The Tottering Temple

Nov 29 2014

Bottled Beers – November 2014 – Part 2

“Music in the ice-box, laughter in the dark,
Echoes in the silence, waiting for the spark,
Hold me while I’m naked, catch me if you can,
Suicide statements are the measure of the man …”

(“Do You Dream In Colour” – Bill Nelson)

(Clip courtesy Robert Jukes on YouTube)

I am a Bill Nelson fan. A true fan in that his is the only “Fan Club” that I ever joined. For a couple of years, you got a magazine (REALLY well produced) every quarter and an exclusive 7″ single with every second magazine. The output of the man was massive!

Simply one of the greatest, yet unsung, British guitarists. Starting solo and quite folky, then hitting a peak with one of the tightest rock bands of the 70s, the awesome Be Bop Deluxe. Tracks like Maid In Heaven, Between The Worlds, Love With The Madman, Ships In The Night……Oh my…..so tight…so melodic…and that guitar could make such sounds

Then, just when they looked to be getting huge in the States, he got …… bored. He went to form a more “modern” and aggressive band Red Noise. Again, utterly superb. But only one album. Check out “Sound on Sound”. Of its time, but still sharp as lemon juice!

“Do You Dream In Colour” was the “hit” single that never was. It was hamstrung in that its release coincided with a strike at the BBC in 1981, so that Top of the Pops wasn’t broadcast. It should have been huge. Bill should have had more success…..

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1. Govinda India Pale Ale (Barrel Aged Head Brewers Reserve) – Cheshire Brewhouse (Congleton, Cheshire) – 6.8%abv – IPA – £No Idea (500ml) – The Ale Man (Levenshulme & Heaton Moor Markets)

A deep copper coloured beer with a tight soft white head with an aroma full of banana toffee laced with a boozy caramel note (aged in Brandy barrel), so inviting.

Second sniff reminds me more of a rich Christmassy fruit cake. Oh Yum!

Oh bloody hell this is SUCH A GREAT BEER. PROPER BEERGASM MATERIAL!!! A full-bodied rich and smooth mouthful. Spicy boozy raisins, banana, marmalade dancing all over a deep toffee malt base. This is a proper IPA. The fruity and toffee flavours just give way to a spicy hop and a very gentle (But present) bitterness. That said, this is such a smooth beer.

In the second mouthful and further, the earthy character of the hops takes more of a front seat with a building spiciness and peppery note. The aftertaste is peppery hop and a slightly smoky spirit warmth. Beautiful. There is apparently another barrel aged version of this beast. You NEED this in your glass!

#Beergasm Number 1 This week!

2. Bohemian Antipodean Pale – Offbeat Brewery (Crewe) – 4.3% abv – Pale Ale – £2.65 (500ml) – Tottering Temple (Horwich)

Pale gold with a light white head and gentle carbonation giving really big tropical fruit aromas of mango & kiwi.

Oh my! Nice medium bodied beer this with a fabulously fruity party going on! Peach, mango, kiwi, passion fruit followed by a HUGE bracing piney sticky bitterness. Wow!

This is absolutely PACKED with flavour and feels much bigger than its strength. Further mouthfuls just confirm initial impressions. This bitterness builds to a dry finish with a really assertive piney aftertaste. Superb.

You need THIS as well!

#Beergasm Number 2!

3. Stout Porter – Seven Bro7hers Brewery (Salford) – 5.2%abv – Stout – Great Ale Year Round – £3 (330ml)

My first in bottle from this Salford brewery who – after their initial (feather ruffling) launch publicity – have settled to make some rather nice well judged beers on cask. But in bottle….

A black beer with a ruby tinge around the edges, a creamy tan coloured head and…. A subtle yet distinct aroma of… licorice & Anise. Very intriguing!

Initially tasting a little sweetness, this mouthful developed into something with a more dry and Roasted malt character, slightly bitter, but not overly, leaving the room free for some spicy licorice and herbal sweetness of the anise. A very nice mouthful indeed.

A second mouthful held more of the same, but I found a nutty note coming through in the aftertaste that was surprising and most pleasant and which gradually gave best to that gentle aniseed finish. This could work really well on draught and I need to try it soon. Salford has another brewery worth the candle it would seem!

4. Pils – Shindigger Brewing Co (Here, there & everywhere!) – 5.1% abv – Pilsner -£? (330ml) – Direct from the brewer

No disclaimer needed, I did actually pay for this, I just haven’t noted a price up top as I don’t know what the retail price would be!

As Pale a gold add you could possibly wish for work a light white head and aroma of…. Mango! A Lager with a tropical fruit aroma? Hmmm.

This is now one of the few beers that I’ve had in cask, keg and bottle. Cask at ISBF, keg at MTB and now…. And it’s a bloody lovely beer too (as were the cask & keg)

First impressions in the mouth? Light, massively refreshing, clean and crisp as all good pilsner should be. With the addition of fruity hops which are more dialled down, but plenty enough! Smooth too, with a nice cereal / bready malt backbone coming through later.

I told the fellas at the time of ISBF that this struck me as an ultra Pale Ale as much as a Lager in its cask incarnation. The bottle version reminds me (kind of) of Caesar Augustus by Williams Brothers which is a Lager / IPA hybrid (and bloody good too!)

I’m waiting for George & Paul to take a misstep. No danger yet of that. Another belter.

5. Oktoberfest – Runaway Brewery (Manchester) – 5.4% abv – Dark Lager – £3 (330ml) – Great Ale Year Round

A deep copper colour to this with a foamy off white head and an intriguing fruity aroma, some plum, a bit of barley sugar and something more… Boozy… Maybe a hint of golden rum or molasses.

Not being a big fan of darker German beers, I approached this with trepidation, I dislike Bock beers for example. Just don’t “get” them at all. However…..

Initial sweetness with some barley sugar (crystal malt?) and quite fruity, again plum but with something else too, maybe the merest hint of banana caramel. That sweetness quickly fades as a drying quality asserts itself with a feeling of rye curling the tongue.

Really smooth andfull bodied this. Those molasses come more to the fore in the second gob full. Big wholemeal bready malty base in this supporting that sweet fruitiness. And a big hint of marzipan cakiness too, giving this a seasonal feel.

A departure for Mark this. And he’s carried it off too. This could barrel age well methinks!

6. Sorachi Ace Stout – Five Oh Brew Co (Prestwich) – 6.5% abv (I think!) – Strong Stout – Direct.

I originally picked this up at the same time that I personally collected the pin of cask conditioned version for ISBF. No labels either. I was strictly instructed NOT to drink it for a couple of weeks as it had JUST been bottled and wouldn’t yet be ready. Oh I am SO glad I waited. This was one of the stars of the show at ISBF. I was drooling as I picked up the bottle opener!

Pitch black. Reassuringly so. A nice tight tan coloured and creamy looking head on this as well with an aroma that just oozes…. Bitter chocolate and (of all things) rum like an Old Jamaica chocolate bar from the 70s. Do they still make them?

Oh shit this is just SO creamy and unctuous! Coffee. Strong coffee. That bitter chocolate too. Smooth and silky, seductive, I’m hearing Ike’s Rap II by Isaac Hayes (as sampled by Portishead for Glory Box), deep melodic bass notes. Slinky. Like this beer.

