Real Ale Reviews
Independent reviewers of real ales, beers and lagers from around the world, including beer reviews, breweries, watering holes and real ale events
This Is Camden
"I'll explain how the process works as I prepare your order" shouts Ahrash over the buzz of the crowds and the whirrrrr of the industrial food mixers. And donning a thick gauntlet, and dropping plastic safety glasses, he turns to the cannister containing nitrogen oxide and casually turns the latch, releasing a gushing of colder-than-ice-cold steam into the pureed ice cream mixture. This is Camden. This is England. Eating nitro ice cream in the 2010's and drinking ...
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow & Robinsons
Elbow are the kings of soaring melancholy, masters of poetic northern introspection. Let Elbow's albums flow over you and you can be mesmerised by their beauty alone. Put in the time to listen, to soak up the poignancy, the humour, the extraordinary manifestations of the ordinary and their albums become life affirming tributes to the everyday. Conversely, it's quite easy to stick an Elbow album on and realise thirty lethargic minutes later that time - and ...
The humble pint
So the pint is done with we're told! Well what would they say in Prague, where refreshing pilsners stand proud in tall half litre glasses, quenching thirsts almost with their looks and frothy gusto alone. Tell the football fans sinking a pint of bitter before the well trodden march to the ground that their beer will be served in flutes or tulips or whisky tumblers. "Like hell" they cry! The ugliness of a nonik pint glass aside (does ...
York Tap
It's a drinking hole essentially, underneath it all. For all the domed skylights and stained glass, people come here to let off steam, to pass the time, to forget the day. To drink. But to say that is to do York Tap a disservice as it stands resplendent next to the revived station complex. Like its Sheffield counterpart it was born in an old resting room, and the 104 year old building suits its new life ...
Meantime Union Vienna Style Lager
Deep in a basement bar not far from Bohemia, the cerny pilsners of the brewery up the road changed my perception of lager. Sweet and rich but surprisingly light, they distributed refreshment and nutrition as if feeding me and five thousand other thirsty drinkers. Meantime Union shares a similar contradiction. Broody and brown, this is is no pale bodied pushover. Lagered it is, and a tad metallic to boot, coupled with a dark caramel composition and ...
Roosters Pumpkin Beer
Roosters Brewery, whose beers are the staple diet of many a Yorkshire pub, marked this Hallowe'en with a pumpkin beer. No ordinary pumpkin beer though, a pumpkin beer served in nothing less than a giant pumpkin. A really, really giant pumpkin. Pumpkin 5 Spice Ale was tapped at North Bar in Leeds, in front of Calendar news and a small selection of excitable beer lovers. Arguably a more delicate task than tapping a cask, the job ...
Killer jerk chicken with killer ginger beer
Jerk chicken isn't just tasty to eat, it's a joy to make. The honey and coriander marinade is messy and sticky, the chicken succulent with a crispy skin - lots of kitchen mess and fun. Juices of bird and salad mean this a meal best served sans cutlery but with plenty of, well, Plenty. For a ginger beer Robinson's Ginger (brewed for M&S) is a dark and syrupy affair, quite different from a can of Barr's ...
House of the Trembling Madness
The goofy moose head gazes down aloofly from his lofty perch below the rafters, and we sit cradling a kriek and a pilsner in a building that has almost a millenniums worth of years on us. House of the Trembling Madness sits above the cobbled shopping street of Stonegate, York. The city walls skirt their circular path near here, the famous minster is but a Viking throw away. Students from the continent order coffee and thirds of ...
North By North Orval
Orval is the sort of beer spoken about with reverence. I like to think the same goes for North Bar. It should have been me and my friend Tom sat there, dissecting Leeds United's yo-yoing fortunes, laughing at the Howson Is Now blog and deliberating the creaminess of the Orval cheese whilst sat on the classroom chairs and the well leaned on tables. But it's my brother partnering this trip due to Tom's tight schedule as a relatively ...
Moorhouse's Pendle Witches Brew
From Pendle Hill you've more chance of seeing Ian Holloway celebrating at Bloomfield Road than coming across any broomsticks or clandestine hurlyburly. And that's on a cloudy day. The sandstone plateau does have a slightly spooky aura about it though. Standing proud from the undulating hillside you can imagine a cackling coven of witches peering over the landscape and plotting the demise of their rivals. Especially if you visit during thunder and lightning... Moorhouse's Pendle Witches Brew is inherently ...
Sainsbury's Great British Beer Hunt 2011
Over the last few months the Sainsbury's Great British Beer Hunt has been taking place providing a welcome opportunity to try some different beers from the familiar supermarket shelves. And in October Bad King John from Ridgeside Brewing was crowned winner of a six month national listing in 300 Sainsbury's stores. Bad King John beat beers from around the UK to the throne via four regional heats (120 beers), a three week stint in Sainsbury's stores (16 ...
M&S London Porter
Smoky as hell to smell and like a burnt caramel bar to taste, M&S's London Porter is a sweet beer to devour with masses of chocolate or marshmallows over a camp fire. If you don't fancy the great outdoors then no worries, the lingering smoky presence hangs around for a long time in your mouth and may invoke daydreams of sitting under the stars and gazing at the heavens. It's packed with malt variety: you can settle ...
