An Introduction To Natural Wine

Here at Kraft Werks we’ve discovered a new love for Natural Wine, but we’ve also found there’s a lot to learn so here we are going to give you an introduction into this fascinating world.

Natural Wine isn’t simply a beverage but a culture that is defined by the wine it produces and how it’s produced. This is because natural wine growing and winemaking are practices that require an intimate understanding of the sensitivity of local terrain and climate as well as local social and economic conditions. Most vignerons (those who produce wine from grapes they have grown themselves) tend to not adhere to a standard rulebook for natural winemaking but generally work on the principle of “I’ll know it when I see it”.

Natural wine has gained significant popularity in recent years, as people become more interested in sustainable agriculture and artisanal production methods. Unlike conventional wines, natural wines are made using minimal intervention and without the use of synthetic chemicals, additives, or artificial yeasts. The result is a wine that is as close to the natural product of fermentation as possible.

At its core, natural wine is all about the grapes. The grapes are grown using organic or biodynamic farming methods, which means that the vineyards are managed in a way that is sustainable and respectful of the natural environment. This includes avoiding the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and using natural treatments such as compost and cover crops to nourish the soil. This varies vastly to commercial vineyards where wine production has become dominated by synthetic chemical treatments and fertilizers used to boost grape yields but these also destabilise a vineyard's biodynamics. Pesticides and herbicides used on grapes devastate surrounding wildlife and also find their way into wines and in turn our bodies. In time these treatments impoverish soils which leads to farmers using even more synthetic chemical treatments to maintain yields. This is a vicious cycle that natural wine vignerons are aiming to break.

Once the grapes are harvested, which is nearly always done by hand, they are allowed to ferment using only the natural yeasts that are present on the grape skins and in the winery. This is a crucial step, as the natural yeasts give the wine its unique flavour and aroma profile. Unlike conventional winemaking, where commercial yeasts are added to the wine, natural winemakers allow the fermentation to occur spontaneously, which can take longer but results in a more complex and nuanced wine.

Natural winemakers also avoid the use of additives such as sulphur dioxide, which is commonly used as a preservative in conventional winemaking. Instead, they rely on careful handling and bottling techniques to ensure that the wine is stable and free from spoilage.

Natural wine allows you to taste the unique terroir of the vineyard, including the environmental factors, such as soil, climate, and topography that influence the flavour and character of the wine. By using minimal intervention, natural winemakers allow the terroir to shine through, resulting in a wine that is expressive and reflective of its place of origin.

Natural wine can be challenging to define, as there are no strict regulations governing its production. However, it is generally accepted that natural wine should be made using organic or biodynamic grapes, with minimal intervention during the winemaking process. The result is a wine that is vibrant, alive, and full of character.

We’ve quickly become fascinated by the world of Natural Wine as we’ve delved into it. The sheer diversity of every wine we’ve tried so far, from single grape Whites all the way up to Pét Nat Reds and earthy, skin-contact Oranges has kept us unable to wait to try the next.

We’re excited to continue our journey into this world and we urge you to give it a go too, there’s a plethora of fascinating and fantastic wines out there to try and once you start we’re sure you’ll be just as enamoured as us.

The History Of Christmas Beer

There’s many drink types and styles that have become synonymous with Christmas, be it Red Wine, Mulled Wine or Cider or even (dare we say it) Bucksfizz, but the original alcoholic compliment to the festive season was beer.

There is of course plenty of Christmas beer out there to choose from, usually invoking thoughts of rich, dark, spiced, malty beers high in ABV so while you’re tucking into one of these beauties let us delve into the origins of them.  

These beers would have been brewed as far back as the druids to keep them warm in the colder months but the traditions surrounding beer came became prevalent was with the Roman Pagans when they celebrated Saturnalia. Saturn was the god of agriculture and many traditions were formed that are still practised today, from hanging wreaths, burning candles, giving gifts, huge feasts and, of course, lots of beer. Many Christmas beers have been named after this holiday.

As Christianity spread across Europe many different cultures had various versions of these dark beers and their importance grew. In 920AD King Haakon of Norway even made it law that all people in his country had to brew a Christmas beer or be served with a fine, fail to brew a beer 3 years in a row and you’d lose everything you owned. It’s safe to say people had definitely gotten serious about their Christmas brewing!

Over the following centuries the Christian faith leaned heavily on these original festivals to recruit people, what better way to pique someone’s interest than with the promise of big boozy parties after all? As a result these annual beers started being brewed in monasteries across Europe.

Belgian monks were already well versed with brewing beers for sale but they were only brewing one type of beer, a low ABV “everyday” beer which was low in strength and flavour. At the same time British and particularly Scottish beer was becoming more and more popular and was starting to be exported to the continent. These Scotch Ales were darker, fuller in flavour and much stronger in ABV.

These beers were repackaged as “Christmas Scotch Ales” and with a bit of time the Belgian’s started to create their own versions of these big, dark, strong ales for the festive period and the Christmas beer that we know today was born.  

The Christmas beer style isn’t restricted like other styles and can be whatever the brewer finds to be festive which can be anything from heavily spiced sticky Barleywine-esque brews to mega dark Trappist Ales.

So whether you’re tucking into a St Bernadus Noel or a Hacker Pshorr Festbier this 25th of December cheers from us at Kraft Werks, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hop Dipping - The Next Big Thing In The IPA World?

