Category: New beers

Beer Nouveau & Barley Wine

by Ian Webster -

Sited under the railway arches on North Western Street in Manchester, Beer Nouveau’s The Temperance Brewery may not be the obvious choice for a feature on Burton upon Trent obsessed blog The Beertonian, but there is a very important connection which will become apparent later …

“I started homebrewing when I was fourteen and I’m now in my mid-forties so I’ve experimented with most styles,” says Head Brewer Steve Dunkley. “I used to run pubs back in the 90’s, before going into IT and about four years ago went commercial with brewing again. I started Beer Nouveau in my garage and ran it as England’s smallest commercial brewery for a year before deciding that it just wasn’t really a long-term option.”

If you want to see how Steve started, he shares all his secrets on his web site http://beernouveau.co.uk/ where he shows in great detail how to build a nine gallon brewery using old key kegs for under fifty quid.

He quickly found suitable premises: “When Privateer Beers decided to sell up and move on, I bought his kit off him in-situ and moved in. A year later the people we were sharing the railway arch with moved out so we expanded again to include a regular weekend brewery tap. The kit itself was handmade by Privateer, it’s six barrels with a fourteen barrel mash tun which allows us to do the big beers in single mashes.”

“I’ve always had an interest in heritage brewing,” Steve reveals. You can probably see where this is going because if Burton has one thing in abundance, it is old beers! “Mostly it stems from the belief that for all these big breweries to have got so large and to have survived for so long the beers must have been good. And by recreating the recipes I’ve been finding just that. They take longer but they’re definitely worth it.”

Steve is a great believer in attention to detail: “Recently I had a tonne of Chevallier kilned to my own pattern (Tetley’s 1860’s pale) to properly recreate an IPA and the difference is very noticeable.”

It was this passion for heritage brewing that led to him working with recently relaunched London brewer Truman’s. Of course Truman’s were once known as Truman, Hanbury & Buxton and along with their London premises on Brick Lane in Spitalfields they owned The Black Eagle Brewery on Derby Street in Burton, moving there in 1873 and staying until 1971, the brewery being demolished in 1974. They owned several pubs in Burton: Prince Alfred (a.k.a. Alfred Ale House) on Derby Street which was once the brewery tap, British Oak (a.k.a. Old Cottage) on Byrkley Street, Eagle on Thornley Street, Hanbury Arms on Sydney Street and the Roebuck on Station Street. The new Truman’s are based  at The Eyrie in Hackney Wick opening in 2013 and they hold the original brewery archives; found here are the all-important recipe books.

“One of Truman’s brewers did indeed come up and brew it here with us, it was a proper joint brew rather than just sharing a recipe or sending someone from the sales team along to have their picture taken,” says Steve. “I think our unlikely collaboration came about and worked for a few reasons: Truman’s are a forty barrel brewery; I’m a six barrel. They’ve a big team of staff; I’m a one man operation. Those are benefits when it comes to our collaboration, because I’m a one man brewery I get to decide what I want to brew, and when, which means I can make the decision to brew something that might not sell and I can change my brewing schedule on a whim. I’m small enough to be able to brew a big, powerful beer that might not be popular; with only eighteen firkins to shift rather than the 160 or so that Truman’s would need to sell if they brewed it on their kit. Plus brewing on my kit also makes it qualify for Small Brewers Relief, making it a lot more commercially viable for something like this. The other benefit of my kit is that although it’s a six barrel brew length it has a fourteen barrel mash tun so I can do big beers in single mashes.”

A big beer you say? How big do you want? 1916 No.1 Burton Barley Wine at 8.3%! Now that is massive!

“The barley wine itself is truly something else,” you can hear the pleasure in his voice and if this doesn’t get you drooling, what is wrong with you! “To be honest I think we initially released it too early; it was ready and tasting very good, but now that the stuff I’ve got in wooden pins has aged a bit (they’ve been in there since January) it’s tasting absolutely stunning. It’s smooth and light bodied, there’s no booziness to it, just an underlying awareness of alcohol. The wood’s worked with the remaining sugars to dry it out and give it vanilla notes, and the hops are hints. The whole thing is incredibly well balanced and very, very easy to drink.”

