Murphy's Stout

Whilst in Ireland visiting the relatives, I made a short trip south to County Cork to visit Blarney Castle and kiss the stone. It was hoped that some of the eloquence would rub off in the entries in this blog but so far that has yet to be seen! Anyhow, no trip to Blarney would be complete without sampling some of the traditional Irish fare at the Maskerry Arms. Since we were in Co. Cork, I decided to go for the local Corkonian option which is Murphy's Irish Stout (4% abv). Murphy's stout departs Guinness from the first sip. The beer is slightly sweet, similar in taste and texture to a milk stout rather than a dry stout. The beer is darker too. Guinness tends to pour a deep ruby colour which you can see when you hold the pint glass up to the light. Murphy's on the other hand is black, and I mean pitch black. The pour as with all Stouts in Ireland is now from a nitro keg system, so the usual creamy head is present. Also worthy to note is that the beer seems to have absolutely no carbonation at all. Guinness itself may appear flat, but there is some carbonation present which can be demostrated when you gently rock the glass. Murphy's however, does not display any observable carbonation. Overall, I think this beer is roughly on par with Guinness and one thing it has going for it is its price. In my local Tesco it is always a fair bit cheaper than Guinness which may influence some drinkers whilst shopping.
Anyhow, Murphy's stout is one to keep an eye out for and is a good example of the subtle differences between different Irish stouts. Website: www.murphys.com

Budweiser

A few of you may know that I am of Irish decent, and fewer of you may even know that I am a passport carrying Irish citizen. Recently I went off to visit some relatives of mine in deep County Limerick. I hadnt seen my great uncle in a while, and sure had missed his hospitality! It seems that everytime I go and visit, a can of Guinness is served up pretty much on arrival. This time however things were different, something had changed - I was served up a can of Budweiser (5% abv).
Now not that I am complaining! Far from it, however if I was going to choose from any beer then Bud would most likely be the last one I choose! Upon inspecting the can, I learn that this particular 'item' was made at the St James Gate Brewery in Dublin, the same place they make Guinness - maybe this will be passable. I crack open the can and pour the offending liquid into a pint glass. Its insanely gassy and has no aroma to speak of. The taste? Well there really was none, apart from a sharp carbonic tang and a filthy chemical laden aftertaste. But then again, I didn't pay for the beer and I was the appreciative guest!
Budweiser is owned by the brewing mega conglomerate Anheuser-Busch who were recently aquired by Belgian brewing giant InBev. This super corporate brewing empire is now known as Anheuser-Busch InBev (what a surprise!!). Pretty much any beer you drink is now a brand owned by this mob. I'm not really concerned with the expansion of this brewing monopoly as really it is just the way things crumble. It seems that the rest of the brewing blogosphere has a different opinion though!
Whichever way you look at it though, this beer may not be one of my favourites but it still sells a lot and makes a lot of money so the brand is strong and people do tend to voice their opinion with their wallets. You can find more at their website: http://www.budweiser.co.uk/

Amstel Biere 3

Recently while in Paris I ducked into a Cafe to escape the rain. I ordered a Biere Petite and was promptly served with an Amstel. Surpirisingly the beer tasted different to how it does in London. It had a more refined taste and was a lot less carbonated - I actually really enjoyed it!
I won't harp on too much as I have had this beer a couple of times this year.
1. Amstel
2. Amstel 2

Grimbergen Blonde

Grimbergen is the brand of a number of Beligian abbey beers.The brand stems back to the town of Grimbergen where beer was first brewed in 1128 at the abbey built for St Norbert of Xanten.
I stumbled upon Grimbergen Blonde (6.7% abv) in a sidewalk cafe on the Boulevade Grenelle, Paris not far from the Eiffel tower.
The beer is similar to other mass produced abbey beers such as Leffe blonde although it contains more of a burnt sugar element and is slightly darker in colour. The usual taste of coriander is present in abundance and works well with the lingering bitter aftertaste. More concerning though is that it was served up in a pint glass! Luckily I had not had anything else to drink, as pints of double strengh Belgian beer is usually a recipe for me to fall asleep. I have seen the rest of the range in Tesco, so I may pick up a few bottles for comparison in the future. Website: www.grimbergenbier.be

Blanche de Bruges

My parents are currently visiting me having travelled all the way from Sydney, Asutralia. In atttempting to be the good son, I decided to take them for a weekend city break to Paris. Now my beer related experiences in Paris thus far have been far from interesting, mainly revolving around staple lagers such Kronenbourg and Stella with the odd Belgian thrown in for a bit of variety. And that brings me to the subject of this post - Blanche de Bruges (5.0% abv) which falls into the Belgian category.
Blanche de Bruges is brewed by the Bruges based Brouwerij de Gouden Boom and is a hazy yellow Witbier or 'White beer' styled ale. The beer has a dominant orange flavour which is common to the style, however I failed to detect any coriander flavours which are also common with the style. Over all the beer was refreshing and pleasant to drink. Website: http://www.degoudenboom.com