With the craft beer scene seemingly endlessly determined to find new hop variants to play with and new ways to introduce them to beers – think mash hopping, first wort hopping, adding hops in the boil, dry hopping, double dry hopping, adding hops during active fermentation, whirlpool hopping, etc – it’s easy for interest in all these techniques to become a little diluted when a new one comes along. 

But once we tried our first dip hopped IPA recently, from the fantastic RedWillow Brewery, our attentions have been firmly drawn to this not exactly new but, on these shores anyway, very underused hopping technique. So we’re going to delve a little more into where it came from, how it’s being used and what results brewers are seeing in their beers.

Dip hopping is essentially adding hops at a different time in the brewing process. Hops are steeped in hot water for roughly an hour and then cooled wort is added. This is prior to any yeast being added or fermentation beginning. The hour the hops sit in their almost hop tea state boils off myrcene, a hop oil known for its powerful aroma that can dominate other flavours and aromas in hops. This allows other hop oils to come to the fore and introduce new profiles to well used hops.

The technique was first implemented by the craft arm of Japanese brewing powerhouse, Kirin, called Spring Valley. They used the dip hopping method on several of their beers but little attention was paid at the time mainly down to the fact that the craft beer world was at the same time becoming obsessed with double dry-hopping everything in sight. But in 2012 American brewery, Gigantic Brewing, paid Tokyo a visit and visited Spring Valley where they were blown away by their pale ale “496”. Although hopped with the familiar addition of Apollo it had a wonderful hop character. Once they discovered this was from hop dipping they took the technique back home and began experimenting and it has been slowly spreading across America ever since.

The technique is leading brewers to brew wonderfully aromatic IPAs with interesting new hop characters. If the second half of the last decade was dominated by brewers embracing double dry hopping, there remains the possibility that the future of extracting the desired hop could be dip hopping and we’re excited to see what that has in store.

The Adventures of Indy Man 2022

The wait was finally over. After a hiatus of three years (it is hard to believe that the last time we set foot in the sunken pools of Victoria Baths was 2019), Indy Man was back! Four days of frivolity and some of the finest beers the UK and the rest of the world has to offer.

Let us first set the scene. Victoria Baths, just off Hathersage Road in Manchester, is an absolutely wonderful building. It has been called as the “most splendid bathing institution in the country”. You could call it the home to the “most splendid beer institution in the country” when Indy Man comes around each year.

* * *

The sense of anticipation in the queue wrapping around the outskirts of the iconic Indy Man building was almost tangible. It was a Friday morning when me (Josh) & Ben arrived in Manchester for the start of the 11am session, and the queue was already 150 people long. A buzz of chatter from attendees who had already downloaded the nifty little app IMBC had provided pointed us towards a couple of special beers that we wanted to check off first, mainly Sierra Nevada’s cold-chain cask ales.

Yes, you heard it right. Sierra Nevada, one of the world's largest independently owned breweries, famed for their style-defining Pale Ale, flew all the way over from California with three incredibly special versions. Chinook, Crystal & Cascade hopped versions of Pale Ale were all poured via hand pull, and we managed to taste all three. Crystal was the pick of the bunch. It was hopped to perfection, with a classic English cask Pale Ale bitterness and a malt backbone to die for. It was probably worth going all that way for this beer alone. What a great way to start the day.

Just across the emptied pool, we spotted a lonely figure with an instantly recognisable 3 Fonteinen t-shirt on. Generally, all the stalls and stands the breweries have set up are adorned with their branding, but here was a wooden bench with two open bottles in Lambic baskets. As understated as it looked, pouring out of these bottles were the 21/22 Cuvee Armand & Gaston and a rare 20/21 Zenne y Frontera Gueuze. The Cuvee Armand & Gaston is up there with one of the best Gueuze’s out there, and even more poignant to bear the name Armand after the death of ‘Grandfather Gueuze’, Armand Debelder earlier this year.

We also caught up with Dann & Martha from Saint Mars of the Desert. If any of you were here for the tap takeover and meet the brewer evening they hosted at Kraft Werks, you will know what lovely people they are. Crumbling Splendour was a beer we sampled from Saint Mars that had been made in conjunction with IMBC & Wild Beer, and it had been a long time in the making. Brewing started in June and various different yeast and bacteria strains, lovingly cultured by Martha herself, combine to make a dark Flanders Red style ale without the acetic kick. It is one we loved and can’t wait to have on keg here at Kraft Werks.

From there we squirrelled ourselves away in the Turkish Baths area of the event, it was there we found that Thornbridge had made an indoor oasis. It was here we found the unsuspected beers of the festival. A lot of you know Thornbridge for Jaipur, and why not. It’s probably the most recognisable cask ale in the UK, but their small batch brews are not something to be overlooked.

