Every tasting from now on, i hope to focus on one beer and get every ones opinion of it ...
This tastings beers is Lost Abbey Angel Share Grand Cru
Craig :
deep brown black ... thin lacing ... sweet woody chocolate ... hint of sour nose ... tart sour woodiness ... again hint of chocolate ... raisins ... some balsamic vinegar ... oddd ... not really me... 4/10
Stella :
nice ... quite sour .. lots of raisins ... some balsamic 6/10
Benjii:
Yeast, some marmite Character , lots of raisins 7/10
Sevare :
I wouldnt drink a half pint , too raisiny, bit meh. 4/10
Blair :
Mouldy raisins and ovaltine, vinegarete 7/10
Lewis:
Some Sherry Characteristics, some sangria soury tart red wine tones, quite light body , little pink grapefruit 7/10
Friday, 22 April 2011
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Round Edinburgh without a fridge.
Someone on twitter asked recently for good bars in Edinburgh. So rather than trying to squeeze my answer into 140 Characters, i thought it was about time i blogged again.
So lets Start CASK. As ive said im a huge cask beer fan and pretty much all the good bars in Edinburgh as Cask bars.
My Favourite 3 bars are all owned by the same people though ive no idea who they are.
But the 3 bars are
The Bow Bar (80 West Bow,Victoria Street, EH1 2HH Phone: 0131 226 7667) ,
Cloisters (26 Brougham Street, EH3 9JH - 0131 221 9997) and
The Stockbridge tap (2-4 Raeburn Place, EH4 1HN Tel: 0131 343 3000)
I love them all because they share the same philosophy, Which is a nice solid core range of cask beers with an every changing guest list all of which is well cared for and well thought out. If my memory serves me right the Tap has 7 taps, the Bow 8(tall fonts) and Cloisters 9. Core wise they all carry at least 1 Stewart beer a great little Edinburgh based brewer, and Cloisters recently replaced the Landord with a Highland Scapa Special as a permanent beer. Again a great brewer its just a shame it wasnt their 9% Orkney Porter as a permanent beer. Cloisters also has a house special in Stewarts Holy Grail as well as Trade winds and Stewart IPA on at all times. Where as the Tap has Trade Winds & Stewarts IPA & 80/- as permanent beers
Both the Bow and Cloisters recently replaced Guinness, with kegged Black Isle Porter, and the Tap has permanently Black Isle Golden Eye on keg both of which seems to have been a great success and its great to see support of a Scottish brewery over a multinational.
Though the Tap is a little more out of the way, being in Stockbridge its still only about 20 minutes walk from Cloisters, so its quite possible to do a nice little walking tour of Edinburgh pick up beer in all three bars
Other bars of note:
The Guildford Arms (1 WEST REGISTER STREET, EH2 2AA, 0131 556 4312) at the East end of Princess Street, has really improved in my opinion on what it was 3-4 years ago, It carryies 10 tap 6 of which are usually Scottish and 4 that can be from anywhere. The Guildford is at its best though when it has one of its regular beer festival where they tend to look far and wide for interesting beers. They also seem to use a different supplier from the Cloister/Bow/Tap and as such often have beers from breweries that are not seen else where.
Malt & Hops (45 Shore, Leith, EH6 6QU, Tel 0131 555 0083) While a little bit out of the way in Leith, does some great beers with a well thought out selection or mostly changing tap of which i think there are 8. A pub that i wish wasnt so far from my house (opposite side of town, as id like to drink there more often)
From here on in Most of the other bars of note tend to carry a much more limited range, so for a beer hunter like myself they lack variety but there are many other bars who Serve good ale.
The Blue Blazer (2 Spittal Street, EH3 9DX, 229 5030) handily on the way between Cloister and the Bow , or Cloister and the Tap. The Blue Blazer has about 7 tap (2 of which are tall fonts), and mostly deals in Scottish beers, though you will occasionally find and English guest beer.
Kays bar (39 Jamaica Street, EH3 6HF, 0131 225 1858) ( a great little stop on the way to the Stockbridge tap) is a small cosy little boozer with 4 well looked after beers, again mostly Scottish, As a place to sit and drink its one of my favour places.
Halfway House (24 Fleshmarket Close, EH1 1BX. 0131 225 7101 ) is a tiny little pub hidden up a narrow alleyway behind Waverley railway station, It carries 4 taps usually from Scotland or the North of England. But its again a great little pub to sit and have a pint.
