Real Ale, Real Music

There was a strange silence and stillness as I left Stockport Railway Station. Nobody was about, there was no birdsong, and I could hear no traffic noise. A few minutes later, the heavens opened and an almighty shower ensued, complete with unseasonal hailstones. I managed to shelter under an overhang of the Garrick theatre, opened up the Good Beer Guide app on my phone, and planned out a route for when, or if, the storm ended. Finally, the storm subsided and the rain became light enough to emerge from my shelter. I had planned to carry on walking down Wellington Road, past the Hat Museum - Stockport was once a major centre for hat-making - and then up to the Magnet, but unfortunately the route was blocked by building work. So I needed a Plan B. I walked on Petersgate and something that I had read in the local CAMRA magazine 'Opening Times' jumped into my head. There was a new bar called the Petersgate Tap! As if by magic it appeared on the right. The Petersgate Tap is a comfo...

A new Supreme Champion Beer is crowned, as a long-established beer moves to a new home.... This week the Great Beer Festival has been taking place at Olympia in London, and, as is the tradition, voting took place to decide the best beers, with one of them being chosen as overall Supreme Beer of Britain. And this year, following the success of Bingham's Vanilla Stout in 2016, it was another beer from the Midlands which scooped the prestigious title. This time it was Goat's Milk, a well-balanced 3.8% pale bitter from the Church End Brewery which is situated between Nuneaton and Coleshill. Whilst it has been around for quite a while - the brewery dates back to 1994 when it was set up in an old coffin shop in the village of Shustoke - I think it is fair to say that Church End, whose beers often have church-related names such as Vicar's Ruin and Fallen Angel, has been somewhat under the radar compared to some more publicity-minded breweries, which makes the win all the more ...

Stunning restoration brings Halifax's past back to life.... The Piece Hall is an amazing Grade 1-listed building in the middle of Halifax which over the years has lived a somewhat chequered life. It dates from 1779 when it was built as a market hall where 'pieces' of hand-woven woollen cloth were traded by the local weavers. Halifax was the dominant town in the North for wool in those days and the local merchants wanted a building that reflected their pre-eminence. They wanted the best, nothing less would do, and so the local wool barons paid the princely sum of £12,000 for the construction of an Italian-inspired colonnaded hall around an open square. Because it was built on a slope there were two levels on the upper side and three on the lower, with small rooms behind each walkway and balcony. It was a spectacular place at the heart of the woollen trade, and now remains as the only building of its kind in the country. Gradually, though, over the years, the focus of...

Seven weeks in, and there was a steady crowd at Todmorden's first micro, called simply The Pub. Well, perhaps not a crowd, but enough to fill the small bar that is situated on Brook Street, just beside the market. We had walked up the canal towpath from Hebden Bridge, a lovely walk through some great countryside, but on a pleasant and warm sunny day we were looking forward to a drink, and once we had arrived in Tod it didn't take long to find The Pub. Situated on the corner of a solid, stone building just off the main A646, a few steps up off the street take you into a small bar with a few tables. There are 6 hand pumps, dispensing on the day beers that were generally pretty local - Deeply Vale from Bury, Worsthorne from near Burnley, Eagles Crag from just up the road at Robinwood Mill, plus a few others such as Jaipur, from further afield. The beer was on good form, I had the 3.6% Sidewinder from Deeply Vale which was refreshing after the walk, followed by Alter Eagle from E...

I'd been driving for about an hour and a half, and decided I needed a pit stop. I'd spotted a Beer Guide pub in the village of Piercebridge, just off the A1 a few miles west of Darlington, and based on the write-up, it sounded pretty decent. Unfortunately though, it turned out to be very much food-orientated, with an atmosphere not really conducive to calling in for a quick drink. Nonetheless there were 4 handpumps, which seemed to be supporting small breweries, including a beer from the local Mithril Brewery from Aldborough St John, which was pleasant. Piercebridge itself turned out to be quite an interesting place. It was originally a Roman town, and there are still the remains of a bridge and fort from those times which are worth checking out. The village's other pub, the George, is a rambling old roadside hotel. It was much more welcoming and I enjoyed another half of Mithril in the lovely beer garden alongside the river. The George's main claim to fame is that an...

I saw a few days ago that Vocation Brewery are this weekend launching a new collaboration with Hull's Atom Brewery called Strawberries and Cream. The other week I was at the Cloudwater Brewery in Manchester where I had Mango Sour, an amazing beer made with 25% fruit pulp and the colour of, well, mango juice. Like the voyagers of the Starship Enterprise, some of today's most innovative brewers are boldly going where no brewer has gone before. And in some cases, it's beer, Jim, but not as we know it.... And here's a few thoughts. A few months ago I wrote about the decision of Cloudwater to stop brewing cask beer, citing the cost, limited financial return, and concern over how it is presented to the customer, and would therefore focus on craft/keg instead.  I also referred to some analysis that had been put together by another brewer which showed that the actual cost of brewing cask versus keg is not much different. What is different though is that whilst the keg of...

New openings in Hebden Bridge and a fascinating tour recalling Halifax's musical past.... I went over to Hebden Bridge this weekend to check out the brand new Vocation and Co bar that had just opened. I took the train from Brighouse, and when I arrived I noticed that the Old Parcel Office summer weekend pop-up bar had changed to the Pig and Barrel. And instead of majoring on cider like its predecessor, it was focussing on beer and gin. There is one hand pump and a couple of taps, and I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the sunshine at one of the outside tables drinking a pint of X-Panda from the excellent Brew York brewery before making my way into town. The new Vocation bar is on the main road and based in what was part of the old Moyles Hotel which closed a year or two ago following flooding. It is very shiny, with white walls, a longish bar, and big chalkboard listing the beers and cider on offer. It is actually a joint venture between Vocation and the people behind the Old Gate...