Beer

hywelg

WezV said:

After my course I have been encouraged to follow these steps:

1) Buy lots of different beer, go for ones i would not normally pick.
2) taste it properly
3) record notes in a beer diary
4) go and read up about the beer and compare notes with other reviews
5) taste it again


So i am going to try a few tonight as I am off work tomorrow.   The diary in underway and I am booked onto a Beer Sommelier taster day in january, just to see if I want to take it further.

First up is the little pink can of Salty Kiss.   Its a gose.  never had one of them before.  Its a salty sour german style, but i don't know if this one is similar to the traditional varieties.   This is nowhere near as tart as the sours i had yesterday, and the saltiness is pretty subtle.   reminds me of a lemon tea   probably a good one to try as an introduction to the full on sours

IF you want to increase your beer knowledge, go and buy one of every Brewdog you can find. Settle down one evening with a laptop and a downloaded copy of the Brewdog recipes. Taste and read.

Personally If Oakham, Salopian,  and Thornbridge did the same and published their recipes I would go for them but they don't so its got to be Brewdog. Kudos to them for doing it, but they are still a bunch of arrogant twats.

Sambostar

Oh my goodness, this thing that's racked  that I tasted tonight and should be on tomorrow.

Credit card limit isn't enough. Why is American hops so good,,  What day is it tomorrow anyway.

WezV

hywelg said:

WezV said:

After my course I have been encouraged to follow these steps:

1) Buy lots of different beer, go for ones i would not normally pick.
2) taste it properly
3) record notes in a beer diary
4) go and read up about the beer and compare notes with other reviews
5) taste it again


So i am going to try a few tonight as I am off work tomorrow.   The diary in underway and I am booked onto a Beer Sommelier taster day in january, just to see if I want to take it further.

First up is the little pink can of Salty Kiss.   Its a gose.  never had one of them before.  Its a salty sour german style, but i don't know if this one is similar to the traditional varieties.   This is nowhere near as tart as the sours i had yesterday, and the saltiness is pretty subtle.   reminds me of a lemon tea   probably a good one to try as an introduction to the full on sours

IF you want to increase your beer knowledge, go and buy one of every Brewdog you can find. Settle down one evening with a laptop and a downloaded copy of the Brewdog recipes. Taste and read.

Personally If Oakham, Salopian,  and Thornbridge did the same and published their recipes I would go for them but they don't so its got to be Brewdog. Kudos to them for doing it, but they are still a bunch of arrogant twats.

Good idea,  I have the DIY dog download.  I have tried most of their easily available beers already, and one or two of the more unusual ones each time I get to pop to one of the bars (not very often).  

WezV

Just had the Rochefort 10 and must admit I was disappointed.  It's supposed to be up there with the best beers in the world. I found it distinctly average.

I had a case of a limited edition Sharps quadrupel a few years back and it was the best beer I had ever drunk by some margin.  I intended to keep some to age, but never managed it.

the rochefort was surpringly close to my own dark strong home brews.  Maybe, like the home brew often does, it just needs a bit longer.  

rivercider

I've just read through five pages of (often very good) suggestions and recommendations.......but.....no mention of Innis & Gunn??!  WTF

Sambostar

WezV

Deadman said:

...by the way can you do the same? I'm being drawn to that 'Bommen and Granalen' 

I have just had that one, very slowly.

bit harsh to start, but like wine it got better after a bit of a breath.  Loved it, need more.  The after taste reminded me of the Innes &Gunn rum finish, but it was a lot more refined than that.

I am following it up with the vocation heart & soul which may be one you can find in local supermarkets.  Very hoppy, all citrus and grapefruit., but easy drinking for the style and relatively low abv. 

Deadman

Hey that sounds sweet Wez. I need to get something that isn't just found on the supermarket shelves and I suppose the Innes and Gunn is on the list now along with that Bommen and Granalen!

It feels like the stars have aligned tonight.
Glass of Adnams Broadside, some smoked Gouda, Christmas tree is up and Fawlty Towers on the box.

WezV

You should find the Innes & Gunn beers in a lot of supermarkets.  Morrisons and Sainsbury's normally have it in.

i like to check out M&S as well.  It varies but they often have good stuff brewed for them.  They had a RyePA and a saison which were lovely, also some rather good single hop beers

Deadman

Thanks I'll keep my eyes peeled.

fields5069

WezV said:

You should find the Innes & Gunn beers in a lot of supermarkets.  Morrisons and Sainsbury's normally have it in.

i like to check out M&S as well.  It varies but they often have good stuff brewed for them.  They had a RyePA and a saison which were lovely, also some rather good single hop beers

Not the sorachi saison? I bought some along with some white IPA last week as they were selling them off for £1 each. They were both hoppy, borderline for me but the white IPA was nicer. The saison, I felt, was the Lapsang Souchong of beer. Maybe it needed to be drunk with food.

M&S are also the only high street store around Newport to stock Tiny Rebel beer, so hats off to them. I assume they have the freedom, or policy, to sell good local beer so it's worth checking what they have. 

WezV

That's the one, but you could say moat Saisons are an acquired taste

although it highlights one of the dangers of recommending beer.  I shared a couple of bottles of that a year ago with a mate, along with some othe M&S beers.  We both agreed it was the pick of the bunch.

its often written off as differences in personal taste.... but it can be a different batch or older/younger beer.  Often the smaller the brewery the less consistent the beer between batches.

fields5069

This was Adnams, so presumably consistent. I wouldn't say it was bad, but not a chugging beer and probably enhanced by some spicy food.

WezV

oh, its definitely not a chugging beer.

Even for Adnams, it will be a small batch brew and potentially less consistent than something they supply to every supermarket in the country... but age will still come into to it either way, especially if its short date stock on offer

WezV

more beer has arrived from Beer Hawk.

Not sure i can recommend them.  They have a great selection of beer, but they have completely screwed up two orders now.  Every time I chased the first one they gave me beer tokens so i decided to spend them on a second order which cost me about £10 for 8 expensive beers.

This second also also got stuck in the system, apparently the delirium was out of stock so they refunded me the £3.50 that one costs and sent the order out.  It finally arrived 4 days later, with the out of stock Delirium in it, Missing a bottle of Buxton Quadrupel (@£5.09 a bottle), but with 2 extra bottles of Ola Dubh 18 (@£5.19 a bottle)

So this little order cost £6.50, took two weeks to finally arrive but should normally cost £45.  Yes, they really do average out to £5 each at normal price

WezV

i forgot i still had some old beer i had not drunk yet.... brewed when i was 6 years old





poured great, smells really fruity, tastes really malty.... no hops left after 30 years

If you do want to drink old beer make sure you get a nice bit of co2 vapour out the bottle when you open it.