The BeerCast

The BeerCast will be offline for the next few days, so unfortunately there won’t be any posts - but for a very good reason. I’ve never been to Belgium before, and have finally managed to arrange a trip to the country of Moules Frites and le mannequin pis. And also, of course, outstanding beer. A trip to Brussels and Bruges over the next few days will give great opportunity to sample the best of Belgian brewing. Check back after the weekend for posts and photos of what the BeerCast discovered…

Samuel (or Sam to his friends) Adams is an extremely well-known brand over in the States – but one that sadly doesn’t traverse the pond that often. Well, a few weeks ago Lagerboy was idling along the lighter, fizzier section of his local bottle shop when fully stopped in his tracks by the sight of a six pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager (4.7%). Never has a transaction been concluded as swiftly as that which followed, and soon enough he was happily ensconced in his lair with the booty (which is of course located underground, to aid natural cooling of the beers). Boston Lager was the first beer produced by the Boston Beer Company, in 1985 – although the original recipe was created in 1860 by a distant relative of one of the three founders of the BBC, Jim Koch.

Named after one of the original New England Patriots – who also happened to be an enthusiastic brewer – Sam Adams Boston Lager quickly developed a cult following, presumably in part due to the lack of additions that plagued (and continue to plague) mass-produced American lagers. It helped the Boston Beer Company grow into a huge company – in 1996 it was the largest US craft brewer, and it’s flagship was brewed under licence in several states to keep up with soaring demand. Today the company is the largest American-owned brewer in the world (after the previous incumbent Anheuser-Busch was acquired by the European behemoth InBev).

So the tasting – well, it’s a beer than surprises right from the start, with an unexpectedly rich caramel colour. When you get a lager that you can’t read a newspaper through, that’s usually a sign that you’re in for something interesting (or something that’s off). The thick white head lasts for a good while, aiding the slightly hoppy, slightly sweet aromas to come off the beer. It’s not a strong smell by any means, but the hops do come through to some extent. It tastes weightier than you would expect for an American lager – but of course, this is an American craft lager. It would be great for a blind tasting session, the balance of hops and malt give a wonderful alternately sweet and bitter flavour. Nothing dominates the taste as a result, and with no rubbish added it’s a cut above, a fantastic lager that really delivers.

Tongham’s Hogs Back Brewery are perhaps best known for their 4.2% flagship T.E.A. (Traditional English Ale), which we featured back in May last year as part of BeerCast #33, our south west England special. It came second behind St Austell Tribute, despite the fact that Tongham is in the south east (it appeared to have been stored on the wrong geographical shelf in York’s The Bottle beer shop). The fantastically named Tony Stanton-Precious and Martin Zillwood-Hunt were introduced by the editor of The Grist magazine, after the former wrote to them seeking partners for a prospective brewery. They found a site in Surrey and named their new operation after the distinctive raised ridgeline of the nearby North Downs.

Aside from the bitters and session ales, they put out some stronger, more beery offerings. A 9% barley wine (A over T; or Aromas over Tongham) tops out the list, but running behind is their winter seasonal Santa’s Wobble, at 7.5%. Released in December on cask and in bottles, it is branded as Wobble in a Bottle the other eleven months of the year, giving the bespoke Christmas Ale a wider retail window. It pours totally flat, an opaque purplish mauve colour with no rising carbonation. The aroma is very fruity indeed, with alcohol at first on the palate, leading to rich berry fruit, malts, and warmth. These rich, ripe tastes hide the alcohol on the finish and leave the malts coming through. More fruit comes out at the end – it tastes like it should be one of your five a day, and is a great antidote to these unending Scottish winter nights.

York is one of the best cities in Britain for a real ale mini-break, with any number of fantastic pubs that are within easy walking distance of each other. We’re big fans of several of them (see our BeerCast Pub Guide to York), particularly the Last Drop and the incomparable Blue Bell. But on our recent trips there, we’ve started frequenting another establishment more and more – Café Pivo, on Patrick Pool, just behind the Shambles. As with many alehouses in the city, it’s tucked away down a side street - the overhanging 12th Century black and white frontage no giveaway as to what’s inside. It looks tiny when you enter, the narrow downstairs bar is frequently packed – but upstairs is a roomier seating area with plenty of tables.

The key to it’s success is the range of beers on offer – indeed it recently won the 2009 Beer Range Pub of the Year in the Publican Food and Drink Awards. As a drinking city, York is packed with historic public houses serving local cask ales – Pivo offers something different (with the notable exception of Koko’s International Bar, which is very similar). As good as the locals are here, it’s a welcome change sometimes to sample other more notable brews – imported draught beers or bottles, for example. As the traditional pub trade declines, these hybrids are becoming more and more popular (see our two great Edinburgh locals Holyrood 9A and Brauhaus).

