Real Ale Reviews

Sainsbury’s Beer Competition: The Finalists

The Sainsbury’s Beer Competition ended last month, but for those of you that missed it or are still a little confused over who won, Real Ale reviews is coming to the rescue with a slightly belated but not-to-be-missed review of each of the 15 finalists.

There’s been lots of recent developments in the beer aisles of UK supermarkets this year. From Tesco announcing an extended North American range to M&S adding new products and giving their beers  a lick of paint.

But Sainsbury’s somewhat stole the show with its beer competition, no doubt helped by the fact that they picked no less than 3 BrewDog beers amongst their finalists which led to a race to the checkouts for beer lovers.

The winners of the competition would achieve a permanent place on the Sainsbury’s beer shelves and thus a real opportunity to break into a wider market and target audience.

We won’t be revealing the winners here yet, so if you don’t know then stick with us and we’ll take you through all the beers and try and guide you on where to finsd them. If you really can’t bear the suspense (or are crazy enough to not want to wait for 15 posts on a competiton that’s ended!) then I’m sure you’ll be able to find the answers via Google.

And without further ado, onto the beers!

Finalists in the 2009 Sainsbury's Beer Competition

The 15 finalists in the Sainsbury Beer Competition 2009 were:

Allgates Porteresque

Bath Ales Golden Hare

Bays Breaker

BrewDog Chaos Theory

BrewDog Dogma

BrewDog Hardcore IPA

Greene King Bretwalda

Hambleton Ale Talyor’s Tipple

Williams Bros Brewing Co 80/- Ale

Williams Bros Brewing Birds ‘n Bees

Williams Bros Brewing Co Ceilidh

Williams Bros Brewing Co Williams IPA

Wolf Brewery Woild Moild

Wolf Brewery Wolf Whistle

Wood’s Shropshire Lass

Woods Shropshire Lass

The first in our Sainsbury’s Beer Competition series is Woods Shropshire Lass. You might have guessed from the name that it pours a blonde, light beer (why aren’t there any darker beers called brunette?!).

Woods Shropshire Lass - a crisp blonde

A sniff of this is nice indeed, a floral fruity scent reminiscent of a spring day or a summer morning from a novel.

To drink it’s tasty and refreshing, a crisp, blonde body makes this an easy drinking ale.

Nothing in this beer compromises any other flavour, there are no taste that haggle for your attention or force you to notice them.

It’s a gentle and taste beer, delicately fruity and well balanced.

I reckon most pub goers could fulfil a session on this (during the milder months of the year at least.

Birds & Bees by William Brothers Brewing Co

On arrival at Sainsbury’s to peruse the finalists in their 2009 beer competition, Birds & Bees immediately caught my attention. The label is modern and playful and stood out from the crowd.

I loved the colour and the illustration and it fell into my basket (placed very carefully I should say) without further thought.

Birds & Bees & Beer: this is a playful ale with citrus and honey flavours

Originally I was going to save this beer but it on an indecisive evening with the light not fading until late into the night, it was this that grabbed my attention again and I plucked it from the shelf.

Not 100% sure what to expect I took care opening it and poured out the golden liquid. It had a light hoppy aroma, and light fruity taste. Turns out it’s a light golden ale! Swill this around and the colour, aroma and the taste combine to make a really appealing golden beer.

The gentle fruit and floral aroma (looking at the label that must be the elderflower and the Cascade hops) is really refreshing. Honey and lemon blossom on your tastebuds and there is a malt finish that adds an unexpected bitter tang to the beer, which is just enough to make you want another sip and makes this an enticing session beer.

Trying this it was actually one of the first summer ales I’ve had and I wish I’d been able to get my hands on some in May or June as this might just have been my proverbial soundtrack to the summer (that typical over in a flash summer we usually have!)

I’ve only tried the bottle  but I can only imagine the cask version of this is the perfect pint on a sunny afternoon.

Bath Ales Golden Hare

Bath Ales Golden Hare

Objectivity in any sort of reviewing is very difficult. I’m the first person to admit that my favourite beers of all time are drowned in nostaglia and personal experience – drinking Brooklyn EIPA or Old Hooky my judgement is clouded with an emotional connection to those beers that were my first of a particular style or are associated with personal triumphs.

Beyond these beers there’s the beers by breweries that I just love. I’m a sucker for St Peter’s rounded bottles and for Brooklyn’s adaptable logo designs*, BrewDog oozes rebellion whilst White Shield, steeped in history, will always be my benchmark of English IPAs.

Bath Ales is one of the breweries that is starting to make a mark with me. I love the labels, they are a mix of contemporary and traditional, somehow reminding me of a cosy yet modern pub and restaurant, the sort of establishment that serves continental lager with olives, and is decorated with Habitat ceiling lights hanging from 13th century exposed beams –  all set against a roaring fire in the middle of the Dales of course. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it makes me feel cosy whilst remaining comfortably luxurious.

