Well first off i dont feel guilty, but i think i should.
In my ratebeer profile i had listed a beer that i realy wanted to try. Now thats fairly normal ive got lots of beers i wanted to try listed, but this one was special. It was there because of all the horrible things id heard people say about it. It sounded so bad that it just had to be tried. Currently its in the Bottom 10 beers on ratebeer, and its the lowest scoring beer ive tried.
So a short time later 9 beers arrived in my ratebeer Secret Santa post and one of them was this special beer. Now i didnt get round to drinking it for almost a year, what with how horrible it was going to be, and that fact that it came in a 48oz (660ml) can. So i really needed to wait till i got a few people together so i didnt have to suffer alone.
The moment came at a tasting in London, where about 30 people going to be in attendance. It just seemed the perfect opportunity. Only one thing went wrong. I liked it. I really did. Now its no world class beer, but i really quite enjoyed it and in fact i scored it 3.5/5.0. And i am the Highest scoring person of this beer amongst those with more than 100 rates.
So what is this beer. I doubt you really care, but take a guess and come back on Monday to see if your right.
Friday, 4 November 2011
Monday, 26 September 2011
Borefts
Well ive still no idea why its called Borefts, but what ever the reason it is the Festival Highlight of the Year. All the stars align for this festival. Its an easy location to get to. Short flight to Amsterdam, simple train ride, and then your there.
This is the 3rd year and it just keeps growing. I wish i had a few pictures but i was far to busy drinkin.
The list of Brewers this year, was once again stellar. These are some if not quite all of the best Brewers in Europe covering the full range of styles.
The full list of brewers was :
The food is fantastic, with the BBQ a great addition over last years choices. The range of beers was amazing, with great traditional UK cask to the bigger new brasher range of beers from the UK, The big big beers we have all come to expect from the likes of the Best of Mainland European brewers, and some really interesting sour edged beers from a new comer to the festival, Loverbeer.
I managed to try beers from all the brewers and i dont think i has a single bad beer. Each Brewer brought something interesting to the festival, though obviously we all have our Favourites.
My top beers of the Festival were
The addition of the 2nd site (the new brewery location) was fantastic, there was ALMOST enough seating(and even better most of this is covered), but there was more seating than any other festival i have been at, and i dont think i actually had to stand for any length of time, which is good as im far to old to stand :-)
It was odd that De Struise were charging more than 1 token, for all but two of their beers, and this is worrying. I dont mind paying for my beer, and charging more than 1 token for a 39% beer seems very sensible, but i think id rather see it as the exception rather than the Rule.
At 2 tokens a samples thats about 6Tokens for 300ml. That would be an equivelent 330ml bottle price of 9E which is while certainly justifiable for some beer, seems just a little steep as the average price.
But saying that De Struise had no problem selling there beers, and i certainly was in there for quite a few of their beers, and as this was the only brewer doing this i didnt feel i was spending too much. But i have memories of another festival that i attended a few years back than almost every brewer was charging 2 or 3 or more for the majority if not all of there beers, and i left that festival felling just a little bit ripped off.
There no doubt in my mind (little though it may be) that this is the best festival in Europe. SO cheers to all the volunteers as well as Meno for organising this. Long may it continue.
This is the 3rd year and it just keeps growing. I wish i had a few pictures but i was far to busy drinkin.
The list of Brewers this year, was once again stellar. These are some if not quite all of the best Brewers in Europe covering the full range of styles.
The full list of brewers was :
| Brouwerij de Molen, Bodegraven, Netherlands | |||||||||||
| Närke Kulturbryggeri, Örebro, Sweden | |||||||||||
| LoverBeer, Marentino, Italië | |||||||||||
| Brouwerij Emelisse, Kamperland, Netherlands | |||||||||||
| Thornbridge Brewery, Bakewell, England | |||||||||||
| Mikkeller, Copenhagen, Denmark | |||||||||||
| The Kernel London, England | |||||||||||
| Nøgne Ø, Grimstad, Norway | |||||||||||
| Amager Bryghus, Kastrup, Denmark | |||||||||||
| Sint Christoffel Bier, Roermond, Netherlands | |||||||||||
| De Struise Brouwers, Oostvleteren, Belgium | |||||||||||
| Marble, Manchester, England |
The food is fantastic, with the BBQ a great addition over last years choices. The range of beers was amazing, with great traditional UK cask to the bigger new brasher range of beers from the UK, The big big beers we have all come to expect from the likes of the Best of Mainland European brewers, and some really interesting sour edged beers from a new comer to the festival, Loverbeer.
