Another quick post about my holiday (sorry!).

In an effort to do something more than laze in the sunshine in our small, quiet resort of Kriopigi in Halkidiki, we explored a little further around the Kassandra Peninsula on two evenings, once to the bustling resort of Hanioti, and the other a little less further, to the the last remaining plate smashing restaurant in our area.

Me and the mammoth Mythos

Now, the whole evening was lots of fun, although the plate smashing was reserved mostly for the children. The waiters were crazy, everyone danced on the tables and we finished by drowning (literally!) in Metaxa from the largest bottle of spirits I’ve ever seen sprayed over grown adults (thanks to a very enthusiastic proprietor and a bottle of liquor with a tap on it!)

But it wasn’t the scariest large drink of the night, as I found myself trying to defeat a gigantic 2L glass of my favourite Greek tipple, Mythos. I’m not quite sure I’d read the menu probably because I was not expecting this!!!

I’ve had beers larger than a pint before, most notably the formidables of Lourdes in France (1L glasses) and once, when I was much younger and much, much more immature, a yard of ‘snakebite and black’ topped with gin and other ill-mannered liquids on a night out with some rugby lads (I’ve never ever played rugby!).

But I wasn’t quite prepared for the embarassment of been the only person in the restaurant to be sitting at his table with a whopping 4 pint glass that was about as wide as my torso! The embarrassment didn’t last long, as other, older and more mature fellows soon followed, and received considerably more abuse from their better halves than I did (in fact you’ll see Sarah had quite a sip herself!)

But as I was loosening my collar and slowly, very slowly, draining my gargantuam thirst quencher, and with the furore and fuss around BrewDog’s Tokyo still ringing in my ears, I wondered about responsible drinking. Read the rest of this entry »

Got every twist of this bomb...except the splash!!

Last week I had a fantastic week in Greece, soaking up just enough sun so that I wouldn’t burn and just enough sea and sand that I wasn’t moaning about salt water or seaweed. But mostly I soaked up lots of relaxing hours reading, cooling off in the pool and nipping in the shade for an afternoon beer (oh and some messing around in the pool!)

We were at a small resort called Kriopigi, on Kassandra, the most densely inhabited penisula of Halkidiki, in Northen Greece. It was nice, not as slow moving or pretty as any of the places we’ve seen on other islands, but far from the hustle and bustle we desperately wanted to avoid. The hotel was nicer than it looked in the pictures online and on a quiet hill down to the beach, overlooking trees that sprawled down towards the sea.

Aegean Hotel, Kriopigi

We only had seven days and on a budget didn’t fancy many of the day trips, so we plumped for the ‘let’s just take it really slowly’ holiday, and it was just what I needed (to be honest I was a bit disappointed with the lack of accessible ‘culture’ so my SLR didn’t get too much action –  wished I’d had it for Rhodes Town last year!).

Days were long and the week felt longer than it was.  Within a few hours on the first morning we’d developed a holiday cycle: reading in the sun (I got through all of John Gribbin’s The Universe and 3/5 ths of The Grapes of Wrath!), dipping in the pool and heading for the shade for a beer and nibbles (the only bad thing about our hotel being that the pool bar didn’t serve olives, a cardinal sin in my eyes!). At the peak of the suns path, my equivalent of the Hellenic siesta involved an couple of bottles of Mythos on the balcony looking towards the hazy sea-sky horizon.

Mythos on holiday...the perfect siesta time beer?

Which brings me nicely onto beer and that legendary Mythos (or should I say mythical as the adverts do). Mythos (Μυθος in Greek) must benefit significantly from a lack of competition in the Greek beer market that just wouldn’t be possible in the UK. Yes, there are other beers, including Alfa (AΛΦA), a ‘traditional’ Greek lager brewed since 2000 by the Athenian Brewing company and a variety of imported beers, but none match the ubiquitous of Mythos in pubs, supermarkets and poolside bars.

It’s worth pointing out the Mythos isn’t the largest brewer, that title goes to the Athenian Brewing company, but I’ll hazard a guess and say that that is more to do with the fact that they also sell Amstel, Fischer, Duvel, Chimay, Murphy’s and Murphy’s Red and most of the other beers you come across in Greek Restaurants (the other notables bee you’ll find is Kaiser which is brewed by our friends at Mythos).

