Black Lab Brew-House & Kitchen, Barcelona

Black Lab Brew-House & Kitchen, Barcelona

Craft Beer has obviously taken off in a big way in Barcelona. The city now boasts an impressive number of breweries, and a growing number of well-regarded brew-pubs. Whilst most of the latter are home-grown establishments, international chains, in the form of Brew Dog and Mikkeller have also opened bars in the Catalan capital, but I like to stick with more local stuff when visiting somewhere new.

Given all that was going on with the Barcelona Beer Festival, plus a spot of sightseeing, it’s hardly surprising that I only managed to visit one brew-pub during my short stay in the city. However, I was well impressed with what I found in the form of Black Lab Brew-House & Kitchen. The company have only been trading since 2014, but despite this they have established an excellent reputation for both their beer and their food. Their restaurant-cum- brew-pub took a bit of finding, but the ironic thing was I had walked past the front of the building where the pub is housed, earlier in the day.

Take your pick!

I stopped by for lunch on the Sunday, but I had first started my day with a Mc Donald’s breakfast at the Maremagnum Shopping Centre which overlooks the inner harbour; known as Port Vell. I walked back along the other arm of the harbour, pausing to admire some of the extremely flash and expensive looking yachts moored there. After this I headed for the seafront, after first walking through a neighbourhood of densely packed, high-rise apartments.

It seemed as though much of Barcelona had decided to join me; and why not? It was a beautiful early March day. The sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky, but there was a brisk wind blowing which helped keep temperatures down. The locals were wrapped up against the chill, but to me, whilst obviously not shorts and T-shirts weather, it was just perfect. I strolled along the promenade, covering virtually the entire length of the seafront, and ended up on the periphery of the Olympic Village. 

A stroll along the seafront

I had no firm plans, but the idea of some locally-brewed beer, plus a bit to eat seemed particularly appealing. I found a seat overlooking the beach and sat down to view the map. I also had a downloaded copy of a guide to Barcelona’s Top Ten Brew Pubs. Relatively close to where I was currently situated was the Black Lab Brew-House & Kitchen, so I set off to find it.

I say relatively close, but I needed to head back inland in order to make my way to the inner harbour where I had been earlier in the day. It was quite chilly in the shadow of the buildings which form part of the city’s hospital and university complex; especially as the strong wind was being funnelled along the gaps between them, but eventually I reached the main thoroughfare which led back towards the harbour.

Before looking for the Black Lab, I decided to re-visit the Estacio de França railway station, which was just a short distance away. I was last there in the summer of 1975, when I made a fleeting stop in order to change trains. I was travelling around Europe by Interrail with a friend from university, and we had journeyed, virtually non-stop for several days, from the town of Split in former Yugoslavia. Our destination was the well-known resort of Benidorm, where my then girlfriend was living and working at the time.

Our connecting train was due to depart from Barcelona shortly before midnight, but it was already full and an over zealous conductor wouldn't let us board. We managed to sneak on at the last minute, and the following afternoon we were in Valencia. Franco was still in charge of Spain back then, so this might not have been the wisest thing to do, but when you’re young life’s a big adventure and you don’t really think about these things.

A touch of nostalgia 40 years on!

The Estacio de França seemed a lot quieter this time round, and had been spruced up since my last visit. It is no longer Barcelona’s main station, as it has been eclipsed by the larger Estació de Sants. Unlike França which is a terminus station, Sants offers through services, following the construction of a series of rail tunnels beneath the city. I was pleased I stopped off at França station, but my reasons weren’t completely nostalgic. Having reached a certain age, I find my bladder capacity is no longer what it was, so the need to find a suitable drain-off point becomes more pressing. I knew there would be public toilets at the station, and the lavabos there were clean, free and above all most welcome!

After walking around the busy Plaça Pau Vila, I found the Black Lab located in a section of the imposing Palau de Mar; a block of old warehouses which has now been converted into a series of shops, restaurants and bars. I made my way inside and was greeted by one of the friendly staff. I was shown to a small table, suitable for one person. The pub interior is bright and modern-looking, and at the rear, behind some glass screens, are a series of fermenting vessels. The actual brew-kit is housed in another part of the pub, and I was able to get a closer look when I used the facilities; just before leaving.

Beer List

There were around 13 different beers on offer, and these were displayed on a prominent chalkboard. I started with the 1480 American Pale Ale, which at 5.5% was just about right. Well-hopped, as one would expect, the beer slid down well after my morning stroll along the seafront. I followed it with a glass of Terraplane Porter; a tasty and well-balanced dark beer, which weighed in at 5.2%. I also treated myself to a substantial and rather spicy Chicago Hot Dog.

