The BeerCast

There are always plenty of beer events in Edinburgh – as any regular reader of this website will know. Only a small proportion of them take place in Leith, however – which is a surprise, given how many great pubs you can find there. It’s also something of a shame, as Leith has a reputation for what Morningside types would no doubt term ‘interesting characters’. Friends of ours, for example, recently saw a woman crouched on the pavement looking through her handbag, which contained a large quantity of raw meat (although who hasn’t left the house in a hurry and picked up the wrong bag?).

A couple of sunny evenings ago – and it’s always sunny in Leith – we made the trip up there to Nobles Café Bar, and a Black Isle Brewery takeover. These type of events were once pretty rare, but have rapidly become the default beer/pub event. It stands to reason, as the brewer gets the full range of their wares showcased, regular punters can still find their favourite, and tickers get the new rates. The only losers (although hopefully they win in financial terms) are the pub management, who have to change about a dozen casks/kegs in an evening, and generally work up a sweat.

Everyone in Nobles was perspiring on Tuesday – due to the astonishing early-spring weather, the place was rammed. They aren’t known for hosting events such as this – or maybe the numbers of thirsty Leithers were underestimated – but it looked as if emergency bar staff had to be summoned to deal with the two deep queue. This says something for Black Isle – who, as we posted recently are really on a high at the moment, and obviously have an eager fanbase.

Nobles is a cracking bar – it looks great, both inside and out, and the staff (even when clearly stressed) are very friendly. We arrived about an hour before the event started, and went straight for the house beer – Nobles IPA. Brewed for them by Black Isle, I believe (correct me if I’m wrong) it to be an unfined, dry-hopped, cask Goldeneye. Hazy and with a thick head, it has the sweet biscuity malt characteristic of Black Isle beer, with some orange citrus on the finish, as the results of the dry-hopping come out through the aftertaste.

Next up, another tweaker – organic Red Kite served nitrogenated on keg. This is one I really wanted to try, as Scottish malty nitro offerings are usually fairly awful. Mentioning no names, of course, but Black Isle’s version (codenamed ‘Better’) was a revelation. It tasted like cool chocolate cream. The bubbles give it that mouthfeel, of course – but as opposed to all the others out there – the beer actually tasted of something. Demerara sugar, toffee, fruit, weetabix and cocoa. Yet, all those dark, ‘portery’ flavours served cool and gassed to the max were highly refreshing.

We finished on an experiment – a side by side tasting of Goldeneye and Unfined Goldeneye whisky cask. It’s always interesting to roll the dice on the same beer served on different dispense (although last time, at the legendary Magic Rock takeover of the Stockbridge Tap I was so far gone I can hardly remember the obvious differences – in fact, it may have just been one beer I was drinking, it only looked like there were two). Having more of my faculties this time around, we put them up against each other.

A huge difference, of course. Kegged Goldeneye is clear as a bell and properly golden in colour. It has a bittersweet, biscuity malt backbone that verges into the metallic on the finish. The newcomer (which, incidentally, was a one-off) was hazy orange, with a soft, woody flavour. Almost like a whisky milkshake, it was mild and oaky, with that whisky edge building into the aftertaste. This replaced the classic biscuity finish of the regular Goldeneye, and gave the beer a completely different feel. A quick straw poll found two votes on our table for each version…

Thanks to Nobles for hosting the event, and of course to Black Isle for the beers. Nobles Café Bar is on 44a Constitution Street – the number 16 goes right past, and stops outside. Stay tuned for our next tap takeover, as there are at least three happening in Edinburgh during April. Follow our Twitter feed to keep up to date.

List-making is par for the course at this time of year – which explains our recent flurry of posts detailing our favourite new British beers. The trouble with compiling lists, however, is that you can’t add everything (unless it’s one of those Channel 4 shows like ‘the best 100 children’s breakfast cereals’). Listing our six – and I’m not sure why we decided on six – best new beers that were launched in 2011 left plenty out of the picture. But here they all are!

