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.

Ramen Hunting

One meal that I constantly get cravings for is ramen – the “big noodle soup bowl” that has it's roots in China, but the Japanese have now made their own. There's even a ramen museum in Yokohama, which I was due to visit on my trip to Japan last year, but due to the Tōhoku earthquake & tsunami affecting travel insurance (although we would have been quite willing to go and support the area), we weren't able to visit the Kantō area – though there's plenty of good, cheap ramen to be found everywhere in the country of course. Each region of Japan has it's own variation on the dish, and everyone will have their own personal tastes – so I'd say what is 'right' or 'the best' ramen is entirely a matter of personal opinion. Once I get a craving for it though, I just have to have some – but that can be difficult in England.

Miso base with chilli oil

My two top ramen experiences are imprinted on my tastebud memory - firstly in a small ramen-ya along the side of Namba station in Osaka – we were guided there on our first day in Japan by a chum who had been before, and soon I was being served up ramen heaven – a miso-based broth with chilli oil and chunks of pork, what I'd been dreaming about since the idea of a trip to Japan was first mentioned – and I often have wistful thoughts about this little café. The second is ramen made for me by @dave_car, which always seems to be both flavoursome and healthy – this time a dashi and shoyu-based stock with a kick of birdseye chilli; silky noodles (not the pre-fried kind); lots of vegetables in the mix (baby pak choi, carrots, spinach, peas and shiitake); and slices of belly pork, wafer thin so that they cook in an instant once added to the broth. But a return visit to Osaka or having someone prepare ramen in my home aren't always available to me, so sometimes there's a need to find out-and-about options for when cravings must be met.

 
When I heard that a new ramen joint called Tonkotsu had opened up in Soho, with a very short menu just focussing on 3 ramen dishes and side orders of gyoza (little dumplings that are often served in ramen-ya in Japan as they are another Chinese import), I knew I had to make it my mission to go there. The opportunity arose in July, and I took another Japanophile with me so we could try a couple of dishes.

Their speciality is the eponymous Tonkotsu – a rich stock made by simmering pork bones in a shio (salt) base for 18 hours - you can see the large stock pots bubbling away in the open kitchen just inside the window - with pork slices, menma (bamboo) and seasoned egg on top. The noodles were light and the broth translucent and unctuous. We also tried the Tokyo Spicy – with shredded spicy pork on egg-based noodles, and various other toppings. The pork was tasty and it was overall very satisfying, but I was expecting a good deal more spice and had to ladle in some chilli condiment to get the kick I was looking for. The gyoza were really light and springy – steamed, and then slightly fried on one side, with a tasty pork and prawn filling – very good. There's also a vegetarian ramen option with shiitake for that umami-base, and a few other gyoza varieties, but we needed a pork hit so didn't get to try these.

 Tokyo Spicy on the left, Tonkotsu on the right

Gyoza and beer

Another big draw of Tonkotsu is that has included some craft beers on it's list – from two of London's most respected microbreweries – Kernel and Beavertown. There are a couple of different beers available from each and they are reasonably priced, for London and these particular breweries, at £4. There's also a couple of Brewdog (including Tokyo*, 18%!) and some standard Japanese lagers; a couple of different grades of sake; shochu and Japanese whisky.  It was so welcome to be able to have a decent beer with lunch, sitting at pavement tables watching Soho life go by.

Closer to home, a new noodle cafe has opened up in Birmingham's Chinatown area – MinMin. I had heard they were good, and went to investigate. This is a really charming place – bright white tiles and green décor, making a bit of a cheerful change from other places in the area. They have an extensive menu of noodle-y options but I was here for ramen, and ordered the yakibuta – cooked pork – which came with a decent selection of toppings - cured egg, thick, crunchy bamboo shoots, seaweed, beansprouts adding texture, and nori. It also had sweetcorn, which is a feature of Sapporo-style ramen; I was dubious about this addition at first, but have come to quite like it. My dining companion had the chilli squid with rice, and we were given complimentary soya desserts – one with mango sauce, and one with ginger syrup, which were unusual but a palate-freshening end to the meal.

