Honeydew is the Moneydew

So this lot arrived (pictured below), should keep we going for awhile and another good few ticks from the list to come too!

It’s also almost time for the Hilden Beer and Music Festival 2014, line up looks good and I really enjoyed it last year – despite the weather. I hope to get up on the Friday night but might have to see how it goes. Anyone else heading up to Lisburn?

Right on to the beers…

228. Fuller’s Honeydew

Style: Golden Ale. ABV: 5%. From: Drinkstore.ie (though my local Tesco has it as well at the minute).

Description: Poured a vibrant yellow and perfectly clear, there was a thin white head for about 2 seconds until it faded off into history, no real lacing either. Pretty looking pint when the head was on it. Not much aroma, vaguely grainy and beery (I know that’s not a really helpful description but hey – it smells like beer!) with a hint of sweetness and golden syrup. Again I get a hint of grain in the taste, almost slightly lager like, a light bitterness, not too much in the way of hops here. It then finishes on a sweeter note (again to me more syrup than honey) and some very light spices. Light bodied and slightly sticky.

Thoughts: This did a perfectly acceptable 5pm on a Friday job, refreshing and easy drinking. I wouldn’t rush back, slightly on the sweet side for me, but would drink again if options were limited.

Score: 5

I also managed a couple of beers not from “1001 Beers…”. First up was Sierra Nevada Summerfest 2014 (Style: Pilsner. ABV: 5%. From: The Vineyard) – straw coloured and clear with a small white head. Again not much aroma – a faint grassy graininess. Flavour follows that, this is clean and crisp with that grain and light grass again. A decent little bitterness on the finish. This is another light easy drinking summer beer – prefect for after mowing the lawn. Score: 6. Finally we have Beavertown Gamma Ray(Style: Pale Ale. ABV: 5.4%. From: Drinkstore.ie), amber and hazy, this poured with a huge fluffy white head – a really gusher. Aroma is fantastic, lilt like tropical aromas: pineapple, grapefruit, and a touch of bubblegum. Taste is tropical too, mango is added to the lilt, as is a resinous caramel malt backbone. Though I found this quite bitter and astringent. While this was grand, the taste just didn’t live up to the smell and I found the bitterness just a bit too much, over balancing the beer. Score: 6.

Right, hope to see you at Hilden.

Cheers

Penny Pils

So I finally had to bite the bullet and placed an on-line order. Drinkstore.ie had quite a few beers from the list and Island of Ireland delivery for a not bad €6. A hint of a few things to come in the pic below!

So, first up is:

202. SlyFox Pikeland Pils
Style: Pilsner. ABV: 4.9%. From: Drinkstore.ie
Description: Craft in a can. Poured light yellow coloured, slightly cloudy, and a decent white head. Some grassy hops, and there's some light fruit there too (mango I'd say). Taste starts out with some fruit and sweetness, followed up by some grassy hops, a bready malt hit, and a bitterish finish. As it warmed up the fruit came through more. Light bodied, more sparkling than fizzy. 
Thoughts: Pilners don't tend to do a huge amount for me, but this was quite enjoyable. Light, refreshing, and quaffable. Tasty.
Score: 6.5

A couple of other beers not from the list to catch-up on:

161. Wild Beer Bliss
Style: Farmhouse ale?. ABV: 6%. From: Light House Wines
Description: Dark amber / light brown in colour, hazy, with a tight off-white head. A lot of spice in the aroma, nutmeg & cinnamon, and a sour twang in the background. Spice again in the taste, plenty of nutmeg and cinnamon, a hint of dried apricot. Quite light bodied.
Thoughts: Recommended by Stephen as something different... It certainly was that. I've not been that impressed by Wild Beer in general, this was one of the better ones - though more for autumn than this time of the year. Personally would have preferred more apricot but it was grand.
Score: 5.5

162. Beavertown 8-Ball
Style: Rye IPA. ABV: 6.2%. From: Grange Wines
Description: Cloudy light brown/dark orange with no head. Citrus and grapefruit aroma, some pine. Taste is caramel malt, grapefruit, and a little rye spiciness. Light but a little sticky.
Thoughts: Enjoyable but nots good as the Black Betty.
Score: 6.5

Had a wee day out mid-week too. Neill's Hill in Ballyhack produced some good food and an Anchor Liberty Ale to go with it. Then it was over to Horatio Todd's who now have Pilsner Urquell on draft, belfast beer scene keeps getting better doesn't it?

Cheers

St Patrick's weekend round up

After Birmingham and Cardiff, what I really needed was some sleep... But sure it was a weekend of sport, sport, and more sport, and all of it good (as an Ulster, Ireland and Liverpool fan anyway). So with all that I just supped a few beers over the weekend, none from the list so just a quick round up below:

153. Farmageddon India Export Porter
Style: Porter. ABV: 5.2%. From: Light House Wines.
Description: Poured dark, tan head, looked quite fizzy for the style. Whiff of coffee and toasted malt. Taste wise some chocolate, liquorice, and some definite light hoppy bitterness. Mid bodied, a slightly oily hop finish.
Conclusions: A beer that shows potential. Definitely a porter with some hop profile rather than a black IPA. Something was slightly off with my bottle that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but a solid effort. Belfast Beer Blog have covered the rest of the range here - along with some interesting thoughts on the local beer scene. This is a discussion I might add to in due course...
Score: 6

154. Ilkley Longhorn
Style: Aged Milk Stout. ABV: 8%. From: Light House Wines.
Description: More ruby red/dark brown in colour than the usual black. No head at all and transparent. Bit of an odd smell, I got candy sugar and something vinegary. Taste is again vinegary and sour - where's the milk, or the cranberry? Not much Barrel or wood flavour either. Oddly thin. 
Conclusions: Has anyone else had this? Is it supposed to taste like this? I'd guess my bottle was skunked, but I couldn't say for sure... If this is what they were aiming for then it's a mess. I'd say it was almost like a bad example of a Flemish red/brown rather than what it said on the label. Either way its one of the first beers I've poured down the sink in awhile. 
Score: (A generous) 1 

155. Beavertown Smog Rocket
Style: Smoked Porter. ABV: 5.4%. From: Light House Wines.
Description: Poured dark brown with an off white head. Aroma is chocolate, roasted malt, and smoke. Flavour is smoked peat, toasted malt, liquorice, chocolate. Mid to full bodied, smooth.
Conclusions: Here we go, following the Longhorn this was a beer to restore my faith. Nicely balanced, very drinkable, interesting without being over done. Good stuff.
Score: 7



156. Beavertown Black Betty
Style: Black IPA. ABV: 7.4%. From: Light House Wines.
Description: Black with a decent white head. Straight up zesty smell: citrus, hops and grapefruit. Taste starts off dark malt and chocolate, and then the hops come through with more citrus and grapefruit. Smooth, decent body but not overly heavy. Hides its strength scarily well.
Conclusions: This a great, one of the best balanced Black IPAs I've had. This beer actually started me craving good strong resiny IPA having been on a stout/porter run for the last while. I'd recommend this to anyone!
Score: 8

Assuming the longhorn stout wasn't off, it reminded me of this interesting post from Boak and Bailey. Basically they took what wasn't a great base beer, and barrel aged the shite out of it to make it "uber craft". I'm all for trying new thing and experimentation, but surely someone should of tried this and went "You know this shouldn't be put out there". Ah well, drink as many different types of beer this and you're going to kiss a frog every now and then! Saint Patrick's and not a Guinness in sight...

Cheers