Sadlers Ales at the Windsor Castle Brewery

The Windsor Castle brewery - where Sadlers Ales are produced - is based in Lye, a Midlands town along the route between Birmingham and Stourbridge. I had first come across their Jack's Pale Ale being served at Inn on the Green (Acocks Green, B'ham) several years ago, but it is in recent years that their beers have gained more prominence, with award-winning established recipes alongside new and hoppy beers emerging. So when earlier this year I organised a Number9 #Twissup, that would take us by Number 9 bus from the centre of Birmingham to the door of the brewery, it was a great opportunity to see inside the brewhouse, try their range of ales, and have a good chat about hops with their head brewer, Chris Sadler.

Chris explained that the Windsor Castle brewery was originally founded in Oldbury by his great-grandfather, but that brewing operations ceased in 1927 – these were resurrected in Lye by Chris' father John in 2004. They have developed their portfolio since that time, and now have around 8 regular beers, and several seasonals and specials appearing. The Windsor Castle also serves as the Sadlers' taphouse, and is renowned for it's food offering as well – but it was the array of 10 cask Sadlers ales along the bar that immediately caught our eye and lifted our spirits when we entered. The bar staff explained they don't usually feature a guest as the house beers are so popular and turnover is quick, and there are usually seasonal brews to form a counterpoint to the core range, giving drinkers a wide choice of styles and strengths to choose from. They also have bottled versions of some of these beers in the fridges.

After making our initial purchases to start checking out the ales available, we met Chris in the bar area; he took us through to the brewery's hop store, and talked us through their current range. There are several traditional styles covered, such as Red House, a 4% Black Country mild, and Worcester Sorcerer, a 4.3% Best Bitter. Their Mud City Stout (6.6%), with cocoa and vanilla richly complementing a blend of dark malts and oats, is multi-award winning, and an immensely flavoured beer whether from cask or bottle; and the JPA (Jack's Pale Ale) is a very sessionable 3.8%, which has recently had it's recipe tweaked to make it a 100% Citra-hopped beer. This tasted fantastic on cask and came out on top as my beer of the day, despite the many other lovely beers we tried during the Twissup. 

Chris explained that as he has now taken over the Head Brewer duties from his father, it has given him the opportunity to 'play around with hops' a lot more and develop new recipes and specials, such as their Hop Bomb – available in 330ml bottles as well as on draught, this caused quite a stir in the Midlands beer scene when it appeared, with the 5% abv providing a good base to carry through the Amarillo and Citra hop flavours and aromas. It was great to see such a range of exciting hops in the storeroom, and we easily spent the best part of an hour discussing characteristics and uses, as our party had two professional and at least two homebrewers who were all eager to talk with Chris about alpha acid values and aroma characteristics, and how crop variations in different years give rise to recipe changes and adjustments.

But back to the beer – and we heard about two recent beers that Chris has been working on – the Dr Hardwicke's Double IPA, which is continuously hopped throughout it's 85-minute boil and comes out a hefty 8.5%, and an Imperial Stout, which was still in development but Chris seemed pretty excited about already and described as 'something special'! We were able to have a taste of the latest batch of Dr Hardwicke's to be brewed – just about to go into the conditioning tanks – and this certainly had a lot of hop bite and full body even as an unfinished beer that still has to receive it's dry-hopping, so I'm looking forward to tasting this when it's finally ready.

We spent a while longer having a look round the 10-barrel brewery and the cask store, where sacks of used grain from the mashing process were stacked up ready for a local farmer to take away, and returned casks awaited cleaning and refilling with ales to be sent out again, before returning to the bar to work our way through the rest of the range and pick up some bottles to take home. I tried their delicious crisp Red IPA and also Basilisk, a bitter with some slightly sweet notes but a clean finish, and took home bottles of the Mud City, Hop Bomb, and Mellow Yellow, a pale ale with a hint of honey.

It was great to see a truly family-run brewery (Chris's sister also runs the taphouse and restaurant side of things) that is still keen to create new recipes and experiment with different hops coming to market, and it certainly marks them out as the most progressive brewery in the Birmingham area to my mind, and the only one bringing truly well-rounded but sparkily hoppy ales to Midlands punters.

