LBW19 - Chapter Brewing

Another collaboration and another unassuming location for an upstanding brewery in the Northwest.  For those not familiar with its wares, Chapter Brewing is located in Sutton Weaver, not too far from Runcorn and the beers all bear the moniker from various phrases in literature, be it poetic or prose. 

 The second collaboration brew between the Liverpool Beer Collective and Chapter Brewing was set for another early Saturday start for Ian, Mike and Pedro along with some other guests in the brewery in the form of two members of the Liverpool Homebrewers’ Club.  This gave the brewery team of Noah and Damien some respite from the rigours of digging out the mash tun, adding the hops at various stages of the boil and indeed risking life and limb to pitch the yeast.

The day began with briefing, hot beverages and some marvelling at the small feats of workmanship performed by Noah to create brewing aids as a necessity for the brewing kit and restrictions on space of the brewery itself.  As with many breweries at the moment, the necessity or urge to create a taproom space along with other necessities such as cold store, offices, wash space, packaging areas and indeed the brewhouse itself can be problematic.  But the ingenious additional items of kit to help streamline the brewing process (such as a very Heath Robinson Hop Funnel and low-tech grain dispersion deliver device) really do help the team get the most out of their kit. 

​Incidentally, Chapter is now making space at the front of the brewery to host an occasional brewery tap, very much worth a visit to try some of their sumptuous beers at source – just make sure you don’t take the “it’s just outside of Liverpool” too literally for the purposes of your travels (get the train to Runcorn and don’t be tempted to pay for a taxi all the way across!).

Last year’s interesting, flavoursome and cleansing brew was ‘A Crowd of Distractions’ - the watercress and grapefruit sour ale, but this year a more conventional approach was taken; a pale combination of base malt and a speciality sugar to aid body and fermentation will give rise to something very easy to drink but with plenty of body and flavour.  The hops in this new brew were a good balance of bittering and late additions, plenty to provide a chewy bitterness and heady aromas.
 
No mishaps, no drama, a few beers, a dog walk and a lot of chatter made the day a long but enjoyable one and all that remains is to see how excellent the beer comes out.  We know it’ll be excellent, because it’s us… and Noah and Damien of course.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen, Chapter Brewing Company and the Liverpool Beer Collective give you: “Out of Pique” a smooth session DDH session IPA.

Pedro, Ian Goodhead and Mike Corbett.