Beerman's holiday

Andrew Whalley, head cook at York Brewery, is sampling the sauce Stateside.

Our picture captures him hard at work at the 23rd Great American Beer Festival in Denver. At that moment he was sluicing the product of the Trinity Beer Co, based in Providence, Rhode Island.

His horny companion is John Bryan, from Oakham Ales in England's delightful Peterborough.

York Brewery boss Tony Thomson is expecting Andrew back on Monday. It is his second trip to the US and Tony is proud of his roving ambassador's foreign assignment.

"He gets to taste a lot of different beers brewed with various different hops that he can consider for use over here," he said.

The hops that most impress Andrew's professional tastebuds will be bought for special York brews next year.

The Toft Green brewery has used US hops in the past. "Some of them provide a much more fruity flavour," Tony explained.

"Rooster's Brewery often use American hops to get that nice fruitiness in the beer."

During his jaunt, Andrew "gets to taste a shed-load of beer," Tony confessed. "It has to be done. He goes through the pain barrier with it." In between gulps Andrew, York's director of brewing, will be extolling the virtues of his own beers to the American audience.

Thanks to the introduction of a sliding scale of beer duty linked to brewery size, micro-breweries have taken off in the States. Not so long a go, a new one was opening every week. And many of their beers are excellent. "I think they're getting better at it," said Tony.

NO fewer than 38 ales, many previously unknown to civilisation, will be up for grabs at the Maltings Beer Festival, which starts tomorrow.

Beer tickers from all over the country will descend on the Tanners Moat alehouse to taste brews never tasted before. At any one time, 26 different beers will be on sale, 18 racked up against the wall, the rest sold over the bar.

Some of the long-distance festival visitors have become semi-regulars, breaking their train journeys at York just to sup a pint at The Maltings. The most celebrated sampler is "Big Keith" from Liverpool. Pub gaffer Shaun Collinge expects him to "drink 26 pints, fall asleep, wake up and start drinking some more". However, "we do encourage people to drink sensibly," Shaun said. This year no beer is stronger than five per cent ABV. Or, as the landlord puts it: "I have got no loony juice."

Even Shaun had not heard of some of the brewers supplying the festival. These include Whalebone in Hull, which delivered four beers and only one pump clip.

And don't forget your copy of the festival programme, which includes articles penned by some of the finest writers of their generation.

The festival runs from noon until 10.30pm tomorrow, and from 11am to 11pm on Monday and Tuesday.

Updated: 16:18 Friday, October 01, 2004