No Rest for Fools - Lost and Grounded Meet the Brewer at The Duke's Head, Highgate

Total Ales & The Duke’s Head, Highgate Present

~ NO REST FOR FOOLS ~

A meet the brewer with Bristol’s Lost and Grounded Brewers - Featuring a live interview with its founders, Alex & Annie, as we taste through their range while enjoying food pairings from kitchen residency Le Bao

Saturday April 1st, 2pm – 5pm, The Duke’s Head, Highgate, London N6 5JG

Tickets: £25pp available via Ticketsource here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/347172 – Includes lashings of beer and a tasting menu from Le Bao.

Over the past two years at The Duke’s Head we’re proud to have set the benchmark with our “meet the brewer with a difference” events. We’ve been fortunate enough to host some of the UK’s best breweries, including Beavertown, Cloudwater, Northern Monk and many, many more. This April 1st we’re honoured to welcome Bristol’s Lost and Grounded Brewers as guests at our next event.

Lost and Grounded has made waves within the UK beer scene since its launch in August 2016. Beers such as its Belgian inspired Red Ale, No Rest for Dancers (the title of which we’ve interpreted for this event) and special lager beer, Running with Sceptres have captivated drinkers and ensured that this outfit has hit the ground running. 

We’re looking forward to welcoming Lost and Grounded’s founders, Alex and Annie, to a relaxed Saturday afternoon session at The Duke’s Head. We’ll kick things off at 2pm with a welcome drink and then give everyone plenty of time to settle in with a beer while enjoying the delicious Taiwanese inspired steamed buns from Le Bao. Then at 3 we’ll get into the meat of the event - a live Q&A between Alex, Annie and resident beer writer Matthew Curtis. 

After the Q&A questions will be opened up to the floor and moderated by Matthew, so please come along curious. After this we’ll continue enjoying beer and conversing for as long at we feel like it, so there’ll be no need to rush off if you don’t have to. There’ll be no messing around and guaranteed no April’s fools – unless you decide to stay at the pub until late and the deer mask and gold cloak make an infamous appearance. 

So please join us at The Duke’s Head on Saturday April 1st for a tasting that’s guaranteed to be very special and might even feature a surprise or two from the Lost & Grounded folks. Tickets are just £25 and our pub is very small, so we’re very limited to the amount of people we can squeeze in – so don’t delay in picking up a ticket if you plan on joining us. 

Total Ales at PUB17

Hey folks! This Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll be in residence at the Kensington Olympia for the PUB17 On-Trade focused industry trade show. Joining me on the Beer Writer’s Bar will be Mitch Adams and Christine Cryne and we’ll be on hand to chat beer for the duration of the show. My section of the bar will be pouring beers from Burning Sky in Sussex, Mad Hatter in Liverpool and Pillars, a brand new all-lager brewery based here in London. If you’re at the show, come say hi and have a drink with me. See you at the bar! 

The CAMRGB Pub Walk – Saturday 25th Feb 2017

Back in 2012 when I started blogging and was slightly more evangelical in my approach to communicating about beer I became a member of the Campaign for Really Good Beer. CAMRGB is a loosely affiliated, rag-tag fleet of beer lovers who, for various reasons, might be a little disenfranchised with other beer consumer groups but still want to hang out and drink great beer together.

Back in 2012 I helped CAMRGB founder Simon Williams plan a Christmas pub-crawl around some of the newly opened craft beer bars here in London. It was a great day where Simon and I, as well as many others, became fast friends over shared beery and political ideals. Sadly, I never found the time to organise a follow up event – until now.

So join us on Saturday the 25th of February for a CAMRGB pub walk. Myself and my friends who I work with at The Duke’s Head in Highgate and The Prince in Bounds Green are going to host a pub crawl that involves a pleasant 3-mile walk between the two pubs. We’ve also teamed up with our pals The Five Points Brewing Company who are going back the event by providing a couple of slabs of their highly rated new Pilsner for us to slurp as we travel.

The schedule is simple and relaxed and so far looks a little like this:

3.00pm – Meet at The Prince, Bounds Green, London N22 8PA (Nearest stations are Alexandra Palace or Wood Green)

5.00pm – Head off on a walk with potential chances to stop on the way. 

