Ok,
it’s been awhile. I have a child at THAT age, which means when she
finally goes to sleep I just want to relax. This can involve having a
good beer or two, but the effort to take decent notes and then write
them up into a post seems too much at the minute… In order to keep
some semblance of momentum up I’ve tried to catch up on the few
beers from the list I’ve had since the last posting…
235.
Kriek De Ranke
Style:
Kriek ABV: 7% From:
Drinkstore.ie
Description:
Poured a dark ruby red with a nice pink head – pretty clear
actually. The aroma is all tart fruit and twangy sourness –
cherries mainly but there some tart raspberries in there too. The
cherries stay for the taste, along with some cranberries maybe? This
isn’t sweet though – more face puckeringly sour. Mid-bodied and a
little sticky.
Thoughts:
Another great beer from De
Ranke, this one balances fruit,
tartness and sourness really well into a complex but drinkable beer.
Go for it.
Score:
8
236.
Left Hand Sawtooth
Style:
ESB ABV: 5.3%
From: Lighthouse
Wines
Description:
Amber in colour, actually its almost brown. Poured clear with a small
white head. I’m not getting too much aroma wise, a hint of sweet
toffee apple combined with something distinctly more pub toilet.
Thankfully that latter smell doesn’t follow into the taste, there a
definite biscuit malt vibe, some toffee, back up at the end by a very
light citrus/grapefruit bitter note. Light to mid bodied.
Thoughts:
ESBs generally don’t do a lot for me, this was actually pretty
sinkable – once I got past the strange smell – does the job but
doesn’t require much consideration/effort. Not sure I’d go out of
my way to buy again though.
Score:
6
237.
Left Hand Milk Stout
Style:
Sweet/Milk Stout ABV:
6% From:
Lighthouse
Wines
Description:
Jet black with a decent tan head. Aroma is mild coffee, light roast,
with a hint of lactic milk chocolate. Mocha latte coffee flavours,
and a hint of chocolate milk. Quite light and thin for my taste.
Thoughts:
I was really looking forward to this – it sounded very me, but it
just didn’t quite deliver. The flavours were fine, if a little
understated, but the lack of body really let the side down.
Score:
6.5
I
also had the Left Hand’s “Nitro”
version of the Milk Stout, which was kind
of similar to the above, but maybe not even as good. Victory’s
Headwaters Pale Ale (Lighthouse
Wines again) was a great wee
example of the style - basically my notes are summed up by the phrase
“Actually this is pretty damn good” - and one worth trying.
Farmageddon’s
Mosaic SMASH is the latest beer from the
boys from Comber, and one that seems to be getting good reviews. I
personally thought it was much better than the Tomahawk
version – there’s lots
of tropical fruit here and a nice resinous body the reminded me (a
little) of Of
Foam and Fury. However,
I was still getting something TCP/Dettol
like on the finish. While not overpowering this time, it just left an
unpleasant aftertaste at the very end that down rated the experience
for me. I know others who have said they aren’t experiencing the
same thing, so maybe
its psychological or maybe I’m just being unlucky. Still I think
the improvement is there for all to see, next one should be a
cracker!
Cheers
