Conferencing again

I rise at 7:30. But the fist talk is supposed to start at 8:30. I have a very rushed breakfast. Yet again. It’s been a recurring theme in Temuco. There’s not even time for a photo.

We're in a different room. A much better one. Which is reasonably warm, if the door is kept closed. That’s not always the case, unfortunately. I’m a bit disappointed that I won’t be speaking in amongst the locomotives. Though, ultimately, I’d prefer not to freeze my arse off.

Asbjorn talking at the conference

Asbjorn is on first. Talking about quality control. Then it's Marcus on the topic of Rauchbier. His presentation has quite a bit of video and is very visual. Which is a good idea when so many of the audience don’t speak English.

Pete leaves at the end of the talk. And we hurry outside for a group photo. Chris has to drag Pete back.

Photos snapped, it’s time for Paddy on brewing cask beer. Interesting stuff. Especially the stuff about serving from a vertical cask. I’d heard about it but didn’t know exactly how it worked.

And, finally, it's me. It's 13:30 when I start and I manage to rush through it in an hour. I speak so quickly the interpreter says she had trouble keeping up with me.

The audience looks rather bemused. How much did they understand? I fear that it’s a long way short of 100%. Oh well. I hope they got something from it.

All the judges are supposed to be going up to Lonquimay. But Markus isn't keen. Leaving just Paddy, Sue, Sandy, Chris and me. To make sure to get there nice and early, we leave straight away, not even bothering with lunch. We really don’t want to be travelling in the dark again. Far too scary.

I finally travel up the mountain both awake and in daylight. I can soak in the countryside all the way to Lonquimay. It's weird seeing monkey-puzzle trees growing wild. Some quite massive. With candidly white volcano cones as a backdrop. That’s a bonus of it being a clear day.

Lonquimay and the mountains

Something I almost forgot to mention. I arrived at the arse end of Chille’s national celebrations. Which take up the best part of a week. There are Chilean flags everywhere. Children even fly kite versions. Every house, even the crappiest wooden shack, has a flag flying outside at this time of year.  

We arrive at 16:30. Well before nightfall. And are greeted by a smiling Boris. Who has already started barbecuing the beef. Me, Chris and Paddy go outside to have a look. It's dead impressive.

Beef barbbecuing

Back inside, I get a Zipa. It’s far better on draught than the bottled version I judged a few days ago. Confirming what I suspected: it’s packaging not brewing that’s the problem in Chile.

After a couple of beers, it's time to eat. The table is already groaning under the wight of food before the barbecue comes out.

Boris's homemade sausages

First pork sausages. Made by Boris. They are delicious. Then it's time for the beef. Which is also really good. I’m stuffed by the time I’m finished.

Boris and his beef

“I’m glad we skipped lunch now. “ Sue remarks. She’s not wrong. A meal deserving of an appetite.

Finally, my favourite hour rolls around: gin time. We start with cocktails the restaurant manageress has made using their own tonic water (Perkins brand). Then we get to make our own, with different types of tonic water and botanicals. Mine is mostly gin, with a splash of tonic, hibiscus, juniper berries and cardamon.

“No surprise Ron’s is mostly gin.”

What do they mean? It's quite nice. If rather alcoholic. A bit like me.

Paddy and gin

Boris's girlfriend arrives. And we drink more gin. This is lots of fun, playing around with different combinations of tonics and botanicals. Hibiscus is my favourite.

The others gradually drift off to bed, leaving just me and Chris. We stay up later. Until midnight or so, when we crawl upstairs to bed.

Where did all that gin go?



Cervecería & Lodge Lonquimay
Lonquimay,
Araucania.
http://www.cervezalonquimay.cl/ 

Disclaimer: The First International Araucania Cervercera Congress paid for my flights and for my hotel in Temuco, along with food and drink.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1910 Barclay Perkins Brown Stout

Another Barclay Perkins recipe from my book "Free!", due to be published sometime this Millennium. I've been chipping away at the recipes in my spare time for a year or two. This is number 217.

The main Stout of Barclay Perkins, sold both in bottle and on draught remains Brown Stout. A beer they had been brewing for over 100 years. Probably closer to 200 years.

