Ales at home - what I discovered....

Hullall,

           firstly I should point out that I have been a little short of funds yet again, although I am off to South West Scotland before and on payday so am hoping things may improve next month. I should also admit that I have been out a few times, if not more, this month, and have really enjoyed those trips. In the meantime I also bought a number of canned and bottled beers on Thursday the 5th to have with my anticipated beer tasting, although, I had already cancelled it due to a lack of attendees, feeling unwell, and a leak in my Kitchen ceiling. The latter two have now been sorted so it seemed unwise to miss out on sampling almost all of the products purchased.......

The first one I tried was from Nottingham or Derby based brewery Black Iris. I had purchased their Nottingham Pride Pale ale which came in at a sensible strength of 4.5% and was an ideal starter. Pale, as described, and cloudy, as preferred, this was a gloriously easy drinking soup which very much tickled my taste buds.

Next up were two bottle conditioned bottles from Torrside Brewing. Their first was the Craft Hoodlums, a gloriously murky broth at 4.5% again, and wonderfully well balanced. I have to admit that my years in the beer selling trade has rather tainted my appreciation and indeed expectations of bottle conditioned beers but the two from Torrside restored my failing. Their second, the excellent Citra at possibly 5.0% was also once again glutinous (in a very good way) and proved an excellent start to that night's session.

There was a can from the wonderful Turning Point Brewery and their wonderful Circle Game, a Simcoe IPA whose strength alas I failed to record - I did however remember to photograph the blonde hazy mass of this wonderful concoction. On a similar note was the Cloudwater Citra Cy18, one of the many Yakima Chief hop series that was released recently. One of the complaints I made a year or two ago was the lack of any specifics of their ingredients - although - this is scarcely the point in this instance. What I can advise is that I have found almost all of their recent output incredibly refreshing, often bitter and reassuringly tasty. This trend was not abandoned in either this or their beautiful Horse DIPA at 8.5% which I supped last night - an excellent blend of hops and fruity flavours was very easy to enjoy.

Next was a fantastic can of the Neonraptor Hippo Launcher DIPA at 8.0%. As I noted on Faceache, whilst I recognise its an easily used word, I had to confirm that this was an excellently fruity DIPA. Brilliant design on the label as well.

I only purchased one small can - that being a 330ml ATOM and Salt Brewing DIPA called Hailte, or similar. I mentioned that it didn't list the hops used but I would point out that ATOM regularly use no or almost none of such ingredients. Possibly due to the involvement of Salt they were listed as HOPS in the ingredients and as with both of the similarly listed Cloudwater cans this was in no way an effect on the enjoyability of the flavour. In fact, the numerous listed herbal flavours perhaps made it a more enjoyable and quaffable ale.

There was also a can of Verdant, a 6.5% Pale Ale called Have we met before?, which in addition to the four excellent hops used I suspected the addition of London Fog 111 yeast helped me to find this especially enjoyable.

The 6.4% Citra Fog IPA from Burnt Mill made equally good use of the Citra involved, as well as being yeastily and frothingly cloudy to stimulate the taste buds further. The best of the new material however was a 5.5% saison from Wild Horse Brewing Co from Llandudno in Wales. Using an interesting mix of hops in Lemondrop and another I cannot at present recall (but which had a German sound if memory serves), this proved to be an excellently drinkable and reassuringly bitter, sweet and slightly but only marginally sour ale which met the description of its name perfectly.

Finally comes two interesting ales from Wander Beyond in Manchester. Soma was an 8.6% DIPA with a hint of lactose making a fantasticly easy to drink yellowy cloudy broth of fabulousness. The artwork on the can was likewise superb. Their final can was the La Catrina spiced Imperial stout, a fabulous mix of ingredients creating a murky depthed slab of ground like black horror which I have been very slowly and carefully supping for over an hour. A mixture of different sweet, spicy and tobacco themed ingredients balances out so well in this absolute cracker.

Once again, despite an understandable influence of DIPAs, I have managed to buy and try a marvelous selection of strong and hoppy and, increasingly, fruity and also sweet beers from a number of breweries, showing the British public that all of them, regardless of size or reputation, can produce an excellent and diverse range of ales..

Now to arrange to try the bottles of 86, 87, 88, and 1994 Thomas Hardy Ales that I have in bottles in the fridge.....

Your very good health!

Wee Beefy  
 

Drinking what I said I'd drink, and what happened.

Hello,

            as reward for her covering my stint at the NGH I decided to treat Miss N, and lets face it, Mi Sen, to a trio of aged or otherwise interesting beers that I had around the house. In the end, we tried 4. The weakest was 8% and all of them came with the weight of expectation upon them. There were contrasts, conundrums and contention. And, as is only right, there was a winner.

The first beer we tried was Durham Brewery Something Blue. This was a 10% bottle conditioned beer brewed to celebrate someone's wedding or something. I had bought it and laboured for  a few years under the delusion that keeping it, with its noteworthy provenance, may make it a sought after item in years to come. In the end, after a frank and searching exploration of the merits of such an undertaking, I couldn't be arsed.

The beer had a lovely ruby colour to it and an aroma of marmalade and something vaguely but not unpleasantly woody. Miss N considered the malt predominated, and described it as a great big malt comfort blanket. There was quite a lot of carbonation, and taste wise it had a noticeable bitter aftertaste, some malt flavours that reminded me of a Belgian yeast influence, and an initial sweetness that gave way to quite a dry finish. It said on the label that there were fuggles hops in the brew, and there was something of that pungency that comes to the fore when you drink green hop fuggles beers ,but crucially all these tastes combined perfectly. And it didn't really taste or drink like it was 10%.

