Blog o' Beer

Brewery: Dark Star [@darkstarbrewco]
Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, England
ABV: 6.5%
Version: Draught
Source: The Bree Louise

I was down in London on business for a couple of days this week and managed to make time for a couple of pub visits which allowed me to re-visit an old favourite or two: Rudgate Ruby Mild (which went down extremely well in the Museum Tavern) and a Fuller's London Porter (a fantastic night-cap at the Doric Arch). Hoping for a successful hat-trick, I decided to nip into the Bree Louise on the way back to catching my train from Euston and see what they had to offer.

The obvious choice, that positively leapt out from among their typically broad selection, was Dark Star Six Hop; a strong pale ale weighing in at 6.5% ABV, it sounded like just my sort of thing. I briefly thought about sticking to a safe half, but decided what the hell - it wasn't like I was going to be driving myself back to Manchester, was it?

Dark Star Six Hop poured a dark golden colour with a decent white head (even sans-sparkler) and gave off a light, slightly floral aroma. The first sip resulted in a big, strong and quite delicious hop-burst of flavour. Hardly surprising, the current Dark Star Tasting Notes sheet reveals that it's brewed with five varieties of hops and then dry-hopped with a sixth (apologies to hop-heads: no further detail on the pdf there and the Dark Star website isn't exactly geared for regular updating).

Despite the massive hop-profile, Six Hop wasn't as drily acerbic as the big US IPAs tend to be. Instead its strength was tempered with a lot more subtlety: there was a distinct sour-sweet citrus note - bitter-orange or grapefruit - and a syrupy sweetness, carried along on a slightly sticky mouth-feel, that became more pronounced as the pint went on.

All in all: a great mix of deep, rich, lingering, sustained flavours. Tongue-tinglingly good; the sort of beer you could happily drink all night, as long as someone else was happy to carry you home at the end of the session...

Brewery: Schloss Eggenberg
Location: Vorchdorf, Austria
ABV: 9.6%
Version: Bottled
Source: Beer Ritz, Leeds

Another acquisition from Beer Ritz back in December, I was intrigued by the look of Schloss Eggenberg Urbock 23° (from the same brewery that produces the annual Samichlaus special) and decided to give it a go on the grounds that I've sampled far too few German / Austrian / Czech beers to-date, and this looked like a pretty interesting one to try.

I didn't know what 'Urbock' signified, but Wikipedia provided the basics, so now I know: a Bock is a strong lager, first brewed centuries ago by German monks and a Doppelbock is a regional (Bavarian) variant of a Bock? And I'm guessing that "Urbock" is more of a branding-based classification, the equivalent of calling a beer a "Double Imperial Stout"? Or the Austrian version of Doppelbock? Something like that (I think I need to spend more time reading The Bitten Bullet - I'm sure Barry could set me straight on the subject...)

Provenance and technicalities aside, on to the beer itself. Urbock 23°, which is matured in cask for nine months before bottling, poured a lovely pale amber colour with a frothy white head and was effervescent to the point of 'sparkling', although the bubbles gradually died down and dispersed as I drained the glass. The flavours were big and bold, as you'd expect from a 9.6% ABV beer, but not overpowering. Quite malty and sweet with distinct herbal and heather honey notes and a faint hoppy bite to stop it tasting too syrupy. There was a noticeable alcohol hit but nothing too harsh and it all rounded out in a long, smooth finish. All in all: very Belgian and very tasty indeed. It also went extremely well with a few pieces of Green & Black's 70% dark chocolate with cherries; the tart sourness and cocoa bitterness complimented the sweetness of the beer rather well.

Urbock 23° is definitely one I'd buy and drink again and it's definitely awakened an interest in seeking out a few more interesting Doppelbocks. Something to keep an eye out for next time I swing by Beer Ritz.

Brewery: Ossett Brewery
Location: Ossett, W. Yorkshire, England
ABV: 5.0% ABV
Version: Bottled
Source: Beer Ritz, Leeds

One of the haul of beers I picked up on our pre-Xmas trip to Beer Ritz, Ossett Treacle Stout, from a brewery I'd not encountered before, just looked far too interesting to leave on the shelf.

I sampled it back in January, but I can remember the taste of it even now: a flood of rich, dark, sweet, chewy flavours. Treacle (obviously), liquorice and dark, dark roasted malt. Quite sweet, with very little hop to it at all, but as a winter warmer it performed its job admirably. The only slight disappointment was a thinness to the mouth-feel - I was hoping for something bigger, creamier, a bit more robust - but I expect this is one of those beers you'd really have to sample on draught to get the full benefit.

Still, well worth seeking out if you're a fan of sweet, tasty stouts.

I know I'm nowhere near the first beer blogger to suggest this (not by a long chalk), but fantastic as it is to sip and savour a huge, dry-roasted imperial stout or a gob-smacking, palate-shrivelling double-IPA, sometimes there's nothing like a few good session bitters to see you through a pleasant evening (or two) of pleasant company down the pub.

A couple of weekends ago I was lucky enough to enjoy not one but two classic cases. On the Friday night I went out for a few jars and a chin-wag with my mate Andy. We started off down the Knott Bar, where I sampled a Titanic Port & Starboard (a 4.2% deep red-coloured ale with a rich malty main-flavour and a hoppy after-taste), followed by an Acorn Barnsley Bitter (3.8%, light, dry and hoppy). After that we wandered off to the Rising Sun, where we had a Leeds Best Bitter (4.3%, perfectly pleasant if not hugely remarkable) and then we nipped in for one more at the City Arms, where I had a Batemans G.H.A. Pale (another 4.2% hoppy and drinkable if not exactly amazing beer).

End result: after a couple of hours of chat and four pints each, we decided to call it a night. Personally I was feeling fine and dandy and nowhere near the worse for wear in the morning despite the 8-unit-or-so (technical) binge drinking session I'd indulged in the night before. So on Saturday I had no problem whatsoever heading out with Jo for date night at The Angel. The place is under new management and they've recently opened an upstairs dining room, which is where we sat to enjoy a particularly fine meal (red grouse for me and baked gurnard for Jo, both of which were delicious and are highly recommendable), accompanied by a couple more session bitters.

First up was Williams Bros Fraoch Heather Ale, which I'd only encountered in bottles before (a few years ago) and which turned out to be very good indeed on draught. Quite malty and slightly sweet, with a pleasant, light bitterness on the after-taste, it went down very easily indeed. Jo liked it so much she stuck with it for the rest of the evening, but I'd spotted a couple of others I wanted to try, so I switched to Redemption Urban Dusk, from a relatively new addition to the London brewery scene. This one was a 3.8%ABV dark bitter with a strong burnt-sugar flavour and plenty of malt. A very tasty dark beer that I wouldn't mind trying again some time.

