The BeerCast

We return to our Edinburgh studio for the 33rd BeerCast podcast, as an extended panel tackle beers from the South West of England - well, more or less. Panellist Shovels picked up the contenders on a recent trip to The Bottle in York, where they were all shelved in that particular geographic section. We have the self styled ‘ale of Cornwall’ up first - St Austell Tribute (4.2%), before moving on to Hogs Back T.E.A. (4.2%), which stands for Traditional English Ale and hails from Surrey - not exactly the South West. Our third beer definitely is from the correct region - Hop Back Crop Circle from Salisbury in Wiltshire (4.2%). We had high hopes for this, coming from the same producer as our reigning Beer of the Year, Summer Lightning. Finally we end on the typical strong note with Exmoor’s Exmoor Beast, at 6.6%. On the five-man panel this time are Richard, Shovels, Grooben, Stu and Steve.

1. St Austell Tribute (4.2%abv)
St Austell Brewery, St Austell, Cornwall.
500ml glass bottle

Now one of the largest private companies in Cornwall, the St Austell Brewery were founded in 1851 by a young local man named Walter Hicks, who mortgaged his farm for £1500 to get the necessary funds. Over 150yrs later they still remain in the hands of the Hicks family. They have 167 pubs in Britain’s most southwesterly county, but are expanding into and throughout the region. St Austell have won many awards, and their Admirals Ale was recently voted Supreme Champion of the 2008 International Beer Challenge. Tribute is their flagship ale, however, and is increasingly being found further away from it’s homeland. Brewed using Maris Otter and Cornish Gold malts, and hopped with Fuggles, Williamette and Styrian.

What They Say - “Tribute is a magnificent example of a bronze coloured English bitter, with a rich aroma of biscuity malt and tart citrus fruit from the Willamette hops. Juicy malt, hop resins and tangy fruit coat the tongue, while the finish is long and lingering, with a fine balance between malt, hops and fruit, finally becoming dry and bitter.” [Roger Protz]

What We Say…
Steve - Digestive biscuit taste to it with some citrus 9
Richard - Great hop aroma with a long malty bitter aftertaste 9
Grooben - A good drinking beer, it’s right up my street 8
Shovels - Lingers all around the mouth but it’s pretty good 7½
Stu - Just a little too bitter for me in the aftertaste 7

2. Hogs Back T.E.A. (4.2%abv)
Hogs Back Brewery, Tongham, Surrey.
500ml glass bottle

Surrey’s not exactly in the south west, but at least it’s in the south - and if a bottle shop chooses to shelve ales slightly out of alignment then that’s good enough for us. The Hog’s Back Brewery are situated in the small village of Tongham, and take their name from a geological feature nearby - the raised ridgeline of the North Downs that runs from Farnham to Guildford. Their first batch was completed on the 4th of August 1992 following the efforts of two men, Tony Stanton-Precious and Martin Zillwood-Hunt, who were put together by the editor of The Grist after Tony wrote to the magazine looking for a prospective partner to open a brewery. Like Tribute with St Austell, T.E.A. is Hog’s Back’s flagship beer, and in 2007 was a finalist in the bottled beer class at the GBBF’s Champion Beer of Britain.

What They Say - “T.E.A. is pale brown, with a hoppy and slightly fruity aroma supported by malt in the taste. A well crafted, bittersweet beer with a long dry finish. A classic Best Bitter.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Stu - I enjoyed it much better than the Tribute 7½
Shovels - A classic best bitter that’s nicer with the sediment 7½
Steve - It’s almost like drinking a Terry’s Chocolate orange 7½
Richard - Very malty but I don’t get any citrus or sweetness 7
Grooben - Smells of not much, and it does taste a bit like tea 7

3. Crop Circle (4.2%abv)
Hop Back Brewery, Salisbury, Wiltshire.
500ml glass bottle

Hop Back began in the basement of a pub - the Wyndham Arms, on the outskirts of Salisbury. When bought by John and Julie Gilbert, John decided to use the cellar to experiment in brewing beer for the pub, and made such a success that CAMRA beer festivals were dishing out plaudits within two years. The couple bought another pub in 1991 – the Waterloo Arms in Southampton – and once capacity was reached they went all out and opened the Hop Back Brewery. Renowned for Summer Lightning, our reigning Beer of the Year. But they are far from a one-trick pony, and Crop Circle is brewed with added coriander.

