Bitterly contested

Hello,

      earlier in the week I read a post on Adrian Tierney Jones' site about brown bitter. It was an engaging traverse through memories of such beer, and a refreshing change from more bitter negative (whether ironic or outwardly hostile) blog prose over the last year.

Slow as ever I missed commenting on his blog but mine on Boak and Bailey's post, specifically the quote about bitter appreciation being an example of a "quiet beer counter-revolution"  was this :

"Quiet revolution I think is perhaps an exaggeration; regaining perspective and honest appreciation seem more prevalent in gently reminding us blog-folk that a beer can be good irrespective of its percentage of coverage".

Am pleased with the syllable count, grammatical integrity (ish) and tempo of my phrase but I thought afterwards, what am I actually saying?

Is it that beer bloggers and trend followers outside of the opinionated grumblesphere are in fact somehow deluded into thinking all that is new and all that is blogged about is good, and all that went before is inferior?

Well, to some extent yes. Its important to clarify though, I have had many beers recently which, in fact I had read about, sometines more than once, on different blogs, and absolutely loved. However, I am aware of a growing fractious element in beer appreciation.

First of all there is a retro nod towards "many is good" beer ranges in pubs. Driven maybe by constant references to amazing new breweries, or perhaps "range lust", it all seems a bit like the more beers we know are good the more pubs need to increase their choice. Whereas, surely, 2 good new micro beers and one excellent example of a classic beer well kept would be manna from heaven?

.As a case in point, recently, in the NBT festival, I heard some CAMRA types bemoan Dada changing its name (not unreasonable!) and more vociferously, their decision to reduce the number of hand pumps. They then drew comparisons with other "Thornbridge pubs" (whatever that means)  also following this trend and declared that Dada would never make the GBG, and others would fall from grace in it, because there were less real ale handpumps. Surely quality over quantity counts?

Meanwhile, and more pertinent to this post, I note that almost every beer review or event analysis I read focuses on the output of hop forward beers produced by microbreweries.

And that's fine.

But are we in a position where any pale beer not pushing 100IBU will now be automatically considered dull, pedestrian or unworthy? I love hops. I lu-u-urve hops. Always have. But I also drink maltier beers. A quick glance at 20 or so blogs on my reading list suggests that I am living in a world of forgotten dreams and archaic doctrine. Is this true?

I ask only because aside from my posting and reading as above, tonight I tried a bottle of Dunham Massey Cheshire IPA.

This is in no way an Alpha hop beer. Oh no. Its firmly within the Dunham Massey portfolio, in being very malty, with a soft yeast, and a moderately, rather than lager like, pale appearance. Having been weened onto hophead fodder and seen almost only hop festival beers praised of late, I was wondering wether my unfailing belief in the quality of Dunham bottle beers would be tested by a hopless cheshire malt frenzy. But that was wide of the mark....

It was a very very nice beer. Lots of hops, yes, but they were actually a second wave of flavours in this 4.7% amber coloured ale. The initial hit was an unapologetic Dunham staple of malt, mellow fruits and yeast, and some delightful beery notes that suggest it was time to slow down and breathe in the flavour.

It didn't though, have the hop wince. It did not make me go "woah, Jeezus Christ thats hoppy!" It didn't need to.

Because despite its slightly more conservative level of hopping, it was a fantastic, bitter rounded beer of great quality. Interestingly, the fact that it purports to be "Inspired by the English IPA's of old" may be an ironic nod to current moves to dispel long held beer myths. In the latest edition of Beer after all, Ron Pattinson contributes to an article clearly suggesting that the high hopped high alcohol IPA is not what would have travelled to India. Does beer writing reflect this?

Perhapps now we can relax a little and enjoy a beer for its rounded flavour, irrespective of IBU, and even, god forbid, even if it doesn't seem to confirm our erroneous assumptions about a particular style.

Wee Beefy.

Wee Beefy's pubs round-up (and some bottle news)

Ay up,

    its going to be a slightly shorter post than normal (who am I kidding? Every time I start a post like that its still a minimum 5 paragraphs long....) as it pertains to some brief pub visits over the past week, which I have lumped together into cumbersome slabs of gen.

