Beer Blog & Beer Reviews

I was on a girly alcohol detox and was hankering after some of the good stuff, so done what any good man would do… and cheated.

Erdinger Alcohol Free to the rescue?

Could my salvation lie in an experemental bottle of alcohol free beer? Erdinger Alkoholfrei was my first choice.

With low hopes and a heavy heart I open the bottle to a fizzy chorus heralding my surely impending doom.

I’ve never had alcohol free beer before so this Erdinger Alkoholfrei is all new to me, but smells nice and malty like Horlicks, a hell of a lot like Horlicks! but not like beer :s

It tastes like fizzy cold Horlicks… though oddly it’s not a horrible taste!

The first thing is the fizz on your tongue witch i think is a bit strong and maybe an attempt to fool you into thinking this is real beer.

When the soft malt taste rolls over your mouth soothing your pallet after the fizz attack the “beer” comes together into a cup of cold mostly Horlicks. There is a very small amount of bitter just before the end to remind you it’s meant to be beer.

I’m not going to say it’s bad, because it isn’t, nor am i going to say its beer, because it just doesn’t taste like any beer I’ve had before. If it was going to taste like anything it would be the Sainsbury’s Abbaye biere de belgique I reviewed a long time ago.

A couple of things to consider:

Alcohol free beer is actually only <0.5% but with new lower drink dirving laws can you even drink many of these?

Is it any less likely to give you a beer belly?

Russian Guinness ey?

Stout = Guinness, and Imperial = Russian. So there you have it! Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout is Russian Guinness, It’s Fact!

Samual Smiths Imperial Stout

Samual Smiths Bottle labels

Maybe my facts are off a little there… but check out that fantasticly designed bottle label. Anyone who knows me knows
I am a sucker for a pretty bottle this one looks fantastic. The artistic skill thats gone into this is easy to miss, but the little
swirls and flourishes in gold and black on a white background scream class to me. and its not a easy look to carry off.

I’m trying to take better Photo’s these days, once I have the use of a studio (watch this space) I will have some much better pictures on the blog. I used a 50D to photo this bottle, and I had to make do with the on camera flash, but I think the picture turned out ok. Back to having fun with the blog indeed.

Sam Smiths Imperial Stout Review

So, Imperial Stout here we go. Sam Smith’s is contracted to supply the Queens army, so If this is what they Queens armed forces drink then, with all the crap they go through, It should be good enough for me.

It opens without a lots of fizz and smells like I would expect. Dark and burnt but choclatley with a hint of sweetness in the
smell with a tiny bit of resin. It doesnt smell strong but at 7% I bet it tastes it.

First Impressions

My first impressions of the beer are that it is not as extreme a flovour as I am used to from this genere of beer. It does have
all the flavours in there, but a bit like admirals ale it has a burnt nutty thing about it.

The Flavours Develop

As you make your way down the bottle sip by sip you start to get some of the warmth coming through the beer along with what
you might more easily recognise as a stout ale.

It doesnt taste too alcoholic and has a medium mouth feel, it’s not at all like drinking your dinner liek the popular saying goes with Guinness.

It doesnt get too heavy and stays pretty stable all the way through drinking it at a very slighly chilled temperature.

Comparisons to Be Drawn

If I were to compaire this too a beer I would say st Austell’s Admiral ale is a close candidate, though its more like the charming
younger brother compaired to the more adult stronger less fanciful grown up sumual smiths.

I let some “Normal” people try it and they liked it too. So there you go Smaual Smiths imperial stout a winner across the board.

I needed some toilet roll so I jumped in the car and went to buy some and as usual I managed to come home with some beer.

When I was there I found Williams IPA on sale with Dogma for one pound a bottle on a aisle end. I heard a it Williams IPA (brewed in alloa scotland)was good online on some blogs so thought I would I would give it a go.

Williams Bros IPA

Aparently it was one of four beers by williams beers in the sainsburys beer challenge.