Next up was the wild card. The Something Blue had  a couple of years on its best before date but our next beer didn't even have one. Nor, indeed, did it have anything so superfluous as a description. Or even an ABV.

Courage 1977 Jubilee Ale was a bit of  a gamble to say the least. Beer rarely excels after more than 25 years in the bottle, less so 30 years,  but this was asking for trouble, having likely been brewed around the beginning of 1977 in time for the jubilee some months later. Would it even be beer?

In terms of appearance it had a very pleasing silver foil cover over the cap and had purple coronets printed on the foil on the neck, and there was 275ml of it. Taking the top off the bottle there was no carbonation whatsoever - a hardly unforgivable state of affairs, given its age. What there was aroma wise didn't disappoint however. A huge blast of sherry. Sweetness, but crucially no off aromas.

Storage is the key with aged bottled beers. I once bought a 26 year old bottle of Charles and Diana Royal Wedding Ale form Greenwich market and should have paid attention to where it was stored - since all the vendors wares appeared to be locked in a metal container and the bottle itself was standing in a metal drawer. As it was, the beer had plenty of suggestions of what it should have tasted like but predominantly tasted of metal. In this case, bearing in mind I was sacrificing this as I had two bottles, I probably opened the well kept one - because it didn't taste of anything but sherry, malt and, if you tried really hard, hops.

One interesting feature, and I don't know what the proper term is, was that it seemed to have  "split". After the strong alcoholic punch of sweet malt and other flavours, there appeared to be water at the end. Almost as if the beer was 90% of the content and the rest of the bottle was water. As we drank more there also appeared to be a caramel flavour which I associate with aged or out of date bottled beers, and once you got past the waft of sherry there was an interesting aroma of leather - again, unlikely to be a positive feature, but interesting nonetheless. Miss N thought its basic flavour characteristics, bottle label design and gentlemen's club mustiness made it seem very much of the age in which it was brewed. Overall though, it was fascinating to try.

Our third beer was to have been the last. We let bias and the gaunt spectre of expectation trick us into thinking we'd need to pour the jubilee ale away and that our saviour would be the Ilkley Brewery Worlds End, an 18 year old whisky barrel aged version of the Mayan Chipotle chocolate porter. All the ingredients were there - Ilkley's pedigree, chilli, chocolate, dark beer and whisky. This had to be the winner. Except it wasn't.

I really enjoyed the Mayan and just as much appreciated the Magic Rock Chipotle Punchline earlier last week. So imagine my disappointment at encountering a lack of fire, and a distinct lack of any balance. Things didn't start that well with an aroma of wood, burnt malt and phenols from the whisky. The first taste was promisingly peaty, earthy as well, and then I expected the chocolate to balance it out and the bite of the chipotle to zip on the tongue with the malt and hop flavours, but that didn't happen. The peat was actually quite harsh and the chocolate non existent, and even after adding the yeast it was still difficult to drink. The aftertaste was almost acrid and the longer the drink went on the more we could smell peat. We had made a crucial error in assuming that this would be the winner before we started. So now we needed another beer.

Its fair to say that the quandary of shall I shan't I regarding keeping bottled beers of strength crops up quite a lot - over the last 18 months the stunning Thornbridge and Brooklyn Alliance bottles I'd kept since 2007 rewarded me richly, suggesting that there were benefits to the aging process. So surely I could dip into another from my collection...

One of the bottles I'd kept had a surprisingly short best before date on given its 10% strength. And having been impressed over the years by their Temptation and since we enjoyed the Something Blue, it seemed like a good idea to drink a bottle of  Durham Brewery Decade, brewed to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Presumably before 2006, since that was its best before date. I was going to prove them wrong - it was going to be ace.

Lessons that go unlearned are a matter for some frustration I find and the Decade was no different. Initially the signs were very promising - even though the beer was 8 years out of date the lovely sweet malt aromas that escaped from the bottle suggested a hugely satisfying beer. However, the proof of the matter was in the difference between the aroma and the taste. There wasn't a difference. It tasted exactly as it smelled, and although it smelled inviting, you can't identify all of the complex flavours that go to make up and ultimately balance a  beer in the aroma alone.

A reflection of the lack of complexity is the  brevity of my notes. My notes are quite concise. "Smells sweet. Tastes very sweet. Strange aftertaste. Reminds me of the sweetness of De Dolle Stille Nacht without the soft Belgian yeast". That was it.

So, what we learned is, being out of date is no reason to write a bottled beer off. Neither is it a reason to hope to enjoy drinking it. Meanwhile, reputations count for nothing, because even the best make mistakes, and sometimes you can't get better than what you started with. So Durham's accomplished Something Blue was the winner.

Now don't get me started on expectation again....

Cheers!

Wee Beefy.

Simian and ape thought procesess in beer rating

Hello,

          a few weeks a go me and Davefromtshop had our biannual beer tasting - this time it was at Chez Boeuf, and comprised an odd mixture of aged beers, beers bought in pubs, beers shipped across Europe, beers from Supermarkets and beers form specialist beer shops. This time, to ensure a fair reviewing and reporting process, we recorded everything we said and slurred, about the beers, on video. What follows is the *potentially* choice excerpts form he untranscribable nonsense we uttered, along with salient points about which beers were best...

I described the first four beers, noting that Santorini Yellow Donkey was unfiltered and refreshing. Ilkely Dinner Ale was  a hoppy and refreshing low gravity beer which was very very hoppy...Geeves Presidents Ale was very nice actually, pleasingly hoppy, but probably could have done with being a but stronger, and Shepherd Neame Mainbrace IPA was in effect, a bit poor. It didn't really have an aftertaste, and was not really an IPA, whatever an IPA is....

