Sneaking In Under the Wire

I didn't do Golden Pints this year - or for that matter Golden Posts.  I don't really relate to the categories that much in GPs and if I want to praise posts I do so as they arise. Seems more useful that way.  Nonetheless if I had done GPs, I found one that would certainly have got a mention.  It is Ossett Inception, a pale, golden, full bodied, bitter and resinous number from a brewery that is certainly in my circle of trust.  I came across it at the Regal Moon, as I was there borrowing a pumpclip a few days ago. The brewery indicates it has five malts and five hops. I don't know what they are, but it is a cracker and shows that well established brewers can produce fantastic beers that are brilliantly clear, yet full of clean hop bitterness.  No muddy imprecise beers here.

It is still available. Seek it out.

Happy New Year to all my readers. I think you'll be hearing a lot more from me in 2015.  I'm off soon to try Lees new seasonal. Archer Stout. Cask stout? What's not to like?  I hope nothing as it will be my first beer of 2015.

A Good Beer Day

Now that my Belgian man flu has subsided to a cough and my nose has dried up, it was time to consider beer. Beer with taste and where better to start than with a bottle of Hawkshead New Zealand Pale Ale, kindly given to me by Matt, the brewer when he visited the National Winter Ales Festival.

I have to declare an interest here. I am a big fan of Hawkshead beers and will sup them wherever I see them. From Windermere Pale through to NZPA, they are tremendously well made beers. Hint to other brewers. Make your beers as clean as Matt's and you are half way there. Now if I was, say, the Beer Nut, I'd wax lyrical about tropical fruits, wonderful hoppy aromas and that sort of thing. But I'm not and he's way better at that kind of thing, so I won't. Instead I'll compare it to the draught (cask) version and instead tell you it is a pretty good approximation, with the carbonation held at a slightly lower level than most bottled beers, allowing the craftsmanship of the beer to zing out. It was good. Very good.

So how do you follow that? You go to the Baum in Rochdale and purchase a pint of Ossett Snow Drop, a pale, well balanced beer with moderate hoppiness, through to a strongly bitter and hoppy finish. Then you toddle down to the Regal Moon and spend the rest of the evening with your chums drinking Ossett JPA, another pale beer, but this time much more hop forward, while avoiding that wateriness that spoils many such beers.

There you have it. I have mentioned both breweries before and no doubt will again. Why? Because they are bloody good!


If you want to put a date in your diary, mark May down. Ossett will be putting Citra out. It is a stunner.

Ossett on Fire

No, not the brewery, but the beer. Last week's visit to the Regal Moon brought the reward of perfect Ossett Citra - one of my top beers of the year so far - and last night it was back to an old favourite, Ossett Silver King. In brilliant nick and tasting wonderful, this was a reminder, as if one was needed, that good breweries usually stay good. Ossett are on top of their game at the moment and are well worth seeking out.

The beer was flying out and the only worry was that it wouldn't last until bus time. But it did, so happy days.

An honourable mention too for my final half of Acorn Gorlovka Stout. Another tremendous beer.