Another BoB Member Interviewed on Pipes Magazine Radio Show!

[riff raff]

Your interview kept me entertained on my drive to Philly today. What an interesting and creative life!

 

[Ozark Wizard]

Most excellent!!

As far as sampling you liquid wares, I will be in the Willamette valley late May/early June.....

I plan on a trip north. An offshoot of the family wizardry lies in Longview, and further up in Sequim.....

It would be great to hook up

 

[Brewdude]

Most excellent!!

As far as sampling you liquid wares, I will be in the Willamette valley late May/early June.....

I plan on a trip north. An offshoot of the family wizardry lies in Longview, and further up in Sequim.....

It would be great to hook up  

Yes it would Ozzie. Keep me in touch!

8)



Cheers,

RR

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Rande, I really enjoyed your interview and your story. You and I have a few things in common, playing music, beer making, and pipe smoking, so I had a great commute this morning. I almost wish traffic was bad so I didn't have to wait until the drive home to finish the segment.

By the way, I love cask conditioned British beer and I was happy to hear that that provided a bit of your early inspiration. When I brew, I usually make British style beers because I love them, but also because all the new under the sun "hip" American stuff really limits the import selection. What I would do for a cool Fullers London Porter or London Pride. Almost impossible to find in California anymore..

 

[Kapnismologist]

Great interview. Great tune. Congrats!

 

[Brewdude]

Rande, I really enjoyed your interview and your story. You and I have a few things in common, playing music, beer making, and pipe smoking, so I had a great commute this morning. I almost wish traffic was bad so I didn't have to wait until the drive home to finish the segment.

By the way, I love cask conditioned British beer and I was happy to hear that that provided a bit of your early inspiration. When I brew, I usually make British style beers because I love them, but also because all the new under the sun "hip" American stuff really limits the import selection. What I would do for a cool Fullers London Porter or London Pride. Almost impossible to find in California anymore..

Pride is one of my my tipples of choice when in London, and I seek out Fullers tied houses as they seem to always have this in splendid nick! It's widely distributed too, but often the landlords in free houses or as a guest ale in the pub chains don't seem to be able to keep it as well. So sometimes it can taste like anything. Such is the nature of cask conditioned ale. Hit it just right and it's just like magic, other times it can be a shrug!

When I was in the heyday of homebrewing in the early 80's I splashed out on a
British made wooden cask called a "Pin" which contains about 6 US gallons. Had it custom made from a cooperage called Buckley's in Dukinfield, Cheshire. They stamped the head with the name of my home brewery which I called "Fountainhead Brewery, USA". Sadly they are no longer in business.

Also purchased a beer engine from Homark to make the presentation complete. And learned to use both in my pursuit of the perfect pint!

Cost me a packet, that did. Including and especially the shipping and import fees. But it was well worth it in retrospect. It served to give me a firm base in the brewing, handling, and serving of cask-conditioned British ales in the early-mid 80's. Became a passion, that did. And it's served me well!





Cheers,

RR

 

[Brewdude]

Great interview. Great tune. Congrats!

Thank you very much Erik. Glad you enjoyed it!


Cheers,

RR

 

[Dutch]

I thought it was a great interview! I especially liked the musical selection you chose Rande!

If I remember correctly, Brian said he is planning on playing some of your music on future episodes. Since the production team usually only feature cuts performed by pipe smokers, it cuts down on a lot of the undesirable content. 8)

 

[Stick]

When I was in the heyday of homebrewing in the early 80's I splashed out on a
British made wooden cask called a "Pin" which contains about 6 US gallons. Had it custom made from a cooperage called Buckley's in Dukinfield, Cheshire. They stamped the head with the name of my home brewery which I called "Fountainhead Brewery, USA".

... and I'd wager you still have that barrel Rande?

Speaking of barrels, when I worked in the Highlands I used to take groups on canoeing trips down the River Spey, home of Speyside whiskey malt houses. I used to paddle right past distilleries such as Knockando, Aberlour and McCallan. They all used to mash their whiskeys on different days of the week and the smell was very distinctive. I could tell where I was on the river by the day of the week and the smells! Knockando used to (and perhaps still does) keep all its barrels stacked up right next to the river. 100s of them. Quite a sight it was too.

