Coolest thing ever said to Al Stewart

I went to see Al Stewart at the Royal College of Music in Manchester last night. It was a sell-out performance and he was, as always, excellent. The support band, Empty Pockets, who also were his backing band, were very good in both capacities. He told this story:

About 40 years ago, he was backstage and a woman he reckoned was about 10 years older than him came in, made herself a drink and sat down to read a magazine. Assuming she was the wife of the promoter, he went over to chat with her, and after a while she told him that she had a cassette of his music in the car, adding that she had only two cassettes in her car, the other being of her brother.

"Is your brother in a band?" asked Al.
"He was," she replied, "but they split up."

As he put his guitar on to go on stage, Al asked the name of the band. She replied: "The Beatles."

It was George Harrison's sister. Al said it was coolest thing that's ever been said to him.

► I remember watching the live version above of 'Year Of The Cat' on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1976. He and his band did an excellent version last night.

CAMRA - losing its Marbles?

It's been interesting to see the spat between Manchester's Marble Brewery and CAMRA, with Marble claiming that they were blacklisted from the Great British Beer Festival. According to the brewery, a Marble staff member was victim of a sexist remark by a CAMRA volunteer at Manchester Beer and Cider Festival (MBCF), in January 2016. The brewery e-mailed the festival organisers to resolve the matter and have subsequently said that they felt great headway had been made with this. They are now asserting that their complaint led to their being blacklisted at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF). CAMRA has investigated and states there is no evidence to support such an allegation.

Ultimately, I've no idea who's right here, but I have not read of any demonstrable evidence of a link between these two incidents. Marble seems to saying: "We had this problem at the MBCF, and then we weren't selected for the GBBF - there must be a connection." Well, not necessarily.

I know there are people in CAMRA with sexist attitudes, just as there are in most walks of life; for example, a long time ago I used to know a union rep who thought it was okay for him to crack sexist and racist jokes, not a view most of us shared. Nowadays most people who do hold such crass attitudes usually know when to keep them to themselves, but occasionally some idiots don't, as seems to have happened at the MBCF. From the very few incidents in a CAMRA setting that I've been aware of, I know that the campaign generally takes them seriously.

As I see it, there are three possible scenarios here:

1. The brewery is mistaken: there is no link.
2. They are correct: they were blacklisted.
3. Publicly slagging off CAMRA is good publicity.

I don't know which is correct, although I tend to think point 3 is the least likely because such publicity is short term - next week's chip paper, in fact. In addition, to use an allegation of sexism for publicity purposes would downplay the seriousness of the complaint.

Bearing in mind that no brewery has an automatic right to be at the GBBF, and if one puts the suggestion of blacklisting aside for a moment, there are two possible explanations:

• There are lots of good beers that have to be left out simply because the GBBF cannot accommodate them all; Marble was just unlucky.
• Marble's beers simply weren't as good as the competition on this occasion.

Again, I don't know which applies. Any satisfactory resolution to this dispute seems unlikely in the near future, but I doubt anyone will gain by continuing it in public. There will have to be either an agreement to disagree or a permanent falling out, because this public war of words is going nowhere and benefits no one.

Don't you know who I am?

Time to relearn the lyrics, I think

Liam Gallagher, former lead singer with Oasis, has slagged off The Elizabethen, a Lees pub in Stockport, because it refused service to his brother (Paul, probably) because he was wearing tracksuit bottoms. He launched what the Manchester Evening News described as a '"Twitter tirade" against the place, laced with his usual coarse invective, telling his many followers to "swerve" (avoid) the place. An individual member of staff was singled out for crude abuse.

The spectacle of a foul-mouthed multimillionaire publicly abusing someone who is probably on little more than the minimum wage, and who has no effective way of responding, is unedifying in the extreme; I'd call it bullying. I suspect Gallagher sees himself as something of a working class hero, but I see him as just another rich man who expects locked doors to be opened and rules to be waived just because of who he is.

If a pub operates a dress code or any other rules that you don't like, just go somewhere else; a refusal of service on such grounds does not merit this gross overreaction. Sounding off to your mates is one thing, but to your 1.43 million Twitter followers is quite another; there will have been better ways to complain, but as they would probably not have involved abuse and swearing in public, they'd have been uncharted territory for him. 

