I have previously enjoyed one of Acorn Brewery’s seasonal ales Summer Pale in Leeds’ excellent drinking hole Victoria Commercial, so was keen to try one of their permanent offerings ‘Barnsley Bitter’.

Sam enjoys a pint of Acorn in Leeds' Victoria Hotel

The look of the pint oozes tradition, right from the off-white, fluffy head down to the dark ruby colour of the body. There is a strong coffee-esque aroma with a hint of Hazelnut noticable as well.

The taste follows the scent perfectly; a strong roasted coffee flavour leads on to a warm bitter aftertaste that defies it’s session ale ABV of 3.8%.

The sensation of the first drink reminds me much of the early-morning caffine rush, often required to get through that Monday morning feeling. It’s a great, satisfying feeling.

The remainder of the pint, unfortunately, never quite hits that high and whilst it remains a good, well-produced bitter with enough to make it stand out from some of the more run-of-the-mill offerings, there wasn’t quite enough to make me want a second pint amongst the competition available at the pump-rich bar at the Vic.

On reviewing Summer Pale, I commented that it was perfect for drinking in the season during which it sells. As we roll into autumn and winter, Acorn Brewery produce a bitter that is definitely a first pint to recommend to warm the cockles.

I learned something pretty important whilst tasting this 7.8% flavourful powerhouse from BrewDog this evening; strong alcoholic beverages (say…6% plus) are NOT designed for quaffing in much the way you do with a mild beer, or weak lager. My history of drinking alcohol is littered with examples of me not particularly enjoying strong beers, wines and spirits because of the light trail of fire the high alcohol content leaves on my tongue and throat as it washes it’s way into my system.

Ok, ok: I should have learnt by now that that is not the way to deal with these offerings. They should be sipped and savoured; explored beyond the taste of the alcohol.

Straight from the bottle, Dogma oozes aroma. There is a sweetness to the scent that reminds of wild berries and somehow defies the dark golden straw colour of the body.

The bottle label promises a whole range of unique ingredients: honey, guarand, poppy and koala nut. After my first oversized gulp, all I could taste (and feel) was alcohol; that warm, overpowering rush that overwhelms the back of the mouth and lets you know that it has been there for a good while afterwards.

So in attempt to find the promised flavours, I went on to smaller sips. This worked wonders. Left to linger in the mouth, Dogma shows it’s sweeter side with the aforementioned berries and honey being noticable. I also sensed a hint of spiciness in there as well, reminiscent of cinnemon. I couldn’t tell you if there was a Koala nut in there as, quite frankly, I’ve never heard of them let alone tried them!

Despite finally working my way through to the flavours in Dogma, I still found it quite a tricky 330ml to get through. Sipping takes a long time and it remains a beverage for those for whom the warmth of a high ABV is a pleasure and not a chore.

If you want to sample some of the new wave of high-alcohol, high-flavour ales coming out of the brat-pack breweries, this is by no means BrewDog’s finest offering, but a great example of how new flavours are being blended into bottled beers with interesting and exciting results.

Now that I’ve discovered a way of drinking strong beverages, I’ve always fancied trying to appreciate whiskies…

A frothy head though less aromatic than the Halcyon I tried earlier on today, (yes, it’s taken me a while to upload this review!) but boy does the first sip make up for that!

Hop Devil is bursting with flavour, whether or not that’s to your taste I can’t say. It’s not exactly balanced (overwhelmingly in favour of the hop heads) and is very complex – especially if you can wait for the lingering spices in the aftertaste.

Victory Brewery's Hop Devil is one hell of a beer

The hops are deep, man. They are more moorland heather than summer fields (perhaps prairie grass even?!). The malt really shines through and that’s something I personally like.  Combine this with deep, pungent spices and you have a lot going on, but you might not notice for the first half the bottle whilst you acclimatise to the intense, unapologetic hop character. The other elements will (well they did for me) seep out from this as you drink it, but for the at least my first few minutes this was a determinedly one track beer.

I recommend taking a short break mid way through this bottle as I did, particularly if you shoot out of the traps like a greyhound (as I also did). Alternatively take it slowly and allow the aftertaste to mature and blossom in your mouth, throwing new flavours with a ferocious nonchalance.

The spicyness and underlying maltiness simply will not leave your mouth alone. They say the fires of hell will burn for all eternity – well Hop Devil certainly practices this dogma!

Drink slowly to appreciate – but no matter how quickly you sup Hop Devil, I’m sure you’ll come away exclaiming that this really is a devil of a beer.

A good or a bad thing? … You decide

Loxley Ale with Chicken, Chorizo and Green Pepper Pasta

Now for the first taste of the MileStone beers I picked up the other day when visiting the Brewery shop in Cromwell. I have plumped for Loxley Ale  (4,2% abv), named after the famous Robin of Loxley. I have selected this one first because I am a big Robin Hood fan, not so much the recent offering from the BBC starring Jonas Armstrong, but I am a massive fan of the Kevin Costner movie, have read the Henry Gilbert book too many times than I can count and I even harbour a secret love of the Walt Disney version!!!!

