Beer and Cider Festival bar manager visits Rochdale brewery to create a one off beer

Caroline O’Donnell visits Pictish Brewery to create a one off beer

Caroline O’Donnell, a bar manager at the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival, paid a visit to Pictish Brewery in Rochdale on Tuesday (6 January) to create a one off beer.

The beer, which is a collaboration between the festival and Pictish Brewery, was brewed especially for the 2015 festival.

Speaking to Rochdale Online, Caroline said: “The visit went very well. This is the first time that I have brewed a beer so I have learnt a lot and have helped out with a number of different things from cleaning to lifting and boiling.”

The beer, which will be called Tandem, will eventually be made available for sale and includes hops (female flowers) known as cascade and pacific gem.

“The beer will be 4.2% and is a pale beer,” added Caroline.

Pictisch Brewery was one of the pioneers of the microbrewery revolution whose unashamed hop forward beers provided inspiration to brewers such as James Campbell (ex Marble and now Cloudwater) and Colin Strong (Buxton).

Caroline added: “The festival is an annual event and this collaboration has seen us make a new recipe. Other collaborations have been done elsewhere but I think this is the first time we have done one in Rochdale.”