Well, we did actually mention Kernel IPA Double Black during our nomination of stablemate IPA 100 Centennial. It was almost a coin-flip decision on which of the two made it – they were both sublime. Other beers put out by brewers who made it into the top six were RedWillow Ageless, and Tempest Citra and Canyonero. Ageless in particular drew great praise in 2011.

Looking at Kelso’s Tempest Brewing – Canyonero was one of the more remarkable beers I’ve had for ages. On the face of it, a 5.9% bitter. But the Pacific Jade and Wai-iti hops produced all kinds of aromas and flavours – oak, vanilla, pepper, toffee, spices. Staying in Scotland, this year was a fine one for Black Isle – and their new Scotch Ale and Black Stout could make 2012 their best year yet. They could have made the list, easily.

One of the most blogged-about brewers of the year weren’t represented either – Huddersfield’s Magic Rock. Yorkshire pundits featured them heavily in their ‘best of’ lists – and with good reason. Human Cannonball, Dark Arts, High Wire – all superbly drinkable, and from a pretty much brand-new producer, Magic Rock have really hit the ground running.

Other great new beers that debuted in 2011 – Fyne Ales Sublime Stout, Meantime Yakima Red, Dark Star Carafa Jade and Thwaites Old Dan. Give me each of those on a night out, and I’d be a happy man indeed. The last twelve months have been a great vintage for British brewing – let’s hope the next twelve are even better…

If you have a standout new beer – then let us know in the comments section. Next up on the BeerCast, our annual Christmas Special podcast – our panel get to grips with six festive beers. After that, we preview our most important BeerCast of the year – our fifth annual Beer of the Year Show. Stay tuned…

Red Kite, released into the wild (etc)

For a brewery to make that next step, several things need to happen. Firstly, building on a solid base, to make the leap they clearly need a great brewer. Someone onboard who really knows their onions. From this, diversity is key – be consistent with the flagships, but look to other methods of production, other recipe ideas. Then you need to tell people about it – get the message and the brand out there. Finally, keep those elements together, and then build on them – get more brewspace, better people, a brighter message. An example? The Black Isle Brewery.

Located in the Highlands just north of Inverness, Black Isle were established by David Gladwin in 1998 on the non-island of the same name. Their focus from the start was on the local and the organic. Having been blessed with a great location, surrounding farmland was put to use and the brewery estate grew. Steadily building the brand and the idea, their beers were session strength and traditional at first, before the arrival of the mighty 7% Hibernator III in 2006. They then began to dabble in hosting beer festivals, before a major brewery expansion was first mooted in 2007.

The news page of their website runs back for almost ten years, so it’s possible to follow these developments chronologically. 2008 seems to have been a year when the brewery took another step, releasing all kinds of new beers – Imperial Oatmeal Stout (8.5%), Goldeneye (5.6%), Highland Heavy (6.8%), and winning awards from the likes of the soil association. The organic, locally produced ethos was clearly getting through – and the range of beers on offer was clearly increasing.

Fast forward somewhat, and 2011 could similarly be a banner year for Black Isle. Having finally opened their £1m brewhouse, they have secured an export market to Sweden with the increased capacity. Ex-BrewDog Sales Manager Chris Mair joined, to become Sales and Marketing Manager – resulting in many more Edinburgh pubs stocking Black Isle products than ever before. Then, they took the big leap and appointed ex-Marble Production Manager Colin Stronge to be their Head Brewer.

One of the first things Colin did was tweak the recipe of the flagship Yellowhammer. Clearly, he’s a man not afraid to put his own stamp on things – and a flurry of new beers has already appeared from the Black Isle. Having the shiny new brewery, the old kit has been put to use for small, experimental batches – and with creativity running riot the brewery decided to host a total takeover of Edinburgh’s Cloisters Bar to showcase their new offerings. So it was we turned up there at 4:50pm to bag the only free table available (for an event that started at 7pm).

One of my favourites on the night wasn’t even new (only to me) – Altared State is a classic Black Isle-style red ale, great caramel edge with plenty of toffee. It may actually be called Altered State, but I think the pump clip had that extra ‘a’ in there. Coffee Porter had plenty of ashy tobacco flavour in with the coffee, and the other new cask beer present – the 6.5% Scotch Ale – was even better. Deep ruby black, sweet plummy fruit and a finishing touch of boozy oak and chocolate.