There was a young-looking group sitting in front of the fermenters, and judging by their attire they were from the Beer Festival. After they left, a group of around half a dozen English women turned up. They were obviously NOT from the Festival, as none of them chose beer, to go with their food, with most going for either water or wine. Talk about letting the side down!

A little light lunch

As I said earlier, the brew-kit was on the way to the Gents. It looked shiny and new, which is hardly surprising since the Black Lab has only been open just over a year. It is definitely a place to return to though, with friendly and knowledgeable staff, a nice setting, good food and great beer. I could have stayed longer, but I wanted to get along to the Beer Festival to see what was happening.

I’d had a most enjoyable morning, walking around the harbour and then along the seafront. I had indulged in a spot of nostalgia as well, before ending up at this excellent brew-pub, where the beer and the food rounded off the first half of what turned out to be a perfect day.

Worthington White Shield

It’s a long time since I last tried Worthington White Shield, but I picked up a couple of bottles in Waitrose before Christmas, and have only now got round to cracking one open.

The company have obviously improved the yeast strain, as although the beer is still bottle-conditioned, it poured bright virtually right down to the last drop. I remember drinking White Shield back in my late teens, when pouring the beer was a real art; especially if you wanted a clear beer in your glass. Back then there was always a much thicker, and often more looser, layer of yeast sitting at the bottom of the bottle, and if the beer was particularly lively, your chances of ending up with a bright beer were virtually nil.

The improvements which enable today’s White Shield to be poured bright are down to the use of different yeast strains for primary and secondary fermentation. A yeast which drops to the bottom of the bottle and then stays there, forming a thin tight layer, has obviously been selected, and it reminds me of another famous bottle-conditioned beer which uses a similar highly flocculant and sticky yeast; namely Fuller’s 1845.

Back in the late 1970’s White Shield was brewed by Bass-Worthington, at their historic brewery in Burton-on-Trent. The beer was a real life-saver, as it was often the only beer worth drinking in a pub where all the other beers were keg. It was available in half-pint (275ml) bottles only; unlike today where it is presented in a very stylish looking 500ml bottle, with an attractive label depicting the Worthington trademark of a sword set against the background of a red shield.

As far as I know the recipe and the strength have remained unchanged, but to me today’s White Shield is a far less complex beer than the one I remember drinking back in the 70’s and 80’s. The White Shield from 40 years ago had a distinctive “nutty” taste which, although still present in today’s version is far less pronounced. The modern version is still a very good beer, but it is not quite the same.

Burton Union system

It may be that White Shield lost some of its character when the Burton Union system of fermentation was abandoned back in 1982. As production volumes fell the beer went through a period of being shunted around various different sites in the Bass Empire, including the old Hope & Anchor plant in Sheffield and the former Mitchell & Butlers Cape Hill Brewery in Birmingham.  Its darkest moment came in 1998, when production was just a mere 1,000 barrels a year.

Bass announced plans to discontinue the beer, but there was such an outcry from beer lovers that they agreed to it being contract brewed at Sussex Brewers, King & Barnes. Unfortunately the latter’s Horsham Brewery closed in 2000 when the company was bought out by Hall & Woodhouse. White Shield was now a beer without a home. Fortunately Bass decided to bring the beer back in-house and White Shield returned to its Burton roots.

This homecoming saw the beer being brewed on a “pilot-scale” brewery, at the Bass Brewery Museum (now the National Brewery Centre), but as volumes increased production was moved to a dedicated plant, known as the William Worthington Brewery. In 2012, production volumes had increased sufficiently to justify a move to the main Coors Brewery in Burton-on-Trent.

White Shield was first brewed in 1829, by the Worthington Brewery in Burton-on- Trent. Its principal market was the large British presence in India, where the demand for thirst-quenching pale ales was particularly high. William Worthington was one of the leading Burton brewers but, in contrast to most of his competitors, he concentrated on bottled beer production. It shouldn’t be forgotten though that the company also brewed an interesting range of draught pale ales which were labelled simply A,B,C etc. It was Worthington 'E' in keg form that went on to become a major Bass brand in the 1970s.

Old style bottle label

In 1927, Worthington merged with their Burton neighbours Bass, but White Shield retained its separate identity and continued as a ‘live’ bottled product. This was at a time when most brewers were moving to filtered and pasteurised bottled beers. At its peak in 1952–53, 92,000 barrels of White Shield were brewed. After merging with Charrington United in 1967, Bass went on to become the UK’s largest brewers; but following the fall-out from the government’s Beer Orders, and the decision of the Monopolies Commission to block their proposed merger with Allied Breweries, Bass sold their brewing interests to Molson Coors in 2002. The American company are now the owners, and brewers, of the iconic White Shield brand.

