Jul 17 2016

Hawkshead Brewery – Something in the Water

As I said last week. As a blogger, unlike (so it seems) many, I don’t get sent much in the way of free beer. I don’t go out of my way to get any either. I have a seemingly huge beer stash that has been bought and paid for and that’s quite enough for this simple man. No complications.

In the blogging world, there appears to be an etiquette around these things that I am completely in ignorance of. I like it that way.

I have a really simple rule. If I like it, I’ll review it. That applies to freebies as well as the 99.9% of beers in my stash that are bought. I have to be impressed by a beer in order to review it, that way, if you see a review and buy it on the strength of that review and buy it in good condition, you *should* enjoy it. I like to maintain what little “integrity” (just for you MJ!) these last 4 years have bestowed upon me.

Like I said above, I don’t get sent much. But when I received an e-mail from Hawkshead about 3 special beer that they had brewed, offering me some, I snatched their hands off.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Hawkshead. Almost a byword for reliability. On cask, Windermere Pale is an uber reliable beer to fall back on. Brodies Prime unmissable. NZPA likewise. Cumbrian 5 Hop, Dry Stone Stout, IPA….the list goes on. Pale & hoppy or dark and roasty rich, consistently excellent.

So. When they offered to send me an Imperial Stout, an Imperial Porter and (not my usual) a Sour, I eagerly awaited delivery. Luckily, one of my brood was home when the knock arrived….

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Chuckleberry Sour – 3.5% abv – Berliner Weisse – 330ml

Atilla saw me pouring it and thought that I was having a cranberry juice!

It certainly had the colour! Watermelon pink, this has an aroma with a gentle acidic sourness as you would expect from a Berliner but with a fruitiness that was a cross between watermelon and Raspberry with a shot of cranberry and got the saliva glands motoring!

Yup. This is one palate cleanser and more! It has a light soft fleshy fruitiness, combined with being simultaneously Sour and slightly salty too. An incredibly refreshing and tart mouthful.

I had to check what a chuckleberry was, then I got the redcurrant and understood.

This is ordinarily not my style of beer, but having enjoyed a few sours from Chorlton, this does float my boat. Fruity, slightly salty and tart. An excellent palate livener. Superb

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Tonka – 8.5% abv – Imperial Porter – 330ml

Now then. Those who saw my last bottle post, May recall the ludicrous Black and Tan postscript. Which featured this beer in its keg format. See here…. Time to go solo!

Another deeply dark and alluring beer possessed of a creamy coloured head. The aroma is delicate but full of chocolate with a slight vanilla sweetness and something a little boozy, like rum.

WOW. Holy Mother of WOW.

Good full body on this, masses of nutty chocolate, good bitter chocolate, with a nuttiness that made me think of toasted Brazil nuts. Then there is a distinct blackcurrant fruitiness to the flavour, cola too, which is followed by an earthy, nutty, coffee grind bitterness.

Simply put, this is astonishingly good.

It’s Roasted, fruity, nutty, bitter, just so complex but so god damn repeatable. (Which can only go one way….)

Just. Just. Just………

One of the top three beers of this year. It’s THAT good.

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Northern Imperial Stout – 9.5% abv – Imperial Stout – 330ml

Black as a tar pit. Bitumen black. Dark, dangerous, desirable. All the things I want in a beer materialise when I take a sniff.

Deep coffee roast. Licorice. Bitter chocolate. And what smells like a light dusting of cocoa on top just OOZING from this tan coloured head. Daring me to try it. Like a “Come and have a go if you think…..”  A beery hooligan.

Imperial Stouts are my true beery weakness. I just can’t help myself and to hell with the consequences.

This is rich, unctuous and almost oily the way it slides around the mouth. Bitter chocolate and a spicy almost rocket pepperiness are the first impressions as the first mouthful slicks down the throat, coating the mouth and leaving a more than pleasant bitterness.

Back for seconds. More bitter chocolate with added oomph from some espresso action and a building licorice root flavour adding to the impact. This beer is right up my proverbial street.

The further I go and the onion reveals more layers, with some dark and juicy berry fruit too. This is lush. But then again, I’m a sucker for big dark beers.

There is a moderate bitter finish, but the abiding flavours linger well into the aftertaste. That bitter coffee and chocolate.

All. Kinds. Of. Yum.

Hopefully, I’ve managed to elucidate quite how much I enjoyed these three beers. The Sour surprised me, the Imperial Stout impressed me and that Tonka is – to put it simply – one of the 3 best bottled beers that I’ve had this year. Astonishingly good.

And, next weekend, having heard so many good things about their beer events at their Beer Hall in Staveley, I’m finally going. Who knows, if I can grab Matt Clarke, I might try to persuade him to keg something special and ludicrous for #ISBF2016!

You can only try eh?

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