May 24 2014
Bottled Ales – May 2014 – Pt 3
“Just out of Monday, I run into a friend down the street, down the street where I live.
Sad things begin. I could feel from within from the message, from the message he had to give about a buddy of mine.
He run out of time, his life run out of time
Somebody past noon, shot across the room and now the man no longer lives”
(“Billy Jack” – Curtis Mayfield)
(Video clip courtesy of “Geepereet” on YouTube)
Curtis Mayfield is one of my all-time musical heroes, a musical giant. A man who was tragically disabled in an accident whilst rehearsing on stage in 1990.The fact that he was inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame ( a rare “double inductee” – having been inducted with The Impressions in 1991) on the same day as Paul McCartney, should indicate the massive influence the man had on popular music.
If you know a single Mayfield track, the chances are that it will be “Move On Up”, a song that is simply a soul/funk classic. However, it was arguably one of his lesser works. A man who was writing and recording in the 50s at the start of the Civil Rights struggles. A man who wrote the all-time classic “People Get Ready”, performed with his ban “The Impressions”. I could eulogise all night about songs like “Choice of Colours”,”This is My Country” Civil Rights era classics, delivered in his sweet falsetto.
His most famous album was arguably the soundtrack to the Blaxploitation movie Superfly (incidentally, a bloody great film!), notable for it’s social commentary, rather than a glorification of gangster life. For me though, his greatest achievement was the recording of his final album “New World Order”. The man was a truly great guitar player, but paralysed, no guitar playing here. The sheer effort of will to record your lyrics line by line whilst lying on your back…a heroic effort.
Did I mention that he was almost the OKEH records house songwriter (or so it seemed!), that he wrote masses of songs for other Chicago artists, so much so that there are compilations of songs that he wrote for others? That if James Brown is “The Godfather of Soul” then Curtis should be called “The Godfather of Funk”?
I love the man and his music – all thanks to a special man called Phil – who persuaded me as to the greatness of the man. And he WAS great.
(Recommended albums – in order of release date: Superfly, New World Order)
On to the beer eh?
If you have ever read one of these before, you will know what comes next! If you haven’t….this is the format…
1. The Beer, 2. The Brewer, 3. The Strength, 4. The beer style, 5. The Price & Size, 6. The discount (and why, eg: for CAMRA membership or shop deal, where applicable) 7. Where from, and, If a website for the vendor exists, the hyperlink to the shop / brewer website, just in case you are inspired enough by my ramblings to make a purchase! Here goes….And remember, if you like the look of something, click on the (purple) hyperlink!
1. Devils Rest – Burning Sky Beer (Brighton, Sussex) – 6.5% abv – IPA – £3.59 (330ml) – 10% for 12 btls or more – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)
A lively deep amber coloured beer, well carbonated, with a big white head and an even bigger aroma laden with mango and orange. Inviting.
Oh oh ohhh! A big full-bodied beer this with masses of sticky orangey marmalade sweetness, oh this is love at first sip! That initial sticky sweetness is more than matched with an uncompromising hoppy bitterness that dries the mouth almost the instant that you swallow.
The second and third mouthfuls give some hints of mango and peach, all the while menaced with that bitter finish to each sip. Big sticky resins in here too. It may be “only” 6.5%, but this is a not a beer to be trifled with. Respect to Mark Tranter. My first Burning Sky in bottle. Bloody marvellous!
2. Urban IPA – Tiny Rebel Brew Co (Newport, South Wales) – 5.5% abv – IPA – £3.45 (330ml) – 0% – Beermoth (Tib St, Manchester)
This glowing amber coloured beer is as lively as a lively thing that’s feeling particularly….er….lively! The head is HUGE, fluffy and white giving off smells of orange rind. Really fresh citrussy aroma.
Given the massive carbonation, this is really smooth and full-bodied with initial flavour being a bready malt toast with lashings of orange marmalade.
Further mouthfuls give up more orange fruit but with notes of white grape and gooseberry. The smoothness is the thing here, this is just SO easy drinking for an IPA, with little bitterness, just a lovely dryness followed by a gentle grassy hop finish. Beautiful.