It Surprises some but im actually quite fond of the Spoons pubs in Edinburgh. On the Whole their beer is better kept than one might normally expect, and they do occasionally manage to offer some interesting beer and there festivals are very well thought out.
Finally no beer trip to Edinburgh would be complete with out a trip to the Newly opened Brewdog bar. The delight here is finding beers from the likes of Nogne and Mikkeller on tap, if you have never had beers from these wonderful brewers then this is the place to correct that omission either from tap or bottle
So lets Start CASK. As ive said im a huge cask beer fan and pretty much all the good bars in Edinburgh as Cask bars.
My Favourite 3 bars are all owned by the same people though ive no idea who they are.
But the 3 bars are
The Bow Bar (80 West Bow,Victoria Street, EH1 2HH Phone: 0131 226 7667) ,
Cloisters (26 Brougham Street, EH3 9JH - 0131 221 9997) and
The Stockbridge tap (2-4 Raeburn Place, EH4 1HN Tel: 0131 343 3000)
I love them all because they share the same philosophy, Which is a nice solid core range of cask beers with an every changing guest list all of which is well cared for and well thought out. If my memory serves me right the Tap has 7 taps, the Bow 8(tall fonts) and Cloisters 9. Core wise they all carry at least 1 Stewart beer a great little Edinburgh based brewer, and Cloisters recently replaced the Landord with a Highland Scapa Special as a permanent beer. Again a great brewer its just a shame it wasnt their 9% Orkney Porter as a permanent beer. Cloisters also has a house special in Stewarts Holy Grail as well as Trade winds and Stewart IPA on at all times. Where as the Tap has Trade Winds & Stewarts IPA & 80/- as permanent beers
Both the Bow and Cloisters recently replaced Guinness, with kegged Black Isle Porter, and the Tap has permanently Black Isle Golden Eye on keg both of which seems to have been a great success and its great to see support of a Scottish brewery over a multinational.
Though the Tap is a little more out of the way, being in Stockbridge its still only about 20 minutes walk from Cloisters, so its quite possible to do a nice little walking tour of Edinburgh pick up beer in all three bars
Other bars of note:
The Guildford Arms (1 WEST REGISTER STREET, EH2 2AA, 0131 556 4312) at the East end of Princess Street, has really improved in my opinion on what it was 3-4 years ago, It carryies 10 tap 6 of which are usually Scottish and 4 that can be from anywhere. The Guildford is at its best though when it has one of its regular beer festival where they tend to look far and wide for interesting beers. They also seem to use a different supplier from the Cloister/Bow/Tap and as such often have beers from breweries that are not seen else where.
Malt & Hops (45 Shore, Leith, EH6 6QU, Tel 0131 555 0083) While a little bit out of the way in Leith, does some great beers with a well thought out selection or mostly changing tap of which i think there are 8. A pub that i wish wasnt so far from my house (opposite side of town, as id like to drink there more often)
From here on in Most of the other bars of note tend to carry a much more limited range, so for a beer hunter like myself they lack variety but there are many other bars who Serve good ale.
The Blue Blazer (2 Spittal Street, EH3 9DX, 229 5030) handily on the way between Cloister and the Bow , or Cloister and the Tap. The Blue Blazer has about 7 tap (2 of which are tall fonts), and mostly deals in Scottish beers, though you will occasionally find and English guest beer.
Kays bar (39 Jamaica Street, EH3 6HF, 0131 225 1858) ( a great little stop on the way to the Stockbridge tap) is a small cosy little boozer with 4 well looked after beers, again mostly Scottish, As a place to sit and drink its one of my favour places.
Halfway House (24 Fleshmarket Close, EH1 1BX. 0131 225 7101 ) is a tiny little pub hidden up a narrow alleyway behind Waverley railway station, It carries 4 taps usually from Scotland or the North of England. But its again a great little pub to sit and have a pint.
It Surprises some but im actually quite fond of the Spoons pubs in Edinburgh. On the Whole their beer is better kept than one might normally expect, and they do occasionally manage to offer some interesting beer and there festivals are very well thought out.
