOWN AGAIN, NEED BEER?

10/13/2020

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Uncertainty is a killer.

It's harming our businesses; the restaurants, the bars, the pubs and all the businesses involved at various levels of the supply chain to each of these.

Sadly, the only thing we can do during lockdown is to share information and try to support these businesses by ordering gear for delivery or collection in lieu of being able to go out for a pint, a glass of wine and some nibbles.

That's what is needed from you - the beer enthusiasts and people who love the independently local Liverpool (and surrounding areas!) flavour, to buy beers from our beloved pubs and breweries.

We're doing our best here at the Liverpool Beer Collective to help in this, sharing information about venues which are still selling beer for collection or delivery via online or social media ordering. There's no one-size-fits-all approach for businesses at this time, so we will endeavour to update the Beer Availability Page and share information on how to get hold of great beer and support our local and independent businesses.

The next bit is for bars, pubs and breweries...

If your business is based in Liverpool, wider Merseyside, West Lancashire or Wirral you fall in our catchment and we would be happy to help (message us if you're not sure).
You need to be committed to supporting our local breweries or small and independently owned breweries around the UK we can include you on our website.

What we need from you as a Pub/Bottle Shop/Bar/Brewery:
We need you to give us information and contact information regarding how you intend on continuing to operate during lockdown. Are you doing online orders, telephone orders, online menus for the beers you stock? Are you allowing collections or doing deliveries to people locally and deliveries via shipping or courier further afield? Send this information to us via our contact form, HERE.

Stay strong, support local and #LIVEBEER. x

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CASK ALE WEEK '20

9/20/2020

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Towards the end of September 2020, the annual Cask Ale Week will return across the UK. No doubt celebrations and participation will be slightly muted this year, sadly due to current restrictions on venturing to pubs, bars and taprooms from the ongoing pandemic.

However, there is still cause to celebrate a strongly British contribution to brewing and beer with Cask Ale. Whilst opportunities may be limited, they are not completely gone. Many pubs, breweries and bars across the UK are doing take out beers from cask (as well as other small package and dispense of course) and our brewers are still working hard to produce some excellent beers for your enjoyment.

So, what is Cask Ale? The waters are muddied a little with cross over with 'Real Ale', which is a term coined by CAMRA, with some people (not completely correctly) using the terms interchangeably. Hence Real Ale can be served from bottle or can, but there is some reticence in allowing kegged beers (which still meet the technical definition of Real Ale) to be labelled as such. CAMRA themselves do recognise that key keg conditioned beer can be Real Ale, although some branches and committee members disagree with this. Cask beer is usually served from a cask handpull or can be served under gravity straight from the cask itself. Confusingly, it can even be served from a keg font; the handpull is often an affectation; long draws from the cellar can mean many cask beers are actively pumped to the handpull.

Cask conditioned beer (and Real Ale) is a living entity; undergoing secondary fermentation in the container it is served from - in this case, a cask. This secondary conditioning of the beer allows for flavours and the mouthfeel of the beer to develop and mature whilst it is stored in the cellar, prior to serving. It is widely regarded as one of the pinnacles of brewing and producing great beer. It's not a specific style in itself, as it can encompass many different styles including but not limited to pale ales, saisons, stouts, lagers and barley wines. The cask beer itself is never served warm (an horrendous misconception), but at cellar temperature (approx 11 to 12 degrees celsius, sometimes even lower at 10 degrees depending on a cellar person's preference) and is then drunk as it gently increases in temperature and the flavour depth develops.

Cask Ale Week runs from Thursday 24th September to Sunday 4th October.

The website, providing details of how to get involved and showing a list of events or other notables is right here: caskaleweek.co.uk.

We have a great selection of pubs on Merseyside that serve well kept cask beer, we've listed a few of these for you to check out, just below.

Venues in Liverpool, Wirral & around Merseyside worth investigating for their Cask offering:

The Angus Tap and Grind - Liverpool
The Baltic Fleet - Liverpool
The Bard - Prescot
Beer Station - Freshfield
The Belvedere - Liverpool
The Blackburne Arms - Liverpool
The Bridewell - Liverpool
The Caledonian - Liverpool
CASK - Stoneycroft
Carnival Brewing Taproom - Liverpool
CRAFT Taproom - Wavertree
The Denbigh Castle - Liverpool
The Dispensary - Liverpool
Doctor Duncan's - Liverpool
The Excelsior - Liverpool
The Fly in the Loaf - Liverpool
The Four Ashes - Crosby
The Freshfield Hotel - Freshfield/Formby
Gallagher's - Birkenhead
The Grapes - Liverpool
The Handyman Supermarket - Wavertree
Haul - Mossley Hill
Head of Steam - Liverpool
Kelly's Dispensary - Wavertree
The Lady of Mann - Liverpool
The Lion Tavern - Liverpool
Little Taproom on Aigburth Road - Aigburth
Love Lane Brewery Tap - Liverpool
Maghull Cask - Maghull
Neptune Brewery Taproom - Maghull
The Pen Factory - Liverpool
Peter Kavanagh's Victorian Pub - Liverpool
The Philharmonic Dining Rooms - Liverpool
The Pilgrim - Liverpool
The Roscoe Head - Liverpool
The Ship and Mitre - Liverpool
Tap and Bottles - Liverpool
Thomas Rigby's - Liverpool
Three Piggies - Allerton
Trap and Hatch - Waterloo
The Volunteer Canteen - Waterloo
The West Kirby Tap - West Kirby
The White Lion - West Kirby
Ye Cracke - Liverpool

If you take any good pictures of cask beers out on your travels across Merseyside, tag us in on Twitter or Facebook!

Cheers Everyone!!

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LIVBEERCAST #1

Beer Pairings For Global Scouse Day

LOCKDOWN AGAIN, NEED BEER?

CASK ALE WEEK '20

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