The fantastic MileStone website has tasting notes on all their ales and the Loxley Ale is described as having a ‘crisp lemony tang’ coupled with ‘slight honey sweetness’. Ron recommends either a good ploughman’s or a Korma. I had other ideas. Having tried a few sips I agreed with the website’s decription, the beer has a drinkable sweetness, appearing after an initial citrus tang – perfect to have with a nice summer salad I though…so I rolled back the cool Leeds weather and prepared this creamy pasta salad which I believe compliments the zingy sweetness of the Loxley Ale perfectly.

Creamy Chicken, Chorizo, Leek and Green Pepper Pasta Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 Large Chicken Breast – cut into thin strips
Diced Chorizo – handful
2 Leeks – sliced
2 Medium Green Peppers
300ml Creme Fraiche
Cheese & Tomato Tortellini – two handfuls
2 Little Gem Lettuce – torn into shreds
10 Cherry Tomatoes – halved
Ground Black Pepper (to taste)
Olive Oil (to fry)
Splash of Balsamic Vinegar (to dress)

Method

Warm the Olive Oil in the pan and fry the chicken, peppers, leek and chorizo until the chicken is cooked through (usually about 20mins). Cook the Tortellini in a pan of boiling water until soft. Whilst all the bits are cooking rip the lettuce up, divide between two bowls, splash with balsamic and throw on the cherry toms. Once the chicken is cooked stir the Creme Fraiche in and add the Tortellini before spooning onto the lettuce beds. Serve with a glass of MileStone Loxley Ale.

A Trip to Beer Ritz  to Restock the Cellar

As the title suggests, I have taken a trip to Beer Ritz this evening to restock my Beer Cellar. On the lead up to my big run last Sunday I couldn’t really trust myself to have too many quality beers around the house in case I let my training diet slip (limit was max 1 beer a day, max 4 days out of seven!)

I picked up 17 bottles tonight, in no particular order…

BrewDog Punk IPA x2

Leeds Best

White Shield

BrewDog Zeitgeist

Brooklyn EIPA

Bradfield Farmers Brown Cow

Orval x2

St Austell Tribute

Crown Brewery Unprenounceable IPA

Bradfield Farmers Pale Ale x2

Meantime Pilsner

Brooklyn Lager

BrewDog Trashy Blonde

Leeds Pale

What does anyone think of my selection????

Are there any big names you would have put in your cellar restock that I’ve missed? (I will probably be going back tomorrow to pick up all the ones I’ve forgotten!!!)

On my way back from Nottingham today I stopped off in Newark-Upon-Trent to have a look around. I had accidentally driven through the town centre before and had always said I wanted to go back and have a proper look around, plus I wanted to stop in at the MileStone Brewery as I was passing. Unfortunately I had the car so was unable to drink but was confident that the historic brewing town would have something to offer a designated driver.

The Town

Newark Castle overlooking the Trent

I parked up in Waitrose (free parking in the town centre – don’t get that everywhere!) and headed across the river towards the castle gardens. Although the Castle itself has seen better days, there is a small museum and tourist information centre in the gardens and, after a 10 minute briefing, I headed off into the town centre. Newark seeps history from it’s narrow streets and it isn’t just the beer related sites that are worthy of note. In the Market

G H Porter, Provisions Store

Square, where there were a number of collectables stalls along with the usual fruit and veg traders, the place that most caught my eye was the  G H Porter ‘provisions’ store – serving traditional cooked meats, pies and canned goods, as well as serving teas. Also of note was the town’s Shopping Arcade and the whole square is overlooked by the Buttermarket building, converted to house a number of boutiques and eateries as well as the town’s museum and art gallery.

Frontage of The Old White Inn, now a Building Society branch!!

Turning to more beer related sites of interest, the Market Square has the pictured 15th Century frontage, this building used to be The Old White Inn but is now home to a branch of the Nottingham Building Society. Also in the square is this picturesque Wychwood pub.

Wychwood Pub

As I was driving this was the only pub I ventured into on the day and unfortunately the interior did not live up to the promise of the outside. However, as I did not have the time to go round all of the watering holes on offer (I will be arguing for a Real Ale Reviews group outing by train next time I get together with Fletch and Lanesy) I leave it CAMRA to sum up the drinking potential of the town.

Read the rest of this entry »

Which of your favourite beers would you pick for your emergency stash?

A less than 140 character tweet led to a whole discussion in my brain earlier today, which I thought I’d share with the world at large (often a dangerous thing!).

Just in passing I mentioned to the twittersphere that I’d just had a bottle of Orval, a beer of such character and quality that I find myself falling in love all over and over again each time I try it.

The first reply I received on this topic was from @BionicLaura, a very interesting beer tweeter from across the Irish Sea. She replied saying that Orval was one of her favourite beers (ditto!) and that she has six bottles stocked up, ‘in case of emergency’.

Now my beer cupboard is pretty full right now, typically full of an array of beers, but weirdly not one of them would be in my top three or four beers. I rarely have more than one or two duplicates, but I usually have at least one of my all time favourites in there, one of those rare beers that you never tire off, that in the most desperate of times I would always be in the mood for.

