A tentative return

I have been neglecting this blog for a long time. The reasons mostly relate to a lack of good pubs in my village, but I am willing to admit that laziness has been somewhat of a factor. However my recent purchase of the CAMRA Bottled Beers of Britain from Beerhawk (http://www.beerhawk.co.uk/cbbob) has kicked me up the arse a little and I've started to write a small a review of some of the contents. I hope to maintain this a bit more, at least until I finish the case and for ideally for longer, particularly if I buy more which is looking likely. OK enough scheduling drivel, time for the reviews.

Dragonsmoke Stout, The Beowulf Brewing Company

I decided to start with this because I wanted something smoky and I had a vague idea this might fit the bill. God knows where I got that idea from. It's a lovely thick black colour with a characteristically miniscule head. There's a lot of smoke in the nose (see I was right!) and some vaguely meaty notes, slightly like smoky bacon. The taste is smoky, ferric and with a bit of a tang which I suspect may be partly down to CO2. Very little in the way of chocolate or coffee flavours, so I suspect little to no chocolate malt was used. There is however a sweetness, again reminiscent of certain types of bacon, and perhaps well glazed smoked gammon. All in all extremely pleasant, though the CO2 is a bit of a shame. Unfortunately it can be a hazard of drinking bottled beer. Yet another reason to get back to a city ASAP 

Harvey's Imperial Extra Double Stout
A bit of a pattern appears to be being laid down, maybe I'm just having a dark evening. This is a local beer, from Lewes just down the road from me, but I've never had it before. The colour is similar to the Dragonsmoke, but this time there is a nice thick nut brown head which is very attractive. Lot's of alcohol (unsurprising at 9%), and a fruity, estery quality on the nose, oddly reminiscent of scrumpy. The taste is sweet and spicy, with lots of molasses and nutmeg, with some cloves too, but not in a wheat beery sort of way. Also has that same appley, cidery taste from the smell. Some burnt bitterness on the finish from the roasted malt. Reminds me of Christmas without being so festive as to be out of place at other times of year

OK that's enough for tonight, after all it is Wednesday. More updates soon as I work my way through my box of liquid treats.

A Sussex Beer Festival

After over three weeks without an update I've finally had some beer to review! Due to financial issues my blood beer content has been dangerously low recently, but I recently came into a little cash, just in time for the Stand Up Inn beer festival. The Stand Up Inn is in Lindfield, my mum's village, and has an excellent reputation, but due to not really getting into beer until I arrived at Bristol I've somehow never been there. This had to be rectified. Unfortunately my attempts to get some old school friends to comer down were unsuccessful (unlike me most of them have actually managed to get jobs and leave home, the bastards), so I went along alone, hoping to meet some people there. This didn't quiet go as planned, as most of the people there were much older, or in large groups. So as a social exercise it wasn't very successful (though I think I'll try again on a quieter night), but at least the beer was excellent. On that subject, I'm going to stop whining now and crack on.

Kissinggate Black Cherry Mild
This is brilliant. The black cherry flavour comes through very nicely, but doesn't dominate, unlike say the Timothy Taylor Mild I reviewed two posts ago. There are also some nice bitter coffee notes in the finish, as well as some hoppy bite to the whole thing which gives it an edge, making it perhaps more traditional than something totally smooth. I loved it, and I think I'm going to lobby for it at the next Bristol Real Ale beer festival.

Dark Star Winter Meltdown
The Stand Up is a Dark Star pub, so there were quite a few of their beers on offer, two of which I had and will be in this post. The first was this lovely autumn beer, the colour of which is described as "dark bronze", and I'm not going to argue with them on that. It has a very complex flavour, helped by the spices added to the brew. They didn't specify which cones, but I think I detected cloves and cinnamon, and there were likely some I missed. Apparently stem ginger was used, but I confess I didn't notice it. There was a slight air of toffee to it, which added a nice warmth without making it too sweet. In fact the hops come through quite nicely, though they add more fruity aroma than bitterness, which my limited experience of hop varieties suggest that Bramling X, a beautiful hop which imparts a blackberry-like flavour to beer, might be involved somewhere. The beer is full-flavoured throughout the gulp, but particularly at the end it has an awesome "thickness" to it, which makes it deliciously satisfying.

