Beer and Pie

Last weekend CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) invited beer lovers to the Real Ale & Cider Festival in Hull’s Holy Trinity Church. Ale and cider... in a church? There sure are worse ways to start your Saturday!

When we arrived at Holy Trinity at noon we were greeted by an old man, already holding a pint of dark liquid in his hand. He kindly pointed us in the right directions of the beer token stand. One token will get you half a pint, though you will pay an extra 10-25p for the stronger beers. Armed with two tokens each we had to choose from about 25 ciders, 21 bottled world beers and 120 different ales. My philosophy when confronted with such a large selection of drinks is to go for the one with the most interesting name. And that tactic works very well when choosing an ale as breweries can get very creative. For some reason that can’t be said for cider, though. But I’m a cider girl so I had to try at least one half pint of the appley goodness. Moorlands Farm Medium Sweet Cider was my first drink of choice. It was very fruity and sour - I liked it because it was genuine and you could really taste the apples.

Then we moved onto the ales. Drink number two was Victorian Porter by 8 Sail Brewery. Not the most exciting name either, I know but it was recommended to us. By now I can no longer hide that I’m no expert on drinks. I would describe most beers as “quite nice” and while I can taste the difference when I compare two ales, the memory of the taste doesn’t stick at all. Hence the lack of taste descriptions! We chose Marvellously Poetic Porter and Blackout because they were all out of Abduction. Clearly I’m not the only one who picks a beer because of its name! Ironically, Blackout was the most memorable one out of the lot and adjectives such as citrusy and flavoursome actually stuck in my mind... especially when being enjoyed with hot pie and pasty! 

A German on English Beer
While I like English beer I can understand why one would not as some of it can be an acquired taste. Many Germans consider the English to be somewhat strange for choosing to drink warm beer. My uncle is a great example of this German scepticism. He came to England for the first time a year ago with my dad. Dad, who knew what he was in for, insisted on my uncle trying an ale. Well, it didn’t go down well and he was in disbelief how anyone could enjoy a drink that tastes like it has been forgotten in the sun and has gone flat! My dad had to finish his pint. Dad isn’t even too fond of ale but one should never waste a pint, eh!

In the 23 years I lived in Germany, I have never heard anybody say: ”Man, I really fancy a flat, lukewarm beer right now.” We have dark beer and light beer but they’re served cold and don’t taste flat. I’m happy to be proven wrong here, though. So Germans approach beer with very different expectations as my uncle had to find out. Don’t expect a crisp, refreshing beer when you order ale. Saying that, I’m probably offending some ale lovers because ale does not equal ale. It covers the whole spectrum of colours, tastes and alcohol content. My knowledge of English beer is rather limited, although I drank plenty of it. It was time to put an end to my ignorance and at least get a glimpse of what it is all about! 

The Secret Is in the Sauce... errr Yeast!
All beers can be put into two categories: ale and lager. My ignorant self would have distinguished the two based on look and flavour. Ale is warm, dark, quite flat with a very “heavy” taste while lager is golden, clear, carbonated and served much colder than ale... right? Wrong, loads of mistakes can be made when you try and distinguish the two beer families in this way. So I needed to put on my imaginary lab coat and find a more scientific approach!
 

The main difference is in the kind of yeast used in the fermentation process. Ale yeast ferments at warm temperatures between 12-21°C with the yeast accumulating at the top, which is why ale is a top-fermented beer. The aging time is comparatively short. Lager yeast accumulates at the bottom of the fermentor (bottom-fermenting) at 3-10°C and the cold temperatures stop it from releasing its distinctive fruity, complex flavours often found in ale. Its aging process is longer. In fact, the word lager comes from the German verb “lagern”, which means “to store”. It makes lager taste “cleaner”.

Porter, Stout and Bitter are all ales! And each one can once again be divided into loads of different subcategories depending on how much hop you put in, what malt you use etc. So you should check out the beer family tree. It makes it much easier to visualise the connection between the different beers. To give you a brief idea though:

• Original Porter used roasted unmalted barley and it's very dark. 
• Stout is essentially a strong porter. Guinness is one of the most well known stouts out there. It's made from pale malt, roasted unmalted barley and sometimes caramel malt.
• Bitter has a distinctive hop flavour and an amber colour.

And finally, how come some ale is just ale while other ale is real ale? Non-real ale is pasteurised. This means that the yeast is being "killed off" before you drink it. With real ale, the yeast is not removed. It will ferment in its cask right up until the point when you drink it. It also doesn't contain any artificial carbonation and all the carbon dioxide in it is created during its natural fermentation.   

