Indy Man Beer Con

Hello again! I'll start by asking you a simple question. Have you ever been to the land of beer? Sadly this land is fictional, however the Independent Manchester Beer Convention (IMBC) acted as an embassy for four days last week. Taking place in the Victoria Baths over 9th-12th October, the IMBC brought together the most progressive breweries to show off their wares in the most impressive of surroundings. As a volunteer, I got to have a wander around and try a "few" beers.

What was it like inside?

The food hall. There were balloons everywhere.

Using the full space of the Victoria Baths, along with part of the car park outside, breweries clamoured to get your attention with their newest ranges. Any flavour of beer, you could probably find it. Want music and strobe lights? Just head to the Turkish Baths. Thought of a bizarre name for a beer? They've already got a stranger one. You could forget about traditional alcohol content as well, with certain stouts and ales reaching the lofty heights of 11 per cent. These weren't beers you'd find in Sainsbury's, these were boundary-breaking thirds, ready to blow the cobwebs from your tastebuds and dull your other senses.

What kind of beer was there?

Music! And more balloons.

Snazzy glass.

There was a plethora of different beers, more than you could even imagine. However, you probably worked that out already! But what was my favourite beer? Well that would have to be the "Earl Phantom", a 'lemon iced tea sour' beer, served up by Beavertown Brewery. Upon first taste you were greeted by a jolt of lemon zest, immediately followed up by the soothing taste of a cup of Earl Grey, all finished off with your body screaming for more. Either that or "Rapture" from Magic Rock. An incredibly hoppy red beer, with an intensely colourful flavour, it was another which really made you stop and appreciate what you were tasting. With drinks being served in the traditional one-third pint glasses, it was easy to try a wide range before you were ready to collapse down onto the bean bags in front of the music stage.

How much was it?

Tickets were £10 for a session, which would be approximately six to seven hours long. I must admit, as I was volunteering, I didn't buy a ticket, so I can't tell you what exactly was included in the ticket price. However, I do know you at least got entry, a fancy one-third pint glass, IMBC pencil, programme and the opportunity to sample dozens of beers! IMBC has been running for a few years now, so tickets are moving increasingly quickly. However, increasing ale awareness means that this will soon be an event on any beer drinkers calendar.

Pint Of Science

Hello, I'm back! Yes, exams are over and I'm free to write up posts to my heart's desire! That means I can tell you all about my latest escapade, which included a pub, pints and a lot of science!

Fancy a Pint of Science?

Yes, the event I attended was the "Pint of Science" festival. The aim of this event was to bring science to the masses, in a laid-back environment. But where can you find an environment that is laid-back, but serious enough that people will pay attention? The pub of course! By having researchers and academics talk about their work in a pub, the gap between the universities and the general public shrinks. Plus, by going to one of these events, you might even learn something!

The logo was a pint glass with glasses and a brain!

The nights I attended were part of the Manchester physics and chemistry branch, being held in the English Lounge, in the Northern Quarter. However, there were nights running simultaneously across Manchester, on a variety of topics. The main set up of the evening was that there would be a introductory talk about the subject at hand, followed by the main talk of the evening. These were always followed by a Q&A session, which could get a bit dynamic, especially later on in the night!

Dr Jon Hargreaves giving the introductory talk about
acoustics. Look at how captivated the audience are!

The first night I attended was all about acoustics, with the main talk from Professor Trevor Cox of the University of Salford. He spoke about his travels across the world, finding and recording the strangest sounds he could find. This ranged from the call of seal (recorded underwater) to a record-breaking echo! The second night was about nuclear waste, with a talk all about the subject, the stigma and the issues surrounding the topic, given by Matt Gunther, who runs a blog all about the subject (here). His Q&A session quickly became a discussion, amongst the audience, all about nuclear power. This really showed how passionate people could get about science and it was fantastic to see.

How much?

Each night was ticketed, at a cost of £2 a ticket. This fee wasn't to make a profit, as any money gained is reinvested back into future events and the nights are organised and run by volunteers. Taking these facts into account, you can see that the each night was very good value. 

Where and when?