Decent quantities of Brown Stout were being brewed, though this is a relatively small batch, having been brewed on their small and experimental plant. Which is why 84 barrels were brewed. Batches in the main brew house were much larger.

It’s another complicated grist, with no fewer than six malts. Once again, the base is split between pale and SA malt (for which I’ve substituted mild malt). Then there’s the usual brown, black and amber malt. The twist here is that there’s also some crystal malt. A small amount which surely must have been swamped by all the roast malt.

Three types of English hops: Sussex from the 1907 and 1908 seasons and Mid-Kent from 1909. 

1910 Barclay Perkins Brown Stout
pale malt	3.50 lb	22.58%
mild malt	3.50 lb	22.58%
brown malt	1.50 lb	9.68%
black malt	1.25 lb	8.06%
amber malt	1.75 lb	11.29%
crystal malt 60 L	1.25 lb	8.06%
No. 3 invert sugar	2.75 lb	17.74%
Fuggles 150 mins	2.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	2.00 oz
Goldings 30 mins	2.00 oz
OG	1074
FG	1025
ABV	6.48
Apparent attenuation	66.22%
IBU	65
SRM	47
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	168º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	61.5º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

Me ranting about Scottish beer

If you'd like to hear (and see)) me sweeping away the most egregious myths about Scottish beer, tune into the Beer Culture Summit this Friday (18th October) at 18:00. It should be loads of fun. 

The talk summarises my excellent book on Scottish brewing:

Which is also available in Kindle form:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q8XHBL2

Beer Guide to the 1970s (part twelve)

Today's trio are a right mixture. One that just eluded me, one I disliked and one I loved. See if you can guess which was which. (It won't be hard.)

So many breweries that have disappeared since I started drinking. Some of the most frustrating were those that closed just before that. So I just missed out.

Gray
Chelmsford,
Essex.
Founded:    1828
Closed:            1974
Tied houses:    52

A brewery that disappeared just too early for me to have had chance to try their beers. The company still exists and owns a tired estate, whose beers are now supplied by Greene King. Their pubs are mostly concentrated around Chelmsford.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1033.6	well-balanced
Best Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1040.4
Mild	Mild	draught	1028.6	dark
Stock Ale	Strong Ale	draught		fairly strong, darkish, roughly a cross between the Bitter and the Mild
Light Ale	Pale Ale	bottled
Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled
Home Brew	Strong Ale	bottled		bottled Stock Ale

Greenall Whitley (Warrington)
Warrington,
Cheshire.
Founded:    1762
Closed:            1993
Tied houses:    1,500

One of the largest independent brewers, Greenall Whitley wasn’t that far behind Scottish & Newcastle in terms of tied houses. Lancashire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Herefordshire and North Wales were lucky enough to be home to their tied pubs. I never cared for their beers, even though they were often available in cask form. It was also annoying the good brewers the bastards took over and closed. The Warrington brewery closed when Greenalls decided to get out of brewing and become a pub chain. Not a brewery I miss.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Best Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1038	well-balanced
Mild	Mild	draught	1033.7	full-bodied Dark Mild
Festival Keg	Pale Ale	keg	1036.8
Grunhalle Lager	Lager	keg	1037.3	high-gravity Lager
Champion Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1034.8
Festival Export Ale	Pale Ale	bottled	1041.6	A strong Light Ale, not the same as the keg.
Five Star Strong Ale	Barley Wine	bottled		nip
Old Chester Ale	Old Ale	bottled		A dark and sweet strong Old Ale.
Bullseye	Brown Ale	bottled	1033.6	A medium sweet Brown Ale
Family Ale	Brown Ale	bottled		sweet Brown Ale
Red Rose Stout	Stout	bottled	1040	sweet
Grunhall Lager	Lager	bottled	1037.3

Greenall Whitley (Wem)
Wem,
Shropshire.
Founded:    1878
Closed:            1988
Tied houses:    220

In contrast to their owner, the Wem brewery produced excellent beers. Some of the best I drank back then. Though that was only at beer festivals. They were bought by Greenall Whitley in 1951 and survived for surprisingly long. A brewery I do miss.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Best Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1038	well-balanced
Pale Ale	Pale Ale	draught	1032	a light Bitter
Mild	Mild	draught	1033	full-bodied Dark Mild

 

 

Conferencing

First day of the conference. It's supposed to kick off at 8:45. I'm up at 7:30. But by the time I've done all my pottering around. It's 8:20.