What They Say - “A very clean, flaxen-coloured beer with wonderful thirst-quenching properties. The subtle blend of aroma and bittering hops give a crispness on the tongue which is delicately fruity, giving way to some dryness. The inclusion of flaked maize in the grist subtlely hints at crisp corn flavours.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Shovels - Refreshing and drinkable with not much body 7
Steve - The herby taste does fade very quickly 6½
Richard - Has a sharp bitterness but not in a good way 6½
Grooben - More like Cobra than Summer Lightning 6
Stu - I think it would go well with something spicy 6

4. Exmoor Beast Strong Ale (6.6%abv)
Exmoor Ales, Wiveliscombe, Somerset.
500ml glass bottle

We’ve never featured a Somerset Brewery on the BeerCast before, but Exmoor Ales are one of the most successful producers in the UK. Founded in 1980, they had a flying start by winning the Best Bitter national award at that year’s GBBF…with only their 13th brew. That beer was known simply as Exmoor Ale, and was a classic 3.8% session beer. They didn’t rest of the laurels of that quick success, as in 1986 they then produced Exmoor Gold, widely regarded as the first Golden Ale (along with Hop Back’s Summer Lightning) - a pioneer of the quintessential British summer ale style. Exmoor Beast is a full-bodied dark porter that was first brewed in 1992.

What They Say - “Its strength means this is a beer to be respected, sipped slowly to warm up a winter’s night while the weather does its worst. Brewed with a mix of pale ale, chocolate and crystal malts, and hopped with Goldings, Challenger and Brewers Gold, it is dark mahogany-brown in colour, with the merest hint of crimson tints at its edge.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Steve - Would be nice with a fruit cake, it’s a winter one 8
Richard - There’s definitely a rum background in there 7½
Shovels - A raisiny sipper - just one pint would do I think 7
Grooben - More complex than I thought but isn’t my type of beer 7
Stu - Drinking beer with fruit cake scares the hell out of me 7

Panellists - (from bottom right) Grooben, Shovels, Richard, Stu, Steve

BeerCast panel verdict
St Austell Tribute (40½/50)
Hogs Back T.E.A. (36½/50)
Exmoor Beast (36½/50)
Hop Back Crop Circle (31½/50)

In these financially troubled times, pricing has become more of an issue for consumers than ever before. This covers the entire retail and entertainment sectors, as people become more reticent to spend large amounts of money on things that they can probably do without. This is undoubtedly one reason why the pub industry is suffering, and why organisations such as CAMRA are eager to keep the issue of pub closures in the public agenda wherever possible.

But are we coming to a time when people are being priced out of the market? How much would you pay for a pint of real ale? This question came to mind the other day when we were conducting some hard-earned ‘research’ in one of the locations highlighted in our BeerCast Edinburgh Pub Guide. Since we were in there last, the price of a pint had been raised to £3.50. To some of you, this may not exactly be news – but the steady (and stealthy) increase in the price of a pint is ongoing, and it may be changing the way people drink real ale.

Traditionally the drink of the working public, British beer can now be compared (price wise at least) to a pint of imported lager in a trendy bar. Of course, there are a range of factors to this – most notably the duty on alcohol in this country – but also British brewers have been hit hard by the increased cost of bottling and transportation, recent hop shortages, and the overall economic downturn. As this has a knock-on effect to the pubgoer, will real ale become a luxury to be enjoyed once in a while, rather than something that’s cheap and comforting?

