Not Tasting Notes Exactly

While in Leeds on Christmas Eve, I took my wallet in my hands and nipped into Zak Avery's shop for a quick peruse. I bought four bottles and had a chat with Ghost Drinker, who seems a very nice chap. All the more so since he recognised me first, though fair enough, I did have an "I am Tandleman" T shirt on.

Two of the bottles remain undrunk and will be saved a for a couple of months, but since they are Schneider Hopfenweisse and are pretty strong, I have no fears for their subsequent drinkability. The other two were from Thornbridge. The first, their Koelsch tastealike, Tzara, described as a Koeln Style Beer and the second, the so very drinkable Kipling. Apart from a bottle of Jaipur when it first came out, I don't believe I've ever had a bottled Thornbridge beer before.  Now Koelsch is a beer style I like to think I know a little about, so how does Tzara measure up?  Pretty well actually. It has the appealing freshness and clarity of taste that singles good koelsch out, though perhaps, perversely,  it is a little bit too good, being what Koelsch ought to be rather than what it usually is. Nonetheless it is a great beer, not over carbonated, smooth and tasty, with just that hint of fruitiness and that noble German hop finish that should mark it out. And does.  Overall I wouldn't mind buying a few of these again if I could get them locally at a decent price.

What about Kipling.  Again it is the clarity of taste that appeals. Full of tropical flavours and each one pin sharp in a beer that translates brilliantly to bottle.  If you want to know more, buy a pint of Kipling, or purchase a bottle with confidence. Well worth the money spent I have to say.  Someone at Thornbridge has got this bottling game cracked. OK I only had two samples, but boy were they good.  They know their stuff there.  They have great brewing skills and technique, bring out some tremendous beers and just quietly get on with doing it, which makes me admire them even more.

Have they sorted out cask Jaipur yet though?

Congratulations too to Beer Ritz, for selling such lovely fresh bottles.

Kate Garaway is a Lager Drinker

Now I don't watch GMTV, so haven't had the pleasure of seeing Kate, but she is bonny and seems a good sport. She doesn't drink wine, preferring lager. On the F Word which despite myself, I like, she was asked to choose between various lagers. She preferred Asda's Price Right one to Carlsberg's most expensive beer in the world. Not sure what that tells us about either beer, but the Carlsberg looked flatter than a witches tit. She rightly rejected a pizza flavoured beer then tried a "yard of lager". Hmm. I have heard of a yard of ale, but whatever. She got most of it over her chest, but regretfully wasn't wearing a T shirt. Gordon Ramsay got it all over himself too, but who cares about him.

Maybe Stonch should send her some Moravka? Could be just the boost it needs!

Hop Rocker Doesn't Rock for Me!

When I visited Zak Avery's shop in Leeds, I bought a bottle of Brew Dog Hop Rocker, described as "Statuesque Lager". Last night I decided to try it.

I have heard a lot of good things about Brew Dog, but my sole experience of it (and I can't remember which it was) was underwhelming. Would this fare better? Alas no. The beer is a hazy to muddy pale orange in colour. It matches the label very nicely! It opens with an appetising aroma of bready malt and sweetness. This sweetness is a bit of a recurring feature I'm afraid as it's all downhill from here. The beer has rather low carbonation, a sweet malty taste with some subdued vanilla edged citrus, ending with a fairly sticky sweetness and a little bitter hops. The whole thing reminded me of unfermented wort. I didn't like it one bit.

So the search for good Brew Dog goes on! At least the label was nice!

Beer from the Brewing Grave

My party went well. The nine of Phoenix was sunk happily and then augmented by Wernesgruner Pils, a beer I used to drink in Germany long before Aldi kindly imported it and a Czech beer supplied by the good people at Laithwaites, Primator. Both might be described in detail some other time, but filled the gap nicely and were appreciated by the die hards, who made the switch from ale to lager with obvious ease!

I am always keen to impart some knowledge and to broaden my friends beer experience, so I did an impromptu tasting of Kriek Boon and Oude Kriek Boon. For those interested, I reviewed both of these on the Oxford Bottled Beer Database in 2006. We then got on to discussing aged beer. I have some quite old Young's Special London Ale, but as this was my friends, I dragged out a bottle of Morlands Hen's Tooth. Morlands were taken over by Greede King in 2001 and closed, so this bottle is around seven years old.

The beer is bottle conditioned and opened with a gratifying hiss of CO2. It is a clear bottle which had been kept in the dark from the date of purchase and a large yeast deposit was still affixed to the bottom of the bottle. The beer poured clear and bright. It had a toffee/marmalade nose and great body and condition. It opened up with fine Seville orange flavours, developing into a toffee/ madeira middle and ended with a distinct marmalade, toffee and hop finish. It was a stunning beer. I am not really into aged beers as a genre, but this was quite something. I have two more left! Might give 'em another few months, but I suspect they may be at their zenith now.

Underwhelming

My final two tastings of the Christmas season were supped while watching "Extras" which I think is a cunning double bluff by Ricky Gervais to pretend that he is not a tosser when he actually is. But I digress.

Two much talked about beers are O'Hanlon's Port Stout and Meantime Winter Time. I have to say that I found both distinctly less than the sum of their parts. I had the O'Hanlon's first. It wasn't quite " if I hadn't paid for it, I'd chuck it down the sink", but it was certainly wandering in that general direction. The nose was dry and roasty, the beer was very dark, the head didn't last, the body was middling, the taste, sourish, with some roast malt and good bitterness. The finish was sharp, sour, dry and too long lasting for my liking. It wasn't a great beer.

The Meantime was remarkably similar in some general respects. It was dark, the head died very quickly, it had a kind of sourish touch to it. It was just about a better beer, but the dark cocoa taste and alcohol edge were unappealing. The middle was kind of figgy and coffee with harsh vanilla. with underlying resinous hops. It didn't meld into one in a way that it should, but remained as its constituent parts with a disagreeable harshness throughout.

Both beers were bottle conditioned and both had best before dates in September 2009. Both beers improved a bit as they warmed up. My guess is that they were just too young and hadn't had the time to let their potential develop. I hope my charitable theory is right and they are not just crap beers!

Sorry for the poor picture, but I couldn't be bothered with my camera, so just used my phone.