The BeerCast

Grooben checking the beer list

Another day, another day at the beer festival. We returned to the Assembly Rooms for a second helping of the best of Scotland’s real ale, eager to see what else we could discover. The beers were pretty much the same as the day before, so we fired straight into the list sampling ones that had caught our eye from the Friday. The first beer I went for was the weakest in the entire festival - the traditional Scottish mild, Belhaven 60/- (2.9%). Brewed to a very old recipe, it was characteristically light and roasty. Milds always taste to me like watered-down porters, and this one was no exception. But as a delicate starter beer, it was a nice subtle start to the proceedings.

Next up it was the newest beer from Edinburgh’s other producer, Stewart’s Edinburgh Marathon Ale (4.2%). This family-run brewery from Loanhead make some great beers such as Pentland IPA and Edinburgh Gold, both of which were also at the festival - but Marathon was one I’d yet to sample. It was a very drinkable malty session bitter in the - dare I say it - ‘Northern style’. There was a touch of sweetness to it as well, which came through in the aftertaste. After that, I went for one I was looking forward to from the preview list - Plockton’s Starboard IPA (5.1%). One of Scotland’s smallest breweries, they are attached to the Plockton Inn in the Ross-shire village of the same name, and started up in 2007. Starboard is a strong hoppy IPA with a fantastic dry bitterness. It was pretty cloudy stuff, but that didn’t affect the taste at all - it was superb.

Beer four was one that was also highly rated - it had just been awarded the Champion Beer of Scotland for 2009, decided on the previous day. Sinclair Orkney’s Raven Ale (3.8%) won the top prize, becoming the third consecutive champion beer from that group of northern islands (following 2008’s Scapa Special and 2007’s Dark Munro, both from the Orkney Brewery). Their neighbours Sinclair Orkney did very well indeed this year, picking up second overall as well with Red MacGregor (third placed was Caledonian XPA). Raven had a sweet smell and taste, which was predominantly fruity with a growing biscuit aftertaste. It was nice, and certainly improved as you drank it, but for me there were better beers on show this year.

For example, Fyne Ales Vital Spark (4.4%) is a dark ruby ale with so much fruit in the malt it almost tastes of blackcurrants. The hops come and go, and the richness of flavour give it a great lasting finish. It’s fantastically drinkable, and a prime example of a session beer that isn’t pale and slightly hoppy. However, we learned at the festival about the sad death of Fyne Ale’s co-owner Jonny Delap. It was only a couple of months ago that we met him on a trip to Cairndow in Argyll to pick up some beers for a long weekend - he was such a friendly man and will be sadly missed.

The last beer I tried in the festival was Hillside/Deeside’s Broichan (5.2%). After thinking very highly of their Nechtan yesterday, the Broichan was just as interesting, although very different. A strong Scottish ale, this was fruity but not like Vital Spark - more pruney than blackcurrant. There was a smokiness to it as well - the tasting notes suggested it would be a “perfect beer for fireside drinking with cheese and oatcakes”. I don’t think you can argue with that, it was even pretty good when drunk around a rickety table on a Friday afternoon.

So that was it, another Scottish Real Ale Festival over. We managed to get through a huge amount of differing ales, with various degrees of success. The overall winners might have been Raven Ale, Red MacGregor and Caledonian XPA - but for us the standouts were Windie Goat’s Gutter Slab, Hillside/Deeside’s Nechtan, and Plockton’s Starboard IPA. We’ll hit the festivals again at August’s Great British Beer Festival in London. See you there…

Edinburgh is a city well known for festivals, and fortunately for us on the BeerCast they aren’t just restricted to the arts. The 2009 Scottish Real Ale Festival has rolled around again, held at the Assembly rooms on George Street. As promised in our recent preview we turned up with high expectations, given the impressive beer list. Getting right down to business, the first beer sampled was the Hebridean Brewery’s Seaforth Ale (4.2%), which completed the full set from the Stornoway producer (we sampled their other four beers during BeerCast #30). Seaforth was very light, slightly soapy but a decent golden ale – a pretty good start to the festival.

Next up was Williams Bros Birds & Bees (4.3%), a new beer from the Alloa brothers Scott and Bruce. Recently it got through to the finals of the Sainsbury’s Bottled Beer Challenge – we’ll have to see how it differs in the bottle, as on cask it was flowery and lemony and very sessionable. We were trying to work out if it was their Williams Gold remixed slightly, as it has many similar tastes. The third beer on the agenda was Traditional Scottish Ales’ Gold Thistle (4.5%), a sharp-tasting golden bitter which suffered from a poor woody smell. The flavours were light and hoppy, with a bit of golden ale biscuit.

