The BeerCast

As things wind down over Christmas we traditionally turn our attention towards the annual BeerCast Beer of the Year Show. We tally up the scores achieved by each ale podcasted over the last twelve months, and take the four highest scoring [more on this in a moment] away to a secret location for a re-sample. Which beer will follow on from Stone Ruination IPA and become our BOTY for 2010? Our BeerCasts this year featured 49 different beers, but only four can make it to the BOTY show.

For the three previous years, we’ve been very careful (and lucky) to track down the top four for the re-tasting. Even a beer from Sweden we tried in January 2009 we managed to root out for that’s years BOTY show (Carnegie Baltic Porter – it came fourth). Sadly this time a combination of rare podcast themes and the suddenly shocking British weather conspired against us. Of our actual top four, we have only one – the others we were unable to find again. Caldera IPA (93% in BeerCast #49), Sierra Nevada Harvest 2009 (90% in our 50th BeerCast), and Kulmbacher Monchshof Schwarzbier (84% in BeerCast #53) won’t be involved.

This is a massive shame, of course – Caldera IPA proved definitively that canned beer can be just as good as bottled, the Sierra Nevada was a peerless wet hop ale that was just down our collective streets, and the German entrant was a rich, malty discovery that none of us had heard of before. The problem is, Caldera is hard to find even outside Oregon, and when the shipments to the UK are gone, they are gone. Sierra Nevada Harvest is a seasonal release – we should really have bought more than one bottle – and I have ordered some Kulmbacher, but it never arrived having been delayed en route by the bad weather. I’m looking forward to trying it in January (hopefully).

So the 2010 BOTY show isn’t technically the top four highest scoring beers of the year – but we still have some absolute corkers, and a decent range to boot (our exact top four contained three IPA’s). Our first entrant – the top-four member we did source again – is Kernel IPA C.S.C. (7.1%). Since I paid a visit to London’s Kernel brewery in August we’ve been falling over ourselves to sample his beers. I say his, because it’s a one-man operation – Evin O’Riordain brews strong pale ales and historic London recipes that take his fancy. Our Kernel Showcase BeerCast featured some outstanding offerings – his Centennial, Simcoe, Chinook IPA the pick of them.

Kernel IPA C.S.C. scored an excellent 85% – the next beer to make it to our Beer of the Year show finished just behind, on 83%. Over recent months more and more Odell Brewing beers have made it over to the UK – probably as a direct result of Doug Odell’s visit here a few months ago. With probably the nicest labels in brewing, their English-inspired ales are a good fit for the British market. Odell Isolation Ale (6.1%) finished top of our recent Christmas Special, and really impressed the entire panel. We have a number of American craft beers at the top of our rankings – Isolation becomes the latest import to make it to our BOTY show.

However, our next two finalists both fittingly hail from Scotland, and they both scored 81% in their respective podcasts. Taken in alphabetical order first we have BrewDog’s Abstrakt AB:01 (10.2%), a vanilla-bean infused Belgian quad from Aberdeenshire. It marks the second BrewDog offering to make it to a BOTY show, after Hardcore IPA (9.0%) reached our 2008 final, finishing second. No other producer has featured twice – can they go a step higher in 2010 with the first of their well-received Abstrakt series? Designed to age well, six months after BeerCast #50 the flavours should have improved even more.

Our final BOTY finalist is Tryst Raj IPA (5.5%) – so we have two India Pale Ales in our four entrants at least. Also a one-man operation, John McGarva produces a range of classic Scottish ales from his base in Larbert, just outside Falkirk in central Scotland. Selected by MrB for BeerCast #49 (the show that unearthed Caldera IPA), the beer takes it’s name from the classical history of the India Pale Ale. You can argue we have a bias towards the hoppier offerings (all four BOTY shows have contained at least one IPA – indicating we score them highly), but when they are this well made – how can we not?