As mentioned above, production volumes have now thankfully increased to a level which enables the beer to be brewed at a mainstream brewery again, but strangely I have only ever seen White Shield on sale at Waitrose, and not in any of the other major supermarkets.

Be that as it may, I at least know where to get hold of the beer. I have decided to lay the other bottle down until Christmas; just to see how it turns out, but I’m sure I will be buying a few more before then. You see, I’ve a vested interest in the beer and its fortunes, because as a former Bass employee, I’ve got a pension maturing with Molson Coors, so it would be nice to do my little bit towards increasing its value!

Wetherspoon's Spring Festival 2016

It had almost escaped my attention that Wetherspoon’s annual Spring Beer Festival is already into its second week, with not so much as a whimper about it anywhere in the blogosphere. I haven’t seen any of my CAMRA chums for a few weeks, so I’ve not had any feedback from them, but when I spoke to my old drinking buddy and walking partner on the phone the other day, he was very dismissive of the event saying, "It’s full of  beers  with strange flavours or with twigs floating in them!"

Now my friend is a die hard real ale drinker; even though he’s not a CAMRA member, so I sort of expected a comment like that, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I looked at the festival website to see what is on offer this year.

Before discussing the list further, it’s worth pausing to reflect that there was a time when the Spoon’s festival really was an event to look forward to and to even get excited about, so what has gone wrong?  The short answer is probably nothing, although I suspect that many writers and beer lovers, and I include myself here, have become blasé or complacent even about an event which showcases 50 different beers.

I must admit I was starting to think along the same lines as my friend, that the brewers were just adding things like orange peel or cinnamon to some of their bog-standard beers, just to pass them off as something special for the festival. Being exposed to the goings on in the world of craft beer hasn’t helped discourage the cynic in me, especially when I read about barrel-aged beers, Saisons, Double Imperial IPA’s, Gose and, heaven forbid the oxymoron which is Black IPA!

I’m sure that some of these beer extremes have started to filter down into the real pub world of boring brown bitter and cooking lager, if not physically then at least in name, so I can’t see your average Wetherspoon's John Smiths Smooth drinker being particularly enamoured by what is on offer. Most CAMRA members I know are a little different, and certainly a lot more discerning; discerning enough to give the majority of the festival beers a closer inspection.

As I say, I’ve been out of the loop for a few weeks, but the chit-chat which would normally be taking place amongst our WhatsApp group, just hasn’t happened this time round. I suspect that certain key individuals have their heads down due to work commitments; I have had a very busy few months at work, and things don’t look like easing up any time soon, but surely everyone’s not in the same boat? Have other Bloggers run out of things to say about the Spoon’s festival? Is it just so old hat these days that no-one bothers?

Moving on to the festival itself; there are 50 beers available which include 11 medal-winning brews, from last years CAMRA Great British Beer Festival. As the website says, there is something to suit everyone, from best bitter to port stout, from wheat beer to cask lager. The company have also continued their practice of inviting a handful of overseas brewers over to brew a version of one of their own beers at a UK brewery.

The overseas beers have been sourced from brewers in Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, the Republic of Ireland and the USA. They all look interesting and I’ll certainly be looking out for the Dutch and Italian offerings. On the home front the Vienna Lager from Hawkshead, the limited edition, strong version of Trooper from Robinsons plus the seldom seen Revelation from Dark Star. In addition, amongst the GBBF winners is West Yorkshire-based Saltaire Brewery’s speciality stout Saltaire Triple Chocoholic; definitely a worthy winner in its class at last year’s festival.

All in all then a pretty good line up, and certainly not one to be sniffed at. I probably won’t be making a special trip down to my local Spoon’s, but I’ll definitely call in if I’m passing. You can get full details by clicking on the Wetherspoon’s website here.

The Chiddingstones - Part Two

Part Two - Chiddingstone Village 

In the first of what will be three posts about “The Chiddingstones”, I wrote about the small village of Chiddingstone Causeway; home to the company I have worked for these past 10 years. As I mentioned in that article the village is a relatively modern one which sprung up around Penshurst station, on the Tonbridge to Redhill railway line. It takes the first part of its name from the nearby village of Chiddingstone; a much older settlement which dates back at least to Anglo-Saxon times, and possibly before. It is Chiddingstone village that we are going to look at in this article.

The Chiding Stone (N Chadwick) / CC BY-SA 2.0

Chiddingstone lies in the Weald; the ancient forest between the North and South Downs. During mediaeval times the Weald was the centre of the English iron industry, but Chiddingstone’s history predates this period by several centuries. Legend has it that the name of the village is derived from the Chiding Stone; an ancient and mysterious-looking large sandstone rock formation, situated on the edge of the village. Rumour has it the stone was once used by ancient druids as an altar or place where judgments were made; or where offenders were punished.