Windie Goat are a very small micro who brew almost exclusively for the Failford Inn in Ayrshire, and having previously sampled Gutter Slab (5.5%) we had to go back for another taste. After three gentle golden ales, the difference was startling – Cascade hops on the nose, and a wonderful bitter citrus flavour and aftertaste. It was so good that it sold out very quickly, so we can count ourselves lucky to have got in while we could. Beer number five was from a producer I’ve never tried before – Aberdeenshire’s Hillside/Deeside (they recently changed names) – their 4.0% Nechtan. This one was also tremendous, grapefruity and refreshing, it really delivered that zesty summer flavour many brewers fail to get into their beers.

Beer six was the traditional ‘BeerCaster’s choice’ round, where we buy one for someone else on the panel – avoiding the cruelty of a 9% barleywine. The one I ended up with was Sulwath’s The Grace (4.3%), which tasted far stronger than it’s abv and had a similar grapefruit aroma to the Nechtan. The flavours were different however, there was a sweetness I’d not picked up in any of the previous beers, presumably down to the mix of two types of malt and three of hop. Sulwath are based in Castle Douglas near Dumfries, and clearly put a lot of effort into their beers if this one was anything to go by.

The final beer of the night was the also traditional ‘lucky dip’ round, selecting a totally new random beer based purely on the name. This year it was the turn of Caledonian’s Top Banana, which given the name unsurprisingly had some gentle banana tastes on the back of a powerful banana aroma. It was nice for a fruit beer though, and reminded me of Wells&Young’s Banana Bread Beer. A sweet palate cleanser at the end of the night – almost like a dessert after a (particularly lengthy) meal. Speaking of which, we’ll be back tomorrow for seconds. Stay tuned…

The vagaries of work take me down from Edinburgh to Birmingham a few times each year, and although the travel and crappy hotel are never welcome - the Wellington certainly is. Previously I’ve written two ‘…in praise of’ articles on this fantastic pub (here and here), located on Bennet’s Hill just a short wander from New Street Station. This time I won’t go too much into the pub’s philosophy, only to say I hot-footed it there again as soon as I could, and tried three beers that they had marked as A on their beer board. Perfect for a summer’s evening quaffing, they lie on a scale of A - E, where A’s are light golden ales and E’s roasty porters.

A1. Pure Gold (3.8%abv)
Purity Brewery, Gt Alne, Warwickshire

Purity are the multi-award winning brewery from Warwickshire – their Pure UBU having been voted one of the world’s top 50 beers in 2007. On my last visit to the Wellington I was introduced to another of their beers, the excellent Mad Goose, a zesty pale ale named after an irritable wildfowl that plagues the brewers. This time I went for Pure Gold, an ex-champion beer of the West Midlands. It’s a classic golden ale similar in style to Suffolk’s St Peter’s, dry and midly hoppy, with the dryness continuing into the finish. The lack of sweetness makes it very sessiony and drinkable.

A2. Harrowby Pale Ale (3.9%abv)
Oldershaw Brewery, Grantham, Lincolnshire

Next I went for a new producer to me – Lincolnshire’s Oldershaw Brewery, based in Grantham. Harrowby Pale Ale was just as light and golden in colour as the Pure Gold, justifying the A-rating in the beer list. It was more malty in the finish than the previous beer though, and even drier. Still light in flavour though, with almost the same abv value nudging below 4%. One of the classic characteristics of summer ales is the biscuity aftertaste, and Harrowdy Pale Ale delivered that in spades. It reminded me of Inveralmond’s Homecoming Ale that we sampled at the Stockbridge Tap beer festival a few months ago.

A3. Forti-fived (4.5%abv)
Tower Brewery, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire

The final A-rated offering I tried on this visit to the Wellington was the Tower Brewey’s Forti-fived, a brand new beer from the small-scale producer in the heart of British (and arguably Global) brewing, Burton-on-Trent. They describe it as a ‘very quaffable golden hoppy mid gravity ale’ , which it certainly was. Unsurprisingly it had stronger alcohol notes than the previous two given the abv – although only subtly, as it still doesn’t trouble the 5% mark. It has a basic hoppiness, but to me tasted like a lightish bitter, which was eminently drinkable, and another suitable ale for the glorious British summer. Now if only the Wellington had a beer garden.