Necessary Evil is an Imperial Stout Thornbridge brew from time to time, and we got a chance to try the newest barrel-aged releases. Bourbon & Triple Sec were the order of the day, with the Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels just edging it on the day. The beer was delicately kissed by the barrel, giving all the sweet vanilla and oak flavours without overpowering the chocolate and roasty malts from the base Imperial Stout. It could also have been the meat raffle they were hosting in that very room that swayed it, but we’ll never know…

Throughout every session, there were special talks by brewers that were there for the week. We managed to scoop tickets for Kirkstall Brewery’s The Randonneur Triple Crown tasting event. On offer were three of the Leeds-based brewery’s rarest beers, The Rando, Grand Rando & BA Grand Rando, all based around a classic Belgian Blonde brewed with a Westamalle yeast strain. The Rando was crisp, light and dangerously drinkable, and the brewers talked about their love for old Belgian styles and bringing them to the forefront of British brewing. Grand Rando was loosely based on Westmalle’s Tripel, with modern hop HBC 630 & Brambling cross. What a Tripel that was, perfect at 9.0%. The final and best beer we got to sample was the BA Grand Rando, aged in Chardonnay barrels. The bright and vibrant barrel married beautifully with the sweet fruit, banana and berry undertones.

The great thing about Indy Man is catching up with people within the industry or you who pop into Kraft Werks and enjoy great beer here.  We saw a good few of our regulars at the session we were at, and are sure that many more of you were up there over the four days. Conversations were had with new breweries like Sureshot & Lakes Brew Co, and rest assured you will be seeing these pouring on draught or chilling in our fridges soon.

All in all, Indy Man is a haven for great beer. Set in an idyllic building, showcasing the best the UK and the world of beer have to offer. Now we’ve had a taste of it again, we will not be able to wait more than 12 months for the next one…

Josh Smith

Kraft Werks

(Photography by Josh Smith & Ben Guesford)

Just The Beer Light To Guide Us

The chiming of forklift trucks and the general furore of day-to-day work has become synonymous with industrial estate taprooms, almost like the chirping of birdsong in a country pub. However, outside of working hours, these beery oases offer those who seek or stumble across them solace in fantastic beer in a setting out of the norm in a city centre.

 Their heyday started over in America, slightly out-of-town industrial areas were the perfect place to start up a brewery. More space for less money was key, giving these breweries a blank canvas to create their identity. Since then, this model has been repeated over on these shores, to great effect in old industrial cities such as London, Manchester & Birmingham.

 As the light is fading and the ripples of conversation, music and laughter permeate the air outside the giant hangar doors, it entices you and draws you in. Like a moth to a flame, it piques your interest. An oasis of beer.

***

Emblazoned above the bar at Liquid Light’s brewery and taproom you will find the lyrics to one of David Bowie’s most famous songs. Backlit in a muted psychedelic script it possesses a mantra-like feel, as where you are stood when you see this music and beer could not be more intrinsically linked.

“Music was my first true love,” says Thom Stone, founder & head brewer of Liquid Light. “It was all around me as a kid. My father played guitar and I was brought up listening to Led Zepplin, The Beatles, Rolling Stones and acoustic stuff like Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. So it has always been a big part of my life.”

Thom’s love for beer and brewing came about in 2014 by stumbling upon a vintage cider apple tree on a farm whilst being a joiner at a workshop. The apples were going to waste, so they were collected and a batch of cider was made. “It made me realise how easy it was to make alcohol! Naturally, I prefer beer to cider, so I listened to a few podcasts and jumped in head first to brew beer.” Thom looks back fondly on his first beer, which he says came out really well, a single hop Simcoe IPA with US-05 yeast, a recipe that he made himself on a homemade kit.

This experiment turned out to be what Thom wanted to do as a career, but the only way to gain experience in the brewing industry was to volunteer for free at local breweries as there was no way for him to get the relevant funding qualifications after finishing university.

“…and then it was little old us lifting the trophy on Sunday in a full main room at Indy Man.”

“An opportunity came about after meeting Rob from Totally Brewed at the Robin Hood Beer Festival. His volunteer assistant had just left so in January the following year I applied for that. I stayed there for 2 ½ years and learned the trade.” From there Thom took the plunge and started brewing under the Liquid Light name from home. “I was at the time asking everyone for a spot to cuckoo brew, it was a chance meeting with Gavin (Magpie Brewery) at the opening of the Overdraught at Canning Circus in 2018 where he said he had a spare tank in the corner for us to brew out of.”

And from that point forward Liquid Light blossomed. They gained a cult following in the local and national Craft Beer scene, somewhat heightened by their victory at the Indy Man Beer Con’s 2018 Thirsty Games. “That was huge” Thom says, “It was a massive confidence boost for us. Generally, you can go off Untappd ratings, but that isn’t the best metric. We were up against Yonder & Donzoko, who have gone on to do great things, and then it was little old us lifting the trophy on Sunday in a full main room at Indy Man.”

“Going to other taprooms in the past, I like to sit down with a flight of their beer looking at the kit it was brewed on. That’s the kick of a proper taproom for me.”

An 1800L fermenter was bought so the brews could be split between keg/cask/can, however, they were still limited to one to two beers a month. What would play out over the next couple of years would change the course of Liquid Light seismically. The search was on for a place to call their own. A proper brewery tap has always been in the ethos for Thom and Liquid Light. “Going to other taprooms in the past, I like to sit down with a flight of their beer looking at the kit it was brewed on. That’s the kick of a proper taproom for me.”

Unfortunately, it is now time for me to mention the most unpopular acronym of this decade, COVID. Going into 2020 the search for a place to call home had come to an end. A small industrial estate on the outskirts of Sneinton was the perfect place to channel the boundless creative energy which usually was only channelled into the beers themselves. Plans to move were put on hold, and this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Unexpected shipping costs on their brand-new kit due to the pandemic put everything further on hold. “If we had held the manufacturing company to their initial quote, they would have made a huge loss on the build, so we split the difference. Our next kit will come from the same manufacturers, so it is important for me to build relationships and not burn bridges.”