After that, I decided I was in the mood for something a bit more experimental, so I opted for a half of Hornbeam Lemon Blossom, a 3.7% pale ale that promised lemony freshness and turned out to taste like mildly alcoholic lemon curd; there was lemon zest in there, definitely, but the whole thing was carried along on a slightly stilton tang. Not entirely unpleasant, but not one I'd rush back to, either. And then I'm afraid I fell off the session wagon, because I'd spotted the big, boozy (6.6% ABV) Wensleydale Porter on draught at the very start of the evening and I'd been itching to try it ever since. Delicious it was, too: a big whack of roasty malt flavours, shot through with blackcurrant and fruitcake, with a nicely dry finish by way of contrast. A pint and a half of that one (Jo had the other half, having been tempted herself) and we called it a damn good night.

Source: Courtesy of MyBreweryTap.com

Saving the best ‘til last.

Brentwood Hope & Glory

The Brentwood Brewery Company may only have started operating in July 2006 but already they have 7 regular beers in production and a further 7 seasonal ones. Hope & Glory is a 4.5% dark reddish-brown bitter, and gives off a light caramel malt aroma. The maltiness carries through in the flavour, providing some sweetish toffee character offset with a mild bitter tang from the fruity hop, nicely mixed to give an appealing flavour.

Burton Bridge Burton Porter

Burton Bridge really needs no introduction and of the 13 beers in the box this was the one I was most looking forward to. A 4.5% porter, the first thing that struck me on opening the bottle was a quite unexpected aroma, very floral and herby, with a hint of cloves. And that sets it up perfectly for the subsequent tasting, which was a very interesting experience. Things are more normal at the start, with malty hints of liquorice, chocolate and coffee but there’s more of the herby element (possibly a mix of sage, basil and coriander?) mixed in there. As far as I can see none of these are actually added so I'm presuming it's a by-product of the brewing process. It’s by no means detrimental, and adds a intriguing element to the taste. Overall, not too bitter, not too sweet, not too dry, a fine porter. I really enjoyed this one.

Tring Death Or Glory

Another beer bathed in Glory, this one takes its name from the motto of the Queen’s Royal Lancers, and is brewed each year on the 25th October to commemorate the anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade. You can read more interesting stuff about the beer here. It’s a red tinted brown colour, with a complex and delightful aroma – I picked up on biscuity malt, plums and bubblegum. Considering the 7.2% strength it tastes quite tame, still packed full of flavour but very easy drinking. Malt, toffee, liquorice, vanilla, pear, raisins, brown sugar; there’s more but that was what I could readily identify. After all that the finish is a bit thin, but it’s still a fine beer and well worth seeking out.

Our local Sainsbury's has rotated it's 2 for £3 real ales offer again; last night I picked up a couple each of Meantime London Stout and Purity Ubu and I spotted Adnams East Green, Holt's Maple Moon and a few others with the same red shelf-tags (I forgot to take notes, sorry...)

They had the 750ml version of Innis & Gunn Original at 2 for £5 as well.

Brewery: Adnams [@adnams]
Location: Southwold, England
ABV: 7.2%
Version: Bottled
Source: Courtesy of Adnams

Slightly odd synchronicity moment: a few weeks ago I spotted an old advertisement for a beer called 'Tally-Ho Old Strong Ale', brewed by Adnams. I'd never heard of it before, despite being reasonably familiar with the range of Adnams bottled ales, so I assumed it was a long-dead vintage from a bygone era, presumably the 1950s.

Then, a couple of weeks later I nipped along to the sorting office to pick up a missed parcel and opened it to discover a bottle of 2009 vintage Tally-Ho, courtesy of Sean Clark at Adnams. As far as I can work out, it seems that Adnams have been brewing small-cask runs of Tally-Ho every year since 1880, but this year is the first time that they've produced a bottled (limited edition and bottle-conditioned) version of this strong, barley-wine style, winter ale. Well, it's the first bottled run for a good while, at least; 'in cask and bottle' is printed on the aforementioned ad poster, so it has been bottled at some point before now.

Anyhow, a very handsome, 330ml bottle it is, too, elegantly lettered and with a subtle, red-jacketed huntsman motif. The ale itself poured a lovely dark chestnut colour with ruby highlights and a thinnish head. No trouble with sediment, despite the bottle conditioning. Dried fruit aromas wafted from bottle and glass alike and the flavours were all about warming yourself in front of an open fire on a crisp winter's day: rich, smoky chocolate, spiked with spicy, peppery notes, all carried on a marvellously creamy mouth-feel; it put me in mind of a rich, dark-chocolate mousse (you know, one of those Gü ones that cost twice as much as anything else but are definitely worth the extra...)

So, in conclusion: I'd say that Tally-Ho is an extremely palatable, eminently sippable and quite delicious strong winter ale that's just my sort of thing. I'll be keeping an eye out for this one and although a 24-pack at £35.75 might be a little rich for my current beer-budget, if I can find an outlet selling singles then I'll definitely be in there for a half-dozen.

Thank you very much indeed to the folks at Adnams for sending this one along for me to try.

I've been feeling crappy since last Thursday, with a head full of a common cold. It put paid to my plans to visit the National Winter Ales Festival on Friday as I stayed in and supped hot lemon and honey drinks instead, but on Saturday night I thought I'd take the offensive. So I decided to break out a couple of strong stouts, on the grounds that at least I ought to be able to taste those...

First up was Ridgeway Foreign Export Stout, weighing in at a hefty 8% ABV. Ridgeway beers are brewed by Peter Scholey, formerly the head brewer at Brakspear, mainly for the US export market (as far as I can tell) although I picked this one up in my pre-Xmas trip to Beer Ritz in Leeds.

It poured an almost opaque black and thanks to its bottle-conditioning was slightly effervescent, resulting in a big frothy head, although it didn't hang around for long. Flavour-wise is was all big, burnt sugars cut through with treacle, liquorice and cough syrup. Which seemed appropriate under the circumstances. After a while, the sugars settled down and a more stewed-fruit character began to come through: I eventually decided it was like scraping the sticky bits from the edge of a blackcurrant crumble dish (and everyone knows that those bits are the best bits, right?) Very, very nice indeed and one I'd be happy to go back to (once I have a nose that actually works... it didn't miraculously cure my cold).

After that I brought out the big guns: De Struise / De Molen Black Damnation, a blend of De Struise Black Albert and De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis ("Hell and Damnation"). Two bottles of this 13% ABV Low Countries stout have been lurking menacingly in the cupboard since I bought them as part of a BeerMerchants.com rare continentals case back in the summer, so the one I opened had benefited from an extra six months' bottle maturation (although the best before date is given as March 2014, so that's probably when I'll be opening the other one).

Pouring a thick, thick black with a big tan-coloured head, Black Damnation was all about the big, big flavours again: mocha coffee, dark sugar and toasted hazelnuts, with a generous measure of charcoal and peat-smoke mixed in for good measure - Jo said it distinctly reminded her of Laphroaig single malt - and a bit of a tang of charred orange peel (imagine you left some orange peel on the barbecue after the flames had died down, that sort of thing). All of that delivered by a lasciviously viscous mouth-feel: wonderful stuff, quite wonderful.

