Port Street Beer House | Northern Quarter beer house, pub, drinking hole

– End of year review / Best Beers of 2012 – a collective poll

2012, how was it for you? It seemed to be a pretty good year at Port Street Beer House, couldn’t of asked for a better twelves months. We began with our first anniversary, making an exciting beer with Summer Wine Brewery, Red Willow, Quantum, Magic Rock and Darkstar, it was inventively called ‘Anniversary – Saison DuPort’. We are led to believe there are some rare bottles of this to be brought out on our 2nd Anniversary! Talking of which we are making a brand new beer for our 2nd birthday, you can read more about that here.

As the year unravelled we hosted our first proper exhibition by the ever wonderful Teacake, thanks to all those who have bought a print, you can still purchase them from the bar. We also held quite a few festivals this year, they included our now annual fare of The Festival of Britain (s Beers), American Beer Festival, IPA Day (with added Dirty Dogs), Eurotoberfest, Old and Dark festival and a little something called the Independent Manchester Beer Convention.

Indy Man Beer Con proved quite a big hit, we are super proud of the event at Victoria Baths, if you weren’t there last year then we will definitely see you at the next one, tickets go on sale March 1st 2013.

We also hosted our best line up of Meet The Brewer events, they included an esteemed list, featuring the likes of Marble, Brodie’s, Darkstar, Hardknott, Buxton, Odell, Camden, Ilkley, Roosters, Schlenkerla, Kirkstall and Hawskhead! It wasn’t just about the beer, we introduced the world to our small ‘pop up food events’ held in our small but perfectly formed beer garden, special thanks to Dirty Dogs, Great North Pie Co & Fire and Salt for braving the elements and serving up their delicious wares.

So what does 2013 hold you may ask? Well SO much we can’t fit it all in. We have booked in the first quarter’s Meet The Brewers in 2013, there is a 2nd Anniversary beer launch / birthday weekend beginning on Thursday 24th January and much more to behold!

To finish of 2012 we asked some of good friends to compile their favourite beers of the past year, if you would like to add your favourites in the comments section, that would be grand. Hope you enjoy lists?

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Name: Ben Hodgkinson (James Clay Beers)

1) Brooklyn – Sorachi Ace

2) Goose Island – Bourbon County Stout

3) Goose Island – Madame Rose

4) 3 Fonteinen – Oude Gueuze

5) Summer Wine – Cohort

6) Schneider Weisse – Tap X Mein Eisbock Barrique

7) Flying Dog – Single Hop Imperial IPA (Citra)

8) Hawkshead – NZPA

9) Augustiner – Edelstoff

10) Saison – Dupont

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

Best event of the year was undoubtedly IndyManBeerCon – a fantastic two day extravaganza that celebrated the best things about the beer industry and its product, and disregarded all the worst.

Best experience was trying Christmas in New York, a beer-based cocktail in Miracle on High Street (Manchester). They managed to markedly improve one of my favourite beers (Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout).

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Name: C J Jazwinski (customer)

1) Haand – Krekingol

2) Mikkeller – Tripel

3) Kirskstall / Odell – Aqitance

4) Hawkshead – Imperial Stout

5) Hawskhead – Damson & Vanilla Imperial Stout

6) Black Jack – Four Of A Kind

7) Darkstar – Belgium IPA

8) Ilkley – Siberia

9) Marble – Decadence

10) Quantum – Blood Orange Pale Ale

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

Indy Man Beer Con!

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Name: Claudia Asch (Port Street Beer House / IMBC)

1) Brodies / Kernel Collab – Scanners

2) Kernel Export India Porter

3) Lovibonds – Sour Grapes

4) Red Church – Old Ford Export Stout

5) Toccalmatto – Zona Cesarini

6) Thornbridge – Evenlode

7) Darkstar / Magic Rock Collab – Rockstar

8) Bitches Brewing / Quantum Collab – Chocolate Chilli Stout

9) Ithaca Brewing Co – Cascazilla

10) Summer Wine Brewery – Aoraki Red

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

Visiting the cellar of The Grove and Indy Man Beer Con!

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Name: Jay Krause (Quantum Brewery)

1) Brodie’s – London Sour

2) Pied Bull – Matador

3) Marble – Dobber

4) Dark Star – Revelation (keg)

5) Summer Wine – Cohort (cask)

6) Redchurch Brewery – Great Eastern IPA

7) Hawkshead – NZPA

8) Magic Rock – Tequila Barrel Aged Cannonball

9) Marble/Fullers – Old Manchester

10) Blackjack Brewery – Aces High

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

Far too many to choose one, but here’s a few:
Camping for Hawkshead Spring and Summer Festivals and all the carnage that entailed; Leeds International Beer Festival & IMBC raising the standard for beer festivals; Brewing collaborations with Marble, Pied Bull, North Tea Power & PSBH, and the glorious Colin Stronge; Witterfest at King William IV; Meeting myriad wonderful folk through this excellent industry.

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Name: Richard Burhouse (Magic Rock)

1) Pizza Port Carlsbad – Poor Mans IPA

2) Alpine – Hoppy Birthday

3) Ballast Point – Sculpin

4) Tilquin – Oude Guezue (4% draught)

5) Russian River – Pliny The Elder

6) Brasserie d’Orval – Orval

7) Russian River – Supplication

8) Hawkshead – Windermere Pale

9) Alpine – Exponential Hoppiness

10) Thornbridge – West Coast IPA

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

Haandbryggeriet festival in Norway/Indymanbeercon

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Name: Hardknott Ann

1) Rhetoric I

2) Vitesse Noir

3) Colonial Mayhem

4) Duchesse De Bourgone

5) Brewdog – AB10

6) Queboid

7) Kirkstall – Framboise

8) Cool Fusion

9) Azimuth

10) Infra Red

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

Meet the brewer night drinking Rhetoric and English Experiment then HardknottDave having to drive home.