To a huge extent, that depends on where you go – Wetherspoon’s pubs may be bland and atmosphere-less, but they sell decent beer at tremendously cheap prices. Even without the much-publicised 99p pints, our local branch serves numerous real ales at £1.95. I also recently visited the Cramond Inn, which given it’s location is rather strangely tied to Yorkshire brewer Samuel Smith’s – and enjoyed a great pint of their Brewery Bitter for a tremendously reasonable £1.77.

The moral here seems to be that you need to shop around. Bargains are harder to find these days, but they are to be had. The popularity of supermarket offers for crates of generic lager are worrying for the real ale fan, but for those of us that balk at paying £3.50 plus for a pint, there are other options. Nobody need resort to a twelve-pack of Fosters. The pricing situation might be difficult, but it’s not desperate.

The London office has opened it’s doors again for a second podcast, this time welcoming BeerCast newbies Andrew Hayes and Nick Fraenkel to the bar to share their thoughts. Nick and Andrew play with Jess (of Andy & Jess) in an electro-band called The Unrecorded and so it was a pretty cosy and raucus affair. So much so in fact that we’ve had to add the explicit tag to this one!

Unusually for The BeerCast we didn’t have a theme for this episode, instead we asked Nick and Andrew to bring along a couple of beers of their choosing to sample, and we added a couple of random ones into the mix.

We sipped and slurped our way through five beers on the night, not always staying on the beer theme - the conversation meandered into the sedimentary pork geology of Melton Mowbray, summertime wee, blackcurrant Vitamin C tablets, egg filters and famous metallic air of Bath. It was a very spirited and slightly surreal episode and we look forward to having Nick and Andrew back soon.

Enjoy!

1. Melton Red (4.3%abv)
Belvoir Brewery, Old Dalby, Leicestershire.
500ml glass bottle

The lengthily titled Belvoir Brewery, Sample Cellar, Exhibition and Visitor Centre lies in the centre of England, near the border between Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. Pronounced ‘Bee-vor’, it was established in 1995 by Colin Brown, who learned his trade at the now defunct Shipstones Brewery in Nottingham. They specialise in malty bitters, with two of their staples being Star Bitter and Beaver Bitter - the former winning a Bronze in the Best Bitter category at the 2005 GBBF. The latter is known as Beaver Bitter when on cask, but Melton Red when bottled - unless it’s the bottle-conditioned form, in which case it’s Beaver Bitter. I think.

What They Say - “A premium full flavoured and well balanced smooth malt beer with a subtle blend of hops leading to a pleasant rounded finish.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Andy - Not as exciting to drink as it is to smell, a bit chalky 5
Andrew - Good, but not exciting me 5
Jess - It’s a little bit like herbal tea 4
Nick - Tastes like soluble blackcurrant Vitamin C 4

2. Kew Gold (4.8%abv)
Wells&Young’s Brewery, Bedford.
500ml glass bottle

The Ram Brewery in Wandsworth started commercial brewing in 1581 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and produced ale for the local hostelry called the Ram’s Inn. The brewery distributed by horse and cart to the local area until 1803 when the world’s first public railway opened from Wandsworth to Croydon enabling transport by rail. In 2004 Young’s (as they had become) announced a “review of brewing operations” and two years later on the 25th September 2006 closed their Wandsworth concern and moved outside the city to Bedford. Here they merged with Charles Wells’s Eagle brewery and renamed the operation Wells & Young’s Company. Kew Gold is ‘inspired’ by hops grown at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.