So we can look back at another great drinking year on the BeerCast. We’ll be recording the BOTY show at New Year with a specially extended panel, and it’ll be up sometime within the first couple of weeks of January. Stay tuned for surprises, controversy, and personal highlights, and in the meantime everyone associated with the BeerCast wishes our readers and listeners a fantastic Christmas and New Year, and all the best for 2011.

2009 Beer of the Year Show
2008 Beer of the Year Show
2007 Beer of the Year Show

Merry Christmas from the BeerCast to all of our readers and listeners – and not to forget the brewers who make everything happen! In this, our fourth annual BeerCast Christmas Special podcast, we review six seasonal beers and give our thoughts – both on the ale itself and the ‘Christmassy Factor’ of the label (i.e. whether looking at the bottle puts us in the festive mood).

First up we have Fyne Ales Holly Daze (5.0%) from Argyll, before we head to California for Anchor Special Ale 2010 (5.5%) – the fifth version of their winter beer to feature on the BeerCast. Our third festive cracker is Odell Isolation Ale (6.1%), before we head to Germany to sample the oak-smoked delights of Schlenkerla Eiche Doppelbock (8.0%). Our penultimate beer this time is Titanic Christmas Ale (7.6%) from Stoke-on-Trent, and we finish with another Scottish beer – the 8.5% Santa’s Madness from the Madcap Brewery in Dumfries-shire. On the festive panel are Richard, MrB, Grooben and Shovels.



1. Holly Daze (5.0%abv)
Fyne Ales, Cairndow, Argyll.
500ml glass bottle

Fyne Ales are rapidly becoming a Scottish brewing institution, and 2010 has seen them push their expanding range of bottled ales, as well as producing the much-praised Fynebridge Black IPA with ex-Thornbridge brewer Kelly Ryan. We’re unashamed fans of Fyne here at the BeerCast – MrB grew up a few dozen miles from the brewery, and their strong cask presence in Edinburgh pubs is always a welcome sight. Holly Daze is their Christmas offering and was recently released in 500ml bottles.

What They Say -
“An antidote to Christmas. No strange spices, just a really good stronger beer with a crisp fruity hop flavour and plenty of malt. A refreshing beer to clear the palate.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB – A hoppy hit with a spicy something 8
Richard – It’s got a smoky aftertaste which I quite like 7
Grooben – Fruity notes and peaty overtones, the usual high standards from Fyne Ales 7
Shovels – I love the nice fruity aroma, I don’t know what category it fits into though 6

Label Christmas Rating
1/10 – The label looks like all their others, but it is called Holly Daze (Grooben)

2. Anchor Special Ale 2010 (5.5%abv)
Anchor Brewery, San Francisco.
535ml glass bottle

It wouldn’t be a BeerCast Christmas Special without the latest special festive ale from Anchor. Each year they produce a highly secret recipe, slightly different from all previous years – the 2010 vintage is the 36th in the series. The 2006 edition topped our beer rankings for a long time, and was eventually crowned beer of the year in our 2007 Beer of the Year show, (during which we also tasted the 2007 one). The 2008 version also scored well, before a dip last year with the 2009. There are never any tasting notes as the San Francisco concern keep the exact ingredients classified, but expect spices, piney freshness and all kinds of winter flavours.

What They Say -
“Chestnut in colour, with a hint of Christmas fruit and spice. This traditional ale is a real winter warmer.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Shovels – I could have two or three of these in a session 7½
Richard – Has a woody, sprucey, sap-like flavour to it 6½
Grooben – I like the Christmas tree flavours, it needs more body 6½
MrB – It’s like spicy Christmas flavoured water – I don’t think the flavour is that bad, it’s just the body 2

Label Christmas Rating
7/10 – It is just a tree, but to us this beer is now synonymous with Christmas (Shovels)

3. Isolation Ale (6.1%abv)
Odell Brewery, Fort Collins, Colorado.
355ml glass bottle

In 1989 Doug Odell decided to take his passion for home brewing into something more commercial. Together with his wife Wynne they left Seattle (where Doug had been brewing in his kitchen) and moved to Colorado to be nearer to his sister Corkie and start a brewery together. This they did in that same year, producing beer for the thirsty college town of Fort Collins. In 1996 they acquired the facility to bottle their output, and shipped across the United States. They have a large range of English-style classics and seasonals – we sampled their Cutthroat Porter in BeerCast #49 back in June.