These stories persisted in medieval times where folklore has it that nagging wives, wrongdoers and witches were brought to the stone to be chided as punishment by an assembly of villagers. This is where the most recent name for the stone comes from and with it possibly the name The Chiding Stone still holds a sense of mystery and has become an attraction that still draws interest to the village.

It is more likely though that the stone was used as a boundary marker by the local Saxons, and that Chiddingstone means "the stone or homestead of Cidda's family" - Cidda being a local Saxon leader. The name of the village was recorded as Cidingstane in the 12th century and has now changed to Chiddingstone.

Chiddingstone High Street (N Chadwick) / CC BY-SA 2.0

The village grew slowly over the years, until the middle of the 16th century when the history of Chiddingstone became intimately connected with the Streatfeild family, who were major landowners in the area. The first Richard Streatfeild made his fortune as an Elizabethan ironmaster and his descendants were squires and patrons of the village for over 450 years. The curious square stone building in the churchyard, with a pyramidal roof and a wooden door, is the entrance to the Streatfeild family burial vault.

The church of St. Mary also contains some handsome memorials to the Streatfeild family, and has a fine tower with a peal of bells. After a fire in 1624 much of the church was rebuilt, with the roof of the nave replaced at a lower level - the original higher roof level is still visible.

Chiddingstone Castle (not a real castle!)

In 1584 the Streatfeilds, purchased a dwelling in the High Street which was later to become Chiddingstone Castle. In the early 1800s Henry Streatfeild changed the face of the village forever. The old Manor House on the High Street was demolished and Chiddingstone Castle was built in its place. He then blocked the High Street at the Castle Inn and diverted the road around the Castle Lake and garden to prevent any villagers from gaining access to his land. During the 1930s the whole estate was sold off, and the house was occupied by the Army during the Second World War II. 

After a period as a school, the house was purchased in 1955 by Denys Eyre Bower, a passionate collector, as a home for his collections of Egyptian and Japanese antiquities. The house and collections are now owned by a trust and open to the public. The gardens include a park with woodland areas, the ruined Orangery, and the octagonal Gothic Tower of the old well-house.

Castle Inn

The National Trust has owned Chiddingstone Village almost in its entirety (excluding the school, the castle and the church) since 1939. It is described as the best example of a Tudor village left in the country, and its perfectly preserved buildings have been used in several period television programmes and films.

With all the history attached to the village, it comes as no surprise that Chiddingstone has an equally ancient pub in the form of the Castle Inn. The building dates back to 1420, but it didn’t become an inn until three centuries later. Like many of the buildings in this impossibly attractive village, the Castle is constructed in typical Kentish style, with half-timbered sides, gables and a red, tile-hung frontage and roof.

In common with the local tearooms, the village shop and post office the pub is owned by the National Trust who, as previously stated, bought these properties in 1939; along with other nearby houses, as "an almost perfect example of a Tudor one-street village". The Trust leases these properties out as businesses to suitable tenants, and after many years under one such leaseholder, the Castle changed hands a few years ago, and seems to be doing equally well under its new management.

Castle Inn - Public Bar

The Castle is that rarity these days in so much as it still has two separate, but linked bars. I usually head for the public, which occupies the right-hand third of the building, as not only is this bar unspoilt; it is also where the village characters congregate. Stepping into this bar really is like stepping back in time to a simpler age. With its quarry-tiled floor, low-beamed ceiling and log burning stove, the public bar is the haunt of proper country types, such as farm workers, gamekeepers and foresters who visit in their working clothes, often accompanied by their (working) dogs.

It is a place where the world gets put to right and where the cares of everyday life can be forgotten for a while over a well-kept pint of Larkin’s beer, brewed just a few hundred yards down the road. Larkin’s owner, Bob Dockerty, numbers amongst the locals here, but not normally until the day’s work at the brewery is finished.

Local beer at the Castle Inn

Although the Castle has the appearance that time has stood still, it is bang up to date in many other respects, not least of which is the high standard of food and drink on offer there. A free Wi-Fi connection is also available - other pubs please take note! It is many years since I set foot in the much larger saloon bar, but from memory it is more comfortable and more genteel; in fact it reminds me somewhat of a dainty 1930’s tearoom. The fact it is considerably more expensive than the public bar; and that isn’t exactly cheap either, is probably the main reason I haven’t ventured in to the saloon in recent times.

Still, you get what you pay for, and what you are getting at the Castle are the genuine attractions of a centuries old village inn, combined with modern standards of first class food and drink. The other attraction is that during the winter months, the Castle is one pub where the chances of obtaining a pint of Larkin’s Porter are practically guaranteed.