And if you are yet to discover their beers, and like the sound of their hop-experimentation and special recipes, you can find some at the upcoming Birmingham Beer Bash festival on Friday 26^th and Saturday 27^th July 2013; there are rumours there may be some Imperial Stout available in bottles, and on draught will feature the hefty Dr Hardwicke's Double IPA, and 'Lion Hart', their 4.2% July seasonal beer – which is described as a blood orange ale brewed with juicy American hops and fresh pineapple – sounds perfect for a summer festival!

Irish Dark Beers & Stout Stew

On a recent visit to Ireland, suitcase space was limited for picking up some beer to bring home from the burgeoning microbrewery scene there, and shopping time was scarce. So having to make a snap decision while in Probus Beers near Trinity College, I decided to just pick up a couple of Irish dark beers, that I could bring back and have in a kind of “compare and contrast “ session over one evening with other similar beers I could source in England.

To go with the beers I wanted to try cooking some beef-in-stout stew. I haven't made this before (using sausage for stew is the preferred recipe going back generations in our family for some reason, probably war years austerity!), but I do love a good plate of warming stew; it's something you can find in many cafes, bars and coffee shops in Northern Ireland, but not often in England (although apparently @newinnharborne do a winter stew on their current menu). So I dug out a likely recipe, bought in some good quality beef from Harborne Village Butchers, and found an afternoon with plenty of time to get the stew slow cooking in the oven and the beers lined up to drink.

The first up was Knockmealdown porter from @8degreesbrewing, a micro that started in 2011 – I hadn't had much by this brewery before so was interested to try their dark beer. At first I realised I'd left it a little too long in the fridge and needed to let it warm up for a bit once poured, but once that had happened more aroma was released – and I was surprised to find a slightly sour note in this – reminded me a bit of Orval, mixed in with some coffee-ish scents. The lactiness was evident also in the taste, and I'm not sure was meant to be there (later batches of this beer have been described as having a sweetish finish); it wasn't unpleasant, but left me feeling unsure of how this beer should “actually” taste.

 

Next I poured the Guinness Export – this had more tartness & bitterness than I was expecting, as I thought it may be more smooth and roasty. I had used this in the stew as it was the right size bottle for the recipe, readily available in England, and I didn't want to use one of the beers I'd brought back from Dublin in the cooking, otherwise I wouldn't get the chance to properly taste them! I was expecting to like this beer a little more than I did but it was pleasant enough without being particularly exciting.

While drinking this, I served up the stew that was finally ready after several hours cooking – thankfully the beef was by now really tender and tasty and the liquid absorbed. The meat flavours had a slightly more bitter note than I'd expected, so I may choose to use a very slightly sweeter stout when I make this dish again. I wished I had some Irish wheaten bread to go with it, but hadn't had time to hunt some down in the shops of Birmingham so crusty bread and some ground black pepper would have to do. After some research, I had settled on this recipe and was pleased with the results.

Once we'd had the stew, we moved on to the O'Hara's Irish Stout (brewed by Carlow) – again procured from Probus – and this delivered much more of what I was expecting and hoping for. Sweet roasts on the nose, like a rich filter coffee with a touch of cream and sugar. That lovely coffee bean note was carried over into the flavour, with a silky mouthfeel, but wasn't overpowering – making this more of a 'pintable' stout for enjoyable everyday drinking than something you'd sip with reverence – but I liked it very much for that aspect and would hope to encounter this on draught somewhere next time I'm in Dublin.

 

I then wanted to try the Irish Stout that Carlow Brewing Co produce for Marks and Spencer. Initially I thought this may be the same beer as the O'Hara's Irish Stout, but Carlow informed me they are actually different beers, and this was obvious once I'd poured it. It was much lighter in the mouth and on flavour than the previous beer, with a slight effervescence. The pronounced roastiness wasn't there, but the hint of smooth sweetness made this easy drinking, although not that memorable. Not a bad beer, but not a particularly distinctive one either.

