A taste of the Ridings

I've always felt an affinity for Yorkshire, it feels similar in part to my home county of Somerset but with friendlier, more down to Earth people. After being welcomed with open arms to Leeds for the beer bloggers conference last year and numerous trips to York, I find myself wishing I were living there. One of the Leodesians playing a significant role in the organisation was Leigh Linley (of The Good Stuff) who ably led a group of maybe 40 thirsty beer bloggers around town on the Thursday evening; so when I heard he was writing a book on Yorkshire beer I knew it would be a great read.

The book!
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After receiving Great Yorkshire Beer I can say I certainly wasn't disappointed. It perfectly catches Leigh's personality that's shown so well on his blog by providing a whirlwind tour around some of the choicier movers and shakers in the Yorkshire brewing scene, interspersed with beer reviews, food recipes and other choice tidbits. I'll definitely have to try the beer battered mussels which sound like a perfect beer snack.

Its great to have a "book-shaped" book after most of my last book purchases have been abnormal sizes and shapes...they're OK for coffee table usage but not practical to take in hand luggage! I like the pump clip design for the front cover and wonder when Leigh is going to turn his hand to brewing ;).

For me its interesting to hear some more of the back story for breweries I know and love, plenty of familiar faces of people I've shared pints with in the past but also the chance to put a face to a name for some of the other breweries I love. Alongside these better known brewers are people that not even I have heard of, which I'll try to rectify ASAP! This book is very much about the stories behind the beers and breweries with the tasting notes as an aside.

Leeds Brewery's Hellfire

There are also plenty of fantastic pictures throughout, and the font is a sensible size for all of you whose eyes have become weary over the years.I think Leigh's doen a great job at picking a variety of breweries to showcase the region and I'm on the look out for the beers as we speak - though if you're looking for an exhaustive tick list, look elsewhere.

There are a few layout bits I would have done differently, not least having the brewer contact details at the start of their sections as it took me a while to find them! Also, I was surprised to not find twitter names alongside the more traditional addresses, given what Leigh said about the breweries' use of social media. Not even his own account or blog link is given! Would have been good to include at least the postcodes of the pubs mentioned as well.  I think all of these data plus some handy Google maps could be included on the Great Yorkshire Beer page of Leigh's blog which would add some great functionality and allow for periodic updates in the same vein of Des De Moor's London pub guide. A few of the beer pictures/ pumpclips don't match up with the tasting notes opposite, which may cause confusion particularly if you're reading after sampling a few Great Yorkshire Brews...
Would also have been nice to have a beer index and bibliography/ further reading section, though that's probably the inner list geek in me speaking!

Beer taps at Magic Rock, Huddersfield

Overall a fantastic book and I'd love to see more regional efforts cataloguing the rise and rise of local brewing, that's a challenge to you, dear reader to get out and chronicle your own counties! You can pick up the book for the reasonable price of £10 post paid on the publisher's website or if you're within travelling distance the fantastic York Tap is hosting a launch party next Thursday 30th (details here).

IPA is dead Part 3

In what is now becoming an annual tradition, Brewdog have recently released a batch of single-hopped IPAs. I bought a set of four bottles but also managed to snag a couple of one-offs in Brewdog Bristol, which I'll comment about in here too. This little lot took my Brewdog sample rate to a round 100, still 75 yet to try!
2012 reviews plus some mixed drinks last year.

First up: the four pack. Dana, a Slovenian Styriandescendent, Golding a UK hop that needs no introduction, Waimea an antipodean tropical workhorse and El Dorado a new proprietary US variety.

Dana was nothing to write home about. Nettles, melted plastic and cheap perfume on the nose not a particularly auspicious start. Medium carbonation, cloying sweetness, higher alcohols, herbal. Just not well balanced. Astringent notes but mostly sweet bready malt.

Golding (PDF)behaves as it should  peppery hops and citrus on the nose, balanced by a sweet caramel from the malt. It just doesn't have the power of the US varieties. Full bodied with a herbal hop bitterness, malt sweetness, slightly cheesy hop and dry finish. A solid UK style IPA in the realm of Marston's Old Empire. 

