RateBeer Roundup I

Beer drinking is meant to be a social pastime, but often when it comes to websites and reviews it can become a solitary experience. Not that a moment of quiet contemplation over an imperial smoked porter or three is a bad thing – but some things are made for sharing. The online beer databases Ratebeer.com and Beer Advocate encourage the searching of bottle shop shelves for unusual wares, which are then often drunk at home. However, one way to convert the sampling of something new into a social occasion is to host a group tasting.

I joined up with Ratebeer a few months ago – ostensibly to add the various reviews from the BeerCast into some kind of order (hence my username BeerCast_Rich). Now that I’m up to 224 ratings, I can see where the attraction comes in finding and rating as many beers as possible. The current Ratebeer king in Scotland is Craig Garvie, who (at the time of writing) has notched 5,974 entries – putting my three-figure tally into perspective. Craig – who chose the slightly more European-leaning Ratebeer over Beer Advocate – was hosting a tasting session last Sunday, and notebook in hand, I went along.

Craig is – as you’ve probably guessed – incredibly keen on beer, but is also careful not to go too far. Some of the top-raters (or ‘tickers’ as they are referred to) have astonishing numbers – again at time of going to press the person with the most ratings has reviewed 16,986 beers. The mind boggles. What must their liver be like? Or their recycling? Are there even 17,000 beers out there?

Anyway, keen to get my score up a bit – well, I was actually more keen to drink some interesting beers I’d never tried before (and this is the key point that separates tickers from the non-tickers), I turned up at Craig’s house. The first beer we sampled was suitably spectacular – Haandbryggeriet/De Molen Menno & Jens (7.5%), a hop-free collaboration between two of Europe’s most exciting brewers. The Norwegians behind Haanbryggeriet revel in experimenting with old recipes, and together with Menno Olivier of De Molen came up with a gruit herb ale. It’s complex stuff, the total lack of hops compensated by piney herbs, smoky flavours, and a sweet syrupy roundness before the bitter finish.

After that we pounded through the beers, moving on to the only UK beer in Ratebeer’s current top 50 – Good King Henry Special Reserve (11.0%) from the Old Chimneys Brewery in Norfolk. Flat, black and viscous with rich woody notes from the oak chips – it was really nice. More like a thick red wine than a beer, although with a dose of vanilla and dates. The marzipan chocolate flavours of Stone’s Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout (9.2%) came next, before another from Norway’s Haandbryggeriet – the slightly sour cranberryness of Wild Thing (9.0%).

Portland’s Cascade Brewery have recently opened a new bar that specialises in sour beers, so I was interested to sample Cascade Apricot Ale (9.0%). Highly effervescent, the vinegary aromas gave way to a bitter apricot flavour that made it pretty interesting. We powered through the US craft producers, as Three Floyds Alpha Klaus (7.0%) fell down only as the archetypal non-Christmassy Christmas beer. Otherwise, it was outstanding. Cigar City’s strangely-named 110k+OT Imperial IPA (10.0%) was like syrupy pineapple cordial with a fantastic pine hop aroma.

Back to the UK next, as we tried Manchester’s Marble Chocolate Dubbel (8.5%), which was extremely good – followed by a couple of Italians from Birrificio Lambrate. Then it was back to the sours with Odell Saboteur (10.0%), a brettanomyces beer which had some barrel flavours, but wasn’t as tart as Jolly Pumpkin Baudelaire EYO (iO) Saison (6.8%) – you’ve got to love some of these names. Rosehips and hibiscus gave it a flowery yet punchy tang, which was thankfully not as perfumey as Buckbean Orange Blossom Ale (5.8%), which was like chewing a urinal cake with it’s soapy, chemical finish.

Anyway, we had more beers than that – including a rare taste of Bolvig Calling (4.3%), a beer brewed by Craig in conjunction with Loanhead’s Stewart Brewing – a very good mix of their Stewart 3 and added coffee. However, the highlight was when Craig asked if there was any beer I hadn’t yet sampled with the BeerCast that I wished I could. Being a trappist fan, the obvious answer was Westvleteren 12, as the Abbey only sell it on site – you can’t buy any in shops. It also happens to be the top-ranked beer in RateBeer history. Of course, Craig had half a case upstairs.

It poured a very hazy dark brown, with a few floating clumplets of yeast coming from the famous label-free bottle. There was a fantastic aroma, dark caramel malts, cloves, all kinds of sweet dark aromas coming off the beer. Tastewise the thing that surprised me was the balance – there was hardly any trace of the 10% alcohol because the mouthfeel was so smooth. A sweet, fruity finish really made the beer stand up all the way – just fantastic.

Thanks to Craig for the tasting – this post could have easily been twice as long…