The ramen broth at Minmin was lovely – on the right side of salty, and although they have chilli oil available, I had brought my own Nanami Togarashi – a Japanese chilli pepper mix - to add the spice level I like. I have been back a few times since to Minmin to try their char siu ramen as well – and they really don't stint on the generous amount of meat included. The cheung fun are also lovely – steamed rice rolls with a savoury filling of minced meat and mushroom, a delicate tangy dipping sauce and seasoned salad – though they are slippery buggers to eat. My tip would be to ask for wooden takeaway chopsticks instead of the plastic ones they'll give you by default – as they're much better for getting a grip on slippy noodles and delicately picking up strands of sea vegetables from the soup.

Cheung fun - slippy but worth the effort

The very moreish char siu ramen - other noodle dishes are available!

It's cute to note that all the ramen bowls have the hiragana for “oishii” - Japanese for delicious – on the side, and while I was last visiting, they were sticking up some Chinese characters on the window. I recognised the first of these as it also appears in Japanese script as “dai” - meaning large, or also “great” - I asked the waitress what the symbols meant and she said “big bowl noodle” - but if following the Japanese meaning, I'd happily recommend it to people as ”great” bowl noodle to be found inside!

Special mention must also go to the staff of Minmin – as well as the co-owner, Denice Phan, who comes out of the industrious kitchen to chat to customers, I've also been served by three different girls, and they are all extremely friendly and make you feel at home. Minmin is gaining in popularity as it offers something a bit different to what we already have in Birmingham, in a cool, modern environment, and at reasonable prices (ramen is around £6.80) – and from the few I've tasted, the dishes so far have been great, so I think most people will be hooked after one visit. I'm certainly getting an attack of ramen-want just thinking about it!

So these two English ramen experiences have been very positive – I think Minmin's yakibuta may just top Tonkotsu for my personal tastes, but on the other hand, Tonkotsu offers craft beer, meaning I'm more likely to linger there and snack on gyoza. But it's great to see a couple of decent ramen ventures now taking their place in London and particularly Birmingham; I'm sure eventually I'll try out all the other exciting and good value dishes that Minmin has to offer, but it will take a while (and a good few more visits) to wean me off my ramen cravings first.

Manchester Field Trip, part 2

After our extended visit to The Font the night before, a decent brunch was called for before resuming the beer exploration. I had done my research and knew there was a burrito place (in the style of Benito's Hat or Chilango in London) in Piccadilly Gardens, so dandered up there and had a parcel of pork goodness from Barburrito. I wish somewhere like this would open in Birmingham, but in a way I guess it's nice to have something different to seek out when I visit a city with a larger disposable-income demographic.

Next it was time to hunt down somewhere I'd been meaning to visit since I drew up my Resolutions - the Micro Bar in the Arndale Centre. This took a bit of a hunt to find - it's squirrelled away in the fresh produce Market area (a hive of little stalls and shops selling lots of interesting groceries and ready to eat foods, tea, herbs, coffee, etc. Probably worth a good poke round in itself).

The bar itself is a tiny place but it supports 4 or 5 cask ales and various foreign keg such as Kuppers Kolsch. As it is owned by Boggart Hole Clough brewery & beer distributors, it seemed only fair to try their two draught ales - the pale and refreshing Joffin, and the rich Rum Porter. They also had a Brodies on draught, making me even more jealous of Manchester drinkers as Brodies rarely make it to Midlands pubs.

 

Although small, the Micro Bar has a great bottle selection, highlights being a large Odell range, Goose Island larger bottles, lots of selection from local-ish micros (Yorkshire Dales, BrewStar, Acorn, Derventio etc.), Belgian beers and a cider selection, plus some mead and fruit wines. My purchases to take home were the Dark Star Six Hop, and the Odell Myrcenary I'd been craving the previous night.

After this brief visit we headed on to Port Street Beer House - it was too hot and time too limited unfortunately for a schlep around any other bars I'd meant to visit - but an afternoon of lounging in PSBH before the train back would do me just fine. Though I did find it freaky to discover afterwards it was exactly a year to the day of my one previous visit there in 2011!

Cask selection

PSBH, like the Font, is somewhere you just couldn't be stuck for choice, unless it's because you're dazzled by the crazy selection of cask, keg and bottle on offer - including on the pumps 2 Dark Star, 2 Kernel, 3 Hardknott, 2 Thornbridge, Summer Wine Brewery, Harbour, and others. We started with a Dark Star Revelation (tagline: "For the love of hops") on keg, and a Carafa Jade red ale on cask - again, a beer I've wanted to try for ages but just not found in Brum. This is the kind of beer I find myself craving at the start of a Friday evening - hoppy, flavourful, ready to pep up your tastebuds and herald the weekend.