Finally no beer trip to Edinburgh would be complete with out a trip to the Newly opened Brewdog bar. The delight here is finding beers from the likes of Nogne and Mikkeller on tap, if you have never had beers from these wonderful brewers then this is the place to correct that omission either from tap or bottle
Thursday, 31 March 2011
A Light March
was what i was hoping for and a light March is what i got.
The estimation site http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps3/pvest.php Estimated March at 6.8 units a day or 211 units for the month. All told i averaged 7.97 units a day or 247 units for the Month. Which works out at £118 for March about £18 above what was estimated. In other good news, it looks like the feed in tariffs are due for there yearly inflation increase and if i have understood correctly the Tarrifs will rise by 4.8% from next month from 41p to 43p a unit generated.
As we move into the summer months once again i set a new maximum for a day at 17.7units on the 24th of March. The Lowest day ever was also recorded in March at only 0.4 Units on the 12 of March, however we had about half an inch of snow the previous night, and the day remained overcast. So the fact the enough snow melted to generate even 0.4 units was a surprise to me.
All told the performance of the system has been slightly better than the estimation site and considerably better than the figures that i used for my cost analysis. So we have one happy green bunny. Let hope the Sun continues to shine.
The estimation site http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps3/pvest.php Estimated March at 6.8 units a day or 211 units for the month. All told i averaged 7.97 units a day or 247 units for the Month. Which works out at £118 for March about £18 above what was estimated. In other good news, it looks like the feed in tariffs are due for there yearly inflation increase and if i have understood correctly the Tarrifs will rise by 4.8% from next month from 41p to 43p a unit generated.
As we move into the summer months once again i set a new maximum for a day at 17.7units on the 24th of March. The Lowest day ever was also recorded in March at only 0.4 Units on the 12 of March, however we had about half an inch of snow the previous night, and the day remained overcast. So the fact the enough snow melted to generate even 0.4 units was a surprise to me.
All told the performance of the system has been slightly better than the estimation site and considerably better than the figures that i used for my cost analysis. So we have one happy green bunny. Let hope the Sun continues to shine.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Its a Bitch
When you have to drink good beer.
Well last night Brewdog Bar Edinburgh had a "Soft" open, this turns out to be opening before its really open, if that makes any sence. Or more simply opening before the official Launch night. In fact so soft was the opening that i only knew it was actually open 15 minutes before it opened. Ok i had heard rumour but no real news. Until 5:45 when it was tweeted that the bar was opening in 15 minutes. Now this turned out to not be quite true i think it might have been 16 or 17 minutes. All told the Brewdog bar opened about a minute after the work being done was complete.
Now ive been lucky to have been to both brewdog bars, and they are quite interesting, Brewdog have said that theyve gone for a common feel without an identical look and you know what i think they have got that right
The outside of Brewdog Aberdeen
The outside of Brewdog Edinburgh
The inside of Brewdog Aberdeen
The Inside of Brewdog Edinburgh
The Aberdeen Bar
The Edinburgh Bar(will try get a landscape shot)
And a Stoatally Ridiculous Photo
Now onto my thoughts.
So lets start with my gripe, even if lots of you tune out now.
This is a GREAT bar, its a Fantastic addition to Edinburgh, but it fails to be a world class bar for me, and that for one simple reason. No Cask beer. Now im a cask beer fan , and ive long nailed my colours to the mast. But im no Keg hater, I love brewers like Mikkeller, De Molen and De Struise, and there not known for cask beer. But ive seen my perfect Bar , its Brasserie 4:20 in Rome, and the brewdog bar could have so easily have beer this. The perfect mix of the best of Cask, Keg and bottles.
Brewdog do some great Cask beer, the Edge is a Stunning beer and is in the top 1% of all beers ive tried. I love the Hardcore on cask, though i appreciate others prefer keg. But many of the brewdog beers are great on Cask. Then there are other Small Craft Cask Brewers who are producing beer that doesnt get to shine in main stream outlets. A great Example of this is Kernel who have bottles at the Brewdog bar and do occasionaly Cask beer, would it not be WONDERFUL to find cask Kernel, the likes of Hardknott or Marble.
