Fuller's Golden Pride

Hmm, a quick trip to Waitrose on a Sunday afternoonand I return armed with some goodies including Fuller's barley wine offering - Golden Pride (8.5% abv). Pouring the beer into the glass it could easlily be mistaken for a pint of regular pride, a sniff reveils an aroma that is similar. The taste is when it all starts to fall apart with a sharp chemical like whack before a strong alcohol warmth. Not quite what I was expecting, not exactly pleasant, but not rubbish either.

Anyhow, I am not going to go into too much detail ('cause I am lazy today), so I have stolen someone elses review from ciao.co.uk.

"I seem to have been picking my way through a number of the heavier, higher alcohol ales of late. This is another of the “high end” brews from one of London’s old established breweries. They may not be suitable for regular drinking, but these “superior strength” beers do demonstrate the wide range of strengths, tastes and flavours that can be wrung from the limited list of ingredients that go into them.
THE BREWERY

“Golden Pride” is one of the prime labels from Fuller Smith and Turner operating from the Griffin Brewery in Chiswick, London. Fuller’s was established in 1845 and the Griffin Brewery name is trademarked fifty years later. A brewery has stood on this same Chiswick site for over 350 years, and a wisteria plant, the oldest in Great Britain has clung to the brickwork of the brewery for 186 years. The brewery is now renowned for brewing both organic and seasonal ales (ESB, London Pride). As well as these “conventional” brews they also produce some interesting “flavoured” beers such as “Honeydew” (original honey and recently introduced honey with cranberry) and the winter ale “Jack Frost” which is seasoned with blackberries.
It is available in both 500ml and 330ml bottles.

WHAT THEY SAY
“This superb quality premium beer is the equivalent of a Belgian 'Abbey Beer' and is arguably the 'grand cru' of Fuller's bottled beers. At 8.5% alcohol by volume, it is as powerful as some wines. In days gone by at Christmas, as a special treat, Fuller's pub landlords tend to keep a small barrel of draught Golden Pride on the back of the bar, dispensing to customers in strictly limited quantities. One beer writer has described it as 'the cognac of beers'.”

THE BOTTLE

Fuller’s use a signature dark brown bottle which has the Griffin crest and the logo ‘Independent Family Brewers’ embossed into the glass for their range of brews. The front label announces the brand name in large white letters on a dark red background with a gold surround. For further emphasis there are the three words “Superior Strength Ale”. This is no doubt all geared up to persuade you of the sumptuous treat you have in store. The crown cap also bears the name “Golden Pride”. The neck collar also displays the Fuller logo and crest as well as a representation of a number of gold medals.
The rear label tells you that this beer is an award-winning exceptionally fine strong ale of immense character and finesse. It has been brewed from Pale Ale and Crystal malts; Northdown, Challenger and Target hops. It also proudly boasts that “.. this is the finest example of our brewer’s art; truly a connoisseur’s choice”. Some claim!!The bottle holds 500ml and it is brewed to a 8.5% ABV.
THE DRINK

After the recent really hot spell, the garage has cooled down considerably and this bottle was kept in a dark corner rather than the fridge. It was at about 14°C when I came to drink it. The top came off easily enough. The “Golden Pride” poured a rich amber / red colour creating a reasonably thick foamy head. There is a fine tracery left on the glass as the ale is consumed. There was good carbonation in the glass. The ale is crystal clear and there was no sediment in the bottle.
The nose is quite complex with hints of caramel, Butterkist (TM) and a vague Oxo saltiness. This continued to develop with yeasty, aromatic and slightly earthy overtones. Let me hasten to add that the overall impression was quite delicious and certainly not bad or off-putting.The first taste is rich and bittersweet almost like a barley wine with traces of biscuit (? Rich Tea). This is a strong full bodied ale that is very – deceptively – smooth. Bitterness develops on the tongue with acquaintance but there are also hints of dried fruits, treacle toffee, marzipan and plum pudding. There is a satisfying, pleasurable warming glow on swallowing. The bitterness lingers refreshingly on the palate. Make no mistake, this is one heavyweight of an ale.
This is another of those brews that has to be respected. It is not one for idle quaffing. It reminded me very strongly of Young’s “Old Nick” that I reviewed a couple of weeks ago – perhaps just a little less sweet. It is an ale designed for contemplative appreciation; very much like a fine wine. I would not want to drink more than one at a sitting. Equally I would not want to serve it with a full blown meal, although thin slivers of apple or pear with a truckle of cheddar would not go amiss. Yes, I’d have an occasional one again – but I rate it just shy of the Youngs."