It is therefore well worth making the detour to Chiddingstone, and its unspoilt street of original Tudor houses plus, of course, the equally unspoilt Castle Inn. It will be a detour though, as Chiddingstone is well off the beaten track and some way from the nearest B road; let alone a major road. Perhaps it is this isolated setting which has helped keep the village in the condition it was centuries ago.

BBF Brewers Pack - Barcelona Beer Festival

There were a series of behind the scenes activities going on in the background at last weekend’s Barcelona Beer Festival, which whilst separate from the main festival, were still an integral part of it. These “activities” were intended to both complement the event, as well as enhance it, and were divided into three separate categories. There were “professional” sessions, aimed primarily at PR People and journalists, “Meet the Brewer Sessions”, which understandably were very popular and had to be pre-booked, and there were also a number of lectures, held in the adjoining auditorium. These were open to the public, and were on a range of cultural and gastronomic topics related to the brewing industry.

I received an invite from festival organiser Joan-Villar-i-Marti to attend the BBF Brewers Pack session on the Friday evening. This involved presentations from each of the four local brewers responsible for the four, limited-edition beers produced specially for the festival. Each beer was brewed to represent one of the four main ingredients used to produce beer; namely water, malt, hops and yeast, allowing people to appreciate the importance of each individual ingredient, and its place in the overall picture. As well as listening to the presentations, we had the opportunity to taste the individual beers, and to make thing really interesting, each brewer also brought another of their beers along for us to try.

The presentations were made in the local Catalan language, and whilst some of the brewers spoke English, we relied on Joan to translate quite a bit of what was said. Therefore, if what I write makes even less sense than normal, let’s just say “things got lost in translation”. I ought to add that I have written about the breweries in the same order as the presentations; it was one of those occasions where the audience was split into four smaller groups, and the brewers moved around, from group to group.

First up was Edge Brewing who were established in Barcelona in 2013 by two Americans. Combining finely engineered American brewing equipment, the best ingredients available and many years of brewing experience, they are now making fresh, genuine, American craft beer for the local market. The brewery is situated in the Poble Nou district of Barcelona. Have a look at the company’s excellent English language website here.

The person giving the presentation was an amiable, ex-pat Englishman. I thought he’d given me his business card, but if he did I appear to have lost it, so unfortunately I can’t tell you his name. We tasted two beers; a 5.0% Bavarian-style Hefeweizen and a 4.5% American IPA. The Hefeweizen represented “yeast”, and had a touch of lemon juice added to counteract the phenolic banana and clove notes normally associated with Bavarian Wheat Beers. The IPA had been hopped with Cascade hops throughout the brewing process, and had also been dry-hopped.

Next up was Quer; a micro-brewery producing small batch beers in the town of Berguedà, which is about 100 km north west of Barcelona. Their contribution to the BBF Brewers Pack, was a 6.0% Smoke Beer, representing “malt”. This dark, copper-coloured beer was brewed using Rauchmalz from the world-famous Weyermann maltings in Bamberg. It certainly reminded me of one of the Rauchbiers produced in that city.

Quer certainly like to push the envelope, and to give local drinkers in Berguedà, most of whom are used to typical golden lager-style beers, something to talk about. This experimentation was evident in the other beer they brought along; a 9.5% Russian Imperial Stout called St. Berian Black. Presented in a wax-sealed bottle, this thick dark beer has a bitterness level of 60 ibu’s, which performed well against the strong, roast malt base.

The third brewery to give a presentation was Cerveses La Pirata. I came across this brewery, and its beers, on my previous visit to Barcelona, in November 2014. The company had a presence at the Biercab gastro-pub, which was close to our hotel. After sampling a few beers there I popped next door, to the adjacent beer-shop, where I bought a few of their beers, plus a rather impressive T-shirt, which I wish I’d worn now to the presentation. What I didn’t know was that at the time of that visit, La Pirata were a “gypsy brewery”, and had been so for over two years; but last year they finally bit the bullet and invested in their own brewery, which opened in September 2015.

The company are based in the town of Súria, which is to the north of Barcelona. The beer they produced for the festival represented “water”; arguably one of the most important ingredients used in the brewing of beer. This was presented in the form of a Gose; a top-fermented beer that originated in the German town of Goslar. The style migrated to the city of Leipzig, where it was something of a local speciality. Gose’s popularity waned during the 20th Century and by the end of the Second World War it had nearly died out.

 In recent years the style has seen something of a revival. Gose is brewed from a grist containing a minimum of 50% wheat and belongs to the same family of sour wheat beers which were once brewed across Northern Germany and the Low Countries. The beer is characterised by a lemon tartness, plus a pronounced herbal character. This is because coriander is used alongside hops, to provide flavour. Gose has a strong saltiness; the result of either local water sources or added salt, and acquires its characteristic sourness through inoculation with lactobacillus bacteria after the boil.