What They Say -
“Available each winter from the first of November until it runs out, Isolation ale is amber in color, malty and strong. We consider it a traditional winter warmer, without the addition of fruits or spices.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Shovels – Balance of sweetness, hops and bitterness – brilliant 8½
MrB – Very fruity, almost like fruit punch, I’d guzzle this 8½
Richard – You can quibble about how wintry it is, it’s just a good beer 8
Grooben – So many breweries bung the spices in and think that’s good enough – this proves otherwise 8

Label Christmas Rating
4/10 Wintry rather than Christmassy – but Odell have the best labels in the business (Richard) There could be presents inside the cottage (MrB)

4. Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche Doppelbock (8.0%abv)
Brauerei Heller, Bamberg, Bavaria.
500ml glass bottle

If you wander the historic cobbled streets of the Franconian town of Bamberg, you might be lucky and come across the Schlenkerla brewery tavern (it’s in Dominikanerstrasse). This classic Bavarian eatery is a half-timbered, geranium-clad hostelry of the oldest style. It’s here that the ‘original’ smokebeer is produced, by mixing beechsmoked malts with water and hops. We sampled this famous Schlerkerla Rauchbier Märzen all the way back in BeerCast #8, resulting in one of the most infamous BeerCast quotes (and the first ever 0 score) from MrB – “It tastes like hot dogs in a blender”. Their winter release is smoked with oak rather than beech, to give a slightly different flavour.

What They Say -
“The complex smokiness in “Schlenkerla Oak Smoke” is paired with the multifaceted bitterness of finest Hallertau aroma hops. With 8% alcohol and Bernstein color it matures for months in the deep brewery cellars underneath Bamberg into a special treat for smoke beer lovers for Christmas.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Milder and sweeter than the Märzen, but still smoky 6
Grooben – This is the smokiest smoky beer 5½
MrB – I like hot-dogs, I don’t like them in a drink 2
Shovels – The smokiness goes eventually but you’re still left with the hot-dogs 1

Label Christmas Rating
1/10 – What makes this Christmassy apart from it’s green? (MrB)

5. Titanic Christmas Ale (7.6%abv)
Titanic Brewery, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
500ml glass bottle

The Titanic Brewery might hail from land-locked Stoke-on-Trent but they have a nearby famous (or infamous) son. Captain Edward John Smith – who steered the Titanic to it’s ill-fated maiden voyage – was born in nearby Etruria. Founded in Burslem in 1985, the Titanic Brewery is currently owned by brothers Dave and Keith Bott who joined together to take over production in 1988 when the original owner ran into difficulties. Many of their beers have a naval theme – Steerage, Iceberg and Lifeboat.

What They Say -
“This sweet malty winter ale has a port-like aroma, oranges and lemons play around the edges of the tongue whilst dried fruit and cinnamon drive home the wonderful warming effect, the walnut aftertaste completes this slice of Christmas time in a glass.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Lambic sharpness, I just don’t know if it’s right 2
Shovels – I get blood oranges with grapefruit, and that’s it 2
Grooben – It ain’t no Christmas cake, that’s for sure 2
MrB – Tastes of lemons and oranges, I’m not saying it’s good 2

Label Christmas Rating
2/10 The Titanic on a red background is not Christmas (Grooben)

6. Madcap Christmas (8.5%abv)
Madcap Brewery, Annan, Dumfries-shire.
330ml glass bottle

One of the tiniest breweries in Scotland is the Madcap Brewery in Annan, a few miles southeast of Dumfries. All of their beers are released from 200 litre batches produced on equipment housed in a garden shed. They supply local pubs with cask ales, and also release a few bottles when time (and capacity) allows. These are uniformly strong and interesting – none of their bottled range weighs in at less than 7%abv. Their festive offering – Santa’s Madness comes in at 8.5%.

