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Nottingham was my first stop in the Midlands. This is an old city: the first recorded settlement was in 868, and in medieval times it was the gateway to the north.  Today Nottingham is a wonderful beer destination. The enthusiasm here for good beer and good, creative food from local ingredients in my opinion matches any place in the UK. 

The beer community in Nottingham is keen on a variation of the locavore movement, and loca-beers (beers brewed within 20 miles) are proudly promoted. There is a surprising range of local breweries to both encourage and support this movement.

One series of events that fueled this loca movement was the purchase of a local brewer, Hardy and Hansons, by Greene King, one of the giant ‘New National’ breweries. The New Nationals (others are Wells and Youngs, and Marstons) are strong supporters of cask ale, but also tend to consolidate breweries for efficiency and cut corners in the interest of cost reduction. Once Greene king acquired Hardy and Hansons they quickly closed the brewery, moved production to their other facilities, and put Greene King beers into their chain of pubs around Nottingham.

Outrage at the H&H closure seems to have fueled the growth of local brewers. Castle Rock Brewery began in 1998 with a brewery in central Nottingham, and now produces about 100 barrels a week. They own a string of local pubs in Nottingham, and dominate the Good Beer Guide listings in the central city. This trip I enjoyed three: The Kean’s Head (excellent food, clean, great location in The Lace Market neighborhood), The Salvation (a historic old building, well cared for beers), and the Vat and Fiddle (The Castle Rock brewery tap, a full range of beers in great condition).

The Castle Rock beers are well made and good representatives of Midlands brewing. Their flagship is the Harvest Pale (3.8%). It is yellow straw in color, clean and crisp, lightly hopped with a bit of citrus in the flavor. It is a very accessible brew; two different bartenders mentioned that it was useful in training lager drinkers…  A heavier beer is the Preservation (4.4%) a stronger taste and more of a copper color, but maintaining a smooth, light mouthfeel.

My favorite pub in Nottingham this visit had to be the Vat and Fiddle. While I was chatting with the barmaid the assistant brewer came in to get glasses for their production tasting. He was busy, but when he found I was an American interested in Cask ale he stopped to chat about the beers. Later on I mentioned to the bar maid that I had tasted one of the Castle Rock seasonals (Snowhite) and didn’t think it differed too much from the Harvest Pale. She immediately put samples of both on the bar, said Harvest Pale drinkers think the Pale is much hoppier. Well, it was, but not by that much..  Later, I commented that I hadn’t seen a Castle Rock dark beer. The bar maid said ‘just a minute’ and disappeared down the cellar stairs. She came back with a quarter pint sample of their next seasonal brew, the Blackbird Porter (4.4%) a wonderfully smokey, malty brew. If you go, don’t miss this place, it’s right near the train station.

For those who have heard that something very special is going on in Belfast, Maine, we can decisively confirm the rumors. Marshall Wharf Brewing is certainly a force to be reckoned with in Maine brewing. With beers available at Novare Res and The Bear, and a cask at NERAX North last month, the cat is already out of the bag. Having said all that, it still takes a visit to the Three Tides Inn in Belfast, the brewery tap for Marshall Wharf, to understand the magnitude of what these guys have accomplished since they began brewing just one year ago.

David Carlson has said that there is no sane way to drink through all of his beers in one session, and that’s probably true. They typically have twelve of their beers on tap at all times. There is however a safe way, and that is to get a room in Belfast and leave the car keys in your room. That’s what  I did the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving.

Three Tides is above all else a local watering hole, with the ambience of old friends enjoying being together. It’s a cozy place, with perhaps a dozen seats at the serpentine bar and half a dozen booths. We witnessed a steady stream of regulars dropping by to pick up growlers for the holiday, and the room had a welcoming and convivial feeling to it.

David and his wife opened Three Tides ten years ago as a martini bar, and the lineage shows a bit in the decor and the ambiance. Fancy mixed drinks remain popular with the regulars. Swaying palms and a Caribbean beach would not be out of place here. Instead one gazes out at the working harbor of Belfast, and that’s pretty neat in its own way.

A sign of greatness in any endeavor is that one shifts the rules of the game a bit, and David and his brewers are doing that. Their range of beers is enormous, encompassing session ales, a hefeweizen, stouts, porters, a scotch ale, a dopplebock, and a couple of massive IPAs.These are all robust, flavorful beers, each with a unique personality.

In a sense David reminds me of Will Myers at Cambridge Brewing: across a wide range of beers you don’t find one badly made beer; a given style may not be your favorite, but it’s still a well made beer.

These are big beers – the Cant Dog is 10%, and at the other end of the scale the Tug Pale Ale offers a hop experience as dramatic as any I’ve had at any gravity. There is a stunning consistency across the entire line of beers. Every beer is balanced, and feels “right”. One suspects that even Old 55, a dark, challenging beer with strong flavors and sharp elbows at 7.7%, fun now, will age in a month or so into something much more civilized. Across the board the higher gravity beers drink well below their alcohol content; the high alcohol content never feels forced and rarely is obvious.

Having had the Cant Dog at NERAX North I’ll verify that Davids beers can be terrific in cask. I particularly enjoyed tasting Cant Dog side by side with the British Ridgeway Criminally Bad Elf at 10.5%. They were both beautifully balanced and completely different, the Dog an exercise in hop tones and the Elf an exercise in fruit tones.

On top of all this there are rumors of Marshall Wharf beers soon turning up in cask in Portland. Can we possibly be so lucky?

I’m a little late to the party in announcing this, but Victory Brewing Company of Pennsylvania and Stone Brewing Company of California are now finally both offering their beers up here in the Pine Tree state. Novare Res welcomed Victory on September 25, Ebenezer’s in Lovell held a Stone launch party a couple Saturdays ago (I was, sadly, not in Maine that weekend), and Great Lost Bear held a Victory Brewing showcase last Thursday evening.

In case you actually wanted to go to one of these, tomorrow night, October 23, GLB will be welcoming Stone and offering up its Pale Ale, IPA, and Arrogant Bastard (yum) for the usual $2.50 a pint Thursday price. Having just picked up a six pack of the IPA at the local RSVP the other night, I can tell you first hand that a stop by the Bear tomorrow would be well worth the effort. Welcome to Maine Victory and Stone. Better late than never!