The BeerCast

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If you have no idea what this paragraph means, just have another pint of mild and don’t worry about it…

A few months ago on the BeerCast, we started a new category of post – involving the wonders of beer used as an ingredient rather than a beverage. Predictably called ‘Eating with Beer’, it featured the rather odd onion and ale soup produced by the Yorkshire Provender. Just the other day another suitable mealstuff presented itself, in the form of Waitrose’s Steak & Murphy’s Topcrust Pie. It’s probably been ten years since my last pint of Murphy’s, but in a pie…too good to pass up.

Well, actually it’s not. Described on the box as “tender chunks of braised British steak and button mushrooms in a rich & flavoursome Irish stout gravy, topped with buttery puff pastry” it falls apart totally into a gloopy mess. Why? – it’s not a pie! ‘Topcrust’ it may be, but call me old-fashioned in thinking a pie should also have a bottom and four sides? The puff pastry crumbled into pencil shavings, as puff pastry always does, leaving the stouty gravy to do the talking.

Actually, this is the best part – the steak is nice, although there’s hardly any of it, and the dark gravy really does taste of stout. It contains 12% of the (other) black stuff, and in tremendous legalese the packet says “Murphy’s stout brewed under licence by Inbev on behalf of Heineken, Waitrose is an authorised user thereof”. I’d certainly draw the line at a steak and Heineken pie, that’s for sure.

Anyhow, at 539 calories it’ll put hairs on your chest, just take my advice and fling the lid out of the window and call the thing a stew. It is nice, but it’s not a pie (and I’m from Lancashire, so know what I’m talking about on that subject).

As everybody knows, the legal drinking age in the United States is 21, and by a happy co-incidence our 21st podcast takes in four beers from that very country. America dominates the global brewing market, but there is a spirited craft beer scene that floats just under the mass-marketed bilge usually available over here. ‘Brewed to taste light’ – no thanks. The BeerCast foursome travel from sea to shining sea, and begin with a classic from the west coast – Anchor’s Liberty Ale. We then zip around a thousand miles inland to the Mile High City of Denver, and Great Divide’s Titan IPA, which we discover during recording is unfortunately three months out of date. So maybe the scores should be listed with an asterisk, or something. Our road trip east continues as we pitch up in Boston for Harpoon’s Winter Warmer, before enlarging our carbon footprint even more by returning to California to end with Sierra Nevada Porter. On the panel this week with Richard and Shovels are MrB and Grooben.

1. Anchor Liberty Ale (5.9%abv)
The Anchor Brewery, San Francisco, CA.
355ml glass bottle

The Anchor Brewing Company are a well-known feature of San Francisco, and started life in 1896 under the resourcefulness of two German immigrant brewers (Ernst Baruth and Otto Schinkel), who acquired the Pacific Brewery which had recently been started by another German ex-pat. After renaming it Anchor – the reasons why having been lost in time – they survived many tragedies and eventually overcame prohibition to become one of America’s most eminent producers. However, the 1960′s brought hard times, and they almost closed for good until being rescued in 1965 by a man named Fritz Maytag. San Franciscans certainly have much to thank him for.

What They Say – “Liberty Ale uses a special top-fermenting yeast to give subtle flavours and characteristics. Carbonation is produced by an entirely natural process called ‘bunging’, which produces champagne-like bubbles. Dry-hopping is also used to impart a unique aroma to the ale.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB – It’s an amazing beer which I really, really like 8½
Grooben – Very robust strong flavour, hoppy not overpowering 8½
Shovels – A beer with character, nothing insipid here 7½
Richard – Not really drawing me in as much as it should 6

2. Titan IPA (6.8%abv)
Great Divide Brewery, Denver, CO.
355ml glass bottle

5280ft above sea level is apparently one mile – and just so happens to be the elevation of the USA’s 26th most populous city, Denver. In 1994 brewer Brian Dunn saw a gap in the market for a new producer in this outdoorsy (and predictably thirsty) city, and opened the Great Divide Brewery. They have since won 12 Great American Beer Festival medals (the first only 3 months after brewing their first batch). Producing 13 different beers, over half of them are self-styled “big beers” – imperial stouts, barley wines, and double IPA’s. Titan IPA falls into the latter category.