It was while sipping these and popping up and down to ask the bar staff about various beers on their list, that I realised they sold everything in thirds - thank goodness! - now I could get on with some serious sampling, starting with Tipopils from Birrificio Italiano. I know everyone rates this highly but being a pils it just doesn't appeal to me, but I thought I should try it anyway - it was light, floral and pleasant but once gain confirmed pils/lager styles just aren't my thing unless it's the unfiltered Kellerbier or Zwickl served at the Paulaner Brauhauses in Munich. Still, I will keep trying craft lager & pils, just in case...

The barman was good enough to give me a taste of Hardknott Rhetoric - my, what a big beer! I would have loved a proper glass of this, but at 10% I was too wary of jeapordising the train journey home. But if it had been later in the evening and I didn't have to go far to bed, I'd have come back to this one for sure.

So I sampled my way through various thirds:

Kernel Citra - this tasted different to the bottled version I'd had before; a big big floral nose with hints of floral-flavoured sweeties from childhood like Parma Violet or Cherry Lips. The taste was more subdued than expected - if you could cross this aroma with the flavour of a fresh Oakham Citra, it would marry up well.

Kernel Summit - had a surprising marmaladey aroma, and a slightly more bitter finish than the Citra.

Liverpool Craft Brewery IPA - I wasn't keen on this, it had a strange 'burnt' flavour and aroma that I associate with some Northern Irish beer (what is the cause of that in a pale or amber beer? I've found it in beers from more than one N.I. brewery). It wasn't horrid, but it wasn't one I wanted more of.

Summer Wine Brewery Half Wit - this was lovely and refreshing and absolutely perfect for summer quaffing, with a very hoppy nose for a wit beer.

Hardknott Code Black - roasty notes and a hint of coffee, but also sweet with vanilla ice cream coming through. Didn't taste as IPA-ish as when I'd had it from a bottle but it was still full-flavoured and a great end to the beer oddessy.

There was just time to have a proper glassfull of the SWB Halfwit and a little more summer afternoon relaxing before it was time to travel on. The Manchester beer scene is a real eye-opener when you travel up from the Midlands - not just an abundance of pubs with cask ale around the city centre (there are so many recommended places I haven't visited in Manc yet), but also bars that realise great cask, keg and bottle selections can all sit side by side and that make a point of enthusiastically showcasing world class and exciting beers to an eager drinking audience.

Manchester Field Trip, part 1

Ever since I drew up my Resolutions at the start of the year, I'd been looking for an excuse to revisit Manchester, to explore it's plethora of great bars, and find some beer I'm excited about drinking in a pub I really want to drink in, which isn't a combination I get often in Birmingham (yet; that may change when a couple of in-the-pipeline craft beer bars open in future months). So when I found there was a band I wanted to see playing the Manchester Academy, it seemed like the perfect reason for a visit, even more so when the venue is just round the corner from a great beer bar like The Font.

The Font is a busy student-oriented bar with wall décor by David Bailey (no, not that David Bailey) with a simply outstanding bottle range, constantly updated with new releases both from across the water and from the best of the English beer scene, like Red Willow, Hardknott, Quantum, Buxton, Marble, Magic Rock, Thornbridge and others, many of which are local breweries. There are also great brews from Belgium, Holland (De Molen), Germany, and the major league of the US craft scene are all there – Stone, Victory, Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn, Goose Island, Rogue, Great Divide, Flying Dog, Left Hand, Maui, Anchor, Anderson Valley, The Bruery, and Coronado.

Price-wise, there are some big hitters – Bruery bottles are £18, the Dogfish Head & Sierra Nevada collab is £20, and the Thornbridge and Odell Pond Hopper comes in at £18. But many of the smaller US 330ml bottles are very reasonably priced at under £5, and even better, a very generous 25% discount is applied on take-outs, making this a good stop for a train beer on the way to Piccadilly.

Today's visit started with a Hawkshead USPA, one of the beers from this brewery I've been wanting to try for a while, and this had great crisp and fresh flavours, leaving your mouth dry and ready for another sip, while being just the right side of bitterness. On cask, I also tried the Black Jack first Deal, a maltier bitter, and on keg the Magic Rock High Wire, while my drinking partner settled with immense satisfaction on an Odell IPA, one of the best 'standard' US IPAs (in our tastebuds' opinion anyway) and always pleasure in a glass.

