The BeerCast

There are few countries on Earth that do the ‘lots of earnest men in a musty hall’ type days out better than the Brits. Like it or not (and CAMRA probably don’t), beer has that reputation - or rather, ‘real ale’ has that reputation. The hip, funky, savvy kids of today drink Becks or Budweiser. But then they’re prententious pillocks, aren’t they? As Shovels put it, there was an impressive selection of wild haircuts and straggly beards at the Scottish Beer Festival, held at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh. We had a duty to attend, being the BeerCast’s home city, so rustled up the full complement of panellists (minus Hopmesiter who was playing with iguanas in Ecuador), and went along, with our own wild haircuts aplenty.

Paying our £4 and picking up a logo’d pint glass, we eagerly went up the red-carpeted stairs to the main hall of the Assembly Rooms. Inside, it was amazing. Hundreds of people, dozens of kegs, and two huge bars. So in the name of research we carted our increasingly dirty pint glasses around trying as many of the (rumoured) 120 beers as possible. As an IPA fan, I started off with Fyne’s Piper’s Gold, which wasn’t as much floral as like drinking an entire flowerbed. Next up, I made the rookie mistake of ‘just picking something because of the name’, and got Sulwath’s Solway Mist. This turned out to be a wheat beer that tasted like lemonade mixed with antiseptic. Still, I learned an important lesson early on.

After that, things got far better. Broughton’s Clipper IPA, Houston’s Killelan, and Sulwath’s Criffel IPA are all corkingly good pale ales, and beers I’ll certainly be finding again. Scotland’s IPA’s really do rival some of the best from other countries - a point the BeerCast will probably return to, I would think. Anyway, there’s more to ale than the lighter stuff, so I finished off with a dark mystery, Strathaven’s Old Mortality. It was a sweet, spicy, malty beer that changed flavour with every mouthful. Or maybe that was just the dregs of all the other previous ones combining in the pint glass. Either way, even though (most of us) didn’t have the crazy facial hair, we found a lot to like at the Festival.

For Episode 2 of the BeerCast we opted to remain in Scotland and sample four more regional beers. When setting up the blog and podcast we always wanted to start with the adopted base, and quickly realised there are far too many great Scottish ales to shoehorn into a single edition. So for the second half of our debut two-parter, our panel expanded to four and we concentrated on some more local delights. Always trying to put out a good mix, we sample beers from north and south, light to dark, ancient to modern - and all in brown glass bottles with interesting labels; because for the totally dedicated beer drinker, what’s on the outside counts too…

1. Williams Gold (3.9%abv)
Williams Bros Ltd, Alloa.
500ml glass bottle

The Williams brothers - Bruce and Scott - started producing traditional recipe beers in the central Scottish town of Alloa in 1993. In 2004 they took over larger premises and formed a new line of distinctively labelled beers to run alongside the historic ales (more on those later). Traded under the brand ‘Williams Bros’, the four newer staples to their range are simply titled ‘Red’, ‘Black’, ‘Gold’, and ‘Joker’. Their 40 barrel brewery bottles these hoppy beers for retailers across central Scotland. Alloa itself is six miles east of Stirling, and due to it’s location on the Forth estuary was once a bustling centre for shipping and manufacture, which at one point supported nine breweries. Sadly, the majority of these have gone - but the Williams brothers still fly the flag.

What They Say - “A refreshing and full bodied sparkling golden ale, brewed using a blend of seven malts. Undertones of vanilla and fruit are offset by the citrus aroma of fresh hops, suggesting grapefruit and orange.” [Williams Bros]

What We Say…
MrB - Smells fantastic, and is damn tasty, I rate this very highly 9
Shovels - It tastes really good, and the bottles are well designed 8
Richard - This is very fruity, almost lemony 7
Alison - As a non-beer drinker, not for me but it goes down easily 6

2. Nimbus Strong Pale Ale (5.0%abv)
Atlas Brewery, Kinlochleven.
500ml glass bottle

Located in one of the most stunning parts of Scotland, the Atlas Brewery gives itself the tagline - ‘The small brewery with big ideas’. Founded in the small Highland town of Kinlochleven, Atlas took over the site of a 75 year old Aluminium smelter when production ceased. Another of the new Scottish breweries quickly establishing a reputation, Atlas have an enviable location at the eastern end of Loch Leven, a few miles from Fort William. The mountains of Glen Coe are also nearby, and give their name to another of Atlas’s popular beers, Three Sisters. Kinlochleven is a magnet for tourists, and is a well-used stopping point along the West Highland Way.