“I cried… I was massively overwhelmed by it. Never in a million years did I suspect it to go that well.”

This is when Liquid Light’s now infamous crowdfunding came about. A total of over £24,000 was raised over a period of just 14 days, which is pretty astronomical, and you can tell by the way Thom talks about this he is deeply touched by everyone who contributed. “I cried,” says Thom, “I was massively overwhelmed by it. Never in a million years did I expect it to go that well. It was incredible, we’ve got such a great loyal fanbase that has helped us through the difficult times and continue to support us.” It was from these generous proceeds that Thom was able to create the amazing space that is now the Liquid Light Brewing Co. taproom.

Unit 9 at Robin Hood industrial estate has been transformed into a psychedelic, vintage 1970’s mood board full of lava lamps, indoor plants, and old Jentique-style furniture. A huge Liquid Light mural adorns the wall looking away from the bar, and its sprawling rainbow waves reach out to the far corners of the taproom, connecting all aspects of the brewery. It feels like home, and that is something that Thom wanted to express. “Creating the environment is almost as important as the beer we serve… we want you to feel as though you are in our heads, drinking the freshest beer you can possibly get. We want you to feel part of the process.”

“I have done my Nirvana beers now, they’re one of my favourite bands and I’m happy that I have been able to do this..”

Their ambition is also making its way into their beers, with the release of only their second Double IPA last week. “Over the past few years, we have promoted ourselves as a Session Brewery, packing in as much flavour and mouthfeel into our bees as possible.” ‘Entertain Us’ is a departure from this, clocking in at 9.3% and full of oats and a myriad of hops. It is the last in the unofficial ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ series of beers, with ‘With The Lights Out’, ‘Less Dangerous’ and ‘Here we are now preceding the new DIPA. Thom is happy with this quartet, saying “I have done my Nirvana beers now, they’re one of my favourite bands and I’m happy that I have been able to do this. I can kind of see these coming back as recurring seasonal beers.”

 Another thing that is great about the new DIPA is that during Liquid Light’s second crowdfunding, there was an opportunity to help brew it with Thom and the team. The names of all of those who helped are on the newly released can. This is just one way that Thom is giving back to people who have supported him along the way.

This leads me back to the somewhat abstract interlude at the start of the article. On the surface, an industrial estate isn’t very inviting. Hastily erected structures of corrugated sheet metal on a disused brownfield site don’t exactly sit at the top of the list of destinations. However, when you take the vision and quality of product that Liquid light has, location no longer becomes important. You become immersed in the experience, like stumbling across an oasis of beer.  

Josh Smith

Kraft Werks

(Photography by Alexa Hawksworth)

The Phoenix of Nottingham

Nottingham means a lot to many people. The name itself conjures up men in tights and consecutive European Cup victories. But to Philip Darby, co-owner of Nottingham Brewery, it means so much more.

I’m down at Nottingham Brewery on an overcast April Monday morning. However, the weather is having no dampening effect on the enthusiasm and buzz emanating from the brewery. A fresh brew of Legend, their traditional amber Bitter, is in the tanks and the sweet smell of hot liquor and English hops permeate the air.

“We always wanted to bring a brewery back to Nottingham” says Phil, a man bursting at the seams with a seemingly endless knowledge of the UK brewing scene. This is because this isn’t his first rodeo. Phil and the other co-owner of Nottingham Brewery, Niven, also played their part in the formation of Castle Rock, which itself was a merger between Bramcote Brewery (which Phil & Niven set up) & Tynemill. After the sale of Castle Rock to Tynemill, Phil & Niven moved to The Plough in Radford and set up Nottingham Brewery.

Nottingham Brewery name has a rich history dating back to the mid 1800’s, where it was built on Mansfield Road behind the beautiful Watson Fothergill designed Rose of England pub. This is all that remains of the brewery to this day, with the grandeur of the building giving you a glimpse of its previous tenant’s stature.

The old Nottingham Brewery at its peak boasted over 160 public houses, and its popularity spread countrywide thanks to the opening of the Nottingham Victoria Railway Station just yards away. A network of caves beneath the brewery allowed the beer to be rolled straight onto the carriages, and ‘Rock Ales’ & ‘Maltanop’ beers received national & international acclaim. Although, what they did not foresee, along with many other breweries in the post war era, was a pitch shift in the beer market. With the rise of large commercial breweries and the increasing popularity of mass-produced lagers, Nottingham Brewery’s market share dwindled to the point of no-return in the 1960’s when it was bought out by Whitbread PLC.

At this point, the brewery’s name and rights were deemed lost, were it not for a chance visit to Companies House in 2000. “When we moved to The Plough [after selling Castle Rock to Tynemill], we had no intention of calling the brewery Nottingham Brewery, as we thought the name was still owned by Whitbread. It was by pure coincidence that Whitbread had just sold to Interbrew, where they relinquished all the rights.” A beautiful coincidence it was, as with that they had access to many of the heritage recipes that made the original Nottingham Brewery famous all those years ago.

“I’d love to say it was business acumen, but it was just coincidence. We were going to call ourselves ‘Seven Stars Brewery’, we had the designs, pump clips and all manner of things ready. On a whim, I went to Companies House, and sure enough, it was all there… we ended up getting the name of the brewery and all these recipes for around £250!”