I managed to try beers from all the brewers and i dont think i has a single bad beer. Each Brewer brought something interesting to the festival, though obviously we all have our Favourites.
My top beers of the Festival were
- The late and unannounced De Molen Hot and Spicy II. Man this was Spicy. I had tried the Hot and Spicy I at GBBF, i though while pretty hot any hotter would have been a mistake. I think though i REALLY need a 2nd taste (if Meno wants to send me a bottle) to be sure that the II is better. At first taste your head explodes, your mouth catches fire and your teeth melt. But once that happens, you get the deep solid roast malts, the big chocolate, and the chilli pepper. Despite the WOW front it settles down into a well balanced if spicy beer.
- The Recreated Courage Russian Imperial Stout from Thornbridge. Tasted first on Friday this was a nice rich roast malt, deep dark flavours, big chocolate, and something a little odd. I liked but not loved this, but trying again on Saturday, either me or the beer had changed. This was richer, smoother, fuller. It had a massive chocolate tones, the barest hint of licorice,and the odd flavour was identified as salt, it was just a light saltiness, but was clearly there and oddly enhanced the beer rather than competing with it. Wonderful
- De Molen Hart and Ziel. This is classed as a smoked on ratebeer but i didnt really notice any smokiness what i did get was sweet dark chocolate roast, a light coffee, deep soft cherry and sweet raspberry, some dark chocolate basically it was soft smooth easy rich soft chocolate fruits.
The addition of the 2nd site (the new brewery location) was fantastic, there was ALMOST enough seating(and even better most of this is covered), but there was more seating than any other festival i have been at, and i dont think i actually had to stand for any length of time, which is good as im far to old to stand :-)
It was odd that De Struise were charging more than 1 token, for all but two of their beers, and this is worrying. I dont mind paying for my beer, and charging more than 1 token for a 39% beer seems very sensible, but i think id rather see it as the exception rather than the Rule.
At 2 tokens a samples thats about 6Tokens for 300ml. That would be an equivelent 330ml bottle price of 9E which is while certainly justifiable for some beer, seems just a little steep as the average price.
But saying that De Struise had no problem selling there beers, and i certainly was in there for quite a few of their beers, and as this was the only brewer doing this i didnt feel i was spending too much. But i have memories of another festival that i attended a few years back than almost every brewer was charging 2 or 3 or more for the majority if not all of there beers, and i left that festival felling just a little bit ripped off.
There no doubt in my mind (little though it may be) that this is the best festival in Europe. SO cheers to all the volunteers as well as Meno for organising this. Long may it continue.
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Time with Tim
Last monday, Tim Anderson, you know, the bloke who Won Master Chef came to Edinburgh to cook me dinner, for his convenience he decided to to it at the Caley Sample Rooms in Edinburgh, rather than my house which would have been more convenient for me. Saying that he decided to arrange me a menu paired with Beers from the Black Isle Brewery.
The Menu was
a 1/2 Pint of Yellowhammer Pale Ale on Arrival followed by
Gazpacho Cullen Skink w Gyoza aith a Dumpling side dish paired with Black Isle Blonde and then
Korean-Style Venison Tartare with Gochujang, Nashi and Sesame Toast with Goldeneye Pale Ale
For the main course
Cola- Braised Pork Belly with Butternut Squash, Roasted Radishes, Peas and Miso Mustard paired with Smoked Weizenbock with chilli.
Followed by 2 puddings
Heather Honey Ale Sorbet wit Celery Snaps and Cashews and
Sticky Toffee Pudding Creme Brulee with Basil Cream and a Blackcurrant Porter Sauce paired with Export Scotch Ale and a final bottle of Hibernator Oatmeal Stout to settle of the Evening
So lets dissect the Evening :-)
We (me and Stella) arrived and were directed to our table, where we met up with one of our friends Sevare who we had arrange to sit beside and another couple, which by chance happened to include one of Scotland's newest Ratebeer members Ben, who id met just recently when he came to one of my tastings.
