“A Year of Beer” Video blog…
behind the scenes.
The beer community and especially the people who I keep in contact with via Twitter are a wonderful group of people. It may be odd to say that about a bunch of people you to speak to over the Internet, but I know, I’ve met most of them. Two of the said community are Lee Birkett and Steve Williams. Lee I have known in some shape or form for over 8 years. He’s one of my friends from back in the day when I used to live in Wakefield. Lee moved to the US a number of years ago and married an American and now resides in East Dundee Illinois. I have got to know him a bit better over the last year due to my increased interest in all things beer. The other individual Steve Williams I have only met once and this was very recently on the Twissup in Sheffield. Steve is from “daan saaf” and was CAMRA’s Regional Director for Greater London for five years.
The Trans-Atlantic scoop! A fine selection.
So what is the connection? Simple, we recently swapped beers. From Lee came bottles of Green Flash West Coast IPA, Two Brothers Hop Juice 2009 and Three Floyds Dark Lord 2009. All brand new big American beers. And from Steve I obtained a hidden treasure you’d find in very few people’s beer cellar, a bottle of Courage Russian Imperial Stout…1992! Yes an 18-year-old bottle of 10% stout.
On delivery of this selection of fine ale from the states Lee requested I share the bottle of Dark Lord with Zak Avery of Beer Ritz and www.thebeerboy.co.uk. Zak and I arranged a day to drink the bottle and I asked if he’d be interested in producing one of his highly regarded “Year of Beer” Video Blogs to celebrate the drinking of this world renowned stout. A few days before I was set to head up to visit Beer Ritz in Leeds and drink said beer I thought it would be a perfect time to share the aged bottle of Courage that I’d procured in Sheffield. As it was an aged beer it could go either way and I thought I would get a great insight from Zak’s superior knowledge of all things Beer!
So Sunday 31st January 2010 I set of to Leeds, a train and a bus later I arrive in Headingly at Beer Ritz. I’ve been a customer at Beer Ritz for a couple of years now and always enjoy a chat with Zak when I head up there to part with some cash in exchange for some of the finest ale from around the world.
“A Year of Beer” Video blog…behind the scenes.
Before we opened the bottles and start drinking, Zak snaps a few photos to use on both our websites and then we started to film the blog. I wasn’t overtly bothered about being in the video as Zak is very interesting and entertaining and I didn’t want balls it up by bumbling over my words or making an arse of myself.
Firstly Zak filmed me opening both bottles and giving my initial response to the bold aromas that emitted from the freshly opened beers. Firstly the Courage Impy stout had a musty scent of Port that reminded me of my parent’s mirrored drinks cabinet. The bottle of Dark Lord is wax dipped and I’d never opened one before that had this sealing method. I managed to open it with little trouble and little mess and was greeted by a pungent smell of rich caramel malt, alcohol, plums, a hint of marzipan and coconut. A big heady smell.
Next, Zak put a sign on the shop door saying “Back in 5 Minutes” and set up the camera on one of the shelves grabbed an oversized wine glass, readied himself and pressed record.
A rare behind the scenes peek at "A Year of Beer"
“Welcome to the next installment of the Year of Beer Blog…
I’m not going to talk about the taste of the beer, just watch the video and read Zak’s blog…he dose a better job than I ever could.
I had to stand to the side so I was out of the view of the camera and any customers who may spot us and start banging on the door. I’m a regular visitor to Zak’s blog and watching his videos have taught me a lot, so watching one being recorded was strange yet very familiar.
As soon as “One Take Avery” was done we could get down to drinking and chatting about these special beers. Both are remarkable in there own ways. The Courage Russian Imperial Stout was the first. Eighteen years old and weighing in at 10% ABV it was a fascinating experience. I’ve never had such an old beer and I’m sure my appreciation was heightened by the insights into the complexities that you find with these beers. I think I would have just cast it asides as being off, but the nose was more savory then sweet or malty with a salt quality similar to soy sauce.
A young aggresive upstart and a wise old squire.
Once the smaller bottle was polished off we went on to the pint sized bottle of the heavyweight stout Dark Lord 2009. Lee bought this on the Annual Dark Lord Day at the Three Floyds Brewery in Munster Indiana. In 2009 you had to register for the Golden Ticket system, this then allowed you to buy 6 bottles each. I’m not going to disclose how many bottles Lee ended up with, but let me tell you that you can buy only six each and he has more! Enough said. I had the pleasure of sampling this beer back in August at a mutual friends wedding where Lee brought a bottle for use to celebrate with. My group of friends who enjoy a good pint of Ossett Beer did not full appreciate this massive beer and Lee and I ended up drinking most of it that day…no complaints here.
It’s a big aggressive stout but not too boozy. The power comes from the rich robust flavours that have been perfectly balanced. This is not a regular stout, but then again Three Floyds don’t make regular beers. Is it worthy of being number 11 on Beer Advocate’s best beers? I’m not sure, but it’s a very original take on the style and I had no problems drinking the “Lion’s Share” of the bottle.
As the afternoon past and customers came and went we carried on chatting and sipping. It’s fascinating what people buy. One guy spent ages looking at the hundreds of bottles and then ended up buying a bottle of Guinness and a bottle of Ouzo? A middle-aged couple came in bought £40 worth of glassware but no beer?
The shop hit a quiet patch so we descended to the cellar and Zak plucked a bottle of Thomas Hardy Ale 2003 from his stash in the cellar. We chatted some more and enjoyed that fine Barley Wine before the inevitable…I had to pay for my basket of beer. Bottles of Marble Decadence Frambozen & Kriek, Stouter and a couple of Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ales. A big bottle of Meantime London Porter to celebrate the birth of my new nephew and a selection of American ales for my fellow HopZiner Matt were tucked into my bags. I bid Zak farewell and off I went to get my train home to Saltaire.
A very enjoyable afternoon of drinking great beers and chatting about them. A big thanks to Zak for letting me treat his shop as my private bar; and sorry for distracting him from doing his actual job and getting in the way.
A great 'behind the scenes' post Rob, I saw the vid last week via Zak's blog but it's nice to read into the day itself, and the origin of the ales themselves!
You're more than welcome Rob, and thanks for doing me the honour of posting this on my birthday