It takes us along the ironically named Temperance Street. Which is Beer Nouveau’s official address. As we’re walking down the, to be perfectly honest, rather desolate street, I hear someone call ”Ron” behind me.
It’s Matt Thompson, a fellow blogger who will be attending the event*. He gets me to pose below a Temperance Street sign. I can’t imagine why.
When we arrive at the brewery, there are already a few people there, sampling the historic beers that have been brewed for the occasion. It’s more Shilling Ales, though not the same ones as in Macclesfield.
Steve Dunkley, the man in charge at Beer Nouveau, quickly puts a beer in my hand. Steve has been doing some interesting things with wooden casks. Putting beer in them, mostly, which I guess doesn’t sound that interesting. But it is when you have exactly the same beer served from a plastic cask using a beer engine and by gravity from a wooden cask. I wouldn’t have believed what a difference it could make, had I not experienced it myself.
I’m pleased to say that a few brewers have taken an interest in oak casks. Definitely something to watch out for. Who said SPBW was irrelevant?
I’ve time for a few beers while I wait for the final stragglers to show up. Which I’m not going to complain about. That was, after all, one of the points of setting this whole trip up: getting to drink beers from historic recipes. How else would I get the chance?
Happily there’s a projector for me this time. Makes life much easier. I positively rattle through the talk, finishing in just 2 hours 45 minutes. That’s a full 15 minutes quicker than yesterday. Maybe some editingis needed before I take it to the US later in the month.
We have a few more drinks when I’m done talking before trailing back to our hotel. I finish off more of bottles that I’ve acquired. Can’t take them on the plane is my excuse.
* You can read Matt’s account of the event here:
http://whenmyfeetgothroughthedoor.blogspot.nl/2017/04/macbeth-in-manchester.html
Beer Nouveau
Temperance Street Brewery
75 North Western Street,
Manchester, M12 6DY.
http://beernouveau.co.uk
Buy my new Scottish book.
Been reading some of your books, which has got me thinking about barley varieties. A bit of googling found me this, which I thought you might like to see, if you haven't already. You don't seem to have had much to say on historical barley varieties so I thought you'd like a new thing to obsess about. :-D
ReplyDeletehttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1902.tb00190.x/pdf