Our 34th BeerCast podcast is something of a variation on the usual theme – on this occasion we decided to run a comparison between different countries. The beer style up for discussion is stout – and we have two from the UK and two from the US. Leading the way for the home nations are Hop Back Entire Stout (4.5%) from Salisbury in Wiltshire, and Cameron’s Monkey Stout (4.4%) from Hartlepool. We then move to two dark offerings from over the pond, ramping up the alcohol factor immediately as we try Great Divide’s Yeti Imperial Stout (9.5%). Our final beer rounds off the show with a bang, as we get to grips with Left Hand Brewing’s Imperial Stout (10.4%). On the panel this week are Richard, Shovels, Grooben, and the Hopmeister Tom, who seems to have finally met his match with the US imports…

1. Hop Back Entire Stout (4.5%abv)
Hop Back Brewery, Salisbury, Wiltshire.
500ml glass bottle

Hop Back have become one of the most-featured breweries on the BeerCast - Summer Lightning is our reigning Beer of the Year, and we’ve also sampled their Christmas beer Pickled Santa, and last time out we tried their coriander beer - Crop Circle. On this occasion we taste their Entire Stout, a roasty dark beer far removed from their more renowned hoppy numbers. The Hop Back Brewery began life in 1986 in the basement of the Wyndham Arms pub on the outskirts of Salisbury, and have risen to become one of the UK’s most-awarded producers. Since moving to bespoke premises in Wiltshire they have gone from strength to strength, CAMRA beer festivals dishing out plaudits within two years - and at a steady rate ever since.

What They Say - “A rich dark stout with a strong roasted malt flavour and a long, smooth aftertaste. Suitable for vegans.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Grooben - It’s a stout but a smooth easy drinking one 8
Shovels - Hints of chocolate but it’s not as full as other stouts 8
Tom - If I was blindfolded I wouldn’t put it down as a stout 7
Richard - I wouldn’t pair it with food, it’s almost a bitter 6½

2. Camerons Monkey Stout (4.4%abv)
Camerons Brewery, Hartlepool, County Durham.
500ml glass bottle

The Lion Brewery has been established in Hartlepool for over 150 years and has been the home to Camerons since 1865. They had been taken over by the Wolverhampton and Dudley Brewery (who are now better known as Marstons), but in 2002 were bought back by members of the Cameron family, and are now the only independent regional brewery in the North East of England. They produce around 25 different beers, the majority of which are monthly specials that fit the season. Monkey Stout is their special for November - but it’s also available from the summer onwards as a cask ale. It takes it’s name from the infamous legend of Hartlepool locals who hanged a monkey they found clinging to a shipwreck, believing it to be a Frenchman.

What They Say - “The brew has a rich black colour and chocolate aroma. The chocolate malts give this stout a roasted taste with an excellent bitter sweet balance. This is a must try for all stout drinkers.” [Camerons marketing manager Yousef Doubooni]

What We Say…
Richard - Verging on an old-time milk stout 8
Shovels - Great but it’s maybe just a bit too sweet 7½
Grooben - Smells coffee-ish but it tastes smoothly sweeter 6½
Tom - A ‘Sunday afternoon fall asleep in your roast’ stout 6½

3. Yeti Imperial Stout (9.5%abv)
Great Divide Brewery, Denver, Colorado.
355ml glass bottle

Great Divide were opened in 1994 in the centre of Denver by Brian Dunn, who saw a gap in the market for a new microbrewery in the thirsty outdoors city in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. They have won 12 Great American Beer Festival medals (the first only 3 months after brewing their first batch). Great Divide produce 13 different beers, over half of them self-styled ‘big beers’ – Barley Wines, Double IPA’s, and Imperial Stouts - such as the one we’re sampling tonight. We’ve tried one of their beers before on the BeerCast, with our USA Special panel coming unstuck somewhat with the hefty Titan IPA, which unfortunately for all concerned was out of date. Thankfully this time we’ve got hold of one of their beers within the sell-by date - which can be an issue when buying American imports over here, unfortunately.