Waimea (vy-me-ah) (PDF) was the star of the 4-pack for me not so much with the saponic citrus hops nose redolent of fairly liquid but the lightly acidic sweet citrus juices, lime was very refreshing, overcoming the heavy malt sweetness that plagues some in the range. The result is a deceptively easy drinking IPA that could pass as a session beer if the ABV wasn't 6.7. See here for an Allgates brewed session beer using Waimea.

El Dorado is a really interesting hop. In keg aromas of kaffir lime and green tea abound. Its fairly herbal to taste, with tea tannins and some licorice notes, creating a very dry finish. In bottle its more of the same really, though some more traditional passion fruit an dpine on the nose, the tannins, kaffir lime and licorice are all there in abundance.

Simcoe single hop was snagged in bottle form on a trip to Brewdog in  Bristol last November. This American hop needs no introduction from me, Even at six months old it was one of the better offerings, pouring dark amber with white head collapsing to a lacing. Pithy orange on the nose. Orange peel and juice, bitter, medium bodied, medium carbonation and a sticky finish.

I was able to try Amarillo on keg in Brewdog Bristol. Hazy amber with off white lacing. Sticky pithy Seville orange, caramel and orange juice, medium bodied, fairly pithy dry finish. My favourite of all single-hop efforts to date, possibly helped by the freshness and perfect carbonation in the keg.

Not a bad showing this year then, I wonder which four we'll be treated to in 2014. This year's 4-pack is still available for £9.50 on Brewdog online and at other usual suspect outlets.

Love & Death Inc: The beers

Its taken a little longer than planned to get this post written up, but etter late than never!

As previously mentioned, Belfast cocktail destination Love & Death Inc have recently launched a new  beer range, which I gather has been brewed at ??? I've had no replies to my attempt at contact, but I was told Lurgan when I picked up the beers (see below for more details). They are priced at £4/ bottle but I was given a couple of bottles for review purposes.

The first beer labelled Gold I (Dry hopped) (4.7%) pours clear pale gold with slight white fluffy head. Resinous pine and pithy lemon on the nose. Fairly high carbonation, with a big lupulin hit but little hop flavour, there's some grassy/cereal malt there instead. Bitter and dry finish. An enjoyable beer but needs more late hops. Great level of dry hopping though, and impressive for a first iteration, I could see this being well received by the lager crowd looking for something different.

IPA 3 (5.7%) on the other hand pours a hazy amber with a creamy dense head. Tangerine and Weet-a-bix on the nose is a promising start but none of those aromas translate into flavour - possibly they're obscured by the high carbonation. Instead we get a dry, rasping herbal bitterness and plenty of vegetal hops. Very much a traditional English style IPA, not sure if that's what the bar was going for. Again, missing the flavour addition. Pleasant enough, but for me just wrong choice of hops.

Its great to see another brewer on the Northern Ireland scene, there's plenty of space for more! A quick back of the envelope calculation suggests 18 breweries per million people in England; so Ireland's 1.8 million people could support a few more, especially brew pubs (more on that in a future post perhaps)! Of course antiquated licensing laws and the purchasing power of that well known South of the border conglomerate don't help.

I think the first trial batches have already flown out, but if you happen to be passing through, make sure to ask as I expect future releases will soon be forthcoming. Let me know your thoughts if you've already tried them!

The original whisky barrel aged beer

A new limited edition Ola Dubh has just been released from Harviestoun, aged in a 1991 Highland Park whisky cask. 20,000 bottles are available in various places around the country and also soon from the Harviestoun website. The plan is to release a single age-statement batch of Ola Dubh every year from now on, with the "core range" of 12, 16 and 18 to continue.

The 10.5% imperial porter is a full 2.5% stronger than its previous (not necessarily older!) siblings with a sweeter flavour due to the previous use of the barrels for sherry.  

"delicious smoky-sherry notes on the palate, the flavours deriving at least as much from the whisky-infused-wood as the spirit itself."  

The release comes 5 years after he initial launch of the Ola Dubh range, the first beer in the UK to be aged in whisky barrels from a named supplier and traceable to the batch. The original 40 and 30 y/o releases are currently the best in Scotland on rate beer and bested only by Old Chimneys Good King Henry Special Reserve in the whole of the UK.

