Hullabaloo,
finding myself with a surprise bank note in my wallet last weekend I was very pleased to also note that Cloudwater had re-brewed their V3 DIPA and released a new version, version 3.1. I had heard they were going to redo V3 and after a morning and afternoon of overtime I was more than happy to pop to Shakespeares, my second home, to have a third of each.
So which was best I hear you ask? Well, for me it was the V3.1. The reasons for that are set out below. Although am more interested in how I reached, rather than that, conclusion.
I can't remember. clearly, what Cloudwater DIPA V3 tasted like. It was released in March 2016 I think, and I have had a huge amount of beer since then, and the only appreciable difference from looking at the font clips was the strength, now 8.5%. Its not possible therefore to make a direct comparison. Apart from the minor strength adjustment, the only difference I was sure of was it seemed to taste sweeter than I remembered? This is interesting, because a chat with Sam behind the bar revealed that he hadn't tried v3 the first time, but preferred it of the two this time, despite its sweetness.
Chris meanwhile suggested V3.1 was a reflection of changes in brewing styles and processes in the last two years. This was a convincing explanation. V3.1 was hoppier, and far soupier. It also had a more mellow balanced mouthfeel and flavours. It was on par with the juicy DIPAs I love and consume. I was sat in the beer garden in bright hot sunshine supping two finely crafted yellow-orange hued strong pale ales and I was chuffed to bits.
The other thing that stuck in my mind was the fact that along with many others, I had ended up becoming slightly bored with the Cloudwater DIPA series. It had been ahead of its time in terms of pricing and the minute variances in each number had made me think my cash wasn't being well spent. Since then, their DDH pale series, small IPAs, TIPAs and wonderful missing piece IPA with the Pilcrow pub have proved that actually, a widening of their output has let Cloudwater brew some excellent beers, with flaked oats and Lallemand New England yeast taking centre stage in making their brews so much more easy drinking, and the double dry hopping hsowcasing the hops brilliantly.
On that basis, despite leaping for joy on hearing them announce the rebrew of version 3, there was actually little point in brewing it, unless it was to showcase the class and excellence f version 3.1.
That said, a comparator or not, it was still a very enjoyable drop, and the version 3.1 was a better drop again. I went over to Bar Stewards afterwards and enjoyed a can of Loka Polly Citra DIPA and a can of their IPA as well - how things have changed even since Cloudwater started brewing, that I now look at the casks, the kegs and the cans and bottles when I go drinking after work!
Long may the development and exploration of the DIPA style continue, and longer still may Cloudwater be matched and followed by excellent brewers striving to create the best and the better in terms of beer, in all its formats.
Wee Beefy
Showing posts with label Cloudwater DIPA v3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cloudwater DIPA v3. Show all posts
Saturday, 19 May 2018
Sunday, 24 April 2016
Recent sessions
Good day,
I wanted to cobble together some half remembers facts about recent sessions and other visitations to local pubs. As always, facts are at best interpretative and often guessed at, some details will be plain erroneous, but the opinions expressed are genuine. After all, I don't have to remember opinions...
I have recently spent quite some time in the Three Tuns - indeed, this is where, whilst drinking with Tash, Matty and Richard at the beginning of the month, I discovered I had run out of funds...ha ha! The joy. We had been drinking the excellent Blue Bee Mango Number 5, a naturally hazy Mango IPA at 5%, which was on sparkling form. Other sessions here included one drinking West Pier by Brighton Bier Co, which was once again brilliantly hoppy, Blue Bee Oceanic Red, and their American Five Hop beer, numbered between 11 and 15684.
My last visit was en route to Shakespeares, and having seen Nate and Siobhan and the lovely Dave behind the bar, I was relaxing in the right hand part with Matty waiting for Tash to arrive, when who should turn up but the Ale Ambler. It was good to see the AA, and to briefly meet Tara and another lady from Mallinsons brewery, along with a young man with an A in his name from Huddersfield. Thanks for the pints AA!
