Belfast Beer Fest

I recently moved house and this lead to me being exiled from the internet for much longer than planned, so this update has been a while coming...

22nd November meant a glorious half day and an opportunity to hit the Belfast Beer Fest before the crowds got there. Think I preferred the old set up of beers dedicated to a “bar” rather than the alphabetical order thing but I still managed to get to the bar and order a beer or 3! I even got to tick 4 beers off the list (it could have been 5 but they seemed to have Tribute on rather than Proper Job which I was hoping for).

Given the time delay these are going to be quick reviews!

Beers from “1001 Beers..."

187. Green Jack Ripper Tripel. Style: Barley Wine?. ABV: 8.5%

This was described as a barley wine in the tasting notes and on rate beer. I'm not sure that's how I'd describe it, but then who am I to disagree. Sweet and sticky, very warming finish. I rather enjoyed it. 

Score: 7

188. RCH East Street Cream. Style: ESB. ABV: 5%

My notes for this one are pretty unreadable! A premium bitter, some malt, some caramel, but it didn't do too much for me. 

Score: 5.5

189. Butcombe Gold. Style: Bitter. ABV: 4.4%

Another bitter, this one a bit lighter. Though I got a very ashy finish that wasn't that pleasant. A bit too weak and light for me (or as one of my party said "pish"). 

Score: 4.5

190. O'Hanlon's Port Stout. Style: Stout. ABV: 4.8%

A stout with a splash of port... what's not to like? One of the better beers of the day for me.

Score: 7.5

I'm not going to cover some of the other beers outside the list sampled this time, as my notes are crap as I was too busy talking rubbish to anyone who would listen... but two other beers sampled are worthy of a mention Whitewater's Bee's Endeavour and Otley Saison Obscura. The Bee's Endeavour was nice warming and I enjoyed the honey and ginger, pretty good stuff. Saison Obscura - a darkly tastly belgian inspired ale - was probably my other favourite beer with the Port Stout, interesting stuff and worth try if you see it.

The next post (sooner rather than later hopefully) will cover the Belfast Beer Club on 28 November @ the Hudson Bar looking at Belgian Beers! A heads up though, the next one - looking at stouts and porters - is on 12th December. Stick it in your diary now as its sure to be a good night!

Cheers

A night out in the big smoke, and a smoky porter

So I had my first night out in Belfast for awhile last weekend, and thoroughly enjoyable it was too. Great to catch up with a few old friends, and I even got to try two new bars!

First up we hit the Hudson. Overall I was very impressed; good selection of beers (Brewdog, Sam Adams on tap and plenty of interesting bottles) and I really enjoyed the hearty food served in the adjoining café – I had chicken and chorizo stew! I didn't take beer notes but I enjoyed the Williams Brothers 7 Giraffes and the taste I had of the Whitewater whiskey barrel aged version of their Clotworth Dobbin. 

Next up was the Sunflower. Another proper pub with a good beer selection (Hilden's Scullions ale on draft, and again quite a few Williams Brothers beers and other interesting things in bottles). 

Really enjoyed both venues and hope to get back out to both soon. If you haven't been to either yet, go check them out – I’m sure you'll not be disappointed.

On top of all that I also got another beer ticked off from the list:

Beer 182 from “1001 Beers...”

• Alaskan Smoked Porter. Style: Smoked porter. ABV: 6.5%. Purchased: Lighthouse Wines

  
  Description: Powered dark brown, with a small but lingering tan head. Strong smoky/woody aroma. A little bit of toasted malt and grain (may be a little milk chocolate) to taste, but mainly its the smoky flavour that comes through. Lighter mouth feel than I expected but that helped with drink-ability.
  Thoughts: Really enjoyed this, perfect for a cold winters night in front of the fire. These beers can easily become “too much”, but actually this was really nicely balanced in taste (i.e. not too smoky) and body (not too heavy). Great stuff.
  Score: 8

Cheers

The Slieve Donard and more

I promised a rant at the end of my last post. Well, this isn't really a rant more a... helpful suggestion. I was lucky enough to be treated by my wife and toddler to a night in the Slieve Donard Hotel. I love the Slieve. It's one of my favourite places in NI to go to get away from it all. The rooms are lovely, the views spectacular, the Spa reinvigorating, and the food is mouth watering.