Downlands Ruskin's Ram
This is another fairly dark beer, though more of a dark chestnut than a dark bronze. What comes of being at an autumn beer festival I suppose. Not that I'm complaining, I love dark beer. Not this one though. It had some odd estery flavours, slightly reminiscent of an unpleasant wheat beer. It was fairly malty, with a dark chocolatey finish, which is nice, but this chocolate was spoiled by a funny dry "cheek sucking" sensation, which made it not very drinkable. It wasn't awful, and I finished it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Dark Star Hophead
This final beer is the only one of this post I've had before, and it might still be my favourite. It is the perfect example of a light, hoppy session beer which you could drink all night. It's a pale copper colour, or at least it was in this dark pub, I seem to remember it being a bit paler with more light around. The hops are the main attraction, but they are beautifully aromatic, with big clouds of elderflower, and whilst the bitterness is certainly there, it doesn't have any of the harshness of say an american IPA, but instead a beautifully clean flavour, which hangs around like a mist in your mouth without ever outstaying its welcome. It's absolutely masterful One thing I will say though is don't try to make beer bread out of it. I made several batches of beer bread earlier i the year with various beers left over from a beer festival, and whilst some were delicious, the hops don;t lend themselves to bread. Besides it's too good to waste in bread. God I want another pint of it now.

Making bad beer interesting

I wasn't going to write about the couple of beers I had on Thursday night, for reasons which will become apparent, but the lack of good beer on my horizon, combined with a desire to see if I can write interesting stuff about uninteresting beer, has compelled me otherwise. These were two bottled beers which I'd had in my parent's cellar for a few months, waiting for my infrequent returns, which my current lack of funds induced me to open. They were bought from my local rather boring off licence, so my hopes weren't high, but I must admit to still be disappointed. However bad beers should be reviewed along with their more palatable cousin, so onward we go.

W J King Market Porter
W J King is a brewery in Horsham in West Sussex, quite near me, which has produced several beers that I have tried, and though I have no record of my impressions, I seem to remember that they were mixed at best. This beer unfortunately fails to reach even those standards. As the name suggests it is a dark porter, though its appearance is let down by a lack of any appreciable head (and people who've seen me pour a bottled beer will know that if any doesn't have a head filling at least half the glass after my pathetic attempt, there's something odd going on). It's 5%, a respectable strength, though the strongly alcoholic aroma suggests something much stronger. Unfortunately the alcoholic smell rather overpowers anything else in the nose, which is unsurprising when you come to taste it.

Whilst the alcohol is surprisingly absent from the taste, unfortunately it isn't replaced by much else. There is a certain metallic edge, reminiscent of a canned beer, with a slight umami taste, and another unpleasant flavour I can't pin down, but otherwise nothing much. The flavour shape (I often think flavours have shapes, I once describe a white wine as being like a ball with lots of flavour round the outside but nothing in the middle) is fairly uniform, which is nice, but that's about the only positive thing I can say. All in all, not one I'd recommend.

Wadworth Henry's Original IPA
With this beer, Wadworth seem to have done what Greene King have done, namely called a beer an IPA when by my definition it is no such thing. An IPA, for those of you who may not know, is a beer which is well-hopped, originally so that the hops' preservative qualities would allow it to survive the journey to India to be served to British soldiers in the time of the Raj. Therefore its primary characteristic is a hoppy bitterness and aroma. This beer lacks both. Its flavour is best described as dull, tasting mostly of, and I hate to say this, simply beer. And bad beer at that. The artificial carbonation in the bottle rendered it so acidic as to be almost undrinkable without being allowed to sit for a while to lose some CO2, until eventually it becomes something one can drink, albeit without much pleasure. The only good thing I can think to say is that at least this injection of carbon dioxide to a lifeless product gave it a good head, which made a change from the previous pint. Not that that's a reason to buy it.

