I made my way up to Bury Met for this year’s Bury Beer Festival just after five on Friday evening, picked up my £5 worth of beer tokens, paid my £2 pint glass deposit and then headed straight on over to the CAMRA bar.

I spotted bar-manager Tandleman right away and wandered on down to his section of the bar. He was deep in conversation, so rather than butt straight on in, I had a quick chat to one of his colleagues, who poured me a half of Steel City Brewing Nightmare on Henry Street. I stuck my nose in the glass (one big advantage of having a half in a pint glass is that it allows plenty of room for the vapours to congregate) and was rewarded with a big blast of hops, cut through with a tangerine tang. The flavour of this 5.2% ABV pale ale was excellent; dry and sharp but with just enough malt-sweetness to keep everything nicely in balance. This was my first Steel City beer and on the strength of this one I’ll be keeping an eye out for their other brews in future, definitely.

Sensing a lull in the ongoing conversation, I stuck my nose in and said hello to Tandleman. He in turn introduced me to the other gent, who turned out to be John Clarke, editor of the (rather excellent) Stockport and South Manchester CAMRA branch magazine, Opening Times. And that was that for the rest of the hour or so I was there – I’d made arrangements to meet up with friends in Manchester for food and a mini-crawl around the Northern Quarter so I was watching the clock – as I enjoyed a thoroughly convivial time chatting to messrs Tandleman and Clarke.

Topics of conversation were generally beery, but ranged widely: the desirability of Belgian beers, he best place to drink German ones, the appropriate length of time to cellar a strong bottled ale, the importance of proper conditioning to overall beer quality, the difference between a keg and a cask (the actual container – I’d always been a bit fuzzy on the details), recommended Manchester pubs, the best way to serve Marble Dobber (see next paragraph re: sparklers), the state of the UK beerblogosphere, the rise of the Euston Tap, the pros and cons of Brewdog Paradox, the Stockport Beer Festival (recommended: John will be running the foreign beers stand at next year’s event) and many, many more. I just wish I’d been able to stay longer. Also: that I’d remembered to pick up the copy of the latest edition of Opening Times that I managed to leave on the bar. Never mind, I’ll be sending off a subscription cheque later today.

Tandleman also set up a couple of tasting experiments: the three of us tried the same beers with and without a sparkler. Tandleman’s a big advocate of the device and I’ve always agreed that beer generally tastes better when served through one, but we thought we’d better test the theory a couple of times, just to make sure. We tried one dark beer and one pale and in both cases the aroma was enhanced, the mouth-feel was richer and individual flavour notes more pronounced. John made the point that a sparkler can sometimes transfer the bitter notes from the body to the head, but I suppose if you’re taking mouthfuls of both at once (the difference being that with a sparkler you actually get a head that lasts) then that’s okay. So there you go. (Okay, not quite conclusive proof of the theory, I know, so I’ll continue to do the research when I can and report back with my findings…)

During that hour I sampled another three beers as well (all halves). The first, as highly recommended by Tandleman, was Crown Brewery Samuel Berry’s Pale Ale. Beautifully fresh, this 5.1% ABV pale ale had mixed citrus hop flavours bursting out of it. There was a slight sour-sweet acidity as well, which helped to keep the overall bitterness in check, and a dry finish that was deeply refreshing. I thoroughly enjoyed a bottle of Crown’s 7.0% ABV Unpronounceable IPA earlier this year (although I’ve been too bone idle to write it up yet) and Samuel Berry’s is definitely in the same league. Well worth trying if you see it on draught, especially if you’re a fan of the likes of Marble Lagonda IPA, Hopback Summer Lightning, Hopdaemon Skrimshander, Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale, Little Creatures Pale Ale and the like.

Next up I opted for another Tandleman recommendation, although it was one I’d already made a note to try: Mallinsons Chocolate Stout. I love a good chocolate beer, when it’s done right (Marble Chocolate, Meantime Chocolate, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout and Boggart Chocolat Noir being a few favourite examples) and this one was done just right. A distinct coffee nose gave way to dry, dark chocolate and coffee flavours for a cappuccino finish (Jo would love this one). An easy-drinker at only 4.1%, this would definitely be a great session candidate.

Finally, by now being very definitely in the mood for dark-and-roasty flavours, I went for the Crown Stannington Stout. I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about this one for a while and had clocked it as soon as I’d gotten to the bar: had to be done. At 5% ABV it has a little more kick than the Mallinsons, and a noticeably different flavour-profile. Slightly sweeter, with richer roast-malt flavours, the Stannington had a definite hint of sherry and a silkier mouth-feel as well. Deeply satisfying, the sort of stout I could sup a slow pint of any day of the week.

All the beers shared a couple of things in common: they were in excellent condition, having been beautifully kept and tasted fantastic. That Tandleman bloke? Knows his beer. Knows how to put on a good show (he’s got previous, too). If you hear about a beer festival that he’s either running the bar at or has helped buy the beer for, stick it in your diary and make a point of going.

