The BeerCast

The first podcast of any year is always one to look forward to – as tradition dictates it’s our BeerCast Beer of the Year show. As highlighted in our recent preview, the four highest scoring beers from the podcasts recorded in 2009 are re-sampled, and a winner picked. Previous winners are Anchor Christmas Ale 2006 (2007) and Hop Back Summer Lightning (last year), so whichever beer came out on top this time, it would be in good company. Re-tasting is always an interesting experience, as a second go often brings a different result from last time – and so it was to prove. The four beers in our BOTY show were St Austell Tribute (4.2%), Carnegie Baltic Porter (5.5%), Stone Ruination IPA (7.7%), and Goose Island Christmas Ale 2009 (7.0%). On the extended panel – Shovels, MrB, Andy, Richard, Jess and Grooben, all of whom were seconded to a remote and snowy location to sharpen the tastebuds…

1. St Austell Tribute (4.2%abv) 500ml glass bottle
St Austell Brewery, St Austell, Cornwall.
BeerCast#33 scored 40½/50 (81%) 28th May 2009
Originally tasted by Steve 9; Richard 9; Grooben 8; Shovels 7½; Stu 7

What They Say - “Tribute is a magnificent example of a bronze coloured English bitter, with a rich aroma of biscuity malt and tart citrus fruit from the Willamette hops. Juicy malt, hop resins and tangy fruit coat the tongue, while the finish is long and lingering, with a fine balance between malt, hops and fruit, finally becoming dry and bitter.” [Roger Protz]

What We Say…
Grooben - Much nicer than your standard session beers
Richard - As an English bitter you can’t get a better example
MrB - I don’t like it, it’s too watery and too biscuity
Shovels - It’s very subtle but very nice
Jess - There’s some kind of citrus in there, it’s very drinkable
Andy - It reminds me of drinking Tennents in working men’s clubs around Edinburgh

2. Carnegie Starkporter 2008 (5.5%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Carlsberg Sverige AB, Gothenburg, Sweden.
BeerCast#28 scored 32½/40 (81%) 1st January 2009
Originally tasted by Jess 9; Shovels 8½; Andy 8; Richard 7

What They Say - “Carnegie Starkporter är Sveriges äldsta ännu använda varumärke. Smakrik, fruktig och med en tydligt rostad ton och stor beska. Inslag av karamelliserat socker, kaffe och choklad. Carnegie Starkporter kan lagras upp till 10 år. När den lagras mjuknar smaken och aromenens komplexitet ökar.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB - I like porters a lot, but that’s far too sweet
Shovels - I think we’d had a lot of mediocre beers that night
Grooben - It’s a half-pint beer – although it is smooth
Richard - Sweet and it’ll get sweeter, I’m not that keen on it
Andy - I’m not sure it deserves to be in the BOTY Show
Jess - Can’t believe I gave it a 9, I think we were maybe too happy because we were on holiday

3. Ruination IPA (7.7%abv) 355ml glass bottle
Stone Brewery, Escondido, California.
BeerCast#36 scored 38/40 (95%) 13th July 2009
Originally tasted by MrB 10; Shovels 9½; Steve 9½; Richard 9

What They Say - “So called because of the ‘ruinous’ effect on your palate! This massive hop monster has a wonderfully delicious and intensely bitter flavour on a refreshing malt base. One taste and you can easily see why we call this brew ‘a liquid poem to the glory of the hop!’” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB - I stand by my 10
Richard - Love that piney resinous hop aftertaste
Jess - I can see why everybody go excited about it
Grooben - Expertly balanced, I’d give it 9½ too
Shovels - It’s the single malt whisky of IPA’s
Andy - They’ve managed to get the perfect balance point so you don’t taste furry-teeth sugary-ness

4. Goose Island Christmas 2009 (7.0%abv) 750ml glass bottle
Goose Island Brewing Company, Chicago, Illinois.
BeerCast#43 scored 25/30 (83%) 16th December 2009
Originally tasted by MrB 9; Grooben 8; Richard 8