Friday

After my Kelham visit on Friday evening I embarked on a tour of a few more local hostelries with Mr Robbery. First stop was the FAT CAT where we had an essential and excellent pork pie, and a half each of the Thornbridge Pica Pica stout. Mores the shame that I seem to have missed this years run of the Bete Noire, my favourite Kelham beer.

This was followed by a walk round to the SHIP INN (see wonkily lined up door plaque pic right) for a fantastic pint each of the Abbeydale Dark Angel. There was a distinct Sheffield slant to the beers but there was still a dark offering, which is a mark of thoughtful beer choosing, given the dominance of pale hoppy beers in Sheffield's Breweries output. Also of note, myself and Mr Robbery both like dark beers, which is a convenient situation when there is such a good range on offer in Steel City pubs. I have now taken 3 people to visit the Ship, and have yet to hear a word of criticism.


Next was a jaunt on the tram up to the UNIVERSITY ARMS. It was busy but not rammed and we again  chose the same beer (this may be open to question!). We both had pints of a Revolutions Brewery offering that could have been Beat Red or Devolution. To be fair, it could have been one of about 10 of their beers since my "innate" journalistic eye recorded the beer as "45". A quick look at their website proves the folly of this notation....

We also had time to pop in HARRISONS 1854 to sit in the beer garden with pints of Abbeydale Deception. It was getting late and I know we weren't in long. Mr R had designs on going to a number of places, but I was set on another dark brew....

Our final stop was in THE OLD HOUSE, for, you guessed it, Bradfield Farmers Stout (in unspecified quantities). This really was my last venue of the night. Reports of my having been "ready for bed" appear to have been greatly accurate, and it was therefore a night beer waggon for me at just gone 01.00.

Disgraceful...

Monday

Talking of disgraceful, its hard to be able to put a spin on going out for a goodly session on a Monday, especially if you have partaken of a "refreshing" weekend. However, this time I had the excellent excuse of taking Chala with me for an enjoyable riposte in a couple of venues. This involved ending up back in THE OLD HOUSE again for some Bradfield Farmers Stout, which was a bit tired, and some refreshing, pale, Spotland Gold from Phoenix Brewery. A few good wines were also sampled here, leading us to embark on a rash second venue...

So it was we ended up in DAda (daDA?) where the Pica Pica was once again available, and some excellent Magic Rock. Chala settled down on the comfy leather seat with an ominously large Pinotage and I had a pint of the excellent Magic Rock Curious. We Finished with a bottle of the Trappist Rochefort 6, principally as I had never seen it anywhere before (only their tiring 8 and their stupendous 11), and also because it was  meant to be a shared finisher. Not that Chala exactly partook, but it was a nice find, even though regrettably its carbonation and lighter flavour made it less god than the similar strength Westmalle Dubbel.

And finally some over the off counter news...

The ARCHER ROAD BEER STOP is selling some Dunham Massey bottled beers. Among those offered are Cheshire IPA (review coming soon) Cherry Stout and a new beer, Obelisk. Personally I rate the Dunham bottled beers very highly, I would recommend you give them a try (but remember that they aren't hop forward, all their beers to date have been traditional and more malty affairs - hopheads can always peruse the offerings from the likes of Summer Wine Brewery though...).

See. That wasn't too long.....

Wee Beefy

Wee Beefy's beer bites : old hairy man tells you what some beer tastes like

Now then.

  I have had a bottle of beer, and so here, using an oft used template, are the details of that experience, for your delectation.

Brewery : Dunham Massey, Cheshire
Name : Porter
Strength : 5.2%
BCA/none BCA? : BCA.
Purchased : Dunham Massey brewery shop.

Pictured below is the beer and its gloriously death metal inspired bottle, pictured in my evil fakir receptacle which I only last night learned was a beer housing imposter. Looks orate in it mind...

Colour : dark brown, nearly black, muddy with orangey red hints in the light, with a thick, white coffee coloured, bubbly head. (note, the exposure used makes it seem jet black, but the label is more so...)

Carbonation/Pouring : quite highly carbonated, although this may be because it wasn't artificially chilled at all, only cooled naturally from being in front of the empty fireplace. The beer is slow to settle but looks very appetising with its frothy milkshake coronet.

Aroma : surprisingly light; having troughed a few of their bottles I can now identify their signature scent, but apart from strong malt and the feintest roasted hint on the nose I couldn't smell anything else.