How easy you may ask: “We had a guy at the bar last night drinking pints of it! No one who has tried it hasn’t liked it; most are surprised that it’s as light as it is and that it’s not as boozy as they were expecting. I think they’ve got an idea of barley wine in their minds based on modern ones and this is completely different. A bit like how heritage IPA’s are nothing like modern ones!

“Unfortunately there isn’t much of it, just the 5 barrel brew length we did,” hardly surprising if there is a chap drinking it in pints! “Truman’s took ten firkins and I believe they were sold before we’d even finished brewing it and I put a barrel’s worth into an old whisky barrel that’s ageing before bottling in time for Christmas. I did bottle some of the un-aged barley wine, which will be available on the brewery website when I sort that part of it out but again there isn’t much.”

And there’s more to come: “It was a risk brewing a big heritage barley wine but it’s definitely paid off. We’re talking with the guys at Truman’s about the next collaboration we’ll do from their brewing records, hopefully we’ll bring them all back eventually!”

 

http://beernouveau.co.uk/ @BeerNouveau

www.trumansbeer.co.uk @trumansbeer

 

If you fancy trying this at home, Steve has very kindly detailed the recipe below:

Malt: Chevallier 43%, Maris 24%, Extra Pale 12%, Flaked Maize 12% and High Enzyme (Weyerman Pilsner) 9%

Grain varieties have changed a lot over the years and keep changing, but we used Chevallier as our base malt because it’s an old grain (1824 I think) and was still around in the late 1800s and would have been very similar to grain around in the early 1900s. Maris Otter was the second grain because it has a high biscuitiness like Chevallier and Extra Pale bulked it out as they originally did to take advantage of cheap grain available. The Pilsner malt was a substitution, I’ve found brewing older recipes and with Chevallier in particular that mashes have to be a lot longer to get the sugars out. The enzymic content of the malt just doesn’t seem as high as the records would suggest, so putting in some pilsner malt takes care of that and brings the gravities up.

We were aiming for 1.079, but even with a longer mash and the pilsner malt we only got 1.072. Our final gravity was lower though, the records showed 1.020 while we got 1.009. Originally the beer would have gone into wood, so fermentation would have continued as it aged bringing that 1.020 gravity down further. So overall we’ve hit the right alcohol, just in a slightly different way. The flaked maize along with the Chevallier gave it a wonderful golden / amber colour and a slight residual sweetness, but not a cloying one.

Hops wise, not as many as you’d think for a beer that would have sat for a bit, with an overall IBU of 43. First wort hops as the beer went into the copper were Goldings to 22 IBU and at the start of a 90 minute boil we added Cluster to 6 IBU. At 30 minutes to go we added more Goldings up to 15 IBU and no late addition or aroma hops. However it was dry hopped with more Goldings.

We did want to use the original Truman’s house strain yeast, but we weren’t able to for this brew, so we used Nottingham this time for two reasons: firstly I like it, secondly it likes my kit. It’s a good solid yeast with similarities to the Truman’s house yeast.

Dual Diamond works wonders

by Ian Webster -

There has been much written about Burton Old Cottage Brewery Company’s Dual Diamond on The Beertonian. Last weekend I posted about the history of Double Diamond and over 1,900 people read the post in 24 hours! Judging by the multitude of comments on Facebook, talk about the Ind Coope’s Double Diamond has sparked a lot of memories! Well Double Diamond is back, albeit called Dual Diamond and brewed by another Burton upon Trent brewery Burton Old Cottage Brewery Company. For those who fancy a taste from the past, here is all you need to know.

Of course the reinvention and recreation of old beers is nothing new, not even in Burton; the Heritage Brewing Company based at the National Brewery Centre produce the defunct Derby brewers Offilers’ Best Bitter and Charrington’s Oatmeal Stout and their IPA . There is even an organisation dedicated to the process, the excellently named ‘Dead Brewers Society’, although their Twitter feed has gone worryingly quiet after Molson Coors tried to register the exact same name last year.

Reading the pump clip Dual Diamond is ‘Lovingly brewed to the original Double Diamond recipe.’

