The BeerCast

The Northern Isles are the last bastion of the British Isles before you fall off the end. Orkney and Shetland are remote, windswept clusters of islands populated by hardy souls who know how to produce alcohol. Orkney whiskies such as Highland Park are world famous, and Shetland gin is starting to make a name for itself – but what about beer? Shetland – 820 miles from London – can claim the UK’s most northernly brewery, and Orkney (itself over 300 miles from BeerCast HQ in Edinburgh), has established players and newcomers alike. Our panellist Grooben hails from the latter group of islands, and on a recent lengthy journey home he picked up some interesting beer from the Northern Isles. Britain’s remotest possible podcast begins with the Valhalla brewery’s White Wife (4.5%), and then Island Bere (4.2%), before heading slightly south to sample Orkney Blast (6.0%), before finishing with arguably the region’s true classic – Dark Island (4.6%).

1. White Wife (4.5%abv)
Valhalla Brewery, Unst, Shetland.
500ml glass bottle

Unst is about as remote as a brewery can possibly get. Famed for the Shetland pony, Muckle Flugga lighthouse, 700 people and 10,000 puffins, the island may only be 12 miles by 5 miles but hosts the Valhalla Brewery, the UK’s northernmost. Founded in 1997 by husband and wife team Sonny and Sylvia Priest, they are named after the home of the Norse God Odin, where slain Viking warriors were revived by a horn of ale. They produce half a dozen bottled ales, and White Wife relates to the local ghost – a wispy looking old lady who appears in the cars of lone male drivers. Spooky stuff – but is it tasty stuff?

What They Say – “White Wife is a light golden clean session ale, with a dry, refreshing bitterness and a characteristically fruity aftertaste.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB – Tastes very good, this is a nice session beer 7
Richard – Nice colour, and a bittery aftertaste, I’d try this again 7
Grooben – Thin and light but very drinkable 6
Shovels – Has a strange citrusy taste to it, a bit hollow 5

2. Island Bere (4.2%abv)
Valhalla Brewery, Unst, Shetland.
500ml glass bottle

Valhalla’s other entrant is an extremely historic brew. The main ingredient is Bere (pronounced ‘bear’), which is said to be the oldest variety of cereal crop in the world – grains have been found in the Middle East that date to 2000BC. Valhalla say to their knowledge this is the only beer in the world brewed with Bere, which was the original Viking barley brought over in longboats to Shetland in the 9th Century. Known locally as ’90-day Barley’ due to the speed with which it grows, it’s a unique ingredient, and Valhalla should be applauded for doing something different. But what does bere beer taste like?

What They Say – “Island Bere is a golden bitter ale with cascade hops which gives it a nice blackcurrant/liquorice aftertaste.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Grooben – Tastes like woodsmoke, it’s interesting but not bad 5
Richard – Has a watered-down German smokebier thing about it 4
MrB – Like breathing in a barbecue, really rather unpleasant 3
Shovels – It lingers like you’re chewing a piece of wood 3

3. Orkney Blast (6%abv)
Highland Brewing Co, Swannay, Orkney.
500ml glass bottle

The second half of the Northern Isles edition switches to Orkney – Orkneyjar, the ‘islands of the seals’ in the Viking tongue. Orkney has a fine tradition of beers, and towards the north of the largest of the seventy islands is the old cheese factory at Swannay. Taken over by the Highland Brewing Company, it switched to brewing in January 2006, and started producing a range of beers for the local market. Their Orkney Blast is named after a wartime newspaper created by Kirkwall’s Orcadian, hence the army uniforms on the label. Although we’re not sure why they are being worn by a pair of mermaids.

What They Say – “Generously malty with balanced spicy hop in the middle, leading to a lingering hop finish, with honeyed fruity malt and a hint of warming alcohol.” [Label tasting notes]

What We Say…
Richard – Nice but slightly spoiled by the alcohol/honey tastes 6
Grooben – An unecessary sweetness, but it’s rather nice 6
Shovels – Another woody one, but with a lightness on the palate 6
MrB – Lots of honey, it’s a strange non-session ale 5

4. Dark Island (4.6%abv)
Sinclair Orkney Brewery, Quoyloo, Orkney.
500ml glass bottle

Founded by Roger White in 1988, the award-winning Orkney brewery are another local producer who started in untypical surroundings – in this case an old school house in Sandwick. In June 2004 they merged with BeerCast favourite Atlas Brewery of Kinlochleven, to form Highland and Islands Breweries – which in turn was taken over by the Sinclair Brewery Ltd in 2006. Beer drinkers in North America may know them best for Skullsplitter, an 8.5% Barleywine seemingly more popular over the pond than back home. Over here, it’s Dark Island which is their big draw. Two-time Champion Beer of Scotland, it has recently been crowned Champion Winter Beer of Scotland for 2007.