What They Say -
“Created in the style of a dark and malty, strong scotch ale, with the addition of selected seasonal spices to compliment the festive season.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Liquorice then smoke, this would go well with mince pies 5
Shovels – Three flavours – smoke, liquorice and monkey nuts 3½
Grooben – Aftertaste of those raw monkey nuts 1
MrB – Much more concentrated, really don’t like it 1

Label Christmas Rating
8/10 – Reindeer and baubles – what could be more Christmassy? (Richard)

Panellists – (clockwise from top left) Grooben, MrB, Shovels, Richard

BeerCast panel verdict
Odell Isolation Ale 33/40
Fyne Ales Holly Daze 28/40
Anchor Special Ale 2010 22½/40
Aecht Schlenkera Eiche Doppelbock 14½/40
Madcap Christmas 10½/40
Titanic Christmas Ale 8/40

Please keep those comments and emails coming in – thanks for all your comments this year. Our final podcast of 2010 is the big one – our fourth annual BeerCast Beer of the Year show. This time, we’ll have five of the highest scoring beers from our podcasts this year, sampled by a specially extended panel. Stay tuned for a BOTY preview…

Our final best new British beer of 2010 needs no introduction – anyone with a passing interest in the genre will be familiar with the hoo-hah that greeted it’s launch back in July. It may be a controversial choice – there are plenty of people who don’t even consider it a beer – but anyone who’s managed a taste will admit it deserves a place in this roundup.



The End of History (55.0%)
BrewDog, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire
(330ml mammaled bottle, released July 2010)

We’ve written about The End of History before on the BeerCast – just after the announcement that BrewDog were ending the abv oneupmanship once and for all. At the time it was all about the bluster, and we were pretty skeptical that any good would come from it. The right-wing press were banging on about the effect on society and the irresponsible nature of purveyors of alcohol in general. Our main concern was whether we’d ever be able to try some at the astonishing prohibitive price (£500 for a stoat, £700 a squirrel).

Well, fast forward a few months and we finally got the chance, courtesy of Sales Manager Chris Mair and a tasting raffle at Cloisters in Edinburgh. Even a light sniff brought it home how different The End of History was. It reminded me of a freshly varnished kitchen table – that walloping gluey hit that makes you take a step back and look to open a window. Enormous alcohol punch, but beyond that there was a fruity background with some spices and woody notes akin to a malt whisky. For once, BrewDog’s enormous hype is justified – and that’s even before you get to the taste.

I said at the time it was like every beer-related adjective you can think of crammed into a single glass. The colossal meaty alcohol burn rampaged through everything, but at the same time there were elements of fruit, wood, vanilla, honey, nuts – I could feel my tongue shrinking like a salted slug. There’s a time when you have to separate ‘enjoyable’ from ‘fascinating’ – I don’t think the intention was to make a delicious beer, it was supposed to be a shockwave from the start. Yet the taste is so remarkable, and the beer so noteworthy, it has to be one of the best of the year.




Shortly after The End of History was released, Dutch brewery ‘t Koelschip produced a 60% beer called Start the Future, retailing at €35 a bottle. “It has become a little competition, you should see it as a joke.” said head brewer Jan Nijboer.

BrewDog Official Website

Yesterday we highlighted the Kernel Brewery for their fantastic IPA C.S.C. – one of our best new beers of 2010. Evin at the Kernel is also part of the London Brewer’s Alliance – a collective of a dozen or so producers from within the city. The founder of this group also produced a standout beer of 2010, this year being a breakthough year for black IPA’s.



