This morning we had arranged to drop our Homebrew Expo beer at Steve’s (Beer Nouveau). Steve either was not in at the expected time or had to go out – big party to organise. We had to go to Bolton for a few hours and did not want the beer getting hot in the car and jiggled about. Wandered along the arches and found a very nice chap called Paul at Manchester Brewing Company who before we could even ask said he would look after our beer and drop it off at Steve’s later for us.
The final ticketed event of MBW is Holts Brewery tour. Holts don’t normally do tours and it’s fairly obvious why: the brewery is a working brewery in an old, old building and health and safety is a bit, well, abstract. We have hi-vis vests but there are plenty of random hazards.
We’re joined again by Tina who we saw at Heineken, Ol and the Evolution of IPA (and it wouldn’t be the last time). She’s an interesting character with a fairly full on past. We like her.
The head brewer at Holts gives us a complete tour of the place, accompanied by Jane, who we met on Monday at the Lager talk. They’re a medium sized place with a fair bit of history behind them and produce about half a dozen different beers. Jane turns out to be sixth generation Holt and it set to take over the place at some point, after working her way through all the various area of the business.
At the end of the tour we’re let loose with various kegs of beer. Some people drink pints, some take small samples. Holts don’t really care though, it’s a drop in the ocean for them.
Popped to Steve’s after to check on our beer, and indulge in more beer, including some from Origami Breweing – bunch of women run this outfit and we had a really good chat with Erin and Pam. One of them has had bad experiences in the past with Holt’s when working at Bootleg Brewing 🙁 Oh dear, we had hoped that Holt’s were one of the better largeish breweries.