Bath Ales' Golden Hare

The names of Bath Ales’ beers are similarly classy whilst rooted in the Avon countryside and the charm of rural life.

And the beers are good too: Barnstormer winner of the Sainsbury’s Beer Competition 2008 is a distinctive dark ale, Gem a rich amber bitter and Wild Hare, a citrusy pale beer brewed with yeast.

But the cream of the crop might just be this little number, Golden Hare.

Golden Hare pours a gleaming gold, light amber and yellow. There’s a slight floral aroma and a fruity nose. It slips down your throat with ease (as most Bath Ales do), with hints of tropical fruits following a light and fresh golden body.

This is crisp, refreshing, almost invigorating – dry yet thirst quenching. The tangy aftertaste begs another sip and the zesty flavours exude sunny days and long nights.

But am I being objective, or have I succumbed to the ‘pick me off the shelf’ labelling and paradoxically modern/traditional branding?

Who knows? And does it really matter if I enjoy it?

*(interesting, the Brooklyn logo was designed by Milton Glaser, designer of the I Heart NY rebus and the poster from Dylan’s 1967 Greatest Hits album)

Hardcore IPA by BrewDog

The first BrewDog in our Sainsbury’s Beer Competition series is one that we’re relatively familiar with. So far we’ve only got around to reviewing Punk IPA and Dogma, but we have quite a few ‘Dogs ‘in stock’ and it’s about time we wrote something about them.

Hardcore IPA is one of those beers that has a little bit of the ‘wow’ factor (or the ‘woah’ factor depending on your taste buds).

It has a crazy, tropical Um Bongo aroma that’s sweet and exciting. It smells like sweet, e-number fuelled heaven trapped in a bottle.

Hardcore IPA by BrewDog

Fruit salad penny sweet smells give way to a bitter overload, hops completely dominating and filling your mouth. Aromatic beers usually mean bitterness, but the pineapple aroma makes you expect something with an exotic fruit taste.

Beers with an imperial tag usually come at a certain strength and richness. Hardcore has the strength but it’s hidden treasures are perhaps just a little too inaccessible.

If you can work through the IBU frenzy you will get some of that, but boy does that take some acclimatisation.

This is a big beer. Drink it too fast and it becomes medicinal, but sip it slowly and it’s a world of hops, passionfruit and titilating tongue tingles. Oh, and it’s strong as hell to boot, so don’t down one before bedtime.

Ceilidh Lager by Williams Bros

I’ve had some issues recently with a distinct Fairy liquid tint to some of my glassware.

Frustrating as that is to taste at the best of times, it’s particularly annoying when you are trying to get the best out of some of the world finest and most complex beers.

The situation came to a head whilst drinking William Bros Ceilidh, the Scottish breweries lager offering. After a couple of false starts and a bit of mild cursing directed at the industrial scented washing products at my disposal, I eventually managed to find a glass that didn’t have a ph count of 78.

And eventually we we’re off.

Williams Ceilidh sets a good standard for lagers that offer a little more than your typical lager beer

Williams Bros make good beers, from their traditional range through to more modern ales such as Birds & Bees (their tayberry beer is very good!). And they make good lager too. But, for a company regularly making above average ales, is it an above average lager?

So my notes at this point start with ‘hoppy for a lager’. At least I think it was. I’m pretty sure that had nothing to do with the Fairy taste. Washing up liquid rarely smells pleasant or hoppy, so I’m guessing I’ve got that right.

The beer is fresh, a touch citrusy and you can taste it’s worldy influences, particularly the pilsner malt which gives it a continental body more akin to European pils than Scottish ale.

For me that makes it above average. There are maltier lagers and lighter lagers, there are crisper, more refreshing lagers – but this is still a fine and balanced example, less potent than BrewDog’s 77 but which much more to it than the Carlsberg Export’s of the world.

There’s a place for lager at the real ale table and it’s this sort of offering that sets the grade.

Bays Breaker

Bays are very much an unknown to me, and this is the real beauty of the Sainsbury’s beer competition. Without, it would probably have taken a trip to Devon for me to have stumbled across this beer.

The brewery is a new one, set up in 2007 on the south Devon coast and has three flagship ales: Bays Best, Gold and Breaker. It’s the latter that made the cut in the Sainsbury’s Beer Competition this year and therefore found its way into my trolley a few weeks ago.

Bays Breaker: beer from Devon

I should point out I drank this a little colder than it’s probably meant to be, a result of not very good fridge planning and me been very indecisive about which beers I wanted that night.

Bays Breaker is an interesting beer, it’s almost peppery, sweet and bitter all at the same time, an array of contradictory flavours that sit together better than you’d expect. The peppery aftertaste demands another sip, a sip that will start fruity and soft, and ends with a carbonised bitterness.