It's great that they make a big deal of all the local produce they use, from sausages, to beef, to bread. They also have a great (if expensive) wine list. They have spent time devising menu's and picking the accompanying wines. Yet when it comes to beer, the choices are the usual mediocre selection of international lagers and a token stout.

The closest thing to a local beer is Murphy's Irish Stout. I mean how hard would it be to sell Harp... just joking! The Slieve, and all Hastings hotels, are among our premier tourist hotels, and this extends beyond the Slieve to all our hotels, restaurants, and bars. They have a prefect opportunity to promote the best beers we have locally – seriously even 1 or 2 beers from Whitewater, Hilden, Clanconnell, etc, would do. When I'm a tourist, even before I was a beer geek, I always tried the local brew – there must be more people out there like me! Seriously, any Americans who are into craft beer would lap up HoppelHammer, or Twisted Hop, or McGrath's Irish Black, or – well you get the idea by now.

There might be good reasons why its not done, may be they tried before but there wasn't the demand. If so, given the explosion in the craft beer scene, may be now might be a good time to try again.

This isn't a serious gripe, I love the Slieve and I'll be back either way, I just think there is an opportunity here for everyone.

Anyway, back to the beers.

From “1001 Beers...”

Number 162

• Maredsous 10. Style: Tripel, ABV: 10%.
  
  
  
  Description: Poured golden/honey with a decent head. Lacing stayed throughout. Slight yeasty/bready small with a citrus little fruit. Quite a sweet taste, but with a little spicy/tart (may be a little vanilla?) but not much sourness. Syrupy but light mouth feel.
  Thoughts: I really enjoy a Belgian tripel. This was a nice beer – but not as good as Tripel Karmeliet. Most tripels hide their ABV well, this one was slightly less subtle and came across slightly too boozy to me. A bit more fruit and a sour finish would have lifted a level. Solid beer though.
  Score: 7

Number 163

• Maredsous 8. Style: Dubbel / Belgian Brown, ABV: 8%.
  
  Description: Poured dark honey in colour with beige head that lasted. Smells of biscuit malts and brown sugar. Mid mouth feel, slightly syrupy. Toasted caramel and spice tastes, with some dark fruit and nuttiness. A little bitterness on the finish.
  
  
  Thoughts: Quite light for a dubbeI, started by hiding the ABV well but got slight thicker and boozier as it warmed up. This improved the overall finish of the beer. Very nice (if strong) beer.
  Score: 7.5

Not from "1001 Beers"

Number 62

• Schlosser Alt. Style: Alt Bier, ABV: 4.8%.
  
  
  
  Description: Poured light brown, with a decent white head that dissipated quickly. Biscuit malt aromas. Slight burnt caramel tastes, a little hops, and quite a light mouth feel.
  Thoughts: Another new beer style. This hybrid beer is slightly lagerery with plenty of dark malt (a wee bit like anchor steam). Decent but not spectacular. Interested in trying more Alts.
  Score: 6.5

Number 63

• Skimshander. Style IPA, ABV: 4.5%.
  
  
  
  Description: Poured amber with with a small head that completely disappeared. Slightly bitter taste, with some light floral flavours and a little bit of grapefruit. Mid mouth feel.
  
  
  Thoughts: To me this came across more like an English pale ale, than an IPA. When I see IPA on a label I expect more hops, this was a wee bit too subtle for me.
  Score: 6

Cheers

The Craic's good the beers...