I can appreciate that Brewdog think the Cask market is covered and they want to do there own thing, But im sure they could have sold Cask beer that would not normally be seen. How often do we see 7%+ in Edinburgh Pubs, Im also sure Brewdog could have afforded to charge the Real price of these beers, which is not 3.50 a pint. I would Orgasm if i walked in and found Old Chimney Good King Henry on Cask (my favourite UK Bottle and in my top 10 beers)
But gripe over lets get back to just how Fantastic the Brewdog bar is, and it is Fantastic. It offers 12 taps, (they were not all connected) and from what i can gather 6 will given over to the Brewdog core range, and the other 6 to Brewdog Specials and guest beers from the likes of Mikkeller, De Struise, Left Hand and Great Divide.
Now these are beers we have not seen in Edinburgh up to now, and as far as im concerned having been a fan of many of the brewers that are likely to be on the Guest tap, The Brewdog Bar is a MUST establishment.
(Id rather drink the brewdog core range else where on cask ;-} )
On the Soft opening they had Left Hand Imperial Stout, Flying Dog Raging Bitch and the one that everyone i knew started with Mikkeller Vesterbro Kaffestout , not a bad start for 'soft' opening night
And then theres the Bottle list
heres a link to the fullsize version
Now here is where i Stand Up for brewdog. It was sugested by some people that the bottle list is too dear, and there are a few that seem oddly priced but I trade a lot, i buy a lot of these types of beer when i travel, and yeah they are a little dearer than i normally pay, but these are Bar prices not Shop prices and as such fairly reasonably priced. Now dont get me wrong if you go out and drink a few of these bottles you may find yourself laying out 30 or 40 Quid. (many 750 are about £12 quid and i paid £12 quid for a Nogne Red Horizon 250ml bottle, but you know what it was worth it)
Dont get distracted, if you want to pay £3.50 a pint then the brewdogs core range is there and will keep you in good stead, if your happy paying a little more then the guest tap list will see you right, but if your looking for something special then the bottle list is second to none of any bar in Scotland, and if things goto plan will rival many of the best bars south of the border. I could easily pick 10 or 15 beers of that list and tell you why i think this beer is special. Many of the beers on this list aren't just good beers but are Great Beer, the Struise Pannepot is on the list of beers i regularly force upon people as an example of a WORLD class beer.
I look forward to drinking in the bar on many occasions.
Read a second take on the Brewdog bar from the beer cast crew with whom i spend the evening here
Oh and a photo of my and my mate at the Real Opening
Well last night Brewdog Bar Edinburgh had a "Soft" open, this turns out to be opening before its really open, if that makes any sence. Or more simply opening before the official Launch night. In fact so soft was the opening that i only knew it was actually open 15 minutes before it opened. Ok i had heard rumour but no real news. Until 5:45 when it was tweeted that the bar was opening in 15 minutes. Now this turned out to not be quite true i think it might have been 16 or 17 minutes. All told the Brewdog bar opened about a minute after the work being done was complete.
Now ive been lucky to have been to both brewdog bars, and they are quite interesting, Brewdog have said that theyve gone for a common feel without an identical look and you know what i think they have got that right
The outside of Brewdog Aberdeen
The outside of Brewdog Edinburgh
The inside of Brewdog Aberdeen
The Aberdeen Bar
The Edinburgh Bar(will try get a landscape shot)
And a Stoatally Ridiculous Photo
Now onto my thoughts.
So lets start with my gripe, even if lots of you tune out now.
This is a GREAT bar, its a Fantastic addition to Edinburgh, but it fails to be a world class bar for me, and that for one simple reason. No Cask beer. Now im a cask beer fan , and ive long nailed my colours to the mast. But im no Keg hater, I love brewers like Mikkeller, De Molen and De Struise, and there not known for cask beer. But ive seen my perfect Bar , its Brasserie 4:20 in Rome, and the brewdog bar could have so easily have beer this. The perfect mix of the best of Cask, Keg and bottles.
Brewdog do some great Cask beer, the Edge is a Stunning beer and is in the top 1% of all beers ive tried. I love the Hardcore on cask, though i appreciate others prefer keg. But many of the brewdog beers are great on Cask. Then there are other Small Craft Cask Brewers who are producing beer that doesnt get to shine in main stream outlets. A great Example of this is Kernel who have bottles at the Brewdog bar and do occasionaly Cask beer, would it not be WONDERFUL to find cask Kernel, the likes of Hardknott or Marble.
