– Review – Lovibonds Dark Reserve No 3 – By DJ Adams
Lovibonds. Why does that name ring a bell? Apart from representing a long tradition of brewing, which we’ll dive into in a moment, it is also a name well known throughout the brewing and food science industries, as the surname of the inventor of the Tintometer. Used in brewing and many other industries, the Tintometer is a device for measuring and classifying liquids by colour, and was invented in the 19th century by Joseph William Lovibond. The Tintometer classification and colour scale system is still used today by brewers to buy their malt. (You’ll no doubt be pleased to know that, according to the Tintometer Group website, their modern digital water test equipment and liquid colour test instruments are, ahem, waterproof.)
But before we go any further, let’s get to the bottom of the Lovibonds name as it applies to the brewing company. Jeff Rosenmeier is the current proprietor and owner of Lovibonds Brewery. Originally from the States, and a software engineer (there’s hope for me yet!), Jeff came to Henley-on-Thames, already bitten by the brewing bug and looking for a site for his expanding brewing ventures, came across the site that had originally belonged to John Lovibond & Sons Brewers and Merchants, and took over the name. Yes, that Lovibond. John Locke Lovibond was the father of Joseph William and three other sons who set up a brewing partnership in 1872. So the name Lovibond is almost literally steeped in brewing history and science.
Transitioning into its second incarnation, the Lovibonds brewing respect has only grown. With a handful of year-round brews, limited releases, specials and prototypes, the quality of their beers is becoming well known. I’m here at Port Street Beer House with a Dark Reserve Nr 3 in my glass. The person next to me has already picked up the aroma of bourbon. Jack Daniels, to be precise. This is a porter aged in Tennessee whiskey barrels. Dark brown with a brief tan head, you can almost sense the wet wooden barrel innards, imparting vanilla, nuts and raisins. The body is not as heavy as one might expect, and along with the malty mouthful there’s a dark chocolate and bitter, almost sour finish, with some brown sugar sweetness towards the bottom of the glass. It’s a strong one – at 7.4%, but the sample disappeared fairly quickly and it didn’t feel like I was drinking something that potent. The sourness and relative lightness definitely added to the appeal, and the drinkability.
Port Street Beer House is currently running a Festival Of Britain(s Beers) and have brought together a great collection of British brewing talent. Lovibonds is a worthy member of this collection, and have earned their place at the taps with this excellent brew. The Festival is on until this Sunday 7th April, so get yourself down there before this Dark Reserve is gone. Quick!
Brewer: Lovibonds
Brew: Dark Reserve Nr 3
Style: Porter
ABV: 7.4%
Words by DJ Adams – http://www.pipetree.com/qmacro/
– Toccalmatto’s ‘One Shot series’
If you think Italian beer is all mainstream tasteless lager we already have the means to prove you wrong, but if there are still any waverers we’ve decided to make it 100% clear that the Italian craft beer scene is shit hot. In order to aid us in really getting this message to hit home the fantastic brewery Birra Toccalmatto, creator of the divine Zona Cesarini, which faithful regulars will already be aware of and revere, is bringing joy to the lives of many with a wonderful year of brilliant beer.
For the next twelve months we will be getting two different Toccalmatto beers a month, one of which will be from the standard range and as Zona fans will tell you this in itself is pretty exciting stuff, the first from this range will be the ‘B Space Invader’ a black IPA made with galaxy hops-needless to say the staff here are all pretty darn excited. As if that wasn’t enough the second beer will be an unknown entity of excellence from Toccalmatto’s One Shot series, these aren’t beers that will be made twice people, these are the beers that bloody brilliant brewers fancy making because they can! Just to clarify: these guys are not afraid to make big flavours, try new stuff or hop the hell out of something.
We assume you will enjoy, no worries, you’re welcome.
– Port Street Beer House Presents: Meet the Brewer at NRB / Tuesday 5th & Wednesday 6th March
Next week we will be hosting a couple of Meet The Brewers events at ‘Northern Restaurant and Bar 2013’, taking place at the prodigious Manchester Central. It’s sort of a trade event for people in the trade! If you don’t know what we are talking about here is a small bit of blurb about NRB :
“Whether you run a restaurant, bar, pub, hotel, deli or cafe Northern Restaurant and Bar is the trade exhibition on your doorstep in the North of England. Come and be informed and inspired by the industry’s star names, and sample the finest produce and premium brands from 200 leading suppliers.” You can claim FREE tickets if you work within this trade (please note this event is not open to the public – sorry)
Coming along for the ride are Summer Wine and Red Willow, each will be hosting two Meet The Brewer events on consecutive days, sampling at least four of their beers, two on keg and two bottles.
Tuesday 5th March
13:00 and 15:15 / Port Street Beer House Presents: Meet the Brewer with Summer Wine
Wednesday 6th March
13:00 and 15:15 / Port Street Beer House Presents: Meet the Brewer with Red Willow
Places are limited to 30 people on each of these events, based upon a first come, first served basis.
Hope to see some of you there.
– Port Street Beer House Second Birthday / by Jamie Hancock
How time flies, eh? Two years ago we were a fledgling purveyor of beer from around the globe, taking our first tentative steps as one of the country’s few specialist craft beer bars, and quite unsure how things were going to work out. Now, we’re garnering praise as one of the kingdom’s finest places of pilgrimage for those seeking a quality beverage and putting on last October’s hugely successful Independent Manchester Beer Convention (IndyManBeerCon) at the beautiful Victoria Baths, which will be back bigger and (hopefully) even better this year! Last November saw the departure (kind of) of manager Will France to oversee the opening of The Beagle, our beer and food haven in Chorlton, with the menu overseen by Laurence Tottingham of the awesome Aumbry restaurant in Prestwich, one of Manchester’s best kept secrets (and it really shouldn’t be a secret. Go there).
Thursday January 24th saw our second anniversary, and we hoped to see it in in style. Back in December, a few of us (Euan, Jamie, Claudia, Anna and Sean) headed over to the Outstanding Brewery in Bury to brew our second birthday beer named, brilliantly, Anniversary 2, following on from the Saison DuPort we brewed with a number of local breweries last year. This year we wanted something darker, so after much discussion, decided on a Sour Cherry and Pink Peppercorn Porter. We wanted to reflect our love of unusual flavours in beers and couple it with one of the UK’s oldest beer styles.
Brewday was fun, as ever, and more importantly, a success. The beer turned out just how we’d hoped, 5.5% abv, with the sourness of the cherries and aromatic spiciness of the pink peppercorns both present, but not overpowering the base notes of malt in the porter.
The 24th saw us packed out with many of our beloved regulars, some of our favourite brewers, including, but not limited to, Outstanding, Dark Star, Quantum, Magic Rock and SummerWine, and a substantial amount of National Winter Ales Festival-goers who’d sought us out thanks in part to our first inclusion in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. Some of these folk seemed a bit perturbed by the tolling of the bell at about 7pm, no doubt fearing their evening of quality boozing was being brought to a premature halt. However it was merely the signal for Jamie to grab his beer crate and do his thing, his thing being to thank everyone for coming and introduce Anniversary 2.
To reiterate the point of the night, we’d like to extend a massive thank you to everyone who turned up, not just for the birthday celebration, but for the last two years, including our aforementioned beloved regulars, those who seek us out on trips to Manchester, our brewing friends and partners and our brethren from The Grove in Huddersfield, North Bar in Leeds, The Sparrow in Bradford, Hanging Bat in Edinburgh and beyond. It’s a huge cliché, of course, but we’d be nothing without the people who visit us from far and wide to drink amazing craft beers from here, there and everywhere. Cheers!
Words by Jamie Hancock