Anyhow, the website is here.

Rebellion Red

Today I am going to talk about another one from my Waitrose collection! Rebellion Red (4.5% abv) is a dark red coloured bitter which tasted quite similar to Fuller's ESB (which I have been drinking all afternoon). It tastes like ESB, but it has this acrid burnt taste in it, which I think comes from being a little heavy handed with 120L crystal. This beer was also really underwhelming hop wise, and I could not taste the cascade in it for the life of me.

The verdict? Well Clarkson really shat me tonight...

You can find out more about Rebellion Beers here. But I wouldn't bother!

On other news, my mate Jay is coming to visit. he is a soft cock and doesn't drink beer, so I am going to force him into the way of the ale. After seeing some of the insides of London's best pubs, I am sure I will have him converted. We are meeting my mate Chris (yeah the guy with the big head) near Farringdon for lunch on Friday. Even though I work in the area, does anybody have any suggestions on where I should take Jay? I have already ruled out the Sir John Oldcastle as its a JDW, The Mitre and a couple of others where my colleagues drink. I really don't fancy seeing them, on my day off!

Hook Norton Double Stout

Before I plonked myself down in front of the TV to watch Australia defeat England 28-14 on Sat evening, I rumbled through my ale selection and found a suitable beverage.

Hook Norton Double Stout (4.8% abv) is a tasty and well balanced stout that really went down a treat. Even though Australia did not put in their best performance, made 156 tackles to England's 60 odd, had one third of the possession and still managed to walk away with a win was all I could have asked for. Has this skewed my actual account of the beer for the better, but I still think this beer hit the mark a lot better than a pint of nitrokeg Caffrey's would have!

Out of all the winter ales that I have enjoyed recently, this is simply five star. Even up there with draught Fullers London Porter (which I still have not sampled yet this season - despite a mission out to Richmond where my dead certainty failed me).

Anyhow the Hook Norton Brewery is located somewhere in Oxfordshire. They make good beer. I like good beer! http://www.hooknortonbrewery.co.uk/

Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted Blond

It's a Sunday night, I have just eaten a rewarding meal of Steak and Ale pie and I feel like a beer to cut through the heartiness of it all. I start fishing through my beer celler and pick out one of my recent Waitrose purchases. Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted (4.2% abv) is a unique but very flavoursome ale. The combination of hersbruker and challenger hops give a taste similar to a feshly sqeezed lemon. Nice zesty and refreshing.
It makes even Jeremy Clarkson bearable.
http://www.harviestoun.com/

Ringwood Fortyniner

Well with the wife away, I decided that I should have at least one night in for the week so I headed to the new Waitrose at Shepherds Bush to stock up on supplies to make for a good night in. I managed to pick up a large coiled Cumberland Sausage, mashed potato, a large Yorkshire pudding and a selection of ales from the booze section. One of these ales was Fortyniner (4.9% abv) from Ringwood Brewery. The name is pretty self explanatory considering the alcohol concentration. The beer is a copper coloured bitter which I thought would go down well with my bangers and mash, and sure thing it did!

Anyhow for those interested I whipped up some onion gravy and served up my sausage on a bed of mash potato in a giant Yorkshire pudding. Awesome.... the simple things are always the best.

Website

Meantime London Porter

After reading Darren from Blog'o'Beer report on Meantime London Porter (6.5% abv) the week before last, I thought I might check it out for myself. I managed to stumble across the rather expensive (£3.99) champagne style 750ml bottle in Waitrose on Kensington High Street.

The beer itself is rich and roasty and a big step up from the Midnight Sun I had the night before. I initially had chilled the beer a little bit too much which resulted in a rather acrid burnt roastiness. Letting the beer warm up let the true rich flavours from the underlying dark crystal malts come through. This balanced out the burnt roast flavours nicely and reveled a really complex beer.

The verdict, as with all the Meantime range, I just can't get enough! Although the expensive price tag does put a dampner on the experience a little bit. Website

Jennings Cocker Hoop

The last of my Cumberland selection pack, Jennings Cocker Hoop (4.6% abv) is apparently an award winning golden bitter, but in reality tasted very similar to the other offerings from the Jennings brewery. To be fair the beer does have some citrus hints on the finish, but overall was a little bland. The name is interesting though! The name is derived from ‘Cock-a Hoop’, an old custom of removing the cock (or spigot) from a barrel and resting it on the hoop of the cask before commencing a drinking bout, but was changed to reflect the brewery’s location on the banks of the River Cocker. I won't seek this one out again, and chances are I won't come across it draught in London anyway! Website: Here and here

Jennings Sneck Lifter Strong Ale

The second beer from my Cumberland Ales pack, Sneck Lifter Strong Ale (5.1% abv) is a deep red ale with roasted barley notes and a nice crisp bitter finish, a definite winter warmer. My colleagues from the north tell me that in local northern dialect a sneck is a door latch, and a sneck lifter is a bloke who used to steal money from under the door latch to buy beer? I don't know, sounds all a bit odd. There is a little bit about this sort of thing on the website as well. I wont be a toff and go into all the ticker speak, but I did find this beauty on rate beer!

