#ISBF9 Brewday 8 : Return To The Shed of Dreams
Back in early 2014 I sent a tweet that would - I think I can safely say - change my life…
In it, I stated that I had stupidly agreed to organising a beer festival, even though I hadn’t the faintest idea how to do that.
I cried “HELP!!!”
Lots of people offered their assistance, flooring me with their generosity of spirit.
The first response I recall from a brewery said, simply, “BOGOF”
That tweet was from Malcolm Bastow. Owner/Brewer at Five Towns of Outwood, Wakefield.
One of the finest humans you could care to meet.
That year, 2014, was the first ISBF. Where the journey began. Malcolm supplied a beer called “Raven King”. It won the vote for “Beer of the Festival”
In 2015, he won the vote for Beer of the Festival again. That time with “Art Decade”.
He would win that vote on 2 further occasions.
At this point - at the “in person” events - he's won “Beer of the Festival” at exactly half of the events.
None too shabby. For beer brewed in a shed. At the bottom of his garden.
A huge commute…..
And going back to 2014, it seemed a rather poetic symmetry, that helping out on this Collab, was Jock (who's not actually called “Jock”, or even Scottish!), who was the first person through the door at the first ISBF.
Someone who, if I hadn't written a beer blog, i’d likely never have met. And my life would have been poorer for that.
Now Malcolm's kit is small (400L or 2.5bbl), so mashing in was quick and painless (almost all Pale malt with a little wheat malt). At that point, hops were discussed. Nelson. Single Hop.
Jock had the privilege of opening the fresh pack. I know this sounds repetitive, but there's such a rush when you get to smell a freshly opened bag of hops, especially when they're as aromatic as this NZ beauty.
Simply glorious.
For me - and no doubt Malcolm too - this was a special Brewday. It's always special to brew with friends, but even more so when - having announced his “retirement” 😂 a year ago - he agreed to recommission his own brew kit. Reopen the doors to “The Shed of Dreams”.
As people who've been with us on the long ISBF journey know, he's brewed some special beers on this old David Porter kit. It felt “right” to be brewing on it again.
A little Nelson Sauvin for “bittering”, and much more of the same at “flame out” (always thought that a curious term) for flavour and aroma, the shed smelled divine. (There was a whole HEAP more in pellet going into the fermenter down the timeline!)
Before we knew it, we were transferred to the fermenting vessel, fruit (complementing/boosting the Nelson). ) added along with yeast, and we were done!
A short, simple and oh so sweet Brewday.
The trickiest job we had was naming the beer.
For that, we consulted the Oracles. The Dewsnips.
It had to be Bowie themed (all of our Five Towns collabs have been)
There were two options chosen. And we went with the one that would fit on a pump clip (!)
So, on Thursday 7th November, on the Cask Bar, you can try “Where Are We Now”, a Grapefruit IPA, liberally hopped with Nelson Sauvin.
Another Beer of the Festival winner? Grab a ticket and have your chance to vote!
Thursday Evening has almost sold out and there are limited tickets left for Saturday Evening too! Tickets here.
Yes. We were done brewing…. But we still had a new tradition to follow. One that was started by Stuart.
If we brew on a Sunday, we have to have Sunday Dinner! On top of everything else, Malcolm had been cooking…..
Much love and gratitude to Malcolm & Bev for having us over. It's always a pleasure.
Big thanks too to Jock for all his efforts and for getting us to and from Wakefield!
Back soon, with a deluge of posts from The Day of The Three Brewdays!
Be kind to one another.
Jx