And after that one... well, I happily forgot that I had a cold for a while, I can tell you. But it was still lingering on Sunday morning and my sinuses are still on fire as I type this. But hey, you know what they say about a cold: "treat it and it will last for two weeks, don't treat it and it will last for a fortnight". By that reckoning I've got another week or so to go, so I might just try another strong-stout treatment at the weekend, on the off-chance that the next one works. You never know, eh?

Source: Courtesy of MyBreweryTap.com

Into the second half of the box I delve.

Penpont Roughtor
Situated on the northern edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, the Penpont Brewery has only been operating since December 2008 and has three beers on offer, of which this 4.7% amber ale (pronounced Row-tor and named after the second tallest hill in Cornwall) was the second to be produced. It’s dark amber in colour with a floral hoppy aroma and some grassy notes. Flavour is quite citrusy but not overly so, with some grapefruit and lemon character, and a nicely balanced bitterness providing a very pleasant zingy attack down the sides of the tongue, leading into some sweet malt on the dryish finish. There’s quite a chewy texture which makes it a bit heavier than I’ve come to expect from my, admittedly limited, experience of amber ales. An interesting one all in, well worth sampling.

Saffron Blonde
The Saffron Brewery set up operations in May 2006 near Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire and has 8 beers to choose from. Saffron Blonde is 4.3% and with a name like that, it’s an expected rich mid gold colour. The aroma is light and fruity, with nothing really standing out as a dominant smell. That light, fruity nature comes through in the taste as well, with an added warm malty finish. The second half of the bottle lets more caramel malt come through, the bitterness develops a bit more and the dry character falls back. Overall, it’s perhaps a bit thin in body but that makes it easy drinking and refreshing, which is really what I want from a summer ale. Not outstanding, but does the job.

Wooden Hand Cornish Buccaneer
We’ve sampled beer from Cornwall’s Wooden hand Brewery here before and found them reliable so I was interested in seeing how this offering would fare. Cornish Buccaneer is 4.3% and a slightly cloudy, mid-amber colour, with a light fruity aroma with a touch of earthiness. Flavour is very much of hoppy fruitiness to the fore, with some malt hiding in the background, but there was an underlying dry grassy element adding some harshness that I felt unbalanced the overall flavour, to its detriment.

Just back from the weekly shop at the local Sainsbury's and I noticed they've got a few rather good bottled ales on offer at rather reasonable prices.

The current '2 for £3' offer includes Marston's Old Empire, Fuller's ESB, Robinson's Old Tom and that perennial favourite fall-back session beer Wychwood Hobgoblin, among others.

They've also got a 3 for £5 on Theakston's Old Peculier and I spotted a 2 for £5 on the 750ml versions of both Leffe Brun and Blonde, if that's more your thing. Well worth a visit to the beer aisle next time you're in.

Brewery: Howard Town
Location: Glossop, Derbyshire
ABV: 6.4%
Version: Draught
Source: The Angel, Manchester

After a Saturday afternoon mooching around Manchester City Centre, Jo and I decided that food followed by a couple of pints was definitely in order. First we swung by the Micro Bar in the Arndale Market, looking for a few bottles of Dunham Massey Stout to take home with us, but struck out (although I did pick up a bottle of BrewDog Physics and a 2009 Dark Star Imperial Stout for the special cupboard), and seeing as they had their Boggart Rum Porter on draught we thought we'd give that a go. I tried the bottled version a while ago and whilst the carbonation I'd noticed back then wasn't a problem with the draught version - which had a lovely, creamy mouth-feel - it was probably just a bit too tiramisu-sugary-sweet. I downed my half happily enough, but Jo couldn't bring herself to finish hers (so I did the gentlemanly thing and helped out, as you do). After that we queued for Far Eastern Fusion food in Tampopo and then headed off in search of a post-Nasi Goreng / Pad Thai pint.

We tried the Wellington - which was showing some definite promise, with Sharp's Doom Bar on draught - but it was absolutely hammered with post-match Manchester United fans celebrating their 3-0 victory over Burnley and as I was lugging a couple of fairly hefty bags around, we thought we'd better try again. So we aimed for the Crown & Kettle at the top end of Oldham Street, but it was packed out as well; Manchester City fans this time, watching their team getting beaten 2-0 by Everton. [Oh, just for the record I'm a neutral there: I support Bury FC and we'd already recorded a 2-1 win away at Bournemouth, so I was already quite happy, thank you very much.]

This put us up in Marble Arch territory, but we weren't sure if we'd get somewhere to sit and stow our bags on a Saturday afternoon, so we thought we'd give the under-new-management Angel a go instead. And we were very glad we did, because nestled in amongst a selection of four pale and / or golden ales was one highly likely-looking winter warmer: Howard Town Dark Peak. Jo and I both tried it and we both thought it was bloody marvellous.

You know how, every so often, you try a new brew and there's that moment when with the very first sip your tastebuds scream "yes!" and you just know you're going to be enjoying this one right down to the bottom of the glass? Dark Peak was one of those ales. It poured a beautiful dark ruby chestnut with a healthy head and was packed with flavour: rich, dark berries, chewy raisins, just a hint of toffee and burnt sugar. Sweet but not too sweet. Easy-drinking but not a quaffer; Jo and I were both aware we were drinking a 6.4% strong ale - the alcohol content was noticeable by its warmth, but was by no means harsh or intrusive - so we sipped accordingly. Although to be honest it wasn't one we would have wanted to rush anyway. Howard Town Dark Peak is definitely an ale to savour and enjoy at leisure (and the same again afterwards, thank you very much, and have one for yourself as well). Lovely stuff. Highly recommended.

[A note for any Manchester-locals wondering whether the new Angel is worth a visit: they've got Williams Bros Midnight Sun due in next weekend, as well as a selection of brews from Simpson & Simpson (Brown Cow?) in Selby. And the new food menu looks very interesting - a selection of game-birds (whole mallard, anyone?) and assorted traditional English dishes, with portion-sizes that didn't look too stingy at all. Could be well worth a visit at the weekend...]

Brewery: Northern
Location: Northwich, Cheshire, England
ABV: 5.5%
Version: Draught
Source: Trackside, Bury

When it comes to New Year's Eve, Jo and I generally like to nip out early doors for some food, then have a couple of beers, then get ourselves home well before all the midnight-related nonsense kicks off. This year (last year?) we went to our favourite curry house for part one and then hopped on the tram up to Bury for part two, at the Trackside.

Glancing along the pump-clips I spotted Northern Two-Tone Special, which turned out to be a 5.0% ABV chocolate stout. Jo and I both partook and we were both pleased with the result: a drinkable, enjoyable stout with a hit of coffee up front, lots of roast malt and then some lingering chocolatey flavours to finish. Not as downright delicious as Marble Chocolate or Outstanding Stout, but still a fine, dark brew from a brewer whose beers I hadn't encountered before.