We knew we had to get a hotel beer in for after the gig in case The Font was too rammed to be served later, and it was very hard to choose from such a huge list, but eventually we decided on the Anderson Valley Hop Ottin', though I was also tempted by the De Molen as the Americaans @ £4.70, the Jaar & Dag @ £5.50, and £4.20 for the Op & Top, they were all looking pretty tastily-priced when you apply that 25% discount.

Next I tried the Rogue Dry Hopped St Rogue Red Ale in 335ml bottle as I was in the mood for something red & hoppy. This instantly smelled like a quintessential US craft beer, with sweet malts and big hop oil aromas, reminding me of drinking in New York bars. The pronounced bready grain flavour from the rye is there from the first sip, and I love that – it's good to properly taste the rye and feel the 'chewiness' after. Sometimes rye beers I've had are too bitter and unbalanced, as if the rye can't meld successfully with the hop elements, but this one was lovely and definitely different to non-rye IPAs.

After some food and a quick trip to drop off bags and beer at the hotel, we headed out again, popping into the Salisbury by Oxford Road station, to see what was on – the cask offering was mostly from major brewers – Ansells, Wychwood, Caledonian – but with seasonal beers from these adding some interest. But despite the alt-friendly music policy, we decided to move on to the Thirsty Scholar. This had Copper Dragon, Thwaites & Ilkley's Mary Jane. I tried a half of this as recent samplings of it when it's appeared in bars around Brum have failed to live up to the first two times I had it and it showed an instant “wow” factor in both aroma & flavour – but unfortunately it was a bit lacklustre here also. So, it was back to The Font for more Odell hop goodness before onwards to the gig.

Across the road from the Academy we spotted KRO Bar which looked interesting, and as the main band hadn't come on yet, we went in to check it out. Had some decent draught Paulaner Hefe Weisse and Maisels Dunkel Weisse, and noticed their menu is of Danish & German pub food – frikadeller, fish platters, schnitzel, moules and pork loin, with mains around £7-8 – worth remembering for tea sometime if I'm back up this way.

The gig finished promptly at 11pm, so it was back to The Font for the third time this evening, this time to check out the Brooklyn EIPA in cans. This didn't have as much hop bite as I know it can have, so it left me a little bit hop-hungry and wishing they still had the excellent Odell Myrcenary in stock. Never mind, I soon sorted it out with a Red Willow Ageless Double IPA, which I initially had to drink through a straw due to the enormous head, but it eventually settled down.

The bar is a bit manic with student life at 12am, so you need to know exactly what you want, what your second choice would be, and be firm in queueing to be served. We wanted a last Odell IPA of the night, but by this stage we had exhausted their supply! So we settled on a Coronado Mermaids Red IPA, Cascade-hopped and sticky-sweet, as a fine nightcap and end to an evening of successful imbibing.

IPA Day - what's the point?

So, IPA Day - something to celebrate, or some kind of annoyance?

IPADay.org

Normally 'forced' and artifical celebratory days annoy the hell out of me, but I guesss as IPA Day has no basis in religion, tradition, or overt commercialisation of any one brand, I don't really mind someone giving me a vague excuse to drink some IPA. I mean, I don't need an excuse at all, and I'll almost always have a few bottles of IPA of some kind or other in the beer cupboard - along with sours, Belgian dubbels, German weisse, porter, aged stout, and just about any other style I happen to have grabbed in my last beer shop.

I get that some people feel it is a fetishisation of one style above all others - and it gets their hackles up - but I'd be just as happy to celebrate a Dark Mild Day, Porter Day, Quadrupel Day, Wit Day, or any other style, as I think it would be great to have a designated day when beer bloggers, tweeters, and general drinkers round the world might choose to collectively focus on a style; explore it, drink their favourites, talk about it, maybe introduce some macro lager-only drinkers to it. So if anyone out there wants to take up the reigns and start an <insertstylehere> day, I'll be right there with them! In a way, I wonder if that kind of thing may happen anyway as "craft" beer drinking spreads. If it does, I'll be poised at my beer cupboard, ready to dig out whatever is called for. Why not - it's an excuse to savour, to share with other people, perhaps to pick up tips on new beers, or go along to an event (if you live in a town with forward-thinking craft beer bars that is) and spend the night in beery conversation.