Read the rest of this entry »

Badger First Gold, 4.0% abv

One of the defining characteristics of Badger First Gold is it’s sheer floral fruitiness. Which, at risk of sounding somewhat cliched, makes for a very ‘moreish’ drinking experience.

Equally pleasing is the fact that this golden ale can be regarded as a ‘session’ beer. (It weighs in at a punchy 4.0%.)

Better still, and as one would expect from any session beer worth it’s salt in these BBQ summer months, the taste is undeniably crisp and refreshing. THis makes it a beverage of almost schizophrenic proportions.  A beverage where the idyllic, fragrant English countryside collides head on with the cool, clinical, clean excellence of an authentic German lager.

Apparently this beer was a double gold medal winner at the 2005 brewing industry ‘oscars’ held in Munich – making it a ‘World Champion Beer’

Bradfield Brewery’s Farmers Pale Ale, 5.0% abv

As the rural representative of the  Real Ale Reviews team I felt a certain degree of responsibilty when I saw this ale on the shelf. Brewed on a working farm in the Peak District, this beer has come from a relatively youthful brewery and, after coming home to view the website, I was excited to try it because the Gill family seem to be striving to innovate and create a quality brand of beer.

Bradfield Brewery Website

I was immediately hit by the floral tones in this beer which faded away to a dry aftertaste. This was something of a surprise because, from the appearance of the bottle, for some reason I had been expecting a hoppy, citrus affair. I have not tasted a beer with floral tones this strong for some time and it is a welcome change. The overall effect is also a lot lighter than the 5.0% abv would suggest. If summer ever materialises I’ll certainly be grabbing a few more bottles of this.

I’m not really sure how to verbalise this properly but I have to say that this beer doesn’t have the polished ‘finish’ of products from more established breweries. This is certainly part of the rustic appeal of the ale and, while it would probably stop me from having a major sess on it, it doesn’t detract from the overall effect of the ale.

I  will certainly be looking to try the other ales from Bradfield and will hopefully get the chance to stop in sometime.

Punk IPA by BrewDog

Punk IPA was the first BrewDog beer I ever came across, on the supermarket shelves of Tesco, Lincoln whilst Sarah was living there earlier this year.

I’ve had it a few times but never written anything, and it’s not far off being in that category of beers that are the hardest to review – those you’ve had many times before.

The first thing that struck me on the first taste back one Friday in Lincoln, and again yesterday when I picked it out specifically for review from my all new beer cupboard, was it’s North American influences. Having mulled over US reviews of Punk IPA, many people comment how English it is, so I guess they might get quite a shock if they picked up a pint of Greene King on tap! The revival of IPA by craft breweries in the States has led to some notable IPA interest in the UK, and in Punk IPA there’s a clear swing towards the US style of IPA , one much more floral and aromatic than those of it’s homeland.

Punk IPA by Brewdog - transatlantic India Pale Ale

Read the rest of this entry »

The history of beer and brewing in this country is a rich and fascinating journey which, in these times of binge drinking and anti-social behavoir,  is not always fully appreciated and respected.

Over recent years the population has generally become more environmentally aware and there has been a reversion to locally, even self, produced goods. Allotments and home brew, 20 years ago the reserve of only my Granddad, are now fashionable amoung younger portions of the population. This has in turn helped the resurgence of real ales for younger generations as well.

A little over 250 years ago in 1751 the artist William Hogarth released a pair of works titled Gin Lane and Beer Street. When viewed in conjunction with each other, the works sought to illustrate the advantages, to both the individual and society as a whole, of drinking British beer rather than imported Gin. Remember this was an age when water in London was unsafe and the brewing process provided some degree of sanitization. In an era when water could kill you, the benefits of drinking fluids that had been processed were obvious.

The link below take you to the British Museum’s page on Beer Street and Gin Lane so you can take a look for yourself if you are not familiar with the works…

British Museum – Gin Lane & Beer Street

So why do I bring this up here? The point I want to make is of course not that we should all be drinking beer rather than water in our day to day lives. Rather I want to highlight the potential of our own, British produced, drinks which could be used when entertaining in favour of foreign imports. I know that we regularly review non British beers and am not for one minute advocating a British only standpoint, this would surely only limit ones experience and I think everything should be tried so that people can find what they enjoy.