Last night I had a proper session in the Bath Hotel. The wonderful Hopjacker Spanish Prisoners, a 5.9% Amber ale with Spanish marmalade in it, was on sale, and it seemed silly not to have five or six pints. So I did. The walk up West Street had featured numerous groups of entirely hammered men shouting abuse at one another and other random people so the Bath was a haven of almost tranquility. The excellent Hops and Dreams from Brew Foundation was also on on keg, although I did not try it.
In the past month I have been in the Hillsborough Hotel a few times. Once was with Matty after work when he was off and we had a good couple of pints of excellent but difficult to remember the name of beer, probably pale and hoppy, and very likely brewed locally. My next visit saw me pop in on a lovely sunny evening after work. There were only a few of us in and I supped another similarly obfuscately named beer which I enjoyed. Its a lovely place to relax in an evening and the beers are competitively priced as well. My last visit was last weekend with Tash en route to town where we sat outside, and then in as the sun went down, supping a beer which was made with beer. There is no point my even attempting to recall what it was alas.
A couple of weeks ago I met up with Fluffy and John in the Tap and Tankard after Fluff had run the Sheffield half marathon. The Brew Foundation hops and dreams was on as a guest and in excellent form, so I had two pints in a short period of time. Afterwards we went to the Tuns for pints of Blue Bee before the Shakespeares and the Kelham Island Tavern.
This is somewhere I have been a few times recently as well. I remember going in with Matty and he had a pint of the 6.5% North Riding Anniversary beer and I a half of the Mikkeler Nuclear Hop at 8.0% on keg. Both beers were in impeccable condition, as were those that me and Tash tried recently, including pints of another North Riding beer and a Kernel beer on keg.
After which we went somewhere I have been in a tremendous lot this month - Shakespeares's. They have recently featured three or more Kernel beers, Simcoe, Cascade and a stupendous one with four hops in it, Ella, Simcoe, Centennial and Citra if memory serves. Other favourites have included the Cloudwater Black IPA on cask at 6.5% or similar, which was incredibly mellow but still a hoppy IPA at its heart, and the amazing Buxton Trolltunga Gooseberry sour pale ale on keg. Not sour enough if you love sour or hoppy enough if you are a hophead, instead a mesmerising blend of sour and bitter refreshment which went down superbly.
I went in with Dave H from work recently and we started sensibly on pints of Blackjack Devils's something, a 5ish percent pale, then slowly moved onto slightly less sensible options, including the last bottle of Schlenkerla dubbel rauchbier, a Cloudwater DIPA3, a Trappist Rochefort 10 as well as one of the Kernel pales on keg. A very enjoyable night was had by all, including Emily, who joined us half way through at a quite thirsty stage.
I will be paid on Friday so the week after next should be refreshing, in the meantime am having to cut back as have no more furniture to sell to fund supping. Drinking eh - what does it mean?. Like memories, we'll never know.
Hic!
Cheese
Wee Beefy
I wanted to cobble together some half remembers facts about recent sessions and other visitations to local pubs. As always, facts are at best interpretative and often guessed at, some details will be plain erroneous, but the opinions expressed are genuine. After all, I don't have to remember opinions...
I have recently spent quite some time in the Three Tuns - indeed, this is where, whilst drinking with Tash, Matty and Richard at the beginning of the month, I discovered I had run out of funds...ha ha! The joy. We had been drinking the excellent Blue Bee Mango Number 5, a naturally hazy Mango IPA at 5%, which was on sparkling form. Other sessions here included one drinking West Pier by Brighton Bier Co, which was once again brilliantly hoppy, Blue Bee Oceanic Red, and their American Five Hop beer, numbered between 11 and 15684.
My last visit was en route to Shakespeares, and having seen Nate and Siobhan and the lovely Dave behind the bar, I was relaxing in the right hand part with Matty waiting for Tash to arrive, when who should turn up but the Ale Ambler. It was good to see the AA, and to briefly meet Tara and another lady from Mallinsons brewery, along with a young man with an A in his name from Huddersfield. Thanks for the pints AA!