WIlliams IPA smells very fruity and hoppy just like a good IPA should be, it Smells sharp and hoppy with some grapefruit overtones. It doesn’t smell as soft as juipur or deuchars but smells good.

Mmm… I can see why this was among the winners at the beer contest in sainsburys.
Its a really good IPA, and for a single British pound its an absolute steal.

It has a nice range of flavours as it rolls over your tongue, its nice to have a beer which isn’t a one trick pony for flavour. It starts nice and malty and rolls through to bitter and fruity then onto the hops as you would expect. Leaves a nice hoppy after taste.

I’ve been drinking darker more ale’y beers recently and this reminds me than even in winter a good IPA is always a treat.

I suppose the only thing you really want to know is if you should buy some if you see it.
Williams IPA is defiantly a good IPA, its better than a lot of other stuff I try on draught, so yes, buy some especially if its only a quid.

I Bloody love IPA, and this is a good one. Light yellow, very in style. Malty, through to bitter and onto fruity hops, its delicious.

I suspect it might not be bitter enough for some people, but its good enough for me.

Oh my goodness that smells like sweet spiced berries, malted and baked soft vanilla cake dough, but as sweet as all that. The smell reminds me of tribute ale, but it has stronger smells of burnt stuff and darker deeper berry type fruit maybe juniper berry or something. Reading the bottle I can identify the woody oak smells it talks about, it smells deep and rich.

In there Words:

“This strong beer is brewed and racked into oak whisky casks before being hidden away in our cellars. During its long slumber the beer undergoes an extraordinary transformation, emerging rich and complex with hints of whisky, creamy vanilla, toffee and spice.”

I took a good 10 min just smelling this trying to get a handle on it and enjoying aroma.

Waiting for the flavors is rewarded with a good number tasty happenings in your mouth.

I like beer like this…

I will explain more…

It has more than one flavor, It isn’t dull, there is no mistaking this for a pint of landlord or black sheep (both fine ales) becuase it has lots of different,non standard, flavors. I dont know how much effort goes in to making a beer this complex and interesting, though I could imagine new town have been built in less time.

So what exactly does Smugglers Vintage Ale taste like?

Well its has all the hall marks of a good ale, it has the whisky notes from its life smuggled away in a oak whicky barrel. I’m pleased the whisky hasnt parralized the beer but instead left a trace of its flavor lingering like an oily slippery taste of something old and warm mixed with herby coriander.

There are about three stages to the flavor first a sweet sugary malt with a slight licorice, then secondly you get a little of the whisky and some good strong smooth type hops, and then finally your get the full force of the whisky warmth. Its like a gentle lapping of a sea rather than a tusnami of strong whisky but its enough to enjoy.

Unlike Brewdog paradox I would drink a pint of this, I would buy a big bottle of it and I would recomend it to a friend as enjoyable experience rather than just ‘an expereice’. You get the beer taste clear and deep as well as some whisky not just all whisky with a bit of beer flavor. Thats just personal opinion mind, I know plenty of people who love Paradox!

If you want a complex bitter/sweat interesting yet enjoyable beer this is one option for sure. Its the best whisky aged beer I’ve found yet.

Winter is Coming, What Are You Drinking?

With the winter coming some good darker ales are in order! Here is safe and tasty bet, St Austell’sAdmirals Ale.

The last time I drank one of these I was on BBC Radio Tees talking about homebrew and the beer blog. Lisa McComick liked the St Austells ale describing it as dark chocolatey and complicated.

St Austells Admirals Ale

According to bottle:

Brewed in cornwall, to celebrate the 200th anaversery of nelsons victory at trafalgar in 1805. It was at the St Austells blue anchor Inn that the kings messenger carrying news of the battle, first stopped for refresehment on his long journey from cornwall to london.

Admiral ale glugs out of the bottle dark brown with a slightly off white head.

It smells sugary and burnt, deep and dark. I apologise I have a bit of a cold and a blocked nose, so my nose might be tricks on me.