Becks Vier

Later in the week after the Ealing Beer Festival I was in my local, The Old Parrs Head W14 for dinner (they have an excellent Thai kitchen) when I noticed a new addition to the draught beer selection - Beck's Vier (4.0% abv) (named after German for four). Now come the question - What is the difference between Becks Vier and just regular ordinary Becks? Apparently from the label 1% abv, however upon tasting I noticed that the beer is a lot softer than standard becks with a more hoppy fresher taste.
Apparently Vier was initially tried as a lower alcohol alternative in 50 pubs and bars across the UK and was a roaring success. This led to a UK wide release in April 2006 in both draught and can forms. The launch was backed by a massive £4 million marketing campaign promoting the beer as a 'premium' or top shelf alternative to standard lagers such as Fosters and Carling. The advertising claims that Vier has the same colour and taste as the original, but with a lower alcohol level to appeal to UK session drinkers.
Overall I found the beer to be acceptable however slightly flat, but still leagues ahead of the usual suspects available. I think it will be interesting to see how the Vier brand fairs against its competition! Website: http://www.becks.co.uk

Old Mill Mild

The Old Mill brewery is a small independent brewery located in Sniath Yorkshire. The brewery is named after it's location, situated inside an old corn and flour mill. As you probably guessed, they also make a mild which was on offer at the Ealing Beer Festival!
Old Mill Mild (3.4% abv) is smooth and nutty flavoured mild with a slightly chocolate finish. Deep red in colour the beer would make an awesome session beer as it is packed with flavour and is still relatively light in alcohol. You can find out more at the breweries website: http://www.oldmillbrewery.co.uk

Naylor's Pinnacle Mild

Mild is the 'Endangered Species' of the beer world. Back in the 1950's, approximately 50% of all beer brewed in the UK was Mild, in just over two decades that slipped down to 10% and the popularity of the beer style declined further until there was just a few breweries in the Midlands area producing Mild. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the style, it is a low alochol (~3.5% abv), dark (often dark brown or black) ale with a slightly sweet taste and a roasty finish.
Naylor's Pinnacle Mild (3.4% abv) is a typical and strictly to style Mild which is surprisingly easy to drink. I was lucky enough to come across a few Milds recently at the Ealing Beer festival which was a god send in Mild startved London!
Naylor's is a small independent brewery located in Crosshills. Their Mild can be described as dark brown and malty!

McConnell's Irish Stout

McConnell's Irish Stout (4.6% abv) is an interesting beer, as it is brewed in Jarrow which is actually in North Yorkshire, UK and the beer has nothing Irish about it except for the name.

The Jarrow brewery was formed in 2002 by real ale lovers Jess and Alison McConnell with the intent of creating unique and flavoursome ales. The brewery is tied to the Robin Hood Inn, at Primrose Hill in Jarrow and the beers are brewed on the premises. Brewing capacity has expanded to 100 Barrels per week with a second site at the Maltings. The brewery has enjoyed moderate success and has been awarded several accolades from CAMRA including a Silver Medal at the GBBF.

The Irish Stout was a bit of a let down. I was expecting a thick, dry and robust Irish stout, but what I received was thin almost tasteless except for mild liquorce notes which were extremely subtle. Again compared to Meantime Stout or even Guinness, this beer was overly average.
You can find more information on their website: www.jarrowbrewery.co.uk

Burton Bridge Porter

The Burton on Trent region of England is famous for its Indian Pale Ales (IPA) due to to the hardness of the water in the region. The town is steeped in brewing heritage and plays host to major breweries such as Worthington, Bass and Marston with the Burton Bridge Brewery being the only remaining independent. After reading the pathetic book 'Pilgrim on the piss' by Neil Robinson I believed that beer from the Bridge Brewery was far superior to any other beer on the planet and was suprised to see several of there beers in the lineup at the Ealing Beer Festival.
Burton Bridge Porter (4.5% abv) is a really dark brown porter with not a real lot going for it. It lacks the robustness of a good porter such as Fullers London Porter and tastes under-prepared with a yeasty fruitiness and unbalanced bitter aftertaste. Overall I was more than slightly disapointed with the beer and was suitable put off other beers from the brewery. The brewers down at the Bridge brewery really need to pull there finger out and deliver a beer that actually conforms to style. If they had used a little more dark malt and gone for a roast flavour rather than just a dark colour they would have a beer that is more well balanced. For a beer style that is so easy to get right, I just don't understand beers like this one. You can find out more at the breweries website.

