Friday night at the Guildford
The Guildford Arms is a staple of the Edinburgh real ale scene, having ten handpumps which usually offer a range of cask styles. They also have festivals that showcase regions of the UK – and a regular BeerCast Friday night out turned into a lengthy session thanks to their ongoing Derbyshire Beer Festival. Until the 7th of November fifty beers from the East Midlands will be on offer from twenty different producers. Regular readers will know how much we enjoy trying beer from new breweries, so we charged straight in and got sampling, in true BeerCast fashion.
The first decision was a relatively easy one – Thornbridge Jaipur (5.9%). The Bakewell producers make some truly awesome beers, such as their peerless Imperials St Petersburg and Halcyon. Like Halcyon, Jaipur is also an IPA, and is rarely seen north of the border. That’s a real shame, as it’s fantastic – beautifully clear golden colour, wonderfully floral aromas – and a massive citrus wallop from the hops offset by a rising sweetness. Jaipur won Champion strong ale at this year’s GBBF, and deservedly so.
After the Jaipur we moved on to a dark bitter – Priors Well Father Hawkins (4.5%). I love unknown quantities like this, the Worksop brewery only opened in September and would probably be new to the people of the East Midlands, let alone Scotland. Aromas of roasted coffee beans, tobacco and malt are followed by a chocolate malt flavour and dark, chewy roast. Definitely a good change of pace from the hop-led Jaipur. We carried on the theme with Amber Ales Winter Ruby (5.1%) – a deep, dark red ale spiced with Saaz hops. For some reason, it tasted like a chocolate milkshake – rich, smooth and really nice on the palate.
Following that, it was back onto the bitters with the 4.4% Highstreet Bitter, from Derby’s Tollgate Brewery. It poured a hazy dark amber, and really lived up to the billing – it was so bitter it was acerbic and biting on the aftertaste. That was something of a surprise given the front end was quite average on the palate. Anyway, we then went on to something darker, with the lengthily-named Full Mash Steve Ashby’s Locoil (4.6%) from Stapleford in Nottinghamshire. It may not be from Derbyshire, but I’m glad it made the list – a classic dark roasty, easy drinking stout with a nice toasty aftertaste.
By this point, time was ticking, so we finished off with the strongest beer on offer, the 6.6% Apollyan IPA, from the Raw Brewing Company. Another very new producer, Raw started up in the Derbyshire village of Staveley in May of this year. Named after a biblical demon (hence the devil on the pump clip), Apollyan is pretty much brand new – having been created for the Chesterfield market festival held this very weekend. A lovely golden colour, there are plenty of bitter pine aromas coming from the glass, with some flowery notes. Taste-wise it’s really drinkable – hop heavy bitterness with a lasting astringency, followed by a healthy kick of alcohol.
The Derbyshire Beer Festival runs from the 28th October to the 7th November at the Guildford Arms, West Register Street, Edinburgh. For more details, visit their website.