What I fear is often forgotten is the diversity of beers, ciders and lagers that are available, and how each these can compliment different circumstances and events. You will often see in my reviews that I state what I am drinking a beer with or the circumstances in which I feel it will be appropriate. I am therefore always on the lookout for recipes and suggestions of which beers are appropriate for certain meals. Is it possible that there will be a time when Real Ales are matched and drunk with meals in the same way as fine wines? I certainly hope so.

It is therefore always a great joy to me when I find an old recipe book with beer based recipes in a second hand bookshop or when I stumble across a datbase such as the one on the Hall and Woodhouse website, giving suggestions for food and recipes to enjoy with their different beers…

Hall and Woodhouse Recipes Database

I hope you enjoy these as much as I intend to.

Sagres, Portuguese Lager, 5.0% abv

I am sitting reading the Sunday paper before making my evening roast and have decided to crack open a bottle of beer and get a weekend review up. This particular bottle of beer has been in my fridge for some time. On a recent trip to London I noticed that Sagres had developed quite a presence in bars seemingly as aa alternative to the Peroni/Amstel type lager.

Sagres and the Sunday Papers - Life is Good

Although I have not seen it available on tap in any bars outside of London, it is now available in some Leeds ale shops and I would imagine that it is only a matter of time before we begin to see it nationally. As such I made sure I had got a bottle to review in order to ensure that Real Ale Reviews were abreast of the game.  Hopefully, when this springs up in your local wine bar, you will feel well enough informed to know whether or not to take a punt on it.

The beer appears  relatively pale in the glass for a premium type lager, a fact that is justified by the crisp,  clean initial taste. This initial cleanness, which almost has no flavour, gives way  to a hoppy flavour that lingers throughout the mouthhful and into the aftertaste. This hoppyness is tempered by a mild citrus flavour.

The flavour, while obviously not approaching the levels of genuine premium lagers and real ales, is hoppier than you might expect from a lager of this type. I am a big fan of having different drinks for different occassions and, in a similar way to how I would suggest a lager such as Boags for a BBQ, I would suggest that this would be a really good long night out lager. It has the body and texture lacking from the cheaper Carlsberg/Fosters lagers, while not having the kick of the genuine premium lagers that are perhaps more appropriate to shorter, quieter occasions

My first sips of Zeitgeist didn’t blow me away. I had sort of been expecting a revolution. I think a little bit of hype, excellent design and lots that I’d read had built up my expectations, and that I was expecting a Road to Damascus style realisation that pale lager could not quench my thirst and that black lager would suddenly take me a higher level.

Well, the first sips didn’t go down well. I found it flat and uninteresting, completely underwhelming and disappointing.

Zeitgeist Black Lager by BrewDog

But within a couple more sips I realised that I’d drunk half a bottle within about 53 seconds.

Wow, this stuff is drinkable.

And then I noticed its subtle complexities. And they are subtle, but highly enjoyable.

The darkness of the taste is refreshing. I love dark milds and in the right mood I can devour stouts, but they are styles I turn to only when in the right frame of mind. Zeitgeist offers much of the dark coffee that I love in beer (but hate in coffee!), and hints of biscuity, chocolately, nutty joy that dark beers often revel in, whilst being one of the most drinkable beers I’ve ever tasted.

I use drinkable quite a lot when I’m reviewing. It’s very indicative, simple yet effective at conveying the fact that a beer slips down the throat whether light or not.

Zeitgeist is the former, in abundance. They could advertise this stuff next to Malteser’s and even with the weight of the bottle the dark liquid would easy outfloat it’s hollow chocolate counterparts.

At 4.9% Zeitgeist is deceptively, deceptively strong, and from an uninspiring first sip, it is really a very interesting beer.

My first bottle of Zeitgeist developed from an unassuming start to the point where I couldn’t believe it was finished and I ended up craving more. This is a beer that might not tickle your tastebuds like a hop monster, but will go some way to satisfy my darker, thirstier urges that is very, very, easy to drink!

Thwaites’ Nutty Black began life as Thwaites’ Dark Mild and a simple name change breathed life into this little beauty – Thwaites enjoyed a 90% increase in sales, as a result.

This caused a little sadness within some of the CAMRA circles, because of the name change, but that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. I understand that maintaining tradition is important to most people, but surely ensuring the survival of an ale ranks first, and any re-branding that can take real ale through these troubled times where thirty-nine pubs close, every week, is surely a good thing?

