GBBF - Why Size Matters.

What size would you like?

The first question and answer at GBBF.

After queueing on trade day for not too long, we past the ticket scanning area and I headed for the first table. the first most important decision at GBBF:

What size glass would you like? Pint, half pint or third of a pint goblet.

The half pint was the most colourful and attractive but the third pint goblet was most sleek in its shape. Although for quantity what you really want is the pint!

My decision was made before I even reached the table. A half pint glass for Hardknott Dave would be sufficient, after all it was a beer festival. He wouldn't need to drink by the pint as there were already too many beers for him to chose from.

For me - well if you read my previous blog you already know the answer. I never drink beer by the pint or even the half pint. I knew if there were any beers that I was going to get excited about they would definitely have an abv over 6% and a third of pint glass would be perfect to enjoy the aromas and flavours of a strong beer.

Right, my job was done. Glasses in hand now to find Dave. He had proceeded to search out a suitable location. I knew where to look. Somewhere between Bieres Sans Frontieres, Fullers and Pork Scratchings. As I arrived he quickly disappeared with the glasses volunteering to find the first beers.

On his return he offered me first, the half pint glass. Mmm lovely. He obviously put the beers in the wrong glasses. This was a delightful 8% Allagash - Flexus 2011French Style Farmhouse Ale. This would do very nicely for a start. However, I was soon to learn that this was his first choice and my beer was indeed in my third pint glass. Wow- absolutely gorgeous. He knows me so well.

What is it I asked him?

He couldn't remember its name all he could remember was its strength. I searched the program but was unable to find it. After a visit to the BSF bar W1, I identified the 15% beer to be Godzilla brewed by Lowells Beer Works USA.

The first choice was the only beer I needed. Although I did try one or two others just to be sure. Including Fuller's Reserve no.3 and an unofficial bottle of Hardknott Queboid which Hardknott Sooty had sneaked in. Both of these were enjoyed over an impromptu beer and cheese tasting session with Fiona Beckett the winematcher whom I met as a result of the #SaturdayKitchenCampaign.

When it was time to depart GBBF there was only one thing to do. A half pint glass and a third pint glass in hand, I returned to the BSF one last time. Please could you fill these both with Godzilla I smiled.  That done, I filled my now empty water container with my special take home beer, for a few hours further enjoyment later.

So my favourite beer was from the USA. Unfortunately I didn't get to try Ted's beer 'Wotcha' from Brewers Union 180 as it wasn't available on trade day. I'm very pleased to hear it won an Award.

Does beer matter?

Does beer matter to you?

Last year, Pete Brown asked "Why does beer matter?" Mark Dredge was one of a number of people who wrote an article about this very subject. If you had asked me 5 years ago I guess I would have said "yes" it does matter. At that time we were running the Woolpack Inn in Eskdale. We only sold good quality locally brewed craft beers from six of the best Cumbrian micro breweries. Before we began brewing Hardknott we sold an offering of Cumbrian brewed beers alongside kegs such as Guinness, Carling and Grolsch. But after we began to brew Hardknott beers we sold a lot more Cumbrian cask and a lot less regular keg. Hardknott outsold other Cumbrian micro brewed beers and we became a lot more choosy about which other beers we sold, as well as not selling the afore mentioned kegged beers anymore. We did sell some kegged beers - Timmermans Kreik, which I had my regular nightly pint of, also Lindeboom and Flensberger for the nominal lager drinkers who may frequent the pub.

We also brewed a hardknott beer with lager malt and Saaz hops. This went down very well especially in the summer. Occasionally it was served extra cold through the gassed font as an alternative to the lager options. Not surprisingly it sold very well there too.

Now although Hardknott Dave brewed some very good beers I never drank them. They were obviously on tap 24 hours a day. Sometimes they even needed checking for quality assurance purposes, or so I was led to believe, but even so, I never even tried them. Why? Because I don't like beer!

I didn't like any beers at all and I didn't know if they were good or bad because they all tasted horrible to me. Well, except for the pink stuff. That was ok.

I really should explain you see. I was brought up in a tea total household. My parents, grandparents and family never drank alcohol of any kind. except maybe a sherry on Christmas day or a sip of a wine at a wedding. My great uncle used to go the pub on a Saturday for a shandy. but even that was frowned upon by my grandmother (his sister).