In big gulps the malt and fruit shines through and if you sip slower it the bitter flavours linger.

Without becoming a favourite Bays Breaker certainly makes for an interesting tipple and that could well have a couple of food partnerships out there waiting to be found (I reckon this to wash down fish and chips might just work!)

Williams Bros 80/-

William’s Brothers 80/- (that’s ‘80 shillings’ for those born this side of decimalisation, me included) is a traditional Scottish ale. It pours a deep reddy brown liquid, as if it is sprung right out from the land infused with clay and earth.

Its full malt flavour grabbed me from the off but was quickly replaced with a roasted body that created a very pleasant aftertaste. This is an enjoyable beer to drink.

Williams Bros went very well with my dinner, a sort of pasta-ry sausage affair

The malt was chocolately and there were hints of toffee and fudge, like the smell of chocolate cooking in a smoky kitchen, amidst the roasted flavours.

The finish came up a little too quickly and it wasn’t until the end of the bottle I fully appreciated the character, which was a little like a barbecue in a pâtisserie, or perhaps a fruit shop. The quirky malt character at the beginning faded into the roasted undertones with hints of fruit in the middle.

This beer is something different and very enjoyable. If I’d just had a bit more body in it I’d find it a little more compelling, but I’ll certainly be buying more of this.

O’Hanlon’s Yellow Hammer

Yellow Hammer stood out on the Sainsbury’s shelf like a woodpecker drilling into my brain, the bold yellow type urging me to pick it up.

My first O’Hanlon’s ale poured a light golden colour with a delicate head. It was pretty lively with a slightly yeasty aroma that many bottle conditioned ale seems to have.

This was followed by the fresh floral scent of Cascade hops, which preceded a golden malt taste that was fresh and sweet. I was right in the mood for it and it came up trumps with a nice balance of hops, malt and sweetness to refresh my palate.

This is a zesty little number, the malt is subtle and it has the character you might expect from the  small, lively bird it’s named after. This is a beer that could really hit the spot in a refreshing way.

O'Hanlon's Yellow Hammer beer review

This beer brings up a question I’ve been meaning to ask for a while: ‘bottle conditioned’ or ‘not bottle conditioned? It’s a debate that every now and then rears its divisive head. This is a nice beer, and I’d certainly have it again, but how much better is it because it is bottle conditioned? (I’d genuinely like to know!).

I’m not sure I like having to take great care and attention pouring this when I’m dealing with what is essentially a light, refreshing golden beer. If I wanted this on a summer night I’d prefer to slightly chill it and not have to worry about sediment escaping the safe confines of the bottle.

That sediment makes a big different if it does end up loose in your glass of beer (a little bit of which did near the end).

Regardless of that this is a good beer that I’d love to try on draft in a beer garden and will definitely try in a bottle again (pouring with more due diligence this time around!).

Bretwalda by Greene King

Bretwalda was one of the few beers in the Sainsbury’s Beer Competition that didn’t jump of the shelf at me. Packaging is vital to any beer, and whilst there’s nothing wrong per se with Greene King’s Bretwalda style, it simpy didn’t appeal to me when I saw it.

That affects my perception of the beer and I already don’t exactly hold Greene King in great regard – it’s nothing personal I’ve just never really enjoyed the beers hugely. And I’m firmly on the side of the fence that doesn’t rate their IPA.

So given that I’m starting from a slightly negaive point of view, I’m pleased that I can write about Bretwalda positively. My first impression is that it’s sweet and peppery – white pepper that is – with hints of spices and an almost chilli or ginger aftertaste. It’s fruity beyond the interesting pepperiness, like copice pears, and the fruity flavours are distincively English which must be the Greene King and Marston’s apple yeast I’ve read about.

The peppery taste adds real bite to what could otherwise be quite a flat bottled beer, and the caramel malty character makes it drinkable and slighly sweet. A real ‘real ale’ sourness comes through which makes me crave more refreshment.

Greene King's Bretwalda ale, a beer for a very English autumn day

This is a real autumn beer, in colour, taste and bottle design, you can almost taste the colder days and browning leaves.

This isn’t really my style. Whilst for me, beers like this are infinitely more interesing than the staple bitters found in Wetherspoons. I like the English complexion, texture and aftertaste, but it’s still a tad nondescript. That’s harsh, it’s just a little, underwhelming, for me. For those that favour bitters and autumnal ales this could be a real winner, with something interesting others beers might not have, but if you prefer continental or pale ale styles rich in hops than it might not be your winter cup of tea.

For me, I’ll give this another go, but only at this time of year. I’ll hazard a guess that it’s twice the beer drank in a real pub, under the orangey leaves of an English oak on a chilly Sunday afternoon in November.