Dave reckoned the Santorini Red Donkey was very fruity and very satisfying. It followed on well form their Yellow Donkey but the IPA crowned the whole set (see later). Tatton Obscure was really interesting with lots of licorice flavours which provably shouldn't have been there but tasted all the better for it. Dave would have liked to try a fresher beer to compare. He also liked the Blue Monkey Marmoset, considering it a valuable addition to their range. Its low gravity emphasised the hop nature of the beer, and it was totally different to anything else they brew. Meanwhile 

Shepherd Neame IPA (6%) was a great contrast to the Mainbrace, as there was nice hoppiness, good aroma, and it balances well. Lastly, we both thought Santorini Crazy Donkey was a very interesting beer in a nice way, with  prickly hoppiness, and fruitiness to support it. It had good texture, and was really a good classic beer.

Nogne imperial Brown was reviewed by us both at some stage but "somebody" forgot to video almost all of our reviews - I thought it was very strong but smooth with quite intense flavours but Dave felt it didn't go anywhere, dropping away towards the end. Meanwhile Dave reviewed 60 Degrees North lager from the Hebrides  a lager that "wasn't necessarily complex but is remarkably clean and does a good job of cleansing the palate but it does stop right dead there. It was a worthy beer however. 

On next to the big hitter - Thornbridge and Dark Star Coalition Old Ale, a beer which was no doubt about £10.00 a bottle and which I had been preciously refusing to open for years on account of nobody else I knew owning one. Here are the "highlights" of our increasingly tangential musings on a much anticipated drink:

Beefy:  its not that dark...

Dave: lots of carbonation which is always a good sign, 

Beefy: ooh God it smells nice! (note, this is a professional beer sommelieres phrase). 

Dave: ooh! That's not bad at all. 

Beefy: orange as well, in a really really good way, that's good its ever so slightly ascorbic which is brilliant, because its actually quite sweet. There's definitely orange in there. 

(I think this is why no-one writes blogs entirely from transcribed reviews. I mean, who is this guy?)

Dave: very floral, quite well balanced, for its strength you'd expect some sort of punch there. It is very mellow and I suppose that's what the brewer would want to achieve with an aged beer. Ooh with a bit of a candy follow through,. 

Beefy: its a really accomplished mix of sort of orange and then there's a kind of candy sort of a flavour and also a little dry bitterness but thats not as strong as you would expect.....

Dave:  its got good depth, its got a deal of fruit to it, I would have expected a bit more but nevertheless its a good beer, 

Beefy: I think that you expect it to be dark for a start, and expecting more kind of dark malt and you think of Harveys old ale from the same county as Dark Star - its more like a Belgian to me

Dave: It probably epitomises the expectation versus delivery point. It does seem to have altered a little bit,  there are notes there that weren't there before but nevertheless its not the full package.

Beefy : I like it but like you say its not what I was expecting it to be,  its expected to be a smooth malty dark beer and its not, but its still good.

And finally, with increasingly ponderous assessments - the conclusions!

Dave: Its between Crazy Donkey and the Nogne Brown 

Beefy: its a tie between Red Donkey and Crazy donkey and Marmoset.

Dave: Marmoset, on a  blow for blow account because it delivers much more than you expect.... 

Beefy: Crazy Donkey has a lot to it, its incredibly impressive but does tail off to the end a little, the Red Donkey I could drink all night basically and Marmoset is just a victory of delivery over expectation; and expectation is the key.

Dave: tonight has been exceptionally good because there are no beers there that are bad but there are some that deliver more than the others and I think given the range that we've tried that  is where we will get a winner and.......

Beefy:  Marmoset could be the winner....?

Dave: it gets my vote!

Beefy: in which case I go for that; Marmoset beer of the day, donkeys red and silver and Nogne imperial brown and Coalition all brilliant but actually Marmoset is more ballsy, it does more than you expect it to do, it confounds your expectations and therefore, Marmoset is the winner.

For reference, prior to tasting the last two beers here are our top four beers.

Me: 

1. Santorini Red Donkey

2. Blue MonkeyMarmoset

3. Ilkley Dinner ale

4. Santorini Crazy Donkey

Dave :

1. Santorini Crazy Donkey 

Equal 2nd: Shepherd Neame IPA/Blue Monkey Marmoset

Equal 3rd: Red donkey/Tatton Obscure

4. Santorini Yellow Donkey

I'm not sure whet this tells us, apart from suggesting that the limbic brain which is possibly more prevalent in simian and ape thought processes (I'm making this up by the way but it sound convincing...) helps us to identify beers named after monkeys as the best...?

Or, alternatively, it might not....

Wee Beefy 

Beer tasting, with Davefromtshop.

Hello,

         this time last Tuesday I was out and about waking up my palate at Shakespeares in anticipation of Davefromtshop arriving to sample some bottled beers. This is our second beer tasting of the year, if nothing else organised in recognition of my having quite a few aged beers that needed sharing, and also the fact that last time we made exactly no notes. This time we had the camera and  took pictures and videos throughout.

We started on Dunham Massey Mildly Ginger  a 3.8% BCA (bottle conditioned ale), probably not chilled enough  due to bad planning on my part, but this was still a really good beer to wake the palate (not that mine needed waking...), with just enough ginger to make it zesty but not overpowering. It became a much softer slug with the yeast in.