Last of the night was the bottle-conditioned Porterhouse Celebration Stout – this is a beer they produced as a one-off originally, to celebrate their 10^th Anniversary, but I now believe is produced every year as they realised it was quite popular. Although there was no year of production on this bottle, and it's 'best before' date was November 2012, I suspect it was fairly recently made and would have benefited perhaps from keeping for a while. But it can be difficult to take the gamble of ageing on a beer you don't know that well, so better to drink it and then you can judge if you'd be better storing it, the next time you get hold of a bottle. While this didn't have the full-on richness I'd experienced the first time I'd tasted this beer a few years ago, it certainly had a velvety texture on the palate, bitter roasts and sweet, woody liquorice notes. A worthy nightcap, though I couldn't help wondering what other delights this beer would have yielded up, given a bit of time resting in the beer cupboard first.

An enjoyable evening trying a few new beers with a theme and learning to cook a new dish – my overall vote for the evening would go to the Carlow O'Hara's stout, and I do hope to find bottled and draught versions of this side by side next time I'm across the sea, for more of a comparison and dark beer session!

Holdens ales and Chamberlains hospitality

Chamberlains is a fish & chip restaurant in the west of Birmingham – along the Hagley Road – and in the past 20 months since it's been open has gained a great reputation for it's quality food, enthusiastic welcome, and the many different events they run, such as gluten free evenings, '2 for £10' Tuesdays, and charity lunches.

When I'd first visited, back in February, I really enjoyed the food but felt there was one thing lacking – some good Black Country bitter to go with it. I suggested to Simon, the co-owner, that Holdens would be a good match, knowing they had a range of traditional bitters and golden ales in bottles that might suit various tastes, and suggested they perhaps just try a case or two and see what their customers thought. I didn't realise at the time that the Holdens site was just a few miles up the road, and is in fact the nearest brewery to Chamberlains, making this a perfect local partnership. Since then I've been back a few times to enjoy sampling their beers with a hearty meal, and other customers seem to have appreciated the beer choice too.

I found out via Twitter that Chamberlains would be holding a food and beer sampling event, including a meal and a Holdens beer for £10 on the night. I was very keen to go along to check out what was on offer, and I was long overdue some of their great battered fish anyway, so meeting Richard in town first we were soon on a bus (number 9 or 126 from the city centre) that would take us and our appetites almost to the door.

Once there, we met Lucie Holden, one of the Directors of this family brewery, and James Froggatt, who were pouring out samples of a range of their beers. This included several I am familiar with – the award-winning 3.9% Golden; the smooth and slightly floral Golden Glow (4.4%) - a particular favourite of mine; the 5.1% Special bitter, which is a bit weightier in mouthfeel; and the fantastic Mild with it's assertive nutty and bitter roasty flavours, that give way to a caramel and chocolate sweetness. I hadn't had the Mild in a while and had forgotten how rich this was in flavour. The bitters all have the distinctive Black Country flavour profile of a refreshing start ending with a smooth malty finish, very moreish.

Lucie introduced a few other products outside the core range. Firstly, in 2012 the brewers had embarked on a programme of monthly specials, on a theme of “Holdens Rock Gods”. Each month a new beer was produced for cask and bottle, with the brewers able to play around with different malt and hop combinations – mostly traditional English varieties – while artist Joe Goode designed labels celebrating the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Andrew Eldritch, Robert Plant, Ozzy Osbourne, Mick Jagger and others. The bottle available to sample tonight was the August brew – Buffalo Soldier – named in honour of Bob Marley – which had a delicate citrus note. Next year, their specials will be named along the theme of World Leaders – so I'll be looking out for perhaps a few controversial heads of state popping up on the pump clips.

Next I tried this year's bottling of the Holden's Old Ale – a real winter warmer at 7.2%, which has been matured for at least two months in cold storage, although this example was over 8 months old. Lucie talked us through the process and said they had wanted to produce a beer for the end of the year, but didn't want to go down the route of a spiced ale. This won a Gold in the Champion Winter Ales category in 2011, and is complex with tannic notes giving way to raisiny fruits and a warming finish.

