“Never been near a university
Never took a paper or a learning degree
And some of your friends think that's stupid of me
But it's nothing that I care about
Well, I don't know how to tell the weight of the sun
And of mathematics, well, I want none
And I may be the mayor of Simpleton
But I know one thing, and that's I love you++
When their logic grows cold and all thinking gets done
You'll be warm in the arms of the mayor of Simpleton….”
“The Mayor of Simpleton” - XTC
Why the song? Three reasons really.
For me, XTC were the greatest English band since The Kinks. Both had an innate English sensibility. Both - in their own ways - were overshadowed by other bands. Both wrote simply fabulous songs.
I've always been a simple soul (cue nods from all my friends) and crave simplicity in all I do. I've never been to university.. And I couldn't care less. It's almost like Andy Partridge wrote a song about me.
The song was the lead single from the album Oranges & Lemons. (If you know the hops we used in this brew, you'd get the link) Do yourselves a favour. Go listen to that album. And be entranced.
Mallinsons Brewery is where i go to understand what a hop should taste like.
Brewing SMASH Beers (Single Malt And Single Hop) long before they realised they actually were, the Pilsner malt that they use is a blank canvas that allows the chosen hop to shine.
Their single hop pales are as good as it gets.
I'm a very lucky soul. ISBF had given me back far more than I've ever put in. And one of those, is that I can call (as can The Boss) Tara Mallinson and Elaine Yendall friends.
That friendship means more than I could ever say, words indeed would fail me. So i won't try to bother.
The Cocktail Twins mean the world to us. And we’ll be heading over to H Town soon.
Safe to say, some of these brewdays have been very personal to me. This was one.
Jim x
As in some of the previous posts, it's been a pleasure to introduce some of The #ISBFFamily to the brewing process.
Today, we had (relative Huddersfield locals) Gavin & Chelsea. And Mark joined me from The Righteous side of The Pennines.
Safe to say, they enjoyed the day.
Words Gavin. Images Chelsea.
Lager.
The first time I learned about ISBF was chatting to another volunteer whilst manning the door at a now defunct beer festival back in 2018.
A few texts were sent and a little later that year, Chelsea and I were behind the bar on a Thursday evening at ISBF5, spending an enjoyable few hours serving the first wave of that weekend’s attendees.
We were back the following year pouring on a Friday afternoon and it’s a routine we’ve kept up ever since (and judging by the number of faces we recognise, we’re not the only ones with a well established routine).
But, as I said, lager.
The beer list for ISBF5 was, as always, superb, but my strongest memory of that festival is a lager brewed by Huddersfield’s Mallinsons.
It was everything you’d want in a beer: crisp, refreshing and really moreish. I also loved the approach of brewing a classic style really well, and letting the results speak for themselves. It’s how Mallinsons seem to approach all their beer, and their single hopped pales are a go-to for that reason.
As luck would have it, we now live 15 minutes up the road from Mallinsons. Less convenient for Salford, but more convenient for Citra and Centennial.
That meant we couldn’t pass up the chance to spend a morning behind the scenes brewing a beer for this year’s festival.
I will preface the next section by saying my brewing knowledge is derived solely from ISBF blog posts and being far too invested in beer Twitter at one stage.
I did, at least, bring some transferable skills from chicken keeping: 1) shovelling and 2) emptying sacks of grain.
Predictably, being 15 minutes up the road, we were last to arrive at the brewery and joined up with Jim and Mark who’d travelled across the Pennines.
I guess passport control was operating efficiently for once. (Or, I had “friends” on the border…. Ed)
We met Tara and Elaine, two thirds of team Mallinsons, and made a start. We emptied bags of lager malt into the hopper along with some oats and started mashing in.
While that all percolated, we got to the important business of prepping the hops, a mix of Amarillo and (by sheer coincidence, I assume) Jim’s favourite Centennial. (Coincidence? Bah hahaha…. Ed)
As first timers, brewing was a bit of a sensory overload for us, from the porridgey, bready smell of the grain, to the amazing aromas of the fresh hops, and the gradual shift in colour of the beer as it moves from vessel to vessel.
A really cool experience that will make me appreciate the efforts that go into good beer even more. I’d recommend any beer lover witnesses the brewing process at least once.
Good beer does not happen by accident, though. Elaine, like most incredibly skilled people, was self effacing but gently nudged the group to the correct decisions about hops. It’s always great watching someone at work who just “knows”.
While we waited for the boil, we got to digging out the mash tun to feed some lucky cows.
I eat a lot of porridge so digging a shovel into a massive container of cooked grains came pretty naturally. I just had to remember to chuck them in the tub rather than my gaping maw.
Halfway through Chelsea took over, her 5’2” frame ideally suited to working in confined spaces. I’m pretty sure such working practices have not been seen in Huddersfield since the early 19th century. Simpler times. (No Kiwis were harmed in the making of this beer.)
It was soon time to add the hops to the boil - a 50/50 blend of Centennial and Amarillo for the first two additions but the final at flame out included some bonus Centennial (waste not, want not!). It was all smelling incredible at this point, and we all spent a bit longer than necessary over the kettle enjoying the steam. My skin has never felt so good.
With that all done, it was time to clean everything down before transferring the brew to the Little Master for the yeast to be added and fermentation to begin. In a few short weeks, we will all be enjoying a 5% (ish!) pale full of citrus notes and that trademark Mallinsons dryness. I suspect I may have a couple, and hope you will too. As of writing there are still tickets for the Saturday evening session so it’s not too late to be there.
Finally, a huge thank you to Mallinsons for having us, and for continuing to brew such excellent beer. No hype, no fuss, just consistently ace beers. Exactly as it should be.
Jim again - Huge thanks to Gavin and Chelsea for their efforts - not only on the day, but also with this lovely webpost! Big thanks also to Mark for all his sterling efforts on the day too - and his most excellent company in some lovely Hudderfield Hostelries afterwards! But - most of all - to the lovely Cocktail Twins, Tara & Elaine the loveliest of double acts. For having us over, for pandering to my hop obsessions and for using all their previous experience in Education to teach us all something about the brewing process.
So. What have we got coming - uniquely - to ISBF for you? A Cask hopped special. A 5.1% abv Pale Ale, hopped with Amarillo & Centennial for the whole Oranges & Lemons experience.
“The Gospel According to St Clem”
I can’t wait!
Back soon. 1 more brewday to post and then…..the week of the event…..The Beer List. And it’s rather special.
Be kind to one another.
Jim x