Tatton Brewery

Morning all,

        I first drunk some Tatton ales in 2011, blogging about them in January 2012. Wee Fatha, then much fitter, made regular visits in 2012 and afterwards over to Cheshire to buy bottled and sometimes canned beers. I started on a bottle of their 3.7% Ale which I rated then, and am certain would still now., as very good. There is a link to the relevant post here: WeeBeefy's beer bites

Last night myself and WK were up at WFs for a final meal before we wander off on Friday for a trip to Scotland, and WF has been back over to the crematorium near Altrincham to pay respects and had stayed outside Mobberly. In the morning he had popped into Tatton brewery, as myself and Tash had done with him previously. Last night we tried three bottles of Tatton Ales, and once again found that they did not disappoint.

We started, in no perceivable order, on a 4.5% bottle of IPA - I did pick this beer from many, but purely out of it being available. I realise that regular readers my accurately conclude that I almost entirely drink DIPAs at 8.0% from Pressure Drop and Verdant and Cloudwater, who now noticeably have returned to brewing occasional Cask from the Past, like its 1993 again. I would like to point out that it made no difference to our choices, and whether by style or flavour, all three supped once again demonstrated Tatton's quality.

The IPA was a pale golden colour with that recognisable Tatton bitterness which I first experienced in their Ale back in the past. And there was a very enjoyable slab of hops - I rather slackly declined to find out which but details of the next beer suggest they may have been British hops. As you know, I am a lover of American and New Zealand hops but the flavour in this beer was cleverly balanced, so even tough I could expect it wasn't made with Simcoe and American cascade, I could still enjoy and appreciate the flavours present.

Next up was our strongest beer of the night - a 6.3% VIPA made, it was clear to admit, with British Hops. Reading the pages of their website here, I notice that there isn't much information about the hops used, but I would also say that you can tell the brewery are interested in brewing a particular style of beer that satisfies the expectations of many - and possibly only recently, the brewery now produces some of their beers in keg. Due to its strength, and potentially to improve management of some mild sweetness from the alcohol, the vIPA would suit this dispense method very well - a very big flavour, and once again balanced by that underlying background bitterness which supports so many of their other brews. WK finished first, then myself, and once Fatha had caught up we transferred to the final taster of the evening. This was their Malted Milk Chocolate stout at 4.6%.

Wee Fatha did express concerns about his current advice to avoid chocolate but wee Keefy did point out that the amount of actual chocolate present in the third of a bottle he was about to try would be minimal. That said there was plenty in the flavour of this take on two different beer styles, and this made sure there was sufficient sweetness in the overall flavour. Our last beer of the night was finished quicker than earlier but was none the less very enjoyable.

Overall I actually think the initial 4.5% IPA was the best of the bunch, which is interesting since I have always liked their 3.7% A;e over their Yeti and other strong beers. This may simply be down to the fact that stronger beers of this style do seem to carry a strong sweetness in the flavour which reduces the overall quality a little.

That said however, it was very good to get back to trying some Tatton beers and the experience of tasting their beers is one which I have missed for some time.

Your very good health

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

Hello old friend

Hello,

    I've been relaxing tonight. I dallied with the idea of popping to DAda to try some of their impressive looking bottled beers but I don't have much cash and also it was perishing, with biting cold winds blowing in icy powder that turned to slippery foam under the warmth of each footstep. I opted instead to get home, cook a curry, and drink some bottled beers. Right now I've arrived at a beer long absent from my stash.

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is a very inexpensive beer for it's strength. It's 7.5% so probably attracts HSBD, although am unsure about this. It comes in an iconic bottle with a more enticing warming design that Guinness omits from its frozen tar branded fonts and cans, and it looks lovely and appetising in it's 330ml bottle.

I opened it to be wowed by a great aroma. Creamy malt and a Belgian yeast with hints of toffee (not too much mind, it isn't skunked). There's also a strong whiff of alcohol that sits atop the subtler scents. It pours with what is initially a muddy almost caramel head, although that has settled down now to a pleasing coffee cream. It looks delectable. It tastes...interesting.

Hold on there though, it doesn't taste unpleasant, it just has a surprisingly bitter background and an initial tartness in the bite. It settles down to be creamy with a slight molasses, and satisfying big beer mouthfeel en route. The more I drink of it the more flavours I'm picking out - burnt malt, brown sugar, bitter fruit and possibly raisin, although the more I drink the more the slightly ascorbic finish intensifies, but it quickly subsides and seems to harangue your palate into experiencing some more..

It mystifies me why I don't drink this masterpiece more often. Its interesting, aesthetically pleasing, robust and tantalising, in that, there's one more taste just before the aftertaste that is eluding me.