Word has certainly got around: Oasis fans have sprung to his defence, one even describing him as "Manchester royalty", although others have taken the mick, and several newspapers have reported the spat. With any luck, it will be a storm in a teacup, but if because of his Twitter outbursts business declines in this pub and people lose their jobs, do we seriously think Gallagher would accept he's in any way to blame? *

A spokesperson for the pub said, concluding rather neatly I thought: "Overall this [dress code] is something our regulars and locals want, however, occasionally it has proved unpopular with one or two people but we don’t look back in anger.” Take note, Liam!

* Alternatively, some people may be attracted to a Gallagher-free zone.

Worth going to Manchester for

One of the biggest beer festivals in the North West, the CAMRA Manchester Beer and Cider Festival, will be held from 20 to 23 January at Manchester Central (formerly the G-Mex, and originally Manchester Central railway station). The venue is impressive and I have seen bands there such as Simply Red, Deacon Blue and AC/DC in the past.

It is a new home for the festival and, unlike the previous one, the National Cycle Centre (aka the Velodrome), it's in the centre of Manchester. From Southport there's a direct train to Deansgate Station, and then a short 8 to 10 minute walk to the festival.

Organised by CAMRA's Greater Manchester Branches, it's a direct successor to the National Winter Ales Festival which was held in the city for many years until 2013, after which it was moved to Derby. They'll be offering more than 500 beers, ciders and perries. As well as a huge selection of cask-conditioned real ales and traditional ciders and perries, there will be bottled and draught beers from around the world, plus a 'real ale in a bottle' bar where you can buy beers either to drink at the festival or to take home. Tickets can be bought either in advance or on the door, and CAMRA members get in free on Wednesday and Thursday (see: membership has its privileges). For more details and advance tickets, go to the festival website.

I enjoyed last year's at the Velodrome, although the sight of cyclists hurtling around at high speed while you supped your pint seemed a bit incongruous. I'm not sure yet which day I'm going, but I'll add a note to this post so that fellow bloggers can either look out for me or avoid me as they see fit.

The full address of Manchester Central is Windmill Street, Manchester, M2 3GX.

Manchester Beer & Cider Festival back on track

Happy real ale drinkers at this year's festival
(photo borrowed from festival website)

I wrote on 10 May that the Manchester Beer & Cider Festival had been evicted from the the National Cycling Centre, known as the Velodrome, where it has been held for the last two years. The good news is that agreement has been reached for it to be held in Manchester Central, formerly known as the G-Mex. This venue could have been made for a beer festival, although in fact it was originally the old Manchester Central railway station. It's in the city centre and is thus extremely convenient for public transport. My only previous visits to this venue have been to see bands, such as Deacon Blue, Simply Red and AC/DC.

Festival Organiser Graham Donning said “We are very excited to be bringing the festival right into the heart of the city. With direct access from the newly improved Deansgate-Castlefield Metrolink station and Deansgate rail station, we couldn’t have a better location for our customers who flock from across the region and indeed from all over the country to attend.” He added that, although other locations were considered, this was always the first choice.

The festival will offer more than 500 beers, ciders and perries at several bars, and they fully expect to beat this year's attendance of 11,500. With this much more convenient location, I'd be very surprised if they don't succeed.

The dates of the next festival are 20 to 23 January 2016, and tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 1 September via the festival website.

On Your Bike!

The Manchester Beer & Cider Festival, which for the last two years has taken place in the unusual surroundings of the National Cycling Centre (NCC) in Manchester, known as the Velodrome, has been unable to agree dates for next year's festival with British Cycling, the main tenants of the building. The festival's organiser Graham Donning said: "This is extremely disappointing. The Velodrome has made an excellent setting for Manchester’s premier beer and cider event and both CAMRA and the NCC management wanted to continue to build on the success of the event." Full story here.

My impression from what I've read is that British Cycling simply didn't want the event there at all and placed barriers in the way of any attempts to compromise, even though the NCC was keen. This festival, when it was the National Winter Ales Festival, has moved before so I think we can be fairly confident a new venue will be found.