Local Beer for Local People
There is only one Norn Irish beer in "1001 beers to try before you die". That's probably not a shock to many people who have been to pubs and bars across the country. Yes, we have some great bars for a good night out enjoying the craic and talking rubbish. But, until recently, if you liked a beer that wasn't Bud, Carlsberg, Harp, or Tennents, i.e at best insipid pale lager, the choices were basically non-existent.

"Ah, but what about Guinness", I hear you say. Yes, its ubiquitously available, and yes given the right circumstances it can be a good pint. Those circumstances are (a) the bar serves lots of it, i.e. the bar is full and no-one is drinking anything else and (b) it's within sight of the brewery - Guinness travels really badly!

However, in the last few years things have really begun to change. Local brewers, such as Hilden, Whitewater, and Clanconnell deserve praise as they have been producing really decent beer for awhile - but they are now starting to gain traction and are becoming more widely available.

Beers

So here's a quick run down of my favourite local beers:

Whitewater

• Hoppelhammer. Style: IPA, ABV: 6%. I came across this beer at the CAMRA Belfast Beer Festival in 2012, when it was (quite rightly in my opinion) voted Beer of the Festival. A big beer with a an intensive hoppy bitterness, followed by citrus flavours and a nice alcohol warmth to finish. This is probably the best IPA I've had from a UK or Ireland producer, and I'm glad to see it appearing a more and more bars across the country. Go buy some!

• Clotworthy Dobbin. Style: Porter, ABV 5%. This is the local beer which features in "1001 beers to try before you die", and deservedly so. A great example of the style, with toffee and sweet fruit overtones. A nice beer to sit down and sip in front of a warm fire.  

• Whitewater also produce the very tasty Belfast Ale, Belfast Lager, and Belfast Black slightly less adventurous - but they show what can be done with the style when you make beer the with passion and quality ingredients.

Hilden

• Barney's Brew. Style: Spiced Wheat, ABV: 5%. Who'd have thought you could get a local wheat beer, spiced with cardamom, coriander, and black pepper. It sounds unusual (and it is!) but it shows what an innovative brewer can produce that you'd never see one of the megabrewers even try. Lovely on an Autumn night!

• Hilden Halt. Style: Irish Red Ale, ABV: 6.1%. A big malty, red ale with only mild hops. The alcohol content gives it a nice warmth. 

• Hilden also produce Hilden Ale, Scullion's Ale, and Twisted Hop. All are worth trying out if you can find a bottle or two, and they also deserve credit for some of the best labels in the craft beer scene. Hilden also brew a nice session house ale for the Dirty Duck in Holywood - always worth a visit for the chowder and a tasty pint or 2.

Clanconnel

• McGraths Irish Black. Style: Stout, ABV: 4.3%. I first came across this beer in the back bar in the Garrick  in Belfast. A jet-black, thick (almost tar like but in a good way), stout with big peppery and smoky overtones. Much superior to Guinness but it might be seen as an acquired taste - have a couple of bottles, give it a chance to grow on you, and it could become a favourite.

• I know Clanconnel produce other beers but I've yet to give them a proper tasting. I'll be sure to update this post when I do.

Where to Buy, in NI

So good local beer is available - along with some great craft beers and real ales from around the UK, Ireland, and the World - you just got to know where to find it.

Off-sales

Some credit has to go to Tesco and Sainsbury's who have now picked up beers from around the world and started making them available. Tesco (strangely availability changes from store to store - the Newtownbreda store seems to have the best selection) is good for world beers, where as Sainsbury's at Forestside is good for English ales.

However, and its a big however, neither can live with the selection, choice and advice you can get in the Vineyard on the Ormeau Road. If your buying beer in Belfast its the place to go. Have a chat with the friendly, knowledgeable staff; if your planning a beer tasting evening it's essential!

Festival

As a mentioned above, each year CAMRA host a beer festival in the Kings Hall. The 14th (see what you've missed so far!) festival is taking place on 21st to 23rd November 2013. Get yourself along for a great day's craic, live music, and plenty of good beers (though save me some of the black IPA if its there).