Taste : Strong malted milk and an incredible smooth creamy mouthfeel, a trace of white chocolate is suggested before all is washed over with a wave of bitterness which resides in the aftertaste. As you take the second swig and following on as the beer continues to settle and warm, the bitterness becomes more prevalent and some of the creamy malt fades away, which is a shame.

See the pic below with helpful sugar tin to provide perspective, lest you should think the bottle was the size of an oil drum, and a homely angle that makes it seem like I might like sweet tea or breakfast cereal.

At this point, I started to detect a coffee flavour, which was not entirely pleasant, like a mug of coffee made with viscous granules from an ancient jar in a holiday cottage where the granules haven't separated in the mug. I'd earlier retained the yeast in the bottle to get as clear a dark beer as possible, and had added that to see what difference it made.

Dunham Massey beers are great because you can almost always drink the yeast, which I always consider a good sign, given the grim astringent bite of some bottling yeast which I always think puts the beer in perilous danger of turning sour.

This additional impetus releases the creamy balance once more and straight away tempers the harsher ends of the roast bitterness, whilst adding none of the sharpness that sometimes can occur. Both the head and the aftertaste now remind me of milky coffee and the sweeter malt is coming through more.

Head retention - the head is very airy and bubbly and slides oozily down the sides throughout, resting on the beer and depositing thick trails all the way, perhaps its density is its downfall as it settles irregularly on the sides and splits toward the end.

WBrating : 7.9
Am afraid I have succumbed to my strongly held view that this is the best Dunham Massey bottled beer, so I may have cranked up the score a little to reflect that. Definitely only able to get this score with the yeast added, and served a little warm which avoids an imbalance in flavours. Having followed that advice, a lovely creamy finish contrasting with the roast malt is perhaps its star turn.

More bottle reviews to come as I try the last remaining offerings from my large selection of Christmas beers.

Wee Beefy

Christmas ale news - pubs polypins and packs o bottles

Greetings,

    have been out sampling and in some cases enduring the delights of a Christmas works night out along with a few other festive get-togethers of late, and have also purchased my supplies of essential liquids for the wearisome Christmas period. All is not lost though, and to celebrate the winter solstice, I am providing a Saturnalian rundown of recent beers tasted and venues visited.

Shakespeares Gibraltar Street Shalesmoor

I was in today for a very brief couple of drinks and to catch up with my friend, alas he was on the fizz, but I tried a refreshing and hoppy Hornbeam Top Hop bitter at £2.40 a pint and a half of the more expensive Raw Black Ghost dark IPA which was fantastic, if a little top heavy on frol for a lunchtime. And, at the risk of falling foul of my rubbish eyesight, i am sure there was a sign outside advertising a beer festival starting today,and running until the 23rd December - alas no details on their website or Facebook page so please accept my apologies if this turns out to have been a hallucination.....

Archer Road Beer Stop

I have been up to Britain's premier beer selling emporium tonight to purchase a polypin of Abbeydale Moonshine at mates rate, which modesty forbids me from disclosing, as well as  a selection of their finest bottled ales. As well as the incredibly generous Davefromtshop giving me a bottle of Brampton Winter Bock, I selected, amongst other things, a Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest Marzen, a Durham Temptation imperial Russian stout,(as depicted in picture below, owing to a lack of ARBS images!) a limited edition Thornbridge coalition (NOTE - no longer in stock, sorry!), a Blue Monkey Ape Ale, a Durham Evensong, a Summer Wine Brewery 10 malts porter and their NZ IPA, Tucher Kristkindlemarkt, and some Timmermans Framboise, Mythos and Vedette for our lass.

There are of course many many more ales available but even availing myself of a generous discount my intended bottle expenditure could not run to many on top of the Polypin. So my suggestion would be to get yourself up there to sample the amazing range and see for yourself - now selling Dunham Massey Winter Warmer (subject to availability).

Dunham bottles

Which brings me nicely on to Wee Fatha's kind errand to the Dunham Massey brewery shop to purchase some of their realiably excellent bottle conditioned ales. My absolute favourite is the porter, alas there were only 2 bottles left so me and WF had one each, along wth a new Strong beer called Gold, and their Dunham Dark to name but a few.