Admirals ale has a light mouth feel, its not thick and viscous like I thought it would be.

It tastes like choclotae and charcoal, malted oats and brown ale. The head lasts about as long as an ice cream at a vindiloo chuging contest and disapears leaving no trace. Pour all the yeast in your glass if you like the bitter yeast tastes.

Apparently Admirals ale is made by using local grains especially malted using a unqiue kilining process for intense flavors. The result is the usual complex deep and intense falvors, non of which are overpowering. St austell balance the flavors with the skill of a old circus tight rope walker from a circus.

In the comming winter months I can imagine I will be having a few more of these.

Opening Maisels Weisse

Opening the bottle shows medium to high amounts of carbonation (fizzyness). Pouring it shows it to be a head happy beer with a dark straw colour and white head.

Maisel weisse Bottle

As with all weisse and white beers (especially a hefeweizen I like this) it looks cloudy. This particular weisse isnt as cloudy as some others like floris or meantime wheat.

What does the weisse smell like?

It has the traditional wheat/wisse/wit smell in droves with the smell finishing with a malty digestive note. It’s almost like banana cheese cake base but with all the usual weisse notes too.

What does Maisels Weisse taste like?

All of the lovely wheaty flavors are there on first taste, the flavors are on your tongue as soon as it hits your mouth. Some wheat beers can have a musty, sweaty taste and smell but maisels weisse happily is missing those sour notes.

I can taste more malt in this than ususal with weisse/wit beers, but with a smooth mellow wheat flavor th biscuity malt blends well with the wheat to make a good rounded beer.

Trying to think about individual flavors there are: dried banana, very slight cloves and crème, plus the usual wheaty ‘yeastyness’. Almost like a savory desert beer.

Some times when you drink beer you can tell right away its quality and that you are going to enjoy every drop of it you ever drink untill the day you die, well this is one of those beers and seriously challenges some of my long held favorites for a place in my favourite beers.

If you take all of the good bits from Leffe, Floris Wit, meantime wheat and add make them into a smooth, seriously tasty beer thats not only easy to drink, but has very good flavor and body then you might be able to imagine maisel’s Weisse. It even tastes good ‘on the burp’.

Summary

Smooth flavors and feel, rounded and balanced, easy going but with plenty of flavors.

This is the sort of beer I made this blog to talk about. Its foreign, interesting, imported, fantastic to taste and out of the ordinary. I might not have known about it if it were not for the Continually kind and knowledgeable people at purity brewery, so again thank you to them for importing this wonderful beer.

Disagreement in the camp?

I’ve heard people say the flavors aren’t strong enough in it which is all well and good if your are drinking beer for the sake of being arty and poncey, but I drink beers looking for a beer to enjoy regardless of the snobbery, I just want something that tastes good and this is it. if you want a challenging you can drink some overpowering, brutal beer, but this to me is beer for the ordinary beer lover who drinks beers of all kinds of beers and loves it because they taste good, not becasue they are challenging and intellectual.

You can get Maisels Weissen from Purity Brewery along with some other great imported beers.

St Austell Proper Job Delivery

Proper Job is a strongly hopped, 5.5% IPA from Cornwall’s St Austell Brewery. St Austell’s beers are almost always good so I am expecting good things.

St Austell Proper Job IPA

From the Austells Mouth

Proper Job is an authentic IPA brewed with Cornish spring water and malt made from a blend of malts including Cornish grown Maris Otter barley.

Does it smell like a Proper Job?

Proper Job Smells a little like lemon curd, grapefruit and malt. It smells much more fruity than I expected, a result of the chinook and cascade hops I imagine. It is medium gold in colour and has a light medium mouth feel.

The taste is all about grapefruit when you first try it, and as expected it is very hoppy. There is clearly a excellent selection of hops in here yet it doesn’t have a biting bitter nasty taste that you can get from overly hopped beers.