I paid my first, and now only, visit to this venue this year. It is strange drinking beer while cyclists hurtle around the track at incredibly high speeds, but once you get used to that, it is very enjoyable. Unusually for a CAMRA festival nowadays, it takes cash rather than tokens. The possible snag here is that volunteers who work at other beer festivals are likely to be more accustomed to dealing with tokens: at least, that is my explanation for being given change for £15 when I handed over a £20 note to buy a pint. From an organisational point of view, cash bars are labour intensive and you need loads of change to ensure your tills don't run out, but if they can handle that - as it seems they can - it's not a problem that need concern the customer. There is also a session when CAMRA members get in free, a perk that some CAMRA festivals are discontinuing nowadays.

Let's see what next year brings.

While there, I saw a stall for Real XS Radio ("Your Classic Rock Station") with two empty guitar racks in front of it. The sign read: "Free air guitars - please take one".

Manchester Beer & Cider Festival 2014

Advance notice of the replacement for the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester next January.

When CAMRA decided that it was time that the National Winter Ales Festival's nine-year tenure in Manchester came to an end, there was some degree of outcry both from those volunteers who had pulled the festival together for many years and from the drinkers who had enjoyed the annual January festival.

Nine months on from the final event in Manchester, that decision by CAMRA may well have been the best thing that every happened for festival goers in the region - without it, the Manchester Beer & Cider Festival would never have been conceived. The new festival takes the same slot in the January calendar (22 to 25 January) and is shaping up to be Manchester's biggest and best ever beer festival. The biggest coup for the organisers was securing the amazing setting of Manchester Velodrome for the event - not the adjacent café used for the small warm up event in August - the actual Velodrome itself. As a building, it's simply stunning to stand inside that track and marvel at the scale of the place - and that's without any beer in it.

Set on the floor inside that steeply banked track will be the largest range of beers and ciders ever offered in Manchester. There will be well over 300 cask conditioned craft beers alongside a bar full of real ale in a bottle (drink in or take away) - every beer that is ready for sale will be available from the first session until it is sold. The cider and perry bar is expected to offer at least 75 different ciders and perries - all made from fresh apple or pear juice.

If the best of British beers isn't enough, then the 'Bière sans Frontières' bar will be importing the very best beers brewed for Germany's Oktoberfest alongside Belgian, Dutch, Czech and American beers - far too many to mention. Some of the most cutting edge breweries in the country including Marble Beers, Hawkshead, Liverpool Organic and Ilkley Brewery will be hosting their own bars offering a larger range of their beers than the three main cask bars can accommodate plus offering the chance to meet their brewers.

In total there will be no fewer than 16 bars to visit. Surrounding these are some 1700 seats from where visitors will be able to look over the festival floor and watch cyclists riding the track. The Great Britain Cycling Team have training sessions on the track twice a day which will continue throughout the festival alongside other clubs and taster sessions.

The festival kicks off at 4.30pm on Wednesday 22 January and runs through until Saturday evening. The Velodrome is easily accessible via Manchester's Metrolink tram network - its own Velopark station is served by trams every 12 minutes - with the 216 and other bus routes from Manchester even more frequent. CAMRA Members will be entitled to free entry all day Wednesday and Thursday with discounts on entry at all other times.

To find out more, visit the festival website, and for all the latest news follow the festival on Facebook or (if you must) on twitter on @mancbeerfest .

National Pub of the Year

The Baum says cobbles to the opposition

On the 12 October, I wrote that the Baum, a pub in Toad Lane, Rochdale, had won CAMRA's Greater Manchester Pub of the Year 2012. I have learnt that it has now won CAMRA's National Pub of the Year. Although it's not exactly local to me in Southport, it's good to see a North West boozer win the gong. 

As you can easily read what I wrote about it previously, I don't intend to repeat myself, except to point out that this quite an achievement, seeing that the building was an ironmonger's until just over 30 years ago. As I said recently in a different context, it is not easy to create that unique atmosphere that we associate with the word "pub" - it usually has to develop organically over many decades. Well done to the licensees; I hope to visit some day. It has eight handpumps, does a good range of food and has a large beer garden to the rear. It looks good in the picture.