On a side note, I do believe that on the whole beer is better on draught than in bottles, so it's best, if you see these in a pub in tap, to try them for yourselves, but be prepared for a crap pint nevertheless.

More festival goodness

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've spent the weekend moving back home due to job issues (namely not having one), so I've been rather distracted with packing etc. However I'm now mostly unpacked and ready to write my second entry, about my second trip the Volunteer Tavern beer festival. I had a great time which somehow ended in a party back at my flat, so I think the evening could definitely be called successful  But you're not here to read about my social life, but about beer, so here we go.

Saltaire Hazelnut Coffee Porter
I've heard many rave reviews about this beer, and I think I may have had it before but forgotten (part of the point of this blog is for me to better remember what I've had and what it was like), and whilst I thought it was pleasant I also don't think it fully lives up to its name. It has a good chocolaty flavour, with some coffee notes in the finish, but I honestly struggled to taste the hazelnut, or any nutty flavours for that matter. My friend Simon said it tasted like dried peas, but he's a bit weird. I'm not saying it was unpleasant, in fact it was full-bodied and really rather lovely, but I think Hazelnut is a bit of a misnomer. Another odd thing about it is the appearance. In my experience, and I think that of most people, porters tend to be very black or very dark brown and almost opaque unless held up to a bright light. This was red, almost like a dark ruby, and fairly translucent. It still tasted like a porter, with all the characteristic richness, but it looked bizarre. I'd have it again, but hopefully next time I'll remember not to expect a strong nuttiness.

Arbor Ales Wheat Beer
I don't believe "Wheat Beer" is the actual name of this, but rather simply a description of the style, but the pub had no tasting notes for it so I assume it was a late replacement sent without much information. Arbor is a small brewery in Bristol which has become synonymous in the local ale community for innovative, producing a prodigious stream of new beers, often results of their Freestyle Fridays on which they brew a new and exciting beer every week and sell the result, only repeating it if it is exceptionally popular. It's quite likely this beer is a result of one of these brews, and in my opinion quite a successful one. It is a cloudy, dull orange, and has the familiar banana and clove flavours characteristic of the style. However that word "characteristic" is perhaps a problem. This beer is extremely tasty, but has none of the innovation and experiment spirit of many other Arbor beers, which is a shame. Of course it's always possible they used some unusual adjunct which I couldn't detect, but I can't be sure as the tasting notes weren't available, and there was no obviously unusual flavour. All in all, very nice, but nothing special.

Elland Big Dogs IPA
This fact that this IPA contains Nelson Sauvin hops is very obvious. These extremely bitter hops from New Zealand have a distinctive taste, with little floral character but a certain harshness instead. It's nice when balance with other flavours, but it can easily render a beer unpalatable in large quantities. However this beer is well-balanced, bitter but not too bitter, whilst still definitely being a proper IPA. It has a slight maltiness in the finish, with perhaps a hint of biscuit, which is very pleasant. Simon had this later and described it as "all bark and no bite". I don't entirely agree, I think it has more depth of flavour than he gives it credit for, but the initial hoppiness certainly could overpower it if you're not careful.

Art Brew Hip Hop - Dr Rudi's Super Alpha
Hip Hop is Art Brew's single hop IPA range, and this one is made with the unusually named hop above, from  New Zealand. I haven't written much about this (it was getting a bit late by this point), but it was very pleasant, with a good malty base, something which I think is very good in an IPA to provide a certain warmth to the flavour. It had slight grassy notes in the middle, which is rather nice too.