When you have had a bit more than half a pint, the yeast and hops mingle into a place where there flavours dance and balance. The bitterness comes through more and interacts with the fruity flavours, but says balanced in a happy place where there is malt sweetness, fruity bitterness and lots of drinkability.

The balance and poise that is almost a trademark of St Austell are the thing which always shines through for me and makes everything they touch turn to gold.

St Austell Proper Job is 5.5% so you can keep your Stella, this is a proper man’s drink and I could drink it all night long if only a local would put it on tap.

If you are looking for a nice and fruity session IPA then this is definitely a good choice.

Proper Job is dedicated to the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment who stoutly defended their garrison during the Indian Mutiny in 1857-58. Throughout the siege the traditional “Sunset Ceremony” (beating the retreat and lowering the national flag) was ignored as an act of defiance to the mutineers. In recognition of a “Proper Job” Queen Victoria awarded the 32nd the honour.

You can buy it directly from the brewery at St Austell Brewery.

Veltins Pilsner comes in a great botttle. It’s 500ml, Green and has Veltins Pilsner’s Brand Embossed on the neck. Its tall and thin. The Label is classy if not uninspiring.

Veltins Pilsner

An interesting Veltins beer fact is…

“Veltins owns the naming rights to the football stadium of FC Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen. It is one of the most modern stadiums in Europe and hosted matches in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.” now that is a beer AND football fact.

I served my Veltins Pilsner slightly chilled, I wanted it to be refreshing but also wanted to be able to taste it.

Veltins Pilsner pours like it should, its a very very clear and pale fizzy yellow. It smells as I would expect but it doest have any harsh alocholoic notes in the nose. It actully smells more malty, and a little largery as you would expect.

The head holds OK, but it is clearly mostly the gas forming up the bubbles without any particles in the liquid holding them together. Its invevtable with a beer this clear and in this style really.

Veltins Pilsner Taste

Now that is seriously good! Its like british largers bigger, older more refined brother. That is suprising to me. All of the tosh larger you get over here, and even the pilsners you can commonly get, are all flavorless piss water (to use the common parlence).

Its not actually that fizzy and has a much fuller more rounded taste than I expected. I can just imagine sitting in Le Mans town centre watching the old car parade drinking this under the french mid day sun.

The flavors go like this: First is very slight harshness as the co2 bubbles hit your tounge and relsease flavor with it, then you get a little bit of bitterness then a little bit of sweetness then a nice warming sesatation as it glides down your throat leaving you with a hoppy after taste as a good bye present.

The malt and barley tastes come through about mid way through the bitter/sweet phase of the drink leaning towards the sweetness.

One thing against the Veltins is that the long term aftertaste leaves something to be desired. Its just like a normal largers but with a consolation of a bit of saaz hop bite at the back of your throat.

This isn’t my usual fare and I will be honest its not a bottle I would normaly pick up if I were in a in a shop or on a website. But for the style of beer, and for the hot summers or even dare I say it the first pint after a “hard days work” its a cracker.

Take this to your larger drinking mates and give them a bottle. The charateristics that Veltins Pilsner shares with theor usual pint will make sure they are not scared off but the added flavors maltyness, hops, roundedness and complexity of the Veltins Pilsner will open there eyes to bigger better things.

If I was forced to compaire it to somehting the average person might recognise I would say its most like Nastro Azzurro by Peroni, but with more malt, hops and flavor in general. Serve chilled at as close to 5pm as possable or with Good helping of the old UV.

I am going to end this post on another beer fact:

“The first batch of modern pilsener was produced on 5th October 1842 by Josef Groll in the town of Pilsen from the Citzens Brewery (Bürger Brauerei)” Thats another beer fact!

You can get Veltins Pilsner from Purity Brewery along with some other great imported beers.

GBBF 2009 Champion Beer

I had been following the GBBF 2009 with unmitigated amounts envy and so when the over all winner was announced as “rudagte Ruby Bold” I decided I would stop at no length to get some.

Luckily for me a nice guy on Twitter called @RealAlereviews was visiting Beer ritz in Leeds (UK) and agreed to post me a bottle. So thank you to you sir!