What They Say - “Nimbus Strong Pale Ale resembles the famous Kölsch beers of Cologne: pale in colour, soft in mouthfeel, but strong in alcoholic content. Our rendition has a rich, warming hop and a memorable malt character. A small addition of around 5% malted wheat to the grist gives this beer much of its body and softness. The aroma is of pronounced fresh-fruit hops, together with a sweet nuttiness. On the palate this beer has a verdant, almost vegetal, hop presence. Nimbus also exhibits lovely malt character of fresh bread and almonds.” [Atlas Brewery]

What We Say…
Alison - Bread and fruitiness, it could turn me into a beer drinker 9
MrB - It smells of sherry but is very nice 7
Shovels - Can taste the sherry too, it’s different to the first one 7
Richard - It’s malty and has a nice aroma to it, I really like it 7

3. Scottish Oatmeal Stout (4.2%abv)
Broughton Ales Ltd, Brougton, Tweeddale.
500ml glass bottle

A change of direction with our third beer - Broughton’s Oatmeal Stout. Situated between the Border towns of Peebles and Biggar, 25 miles south of Edinburgh, this rapidly growing brewery are also reasonably young. In 1980 the premises opened just outside Broughton, and now produce a healthy range of 11 bottled beers and 18 cask ales. Their ‘beers with character’ come in distinctive bottles with portraits on the labels, and are mostly named after historic characters. One of the few exceptions is the specific beer the panel are tasting today, which is so called because of the distinctive Scottish ingredient added during production. On the label is Robert Younger, master Edinburgh brewer and the great grandfather of the Broughton founder.

What They Say - “Oatmeal from the Scottish borders and the finest malt and roasted barley combine to make this a most refreshing and nourishing stout. Using Fuggles, First Gold and Challenger hops, oats are added to enhance the flavour of the black malt and roasted barley – giving a rich dark colour and strong complex flavours of coffee and dark chocolate.” [Broughton Brewery]

What We Say…
MrB - It tastes of coffee, and it grows on me the more I drink it 7
Richard - Can’t really taste the oats, but lots of things going on 6
Shovels - Lingers a long time, yet it’s quite light for a dark ale 6
Alison - Looks like Barr’s Cola with a coffee taste I’m not keen on 2

4. Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale (6.5%abv)
Heather Ales Ltd, Alloa
330ml glass bottle

Having come full circle, we’re back with the Williams brothers in Alloa. As explained before, they started out producing traditional beers to ancient Scottish recipes, like their award-winning Fraoch Heather Ale. Also in their stable of oldies is Grozet Gooseberry beer, Alba Pine Ale, Kelpie (with added seaweed), and Ebulum. Welsh druids arrived in Celtic Scotland in the 9th Century, and with them came elderberries, used as a natural remedy. The crafty beardies also added these berries to a strong ale, and it’s this Ebulum brew the panel finish on. The exact druidic recipe no longer survives, but the Williams brothers produce Ebulum from a domestic beer record of the 16th century, and give it a celtic-themed label to match.

