The BeerCast

Beer may be a universal product, but travelling overseas and seeing a foreign country through the eyes of its beer drinkers makes you realise how different things can be. That those eyes are bloodshot and sleep-deprived is par for the course – boy, do Germans like a beer. Of course, even before I went to Berlin I knew that, but spending several days there (on my first real trip to Germany) certainly reinforced that particular stereotype.

I’ll be writing in detail about those differences – between the German drinker and the British (or rather, the modern British) drinker in another post – along with my introduction to the wonders of Berliner Weisse. But our first Berlin post highlights Brauhaus Spandau – as good a personal introduction to the spirit of German brewing as one could hope for. I loved Spandau – travelling there as a ‘beer treat’ became a highlight of the trip for my girlfriend and I, as we ended up spending eight hours there.

To find it, take the S9 from Berlin city centre (or the U7 to Altstadt Spandau, which is closer). Walk up past the red town hall and the modern church of St Nikolai, and hopefully the tall redbrick chimney of the brewery should guide you in, over the dual carriageway. For the first-timer like myself, the Brauhaus ticks every box – large outdoor beer garden, busy but well-organised bar, huge plates of sausage. The brewing equipment seems to be woven into the building, with two giant coppers behind the bar. A wrong-turn to the toilet led to a foaming bath of beer in the conditioning room, frothing away gently.

The staff each operate a small area of the garden, or the inside – I’m not even sure you can be served at the bar, it seems to be table service only. They are friendly and very efficient, each of our beer orders arrived extremely quickly, and thankfully a minimum of fuss was made when my credit card was rejected (an issue that also gave me the chance to go behind the bar, albeit only to stab another four digits into a different machine). On a random chilly Thursday the inside of the Brauhaus filled up pretty quickly.

Don’t expect Flanders-esque wooden-backed menus – they only make two beers at any given time. No agonising choices to be made here. Have one, then the other. Their regular is Spandauer Havelbräu Hell – an unfiltered lager. Each month, a special is also produced – which for April is Spandauer Schwartzbier. A bottled wheat beer is also offered, as is home-made schnapps (which can also be added to either of the beers to generate a fairly lethal Spandaubomb).

Admittedly I was on holiday, and generally bright of mood, but I found both of the beers to be outstanding. The lager (pictured above) had a beautiful grassy lemon flavour, with the unfined yeast only playing a small role in the flavour – unlike many unfined beers over here – coming across as a faint marzipan sweetness. The Schwartzbier was even better – deep, sweet chocolate with an ashy bitterness on the finish. Both were superbly smooth, drinkable – and pretty dangerous at over 5% (as we discovered later).

There may well be nicer beer gardens in Berlin – and probably better brewers in and around the city, too. Sadly we never made it to Eschenbrau or Sudstern (we did go to Prater, which will be another post this week). Spandau may be a trip out of the centre, but it’s absolutely and utterly worth it.

Brauhaus Spandau
Neuendorfer Strasse 1
Spandau, Berlin 13585
(030) 353 907
Website

Welcome to the second Edinburgh Beer Weekly! Following on from last week, every Sunday we’ll be posting a preview of all the beery happenings in the city for the next seven days – so you won’t miss a thing. You can sign up to our subscription service, ensuring you’ll get a notification every Sunday when the Edinburgh Beer Weekly is published. Just enter your email address in the panel on our front page. Also, follow us on Twitter (@thebeercast) to keep right up to date throughout the week. There are so many great beery things going on at the moment – stay tuned to the BeerCast, and enjoy each and every one of them!

So – what’s happening in the Edinburgh beer scene over the next seven days?

Monday 23rd 8pm
Single Hop Tasting Appellation Wines, 43 Dalry Road
Appellation Wines website

If you love hops – and that must surely apply to each and every one of our readers – then head down to Dalry Road tomorrow for the latest tasting at Appellation Wines. Ashton McCobb will be running through several IPA’s that feature a single hop in their recipe. Learn a bit more about the different flavours imparted by each, and how different the beers can be – all in the company of Haymarket’s answer to Oz Clarke.

Tuesday 24th £45
Stewart Beer & Food Matching Cloisters Bar, 26 Brougham Street
Further details on Stewart Brewing’s website

On Tuesday the latest beer and food pairing event takes place in the capital, as Loanhead’s Stewart Brewing put their wares up alongside the culinary ideas of the Cloisters Bar chef. If “Seared Roe deer rump, “Edinburgh Gold” fondant potato & baby onion jus, paired with Stewart St Giles“ takes your fancy, get in touch with Cloisters for a ticket. Ring them on 0131 221 9997 to get your seat.