From that moment on it was all systems go. They acquired a kit from an old Ford & Firkin pub in Romford, which Phil describes as “completely over-engineered”. “It was made in the 80s when there was a lot of money floating around and going into smaller breweries.” The kit was installed in an outbuilding attached to The Plough, and this is been the site of some of the best cask ale to be produced in Nottingham ever since.

Phil & Niven adopted the old branding for the pump clips, including the ‘Rock Ales’ and ‘Maltanop’ trademarks. They currently have 10 beers that they regularly make, including a few seasonal and one-off brews throughout the year. However, the brewery has been through the mill over the past 2 years. It is hard to go and chat to somebody about their business in this day and age without mentioning the dreaded COVID-19.

“The past 2 years have been very difficult; I cannot stress how hard it was. We’re still paying for it now, and will be for the foreseeable…” says Phil, “If you were trying to write a nightmare, this was it. At one stage it felt like we were only days from going under. You only have to look at the SIBA list to see how many unfortunately didn’t make it.” The effects are seen even further in the fact that they are selling the land at the back of The Plough to fund a proposed brewery move over to a unit on Ilkeston Road.

Phil is never one to brag, but his enthusiasm for his craft shines through. Every single beer they regularly brew has won a CAMRA award of some sort, with Rock Mild (my favourite of the lot) getting to the final tastings of the ‘Champion Beer Of Britain’ more times than any other beer. Another anecdote Phil comes out with is that Sat Bains considers his EPA to be the best bottled beer in the world. However, the way Phil talks about how his beer is received at his pub speaks volumes about him as a person and the company as a whole. “I have always maintained that the best award you can get is to stand next to someone at the bar, with them coming back for another pint of your beer and say ‘that was the best beer I have ever tasted’… well that’s music to my ears.”

If you have never been to The Plough, I implore you to make time to go, after all now is the time to support local independent breweries. You will not find a better conditioned pint of cask ale. It sits in the ex-industrial heart of Radford, where it has been a public house since 1794. The earliest deed for the building lists it as a ‘tavern, engine house and piggery’. “We call the little snug over there The Piggery” jokes Phil.  When I asked him about the secret to what makes their beer so good, he smiles and leads us down to the cellar. The cellar is situated directly below the bar, perfect for keeping the condition of the beer just right with short beer lines and regularly flowing beer.

The term that stuck in discussions about beer and Nottingham Brewery, is that Phil describes his beer as real beer. And to serve real beer, you need a real pub, which The Plough definitely is. It still has its original layout, with a terrazzo tiled taproom and carpeted lounge with hanging lights and the two-sided bar right in the middle. “It is steeped in history,” says Phil, “Alan Sillitoe used to drink here, his brother still lives just up the road. It has been part of Radford’s history for centuries.”

Glimpses of this still exist in the form of a hastily filled hole in front of the fireplace. “The dartboard used to be above the fireplace, and the workers used to stand there in their hobnail boots, you can still see the hole in the floor where the darts bounced out.” Shutters at the end of the bar depict a bygone era where two bottles of stout were placed on the bar every evening for the local policeman doing their rounds. But with all this in mind, it never ceases to amaze Phil how many younger drinkers flock through the doors of The Plough.

 “You have to appeal to everyone these days, as sadly people my age are dying out. The great thing is the younger drinkers come in for what we are offering.” Phil isn’t wrong, as both Nottingham Trent and the University of Nottingham’s brewing societies use The Plough for their committee meetings and use their kit for brew days. It is this mixture of tradition and progression that encapsulates the pub perfectly. By Phil’s own admission, Nottingham Brewery could be called out for being too traditional. However, in my view, we need pubs like this. We need breweries that are fiercely protective and proud of the beer they produce and do not have to follow the latest craze or trend. I pitched it to Phil that we were in the middle of a ‘Mild Revival’, as more and more ‘craft’ breweries are producing old-style traditional Milds. “We’ve been brewing Rock Mild ever since we opened, so it’s always been in revival here!” quips Phil.

Call it a love affair with Nottingham Brewery and The Plough, but I really do think we need to cherish places like this. More and more licensed venues are opening up, but you cannot build a place like The Plough. Places like this are shaped by the people and the communities that surround them to give them an undeniable sense of self and place. The Plough is The Plough, and it is here to stay. Nottingham Brewery may move up the road to another site, but it is the bricks and mortar where the beer is sold that adds the sparkle. Nottingham Brewery advises you to not use a sparkler when serving their beer, maybe this is why.

Josh Smith

Kraft Werks

(Photography by Alexa Hawksworth)

Beer on the move and out to customers.

What a crazy 4 weeks it’s been!  Here at Kraft Werks we’ve had to rapidly adapt to the seemingly daily changing situation, to continue to sell all you folk great beer.
 
On Friday 20th March, when the news broke, we knew it was coming, but when it finally happened it still felt a shock. Kraft Werks, like thousands of bars and pubs up and down the country, was instructed close up and the last beer was poured. Over the weekend we were still able to sell take out beers from the Kraft Werks beer shop. But then on the Monday the Government advised all non-essential shops were to close immediately, so we shut the doors.
 