Of all the Scottish breweries (with the exception of their neighbours in Aberdeenshire), Black Isle are doing most to embrace the keg. Their Blonde Lager is my girlfriend’s favourite beer (which we now refer to simply as ‘Bib’). We got through four others on the night – the pale amber Goldeneye, peppery Chilli Porter, Black Stout and Pacific Red. The Porter’s chilli flavour became far more prominent as the beer warmed from the keg, becoming really noticeable.

The Black Stout rolls in at a Treasury-tastic 7.4%, and is long and bitter on the finish. The alcohol’s there, but never too much. It’s a touch spiky from the CO2, but as the beer warms the smoky, chocolate flavours really come out, leaving peppery liquorice on the palate. The Pacific Red, is quite frankly, bizarre. On keg – hazy red, tart, raspberry flavour. On cask at the Red Squirrel the next day – toffee, caramel malt, berry fruit – but more raspberries. Fascinating Sorachi-esque stuff.

Quite obviously, Black Isle are on an upward trend. As their beers become more ubiquitous in Scotland – and elsewhere – this can only continue…

Long name, long story. For those of you outwith the range of the culinary-tentacled beast that is BBC’s MasterChef, it’s essentially the X-Factor of cooking. There are several series, staged concurrently so they never overlap – one for celebrities, one for young chefs, and one for Joe Public. The most recent series was the latter of these, and it was won (gasp) by an American – and a beer-lovin’ Anglophile American at that. Tim Anderson, then manager of the Euston Tap, wowed all with his wacky fusion cuisine, and was head and shoulders over the other contestants.

Being a beery sort, and clearly a supremely gifted chef, Tim has recently turned his spatula to pairing dinners – one at Aberdeen’s Musa with BrewDog, and one at Edinburgh’s Caley Sample Room with Black Isle. As part of the event, the lucky Wisconsonian also brewed a special beer with each of the two producers. At BrewDog he came up with a 7.5% miso and walnut-infused schwarzbier called Mr Squirrel. With Black Isle he dreamed up a 7% smoked chilli doppelbock – Red Hot Chilli Bock.

Clearly an imaginative chap, the Chillibock was debuted at the Caley Sample Room pairing dinner – which alas the BeerCast was/were unable to attend. However, unlike the Mr Squirrel, the beer is now out in bottled form, so we managed to pick one up and put it to the test. Run as a limited edition, ours was number 73/864 (I can only imagine what 864 would taste like – plenty of chilli in there, I’ll bet). It poured a deep brownish black, and quite a thick pour at that. A frothy off-white head formed almost immediately.

The first thing of note was the aroma – highly peppery, like ground black pepper, which really tore through everything else. On tasting, you realise just how complex the beer is. Firstly, spicy peppercorn and a touch of sweet smoke, before that smoke builds until the finish – which is snatched away by the chilli. The more you have, the more smoke becomes evident, but the chilli really follows every time. It’s not red hot, but it’s definitely there. After a while, it catches the throat quite a bit. There’s certainly a buzz about it.

But is it nice? I guess that depends on whether you like the idea or not. It’s brilliantly put together – all of the big components are there, they all follow on from each other. It’s highly inventive. But again, is it nice? Well, no. Not really. It’s just too much – pepper, smoke and chilli. Pepper, smoke and chilli. Pepper, smoke and chilli. After a while, it simply beats you into submission.

For as long as anyone can remember, the drink of choice when eating out has been wine (with optional jug of tap water). Pairing food with wine is seen as the natural option – even the bargain boozer knows the ‘white with fish, red with meat’ rule. But slowly, things are changing. The idea of beer and food pairing is becoming increasingly commonplace, as both chefs and brewers alike become more experimental. In the States, the Craft Beer movement has really pushed this link, and pairing dinners have become more mainstream.