My first experiences of alcohol involved Liebfraumilch in my early 20s. For the next 15 years or so I may have had an odd glass of white wine and occasionally a Malibu, mixed with pineapple juice of course. I think I may even have stretched to a glass of Rose once.

Then one day a mad entrepreneur by the name of Dave decided we should buy a pub. I don't really remember when I first tasted Kreik but I guess that's what happens when you've had too much of something.

In October 2009 Dave and I attended the Barley wine seminar at Thornbridge Hall. Here the Beer Justice wrote an excellent review so I need say no more. I was surprised to find I liked quite a few of the beers on offer. By the end of 2009 we bottled our first edition of Granite. 10.4% dark, strong syrupy beer.

This was the beginning of my introduction to BEER!

I still would not buy a beer by the pint or even the half pint. I have been known to buy a third of a pint of cider at a beer festival. So.....

"Does beer matter?"

It matters to me because it's my livelihood. It's what I am surrounded by day after day. It's what all my friends and followers talk about every minute of the day.

But what matters to me is that it is over 6.5%, comes in 1/3 of a pint or less, or if it's more, in a bottle so I can savour it over a few hours and not down it in half an hour. My enjoyment of beers has grown and my choices of beers are many. But size and strength are what are important to me when chosing a beer. That's what matters.

How it all began first posted 11th May 2011

Social media is a very useful tool in communicating with people all over the world in just a few seconds. Its faster than telephone and carrier pigeon, snail mail, trains, planes and automobiles and what is even better, you don't know who you are going to communicate with. The one thing you do know is that you have something in common with them. In our case it's a love of beer or a love of communicating about beer.

Only 14 months ago I was a lowly landlady of the Woolpack Inn in Eskdale. The Inn is located in a very remote valley on the western side of the Lake district, over an hour from any motorway and only one long coastal route from Cockermouth to Kendal, North to South. There are no roads East to West, well except for the Hardknott Pass. Three in one hairpin bends, very steep and narrow with not many passing places. Therefore the pub was rather quiet between November and February, plenty of time to have a long relaxing holiday.

However in November 2005 Dave (aka HardknottDave) had other ideas. Lets build a brewery and start making beer. The first beer was racked on Christmas Eve - well what else do you do on a Christmas Eve! Ready for drinking on New Years Eve.

We worked very hard from 1st February to 31st October every year with hardly any time off. Running a pub is very hard work and all pubs have their advantages and disadvantages. On 31st October 2008, another season was over. The Laa'l Ratty was having its usual Halloween trains and our children were off to help Grandpa in one of the stations. They loved to dress up as ghosts and witches and jump out to scare the passengers as the train slowly siddled through the station. Not Dave however, he had other things on his mind. He heard about this thing called blogger. While the children were out, and the guests had all gone, there was beer to drink up and some partying to do and Dave had to write his HardknottDave's Blog.

Already, in just a couple of weeks from starting to write, Dave was reporting to me about other blogs and bloggers and his need to post comments and writing blogs in reply was so addictive, he would be quiet for hours. (hard to believe, I know)

By the end of 2009 Dave had began tweeting regularly and somehow enticed me to join in too. Before I knew it, I had daily communications with a lot of people I didn't know. Then one day he said, "we're going on a Twissup", "a whatup?" I said, " A twissup" says Dave, "Where you can meet some of these people from twitter." Ok, sounds exciting, but how will we know who anyone is I thought. The day arrived in January 2010. We travelled to a recently opened bar on Sheffield Station, I guess you've heard of it - the Sheffield Tap. It was about lunchtime, but no food. It was also quite busy, lots of people with rucksacks, all buying beer. Suddenly everyone was introducing themselves to each other, they were all tweeters who had come on the very first beer twissup. There were 30 strangers all enjoying beer and breweries and chatting and having fun. But not much tweeting. We had an excellent day with some very good locals who kept us in check, well at least until late. We returned home with 30 new friends and followers.

To find out more about the day read
http://www.beerreviews.co.uk/beer/almighty-blogger-twissup/


In September 2010 another twissup was planned. This time we're meeting in Picadily Sation at Manchester - oh no -not a pub. How are we going to find everyone in a train station? Luckily, Sooty decided he wanted to come too. He jumped into the rucksack and off we went. There we were in the station tweeting at people, but it was difficult to find everyone. No problem. There maybe lots of people with rucksacks in a station, but there's only one yellow Sooty bear.

