So, having ordered a Special Chow Mein, I nipped down to a Somerfield garage to pick up a bottle. There wasn’t a massive range, not that you would expect there to be as it is one of those mini supermarkets that seem to have attached themselves to petrol stations just recently. The choice was mainly limted to quite mainstream ales so I was quite conscious that I didn’t want to pick one that had already been reviewed…racking my brains I couldn’t recall ever writing anything about Old Speckled Hen, despite having had it on a number of occasions. I decided that this was the winner for tonight.

I had always assumed this beer was called Old Speckled Hen because of it’s dark reddish brown colour which, if I recall correctly from growing up in the country, is the same as a lot of chickens. It turns out that I was wrong. The beer is actually named after a car, which was known as the ‘Old  Speckled Un’,  used in an MG factory years ago. In 1979 MG asked Moorland Brewery to create a commemorative beer to celebrate the factory’s 50th anniversary and somewhere along the  line the name was changed to Old Speckled Hen before finding its way onto the bottle.

This story is one of those that I think would make James May puff out his chest with pride in English tradition and, to be honest, the fact that you can walk into a Tesco Extra and buy a beer named after a car, to commemorate a factory’s 50th anniversary 30 years ago, kind of gives me a warm glow as well.

The beer itself, as said above, is  reddish in colour. Weighing in at 5.2% abv it is a reasonably strong ale, although the taste is not as strong as I was expecting from a 5.2% abv of this colour. There is a hint of fruity sweetness, particularly when smelling the glass, but the heart of this ale is it’s maltiness. The Malt is apparent throughout but expands as you swollow and lingers for just the right amount of time.

Having been around for longer than me, 30 years, I am not surprised that drinking this ale is a pleasing experience. This sort of longevity is usually bred from quality and that is the case here. This all-round ‘goodness’ explains the wide availablility and longevity of the brand but also why it would not feature on my list of top ten beers. It does not have any unique or strong qualities that make you stand up and make a decision. You could give it to anyone who drinks ale and safely know that they would never love nor hate it. A really good all round beer none the less.

First things first, this is the recipe that I am cooking, passed to me by my mate Jack but changed a little but by me  (I have used Leeks in favour of Onions)…

3 x Leeks

6 x Pork Chops

1 1/2 x Jars of Apple Sauce

1 x Bottle Medium Sweet Cider

Knob of Butter

Salt and Pepper to Flavour

Method – Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed stew pot in order to sweat off the leeks (which should be roughly chopped). Once the leeks are soft, brown off the chops before adding the cider and apple sauce to thicken, simmer for 10-15 mins on the hob and then bang in the oven for 45mins at 180-200 degrees.

Moving on to more important things, I had headed to Beer Ritz to grab a few bottles of cider on the way home from work. My housemate Jim is a big fan of Aspall’s and, although Cider is my weakest area (in University Challenge terms) I am aware off Aspall’s to be a good brand and expected to see it on the shelves of Beer Ritz. It was not, but they were stocking Weston’s and Sheppy’s. I selected Sheppy’s as my brewery of choice for the evening as Fletch is something of a Weston’s fan and has reviewed before I believe. The advice of Beer Ritz’s always helpful management was at hand to ensure that I had the right options for cooking. We selcted three Sheppy’s ciders, Kingston Black to go in the food, a couple of bottles of the same to go with andbottles of Cider with Honey and Falstaff Cider for some experimental tasting with the housemates.

Cider with Honey, 5.4%

This cider was exactly what the label suggested. The honey came through as the first taste with the subtle taste of the cider coming through after. The honey carried this golden cider off an absolute treat, it was readily drinkable and, even at the bottom of the bottle, not at all sickly in it’s sweetness.

Not being a regular cider drinker I’m not  sure how this would be received by the hard core scrumpy faithful but I am sure that other dabblers such as myself could do a hell of a lot worse.

Kingston Black, 7.2%

This cider was far stronger on the tongue than the honey one I’d just put down. It was livelier than the honey cider and drier but was still palatable.

Coming straight after the honey cider there was a danger that this would be too dry but it actually reined in the sweetness to just the right amount and provided the more robust body necessary to accompany the food, without allowing my flavoursome efforts to be overridden. The Kingston Black apple is dubbed as being prized for it’s full bodied aromas and this blend is certainly testament to that fact.