Lakeland IPA
Tuesday night, two bottled bitters sunk and the quenches for thirst and flavour continue to itch away unabated. Cue Lakeland IPA, a beer that for one moment in time justifies the beatification of hops single-handedly. The perfect hiss released as metal hits glass and twists plastic; an aroma eager to reach a nose and knock on the door of the senses. Soft-fleshed fruit says hello - mangoes might not be typical of Cumbria unless visiting a certain kitchenware ...
Moor JJJ IPA
This not, I repeat NOT, an IPA. Punchy, citrus hops? Nil. Alcohol? Deep, stewed and sweet beyond believe. Apple skins & fruit pudding? Yes, yes, YES! None of which gives Moor JJJ IPA much credence as an IPA. But then again this isn't an IPA nor a double IPA. It's only a bleedin' triple IPA(!!!). This couldn't be further from Green King's bland and monotonous flagship brand of ale and is similar in nothing but colour. By their own admission Moor didn't ...-
December 25th, 2009Desert Island BeersWelcome to the first ‘episode’ of Desert Island Discs, our regular interview with beer lovers. Our first week starts with a bang, with current British Guild of Beer Writers’ Beer Writer of the Year, Mr Zak Avery.Lots of you will know Zak, lots of you will have heard of him, for those who are lucky enough to live in Leeds you might have bought a few bottles of beer from Zak’s shop, Beer Ritz in Far Headingley.Zak’s shop is probably the most welcoming emporium of beer I know, but what will he make of the hospitality on our Desert Island?Actually, he made himself right at home, taking advantage of our not very stringent rules!The beersSo Zak, which three beers would you take on a desert island?1. Anchor Steam Beer – reason2. Duvel – reason3. Harvey’s ‘A La Coq’ Imperial Stout – reasonThe meal“Ha! That’s three courses. I’ve start with ‘tortillitas de camarones’ – basically a Spanish sort of shrimp batter/croquette affair, with a squeeze of lemon, which would be good with the Duvel. Main would be something hot & spicy – I’ve yet to grow tired of jerk chicken (thighs are best), with rice & peas, which would be OK with Anchor Steam, although the Steam Beer is really along for everyday drinking too. Fried bananas and vanilla ice cream to set off the Harvey’s stout.The RecordA little cheating here on Zak’s part, but seen as her regularly serves us good beer, and just stops for a cha when we pop up to Beer Ritz to get away from the office on lunch breaks, we’ll let him off.“I couldn’t pick just one record – I’ve got a secret passion for diverse music, from Bob Dylan to Public Enemy to Steve Reich and everything in between, so I’d have to settle for a fully-stuffed iPod as my luxury item”.The Book“Something useful, either Larousse Gastronomique or Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher.The Luxury Item“Err, can I put the iPod in a restaurant spec kitchen….?” Umm, you’ve already used the luxury item Zak? But why not, I’m just not quite sure what you’ll do for leccy?!?!A big thanks to Zak for being our guinea pig and taking part. Watch out for the next episode, when we talk to some canine friends from deepest, darkest Aberdeenshire…Zak Avery – beer writer and shop owner
Welcome to the first ‘episode’ of Desert Island Discs, our regular interview with beer lovers. Our first week starts with a bang, with British Guild of Beer Writers’ Beer Writer of the Year 2008, Mr Zak Avery.
Lots of you will know Zak, and many may have read his beer words, for those who are lucky enough to live in Leeds you might have bought a few bottles of beer from Zak’s shop, Beer Ritz in Far Headingley.
Zak’s shop is probably the most welcoming emporium of beer I know, but what will he make of the hospitality on our Desert Island?
Actually, he made himself right at home, taking advantage of our not very stringent rules!
Tags: Desert Island Beers, zak avery
- Can you guess which beers Zak picked?
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December 25th, 2009Desert Island Beers
Desert Island Beers
A while back we posed the question ‘What would your emergency beers be?’, after a night gazing into the beer cupboard and not being able to choose anything to drink. Usually having a wide selection of beers in the house is great, but there are the days when everything is new, or everything is tired and you just don’t have anything in that shouts drink me.
On the days you something need a fall back, a beer that you always rely on, those tried and tested brews that you never tire of and can always, always rely on to satisfy your thirst.
The responses to the Emergency Beer post planted the little seed of this idea, and got us thinking about ‘What beer would you want if all other beers in the world were destroyed’ and ‘What beer would you want if you were Will Smith in that film where no one else is around?’.
Which led to the obvious question, ‘What beer would you take to a desert island?’.
And that’s exactly the question we’ll be asking you, beer lovers of the world, in our new (hopefully regular) feature: Desert Island Beers.
The concept is simple, just like the Radio 4 show we’ve taken inspiration from, we will be asking guests what beers they would take to a desert island. We’re going to ask each guest to select 3 ales they just could not live without. And as we’re generous island chiefs, we’re going to allow our castaways a couple of extras: a meal to go with the beers, one luxury item and a song or record they’d like to keep their spirits up.
Keep your eyes peeled on the desert island, we have some cracking guests lined up including beer writers, brewers, bloggers, beer lovers and perhaps even the odd B(eer)-list celebrity!
Tags: Desert Island Beers -
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