Last night I had a proper session in the Bath Hotel. The wonderful Hopjacker Spanish Prisoners, a 5.9% Amber ale with Spanish marmalade in it, was on sale, and it seemed silly not to have five or six pints. So I did. The walk up West Street had featured numerous groups of entirely hammered men shouting abuse at one another and other random people so the Bath was a haven of almost tranquility. The excellent Hops and Dreams from Brew Foundation was also on on keg, although I did not try it.
In the past month I have been in the Hillsborough Hotel a few times. Once was with Matty after work when he was off and we had a good couple of pints of excellent but difficult to remember the name of beer, probably pale and hoppy, and very likely brewed locally. My next visit saw me pop in on a lovely sunny evening after work. There were only a few of us in and I supped another similarly obfuscately named beer which I enjoyed. Its a lovely place to relax in an evening and the beers are competitively priced as well. My last visit was last weekend with Tash en route to town where we sat outside, and then in as the sun went down, supping a beer which was made with beer. There is no point my even attempting to recall what it was alas.
A couple of weeks ago I met up with Fluffy and John in the Tap and Tankard after Fluff had run the Sheffield half marathon. The Brew Foundation hops and dreams was on as a guest and in excellent form, so I had two pints in a short period of time. Afterwards we went to the Tuns for pints of Blue Bee before the Shakespeares and the Kelham Island Tavern.
This is somewhere I have been a few times recently as well. I remember going in with Matty and he had a pint of the 6.5% North Riding Anniversary beer and I a half of the Mikkeler Nuclear Hop at 8.0% on keg. Both beers were in impeccable condition, as were those that me and Tash tried recently, including pints of another North Riding beer and a Kernel beer on keg.
After which we went somewhere I have been in a tremendous lot this month - Shakespeares's. They have recently featured three or more Kernel beers, Simcoe, Cascade and a stupendous one with four hops in it, Ella, Simcoe, Centennial and Citra if memory serves. Other favourites have included the Cloudwater Black IPA on cask at 6.5% or similar, which was incredibly mellow but still a hoppy IPA at its heart, and the amazing Buxton Trolltunga Gooseberry sour pale ale on keg. Not sour enough if you love sour or hoppy enough if you are a hophead, instead a mesmerising blend of sour and bitter refreshment which went down superbly.
I went in with Dave H from work recently and we started sensibly on pints of Blackjack Devils's something, a 5ish percent pale, then slowly moved onto slightly less sensible options, including the last bottle of Schlenkerla dubbel rauchbier, a Cloudwater DIPA3, a Trappist Rochefort 10 as well as one of the Kernel pales on keg. A very enjoyable night was had by all, including Emily, who joined us half way through at a quite thirsty stage.
I will be paid on Friday so the week after next should be refreshing, in the meantime am having to cut back as have no more furniture to sell to fund supping. Drinking eh - what does it mean?. Like memories, we'll never know.
Hic!
Cheese
Wee Beefy
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Where has all the money gone?
Hello,
the above title is an oft used question. Industries and places and organisations and individuals have been, for years, uttering the above. It really is a puzzle - where has the money gone? In this case, despite hinting at some resonance of journalistic endeavour, the person posing this questions is myself, specifically about my funds. Intuitive, indeed regular readers, may therefore be able to quickly surmise where, in fact, my money has gone. Its gone to the bloody pub, that's where. I am keeping the beer and pub industry alive it seems. What a good bibulanthropist I am...
Since this is a blog about beer, oft remembered, oft forgotten and guessed at, sometimes made up, I thought I would provide a few details of how I reached this stage of having no money so early in the month. Yes there were bills, birthdays and saving up for holidays. And there was also.....
Shakespeares. Gawd luvvum, always providing the drinker with an excellent range of real ales, kegs and bottles. Some of their recent offerings have included the Devil Made me Brew It, a rather excellent stout brewed by the lads at Arbor. There have been a few single hopped pale ales as well, including, possibly, Mosaic, and the excellent Fyne Ales Superior IPA at 6.9% or similar. We had a number of pints of this, and it were lovely. They also sold the excellent Hyperion IPA from Lost Industry on keg at 8%. An ideal starter for me.