It’s easy to see why – wine has a classy (if not snooty) reputation that beer – the working-class cousin – can only dream of. Proving that the flavours in beer can match with something other than peanuts infers legitimacy on the brewers’ art, helping close that gap. Why not serve beer with food? Well, as much as I love both, I’ve always erred on the side of caution – in my experience the multiple complex flavours involved tend to cancel each other out in a way wine does not (although maybe that says more about my knowledge of wines).

Last night it was time to put all that to the test, as Edinburgh’s Caley Sample Room hosted a beer and food pairing event with the Black Isle Brewery. Hosted by Black Isle’s new sales manager Chris, the evening began with a welcome pint of their brand new Dolphin. A hoppy, citrusy session beer created for Black Isle’s recent brewery festival (or as Chris put it, ‘knocked up in twenty minutes’), it went down tremendously well – even more so when he explained that the name refers to donations made to a local dolphin charity when the beer was developed.

Then it was time for the food to come out – five organic courses, each matched with a Black Isle beer. Ingredients for the meal were sourced either locally or from the brewery farm in Ross-shire. First up, the appetiser – Hibernator smoked oyster, paired with Hibernator Oatmeal Stout (7.0%). Kicking things off with a bang, the enormous flavour of the wood-smoked oyster matched really well with the mighty oatmeal stout. The beer mellowed that smokiness somewhat, but managed to hold on at the same time.

Next – a crab and ginger tart with chilli jam, paired with Black Isle’s 4.0% Yellowhammer Pale Ale. Brewed with Cascade hops, Yellowhammer has a good bitterness to it – but at 4% I was wondering if the sessionable nature would be able to cope with the flavours from the dish. The crab tart – which was outstanding – was rich and almost creamy, with the sharp sweetness of the chilli jam working perfectly to cut through it. Against all that, the Yellowhammer took a bit of a battering, which was understandable.

The main course was roast shoulder of lamb, marinated in honey and herbs, and paired with Red Kite Amber ale (4.2%). Organically reared on the brewery farm, the shoulder – not a usual cut – was really tender and tasted fantastic. Lamb is one of the richest and fattiest of the red meats, and the bitterness of the Red Kite came through nicely. Slightly sweet from the marinade, the pairing was bang on. The dish featured sugar snap peas, boiled potatoes and sweet potato mash, which with my Gregg Wallace hat on I found slightly strange.

Time for dessert next, which for me is always the point I start to wonder about beer and food pairing. Can anything other than a sweet wine match to a pudding? Admittedly, I’ve never tipped a slug of Three Floyds Darklord over my ice cream, but time for an open mind. The dish was gooseberry tart with ginger and syrup ice cream, and the beer Heather Honey Ale (5.0%). At first, the beer was noticeably sweet, but the food took this away slightly and made it more bitter, which complemented the gooseberries. The tart was great, and the ginger and syrup ice cream unbelievable – without doubt the highlight of the entire meal.

The final course was the artisan cheese board, served with Black Isle Porter (4.6%), which is one of my favourite Scottish dark beers. The cheeses – Dunsyre Blue, East Lothian organic Brie, Applewood smoked cheddar and a chive-based one with a name I didn’t catch – were tremendous, and again worked well with the beer. The fatty nature took the roastiness out of the porter, and brought the bitterness up instead. Being the cheesehound that I am, it was a great way to end the meal.

Or so I thought, as at the same time a digestif arrived in the form of Export Scotch Ale (7.9%), another new beer recently released by Black Isle. Chris explained that the expansion of the business into a new brewhouse has freed up the original kit for more experimental beers, big hitters, limited release specials and so forth. Clearly that’s good news for everyone – the Export Scotch was my beer of the night. A great roasty component, mellowed with the boozy hit – there was a sweet, yeasty edge going on as well, with a lovely smooth finish. My girlfriend – whose favourite Black Isle beer is kegged Blonde – also said it was the best of the night.

With that, we wandered off with happily groaning stomachs – huge thanks to the guys at the Caley Sample Room for hosting the event, and to Chris at Black Isle for doing the pairings. We hear there may be others in the pipeline, so rest assured we’ll be there to pass on our thoughts. As for me, maybe my beer/food scepticism is fading somewhat – there could be something in this…

Black Isle Brewery
Caley Sample Room