What They Say - “Specialty Belgian malts create a deep garnet color and a truly rich old European flavour in our classic Christmas Ale. And the generous amount of crystal hops adds that extra spicy aroma to your pint, perfect for a wintry night.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Jess - It’s smoky but not as interesting as the Ruination
Richard - This one makes good use of it’s brown ale base
MrB - Not Christmassy, tastes like a nicer Goose Island IPA
Grooben - I think Ruination would blow away anything
Shovels - Gets high praise from me, it’s easy to drink
Andy - Pretends to be smooth but leaves you with a sharpness I don’t like

So that was the thoughts – or re-thoughts – of the panel during the tasting of the four beers that had made it through to the final. The next thing to do was go round the table and mark down a first and second choice for beer of the year. Given the comments about one of the beers above, it wasn’t really a surprise when the slip of paper had circumnavigated the table. Stone’s Ruination IPA was a resounding choice for BeerCast Beer of the Year 2009. Fitting, given that it debuted with a record score of 95% that will struggle to be beaten. There was a tie for second between the Goose Island Christmas and St Austell Tribute – despite certain comments on both it seems festive warmers and English bitters always seem to do well in our BOTY shows. But there was really only ever going to be one winner – the fantastic balance of massive hops and punchy alcohol really came through in Stone’s strong India Pale Ale. It was a deserved winner.

Our panel also tasted a fifth beer - a surprise bought by Richard and smuggled to the podcasting under the strictest secrecy. BrewDog’s Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32%), the strongest beer in the world. Listen to our tasting after the BOTY voting, and check back to the website in a few days for a full review post on what’s becoming the most infamous beer in Britain…

2009 was a great year for the BeerCast, we managed to get through 63 beers over the space of 16 podcasts, attend several beer festivals, and unleash a few new panellists on the podcasting public. As things wind down over Christmas we’ll be turning our attention towards the turn of the year – which means our annual BeerCast Beer of the Year Show. We tally up the scores achieved by each ale over the last twelve months, and take the four highest scoring away to a secret location for a re-sample. Which beer will follow on from Hop Back Summer Lightning and become our BOTY for 2009? Here are the four contenders.

First up (in order of when we initially scored them), you have to go all the way back to New Year’s Day and a snowy evening in Stockholm. Although our Swedish Special eventually hit the airwaves in March, and having been recorded on an iPhone it sounded like we were lisping underwater, our first finalist made it all the way through the year in the top four placings. Carnegie Baltic Porter 2008 (5.5%) came top of BeerCast 28, despite being brewed by mega-behemoth Carlsberg, who bought its Gothenburg creator Pripps Bryggeri. This sweet, earthy porter scored 32½/40 and thankfully we managed to track some down in the UK for our BOTY show.

Next is the only UK beer that made it through to our final four, the flagship ale from Cornwall’s St Austell Brewery, Tribute (4.2%). This classic English bitter won the highly competitive SouthWest Special of BeerCast 33, which produced several high-scoring beers. Recording a tally of 40½/50, it drew praise for its balance of malt and citrus, including two 9/10 scores. English session ales have traditionally done well in BeerCast BOTY shows, with Coniston Bluebird Bitter and Thwaites Double Century respectively making it through to the first two end of year spectaculars. Neither won though – can the self-styled “Taste of Cornwall” fare better?

Our final two beers hail from over the Atlantic, coming from two heavyweights of the American craft brewing scene. That’s no co-incidence, as smaller-scale producers are very rarely found in the UK. Things are changing though, thanks to importers such as James Clay, and specialist beer retailers like Norfolk’s Beers of Europe, York’s The Bottle, and Edinburgh’s own Cornelius. Our third beer is Stone Ruination IPA (7.7%), a “liquid poem to the glory of the hop” from California. Ruination blasted to the top of our leaderboard (where it remains) in our IPA Battle, BeerCast 36 in July, ending up with a 38/40 score for an almost perfect 95% rating. The balance of hops and alcohol make this truly special, and as it garnered the first ever BeerCast 10 score (from MrB, of course) – it has to be the favourite for our 2009 BOTY show.

The final beer that made it through is also our most recently drunk – coming from last week’s Christmas Special. Anchor’s festive beers have done very well in the past, but their 2009 beer was gazumped in spectacular fashion by Goose Island Christmas Ale 2009 (7.0%). Racking up 25/30 it finished with the second-highest score of the year, ironically bumping Goose Island IPA out of the top four in the process. The Belgian malts and Crystal hops combine for the wintery tastes, and although our panel felt it wasn’t as classically festive as others they tried, it was still head and shoulders above the rest. This could be a dark horse for the title, particularly as a Christmas beer has won previously, Anchor Christmas Ale 2006, won our first ever BOTY show.

So as our list stretches from the afore-mentioned Stone Ruination IPA on 95% down to Dieu du Ciel’s terrifying Péché Mortel coffee-infused imperial stout on 14%, we can look back at another great drinking year on the BeerCast. We’ll be recording the BOTY show at New Year, 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 2010.

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

“A BeerCast of all the talents”

“Ask not what The BeerCast can do for you, but what you can do for The BeerCast”

“We have nothing to fear but beer itself”

These are just a few of the inspirational quotes from (then minister) Richard’s call to arms when he took the high office of BeerCaster in chief in the summer of 2007. It was with this spirit of public service, that the London constituents of The BeerCast sat down to record our thoughts on The BeerCast’s Beers of the Year 2008 (or BOTY for short).

This was our first BeerCast flying solo. The professionals up in Edinburgh have perfected the art of pre-recording warm-up beers, and so we started off a little stilted but we soon loosened up (especially after the Hardcore IPA!) and started to meander wildly off-topic, as is the BeerCast way.

We only managed to source 3 of the 4 BOTY beers and so decided to throw in a random 4th beer for fun, with surprising consequences. Listen out for factiods from BeerCast first timer Francis Booth, meanderings into BeerCast favorite topic - labels, musings on hampster bedding and what exactly is a ‘two stemmed glass’?

1. Theakston XB (4.5%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Theakstons Brewery, Masham, North Yorkshire.
BeerCast#17 scored 25½/30 (85%) 19th Jun 2008
Originally tasted by Tom 9; Shovels 8½; Richard 8

Jess - I’ve got no complaints 7
Francis - Tastes like a 9 volt battery 7
Andy - It’s fine, but it’s not bowling me over 5

2. Summer Lightning (5.0%abv) 500ml glass bottle
The Hop Back Brewery, Salisbury, Wiltshire.
BeerCast #19 scored 27/30 (90%) 4th Aug 2008
Originally tasted by Shovels 9; Grooben 9; Richard 9

Francis - Less complex than XB, but perfect for summer 6
Andy - Zesty, but slightly watery 7
Jess - I find it very bitter 5

3. BrewDog Hardcore IPA (9.0%abv) 660ml glass bottle
BrewDog, Fraserburgh, Scotland.
BeerCast#15 scored 33½/40 (84%) 27th Apr 2008
Originally tasted by MrB 9½; Richard 9; Grooben 8; Shovels 7

Francis - It’s a bit syrupy, i see what they’re doing though 8
Jess - I find it too sweet, you can feel it on your teeth 4
Andy - I quite like it actually, but it’s a bit full on 7

4. Ridgeway Blue (5.0%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Ridgeway Brewing, South Stoke, England

What They Say - ”Bottled. Copper colour with small white head. Aroma is sweet fruity hops at first, then turns quite earthy and grassy. Flavour is very dull fruity, grassy, earthy and some butter & yeasty notes. Not very pleasant.” [ratebeer.net]

What We Say…
Jess - Ahh, this is lovely 8
Andy - Fruity and refreshing, but i preferred Summer Lightning  6
Francis - This would dovetail with my evening nicely 8

Panellists - (from top left) Andy, Francis, Jess

• Listen to the episode here:BeerCast #29 - London BOTY extra
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

BeerCasting is a fine art and the London branch has just set up it’s easel.