I like real ale and cider but frankly I also love clear, force-carbonated drinks... which sound much less appealing when putting it like that! And so ends my adventure into the world of beer for now. But we’ll be back next year for all these beers we haven’t tried yet. The date already stands: April 24-26, 2014!

Tough and Magical: Hull NewTheatre

The first time I ever went to a theatre performance was when my parents took me and my sister to see Starlight Express in Bochum, Germany. The venue was especially built for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical and I remember my six year old self being absolutely blown away by it. Since then my mid-twenties self has turned into one of those people who enjoy going to the theatre but only actually go once every few years. When I do go, I just love the atmosphere: heavy red carpets, golden lights, people wearing their best outfits and of course the little £1 opera classes, which make me feel like being a character in Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo!

There are several theatres and concert halls in Hull but the one closest to my flat is Hull New Theatre. I really like the building, which can be found on Kingston Square opposite a small park surrounded by Victorian town houses. After doing some research on the place, I quickly came to the conclusion that we’re very lucky to still have this theatre!

World War II, Bingo Halls and Floods

The building that is now Hull New Theatre is from the 1830s and was originally constructed as Georgian Assembly Rooms. Its conversion into a theatre was made possible with the help of a man with the melodic name Peppino Santangelo. He borrowed and begged for the theatre’s opening after the outbreak of World War 2 put a halt to building works. His persistence was crowned with success and the theatre opened its doors on 16th October 1939 in a glamorous ceremony. And with a truly British “Keep Calm and Carry On”-attitude, performances didn’t stop because of the war. But most people didn't want to gamble their life to visit the theatre. They wanted some sort of protection from the German Luftwaffe so the bar was reinforced and turned into a bomb shelter. The fear of a German air raid was justified. In the night of 7th to 8th May 1940 Hull New Theatre took a direct bomb hit which destroyed the stage lantern, two auditorium doors, the stalls’ front row and all the props and costumes.

Statue of Hull Born Tenor David Whitfield by the Entrance

After the damage was repaired, the theatre faced another dangerous threat: television and gambling. In the 1950s TVs entered British households and many people just could not be bothered to go to the theatre anymore. Audience numbers declined and in 1961 the theatre’s fate seemed sealed when experimental bingo sessions were introduced. The only time I ever played bingo was during English classes when our teacher tried to make us learn the numbers. I hated it. In Hull however, the sessions were a great success! Luckily for us, enough like-minded members of Hull City Council did not like seeing the theatre fall into the hands of gambling either. They called in an emergency meeting and bought the place to eliminate the option of it ever turning into a bingo hall.

Hull New Theatre faced its latest threat during the big floods in 2007. The sewer burst open and water flooded the dressing room, the toilets, the staff room, the bar and the kitchen. Luckily, the staff reacted quickly and the theatre was pumped out for that evening’s performance of... that’s right: Starlight Express!!

My Experience

I really wanted to have a look inside so I dragged my boyfriend to see the Russian State Ballet of Siberia perform The Nutcracker earlier in January, which was fun. Unfortunately we didn’t take any money so we couldn’t use those cool opera glasses you find attached to the seat in front of you. It also meant that we could only watch as everybody else had ice cream during the break (ﾟДﾟ). But I loved the interior and the overall atmosphere! Too often I’m not aware of what I’m taking in when the TV is on in the background. That’s why the theatre is great; it means you’re consciously taking time out of your day to enjoy a performance and share an experience.

You can visit the Hull New Theatre website for upcoming shows and events!

Wharram Percy - A Deserted Medieval Village

Wharram Percy

Was that the beginning of spring last weekend? It was the perfect weather for going out and frollicing about the Yorkshire Wolds. I even got a slight sunburn on my face! We originally set off to look at daffodils in Farndale but twenty minutes into our journey we found out that this winter has been so long that there was nothing to see yet. It made me think that the five layers of clothing I was wearing were totally justified... really! We happened to pass a sign for the deserted medieval village Wharram Percy, which spontaneously turned into our new destination. We’ll have to go to Farndale another time!

There are approximately 3,500 deserted medieval villages in England but Wharram Percy is the most famous and thoroughly studied one. I didn’t know that. In fact, I had never even heard of it until I happened to see the street sign for the first time about a year ago. But apparently between 1950 and 1990 there have been annual archeological excavations at the site.

Wharram Percy in the second half of the 13th century

The Rise and Fall of Wharram Percy

People had been living in the area of Wharram Percy as early as the Bronze Age. The Romans stayed there for a while followed by the Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons and of course the Normans, who are like Vikings but more French. In the 14th and 15th century, Wharram Percy had turned into a thriving medieval village. When I say thriving, I should clarify that the population probably never exceeded 190 people. But these people suddenly disappeared. Now there are many reasons why a village might be deserted: Viking raids, famine, floods or William the Conqueror’s Harrying of the North were typical reasons back then. But Wharram Percy prevailed all of these threats. It even survived the Black Death of 1348/49. It wasn’t the plague or a war mongering ruler that brought Wharram Percy to its knees - it was sheep and man’s love for money. Landowner Baron Hilton evicted the villagers to build more sheep pastures in the late 15th or early 16th century. Quite a disappointingly unspectacular ending for such an ancient settlement!  