Photo from Richard

I was also surprised to see a Holdens own-label cider, called “Summat Else” at 4.5%, which was very drinkable; fruity but with a dry finish, and not over-carbonated like some other ciders sold by breweries. Lucie explained they wanted to sell a cider, but had taken their time choosing a small producer in Ledbury to create the perfect blend for them, with a definite bittersweet character to it. Richard was particularly taken with this, and very keen to plan a return visit so the Mussels in Holden's cider and cream sauce from Chamberlain's current menu could be tried too.

Holden's are currently brewing at capacity at 50,000 pints a week, and are currently working through expansion plans to double this, to keep their pub estate watered and to take advantage of their own bottling plant, which also contract-bottles for several other UK breweries. Hopefully brewery tours will start up once the expansion is complete, but in the meantime they have a new shop onsite, and the nearby brewery tap – the Park Inn, is open and serving the range of beers and pub meals.

Once we had worked our way through the beer samples, it was time to turn our attention to what Chamberlain's co-owner Dan, the chef, had to offer. This was an opportunity to try a range of flavours from their repertoire as a starter, before sitting down to our choice of fish and chip meals. Our plates included smoked salmon with cream cheese on melba toast and a pesto dressing, which was very flavoursome; delicate grilled plaice with black pepper; breaded haddock goujons; battered cod; and a light and delicious combination of tempura-battered hake with sauteed onions and zingy chilli slices, which I could have eaten all evening!

But it was time to relax and enjoy a proper plate of fish and chips – either haddock, plaice, cod or hake - and choose a Holdens beer to go with it. I'd normally have a Golden Glow but decided to go for the Special on this occasion, with the battered hake to go with it. This was on top form as usual, and I enjoyed helping Richard out with his enormous portion of haddock too. Afterwards I had a bottle of the lovely Mild for 'dessert', and picked up some of the Old Ale to take home with me.

When I came to pay, Simon came over to say he had waived the cost of my meal, as a thanks for supporting them and suggesting they stock Holdens – but I hope they are the ones picking up the thanks from customers now enjoying the benefits of two local and family businesses combining their efforts and making this a 'destination' restaurant where you can relax with a choice of Black Country beers during and after your meal.

Coffee Beer Taste-Off

I unfortunately have a predeliction for beer hoarding – gathering up interesting looking stuff from travels around the world, supermarkets, online and the two excellent Birmingham beer shops of @StirchleyWines and @CotteridgeWines, and then hanging on to them for ages in my beer cupboard until the right 'opportunity' arises to drink them. Now and again I'll have a bit of a poke around to see what's lurking in there, and if some kind of theme emerges, perhaps it will prompt me into a spate of 'drinking up'.

The line-up

On a recent Saturday, I realised I’d acquired quite a few coffee beers in the cupboard, and after a great supper of steak-frites, some after-dinner coffee beers seemed like a good fit. This would allow me to compare and contrast them, to see which had elements I liked and what made a ‘good’ coffee beer in terms of my personal taste.

It felt some kind of food accompaniment was called for, and a ponder on Twitter led to @simonhjohnson suggesting vanilla cheesecake as a good match; so with cake supplies purchased, @dave_car ready to help out with the drinking, and the beers lined up, we commenced sampling:

Traditional Scottish Ales - Double Espresso 6%

It would seem this beer is made for the export market, with labelling on the back in different languages and “Premio Caffé Birra” on the front, and the label is a stylish matte black with gold embossing. As soon as the bottle was opened a good whiff of coffee and dark chocolate ganache was released. It poured very dark and opaque. In the glass, more chocolate sweetness came out in the aroma but there’s a tiny hint of something else – something slightly artificial like pots of ‘non-diary creamer’. The taste was disappointing compared to the initial aromas, a little thin and watery, but at least no bitter unpleasantness. It was smooth enough but just not much depth, body or finish.

