#ISBFX : "You're Not In Kansas Now Dorothy" (aka There's No Place Like Home)
“….and you’re standing here beside me, I love the passing of time.
Never for money, always for love. Cover up and say ‘Goodnight’……..”
“This Must Be The Place” - Talking Heads
ISBF is not a technical exercise. It doesn't “tick all the boxes” of a modern day beer event. It's not “The Best” this, or “The Greatest” that. It has never sought to do/be any of those things and never will.
ISBF occupies it's own little “niche” (thanks Jan). It's DIY. It's “homegrown” (thanks Tim). And will stay that way. Because that's how we like it.
ISBF was built to match an ideal in my (Jim's) head. To be comfortable. Relaxed. (Sit if you want. Stand if you like.) To have great unique beers, yes. But what the aim was, was “the feels”. The things that you can't quite place your finger on, but the things that make you feel “Yeah. I liked that. See you next year!”
And the loveliest thing? People do come back.
ISBF is simple. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.
Last year (#ISBF9) had a profound impact on me. On all of us involved. It made something click in my brain. It felt so “right” and was so successful in what it sought to achieve, that - contrary to previous years - it was the first time I had zero doubts about coming back to the beautiful Hemsley House & doing it again.
The #ISBFFamily and YOU saw to that when Jock & I handed over £14,250 to Start Inspiring Minds last November.
Don't ever forget that. ISBF is Not For Profit. Never has been. Never will be.
This isn't a business. It's a feeling.
And it's a feeling that means something to so many. Brings people back. And because of that “feeling” and what is at the core of what we do, some lovely people want to be involved. As you will see below…
So. #ISBF10. What have we got for you?
Well. In essence, no change. And lots of change. Contradictions and none.
Eh?
Well.
No Change. We're still at the beautiful and iconic Hemsley House on The Crescent.
No Change. We'll have a side event / chat on each of the Friday Evening & Saturday Lunch Sessions.
No Change. We'll have Jo & Mike's Rebellious Jukebox playing fabulous tunes to your requests.
No Change. We have The Magician of a guitarist that is George Fell playing on the Friday & Saturday Evenings.
No Change. The same ISBF “feels”.
All Change? Well, that's Simultaneously “No Change” too. 60 beers on keg & over 20 on cask almost all new to the Manchester area with many brewed especially for (and with) us, especially for this event.
Because of this (and most of you know this) the actual beer/cider list isn't actually known until about 3 weeks before the doors open.
But we do know (the majority of) the brewery list.
Here goes…..
Keg :
Abbeydale Funk
Abyss
Amity x ISBF
Ampersand x ISBF
Balance
Bearwood
Blackjack
Brewery of St Mars of the Desert
Brolly Brewing
Burnt Mill
Chain House
Cloudwater
Docks
Dolphin
Double Barrelled
Duration
Earth
Elusive x ISBF
Elusive x Paul Delaney
Fell
First & Last x ISBF
Gan Yam
Hideaway
Holy Goat
Ideal Day Family Brewery
Kernel
Lakes x ISBF
Little Earth
Lost & Grounded
Lost Cause
Marble
Neptune
Northern Monk
Only With Love
Pastore
Pixie
Pomona
Portcullis Brewing
Rigg & Furrow
Rivington
Runaway x ISBF
Scatterlings
Simple Things Fermentations x ISBF
Siren
Spookton
Steam Machine
Talking Tides
Terra Tempo
Thornbridge
Toms
Torrside x ISBF
Track
Tun
Turning Point
Wild Horse
Wilderness
We also will have 4 additional imported beers to be announced closer to the event…
Cask :
Amity x ISBF
Blue Bee
Brewsmith
Brid's Cross x ISBF
Burton Bridge
Chin Chin
Durham
Elusive x ISBF
Five Towns x ISBF
Green Arches
Green Duck
Kernel
Lark Hill x ISBF
Mallinsons
Marble
North Riding x ISBF
Pictish
Redwillow
Runaway x ISBF
Strawflower
Torrside x ISBF
Wishbone
We'll have 4 draft & a selection of bottled Ciders all TBA, but all will be exceptional.
Also a small selection of exceptional Gins, well… I like Gin…
We’ll have the usual fabulous tunes from Mike & Jo's Rebellious Jukebox - the last few years have been filled with requests from Thursday Opening to Saturday closing!
On Friday & Saturday evenings we'll also have the beautiful guitar playing of George Fell - if you haven't heard him play, you really should. He's brilliant (a word I don't use lightly)
Chats :
On the Friday evening session, we plan to have a chat & tasting featuring 3 of this year's collab brews comparing and contrasting Cask with Keg versions of the same beers. Kindly hosted by Beer Writer & Author Laura Hadland, Co-Panelists will be Russ Clarke (Amity, Leeds), Andy Parker (Elusive, Finchampstead) & Mark Welsby (Runaway, Stockport).
Laura said some very kind things about ISBF in her current book “Beer Festivals”. (No. That’s YOU with something in your eye!) Go grab a copy (She might even bring some with her…..)
On the Saturday lunch session, we'll be having a chat/discussion with and regarding Independent Drinks retailers, generously hosted/led by Beer Writer & founder of the fabulous Pellicle magazine, Matt Curtis.
This is a subject that we are both passionate about and it is safe to say that without such outlets, ISBF would never have happened. Such outlets are fundamental to how Craft Beer is and has evolved and grown. This will feature a tasting of beers representative of the offering of each retailer.
Matt’s a long time supporter, friend & (via Pellicle) sponsor at this event. And has also said some lovely things about what we do here.
There will be a small charge for each of the above events (£5) payable on the relevant session.
On the Friday Lunch session, we'll also have a tasting of Beers from new local Brew Co, Tun Brewing - we've never had a tasting on Friday Afternoon at Hemsley, SO looking forward to that.
And HOW could I forget the LEGENDARY #ISBF Raffle? Nobody who has ever been to ISBF could possibly forget! LOADS OF BEERY PRIZES TO BE WON!!! At each and every session!
We're also going to try to have people from our partner Charity (START Inspiring Minds) at some of the sessions so you can get a further understanding of why they're so important and necessary.
They really are a fabulous organisation.
Have I missed something? Probably.
Most importantly - for those few of you who've never been…. The sessions are :
Thursday 6th November - 18:00 to 23:00
Friday 7th November - 11:30 to 16:30
Friday 7th November - 18:00 to 23:00
Saturday 8th November - 11:30 to 16:30
For these 4 sessions, tickets will cost £24 + booking fee.
Saturday 8th November - 18:00 to 23:00
Tickets for this session will cost £22 + booking fee. This session is slightly cheaper owing to the likelihood that not all beers on the eventual list will be available. That being said, experience from previous years indicates over 90% of the line up will still be pouring.
It's my favourite session!
So. Those tickets…..
Click this link….. Come and join us.