I only have time for a slice of toast with cheese and a quick cup of tea before we're herded into the van.

[Imagine a photograph of a very sad breakfast.]

It's misty and freezing cold. It turns out the conference will be in the national railway museum. Which is in an old roundhouse.

A vintage train looming out of the mist

We’re dropped at the front gates. Which are quite a way from the roundhouse. I feel really sorry for Sandy, who’s not verry mobile after a fall just a day before travelling to Chile. She accepts the long walk very stoically.  Much more so than I would. Wimp that I am.

The talks were supposed to be in the roundhouse itself, next to the locomotives. But it's too cold. We're moved to a smaller room. Almost no-one is there when we arrive. It's more like 9:45 when things kick off. Who could have predicted that?

There's no possibility of having a translation through headphones. Instead, the interpreter just sits behind us. Luis gives a speech first. Followed by a regional government official. Then it's Asbjorn's turn. Finally this morning, it’s the turn of Pete Slosberg.

Pete has to speak a sentence at a time which is then translated by the interpreter. It slows things down a lot. If it's like that for me, my talk will take over two hours. Given the circumstances, Pete’s talk is exceptional. Including an impromptu section on the need for cooperation between small brewers.

In the lunch break, Camilo takes me, Pete and Marcus to the covered market. Which is pretty massive. Outside the halls proper, there’s an informal market at the side of the road. That’s very Chilean.

Food stalls in Temuco market.

We walk around for a while. It’s mostly fruit and veg. With some sections dedicated to cheese or sausage. And spice stalls, which is where we’re headed.

To get down to the business in hand: buying merken. That’s the roasted chili powder locals add to everything. Pete gets ten different ones. I just get four. That’s a present for Dolores sorted. And just two euros for the lot.

Buying merken in Temuco market.

Camilo says he knows a good place to eat, Zuny Tradiciones Where they have Mapuche-inspired food. Camilo gets the route slightly wrong and we bump along a dirt track running past wooden shacks. Just as well we’re in a four-wheel drive.

“It’s OK. I know we can get through. I’ve been this way on my bike.”

Strange fruit in Temuco market.

That’s sort of reassuring. After a while we pop back out onto a paved road and there we are. At the restaurant. On a street with wheelless cars.

When we enter, a woman is playing guitar and singing. Most of the tables are occupied but we manage to grab one which has just been vacated.

No pisco sours here, unfortunately. Only wine. Camilo suggests fruit juice. We get four different ones. Not so sure about the one with beetroot. The one I go for, kiwi and mint, is delicious.

Mixed vegetables topped with slabs of beef.

On Camilo’s suggestion, we all order a dish of mixed vegetables with meat. Three types of meat: beef, pork and chicken. It’s dead good. Especially with added merken, which here is liquid rather than powder. Easily the healthiest meal I’ve had so far.

When We get back, a professor from one of the town’s universities is giving a talk on using spent grain as food. In the main hall. Part way through, I get headphones for a translation. Luckily, there's beer. I have an IPA. Or two. They’re only small paper cups, after all.

Presenting between locomotives.

Between talks, I have a closer look at some of the locomotives. Especially the big, muscular steam engines. I assume that they were built in the USA. I’m wrong. In reality, they were constructed by Mitsubishi in Japan.

Sandy is on next. Giving her talk seated. Which is understandable. It’s about women in brewing. A fascinating, and mostly neglected, subject.

When she's done, there are nibbles. And a live band. Well, part of a live band. They look like heavy metal. But the first part is two acoustic guitars and a violin. Then it becomes an electric guitar, singer and pre-recorded backing track. And very heavy metal. Lots of shaking their long hair around.

Part of a heavy metal band.

When the food runs out, we head back to the hotel. On the way I get chatting about German beer history with Markus. It’s good to discuss the topic with someone who actually knows what they’re talking about.

I mention the book celebrating 100 years of the Deutscher Brauer Bund and how it completely skips the Nazi period.

“The 150th anniversary book does cover it.” He tells me. “Because I wrote it.”