But there is a lightness of hopping that lifts this beer too. A fabulous grassy dryness and a little light fruitiness. Just a little. Because this beer wallows and luxuriates in its delightful dark depths. Got a lot of love at ISBF did this. I can sure see why.

A beautiful thing.

#Beergasm Number 3!

By • Uncategorized • 2 • Tags: Bohemian Antipodean Pale, Cheshire Brewhouse, Five-Oh Brew Co, Govinda (Brandy Barrel Aged), Great Ale Year Round, IPA, Offbeat Brewery, Oktoberfest, Pale Ale, Pils, Runaway Brewery, Seven Bro7hers Brewery, Shindigger Brewing Co, Sorachi Ace Stout, Stout, Stout Porter, The Ale Man Manchester, The Tottering Temple

Jul 12 2014

Bottled Ales – June 2014 – Pt 3

“Face drawn in acts of courage, penny drops, the same old story”

(“Atom Rock” – Quando Quango)

(Audio clip courtesy of GilMahadeva on YouTube)

Not the height of lyrical sophistication, I’ll grant you, but Quando Quango were more for the feet than the heart! QQ were a Factory Records band in those heady days that were pre Happy Mondays. When dancing at the Hacienda was one of the early to mid 80s escapes from Thatcherite drudgery and miserablism. To step onto the dance floor of the pre-rave Fac 51 and dance to tunes such as “Love Tempo” (QQ again) & “White Lines” just melted your cares away (not to mention the Glenn Miller break and the night ending Theme from Thunderbirds!)

This tune is notable for Johnny Marr’s smooth guitar work (still in The Smiths at this point – I think) as much as the dance rhythms and latino spiked brass stabs. The band only released one album, but were hugely loved in both Manchester & New York and had core members of Gonny Rietveld, her brother Reiner (from Rotterdam) and the then Hacienda DJ Mike Pickering (later to form M People). It has to be said, that in their brief – almost butterfly like – existence, they reached some influential ears, in one interview at the time, the legendary hip-hop producer Arthur Baker was asked for one band he would like to produce, his answer……….

Just enjoy the tune…..provokes some seriously shady “dad dancing” in MY house!

On to the beer….where would we be without it?

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. Dark Alchemy – Atom Beers (Kingston-upon-Hull, E Yorkshire) – 4.9% abv – Porter – £2.95 (330ml) – 10% off for 12 btls – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, Gtr Manchester)

A brewery first encountered (by me) on the Allgates Brewery “Road To Wigan Beer” festival, I was eagerly looking forward to trying my first in bottle – and intrigued by the idea of a Porter without hops!

The beer is Black. With the faintest of ruddy glows at the bottom of the glass when held to the light. Thin beige coffee coloured head, with an aroma featuring chocolate, coffee and quite a spicy note, slightly perfumed…Cardomom perhaps (then I checked the bottle and saw that cardamom featured!).

Now this is one intriguing beer! Quite full-bodied considering the strength with good carbonation, there’s a lot going on with this beer and no mistake.

Firstly, there is a lovely smooth chocolate flavour….then there is quite a perfumed flavour which comes from the cardamom. This is followed by something more earthy and herbal and finishes off slightly warming as it slides. The aftertaste remains chocolatey with almost a Turkish Delight kind of flavour. Not a standard porter by any means, but I think I love this! (I think I’m going to have to add this lot to my Beer Fest list!)

2. Amarillo Gold – Saltaire Brewery (Saltaire, W Yorkshire) – 4.4% abv – Pale Ale – £2.85 (500ml) – 10% off for 12 btls – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, Gtr Manchester)

A pale straw gold coloured beer with a lacy white head and a nice mellow orange marmalade aroma.

The nice and gentle carbonation gives a smooth medium bodied mouthful with a good dose of Seville orange, bitter yet subtle. The fruitiness continues mouthful after mouthful with that bitterness building with each swallow. Hugely enjoyable and refreshing.

The finish is increasingly bitter with a good resinous whack in the aftertaste. A lovely beer. Probably the best mid strength Pale I’ve had from Saltaire. And that’s saying something!

3. Brewers Gold – Blackedge Brewery (Horwich, Bolton) – 3.9% abv – Pale Ale – £2.20 (500ml) – 10% off for 12 btls – The Tottering Temple (Brewery Shop)

One of a few bottles that I picked up from their excellent shop on a recent visit to mither Wayne & Shaun about the upcoming Independent Salford Beer Festival !

Pale gold beer with lively carbonation giving a decent fluffy white head and an aroma delicate with citrus, orange.

Medium bodied beer same fruitiness, like bitter marmalade. And this IS bitter. Really clean tasting beer, refreshing with a hint of fresh apple in with the quite assertive bitterness.

A beer that I would describe as a bitter. And a damn good one at that. Did I mention Bitter? Not a swear word you know!

4. Mayflower Gold – Billericay Brewing Co (Billericay, Essex) – 6.5% abv – Pale Ale – £4.50 (375 ml) – 10% off for 12 btls – Great Ale Year Round (Bolton Market)

You have absolutely NO IDEA how much I was tempted to use the lyrics of “Billericay Dickie” by Ian Dury at the top of this piece! What a great bawdy humoured classic!

Coming in a very attractive cork stoppered 375ml bottle. This is a slightly hazy, almost bronze coloured amber beer, with a big citrus fruit and floral aroma from a thin white head.

A big body on this, with loads of sweet biscuit malt and lashings of citrus hops with orange up front, this is almost more of an IPA than a straight pale ale for me. A slight savoury note too with this, like a light rauch smokiness, this is dangerously easy drinking – having it before a night out sure doesn’t feel wise!

The fruitiness mellows as I’m progressing down the glass, the bitterness is low too, which aids the easy drinking bit. Really rather pleasant!

5. Motueka – Mallinsons Brewery (Huddersfield, W Yorkshire) – 4% abv – Pale Ale – £2.89 (500ml) – 10% off for 12 btls – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, Gtr Manchester)

A golden coloured beer, with a lasting white head and a big tropical fruit aroma with kiwi and passion fruit to the fore, really fragrant.

This is light to medium bodied with a light fresh bready malt balancing the tropical fruit which comes through strongly in the mouth and is allied to quite an assertive bitterness.

Beautifully fruity and refreshing, there are hints of peach too in later mouthfuls. This is yet another beautiful single hopped Pale Ale from the Queens of the style.

Summary. Tropical fruity. Bitter. Lingering resinous aftertaste. Lovely. I kind of expect nothing less from these ladies.

6. Session – Ringway Brewery (N Reddish, Stockport) – 3.8% abv – Pale Ale – £2.85 (500ml) – 10% off for 12 btls – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, Gtr Manchester)

Bright and deep golden beer with a plentiful white head that shares aromas from the forest, blackcurrant and blackberry, fruity with a toffee biscuit backing vocal.

Once again from Ringway, a really smooth easy drinking beer. Quite full-bodied for its modest strength, the biscuity malt & the forest fruit flavours come through in the mouth too like a promise fulfilled. A bracing bitterness at the end of each mouthful too, a proper session bitter this one. Another belter from Paul who describes his beers as “easy drinking” a phrase which hits the mark at bull’s eye.

One question. Has “Bitter” become a swear word in the drinking community? It isn’t with me. There’s something about a nice pint of bitter which just really…..satisfies and comforts in equal measure.