What They Say - “Rather lively and fizzy, making the mouthfeel more harsh than it could be. Flavours are soft pale malt notes with a little hop bitterness and a hint of citrus. Finish is dry, but with an underlying syrupy touch.” [bottledbeer.co.uk]

What We Say…
Andy - Quite dry, quite fresh but not exceptional 6
Andrew - There’s a little bit of wee in there, but in a good way 6
Nick - Grassy fresh taste 5
Jess - Yeah, not too bad 5

3. Hopping Mad (4.7%abv)
Wood’s Brewery, Winstanstow, Shropshire.
500ml glass bottle

The Wood Brewery in Winstanstow is very much a family affair - it was founded in 1980 by brothers Anthony and Edward, together with their father Basil. Like many small English rural breweries, it began with the conversion of outbuildings near a country pub - in this case the abandoned stables next to the Plough Inn. They seem to be firm supporters of worthy causes, historically brewing ‘Hedgehog Bitter’ for the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, they have now released ‘Air Ambulance Ale’ to benefit the local flying doctors. They also rescued the Sam Powell brewery, and brew for the Welsh concern that folded in 1991.

What They Say - “Hopping Mad uses just one single hop variety, Progress, to achieve its appealing aroma, its pleasingly bitter taste and its delightful sparkle. We believe the result is uniquely enjoyable. So did the judges at the Beauty of Hops Awards, who awarded it a Silver Medal.” [Official Website]

What We Say…

Andrew - I can taste the lemon in there 6½
Nick - Tastes a little bit like a swimming pool 6
Andy - You’d struggle with more than a pint of this 5
Jess - It’s like being in a room for too long 4½

4. Organic Best Ale (5.0%abv)
Samuel Smith’s, Tadcaster.
500ml glass bottle

Tadcaster in North Yorkshire is home to independent brewer Samuel Smith, and the much larger Scottish & Newcastle owned John Smith’s. This is no co-incidence - they were also started by the same family. In 1847 Samuel Smith (a Leeds butcher) funded his son John in a brewery takeover of the Hartley Brewery, originally opened in 1758 (and the oldest in Yorkshire). John moved his business to new premises, so his cousin - also called Samuel - re-opened the vacated original buildings and started brewing in direct competition with John, under his own name.

What They Say - “a delicately flavoured golden ale in which the subtle fruity esters from the old Samuel Smith yeast strain interact with a background of maltiness and fresh hops.” [beersofeurope.co.uk]

What We Say…
Nick - The smell of a nice bath 7
Andrew - Orangey biscuity, chocolatey notes 6½
Andy - Very floral, citrusy but there’s something in it i’m not keen on 5
Jess - Hey there! tastes a bit like Soreen, too sweet though 4

5. Tom Paine Ale (5.5%abv)
Harveys Brewery, Lewes, East Sussex.
500ml glass bottle

Georgian wine merchant Jon Harvey produced his first batch of ale in 1790 on the banks of the River Ouse in Lewes, East Sussex. In 1838 he built a new eight quarter brewhouse on a site at Bridge Wharf which he had purchased for £3,707, going into business with his three sons. It was Henry Harvey who took over the brewing - he was producing stout, ale and porter in the mid 19th century. Today their beers are incredibly popular on the south coast - there’s currently a two-year waiting list for their brewery tour - and Harvey’s Best is a two-time GBBF winner in the bitter category. Tom Paine Ale is named after the radical writer and philosopher who lived in Lewes, but went on to become one of the founding fathers of the United States, co-draughting the Declaration of Independence.

What They Say - “Hazy golden ale with a small, creamy, off-white head. Good retention. Sherry-like nose with additional notes of caramel and red apple. The flavor is malty with esters of honey and toffee. Hopped just enough to prevent cloying sweetness. Medium-bodied with a creamy mouthfeel and soft carbonation. Lengthy, creamy finish.” [ratebeer.com]

What We Say…
Jess - Quite metallic and bitter, but well balanced 7
Andy - Best beer of the night 7
Nick - It becomes more bitter & less complex the more I drink 7
Andrew - It’s metallic but not like drinking a ship 7

BeerCast panel verdict
Tom Paine Ale (28/40)
Samuel Smiths Organic Best Ale (22½/40)
Young’s Kew Gold (22/40)
Hopping Mad (22/40)
Melton Red (18/40)

Panellists - (from top left) Andy & Jess, Andrew, Nick

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #32 - The Unrecorded
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with our next podcast. As always please leave us comments on the website or iTunes, or emails, Twitter or any other method of communication you fancy.