Rudgate Ruby Mild. Beer of Britain?

Now I’ve always thought Rudgate was a Novelty brewery, I figured it was born form the near by Viking Centre toutist attraction. But after this bottle I might have to change my views.

Opening The bottle

It has a lively opening, do be careful not to let it fizz over.

There is a strong smell as soon as the bottle is open, even at half an arms length away.

The smell is two part as you inhale it. 1st) It smells sweet and ‘beery’ 2nd) caramel and very slightly treacle smells.

Pouring It

It pours dark and the head likes to come up fizzy and caramel brown. The beer is not black but its very dark. You can barely see a hint of brown as light travels through it.

There isn’t much hop smell but as you put it to your mouth to taste you get another blast of that wonderful strong burnt flavor.

Drinking the Ruby Mild

mmm… nice, from the smell and looks I thought it would be thick and viscous drink but its a good light consistency. The flavours are nice and light. The types of flavors in this beer are really bold flavors but in manageable amounts.

The malt and lightly burnt sugar comes through first, then lastly comes a light treacle flavor (especially on the breath). If I were brave I might even suggest a little licorice flavour buried deep in the beer hiding behind the other flavors. But I’m not so you will have to decide for yourselves.

This definitely isn’t a light summary beer in my opinion. Its a beer to drink in a low ceiling pub near a fire and a dog possibly playing a game of dominoes (you not the play playing dominoes).

These aren’t the types of flavors I usually go for (burnt dark sugars), or even like, because they are usually so strong and overbearing but in Ruby Mild they are light and airy. If you do try to drink dirty great big mouthfuls of this the flavors will intensify mind and give you a huge flavor.

My Ruby Mild Review

Yes it is a good beer, is it the best in Britain? Maybe in its category, but I’m not sure about best in Britain.

Now I can be cynical if I try and if I didn’t know any better I might say that Ruby Gold winning gold might be an attempt to re-invigorate the mild style of beer which has been less popular in recent times.

Anyway Its a good beer, its not my favorite style, but it is clearly made with skill and care as its not just another ale, it does have some good qualities which I didn’t expect. So maybe try it for yourself and see what you think.

Purity Brewery Pure Gold ale is a premium ale made in a eco friendly way.

Green beer means beer made with as little impact on nature as possible, not to be confused with the drinks often made on St patrick’s day by adding green food colouring.

Purity Brewery Pure Gold Ale

The Official Line on Pure Gold

Talking to the brewers the say “We say it’s an easy drinking beer with a lovely dry and bitter finish”

What Pure Gold Smells Like

Pure Gold smells a little like tribute ale by st austell. It smells like a good traditional golden ale with a small hint of something like a continental lager.

Good Head?

Gold has a good head which is quite thick compared to mad goose.

Its quite gassy having either been gassed up with co2/nitrogen or being fermented a second time under pressure. It has alot of fizz for an ale, but this seems to help the head.

What does it taste like

This is a really nice beer, when drinking it and smelling it at the same time the lemon/lime zesty dry taste and the hops blend together seamlessly into a really nice citrus hop bitter taste.

The after taste is dominantly hops, but the taste doesn’t dominate your mouth if your know what I mean?

There is a definitely a slight sweet theme running throughout the beer when the zesty bitter hops aren’t there on your taste buds.

If i could change one thing about this it would be too let some of that gas go and leave it to warm up a little. This beer is probably best served slightly warmer than some others.

Pure Gold Review

To me Pure Gold is a almost a modern twist on a classic golden ale. It brings some of the fizz from modern lagers and adds it to the classic fuggles and goldings hops but even these are grown in exotic Slovenia soil.

Very Nice, very drinkable and a easy beer to drink especially on a warm evening. Its interesting to note the cask version is 3.8% while a bottle will come with 4.3 ABV, its is because it easier to sell bottled beer at higher ABVs. The brewer assures me they taste the same anyway.