LIVERPOOL BEER COLLECTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

​Here's the run down of who is currently running things in the Liverpool Beer Collective:

Pedro Cotzier
How I came to this point in chairing the Liverpool Beer Collective is a very, very long story.  I’ll spare the details on that!  But suffice to say, from a background in working in kitchens many years ago to taking an interest in real ale and wine, things aligned a few years ago.  The explosion in interest and thirst for craft beer from 2012 onward in the UK coincided with the writing I was doing and gradually through building up a network, the Liverpool Beer Collective was born.  I have always loved food and drink; the wonderful tastes and textures, the backstories behind creation and the people involved – it seemed natural to dedicate time to promote them in my home city.

In terms of a favourite beer, I really do have to sit on the fence here.  It depends entirely on the setting.  Is the beer with food?  At a gig?  In a pub? In a newly established brew tap?  I’ve never discriminated against any style of dispense – beers can be great in keg, cask, bottle or can, as each has their own virtues, nuances and advantages for a beer.  In terms of style, IPAs or Pale Ales have provided me with the bedrock of my favourites; they are perfect for any day or night, warm or cold.  The most memorable beer I have tried has to be Siren Craft’s Bones of a Sailor Part III; an imperial stout aged on raspberries and cacao in sherry casks - such a complete beer and one I’ve sadly not been able to get my hands on for years now, being a very limited edition.   It has been a great  experience to see such willingness from so many people to get involved and I can’t wait to see things grow year on year for Merseyside and the Liverpool Beer Week that we organise.

You can follow Pedro on Twitter here: twitter.com/PedroCotzier

Angela Cottrell
My first taste of beer was at the ripe age of 2 years old, with the classic ‘oops my dummy fell into my dads pint and I have to fish it out with my whole arm’.  So by the time I reached the legal age of drinking I certainly had a thirst for beer.  It wasn’t until I met my now husband, however, that I was really introduced to the wonderful huge world of real ales and craft beer. 

My favourite style literally changes depending on a whole range of things - the weather, my mood, the occasion for drinking etc. However, I really can’t get enough of NEIPAs and DIPAs. I only discovered my real love of NEIPAs recently whilst on our Honeymoon. Our first week was in San Francisco where NEIPAs were aplenty, however Las Vegas was dry (pun intended) until we visited the old town and I kept reordering Local Craft Beer Pillow Party. 
​
With my love of craft beer now established and having visited other cities such as Manchester and Leeds I felt our city was behind in the beer scene and I wanted to be involved in changing that. I’m proud of our city and people and believe our independents are worth shouting about. Liverpool should be on the beer city map and, although it will take hard work and time from all involved, I can see it growing in the not too distant future. I’ll be proud to say this is my city and I’m a part of the vibrant beer scene here.

Angela is our Vice-chairperson and you can follow her here: twitter.com/MrsCottrella

Neil Ashton
It all started with curiosity of what a beer festival was and how they might operate. So I attended CAMRA's Winter Ales festival in Manchester (I think it was 2006-2007ish) and the sheer variety of beer and breweries involved blew my mind!  Since then I've been on a personal quest to obtain the world's best beers, but to also move into the beer industry in regards to my career.

I'm torn almost perfectly in half on this. Part of me loves the murky juicebombs purveyed by the likes of Cloudwater, Northern Monk, Garage, Wylam etc. The rest of me craves high-ABV dessert stouts made popular by the likes of Omnipollo, Buxton and more recently, Wander Beyond.

I joined the Collective in order to immerse myself further in the Merseyside/West Lancs scene and get my finger closer to the pulse.  But equally important is my desire to help grow the scene itself and begin to reclaim the area in the name of independent businesses!

Neil is a sales manager for Carnival Brewing in Liverpool, you can follow him here:
https://twitter.com/BrewingSales

Samantha Ashton
My love of beer definitely came from my Dad. He has always been a beer lover, and it definitely rubbed off on me. Unfortunately I had a few years of drinking not the most desirable beers before I discovered real ales and started to attend beer festivals. Over the years I discovered craft beers and from then on my love of beers has grown into a true passion and getting to discover new and exciting breweries around the UK and beyond has been amazing!  

I am a hopmonster; the hoppier the better. My favourite breweries include Garage Brewing, Northern Monk Brewery and Cloudwater,

I joined the Collective to get more involved in the beer scene across the north west! Getting to meet like minded people, and have a hand in helping raise the beer scene has been a fantastic experience.