Very quickly our half pints of Yellow Hammer arrived, and we settled in for the evening, The first course took longer than expected to arrived and i ordered a bottle Weihenstephaner Vitus only a few minutes before the first course and the next drink arrived. Well that was bad planning on my part :-).
So the first course was the Cullen Skink with a side Dumpling. Now i dont like fish, so i wasnt really looking forward to this, but all told the Cullen Skink was palatable, and all told wasnt actually bad and i loved the way it was served in the shot glass. The Dumpling on the other-hand was amazing. I kind of wish id taken the time to analyse it in the same way i do a beer, as i cant tell you what it tasted of, ive not a clue, all i remember was popping it in my mouth thinking wow this is GREAT, and then it was gone. I know it was a taster menu but boy would i have liked another,
The Second course was raw meat. Now this is an odd one, as the first time i ever had Raw meat or Tartare as its politely known was in a Korean restaurant in Manchester. I had no idea it was raw meat, Stella and my mate Ben did and giggled amongst themselves, knowing i had no idea what id just ordered. But i had the last laugh as i really quite enjoyed it. Ive only ever had Tartare one other time since and that was in Hungry where i didnt enjoy it nearly as much, so i was really looking forward to this course. Luckily i wasnt disappointed. I dont think it was quite as good as my memory of the first time but given that that was 8-9 years ago who is really to say. All i can say was this was damn tasty, i enjoyed the light Chilli bite to it, but at the same time i dont think i could have eaten much more of it. Much as i really enjoyed it, there just something a little odd about eating raw meat
The Main course was being served with the beer Tim helped brew at Black Isle, and being the beer fan i am, this was the most exciting beer of the evening. A smoked Weisen Bock with Chilli. Now im not a big fan of smoked beers, im not a huge fan of Bock beers but i am a BIG fan of chilli's so this was going to an interesting beer. You can read about what i and others though about the beer here.
As for the Main course food,well WOW again. The meat was wonderfully tender, the sause rich and complex. and made with Cola? Ive no idea what he did to the Butternut Squash a vegetable that im very fond of but it was a different take on it and very tasty as well. Of all the courses this was probably my favourite, it all seemed so well balanced. BUT..... i will come back to this 'but' in the summary.
Pudding one was a Sorbet made with the Black Isle heather honey all, not at a Brewdog binner i has beer infused jelly that while interesting was just a bit weird. This was also weird but also very tasty and refreshing, i enjoyed this little bit of strangeness and the snap were well tasty.
Pudding two was the Sticky Toffee Crème Brulee. Now this is a real interesting one. As mines was runny, Stella's was firm and mousse like, and one of the others was even runnier than mine. Now i think it was meant to be like Stella, ie firmer. But i much more enjoyed it like mine was than the bit of Stella's i tried. So there was clearly inconstancies. But you know what that was ok by me. I recently read how very few Master Chefs have successfully opened a restaurant, and i guess this is one of the main reasons why. Being able to cook a GREAT meal for 4 people is NOT the same as being able to cook the same great for for 50 people. Especially when all 50 people sit down and expect there food at the same time. I think Tim did a great job, i think on the whole everything was handled pretty well. Ok the Puddings varied a bit but they were all tasty. By doing these Dinners around the country, Tim is gaining great experience should he want to open his own restaurant, and in the process he is giving people all over the country a chance to try his cooking (at what was a pretty decent price) The fact that this was a beer dinner and he paired the food and the beers, was just icing on the Cake. But it was important to me, i wouldn't have been interested in a Masterchef dinner if he hadnt the same love of beer that i have. It was that that had my interest (in fact i never even watched Masterchef it was only after he won, and i discovered he Managed the Euston Tap in London that i took notice)
It was a great night, we had some great beers from Black Isle, we had Amazing food from Tim, BUT in the end, all at my table were still hungry (and i heard others comment the same) This was a real shame as i was left thinking i could do with a kebab. Well ok maybe not that hungry, but for me all it would have taken was a basket of Bread on the Table, or a nice side of mashed potatoes with the Cola Braised Pork. Neither of which would have cost much. Neither of which i think would have destroyed the Balance of the meal. For me it was real shame that when i left i was thinking "its a shame we didn't get more to eat", rather than "WOW what a great meal" and the reason that it is such a shame is that "WOW what a great meal" is what it was.