Before I go, a slight rant.

I keep hearing the phrase “twiggy” when describing beer made with British hops, a phrase that is as worthy of derision as are the tastebuds of the people that spout it. To quote Jeanette Winterson “Orange is not the only fruit”! There are more fruits in the supermarket than lemons, grapefruit and the rest. Yes, I like those flavours too, but try something different and actually try TASTING it before JUDGING it! (I’ve had a shit week, my tolerance levels are stuck on Empty!)

So, rant over, there we go!

At some point soon, I might have to have a “blog holiday” and focus four square on The Independent Salford Beer Festival if it’s going to work!

On that note….until next time….

Slainte!

By • Uncategorized • 0 • Tags: Amarillo Gold, Atom Beers, Billericay Brewing Co, Bitter, Blackedge Brewery, Bolton Markets, Brewers Gold, Dark Alchemy, Great Ale Year Round, Independent Salford Beer Festival, Mallinsons Brewery, Mayflower Gold, Motueka, Pale Ale, Porter, Quando Quango, Ringway Brewery, Saltaire Brewery, Session, The Liquor Shop, The Tottering Temple

Jun 28 2014

Bottles Ales – June 2014 – Pt 2

“So he paints a pretty picture and he tells you that he needs you

and he covers you with flowers and he always keeps you dreaming.

If he always keeps you dreaming, you won’t have a lonely hour.

If a day could last forever, you might like your ivory tower.

But the night begins to turn your head around…….”

(“The Night” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons)

(Clip courtesy of FayteKnightmare on YouTube)

One of the few high points of Motown Chartbusters 10, a series of albums that arguably peaked at No 6 and thereafter were the vinyl embodiment of The Law Of Diminishing Returns. 10 was moderately weak, but 11 & 12 I have disowned.

Who needs “Oh What A Night” and the dubious subject matter of “You’re Ready Now”, “The Night” has a bass line to die for, just a perpetual rumble, overlaid with the harmonies, brass, skittering strings. A Northern Soul classic that isn’t aired enough for me, never fails to make me “dad dance” in the kitchen!

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. Pale Ale (Simcoe) – Wiper and True (Bristol) – 5% abv – Pale Ale – £3.39 (500ml) – 10% for 12 Btls –The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, Gtr Manchester)

A mid-golden coloured beer with a thin and rapidly dissipated white head (unclean glass the likely culprit!) Quite hazy, must have let some yeast slip through.

A full-on aroma of mango and peach tickling the nostrils and getting the saliva glands working overtime. Nicely full-bodied (considering the strength). Real full-on fruitiness with this, mango sweetness scored with a hint of tart grapefruit. Smooth mouthfeel, each mouthful just gets fruitier – starting to think how many of my 5 a day I’m getting from this!

Nice bit of pine needle in the finish to this, with the bitterness quite dialled down adding to the smooth feel. A really good fruity pale ale.

2. Saison le Printemps – Burning Sky (Firle, East Sussex) – 4.2% abv – Saison – £2.99 (330ml) – 10% for 12 Btls – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, Gtr Manchester)

A glowing bronze colour to this well carbonated beer, with a tight white head, quite creamy looking, giving an aroma sweet with banana split toffee, clove and something more perfumed, almost rose-water?

Light on the tongue, the floral flavour is the first thing that springs to mind in the mouth, that and a spicy note. Then clove strokes the tongue sweetly. The finish is quite grassy, spicy and dry.

Overall, whilst I don’t claim to know much about saisons, this Spring beer is hugely refreshing and light. Isn’t that the job they were originally brewed for? Job done. Damn well.

3. Single Bramling – Ringway Brewery (North Reddish, Stockport) – 4% abv – Pale Ale – £2.79 (500ml) – 10% for 12 Btls – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, Gtr Manchester)

Crystal clear amber beer with a lacy bright white head and an aroma groaning with malty toffee and stone fruit, some plum and maybe a little blackberry.

Initially fruity with those hedgerow fruits like blackberry and some deep plum, a little orange too. Quite spicy and peppery too balancing the caramel biscuit malt sweetness which smoothly leads to a quite bitter finish. An oaky, lingering peppery hop aftertaste rounds this off nicely.

Paul is unapologetic in his use of British hops and swims against the current brewery tide in their rush for citrus mouth wreckers. He is Damn right and I applaud him for it. He aims for flavourful easy drinking beers. With this, he is bang on target.

4. Quirky Kiwi – Offbeat Brewery (Crewe, Cheshire) – 4.6% abv – NZ Pale Ale – £2.65 (500ml) – 10% for 12 Btls – Tottering Temple (Horwich, Bolton)

A lovely golden colour to this, with good carbonation, a nice clinging white fluffy head giving up citrussy aromas of peach, passion fruit and a little tangerine.

Ooh, this is rather nice! Smooth and medium-bodied but with a nice prickly carbonation (if that makes sense?). Really fruity, the passion fruit upfront, with kiwi and a little peach. SUCH an easy drinking beer, this could be dangerous on cask! This smoothness extends to the bitterness, which is restrained, but still present leading to a pleasant grassy hop aftertaste.

A little cracker. And at less than £2.40 a bottle (with discount) – a bloody bargain!

5. Cascade – Blackedge Brewery (Horwich, Bolton) – 4% abv – Pale Ale – £2.20 (500ml) – 10% for 12 Btls – Tottering Temple (Horwich, Bolton)

Orange golden beer with a fluffy clinging white head and a smell laden with citrus with a hint of lemon, some orange fruit and grapefruit. Really aromatic.

Medium-bodied, quite smooth textured with a gentle carbonation, this is beautifully fruity in the mouth. Feeling bigger than a 4% beer, this has a good malty biscuit backbone overlaid with bitter grapefruit, nice and tart with a bitterness that grabs your attention. That bitter grapefruit lingers long into the aftertaste, quite bracing. All the way down the glass. Lovely!

This could be a cracking session beer on draught – it was the pick of their beers at Blackedge’s open bar last week!

6. West Coast Pale – Liverpool Craft Beer Co (Liverpool) – 6.2% abv – Pale Ale – £2.95 (330ml) – 10% for 12 Btls – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, Gtr Manchester)

Deep golden almost amber coloured beer, with a good deep white foamy head and a booming spicy tart citrus aroma, woof!

Full-bodied, gentle carbonation and really smooth feel to this. First impression in the mouth was of malty sweetness laced with apricot liqueur, which yielded primacy to something more like a bitter Seville orange with a sharp and tart lemon and grapefruit tinge lurking in the shadows. Bit of a Belgian style yeasty tinge too.

Low on the bitterness scale, there is a clinging sticky pine in the aftertaste which finishes it nicely.This is just SO smooth and lush and quite dangerously moreish at this strength.

There you go. Next time, I shall address the dire lack of dark beers!

Off to Black Jack & First Chop later. Anyone coming?

On that note…’til next time…

Slainte!

Just learned that Bobby Womack is dead and a star has just fallen from my sky. RIP Bobby – A TRUE Musical Legend.