Hophead

Hophead (3.8% abv) by the Darkstar brewery can be found in a few London pubs now. While it is not widely available, if you know where to go (such as The Hat and Feathers in Clerkenwell) you can usually find a pint. The beer itself is a pale amber colour - more gold than amber really and is clean and refreshing, with a solid dose of hops that you don't usually come across on beers with suich a modest level of alcohol. What I newed to stress though that this is not yuour usual US style American APA or even like the english summer ales in the same vein, this is liek a themed hop flavour. Its a strong, but not overtly citrus orange flavour which I find very interesting. The beer is well balanced which makes it a simple but intersting beer. Website here.
BTW. This beer was enjoyed at the Ealing Beer Festival. Not the most unusual of beers, but definetely one of the most pleasant.

Pipe Dreams - George Wright

The Ealing Beer festival always features beers from some of the best small breweries. One of these Breweries is the George Wright Brewery who only began brewing in 2003. However, the fact that the brewery is a new state of the art facility does not affect the quality of the produce! In fact Pipe Dreams (4.3% abv) won a silver medal in the Champion Beer of Britain awards for the style of Best Bitter in 2007. The beer is a hazy straw colour with a medium bitterness and a nice citrus aftertaste. The use of citrus laden hops such as the US varieties, Cascade, Amarillo, Chinook and Columbus seem to be in vogue with UK microbreweries, especially when added to summer ales. This is a trend that I hope will become more common in the future. Website here.

Bazen's Pacific Bitter

Last Wednesday afternoon I managed to get along to the Ealing beer festival which was held in Warpole park. For those of you who have never been before, the Ealing beer festival is one of the better regional CAMRA events held in central London. In general you do not get the hardcore tribe of anorak or fleece wearing tickers with their plastic bags and grizzly beards. The crowd is more relaxed than the usual beer festival, and the fact that it's held outdoors in an attractive garden makes it a pleasant way to spend an evening. First up I opted to go for Pacific Bitter (3.8% abv) from Richard and June Bazen's Brewery. The Brazens' Brewery is located in Salford and is a relative newcomer to the brewing scene being established only in 2002. The brewing expertise is provided by Richard, who has been a brewer at Phoenix, Haywood; Bridgewater Ales; and also Holt, Plant and Deakin. Pacific Bitter is a light amber coloured ale, which is pretty tasty! So tasty in fact that of all the beers that I had last Wednesday I am going to say that this one was the best. The beer has a nice fruity aroma, which passes by to a solid malt taste, with a dry citrus laden bitter aftertaste. A nice beer. According to the website, the beer is made from the original Bridgewater Ale's Navigator recipe which was one of CAMRA's top 100 beers in 2000.

For those of you who may not be 100% sure of what a ticker looks like, the picture below is of a lone ticker identified from the crowd last Wednesday.

Bavaria Holland

It was warm over the weekend. I was thirsty and my stingy Australian ways got the better of me again. As per usual I was in Tesco picking up a few bits and pieces (the story of my life it seems) when I spotted what looked a little to good to be true. Six bottles of Bavaria (5% abv) for a whole £2. Bargain! I picked up the six pack and threw it into the basket thinking I was getting some choice German lager dirt cheap. That was the first mistake - upon getting home I realise that the beer is actually made in Holland. Alarm bells start going off in my mind, something was amiss. I put these thoughts behind me as I read the label. The beer is the second most recognised brand in Holland (I assume Heineken is #1). I'm thinking to myself, the Dutch make good beer it can't be too bad...... an hour later the beer is chilled, I pop off the cap and all my fears are realised. The beer is rubbish! To make matters worse, according to the label the brewery has been in production for close to three hundred years, surely enough to learn how to make a decent beer! I dont really see the point of any brewery making ordinary beer for export to the UK when there are already plenty of crap beers available. Surely brewing something nice would actually lead to return sales and maximise profits??
Ok, maybe I am being a little harsh. The beer was ok by generic lager standards, I just think I was in the mindset of comparing it to a nice Bavarian Pilsner or Helles. If you see the beer for what it is, cheap lager it's actually not to bad. It was a warm day and it went down rather nicely!
But the point I am trying to make is that a can of Fosters or Carling would also acive the same thing for around the same price. Overall this beer falls somewhere between regular cheap beer and Biere Speciale (another cheap import) Website: http://www.bavaria.com/

Adnams Explorer Chilled

Recently I enjoyed a pint of Adnams Explorer (5.5% abv) at the Crown near Victoria Park and I was very impressed. So impressed in fact that I went out and picked up a bottle from Tesco! The bottled variety is called Explorer Chilled and again the beer was spot on. Nice citrus like aroma with a nice bitter finish, just the way a good summer beer should be!

Note: Just a special note to let everyone know that the Ealing Beer Festival starts tomorrow. I am planning on getting out there on Wednesday evening for a few pints.