The Menu was
a 1/2 Pint of Yellowhammer Pale Ale on Arrival followed by
Gazpacho Cullen Skink w Gyoza aith a Dumpling side dish paired with Black Isle Blonde and then
Korean-Style Venison Tartare with Gochujang, Nashi and Sesame Toast with Goldeneye Pale Ale
For the main course
Cola- Braised Pork Belly with Butternut Squash, Roasted Radishes, Peas and Miso Mustard paired with Smoked Weizenbock with chilli.
Followed by 2 puddings
Heather Honey Ale Sorbet wit Celery Snaps and Cashews and
Sticky Toffee Pudding Creme Brulee with Basil Cream and a Blackcurrant Porter Sauce paired with Export Scotch Ale and a final bottle of Hibernator Oatmeal Stout to settle of the Evening
So lets dissect the Evening :-)
We (me and Stella) arrived and were directed to our table, where we met up with one of our friends Sevare who we had arrange to sit beside and another couple, which by chance happened to include one of Scotland's newest Ratebeer members Ben, who id met just recently when he came to one of my tastings.
Very quickly our half pints of Yellow Hammer arrived, and we settled in for the evening, The first course took longer than expected to arrived and i ordered a bottle Weihenstephaner Vitus only a few minutes before the first course and the next drink arrived. Well that was bad planning on my part :-).
So the first course was the Cullen Skink with a side Dumpling. Now i dont like fish, so i wasnt really looking forward to this, but all told the Cullen Skink was palatable, and all told wasnt actually bad and i loved the way it was served in the shot glass. The Dumpling on the other-hand was amazing. I kind of wish id taken the time to analyse it in the same way i do a beer, as i cant tell you what it tasted of, ive not a clue, all i remember was popping it in my mouth thinking wow this is GREAT, and then it was gone. I know it was a taster menu but boy would i have liked another,
The Second course was raw meat. Now this is an odd one, as the first time i ever had Raw meat or Tartare as its politely known was in a Korean restaurant in Manchester. I had no idea it was raw meat, Stella and my mate Ben did and giggled amongst themselves, knowing i had no idea what id just ordered. But i had the last laugh as i really quite enjoyed it. Ive only ever had Tartare one other time since and that was in Hungry where i didnt enjoy it nearly as much, so i was really looking forward to this course. Luckily i wasnt disappointed. I dont think it was quite as good as my memory of the first time but given that that was 8-9 years ago who is really to say. All i can say was this was damn tasty, i enjoyed the light Chilli bite to it, but at the same time i dont think i could have eaten much more of it. Much as i really enjoyed it, there just something a little odd about eating raw meat
The Main course was being served with the beer Tim helped brew at Black Isle, and being the beer fan i am, this was the most exciting beer of the evening. A smoked Weisen Bock with Chilli. Now im not a big fan of smoked beers, im not a huge fan of Bock beers but i am a BIG fan of chilli's so this was going to an interesting beer. You can read about what i and others though about the beer here.
As for the Main course food,well WOW again. The meat was wonderfully tender, the sause rich and complex. and made with Cola? Ive no idea what he did to the Butternut Squash a vegetable that im very fond of but it was a different take on it and very tasty as well. Of all the courses this was probably my favourite, it all seemed so well balanced. BUT..... i will come back to this 'but' in the summary.
Pudding one was a Sorbet made with the Black Isle heather honey all, not at a Brewdog binner i has beer infused jelly that while interesting was just a bit weird. This was also weird but also very tasty and refreshing, i enjoyed this little bit of strangeness and the snap were well tasty.