I wrote about some of the previous releases for the inaugural international stout day in 2011 and if I find a bottle of this one I'll certainly get my thoughts up on here! 22 years old will put it between the 16 and 30 year old varieties; so I wonder how will that reflect in the taste. Let me know if you get to try this before I do! 

Fun Facts: 1991 was also the year the first website was launched, Terry Pratchett released his 11th Discworld novel Reaper man and Freddie Mercury died of AIDs. I turned 5 years old (unconnected to previous facts!) 

This release coincides with the 30th anniversary year of the inception of the brewery.  In that time its been through a number of changes, but the current head brewer Stuart Cail has been with them for the last 18 years. 

That's who those of us attending EBBC will be lucky enough to hear give a talk on whisky cask ageing, which along with the keynote speech by Garret Oliver will be one of my main highlights of the weekends. There may also be a sweetener in the deal, but you'll have to come along to find out what it is! 

Its not too late to sign up to EBBC (11th-13th July 2013); so head here and do so now. Its only £95 for the weekend, which may seem a lot, but given the average cost of a pint is somewhere north of £3 these days is only about 11pints worth, which you'll more than manage to recuperate over the weekend! On the same weekend is the second Edinburgh Independents Beer Fest and Annual CAMRA Scottish Real Ale Fest; so you'll be spoilt for choice. Hope tosee some of you there.

Edit: there's even more on that week than I'd realised, check out Rich's Blog, the Beercast for more details.

Harviestoun
@HarviestounBrew 
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The Improved Barley Mow

From @Barleymowbris Twitter feed

On my previous visit to Bristol I managed a swift pint in Bristol Beer Factory pub the Barley Mow. It turned out to be my pint of the year, scoring a perfect 5 on ratebeer. However I was lucky to have a got a pint as it was at closing time and the pub was empty

Fast Forward a few months and on a Friday evening and the pub is rammed. Its recent refurbishment has given it more than just a lick of paint but 10 keg and 8cask lines too as well as a tasty food menu.

There's plenty of seating for diners and drinkers alike, with friendly staff and plenty of beers to choose from.

This time around I had a half of Bristol Beer Factory's Acer but the sampling was all about the guest beers. Rich and sweet Summer Wine Mokko Milk Stout went down a treat and made a great latte Stout when mixed with Roosters' coffee creation Londinium. This went well with the sharer platter as a starter (curry scotch egg!)

Magic Rock Dancing Bear was a fantastic pils style beer, but with an antipodean feel due to the tropical flavours that appeared (despite using noble hop varieties Strisselspalt, Herrsbrucker and Hallertau). A lovely beer that Daisy enjoyed too.

From @Barleymowbris Twitter feed

I picked up a number of interesting bottles, (some of which are now safely cached in my dads flat). What caught my eye were the barrel aged variants of Southville Hop and West Coast Red. This is barrel ageing done well, with nothing too aggressive transferred, though I can't help but feeling some of the vibrancy from each of the beers was lost in the process.

I managed to have a chat to manager Emily too, though I didn't realise it at the time!

I couldn't pass up the chance to have Buxton Imperial Black Rocks on keg either, which was even better than the previous batches I've had in bottle... Another 5/5

The Barley Mow comes highly recommended and is a welcome (re-) addition to the already thriving Bristol pubs scene. It makes an ideal starting/ finishing point for a Bristol pub crawl within 5 minutes stroll of Temple Meads' grade I listed splendour.

The Barley Mow

39 Barton Road
St Philips
Bristol, BS2 0LF

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Noster Not for me

An interesting bunch this. My eye was caught by the sleek, shapely bottles on the Drinkstore page and before I knew it I was cracking them open one Saturday evening with Reuben (Tale of Ale).

VG Noster is a Spanish brewery, who seem to be fairly new, (if the lack of ratebeer reviews is anything to go by...). These beers are all at session strength, but in a classy 750ml bottle which suggests to me they're supposed to be challenging wines' dominance in the Spanish market, whilst not being too challenging for those used to likes of San Miguel and Estrella Damm. As all good breweries know, it is the brewery name that needs to be emphasised, beer names are not as important when first launching (as long as its nothing stupid like this lot).