What They Say – “An excellent brew, The roast malt and chocolate character varies, making the beer hard to catagorise as a stout or old ale.” [2008 Good Beer Guide]; “The nose on this beer is ripe and fruity with slightly vinous esters, married to interesting hop notes – the colour of a glorious red ruby wine.” [Label tasting notes]

What We Say…
Richard – Harsher than the mellow cask taste, but it’s wonderful 8
Grooben – A good complex beer with lots of flavours going on 7
Shovels – Dominant coffee smell, it’s the best of the night 7
MrB – Don’t remember it tasting this strong, a bit disappointing 6

BeerCast panel verdict

Orkney Dark Island – 28/40
Valhalla White Wife – 25/40
Orkney Blast – 23/40
Valhalla Island Bere – 15/40

Panellists – (from top left) Grooben, MrB, Shovels, Richard

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #11 – The Northern Isles
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with BeerCast episode twelve. Stay tuned for details…and please leave us comments on the blog or iTunes, or emails. Cheers!

Our recent Beer of the Year show produced a winner from the American seasonal stable, the Anchor Special Ale 2006. But other brewers over the pond produce winter beers as well, and last week we managed to track down another Californian seasonal – Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. Although their operations aren’t as historic as the San Franciscans (brewing began in 1979), the Chico concern have won many awards and plaudits with their Pale Ale. However, the winter Celebration Ale is only available for a limited period, and is dry-hopped with Cascade and Centennial for extra flavour.

The brewery themselves describe it as making “the long, cold nights of winter a little brighter. Wonderfully robust and rich, it is brewed especially for the holidays and is perfect for a festive gathering, or for a quiet evening at home.” Well, the BeerCasters sampled it in front of a particularly dreadful Premier League match on the television, as Fulham and Newcastle limped to a goalless draw. But the highlight of the evening was the beer – Celebration doesn’t taste like a usual seasonal winter beer, there’s no spices or cloves or dark tastes. What there is instead is hops – hops up front, hops on the tongue, and hops in the aftertaste. It tastes like a typical strong west coast US IPA, and has the dark golden colour to match, but the dry hopping has upped the oomph factor, and it’s really rather good.

Having little money in Gateshead in my early 20s meant regular sessions on the local McEwans Scotch. For those who have never had one – it tastes like Tyne sewage water filtered through Sunday morning tights. Fortunately, a change in my economic fortune (I can afford more than GBP 1.12 a pint) I have not had to revisit this taste – until now.

Innishail.

The word sends shivers from my tongue to my colon, which was quivering the morning after the night before I met this terrible lady.

This 3.6% disaster from the Fyne Ales brewery in Argyll brew commemorates the island where all the Dukes of Argyll are burried. I think the brewers merely collect the rainwater from around gravestones and cask it.

Where it tries to be hoppy it is merely homebrew-esque: the watery and thin feel to it makes you think of burns and the possibility of dead sheep higher up from where you sup, and its citrus element more like a cheap zest effect-spray for cleaning than the real lemony thing.

I tried to think of one positive as I sat in the Guildford Arms in Edinburgh with this brew. The only one was that these fine ale tenders had 7 other beers to choose from.

I’ll give the Achadunan micro-brewery’s other brews a try to see if this is just a one-off disaster, but for me, the Cairndow lot messed up badly here.

And then there were four. After starting up the whole reviewing/podcasting thing in June 2007 we sampled our way through thirty-four beers from half a dozen countries. On the way we’ve drunk our way through numerous others in various guises – but it was down to those 34 when we decided to re-taste the top scorers and find out what would be crowned our first annual BeerCast Beer of the Year. Using our standard scoring system throughout, we had one beer out on top with three others tied for second place – so it was only fair to take all four away and revisit their many pleasures.

On new year’s day our extended BeerCast panel of seven sat down in a windy house in the border village of St Abbs, and let the battle commence. The beers we had with us were the Anchor Brewey Our Special Ale 2006, Daleside IPA, Erdinger’s Weissbier Dunkel, and Coniston’s Bluebird Bitter. All four are tremendous – and very different – so it would be tough to pick a winner. As scoring had been done in each individual BeerCast, for the final we re-sampled each one and gave our general thoughts, before going round the panel and simply picking a winner. For this BotY edition, the panel consisted of Richard, Shovels, MrB, Andy, Jess, Grooben, and BeerCast newcomer Gillian. First up, was Coniston’s Bluebird Bitter…

1. Bluebird Bitter (4.2%abv) 500ml glass bottle
The Coniston Brewery, Cumbria.
BeerCast #3 scored 16/20 (80%) 9th Aug 2007
Originally tasted by Shovels 8; Richard 8

Grooben – I like it a lot, and on tap it might be even nicer
Andy – It’s quite thin and tastes like it has something else in it
Jess – I don’t like it, I find it too bitter, especially the aftertaste
Richard – I think it’s really nice and I stand by my 8/10 score
MrB – Pleasant but not astounding – on tap I’d drink it all night
Shovels – I still think this is a really good beer
Gillian – I agree, this is perfectly drinkable

2. Daleside IPA (4.5%abv) 500ml glass bottle
The Daleside Brewery, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
BeerCast #3 scored 16/20 (80%) 9th Aug 2007
Originally tasted by Shovels 8; Richard 8