Pudding two was the Sticky Toffee Crème Brulee. Now this is a real interesting one. As mines was runny, Stella's was firm and mousse like, and one of the others was even runnier than mine. Now i think it was meant to be like Stella, ie firmer. But i much more enjoyed it like mine was than the bit of Stella's i tried. So there was clearly inconstancies. But you know what that was ok by me. I recently read how very few Master Chefs have successfully opened a restaurant, and i guess this is one of the main reasons why. Being able to cook a GREAT meal for 4 people is NOT the same as being able to cook the same great for for 50 people. Especially when all 50 people sit down and expect there food at the same time. I think Tim did a great job, i think on the whole everything was handled pretty well. Ok the Puddings varied a bit but they were all tasty. By doing these Dinners around the country, Tim is gaining great experience should he want to open his own restaurant, and in the process he is giving people all over the country a chance to try his cooking (at what was a pretty decent price) The fact that this was a beer dinner and he paired the food and the beers, was just icing on the Cake. But it was important to me, i wouldn't have been interested in a Masterchef dinner if he hadnt the same love of beer that i have. It was that that had my interest (in fact i never even watched Masterchef it was only after he won, and i discovered he Managed the Euston Tap in London that i took notice)
Which brings me to the summary and that 'BUT' i mentioned earlier.
Thursday, 18 August 2011
GBBF Day2
Well being a morning person, up early and head for a 7am breakfast, typical me i arrive 10 minutes early and have to hang around outside awaiting it to open, but a quick Breakfast and back into Earls Court for just after 7:30. All is quiet at this time with mostly just a few security staff wandering the building. But there's always plenty to do. First off Glass wash, there always a good number of dirty staff glasses hanging around, so quick clean uo there, and then onto mopping up, The cooling units have a bad habit of leaking water. So theres often big puddles of water. So out with the mop and get stuck in. Then about 9am more staff start turning up, and its time to restock the fridges, and having sold all the limited stock beers rearrange to fill up the empty spaces, and were all ready for the new day. Just a quick 30-40 minutes serving to cover the first rush, and then onto packing the large number of beers ive bought
Then its off to join the rate beer crowd for another fun day drinking, This is where Earls court comes into its own, it no "Pretty" venue but it is BIG so theres enough room to wander round without too much trouble. Taking in the sites, bumping into people, finding food, and hunting down the beer that takes your fancy.
All told i had a great day drinking UK cask beer, and while the beer selection is a bit staid for my tastes, i think the selection meets the requirements, as many of GBBF visitors are not beer geeks and many are not even Cask drinker, so the selection is i think deliberately very middle of the road, to appeal to the broadest spectrum. All told i had a great GBBF, until i went and droped my phone and smashed the LCD screen, and so it was that a very GRUMPY Craig left earls court for the last time, (and i for one will miss it) draging his beer behind him
Then its off to join the rate beer crowd for another fun day drinking, This is where Earls court comes into its own, it no "Pretty" venue but it is BIG so theres enough room to wander round without too much trouble. Taking in the sites, bumping into people, finding food, and hunting down the beer that takes your fancy.
All told i had a great day drinking UK cask beer, and while the beer selection is a bit staid for my tastes, i think the selection meets the requirements, as many of GBBF visitors are not beer geeks and many are not even Cask drinker, so the selection is i think deliberately very middle of the road, to appeal to the broadest spectrum. All told i had a great GBBF, until i went and droped my phone and smashed the LCD screen, and so it was that a very GRUMPY Craig left earls court for the last time, (and i for one will miss it) draging his beer behind him
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
GBBF Day1
Well i know its been a few weeks, but ive been away.
Once again i tried to balance family life, helping out at GBBF and drinking at GBBF.
So having driven down to my sisters, Short trip into London for a Beer Tasting and a Day out at Legoland, it was time to head back into London for GBBF.
This year the Off-Peak Train times had changed, allowing me to head in half an hour earlier than previous years and found a slightly better route in, using the over land train from Clapham Junction to West Brompton, so i arrived about an hour earlier than normal, at just after 10am. Straight in and up to the Staffing Desk, got signed in, but no accommodation, still no worries will be sorted out in a few hours. So ts time to head down to the US cask bar, its really interesting in Earls court coming down the Escalator, you get a great view of the hall, which is mostly empty at this point.