Jo had a couple of halves (with some sort of vaguely Xmas-themed brew in-between, which she wasn't so keen on) and I had a couple of pints, with a Breconshire Cribyn (Ed sampled the bottled version recently) to finish with as a bit of a palate-refresher. After that it was time for part three, although we diverted round to the next-door-but-one neighbours for a spot of first-footing, a go at their port-finish Balvenie and something involving hot apple juice and brandy. All in all, a very pleasant evening indeed.

Brewery: Phoenix
Location: Heywood, England
ABV: 7.0%
Version: Draught
Source: Trackside, Bury

On a pre-Xmas trip to the Trackside in search of a lunchtime winter warmer I was lucky enough to strike gold in the form of Phoenix Humbug.

This 7.0% ABV strong ale is packed full of huge malt, caramel, toffee and burnt sugar flavours with plenty of seasonal spices - noticeably ginger and nutmeg - on the after-taste.

The alcohol level compliments rather than dominates the flavours, resulting in an incredibly satisfying slow-sipper that's guaranteed to chase the winter blues away. Absolutely gorgeous.

Seth Godin mentioned vintageadbrowser.com - an online gallery of vintage advertising posters and signs - on his marketing and ideas blog, so I gave it a go. A search for 'beer' returned 1,971 results (although for some reason I could only access the first 1,000). Mostly ads dating from the 1930s - 1980s, mostly American brands like Pabst, Ballantine's, Schlitz, Goebel, Blatz, Hamm's and of course, Budweiser.

Here are a few slightly odder ones that I found on a quick trawl of the search results (click the images for larger versions):

In the Old Days they pretended to give the fox a sporting chance by getting properly pissed-up pre-hunt.	That explains what happened to the pretzel guy and the balloon seller, but whose hat is that..?
Recyclying? What's that, then..?	Bud and MEAT - making Americans hefty since the 1950s
The slogan apparently reads: 'The Beer from the Spring Hops Has Arrived, The Enemy is Surrendering'	Just what the world needed back in the '50s: an in-car beer dispenser! Spoof or genuine, I wonder?

Plenty more where these came from: www.vintageadbrowser.com

Source: Courtesy of MyBreweryTap.com

The continuing adventures of one man’s journey through a case of free beer.

Quantock Sunraker
The Quantock Brewery is based in Somerset, England and has only been operating since December 2007, but has already picked up an award for this, the 4.2% Sunraker. It’s a light golden colour with a sweet fruity aroma, like fruit salad chews, and a bit of pear in the background. There’s more of that fruit in the taste, with citrusy notes of lemon, grapefruit, orange and lime all vying for attention. The bitterness edges a bit too close to the sour end of the scale at times, and the dryish finish stops the beer being as fully satisfying as I think a summer ale should be, but the interesting hoppy flavour certainly makes it worth sampling.

Empire Victory Ale
The Empire Brewery in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, (not to be confused with the Empire Brewing Company of New York), is the only one to have two offerings in the case. According to the sheet in the box one of them was meant to be Golden Warrior, but it must have sold out as instead I got Victory Ale. This must be a new release as there’s no mention of it on any of the sources I looked at, and that includes the MyBreweryTap site. It’s 4.2%, a cloudy amber/brown colour and with quite an odd aroma of peanuts, brown vinegar and tar. The taste has a nutty maltiness, but a strange, and very unpleasant, bitterness ruins everything. Maybe it's a bad bottle, maybe it's a failed experiment - either way, I can find nothing to recommend this, one of the worst beers I've ever had.

Empire Strikes Back
The second offering from the Empire gang is a much better affair. A 4.0% pale gold ale, Strikes Back has a quite light citrusy aroma of grapefruit and lime. The flavour is also light and hoppy, with more of that citrusy grapefruit and lime, and a touch of orange, but it quickly falls apart with a short –lived and slightly dry finish. The second half of the bottle shows a marked improvement, and it's certainly a pleasant and refreshing beer, just not a must-try one.

Brewery: see text
Location: see text
ABV: see text
Source: Courtesy of MyBreweryTap.com

Back in November I posted about receiving a mixed case of beer from the generous folks over at MyBreweryTap.com and it’s really about time I covered what I thought about the individual beers in the box.

Breconshire Cribyn
I decided to start off with one from a brewery I’m quite familiar with, having already covered several of their beers and being, for the most part, impressed - the Breconshire Brewery from Powys in Wales. Cribyn is their 4.5% Best Bitter, brewed with Bramling Cross, Northdown and Challenger hops. It’s a pale straw colour with a light fruity aroma, and a doughy undertone. Taste is very much of zesty hops, a nicely controlled bitterness giving a very refreshing mouthfeel, and some malty notes in the background. Another fine ale from Breconshire and a pleasant start to the case.

Slater’s Ales Top Totty
Slater’s Ales was originally known as the Eccleshall Brewery, and has been based in Stafford, England since 2004. Top Totty is an award winning 4.0% blonde ale, so unsurprisingly is a pale straw colour with a light hoppy aroma. Flavour is of more zesty hops with a citrusy bitterness, and some malt pushing through on the finish, much better than the naff name and label would imply. Mouthfeel is a bit thin but it’s easy drinking and a couple of these would be quite refreshing on a warm summer’s day.

Old Bear Original
The Old Bear Brewery can be found in Keighley, West Yorkshire and have been in operation since 1993, with seven regular beers on offer. As well as making beer they also operate a bottle reclamation service, collecting bottles for re-use from pubs and clubs across West Yorkshire. Old Bear Original is 3.9%, is a dark toffee colour (or brown bear-ish) with a malty aroma of toffee, biscuit and toast. The flavour I must admit to finding a bit odd. There’s some caramel maltiness and some bitter orange/lemon hops, but there was an over-riding acetic quality which I found very off-putting and felt unbalanced the whole flavour. It may have been a bad bottle but I don’t see me seeking out another to find out.

In the last Around the Beerblogosphere piece I mentioned finding the recipe for an Xmas cocktail that I was quite tempted by: the port and stout mull-it. On closer inspection though, it turns out you have to boil a jar of sweet mince-meat and strain out the lumpy bits until you end up with a spicy syrup... dear me, that sounds like far too much effort and mess!

Then I remembered something that Reluctant Scooper said ages ago, about making a DIY cocktail during a visit to the Marble Arch... I realised that we actually had all the necessary ingredients in the beer cupboard already, so Jo and I rolled up our bar-sleeves and got to work.

