#ISBFX #Brewday7 : A New Crush (or "Thinking of Igor Cavalera")

“Between lightning and thunder three seconds the gap
A warm candle glow keeps this wood room from black
My cat, she sleeps on an old clippy mat
Purring out echoes of faint pitter-pat

As the rain pours down in the yard
Rain, a most haunting sound
Rain makes beautiful music and
Rain brings peace upon all whom it falls”

“Rain” - The Daintees

Let's start with this. That lyric.

Martin Stephenson and The Daintees. Legends of the North East.

The album “Boat To Bolivia” is - for me - an 80s classic. The Daintees are a shared love of The (one true) Boss & I.

But Martin links to last year.

On one of the collabs last year (The Beer of the Festival no less - with Steam Machine) Daisy reached out to ask for permission for us to use the title of a Daintees track as a beer name.

This led to me actually approaching Martin at a gig (Thank you Anita!) to thank him.

“They” say, not to approach your heroes. Nonsense. Martin was sweet, lovely, warm, funny. He also doesn't drink, which just made that approval all the more precious.

Without Daisy, i’d never have forced myself to chat with one of my musical heroes. X

Speaking of Daisy……We had a chat about North East Breweries, maybe a collab…… So, over a period of a few days we chatted with the brewery, hops, style. I mentioned a thought about a complementary fruit addition. They liked the idea……

Which finds me getting up at 03:45 (Yes …the one in the morning!) to get me to the 06:00 train from Mcr Victoria to Newcastle.

Now Daisy is one of the nicest people in beer, generous to a fault. Knowing where we were going, she said she'd pick me up at Newcastle Station. I soon realised quite how generous that was….

Walking to the bin to drop off some rubbish, I heard a familiar voice calling me….

A quick “hello” to fellow traveller Robin, we were soon off into the stunning Northumbrian countryside. And it WAS a bit of a drive….. Now I'm a history nerd. And this proved to be the closest I've been - on foot - to Hadrian's Wall. The village of Bellingham. And First & Last Brewery.

As also a bit of a brewery nerd (“No Sh1t Sherlock!” - Ed), I loved this small yet quite spacious set up on first sight (as I limped from the car), but we were soon ushered into their stunningly cosy and lovely taproom. I was instantly smitten (and that's not said lightly).

A tiny, yet beautiful hug of a room. It just - even empty - oozed “community”. It felt like ISBF. Difficult to put into words, but whatever “it” is, it's here.

In the words of Arnold, “I'll be back”.

I digress (you do that a lot - Ed). Mashing in was really simple. The malt bill (Pilsner, Wheat, Carapils and Oats) was pumping in with the liquor (“hot water” - Ed) leading to a really smooth mix, needing little stirring intervention - I gave it a go mind…(That said, Red did most of the work!) 😁

Hop Selection was next. A small amount of Magnum early, for its anti-foam capabilities as much as its bitterness, a more substantial amount of Hallertau Blanc followed Pre “flameout” as a little flavour backbone for the main event hop - a big dry-hopping of Nelson Sauvin.

I'll come back to that later! (And I think that Robin enjoyed the Olfactory Overload upon opening that bag…..)

By this time, the lovely Clare turned up with more pie than even Desperate Dan could have coped with!

One of life's lovely humans.

Fed & watered (I had a BEAUTIFUL Amarillo Pale on keg), it was time for emptying vessels, cleaning, transferring to FV in fairly short order.

I got in a bit of grain shifting, but Daisy shifted most with some exceptional shovel techniques!

Pretty soon we were done.

Now to that Nelson. I've got this thing about matching fruit & hop to emphasise flavour and aroma.

In our pre brew WhatsApp chats, Ric mentioned hopping with Nelson Sauvin, to which I almost blurted out “GOOSEBERRIES”!

This is a beer that will be shouting Sauvignon Blanc. Nicely Nelsoned and emphasising the fruitier hoppy with a distinct Gooseberry Sauvignon hit.

This will be the first beer I sample on the Tuesday setup. I'm genuinely excited.

This was the loveliest of days. A day that I needed. A real livener.

Excellent fun, making excellent beer, with - importantly - most excellent people.

This is a great set up, both Taproom and brewery. And Ric & Red make exceptional beers on that kit (“Fanboy Alert” - Ed)

HUGE thanks to Red & Ric for the unmistakable welcome. They've got a great team, a great location, beautiful micro Taproom and they make simply fabulous beer. (Repetition for emphasis!)

To Clare for the fabulous grub! Always a delight to hear those Geordie tones!

An absolute pleasure meeting Robin for the first time, a most excellent drinking companion with a passion for his locality. (And thanks to both you & Daisy for the little tour of some lovely bars & pubs in Gateshead)

And massive thanks to Daisy for making this happen. The company, the knowledge and generosity. A star.

So. What have we made?

“Multi Love”. A Grisette hopped with Nelson Sauvin augmented with oodles of Gooseberries. It's going to be special.

And where will you get this first around here? (Do you really need to ask?)

Tickets here.

Back (VERY) soon. I've been busy!

Be kind to one another.

Jim x

Igor Cavalera? That’s what happens when you’re listening to Is It Always Binary by Soulwax at 5 in the morning!