Three corkers from ale bar
I’M slowly revisiting the dedicated beer shops around town and this week I dropped back into Heaton Hops (7 School Lane, Heaton Chapel) as it’s won yet another award. This time it was as ‘Craft Ale Bar of the Year’ in this year’s Manchester Food and Drink Festival awards. Therein lies the clue to Heaton Hops’ double role as it’s one of the new breed of bottle shops that combine that role with one as a fully functioning bar.
Actually it’s not just a bar, as over the 18 months since it opened a real community feel has developed here. Although the idea might send arch-traditionalists running for the hills this really is a modern community pub. It’s busy every night with regulars and more occasional visitors, all along for a drink and chat in a warm and welcoming space. Do pay it a visit – although don’t all rush at once as Heaton Hops is quite small.
The off sales side isn’t neglected and when I called in plenty of bottles were being bought to take away. Here are three corkers I picked up:
Squawk Brewing Small Pale Mosaic (330ml, 2.8%)
Quite a few brewers, both old-school and new-wave, make beers at this lowly strength and the attraction is obvious – they pay a lower rate of duty. The difficulty is producing a beer that’s a satisfying drink rather than being thin and wishy-washy. Squawk, based in a railway arch next to Ardwick Station, have certainly pulled it off. Mosaic is a very fashionable hop and brings a tropical fruit note (mango perhaps) to this copper-orange beer. It’s remarkably full bodied, drinking well above its strength, while those hops again bring notes of peach, apricot and mango. There’s a dry and bitter finish that grows and lingers. Perhaps the best beer of this strength I’ve tried.
8 Wired Brewing Saison Sauvin (330ml, 7%)
Saisons are a traditional Belgian country beer. They are often referred to as ‘farmhouse ales.’ It’s a style the craft beer world has taken to its heart and in the process has subjected it to much use and abuse. I’ve tried some pretty grim stuff calling itself a saison. However this beauty from New Zealand is terrific. What do you want in a classic saison? Hops and spicy esters from the yeast on the nose. Check. A balance between hoppy dryness, a full body, and underlying but not overwhelming spice. Check. Most importantly a dry hoppy finish. Check. This has them all. For me this is snapping at the heels of world-classic Dupont – it really is that good.
Marble Brewery Into The Void (330ml, 7.6%)
Manchester’s Marble Brewery has re-hit its stride big time under new head brewer James Kemp – with some big beers too in their ‘Marble Metal Series.’ This is an ‘imperial pilsner’ a style popularised in the USA. The few ‘imperial pilsners’ I’ve tried have been thick chewy monsters a million miles away from their roots. This golden beer gets it right. There’s a straw-like hoppiness on the nose along with hints of peach. It has a smooth mouth feel, with the hops performing well to produce a crisp and bitter beer while the higher strength enhances the body and texture rather than stamping all over it. The finish is fruity and dry. Wonderful.