Wednesday 25th 7pm
Zymic Launch The Abbotsford, 3-5 Rose Street
Stewart Brewing website

Steve and the team are pretty busy this coming week, as the next night sees the launch of their latest seasonal beer – Zymic. Described as an ‘extra hoppy thirst quencher’ it rolls in at 3.5% – presumably just in time for CAMRA’s Mild in May (Stewart having previously released a golden mild in the form of Light Edinburgh Draught, which also weighed the scales at 3.5%). In case you were wondering, Zymic pertains to (or refers to the product of) fermentation. Don’t ever say you don’t learn anything here on the BeerCast…

Saturday 28th 7pm
30 Days of IPA Gala dinner The Counting House, West Nicholson St
30 days of IPA website

If you’ve been noticing events across Edinburgh pubs for ’30 Days of IPA’ over the past few weeks, they come to a head on Saturday with a gala finish. A three course Indian-themed dinner at the Counting House draws the main events to a close (although there are a few more to come until the 30th), with a keynote speech by the paragon of British IPA, Pete Brown. The winning beer in the month-long IPA public vote will also be revealed.

Another event taking place this week (outside the city bypass – but worth a detour) is the 25th Paisley Beer Festival, which takes place from Wednesday 25th to Saturday the 28th. Celebrating their quarter-century, there should be some great beer on offer – full details here. Back in Edinburgh, rumours abound that the brand new golden ale from Magic Rock will also be making an appearance in select pubs across the city – so keep those eyes peeled…

The Edinburgh Beer Weekly will be published every Sunday here on the BeerCast. If you have an event in or around the city that you’d like to feature – please get in touch at the usual email address. Cheers, and enjoy your beer!

Another day, another Edinburgh beer event. The Bow Bar are hosting a hop-based showcase at the moment, so with Richard still away, beercasters Grooben, Shovels and the esteemed Mr. B headed down to sample some hoppy goodness. The showcase features British brewers, and with most of the beers clocking in at between 4% and 5% there was no need to grapple with any syrupy 9% Double IPA’s. Here’s a selection of what we tried -

Blackwater Brewery Bulls Eye (4.1%) – A subtle fruity number, we were told to expect blackcurrant flavours due to the use of Bullion hops, but this wasn’t really coming through. Pleasant enough, but suffered a bit in comparison to some of the more flavoursome fare on offer.

Steel City Vane Tempest (4.8%) – Steel City Brewing are a ‘cuckoo’ style brewing company operating out of Sheffield, and certainly seem keen on their hops. Vane Tempest was brewed with no less than 6 different varieties, with a seriously pithy, bitter result. My mouth was puckering after a half of this and it may have been improved with a fruitier element to balance it out a bit.

Tempest Longer White Cloud (5.6%) – We were fans of Tempest’s Long White Cloud when we tried it at the Bow a few months ago, and this follow up, dry hopped with 3 New Zealand hops, didn’t disappoint. Surprisingly smooth, with a vinous quality from the Nelson Sauvin used in the initial brewing.

Offbeat Quirky Kiwi NZ Pale (4.6%) – More NZ hops involved here, with Pacific Jade and Nelson Sauvin making an appearance. One of our favourites of the evening – well balanced, fruity and sessionable.

Black Iris Great Eastern Transatlantic Porter (4.6%) – The big surprise of the evening for me from Derbyshire’s Black Iris, a brewery that I hadn’t previously been aware of. This was a rich and complex porter with strong berry notes overlaying the chocolate and coffee. The beer was lifted by the addition of Galena hops, giving a tart bitterness that really worked with the more traditional porter flavours.  Grooben’s beer of the night.

The hop off continues tonight 20th April with a slightly different selection, including beers from Dark Star, Acorn and Redemption, so get on down for some more hop-based action.

Exciting times for Edinburgh beer drinkers this week as we see the opening of the Southern, the new bar from Fuller Thomson, owners of BeerCast favourites Holyrood 9A and Red Squirrel. Head BeerCaster and all-round Renaissance man Richard is away in Berlin this week, but colleagues Grooben and Shovels stepped into the breach to sample some of the beers on display. As an added bonus, we were joined by Andy and Jess, all the way from the London branch.

The bar follows a similar approach to Holyrood and the Red Squirrel, with standard keg beers supplemented by a rotating range of casked and kegged ales. The food menu focuses on burgers, with 20 available (I know! 20 burgers!), as well as breakfast and other meaty treats. The difference here is on the range of beers on offer. I counted 9 that I hadn’t personally tried, and luckily they were offering reduced prices on 1/3 measures, thus reducing the potential for any hangover action the following day (hey, it was a Monday night after all). With some high abv fare on offer, this was probably just as well.

First up we tried Brooklyn Sorachi Ace (7.6%). Regular readers may remember our first encounter with this Japanese hop during our Brewdog IPA is Dead podcast, with mixed results. This one got a similar reaction, a distinct bubblegum flavour on first taste leads to an oddly synthetic, perfume vibe on repeated visits. An acquired taste then, but definite points for interest value. Next was the casked Export Stout from Kernel (7.1%). The usual high standards from Kernel here, and its great to see one of their beers on cask in Edinburgh, although personally it didn’t blow me away in the way I was expecting.