Sorry my beer choices are biased but it’s all I usually drink.

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Name: Dominic Driscoll (Thornbridge Brewery)

1) Lovibonds – Sour Grapes

2) Summer Wine – Oregon Pale

3) Hawkshead – Imperial Damson and Vanilla Porter

4) Ashover – Moscow Imperial stout

5) Mallinsons – Citra

6) Magic Rock – Clown Juice

7) Lovibonds – 69 IPA

8) Black Isle – Black Run

9) Roosters – Pentathlon

10) Marble – Pint

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:
IMBC of course!

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Name: John Clarke

1) Summer Wine – Cohort (cask version)

2) Hawkshead – Windermere Pale

3) Marble – Decadence (2012 version)

4) De La Senne – Zinnebir X-Mas (draft)

5) Emelisse – Red IPA

6) De Dochter van de Korenaar – Peated Oak Aged Embrasse

7) De Cam – Oud Faro

8) Brouwers – Verzet Oud Bruin (cask)

9) Victory – Prima Pils

10) Thornbridge – Beadeca’s Well (whisky cask version)

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

A tie I think between Borefts Bier Festival at De Molen Brewery and IMBC

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Name: Mark Dredge (Camden Brewery)

In no particular order…

1) Camden Town Brewery – USA Hells

2) The Kernel – Table Beer

3) Russian River – Pliny the Elder

4) Thornbridge – Tzara

5) Odell – The Meddler

6) Everything brewed at Pizza Port Ocean Beach

7) Pretty Things – St Botolph’s Town

8) Hill Farmstead – Arthur

9) Three Floyds – Gumballhead

10) Santorini Brewing – White Donkey (unreleased; from tank)

Best Beer Based Experience (s) of the Year:
Judging GABF and then going to the festival, plus some brewery tours around Colorado – Odell, Funkwerks, Crooked Stave, New Belgium. A beer and food crawl around Chicago. Drinking at Cantillon Brewery with my dad. Discovering how good Greek craft beer can be

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Name: Dave Hardknott

1) Azimuth

2) Continuum

3) English Experiment

4) Colonial Mayhem

5) Vitesse Noir

6) Cool Fusion

7) Infra Red

8) Code Black

9) Queboid

10) Rhetoric II

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

Leeds International Beer Festival

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Name: James Clay

1) Brooklyn – Fiat Lux

2) Cask Schlenkerla Rauchbier

3) Schneider – Eisbock Barrique

4) AMA – Mora

5) Founders – Breakfast Stout

6) Lagunitas – A Little Sumpin’

7) Brooklyn – Cuvee Elijah

8) Nogne O – India Saison

9) Hatachino Nest – White Ale (specifically with Sashimi)

10) Moa – Methode

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

Brooklyn Fiat Lux in the Brewery bar.

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Name : Garret Oliver (Brooklyn)

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

Going to Brazil and brewing the collaborative Saison de Caipira with my friends at the Wals Brewery in Belo Horizonte. We went out to sugar cane fields, cut the cane, and brought it back to the brewery, where we had a cane crusher. We crushed the cane juice straight into the kettle, where it made up 15% of the sugars in the wort. We hope to get some funky, grassy sugar cane flavors. It was a great time, and I still have my cane machete!

Read more here : http://brooklynbrewery.com/blog/news/brewmasters-journal-brewing-saison-de-caipira/

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Name : Al The Viking (Port Street beer House)

1) Flying dog – Single Hop Citra D.I.P.A

2) Speedway – Stout

3) Redchurch – Chinook D.I.P.A

4) Redchurch – Greta Eastern IPA

5) Jester King – Black Metal Stout

6) Kernel – Imperial Brown Stout

7) Kernel – London red Brick Rye

8) Red Willow – Soulless

9) Brodies – Citra For Breakfast

10) Mikkeller – Beer Hop Breakfast

Best Beer Based Experience of the Year:

Spending a week at the Brewdog brewery / Aberdeen bar, helping our brewing. Good times.

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Name : Euan Summers

1) Summer Wine Brewery – Sin City

2) Jester King – Farmhouse Black Metal

3) Toøl – Ov-ral

4) Zona – Cesarini

5) Jolly Pumpkin – Madura Obscura

6) Rooie Dop – Double Oatmeal

7) Green Flash – IPA

8) Blue Moon (I have a feeling someone else filled this in, as it’s in different handwriting – Editor)

9) Cromarty – Red Rocker

10) Camden – King Crimson

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Name : Terry and Allison (customers)

1) Hawskhead – NZPA

2) Darkstar – Green Hopped IPA

3) Summer Wine – Diablo (cask)

4) Summer Wine – Oregan

5) Magic Rock – Cannonball

6) Black Jack – Shuffled Deck

7) Hawkshead – Windermere Pale

8) Black Jack – The River

9) Summer Wine – Glacier

10) Darkstar – Hophead

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Name : Jamie Hancock (Port Street Beer House)

In no particular order

1) Btiches Brewing – Chocolate Chilli Stout

2) De Dolle – Oerbier Special Reserva

3) Cantillon – Mamouche

4) Stringers – Mutiny

5) Dupont – One Year Aged ‘Avec Les Bons Voeux’

6) Jolly Pumpkin – Madrugada Obscura

7) Darkstar – Critical Mass ‘Aged and Bretter’

8) Toøl – Ov-ral

9) Birra Toccalmatto – Zona Cesarini

10) Brodies – London Sour

Best Beer Based Experience of the year

Finally being able to brew half-decent beers at home, and of course IMBC!

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