Military Intelligence (6.8%)
Saints and Sinners Brewing Co, brewed at Brew Wharf, Borough
(cask, released August 2010)

Phil Lowry is certainly a busy man – being responsible for the online store BeerMerchants.com and being a part-time brewer to boot. Keen to push forward the idea of networking the growing London beer scene, Phil contacted as many producers as he could and formed the London Brewer’s Alliance. This group of like-minded souls come in all shapes and sizes – from giants like Fullers and Meantime through the small-scale operators like Kernel to cuckoo producers like Phil’s Saints and Sinners Brewing Co.

We’ve always said the term cuckoo implies some kind of malicious intent on the part of the smaller party – brewers like our hometown’s Robert Knops tend to dislike the term for that reason. But semantics aside, for people without the time, funding or space to put together a fixed-site brewery, paying someone else for tank time is really the only way to go. Phil partners with Steve Skinner as Saints and Sinners, the pair brewing essentially whatever takes their fancy – which must give fantastic creative license.

When I visited the Kernel Brewery back in August, Evin tipped me off about a black IPA that had just appeared at Brew Wharf in Borough Market – Military Intelligence. The next day I was again south of the river, so went along to the Vinopolis site to check it out. Utterly black with a minimal head, if I’d approached this without a heads up I’d have expected roasty malts and darkness – but the fruity hops charge forwards from the off. It turns over to mocha flavours later on the palate, but the sticky fruit is never far away. Extremely drinkable, it only hits you halfway down the glass that it’s 6.8% abv. One of the best IPA’s I’ve had for a long time – and a benchmark for the new wave of black versions arriving in the UK.

The London Brewer’s Alliance first collaboration beer – London Brewers Porter (5.3%) was released in September 2010 at a showcase hosted by Brew Wharf. Their second is currently being organised, and will be out next year. Join us tomorrow for our final best new British beer of 2010…

Saints and Sinners Brewing Co
London Brewer’s Alliance

We’re all big fans of India Pale Ales here on the BeerCast – both the traditional British style and the uber-hopped US interpretation (and everything in between). This year we sampled a number of beers from one London-based producer that really blew us away. In particular, their strong IPA was just outstanding – and deservedly is the next in our series of best new beers of 2010.



Kernel India Pale Ale C.S.C. (7.1%)
Kernel Brewery, Bermondsey, London
(330ml bottle, released July 2010)

If we gave an award for the BeerCast’s Brewer of 2010, it would probably go to Evin O’Riordain. The affable London-based experimenter only began operations in 2009, but has already put out a range of astonishing big beers. It’s extremely tough to pick a favourite, but his 7.7% India Pale Ale C.S.C. released this summer was simply fantastic. I visited Evin’s railway-arches setup back in August, and as he showed me round we shared a bottle of C.S.C. – the initials correspond to the Centennial, Simcoe and Chinook hops the beer contains.

It’s not just us that have picked up on the Kernel brewery this year – the beer blogosphere have really embraced Evin’s output. It’s not hard to see why – firstly the fact that they are literally a one-man operation appeals to all the frustrated homebrewers hiding behind keyboards up and down the country. Secondly Evin’s love of big-hitting strong beers (he once brewed a 6% mild) pushes the buttons of many a reviewer – as do his recipes that reflect London’s brewing heritage. Kernel Export Stout London 1890 was a recreation of a beer produced by the defunct Truman Brewery in Spitalfields.

We sampled the IPA C.S.C. as part of our Kernel Brewery Showcase in BeerCast #52. The massive piney bitter nose and the lovely dark gold, almost bronze colour are fantastically tempting. For me, the surprising thing is how drinkable it was. At 7.7% and packed with hops you might expect something to grate slightly – but it’s so tremendously well balanced that’s not an issue. The bitter pine and citrus flavours are complemented by a slight sweetness that really works. C.S.C. is one of the best new wave of British India Pale Ales, proving that this side of the pond can also produce punchy IPA’s to tingle the hop glands.




Join us tomorrow for the next in our ‘best of new brews’ feature. Recently Evin released a follow up to IPA C.S.C. – IPA S.C.A.NS., with the New Zealand hops really pushing the citrus bitterness forward.

Kernel Brewery website