Bottled Ales – August 2013

(Two 5* Performers!)

Worthington White Shield? Champion Bottle Conditioned Beer 2013? I now know something that I was unaware of a week ago. That CAMRA judges have a sense of humour! Can somebody, somewhere, please enlighten me as to the entry criteria for these awards? White Shield has been through more hands than a well-wrapped parcel at a kiddies party, PLEASE????

OK. The beer is quite decent. But the best?

Rant Over.

Moving swiftly on to better beers than that!

Trying to keep the formatting consistent….. It goes like this….

1. The Beer, 2. The Brewer, 3. The Strength, 4. The beer style, 5. The Price & Size (including discount, eg: for CAMRA membership, where applicable). 6. Where from,  and, If a website for the vendor exists, the hyperlink to the shop / brewer website. Here goes!

1. Smokey Joe – Geeves Brewery (Barnsley, South Yorkshire) – 5% abv – Stout – £2.12 (500ml) – Bierhuis of Ossett, West Yorkshire

Look on their website and read the back story to the brewery. I mean, Brewing on a narrowboat? Nice!

This is a black beer with a beige head and an enticing chocolaty aroma. Medium bodied with a smooth chocolate malty base, quite creamy, which led to a building smokiness which gradually overtook the chocolate ever so subtly. Only the second beer I’ve had from this Barnsley brewery (cask conditioned Red Diesel at Soup Kitchen being the other) both were impressive. May pick up some more soon!

2. Espresso Stout – Bad Seed Brewery (Malton, North Yorkshire) – 7.3% abv – Stout – £2.30 – Bierhuis of Ossett, West Yorkshire

Doesn’t that branding look good? Simple, clean and tells you what to expect. Why can’t all beer labels be this smart? And the hanging tag just adds to the class! However, if the beer tastes crap, what’s the point?

Fortunately, this beer MORE than lives up to the branding! For me, the standard by which coffee flavoured beers were to be judged was Dark Star Espresso.No longer! This beer poured black with a beige foam head and a sweetish coffee aroma. This beer came alive in the mouth. A lovely creamy texture, the only way I can describe the flavour is that they have taken the aforementioned Espresso by Dark Star,  and throttled it to within an inch of its life. THEN they have applied the defibrillators via another shot of espresso! The coffee flavours dance around your mouth then grab your eyelids and yank them back! At the end of it all, there is a lasting bitter finish with lingering coffee.

The Bad Seed guys have been brewing and bottling for just over two months now. I can safely say that based on the two beers I’ve had so far, they have most certainly hit the ground running!

I don’t often give a beer a 5 out of 5……. But this is one of THREE exceptions this month.

(I enjoyed this SO much, I forgot to take a pic at the time! Oops!)

3. Old Engine Oil (Engineers Reserve) – Harviestoun Brewery (Alva, Clackmannanshire, Scotland) – 9% abv – Strong Porter – Fathers Day Boxed Gift Pack – Direct (£32 for 12 mixed) 330ml

(Not that I gave my two youngest a shove, but…) This was part of a Fathers Day from my two youngest. The pack included two each of this, Ola Dubh 12, 16 & 18 and 4 Old Engine Oil. Dark paradise!

This beer poured oh so black with a head the colour of Caramac (remember that?) and an aroma of darkest chocolate with a hint of port wine. Ooohhh but in the mouth? Party Time! Glorious dark rum flavoured chocolate and a nuttiness reminiscent of roasted brazil nuts. Nicely warming with a lingering slightly sweet mocha and a dry finish. I consider ALL of my boxes ticked!

I have ONE bottle left. I think I’ll save it for when the nights grow darker! Bloody lovely stuff!!!

4. Pale Ale – Rocky Head Brewery (Southfields, London, SW18) – 6.5% abv – Pale Ale – £3 (330ml) – The Ale Man (Castlefield Market, Manchester)

The Rocky Head Brewery were brought to my attention by Damian O’Shea (aka The Ale Man –  Twitter @Thealemanmcr) along with Weird Beard. I enjoyed their Anglo-American Pale Ale recently, so was looking forward to this. Damian has a stall at Castlefield Market some Sundays and frequently has tasting samples of selected beers. His selections are eclectic but uniformly excellent. Go say hello!

This beer was pale gold with a lively head and had an inviting apricot and grapefruit citrus aroma. Fruity and bitter in the mouth with that grapefruit being prominent. Medium bodied, really sharp and hoppy with a sustained dry bitter finish. A lovely hoppy pale. The only problem I have with this beer, is that it tastes lower than 6.5% and is therefore a dangerous beast indeed! Another nice beer from this relatively new London brewer. One to look out for!

5. The Little Things That Kill – Weird Beard Brew Co (Hanwell, West London) – 3.8% abv – Pale Ale – Review Sample – The Ale Man (Castlefield Market, Manchester)

The first time I have had a bottle of this. Hardly a leap in the dark as I had a taster at Damian’s stall on Sunday! WOW! Hops! Lots of HOPS!!!

Being an unfiltered beer, this was a hazy gold when poured with a lively white head, but WOW with those grapefruit and pineapple citrus aromas! For me, this is fuller bodied than their Mariana Trench at 5.1% bizarrely, with huge citrus hop flavours, grapefruit and lemon zest prominent, dancing on my taste buds. Clean sharp bitter finish with the lemon zest flavour pleasantly lingering.

Nearest comparator for me is Jarl by Fyne Ales. It is THAT good! Another 5 rating! (These “rare” 5 ratings are like buses……)

Being given beers to review is a fairly new thing to me, but when they are THIS good, reviewing is easy!

6. Yorkshire Ale – Old Bear Brewery (Keighley, West Yorkshire) – 4,2% abv – Best Bitter – Review Sample – Yorkshire Ales (Snaith, East Yorkshire)

Another beer passed for review, this time by Adrian & Vicky Pettit of Yorkshire Ales. I could get used to this! Picked up on my recent visit http://beersmanchester.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/two-yorkshire-favourites-yorkshire-ales-revolutions-brewing/

The Official Beer of Yorkshire Day. This is a golden beer with good carbonation and a white lacy head. Malty toffee caramel on nose. Quite malty and nutty, a bit like a beery Snickers bar (but not so sweet!), a nice fruitiness too (damson or plum). A nice bitter finish to this. A throwback beer in a way, bucking the trend for über hopped beers. Reminds me how good John Smiths cask used to be in the early 80s! Good solid Yorkshire malty bitter.

Right then, enough blathering for now. Next post should be Beavertown MTB at Port Street next week.

On that note….til next time!

Slainte!