Aside from the pertinent fact that I love the taste of their beer, especially the dark ones, I am happy, in Dunham Massey Brewery, to have found a reputable beer bottler who knows their stuff. In an age of reckless amateurish bottle conditioning techniques that has seen breweries seemingly willing to sell sub standard yeast bombs, its refreshing to see that Dunham, who know they are good at it, have continued bottling and selling their ales with yeast in the bottle to an appreciative public. The fact that its safe to drink their beers just past the best before date and that the yeast can be poured into the beer without adding a horrid astringent edge is proof that the beers are a fine example of the bottle conditioning craft.

Hop gen.

On Friday the team works night out started at the Hop so ensuring a decent, if very long waited for, pint of real ale to start things off.

The Hop also had fantastic Fernandes offerings and on Monday night the excellent Rat Brewery Dirty Rat mild and their hoppy King Rat IPA. A member of staff told me that they were concentrating on having a Fullers pump and one for each of their (Ossett's) other brewery offerings, i.e the Rat and Ratchett, Riverhead, and, to my surprise, Fernandes at Wakefield (although I should have known really since the founder am certain moved to Filey or similar to set up a Brewery there.). This still doesn't really help to clear up the price disparity but does unfortunately offer little indication of an upcoming none Fullers or Ossett beer, but I will no doubt be back in soon to find out.

Real ale after midnight

One of the never ending disappointments of late night city centre drinking has always been the dearth of places where you can find a decent pint after the witching hour. Recently a few bars have added real ale and the trend is slowly being reversed, to the point where you can now almost rely on a decent drink no matter how late it is you are strutting your stuff.

A case in point would be Friday, when (albeit only at just gone 23.00 ) we were in the Cavendish (groan), which had one real ale on offer, a palatable pint of Blue Bee Nectar Pale Ale. Harrisons 1854 round the corner serves after midnight Friday and Saturday and has 3 real ales, Deception, Moonshine and Bradfield Blonde. The Wick at Both Ends may be open a smidgen later and they seem to have settled on a range of Sheffield Brewing Co Tramlines and Thornbridge Sequoia.

Bungalows and Bears opens late as does the Old House and Great Gatsby. The bears range is usually a York beer with a guest although quality can be patchy, Gatsby offers a pleasant Blue Bee rebadge, and the Old House continues to impress with Bradfield Stout, Abbeydale Moonshine and Kelham Island Sheffield best bitter as regulars plus two guests - recently Abbeydale Thaw and a reindeer themed beer that looked like it was brewed by Far North (but they are now defunct), and, having forgotten its name, appears not to exist despite 30 minutes of internet searching.

Final suggestions would be the Red Deer (obviously ) proudly selling Rudgate Ruby Mild on Friday along with 7 other real ales and open til about 2 AM or later, plus West Street Live offering Hobgoblin till an unspeakable hour, and the dear old venerable Washington, still offering Tetleys and Moonshine and sometimes great tunes until somewhere near 03.00AM. So, you need no longer despair if you require a sophisticated yippled after 00.00.

Christmas Beer Review #001

Brewery Hacker Pschorr, Munich
Name : Oktoberfest Marzen
Strength : 5.8%
BCA/none BCA? : None.
Purchased : Archer Road Beer Stop Sheffield

This yummy marzen comes from my favourite Munich brewery, the often unfindable Hacker Pschorr. It has a white foamy head (although served a little warmer than would be ideal ) and the aroma is of malt, predominantly, and a sweetness that reminds me of light English Ale.

The colour is a pleasing light chestnut (as hopefully demonstrated above) and there's just enough carbonation to create a pleasing pop on opening the swing-top bottle and a slow restful recline in the glass, with no unnecessary assault of bubbles charging up through the whole of the drink.

The taste is mellow and pleasing - there is a burst of lager malt, alas my knowledge of the different types is sketchy so thats all I can say - which develops into a more noticable sweeter flavour, more like an orange preserve, and then as the flavours mingle you can detect something not unlike a low gravity bottled sweet stout. The finish is a bit short somehow, but enjoyable, reinforcing the malt and some subtle bitterness, and lingering briefly with a reminder of the sweeter malts in the beginning of the mouthful.

WBrating : 7.5/10

More bottled beer reviews as and when sobriety and availability permits over Christmas.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy