The Session #133 Announcement – Hometown Glories

For this month’s edition of the Session, the proposed subject is ‘Hometown Glories’. Take this and run with it how you wish, but when thinking about possible subjects I had in mind an imminent visit to the place I spent my formative years and blogging about it’s highlights and wider beer scene. Possible starting points could be –

•  Describing the types of bars/pubs you have in your home town, how popular are they? Has craft beer culture made much of a splash?
• Are there any well-known breweries? Is there a particular beer or style that is synonymous with your home town
• History of the town and how that can be reflected in its drinking culture
• Tales of your youth, early drinking stories
• Ruminations on what once was and what is now? Have you moved away and been pleasantly surprised or disappointed on return visits?

My visit over the next week is going to hopefully inspire me, and it’s a great excuse to visit a few old haunts and new venues. If you’re less enamoured with your hometown, or even if you left and never returned, feel free to respond anyway – maybe you’re an adopted native of somewhere better. My home town is no longer my home, so if you’d like to write about the place you feel most at home in relation to beer, that would be welcomed too.

I’m hoping this will spark a wide range of topics within the wider theme, and I look forward to reading your responses. Tag me in on Twitter – @barrelagedleeds – or comment below with a link if you prefer, by or on Friday the 2nd March.

Happy blogging!

Golden Pints 2017

 

Whilst generally this year has been a good year for beer, looking through my untappd check-ins it doesn’t appear to have been a vintage one personally. Casting aside bottleshare sips of aged, one off and extremely rare or unusual beers, it took me quite a while of scrolling through the list to find a nominee for every category that I rated highly, and that I returned to. Maybe I’m a bit jaded, or maybe my standards have risen. Certainly, for me, while I haven’t found anything to overly dislike this year a lot of beers have seemed indistinct, with the same flavours and textures – particularly at the hoppier end of the spectrum. A lot of my choices are old favourites, existing Breweries that have raised their game, or venues that I cherish.

Picking winners for each category is always difficult, but more so this year when I’ve been drinking pretty much exclusively UK beer and also not making many ventures to pastures new – its been a year of, well, not exactly sticking to what I know, but perhaps reining back on the extremes of looking for the ‘new’.

Best UK Cask Beer – Tough choices here, but in what is fast becoming a yearly tradition  I am voting for Magic Rock High Wire again…why vote for anything else other than repeated perfection?

Best UK Keg Beer – Marble Beers’ Gale’s Prize Old Ale (Bourbon Barrel Aged) was an utter delight at Dark City – so good I almost immediately went back for more. To be fair, this would probably also win best bottled beer, if I wasn’t saving the bottles I have in the cupboard. Verdant’s Maybe one more PSI was also a memorable glass amongst the tide of Murk, as was Magic Rock Brewing’s Psychokinesis – Sorachi goes well with the new breed of IPA – why aren’t we seeing more of this?

Best UK Bottled Beer – Kernel never let me down, and their Biere De Saison Perle Simcoe was one of the most memorable beers of the year. Lost and Grounded’s Keller Pils was also a fridge staple.

Best UK Canned Beer – Summer Wine take the nod for this category. It was great to see them back on the shelves, and Pico Diego was a low-abv revelation. Also,  Cloudwater Brewing get all the headlines for their DIPAs, and I’m sure they won’t be short of nominations in this category for those, but I enjoyed their range of IPLs even more – especially the Autumn + Winter IPL El Dorado Mosaic which filled my fridge in February

Best Overseas Draught – I haven’t been dipping my toe in these waters much, but all the Other Half Brewing beers I’ve tried at Hop City/elsewhere on occasion have been great. Double Mosaic Dream in particular. I also usually enjoy Dugges Bryggeri when I see it – Big Idjit did it for me.

Best Overseas Bottled Beer – Not a new beer, but Brouwerij De Ranke’s XX Bitter always keeps me going with its unrelenting bitterness. In a similar vein – De Dolle Arabier was also something I drank quite a few of.

Best Overseas Canned Beer – I rarely buy these, so I’d have to go with a nostalgic hooray for the return to these shores of Odell St. Lupulin – I still love it.

Best Collaboration Brew – Fuller’s combining with Marble Beers for Gale’s Prize Old Ale, but also a gracious nomination for the Fuller’s and Friends collabs with Marble and Moor. Cloudwater and The Veil also made a can of peach juice called Chubbles that was pretty delicious as well.

Best Overall Beer – Third mention for Marble Beers for Gale’s Prize Old Ale. I’ve praised it twice already, so enough said. Champion.

Best Branding – Leeds’ own Eyes Brewing have lots of designs that catch the eye. Abstract and unique.

Best Pump Clip – Erm…the new Harvey’s clips are a nice shade of Turquoise….

Best Bottle/Can Label – Northern Monk’s Patrons Project cans deserve to take this award for the sheer amount of effort that goes into every one, the Ingleborough Session Porter is just one outstanding example amongst many. Also, I very much admire the shiny cans from Burnt Mill – contents were pretty decent too.

Best UK Brewery – Always tough, and I usually stay within the Yorkshire boundaries, but this year I’m going for Marble – Gale’s Prize old Ale series, White Wine Pugin, Your Betrayal,

Best Overseas Brewery – Dugges for the beers I’ve tried this year, but overall I still drink more beers from Belgium than any other country outside the UK, so De Ranke.

Best Pub/Bar of the Year – I don’t like picking a best for this category, as mine changes visit by visit, but I’ve really enjoyed my end of the night visits to The Turk’s Head. Cosy and calm, with great beer and service.

Best New Pub/Bar of the Year – It is great to see The Cardigan Arms reopened and revived by Kirkstall Brewery – as lovely as it should be, and with enough of the touches that beer geeks like, but also keeping accessible and friendly to all.

Beer Festival of the Year – Leeds International Beer Festival obviously, but Hop/Dark City were also great this year, and will go from strength to strength.

Supermarket of the Year – Morrisons for keeping their range fresh for a few fridge fillers.

Independent Retailer of the Year – I’m not going to pick a winner, as we are so utterly spolit in Leeds that I rotate my visits between 4/5 shops, but Little Leeds Beer House is somewhere I always visit when I’m in town, and Raynville Superstore is expanding ever more. Both excellent places to stand, chat and choose.

Online Retailer of the Year – I only ordered beer online once this year, and was left a little disappointed. So meh.

Best Beer Book or Magazine – Boak and Bailey’s 20^th Century Pub – it’s about so much more than beer, and an essential read for anyone trying to understand the history of UK drinking culture.

Best Beer Blog or Website – Again, Boak and Bailey – I don’t think there is anywhere that is producing such a variety of great articles that isn’t a full time, paid operation. Good Beer Hunting always come up with interesting perspectives, and there’s plenty of full time and amateur bloggers out there whose sites I regularly read – they know who they are. Shout out to Hopinions as well for filling my bus journeys with an hour (or more) of beery content every week.

Simon Johnson award for Best Beer Twitterer – I’m not going to pick a favourite here, but shouts go to @6TownsMart – travels through Europe and the UK, with plenty of excellent beer tips, @thebeernut – fully formed Beer reviews, with a side of pithy humour and @RowettBrew – pisstaking, homebrewing and general LOLage.

 

The Session 120: Brown Beer

For this month’s Session topic, Joe Tindall who writes at The Fatal Glass of Beer has nominated a tricky subject to blog about. I say tricky, because in the discourse of modern beer ‘Brown’ has become a inexplicably maligned descriptor, and brown ale as a style is often overlooked or derided.

Brown is what your parents drank. Brown is dull and lifeless. Brown is  unfashionable, and comes in clear bottles, from brands that no longer exist as independent entities, so passé that they’ve become a joke even amongst the communities that they sprouted from. However, Brown ales are also flavourful, rich, moreish, and despite the negatives, are still one of the most satisfying styles around, even more so when brewed with care and creativity.

My original intention for this post was to find a couple of the classics, and drink them side by side with some newer examples. I quickly realised that it would be a pointless task, mainly because the likes of Newcastle Brown and Mann’s have been reduced to pointlessness by a indifferent beer market and the financial pressures of supermarket discounting.

Also, as most contemporary brown ales available are jazzed up and trend-driven, a comparison would be uneven. So instead of digging up the time capsule and finding nothing but a mouldy newspaper and a badly spelled letter, I picked up two bottles that I thought would be at distant ends of the modern Brown ale scale.

Blackjack Brewery are one of Manchester’s new wave of railway arch Brewers, nestled up in the Green Quarter on the edge of the city centre. The River is a Farmhouse Brown that is billed as ‘far from ‘brown’ as it gets’. There is certainly a extreme funk in the air as I pop the cap, and a small gush of foam – the yeast in the bottle has certainly been working away – but the liveliness still sprays out a nutty aroma that screams brown ale.

To taste, I’m getting a lot of banana esters and also a sweet toasty cocoa. The yeasty, brett-like funk gives it an edge that seems a little strange, almost distracting at first, but as a counterpoint it works. I would have liked a bit more spice, perhaps, but it’s a good concept and pretty well executed too.

Odyssey Brew Co are a new, but increasingly lauded brewery hidden away in deep countryside between Hereford and Worcester. They’ve attracted a lot of attention for their range of aggressively flavoursome beer, and this imperial oatmeal stout fits in with that ethos.

My bottle is full of vanilla, coffee and chocolate, and is thick, with a sharp boozy finish – almost akin to a bourbon aged stout. However there is also that characteristic brownness underneath, with lots of sticky caramel and a gentle bitterness. My only criticism would be that on the finish the vanilla slightly overpowers the other flavours.

To be honest, my previous Odyssey experiences didn’t leave me reeling with excitement, but this beer shows why they’ve got a lot of praise. A real hefty pudding of a beer.

With these two beers, and others I’ve tried recently – North Brewing Co’s Bulkhead and Magic Rock’s The Stooge, both excellent from cask – there is clearly life in the style amongst UK brewers, even if the parameters of the style are being ever more stretched. 

Session 119 – Discomfort Beer

This post is a contribution to Beer Blogging Friday where a host volunteers to choose a topic for bloggers to write about and then collates the responses.  This time,  Alec Latham has chosen the topic of “Discomfort Beer”, and contributions are focused on beers that challenged, disgusted, or changed the opinion of the writer.

Back in about 2011, I thought I ‘knew’ about beer, mainly because I’d successfully booked a trip to Brussels in 2006 and it coincided with the annual Brussels beer weekend – not that I knew it was on. My partner and I enjoyed it so much that we roped in a few others for a return trip the year after, and the year after that.
With these repeat visits, I had chucked back what I thought at the time were exceptionally strong beers, in a rather typically cavalier youngish Brit abroad fashion. We shared and tried a list of beers that I cannot recall in much detail, and I certainly didn’t really make any attempt to learn much about them at the time. Beer was beer, even Belgian beer. We laughed at the silly outfits of the brewers at the parade, and even made some jokes about the name of some bloke called Michael Jackson sitting in a tent with a load of books he was signing.

As the quote goes ‘the past is a foreign country’, and although in this instance that was literally true, it was my last visit to the Beer weekend in 2011 that demonstrates the figurative truth behind it, and which relates to the topic for this session.

‘One Boon Gooze please’, I said as I approached Boon’s stall. ‘Ok…coming up’ said the hesitant server who had obviously dealt with plenty of oblivious tourists ordering his produce that weekend, and pulling the same mystified/disgusted expression that was to wash over my face in approximately three minutes. My last few tokens of the weekend were handed over, and I looked forward to my last beer of the festival on a Sunday afternoon that had been mercifully dry, compared to the heavy showers of the other sessions.

One swift gulp later, I was wondering what exactly it was that I’d ordered. Was this beer? It smelt like sweaty cider and cheese, and it certainly didn’t taste like what I’d come to expect from Belgian beer – sweet and strong, with or without fruit. Even the Coconut beer we made our friends order as a kind of initiation tasted more palatable than this. Still, not being a person not to finish his beer, I persisted and finished my glass. I thought ‘I’ll take a photo of this, so I don’t order it again next year’, which is the photo above.

My perceptions and reaction planted the seed of doubt in my head – what was this? Did I just not ‘get it’? And so I started looking into the brewery, and then the style of beer, and who Michael Jackson was. Five years on and I know that what I was tasting was almost certainly Boon’s Oude Gueuze, which for a novice to the style was probably the worst introduction. However, it had the effect of prompting me to expand my horizons in a way that the Blondes and Bruins and syrupy sweet Framboises didn’t.

I’m grateful that the person serving me at Boon’s stall didn’t pause to ask ‘have you had this before?’ and recommend something less challenging from another brewer. It’s been much more fun learning about beer following that uncomfortable experience

#12BeersofXmas – Day 9 – Holy Oak

After a few days of eeking out a share each of a 330ml bottle, we’re back in big bottle country tonight, and the beer that I am most looking forward to of this year’s selection.

Gigantic brew out of Portland, Oregon and had their fourth birthday earlier this year, they prepared to mark the occasion by flying Magic Rock’s Nick Ziegler out in advance to brew Holy Oak – a barrel-aged kettle sour designed to mimic a whiskey sour cocktail. The collaboration must have gone well as Gigantic made the return trip to brew Special Relationship – a Manhattan cocktail-style aged beer – earlier this year.

I didn’t get round to tasting Holy Oak when it was originally released, and I also thought that I’d missed out on a bottle due to my own inaction. Luckily, Becky noted my interest and picked a bottle up, which has been sitting in our kitchen waiting for the right moment. Which is now.