On Saturday I visited friends Chris, Kelly, or another female name with an E in it, sorry....and their baby. I met them in Spoons and we wandered together down to the Harlequin. Only to be told at 15.05 as I was ordering our beers that they couldn't have kids in after 15.00. This seems surprisingly early, although I am biased since its my friend's sprog and its the quietest bairn ever. So we upped sticks and went to Shakespeares, who have no such issues. As I popped in to ask if this was OK, Chris Wozzurth was pointing at a pump clip. I told him I couldn't read it but said I would have some when I came back. Minutes later, I had bought myself and Tash a pint. Each. Of Cloudwater DIPA V3 at 9.0%. Being my Brothers birthday do later that night, I wasn't, of course, drinking.....
Another pint soon followed of the magic orange liquid, half for Tash, before I went home to eat. The marvelous, hoppy, mellow-malted, yellow-orange cloudy ale was a delight. Later me and Tash headed up to the Ball on Crookes where I was on Tapped Brew Co Mojo all night to celebrate Wee Keefy's birthday - there were a couple of other beers that I might have tried but the Mojo was probably the best bet, not least having had two 9% pints earlier.
I returned to Shakespeares the next day for the last pint of the Cloudwater, which I shared with Fluff and his Dad, before popping to the KIT and then returning again, later to be blown away once more. The replacement for the Cloudwater was Kernel four hop IPA, a 7.0% beer which featured Ella, Chinook, Citra and Centennial hops and was fantastic. Probably the tastiest, easiest drinking and most well balanced hoppy IPA I have ever had. Congratulations once again to Shakespeares for their beer range and quality.
The Saturday before we met for a meal in the Ball and had a rather disappointing pint of Treboom Hop Britannia. I had really enjoyed it at the Hillsborough Hotel previously but this was not as good alas. Afterwards we headed down to the Walkley Beer Co. They had Cromarty Happy Chappy on cask plus another and Beavertown Blood Orange IPA and Burning Sky Saison Pertemps on keg. The saison was £4.20 a pint and the Bloody Ell IPA was £5.20 a pint at 6.9%. This was on fine form and was a delight to drink, so much so that I had two pints. It was good as well to catch up with Scott and Sarah, and of course to sup saison and IPA in the WBC.
Afterwards we headed into town and went to the Beer Engine's first birthday. A day late. I convinced myself, despite seeing the ad on Facebook, that it couldn't be on April Fools day. More "fool" me (!) as we turned up with the staff suffering, um, exhaustion, and no DJ set. Luckily, there was a pint of Cloudwater Hopfenweiss on keg to have along with a delicious pale on cask which was Moor Empire Pale Ale. This, as was the weiss, was on top form. Tash then had a pint of the Empire and I, foolishly or courageously, ordered a pint of Evil Twin Yin Imperial Stout at god knows what strength (its actually 10% according to their website ).
It was pricey, being Danish, and strong, at £9.00 a go. And I was told I was the first person to buy an entire pint. I can see why, except, I can also fully agree with my reasons for, and the amount I enjoyed, drinking it. This was such a perfectly balanced imperial stout which did not taste its strength. Sorry to have missed the birthday party kids - I will be there for next years though. And, um, of course, ...before.
So, there it is. The questions is answered. Where has all the money gone is explained to a large extent by the above. And I enjoyed every last bloody drop of it.
Huzzar!
Wee Beefy
the above title is an oft used question. Industries and places and organisations and individuals have been, for years, uttering the above. It really is a puzzle - where has the money gone? In this case, despite hinting at some resonance of journalistic endeavour, the person posing this questions is myself, specifically about my funds. Intuitive, indeed regular readers, may therefore be able to quickly surmise where, in fact, my money has gone. Its gone to the bloody pub, that's where. I am keeping the beer and pub industry alive it seems. What a good bibulanthropist I am...