“That sounds interesting. I’d like to read that.”

“I’ll send you the text.”

“Thanks.” That’s very nice of him.

Wet only briefly nip into the hotel. Stuff dropped off, we set off for Caravan. Which isn't far. It's billed as an Irish pub. Though it seems a rather vague theme. They do sell lots of different beers, however,

Marcus and Pete are already there, with pisco sours, when I arrive with Paddy and Chris. I get a pisco sour, too. Just to be sociable. And I don’t really fancy any of the draught beers.

I spotted St. Bernard in Temuco.

We order some seafood. A sharing platter. But I don't eat much. just a squid ring and a mussel topped with parmesan. I’m not really hungry. Which isn’t the case of the others. They order a second round of food.

People drift off and eventually it’s just me and Chris. We have a whisky nightcap. As you do.

Now here’s a dilemma. We've been invited to Strom. Should we go? It’s getting pretty late and it will take us 15 minutes to walk there. When the owner says he'll come and collect us, the decision is made. It’s getting on for 23:30 when we leave.

Bonnet beer taps at Strom.

Strom’s pub is called the Monster Kustom Bar It's like a sort of rock bar. There’s a motorbike and various bits of cars as décor. It’s a very industrial look.

We have an Imperial Stout. You can never go wrong with an Imperial Stout.

We can't stay long as we need to be at the hotel by midnight. It's half past by the time we get back but Chris has warned them.

I go straight to bed. I had my nightcap earlier.




Museo Nacional Ferroviario Pablo Neruda
Av. Barros Arana 0565,
Temuco,
Araucanía.
https://museoferroviariopabloneruda.cl/visitanos/ 

Zuny Tradiciones Restaurant
Gral. Cruz 0560,
4780000 Temuco,
Araucanía.


Caravan Resto Beer
Av. Alemania 0740,
4810214 Temuco,
Araucanía.


Monster Kustom Bar
Phillippi 438,
4801058 Temuco,
Araucanía. 

Disclaimer: The First International Araucania Cervercera Congress paid for my flights and for my hotel in Temuco, along with food and drink.

Up in the Andes

“It's a pity it'll be dark when we arrive." Chris told me yesterday. "Because the view is amazing."

I rise just around dawn. And he's not wrong. The view out of my room's window is incredible. As the first rays strike the peaks and turn them to gold. God, I love Chile. It’s so beautiful.

The Andes at Lonquimay at dawn

It’s a toasty 23º C in my room according to the thermostat. The only time I’ve been properly warm since landing in Temuco.

I'm the first down for breakfast. Which makes a change. Paddy comes down soon after. With more fascinating tales of the brewing industry in the 1980s. He worked at so many long-closed breweries: M&B Springfield, Cape Hill, Highgate, George’s, Horsleydown.

A breakfast of two fried eggs, fruit and tea.

By the time Chris comes down, I've polished off my two fried eggs. And have moved onto fruit. Got to get some healthy stuff into my body. It’s a pretty good spread. But only instant coffee. I drink tea. Very nice Twinings tea.

Boris turns up and takes us to the malt room. Which is incredibly hot. When we progress down to the brewery, I realise why. The copper is under the malt room. It's heating up. And is directly fired by a gas burner. Quite spectacular. Not something you see every day.

Copper with burner underneath

When the water is hot enough, it's filled into the mash tun. And we return to the malt room to add the malt. Not that I do any lifting of sacks. That's too much like work. Something which, as a happily retired man, I never plan doing again.

Paddy, who has over 40 years’ experience as a brewer, has some detailed comments about the setup. Especially the mash tun, which is a tall, narrow cylinder.  A mash tun is ideally wide and shallow.

Lots of constructive suggestions follow from Paddy. Boris, keen to learn, asks lots of questions. This is what was supposed to be happening at the conference and surrounding events. Local brewers benefitting from the knowledge and experience of the foreign experts. It’s happening in spades here.

Not sure where I fit in. All I know about is history. At least the recipe is mine. Or. At least, started out that way.

Boris shows us where the new brew house he's bought from China will be installed. This is the view:

Brewhouse view of the Andes

Once we're mashed in, Paddy and Sue head off for a walk.

"Do you want to come along, Ron?"