St. Martin's Church can look back on over 1,000 years of history

So what’s left?

You can’t see any of the old medieval buildings anymore; all you will find is their outline on the grass. One building did survive all these years, though. St. Martin’s church might not have a roof anymore and bits of the wall are missing but it’s still standing and it still looks a lot like a church. I was surprised to learn that it was still used by villagers from nearby Thixendale until the 1950s.

The area around Wharram Percy was not completely abandoned for centuries. For instance, you'll find a farmhouse from the 19th century right next to the church. It has a railway station sign saying “Wharram” attached to it. It was taken from a nearby railway station during WW II as part of the British anti-invasion preparations. The idea behind it being that taking off all the railway station signs would confuse the Germans if they ever made it to England :D Here’s to hoping not too many English people got confused until they put the signs back up!

Today Wharram Percy is being looked after by English Heritage, who have put up interesting signs about how people lived in this rural, medieval village. There is no entrance fee so you’re free to roam the site as you please :) It’s definitely worth a visit even if you are not overly fond of history. The landscape alone can be rewarding enough.

Y'all Need Trams

A 1940s High Street

So this week we’ll be looking at my favourite museum in Hull... and at trams. The Streetlife Museum of Transport might sound boring and lame at first but it really isn’t. It gives you insights into what transportation was like in the local area up to 200 years ago. Electric tramcars were a big part of that as they helped move the people of Hull for over 60 years.

The museum is situated in Hull’s beautiful old town and has been welcoming visitors since its opening in 1989. It is part of the Museums Quarter, which also includes the Hull and East Riding Museum, the Arctic Corsair trawler and the Wilberforce House Museum, all of which are managed by Hull City Council. The Streetlife Museum has a unique approach to making your visit memorable!

“Is that... Can... Can you smell horse?”

The museum goes all out to fully immerse you in 200 years of local transport history by engaging most of your senses. Hearing, sight, smell and touch - we’re just missing taste but I’ll happily give that one a miss. Most collection pieces have been turned into scenic galleries you can walk through while recordings of conversation snippets make the scenes come to life. There are not many restrictions dictating how close you can get to a vehicle. In fact, you’re welcome to climb inside a genuine tram or you can stroll down a 1940s high street and browse around the shops. You can also take a bumpy ride in a stagecoach, though you shouldn’t be claustrophobic or get motion sickness as me and my cousin had to find out!

Trams in Hull

Now I know that my brain might be slightly romanticising what using electric trams in early 20th century Hull might have been like - friendly, helpful conductors with all the time in the world. Maybe they’d help a lady get up the steps and have casual, pleasant conversations with their passengers. Either way, I’d like to think that it beats today’s reality of having to escape the rage of bus drivers trying to run you over with a look of almost mad contempt in their eyes. Maybe that’s why I like the Streetlife Museum so much - it makes the past come to life again when I’m feeling nostalgic :)

Tram 132

It all started in 1872 when local parliament authorised the construction of a tram line in Hull. Continental & General Tramways Company built five main tram lines from the city centre. Two lines went westward along Anlaby and Hessle Road, one line went northeastward along Holderness Road, one went roughly westnorthwest along Spring Bank, and a short line ran southwards from the city centre to the old town to Nelson Street close to Victoria Pier (If you look at the trams system map it will be called Corporation Pier, although the name was changed to Victoria Pier in 1854). From the pier you could then take the ferry across the Humber to New Holland in Lincolnshire as was common practice before the Humber Bridge was built. The first tramcars were a success and three years later a tram route up Beverley Road was added. You can check out pictures of trams running through Hull here. Sadly, in the 1930s and 40s electric trams were slowly but surely being replaced by motor buses. 

One of the trams that ran through Hull can be found in the Streetlife Museum. Electric Tramcar 132 is from 1909/10 and one of only two restored tramcars in Britain. It travelled the streets of Hull until the 1930s. In 1942 it was transferred to Leeds where it ran until 1952. It returned to Hull in the 1980s and was restored to its original condition.  

Inside One of the Shops

Soooooooooooo...

The Streetlife Museum is a great morning out and even young kids won’t hate you for dragging them to a museum if you take them there. If you feel like immersing yourself in a different time period for a bit then you can check out the opening times here. Admission is completely free so you have no excuse! :)