Timothy Taylor Dark Mild
This is another tasty weirdo. The overwhelming flavour is of blackcurrant yoghurt. I know that is a very specific and extremely off description, but it's just what it tasted like. I've had a quick look at a some other reviews and they don't seem to agree, but some other people there on the night did so it may have been something specific to that cask. It was a delicious creamy flavour, without much complexity, though of course that's quite common in milds, but definitely one I'd have again, even if only to see if it tastes blackcurranty again!

Severn Vale Severn Sins
This stout had a very full flavour with strong Marmity notes. This may of course mean that some people will hate it, but I love Marmite and I liked this beer. However it's most certainly not a session beer, as the flavour does get a bit overpowering for a while, and I think the half I had was quite enough

All in all the festival was a great success, and a brilliant send off for me, as as I mentioned earlier I have now sadly had to leave Bristol to return to Sussex. However I won't stop searching for ales to review, and hopefully I'll be back in Brizzle as soon as possible!

A blog and a beer festival

This blog was suggested by my good friend and fellow quiz-master Simon Waltho. I was putting it off for no good reason as I am wont to do, but the first night of the Volunteer Tavern's (my local pub in Bristol and one which I'm sure will be mentioning an irritating amount) 1st Birthday beer festival presented an opportunity even I couldn't procrastinate past. The theme is West Yorkshire, and irrepressible landlord Peter Gibbs has procured 24 magnificent beers, both from that area and more local to Bristol. Last night was the opening night, just for members of CAMRA and BRA (The Bristol Real Ale society, of which I am Vice President) and Pete's friends. I toddled along and tried a few great beers which I will discuss in pretentious detail below.

Cotswold Spring Rascal
This orange-coloured wheat beer is fairly uncharacteristic of the style, lacking the familiar banana and clove esters often found in similar offerings, but instead offering some very pleasant melony notes in quiet a well balanced flavour profile. I don't normally like melon but it worked well here. The beer didn't have huge depth of flavour and didn't hang around for very long; a description I used at the time which I think is quiet useful is that it "floats slightly above the tongue". By this I mean that it doesn't offer much richness of flavour, like a blanket of taste resting on the tongue, but rather seems slightly out of reach, moving over the tongue without ever truly announcing its presence before going down throat having left little lasting impression. At 4.7% it made a pleasant enough pint, but probably not one I'd seek out again

Art Brew Sophie's Rustic
This is a weird one. Not nasty, just weird. Brewed in conjunction with, and named after Sophie Atherton, a beer sommelier (a profession I would love, incidentally), it's a fairly standard amber colour with a slight haze. However the overriding characteristic is the very strong flavour of pears which hits you the moment it touches your tongue. There is perhaps a very slight apple flavour as well, but it's unusual sweetness definitely screams pear. It has quiet a dry finish, reminiscent of white wine or cider, despite the sweetness. I'd recommend it particularly as a beer for cider lovers to try. The tasting notes talk about hay bales, which I can see very slightly, but almost everything is overpowered by the sweet peary flavour  perhaps more reminiscent of tinned pears than fresh ones. Despite this it's a very pleasant pint, though perhaps it lacks a little balance. Apparently there are some marigold flowers in it. Having never eaten marigolds I'm not sure what they added, but it's always interesting to see new adjuncts, as long as they complement the beer rather than taking it over. It's definitely a pint you should try if you come across it, but I think it may divide opinion somewhat.

Elland 1872 Porter
This is a very solid porter, brewed from a recipe from 1872. It isn't terribly innovative (well it is old) and doesn't have many stand-out flavours besides a nice coffee note in the after-taste with perhaps a hint of iron, but it's a very good example of the style. It's very strong at 6.5% but this isn't immediately obvious on tasting, so be careful not to drink too much!

Elland Top of the Hops
This golden coloured ale has a delicious floral, fruity aroma, I suspect it may have been dry-hopped in order to give it this complexity of hop flavour whilst not being too bitter. It has quite a strong elderflower flavour, which is a large component of the overall flavour without overpowering the secondary flavours  such as grapefruit and other citrus notes. This is a delicious, very drinkable beer, which should be tried at your earliest opportunity.