"No, that looks like too much climbing for me."

Ah, the joy of growing old. Hills are off the agenda permanently. Unless someone is prepared to carry me. Don’t think there’s much chance of that.

Instead of torturing myself., I sit in the warmth of the bar, gazing at the mountains. I've not got bored of them yet. Typing up notes on my laptop and slowly sipping on a pint of Pewenche, a dark 8% beer. The brewer asked yesterday what style I thought it was. "Dark Mild." was my reply. Before I found out it was 8% ABV. Knowing that, I'd go with Burton Ale.

The rooms are all named after their beers. Coincidentally, I’m staying in the one called Pewenche.

I haven’t told you what the beer is that we’re brewing yet, have I? It’s based on an 1890s Thomas Usher Shilling Ale recipe. Based being the operative word. There have been a few tweaks.

While everyone is away, four young people arrive. They don’t look like customers and don’t buy anything. They just stand around. Who the hell are they?

It's quite a while before Paddy and Sue come back. They've been to look at a volcano. Not something you can do often in the UK. They’re accompanied by the owner of Metrulo, another tiny brewery nearby.

Boris is very passionate and very energetic. He built the brewery, bar and hotel himself. I don’t mean totally on his own, but without a builder.

While we’re waiting for the mash to run off, we eat lunch. I have Chilean shepherd's pie (as Chris describes it): ground maize on the top, boiled egg, chicken and ham underneath - it's really good.

Chilean shepherd's pie

The other brewer has brought four beers, which we sample after lunch. Three of them are nice and clean. The fourth, Cream Porter, is a gusher. The beer goes all over the table and the poor bloke’s phone. It’s all a bit of a mess.

After lunch, the brew is ready for boiling. Paddy adds the hops standing on a rather rickety ladder. Rather him than me. I declined the opportunity.  Done it plenty of times before. Much more safely.

It turns out the young people are some sort of regional government officials. Checking on what we’re up to. They seem pretty impressed with Paddy’s detailed suggestions to Boris regarding process. It’s like a free consultancy

When we’ve finished cleaning up, we drive back to Temuco. Initially, there’s stunning mountain scenery. Then it looks like England, lush and green - except with snow-capped volcanoes in the background. That doesn’t stop me nodding off. It is a 2.5 hours drive.

Many of the wooden houses have a medieval look, with the first floor protruding a half metre or so. What that’s all about? It features in both old and brand-new houses.

Small food shops are everywhere. In Lonquimay and randomly at points along the road. Laden with brightly-painted signs advertising Crystal beer and Pepsi Cola. Along with holiday cabins, shops make up most of the rare structures scattered by the roadway.

Fields and pastures surf over the hills, uninterrupted save for brave stands of trees, tall and upright. Pines hum a dull green. Barren deciduous cousins sprout the barest flashes of green from their fingertips. Spring hasn’t quite sprung.

Biergarten Klein interior on a sunny day

We go straight to Klein where we meet Markus and Asbjorn. Markus has his favourite mix of draught beers and goes behind the bar to pour it. He must have done it before, as none of the staff bat an eyelid. Or maybe they’re really laid back.

I have an Imperial Stout. A pint, obviously. But I don’t want to fill myself up. So, I switch to gin. The London Dry gin, to be precise. Very fragrant. It slips down a treat. It was my favourite of the three I tried on my first night in Temuco.

We go outside where Camilo is barbecuing delicious steak. 

Camilo barbecues steak

Pete comes back from his collaboration brew and isn't happy because he had to give a talk he wasn't warned of. I understand his annoyance. It’s not nice being ambushed that way. It appears it was the same type of government officials who visited us who insisted on the talks. I think Paddy’s masterclass got us out of giving impromptu presentations.

I’m not hungry at all. That doesn’t stop me grabbing a cube of beef every time they come past. Damn, that’s nice.

I drink more gin. It is rather good. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. Sue has never tried straight gin before. Only mixed with tonic. Judging by the look on her face, I don’t think she’ll be dropping the tonic anytime soon.

I get to bed about eleven. Flopping down to immediate sleep.