Derwent Parsons Pledge 4.0% was our next bottle. Hmmm. Derwent Eh. I had one of their stronger beers once and it was OK. Just OK, you understand. This was a glass of toffee with no discernible bitterness. Not as woeful as their Carlisle State Bitter, which was an exercise in redefining the word flavour, but in a bad way, this was very much like a West Country bottled light brown, except it was 4.0%. And it had a label that would make Jeff Pickthall fume. And any right minded person.

Moving on, Geeves Brewery No.1, 3.8% was an inoffensive (I have been swotting up on euphemisms for "poor") malty sort of brew that cries out "Brown Bitter". This time the novelty addition of hops gave it an edge over the Derwent but it was quite a standard beer with a mahogany colour to it.

We switched to Germany for Hainhauser Schlok-weisse Dunkel, 4.8%, probably illegal in not being 5.2% like what Dunkels are, it was a very agreeable beer not dissimilar to the Geeves but having a far greater depth of flavour and biscuity wheaty malt at the end, which also made it quite refreshing. Dunkel in colour, this was a move towards more distinct flavours on the night.

Dunham Massey Porter 5.2% BCA was our fourth beer. One of the bottles I received in compensation for the rather disappointing purchases in December, all had been great so far (although the light orange coloured stout was, if nothing else "a surprise"). This was also a surprise, but in a comprehensively bad way. It had 11 months date on it and had been stood for 6 weeks yet was decidedly undrinkable. I know that not every beer with live yeast in it can be perfect but this was just bad.

Nearby (erm, in the sense that they are in the same county) Tatton Brewery's Obscure, 5.7% was up next. A dark bitter beer with plenty of body and chocolate malt notes, and a big bunch of hops in the aftertaste that reminded me of those distinct New World flavours one comes across. Was this the obscure element? It was in essence a subtle black IPA, and perhaps all the better for it.

Dunham Massey East India Pale Ale, a 6.0% BCA came next. I had three of these in my box and this was the last one so I was fairly confident, and it didn't disappoint. As far as I know its an IPA made with all English malt and hops, and, I suppose, irrespective of arguments over strength, it at least makes sense that its brewed with those ingredients. Bitter, but quite floral with lemon and orange predominating in the long aftertaste. A good effort.

Kernel Export Stout London 1890, at 7.2%, (and a BCA?) is a big favourite of mine and Davefromtshop had the opportunity to fall for it now as well. There was oatmeal in a luxuriously thick body, with Dave identifying coconut after we'd added the yeast, as well as chocolate. In the end we decided it was a kind of dark chocolate Bounty with coffee, and worryingly easy to drink. Much better served at room temperature as well, having bought it from the fridge in a licensed premises.

Kapplerbrau Altomunster Export Hell was a bit of a break from the stronger ales and a palate cleanser before the monsters that lay ahead. This was perhaps the maltiest beer I ever tasted yet it still managed to be refreshing on the palate, no doubt an ingenious by product of the lager malts used (although it was a Hell(es?) in style, so am not sure which malt they use?). However it reached its flavour balance, it was a good beer to have when we did.

Thornbridge Alliance Strong Ale Reserve 2007, at 11%, was the first of the two finishers. The Strong ale, which is unoaked, is matured for 18 months before bottling. It didn't seem plausible,  as we tasted the heady whisky tinged notes, that it hadn't been in a spirit barrel but whatever and however that edge was achieved  it was a stupendous creation. Sweet, still noticeably hoppy, honeyed but not cloying and very easy to drink.

Its a conundrum of flavours really, because you end up thinking of rich vinous and sticky tastes like Christmas pudding yet it drinks like a 5% honey beer.  Best summed up by Dave - "its multi-layered but nothing is jarring, its well rounded and a great argument for aging beers". Adding the yeast made it a little easier to drink, if that was even possible, but added another dimension, with hints of marmalade coming through. A faultlessly executed beer, and only one bottle left now. A crying shame!

Goose Island Bourbon County 2012, at 15% was our last bottled beer, for obvious reasons. Subtle only in the sense that it didn't knock you out, it inhabited a region in the taste-buds between beer and bourbon. Not a subtle background tang or Islay aged phenols, just a massive chunk of alcohol.

At one stage during our final wobbly angled video summary (where I helpfully covered the microphone, like a pissed up genius) we concluded it was "not unpleasant" and "drinking it is a bit like running into a brick wall". Dave advised he didn't fancy an entire evening on it - I wholeheartedly agree. With the time getting on and a taxi required we opted to down the last bit just to get that burning cheek, fuzzy headed  thwack that the alcohol and thickness promised. It did not disappoint.

So, a fantastic five hours of drinking and listening to Tom Waits and Frank Black (note - this is not a collaboration album before you go hunting for it) was had by both.  Possibly a more gradual climb to the stronger beers would have been beneficial, but the two we finished on were magnificent. Overall though, the Alliance won by some margin. A beer that you simply could not improve upon.

Other notable entrants were two of the three Dunham beers, the Kernel and Tatton Obscure. Overall it was a varied and mostly enjoyable meander through multiple beer styles.

Cheers.

Wee Beefy

Hardy companions

Hello,

    as you may know already from my post on Sunday, on Friday I got to try a bottle of aged Thomas Hardy Ale which was a fantastic privilege and a great experience. However, you don't just wander aimlessly into a plus 12% matured beer, there needs to be a bibulous pre amble. And so it was; Davefromtshop had carefully selected a few bottles, as had I, to try before and after the main event, the details of which are below.

We started low, as is always the best plan, with a beer I had lovingly carted back from Crete, Craft Black lager. I knew what to expect as I'd had a few bottles in On the Rocks but it was a first for Dave. The beer is, as you would expect, black, with a nice head of neat white bubbles and an incredibly intense sweetness that takes you back a bit at first. However, whilst its not subtle, and initially you could be forgiven for worrying that it would be too sweet, the flavours mellow out as you drink and it turns out to be an interesting, enjoyable, if unsophisticated drop.