Copper is  pale copper in colour (say what you see?) with a hazy, off-white head, metallic nose with redcurrant, very high carbonation, sweet redcurrant flavours and a short finish at first but as it warms lasting blackcurrant appears. A rose wine substitute perhaps?

Golden Ale Hazy golden with large bubbly white head, fairly metallic nose and some pineapple yeast esters in behind. Slightly tinny flavour with sweet malt and yeast esters, very high carbonation, v easy drinking.(No picture as I drank it too quickly...)

Quercus Pale pours a clear ruby-amber with a foamy, fluffy creamy coloured head. Earthy sage and parsley notes on the nose. Again with the high carbonation of its siblings, there's herbal apricot and caramel notes plus a fairly heavy body and long dry finish. Like a vermouth or dry sherry. This is the beer I found most interesting, but 1/3 bottle is sufficient, then the herbal flavours become too much, without the food to help counteract it. Translating the Spanish from the website, this beer is suggested for oily fish and dark meats, and I can certainly see it working on these occasions. Couldn't work our why its named after the latin for oak though...

So whilst I'm probably not their target market, I think the beers are decent enough, though wouldn't be my first choice when pairing food. I hope they find their place in the market and will certainly look out for future offerings.

Buxton Small Batch

I've not been shy to proclaim my love of Buxton beers, from the aggressively hoppy yet oh so tropically fruit moreish Axe Edge to the loving caress of chocolate enrobed orange of Imperial Black Rocks and all beers in between I've been pretty impressed by their range. So when I heard about their special reserve releases, I did my best to get hold of some of them, resorting to jiffy bag posting from Beer Ritz (Thanks Zak!).

There have been five in all, though the Berlinner weisse has only just been relased; so hope to pick that up somewhen soon. And if anyone happens to be sitting on a stash of Tsar Bomba...

So in order of release we start with number one, barrel aged Tsar. Original Tsar is a brash brute of an imperial stout, full in body with plenty of coffee and chocolate.

Half a year in the barrel certainly tones it down a bit, but at the same time becomes more complex. Vanilla, caramel and cola on the nose with dusty molasses in behind. Full bodied, coffee, caramel, dry hop bitterness, tobacco, lemon and dry malt towards the end. After allowing to warm up a bit notes of honey sweetness and a long dry, slightly wild yeast finish appear. This is barrel ageing done absolutely right.

Next up is Smokey and the Band Aid an "Imperial Smoked Rye Porter". Sometimes rye beers can be unpleasantly meaty, and this started off that way with an Intriguing aroma of roast lamb and smoked ham with slightly sweaty washed rind cheese. Its a fairly light bodied beer for its 7% strength, with plenty of bitter roast barley and some cocoa combat the gentle peaty caress and sticky sweet meaty rye. A well balanced brew that has probably mellowed with age. Another winner in my book

Last up is James' forray into the world of DIPA, Wyoming Sheep Ranch. Hold-up, i hear you dry, isn't Axe Edge labelled as a double IPA too? Yes, that as may be, but its 6.8% ABV is paltry in comparison into this 8.4% behemoth. But unfortunately I wasn't a fan. They say you drink with your eyes, which didn't bode well for this Super hazy soupy amber pour. 

The nose was promising with subtle mango and passion fruit on the nose. A heavy body with floaties and fairly boozy obscures any hop flavours that were once there.Maybe I got a duff bottle? At least Buxton yeast fairly flavour neutral but the hop hit I was expecting from axe edge was missed.When you come to expect perfection, even an acceptable beer is disappointing, but I'll give it another go if I see it elsewhere!

The maverick genius behind these brews has now moved on from Buxton (you can follow James here on twitter) but his sizable boots have more than ably been filled by Colin Stronge of Marble* and Black Isle pedigree. Here's hoping he carries on with these more niche brews.

*Coincidentally, James has been spotted wreaking havoc in the marble brewhouse...

Buxton Brewery

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