My friend Tandleman has more details on his beer blog. The Baum is at 33-37 Toad Lane, Rochdale, OL12 0NU. ( 01706 352186.

Angel to the rescue

It feels a bit odd to be writing a beer and music blog when I've not felt like drinking much since mid-December, and I've missed some of my music events too. It's all through feeling under the weather with severe sinus trouble, which has among other things affected my taste buds so that beer has seemed to have little flavour, and as for singing: coughs and sneezes may spread diseases, but they're not an attractive way to deliver a song. And my husky voice was not exactly in the Rod Stewart league. I've had so little to drink this month, I've almost been an involuntary conscript to Alcohol Concern's Dry January campaign. Incidentally, I've just checked their website and 4297 people have signed up; only 99.9932% of the population left to recruit for the final three days of the month.

A few people have asked me whether I felt better for not drinking. The answer was no. Some have then gone on to ask whether, in that case, do I feel worse? The answer was, "No; I'm a beer drinker, not an alcoholic!" My bank account has heaved a few sighs of relief though.

Unfortunately, I have missed out on two planned trips to the National Winter Ales Festival, a CAMRA coach trip to West Lancs pubs, two pub crawls, as well as various other events. The good news is that I am feeling somewhat better, proved by the fact that I actually fancied a drink on Saturday evening for the first time in weeks. I couldn't have one because of the antibiotics, but they run out on Wednesday, so I'm particularly looking forward to Friday when I'll be meeting some old friends from the union for a few pints and something to eat at the Angel pub, just off Rochdale Road, Manchester. I don't remember going there before, but I see that it received CAMRA's North Manchester Real Ale Pub of the Year Award in 2010, so it should be good.

In advance of Friday, cheers!

National Winter Ales Festival 2013

This year's National Winter Ales Festival will be once again taking place at the Sheridan Suite, Oldham Road, Manchester, M40 8RR, from Wednesday 23 to Saturday 26 January 2013. This is the last one to be held in Manchester because CAMRA, faced with an extremely successful festival, has decided to fix what isn't broken and move it to Derby next year. My own view is that they wouldn't move the GBBF outside London, so why shouldn't CAMRA's second national festival have a fixed home? Still, it's not up to me.

With a selection of over 300 beers, real ales in a bottle, ciders, perries and foreign beers from around the world, everyone should be able to find something they like: here is a link to the beer list. While there will, naturally, be a lot of winter ales on, beers of all types will be available, including golden beers for lovers of that style. The festival also hosts the Champion Winter Beer of Britain competition, the UK's premier winter ale competition. ‘Alfie’s Revenge’ by Driftwood Brewery of St Agnes, Cornwall, was last year's winner.

They'll be serving English and Indian food all day until 9.00 p.m., so there's no need to take a pile of butties. Full details of the festival are on their website, including entrance charges and concessions. CAMRA members get in free on Wednesday and Thursday, and £1 off the full price on Friday & Saturday. The venue is just over a mile from Piccadilly Station; click here for full directions. 

I'm not sure when I'm going yet; with any luck I'll see you there.

The Baum: Greater Manchester Pub Of The Year

CAMRA’s Greater Manchester Pub Of The Year 2012 is The Baum, Toad Lane, Rochdale. Runner up in the competition was Costello's Bar on Goose Green, Altrincham with the White Lion in Leigh coming third.

The Baum is run by husband and wife Simon and Heidi Crompton whose team includes other members of their family. The pub is therefore family run and aims to have a strong community focus. To that end, they welcome a wide variety of customers into their pub: office workers popping in for a drink after work, shoppers calling in for a meal or real ale fans trying one of the changing range of cask ales and ciders. There is always at least one beer from a local brewery and the ingredients for their meals are locally sourced.

The pub is on a small cobbled street on the north side of the town, next to the original Co-op store which is now the Pioneers Museum charting the birth of the Cooperative movement. The pub opened around 30 years ago in a building that was previously an ironmonger’s called Morris's, taking over the building next door a few years later, and in 2010 building a large conservatory to the rear. Simon began working at The Baum in 1993, becoming owner in 2005, just as the couple's first child was born.