So I got to thinking (all this in the space of a momentary deluge of Orval invoked inspiration) what beers would I pick should I have a secret stash somewhere in my beer cupboard? What bottles (or kegs or casks) would appear behind my secret door, perhaps hidden in my underground shelter or panic room?!

I’m getting carried away, but I guess the point is, what beers do you always come back to? What beers do you never want to be more than a beer-cupboard-door away from? Which ales do you want to always have a few bottles of within arms length should you need them?

Football on the telly is always a good excuse to have a few beers, so with England confirming their place in the next world cup (no doubt a great excuse for an international beer feature come next June) I seized my chance to try a few new ales from Morrison’s reasonable range.

First up, Greene King’s ‘Ruddle’s County’ a dark ruby ale with a sweet nose, a slighty fruity aroma that gives away a hoppy essense (Brambling Cross hops according to the bottle).

The impressive part once in the mouth is just how smooth this beer is for a bottled product; limited carbonisation suggests that a cask version of this product could not possibly be much smoother. An uncommon thing in many mass-produced bottled beers in my experience.

The aftertaste is particularly strong, and the alcohol in the ale is particularly prominant, leaving a bitter aftertaste that lingers a little too long in the throat to be considered a treat.

Reflecting on the finished bottle, it almost felt like the beer had not been left to mature quite long enough, causing a sensation that, quite frankly, left my throat burning slightly in the similar manner that a weak spirit of some form might.

Next up was a total contrast: Badger’s ‘Golden Champion’. The ‘Golden’ part of the name is not ironic; the liquid is certainly that, pale and transparent, as opposed to deep and opague. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that Neil Morrissey and Richard Fox are taking this whole brewing thing seriously. Their original brew ‘Blonde’ has become regular sight in several serious cask ale pub bars and a quick glance at their website shows they have developed quite a range since their television programme was broadcast last year.

A new permanent ale to their armory is ‘Proud of Pubs Best’, a beer launched to support  The Publican’s ‘Proud of Pubs Week’ in July.  This appears to be the brewery’s attempt at traditional mild; a suprisingly rare approach these days by modern brewaries who tend to break away from the English traditions and throw more and more hops into ever-paler beers

The dark caramel colour looks like it should be surrounded by a fog of woodbine smoke, making me feel particularly underdressed without a flat capcovering my work-beaten head. It’s a terrific throw back.

A smokey-yellow head, perhaps more commonly seen on darker ales looks great and stays with the beer for the vast majority of the pint.

The malty aroma makes me anticipate a heavy ale that may be hard to stomach in a body used to lighter ales, but the toffee flavour and creamy mouthfeel dissipates with only the slighest of warm traces remaining in the throat.

If I’m honest, it’s a little warm today for such a style as this, but it manages to remain a strangely satisfying pint. As the cold winter nights approach, this is definately one I will be seeking out for a session.

In our quest for new and innovative beers, it is perhaps forgotten occaisionally that there is still a market for a good quality traditional mild. Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded!

I put the BBQ back in the garage about two weeks ago, pretty sure that it would not be needed again this summer. I was therefore as surprised as anyone to be witnessing the weather take a turn for the better over the last couple of days annd more than keen to take advantage by having one last ‘sizzle-up’ before the passing English Summer disappears like a cold pint of Haymaker on a warm day.

As I am still off the beer  (the big run is on Sunday) this gave me the opportunity to crack open a bottle of homemade wine that I was given earlier this year. The craftsman is Dave Knapp, my Uncle, who is going into his fourth year as a winemaker. Dave’s story is an interesting one, having been diagnised a coeliac Dave found that most of the literature told him he would no longer be able to drink beers and lagers. Already a keen vegetable gardener Dave decided to turn his hand to winemaking, using his own produce as one way of getting around his new drinking restrictions.

Subsequent research has shown that, in fact, many real ales are suitable for coeliacs however, after enjoying both the winemaking and wine drinking process, Dave has stuck to his task and continues to turn some of his home grown produce into wine.

The bottle I was drinking tonight was a Strawberry wine, bottled in September 2008. I am generally fond of fruit wines but am always cautious as they can end up being stronger than intended (an effect of the additional sweetness I believe?).  I knew from the immediate taste that this wine was not going to be as strong as the Rhubarb wine that had been in the last bottle passed to me by Dave. There was a little sediment in the bottle but, after standing for a few minutes, it poured clear and crisp, with the appearance of a Rosé (as can be seen in the picture). The Strawberry flavour was evident in the intial taste which then blends towards a more typical, dry, white flavour.

With recent news of the increase in micro breweries in the UK it is a pleasure to be able to step back evn further and taste the produce of a guy who is experimenting and making wines for his own purposes. It seems that there are very few people who do not know someone who has tried homebrewing or winemaking and this illustrates the ‘have a go yourself’ tradition in thos country which is the foundation on which the recent successes of the micro breweries has been built upon.

I have never myself tried Homebrewing, however our very own Sam Lanes has been working on a number of prototypes of a brew that him and one of his friends have been trying to create. Who knows, under his guidance, at some point we might be able to create a ‘Real Ale Reviews Brew’.