By • Uncategorized • 0 • Tags: Blackedge Brewery, Burning Sky Brewery, Cascade, Liverpool Craft Beer Co, NZ Pale Ale, Offbeat Brewery, Pale Ale, Quirky Kiwi, Ringway Brewery, Saison, Saison Le Printemps, Single Bramling, The Liquor Shop, The Tottering Temple, West Coast Pale, Wiper and True

Jun 24 2014

Bottled Ales – June 2014 – Pt 1

“I’ll only ask you once more. You only want to believe
This man is looking for someone to hold his hand, he doesn’t quite ever understand the meaning

Never heard about, Oscar Wilde and never talk about Brendan Behan,
Don’t have to think about Sean O’Casey and don’t care about George Bernard Shaw.
You never hear about Samuel Beckett, you won’t talk about Eugene O’Neill, or Edna O’Brien and Lawrence Stern.

Shut it! You don’t understand it. Shut it! That’s not the way I planned it.

Shut it! Shut you mouth ’til you know the truth!”

(“Burn It Down” – AKA “Dance Stance” – Dexys Midnight Runners)

(Tune clip courtesy of Anette Roller on YouTube)

Now THIS could cause an argument. Walk into a Manchester pub and assert that Dexys were the best band in Britain in the late 70s. Then run! By this – being a lover of Soul music – I mean the first incarnation of Dexys. The band that Kevin Rowland drilled relentlessly until they were ready to be unleashed. Until they were a band whose performances, laden with passion and sweat, became things of legend.

OK the “Mean Streets” garb looked a bit contrived, but this was a band that wanted you to know that they MEANT what they were doing. That it mattered to them and they wanted it to matter to you. For an album and a half – they never did get to release that second album they were working up to (“The Projected Passion Revue” eventually seeing a form of release in 2007) – they were simply a force. They were utterly brilliant, dirty, gritty, soulful and real. Before the abomination that was Too-Ry-Ay and performing “Jackie Wilson Said” on TOTP to a backdrop of Jocky Wilson!

They reformed for an album “One Day I’ll Soar” in 2012 and released what was – for me – the single of that year “She Got A Wiggle” a lyrical portrait of unrequited love. I love it.

There. I’ve said it. I’m a Manc who saw Joy Division & The Fall in their late 70s early & 1980 pomp. And I love Dexys. And Rowland loves Northern Soul too (The origin of the bands name…..oh, go check Wikipedia)

One more reason as to why the latter clip in particular is important to me. One night in Brewdog in Manchester, I met two buddies of mine and a couple of old friends. Of the two buddies, Jeff was en route to see Dexys at The Bridgewater Hall (as were my old friends Phil & Sue). Myself, the Arch-Nemesis and Jeff started to chat….which turned into the chat which pushed me into doing this nonsense. A beer blog was born…over a glass of Human Cannonball!

On that note – 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 Porter – Anspach & Hobday (Bermondsey , S. London) – 6.7% abv – Porter – £3.49 (330ml) – 10% off for 12 btls – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, Gtr Manchester)

“Conceived in the 19th Century, refined for the 21st” it says on the bottle. Really? I’ve seen at least one negative comment about their beers recently, but, to be honest, I enjoyed The IPA and was more than happy to give this a try….

This is one lively puppy! A booming mocha coloured head and an aroma that brought back memories of “Old Jamaica” chocolate bars from Cadbury’s – chocolate and slightly rum soaked raisins. A beautiful earthy perfume! Full-bodied and with a slight sweetness, the bittersweet chocolate is what first hits you followed by a bitterness offsetting the sweetness and an earthy hoppiness. Then there is something more….floral….? Then a dry cocoa quality….. The flavours delayering with each mouthful. Refined for the 21st Century? Not sure about that, but this IS bloody good!

2. White Queen – Tatton Brewery (Knutsford, Cheshire) – 4.2% abv – Wheat Beer – £2.75 (500ml) – 10% 12 or more btls – Great Ale Year Round (Bolton Market)

If memory serves, I picked this up from Dan & Gina’s increasingly popular bar, after the recent excellent Gourmet Burger & Beer Match hosted by Shaun (aka @FoodGeekUK) They’re getting busier & busier, deservedly so too. Great beers, kept well. Anyway…the bottle….

The label drew me in. Then it caught me. I absolutely love the series of historical novels by Philippa Gregory based around the life of Elizabeth Woodville (“The White Queen!) Simply excellent. The label is classy, minimal, but with a bit of regality in that font.

An intentionally hazy yellow gold brew with a thin white head and an aroma sweet with orange zest, a floral note and a little spice on the nose. Light bodied with a gentle carbonation leading to a smooth mouthfeel. There is an orangey flavour to the fore in the initial mouthful leading on to some clove and maybe a hint of cardamom. Really light and refreshing, fruity with the orange and a beautifully dry finish with a herbal hint in the aftertaste and with very low bitterness. This is so easy drinking. Really nice stab at a wheat beer. Any on cask?

3. 13 Guns – Crafty Dan (Thwaites) (Blackburn, Lancashire) – 5.5% abv – IPA – £1.99 (330ml) – 10% 12 btls or more – The Tottering Temple (Horwich, Bolton)

This deep ruby coloured beer has a lively off white head and an aroma reminding me of toast & marmalade. Orangey marmalade flavours continue in the mouth riding on the back of big biscuity sticky malt. A luxurious really smooth full-bodied mouthful, Smooth as silk, but more fruity, this is lovely. Plenty of resinous hops to make the tongue curl and the gums tingle. Yum.

The bitterness on this was dialled down. Not sure if this was due to the fact that I forgot I had this and it lay stored for a couple of months. A damned enjoyable fruity beast nonetheless. I’ll get a fresher one and see if it’s any better!

4. Düsseldorf Altbeer – Hornbeam Brewery (Denton, Gtr Manchester) – 4.8% abv – German-Style Altbeer – £2.80 (500ml) – 10% 12 or more btls – Great Ale Year Round (Bolton Market)

The Arch Nemesis persuaded me to buy this one I think. Darker German style beers usually being too sweet for my tastes. Needless to say, I’ve learned to trust the A-N on beer over the years!

A really deep amber beer with a white head and a spicy chocolatey aroma, bit nutty too…like a Nutella on toast. Ooh… but this is a surprise….

There is a buttered toast maltyness to this, beautifully smooth medium-bodied beer. Then comes the chocolate note, like a light dusting of cocoa powder on a latte. Then a little sweetness kicks in, immediately countered by a hoppy herbal bitterness. That bitterness fades slightly into a herbal grassy aftertaste with a lingering chocolate note. Great balance to this, like all Hornbeam beers that I’ve had. Damned moreish….

5. Imperial Russian Stout – Liverpool Organic Brewery (Er…Liverpool) – 8.1% abv – Imperial Stout – £3.99 (500ml) – 10% off for 12 btls – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, Gtr Manchester)

This was another one that’s been stashed for a while….Needed to de-stress the other evening with a lot of stuff re the beer festival rattling round my vacated skull. This did the trick!

Black. Oh so black. Like a liquid black hole, no light comes out of this devil. Other than the lightly scattered cream coloured head. The aroma just oozes out….bitter, VERY bitter chocolate, dark red wine, slightly tannic, and the smell of a newly flexed fresh leather belt, so fresh that you can almost hear the cow “moo”! Spicy too.