Thwaites’ Nutty Black weighs in at 3.3% abv, but I am reviewing its bigger hitting brother, Thwaites’ Very Nutty Black, Export Strength which is 3.9% abv. Bottle conditioned, and currently a bargain at £1.49 at Morrisons. Although now there are none left in the Loughborough store. Sorry.

So what’s the beer like?

Well, I love it, which is why I bought all of Morrison’s stock. It’s as dark as you’d imagine a beer that is a reborn mild would be. Some have described the Nutty Black as a pleasant, butbland mild, but the extra strength in the Very Nutty Black gives it a little more bite. Still, it is not the heaviest or most flavoursome ale that you will drink, but that is a strength, in my book, as it puts this beer in to the “session ale” category.

You can drink loads of it!

There are certain beers that were placed on this earth to lead a man on the righteous path to real ale, and this is one of them. I was a lager drinker for years, until a knowledgeable gentleman showed me the way. Harvest Pale he used to entice me from the fizzy side, and I never went back. Still, there is a lot more to beer life than pale ales, and this is one of those “bridging beers” that can take a non-believer to the magical world of stouts, porters and winter warmers.

Thanks to Mark Jackman for the reivew! You can read more by Mark at his blog. If you would like to get involved and write a review please email realale@real-ale-reviews.com or message us on Twitter at twitter.com/realalereviews

I’d never heard of Daas beers until meeting the company via Twitter, perhaps because of my woeful knowledge of Belgian brewing styles. And I’m very glad I did find them.

Before I continue I should add that this Belgian-sized hole in my fairly universal appreciation of beer styles stems mainly from the fact that I’ve never really got on well with wheat style beers and many of the continental white and blonde beers.

Notable exceptions are Erdinger, which is pretty much unavoidable in the Leeds’ bars north of Briggate, (and to be fair which I reserve for nights out rather than drink at home). I occasionally used to sup Hoegarden at uni, a drink I shared almost exclusively with my friend Tyler, who introduced me to pairing it with a segment of lime. But neither of these or the other examples I’ve tried (pretty much exclusively well known brands) such as Duvel and Chimay have ever quite satisfied my palate as other styles do.

In Daas Blond and Witte there are two beers that touch on the styles that I don’t generally go for, bringing out their subtleties and developing something I quite like. They are both organic certified, one (Witte) is wheat based and the other (Blond) is made from 100% barley malt.

Daas Blond organic Belgian beer

Daas Blonde is fruity, golden and sweet. I thought I detected zesty flavours – it tingled my tongue and I sensed a sweet and slightly spicy taste that flowed easily from bottle to throat.  It really was a good, strong golden ale with clear Belgian influence that will tempt me to try more like this rather than put me off experimenting.

Bizarrely it’s supreme drinkability maybe what detracts from me wanting to call it a session beer: a session on this, as I find with many Belgian beers, tends to fill the stomach up a bit too quick (but then I probably shouldn’t be knocking back ‘World Cup’ glasses of Erdinger after midnight in Reform bar – this, I can tell you openly, is not a good strategy for longevity of bar room shenanigans!).

Daas Witte organic Belgian wheat beer

Daas Witte as, as you would expect, is dominated by it’s wheaty influence. It’s defining characteristics are crafted by this influence, and mixed against, again, more defined citrus flavours and spicy touches. The influence of wheat over malt in Belgian beers always perturbs me, I am clearly a British beer drinker reluctant to sacrifice on my malted barley. It’s hard for me to pass judgement on Daas Witte, as I just don’t have enough experience of it’s contemporaries to compare it too, but for a wheat beer I genuinely enjoyed it.

All in all I’ll definitely be drinking Daas Blond again, a great little number that widens my palate a little. I will also certainly try Daas Witte again, which I think has made me doubt my perceived dislike of wheat beer (maybe I just misunderstood all these years?!).

In fact, Daas’ Organic beers might just be my introduction to a world of new beers from just over the Channel, just as EIPA first tempted me into North American beers.

If you want to try it yourselves I believe Waitrose are to be stocking this in the imminent future (if not already), and the lovely folk at Daas will surely keep you better informed than I will if you talk to them on Twitter.