Here's how we did it:

Step 1: Gather the ingredients

For this recipe, you will need the following (see fig. 1):

fig. 1 - Assemble the Ingredients

1. A bottle of Marble Chocolate (a rather superb 5.5%ABV "stout(ish)" dark ale)
2. A bottle of Marble Ginger (we used the 6%ABV variety - a.k.a. "Big Ginger")
3. A suitable cocktail glass (or "pint pot" as they're more commonly known)

Step 2: Pour half the Marble Chocolate into your cocktail glass (see fig. 2):

fig. 2 - Pour the Marble Chocolate...

WARNING! At this stage you will be sorely tempted to guzzle the delicious, chocolatey liquid, spurred on by those fabulous cocoa-aromas and the sight of all that gorgeous dark beer sitting there, calling out to you... but you must resist! Or at least, you must resist unless you're only planning on making one measure of delicious cocktail mixture, in which case you can sup half of each bottle au naturel if you prefer. But bear with us, we promise the end result is well worth it...

Step 3: Pour (carefully!) half the Marble Ginger into the same glass (see fig 3):

fig. 3 - Merge the Marble Ginger...

Jo was obviously the glamorous hand-model for this stage of the process (hers are frankly much lovelier hands than mine - nobody needs to see my gnarled and keyboard-scarred digits interrupting the visual delights of Marble Chocoginge).

Step 4: The end result

fig. 1 - The finished article... Cheers!

I believe the phrase we're looking for is: "Ta-daaaa!"

Assuming you haven't already supped the remaining beer, you can then prepare a second measure for your glamorous hand-model, before she kicksyouinnanuts and steals yours.

Tasting Notes: Delicious! Marvellous! Gorgeous! Fabulous! All that warm, spicy ginger dances on your tongue, and then a bitter-sweet wave of chocolatey goodness rolls along behind it: flavour, flavour, flavour all the way to your tonsils. Seriously, what could be more Xmas-y than the combination of chocolate and ginger, all wrapped up in a 5.75%ABV (averaging the two, that is) beer-based liquid delivery system? Eggnog? Bailey's? Advocaat? Bah, humbug! Grab yourself a couple of bottles of Marble's finest, apply them to a pint pot and you'll be well on your way to an extremely merry Yuletide indeed, I promise you.

Big thanks to Reluctant Scooper for the inspiration and to the Marble Brewery for the fantastic ingredients!

Brewery: Dunham Massey Brewing Co
Location: Altrincham, England
ABV: 6.6%
Version: Draught
Source: The Trackside, Bury

I was up in Bury town centre on Saturday lunchtime and wandered into Malt in search of a pint. But all the tables had been taken over by overspill food customers from Automatic and the selection of beers on offer was less than impressive anyhow, so I headed round the corner to the Trackside instead. A bit of a calculated risk on a Saturday lunchtime - air redolent of cooking fat and a high probability of children underfoot, especially just before Christmas - but luckily the table in the corner was free and my gamble was rewarded with a pint of Dunham Massey Winter Warmer.

A lovely chestnut brown with a thick, frothy head, Winter Warmer tasted even better than it looked: rich, malty and spicy, with ginger and nutmeg, pepper and cloves all swirling around a base of dried fruit and candied citrus peel. Lovely, lovely stuff: Yuletide in a pint glass!

I could have happily stayed for a couple more, definitely, but the aroma of burger and chips from the next table (it smelled a lot more appetising than it looked - the Trackside may be brilliant for beer, but the grub in there is a bit on the basic side) sent me forth in search of lunch. You know, think the Microbar in the Arndale Market sells Dunham Massey beers in bottles though, so I might have to find an excuse to swing by and check for Winter Warmer; it's well worth tracking down.

The weekend before last, Jo and I were booked to go over to Leeds for a family outing, so en-route we detoured via Headingley in order to visit Zak Avery's legendary beer emporium Beer Ritz.

The shop was easy to locate and although there's not much around there in the way of parking in the immediate vicinity, we managed to find a spot not too far away. Grabbing assorted wine carriers from the boot of the car, we headed inside. Beer Ritz turned out to be a small, former corner-shop, with a fine-looking selection of superior wines and rare whiskies as soon as you walk in and then a raised section at the back of the shop; a horseshoe-shaped Aladdin's cave of beery wonders.

Honestly, I could've just asked for one of everything and been 95% certain of being able to dip into the resulting selection and end up trying something new. Although I recognised a few of the more interesting bottles I've been lucky enough to sample over the past 18 months or so, my attention was still being constantly grabbed by new and interesting beers I'd either only heard of or seen mentioned on other beer blogs before then. I had a chat with the chap behind the counter (not Zak, he was down in London for the British Guild of Beer Writers do) and ended up with a fair few recommendations to think about.

In the end, Jo and I left the store with two dozen bottles of incredibly interesting-looking beer and left a good two-dozen more on the shelf that we could have grabbed but decided to leave for next time. Here's what we came away with:

Big British Beers

First up, just a few of the many Great British beers that caught my eye, all of them fairly high ABV, slow sippers rather than session brews:

• Sam Smith's Winter Welcome - a 6.0% ABV full-bodied ale from a Yorkshire brewery steeped in tradition. They say: "When orange peel and cinnamon are added, you have an authentic wassail". Think I might end up maturing this one for a couple of years alongside the bottle fo Stingo I bought back in the summer.
• Harvey's Elizabethan Ale - an 8.1% ABV barleywine first brewed for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953 and "comparable in strength to the beer produced by Tudor brewers during the reign of Elizabeth I". One to savour...
• BrewDog Movember BrewDog's recent charity brew, rumoured to be a cross between Punk IPA and Trashy Blonde, very good indeed by all accounts (okay, not as big as some, but still definitely British).
• Thornbridge Alliance Madeira Reserve 2007 - an 11% ABV barleywine matured for 18 months, finished in madeira wine casks and bottle conditioned with champagne yeast; the result of a collaboration between Thornbridge and Brooklyn Brewery.
• Wensleydale Beater's Winter Ale - 8.0% ABV and jam-packed full of sweet fruity flavours if the Wensleydale Brewery website is anything to go by.
• Wensleydale Porter - No info on the Wensleydale website, but the label tells me it's a 6.6% ABV traditional-style porter "brimming with roasted malt, raisins and molasses".
• J. W. Lees Harvest Ale 08 (sorry, you have to feck about with Lees' Flash-based website for more info) - an 11.5% ABV barleywine, served in a 250ml bottle. Tandleman has rhapsodised about this one on a couple of occasions.
• Ridgeway Foreign Export Stout - an 8% stout produced by former Brakspear head brewer Peter Scholey and sold under his Ridgeway label

Intriguing Imports

And then a few from further afield that I particularly wanted to try:

• Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale 2006 - at 7.5% ABV this one's probably not as "extra strong" as Coopers think it is, but it still sounds like a tasty brew.
• Schloss Eggenberg Urbock 23° - a 9.6% ABV Austrian doppelbock, should be an interesting experience. Might save this one for the summer months and give it a bit of a chilling.
• Anchor Old Foghorn Barleywine Ale - all the way from San Francisco, Anchor's Old Foghorn is a highly-hopped 8.2% ABV brew that should be good to sip on a hot summer's day. So, here's hoping we get one next year...
• Goose Island Bourbon County Stout - this US import, bourbon barrell-aged, 13% ABV monster-stout comes from Chicago and carries the weight of the proud boast: "one sip has more flavor than your average case of beer". I'll see their sip and raise a 330ml bottle...
• Coopers Best Extra Stout - a 6.6% ABV Aussie stout. This one will turn out to be the anti-XXXX, with any luck.