6.00/6.30pm – Arrive at The Duke’s Head, Highgate, London N6 5JG

There are a couple of hills between Bounds Green and Highgate, so we won’t begrudge you if you do decide to take a bus in order to preserve your drinking stamina. This promises to be a relaxed and fantastic day. We welcome members and encourage non-members to join but would encourage you to sign up before you come along, it’s totally free and takes two minutes to do.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday the 25th of February – please email hq at camrgb dot org to confirm your attendance so we can get a good idea of numbers!

Total Ales x Red's True Barbecue x Legitimate Industries - Holy Trinity Pitmaster Experience

This January Total Ales is teaming up with purveyors of fine barbecued meats Red's True Barbecue and Leeds brewery Legitimate Industries for a night of meat, bourbon and, of course, beer. Matt will be on hand to host the London leg of the "Holy Trinity Pitmaster Experience" at Red's Shoreditch restaurant on Thursday the 26th of January. Matt will also be picking out a "surprise" beer to pair with the third course. It could well be something from our 2016 Golden Pint Awards - of course the only way to find out is to come along and see for yourself.  

Tickets for the four course beer, meat and bourbon extravaganza are an eye-wateringly good value £35 a head and can be picked up here: http://events.eventzilla.net/e/holy-trinity-pitmaster-experience-shoreditch-2138897449

Here's the full menu and what Red's have to say about what you can expect from the night:

Need an excuse to get out the house and banish the January Blues with something a little different? Feast your eyes on the Holy Trinity Pitmaster Experience.

We’ve teamed up with Leeds microbrewery, Legitimate Industries, Bulleit Bourbon and a collection of local breweries/beer writers to bring you a four course-feasting menu, paired with unreleased small batch beers and a unique bourbon barrel-aged stout.

Red’s founders, Legitimate Industries head brewer Matt Howgate and a special guest will be on hand to introduce each course and guide you through the flavour matching.

THE HOLY TRINITY PITMASTER EXPERIENCE MENU (£35/PERSON)

1/ Pit Fired Haddock loin, BBQ butter and smoked garlic green beans and bacon. Served with a herb, walnut and pork crackling crust

Beer i) Legitimate Industries: Belgian Quad 10.6%

This strong, Belgian-style ale has been brewed in collaboration with Leeds very own Trappist brewers, Northern Monk. Not due for release until Oct ’17 this rich, fruity beer is a real treat for craft beer fans.

2/ Smoked duck with cherry chipotle BBQ sauce

Beer ii) Legitimate Industries: Double Agent Imperial Russian Stout 10.4%

Rich and luxurious, this beer is unique; the first ever to be aged in genuine Bulleit-bourbon barrels, imported from the home of Bulleit in Louisville, Kentucky.

3/ Black Angus Brisket & 16hr smoked Burnt Ends

Beer iii) A surprise choice from the special guest

4/ Vanilla Custard Ice Cream Beer Float

Beer iv) Northern Monk Brewery: Passion Fruit Lassi IPA 7.4%

Developed especially by this award-winning Leeds brewery for the event.

Bourbon: Barrel-aged Bulleit bourbon Old Fashioned, created by Tyson Williams at Red’s True BBQ

There’s only limited tickets available, so grab one while you can.

Total Ales at the The 2016 Brewers' Journal Lectures - Why Your Brewery Needs to Invest in Good Photography

I'm honoured to have been invited to speak at this years Brewers' Journal Lectures, which take place at Kings College, London on Wednesday December 7th. You can read more about the lectures here and purchase your tickets for just £18 (plus booking fee) here.

I'll be talking about photography. More specifically I'll be talking about how good photography is something that your brewery can't afford not to invest in as the market becomes ever more competitive. Good photography has been integral to setting myself up as a freelancer within the beer industry and I look forward to sharing just how good photography should be an essential part of your businesses marketing strategy. 

It's an honour to be part of a talented lineup of speakers which includes, among others, Fuller's John Keeling, Cloudwater's Paul Jones and Sophie De Ronde of Muntons Malt. This is a do not miss event for those of you in the beer industry and I look forward to meeting you there on the 7th.