Bars

I covered this in my first post, but just to reiterate and add to, the following bars are well worth a visit and have a decent selection (and if you'r unlucky you'll see me there):

• The Garrick
• The Duke of York
• The John Hewitt
• Cuckoo (though its a bit Hipster...)
• The Errigle 
• The Dirty Duck

I'm sure there are more bars that have a good selection that I'm missing out on and more local beers I should be trying - let me know in the comments section!

Cheers

The Beginning...

So this may or may not happen as a proper lasting blog; but here we go...

This Christmas (2012) I bought myself a book, "1001 Beers: you must try before you die". Since then I have been meandering my way through many of the beers within.This blog plans to cover my adventures with this book and my views on the beers within. I'll come back to this in the next post. This one is a wee bit of history.

My interest in beer starts way before that. 

An early confession - I was a Bud man. In my defence, this is Northern Ireland. Bud arrived in draught form in my formative beer days at £2 a pint in Hunters (now long gone) on the Lisburn Road. Compared the Harp or Tennents it tasted pretty damn good - and it least it was served cold. After that I can even admit to a period of time when I and friends referred to Coors Light as "Sweet Milk" *shudder*.

However, when I travelled I always liked to try the local lager. Dorada in the Canaries, served in ice cold pint glasses, comes to mind.

Then in 2006 I had 2 trips to the states in quick succession. In New Orleans I found Abita and in Boston I found Sam Adams. Suddenly my opinion of beer changed. Before this, it was all about light, crisp, and frankly flavourless lager. These beers were amber, and malty, and moreish. But they weren't (widely) available in Northern Ireland and I went back to drinking insipid lager.

I was back to America in 2008 for my honeymoon, and I was determined to try new beers. Yuengling in New York, Sierra Nevada in Las Vegas, and Anchor Steam in San Francisco. Even better, we found Jacks at the Cannery in SF. 85 beer on tap and a proper beer menu. My mind was blown.

Since then I have been seeking out and trying every different beer I can find.

I was still steeped in American beers. I should also at this point mention my old boss who really introduced me to proper English and real ales. I'm still not convinced about drinking them warm, but I'm coming round to the concept! Trips to Germany, Australia, and experimentation with Belgian and Czech beers have broadened my mind further.

So - while this post covers my history with beer, this blog doesn't start at the beginning of the "1001 beers to try before you die". I'm 153 beers in and have also now started scoring and cataloguing the beers I try outside those referenced in the book.

In the next post, I'll summarise the best (and worst) I've had to date, from then on I'll probably cover a few beers, and  related stories, in each post.

One point though - while I've enjoyed reading and working my thought the book, but it is by no means definitive. Firstly, it was published in 2010 - as the craft beer revolution was really catching on (at least only catching on here) and therefore it misses many new beers you really should try. Secondly, there are beers in it that simply aren't great, and life's too short to spend your time drinking bad beer. As Hunter S Thompson Said "Good people drink good beer".

A couple of other points - what I like, you might not. I have a soft spot for big hopped American IPAs and dark bitter stouts and porters. I generally prefer ale to lager (though I have recently discovered that lager is much more than pilsner and a few good dopplebocks are trying to persuade me otherwise). 

My overall scoring will be out of 10 (half points allowed), and I'll try to cover most of the tasting points (bouquet, colour, taste, mouth-feel) for new beers but might not cover this for beers I tried awhile ago. I'll also try to give some info about beer styles etc. as we go along.

Finally, if you live in Northern Ireland and want to try good beers I can recommend:

• The Vineyard off-licence on the Ormeau Road for beers, wines and spirits
• Light House Wines
• The Garrick
• The Duke of York
• The John Hewitt
• The Hudson
• The Sunflower
• The Dirty Duck

For local beers try anything by Whitewater and Hilden. Clanconnel also have some good stuff.

The next post will get to the beers!

Cheers