Biergarten Klein
Los Ganaderos 03326,
4811829 Temuco,
Araucanía.
http://www.klein.cl/


Disclaimer: The First International Araucania Cervercera Congress paid for my flights and for my hotel in Temuco, along with food and drink. 

Let's Brew - 1910 Barclay Perkins Oatmeal Stout

A new type of Stout which evolved just before 1900 was Oat Stout. Initially, it was made with oat malt, but most breweries used flaked oats instead. Often in miniscule amounts. Believe it or not, the 3% employed here is actually at the top end.

For a pre-WW I Stout, the gravity is pretty low. In fact, it looks more a Porter with its gravity in the low 1050º’s. It demonstrates how vague the line between Porter and Stout had become.

The grist is remarkably complicated for the period. Starting with the base, which is a split of pale and SA malt. (I’ve substituted mild malt for the latter.) Then there are three coloured malt, brown, black and amber, which make up 35% of the total.

I’m not sure exactly what form the oats were in. The brewing record simply says “oats”. They could have been in malted form.

There were equal quantities of three types of English hops. Sussex from the 1907 and 1909 harvests and Mid-Kent from 1908. 

1910 Barclay Perkins Oatmeal Stout
pale malt	2.50 lb	21.98%
mild malt	2.50 lb	21.98%
brown malt	1.50 lb	13.19%
black malt	1.25 lb	10.99%
amber malt	1.25 lb	10.99%
flaked oats	0.375 lb	3.30%
No. 3 invert sugar	2.00 lb	17.58%
Fuggles 120 mins	1.25 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.25 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.25 oz
OG	1053
FG	1016
ABV	4.89
Apparent attenuation	69.81%
IBU	45
SRM	42
Mash at	148º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	61º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

Beer Guide to the 1970s (part eleven)

It's been a while since the last instalment. I've still loads more, though. Nice to slip some 1970s nostalgia in with all the boring trip reports.

Today's trio are all, sadly, no longer with us. With a few exceptions, the passing of any brewery is a reason for sadness. They were around for very differing lengths of time. From almost 250 years to just five.


Gale
Horndean,
Hampshire.
Founded:    1847
Closed:            2005
Tied houses:    102

A brewery with a good reputation for its beers, but with little in the way of investment. When they sold up to Fullers in 2005, the brewery was totally knackered and required a complete rebuild. A shame, because they brewed some interesting beers. Partly because of the unlined wooden fermenters. Source of all the weird stuff in Prize Old Ale.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1037
HSB Best Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1051	moderately hopped and sweetish
Light Mild	Mild	draught	1030	lightly hopped
Dark Mild	Mild	draught	1031	thin and rare
XXXXX	Old Ale	draught	1045	winter; dark and sweet
Gale's Keg	Pale Ale	keg		full-flavoured for keg
Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled
Champion Ale	Pale Ale	bottled
Tudor Pale Ale	Pale Ale	bottled
Prize Old Ale	Old Ale	bottled	1095	matured for a minimum of 18 months in cask and bottle
Nut Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled		medium sweet
Nourishing Stout	Stout	bottled		sweet

Gibbs Mew
Salisbury,
Wiltshire.
Founded:    1750
Closed:            1997
Tied houses:    55

This was a bit of an odd brewery. Despite being quite small, Gibbs Mew enthusiastically embraced keg and, for a while, I believe they brewed no cask beer. Which didn’t exactly endear them to CAMRA. They brought back cask, but it was only available in a few of their pubs. I’m sure that I tried their beer at festivals. Didn’t leave much of an impression, though. Their tied estate was spread around Wiltshire and reached as far as the Isle of Wight.

beer	style	format	OG	description
Premium Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1039	malty
Bishop's Tipple	Barley Wine	draught	1066	full bodied
Special PA	Pale Ale	keg
Blue Keg	Pale Ale	keg	1034.7	stronger
Anchor Keg	Pale Ale	keg	1040.6	strongest
Super Mild	Mild	keg		sweet Dark Mild
Light Ale	Pale Ale	bottled
Sarum Special	Pale Ale	bottled		high-gravity Pale Ale
Brown Ale	Brown Ale	bottled
Extra Stout	Stout	bottled		medium sweet

Godson
Old Ford,
London.
Founded:    1977
Closed:            1982
Tied houses:    0

One of the earliest new breweries which, sadly, wasn’t around for very long. Not sure that I ever came across their beer. 

beer	style	format	OG	description
Anchor Bitter	Pale Ale	draught	1042	hoppy
Black Horse	Pale Ale	draught	1048	unusual and malty

Ice tasting

A breakfast of cheese, fruit juice and tea.