This diversification from the norm is tremendous news – at Café Pivo there are three cask ales on offer. However, they also have draught Bernard beers from the Czech Republic – including their extremely rare unfiltered pilsner (which unfortunately has never been on the rotation when I’ve been in), Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and one of their seasonals on draught, plus a permanent Meantime offering. We’re massive Meantime fans here at the BeerCast, and I remember nearly fainting the first time I saw Meantime IPA and Meantime Helles next to Sierra Nevada and Duvel Green, with three cask ales from Burnley’s Moorhouses Brewery. Shouldn’t more places give their customers a choice like that?

There are some subtle issues with Pivo, mostly relating to the size of the place. It can be a tough task getting served when it’s busy, as everyone gets funnelled into a natural queue to await the barman’s attention. Having no cellar means a lot of their beers can vanish very quickly (I’ve been there four times now and only managed to have Sierra Nevada draught once). But you can dig out classics – last year we raided their fridge for imported American bottles and cans, coming up with the wonderful Caldera IPA, Odells Red Ale and Ballast Point Calico Amber Ale, not to mention the sublime Anchor Porter. You need to be lucky, however. The Caldera IPA was the barman’s personal stash he was saving, foolishly left on display with the rest of the beers on sale.

So if you’re after something of a different pace to the sedate York freehouses with their cask ales and traditional feel, Café Pivo is well worth a shot. They’ve also opened a second bar, in Sheffield – so it seems good news travels fast.

Café Pivo Website

Well, the dust seems to have settled slightly around the blogosphere following the latest announcement from Fraserburgh’s BrewDog a few days ago. I’ve been reading as many articles on the forthcoming Sink the Bismarck (41%) as I can, and have been digesting the various opinions on the Aberdeenshire twosome re-taking the strongest beer in the world title. Seeing as we’re a Scottish-based beer website, it would be remiss of us not to add to the collective murmuring. We’re big fans of BrewDog here - mostly - and have written about them on many an occasion. In fact, they have been tagged more on the BeerCast than any other brewery, which is no doubt a reflection on their forward-thinking marketing and ideas.

But have they gone too far with their latest stunt? Stunt is definately the word, James Watt has admitted they wanted to get back at the German Schorschbrau for out-trumping the 32% Tactical Nuclear Penguin with a 40% ‘Schorschbock’. You can read our thoughts on TNPenguin here, and it clearly divided opinion. Personally I liked the dark, rough smokiness but at the time wasn’t sure of the target market - which obviously holds for Sink the Bismarck. I think BrewDog are in danger of flying too close to the sun here - a Teutonic tit for tat is harmless enough (the director of Schorschbrau has said he thinks the whole thing is hilarious), provided of course it doesn’t interfere with their other beers.

BrewDog do some outstanding beers - they just seem to be pushed into the periphery by the charging press releases about TNP and now Bismarck, together with the ongoing feud with the Portman Group and the frankly embarrassing self-complaint over Tokyo*. Stick to what you do best boys, please. Atlantic IPA, Punk IPA, Trashy Blonde are all outstanding. These should be the core beers they shout about. When the mischievous glint appears in their collective eye, you end up with things like Nanny State (1.1%), or the objectionable How to Disappear Completely (3,000 IBU’s). Their collaborations with Stone have produced some interesting results - Bashah went down really well. Hopefully there’ll be more in the offing from that partnership.

The key to all this is publicity. BrewDog’s share option is due to close at 11pm tomorrow (the 19th), and at first it was really struggling. Headlines in the majority of British papers and practically every beer website (including this one, now - fashionably late as ever) can only help their cause in tempting investors. In a post on the Beer Advocate forum, James wrote that they had dispensed with any PR representation in December - so clearly they feel they’ve got the hang of this publicity thing. I wouldn’t bet against them, that’s for sure. They managed to reach their minimum target for subscribers, and hopefully will do well from the flotation. Plus they piss off the Daily Mail, which is never a bad thing.

So we’ll have to see how Sink the Bismarck does - I’d love to give it a go, but it’s £10 more expensive per bottle than even TNPenguin, so maybe a special occasion might tempt me to get the BeerCast wallet out. The name is a bit tasteless, they could have gone with any of several ways to poke fun at the Germans - but by all accounts the beer is a massive hop hit. Which I imagine it would be if they quadruple-hopped it. For me, the recent news that they are relaunching Hardcore IPA is something more enticing - their (paltry by comparison) 9% staple was re-thought after some consideration, which is great as it was pretty good beforehand. Humility and 41%abv in the same paragraph? Can only be BrewDog…

…oh, and the rivalry with Germany is set to continue - Schorschbrau MD Georg Tscheuschner has said they have a response in mind…“We’ll just brew another, stronger one,” he said. “Forty-five percent shouldn’t be a problem and we have beer enthusiasts waiting for it.” Who’s going to be first to 50%?

Sink the Bismarck Press Release