2009 GBBF International Lineup
Sierra Nevada will have a wide range of their beers available
Following on from last week’s preview of the domestic ales on offer at the upcoming Great British Beer Festival, the Global beer list has also been released by CAMRA. This provides another few hundred choice brews to tempt a thirsty punter, keen to sample things from far and wide. For example, there are beers from Sri Lanka – Ceylon Breweries Lion Stout (8%), Jamaica – Desnoes & Geddes Dragon Stout (7.5%), and Spain – Los Aguillones Pura Pale (5%). The last of these is an English-style pale ale brewed near Barcelona, and certainly sounds worth checking out, as do the two other strong stouts.
Perhaps unsurprisingly there are more ‘English-style’ ales on offer besides the Pura Pale – many from over the Atlantic. Moat Mountain’s Moat Brown Ale (5.4%) is a British-style Brown Ale with caramel maltiness that makes it sound almost Scottish. Salem Beer Works Bay State ESB (5.5%) was brewed with British yeast and Burtonised water, and Gardner Ale House’s Facelift IPA (6.3%) stems from a traditional English recipe, using native UK hops. East Kent Goldings are a prime ingredient in Gritty McDuff’s Best Bitter (4.9%), which sounds a must-try for a bitter-loving Northerner like myself.
There are many American ales on offer – which for me means zappy hop-filled IPA’s, and quiveringly strong unusual beers. IPA’s are well represented – for example Ballast Point Big Eye IPA (7%) from San Diego, Amherst Seeing Double IPA (6.6%), and Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA (7.4%) all sound really tempting. As does Lagunitas IPA (5.7%), from the Californian town of the same name, as it apparently contains 43 different hops and “65 various malts”. Stronger offerings can be found from Dogfish Head – their Palo Santo Marron is a 12% brown ale aged with Paraguayan wood and organic sugar. Allagash’s Interlude is a 10.5% saison fermented with Brettanomyces yeast, and Victory V-Twelve (12%) is an amber ale with hints of pear and apricot in the flavour.
There are many European beers available too, such as a healthy selection from the rapidly increasing Italian real ale market. 32 Via Dei Birrai Oppale (5.5%) is a cloudy IPA with a dry bitter finish of chives, Grado Plato’s Strada San Felice is an 8% chestnut beer, and Ducato Verdi (8.2%) is an imperial porter spiced with red chilli. Also sure to be on many people’s wishlists is Torrechiara Divina (5.5%), Italy’s first, and so far only, spontaneously fermenting Belgian-style lambic. They aren’t shy about trying unusual combinations, it seems – another example being the wonderfully named Revelation Cat Woodwork Series Reference (11%), which combines New Zealand hops, Munich malts, and champagne yeast.
As with the British beers though, given a limited time (and capacity) it’ll be the unusual or rarer beers that might be worth seeking out – assuming they remain long enough for you to find them. Budweiser Budvar Krouzkovany Lezak (5%) sees a rare appearance of the yeast lager from the Czech giants, which is almost never seen outside of fifty select Budvar outlets in their home country. Widmer Brothers Drifter Pale Ale (5.7%) is brewed with a newly released variety of hop – Summit – apparently known for it’s intense citrusy aroma and flavour, which is probably why it would appeal to the American craft beer industry. And us BeerCasters too, of course – check back during the first week of August to catch our reports, or follow us on Twitter for live updates.