An even more powerful affair was next with Summer Wine’s Maelstrom Double IPA (9.0%). Thick and syrupy as one might expect, with ripe mango and passion fruit, it didn’t quite distinguish itself from other double IPA’s and could perhaps have done with an extra note of bitterness to cut through the tropical fruit. My personal favourite of the the night was Crooked Tree IPA (6.0%) from the Dark Horse brewery in Michigan. This was a nicely balanced U.S. IPA, with everything that implies, and I could easily have had a few pints of this (and then fallen over).

Shovels also rated Crooked Tree as his favourite, followed closely by his dark beer of the night, Hardknott Vitesse Noir, which at 11% was also the biggest hitter in the abv stakes. This triple imperial stout infused with vanilla, coffee and chocolate was sublimely balanced and hid the abv well, and also took the accolade of Mr. Garvie’s beer of the evening.

Finally, two from Fyne Ales new IPA project series, which invites you to compare the taste differences between different coloured IPA’s. Series 1 is Davaar (5.5%). The Blonde version is bittered with Cascade and dry-hopped with Simcoe, with a result that is a touch too bitter and pithy for my taste. The Black IPA version was much better, with the added malt balancing out the bitterness, resulting in a good example of the style. Look out for Series 2, called Lismore, in June.

So there we have it, another welcome addition to the Edinburgh beer scene. The Southern will hopefully prove to be as popular as its sister bars, and I predict repeated visits by the Beercasters in future.

Welcome to the first Edinburgh Beer Weekly! Every Sunday we’ll be posting a preview of all the beery happenings in the city for the next seven days – so you won’t miss a thing. As Edinburgh’s beer website we want to be able to inform everyone of the great goings on here before they happen, rather than just covering the launches and reviewing the beers after the event! (which, of course, we will continue to do)

You can sign up to our subscription service, ensuring you’ll get an email notification every Sunday when the Edinburgh Beer Weekly is published. Just enter your email address in the panel on our front page. Also, follow us on Twitter (@thebeercast) to keep right up to date throughout the week. There are so many great beery things going on at the moment – stay tuned to the BeerCast, and enjoy each and every one of them!

So – what’s happening in the Edinburgh beer scene over the next seven days?

Monday 16th 7pm
The Southern Launch The Southern Bar, 22-26 South Clerk Street
Fuller Thomson website

One of the most eagerly awaited bar launches for some time takes place on Monday, as Fuller Thomson’s new Edinburgh location opens its doors to the public. Since arriving in Edinburgh with the Holyrood 9A, the Dundee-based company have also transformed Lothian Road’s Vat&Fiddle into the Red Squirrel. Their third bar in the city is in Newington – a revamp of the old student haunt the Southern Bar.

Both of the other F/T bars in Edinburgh have become wildly popular, and with a great location on South Clerk Street the Southern looks to become just as successful. Monday’s launch has a staggering beer lineup, including ultra-rare casks from the Kernel (reason enough to go) and Fife’s Luckie Ales, brand new beers from Fyne Ales and Highland – plus kegs from some of the UK’s most progressive breweries.

Wednesday 18th 7pm
Alechemy Launch Cloisters Bar, 26 Brougham Street
Alechemy Brewing website

Our recent feature on new Edinburgh-area brewers featured four producers who are eager to get their beer into the city. On Wednesday, James Davies breaks cover and reveals his first two at Cloisters Bar in Tollcross. Cairnpapple IPA and Five Sisters Amber make their very first appearance – Cockleroy Black IPA is set to follow, so head down to check out the debut beers from Livingston’s new [read: only] brewery.

Thursday 19th, Friday 20th
Bow Bar Hop-Off The Bow Bar, 80 West Bow
Hop-Off poster

Hop lovers are in for a treat at the end of the week, as one of Edinburgh’s best pubs showcases beer’s best component. The Bow Bar Hop-Off begins on Thursday, and features a tongue-tingling seventeen beers from such producers as Tempest, Highland, Dark Star, Thornbridge and Brodies. A hoptacular mini beer festival, all the beers have been selected to showcase that very special ingredient. Form a queue!

Saturday 21st 3pm-8pm
Great Grog Bottled Beer Fest Café Camino, Little King Street
Facebook Page

Great Grog first opened their doors in 1999 – and their emphasis on beer has steadily increased over the years. Saturday sees their inaugural bottled beer festival, held in the hall of Café Camino – the relaxed lunchspace associated with St Mary’s Cathedral. Tickets are available in advance from Great Grog on Dalkeith Road (£5), or on the day at the festival itself (if any are unsold, and at £10). Head along and try all kinds of beers from Scottish producers, and those from further afield.

The Edinburgh Beer Weekly will be published every Sunday here on the BeerCast. If you have an event in or around the city that you’d like to feature – please get in touch at the usual email address. Cheers!