3. Galaxy Pale Ale – Hornbeam Brewery (Denton, Gtr Manchester) – 4.3% abv – Pale Ale – £2.80 (500ml) – 15% for 12 or more – Great Ale Year Round (Bolton Market Hall)
When I got word that Dan & Gina had been to Hornbeam, my heart leaped! A brewery that doesn’t get the respect that it deserves in my book, just going about their business of making full-flavoured beers without fuss or fanfare. Happy days.
This is a mid-gold in colour with a nice lacy white head and some orange and passion fruit in the aroma.
Both of those flavours carry on into the mouth. Medium-bodied, with a brown toasty malt and lovely fruity hoppage! Really balanced (as are all Hornbeam beers), that fruitiness tapers off into a beautiful grassy tinged bitter finish. Lovely beer!
4. 08/01 – Brew By Numbers (Bermondsey, London) – 6.1% abv – Stout – £3.39 – I think! (330ml) – 10% for 12 btls or more – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)
Pitch black, just as a good stout should be. Opaque, with a creamy tan coloured head. So far, so good! The aroma is of bitter chocolate and has a peppery note, making the nose tingle a bit.
Full-bodied beer this, with a lovely creamy texture to it. The initial flavour is of REALLY bitter chocolate (the high percentage cocoa type), topped off with the merest hint of fresh brewed espresso. The second mouthful intensified those flavours, rounding them off with a big hoppy bitterness.
A really full-flavoured and satisfying stout. My kind of beer!
5. Jack of Clubs – Wild Card Brewery (Walthamstow, East London) – 4.5% abv – Ruby Ale – £3.49 (330ml) – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)
Another beer from Raj’s expanding emporium!
Packaging. This is the third brewery that I’ve had that displays a tag suspended from the bottle by string. Classy use of a playing card style tag on a plain brown bottle. Really attractive – well, to me anyway!
Well, it’s definitely a ruby coloured beer! Topped off with a good slightly off-white head and an aroma that reminds me of bonfire night treacle covered in milky chocolate.
Medium-bodied this, is it a sin to call a beer a Ruby Mild? Not in my book it ain’t!!! This is really smooth, with caramel and treacle sweet malty flavours but quite dry in the finish. This is right up mein strasse! Not too heavy on the alcohol, this is just so balanced and smooth and has a gentle grassy note over the slight sweetness. I was kind of expecting something really hoppy, but got this. A really pleasant surprise. A superb “Ruby Mild”.
6. Fire Plough – Wiper and True / Arbor Brewery (Both Bristol) – 5.5% abv – Smoked Porter – £3.49 (500ml) – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)
Black as a stout. Beautiful tan leather coloured head. A winner with me already……shall we stop there? No?
Given that is made with smoked malt from the Baltic island of Gotland (Sweden), would it surprise you to learn that there is a significant, yet not overpowering, smoky aroma? Bloody hell! This has got it going on! (Apologies to Tone Loc)
Yes, there is a smokiness to this full-bodied beer, but the balance with the citrussy fruitiness of Simcoe and the added spicy note from the rye malt…This is a beautifully smooth mash-up of flavours…like a Black IPA, yet not. Confusticating, yet massively satisfying, there is just SO MUCH HAPPENING here! You’ve got the smoke, pine and citrus, a slight spiciness. A triumph of a beer. Why did I wait so long to drink it? Mmmmmmm…..SO looking forward to my impending trip to Bristol!
Well….That’s all folks….well, not quite. Allow me a rant.
I love social media. Now and again, people (lovely people too!) approach me and ask, “Are you….?” and we chat, we put faces to Twitter handles and d’you know what, it’s great. Social media is fun. It’s also a damn powerful tool, sometimes used irresponsibly.
When pontificating about beer, I keep my negative shit private. If I have some “constructive” feedback to give, I NEVER do it openly, but always directly to those that it may concern. With this Social Media bollocks comes a degree of responsibility.