That same Monday, we had an emergency meeting and got our heads together to think how we could continue to get beer out to our customers, so decided on a rapid plan to build our ecommerce shop to kick-start a local beer delivery service. Then, on the Wednesday the Government changed tact and deemed off Licenses/Kraft Werks beer shop was essential business and we could re-open the beer shop, phew!
 
To just throw open the doors again to customers just didn’t sit right with us, what with browsing, touching products, chiller doors and till points, even with one in one out. So as we had worked through 2 nights to create the web-shop we thought the stay safest option would be to run as an eCommerce pre-order click and collect and we’ll pack your beer bag and leave it for you to collect.
 
However, we still knew many of our customers were self-isolating, rightly restricting trips out from the house, or simply too far away to use our collection service and we really wanted to get our delivery service running. After what seemed an age negotiating and pleading with Nottingham alcohol licensing department, a week later we were given the go-ahead to run our same-day delivery service and it’s been great to get out and drop those much-needed bags and boxes of beer to you!
 
I must also thank the team and thank you for every single order, with no help as yet from the Government for our small business despite all the promises and fanfare, we’re just happy we can continue to get great beer out to you all!

Now let’s talk about beer:

Cask your mind back…

Cask Ale was nice wasn’t it, can you remember that stuff?
 
Here we’ve been missing draught beer like crazy, and the weather has been making it even worse. Those first few warm nights of spring after the clocks go forward signal the changing of the seasons, that we’ve left winter and we can now look forward to the summer sprawling out ahead of us. Usually, this realisation hits us in a beer garden, slinging back a well-conditioned cask ale. The Easter Bank Holiday just gone would be the perfect opportunity to sling back a few pints, but alas, for the greater good we are all staying indoors. So we’re here to put in your hand some of the best local craft beer and cask bag-in-box that we can get our freshly washed hands on.

We’ve been close with our friends at Black Iris for many years and we like supporting good, kind minded businesses. Totally Brewed have been selling beer direct from the brewery since the lockdown started, and we wanted to support with their deliveries and getting their cask products out there as well. Recently we have been stocking up on Neon Raptor (who have since shut down their brewery), Liquid light, Black Iris and Totally Brewed cans which can be purchased on our online store, for click and collect or local delivery.

So by supporting Kraft Werks in this difficult time, you are also supporting your favourite local breweries. All Bag-in-Box offerings will be online weekly for deliveries over the weekend. Perfect for backyard suppin’, they last around 7 days, so even the 10L ones don’t seem too daunting.

New Loyalty system coming soon!

With moving over to our new eCommerce site, we’ve not forgotten about your Kraft Werks customer loyalty, after all, it is you guys who are keeping us going at this challenging time. So we are on the brink of rolling out our new, updated loyalty scheme, which allows you to top up your EXISTING points earned before all sales switched online, and we’re pleased to say with our new improved loyalty you’ll be able to do so in £1 increments.

An email will be sent to you soon so just follow the instructions to quickly setup your online new Kraft Werks loyalty account. There you’ll see your balance, all your previous orders on the new website.
 
We just kindly ask to save points through the lockdown and we are hopefully back up and running when this is all over. We’re sure you appreciate these aren’t the easiest times, so thank you for holding off cashing loyalty for now.
 Thank's for reading! Let's raise a glass to good health, and in thanks to all the key workers pulling together during this crisis. 

Os, Josh & James

Cloudwater Friends & Family Review, German Beers & a Cloudwater public health announcement!

Welcome to February’s edition of the brewsletter! As March is only a few days around the corner, and the evenings are getting a little longer, we can hazard a look towards the spring.

Beer Festival season is now upon us with Cloudwater’s Friends & Family kicking everything off last weekend, and our travelling tipple taster James went along to a very interesting Industry expo to learn about what the industry has in store for 2020. Oh yeah, and it would be rude for him not to go to the opening session (with unlimited pours!). We also take a look at the prominence of so called ‘Gypsy’ or ‘Cuckoo’ brewing in the ever growing beer scene across the globe, how Cloudwater are championing their customer's health, and we’ll give you a sneak peak as to what stock has come in over the past few days!

Friends & Family & Beer Festival 2020, and Industry Expo

Friends and Family is Cloudwater's premier Beer Festival, hosting a mouth-watering line up with many of the world’s best breweries. This year also included a trade Industry Expo under the title "Craft Beer For Change". So we send our roving reporter James McKeown up for the day, here’s what James had to say:

Starting with the industry talks in the morning then following up with the public festival in the afternoon, the day was packed full of world class breweries and rare beer beers. One of the trade talks big themes was inclusivity which was felt was an important discussion piece and as much as we love craft beer diversity is seriously lacking. Another panel discussion was on the future of IPA’s amid the “haze NEIPA craze” we’re all seeing. The final talk of the industry expo expanded on these concerns of equality and fairness in the world of craft beer. Discussing ideas for expanding inclusivity and diversity, it was agreed craft beer could be  more welcoming to racial diversity and the LGBTQ community. With some great input from the Queer Brewing Project.

After the Industry Expo I was ready for a beer and the first session started at 6:30pm. This was a world class showing by world class brewers, many of whose taps never had queues less than 20 or more people. Breweries such as Trillium, Deya, Track, Basqueland, JW Lees, Kernel, Evil Twin, Omnipollo, and obviously being in Manchester, Cloudwater had their beers to present.  With some absolutely amazing beers including Chubbles Cloudwaters Triple IPA. However, I tried to break out of my usual hop focused beers and try the full gamut that beer offers, from Imperial stouts,  Schwatzbiers to light lagers and mixed Fermented Sours.  But for me a stand out beer of the day was Sour farmhouse hoppy ale by the American Sour master Jester King and Green Bench Brewing’s brilliant fruit mead. 