The Baum is at 33-37 Toad Lane, Rochdale OL12 0NU.
( 01706 352186.

Port Street Beer House festival

The Port Street Beer House, Manchester, is going dark.  From 22 November to around 6 December, the Port Street is having an 'Old & Dark Festival'.  They have been gathering beers of these styles in the cellar for some time.  A couple are to be launched at special events:  Hardknott Vitesse Noir on 23 November and Magic Rock's new imperial stout, Bearded Lady, on 28 November.  According to their website, the beers will include:

Great Divide Yeti

Mikkeller Vesterbro Coffee Stout

Magic Rock Bearded Lady

Magic Rock Dark Arts

Hard Knott Vitesse Noir

Thornbridge Raven

Thornbridge x Kernel Burton Ale
Kernel Export India Porter (Cask)
Summerwine Cossack
Summerwine Cohort
Marble Little Jim
Moor Old Freddy Walker
Brodies Superior London Porter
Left hand Wake Up dead
Red Willow Fathomless
Gadds Black Pearl

I understand that not all beers will be real; some will be in kegs. 
The beer house is at 39 - 47 Port Street, Manchester, M1 1EQ.

Great Northern Beer Festival

It's on this week in Manchester - click on the poster to read it more easily, or go to the festival website.  Southport residents should remember that the trains are not running between Southport and Wigan, although you can go by train from Southport to Manchester via Liverpool.

Thu:  4.00 pm to 10.30 pm.  Fri & Sat:  midday to 10.30 pm.
£3 admission, including a £1 refundable deposit on the glass.  Concessions apply.

National Winter Ales Festival 2011

This takes place from Wed 19 to Sat 22 January in the "The Venue", Sheridan Suite, Oldham Road, Manchester, M40 8EA. Full details on the festival website. Admission prices are reasonable and there are certain concessions (see my beer festivals page) ~ Thursday is free admission for CAMRA members all day.  Click here to find out about some of the beers that will be on sale.

As I wrote last year, if, like me, you don't fancy travelling down to London for the national Great British Beer Festival, here is an alternative within easy travelling distance. Happy drinking!

Click on the poster to enlarge it.

Marble Arch, Manchester

Last Friday saw me meeting some friends for a meal and a few pints at the Marble Arch Inn in Manchester. This pub is in Rochdale Road, about 10 minutes walk from Victoria Station, about 20 from Piccadilly. It has an attractive granite exterior and inside tiled walls and ceiling, with the words of various drinks in the tiles that make up the coving of the room. I recall being told by the owner in the 1980s that when he had taken over the pub, there had been a false ceiling covering the beautiful tile work. Typical 1960s vandalism aesthetics.  The pub is also home to the Marble Brewery.

The Marble Arch is justly well known for its food. No pre-cooked microwaved meals here: a good range of home-cooked choices, including vegetarian options, was available at reasonable prices, and I think we all enjoyed our respective meals.

The main business of a pub is of course beer (gastropubs notwithstanding). 11 hand pumps in operation served a range of beers, mostly from the Marble Brewery range, but with a couple of guests too. There is a full range of strengths, from Pint at 3.8% to Dobble at 5.9%, a beer that was deceptively drinkable, not tasting thick and cloying like some strong beers do. The Manchester Bitter is an excellent 4.2% light beer, which I believe is their best seller. Their Brew 14 (4.3%) tasted rather similar to me, and therefore rather good as well. Others I tried included a guest Ossett Warhorse, a tasty 5.% dark bitter and, out of curiosity, a half of the Choc Marble beer (5.5%) - definitely chocolaty, but not overwhelmingly so. All the Marble beers are organic and vegan, and despite the lack of finings to clear the beer (finings usually come from the sturgeon), the beer was not at all cloudy.

We were there for several hours and saw the changing clientele. There was a pleasant buzz of happy customers in groups enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and good drinks, with quite a wide age range. I made friends with one young girl who smiled and waved at me across the room ~ as she sat on her mum's knee.

I'm no expert on Manchester pubs, but this is the best in my experience, and is quite what a pub should be nowadays. If you're in the area, it's well worth a visit.

The slightly fuzzy photo was taken on my mobile.