Jess – This is much nicer, it reminds me of honeysuckle
Andy – Much more pleasant, with more substance to it
Grooben – One of the nicest of IPA’s I’ve tasted on the BeerCast
MrB – Very very nice, this is my kind of hoppy session ale
Gillian – Smoother and nicer than the Bluebird
Richard – More flowery than the Coniston
Shovels – All round the mouth taste, it’s good stuff

3. Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel (5.6%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Privatbrauerei Erdinger Weißbräu, Erding.
BeerCast#8 scored 32/40 (80%) 1st Dec 2007
Originally tasted by MrB 9; Richard 8; Grooben 8; Shovels 7

Gillian – I could drink more of the previous beers but I prefer this
Richard – Wheatbeer flavour gives way to nice dark malts
Shovels – First few mouthfuls are tasty but it then loses flavour
Jess – This is lovely, full of bubbles, and it smells really nice too
Andy – Looks dark but it tastes light, there’s an iron taste in there
Grooben – I thought I wasn’t going to like this again, but I do
MrB – I may have overmarked it, but as a wheatbeer it’s ahead of the pack

4. Anchor Our Special Ale 2006 (5.5%abv) 350ml glass bottle
Anchor Brewery, San Francisco.
BeerCast#9 scored 34½/40 (86%) 15th Dec 2007
Originally tasted by MrB 9½; Shovels 9; Grooben 8; Richard 8

MrB – That you can put these flavours into a beer is amazing
Jess – I don’t like it, it’s totally overpowering and not very subtle
Grooben – They’ve crafted this, I have lots of time for it
Andy – Smells of so much yet is forgiving on the tongue
Shovels – It’s really got that spicy Christmas taste to it
Gillian – A gorgeous colour, it’s drinkable but very, very seasonal
Richard – All the other beer smells tonight combined wouldn’t come close to this

So the beers had been re-tried and thoughts given – but only one thought counted, the overall winner of the four. The final step of the Beer of the Year show was to go round the table and pick the one that stood out the most…

Jess
“I had a really tough time between Daleside IPA and the Erdinger. I really like the Erdinger, but it had too many bubbles and I wouldn’t actually drink that much of it, so I chose the Daleside because it’s a nice beer and very pleasant.”

Andy
“I had real difficulty choosing between Daleside IPA and the Anchor, but of the four beers presented to me this evening, I liked the taste of the Anchor the best. So I have to vote for that.”

Grooben
“Again it was between two, the Daleside IPA and the Anchor, and I’ve gone for the Daleside. It’s a beer I would enjoy more on a more consistant basis. I’ve got nothing bad to say about the Anchor – I think it’s brilliant and will drink it every Christmas, but Daleside hit more buttons for me.”

Gillian
“It came down to either the Daleside or the Erdinger, and although I could drink more of the Daleside, I picked the Erdinger. It was a more complex taste and I quite liked all the bubbles.”

MrB
“Daleside IPA was fantastic but there’s at least half a dozen beers – some of which we haven’t reviewed this year – that were better than that, so my vote goes to the Anchor. It was extraordinary, and I’ll be drinking it at every Christmas from now on.”

Richard
“I have to give it to Bluebird as it’s one of my favourite beers and I love it. It’s everything I want from a beer and I’ve enjoyed drinking it this year even before we were sent some. Anchor is truly special, but Bluebird is my BotY so I vote for that.”

Shovels
“Anchor has so much taste and so much going on, but it’s only available for two months of the year. The Daleside IPA is amazing, but there are lots of other good IPA’s out there. I have to say – purely based on all the flavours going on – my BotY is the Anchor.”

So there you have it – the BeerCast Beer of the Year for 2007 is, rather strangely, Anchor’s Special Ale 2006. UK beer drinkers can often be at the back of the queue when it comes to finding the American seasonals, but the Californian brewer lists their Special Ale as having a two year shelflife. We did manage to source some of the 2007 Special Ale, and tried that in the same session. It was also extremely good, albeit very different – but the 2006 vintage was the one we tested during our first year, and it was that beer which came out on top – both in overall scoring and our BotY special. Congratulations to the Anchor brewery, as well as Coniston, Daleside and Erdinger, and we’ll be back on the BeerCasting front very soon with episode 11. In the meantime, here are the panel’s honourable mentions for 2007…

BeerCaster’s 2007 personal favourites

Shovels – Williams Bros Joker
Grooben – Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted
Jess – Wynchwood Hobgoblin; Shepherd Neame Bishop’s Finger
Richard – Stewart’s Edinburgh Gold
Andy – Fruli; Minoh Seasonal Beer; Belgian Peach Lambic
MrB – Fyne Ales Avalanche
Gillian – Didn’t have a favourite, but did try a beer in 2007 she thought was truly awful – so we gave her the honour of naming it as the worst beer of the year – Desperados, the French 12%abv tequila beer. If we ever do a French episode….

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #10 – Beer of the Year 2007
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back soon with episode 11. Stay tuned for details…and please leave us comments on the blog or iTunes, or emails. Cheers!