What They Say - “Ebulum is made from roasted oats, barley and wheat boiled with herbs then fermented with ripe elderberries. A rich black ale with fruit aroma, silky soft texture, soft roasted flavour and gentle finish…” [Heather Ales]

What We Say…
MrB - Looks like red wine and tastes of beer 7
Richard - Deep red colour, not too bad tastewise 6
Shovels - Strong and soft in the mouth, a good after-dinner beer 6
Alison - Tastes of dark chocolate, it’s smooth and easy to drink 5

BeerCast panel verdict

Williams Gold - 30/40
Atlas Nimbus - 30/40
Ebulum Elderberry Strong Ale - 24/40
Broughton Oatmeal Stout - 21/40

Panellists - (from top left) MrB, Ali, Richard, Shovels

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #2 - Beer and Labels
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with Episode 3 - four beers from the North of England. Stay tuned for details…!

Heres a review of a Canadian beer from another beer-reviewing website run by the Beverage Tasting Institute. A slightly different style from our good selves I think you’ll find -

Brasserie Theillier La Bavaisienne Bière de Garde

“Brilliant amber hue with a nice dense froth. Pronounced barnyard, wet hay and asparagus-like spice aromas follow through to an earthy, fruity sweet full-bodied palate with flavors of rich citrus marmalade, dried figs, chewy honey toasted wheat bread and fresh baked apple pie. A salty, spicy edge leads to a long, rich finish that is a masterful interplay of sweet, fruity malt, delicate earthy hops and subtle, yeasty undertones. Remarkably flavorful, powerful and balanced. A true artisanal gem that works well on its own or with food. In short, a perfect example of bière de garde.”

Ummm - good then was it?

And here is their review of Stella Artois (yes, the very same) -

“Pale golden amber color. Delicate aromas of citrus peels and baguette bread follow through to a frothy, grainy medium body of wheat toast, clay, and caramelized dried fruit flavors with a long, sweet and sour citrus and earthy hop finish. Nice depth of flavor and vibrancy. “

Cripes. Clay, you say? No mention of foul fizzyness, raging hangover, wifebeater etc. either.

I think we should stick with the informal approach.

Beer fancying isn’t just about a competition to find the darkest, strongest, most pungeant brew you can. Most beer websites and blogs do tend to concentrate on that end of the spectrum, but only because they tend to be the most interesting and flavoursome. Even the most ardent lagerfan would probably admit the lack of taste the lighter-coloured stuff suffers from. But less taste doesn’t mean no taste (unless you opt for certain lagers), there shouldn’t be a stigma against drinking good lager - after all, it was invented by the Czechs, and they know more or less everything good about brewing.

So amongst the BeerCast’s regular malty, hoppy, caramelly (Podcast no.1 was brought to you in conjunction with that particular word) offerings, this committed Lagerboy will now and again pop up with a few drinks from the world of beers that you can actually see though. But just as ‘real ale’ suffers from an image problem, so does lager - one of popularity. In 2005, the UK lager market was worth £11.3bn - nine out of the top ten takehome beer brands were lagers (Guinness being the other). 42% of British adults now buy and drink it. By 2010, 80% of all UK beers sold are expected to be lager. Yikes.

But most of the major brands out there are the same old suspects - Stella, Carlsberg, Carling, Fosters. They don’t taste of much, they are fairly cheap, you can buy them in any off-licence or pub. But it doesn’t make them any good. Take Stella, the UK’s most popular lager (it has a third of the market), due to recent issues of ‘branding’, producer InBev added more boutique beers to the stable, a wheatbeer called Peeterman, and a 6% super lager called Bock, which someone bought by mistake the other week and nobody would drink it. Fosters, brewed in Edinburgh, is the typical Australian lager - except I lived there for almost a year and hardly ever saw it.

You have to search them out, but local lagers are available. They cost more than the mass-produced types (although Stella recently went up again, by 12p a pint), but are infinately nicer, with more taste - and you get a pompous air of smugness to have sought out something regional that the other lagerboys will have never heard of. Take Colonsay Lager. Produced by a small new microbrewery from the tiny Scottish island of 120 people, they knock out this 4.4%abv gem using local ingredients and a slower fermentation process. That means the lager has a touch of the wheatbeer about it, and is a dark apricot, almost amber colour. Incredibly refreshing, and with a packed taste, it blows the Carlings of this world out of the water. Which can only be a good thing.

Colonsay Brewery