“We can’t use the name outright,” explains Head Brewer Alan Christie. “Although we did toy with using the strapline ‘still working wonders,’” he confesses.

So there is no fear of any comeback from whomever it is who owns the name Double Diamond nowadays? Alan is confident that they have done enough to avoid any problems, “It refers to it but it’s not using any logos.”

Anyone familiar with Ind Coope / Allied Breweries’ history will recognise the colour scheme on the pump clip; the brown and orange are taken from directly from the company identity circa early ’70s.

“We took the Dual Diamond design from last time and kept the theme,” says Alan alluding to the fact that Dual Diamond has been brewed before at his brewery. Alan is still new to the game, starting his brewing career last summer but Burton Old Cottage Brewery Company was founded in 2000 by Kev Slater and Ray Orton. Dual Diamond, the named coined by Kev Slater in 2015, was originally produced as a one off to mark the publication of a book about the history of Ind Coope and Samuel Allsopp, although the author’s name escapes me …

The recipe itself has an interesting history too, Kev Slater who was the General Manager and Brewer at the Samuel Allsopp Brewing Company before his Old Cottage days takes up the tale,

“’The Tapsters Choice’ program introduced guest ales in to the estate on a two week rolling basis across the whole of the country,” he says explaining how Ind Coope, then part of Carlsberg-Tetley Ltd., had responded to the success of Marston’s Head Brewers Choice.

This was made possible by the discovery of old recipe books which sadly now seem lost.

“One of the ales produced in spring/summer of 1996 was Triple Diamond, based on Double Diamond. I used Pale Malt, Torrified Wheat and Crystal Malt, the only difference in the recipe was the hops as the original recipe called for a variety that was no longer available, so I used Fuggles for bittering and for dry hopping.”

It is exactly this recipe that Alan has used for his brew, so Dual Diamond is indeed Double Diamond in all but name. Before those who only remember the beer as the 3.8% keg version much maligned by CAMRA, this is the bottled Double Diamond; a different jewel; that bit stronger, fuller of body, cask conditioned and much much nicer!

“As with anything nostalgic people recall things differently. Many of them won’t have been old enough to have drunk it originally,” Alan certainly wasn’t! “Those that did probably can’t remember what it tasted like anyway!”

Opinion was canvassed on his Dual Diamond by inviting ex-Old Cottage brewer Mick Machin to try it. “His feedback was that this is a good likeness of the last Dual Diamond brew.”

There are plans to bottle Dual Diamond says Alan, “It will form part of our ongoing line-up and I am keen to do at least a one off bottling run, this will enable us to expand our business with bottled beers. We are looking putting it into Brews of the World and the National Brewery Centre. We have been doing gift packs with three different beers which have been doing well.”

“It’s nice to see some of the ‘old established of the day’ recipes coming back to life,” surmises Kev. “The 1996 brew was one of the best sellers in England and Scotland and if the Old Cottage market it right I think it will sell nationwide, especially with our generation growing up with such a popular brand.”

The final and most burning question is where can you try this new Wonder Worker? It is on sale or about to be at The Weighbridge Inn, The Old Cottage, Stretton Social Club, Rolleston Social Club and The Roebuck in Burton upon Trent, Mushroom Hall in Albert Village, The Black Lion in Swadlincote and the Chip & Pin at Melbourne.

And as the old Doiuble Diamond advert once said “… so drink one today!”

https://www.facebook.com/burtonoldcottagebeerco/

15 things you (probably) didn’t know about Double Diamond

by Ian Webster -

Ind Coope’s Double Diamond has returned as Dual Diamond, but how much do you know about the original beer? It has a longer history than you may think.