I can appreciate that Brewdog think the Cask market is covered and they want to do there own thing, But im sure they could have sold Cask beer that would not normally be seen. How often do we see 7%+ in Edinburgh Pubs, Im also sure Brewdog could have afforded to charge the Real price of these beers, which is not 3.50 a pint. I would Orgasm if i walked in and found Old Chimney Good King Henry on Cask (my favourite UK Bottle and in my top 10 beers)
But gripe over lets get back to just how Fantastic the Brewdog bar is, and it is Fantastic. It offers 12 taps, (they were not all connected) and from what i can gather 6 will given over to the Brewdog core range, and the other 6 to Brewdog Specials and guest beers from the likes of Mikkeller, De Struise, Left Hand and Great Divide.
Now these are beers we have not seen in Edinburgh up to now, and as far as im concerned having been a fan of many of the brewers that are likely to be on the Guest tap, The Brewdog Bar is a MUST establishment.
(Id rather drink the brewdog core range else where on cask ;-} )
On the Soft opening they had Left Hand Imperial Stout, Flying Dog Raging Bitch and the one that everyone i knew started with Mikkeller Vesterbro Kaffestout , not a bad start for 'soft' opening night
And then theres the Bottle list
Now here is where i Stand Up for brewdog. It was sugested by some people that the bottle list is too dear, and there are a few that seem oddly priced but I trade a lot, i buy a lot of these types of beer when i travel, and yeah they are a little dearer than i normally pay, but these are Bar prices not Shop prices and as such fairly reasonably priced. Now dont get me wrong if you go out and drink a few of these bottles you may find yourself laying out 30 or 40 Quid. (many 750 are about £12 quid and i paid £12 quid for a Nogne Red Horizon 250ml bottle, but you know what it was worth it)
Dont get distracted, if you want to pay £3.50 a pint then the brewdogs core range is there and will keep you in good stead, if your happy paying a little more then the guest tap list will see you right, but if your looking for something special then the bottle list is second to none of any bar in Scotland, and if things goto plan will rival many of the best bars south of the border. I could easily pick 10 or 15 beers of that list and tell you why i think this beer is special. Many of the beers on this list aren't just good beers but are Great Beer, the Struise Pannepot is on the list of beers i regularly force upon people as an example of a WORLD class beer.
I look forward to drinking in the bar on many occasions.
Read a second take on the Brewdog bar from the beer cast crew with whom i spend the evening here
Oh and a photo of my and my mate at the Real Opening
Saturday, 12 March 2011
A Light tasting
Tonight ive got a few people round for a tasting.
This is my favourite way of drinking. A few good folks round with a few good beers to hasten the night on its way. I got into beer because ive always enjoyed a real ale or two. But discovering rate beer opened my eyes to a wider variety of beer, but better still it opened my world to a whole selection of beer lovers.
Beer lovers are great, on the whole theyre amazingly generous as any one who seen the number of free beer competitions going on in Rate beer over the last month. But the best thing about a tasting is that a great beer shared is doubled in value as you get everyone else's enjoyment as well as your own, and if the beer is bad then you all share in the pain and suffering, and finally there's a beer that i just dont like but other do. In that case the beers not wasted the way it would have been had i to suffer it on my own or dump it down the sink.
So as always we start with a basic selection pulled out of the cupboard of love
and we will mostly drink from this, but as the night goes on and we chat, a beer may come up or maybe just a style or brewery and then its off i go to dig out something or other. Now theres only about 4 of us this evening so i dont expect to drink more than half of whats out, but what ever remains will just go back into the cupboard for the next tasting.
Tonight its Me, the Wife, Blair, and BeercastRich and we opened the evening with a Firestone walker Parabola as a few people had been raving about that one recently. Including @BGRTRob who said "arguably the best beer I've ever had!" when he saw it in the Photo.
Well when i said we, i actually meant me, as the others started with a little of the Marble beers i kept that i opened last night. They were both to good, not to allow the others to try. But the first Fresh bottle of the evening was the Parabola and it poured deep black with a lovely tan head ... wonderfull molasis roast (see Ratebeer for my full badly worded ill considered verdict in every beer :-})
Then onto Beer 2. Pliney the Elder. A total contrast but a wonderfully balanced double IPA. Too well balanced hides its 8% very well
Next up is a coffee IPA from Kernel... When i first heard of Mikkeller doing an Coffee IPA i though WOW i want that and so far have failed, but only a week or so later i heard of the Kernal Coffee IPA. I think there too close to be copying so must just be a freaky coincidence ... and man am i glad that ive got to try this ... It was really quite nice, This was followed by London Brewers Alliance porter which was pretty decent.