For this year's IPA Day though, I am short of time - so sadly couldn't rustle up a spread of IPA-suitable foods, and plan in my beers - or even have enough time to drink a suitable range. Never mind, I see that next year's 2nd August is a FRIDAY - and of course there are many more days of drinking IPA between now and then anyway ;-)

So I took a trip over to @stirchleywines with the intention of just picking up a couple of staple US IPAs, but as ever the great selection of interesting stuff there turned my head, and I thought I'd pick up a few new IPAs from different countries that I haven't tried before. See, this IPA Day thing is a good excuse for expermentation!

Lovely stash from Stirchley Wines

With time being limited, I knew I wouldn't get through all of these on the night, but that's fine, just means there's a few cold, hoppy treats in my fridge for the start of the weekend.

First to be tasted was the Sveh IPA, from De Struisse brewery in Belgium. The Belgians make great beer, but it's not known for it's hoppiness, and it's interesting to see how some innovative brewers there are experimenting with non-Belgian styles. This one didn't say 'IPA' to me at all; it has some hops on the nose, but I found the candi sugar and Belgian yeast dominated on the nose and palate. But I really enjoyed it - the extra bitterness was a great counterbalance to the sweetness, and I'll definitely be drinking this beer again.

Next up was the Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA, a US stalwart, one of those hoppy and refreshing beers you reach for on a hot day. Picked this to go with our food, as something I knew so didn't need to analyse too much while drinking. Dinner tonight would have been pulled pork - a perfect IPA accompaniment - but due to time restriction, I made some 'Old Badlands' spiced chicken instead, with a bit of jalapeno slaw, fries, and some Dave's Roasted Garlic Hot Sauce. The Snake Dog didn't quite hit the mark - seemed a tad on the over-bitter side, but it's usually a pretty reliable hoppy IPA so I'd be happy to see this popping up in a fridge in a bar near me (preferably The Victoria).

 

As an after-tea cleanser, I next tried the Nils Oscar Hop Yard IPA - this is the beer company from Sweden who make God's Lager - and the label was very enticing, mentioning Cascade, Simcoe, Nelson Sauvin, Amarillo, and Citra. It had a great luminous orangey colour, and lively sharpish hop aromas. This had less bitterness than I expected, and a nice weight coming out in the mouthfeel from a bit of sweetness to the finish. Impressed with this, and it would encourage me to try more from their range as they now have a range of beer styles available in this country.

Now for something different - my first beer from Italy's Birrificio Indipendente Elav, called "TECHNO Cybotronic Double IPA" - sounds exciting with an eye-catching lablel, but what really made me buy it were the part-Italian, part-English tasting notes: "Stile Imperial IPa ... Un singolo malto in loop come base e le alte frequenze di luppolo in bollitura e dry hopping, scatenano un rave party extrasensoriale" - well if it's going to be a dry-hopped rave party in my mouth, who could resist! This had a rich and spicy nose, and a warmth and 'heaviness' to it (not surprising at 9.5%) - much more malty and fruity than the other IPAs tried tonight so far, almost like a darker cousin to Oakham's Green Devil IPA.

Sadly IPA day was drawing to a close but I was happy to leave the other beers in the fridge - the pulled pork may get it's chance for some IPA action over the next few days - but there was time for one last beer, this time from one of an impressive crop of new breweries in England who seem to be getting their recipes spot-on from the off, showing off their skill and making beers that excite you and make you want to try anything they produce. This one was 'Ageless', a Double IPA from Red Willow. I've had this beer several times before and have really enjoyed it, so it was a sure bet for a last IPA of the day. This is a 'chewy' beer, with rich malts, a headiness from the alcohol content, and a bready note from the yeasts, but still carrying rich hop aromas and bitters through to the end.

So for me, I didn't feel the need to agonise too much over the beer politics of IPA Day - I was happy to be given the nudge to go shopping, and despite thinking I'd just be drinking a few old familiars, it instead give me the impetus to try some new beers and new breweries - IPAs from five different countries in total. Plus, I now have bonus beers in the fridge for the weekend. But if anyone fancies a virtual meetup over a different beer style on some other specified day, give me a shout, and I'll be happy to join you!

Homebrew "Drink-Off"

While at a Gin Tasting event a while back, run by  @YetAnotherGin, I bumped into Neil and Chris, who then helped spur me on to start some homebrewing. We had met up a few times since, with other interested parties, to discuss our homebrew adventures (mostly so I could pick their brains!) and on one occasion the idea came about of picking a 'topic', each brewing something along those lines, then meeting up to drink and check out each others' beers along the common theme.

