Travels With Nate

I’m usually quite savvy at keeping up with all of the various beery events that are happening within the UK yet somehow Liverpool Craft Beer Expo had somehow eluded me until I got an email about it from Tony who is one of the organisers asking if I fancy going to the trade session. It’d be rude not to really. I have to say, it sounds very good. It’s taking place at The Baltic Triangle in Liverpool between 14th – 16 th June and will feature over 80 keg and 50 cask beers . That’s a lot of beer! If the beer wasn’t enough to pull you in, the expo will also feature live brewing demonstrations from some of the UK’s best breweries so festival goers can actually see what goes into a beer. Who said beer festivals aren’t educational? Breweries featured will include Camden Town, Beavertown, Magic Rock, Summer Wine, Partizan & The Kernel. All hot breweries at the moment that I have recently been enjoying beers from! With all that beer, you’re also going to need some food and...

I hate Mark Landells with a passion. He's one of my favourite tweeters because, well, he's a funny guy mostly because you can never tell whether or not he's being serious. Tonight I am taking him seriously. He suggested mixing Innis & Gunn Lager with Tesco Value Lager so I'm doing it and I'm going to hate myself and him for it. Mainly him though. So, I've got a lined pint glass and filled it exactly 50/50. How bad is it? Look: BRIGHT YELLOW WITH BUBBLES. Aroma: Canned sweetcorn, fizzy water and cardboard. Taste: Fizzy water, sweetcorn and pennies (Pennies, not penis you fucking perverts) Mouthfeel: Fizzy but flat at the same time. Verdict: There is no god. MAKING THE BEST OUT OF A BAD SITUATION ADDITION: MANGO JUICE AND ORANGE JUICE! Taste: LIKE FANTA WITH MANGOES! Verdict: FUCK YES! Nate

A while ago I wrote a rather angry post about how Suffolk council are trying to ban beers that have an ABV of 6.5% and above. Today I discovered that this is soon to spread to Norfolk. Instead of repeating my angry post (Read:  http://www.boozebeatsbites.com/2013/01/booze-65-is-magic-number.html ) I thought I'd do a protest post and review a very low ABV beer. Now, how did this come into my possession? I didn't buy it. A few weeks ago I was at Brodies Bunny Basher at the King William IV Pub in London drinking ridiculously cheap but tasty high abv beers with a bunch of friends, James then disappears for a while before coming back and presenting me with a Tesco bag containing 4 cans of this much to everyone's amusement. For context, if you don't know me already, I am a beer geek but I also have a love for Carling so that is the joke. I was originally asked to do a video review because I did a couple of dreadful ones before whilst drunk but I refused. I still have 2 c...

Straight off the bat, dear readers, I've not really enjoyed anything I've had from the Scottish brewery Innis & Gunn. Got a message a couple of weeks ago on twitter from Adam who worked for Innis & Gunn (He doesn't now, he fled to Cornwall. Good luck bro) asking if I fancy trying the new Innis & Gunn Lager. It'd be rude not to really. So yes, lovely chap sent me 6 cans of it. It's not available in cans, only on keg but then a can is just a mini keg so it's the best way to send samples out. So, what's it like? Brewery:  Innis & Gunn (Scotland) Beer:  Lager ABV:  4.6% I had to make my own label Look: It looks really yellow and carbonated but with no head. Aroma: Smells like the juice of canned sweetcorn. Taste: Firstly sweetcorn, then oats, then syrup and more sweetcorn with a bit of oil on the end. Mouthfeel: Feels really oily and a bit sticky. Verdict: Not enjoyable at all. It's fucking horrible to be hones...

The Session is a monthly event for the beer blogging community which was started by Stan Hieronymus at  Appellation Beer . On the first Friday of each month, all participating bloggers write about a predetermined topic. Each month a different blog is chosen to host The Session, choose the topic, and post a roundup of all the responses received. For more info on The Session, check out the Brookston Beer Bulletin’s  nice archive page . This month’s session is hosted by Bryan of This is Why I’m Drunk and it’s about ‘finding beer balance’.