Up next was Belfast Blues, from Birrificio Indipendente Elav. This is described as a bitter, which seems strange coming from Italy. I recognise, of course, that there is much new in the Italian beer scene so am not going to suggest that I expected a lager, but what we got was something really surprising and interesting. The beer is bottle conditioned (I think it certainly retains a yeast sediment) and was difficult to pour clear. Its also lively, although it would have probably benefited from being a little chilled on both flavour and carbonation fronts.

It was bitter, yes, but in a dry hoppy way, more pale ale rather than trad bitter, with a a wonderful herby aftertaste. Adding the yeast makes the beer easier to quaff and balances the bitterness better leaving a fantastic beer. A great introduction to the brewery's beer.

Next up was the Chiltern 30th anniversary ale. We tried it last time and were fairly underwhelmed, this time it was nearer its best before date and so had longer to mature. On opening it, despite my having taken it all the way from home on the bus, it didn't explode, although there was a fair champagne sounding pop, and it immediately smelt incredibly rich and strong in alcohol.

The aroma reminded me of a strong stout in some ways, but maybe a Fullers Vintage. Either way it was confusing, because the copper brown beer in fact had no such taste. Interestingly though, this older bottle had a very subtle edge to it that the younger one didn't, a kind of pleasant cherry flavour which worked really well with the dry bitterness and warming mouthfeel. Quite a puzzle of a beer, but much nearer to the excellence we had anticipated in the bottle we tried earlier in the year.
  

The Birrificio Indipendente Elav Indie Ale was up next, an "independent beer" which also carried a sediment but which we had no problem leaving in the bottle. Initial tastes were harsh - incredibly dry bitterness, not matched by much other flavours, almost metallic, and quite thin. So we added the yeast. It only heightened the ascorbic taste! It was strange, and not obvious what was being aimed for, the bitterness was impressive but it was neither an IPA or a indeed any other identifiable style, and its independent taste didn't help it to shine. A hop too far I think.

A totally different beer next, the last that I brought from home, Thornbridge Evenlode Brown Porter. This is a beer I remember trying on draught at the Hallamshire House and enjoying. It was a while ago, and to be honest I was quite surprised to read on the label that it was matured on blackberries, but it was too long ago to say for definite that I hadn't picked up on that from the cask.

I needn't have worried though.  The blackberry taste came through well, not too strong or overpowering, and melded with and complemented the brown malty porter brilliantly. Its certainly an unusual taste, but incredibly well balanced, a really subtle blend of flavours that gives an interesting new angle to the porter style - especially with an interest developing in sour stouts. After a few bum offerings from Thornbridge on cask of late this as a reminder of what they do well.

On the night our next beer was the coveted Thomas hardy Ale, after which we needed something at the exact opposite end of the flavour spectrum to compete with its strong tasting signature. Dave had been given a very large bottle of Hop-Ruiter, described as a blonde hoppy beer, and brewed in Belgium by Dutch brewers Scheldebrouwerij, so we shared that. It was suggested that they brewed the beer in Belgium because it would attract more praise as Belgium is well regarded as a brewing country. I'm not sure I could attach too much reliability either to the claim that this formed part of their thinking, or the insinuation that Dutch beer isn't well regarded, but either way, maybe one of those factors has influenced the unevenness of this rather puzzling ensemble.

Hop-Ruiter uses Belgian yeast and that is noticeable in the aroma and taste, its not particularly blonde, but Jesus wept its hoppy. Here though is s similar problem to the Indie Ale - its so dry and ascorbic you can't really get the benefit of the Belgian yeast or indeed any of the other flavours, such as the fruity notes that such yeast helps to showcase. Its just a big dry hoppy bitter beer, with little that stands out apart from the nagging questions it begs about what they may have intended.

That said, its quite hard following an even slightly past its best Thomas Hardy Ale, so maybe I need to try this one again. We both agreed that the fact it was a much larger bottle than is normally on sale also didn't help, so I reserve judgement on this one.

The last beer of the night was selected to stand up to any previous flavours and aromas and indeed, expectations we might have encountered.  Birrificio Indipendente Elav Techno double hopped IPA was exactly as we had expected, but perhaps in a better way than with their Indie Ale. Yes there was massive "assertive" hops, as label writers seem to like to say, but there were some subtleties in the overall flavour that brought out the best parts of the bite in the hops used.

It was a really satisfying, perhaps slightly challenging hop monster, but if I had a complaint it was that it maybe didn't have staying power - the initial thrill of tingly zesty hop was amazing but it didn't lead anywhere. Even the addition of yeast failed to make much impact.

Overall this was a night of great beers, some really interesting ones from new (or at least new to us) breweries and some rather incredible ones from those well established. Given that the Hardy's suffered from a minor but forgivable yeast malfunction, I think I would say that the joint best beers were the Belfast Blues and the Evenlode Porter on the night.

All I need to do now is start planning my festive treats by cracking a few examples from my collection. I'm very much looking forward to the return trip beer tasting at Chez Beefy in January 2013....

Wee Beefy

Buy store open pour smell gaze slake write

Hello beermoths

     tonight I have mostly been had a beer. Instead of writing the descriptions down in time honoured style, then copying them onto the blog, I'm going to "free review" whilst at the keyboard...

Brewery : Lancaster, Lancashire
Name : Black
Strength : 4.6%
BCA/none BCA? : None BCA.
Purchased : Asda Handsworth Sheffield.