Jo's selection

Not to be out-done, Jo grabbed a few likely-looking candidates for her own corner of the beer cupboard:

• Wensleydale Black Dub Oat Stout - Malted oats are added to this 4.4% ABV stout for a rich malty finish.
• Burton Bridge Bramble Stout - a 5.0% ABV stout, "blackberry juiced, bottle conditioned".
• Isle of Skye Black Cuillin - a 4.5% ABV dark ale brewed with roast rolled oats and heather honey.
• Orkney Dragonhead Stout - only 4.0% ABV but packed full of "chocolate, toast and nut flavours, with a satisfying spicy hop finish".
• Williams Bros Black - a dark ale, rather than a stout, weighing in at 4.2% ABV
• Ossett Treacle Stout (sorry, another dose of crappy website navigation) - "A rich stout with powerful liquorice and chocolate malt flavour." 5.0% ABV

The Festive Five

Finally, what with it being the season to be merry and all, we thought we'd grab a few Xmas-themed beers:

• Hepworth & Co Vintage Christmas Ale - A 7.5% bottle conditioned strong ale.
• Burton Bridge Santa's Christmas Porter - A 4.0% ABV "very dark brown but not black" fruity porter (Jo will be supping this one, most likely)
• Gouden Carolus Christmas - A 10.5% Belgian brewed with three different hops and six herbs and spices. One for the Xmas-pud stage of the proceedings?
• Ridgeway Very Bad Elf - a 7.5% ABV winter warmer, one of six seasonal beers produced mainly for the US export trade
• RCH Brewery Ale Mary - again, no info on the website there, but the label tells me it's 6.0% ABV and brewed with coriander seed oil, apparently. Should be interesting.

A fantastic selection of great beers there, I'm sure you'll agree. I'm looking forward to sampling and talking about those in a few tasting notes posts to come. And Jo has already tried a few of hers. Unfortunately, the Isle of Skye Black Cuillin had gone off in the bottle (it was very sour, surely not right for a honeyed beer) but the Orkney Dragonhead and Williams Bros Black were both very nice indeed. They were quite similar; with strong coffee and roast malt flavours, although the Dragonhead was the more pronounced of the two. Jo declared them both a huge success anyhow, so that's the main thing.

Time for another quick wander down the highways, byways, lanes and back-alleys of the beerier reaches of the blogosphere, the Big News of the Week of course being the results of the British Guild of Beer Writers Awards...

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Brewery: Fuller's
Location: London, England
ABV: 5.4%
Version: Draught
Source: The Doric Arch, London

This Tuesday I didn't really have time for a Bree Louise detour on the way back to Euston station, so I decided to try the Doric Arch (Head of Steam) instead. I hadn't realised that the place was actually there until that morning, when I left Euston on foot for a change and happened to wander past. A sign in the window boasted that Fuller's London Porter was available on keg and as this is a beer I've been wanting to sample for quite some time now I happily called in on the way back in the evening.

I was very glad I did. London Porter poured a lovely dark ebony brown with ruby highlights and a decent head. The first taste was full of liquorice and dried berry fruits, with a freshly ground coffee and fruit cake following on. There was a hint of smoke in there as well and a dollop of treacle for good measure. It was rich, sweet, smooth and went down extremely nicely indeed. If I'd left more time before the train I'd have sunk another one, definitely (although they had Kelham Island Pale Rider on offer as well, so I was sorely tempted to try that one instead). I have a sneaky suspicion that I'll be back before too long, though.

My new mission is to get hold of some Fuller's London Porter in bottles. Partly for comparison purposes, partly because I quite fancy trying the London Porter stew recipe on their website. Hey, Sainsbury's Head Beer Buyer! How about it?

Brewery: Sambrook's
Location: London, England
ABV: 4.5%
Version: Draught
Source: The Bree Louise, London

I made the trip to the Bree Louise again a couple of weeks ago and was rewarded for my detour with a pint of Sambrook's Junction.

At 4.5% ABV it's still well within session range and whilst it's a little more substantial than it's slighter sibling, Sambrook's Wandle it's no less refreshing. Junction does makes more of its malt flavours; there's a big hit up front backed up with a spicy, nutty flavour that makes for an extremely easy-drinking, very pleasant pint indeed. Definitely one I'd be happy to drink all evening, if the opportunity arose.

First up was Ascot Ales Alligator Ale, a golden ale brewed with single-varietal (US cascade) hops. I was expecting something light and refreshing, but this 4.6% ABV ended up punching well above its expected weight. It poured a slightly cloudy (although that may have been my fault, I might not have been as careful with the sediment as I should have been, distracted as I was by watching the World Cup draw) dark gold colour, with a very thin head. The first sip delivered a big hit of rich malt, which took on a chocolatey character as the beer warmed up. The hop finish was sneaky: it crept up and slugged my taste buds when I wasn't looking, but hung around for ages afterwards in the lingering, dry finish. There was a hint of citrus sourness in there as well; a mix of bitter orange and acid drops. Very little in the way of sweetness, but with plenty of character and flavour, I definitely enjoyed my first Alligator encounter.

Second round: Dark Star Imperial Stout. I had a strong suspicion that I'd get on with this one very well indeed, Imperial Stout being pretty much my all-time favourite beer style, and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. This 2008 vintage, 10.5% ABV roast-malt monster poured a lovely opaque black, with no head whatsoever. The first sip released a cascade of big, big flavours: rich, dark chocolate, sour cherries, port wine were the first three I scribbled down as tears of pure joy leaked from the corners of my eyes. After that I noted treacle, liquorice and then a definite vanilla, toasted almond, marzipan-esque semi-sweetness began to creep through. The sweeter flavours became more pronounced as I sipped my way down the glass, but at no point did they take over or become cloying; that bitter-sour note was ever-present, keeping the whole thing in quite wonderful balance. Delicious. Absolutely delicious. I'd happily drink a bottle of Dark Star Imperial Stout any day of the week.