Cheers!

‘Texas Gold in every bottle’ is just one of many slogans from the Lone Star Brewery, of er…Woodridge, Illinois. They seemingly have a convoluted history, as the traditional Texan base vanished and re-appeared over the years due to financial difficulties, mergers and takeovers. They began their story back in 1884 as the first large-scale brewer in the state, when they were founded by a group of San Antonio businessmen together with one Adolphus Busch. The heavily moustachioed German knew a thing or two about beer, having emigrated to the United States with three of his brothers from whopping 22 siblings - all of whom were involved in the family business - wine and brewery supplies. Of course, he went on to co-found Anheuser-Busch with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser (and have thirteen children of his own), but the Lone Star Brewery could not have got off the ground without him.

However, since 1976 the brewery has changed hands four times and has been shuffled about somewhat. They are currently owned by Pabst of the aforementioned Illinois town, and Lone Star lager - Texas Gold as it may be - is currently brewed under licence by some of the non-mainline Pabst breweries such as the Miller plant in Fort Worth. At least it’s still produced in the correct state. Lone Star is a typically generic Stateside lager, but may be edging towards the top of the pile with two consecutive Gold Medals from the 2007 and 2008 Great American Beer Festivals, in the ‘American-style cream ale or lager’ category. It contains Pacific Northwest hops, grain, barley and…corn extract (it is a mass-produced American beer, after all). You can’t help thinking what Adolphus Busch would have made of that, hailing from the land of the Reinheitsgebot.

Unsurprisingly, it pours extremely light in colour with a head that vanishes within thirty seconds until it becomes almost totally flat. It tastes almost exactly like Miller Genuine Draft, which is one of the worst abominations known to mankind and is almost painful to even type on a website such as this. I guess that’s unsurprising, given who produces it these days. In basic terms, it’s a generic American lager - the kind of thing that generations of US craft brewers spend their time trying to overturn. It tastes like bitter straw, with that lovely corn additive striking through at the end. There are so many good lagers out there - but this one doesn’t even get one star.

Interestingly, I scoured the bottle several times - and nowhere does it say the alcohol content (according to the website it’s 4.6%). I’m not sure if it’s legal to distribute alcohol in the UK without displaying a % by volume on the label?

Suffolk behemoths Greene King aren’t shy of putting out the odd press release about their products, and neither do they mind blowing their own trumpet. “Think about the Mini, an updated English icon, or Paul Smith who revolutionised traditional tailoring - Greene King is doing the same for beer,” said their marketing director Fiona Hope. Fair enough, although I don’t think I’ve seen Paul Smith suits for 99p, unlike Greene King IPA. In fairness, that quote was from a product launch two years ago, long before Wetherspoons decided to slash their prices to attract drinkers smarting from the credit crunch.

That quote and press release was regarding Greene King’s Beer to Dine For (5%), which in 2007 was re-named and re-launched as simply Greene King Hop. Apparently aimed at the ‘discerning 30-something urban male’ it is supposed to sit beside the imported lagers and take away some of their custom. Neatly fitting that category, if I wanted to ’step up from premium lager’, would it be something to consider? Well, it pours like a pint of flat lager - the sizable 750ml bottles give you that discerning man-sized portion, but mine wasn’t exactly appetizing in prospect.

Tastewise though, it’s a pretty refreshing option if you are sick of those lagers - the Tettnang hops give it a Germanic flavour (although they are from Oregon). Personally however, if I wanted something from that category I’d rather stick to something it’s clearly trying to emulate, such as a Budvar or Paulaner. In truth, Greene King Hop isn’t that spectacular - it’s nice enough, solid, and probably would go well with dining if you didn’t want to drink a more complex beer that might get lost. I can see how it might appeal to lager drinkers, so if that was their aim then I suppose they have to be satisfied. The customers might not be, however.