What it isn’t for is airing matters that should be kept private. If you have shit to deal with, keep it private. The people who are involved in this (if they read my tripe) know who they are. This shit isn’t fun and it isn’t worthy of celebration. It’s bullying. If I see this kind of shit again, you won’t be getting me patronising your businesses and I will encourage others to do the same. Period.
Sorry. Needed to vent.
May 31 2014
Bottled Ales – May 2014 – Pt 4
“Have you sought fortune evasive and shy? Drink to the men who protect you and I.
Drink drink drain your glass, raise your glass high.
It’s not the side-effects of the cocaine, I’m thinking that it must be love.
It’s too late to be grateful, It’s too late to be late again.
It’s too late to be hateful, the European cannon is here!”
(“Station to Station” – David Bowie)
(Video courtesy of DJ Johnson – YouTube)
My oh my can Adrian Belew play guitar! Possibly a controversial statement, but this is my favourite Bowie album, the one where I think he is at the peak of his (allegedly, chemically inspired) powers.
The lead track is like 3 songs in one and ranges from Kraftwerk and Can inspired Krautrock (a term I despise), through funk & soul to straight out rock & roll, it just……ohhhh!
The album starts with the title track and moves through “Golden Years” with its linkage to the “Young Americans” white soul leading on to “Word On A Wing”, a beautiful love song then to “TVC 15” and “Stay”, both of which give a glimpse of stylistic shifts that would lead to “The Berlin Trilogy” of Low, Heroes & Lodger. “Wild Is The Wind” signs the album off so smoothly with another (probable) love song, although it’s difficult to fathom the lyrics at any stage on this album.
Station To Station has been described as a “transition album”, but for me, it stands as a monument. The greatest work of the greatest and most influential artist. Period.
(Recommended albums? Don’t be silly. They’re all brilliant!)
On to the beer eh?
If you have ever read one of these before, you will know what comes next! If you haven’t….this is the format…
1. The Beer, 2. The Brewer, 3. The Strength, 4. The beer style, 5. The Price & Size, 6. The discount (and why, eg: for CAMRA membership or shop deal, where applicable) 7. Where from, and, If a website for the vendor exists, the hyperlink to the shop / brewer website, just in case you are inspired enough by my ramblings to make a purchase! Here goes….And remember, if you like the look of something, click on the (purple) hyperlink!
1. Chocolate Domination – Hornbeam Brewery (Denton, Gtr Manchester) – 5.7% abv – Strong Dark Ale – £2.80 (500ml) – 15% for 12 bottles – Great Ale Year Round (Bolton Market Hall)
Great to see this hugely underrated brewery available on my patch, they just make some of the most drinkable beers in the area, but without the fanfare that the bloggerati give to some of the trendier “names”. I believe that this particular bottle sold out in no time at all. And no wonder!
Black as a Vikings’ heart, but different, having a creamy tan coloured head and a nose fuuuuuull of sweet chocolate!
In the mouth…..this is LUUUSH! The liquid equivalent of a George Clooney chat up line, this is gorgeous and so so so smoooove! Full-bodied, As the dark delight hits the mouth, it initially tastes slightly sweet, but then does a little trick (steady now!)…..and loses that initial sweetness becoming quite dry and grassy/hoppy as it slides down. Silky smooth this.
Loads of chocolate and a touch of something more gently herbal. Initially I thought it liquorice, but not so sure. The chocolate also starts to taste darker and more bitter the further down the glass I’ve gone. This is just SUCH a good beer. Manchester beers really do ROCK! And after the discount, a bloody steal!
2. Shipwreck IPA – Bragdy Conwy (Conwy, N. Wales) – 5% abv – IPA – £2.89 (500ml) – 0 – Carringtons (Barlow Moor Rd, Chorlton)
I think that this may only be the second bottle I’ve had from this brewery, they’re becoming increasingly available on draught too. The Honey Porter was superb!
Deep gold and initially quite lively with a booming head that quickly settled leaving behind an aroma of orange and honey blossom, sweet, yet with a spicy note.
Quite full-bodied in the mouth this, that carbonation lending a spiky touch, smooth marmalade is what gets me initially, with a touch of that honeyed sweetness. The second mouthful reinforces the orangey flavours and sees the bitterness building, but not massively so.