On my return Os & Josh asked me “so what was your best  beer” and the look of bemusement when I told then it wasn’t a beer but Green Benches fruit mead! All in all it was an amazing day, learning a lot about the wider craft beer industry while also sampling some of the best beers out there!James 

Cloudwater on the ever increasing ABV debate

In a not-too-distant past, beer was brown, and it had to be around 4%. Now in the wonderful halcyon days of beers that are 'dank' 'murky' and bursting with juice, certain people have started to realise the steady rise in the alcoholic content that seems to be proportionate to these flavours arising. Certainly the addition of better quality ingredients and increased craftsmanship when brewing can mask the 'boozy' tastes, but since tasting Chubbles, Cloudwater's annual collaboration with The Veil (a Triple IPA weighing in at 10%), it really made me take a step back and think. Don't get me wrong, it tasted fantastic, ripe stone fruits and mango with a thick, luscious body. But not a hint of booze. None at all. It is definitely sorcery to make a beer of that high percentage taste like something that has come straight out of a carton, but how far can brewers push that? And how much can we as consumers take before we're knocking back 440mL cans of 10% beer without breaking a sweat?

Ironically, just a few weeks before its release, Cloudwater released a blog post outlining how the industry standard has changed from pre 2000 4% bitter, to currently 6.5-7.5% IPA's, 8.5+% DIPA's and 10+% Imperial beers. Their worry is 'that modern drinkers faced with the ABVs creeping higher, with small batch innovation steering drinkers towards stronger beers, are at risk of adverse long-term effects there's no worldwide precedent for'. And they continue to say by lowering the ABV across their whole range by 0.5% for 2020, that an average person drinking the same amount as last year could end up consuming 10% less ethanol throughout the year. Scary when its put in terms of ethanol, isn't it...

Being the forward thinking, people loving brewery Cloudwater are, our health is at the forefront of their minds. So watch out in the next few months, many other breweries could follow in their footsteps. But let us keep the hazy, juicy, dank, piney, murky goodness!

Cuckoo/Gypsy/Nomadic Brewing
'Gypsy' or 'Cuckoo' brewing is a style of brewing whereby the brewer does not own a commercial sized brewing kit, they merely 'rent' a large commercial kit to brew a special one off batch of a certain beer. This phenomenon was thrust into the limelight in the mid-to-late 2000's when the likes of Mikkeller, Evil Twin and To øl were smashing the beer scene out of the park with their experimental style of brewing. Since then Omnipollo has joined the ranks of being an 'elite' nomadic brewer. It is worth noting that this is a very cost effective way to start up a business venture as a brewer, and a great way to earn experience in the brewing world without having to lay down the initial cost of setting up a commercial size kit. Local breweries such as Neon Raptor and Liquid Light both started this way, in fact Liquid Light are still brewing out of Magpie Brewery as we speak!

However, as always, there are slight drawbacks to this method. Each brewery has a slightly different setup, a setup that compliments the brewery's style and core values, and compliments the head brewer and the way they want to brew. so therefore it is always hard to tinker with recipes and hone down a core range. That is why we have seen in the past 15 years, most of the original gypsy brewers have settled down into more permanent residences. Mikkeller was the first to do this in 2013, establishing a larger brewery in San Diego, USA whilst still using many breweries across europe. More recently To øl have designed 'To øl City', a huge development of warehouses in Denmark to brew all their recipes in house, and Evil Twin have aquired their first home brewery in Queen's NY, and its definitely on the beer tourist's list of things to do in New York!

Finally the last of the true Gypsy Brewers Omnipollo have settled down in ther hometown of Stockholm, in a wonderfully refurbished church to house their weird and wonderful recipes. so look out in the future for more of that stuff coming up! If you were here to try the AON Glenmorangie Barrel Aged Imperial Stout we had on tap last weekend, you should know what we are talking about!

Stock Update
"Enough of the essay's, where's the beer!" we hear you say! Well we've had a good few weeks stocking the fridges back up after January, including this weeks drop of lager and other German Styles! Lagers, Pilsner's Dunkel's and Doppelbocks were all dropped in this week! Kloster Andechs are a noteworthy addition to the fridges with their Spezial, Helles & Wheat Beer. Prost!

Our mates from up the road, Brew York, dropped in yesterday as well, arms full of their latest wares and we've got to say, they look and taste great! Everything from a dank and juicy NEIPA, Juice Campbell, to a lip-puckeringly tart Gooseberry sour to keep us all busy for the next few weeks, with a hazy DDH pale thrown in there for good measure!

Thanks to all of you that have been to Kraft Werks this past month, and those of you that are planning to come and see us this month, we look forward to seeing you! 

We have a couple of tap takeover's in the pipeline, but if any of you have an idea, feel free to let us know!

Happy drinking!

Josh, James and Os

New year, drink beer!

As I welcome in the New Year here at Kraft Werks I also welcome in our New Manager Josh Smith. We we’re all sad to see Luke leave and thank him for his steadfast and professional work over the last couple of years. Luke is heading down to London to see if he can make his fortune and we wish him good luck.
 