Since this is a blog about beer, oft remembered, oft forgotten and guessed at, sometimes made up, I thought I would provide a few details of how I reached this stage of having no money so early in the month. Yes there were bills, birthdays and saving up for holidays. And there was also.....
Shakespeares. Gawd luvvum, always providing the drinker with an excellent range of real ales, kegs and bottles. Some of their recent offerings have included the Devil Made me Brew It, a rather excellent stout brewed by the lads at Arbor. There have been a few single hopped pale ales as well, including, possibly, Mosaic, and the excellent Fyne Ales Superior IPA at 6.9% or similar. We had a number of pints of this, and it were lovely. They also sold the excellent Hyperion IPA from Lost Industry on keg at 8%. An ideal starter for me.
On Saturday I visited friends Chris, Kelly, or another female name with an E in it, sorry....and their baby. I met them in Spoons and we wandered together down to the Harlequin. Only to be told at 15.05 as I was ordering our beers that they couldn't have kids in after 15.00. This seems surprisingly early, although I am biased since its my friend's sprog and its the quietest bairn ever. So we upped sticks and went to Shakespeares, who have no such issues. As I popped in to ask if this was OK, Chris Wozzurth was pointing at a pump clip. I told him I couldn't read it but said I would have some when I came back. Minutes later, I had bought myself and Tash a pint. Each. Of Cloudwater DIPA V3 at 9.0%. Being my Brothers birthday do later that night, I wasn't, of course, drinking.....
Another pint soon followed of the magic orange liquid, half for Tash, before I went home to eat. The marvelous, hoppy, mellow-malted, yellow-orange cloudy ale was a delight. Later me and Tash headed up to the Ball on Crookes where I was on Tapped Brew Co Mojo all night to celebrate Wee Keefy's birthday - there were a couple of other beers that I might have tried but the Mojo was probably the best bet, not least having had two 9% pints earlier.
I returned to Shakespeares the next day for the last pint of the Cloudwater, which I shared with Fluff and his Dad, before popping to the KIT and then returning again, later to be blown away once more. The replacement for the Cloudwater was Kernel four hop IPA, a 7.0% beer which featured Ella, Chinook, Citra and Centennial hops and was fantastic. Probably the tastiest, easiest drinking and most well balanced hoppy IPA I have ever had. Congratulations once again to Shakespeares for their beer range and quality.
The Saturday before we met for a meal in the Ball and had a rather disappointing pint of Treboom Hop Britannia. I had really enjoyed it at the Hillsborough Hotel previously but this was not as good alas. Afterwards we headed down to the Walkley Beer Co. They had Cromarty Happy Chappy on cask plus another and Beavertown Blood Orange IPA and Burning Sky Saison Pertemps on keg. The saison was £4.20 a pint and the Bloody Ell IPA was £5.20 a pint at 6.9%. This was on fine form and was a delight to drink, so much so that I had two pints. It was good as well to catch up with Scott and Sarah, and of course to sup saison and IPA in the WBC.
Afterwards we headed into town and went to the Beer Engine's first birthday. A day late. I convinced myself, despite seeing the ad on Facebook, that it couldn't be on April Fools day. More "fool" me (!) as we turned up with the staff suffering, um, exhaustion, and no DJ set. Luckily, there was a pint of Cloudwater Hopfenweiss on keg to have along with a delicious pale on cask which was Moor Empire Pale Ale. This, as was the weiss, was on top form. Tash then had a pint of the Empire and I, foolishly or courageously, ordered a pint of Evil Twin Yin Imperial Stout at god knows what strength (its actually 10% according to their website ).
It was pricey, being Danish, and strong, at £9.00 a go. And I was told I was the first person to buy an entire pint. I can see why, except, I can also fully agree with my reasons for, and the amount I enjoyed, drinking it. This was such a perfectly balanced imperial stout which did not taste its strength. Sorry to have missed the birthday party kids - I will be there for next years though. And, um, of course, ...before.
So, there it is. The questions is answered. Where has all the money gone is explained to a large extent by the above. And I enjoyed every last bloody drop of it.
Huzzar!
Wee Beefy
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