A satisfying hiss accompanied the popping of the cap, which is usually a good sign, and the beer poured with a thick dense foam. The aroma is obviously max bourbon, but also sweet citrus. The sourness of the beer is pronounced but it balances the oaky bourbon by providing a sugary, tangy hit on the aftertaste. Which isn’t to say that it is overly sweet – it’s designed to ape a Whisky Sour and does so to a tee.

Even the mouthfeel is spot on – slight hints of a thick creamyness, which I would expect from egg yolk in the cocktail – and it isn’t  light, throwaway like a lot of kettle soured beers are. It’s one of those beers that demonstrates it’s creator’s methods with extra layers. I’m very impressed, not only with the end result, but also with the level of thought that must have gone into the process. I think Becky is also pretty happy with this one.

‘It used to be that when Gareth had a sour he would ask me to try it then sit tittering at the expression of disgust on my face. Now however I know if the style of beer I’m trying is a sour that it’s pretty certain I’ll love it and this is no exception. Again another boozy number on the nose and the whiskey taste definitely comes through. Not sure I could drink more that one glass of this one as it feels really strong and is certainly hitting the spot tonight. I best stop now though or I’ll have a ‘Gigantic’ hangover again tomorrow.’

It’s fair to say I’ve certainly not been disappointed with Holy Oak, I’m a bit sceptical of beers that seem to be aping a different drink, but the success of both this and Special Relationship have shown that amazing results can be achieved.

#12BeersofXmas – Day 8 – Tsjeeses

Today’s selection is another Christmas themed beer, and we’ve gone back to Belgium for a beer by De Struise. Near neighbours to the monks at Westvleteren, De Struise are renowned for creating many well regarded beers, including Pannepot (more about that later in the week).

The story behind the name of this beer is that De Struise had been brewing Christmas beers for a few years without finding a good name, until one year the head brewer tasted the latest creation and exclaimed ‘Tjeeses, what a beer’. Nice story. The label also has an interesting reason behind the character’s shades, more info here.

The beer initially pours with a bubbly head, although all carbonation rapidly dissipates. The aroma reminds me of Madeira wine, as does the deep reddish brown colour. The beer is lagered on various fruits, and I’d hazard a guess that cherries and plums would have been used, given the bittersweet flavours. The alcohol does hit post-swallow but in a good way, and the aftertaste is nutty, with a bit of vanilla. I think with a bit more carbonation this would have been truly memorable, but I’m unsure if time in the bottle would help or not. However, for a Christmas beer this is hard to beat in terms of depth and flavour.

‘Yay I’m sober so actually appreciating this lovely beer! Looking at it in the glass you’d think it was brandy rather than beer and it’s very boozy on the nose. Lovely and warming like drinking a spirit. Unfortunately because it’s so good I’ve pretty much finished it before coming to write this but if you like a strong Belgian beer this will be right up your street. Just wish we had more!’

Another well received beer overall, seems like we’re having a pretty successful #12BeersofXmas this year, here’s hoping the next few days keep up this standard.

#12BeersofXmas – Day 7 – #MashTag 15

‘Hey guys, we’re #cool! Let’s source the recipe for a #new #beer #on #Twitter #using #hashtags #and #polls’. Was my reaction at the time to the Brewdog mashtag crowd-created beer. It all seemed a bit ‘hells yeah’ and ‘totes’, even for Brewdog.

But I am a rapidly aging cynic, and even though the combination of suggestions that were chosen sometimes seemed like a bit of a dog’s dinner, I’d seen the 2015 in a beer shop and picked one up anyway. A black barley wine aged on oak chips didn’t sound too bad, after all.

Vanilla beans were also an addition to the brew and they figure strongly both on the initial aroma and dry, creamy finish. The mashtaggers also decided that the beer should have an IBU level of 100, and while this has faded, there’s still a tingly bitterness to put a full stop to the oaky, smoky heart of this full bodied barley wine.

I know Becky occasionally enjoys a barley wine and I thought this would be a slightly different proposition for her to try. ‘The few barley wine beers I’ve tried I have liked but I wouldn’t say they’re my go to beer. I have been driving for five hours today then drinking for the last six so my contribution is going to be minimal! This beer does smell lovely, definite hints of coffee and vanilla. Saying that on the first sip it made me pull my ‘yuck face’. However the warmer it got and the more I drank the more it’s grown on me. It has a warm flavour and is smooth to drink.’