Now i arrived on opening day with about an hour to half to go, and its just amazing just how much work has gone on, remember all of GBBF is run via volunteer, even the main organiser does it as a volunteer, along side his main job, and looking into the hall, its clear just how big the scale of the operation is, but all that was already done, so off to the International Bar to help with the final touches, the stocking of the International Bottle. This year we were not quite as well organised and when we opened the fridges well certainly stocked the 30+ cask due on on Tuesday were all vented and ready, but the bottle prices were not marked on the fridges as they usually are, and when some of the punters arrived including one bloke (and i know who you are) spent £200 on beers it was a right pain to find each bottle price and add them all up. After a short stint catering to the bottle rush, i moved along the frontage to my favourite section the US Cask beers. I love Cask beer, i love US beer, so this is a great chance to merge the two worlds. But the great thing about working the bar is the people you meet. Everyone knew where i was going to be, and all the "cool" people drink at the US bar, so lots of friends and twitterites came by to say hi, and there are always people who want to know more about beer, or just want to chat beer. So all told im in my element.
Finish work at the Bar come 5:30 i head of to meet up with the Rate Beer Crowd. Its always fun to drink with the crowd, good chat good times.
Special mention though to @BeerReviewsAndy from the twitterverse for bringing a very rare never commercially released bottle of Sharp Offal beer, and let me tell you it was anything but awful.
Then come about 10pm it was time to head off to the Room that had been arranged for me at Imperial college london, very handily just a few tube stops away, and i have to say it was lovely, one of the best ive had over the GBBF years. So cheers for that.
Once again i tried to balance family life, helping out at GBBF and drinking at GBBF.
So having driven down to my sisters, Short trip into London for a Beer Tasting and a Day out at Legoland, it was time to head back into London for GBBF.
This year the Off-Peak Train times had changed, allowing me to head in half an hour earlier than previous years and found a slightly better route in, using the over land train from Clapham Junction to West Brompton, so i arrived about an hour earlier than normal, at just after 10am. Straight in and up to the Staffing Desk, got signed in, but no accommodation, still no worries will be sorted out in a few hours. So ts time to head down to the US cask bar, its really interesting in Earls court coming down the Escalator, you get a great view of the hall, which is mostly empty at this point.
Now i arrived on opening day with about an hour to half to go, and its just amazing just how much work has gone on, remember all of GBBF is run via volunteer, even the main organiser does it as a volunteer, along side his main job, and looking into the hall, its clear just how big the scale of the operation is, but all that was already done, so off to the International Bar to help with the final touches, the stocking of the International Bottle. This year we were not quite as well organised and when we opened the fridges well certainly stocked the 30+ cask due on on Tuesday were all vented and ready, but the bottle prices were not marked on the fridges as they usually are, and when some of the punters arrived including one bloke (and i know who you are) spent £200 on beers it was a right pain to find each bottle price and add them all up. After a short stint catering to the bottle rush, i moved along the frontage to my favourite section the US Cask beers. I love Cask beer, i love US beer, so this is a great chance to merge the two worlds. But the great thing about working the bar is the people you meet. Everyone knew where i was going to be, and all the "cool" people drink at the US bar, so lots of friends and twitterites came by to say hi, and there are always people who want to know more about beer, or just want to chat beer. So all told im in my element.
Finish work at the Bar come 5:30 i head of to meet up with the Rate Beer Crowd. Its always fun to drink with the crowd, good chat good times.
Special mention though to @BeerReviewsAndy from the twitterverse for bringing a very rare never commercially released bottle of Sharp Offal beer, and let me tell you it was anything but awful.
Then come about 10pm it was time to head off to the Room that had been arranged for me at Imperial college london, very handily just a few tube stops away, and i have to say it was lovely, one of the best ive had over the GBBF years. So cheers for that.
Thursday, 21 July 2011
The Bow Bar Festival in full swing
This will be an odd blog entry as i will update this most day, rather than post a new blog each day.
Day1 only 4 of the Festival beers on at lunch time, but the Landlord was down to £1.50 in order to clear the line ASAP :-) None the less of the 4 beers they has 2 of my Favourite.
The utterly amazing Highland Orkney Porter, and Cairngorm Black Gold. Also on was York Citra, and William Brothers Fourth of July. I tried the Fourth of July which was a decent bitter , little sweet but well balanced, the Citra which while quite nice wasnt a patch on Tempest or Kernel Citra, and of course i could not leave without a half of the Highland Orkney Porter. This beer as ive probably said before is on my quite short list of beer that i try every time i see them, and this time it was just stunning.
In many ways this is the best ive every had it, the depth and complexity of the roast was amazing, body was full and rich. However this was a 2009 cask and there was definitely a touch of oxidation to distract. Now dont get me wrong. The time that added the oxidation also allowed the beer to mature into the wonderful beast that it is. This beer is a treat every time i see it, and this time was above average despite the oxidation.
