Photoblog: Redemption Collaboration Day.

Redemption Brewery is a newly founded (2010) 12BBL micro a stones throw from White Hart Lane in North London. They brew a cracking 3% beer called Trinity among other hoppy brews. 

Today they were brewing a collaboration brew with Evin from the Kernel Brewery a subject of a previous Photoblog. 

They were good enough to invite a few more interlopers along.

Tony, Manager of  the Euston Tap and ex brewer at the Florence Pub.

Bryan, a fellow beer geek, brewday virgin and owner of some of the best facial hair around, he is slowly been weaned off a Brewdog obsession.

Meet the Redemption guys. Andy Smith is the brewer. He moves so fast it is impossible to take a picture of him in focus FACT!

And Andy Moffat. An ex city trader who is the organisational brains behind the the brewery and as nice a guy as you would ever want to meet.

By the time I got there after a 2.5 hour commute they had mashed in and were weighing out the first of the hops.

Still there were some advantages with bacon butties on the go.

Evin and Andy discussing the recipe which was a mash up between Redemption's Trinity and The Kernel's SCCANS. 

The conclusion....

More hops....

and more Hops....

And even more HOPS

....they ran out of buckets as there was so many hop additions 22 in all.

I liked the Redemption brewery. It has a well worn look to it, well I say well worn, battered would be a better word especially for the brew kettle.

Although they seemed to have a bit of a large slug problem.

Mexican standoff for who digs out the mashtun.

Strangely enough lost by the visitors Bryan and Tony

Time for some Trinity straight from the conditioning tank.

With so many hops in the brew it is no real surprise that the hop filter clogged a few times. but it was still a really fast brewday. Done by 2pm.

Time for an arty shot...there is always one.

Finally off for a bit to eat at the Jolly Butchers.

It was another really fun brewday. Many thanks to Andy and Andy for their hospitality and Evin for allowing me to continually stalk him! Really looking forward to getting a pint of this beer.

Pan Fried Beer Marinated Pork with Pearl Barley and Soy Beans.

A recipe with a bit of a beer background, not only in the marinade but in the Barley which I love an alternative to rice.

Serves 2 hungry people
4 Lean Pork Steaks or 2 Pork chops
2 Cloves Garlic (chopped)
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1 tsp Course Seasalt
Juice and zest of a Lemon
100ml  Best Bitter (I have used Dorking Brewery One)
2 tbps Olive Oil
200g Pearl Barley
1 Onion (finely chopped)
200g Frozen Soya Beans (or Peas if you so desire)
600ml Chicken Stock
1 good pinch of Dried Thyme
1 good pinch of Chilli Flakes
1 Bay Leaf
A Bunch of Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley chopped retain some for the garnish
Small knob of Butter

1. In a mortar and pestle add the garlic, seasalt and fennel seeds. Grind to a rough paste. Mix with zest and juice of the lemon and beer and use to marinade the pork for 30 mins.
2. In a saucepan heat half the olive oil over a medium heat and gently fry the onions until they are soft. Add the thyme, bay leaf and chilli and cook for a further minute. Add the barley and toss until it is well coated in oil, add the stock and bring to the boil. Lower the heat cover the pan and simmer for 35 minutes until the barley is tender and absorbed all the stock. Add the Soy Beans or Peas for the last 5 minutes to heat through. As it is taken off the heat stir through the parsley. Taste and season.
3. Heat the remaining oil over a high heat in a pan and shake the marinade from the pork. Fry the pork until cooked through and lightly browned, usually takes no more then 5 minutes but it really depends on the size of the steaks. Remove the Pork from the heat to rest for a few minutes.
4. Serve the pork on top of the barley garnished with the retained parsley, and enjoy with a glass of the beer you cooked with.

Open It Weekend

I was away for the first half of the long Open It Weekend (the subject of another blog post when I write it), so only a few bottles to describe.

First up was an impromptu one on Sunday afternoon. I was eating some leftover Easter egg chocolate and wanted a rich imperial stout to go with it. Went to the homebrew fridge to find I had drunk or given away all my own stuff but there was a bottle of the Kernel Imperial Brown Stout - London 1856. Swiftly cracked open and distributed into a couple of glasses dark and inviting with an impressive coffee coloured head. Tried on its own at this time of the afternoon it was a bit much but in combination with the chocolate it was a wonderful mouth-coating sweet start with gentle fizz as the beer cleanses the pallet in a slow and sensual way. I consumed way more chocolate than I intended to due to the great combination.