Pint of Science was an international event, held in 8 countries over 3 nights. This was the 19th-21st May. In the UK it was held in Cambridge, London, Oxford, Manchester, Bath, Bristol, York and Glasgow, but it has plans to expand further into more cities and countries, so watch this space!

Real Ale Festival at MOSI

Hello again! As you may have guessed, the majority of these travel posts are dictated by where I have been volunteering. Well done if you got that at home. Anyway, this post is no different. I was recently volunteering at the MOSI Real Ale Festival, which you can have the pleasure* of reading about.

I believe this was called "Black Magic". Yummy.

Beer

Yes, for those of you that know me, I do like a drink. So this was certainly the place for me. On offer were approximately 90 different types of beer and cider, so there was a wide range of choice. The beers were reasonably priced for a festival, being on average £3 a pint. The bottles, however were more expensive. It did depend on how fancy you wanted to get. I believe I saw several 33cl bottles for about £4. To be fair, these were bottles of beer which incorporated several different types of flavours and ingredients.

Cost

To get into the festival itself, it cost £5 for the general public and £4 for concession (members of CAMRA, OAP's, students). This did strike me as expensive, but the event was a fundraiser for the museum and they do have to make money somehow. The bars were cashless, meaning you had to buy redeemable tokens at the entrance. They were refundable, but an unfortunate by-product of this was that if you had 50p left over, it didn't seem worth trying to refund it. This could be avoided by clever spending, or you could deal with it and donate it to MOSI. The donation solution was used by several people, earning the museum a nice extra bit of cash. 

Glasses were free to use during the event, which was a nice touch. Obviously you had to give them back at the end, but if you liked the design you could buy a clean one for £3 on your way out. If you wanted one for free, you would very likely be having a word with the security guard on your way out.

Somewhere in there is the main bar.

Music

From what I can remember, it was very good music. Think classic rock and general rock. Good stuff.

Location

If you hadn't guessed, it was in the power hall at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester. The power hall acted as an apt setting, providing several engines and steam-driven machinery from times gone by to marvel at.

Summary

This was the third real ale festival at MOSI, which I believe overall was a successful event. My only qualm is the cost of getting in, with the concession only knocking £1 off the price. Yet like I said earlier, the museum has to make money somehow. The festival should be running next September, but there is also the Manchester beer and cider festival in the new year if you can't wait until then. 

*Pleasure not guaranteed.

My day in London.

Hello again! Before you leave, let me tell you this: Just because this post is about London, it doesn't mean I've run out of ideas. On the contrary, in fact I hope to show you somewhere you may not have known about the big (overused) city.

My Location Within London

I started my day early, so I fortunate enough to be in Trafalgar square at 9 AM. At this time of day it isn't too burdened by tourists, so you are able to easy move about and get some decent photographs if you wish. You don't have to worry much about people walking into your pictures, which is always a relief. To prove the lack of people, I took some pictures! Have a look:

Notice the lack of people climbing on the lions.

St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Hahn/Cock. Yes, a giant blue cockerel.

Yes, a giant blue cockerel is occupying the fourth plinth at Trafalgar square at the time of writing. I was confused as well, but it does make an interesting addition. I also went into St Martin-in-the-Fields, a very nice inside, with plenty of the homeless having a nap.

Pub

You've heard it before, you'll hear it again. Drinking in central London is expensive. However, you can save yourself some dough if you use the happy hour, like I did. Happy hour brought a pint down from over £4 to £3. The bar I went to was called Kamique, it was a cocktail bar with a wide range of Mojitos. I would recommend it to anyone in the area who has a lot of cash to spend.

Comedy club

Now, the real reason I'm writing this post isn't to bore you about overused London landmarks. No, in the evening some friends and I went to the Lion's Den Comedy Club. Located in the west end of London, in an underground nightclub. Tuesday night is the open mic night, called the Lion's Den Comedy Car Crash, where anybody can turn up and perform.  The acts had 4 and a half minutes to do their sketch, before they were thrown off the stage. If they didn't finish, well, the MC would make sure they wrapped up abruptly. It might seem brutal, but it worked.  

The Lion's Den in all its glory.

Due to the nature of it being an open mic scenario, there was the risk of there not being a single act who made you laugh. However, I was pleasantly surprised the mixture of talent. There was a person who played guitar, a person who read from their diary, even a person who did some hip-hop! 