 

Batemans – Mocha 6%
Oddly this was very fizzy when first poured into the glass. Mid-brown in colour, it didn’t have a lot of discernible aroma, especially when compared to the previous beer. However it’s ‘lightness’ in comparison perhaps made it a little more gluggable, if not particularly outstanding flavour-wise. But if you wanted a lighter-style beer with hints of coffee rather than something heavy, this would fit the bill.


Hitachino Nest - Espresso Stout 7.5%
This is produced by the Kiuchi Brewery in Japan, and was brought back from our trip there in April 2011. I don’t mind admitting I have a soft spot in my heart for this beer, as it was the first ever ji-biiru I tasted when @dave_car brought me back a bottle from an earlier trip to the US. I like the description, there's just something about the wording: “This espresso stout is brewed using well-roasted espresso beans. The recipe is based on the imperial Stout loved by the Russian Emperor. Please enjoy the balance of its rich taste and coffee flavour” – the last sentence in particular making me think of Bill Murray's Suntory advert for some reason.

The label states “Scadenza: Nov 2012” which I imagine means “use by” in Italian, so it was appropriate to get on with drinking it now rather than further hoarding. It seemed to me that standing around in a darkened cupboard for a while had brought out vinous notes in it, almost a hint of barrel-aging character. The coffee was more muted on the nose, but it was still there subtly in its full-bodied rich roasty flavour – not as much perhaps as a younger version of the beer, but I savoured the increased structure that had come through with time, and the subtle blending of roast malt, coffee, sweetness, wine and oakey tones.

Homebrew – Coffee Stout (about 4.5%?)
This was a bottle from our own homebrew kit – our first attempt at bottling (from the Dark Beer Drink-Off preparations) and had been stored for around 6 months. We had used a Coopers Premium Irish Stout kit, and modified it with a litre of fresh-brewed coffee in the FV, and had been really pleased with how it turned out at the time, drinking most of it fresh from the barrel with only a few Grolsch-top bottles stored. Just in case, I opened this one carefully in the sink – and it was a bit of a gusher – but thankfully only a little beer was lost. It quickly calmed down and was slightly effervescent in the glass, but not in a bad way. Compared to the taste when it was first made, I felt it could do with more vanilla and sweetness, as the sugars had fermented out leaving it quite dry in bottle. But it still had a smooth coffee character with a hint of roast bitterness, and was very pleasant to drink – it seemed like a competent enough attempt when in comparison with the other beers we’d had that evening.

Dark Star – Espresso 4.2%
 
I’ve had this beer (and loved it) in cask several times, but not had a bottle in years. It had a much sweeter milk-chocolate nose than I was expecting, and did have a full, silky mouthfeel, but disappointingly less coffee than I remember it having. As it came into contact with the air more aroma was released, but it still didn't give the depth of flavour I thought I’d experienced in it previously – maybe this is one where the cask version holds all the cards? I’ll certainly be looking out for it on cask over the next few months to try out that theory.




Each coffee beer was quite different to the others, and it was a push to get back to some more homebrewing, to find that our own-made beer (albeit from kit) wasn’t too far off the mark from the commercial offerings tasted. I think my favourite would firmly rest with the Hitachino Nest though – the ‘accidental’ aging gave it the most interesting and complex flavours of the night; perhaps there is something to be said for hoarding after all!

AleSmith beer tasting evening

I've found it frustrating for a little while that I don't seem to know enough people in my local area who are sufficiently interested in bottled beer to want to get together as a group and taste their way through some interesting or unusual bottles - the type of beers that you shy away from purchasing purely for your own speculative consumption, as although you may be keen to try them, you can't be quite sure you'll like them enough to consume an entire 750ml bottle of "Extreme Stout aged over Tarmac and Biltong with a late addition of Poison Ivy and Dragonfruit" (an exaggeration, but it's not that far off a description you may read from Mikkeller or Brewdog ;-).

So I jumped at the chance when invited to meet up with some fellow beer-tweeters to sample the range of AleSmith beers currently found on the Brewdog website - a group effort meaning we'd all get the chance to try these beers for a more reasonable cost, could move on to the next taste if one wasn't to our personal liking, and of course could enjoy discussing them in the company of other friendly folks.