I also manage to persuade a random Canadian into trying the Orkney Porter and it got a big thumbs up from him to. So head down there and try some soon. It wont last long
More Musing tommorow (with a bit of luck)
Day 2
Well as can be seen from the Taps above, we have already had 2 casualty with the Black Gold and the York Citra disappearing since yesterday. But new on since yesterday we find a full tap festival line up, with Fyne ales Fiddlers Gold, Okells Santium, Pot Belly Black sun, Black Isle Yellow Hammer, Green Jack Orange Wheat, and Oakleaf Some are Drinking.
Today I had another Half of the Orkney Porter and who can Blame me. No extra notes needed other than to say its not often i have the same beer 2 days in a row. But the opportunity to drink this in cask should not be passed up, I also had a half of the frankly disappointing Black Sun, first off i assumed this was going to be a stout or porter (like theres any difference) but it clearly wasnt. I suspect this is blend of there Beijing Black and their bitter. All told it wasnt Bad, but it really wasnt up to much and i wont be going back to that one.
Much to my pleasant surprise i was able to talk another random punter into going for the Orkney Porter, but i struck out on my 3rd attempt when the woman said it was too sweet for her. Well not every one can have the class and sophistication that i do :-)
With Luck next report on Monday
Day 5
Well as can be seen and as can be expected over the weekend all the Beers have changed. So who know what i may have missed :-) Today i sampled the average Concrete Cow vanilla stout and the wonderful or is that Sublime, Sublime Stout from Fyne Ales. More again tomorrow.
Day 6 with just a few tap changes (I'm expecting about 4 more to have changed by the time of writing)
Today i had a decent if very average beer in the form of Wold Top Golden Summer, a golden blond ale, with light hop flavour profile with long bitter linger, and the really quite tasty Corvedale St. Georges stout. This is a very standard dry roast stout. Nice dark red black , thin tan head, good solid roast malt base, some coffee charcoal roast. Could have done with a little more body to it, but not thin. All told very tasty.
Well we are heading towards my last few days of the Festival (just 2 more to go) here is Day 7 Report
As can be seen 4 of the Taps have changed since yesterday as predicted, and im expecting 4 more to have changed by tomorrow. Todays tasty delights were Potbelly Streaky and Burnside M-Pire. Both were decent but neither were exciting. The streaky was a pale golden light lemon hopped ale, where as the M-Pire was more a toffee malty ale. Rumour has it that there a few Stouts due to come on, so lets hope i see a new stout tommorow.
Day 8 and my last report. I will be in again tomorrow but no time to write it up.
As can be seen another few beers have hit the dust, but the Otley is still holding on there. Sadly the barman attributes this to it being 5% and thats just a little bit on the strong side so has been selling slower. It seems strange to me, but ive seen it at many beer festivals where quite a few people do consider 5% to be just a little strong. Ah well each to there own. Today i tryed the Finch from Natural selection, 4 students at Herriot Watt university. Nice to see they didnt go for a blond beers, but something like an old ale, soft toffee malt, deep fruits, was just a little sweet though and Naylors Porticus Stout, again being a stout it was more likly to impress and again i was pleased not to be disappointed, a good solid chocolate roast. Very nice all told.
In summary, i wasnt blown away by too many this time, and for me the festival not having as many "big" beers it didnt quite live up to the Winter festival. But still a great mix and i had a great time nipping in everyday. Star of the show should be no surprise to anyone. It was Clearly the Delicious Highland Orkney Porter, a beer i never tire singing the praises of.
Oddly nearly all the other stouts and porters ,seemed to be a deep red brown colour than a deep thick black, no idea why this migth be, but it was just a silly observation i had over the week.
Roll on the Winter Festival.
In breaking news though i discovered that the Wonderful Manager of the BowBar, Helen is moving on, It will be sad to see her go, and im sure more than me will miss her, but I know shes trained the staff well and that we will be in safe hands.
So here to you Helen, and all the Best, You know your always welcome to my tastings.
Day1 only 4 of the Festival beers on at lunch time, but the Landlord was down to £1.50 in order to clear the line ASAP :-) None the less of the 4 beers they has 2 of my Favourite.