La Pirata’s Gose, was the first example of this once, almost extinct style I have tried. At 4.5% ABV, it proved a refreshing drink. Salt is added during the boil, and additionally prior to bottling. I didn’t manage to discover whether coriander was used in the beer, but going on the taste, I would say no. The company also brought along some bottles of their 7.8% Super Oatmeal Stout for us to try. They described this as a “dessert beer”, but by this time, not only were my taste buds becoming a little confused, but the alcohol from all these strong beers, on top of those I had already consumed at the festival itself, was starting to kick in.

We ended up sampling the last beers of the session, courtesy of AS Cervesa Artesana (AS for short). AS are another Catalan brewery, based at Montornés del Vallés, near Barcelona. Their website is in Catalan only, so there is little point in including a link to it, but the nice young couple doing the presentation, were enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. They brought along a rather nice 7.8% Double IPA, which represented “hops”. Orange in colour and with citrus aromas, this was a well-balanced and very enjoyable IPA. We were told that American Chinook hops were used for bitterness, with Simcoe for flavour and aroma. The beer is continuously hopped throughout the boil, and then dry-hopped additional Simcoes, during maturation. For some reason the beer is fermented using an Australian yeast.

The second beer from AS, and the last of the session, was a 9.0% Imperial Stout, called Ace of Clubs. My notes were getting rather sparse at this stage, and all I have written down is “Really strong aroma”, “Simcoe hops again.”, and “Italian liquid yeast”. Make of this what you will.

Although a lot was crammed into this session, for me it provided a valuable insight into the craft beer scene in Catalonia. I liked the informal presentation style of the breweries concerned, and whilst there were obvious language differences, the appreciation of good beer transcends national boundaries and beer speaks its own language. I am really glad therefore, that I attended this presentation.

I was joined at the BBF Brewers Pack session by fellow blogger, Martin Voigt. Martin is originally from Frankfurt, but now lives and works in Vienna where he produces the excellent proBIER site. Described as “Der Bierblog aus Österreich” (the beer blog of Austria), Martin’s blog is a professional site, with informative and in-depth write-ups, plus some excellent high quality photos. Take a look here at his report on the Barcelona Beer Festival, and you will see what I mean.

Whilst on the subject of photos, I didn’t manage to take any decent ones at the presentation so, where appropriate, I have lifted a few from the websites of the breweries involved. I’m sure they won’t mind, given the free publicity they’ll be getting, but if they do, then I’ll take them down.

A couple of final points: Martin and I were due at another session on the Saturday evening, where we would have an opportunity to meet the legendary Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, the man behind Danish Mikkeller Brewery. Unfortunately we both received an email early on Saturday morning from Joan, informing us that Mikkel was unable to travel to Barcelona, due to the illness of a member of his family, so the session had been cancelled. It was perhaps just as well then, that I didn’t take my copy of Mikkeller's Book of Beer with me, for him to sign.

The four special edition Festival Beers were available in a commemorative presentation bottle pack. It was pointless me buying one though, as I was travelling with cabin baggage only.

Hop Back Summer Lightning

Just over a fortnight ago I was sitting in the Angel at Swanton Morley, trying to read the local paper in the light of the dimly lit bar. It was cold outside and I was sitting as close as comfortably possible to the warmth emanating from the logs burning brightly in the grate of the large open fireplace.

I was in this Norfolk village because the family bungalow is situated there and, whilst dad is no longer living there, it makes a convenient base for me and other family members to stay whilst visiting him. The bungalow will have to be sold before too long; properties start to take on an unloved air when left empty for long periods, and there is also the issue of funding dad’s residential care home fees, but for the time being at least it serves the purpose outlined above.

I had driven up to Norfolk through the Friday afternoon traffic, and although I had taken a diversionary route in order to visit the CAMRA National Inventory-listed Cock at Brent Eleigh, I was feeling rather tired after my drive. I was also rather hungry, so my plan was to walk the short distance to the Angel for a bite to eat and a few pints.

The Angel,  Swanton Morley

Unfortunately I fell asleep in front of the tele, whilst watching the news and it was around 7.15pm that I walked into the pub. I ordered a pint of the guest ale (Oldershaw’s Mosaic Blonde), and as the barmaid was pulling my pint I asked her what food was available that evening. To my horror she replied that the kitchen closes at 7pm. Had I been paying attention, I would have seen the times when food is available clearly displayed on a board outside, but this left me in a dilemma.

