Beer from the Bay

As I mention in the beginning, drinking Anchor Steam in San Francisco was one of the things that helped get me into beer. Ever since, their beers have a special place in my heart, even their smell is distinctive and takes me back to the city by the bay. Anchor steam, liberty ale, and their porter are available in a few spots in NI already, but its good to see a few more of their brews available locally. Neither of these are part of my quest to drink my way through "1001 Beers" but are still worth trying and reviewing!

From outside the List

112. Anchor Brekle's Brown. 
Style: Brown Ale. ABV: 6%. From: Lighthouse Wines.
Description: A mid brown cola sort of colour, with a tan head. Decent hop aroma, but then toasted malt and some chocolate/coffee, and a hint of nuts. Good malt profile, but then the hops come through with a little citrus. Some nuttiness in flavour too. Light to Mid bodied.
Thoughts: I love a brown ale, especially at this time of the year, and this was really good. A nice hoppiness to balance out the malt made this drinkable. Will happily buy this again.
Score: 7.5

113. Anchor Big Leaf Maple. 
Style: Amber Ale. ABV: 6%. From: Lighthouse Wines
Description: Poured a red/deep amber colour, clear, with a big tan head. Straight up aroma of anchor beer, presumably from the yeast. Behind that there a little maltyness and then the maple comes through. Flavour of a earthy red ale, with a hint of maple and sweetness on the finish. Light bodied with a dry finish. 
Thoughts: Another good beer from Anchor, while I'm not sure I would have got the maple as much if I hadn't been looking for it, it is in there! This beer is pure autumnal and pure anchor. Love the label too.
Score: 7.5

t's that time of the year again, Belfast Beer Fest is back from 21st-23rd November - I'll be there on the Friday sampling whatever I can get my hands on. It's always a fun day out, so if your about that weekend I'd recommend making your way to the King's Hall.

Cheers

Brooklyn Locals

I'm a fan of Brooklyn beers, so I was delighted to see the big bottles of Local 1 and Local 2 available in Lighthouse Wines. Even better, Local 1 is in the list so another tick as well...

From "1001 Beers..."

186. Brooklyn Local 1. Style: Belgian Strong Ale. ABV: 9%. From: Lighthouse Wines.
Description: Comes in a big 750 ml bottle with a cork and cage. Poured a light golden colour, big white head that lasted, clear, and lots of obvious fizz. Straight off you're hit by funky Belgian yeast aromas, a little citrus, and a little spice. Taste is what you expect from the smell, actually quite subtle, with may be a little more grain flavour. Dry finish, light bodied but very fizzy. You would never guess this is a 9%'er, I'd guess this could be quite dangerous!
Thoughts: A good US version of a Belgian classic. However, I came to this with lots of expectations and was slightly disappointed. This isn't a bad beer, it's not even a mediocre beer, but it's not a great beer. To be honest, I'd be as happy with a bottle of Duvel as I would be with this, and that's no slight as a love Duvel, but I was expecting a wee bit more... Try it for yourself and let me know what you think. Score: 7.5

From outside the List

111. Brooklyn Local 2. Style: Belgian Strong Ale. ABV: 9%. From: Lighthouse Wines
Description: Again comes in a big champagne style bottle with a cork and cage. This one pours dark red / brown. Decent beige head, but this time it dissipated quickly. Again that distinct Belgian yeast aroma, this time there's a lot more sugar and spice going on. Taste gives some caramel malt, coffee, and the honey comes through along with some dark fruit and some citrus. A bit boozier feeling than the Local 1, more bitterness  Mid bodied, this coats your mouth a bit (I'm putting this down to the honey).
Thoughts: Very similar feeling on this to the Local 1, again on the upper end of good but not great. While both have the same score, I slightly preferred the Local 2.
Score: 7.5

Reviews of Anchor Brekle's Brown and Big Leaf Maple to follow very soon!

Cheers

Hit for Six

Six new beers tried and tested over the weekend, and another ticked off the list! Straight down to business...

Beer from "1001 Beers..."

185. Boon Oude Geuze. Style: Lambic Geuze. ABV: 7%. From: The Vineyard

Description: Vibrant yellow colour, hazy, and a good white head. Lots of funky yeast smells, grassyness, and citrus fruit. Sour and tart taste, lots of lemon rind. Quite light and dry, long sour finish.