The entry price was £4, which was a good deal for the amount of acts that were on. However, the price of drinks in the club was, in my opinion, extortionate. A friend paid £4.85 for a bottle of lager. This boils down to the location (west end of London) and the fact it was a club.

Summary

If you have never been to an open mic night before, then I recommend the Lion's Den (website here- http://www.lionsdencomedy.co.uk/comedycarcrash.html). It was easy to get into and the acts were easy enough to laugh along with. As for the bit about Trafalgar square, well, you knew all that already. I just wanted to show you a few pictures.

49th Towersey Village Festival

Hello again, it has been a while. Recently, I have been to the Towersey Village Festival (TVF- http://www.towerseyfestival.com/). Not as exotic as Dublin, I know, but still an interesting journey. The reason for my visit was due to volunteering on a physics-based stall, but that isn't important. What is important is what I thought of the event.

Background

This was the 49th TVF, which traditionally takes place on the August bank holiday weekend. They didn't seem to worry about larger festivals taking their audience away. The main genre of music was folk, though you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. You didn't have to venture far to find bands performing "gypsy-jazz", reggae and rock n' roll. This all acted to allow new people such as myself to find something new which they enjoyed (for me it was the gypsy-jazz).

Beer (and Food)

If you wanted it to be, you could ensure that this was hardly a sober event. On offer were 20 real ales (at a guess), all from independent breweries around the country. The wonderful thing about independent ales is that if you find a bad one (unlikely), you aren't likely to have it again soon. If you find a good one, well, that's just a bonus. The ales varied in colour and taste, from flaxen to dark, bitter to not-so-bitter. For those who wanted to test their tastebuds, there was an one off ale-tasting event on the Friday morning, which you had to be aware of. It wasn't on the main schedule and had a low capacity, resulting in several people only finding out when it was too late and being turned away.

Food was available, but if you are low on funds then I recommend taking your own. Nothing against the festival itself, it's just festival food prices. Sorry.

Dance

There was wide variety of dancing on offer, ranging from drunken stumbling to waltz. Granted the waltz was part of a ceilidh, but it was there. Ceilidh dancing, for the uneducated (like myself), is a group dance. It involves a lot of spinning, turning and hopping, which means you can get caught up in it very quickly. If you are a novice, like myself, then take the following advice. Have a drink (a real ale perhaps?), turn up nearer the beginning of the event, grab a partner (politely) and just get involved. Believe me, you want to dance in it while you can.

Bands

The bands, as I mentioned previously, was mainly of the folk genre. However, other types were easily available. One of my favourite bands there was called Manière des Bohémiens. They were a gypsy-folk/eastern European swing band, who weren't afraid to suddenly delve into a bit of classical music. I found them to be a refreshingly intense change from the mainstream, who were more than able to get the crowd jumping. They are also all fantastic guys, who were very easy to chat to and to drink with!

                                                                                                       

                                                                

Another band who I enjoyed thoroughly were a band called Orkestra Del Sol. Through the use of brass instruments, which you would normally associate with slow and dull music, they delivered a truly electrifying show. They were more than happy to laugh at themselves (and the audience) through the use of props (fake hair), quick drama pieces (a Towersey news report) and on-stage music battles. If you ever see the name Orkestra Del Sol against a more mainstream band at a festival, I say this from my soul (sol?) that you should ditch the mainstream and see the Orkestra. You will not regret it.

Orkestra Del Sol, in all their glory. Notice the dressed up man in the middle.

Those were two of my favourite bands at Towersey, I could rattle on about so many more (Sunjay Brayne, Jess Morgan, etc...) but I would bore you.

Location

If you going there by car, great. You'll be fine, as there was free parking. If you are not as lucky (like myself) and go by train and walk the rest, here is a word of warning. Get a decent map. I'm not talking Google maps. Go for Ordnance Survey as a lot of the walking takes place on public paths through fields, rather than roads. Other that than, you'll be fine (Watch out for the cows).

Summary

To sum it up: If you need to detach yourself from the everyday world for a while, then there is no better place. Ditch the laptop, smartphone and all-sorts and grab a partner for the ceilidh. Thank me later. Perhaps with a real ale?