What They Say – “Brewed for hop disciples, Titan IPA is a big, aggressively hopped India Pale Ale – starting out with piney hop aromas and citrus hop flavours, and finishing with a rich, malty sweetness that is balanced with crisp hop bitterness.” [Label Tasting Notes] “Ruby red grapefruit juice, with touches of orange zest, backed by a bracing, minerally bitterness and finishing with a caramel sweet malt zing.” [Rocky Mountain Brewing News]

What We Say…
MrB – It tastes of bread 7
Shovels – Initial alcohol taste but then other flavours come out 6½
Richard – Pretty awful but nicer when I’ve had it before 5
Grooben – Tastes bitter and kind of strong, but what’s the point? 4

3. Harpoon Winter Warmer (5.5%abv)
Harpoon Brewery, Boston, MA.
355ml glass bottle

Boston’s Harpoon is said to be the largest craft brewery in New England, having been established in 1986 by three men, one of whom wrote a business plan for a brewery whilst at Harvard Business School. They expanded steadily in the late 1990′s, and in 2002 imported a state of the art brewhouse that had been built specially in Germany and shipped over. Harpoon produce four regular ales, plus a Hefeweizen called UFO (UnFiltered Offering) – Winter Warmer was their first seasonal beer to be developed, back in 1998, and is only available in the States between November and January.

What They Say – “When you bring a glass of this dark copper ale to your lips to take your first sip you will notice the aroma of cinnamon. There is no aromatic hop added that might overpower the distinct spice scent. The medium body of this beer is formed from caramel and pale malts, which create enough body to support the spices without making the beer excessively rich. Bittering hops are added to counter the sweetness of the malt and spice, and the finish of the beer is a blend of cinnamon and nutmeg. The combination of these two spices results in a balanced, pumpkin-pie flavor. The overall character is a smooth, medium bodied ale spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Only tastes of cloves, it doesn’t really cut it 4
MrB – No body whatsoever, it badly needs a better base 4
Shovels – It smells of a lot and tastes of not so much 4
Grooben – Needs to be more robust to cope with the spices 3

4. Sierra Nevada Porter (5.6%abv)
Sierra Nevada Brewery, Chico, CA.
330ml glass bottle

On the 5th of November 1980, the Sierra Nevada brewery produced the first batch of their now-famous Pale Ale. Founded just the year before in Chico by an ex-homebrewer called Ken Grossman, they have gone on to become one of the largest and highest rated breweries in America. Ken studied Chemistry at California State University (which is in the aforementioned town), and after graduating remained to open a homebrew shop. Once he took the plunge and moved up to a brewery proper, the plaudits and awards soon followed.

What They Say – “Dark and rich, Sierra Nevada Porter is a delicious, medium-bodied ale with a creamy head. The Porter’s smooth flavour (malty with a hint of caramel) comes from a blend of deep-roasted barely malts.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Two different sweet malts make it cloying, but nice 6
MrB – Might be one of the smoothest porters I’ve ever had 5
Grooben – Decent but perhaps overly sickly for my taste 5
Shovels – Takes over the mouth with the sweet smoothness 5

BeerCast panel verdict

Anchor Liberty Ale (30½/40)
Titan IPA (22½/40)
Sierra Nevada Porter (21/40)
Harpoon Winter Warmer (15/40)

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

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #21 – USA
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with our 22nd episode, a showcase edition on Gloucestershire’s Wickwar Brewery. Stay tuned for details…and please leave us comments on the blog or iTunes, or emails. Cheers!

One of Scotland’s classic beers could be in a whole lot of trouble. The Sinclair Orkney Brewery’s standout barleywine Skull Splitter (8.5%abv) has fallen foul of drinks industry watchdogs the Portman Group over it’s “aggressive” theme. The London based organisation have a strict (and rigidly enforced) code of practice on the naming and promotion of alcoholic drinks, to protect us members of the public from all kinds of potential evils:-

“The Code prohibits the marketing of alcoholic drinks to under-18s; the alcohol content of a drink must be made absolutely clear; its alcoholic strength should not be dominant; it must not encourage rapid or down-in-one drinking; there must be no association with illegal drugs, bravado, aggression or anti-social behaviour and any suggestion that the drink will lead to sexual success or increased popularity is also banned…”

Just recently a management consultancy (PIPC) produced a report for the Portman Group and highlighted Skull Splitter because “it’s name implies violence and also the impact the strength may have on the drinker”. If found to be in breach of the code (the Portman Group will meet later in the year to consider the PIPC report), Skull Splitter could be removed from sale. An idle threat? A quick look at their website reveals ‘Cider Drinks taken off shelves’ (Blackout Cider was deemed to carry “strong connotations of alcohol-induced unconsciousness”, and Mega White Cider was pulled up because the label described it’s ‘mega strength’).

