Here Be Monsters - #ISBF8 #Brewday6 : Torrside
“The red moon is rising behind you
The ocean is pounding away
I held up a light to the smoke but
The redness blows it away”
“Red Moon” - The Walkmen
Let's take this back. To (I think) 2015. I was invited to be a judge at a Greater Manchester v Liverpool Homebrew competition held at Brewdog Manchester, on Peter Street.
Among the judges were Jim Rangeley (then at Blue Monkey, now Abbeydale) & Duncan Barton (of the sadly missed Tickety Brew). And me. Out of my depth. And terrified
Why terrified? Because I've never been in such a competitive environment.
Among the Brewers, from Manchester alone, was (overall winner), Matt Dutton (then of Font Bar - now Head Brewer at Track), Richard Conway (Thirst Class) and - Nick Rothko-Wright, Peter Sidwell & Chris Clough. Who would, shortly after, form Torrside Brewery.
The standard was utterly stunning. And Torrside have never let up.
A more modest bunch you are unlikely to meet. But, just by the canal basin, in New Mills, they've built themselves a little uncompromising slice of Heaven.
And quite the niche……
It irks my friends and I when people pigeonhole Torrside into that niche. Smoke, yes. Monsters, OK. But they brew absolutely fabulous Pales and Stouts. Never had “I'm Spartacus”? “Yellow Peak”? “Candlewick”?
Exceptional beers all. In essence, if Torrside brew it, it will be banging. Bloody tasty. True to style, with an occasional twist.
It was when we previously did a beer with Torrside, we got introduced to the concept of the “Partigyle”. Drawing off the earliest - sugar rich - running of the beer into a smaller vessel for the boil, to create a much stronger brew
Precisely what we were doing today.
The Biggest Bowl of Porridge!
Having dumped over 400kg of malted barley into the grist case, mashing in commenced, the brewery wallowing in magnificent malty aromas. As much as an aromatic hop addition, this is a smell that sings to my soul. Like a cross between the smells of porridge and a hot bread oven, the smells just push my buttons.
Monsters Exist! (Some rich caramel toffee aromas coming of the Monsters Kit)
We had to choose the Hops. A truly awful task, obviously 😉.
Now then, we were going for two beers here. One at approximately 10% (cask) and the other at around 6-6.5% for the #EvilKegFilth bar
The Monster to be hopped with Nectaron leaf Hops and the “smaller” (obviously a relative term!) beer to be hopped with Columbus (bittering), followed by Chinook late in the boil, then a huge addition of Chinook, Citra & Amarillo pellets.
The three seperate additions of Nectaron…..
With Partigyling, the richer wort is first run into the small kit prior to the commencement of Sparging (rinsing the grains), so that beer was first in focus for me and with the Nectaron weighed out for additions at 15 minutes prior, flame out and (the largest amount) to steep, those buckets were an olfactory delight. SO pungent and fruity (freshly split ripe peach was my first thought!).
Columbus had already been added early for bitterness and was aromatic enough in itself, but this beer was about the Nectaron.
Those were added at the appropriate stages and the space almost lit up with the aromas of stone fruit and peach. I wish I could have taken a smell-o-vision shot for you! The deep red/brown colour was marvellous and the combo of the rich malty wort with the hops was just….Oh my……
Hops Meet The Monster
In the meantime, the transfer of the “main” beer to the copper was finished, with Columbus again added for bittering early with a HUGE amount of Chinook, Citra & Amarillo later (at 20 mins pre “flame out” and at steep for the aroma & flavour additions. With this beer, the hop additions were via pellet rather than leaf. With YT (obviously) stepping up to the plate to pour those beauties into the copper at the appropriate stages.
Transfer to copper completed and relevant hops added, time for digging out that mash tun. And - almost certainly - the biggest, heaviest dig out I’ve done manually. I simply love this task and was filling huge buckets for fun, just in time for the farmer to arrive and load up!
That task completed - by Barney jumping in to clear the awkward to reach bits and give the vessel a thorough clean - my day was done (trains to catch and all).
Huge thanks to Sarah & Barney for their time, tolerance (of me!) and their skills in producing these lovely beers. Huge thanks to Chris for the invite and the recipes and the entire Torrside Family (including the gorgeous Toshi - popping in for his due fuss!).
It’s always hugely appreciated when breweries go above and beyond. And - on that score - Torrside never fail!
So. What have we got? Well….
We have TWO BEERS!!!
“Red Moon” - Red IPA at 6.5% : Which will grace the #EvilKegFilth bar.
“Captain Scarlet vs The Nectarons” an Imperial Red at 9.5% : Which will warm the cockles of those drinking cask!
BOTH will be available FIRST at #ISBF8. Got your tickets yet? If not, click HERE! (You KNOW it makes sense! And remember, ALL profits go to our amazing Charity Partner START Inspiring Minds.
Come and join us!
Back soon. Be kind to yourselves and one another.
Jx