Hugely bodied, the first taste that assaults you is that bitter chocolate, then a spicy bitterness followed by a quite powerful licorice bite, sweet yet dry. Second mouthful has the tongue tingling, sweetness, yes, but that bitter licorice is followed by an almost tobacco like tone. The finish has a big boozy feel to it, quite vinous. Sweet, but with a woody edge to it. Warming. I’ll sleep well. (I did BTW!)

6. Something Something Barrel Aged – Weird Beard Brew Co (Hanwell, W. London) – 9% abv – BA Imperial BIPA – £3.50 (330ml) – The Ale Man Manchester (Levenshulme & Heaton Moor Markets)

Not seen Damian in a while. Then, last time I was at Raj’s, he popped in doing a delivery and plopped this in my ravenous maw. Surprised & pleased in equal measure, I clutched it to my chest and muttered something like ….”my…precious….“

Like a Black Panther, a simply stunning creature to look at. All sleek black sinuous muscle, gorgeous yet malevolent. This beer wants to eat you and your children. That creamy colour head is to lull you into a false sense of security. Approaching it warily, aroma is sweet citrus, but with a darker intent, lurking beneath the sweetness.

Oh boy, the moment the darkness slipped past my lips, the claws came out! Beautifully full-bodied and smooth… Oh so smooth…. There’s burnt toast, bitter chocolate, an earthiness… yet after all that going on… a big sticky almost marmalade citrus jumps to the rescue like Tarzan. This is stunningly good. There is a subtle and building smokiness which is none too intrusive, just there as each mouthful sinks safely down. Yes there is sweetness, but this is just so well balanced with a fruity hop dryness and resins finishing it off. Like the Panther, I’m purring! And sated.

Didn’t realise it had been so long since the last bottle piece! More soon (+ maybe an update on progress for the Beer Fest – follow @salfordbeerfest on Twitter for up to date…..zzzzzzz)

On that note…..’til next time….

Slainte!

By • Uncategorized • 6 • Tags: 13 Guns, Altbeer, Anspach & Hobday, Crafty Dan, Dexys Midnight Runners, Dusseldorf Altbeer, Great Ale Year Round, Hornbeam Brewery, Imperial Russian Stout, Imperial Stout, IPA, Liverpool Organic Brewery, Porter, Something Something Barrel Aged, Tatton Brewery, The Liquor Shop, The Porter, The Tottering Temple, TheAleMan Manchester, Thwaites Brewery, Weird Beard Brew Co, Wheat Beer, White Queen

May 3 2014

Bottled Ales – May 2014 – Pt 1

“When I’m with you all my brothers, oh, I feel like a king, it feels like I’m dreaming.

When that blood goes rattling through my veins, my ears start to ring. And I notice what matters.

And I got nothing to lose but darkness and shadows.

Got nothing to lose but bitterness and patterns”

(“Got Nuffin‘” – Spoon)

(Hyperlinked video courtesy of “StepOutAgain” on YouTube)

There is music that you hear everywhere. Either because it is classic & timeless (Bowie, James Brown, Sly Stone, Motown etc) or because you are simply listening to either the wrong radio station, or the kids have control of the car stereo. Then there are the bands that you think are your secret. You never hear them played anywhere else. In fact, you’ve never heard them outside of your own home – except on your iPod.

One evening, just over a year ago, I walked into Common on Edge Street in the Northern Quarter, (a bar I had fallen in love with not because of their beer selection – excellent though it indubitably is, but because of a tune I heard the moment I first walked in. “The Light Pours Out of Me” by Magazine). On this particular evening, however, drink had been taken. Part way through a beer, I heard the unmistakable throb of kick, snare and side drums. SOMEBODY ELSE LIKED SPOON!!! That tune was “Got Nuffin”. Like a drunken fan boy, I lurched over to the DJ to thank him. I don’t know what I actually said, but I meant “Thanks”!

Now 6 albums in, Spoon are one of (if not THE) greatest exponents of what has been described as “minimal indie”. They simply don’t waste a note. No fluff. A bit like Shredded Wheat. Nothing added, nothing taken away. Just great tunes. They get better with each album. We must be due another album soon.

(Recommended albums : Transference & GaGaGaGaGa – treat yourselves!)

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. Shankar IPA – Great Heck Brewery (Great Heck, E Yorkshire) – 5.9% abv – IPA – £2.49 (330ml) – 10% for 12 Bottles – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)

A pale golden beer with a light white head and big fruity aromas with peach and tangerine and orange on the nose.

Ooh matron! Big and stickily fruity with thick Seville orange marmalade on a toasty bready malt base. This is followed by a sticky resiny bitterness that clings to the roof of the mouth like a drowning man with a handful of riverbank grass.

The second mouthful brings some peach to the party, but this has such assertive bitterness that the peach was nearly not allowed entry! A big beer from Denzil this. A proper IPA and possibly his best yet – a big call, given how awesome the Black Jesus was! A big bitter and sticky pine finish, finish off this bruiser of a beer. It’s like a bouncer at a really rough bar, you don’t want to mess with him. But you JUST can’t help yourself! (A STEAL at £2.49!)

2. Zen – Rocky Head Brewery (Southfields, SW London) – 4.8% abv – Blonde Ale – £2.99 (330ml) – 10% for 12 Bottles – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)

A lively golden beer with a head – initially at least – the size of a tower block. fragrant and fruity with masses of zesty lemon and grapefruit grabbing the nose and giving it a good tweak. Given that it was a lively wee bugger, the carbonation is really soft letting the zesty and zing laden lemon take centre stage.

A light malty base allows the hops to shine with the lemon being nice, sharp and ever so slightly bitter. Nice and juicy this, that big bitterness being complemented by a sharp dry finish. A massively refreshing zingy fresh beer, perfect for a summer’s day. Who knows, maybe we’ll get one!

3. India Pale Ale (ii) – Squawk Brewing Company (Ardwick, Manchester) – 6.7% abv – IPA – £2.69 (330ml) – 10% for 12 Bottles – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)

This is (as the name suggests) Oliver Turton’s 2nd stab at an IPA. (Read the review of Mk 1, here) The first was 5.5% abv, so I wondered how much more oomph that extra abv would give it.

Amber coloured beer with soft fluffy white head and a nose full of orange marmalade. Promising!

This is SO damned smooth in the mouth! A good chunk of toffeeish malt laid down like a dance floor for the citrus marmalade to dance all over! This has got the balance of a Prima Ballerina!. The orange in the marmalade mellows just a little to allow the beer to have to flavour of something like a citrus ice cream, beautiful and creamy but with a big bitterness to round it off. The aftertaste is big and piney too. Just another excellent Manchester beer from Mr Turton.

4. Rum Porter – Boggart Brewery (Newton Heath, Manchester) – 4.7% abv – Porter – £2.80 (500ml) – 10% for 12 Bottles – The Tottering Temple (Hampson Street, Horwich)

I was chuffed to bits when I saw this at BlackEdge Brewery’s newly opened shop. I’d only ever had it on cask at Micro Bar in Manchester Arndale, Boggart’s own outlet in the centre of town. I was keen to see how it translated into bottle.

A deep, dark, ruby brown beer with a big creamy coloured head and quite a big cocoa/chocolate aroma with something sweeter smelling in the background. Really smooth and quite chocolatey in the mouth with plenty of caramel toffee malt, like a Riesen chocolate, I thought. Another mouthful identified the interloper in the aroma. The rum. Like a dark boozy sugar note in the background, adding further depth. A great dark beer for a cool evening like this one. Comforting. The finish was slightly sweet but with a grassy hop aftertaste. A lovely beer, right up my street.