Then we had the first fail of the evening. Kuhnhem Bourbon Barrel Barley wine ... this was full of a odd cheesy bourbon ... very odd and didnt work for me.
So we had to have another bourbon barley wine just to see , Central waters 2008 vintage much more balanced.
this is getting harder to keep up as i get a little more tipsy so im going to sign off after this one.
We moved onto Rockyard Imperial Red... oddly this US beer isnt on Ratebeer... well it is now but its gonna be rated by three guys in Edinburgh and no Americans ... how very odd.still it was light spicy red ale.
well we went on to have a few more that evening including Weyerbacher fourteen and the Amager Olbutikken % of which there were only 120 bottles, but the star of the evening was the Nogne O Dark horizon 3.
Which was divine.
Black... light smoky roast chocolate malt nose (but not fishy or ashtray like) ... sweet chocolate ... light coffee roast ... very sweet chocolate sily rich front .. cold sugary coffee ... silky smooth .. light vanilla ... wonderful body ... very smooth .. easy drinking and just divine.... i love it.
This is my favourite way of drinking. A few good folks round with a few good beers to hasten the night on its way. I got into beer because ive always enjoyed a real ale or two. But discovering rate beer opened my eyes to a wider variety of beer, but better still it opened my world to a whole selection of beer lovers.
Beer lovers are great, on the whole theyre amazingly generous as any one who seen the number of free beer competitions going on in Rate beer over the last month. But the best thing about a tasting is that a great beer shared is doubled in value as you get everyone else's enjoyment as well as your own, and if the beer is bad then you all share in the pain and suffering, and finally there's a beer that i just dont like but other do. In that case the beers not wasted the way it would have been had i to suffer it on my own or dump it down the sink.
So as always we start with a basic selection pulled out of the cupboard of love
Tonight its Me, the Wife, Blair, and BeercastRich and we opened the evening with a Firestone walker Parabola as a few people had been raving about that one recently. Including @BGRTRob who said "arguably the best beer I've ever had!" when he saw it in the Photo.
Well when i said we, i actually meant me, as the others started with a little of the Marble beers i kept that i opened last night. They were both to good, not to allow the others to try. But the first Fresh bottle of the evening was the Parabola and it poured deep black with a lovely tan head ... wonderfull molasis roast (see Ratebeer for my full badly worded ill considered verdict in every beer :-})
Then onto Beer 2. Pliney the Elder. A total contrast but a wonderfully balanced double IPA. Too well balanced hides its 8% very well
Then we had the first fail of the evening. Kuhnhem Bourbon Barrel Barley wine ... this was full of a odd cheesy bourbon ... very odd and didnt work for me.
So we had to have another bourbon barley wine just to see , Central waters 2008 vintage much more balanced.
this is getting harder to keep up as i get a little more tipsy so im going to sign off after this one.
We moved onto Rockyard Imperial Red... oddly this US beer isnt on Ratebeer... well it is now but its gonna be rated by three guys in Edinburgh and no Americans ... how very odd.still it was light spicy red ale.
well we went on to have a few more that evening including Weyerbacher fourteen and the Amager Olbutikken % of which there were only 120 bottles, but the star of the evening was the Nogne O Dark horizon 3.
Which was divine.
Black... light smoky roast chocolate malt nose (but not fishy or ashtray like) ... sweet chocolate ... light coffee roast ... very sweet chocolate sily rich front .. cold sugary coffee ... silky smooth .. light vanilla ... wonderful body ... very smooth .. easy drinking and just divine.... i love it.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
How many is too many
In an effort to get more comments in my blogs :-) Today im asking
How many beers is too many to have at home.
How many do you have, are they for drinking, ageing or trading.
I'll start off. Ive got way to many, and they fall into all four categories. About 33% of them are for drinking,
mostly single bottles of different beers, but 4 or 5 of my Favourite beer that i like to have a few for those days i just need a familiar beer.
About 5% of them are must share beers. This is probably only 3 or 4 different beer but ive usually got a dozen or so of them, to make sure that i can share them with people who have never tried them.
About 55% of them are trading beer, beer that i think people across the pond might want.
Then theres about 15% of them ( i know that dont add up to 100 but thats cause some fall into more than 1 category) that are ones that im trying to age.