And so to round three: Harvey's Imperial Extra Double Stout. Not just Imperial. Not even just Imperial Extra. No, this one's Imperial Extra Double Stout... so I was expecting something that was going to be nothing less than absolutely incredible. Bottled in 2003, this beer had already been maturing for six years when I cracked it open on Friday evening. I have no idea what it tasted like when it was young, but aged for 60 months or so, it was... well... I started off with 'smells like christmas cake' (when it was still in the bottle) and moved on to 'looks like used engine oil', this second observation provided by Jo, after the pour. And it tasted like... rubber. And burnt coffee. And red wine vinegar. And... okay, you know how the phrase 'a bit of a Marmite beer' is usually used metaphorically? in the case of Harvey's IEDS it's quite literal, too. Individually, there's not a flavour there that should have endeared me to Harvey's ober-stout, but slam them all together and you get something that really works. In an oddly savoury, distinctly medicinal, weirdly masochistic way, it all just works. I managed to finish the bottle, anyhow (which surprised me almost as much as it did Jo) and, although I wouldn't rush back to it, I'd still give it another go. I think. Tell you what, offer me another one and we'll see what happens...

Huge, huge thanks to Beer Viking crew member Simon B for sending me this eclectic, interesting and extremely generous selection. Some genuinely remarkable (and surprising) flavours, there. I'm very happy indeed that I took part in the first round of the Beer Swap project, and I'll be glad to volunteer for the next one.

Earlier this week, I finally got the long-awaited and much-chased email from Collect+ confirming that my Beer Swap package had arrived at the local store for collection. My Beer Swap buddy was Simon B, a loyal crew member on the good ship BeerViking.com and - judging by the selection of beers he chose to send my way - a man who definitely knows his brews.

The package from Simon contained the following:

      

Alligator Ale from Ascot Ales. A single-varietal (US Cascade) hop golden ale made in small batches of 4 barrels at a time.

Imperial Stout from Dark Star, 2008 vintage. A 10.5% ABV uber-stout in the Baltic export tradition. (I owe Simon a pint for sending me this one, definitely.)

Imperial Extra Double Stout from Harveys, 2003 vintage. 9% ABV and sanctioned by A. Le Coa and Tartu Brewery in Estonia. (If the last one earned Simon a pint, then for this one I probably owe him a hogshead...)

Now, anyone involved in the Beer Swap project will have spotted that I've only mentioned three bottles there, rather than the four that Beer Swap participants were asked to send. Simon did send a fourth - a bottle of Dark Star Sunburst - but alas, it didn't survive the journey intact. So, whilst I'm truly impressed with Simon's generosity and dedication to the Beer Swap cause, I can't say the same for the efficiency of service or customer care demonstrated by Collect+. They were, frankly, a bit crap. Not only did they take ten days to ship the parcel from Marple (just South of Manchester) to Prestwich (just North of Manchester) - which is a journey of "19.2 mi – about 35 mins" according to Google Maps - but they also managed to break the bottle of Sunburst, despite the copious amount of newspaper packing that Simon had included in the box and the 'Fragile' tape he'd used to seal it up with.

So when I picked up the parcel I was greeted with one end of a box reduced to a mass of soggy cardboard and the pungent (yet still oddly enticing) whiff of stale beer, handed to me by an apologetic shopkeeper who assured me that this what it had looked like when he received it:

I mentioned the damaged parcel to Collect+ (pointing out that the broken bottle had been removed, so I couldn't see whether it had been crushed in transit or had just cracked under its own pressure) and asked them to refund Simon his sending fee. They flatly refused. Instead, they apologised for the damage, but in the same email quoted chunks of their terms & conditions stating that they don't carry liquids or glass except by prior arrangement.

Which, of course, they're perfectly entitled to do. Fair's fair, terms and conditions are agreed to in advance and all that. But to me, that sort of approach ("oh, sorry... not our problem though") still smacks of an opportunity lost on their part; an opportunity to impress a first-time customer with their dedication to providing an above-and-beyond standard of service. Their loss: I won't be using them again in future. Terms and conditions aside, Collect+ still managed to break a beer bottle that was perfectly well-packaged in a box clearly marked 'fragile', which suggests their drivers or depot staff are nowhere near as careful with other people's property as they should be.

Anyhow, today is actually the last day for posting a Beer Swap write-up, according to the original schedule. Thanks to Collect+'s amazing ability to turn a 35 minute journey into a 10-day delay, I'm going to be cutting it fine if I'm going to make the deadline... Sunday seems like a much more likely prospect than this evening, but I'll do my best. Depends on how much recorded TV we end up watching. Or rather, if I'm honest about it, how engrossed I get in Football Manager 2010... :)

Quick heads-up for UK supermarket beer-shoppers. Our local branch of Sainsbury's has 750ml, wine-bottle sized Meantime London Porter and Meantime India Pale Ale on offer at 2-for-£7, as opposed to the usual £4.59 (ish) each.

They also have a whole selection of bottled real ales at 2-for-£3 or 3-for-2 or something, but they've been running this sort offer all year as far as I can tell. The Meantime one is new. And both those beers are rather special. You'd be mad not to.

The Saturday before last, after starting the evening off with a curry and a couple of bottles of Black Sheep Ale at our favourite curry house (the Lime Tree in Prestwich), we (Jo, myself and our friends Andy and Dawn) headed up to Bury to visit the Trackside (we were there just before Tyson, by the sound of things).

Talk about a tricky decision when I got to the bar. The Trackside is usually a good bet for a dark beer or two, but last Saturday there was a choice of four, plus assorted bitters and pale ales. I started off (possibly a little rashly) with a pint of Acorn Gorlovka Imperial Stout; a gorgeous, coffee-rich, smoky stout that weighs in at a session-hefty 6% ABV. I sampled this one a few weeks ago at the Marble Arch, in a more cautious half measure. Possibly I should have saved that one for later and stuck to the halves as well, but I think I must have had a rush of blood to the head and besides, the night was still (fairly) young. That one went down very nicely indeed (although probably far faster than it should have) and so it was back to the bar, this time for a swift half of Rossendale Pitch Porter. Not quite as robust as the Gorlovka, although still a respectable 5% ABV, it was another very pleasant roast-malt experience and definitely one I'd be happy to repeat.

After that I made my first tactical error of the evening: instead of joining Jo on the Dunham Dark - a smooth, slightly sweet mild with a light touch and only 3.8%% ABV, I instead opted for a bottle of Robinson's Chocolate Tom that I spotted in the fridge. I've tried both the Old Tom and Ginger Tom before, and I'd always promised myself I'd have a go at the Chocolate version, after Ed gave it a write-up a while back. This was clearly the opportunity I'd been waiting for, so I went for it. Bad move. I'm not sure whether it was because the bottle had been chilled, or the beer was too young, but in any case it was far, far too sweet for even my sweet tooth to enjoy. If Marble Chocolate is Green & Black's in a glass then this was Dairy Milk by comparison and I'm afraid there was little else to notice or to recommend it. If I ever see a bottle on sale I might grab it and put it away for a while to see if it ages at all well, but I'll be definitely steering clear of drinking it out of a fridge again.