5. Red Bull Terrier – Barngates Brewery (Ambleside, Cumbria) – 4.8% abv – Red Ale – £2.80 (500ml) – 15% for 12 bottles – Great Ale Year Round (Bolton Market Hall)

This is most certainly a red beer, almost the colour of Vimto, that drink most beloved of Salfordians (that & Holts’ Bitter!).

Red with a thin white head and an aroma including toffee and spicy vine fruit. Medium bodied in the mouth, the first flavour is a deep, dark and slightly sweet caramel over laid with raisins, plum and a good dollop of spicy tongue tingling hop.

Really fruity and really dry, MY do those spicy hops dry your mouth in the finish! Oof! A really deceptive beer this. Starts off slightly sweet, but the bitterness almost catches you out in the finish. Lovely herbal hops in the aftertaste. A cracking first for me from this brewer. Won’t be the last! (Note to self – Must pop in and grab some next time I’m off camping to Langdale!)

6. Black IPA – Quantum Brewing Company (Stockport, Gtr Manchester) – 6% abv – Black IPA – £4.35 (500ml) – 0 – Beermoth (Tib St, Manchester)

This was a surprise purchase during an all too infrequent mooch around Beermoth. Going to see Jamie in his new environment was all the excuse that I needed. I was quite surprised how much Northern beer they had and ended up picking up a few, then spotted this! I’ve obviously NOT been paying much attention recently, but I didn’t know that a BIPA had left Jay’s Hempshaw Lane lair! I simply had to….

I knew it was going to be a bit hoppy when I read the label – SEVEN different hop varieties!

A quite black beer with a milk coffee coloured head and a perplexing aroma of licorice and spicy citrus hops, grapefruit prominent.

Incredibly smooth texture to this, no prickly bubbles just oohhh. There’s like a bitter (I mean REALLY bitter) chocolate covered pontefract cake initially, surprisingly creamy, which is then gently nudged aside by some fabulous hoppage.

Really fruity, with tart gooseberry and grapefruit and a whole forest of pine needles. Each mouthful is a sensory treat. Considerable bitter finish with lots of piney stuff sticking around in the aftertaste with a chocolate bitterness. Reminds me what I LOVE about BIPAs!

In the words of Porky Pig……”That’s All Folks” – for now at least!

On that note….’til next time….

Slainte!

By • Uncategorized • 0 • Tags: Barngates Brewery, Beermoth, Black IPA, Boggart Brewery, Great Ale Year Round, Great Heck Brewery, India Pale Ale (ii), IPA, Porter, Quantum Brewing, Red Ale, Red Bull Terrier, Rocky Head Brewery, Rum Porter, Shankar IPA, Spoon, Squawk Brewing Company, The Liquor Shop, The Tottering Temple, Zen

Apr 19 2014

Bottled Ales – April 2014 – Pt 3

“Johnny was an actor, oh you must have known? He wore his new Max Factor, nearly stole the show,

You go and tell me he’s not the only one. Ah, night creatures, strangest features, white faces and painted eyes.

Tongue teasers, oh you young deceivers, night creatures on your heels so high… “

(“Night Creatures” – Be Bop Deluxe)

(Tune courtesy of “Notle Miroma” on You Tube)

One evening, some time in 1979, this particular 14-year-old boy was furtively listening (through earphones) to The John Peel Show on Radio One, when he played a track which caught my attention. I think it was “Art, Empire, Industry” by Bill Nelson’s Red Noise. It blew me away with its energy and fizz, a melding of synthesizers and punk energy. I went to Virgin Records on Market St in Manchester and bought what I thought was the track I heard. The single I bought was “Revolt Into Style” and was the start of a love affair with all things Nelson.

Gradually, I learned of his previous band, Be Bop Deluxe. Emanating from Wakefield in West Yorkshire, they started out as a Glam Rock band with the album Axe Victim (from which the above track is taken) before making what – for me – is their masterpiece, Futurama. Containing the fabulously complex “Between The Worlds” and the short but mighty “Maid In Heaven”, the delicate “Jean Cocteau” (A Nelson hero) it’s a magnificent Rock album up there with any UK album of the mid-70s for me.

I’m not too big to say that I wept, the night I finally heard “Maid In Heaven” live, along with a whole host of Be Bop tracks when Nelson played a back catalogue concert in Manchester a few years back, songs I never thought that I’d hear live, guitar solos I never thought I’d experience in the flesh. Bill self-records and releases these days and has a prodigious output, many tracks reflecting his futuristic wonder of the 50s and 60s (his childhood). But in the words of Bowie “Boy could he play guitar”

Moving swiftly on to the usual subject matter…bottled beers…

If you have ever read one of these before, you will know what comes next! If you haven’t….this is the format…

1. Eastoft Elderberry Stout – Axholme Brewing Co (Luddington, N Lincolnshire) – 4.5% abv – Stout – £2.99 (500ml) – 10% for 12 bottles – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)

Surprise! We start, with a dark beer!

Black beer with a creamy tan head and a delicate floral aroma with a roasty hint. Medium bodied, the floral characteristics come through in the mouth backed up by a smooth almost chocolatey roasted malt character. There is a pleasing light bitterness in the finish followed by a light herbal grassy note and a gentle smokiness in the aftertaste. An unusual yet really pleasant stout.

2. Dark Hopfler – Weird Beard Brew Co (Hanwell, W London) – 2.5% abv – Dark Milk Ale – £3.49 (330ml) – 10% for 12 bottles – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)

Knowing that Weird Beard like to name their beers after some kind of musical link, I am hereby making an assumption that this is some reference to Mark Knopfler. If so…

I HATE Dire Straits! Any tune by them reminds me of 1985, being stuck in a hospital bed (after having my nose fixed – not that you’d tell!) and I could hear was “Money For Bleeding Nothing”! On repeat. REPEATEDLY!!!

Moving swiftly on! This is a black beer with lively carbonation giving a fluffy latte coloured head with huge citrus hop aromas of grapefruit mingled with a really milky coffee.

Surprisingly full-bodied for such a light beer, not as thin as I would have expected at this strength. The hops are in your face with apricot and mango in the vanguard. This is followed by a very subtle milky coffee and a burnt toast undernote with a little lactose sweetness (just a little) creeping past the defences near the end. A sweet milky finish leads to quite a resinous finish. Dark Milk Ale just about describes it! Would love to try this on handpull through a sparkler!

3. Anubis Porter – Raw Brewing Company (Chesterfield, Derbyshire) – 5.2% abv – Porter – £3.00 (500ml) – 10% off 12 Bottles – The Tottering Temple (Hampson Street, Horwich)

Shall we get the dark stuff out of the way eh?

Having had Raw on cask before, primarily at Joshua Brooks, I was keen to try this bottle that I picked up on the Opening Day (read here) of the Blackedge Brewery bottle shop!

Virtually black beer with a thin cream coloured head and a full chocolate and toffee caramel aroma. Mmmm….medium bodied, initial flavour was a nice bitter chocolate with a malty caramel toffee backbone, slightly sweet yet with quite a bite to it. For a non-bottle conditioned beer, this is excellent! This is added to with a pronounced bitterness from the hops and quite a grassy aftertaste with that deep chocolate toffee staying throughout. An excellent first bottle from a brewery that I’ve enjoyed on cask.