By the time I'm done it's 8:20. Just about time for a minimal breakfast. One slice of toast with cheese, juice and a small cup of tea. Not really enough to sustain me for any length of time.

We're driven to Del Bosque, site of the tasting. Where it's freezing cold. And the whole front of the building is open. Fat chance of it ever warming up.

I'm on a table with Sandy. The tiny heater behind her is powerless against the waves of cold air coming from the open front. Even with my coat zipped up, it's chilly. Why does nowhere in Chile have proper heating? Especially as far south as this.

We have 24 beers to judge. Though, unusually, we can see what they are. This is an open tasting. Not that it makes much difference. I've no idea who most of the brewers are.

There's nothing really awful. But many of the beers are oxidised. We're done in a couple of hours. Without any real arguments. Sandy is very experienced and picks up much more than I, the total amateur, do.

Judging done, it's time for lunch. I order a steak like yesterday. And have a couple of pisco sours to go with it. Because, well, why wouldn’t I?

Temuco downtown

After lunch, we're off to Klein. Where, after a quick look at the still, we start the brewer feedback session. Where we talk to the brewers about their beers that we judged. Luckily, Sandy took reams of notes. She's way more professional than me.

I have a couple of Camilo's gins to keep me going. The brewers could probably do with it more.

They look a bit shellshocked after the feedback from Sandy. She’s brutally honest, but also constructive in her comments. It’s quite odd having judges directly give their opinions to brewers. Hopefully, it helps them improve their beers. And they can sleep tonight.

About 18:30, we go back to the hotel. Me, Paddy, Sue and Chris. To pick up an overnight bag for our expedition to the mountains. Traffic is terrible and it takes us ages to get to the hotel. It's 19:30 by the time we set off for Lonquimay, where Paddy and I will be doing a collaboration brew.

It's a long trip. 2.5 hours. Rain has just stopped. As always seems to be the case here. We slip along the damp roads. Layers of green wrap the gentle hills. Trees clump in rows and squares. Wild and exotic. Massive monkey-puzzle trees stand watch. Clumps of yellow flowers explode from the earth.

Though most of the journey is in the dark. Which is a shame as the scenery as we approach the hotel is supposed to be spectacular.

Curacautín, the only place of any size once past the pull of Temuco’s gravity, has a neat boulevard, only spoilt by the approach being an abrupt 90-degree bend. With another right-angle bend after 500 metres. That’s the strength of a rigid grid plan for you.

The further we get from Temuco, the worse the roads get. I don't know how the driver can see where he's going. Worryingly, I suspect he can’t really. I prefer not to think about it too much and doze instead.

We enter a 4.5 km tunnel that’s only wide enough for one-way traffic. When we emerge, there's snow on the ground.

“Was that a railway tunnel? It looks like one.” I ask. It turns out it was. Built as part of a failed plan to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans by rail. The tunnel was later repurposed for road traffic. 

A platter of meat, onion rings and chips

 We're stopping at the hotel attached to the Lonquimay brewery. It looks like a ski lodge, with lots of wood. Chris rang ahead to order us some food: a sharing platter for four. With chips, onion rings and various types of meat. To be honest, I’m a bit past eating.

The only other customers are a couple of blokes watching footy on the TV.  Boca Juniors against Colo Colo, a Chilean team. I think it’s a Copa Libertadores game.

I have an interesting chat with Paddy about M&B, S&N and Courage, where he worked. It turns out Whorton Grange was a well-designed brewery. Closed when the land became too valuable. Not because it was impractical or unprofitable. You learn something new every day.

It's getting on for midnight when we turn in. No need for a nightcap. It’s been a long and tiring day.



Cervecería & Lodge Lonquimay
Lonquimay,
Araucania.
http://www.cervezalonquimay.cl/

 

Disclaimer: The First International Araucania Cervercera Congress paid for my flights and for my hotel in Temuco, along with food and drink.