But the problem is not so much how many i have, but that i seem to buy them faster than i drink them. With an ever growing number of ones laying down to age or storing for trading.
Has beer taken over your house. Along with the huge pile of trading boxes it has mine.
How many beers is too many to have at home.
How many do you have, are they for drinking, ageing or trading.
I'll start off. Ive got way to many, and they fall into all four categories. About 33% of them are for drinking,
mostly single bottles of different beers, but 4 or 5 of my Favourite beer that i like to have a few for those days i just need a familiar beer.
About 5% of them are must share beers. This is probably only 3 or 4 different beer but ive usually got a dozen or so of them, to make sure that i can share them with people who have never tried them.
About 55% of them are trading beer, beer that i think people across the pond might want.
Then theres about 15% of them ( i know that dont add up to 100 but thats cause some fall into more than 1 category) that are ones that im trying to age.
But the problem is not so much how many i have, but that i seem to buy them faster than i drink them. With an ever growing number of ones laying down to age or storing for trading.
Has beer taken over your house. Along with the huge pile of trading boxes it has mine.
Saturday, 5 March 2011
The Session #49 -Regular beer
Well i haven't been invited but im guessing it ok to Gate Crash a session so here goes. As i fairly active member of ratebeer and an individual that has always liked variety, I very rarely drink more than a half of anything in an Evening and i very rarely drink the the same beer twice in a month.
The beer world is massive, and while i nip to the pubs a few lunch time and drink in at home most evenings, usually if the choice is there it will be something new. There are beers i will drink again when i see them but id not go so far as to call them regular, and sticking to my preference there almost all stouts or porters. These would be beers like Mauldons Black Adder , or Deeside Talorcan , even Cairngorm Black Gold all of which are great pub pints. Then there are beers id love to see again such as Stewart Chilli Reekie or Highland Old Norway but again These beers are only ever going to be drunk on a as they appear bases.
So when i think of a regular beer i tend to think of a beer i would always have in at home and buy regularly. An for me in the end this comes down to an easy decision. It not a beer i drink every week but its a beer i would hate not to have in the house, its a beer that i love to share with other people, and its one of my Favourite beers and its Old Chimneys Good King Henry Special Reserve .
Well i may be a little odd in choosing a 9% beer. But it is probably the beer i drink most often in any given year. Ok its not a regular every week beer but i dont have a single beer i would want to drink every week. As i started by saying, i like variety. Variety is the spice of life. Im glad that i see new beers ever week, but im also glad that my local pubs get the great cask beers that im always happy to see again. But if i had to choose one beer to drink for the rest of my life it would be the Good King Henry Special Reserve.
So there you have it. I put forward as my Regular beer a 9% oak aged Stout. Im happy with my choice and i look forward to the next time i fancy a bottle. I'll toast you all, and toast regular beer whatever that means to you.
The beer world is massive, and while i nip to the pubs a few lunch time and drink in at home most evenings, usually if the choice is there it will be something new. There are beers i will drink again when i see them but id not go so far as to call them regular, and sticking to my preference there almost all stouts or porters. These would be beers like Mauldons Black Adder , or Deeside Talorcan , even Cairngorm Black Gold all of which are great pub pints. Then there are beers id love to see again such as Stewart Chilli Reekie or Highland Old Norway but again These beers are only ever going to be drunk on a as they appear bases.
So when i think of a regular beer i tend to think of a beer i would always have in at home and buy regularly. An for me in the end this comes down to an easy decision. It not a beer i drink every week but its a beer i would hate not to have in the house, its a beer that i love to share with other people, and its one of my Favourite beers and its Old Chimneys Good King Henry Special Reserve .
Well i may be a little odd in choosing a 9% beer. But it is probably the beer i drink most often in any given year. Ok its not a regular every week beer but i dont have a single beer i would want to drink every week. As i started by saying, i like variety. Variety is the spice of life. Im glad that i see new beers ever week, but im also glad that my local pubs get the great cask beers that im always happy to see again. But if i had to choose one beer to drink for the rest of my life it would be the Good King Henry Special Reserve.
So there you have it. I put forward as my Regular beer a 9% oak aged Stout. Im happy with my choice and i look forward to the next time i fancy a bottle. I'll toast you all, and toast regular beer whatever that means to you.
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