Thoughts: Ah now this was nice. really well balanced, a little bit of fruit sweetness took the edge off the sour tartness. Really getting into Geuze, must try more... 
Score: 7.5

Beers Outside the List

Some Porter

106. Founders Porter. 
Style: Porter. ABV: 6.5%. From: Lighthouse Wines
Description: Poured deep black with a good tan head. Lots of coffee and toasted malt aromas, a little dark fruit in there too. Coffee and bitter chocolate flavours, toasted, almost smoky malt. Rich, full, mouth feel.
Thoughts: I actually donated this bottle to my wife, I had a quick sample before handing over to and suffered instant regret. This stuff is class, rich, dark, and simply very tasty. The bottle was duly passed over very reluctantly, so I'm off to but more of my own!
Score: 8.5

107. Kernel Export India Porter. 
Style: Porter. ABV: 5.7%. From: The Vineyard
Description: I'd say this was a deep dark brown rather than black. Good beige head that lasted well, plenty of lacing. Toasted almost burnt, malt smells, though you can get a hint of citrus hops in the background. Again a good toasted malt flavour, a little coffee, but then a good hop hit of bitterness and some citrus fruit. Mid bodied. 
Thoughts: Another good dark beer, and another impressive one from Kernel Brewing. This one provided a great contrast - starts all dark and malty, and then in comes the hoppy fruit and a resin like finish. An IPA porter? A Dark IPA? What ever it is a found it very tasty.
Score: 8

Scotch Ale

108. Founders Dirty Bastard. 
Style: Scotch Ale. ABV: 8.5%. From: The Vineyard
Description:  Poured reddish brown, with a small white head. Nice aroma: caramel, brown sugar and toasted malt. I get a real candy apple flavour from this, more brown sugar to taste, again a little toasted malt. Syrupy mouth feel, a little sticky, good alcohol warmth. 
Thoughts: Another good Founders beer. The description above make it sound very sweet, but actually the alcohol and malt balance it out very well. Not something I'd drink all that often but I'd certainly buy again.
Score: 7.5

In the pink

109. Boon Frambiose. 
Style: Lambic Fruit Beer. ABV: 5%. From: The Vineyard
Description: Dark ruby in colour with a large pink head. Lots of tart raspberries in the aroma, and a little sour yeastynees. Again tart fruit flavours, lots of raspberry, and a sour tangy finish. Sticky mouth feel.    
Thoughts: I rather enjoyed this too, very tart, a little sweetness. Not sure I could drink a lot of it but a perfectly pleasant way to start an evening...
Score: 7

110. St Bernardus Pater 6.
Style: Dubble. ABV: 6.7%. From: The Vineyard
Description: Dark brown colour with a log lasting off-white head. Toasted malt smell, a little sugar, and that unmistakable aroma of Belgian yeast. Some dried fruit flavours, a little caramel, a little bitterness. Mid mouth feel (may be slightly lighter than I was expecting).

Thoughts: By all accounts the bigger beers in the St Bernardus range rate better, if that's the case I look forward to trying them. This was a perfectly good, drinkable if unspectacular, Belgian dubble.
Score: 7

Cheers

Refilling the beer box

The beer box was starting to look empty, fortunately a credit card cock-up left me in credit on my flexible friend! Well, I know how to make use of spare money... and fruitful trips to The Vineyard and Lighthouse Wines this week have helped build the collection up again! So, more new beers coming to a blog near you soon... but first a run down of a few recent tastings!

New Beers from the Lighthouse

Beer 183 from “1001 Beers...”

• Brugse Zot. Style: Belgian Ale. ABV: 6%. Purchased: The Vineyard

  

  Check out the head on that...

  Description: Light amber and slightly hazy. Might have been my crap pouring but this thing came out with a HUGE white head. I really didn't get too much aroma, some yeast and a bit of spice but nothing too strong. A bit of a tangy taste, some malt, some spice. Really fizzy, light to mid bodied, chalky finish.
  Thoughts: Another that might have been killed by expectations... I found this a wee bit all over the place, nothing very coherent. And nothing worth returning for – one of those beers I'm not sure why it made the list, but we all have different tastes!
  Score: 5.5

Beer 184 from “1001 Beers...”

• Thornbridge Kipling. Style: Pale Ale. ABV: 5.2%. Purchased: The Vineyard

Thornbridge Kipling

Description: Strong hazy yellow appearance, decent white head that lasted well. Lots of tropical fruit smells, pineapple and grapefruit. Lots of tropical hops to taste, but not too sweet or bitter – good balance. Light to mid body – coats your mouth slightly.
Thoughts: This is a great pale ale, really drinkable, well balanced. Another triumph for Thornbridge – one I'll definitely buy again
Score: 8

Beer 104 outside the list

• Gonny no brew that. Style: Golden Ale. ABV: 3.8%. Purchased: The Vineyard

Gonny no buy that again



Description: No head, dark yellow, clear. Very hoppy aroma – grapefruit and lemon rind. Again citrus fruit flavours, a little bitterness. Flat, slightly resin like finish.


Thoughts: Not sure I really got this... too flat for me.
Score: 5

Beer 105 outside the list

• Paulaner Oktoberfest. Style: Oktoberfest. ABV: 5.8%. Purchased: The Vineyard

A late Oktoberfest treat



Description: Straw colour, clear, with a good white head. No head, dark yellow, clear. A little bland smell-wise, some grain, not much else. Malty sweetness to taste, not real hops. Fizzy but light bodied.


Thoughts: Pretty middle of the road oktoberfest beer, drinkable but not very exciting.
Score: 6

Cheers