Pictured below is the beer with the bottle "artistically" out of focus (this was deliberate mind, I was a bit short of space)....

Colour : dark brown, not black, muddy with no other hues immediately visible, with a lacklustre, thin, grey white head which lasts less time than it took to take 7 photo's of the beer (so not very long I confess). When held up to the light half way down the drink it resembles flat Coke. Am already concerned by the brewers choice of a clear bottle...

Carbonation/Pouring : no sound on opening and pours flat, there are bubbles if you look carefully at the "head horizon" where the beer meets what little foam there is, but considering I opened this warm, you'd have to give it a good shake and a massive gulp to get any carbonation. That said, mini bubbles do fizz shortly after each mouthful. A delayed reaction sparkle.

Aroma : I am in the very last throes of a cold. So whilst I am satisfied that this does not impede my flavour receptors, and I have experienced some truly incredible smells of late, I am going to benevolently assume that the aroma is hidden by nasal bacteria.

Taste : Initially a strange sweet burst of malt, perhaps in three stages, biscuity, then sweet and then a mixture, receding in the mouth as the beer goes down to leave a dry slightly sharp bitterness. Even half way through the drink the more unco-operative bitter flavours seem to predominate, and eventually the malt and sweetness is reduced to a sharp kick at the beginning. See the pic below to get an idea of just how flat this beer pours, despite being kept in perfect conditions, and not being bottle conditioned, so susceptible to yeast malfunction.

Even as the beer warms, the maltiness remains subdued, but whilst you may expect that to propel the bitterness into the forefront of the flavour, its alas not a nice punchy bitterness. It is roasted, and that is exactly what you would expect in a dark beer, but also, now that I can identify roast malt as part of the balance, there's a weird aspirin and salt hint to the bitterness.

At the deathroes of the drink the beer begins to remind me of a can of Mitchells bitter drunk warm at the end of a party, as used to happen, even in Easterly Sheffield, in the early nineties. Am afraid I have failed spectacularly to get on with the roasted bitterness and the short lived harsh sweetness in the initial taste.

Head retention - well, for the last 3rd, none at all. The thin residue that subtly graced the surface at the beginning gamely hangs on for about 2 thirds but its so thin and so anchored to the very edge that its not really appreciably a head at all.


WBrating : 4.5.
Alas am not smitten with this dark stranger. It only scrapes this score for being more palatable than their dreadful malty Red that I tried once, but never again. I can't understand why there is no malt balance, and why the bitter tones are so dry and one dimensional, or what that wearying aftertaste is. It was the only one left on the shelf when I bought it - perhaps its time to go back to Hambleton Nightmare and Little Valley Hebden Wheat...

More news soon - am out with Dave Barra Harri Thurs and have abeer tasting at Davefromtshop's Friday so expect some facts, half remembered mumbles, pics and attempts at journalism over the weekend.

Wee Beefy

Wee Beefy's beer bites - bars and pubs and front rooms round up

Good afternoon,

     Burns o beer

on Wednesday 25th January I went up to celebrate Burns Night with Wee Fatha, as is customary.

He usually manages to get an all Scottish beer selection but even combining the beer choice of Sainsbury's and Morrison's there were few to be found. That said, I was very much impressed with the ones that he did get from Sainsbury's, a few details of which are below.

Wolf Brewery Battle of Britain ale 3.9% (RAFA) RAFA bottled beer
Williams Brothers Caesar Augustus Lager/IPA hybrid, 4.1%
Ridgeway Bad  King John Black Ale, 6.0% BCA Ridgeway brewery info courtesy of Quaffale.org
Innis and Gunn ale, 6.0%
Brewdog Hardcore IPA 9.2%

I would have put a link on for the Williams Bros beer but they seem reticent to say much about it, and reviewers were almost exclusively supportive yet underwhelmed. I did find one review from another beer blog which is here : Folk & Ale review Sainsburys beer challenge beers. I liked it though, it was a nice beer to have with the meal (haggis, neeps and tatties, what else?) but my one gripe was that the cold filtering or lagering process succeeded in creating a lager flavour and texture but the hops added at the end failed to make it anything like an IPA - 5.6% and twice as many hops would have worked better perhaps.

The Innis and Gunn was quite warm as we'd had it out in the room for a while and this suits the creamy honeyed flavour perfectly.

The Wolf was a very average beer am afraid, admittedly I can't think of any charity beer that's been really nice - remember those ale by numbers Tolly Cobbold offerings from the nineties? I suspect the beer is marketed with almost anyone in mind, so the taste is wilfully safe and inoffensive in order to be mildly enjoyed by anyone purchasing it.

The Ridgeway was a real strong dark ale, very malty but with such a giant flavour it didn't really matter that there was little trace of hoppiness.

The Brewdog Hardcore IPA, was, well, as you'd expect, an awesome orangey explosion of dry biting bitterness and warm citrus that demanded you drink it slowly.

Overall WF pulled off a great Burns evening and the beers were the perfect compliment throughout. It appears that the lager/IPA was one of the Sainsbury's beer challenge winners so they may be selling it for  a while yet, but the range is very good, so it may be worth taking a look for your self.

Note - Morrison's did have a Scottish beer - McEwans/Youngers Champion Ale. Its OK for what it is but its been around so long and is so widely available that I'm glad WF went with the other options instead.

Sportsman Crosspool

I was in the above on Thursday for a meal with family, and selected a few of the ales on offer. I had pints of Thornbridge Pica Pica oatmeal stout, and Top of the Hops, which despite no information to support this, am sure is a Cropton beer. Both were well kept and really enjoyable ales. Wee Keefy went for the Wooden Hand Pirates Gold from Cornwall, which was as sweet and malty and uninspiring as I remember it in bottle, but its good to see it so far from home.