 

[Brewdude]

I thought it was a great interview! I especially liked the musical selection you chose Rande!

If I remember correctly, Brian said he is planning on playing some of your music on future episodes. Since the production team usually only feature cuts performed by pipe smokers, it cuts down on a lot of the undesirable content. 8)

Thanks Chris. I tried to keep the rambling down to a minimum so hoped it would all come across as cohesive and chronological. And Brian did tell me that he was interested in featuring some more of my music. I'm very honoured and will be up for it.

That selection you heard will be part of a future acoustic project I'm working on. I've completed 4 tunes so far for that one, and have 8 more ready to go.

The other big project to start is an all-instrumental Surf album. Have 21 tunes for that one ready to go. I've returned to my roots on this one, as I cut my guitar teeth on The Ventures.

Plus I have a number of misc electric tunes that beg to be recorded with guest artists. They cover the gamut of styles from hard rock to electric country.

But.........first I need to finish the epic project that I've been beavering away on for a couple years. And I'm pleased to say that the light is clearly visible at the end of the tunnel. All my energy is on that right now before I pursue any of those other projects. Only so much time and do-re-mi you see!

:bom:


Cheers,

RR

 

[Brewdude]

When I was in the heyday of homebrewing in the early 80's I splashed out on a
British made wooden cask called a "Pin" which contains about 6 US gallons. Had it custom made from a cooperage called Buckley's in Dukinfield, Cheshire. They stamped the head with the name of my home brewery which I called "Fountainhead Brewery, USA".

... and I'd wager you still have that barrel Rande?

Speaking of barrels, when I worked in the Highlands I used to take groups on canoeing trips down the River Spey, home of Speyside whiskey malt houses.  I used to paddle right past distilleries such as Knockando, Aberlour and McCallan.  They all used to mash their whiskeys on different days of the week and the smell was very distinctive.  I could tell where I was on the river by the day of the week and the smells!  Knockando used to (and perhaps still does) keep all its barrels stacked up right next to the river.  100s of them.  Quite a sight it was too.

Mate, sadly the cask was lost (more probably stolen) during my move to the Pac NW in '90. For details I won't go into here, the commercial movers I used would not accept responsibility. Catch me over a beer sometime, and I'll tell you the tale.

And make no mistake, this was a huge blow in many ways. I'm still PO'd after all these years. By then, Buckley's had closed and they were the last independent cooperage in the UK. So, no chance of getting a replacement.

Yes there were sources for Stainless Steel casks, but what I had was a piece of living history when "beer from the wood" was the norm and not the exception. In fact there was once an organisation in the UK called "Society for Preservation of Beer in the Wood (SPBW)" back when I first joined CAMRA in '82. No idea if they're still going.

Don't think they are still around. Samuel Smith used them to a small extent back in the 80's (they had a cooperage that mostly repaired old casks but not making new ones), but that was mostly for marketing purposes.

IIRC Bass even used them into the 80's, when there was actually a "Bass" in one of it's many iterations. Again, a marketing ploy.

And a very noteworthy cooperage was under the umbrella of Theakstons of North Yorkshire. I once met the celebrated cooper Clive Hollis ( a true legend in his own time) and was escorted around the brewery on a personal tour in true Brit fashion -with  a fresh pint in my hand!

Clive was very personable as well. Every time we passed by the test cask they had on stillage (look it up) he bade me "Top up mate". And so I did! This was the new to be released Theakstons XB, and I drank deeply of this fluid! The year? '82.......

:tongue:

David, your account of the sights and aromas of the distilleries mashing in reminds me of many heartfelt memories. Which also trigger olfactory memoires.

I attended Whisky Fest on Islay in '01, and spent a week there touring the distilleries. Many were private tours in which the Director of Operations himself led us around to areas that were normally out of bounds to usual tours.

In particular, we were allowed in the cask ageing rooms where the casks were broached in various points of their age so that we could ascertain the effects of age, It was an illuminating experience!

I have these reminiscences all on a blog, and would be happy to trot them out if there's any interest!



Cheers,

RR