So maybe #-ing a beer together on Twitter isn’t such a bad idea after all. I’m still not sure if I’d enjoy the 2016 creation, but 2015’s was delicious.

#12BeersofXmas – Day 6 – Surt Til

I’m not really that bothered about getting boozed up on Christmas Day – far too much to do, games to be assembled, and massive amounts of food to be eaten. Things have died down a bit now though, so I’ve popped my second beer of the day.

Completing a hat-trick of To Øl selections is Surt Til, a sour table beer, designed to be a liquid equivalent of the pickled vegetables served alongside a Danish christmas dinner. As the blurb says, why eat your vegetables when you can take a drink? I’m inclined to agree.

The pour is lively, less ice man, more ice cream man, but the carbonation is just right. There are some salty notes and a bit of funk, but also a bit of a soapy, thin finish, which is not entirely unexpected for a table beer. The sourness is fleeting but crisp, with some typically savoury hints from the Mosaic.

Overall, this is a satisfying beer but not as moreish as Sur Yule. This was another of Becky’s choices for the lineup, and as she’s done most of the hard work today I’ve given her the majority of the bottle.

‘The only downside to doing the cooking is I sip all the booze I can get my hands on whilst chopping and stirring so I’m feeling a bit pickled! That being said I am once again regretting sharing my lovely To Øl beer with Gareth. Of the two I thought I would like the Sur Yule the best but this is divine. I love an easy drinker and this is incredibly quaffable. No flavours standing out it’s just clean and crisp and even (trying to make my contribution festive!). I could drink this all day long – I’m looking forward to getting my hands on more To Øl goodies in 2017!’

Hope you’ve all had a good day, and that you’ve got a fun evening planned.

#12BeersofXmas – Day 5 – Sur Yule

Christmas Eve means another Christmas beer, and another To Øl bottle. We are both slowly recovering from last night, and not much has helped soothe our heads so far – fry up, fresh air, fluids (both soft and beery) – all have failed. We’re just glad that we chose to go out on the 23rd rather than inflict this on ourselves on Christmas morning. I am expecting we’ll be up early.

Sur Yule comes in a handily sized sharing bottle, and has been chilling in the fresh air all day (fridge too full of food). A pale sour with Cherries, it has a light rose hue. Cloudy with a snappy but brief bite, it has hints of a Kriek but less intense.

Whilst year round I will enjoy every type of beer style, at Christmas where the focus largely isn’t on what’s in my glass, something like Sur Yule is ideally what I aim to have in the fridge. A beer that, for me, is relatively easy going, yet high quality, shareable and with enough zip to cut through the post-dinner fatigue. I’m pretty sure that Becky is going to share my enthusiasm here.

‘As soon as I saw the tweet from Raynville with a picture of this one I knew I had to have it! I’m yet to find a To Øl beer I don’t love and this is no exception. Just from the smell I knew I would love it. The cherry flavour definitely comes through but in a more subtle way than a fruit Lambic. It’s very suppable! Just gutted I did the kind and generous festive thing and said I’d share with Gareth. Next time no sharing!!’

The spirit of Christmas there. I’m hoping Becky is feeling slightly less stingy tomorrow when she opens a couple of the beery gifts I may or may not have got her. We hope you all have a good day tomorrow, and that Santa brings you something tasty to slurp.

#12BeersofXmas – Day 4 – Santa Gose F&#% It All

We’ve subbed tonight’s beer into the lineup, as we’re out and about tonight and a 3.5% Gose is much more of a sensible start. We’ll save the silliness for later.

To Øl has been one of our joint favourite breweries this year, and this Gose has been Becky’s favourite beer of the year. Her enthusiasm for it has been so intense that she’s even bought extra for friends of ours.

I’m also a fan, and although I don’t think this is anything amazing it hits all the Gose spots – lemon, salt, crisp – with a combination of extra fruit addition that doesn’t overarch the basic qualities of the style. Some Gose recipes are slightly over soured, and while I’m not a slave to the rule book, it kind of defeats the point of brewing something that’s main strength is it’s subtleties – Santa Gose keeps everything balanced, fresh and interesting.

‘As Gareth said To Øl has been a hit for us and by far my stand out brewery of this year – this beer in particular is amazing.  I’m a big fan of Gose to Hollywood but this is something else. It’s not as salty as some other gose style beers and is almost umbongo like in taste! Very clever twist on the Christmas style in that Santa has fucked off to the Bahamas so is having a fruity gose. You defintely get all the fruit flavours and I’d bet my bottom dollar they drink it in the Congo! I could wax lyrical about this beer all night but I must desist and trot off to the pub.’

Me too. Pettmans out.