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 ...-
June 14th, 2009LagersMoving on to day three of the cricket theme on Real Ale Reviews, India takes on the West Indies
India – Cobra, 5.0% abv
Following the poor performance of it’s big brother earlier in the tournament, this ‘king of the Curry houses’ tried to pick up the bat and put in a better showing out in the middle. Coolness is the key here and, without trying to be anywhere near as fancy as the King Cobra, this beer turns in a good solid performance.
Thrown down ice cold this one takes the middle stump clean out however, if it’s left to get warm, there’s a danger it goes wide down the leg side. Certainly it’s a better offering than it’s common rival Kingfisher.
Score (out of 20) – Ice cold, this one produces a respectable knock – 13
West Indies – Red Stripe Lager, 4.7% abv
I have to admit that I had already been ‘out in the middle’ for some time before I got round to sampling this one. My tasting notes are therefore being read from the back of a pub food menu.
The first taste was rather tart and a little tangy but it settled to be a fairly average beer. It did not taste very strong and I was surprised to see that it was 4.7%, I had thought in drinking that it was far lighter than this. I have to admit that, probably before the end of the Twenty20, I will most likely give this another crack of the whip when I’m a little more sober.
Score (out of 20) – probably should have been offered the light but still above average – 11
Tags: 4-5% ABV, Cobra, Ice Cold, Indian, Jamaica, Red Stripe -
June 11th, 2009Lagers
To celebrate the Twenty20 World Cup being held in the UK, Real Ale Reviews will be bringing you few ‘battles’ over the coming days, putting beers, from some of the competing nations against each other in head to head battles where international reputations are on the line.
The format in the super 8′s will be a chosen head to head from one of the games on a given day
So, match one sees the Republic of Ireland go up against India. Let Twenty20 battle, commence…
Guinness Brewery – Foreign Extra Stout, 7,5%Woah! First ball down knocked straight out of the ground. Not many beers get this as my first reaction but Guinness Foreign Extra was not what I was expecting at all!
This isn’t Guinness as you know it from your local O’Neills or Wetherspoon’s – this is raw and rugged in comparison, wholehearted Twenty20 game cricket rather than the well oiled, patient, test game we all grew up with. K.P. not Boycott.
I’m probably getting carried away. But certainly, Foreign Extra is nearer the type of drink that Guinness started out as, so compared to modern stuff, this is a full on, intense, stout experience.
As well as that, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable stout experience. I’m usually an IPA/pale ale man, and stronger types like stout and porter don’t go down too well. But Guinness Foreign Extra is deeply dark and malty and it’s this that attracts me. That, and the complexity that draft Guinness, in a English pub anyway, just can’t match. This ale is a must when it comes to trying the best in the real ale world.
Foreign Extra has hints of an IPA history, brewed stronger to survive the long journeys abroad. Until recently it was only readily available in far flung corners of the world, but a resurgence in real ale has led to its appearance in UK and Europe.
I grabbed a bottle from ASDA Morley and suggest that you keep an eye out for it in your local beer shop / supermarket too.
Score (out of 20) – big hitting game player, might get caught out one day but will take you on a hell of ride on the way – 15
India – King Cobra, 8% abv
King Cobra seems to be guilty of trying to play a hard hitting 20 over man match with too much complexity. Perhaps the power difference between this beer and the Guinness, that batted first, meant that it was never going to find the run rate needed.
Against different opposition the fruity flavour of the Cobra, which actually meant that it was not at all aggressive on the palette for such a strong lager, may have won the day, but it simply could not compete with the Guinness.
Ironically, I bet that most people pick up the Cobra to accompany strong or spicy tea. I would actually recommend that the subtleness would better compliment a dinner time snack such as a salad or some grilled fish or chicken.
Score (out of 20) – Subtle technicality not suited to Twenty20 game, soundly outbatted – 4
Tags: 7-8% abv, Foreign Extra Stout, Fruity, Guinness, Indian, Irish, King Cobra, Powerful, Strong, Twenty20 -
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