Sam is our resident Graphics Guru and you can follow her here: twitter.com/samwise29

Dave Michael
My beer journey probably started like most teenagers; £5 for 8 cans of some Macro produced Lager to be consumed at some house party. My journey into craft beer probably began somewhere between 2015-16, after my first taste of what I’d called “proper beer” in the grandeur of St George’s Hall. A trip to Mikkeller and Friends in Reykjavik was a real eye-opener, perhaps succumbed by the wonderful artwork of Keith Shore, or just the majesty of the beer I was consuming. Since then, it’s safe to say I haven’t looked back. 

So this is a tough one in picking my favourite beer.  Due to the quality of the beer that surrounds us, this changes on a semi-regular basis. I’d probably say a Saison overall, but good Saisons are few and far between, so... let’s go with a good old-fashioned IPA. Be it West Coast, New England, even the lesser-found BIPA’s - More BIPA’s, please! Note - I also love a big Adjunct Stout, and Barley Wine is life. 

After an initial (and somewhat drunken) conversation with Pedro at Beer Street (Tap and Bottles' 'festival event') in June 2018, I realised I wanted to be more involved with what was happening on my doorstep. I’d like to do my part to really help push Liverpool’s beer scene forward. After the recent loss of Mad Hatter, it’s time for a new brewery to shine, and I’m excited to watch, taste and see who develops and really puts this city on the map once more. 

As well as propping myself up at various North West taprooms and bars, I can be found regularly volunteering Beer Festivals, so come say hello. Let’s chat and drink some beer!

You can follow Dave, right here: twitter.com/_hoppite

Mike Corbett
I can’t really remember the exact point I really got into beer, I suppose it was just a gradual process. I have always been a big drinker, but my drink of choice growing up would never be consistent, I get bored of drinking the same thing more than a few times.  By the time I was drinking a lot of real ale in my late teens, I was working for a publishing company, helping at events with all the beer supplied by Brewdog, this sparked my interest in craft beer itself.  A few years after this I went on to work at the old 23 Club to learn more about this mad craft beer. The ever expanding range of styles of new beers you can try has since satisfied my need to explore new realms of alcohol.

My favourite beer style depends entirely on the mood I am in.  I do have a weakness for malty beers, red wine barrel aged beers, barley wines and DIPA’s. One of my number one beers of all time was the Hawkshead/Northern Monk Black Barley Wine for the 2017 Trilogy series.

I think the community in beer is fantastic, anything to help that community and keep it going is brilliant! It would be great to help in any way and do my part for the scene.

Mike is a brewer with Carnival Brewing and you can follow him here:
twitter.com/MikeCor99831867

Danny Matthews
My interest in beer stems from the creative process and also the community it builds. I am interested in fermentation, uses of flavours and at the moment, popularity and innovation in craft beer seems to be pushing this forward. Breweries are experimenting with new processes, ingredients, formats which is creating new experiences and a range of multidisciplinary events. Beer is no longer something that is drank at home with football or down the local boozer, its now the focus of your favourite restaurants next pairing menu or the reason why your wearing that cool t shirt. 

The beer community is also something that is constantly developing. The willingness of people to help each other in the industry, competitors or not is mind blowing. Brewers and consumers mix amongst each other and everyone seems to know everyone else, if they don’t, a chat over a beer will change that.

My favourite beer style is probably Pilsner or Helles. I mean the good ones though, its really difficult to make an exceptional lager which is why most of my favourites come from Germany and the Czech Republic by breweries who have been making them for a long long time. I also love Wild Ales and Lambics. My favourite breweries at the moment are Northern Monk, Verdant and Hill Farmstead.  I joined the Collective as I think Liverpool has such amazing potential and would love to add some value as well as meet many more awesome like minded people!

Jack Walker
I managed to get into beer from making cheap, awful, alcohol in my university years.  This quickly developed into drinking anything weird and wonderful to my poor palate. Slowly, I got better and better at home brewing, before helping out on my days off at a family friend's brewery; quite quickly, I realised the 9-5 was not for me, and I had to start a career as a brewer.  Here we are, many, many years later.

For my go-to style, well, I'm probably notoriously known for loving to brew big, bad imperial stouts! I suppose if I had to choose something to drink indefinitely, probably mixed fermentation and funky, or a good German lager.

To me, craft beer is a community. The industry lives and breathes on interaction with customers and colleagues, collaborating, communicating and striving together to make good beer a part of everyone's lexicon. LBC represents that collaborative spirit, with many local producers, bar owners and others working together to put Liverpool on the map for craft beer destinations.

Jack is a brewer with Azvex Brewing and you can follow him here: 
​twitter.com/thebeerybear