I would note that, at 7,2%, while the flavour and body of this cider suggest that you probably could drink this all night, the likelihood is that you wont!

Falstaff, 5.6%

Returning to the a more reserved abv of 5.6% this cider was also sweeteer than the Kingston black, but crisper and clearer than the honey cider. The Falstaff cider perfectly fills the gap between the Honey Cider and the Kingston Black and completes the set of sweeter ciders for tonight’s reviews.

I had not been forward thinking enough to arrange a dessert to follow the main course but this slotted into the gap really well. I would like to give a more comprehensive analysis but, as it’s the third cider of the night, I have run out of adjectives! I apologise and all I can really say is that if I had to select one of these to drink all night, it would be this one.

Conclusion

Aided by my housemates, Jim and Kat, we have rated the three ciders as follows…

1. Cider with Honey

2. Falstaff

3. Kingston Black

Although I have to say that this was on initial tasting only and that my favourite of the night was probably Falstaff. The important lesson here though is that, while I walked into Beer Ritz looking for Aspall’s, I was directed towards a cracking brewery producing a range of ciders suitable for every palate. It’s not an area I know well and the evening has taught me not to be blinkered and to experiment with what’s about. Who knows, next Monday could be cider night with Weston’s and could be just as much fun…

Brewed in Tasmania, Australia, this little green bottle has travelled some distance to find its way in my hand. I’m glad it did.

This full bodied crisp lager is becoming a mainstay in my fridge this summer. I really like the freshness of this lager, when served ice cold it seems to reach down and refresh me from the pit of my stomach rather than many non premium lagers that refresh the mouth but leave the stomach with  something of a gassy non-entity. For certain this is in no small part to the carbonisation, not only is it not overly carbonised but it is also stylised in such a way that the bubbles feel small and unimposing meaning that bloatation is bottles away.

In terms of flavour it is crisp and full, the perfect compliment to the lightness created by the texture.

If you manage to find enough sunshine this summer to get some coals on the BBQ, I think you could do far  far worse than having a dozen or so of these in  the ice box ready to go.

Spendrups Old Gold Pale Pilsner – 5,0%abv – A crisp, sharp pilsner costing only £1,05 a bottle. Well worth a look to refresh you when you’re next trying to put together a flat packed wardrobe. |Be careful though, the 5% abv is subtle and not at all gassy meaning it slips down all too easily – too many bottles will probably have you putting the doors on that wardrobe upside down.

Reindeer Salami ‘Ren’ – This Salami was a very nice Swedish gimmick to stick on the table. Not really sure how to review it except to say that it made a nice little sandwich with the Swedish cheese that I picked up at the same time.

Kopparberg Premium Pear Cider – 4,5% abv – Couldn’t leave this one off the review although I’m pretty sure everyone has come into contact with it at one point or another. This cider is absolutely delicious. It’s so light and sweet you don’t actually even notice that it’s alcohol which isn’t really what I look for in a drink but I know some people will like that.

Something this sweet can’t all be good news though and I’m quite sure that too much of this would leave you with rotten teeth, feeling very sick and possibly suffering from diabetes.

Norrlands Guld Export – 4,5%abv – First and foremost this lager came out of a can and it had the tinny flavour that comes along with that. To quote our host for the evening, Sarah Frost, it seems like ‘a bit of a nothing lager’. You could equally be drinking any number of other canned lagers in terms of taste although I would say that, like the Old Gold above, it is flatter (in a good way) than the likes of Fosters or Carlsberg meaning that it is not bloating.

Billar – little car shaped sweets that are frankly odd. They seem to have the Marmite effect as I, and about half of the people at the party, loved them and everyone else thought they were rubbish.

Mini Elk & Venison Salamis – these were really good nibbles. A bit like mini Pepperamis but slightly chewier.

That my friends, is Sweden in a nutshell.

Selection of my 'Sweden in a Box' experiment

But I forgot that Scotland is also the land of Irn-Bru and, while this beer is nowhere near to the genius on the orange nectar, this is a decent ale.

This is a golden ale, light in appearance but with the genuine hoppy IPA flavour. Not as full bodied as many stronger IPAs and not heavy or gassy I would recommend this as a session ale.

Probably not one for the IPA purists but certainly a great starting step on the IPA ladder or a good choice for a heavy night.

5,3% ABV

Belhaven Twisted Thistle