And now, for some lighter stuff!

4. India Pale Ale (Amarillo) – The Kernel Brewery (Bermondsey, S London) – 7.2% abv – IPA – £3.29 (330ml) – 10% for 12 bottles – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)

My favourite hop. In a single hop IPA. By one of the most renowned breweries in London. A no-brainer really when Raj pointed this bad boy out to me!

Hazy and dark golden beer with a white head and a full-on fragrant orange marmalade aroma, booking out of the glass! I took a moment to calm down.

Full-bodied (unsurprisingly) with rich sweet marmalade sliding all over the tongue, using it as its own playground, the marmalade doesn’t retreat in the face of a encroaching bitterness that’s really satisfying. The bitterness itself leads to a big resinous pine and fruity finish. Each mouthful left me wanting more! And I do want more.

A classy beer using my favourite hop to its maximum. Superb!

5. Shipwreck IPA – Liverpool Organic Brewery (er..Liverpool!) – 6.5% abv – IPA – Swap with a colleague (500ml) – 0 – Direct from the Brewery

A colleague from the office (Cheers Dave!), picked this up whilst on a tour of the brewery last weekend, for which I am truly grateful. (The swap, was for a bottle of Saltaire/NMB Co Smoked Porter – a review of which, next weekend perhaps?)

Amber coloured beer with a light white head a toffeeish nose with a hint of fruit, maybe orange. Full bodied with big caramelly malt laying a base for the fruitiness of the hops, with more orange and peach for me leading to a good strong bitterness and a substantial fruity, grassy and pine aftertaste which tingles on the tongue. A really fruity big-boned beer this. Had this on draught at The Angel some months back, this is just as good.

6. NZPA – Hawkshead Brewery (Staveley, Cumbria) – 6% abv – Pale Ale – £3.75 (A swap) (330ml) – 0 – From the brewery shop

This, quite possibly, comes within my top 5 pale ales. I’ve had it on a number of occasions and wherever I have it (incl Wetherspoons) it is universally potent and tasty with booming fruity hops. I was chuffed to bits therefore, when my good pal (and colleague) Chris picked one up following a rather strenuous bike ride that started – and ended – in Staveley. Being a perfectly sensible chap, he nipped in the Beer Hall and (amongst other delights) picked this up for me. Damned fine fellow!

Just look at that colour! A beautifully bright golden beer with good carbonation, giving a generous lasting white head which yielded a beautiful citrussy aroma bursting with grapefruit, kiwi and a hint of mango.

This is every bit as lovely as the cask version that I’ve adored for so long! Full-bodied and smooth in texture the fresh tart citrus leaps onto the tongue with the grapefruit being the Silverback here, dominant and powerful without being overwhelming. An excellent assertive bitterness to this too, just like the cask version, which is followed by an aftertaste both dry and resinous. Every bit as good as on cask. Superb!

7. Pacific Pale Ale – Shindigger Brewing Co – 4.5% abv – Pale Ale – £2.80 (3 for £7.50) (330ml) – 15% for 12 bottles – Great Ale Year Round (Bolton Market Hall)

A disclaimer on this one. This was passed by this new Manchester area brewer (currently “Gypsy Brewing” at Outstanding Brewery in Bury) for free via my buddy Dan at Great Ale Year Round. Usual rules applying. I only review if I enjoy it. And BOY did I enjoy it!

Firstly, the branding.

Plays to my prejudices with a slightly distressed looking blue and white combo, with their woven motif. Something in the back of my mind also has The Shindiggers being one of the earliest of Manchester gangs? (I’m probably wrong!) Either way, the name has a whiff of romance about it for me.

The beer? A deep gold with excellent carbonation and a lasting white head releasing aromas of citrus fruits, with apricot and grapefruit prominent. Mmmm…Really smooth considering it’s from the bottle. Really balanced too, with a good light biscuity malt backbone being ridden by lovely citrussy hops, with initially grapefruit then a more subdued tangerine or orange coming through. In later mouthfuls, I thought I got a lemon note too. Nice bitterness adding to this refreshing beer with a finish that retains the fruit but adds a substantial resinous pine dryness.

What an excellent beer for a first in bottle! (Will be seeking it out on draught on The Road To Wigan Beer tomorrow!)

Next up? The Road To Wigan Beer – Pt 3 (for me) – The pub crawl by bus! Tomorrow!

On that note…’til next time…

Slainte!

By • Uncategorized • 9 • Tags: Anubis Porter, Axholme Brewery, Be Bop Deluxe, Bill Nelson, Blackedge Brewery, Dark Hopfler, Dark Milk Ale, Eastoft Elderberry Stout, Great Ale Year Round, Hawkshead Brewery, India Pale Ale, IPA, Liverpool Organic Brewery, NZPA, Pacific Pale Ale, Pale Ale, Porter, Raw Brewing Company, Red Noise, Shindigger Brewing Co, Shipwreck IPA, Stout, The Kernel Brewery, The Liquor Shop, The Road To Wigan Beer, The Tottering Temple, Weird Beard Brew Co

Apr 11 2014

Bottled Ales – April 2014 – Part 2

” If you’re lonely, I will call. If you’re poorly, I will send poetry.

I love you. I am the milkman of human kindness. I will leave an extra pint”

(“The Milkman of Human Kindness” – Billy Bragg)

Isn’t it strange how some things just grab you? Strangely, I found myself in tears with this song. It gets me every time!

Many people look at Billy Bragg and just think of “that left-wing loony”, the rent-a-mouth who is rolled out every time that the press want a socialist to pass comment on events that they can sneer at. Let’s face it, few in today’s “Labour” Party fit that particular bill! But that view of Billy misses a huge fact. He is one of the greatest songwriters of my generation, in a kind of spartan way, up there with Costello for me.

What it also misses, is some of the great love songs he has written – just listen to “Must I Paint You A Picture” and see what I mean! Delicacy and poise, where all people expect is thrashing guitars and a snarl. It also misses the warmth of a live Bragg performance. Having seen him live on more than a few occasions now, my faith in human nature never fails to be partially restored on exiting the venue. The man gives a shit. And I love him for it. Rant over!

Moving swiftly on this Friday evening to the subject at hand. Beer. In bottles too!

If you have ever read one of these before, you will know what comes next! If you haven’t….this is the format…

1. Stout – Squawk Brewing Company (Ardwick, Manchester) – 5.4% abv – Stout – £4.20 (500ml) – 10% for 12 or more – The Tottering Temple (Hampson Street, Horwich)

It wasn’t so long ago that I hadn’t heard of Squawk or Oliver Turton, grateful to John Clarke the Sage of South Manchester CAMRA for bringing them to my attention. The first couple, (India Pale Ale & Porter) have been a superb start, so I leapt on this when I saw it on the opening day at BlackEdge Brewery’s excellent new bottle shop! (Read more here)

Black. (No shit!)

Not a massive head, but what there is is tan coloured. Bit worried about this, but needn’t have! The aroma is of a chocolate neither sweet nor overly bitter with an earthiness to it. Full-bodied, the beer has a slight sweetness with chocolate and a slightly bitter coffee note, really smooth and creamy texture with a finishing bitterness which is rather nice! The aftertaste has more of that roasted bitterness with a grassy hop note. A great beer on a cool spring evening. Another cracking beer from this Manchester brewery!