Next was the Thornbridge Darkstar collaboration Collation Old Ale. Probably the star of the show. Poured a hazy orange/brown colour with a short lasting white head. The aroma was of hot toast slathered in thick cut Seville orange marmalade. More orange on the taste but the flavours were many and complex - pleasingly long but sedate bitter aftertaste. It was a bit like a beefed-up and more complex Darkstar Sunburst, one of my favourite regular beers. 

Next up was an Brewdog AB01. This is a beer I had tried before and not been overly impressed with. My hope was that it would improve with some ageing and this one was now 15 months old. It poured a darker brown then I remember with thin but lasting white head. Typical malty/candi sugar belgian style aroma with perhaps a hint of vanilla coming through. On the pallet it was a lot smoother than my previous tastings, again vanilla being a background taste with an estery (red) fruityness. Previously I found the alcohol kick a bit overpowering but this had considerably mellowed with age and the whole experience was a pleasant one. I have one bottle left and suspect I will keep it for some time.

Finally the next night I had a unique bottle to open. It was a magnum sized Grolsch swingtop bottle filled straight from the Dorking Brewery fermentation tanks by my own fair hand. It contained their Winter Ruby beer which is a dark 5.5% seasonal that is somewhat akin to Old Peculiar. Unfortunately it had a nasty medicinal after taste which leads me to suspect that I did not rinse the caustic out of the bottle well enough. A shame because I had been looking forward to this for a while.

Photoblog: A month with Dorking Brewery

Dorking Brewery is based in the Old Engine Shed at West Dorking Station. They have been going since 2008 and distribute to many pubs in the Surrey and Sussex areas. They were good enough to allow me to hang around with them for a month or so earlier in the year and ply me with some beer. Here are some photos I took during that time.

 The Brewery was quite difficult to find the first time, tucked away behind a van hire place and a car valeting company.

Meet Graham, one of three partners who heads up the admin side and gets his hands dirty every now and again.

 Rob is in charge of recipes, production, cleaning and most things physical and is a big England Rugby fan...I guess we can't all be perfect.

The 3rd Partner is Mark who was never there!

The Brewery is located in the old engine shed at Dorking West Railway Station, some relics of the past are visible...and I'm not talking about the trousers.

 The brewery used to be a car re-spray shop. Apparently the previous tenants had to leave rather quickly, at Her Majesty's Pleasure.

 

They have a 10 BBl  Dave Porter Plant.

Before and after on a batch of Gold.

 They currently only bottle DB Number One but are planning to bottle the Red India Ale soon. They also now have a licence to sell directly from the brewery if you are passing.

 Three new designs for the Red India Ale bottle...guess which one they picked? 

 A rather empty-looking cold store after a record-selling week.

The clean-up never ends. 

  

 The Automated Cask Washer...Also known as Rob!

Anyway here are a few more to clean.

Someone has been experimenting!

 Yum, crystal malt.

 Firkins ready to be filled.

 

 Right to the top of course.

Giving it some tap. 

Barrels a-rolling in the cold store.

 Some arty firkin shots.

They have 3 core beers in their range and a number of seasonals.  Tasting notes where I have tried them:

DB One: 4.2% A Best bitter with good malt characteristics especially in the bottle and good hop finish especially via Cask.

Gold: 3.8% A pale session beer with decent body and and exotic fruit nose from some late American hops

Red India Ale: 5% A dark IPA made with bags of crystal malt and loads of Centennial hops. 

Black Mild: 3.2% Complex grain bill gives this a fantastic chocolate roasty taste with a nice hint of bramble. Brewed generally in the spring it is well worth looking out for. My personal favourite.

Winter Ruby: 5.5% Rich dark winter seasonal

In development is a Stout with 7 grains in the malt bill and hopped with lots of Bramling Cross

Session #50 - What makes me buy someone's beer?

Alan over at A good beer blog is hosting this session and to my mind it is the simplest question to answer.

5 golden rules:

Brew good beer.
Store the beer well.
Serve chilled beer.
Use appropriate and clean beer glasses.
Don't charge silly prices for your beer.