Josh takes over the reins of Kraft Werks Sherwood as general manager and has been promoted from team member. You’ll recognize him as the even hairier one!
 
So, in this edition we will be covering alcohol free and low abv beers, Tryanuary and both our event and brewery special is Sam Smiths.

Tryanuary is an event that Kraft Werks has been involved with for a few years now. For those of you that are unsure here is a little run down of what the campaign stands for.
 
Tryanuary is a nationwide campaign, founded in 2015 and supported by the likes of Camra and SIBA (The Society of Independent Brewers), and run by volunteers to encourage support for the beer industry throughout January. 
 
December is a month of beer indulgence and celebration. So, come 1st January, many people in the UK set New Year’s Resolutions around health, fitness and saving money.  What’s one of the first things people look to do to achieve this? Reduce how much time they spend going out and on beer. For the beer and pub industry, that makes January a challenging month. So, their campaign is targeting the continued support for the industry. Like a puppy, beer, breweries, pubs, clubs and bottle shops aren’t just for Christmas! Even if you are taking part in dry January you can still support local pubs and bars by dropping in for a soft drink, low alcohol beers or food in places which serve it. They also entertain the ideas which I have outlined in my other posts about dry January, not suggesting that you should drink 10 pints a day to support it, but what we’re all suggesting is to continue to enjoy beer in moderation as part of a healthy lifestyle.
 

Low alcohol beers now and a history

Low alcohol beers (usually categorised as under 3.5% abv) have been overlooked in the past in the craft beer scene. Hype beers such as Double IPA’s and Imperial Stouts regularly push the boundaries in terms of alcohol content in their respective styles upwards of whatever thought was possible around 10-15 years ago.
 
Table beers started its beginnings in medieval times where poor sanitation led to many diseases through drinking water, a fermented beverage was less likely to cause illness through the addition of hops and boiling.  So fast forward 500 years and factor in the advances in water sanitation then surely this style of beer will surely be obsolete? Well the answer is actually no... up until the 1960’s the traditional ‘mild’ beer was the most popular style of beer in Britain. Deceptively full in flavour often without the alcoholic content that would make you fall over after a good session; this style of beer was a firm favourite with the thirsty working class.
 
Even in Germany with its famed brew houses, now over 500 of the 1500 breweries sell no or low alcohol beers as customers want to ditch the hangover and focus more on healthy alternatives.

Recently we were talking to a representative from Duvel Moorgat one of Belgium’s biggest brewing groups and even they are looking to introduce low abv beers this from the land of Quads and Trippel’s.
 
Here in the UK The Kernel still create the perfect Table Beer, generally under the 3% mark. Fewer beers have lower gravity in the craft scene than the Table Beer.  And we’ll leave you with a great quote from the owner and head brewer of The Kernel “we drink a lot of beer and we’ll probably live longer if we don’t drink strong beers all the time”.

Samuel Smiths Pub take over.
Samuel Smith is one of Britain’s oldest breweries and have been brewing beer on the same sight in Tadcaster since 1758.

Sam Smiths beers are brewed in stone Yorkshire Squares with water drawn from a well under the brewery and use their own yeast strain which has been in use in since 1900. Sam Smiths beers are even delivered by horse & cart 5 days a week to local pubs.

Many of Sam Smith beers are often revered by the craft beer world, due their high quality and traditional authenticity. And anyone who has stepped into a Sam Smith pub has felt the charming old-world delight of one of their pubs.
 
So, to celebrate this fantastic and slightly curmudgeonly old brewery and what we dub proper beer.  Kraft Werks will be having a pub take over starting from Friday the 31st January all our kegs lines will be serving Sam Smiths beers.
We have:

Organic Wheat Beer
Organic Pure Brewed Lager
Extra Stout
Sovereign Bitter
Light Mild

We look to see you at Kraft Works and feel free to use your mobile phone!
Cheers
Josh, James and Os

Brewsletter: Stout Season is upon us...

Welcome to this quick update edition of the Kraft Werks Brewsletter. We just wanted to share some of the lovely beers we've stocked up on recently in case any of them tickle your fancy. Read on for some of our recent favourites.

Stout Season!

It's getting chillier out there, but these beers laugh in the face of adverse weather. We have some phenomenal imperial stouts in at the moment, including Jackie O's / Evil Twin 'You're in the Jungle Baby!'. Honey, cacao nibs, vanilla beans, pasilla chillies and orange peel. Bourbon barrel-aged and crazy tasty.

Track Brewing Co.

We have a few beers from Manchester favourites Track Brewing Co. in at the moment. They specialise in fresh, hoppy, unadulterated pale ales and IPAs, and they do them exceedingly well. 'Three & Easy' was brewed with Muted Horn, a craft beer bar in Berlin that is well worth a visit if you're ever in the area.

Stillwater Artisanal

Stillwater is one of our favourite American breweries who continue to innovate rather than sticking to the classics. These two beers from their takeaway menu certainly veer off the beaten track, one inspired by duck sauce, and the other containing MSG seasoning!

Wylam

We have a good selection of Wylam beers in the fridges at the moment, with classics such as Jakehead and Hickey The Rake alongside a couple of fresh IPAs and pales. We're also currently pouring Impex, a very unique imperial best bitter brewed for De Molen's 'Borefts' festival on draught!  

That's all for now. See you soon!

Team Kraft Werks

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