2. High Tea – Roosters Brewery (Collab with Melissa Cole) (Knaresborough, N Yorkshire) – 6.2% – Jasmine Green Tea IPA – £4.59 (500ml) – 10% for 12 or more – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)

I read a lot about this Yorkshire brewery and, to be honest, I haven’t had much of their beer and when I have, it has been at the tail end of the evening, when – if I’m honest – the taste buds have been a wee bit over worked (ONE way of putting it!). Following a twitter conversation with David Bishop, I decided that I needed to give Roosters a try when I’m…err….sober. So…I alighted on High Tea..Jasmine…Melissa Cole…so far so good!

A pale golden beer with a lasting and clinging white head and a fruity aroma that I’m struggling to identify. Oooh this is nice! Full-bodied and smooth, a bready malt base supports this fruitiness that carries through with the green tea following in line.

The flavour reveals in onion like layers. First the fruitiness, then the tea and then a more floral delicate flavour reveals itself and after every mouthful there’s a drying bitter almost tannic finish with the fruitiness and the tea holding on throughout. If only green tea tasted this good on its own, I’d drink it!

3. DBA – Cheshire Brewhouse – (Congleton, Cheshire) – 4.6& abv – Strong English Ale – £3.59 (500ml) – 10% for 12 or more – The Liquor Shop (Whitefield, N Manchester)

Let’s hear it for a good old English ale! Personally, I would call this a strong bitter, a maligned drink in these “C-Word” obsessed times. I love New World hoppage as much as the next drinker, but I am starting to feel like traditional beer styles are being written off – a dangerous thing in my opinion. I love a good creamy Mild and a well executed bitter can be every bit as rewarding as a big IPA. Sod it, it’s all opinion eh? Shane Swindells is adept at many styles, so this was more than worth a dabble…

Mid brown beer with a white head and quite a fruity aroma, hedgerow fruit like damson and plum. Medium bodied, this is really fruity with lots of plum and a hint of blackberry and vine fruits – actually, with hints that are rather reminiscent of Vimto! – leaving a rather curious warming feeling given its relatively light strength. A proper strong English bitter, not something I drink much of these days, but I’d certainly drink THIS again!

–

4. Dark Rum – Blackedge Brewery (Horwich, N of Bolton) – 4.6% abv – Porter – £2.20 (500ml) – 10% off 12 or more bottles – The Tottering Temple (Hampson Street, Horwich)

Another gleaned from my recent visit to the new BlackEdge Brewery outlet. A cracking place if you’re near Horwich (or even browsing around at Middlebrook!).

Unsurprisingly black with a light tan head and a chocolate and slightly smoky aroma. Oh yes! First flavour impression was of a treacle toffee, then that the treacle was coated in chocolate, then was soaked in some rum….layered like an onion!

Full-bodied and smooth, the light chocolate carries on through each mouthful but with each, the sweetness of the rum comes through more and more. The finish is quite dry and there is a distinct grassy hoppy aftertaste. Glad I waited for this. Superb. Need another bottle!

5. Cuckoo Number 6 – Five Oh Brew Co (Prestwich, N Manchester) – 7% abv – US IPA – Swap (330ml) – 0 – Direct from the brewer himself!

I’m immensely proud that (I think) I was the first blogger to review one of the fine beers brewed by Jamie Hancock, ex of Port Street Beer House – now of Beermoth on Tib Street. He has now, commercially, brewed a number of beers in different styles that have met with almost universal acclaim – certainly within my earshot anyway! With a little investment in larger brew kit, he’ll be going far.And soon! You heard it here 41st!

I was gutted that I couldn’t make his Keg launch on Wednesday of a variant of his excellent Smoked Stout, I don’t say that lightly either. I was therefore forced into the welcoming embrace of this beer….. which was…

Deep gold with a lasting white head and an aroma with Lemon and maybe Apricot. OOH! Big dirty hoppage in here!

Big body with some jaffa cake marmalade sweetness immediately pounced on and wrestled to the ground by resinous hops! Fruity with orange and apricot in the bitterness, this is a full on flavoured beer, but again, really smooth and easy drinking.

Each beer Jamie makes just gets better and better. The finish is fruity and dry with that resinous afterteaste lurking in the shadows. A superb beer!

6. 300 – Five Towns Brewery /North Riding Brewpub (Wakefield/Scarborough) – 7.3% abv – DIPA – £0 – 0% – Direct from the brewery

I’ve liked the beers made by Malcolm Bastow from the first sip. This man can brew on that 2.5 barrel kit in his “shed”. Beers from 2.9% to an Imperial Stout, all fabulous. Why pubs and shops over this side of the hill aren’t knocking down his door still phases me, only Allgates seem to have got the message about his beers. Wigan drinkers are lucky sods and there’s another 4 casks over here for The Road To Wigan Beer next week! If I had a shop or pub….. And don’t get me started about the tremendous beers made by Stuart Neilson at his Scarborough brewpub!

Bright and pale gold with a nice white head and a huge mango aroma, really fruity, making my mouth water!

Really full-bodied. There’s plenty of bready malt lending a slight sweetness supporting a massively fruity hop charge, oh but this is HOPPY! With bucket loads of mango dancing around my mouth, it was coated with a tropical fruity goodness. Mouthful after fruity mouthful!

This merits a #Beergasm and no mistake! A gentle, barely perceptible bitterness among the fruity hop assault leads to a pine and big grassy finish. An absolute belter up there with any DIPA I’ve had.

“Let’s Give Them Something To Drink” Indeed!

A really strong batch of beers this week, but this is probably the best bottle I’ve had so far this year – and THAT is saying something!

Right then…I’m off for a cold shower!

On that note…’til next time…(The Road To Wigan Beer next week – on the bus!!!)

Slainte!

P.S. Given the recent excellent blogging efforts of Glenn Johnson on Weight Loss whilst still drinking and the continuing excellence of Paddy McGrath, I have been shamed into following in their rather large footsteps and will henceforth be trying to lose weight whilst drinking excellent beer. At the end of each week’s bottle post I shall not how I’m doing and am doing this by merely curtailing my snacking habits.

Last Monday 07/04/2014, I weighed a ludicrous 17st 12lbs. This morning, I am down to 17st 3lbs. A good start I suppose!

By • Uncategorized • 0 • Tags: 300, Allgates Brewery, Billy Bragg, Blackedge Brewery, Cheshire Brewhouse, Cuckoo Number 6, Dark Rum, DBA, DIPA, Five Towns Brewery, Five-Oh Brew Co, High Tea, Jasmine Green Tea IPA, Melissa Cole, North Riding Brewpub, Porter, Roosters Brewery, Squawk Brewing Company, Stout, Strong English Ale, The Liquor Shop, The Road To Wigan Beer, The Tottering Temple, US IPA

The Tottering Temple

Bottled Beers – November 2014 – Part 2

Bottled Ales – June 2014 – Pt 3

Bottles Ales – June 2014 – Pt 2

Bottled Ales – June 2014 – Pt 1

Bottled Ales – May 2014 – Pt 1

Bottled Ales – April 2014 – Pt 3

Bottled Ales – April 2014 – Part 2

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