We disagreed with Edinburgh HQ on the beers, scored them even though Richard told us not to and ended up almost unable to speak. It was a thoroughly enjoyable 40 mins though, i hope you enjoy it too and we’ll be back with some more very soon.

Since our highly enjoyable Beer of the Year Show 2007 where Anchor’s Special Ale 2006 was crowned our first ever BOTY, we have tried and tested all manner of ales here on the BeerCast. Nine different panellists sampled their way through 73 different beers over the course of 2008, spread over 16 podcasts. As tradition now dictates, we ended up with a ‘final four’ - those that scored the highest marks last year - which we then pitted against each other to see who would take Anchor’s crown.

We had intended to record the podcast just before the turn of the new year, but unfortunately a procurement issue meant we had to delay until the end of January. After a few weeks we managed to find all four beers once again, and the BOTY show could take place. The worthy finallists were - Thwaites Double Century, Hop Back Summer Lightning, Theakston XB, and BrewDog Hardcore IPA. As scoring had been done in each individual BeerCast, for the final we re-sampled each one and gave our general thoughts, before going round the panel and simply picking a winner. For this BOTY edition, the panel consisted of Richard, Shovels, Grooben, and the Hopmeister Tom. First up, Thwaites Double Century…

1. Double Century (5.2%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Thwaites Brewery, Blackburn, Lancashire.
BeerCast #12 scored 26/30 (87%) 23rd Feb 2008
Originally tasted by MrB 9; Stuart 9; Richard 8

Grooben - Very dry and bitter at the end
Richard - Great hoppy session beer with a hint of orange
Tom - Really nice but gives you ‘hangover tongue’
Shovels - I don’t get the wow factor but it’s decent stuff

2. Summer Lightning (5.0%abv) 500ml glass bottle
The Hop Back Brewery, Salisbury, Wiltshire.
BeerCast #19 scored 27/30 (90%) 4th Aug 2008
Originally tasted by Shovels 9; Grooben 9; Richard 9

Grooben - It’s a summer beer, maybe a bit incongruous for winter
Richard - Very hoppy and pleasant, but you can’t tell it’s 5%
Tom - I’ve tried this before independently and it’s really quaffable
Shovels - On tap it’s one of my favourites and I always look for it

3. Theakston XB (4.5%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Theakstons Brewery, Masham, North Yorkshire.
BeerCast#17 scored 25½/30 (85%) 19th Jun 2008
Originally tasted by Tom 9; Shovels 8½; Richard 8

Grooben - Nicer than I would have expected, but a bit sweet
Richard - Just one would be very nice, bit molassey and treacly
Tom - No nasty aftertaste, it’s a lovely session ale
Shovels - I really like it, the sweetness isn’t too much

4. BrewDog Hardcore IPA (9.0%abv) 660ml glass bottle
BrewDog, Fraserburgh, Scotland.
BeerCast#15 scored 33½/40 (84%) 27th Apr 2008
Originally tasted by MrB 9½; Richard 9; Grooben 8; Shovels 7

Grooben - It must be very difficult to make a beer as strong as this but as palatable
Richard - You’d have to savour this one almost like a trappist ale
Tom - This one really stands out because of it’s individuality
Shovels - It’s like an American IPA but tastes less hoppy

So the beers had been re-tried and thoughts given - but only one thought counted, the overall winner of the four. The final step of the Beer of the Year show was to go round the table and pick the one that stood out the most…

Grooben
“I’ve never had XB and darker sweeter beers aren’t for me, but I really liked it. The Hardcore IPA was a bit much for my personal tastes, and was above the other two, but overall the XB was the best.”

Tom
“Hardcore IPA was the only beer that was trying to do something different, and you aren’t going to forget your first taste. The others would eventually become forgotten I think. Hardcore IPA made me stand up and take notice so I vote for that.”