Earlier I had a couple more dark beers so this is a nice contrast. Tatton Brewery Ruck and Maul porter is a soft slightly bitter but well rounded dark brew with their signature Cheshire yeast flavours, whereas Rudgate York Chocolate stout was an interesting and pleasant surprise, being only vaguely chocolaty and having a backbone of malt and surprising bitterness to both counteract and balance the beer.

After this am cracking open a Thornbridge Heather Honey Stout. I expect to really enjoy it, which is a compliment since I don't really rate honey in beer. In the meantime, I'm glad to have reinstated my relationship with Guinness FES after a very long time. A pleasant end to the working week.

Cheers

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 Beefys 2012 beer bites - 2 bottled beer reviews

Hello again,

  regrettably (or mercifully), 2012 beer bites is not a series of 2,012 separate pieces of information regarding pubs and real ale. Instead its just a title, which I have used before, that has been adapted slightly. So don't panic, you do have time to read this post.

So, here are my reviews of two of my Christmas beer bottle selection this year.

Brewery : Dunham Massey, Cheshire
Name : Milk Stout
Strength : 4.0%
BCA/none BCA? : BCA.
Purchased : Dunham Massey brewery shop.

Here is the beer pictured modelling my rather fetching retro Tolly glass that I was kindly given by the Rutland in Sheffield - cheers gents. Alas the bottle pic did not make it....

Colour : Jet black, with a thin white head
Carbonation/Pouring : low, poured flat, with some latter bubbles joining the head, however the lack of carbonation was a benefit as excessive fizz disturbs the yeast sediment.
Aroma : Oh dear.

I had smelt the particular aroma that greeted me on opening the bottle, and then on pouring into the glass, before. It was the rank smell of sour beer and nasty yeast. Dear god, I thought, here I am about to review a beer, a bottle conditioned one at that, and from a brewery I reckon have nailed bottle conditioning, and its only gone and been orf! I sighed whilst looking at the "CAMRA says this is real ale" logo and remembered disconsolately how many times that sticker adhered to the label of a bottle of undrinkable filth, and how bad that was for real ale, and how I would have to solemnlyy concede to Wee Keefy that even a brewery I rated had got it wrong, and then I had a sip. And it was fine.

Taste : somehow the first swig, despite the smell, tasted of dark beer, and in the second, somehow that initial grimace making aroma was gone. Now almost all I could smell was roast malt.

The main flavour that hits you is a very ascorbic dry roast malt, like a much meatier stout than one you might find labelled milk stout (the milk, of course, is just lactose but it still usually renders the stout sweet). In the second taste the roast malt gives way to a light creaminess, before a further wave or roast malt bitterness comes through.

As you take more slakes there is a strange but by no means unpleasant lemon sherbets fizz in the mix, I wondered if this might be the sweetness of the lactose fighting through the roast malts. The beer is described on the label as a sweet stout but, it certainly isn't that, which is maybe to its credit.

Head retention - the head is very thin and very quickly moves to the edge of the glass and slips slowly lower with the beer, leaving no trace on the glass, and looking not unlike a thin halo of white icing that hasn't separated from the cake.

WBrating : 6.5
Loses points for scaring off less trusting drinkers with its initial aroma, and for being, although nice, not much like it claims to be.

Beer number 2:

Brewery : Tatton brewery company, Cheshire
Name : Ale
Strength : 3.7%
BCA/none BCA? : none.
Purchased - Tatton brewery shop

Colour : dark varnished wood, virtually red, with a lustrous frothy head.
Carbonation/Pouring : very lively if not well chilled, however the beer does settle down quickly allowing you to enjoy mostly burp free beer. The carbonation does remain throughout however.
Aroma : strangely, almost no malt or hops, just subtle spice, apples and grapefruit.

Taste : Grapefruit, and biscuity malt hit you initially with a long dry fizzy hop finish. Its startlingly snappy for a lower gravity ale, and although the bitterness is warmed by malt in the background it still has a very pleasing bite, albeit more traditional English than Nelson Sauvin as is often found in bitter beer these days.

The second taste is even more bitter, but its tamed by a sweeter flavour perhaps the malt. As you continue drinking, the long bitter grapefruit finish seems to increase its bite. The beer would probably lose its sharpness if chilled so make sure you serve it at room temperature. Despite my attention being drawn by the bitterness its not unpleasant or overpowering and is a very well balanced beer overall.

Head retention - the head is quite large, possibly a temperature issue, but it follows the beer loyally down the glass leaving sparkling white trails behind it, and remains sat in the middle as well as round the edges to the bottom of the glass, which is pleasing on the eye.
WBrating : 8.5

Gains extra points for being far more astringent and packing in much more flavour than the ABV suggests.

Happy supping!



Wee Beefy.