Harrisons 1854

As usual I had an inevitable stop off at the 1854 where my tipple of choice was Deception again. It was a bit lively so I had it served without the sparkler - its always interesting to see how a beer changes its character without a foam topping and I was ccertainly able to detect more of the floral and citrus hop notes which I think are intended to be prominent, but are sadly, often lacking in this beer. A pleasant change.

Dada

I also found time to prop up the da-bar in da-da (etc). Pub Scrawl was on good form and I also got chance to sample a Raven IPA and Kill Your Darlings on keykeg, which made a nice change. I was quite smitten with the Darlings, but its notable that the Raven was less of a nice drop. Interestingly, I preferred the Raven in cask - the colder and more carbonated keykeg version lacked some of the balance of the cask version and was a little harder to drink. Barkeep Jamie suggested that some beers are better suited to keykeg dispense, a view shared by a few of the newer micro brewers for instance Camden Town.

Personally, I enjoy the chance to try the more lager and Belgian style beers on keykeg, and also to compare the contrasting versions. This means I will have to try a half of Jaipur on keykeg, which I have to say is not something I am hopeful of enjoying, having had some that was stood in Dave's cellar for 6 weeks before now, and some when it first came out and was regularly cloudy, both of which still remain the best versions I ever tasted.

More beer news later kids!

Wee Beefy

Wee Beefy's beer tasting bites.

Hello again,

   last night me and Davefromtshop did our inaugural 2012 beer tasting in my salubrious abode. Here are the details of that epic festival of the taste buds and the salient points rescued from the nonsense we came out with in rating said drinks.

The line up.

Its worth pointing out that optimism had decreed that a much lengthier roll call of beers were to be supped. We only had about 4 pints on our crawl first but I have to concede that really a beer tasting should be done an empty bloodstream (not literally of course).

In light of that here is the original line up, including the ones we didn't get round to - any beers not marked BCA are assumed to be not bottle conditioned beers :

1. Dark Mild, Dunham Massey Brewery 4.0% BCA
2. Evensong, Durham Brewery 5.0% BCA
3. Stout, Dunham Massey Brewery 4.2% BCA
4. Ape Ale, Blue Monkey Brewery 5.5% (BCA? need to find the bottle again!)
5. Yeti, Tatton Brewery 4.5%
6. 300 Ale, Chiltern Brewery 5.0% BCA
7. Pils, Flensburger Brauerei 4.8%
8. Kahuna NZ IPA, Summer Wine Brewery, 6.0%
9. Traditional Porter, Harviestoun 6.0% NOT TRIED
10. Torpedo, Sierra Nevada Brewery 7.2% NOT TRIED
11. Vintage Ale, (2004) Fullers Brewery 8.5% BCA
12. Temptation, (2007) Durham Brewery 10.0% NOT TRIED (much to do with the previous beer's magnificence)

As you can see there was a hint of optimism in my choice of taste overloads, and we finally gave up after the Fullers around 01.30 AM, having truly run out of steam.

This time we didn't worry ourselves about scoring, more entering into a detailed review of each beer and an overall assessment. Alas, the passage of time and accumulation of alcohol meant I can't honestly say that we picked a winner! The Fullers Vintage was seven years of wonderful perfection, however, interestingly, it was slightly flawed. Not only did it take about 45 (albeit heavenly) minutes to drink, but somehow in the maturation process, almost all trace of hops had disappeared.

By way of comparison, last year we had tried a bottle that was less than 2 years old and it was perhaps the finest bottled beer I ever tasted. However, picking the best time to open one is complicated further by the fact that the hops and malts and recipe change every year. So, given the above, and mindful of the authority afforded to me by this being my blog, I would have to say that after careful consideration the winner was the Chiltern Brewery 300's Old Ale.

We attended a tasting (by accident, just by turning up at their shop) in September 2011 and the insights into the beers and the knowledgeable staff showed what a slick operation Chiltern Brewery are. For more details see Chiltern Brewery bottled beers. I'd hate you to think that this swayed my decision, so I will attempt to validate my choice by explaining that the 300's wins because it was 5.0% and yet tasted a little bit like a beer double that, or one that had been aged at length. I think the fact that it punched so high above its weight, and had all the constituent ingredients of a strong but balanced English old ale means it outshone the Fullers. Although if there had been a "wow factor" to judge, Fullers would have easily walked away with first prize.

Other highlights were the Dunham Porter, The Ape Ale and the Durham Evensong. Interestingly though, there was no top accolade for the much anticipated Summer Wine Brewery Kahuna NZ IPA. I had expected to be bitten by ferocious hops and I wasn't disappointed, but, having tried and loved their draught offerings on numerous occasions now, what did disappoint me was the over reliance on the massive hop flavour, with seemingly not much else in the mix.

Both me and Dave were fairly certain that the hop in question was nelson sauvin, although it could have been green bullet as well. Either way there seemed a lack of balancing flavours. Having decided on the hop's identity we couldn't shake ourselves from the thought that this was a nelson sauvin attack more than it was a celebration. Yes, it was worthy of a buzz brewing descriptiopn like unapologetic, but that could be applied to BrewDog Hardcore IPA (in fact, I worry it may actually already be so) for example, a classic of its style. Kahuna, I concede, was more a bold experiment that didn't quite work. Which was a shame.

Overall, this was one of a couple of beers that fell short of expectations (those old chestnuts!) - perhaps a few less dry hops and some more balancing malt would have made this IPA an incredible beer. The only other disappointment was the Tatton Yeti, mainly because it did not live up to the promise of the blurb on the label (a fireside copper ale needs a bigger flavour and more lasting finish if its to work) and, against the quality of the Tatton Ale I tried the night before. Having said that, even though I can admit to a certain, ahem "tiredness" starting to befall us, there honestly wan't a bad beer.

Finally, for a snippet of the mumbling chaos of beer reviewing at gone midnight, I was going to have attached a short video, however the only one short enough to upload in under 25 minutes is very late on when, erm, clarity of thought and clear pronunciation of words has become more challenging. Instead I have posted the above picture of a glass of beer. This will have to do am afraid! You can rest assured however, in the absence of video evidence, that a robust assessment of each beer was carried out, to our very great enjoyment!


Happy beer tasting,

Wee Beefy

Wee Beefy's beer bites at home and out round Sheffield and Derbyshire

Hello, here are some bibulous updates for you.

Beefy's UK and continental beer tasting

I recently met up with Davefromtshop for a few pints in town, a bite to eat and a beer tasting at mine. Instead of doing stuffy old paper notes we recorded videos of us reviewing each beer in turn so that we could, to an extent at least, be sure what we had been saying!

The line up was (i.e in order of when tasted, not preference):

1. Brinks Rethymnian Organic Blonde, Rethymno, Crete
2. Purple Moose Snowdonia Ale, 3.5% Porthmadog, Wales
3. Bath Ales Gem, Bath.
4. Thornbridge Jaipur, Derbyshire,
5. Fullers Bengal Lancer IPA, London bottle conditioned (BCA)
6. Chiltern Lord Lieutenants Porter, Terrick, Buckinghamshire (BCA)
7. Kernel India Porter, London (BCA)
8. Achouffe brewery N'ichouffe, Belgium 2007 (BCA)

General thoughts were that the Bengal Lancer was particularly disappointing, with marmalade and biscuit flavours replacing any anticipated, and essential hops. The Brinks stood up well in the context of it being brewed in Crete to satisfy a hot climate market, but was a welcome catch since its not for sale in the UK, the Gem was a nice malty and orangey beer providing a contrast to the usual pale Northern beer styles, and the  two porters were equally good with the Kernel maybe edging it for being less carbonated.

The Top 3 were :

3. Jaipur - initially seemed lacking in hops but they came up to surprise you mid drink;
2. Snowdonia Ale - due to its incredible amounts of flavour packed into such a low gravity brew;
1. N'ichouffe - a reliable classic, 10%, 750 ml bottle conditioned matured strong Belgian ale with tons of flavour and a soporific after effect.

Video evidence of me and Davefromtshop in a state of mild inebriation, to make its way onto Facebook soon, in the meantime, using the new edit settings on my blog, here is (or might be), a video summary of the winner, 3 out of the 4 times we attempted to reach this conclusion, the N'ichouffe. (note, opinions expressed in this video are those of two drunk people, and should not be afforded any credibility whatsoever).

White Lion Heeley Oktoberfest 2011

Last weekend saw 2 days (possiby more?) of music and beer, a fab mix of treats, in which the redoubtable multiroomed Heeley classic The White Lion held a beer festival with microbrewery beers and one or two regionals from round the UK. From a range of 20 the highlights for me were Enville Gothic, Hambleton Nightmare Porter, and my final and most oft ordered pint, the amazing Blue Monkey BG Sips pale ale. Had I been more than once I would have found time and room for an RCH Firebox, Moorhouses Blonde Witch, Thornbridge Jaipur, Absolution or Ossett Silver King. Overall a fantastc event which shows how a pub festival should be run.

Derbyshire real ale yomp

On Sunday I fitted in a somewhat arduously long walk based loosely on the Monsal trail. Starting in Hassop we walked up to and along Longstone edge, down into Little Longstone and visited the Packhorse. There wer 5 ales on here, including 4 from Thornbridge, and two real fires - we both had pints of Lord Marples. Up the road we felt compelled to pop in the Stables bar and I was pleased to see an excellent choice - Moor Top and Stables Ale from Buxton, and  Sir Phillip and Undertaker from Wincle. This is the first time I have been able to find their beers on tap anywhere and I wasn't disappointed.

Down into the dale next we followed the path all the way along to the Anglers Rest in Millers Dale. The beer range was the same as last time so we both had pints of the Storm Silk of Amnesia. From here we clambered up onto the trail and walked to Thornbridge Station and into Great Longstone. We visited the Crispin, which has a range of 4 or 5 Robinsons beers on, including excellent Hatters Dark and their seasonal offering, Black Beauty porter. We walked into Hassop next and had a pint of the Peak Ales Swift Nick in the Eyre Arms - alas we had already missed the bus so extended our walk along Church lane into Baslow to catch the 240 home. We still had time to pop in the Rutland, a drab pastel colour fest food pub with 1 real ale available, an average Jennings Cumberland of which I had a half. Still, a fantastic walk and some great pubs and beer were encountered along the way.

Rumour Mill

Two wildly unlikely guesses this time. Firstly, an ongoing impossible to quash rumour that Ossett brewery are to open a real ale outlet in one of the empty units at West One. This is actually old news so don't be surprised if nothing happens anytime soon! And, I hear that maybe a Walkley real ale pub may potentially reopen, hopefully once again serving a decent pint. You heard it hear first! And probably never again...

Optimistically Early Advance Notice

Just to let you know that Cropton beer festival will take place at the brewery's pub, the New Inn at Cropton,  in the last weekend of November - camping available! Well worth a trip I am told, more details to follow.

Take care, stay thirsty and Cheers!

 Wee Beefy.