My second tactical error of the night involved sending Andy to the bar for a half of Dunham Milk Stout. I should have known better: Andy doesn't really do beer by demi-measures and came back to the table with a large half (two halves in a single glass, if you catch my drift). Which was a bit of a shame, because I'd already sampled some when Jo got a half in an earlier round and whilst I was interested enough to give it a decent go, I didn't really want to invest in a full draught. It was... okay. Considering Dunham's beers usually rate 'damned good' to 'excellent', I was a bit surprised at how ordinary this one tasted. A bit thin, nothing in the way of defining characteristics or stand-out flavours. I'm no milk stout expert, I admit, so maybe it's actually a cracking example of the style, but if you ask me their Dunham Porter and Dunham Stout are much, much better. By this stage Andy was back on the bitter instead of the stouts and I had a glug of whatever he was drinking (it might have been Dark Star Sunburst, that rings a bell) and very tasty it was, too. Ah, well.

So, there you go: another great selection of beers at the Trackside, which is pretty much par for the course for those guys. We'll be back, and it won't be too long before we are, either.

Here we go with another round-up of beery blog posts and news items that have caught my eye in the last couple of weeks:

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Brewery: Hopdaemon
Location: Newnham, Kent, England
ABV: 5% / 4.5% / 6%
Version: Bottled
Source: Courtesy of Hopdaemon

A few weeks ago, the up-shot of a short Twitter conversation with Hopdaemon's @PeteBrissenden was that Pete very kindly offered to send me a few samples of his beers, seeing as I was unlikely to be able to find them on sale anywhere in Manchester. A box containing three bottles of Hopdaemon's finest duly arrived and I got stuck in last Friday evening.

I started with Hopdaemon Green Daemon, a bottle conditioned helles bier (which, Wikipedia tells us, simply means 'pale lager') and frankly it turned out to be one of the very best lagers (pale or otherwise) that I've ever had the pleasure to encounter. Things started off rather well with a lovely, fruity-caramel aroma as soon as the bottle was opened. The beer poured a dark amber-gold colour with almost no head and the first taste released a cascade of rich, sweet fruit flavours: most noticeably cantaloupe melon, with a touch of peach and papaya. There was a bit of toasted-almond in there as well and coupled with a lingering dryness to the after-taste that helped to keep the fruit in check, providing a good balance to the whole. Great flavours, carried along on a silky-syrupy mouth-feel. Quite a distance from my mental picture of a typical pale lager - if I didn't know better I'd have said this one was more of a Belgian-style beer - but I'll take Pete's word for it. Definitely worth seeking out.

Bottle number two was Skrimshander IPA. I first tried Skrimshander a few years ago, when some friends of ours hosted a barbecue party and some of their Kent-based relatives made the trip with a case or two in the boot. I remember enjoying it immensely - that's why I'd gotten in touch with Pete in the first place, to see if he could recommend a sales outlet Up North (alas. no, Hopdaemon generally only supplies retailers Down South) - and I was very glad of the opportunity to re-acquaint myself. Weighing in at 4.5% ABV, Skrimshander might not be as strong as a we've come to expect an IPA to be, but it certainly doesn't disappoint in the big hop flavours department. Again, a very pleasant mouth-feel conveys a dry, crisp, hop-heaviness with a lingering bitter finish that sneaks up on you a couple of seconds after you've swallowed. There's a faint nuttiness, hardly any fruit and an almost whisky-like character to the malt notes. Very, very nice indeed.

Going for the hat-trick, I cracked open the Leviathan, anticipating the biggest and boldest beer of the evening from this 6% ABV ale. It was a pleasure to behold as it poured; a rich ruby-chestnut body with a thick, frothy head. Flavour-wise it was all rich malt, with hints of treacly smoke and another long, dry finish. Not as sweet as I thought it was going to be; everything kept nicely in balance. Another damn fine beer, which I enjoyed immensely.

So: three damn fine beers from Hopdaemon there. If I had written down the one I though I would enjoy most before I started, I would have predicted Leviathan, but on reflection I think I'd actually pick the Green Daemon as the best beer on the night, if only because it was so much better than I was expecting it to be. Skrimshander is a very good example of a relatively low-alcohol IPA and Leviathan is an extremely tasty strong dark ale. But for a helles lager, Green Daemon really stands out from the others I've tried recently, kicking even BrewDog's very fine 77 Lager into touch.

And now of course, I have a problem: I've run out of Hopdaemon and it's not generally on sale up north. Time to start scouring the online retailers, I reckon. Please do let me know if you do spot it on sale anywhere in Manchester though, and if so be sure to grab a few bottles for your own beer cupboard. You won't be disappointed.

Okay, so I'm just back on the last train from Belfast after attending the Gapwines/Brewdog Beer Event at the Garrick Bar and by the looks of it a good time was had by all. I'll hopefully post a proper round-up of the event when I've sobered up (free BrewDog beer does not clear brain make) but I can reveal that later today BrewDog plan to announce we did get a bit on the freshly announced news on BrewDog producing, what is reckoned to be, the world's strongest beer, called Tactical Nuclear Penguin, weighing in at a hefty 32%. Yes, you read that right, 32%. Quite what the Portman Group will make of this is anybody's guess, but as Richard McLelland said in his intro, this is more about challenging themselves as brewers than it is about getting into the record books. The science is there, and it involves an ice cream factory, so it's more a case of experimenting to see if the theory works in practice. This is not a beer for the thrifty, the price I was quoted was £35 a bottle.

The video was certainly very entertaining, and informative, and you can view it here. And there's more on the beer itself over on the BrewDog blog.

Back at the end of October, the Reluctant Scooper ran a post on My Brewery Tap and their 52 week beer club. This caught my attention, so off to their website I went. Northern Ireland poses additional difficulties for any beer mail order operation - not all mainland UK-based couriers operate over here, and those that do invariably charge more for delivery - so I'm always interested to see how this aspect fares in any delivery pricing set up. It may not concern mainland readers much but it can add quite a bit to the cost per bottle, and orders need to be quite large to keep that cost down.

My first impression of My Brewery Tap was very positive, a very competitive £9.99 p&p for up to 36 bottles, albeit all from the same brewery. But the Beer Club was what I was interested in and by way of an incentive, Ed and Richard very generously sent me over one of their mixed cases, which I believe pretty much mimics the contents of the current Beer Club selection. I could be wrong but based on most of the conversations I've had with people here, the idea of beer by mail is not something they would consider. Apart from the aforementioned increased delivery costs, they express concerns about the bottles getting broken. Well, if Laithwaites and their like can send wine over every day, why should beer bottles be any different, but I can see where they're coming from. Richard from My Brewery Tap admits mine is the first case they've sent over here, and it arrived today via Home Delivery Network, who also operate the Collect+ service the Beer Swap guys are using.

For the benefit of Ed and Richard, here's the opened box showing the contents all safe and sound -

And here's the beery contents -

Tasting notes will follow in due course, there's definitely a few in there I'm looking forward to sampling.