If I hadn’t just ordered a pint I could have walked down to Darby’s; the pub at the other end of Swanton Morley, where I knew from past experience I could get a meal. It was a twenty-five minute walk away, and the alternative would have been to have nipped back to the bungalow and picked up the car. I didn’t want to do that, as my intention was to have a few pints, but as I was paying for my beer, the pleasant young girl behind the bar must have noticed my disappointment and taken pity on me. She offered to rustle me up a sandwich, which would at least assuage my immediate hunger, save me a long, cold walk and allow me to enjoy a few pints without putting myself and other road users at risk.

I accepted her kind offer and ordered a ham and cheese sandwich. So whilst sitting close to the warm glow of the fire, I started paying attention to what the other customers in the pub were drinking. There were about half a dozen or so; some of whom kept nipping off to the backroom for a game of pool.

I had noticed on previous visits to the Angel that Hop Back Summer Lightning seemed a permanent fixture on the bar, and after seeing several pints of it being pulled, I decided that would be my next beer. I was glad I went for it, as it was every bit as good as I remembered. Described by the brewery as the “Original Summer Ale”, and a “Trendsetter in the brewing industry”, this pleasantly bitter, straw coloured beer is brewed all year round. At 5.0% ABV and with a lovely fresh, hoppy aroma, combined with an intense bitterness, Summer Lightning is an old favourite of mine.

I say old favourite, but it’s not a beer I see around  much these days, and this leads me to ask why? Hop Back Brewery are quite right to describe this beer as a “trendsetter” for whilst it was not quite the first “Golden Ale” on the scene, Summer Lightning was the first such beer to take the brewing world by storm and introduce a new style of pale, well-hopped and quenching beer in an attempt to entice younger drinkers away from heavily-promoted lager brands. I seem to recall it was enormously popular during the 1990’s, and was a “must stock” brand in many pubs, so why is the beer not as widely available today?

I believe that Summer Lightning was eclipsed by other paler and even more intensely hopped beers (Dark Star, Roosters etc), and this, coupled with the advent of beers brewed using North American hop varieties, with their intense citrus notes (think Thornbridge, Brew Dog, Magic Rock et al), knocked Summer Lightning off its perch and led to it almost being sidelined.

This is great pity, as it is still the classic English Summer Ale, despite being brewed all year round. It was certainly very good in the Angel a fortnight ago; so much so that I had to have a second pint! The fact that this 5.0% beer is a permanent fixture at this GBG-listed, CAMRA-friendly pub, speaks volumes for its quality and character.

It may not have the intense citrus aromas of an American Pale Ale, but as a fine example of a beer brewed using classic English hop varieties, such as East Kent Goldings and Challenger, it more than holds its own. Do therefore give it a try if you come across it on your travels.

Barcelona Beer Festival 2016

I arrived home at lunchtime on Monday, after a really enjoyable weekend in Barcelona. The primary objective of my visit was the Barcelona Beer Festival (BBF); an event which is now in its fifth year, and which is growing in both popularity and size with each passing festival.

Enjoying the Spring sunshine

The home of the BBF for the past few years has been the Barcelona Maritime Museum, a magnificent building which formerly housed the Royal Shipyards. Appropriately the museum is situated on the city’s seafront, at the foot of the Montjuic Mountain. It proved an ideal venue, being close to the city centre, and with sufficient space to house such an event, together with an auditorium for presentations and professional tastings, it is easy to see why the organisers chose the Maritime Museum. There was also an outside area, which was a perfect space for enjoying a spot of al fresco drinking whilst enjoying the early spring sunshine.

Key Kegs behind the bar

The Barcelona Beer Festival was my first experience of a true “craft beer” festival. This might sound surprising but my festival going in the UK has been confined to CAMRA-run, or CAMRA-inspired beers festivals in which cask ale is the main, and often the only feature. I have yet to experience the delights of home-grown, “craft” events, such as IndyManBeerCon, Craft Beer Rising, Birmingham Beer Bash or the London Craft Beer Festival; although I aim to rectify this situation later this year.

As for foreign beer festivals, again my experiences are confined to two traditional-type festivals held in southern Germany; namely Annafest and Fränkisches Bierfest. The former is an annual folk-festival, held in the small Franconian town of Forchheim, in which beer is the main attraction, whilst the latter takes place in Nuremberg. Fränkisches Bierfest is probably the nearest thing Germany has to a British CAMRA festival, as it features beers from around 40 local breweries, but like Annafest, the beers are almost exclusively traditional styles and varieties.

Given this almost total inexperience of a craft-beer festival, it would be wrong for me to attempt to look for common ground between the BBF and our own GBBF, but it is still worth making the following observations.

Interior Barcelona Maritime Museum

The average age of attendees at BBF was a lot younger than that at your typical CAMRA bash, and I would estimate that around 90% of those present were in the 20-40 year age group; with probably 75% of those being under 30. There were also a much higher proportion of women at BBF; most of whom were in the above age groups. Here I would estimate that around 40% of attendees were female.