Cats and beer go well together

 The evening was ably hosted by @RichTheVillan, with his cat Oliver making a special guest appearance, and some snacks provided to mop up the beer. Also in attendance were @RobertoRossUK, @Kaufmanised and @UncleMuttley, who had arranged the ale purchasing. I'd brought some tasting notes with me in an attempt to work out a suitable drinking order, so we wouldn't have too many clashes on our palates, and so we proceeded through the goodies in the following sequence:

AleSmith X - this was listed as an "Extra Pale Ale", and as the lightest-sounding beer we tried this first. This had a good hop nose but a slightly thin body in comparison; however this probably would make it a good 'pintable' beer as it certainly wouldn't clog your palate. I also seemed to detect a slight Saison-yeast aroma, but I haven't found anything online to indicate if a Belgian yeast strain is used in this.

AleSmith Summer YuleSmith - apparently this is a beer that is brewed twice a year, but with a tweak so they end up as different seasonal styles. This was the summer version, a Double IPA. It was much paler than expected - I guess I've seen a lot of viscous, murky orange-brown double IPAs recently. Waves of resiny aromas pointed to the probable inclusion of Simcoe in the hop mix , which created a good mix of fruit and bitter flavours without being too cloying or sticky. We all agreed it was alarmingly drinkable for it's ABV (9.5%), with a finish that wasn't too heavy and made you crave another glass.

Grand-looking bottle

AleSmith Grand Cru - as other beers in our selection were mostly darker or sweeter, we opted for the Belgian-style ale next. This is reportedly made using Trappist yeast which contributed definite Belgian flavours, and had lovely muted candi-sugar sweetness, but I wasn't getting much hop complexity from it. It was enjoyable, but I think perhaps I expected slightly more from something called a 'Grand Cru'.

AleSmith Horny Devil - this also utilizes the Trappist yeast and surprised me in being more of a golden strong ale than I expected, like a Duvel clone (I guess the clue is in the name!) - but it had a very easygoing mouthfeel for 11% compared to it's namesake which can sometimes be a bit overbearing, and everyone round the table seemed to find this very drinkable and moreish.

AleSmith Wee Heavy - now we moved on to a trio of sweeter/heavier beers, and this one was a take on the Scotch style, which seems to be more widely revered outside of Scotland (in Belgium and America) than by native breweries. This example had that big, thick, B-vitamin packed, Bovril-like richness. It was warming and (true to form) heavy, but despite this, still compellingly sippable. I felt this was a really good example of a Scotch ale, more what you would expect from the style descriptor than any widely-available 'heavy' produced in Caledonia these days. I'm hoping to visit there again soon, so perhaps I'll find something in Edinburgh to challenge this opinion!

Beer of the evening!

AleSmith Speedway Stout - we had looked forward to this one with anticipation, expecting it to be the standout beer of the evening - and we weren't disappointed. It's a weighty 12% and has added coffee in the recipe, and the aromas and flavours were a heady mix of smokiness, cherry tobacco leaf, lots of dry cedar wood, and espresso-roast bitterness. Yet it really wasn't overbearing, and there was no 'palate fatigue' despite the assault of flavours and the ABV. It had a long, smooth finish that faded to leave some subtle coffee undertones. Tasting this beer alone made the evening a worthwhile venture, and seemed to make @Kaufmanised very happy!

AleSmith Old Numbskull - perhaps influenced by the name, we had kept this one to last - listed as a "West Coast style barley wine". It reminded a bit of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot and typified the American barleywine form, with it's silky, warm sensations from the first sip. @RobertoRossUK wondered if a Belgian yeast may have been used in this brew also, which could have aided the drinkability despite the heavy malt character. It was like a warm winter-weight duvet in a glass, and an appropriate end to the evening's samples.

Special guest Oliver

The inaugral 'bottle club' meet-up was an all-round success, with convivial company and a great range of beers; plans were hastily drawn up to hold further sessions to work our way through some Mikkeller, De Molen, Nogne O and De Struisse, kicking off with Hoppin' Frog in October. Thanks to all for organising & inviting me, and hopefully Oliver the cat will put in another guest appearance at the next one!