As I’m going down the glass, this gets smoother and smoother. The finish is gently bittersweet with a savoury herbal aftertaste drying the palate. Really nice beer this.
3. Station Best Bitter – Mallinsons Brewery (Huddersfield, W. Yorkshire) – 4.3% abv – Best Bitter – £2.89 (500ml) – 10% for 12 btls or more – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)
A Mallinsons’ beer that isn’t single hopped? Whatever!
As pale as a new spring morning laced with that beautiful morning sun, well carbonated (as always) with the head receding to a thin white foam that’s giving up a rather strange aroma for a “best bitter”, there’s a bit of tart gooseberry in there but also a more delicate floral quality, if no hop hammer, then no less enticing, a delicate touch.
What follows in the mouth is quite quite lovely (that’s not a stutter!). Really smooth, light to medium-bodied, there’s a rich tea biscuit to the backbone upon which the hops do a floral dance (Just where IS Terry Wogan when you need him eh? – A lame attempted quip for the old ‘uns!)
There’s some kiwi perhaps as well as a degree of tartness. So refreshing and light, a perfect summer beer this on the eve of the warm season. A moderate fruity bitterness to this leads to a dry grassy finish. It may not be single hopped, but this is typical Mallinsons, typically tasty, typically refreshing. Beautiful. The term “Best Bitter” doesn’t do this justice!
4. Munchner – Tickety Brew (Stalyvegas, Gtr Manchester) – 4.5% abv – Munich Style – £1.99 (330ml) – 10% for 12 btls or more – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)
Simply the classiest labelling. Achieves its objective by drawing the eyes and stands out on any shelf. Like good branding should. But this would be a challenge, as I’m not overly struck on darker German beer styles, finding the ones I’ve had a bit too sweet for my tastes.
Quite the deep dark ruby colour, with a thin white head and an aroma mainly toffeeish, but with the scent of something ….deeper? A gentle sweeter perfume?
In the mouth, this is medium-bodied with a really fine carbonation of tiny bubble. Yes, there is a toffeeish caramel sweetness to this (like those caramel tasting biccies you get with a posh coffee?), but is really well-balanced with some delicate perfumed hopping and is actually, surprisingly rather refreshing with the Belgian funk note of the yeast holding off until further down the glass. I normally don’t enjoy the darker German styles, but this is really rather lovely.
5. Outwood Gold – Five Towns Brewery (Wakefield, W Yorkshire) – 5% abv – Pale Ale – Direct From Brewery
Now THIS is what I call minimalist labelling. There isn’t one! The benefits of getting the beer so fresh from the brewery eh?
Another really pale straw coloured beer, from the maestro from Outwood, Wakefield that is Malcolm Bastow.
A lively carbonation with fine bubbles giving an abundant white fluffy head and a fresh zesty aroma of sugared grapefruit and satsuma. A light white bready malt allowing the hops to shine here, with initial flavours of tangerine with a little lime sharpness in there on the edge. Subsequent mouthfuls build on this citrus and display a refined touch with a gentle bitterness that remains just that. The finish is dry and slightly tart with a drying hoppy aftertaste, slightly resinous.
Another damned classy pale from Mr B!
Sorry to bore you all, but no rants this week!
That’s it for this week, only 5, but a classy 5 nonetheless. Probably a couple more posts before the next bottle run, Stockport Beer Festival was excellent yesterday, maybe another old pub stroll and possibly a piece about watching two of my favourite breweries collaborating (Allgates & Five Towns)….but they’re for another day…….
On that note….’til next time…..
Slainte!
By • Uncategorized • 0 • Tags: Best Bitter, Carringtons, Chocolate Domination, Conwy Brewery, David Bowie, Five Towns Brewery, Great Ale Year Round, Hornbeam Brewery, IPA, Mallinsons Brewery, Munchner, Munich Style, Outwood Gold, Pale Ale, Shipwreck IPA, Station Best Bitter, Station To Station, Strong Dark Ale, The Liquor Shop, Tickety Brew