Craft beer is obviously a relatively new phenomenon in Spain, as it is in many parts of the world; Britain included, but it was good to see so much enthusiasm for the best long drink in the world, amongst the younger age group. It was particularly nice to see so many attractive young ladies enjoying and appreciating the different beers, and I don’t mean to sound patronising or sexist with this observation.

The Beer List

There were around 350 beers on the list, but with just 70 taps available, only a percentage were available at any one time. This meant the range was constantly changing, so in order to keep people informed a large chalkboard, at the far end of the hall, was used to display which beers were on sale and at which particular tap. There were a couple of people positioned on a gantry in front of the chalkboard, whose mission was to keep the list up to date, and also to deafen anyone in earshot by ringing a loud bell, every time a new or different beer came on line!

The majority of the beers were Spanish, with many sourced locally from Catalonia. There were quite a number of Italian beers as well. Other countries represented, included the USA, Belgium, the UK and the Quebec region of Canada, where the local brewers association have a reciprocal agreement with the organisers of BBF. (Fellow would be separatists?).

Busy pouring

The festival was tokens only; large plastic discs, each worth one Euro. There were holes at conveniently spaced intervals along the bar tops, for staff to drop the tokens into, after each beer purchase, making them conveniently out of reach of other punters but easy to retrieve for re-use by the festival staff. The latter, most of whom were female, all wore T-shirts with the legend BBF Crew emblazoned across the front and back.

Beers were dispensed only into specially commissioned festival 25 cl glasses, with beers priced at either two or three tokens a pour (horrible American expression). There seemed little correlation between strength and price, as there were some strong Imperial Russian Stouts (9% ABV), selling for just two tokens, whilst other much weaker beers were costing three tokens.

Get your tokens here

There were a number of interesting innovations which caught my eye, including some machines which dispensed tokens plus, CAMRA festival organisers take note, a glass rinsing station. This was a commercially available “hired in” piece of equipment, so it would be worth CAMRA taking a closer look at this. The token machines were designed to beat the queues, and spued out the appropriate number of tokens in exchange for €5, €10 or €20 notes

The only criticisms I would make were the low number of food stands, with just three “boutique” type stalls selling a mixture of posh beef or pork burgers, Asian food plus Asturian cheeses from Spain's northern coastal province. The queues were lengthy, and prices slightly on the high side, so a few more basic food stalls would not have gone amiss.

CAMRA take note- a portable glass-rinsing station

The other criticism was the large number of overly loud, young Americans present at the festival. Does the USA specially train its citizens, from an early age, to talk so much louder than any other nation on earth; and why are they totally unaware of this irritating trait? As for the word “awesome”; surely the most over-used and least properly understood piece of vocabulary in the entire English-American lexicon?

I attended on all three days of the Festival preferring the Sunday afternoon session above the others, as this was the least beast and the least crowded of them all. In contrast, when I left late on Saturday afternoon, the queue of people waiting to get in stretched right round the building.

Queuing to get in on Saturday afternoon

I enjoyed the festival and found it very professional and well-organised. Because of the rotating nature of the beers, my sampling was completely random; although I did follow the tried and tested approach of starting  each session with something light and refreshing, before working my way up through the gravities to the Imperial Stouts.

Were any of the beers awesome? Probably, but you know by now that’s not a word I would entertain using! Would I go next year? Probably, but a year is a long time, and we’ll have to wait and see what happens between now and then.

Finally, it seemed a shame not to spend a portion of my time in Barcelona enjoying a few of the city’s other attractions; not least of which was a pre-booked tour of Antoni Gaudi’s magnificent, and still unfinished, basilica, the Sagrada Familia.

Outside the Black Lab Brew Pub

I also had a wander around the harbour on the Sunday morning, followed by a stroll along the beach. Fourteen degrees may have been cold, so far as the locals were concerned, but it was fine with me and double the temperature back home! With wall to wall sunshine, it was the perfect prelude to the final session of the festival, and was made all the better by a decent lunch, and some equally decent beers at the Black Lab Brew Pub, in the Palau de Mar, right by the harbour. 

I received my invitation to attend the festival via fellow blogger, Joan Villar-i-Martí, who I met at both the 2014 and 2015 European Beer Bloggers Conferences. Joan hosts his own site Blog Birraire, and has also co-authored the first Catalonia Beer Guide. You can check out his blog here.

I bumped into Joan a couple of times during the festival, but he was being kept very busy, being interviewed by the local media whilst at the same time juggling with the logistics of such a large event.

Joan also acted as host, and translator, for the BBF Brewers Presentation, which I attended on the Friday evening. More on that later.