Three new Scottish pale ales

The ale scene in these isles is in a constant state of movement, particularly now with new micros springing up all the time and many brewers constantly striving to come up with new recipes as well as perfect the traditional styles. The Scottish brewery scene is certainly enjoying some of this vibrancy, with many new breweries and brewing companies forming in the past couple of years, existing breweries expanding or stepping up a notch with their product developments, and a constantly expanding assortment of craft bars appearing to meet customer demand.

It's difficult therefore to keep abreast of all the new beers that come out, even when they're available down here in the Midlands, but a few new Scottish beers have come my way recently, so I thought I'd try a few out in one session and see what I thought.

First up was Old Worthy – a sample sent to me by Nick, who is behind the production company and currently contract-brewing at Isle of Skye Brewery while they fine tune their recipe and start seeing their beer appear in shops. This aims to bring something different to the shelves, being billed as a “Scottish Pale Ale”, but taking the unusual step of adding peat-smoked malt (supplied by the Ardmore distillery) and honey in the mix. I liked the sound of this as I'm familiar with the smoked malt lighter-style beers produced around Bamberg (as well as the more familiar meaty marzen rauchbiers), and if handled gently, a touch of smokiness can be great to deepen flavour without making a beer heavy. At first I wasn't getting much aroma wise, and only a very gentle hint of the smoke at the end of a mouthful, but as I let the beer warm up a bit, more appeared on the nose, and while still remaining refreshing, a lovely rounded peat and honey finish came out. My only gripe is that for a pale ale, I would like a little more hop character to be evident, just a little bite of bitterness before the sweet & smokey hints take over. But overall the subtleties were an asset in this beer, so if the hops stepped up just a little bit, I think it would be a beer of interesting balances and one I'd definitely have again. I see they are already building a following in Scandinavia and I can imagine this ale going down very well over there – I expect more people on this side of the North Sea will be encouraged to try it when it starts to appear in The Whisky Shop branches now they have finished their first UK production run.

Next were two beers from the 2012 Sainsbury's “Great Beer Hunt” - where they run a competition for regionally-selected beers to be stocked in their stores for a limited period, and those that prove most popular may be invited to a national listing.

The Harviestoun Wild Hop Gold might be related to the Wild Hop IPA they've produced in bottle and cask before, but there's no info on their website so I'm not sure if the recipes are similar. The label however states it's made with Citra and Simcoe hops (my two favourite!) so I was really hoping this would have a powerful aroma and lots of bitter & resiny flavours. It didn't quite have the assertive hop notes I would have liked, but obviously wasn't going to be anything like a high-hopped double IPA; instead it was a really pleasant, hoppy enough sessionable (4.4%) beer, with a good biscuity smooth malt character holding up against the citrus notes. It was a great accompaniment to some American-style pulled pork & sweet potatoes with a hint of chilli, and a beer I'm definitely looking forward to buying again before the Beer Hunt ends. Here's hoping it gains a regular stocking in my local Sainsburys.

The Williams' Prodigal Sun was the beer I'd been most looking forward to trying from the Beer Hunt, as I always expect good things from the Alloa-based brothers having been checking out their beers since the early days when their core range were historical ale recipes such as Fraoch, Kelpie (with seaweed) and Grozet (a gooseberry ale) and and they were known as Heather Ales. From those beginnings you can imagine they like to experiment with locally-found botanicals not usually seen in today's beers, and the Prodigal Sun follows this path, with some spruce clippings in the brew. There was a fresh, wet, berry aroma to the beer and an unusual fruity sweetness to it – I would have expected more of a pine element from spruce, but as I don't know exactly how it behaves in the brewing kettle, I wasn't sure if the sweetness & red berry fruit elements may be from this or from something else. Overall this was a very pleasant beer, though it may well be at it's best if carefully matched with foods that pair up with the malt and sweetness characteristics.

There are many more extreme and experimental beers coming out of Scotland, but as an example of new-style pale or golden ales, these three each offered something different and showed that the desire to keep moving forward with beer styles is strong north of the border.