What They Say - “An onslaught of the senses. It starts with big, roasty malt flavor that gives way to rich caramel and toffee notes. YETI gets its bold hop character from an enormous quantity of American hops. It weighs in at a hefty 75 IBUs.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard - Opens with sweetness then roasty tastes later 8
Grooben - Smacks you about the head but in a good way 7½
Shovels - Tasty but I couldn’t drink more than a bottle 7½
Tom - I’d file this under interesting and then never go back 1

4. Left Hand Imperial Stout (10.4%abv)
Left Hand Brewery, Longmont, Colorado.
355ml glass bottle

On Christmas Day 1990 Dick Doore was given a homebrew kit as a present by his brother, which began a passion for brewing. Three years later he moved to Colorado and met an old school friend called Eric Wallace. The two of them founded a brewery in November 1993 in a former meat packing factory in Longmont. Naming themselves the Indian Peaks Brewery after some local mountains, they were undone by copyright issues and renamed themselves after local historical Indian chief Niwot – ‘Left Hand’. Their mighty Imperial Stout contains Magnum and US Goldings hops, with Pale 2-Row, Munich, Crystal, Chocolate malts and roasted and black barley. And alcohol.

What They Say - “A traditional unfiltered Russian Imperial Stout. A smooth, warming stout with hints of raisins, black licquorice, coffee and dark chocolate. A variety of intensely roasted malts and the aggressive use of hops temper the pleasant sweetness of the beer.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard - It comes and goes, has a much longer aftertaste 6½
Grooben - Smooth but too sweet to pick up the licquorice 6
Shovels - Subtle difference to the Yeti that makes it not as nice 4
Tom - I’m not enjoying the Imperial Stouts - they sound like something from Star Wars. I’m with the rebel alliance 1

Panellists - (from top left) Shovels, Tom, Grooben, Richard

BeerCast panel verdict
Hop Back Entire Stout (29½/40)
Camerons Monkey Stout (28½/40)
Yeti Imperial Stout (24/40)
Left Hand Imperial Stout (17½/40)

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with our 35th BeerCast - an episode recorded by our London panel on the real ale treats to be found in your local branch of Marks & Spencer. Stay tuned for that, and in the meantime keep the emails and comments coming in. Cheers!

We’re two weeks away from the 2009 Scottish Real Ale Festival at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, and as ever the entry list of beers has been released early to get the tastebuds going. Being our hometown festival we always like to turn up to see what’s on offer - our reviews of the 2008 festival and the 2007 festival show what kind of treats can be found if you search hard enough. Or get there early enough, as inevitably the best ales make the most fleeting of visits. Speaking of which, Scottish classics will be in abundance, with the likes of Cairngorm’s Trade Winds (4.3%), Harviestoun’s Bitter & Twised (3.8%), and Sinclair Orkney’s Dark Island (4.8%) on show. Not forgetting the ex-Champion Beers of Scotland from the Highland Brewery - 2007’s Dark Munro (4.0%), and last year’s winner Scapa Special (4.2%).

Of course, beer festivals are all about trying new things - and as we’re in the depths of the balmy Scottish summer there are plenty of offerings for the season that we’ve yet to sample on the BeerCast. For example, Coulson’s EPA from the Broughton Brewery and Isle of Skye’s Skyelight are both 3.8% zesty numbers that sound enticing. As does Brude, a 3.5% oatmeal ale named after an ancient Pictish king, and brewed by the newly re-named Deeside Brewery from Aberdeenshire (previously Hillside). There seems to be a few milds on offer as well, which always pleases the purists - Cairngorm’s Mild May (3.7%), Tryst’s Brockville Dark (3.8%), and Traditional Scottish Ale’s Stirling Dark Mild (3.8%) will be on some visitor’s cards. As will the most diminutive beer on offer, Belhaven 60/- (2.9%).

As an IPA fan, personally I’ll be charging towards a few I’ve yet to experience - such as Strathaven’s Clydesdale IPA (3.8%) and Sinclair Atlas’s Wayfarer IPA (4.4%). There are a few treats that nose over the 5% barrier too, like Starboard IPA (5.1%) from Plockton, one of the smallest producers in Scotland. Raj IPA (5.6%) from the Tryst Brewery in Larbert is made with three hop varieties, and sounds like it could be a great drinker. As could TSA’s Ginger Explosion (5.0%), not to mention the walloping Highland Orkney Porter (9.0%). There’s just so much to choose from - even established BeerCast favourites have new ales on offer - Williams Bros Birds & Bees (4.3%) and Stewart’s Edinburgh Marathon Ale (4.2%). It could well become a long-distance event come the festival close.

The festival is at Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms on George Street, and opens Thursday 25th June (4pm-11pm), Friday 26th (12pm-11pm), and Saturday 27th (12pm-9pm). Entry is £5, or £3 for CAMRA members. If you see us there, come and say hello. If you can’t make it along, look for our review after the fact - along with live Twitter updates on the beers we’re sampling.

Scottish Real Ale Festival Official Site