Triple A

Not anti aircraft artillery, but the beer style. I am not limiting myself to Belgians either. Over the last couple of weeks I have been drinking an unusual number of Tripel's and Triples. I am not really a big fan of the beer style as I don't really like the coriander and funky fusal alcohol tastes which define the style. Some people describe these flavours as complex, but they aren't really and are more artifacts of sloppy brewing techniques and warm fermentation's. Anyway Here is a list of the beers that I had;

- Westmalle Trappist Tripel 9.5%

- Brakspear Triple 7.2%

- La Trappe Tripel 8%

- Kasteel Triple 11%

OK the Brakspear beer has nothing to do with the Belgian offerings and had a really nice almost sultana style sweetness and chocolate nuttiness that was really nice. I actually ate some Cadbury's Fruit and Nut with this one - it was a good match for all you food and beer pairer's.

Actually the Brakspears Triple was remarkable similar to two Belgian Bruin ales I had;

- Trappist Achel Bruin 9.5%

- Gordon Finest Scotch Highland Ale 8.6% (this is actually Belgian!)

So there we have it, a bit of a consolidated ticker post. To summarize - Belgian Tripel's were pretty shit, most of the Kasteel one went down the sink. The Brakspears Triple and the Belgian Bruins were nice - even though they had rather extreme abv's. I should note that I had a few BrewDog punk IPA's last week and appreciated the weakness and sessionability of it's 'modest' 6% abv.

Dim Sims

It's about time that I mentioned the greatest culinary marval of all time - the humble Dim Sim.

What's a Dim Sim I hear you ask? Wikipedia describes a Dim Sim as;

"a Chinese-inspired meat dumpling-style snack food popular in Australia. The dish normally consists of a large ball of pork or other meat, cabbage and flavourings, encased in a wrapper similar to that of a more traditional dumpling"

Up until recently they had been rather difficult, if not impossible to track down here in the UK. Jumbuck's Pies on Shepherds Bush Green have started stocking these Australian delicacies and I felt the urge to get a few down my neck after work last Friday evening. They well and truly hit the spot and I will be sure to get back there again in the future for another round.

Anyhow, every culinary masterpiece needs a beer to accompany it, and on this occasion I had a bottle of Brakspear Oxford Gold - which is a golden coloured organic bitter. The slight crystal malt character in the beer played well with the caramalization of the cabbage in the Dim Sim and the bitterness and carbonation scrubbed out the grease just nicely. The Dim Sims were really just a prelude to the Thai extravaganza that awaited me later that evening at the Old Parr's Head where I feasted on Yellow Curry Chicken and Mee Goreng. I should mention that I had a pint of Hop Back Summer Lightning with my dinner, but it really is not that exciting a beer. I think Friday truly is my gastronomic day of the week. Only four more working days to go!

Brakspears Bitter

Last Friday it was raining and miserable and the guys from the office wanted to sneak a quick pint into our lunch hour. Normally we would head to The Mitre or The Clock Tower, but a couple of the guys wanted to go slightly further afield (a whole block further) and check out The Gunmakers.

I quickly obliged and opted for a pint of Brakspears bitter (3.4%), which Jeff (the manager) had put on the night before. The beer is fresh and earthy tasting with a hint of sulpher on the nose(fuggles hops?) and is really the ideal session bitter or lunchtime quaffer. In fact, in contrast to my normal Friday afternoon I was super productive!

The Brakspear Brewery produced fine ales from 1711 till 2002. The Wychwood Brewery bought the brand and moved production to Oxfordshire where they continue to brew the beers with the traditional double drop method which distinguishes the Brakspears beers from many others.