Appearance: dark mahogany color. Medium, beige, lasting and dense head. Aroma: intensive fresh toasty unmalted-wheat smell and of others toast grains. This aroma remembers me the fresh “toast flour”. Caramel, cacao, sugar and light smoke aromatic reminiscences. Flavor: lightly sweet start with nice toast-wheat taste and the reminiscences of “toast flour”. Fresh roast-coffee, cacao, caramel, wood, candy figs and plums, toast-breed and light smoke notes. Light dry and lasting final, mainly from the toast. Palate: medium body and light carbonation. Remark: nice toast-unmalted-wheat and light smoke taste. Advisable beer with own-character

I bet this guy is a tosser! I for one could not taste wood, candy, figs or plums in this beer. I suspect that the poor bloke who reviewed this beer with such detail may not be familiar with the intricacies of DMS which is common in some immature ales and has some of these flavours? Anyway, i say talk less and drink more!

Jenning's Cumberland Traditional Ale

Cumberland Traditional Ale (4.2% Abv) is tasty golden coloured bitter from Cumberland in the north of England and is a product of the Jenning's brewery. The guys at jenning's have conveniently put together a Cumberland ale pack with a few of their beers which is available at Waitrose (which is posher than Tesco's I might add!). The beer has a solid and full malt profile and is quite hoppy as well. This one is definetely worthy of checking out! Website

St Peters IPA

The last of my 6 Nations Rugby - St Peters Bonanza! The India Pale Ale (5.5% abv) surely was one IPA that actually fits into the IPA style category! The beer was a nice golden colour with intense bitterness which left my hop starved mouth in a pucker. This beer actually reminded me of somne of my initial home brewing attempts where I 'overdid' the hops a little. I poured the 500ml bottle into my favourite pint glass. The aroma is a very nice pilsener smell spiked with spicy green hops. The flavor is curiously muted from what my expectations from the aroma. It is smooth if you get a good mouthful of head otherwise it’s a bit harsh. It is quite hoppy, just short of an IPA. The flavor is earthy and solid. There is a minute sweetness that adds a bit of class to the otherwise mainly hoppy brew. This beer is medium-bodied but thicker than most beers in the medium colored spectrum. I could go on all day..........ahhh

St Peters Organic Best Bitter

St Peters trying to jump into the trendy organic crowd?? St Peters Organic Best Bitter (4.5% abv) is slightly stronger and more malt driven than the regular Best Bitter. The bitterness does seem to be a little less harsh in this organic variety. But on a whole a very similar tasting beer. I cantreally comment any more than that. I certainly wouldnt pay any extra for this beer for being Organic though. In absence of anything sensible to add, I am going to profess that St Peters Organic Best Bitter is the best organic beer that I have tasted!

St Peters Ruby Red Ale

The second selection from St Peters! Ruby Red Ale (3.7% abv) is a deep red coloured American Style Amber Ale which I think is hopped with Cascade, and more than likely contains Weyermann CaraAroma in the grain bill. Yes I am a beer nerd! Normally beers in this style are hopped with more of a spicy hop such as Willamette rather than a citrusy/piney one, but it seems to work well in this case and I am surprised that more brewers are not making beers in this style. Needless to say, there was nothing left in the pint glass by the time Wales kicked off against France!

St Peters Best Bitter

After spending some time in the St Peters house "The Jeruselum Tavern", my curiousity has been raised in regards to their beers. Whilst on a shopping trip to Waitrose looking for some beers to drink during an afternoon of 6 Nations rugby i stumbled across a selection box containing 4 St Peters Beers. the first cab of the rank, whilst watching the England vs Ireland game (in which England won) was the Best Bitter 3.7% abv. This beer was sensational and probably my favourite of the selection. Whilst all of these St Peters bottled beers taste a little rough around the edges, the Best Bitter was suited to this the most. A nice level of bittering was present through out and just the slightest 'nutty' taste is there as well. A good beer that would have been even more enjoyable if Ireland had won the Rugby!