HB&B Blog — Bristol

Fundamentals #111 – Wiper & True Hard Shake Barrel-Aged Imperial Milk Stout

Bristol Imperial Stout Matthew Curtis Stout Wiper & True

Fundamentals #111 – Wiper & True Hard Shake Barrel-Aged Imperial Milk Stout

Maybe it’s complacency, pandemic-induced anxiety or just plain laziness, but lately I’ve haven’t been putting in enough effort to fully explore the wealth of interesting beer being produced in the UK right now. For example, I have not been to Bristol in about three years. This is shameful, as Bristol is one of the most exciting beer cities anywhere in the country, with breweries ranging from the sublime Left Handed Giant to the majestic Lost & Grounded. Among them in the splendour is the subject of today’s review, Wiper & True. I’ve also been limiting my experience in terms of...

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The Beer Lover's Table: Pumpkin Bread and Left Handed Giant We Are Ghosts On The Moon Imperial Stout

Beer Lover's Table Bristol Claire Bullen Left Handed Giant Stout

The Beer Lover's Table:  Pumpkin Bread and Left Handed Giant We Are Ghosts On The Moon Imperial Stout

Friends, it is pumpkin season. Pumpkin bread, specifically, burnished bronze loaves that taste to me like the very essence of autumn. If you’re unfamiliar, know that they’re bread in name but cake in experience, in a way that’s not dissimilar from banana bread. Think: easy to throw together, effortless to bake, even simpler to eat. Pumpkin beer and pumpkin spice latte haters, don’t wrinkle your nose at me yet. While the tinned pumpkin imparts its necessary musky, earthy sweetness, it is the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger that really makes this dessert – and makes it a cousin...

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Fundamentals #98: Newtown Park x Verdant Emerging From The Mist Double IPA

Bristol Double IPA Fundamentals IPA Matthew Curtis Newtown Park

Fundamentals #98: Newtown Park x Verdant Emerging From The Mist Double IPA

A few years ago I attended a cheese tasting hosted by the ebullient Ned Palmer, author of A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles. It consisted of a selection of artisanal British cheeses, each deftly paired with a matching beer. The tasting first introduced me to what has become one of my favourite cheeses, Stichelton. This cheese is similar to Stilton in the way it’s made, except it uses unpasteurised milk, meaning it cannot call itself by that name. Its hallmark characteristics are a juicy flavour, held up by a light acidity, and a biscuity note that becomes more pronounced...

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Fundamentals #95 — Arbor Massive Azacc New England Pale Ale

Arbor Ales Bristol Fundamentals Matthew Curtis Pale ale

Fundamentals #95 — Arbor Massive Azacc New England Pale Ale

With more than 2,000 breweries in the UK alone, it can be immensely challenging keeping up with who are the latest and greatest within the beer scene. When you consider that more than half of these breweries have emerged within the last decade, keeping up with the most recent beer releases can seem even more daunting. Another unfortunate side-effect of there being such a rush of exciting new British brewing talent is that some of the breweries that emerged before this rush really gathered steam can be, on occasion, left by the wayside. This doesn’t mean the beer they’re making is any...

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Fundamentals #92 — Lost and Grounded Helles

Bristol Fundamentals Helles Lager Lost & Grounded Matthew Curtis

Fundamentals #92 — Lost and Grounded Helles

Malt is a too-often under-appreciated ingredient in our favourite beers. More often than not hops will take centre stage, even for beers with far more complex grain-bills than they have hop additions (Black IPA, anyone?). Yeast too can often pull the rug from under it, especially in wild and sour beers, and more recently in the brewing world’s obsession with Kveik, a wide range of farmhouse yeasts indigenous to Norway that are now conveniently available to the modern brewer in packet form. When this column began a few years ago, we decided to call it Fundamentals because we wanted it...

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