Next thing, he was out of the rucksack and waving at everyone. This was fun. Breweries and pubs, trains and more pubs, then more trains. It was a tiring day. Sooty made lots of friends. Some suggested that he should have his own twitter account, and so HardknottSooty was born.

HardknottSooty Gets into Blogging posted 11th May 2011

This blog was first posted on 11th May 2011 as one of my first two blogs. Unfortunately blogger waved its magic wand and prevented me editing it ever since. Using the wonders of control C and control Z I shall endevour to doa littler magic and implant my missing blogs into my new blog.

here goes - Abra cadabra

"Sooty, the family Bear, accidently fell into a rucksack one day. The rucksack belonged to HardknottAnn and it was packed ready for a twissup adventure. Little did this yellow bear know what adventures he was about to embark on and the subsequent development of HardknottSooty and his beer discoveries. Now he is here to tell of his adventures on his own blog. From TV fame to twitter fame and now to blog fame...well maybe?

Meet @HardknottSooty

Checking out beer with @HardknottAnn and @HardknottDave at the Maltings, York Twissup.

How do you get beer to GBBF if you are British?

After reading Brewdog James' Blog about his unfortunate cancellation from GBBF, it reminded me of my visit to GBBF last year.

At Hardknott we have been brewing since 2005 but as yet have not to my knowledge been put forward for any consideration for sending beer to GBBF. I have been asked by a number of people if and when Hardknott beer will be at GBBF, the answer is I don't know.

I was recently informed by a local CAMRA member that there was one man in Cumbria responsible for deciding which Cumbrian beers will go to GBBF. I tweeted about this and received numerous replies indicating that this could not be true. I have no evidence to support this either way.

At GBBF last year, shortly after arriving, I visited the Cumbrian stand to check out the beer selection. I scanned the breweries exhibiting and was greatly disappointed. There were no beers represented from some of the best Cumbrian breweries. This surely gave a poor impression of what Cumbria had to offer.

I wandered away disappointed. I headed for the BSF bar where many fellow twitterartti had gathered. I consulted the program for inspiration and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a beer was listed from a very small microbrewery. This particular brewery is set in a very small pub in a very small village in a remote area of Oregon on the most westerly coast of the USA.

What made the beer stand out to me was because we know the brewer so well. In fact Ted of the Brewers Union 180 stayed with us at The Woolpack Inn on numerous occasions. Not only did he visit us and help to brew but also bought a selection of handpulls and British pint glasses, in fact he filled a pallet of goodies to transport back to Oregon where he intended to buy a pub and set up a micro brewery.

We have since visited Ted and his pub and brewery where Hardknott Dave joined in with some brewing and made some Cumberland sausage for a Boxing Day speciality. We used to say Brewers Union 180 was like a sister pub to The Woolpack Inn and was the next best beer to find at GBBF after Hardknott.

But please can someone tell me how a firkin of beer from a small brewpub 5014 miles away from London be served at the Great BRITISH BEER Festival, when beer from Hardknott Brewery only 227 miles away, and which can be frequently found in London, but cannot be found at the GBBF?

I believe Ted's beer will be at GBBF again this year and better than that Ted will be visiting Hardknott brewery this year too to brew with Hardknott Dave. Maybe we could send some Hardknott beer to Ted in Oregon 5014 miles away and he could send send it back to GBBF for us under a pseudonym.

Blogger Technology Fail

Welcome to my second attempt at writing a blog.

My first attempt HardknottAnn.blogspot.com staring the Adventures of Sooty started out very well for the first few hours, but due to the magic of technology it appears to have trapped itself in limbo blog land. Apparently according to technology it technically belongs to me, it's just that I am unable to access it but luckily no one else can either. My google account doesn't know it exists.

If anyone can help me to join the two parts of me back together I would be very grateful, but in the frustrating meantime I've decided to start another blog to deal with frustrating and entertaining issues.

Best not tell HardknottSooty just in case he waves his magic wand again and freezes my blog.

Now due to the fail in transmission I have a back log of blogs brewing, so best start now.