  1. Before the actual name Double Diamond was used, Ind Coope & Co. used a double interlocking diamond mark on casks prior to the 1870s.
  2. The beer can trace its roots back to 1822 when Samuel Allsopp and Job Goodhead allegedly brewed an IPA in a teapot.
  3. The double diamond trademark was registered in 1876.
  4. Following the 1934 merger to form Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd., the Allsopp Pale Ale was renamed and the words “Double Diamond” first appeared on bottle labels.
  5. By 1938 it was called “Ind Coope’s Double Diamond.”In 1948 Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd. opened their new bottling stores on Curzon Street to meet the demand for bottled Double Diamond.
  6. By 1958 it was the country’s best selling bottled beer.
  7. Draught Double Diamond appeared as a keg beer in the early 1960s, this was weaker than the bottled version.
  8. “A Double Diamond works wonders!” was once its popular strapline.
  9. Between 1966 and 1971 sales rose astronomically, by 1974 it was selling an incredible 50 million pints per annum!
  10. In 1971 CAMRA formed as a pressure group against keg beers such as Double Diamond, Watney’s Red Barrel etc. and the market for keg began to slowly decline in favour of cask ales.
  11. An amusing badge proclaiming “DD is K9P” was sold at CAMRA Beer Festivals. The identity of the person who did the taste comparison remains a mystery.
  12. HRH The Duke of Edinburgh is Double Diamond’s most famous drinker.
  13. The last brew of Double Diamond at Ind Coope was in 1996 by Kevin Slater in the Samuel Allsopp’s Brewing Company which produced limited runs of beers. A firkin appeared in The Roebuck and it was supped in one dinnertime session.
  14. Dual Diamond first appeared in 2015 as a one off brew to mark the publication of “Ind Coope & Samuel Allsopp Breweries: The History of the Hand.” This was produced by Old Cottage Brewery.
  15. In April 2018 Dual Diamond was brewed once more …

                

Dual Diamond sparkles at The Weighbridge

by Ian Webster -

Burton Old Cottage Brewery Company’s new old beer Dual Diamond is starting to find its way into pubs, one being The Weighbridge (in the Grainwarehouse / Travelodge carpark just off Derby Street). With the sun out on the hottest 19 April in seventy odd years The Beertonian needed no excuse to pop down for a sample and to canvas the opinion of those that really matter; the publican and his regulars.

George Lambert, the Landlord and owner of The Weighbridge is mightly impressed,

“It’s going down really well,” he says, then has to break off the conversation to pull another pint of Dual Diamond for a thirsty customer, in fact all of the pub are on the Diamond, except for one cider drinker and those who are driving. “I put one on last Wednesday night at nine o’clock and it had gone by Thursday at nine, and we closed at half ten on Wednesday and didn’t open until five on the Thursday! We sold a firkin in seven hours.”

In other words that is 72 pints, which is some going! The Weighbridge regulars are also in agreement.

“It’s an excellent brew,” praises Ed Morris. ” I was lucky enough to try a sample from a cask of the first brew; everyone who tried it liked it.”

“Beautiful,” surmises Barry Degg. “George keeps it very well, it’s a nice drink. Be good to have it on here all the time.”

Cliff Croft agrees, “This is my first taste of it, I did have Double Diamond but I can’t remember what it tasted like. This is really nice.”

“One of the better beers,” says Alec Chamberlain. “I am really enjoying it.”

The conversation then turns to the past and the original Double Diamond of which Dual Diamond is a modern day version of.

“Double Diamond was one of the first keg beers with Worthington E, Watney’s Red Barrel” says Alec.

“Double Diamond wasn’t very good!” Laughs George.

Ed drank a lot of Double Diamond in the 1970s, “It was part of the staple diet of pubs and Working Men’s Clubs,” he recalls. “I remember it being a little bit weaker. It was a good session beer.”

“I drank keg Double Diamond years ago, it was fizzier, gassy and sweeter,” says Barry. “It was nice; I used to put a Triple A in it at the end of the night!”

Triple A, Ind Coope’s infamous barley wine, is another beer in need of a comeback but for now the Diamond is sparkling nicely in The Weighbridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dual Diamond

by Ian Webster -

To welcome the new blog, a new beer! Dual Diamond is brewed by Burton Old Cottage Beer Company and is a 4.5% ABV Burton Pale Ale which is brewed in homage to the old Ind Coope ale Double Diamond. There was a firkin at The Weighbridge last week which I am told sold out very quickly, as soon as the pump clips arrive this will start appearing in the town. Try a pint, it works wonders!