The utterly amazing Highland Orkney Porter, and Cairngorm Black Gold. Also on was York Citra, and William Brothers Fourth of July. I tried the Fourth of July which was a decent bitter , little sweet but well balanced, the Citra which while quite nice wasnt a patch on Tempest or Kernel Citra, and of course i could not leave without a half of the Highland Orkney Porter. This beer as ive probably said before is on my quite short list of beer that i try every time i see them, and this time it was just stunning.
In many ways this is the best ive every had it, the depth and complexity of the roast was amazing, body was full and rich. However this was a 2009 cask and there was definitely a touch of oxidation to distract. Now dont get me wrong. The time that added the oxidation also allowed the beer to mature into the wonderful beast that it is. This beer is a treat every time i see it, and this time was above average despite the oxidation.
I also manage to persuade a random Canadian into trying the Orkney Porter and it got a big thumbs up from him to. So head down there and try some soon. It wont last long
More Musing tommorow (with a bit of luck)
Day 2
Well as can be seen from the Taps above, we have already had 2 casualty with the Black Gold and the York Citra disappearing since yesterday. But new on since yesterday we find a full tap festival line up, with Fyne ales Fiddlers Gold, Okells Santium, Pot Belly Black sun, Black Isle Yellow Hammer, Green Jack Orange Wheat, and Oakleaf Some are Drinking.
Today I had another Half of the Orkney Porter and who can Blame me. No extra notes needed other than to say its not often i have the same beer 2 days in a row. But the opportunity to drink this in cask should not be passed up, I also had a half of the frankly disappointing Black Sun, first off i assumed this was going to be a stout or porter (like theres any difference) but it clearly wasnt. I suspect this is blend of there Beijing Black and their bitter. All told it wasnt Bad, but it really wasnt up to much and i wont be going back to that one.
Much to my pleasant surprise i was able to talk another random punter into going for the Orkney Porter, but i struck out on my 3rd attempt when the woman said it was too sweet for her. Well not every one can have the class and sophistication that i do :-)
With Luck next report on Monday
Day 5
Well as can be seen and as can be expected over the weekend all the Beers have changed. So who know what i may have missed :-) Today i sampled the average Concrete Cow vanilla stout and the wonderful or is that Sublime, Sublime Stout from Fyne Ales. More again tomorrow.
Day 6 with just a few tap changes (I'm expecting about 4 more to have changed by the time of writing)
Well we are heading towards my last few days of the Festival (just 2 more to go) here is Day 7 Report
Day 8 and my last report. I will be in again tomorrow but no time to write it up.
In summary, i wasnt blown away by too many this time, and for me the festival not having as many "big" beers it didnt quite live up to the Winter festival. But still a great mix and i had a great time nipping in everyday. Star of the show should be no surprise to anyone. It was Clearly the Delicious Highland Orkney Porter, a beer i never tire singing the praises of.
Oddly nearly all the other stouts and porters ,seemed to be a deep red brown colour than a deep thick black, no idea why this migth be, but it was just a silly observation i had over the week.
Roll on the Winter Festival.
In breaking news though i discovered that the Wonderful Manager of the BowBar, Helen is moving on, It will be sad to see her go, and im sure more than me will miss her, but I know shes trained the staff well and that we will be in safe hands.
So here to you Helen, and all the Best, You know your always welcome to my tastings.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
All over the Floor
CAMRA released the GBBF floor plan today
http://gbbf.camra.org.uk/files/floorplan/GBBF2011_FloorPlan.pdf
and i knew it was coming but the proof is in the Floor plan. The BSF bar has been split into 3 Section across the festival. Wont make much difference to me as im mostly interested in the US cask so wont have to move much. Well apart from when i go Hunting the De Molen beers :-)
still start making your plans now its easy to get lost in the Crowd.
http://gbbf.camra.org.uk/files/floorplan/GBBF2011_FloorPlan.pdf
and i knew it was coming but the proof is in the Floor plan. The BSF bar has been split into 3 Section across the festival. Wont make much difference to me as im mostly interested in the US cask so wont have to move much. Well apart from when i go Hunting the De Molen beers :-)
still start making your plans now its easy to get lost in the Crowd.
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