When we picked a style, it was still winter - so we opted for a stout or dark beer - but in the end when trying to fit this in around everyone's schedules and remembering to get the brewing done, it was 5th May before we could get our acts together and meet. Present were myself, Neil, Chris, Sam, Emma, and Matt. Sadly our fellow homebrew club members Dave and Andrew couldn't make it, so hopefully we'll have another go when they can attend too.

So we had all brought some bottles of something roughly equating to a stout, and then we all tried to impress each other with the outcomes of our homebrewing efforts. The prize? An evening of consuming lovely beers with good company - so a win all round!

Chris had also hand-made some amazing pretzels (so good I had to smuggle some home for the next day), and Neil had procured several varieties of cheese, so we had some excellent scran to keep us from absorbing too much alcohol while getting the hard work of sampling underway.



In an effort to provide some objective feedback rather than just a 'that's nice!'  for each beer, I took some tasting notes as we went along:

Sam - Spiced Porter
Brewed with nutmeg, spices, and Tia Maria. Using Muntons London Docklands Porter kit, modified with 3 star anise and 1 cinnamon stick added at the start of fermentation.Before bottling, half a pint of Tia Maria was added along with sugar measured out for secondary fermentation. Sam expected this had turned out around 4.5%. Flavour wise - it had great hints of spice that weren't overpowering but were definitely present, and the Tia Maria coffee liqueur added a lot of depth and structure, with the sugars giving a lot of effervesence. It was certainly moreish but a rich and warming drink - you'd want to come home to this one on a chilly winter night.

Tania & David - Coffee Stout
Using a Coopers Premium Irish Stout 4.5% brewkit, this was modified in the fermenting vessel with a litre of fresh brewed Italian rich roast filter coffee. This was only our third brew and we really wanted that rich coffee flavour to come out strongly, but in a balanced way. We had consumed the main batch from a pressure barrel at home, but we'd also made our first attempt at bottling, specifically for this 'dark beer challenge'. Sadly Dave wasn't here to taste the results, but I was pleased to report back that the bottled version still retained those strong flavour notes, with a good bitterness from the coffee and the bottle having a bit more body than the original draught. It wasn't perfect, but it was drinkable enough, and I was just relieved it had some flavour and no-one poured theirs away (at least, while I was looking ;-)

Matt - Scammonden Dark
A 2-tin kit from Brupak that produces a 4.5% beer, with dry hopping sack included. Fruity on the nose but this had a really dry, roasty finish - a good contrast for the earlier sweeter porter of Sam's. A good dark brown colour with light carbonation and a creamy brown head. Third beer in, and so far all were ones I'd have been happy to have been served in a pub.

Neil - Oatmeal Stout
Using a Coopers Stout kit, so the same as I had used for the coffee stout, but this time Neil had added a bag of oats in the FV. This had a really smooth mouthfeel but with a bit of liveliness. Interesting to see how some small modifications can make the same kit quite different, and it would definitely encourage me to try using oats next time I make up the kit.

Chris - Chocolate Milk Stout
Chris is a fairly experienced all-grain brewer, so I think we were all expecting his beer to come out as the richest and with the most body, and it didn't disappoint! He had added cocoa nibs to the secondary FV, filtered with a hop bag over the tube. Chris explained that the lactose sugar used doesn't ferment out and so leaves the sweetness within the beer. This was reddish-brown, weighty & very full bodied, with good hints of sweetness but a surprisingly dry finish rounded off with rich chocolate flavours.

Matt's homebrewed mead with orange, cinnamon & cloves also deserves special mention - it's unfortunate Andrew couldn't make it or we'd have had a mead-off on our hands also - but I was very impressed with this drop and wished I'd had a bottle to take home.

So Emma asked us at the end of our tastings - which beer did we most want to drink again? And I think we all agreed it was Chris' Chocolate Stout - it's particularly rich body and lovely chocolate tones made it a 'more please!' kind of beer. Sadly no cash prize in it for Chris, but hopefully a smug feeling of validation that the effort put into a full mash brew doesn't go unnoticed!

So our first 'Drink-Off' was judged to be a success - it gave people a focus for their brewing endeavours and a chance to share and see what other people thought, and what other people are making. Hope we can organise another one - perhaps a theme of something pale and summery - though this time it might be winter before we get round to drinking it!