Shovels
“My favourite was Summer Lightning as of the four I’d drink a lot of it either in the pub or from bottles, it’s a really great session ale - light and refreshing.”

Richard
“My favourite had to be Summer Lightning, it’s the kind of beer you can really drink. Hardcore IPA is tremendous but you can maybe only savour it - you can get pleasure from Summer Lightning all throughout the year.”

So that was it. A depleted panel compared with last year maybe, but the responsibility of selecting our beer of the year was still just as great. In the end, our winner was Hop Back’s Summer Lightning, a superb golden ale in the classic English tradition. Congratulations to them, and thanks to all the panellists for their opinions over the course of last year.

• Listen to the episode here:BeerCast #27 - Beer of the Year 2007
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back soon with another podcast episode. Stay tuned for details…and please leave us comments on the blog or iTunes, or emails. Cheers!

And then there were four. After starting up the whole reviewing/podcasting thing in June 2007 we sampled our way through thirty-four beers from half a dozen countries. On the way we’ve drunk our way through numerous others in various guises - but it was down to those 34 when we decided to re-taste the top scorers and find out what would be crowned our first annual BeerCast Beer of the Year. Using our standard scoring system throughout, we had one beer out on top with three others tied for second place - so it was only fair to take all four away and revisit their many pleasures.

On new year’s day our extended BeerCast panel of seven sat down in a windy house in the border village of St Abbs, and let the battle commence. The beers we had with us were the Anchor Brewey Our Special Ale 2006, Daleside IPA, Erdinger’s Weissbier Dunkel, and Coniston’s Bluebird Bitter. All four are tremendous - and very different - so it would be tough to pick a winner. As scoring had been done in each individual BeerCast, for the final we re-sampled each one and gave our general thoughts, before going round the panel and simply picking a winner. For this BotY edition, the panel consisted of Richard, Shovels, MrB, Andy, Jess, Grooben, and BeerCast newcomer Gillian. First up, was Coniston’s Bluebird Bitter…

1. Bluebird Bitter (4.2%abv) 500ml glass bottle
The Coniston Brewery, Cumbria.
BeerCast #3 scored 16/20 (80%) 9th Aug 2007
Originally tasted by Shovels 8; Richard 8

Grooben - I like it a lot, and on tap it might be even nicer
Andy - It’s quite thin and tastes like it has something else in it
Jess - I don’t like it, I find it too bitter, especially the aftertaste
Richard - I think it’s really nice and I stand by my 8/10 score
MrB - Pleasant but not astounding - on tap I’d drink it all night
Shovels - I still think this is a really good beer
Gillian - I agree, this is perfectly drinkable

2. Daleside IPA (4.5%abv) 500ml glass bottle
The Daleside Brewery, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
BeerCast #3 scored 16/20 (80%) 9th Aug 2007
Originally tasted by Shovels 8; Richard 8

Jess - This is much nicer, it reminds me of honeysuckle
Andy - Much more pleasant, with more substance to it
Grooben - One of the nicest of IPA’s I’ve tasted on the BeerCast
MrB - Very very nice, this is my kind of hoppy session ale
Gillian - Smoother and nicer than the Bluebird
Richard - More flowery than the Coniston
Shovels - All round the mouth taste, it’s good stuff

3. Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel (5.6%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Privatbrauerei Erdinger Weißbräu, Erding.
BeerCast#8 scored 32/40 (80%) 1st Dec 2007
Originally tasted by MrB 9; Richard 8; Grooben 8; Shovels 7

Gillian - I could drink more of the previous beers but I prefer this
Richard - Wheatbeer flavour gives way to nice dark malts
Shovels - First few mouthfuls are tasty but it then loses flavour
Jess - This is lovely, full of bubbles, and it smells really nice too
Andy - Looks dark but it tastes light, there’s an iron taste in there
Grooben - I thought I wasn’t going to like this again, but I do
MrB - I may have overmarked it, but as a wheatbeer it’s ahead of the pack