Brewery: Northern
Location: Northwich, Cheshire, England
ABV: 5.5%
Version: Draught
Source: Trackside, Bury

When it comes to New Year’s Eve, Jo and I generally like to nip out early doors for some food, then have a couple of beers, then get ourselves home well before all the midnight-related nonsense kicks off. This year (last year?) we went to our favourite curry house for part one and then hopped on the tram up to Bury for part two, at the Trackside.

Glancing along the pump-clips I spotted Northern Two-Tone Special, which turned out to be a 5.0% ABV chocolate stout. Jo and I both partook and we were both pleased with the result: a drinkable, enjoyable stout with a hit of coffee up front, lots of roast malt and then some lingering chocolatey flavours to finish. Not as downright delicious as Marble Chocolate or Outstanding Stout, but still a fine, dark brew from a brewer whose beers I hadn’t encountered before.

Jo had a couple of halves (with some sort of vaguely Xmas-themed brew in-between, which she wasn’t so keen on) and I had a couple of pints, with a Breconshire Cribyn (Ed sampled the bottled version recently) to finish with as a bit of a palate-refresher. After that it was time for part three, although we diverted round to the next-door-but-one neighbours for a spot of first-footing, a go at their port-finish Balvenie and something involving hot apple juice and brandy. All in all, a very pleasant evening indeed.

Brewery: Boggart Hole Clough
Location: Manchester, England
ABV: 4.2%
Version: Bottled (bottle conditioned)
Source: Manchester Farmer’s Market

The Boggart Brewery (or the Boggart Hole Clough Brewery to give it the full moniker on the website) is an independent outfit based in North Manchester – not too far at all from where I live – that’s been in business since 2000. I’ve been meaning to track down some of their beers for a while, so when I found myself passing the Manchester city centre farmer’s market a few weeks ago on the way back from a trip to London, I grabbed a three-pack of assorted stouts and porters (which set me back a tenner, iirc).

Chocolat Noir (no info on the Boggart website) is the first of the three I’ve sampled and I was quite impressed, I have to say. It’s a quaffable 4.2% abv stout, with a faintly sour aroma in the bottle, that pours a classic ebony with hints of ruby red and starts off with a good frothy head. Mouth-feel is very pleasant and the flavour is a shot of pure mocha – an extremely tasty blend of coffee and chocolate that wouldn’t be out of place in your high-street boutique café of choice – and with a lingering bitterness to the after-taste.

It was much smoother and richer than, say, Guinness original (which – in the interests of research and accurate comparison – I sipped out of my missus’ glass when she wasn’t looking), and compares quite favourably to the likes of the Daleside Chocolate Stout that I sampled recently. All in all, I’d be quite happy to come back to this one, although with the still-superior Meantime London Stout available at 3 for £4 in Tesco at the moment, I’d have to have a good reason to shell out the extra.

Supporting local producers and cutting down on road-miles, y’say? Yeah, that might just swing it… :)

Brewery: Daleside
Location: Harrogate, England
ABV: 4.0%
Version: Bottled
Source: The Vineyard, Belfast

Daleside Chocolate Stout is a beer with a big flavour that belies its slight strength. Pouring a completely opaque black with a frothy tan-coloured head, this one didn’t have much of an aroma, but it more than made up for it in the flavour department. Lots and lots of chocolate and faint coffee notes, with just a possible hint of tangy raspberries in there somewhere, all delivered via a lovely, smooth mouth-feel.

Quite delicious and, whilst not quite as characterful as, say, Meantime London Stout, or as intense as Meantime Chocolate, this would still be one that I’d definitely be interested in drinking again.

Having said that, this is the last of the bottles I picked up in the Vineyard off-license in Belfast back in August and they don’t do mail-order, so I’ll have to look for an alternate source if I do want to get this one again. Either that or a trip over Harrogate way might be in order, see if I can find the stuff on draught.

Brewery: College Green
Origin: Belfast, Northern Ireland
ABV: 4.2%
Version: 500ml bottle
Source: The Vineyard, Belfast

Recent years in Ireland, north and south, have seen a rise in smaller breweries not only producing a range of beer, but also managing to get their produce more readily available in shops.

The newest of these is College Green Brewery, based in the heart of the Queens University district in Belfast. Set up as part of the Molly’s Yard restaurant my research has been unable to determine if any beer is actually being brewed yet on the premises, or if it’s still being made at parent company Hilden Brewery (handy enough considering Molly’s and College Green are run by the offspring of the Scullion family who own Hilden).

Anyway, enough preamble, on with the tasting. First impressions are of a pitch dark, brown beer smelling of chocolate, as you would expect from the name. However, much of the bitter chocolate malt flavour I was expecting seems held back, and the whole affair is just too light for a stout. I also detected what seemed like cocoa powder mixed with baking soda, which while providing a bit of zing only served to leave a not very pleasant aftertaste. I so wanted to like this but was sadly disappointed.