29TH APRIL 2011
Mad Monk, SIBA Award Winner 2011.
Mad Monk - To Russia with Love
A cask of stout brewed in Wigan is to make an epic voyage to the heart of Russia in a bid to win a competition.
All Gates is one of just 14 brewers producing their own version of an Imperial Russian Stout to take part in a grand tasting to be held in St. Petersburg.
The Great Baltic Adventure will re-trace earlier 18th century journeys, when British porter – a dark, rich beer – was shipped to Russia where it was a great favourite with Empress Catherine the Great and renamed Imperial Russian Stout.
The beers will be loaded onto a 60ft, former round-the-world Clipper and leave Greenwich, London on May 15 for a journey, which will take them across the North and Baltic Seas, stopping in Denmark, Sweden and Finland before arriving in St Petersburg on June 18. David Mayhall will be joining the crew between Stockholm and Helsinki.
When the beers arrive in St. Petersburg, they will be tasted by a panel of judges who will select a winning stout.
All Gates will be sending a ‘pin’ – the smallest sized cask, which contains just four and a half gallons – of our version of an Imperial Stout, Mad Monk, already voted as the UK’s best Strong Ale 2011, on the epic journey. We have recently brewed a further 10 barrels of the beer to allow us to produce 20 firkins for the trade - and a 5 barrel run of limited edition 330ml bottles that it is hoped will be available from early June.
David said: “I am incredibly excited to be taking part in the Grand Baltic Adventure and have great hopes for Mad Monk in the grand tasting. “I’m confident that, had the Empress Catherine been able to taste our Imperial Stout, she would have granted it her Imperial seal of approval.”
The organiser of the event Tim O’Rourke of Brilliant Beer, said: "From the heart of London to the centre of St. Petersburg - this has to be the most epic journey a drayman has made for many years!"
MAD MONK 7.1%
A very big and complex, downright, kick ass beer; Mad Monk is already developing something of a cult following wherever it goes. It's a rich, intense brew with big complex flavours and a warming finish. The colour is Henry Ford 'Black' and it has a massive bitterness level of 75 IBU's.
The beer pours with a frothy tan head that would make Starbucks envious. It’s loaded with chocolate and coffee aromas, some roast notes and bready yeast. It’s a rich mouthful, sweet, even luscious, but nicely balanced by the somewhat unusual, all American hops for this style, Cluster, Northern Brewer and Centennial.
10TH APRIL 2011
The Cellar Bar, Crooke Hall Inn.
Crooke Hall Inn, Cellar Bar for Hire
As part of the on-going works at the canalside Crooke Hall Inn, the Cellar Bar has been newly refurbished and held its first function on 3rd April; a wedding party for 50 guests.
The newly refurbished bar is a massive credit to the new Landlady, Liane McPhelim who took over the running of the pub in December 2010 and has since seen a significant increase in trade whilst at the same time supervised the refurbishment of the pub back to its canalside heyday.
The works have included the return to traditional pub rooms, with the creation of a snug and complete refurbishment of a rear bar with inclusion of an original Victorian fireplace and log burner; Victorian doors been re-instated and wooden floors. The cellar bar has been given a more updated contemporary feel and is already attracting a steady stream of enquiries and bookings.
It is hoped the works will be completed by end June 2011 with the creation of a separate dining area and following which it is proposed to introduce food to the pub offering with a menu of traditional 'Lancashire' pub fayre.
For enquiries about the Cellar Bar please contact Liane at...
The Crooke Hall Inn
Crooke Village
Standish Lower Ground>
Wigan
WN6 8LR
or Tel: 07432 672994
Click here to see images of the Cellar Bar (Facebook)
8TH APRIL 2011
All Gates Brewery News. Issue no.1.
All Gates Brewery News
All Gates have finally joined the news age and have produced a newsletter. Issue no.1 April/June 2011 details All Gates’ recent Champion Beer Award for Mad Monk and in addition provides link details to the Brewery Blog and reveals details of our latest pub purchase.
6TH APRIL 2011
Each month the British Beer Video Blog produced by Ian Hudson Films and presented by Peter Amor and Pete Brown introduces the best of British cask-conditioned beers.
Video Blog: The SIBA Conference March 2011 & Mad Monk
Each month the British Beer Video Blog produced by Ian Hudson Films and presented by Peter Amor and Pete Brown introduces the best of British cask-conditioned beers. The idea is to share the experience of drinking the wonderful natural flavours British beer offers all of us. They investigate what is special about our unique beer, the brewing, the pubs, the history, the politics of it all and all the people involved in the industry. Cheers to British beer!
Peter Amor is founder and chairman of Wye Valley Brewery and former chairman of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) 2007-10. Pete Brown is an author, beer writer, journalist, broadcaster, consultant, taster and pundit. Beer Writer of the Year 2009 Pete Brown is author of three books about beer Man Walks into a Pub, Three Sheets to the Wind and Hops and Glory. He also writes the annual Cask Report.
The April Beer Video Blog featured the 2011 SIBA Conference and winning beers to include Mad Monk.
SIBA is the Society of Independent Brewers and it's doing a great job of fuelling the growth of quality beer from small producers in the UK. It is a beer trade body, and as such it has its political struggles, battles with other bodies, internal strife and all the rest of the issues that plague every trade body in beer.
In the video Peter Amor first talks to SIBA head Julian Grocock about the society, what its stands for and what it does to help promote beer. SIBA organises a year-long brewing competition, where beers judged at regional heats go through to a national final, with the winners announced at the conference.
In the video Pete Brown sneaks into the bar while the conference is going on in the next room, and helps himself to a sneak preview and tasting of all the category winners including our own MAD MONK. This gets interspersed with interviews with some of the young, new cask ale brewers who were at the conference. The video concludes with an interview with the brewer who created this year's grand champion.
END