4. Anchor Our Special Ale 2006 (5.5%abv) 350ml glass bottle
Anchor Brewery, San Francisco.
BeerCast#9 scored 34½/40 (86%) 15th Dec 2007
Originally tasted by MrB 9½; Shovels 9; Grooben 8; Richard 8

MrB - That you can put these flavours into a beer is amazing
Jess - I don’t like it, it’s totally overpowering and not very subtle
Grooben - They’ve crafted this, I have lots of time for it
Andy - Smells of so much yet is forgiving on the tongue
Shovels - It’s really got that spicy Christmas taste to it
Gillian - A gorgeous colour, it’s drinkable but very, very seasonal
Richard - All the other beer smells tonight combined wouldn’t come close to this

So the beers had been re-tried and thoughts given - but only one thought counted, the overall winner of the four. The final step of the Beer of the Year show was to go round the table and pick the one that stood out the most…

Jess
“I had a really tough time between Daleside IPA and the Erdinger. I really like the Erdinger, but it had too many bubbles and I wouldn’t actually drink that much of it, so I chose the Daleside because it’s a nice beer and very pleasant.”

Andy
“I had real difficulty choosing between Daleside IPA and the Anchor, but of the four beers presented to me this evening, I liked the taste of the Anchor the best. So I have to vote for that.”

Grooben
“Again it was between two, the Daleside IPA and the Anchor, and I’ve gone for the Daleside. It’s a beer I would enjoy more on a more consistant basis. I’ve got nothing bad to say about the Anchor - I think it’s brilliant and will drink it every Christmas, but Daleside hit more buttons for me.”

Gillian
“It came down to either the Daleside or the Erdinger, and although I could drink more of the Daleside, I picked the Erdinger. It was a more complex taste and I quite liked all the bubbles.”

MrB
“Daleside IPA was fantastic but there’s at least half a dozen beers - some of which we haven’t reviewed this year - that were better than that, so my vote goes to the Anchor. It was extraordinary, and I’ll be drinking it at every Christmas from now on.”

Richard
“I have to give it to Bluebird as it’s one of my favourite beers and I love it. It’s everything I want from a beer and I’ve enjoyed drinking it this year even before we were sent some. Anchor is truly special, but Bluebird is my BotY so I vote for that.”

Shovels
“Anchor has so much taste and so much going on, but it’s only available for two months of the year. The Daleside IPA is amazing, but there are lots of other good IPA’s out there. I have to say - purely based on all the flavours going on - my BotY is the Anchor.”

So there you have it - the BeerCast Beer of the Year for 2007 is, rather strangely, Anchor’s Special Ale 2006. UK beer drinkers can often be at the back of the queue when it comes to finding the American seasonals, but the Californian brewer lists their Special Ale as having a two year shelflife. We did manage to source some of the 2007 Special Ale, and tried that in the same session. It was also extremely good, albeit very different - but the 2006 vintage was the one we tested during our first year, and it was that beer which came out on top - both in overall scoring and our BotY special. Congratulations to the Anchor brewery, as well as Coniston, Daleside and Erdinger, and we’ll be back on the BeerCasting front very soon with episode 11. In the meantime, here are the panel’s honourable mentions for 2007…

BeerCaster’s 2007 personal favourites

Shovels - Williams Bros Joker
Grooben - Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted
Jess - Wynchwood Hobgoblin; Shepherd Neame Bishop’s Finger
Richard - Stewart’s Edinburgh Gold
Andy - Fruli; Minoh Seasonal Beer; Belgian Peach Lambic
MrB - Fyne Ales Avalanche
Gillian - Didn’t have a favourite, but did try a beer in 2007 she thought was truly awful - so we gave her the honour of naming it as the worst beer of the year - Desperados, the French 12%abv tequila beer. If we ever do a French episode….

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #10 - Beer of the Year 2007
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back soon with episode 11. Stay tuned for details…and please leave us comments on the blog or iTunes, or emails. Cheers!