It should be stressed that the group are made up of members of the drinks industry themselves, and any complaints made to them are heard by an independent panel currently chaired by former Director General of the Prison Service, Sir Richard Tilt. They switched to marketing regulation in the mid-1990′s alcopop boom, and no doubt saved many schoolkids hangovers as a result. They are also behind the established Drinkaware campaign.

But Skull Splitter is no Mega White Cider – it’s one of Scotland’s best barleywines, and massively popular (particularly in North America, where they know a thing or two about 8-12%’ers). It’s not sold in supermarkets or off licences, has won numerous awards, and the suggested food pairing on the label is pâté, for crying out loud! If the name Skull Splitter is aggressive, it’s because it’s named after Thorfinn Hausakluif, the Seventh Viking Earl of Orkney – who clearly had a firm way of settling arguments.

And as for the ‘implication that the strength will have on the drinker’ – how are breweries supposed to market strong ales? The first one specifically labelled as a barley wine was the turn of the century Bass No.1 Ale – no implication there. But all you have to do is Google for that style of drink, and what names do you get? Headcracker, Blithering Idiot, Old Horizontal, Buzzard’s Breath, and the quite brilliant Baz’s Bonce Blower. Are the Portman Group going after all of these as well?

The bottom line is Skull Splitter is a serious product, not cheap pissup fuel. The Portman Group have a serious responsibility, and removing the likes of Blackout Cider from our shelves can’t be that much of a bad thing (and that particular complaint was lodged from within the industry, by the National Association of Cider Makers) – but honestly, let’s hope common sense prevails and the Sinclair Orkney Brewery retain their strong ale and can continue to market it to lovers of strong beer everywhere…

…incidentally, we tried the beer in question when the BeerCast visited the Scottish Beer Festival in June. For the record, this is what we thought. We’ll keep you posted on the findings of the complaints panel when they meet later in the year.

5. Skull Splitter (8.5%)
Sinclair Orkney Brewery, Quoyloo, Orkney.
Recently named Scotland’s best Barleywine for 2008, Skull Splitter is a mighty concoction. We bought a collective half to sample (it was 4 o’clock in the afternoon) to see what the fuss was about. There’s certainly a distinctive ‘prunes soaked in vodka’ smell to it, although I didn’t pick up any of the suggested apple and/or plum. Very spicy taste, and surprisingly subtle, but to be honest one to sip in different surroundings than at a beer festival.

Brewery’s Skull Splitter Headache [BBC]
Sinclair Breweries

There’s no denying Nils Oscar’s God Lager has an interesting title, as the classically-styled cream and silver label certainly grabs the attention. It got Lagerboy’s, that’s for sure (although anything higher up than Tennants usually will). The name refers less to a religious beer experience than the translation of ‘Good Lager’ into the brewery’s native Swedish. Situated about 100km south of Stockholm in the Södermanland region, Nils Oscar were founded in 1996 and named after a distant relative Nils Oscar Sunderberg, who was born in 1865 and has his picture proudly displayed on the bottle.

As with Lagerboy’s previous posting regarding the Monteith Brewery in New Zealand, Nils Oscar are far more than an isolated one-trick pony. Perusing their website, they too knock out a wide range of styles including IPA’s, dark porters, barley wines and a Kalasjulöl – a Christmas beer that changes recipe every year (and we like those here at the BeerCast). Apart from the ales, they also find time to produce different types of vodka, and that infamous Scandinavian firewater, aquavit – serving suggestion…“Eat good and sing lots of Christmas carols among good friends.”

But back to the boring old lager – or so you would think. In fact, God Lager is anything but. Brewed as a Dortmunder-style offering with four different hops including Hersbrucker and Tettnanger, it gives off a dark earthy malt aroma. At 5.3%abv it packs a decent punch, and is highly carbonated with a strong lager aftertaste. It is the biggest seller for the brewery, and was the first to carry the Nils Oscar name – you certainly get the impression they have put everything into it. This one isn’t a refreshing summer lager for the outdoors, more an Autumnal evening one for savouring. Either way, it really is something.

Nils Oscar Brewery