The BeerCast

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.

With the latest RateBeer tasting coming only a few days after the end of the GBBF at Earl’s Court, it always threatened to be a big one. So it proved, as a combination of guest bloggers and GBBF-engorged suitcases resulted in twenty-five beers being drunk over the course of six hours. 25! Thankfully it was a week-end, so the tasting became relatively consequence-free. I say relatively, of course. Many thanks, as ever to Craig for hosting and providing most of the beers, also several from Steve at Beers I’ve Known were really good indeed.

We began with one of those – Holgate The Empress (10%), hailing from a Victoria brewery that few around the table (Australians excepted) had heard of. What a way to start – a chocolatey imperial stout, with a sweetness that gave it a chocolate brownie flavour. That may get a touch sweet after a while, but on a sample it was tremendous. We followed that with another couple of dark ones – Sierra Nevada Fritz and Ken’s Stout (9.2%), and Deschutes The Abyss 2010 Reserve (11%). The latter was a touch bourbony for me, but the SN was lovely.

Into the specials next, with the raspberry juice flavours of Redoak Framboise Froment (5%), the lemon juice flavours of Pretty Things Jack D’Or Saison (6.4%), and the Demerara sugar flavours of Sierra Nevada Brewer’s Reserve Grand Cru (7.8%). Other highlights included the remarkable O’Hanlon’s Special Reserve 2010 (12.9%) – walloping booze mixed with sweet, woody caramel – and New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red (4%), which reminded me of the triangle of mulchy jam in a cherry Muller Fruit Corner.

Next up, 3 Fonteinen Oude Gueze 2007 (6%) – a violently fruity Belgian sour, which was more dry than puckering – and very lime cordial-esque. The darker beers then came back – we fired through Brooklyn Black Ops (10.7%), Struise Pannepeut 2006 (10%), SKA Nefarious Ten Pin (8%) and Avery Czar Imperial Stout (11.6%) in short order – the Brooklyn being the pick, extremely well-balanced throughout – unlike the Ten Pin, which didn’t really do it for me.

British beers came next, as we sampled Marble’s Manchester Tripel (9%) – very nice, quite zesty. Tasted like a strong IPA at first, but the Belgian flavours appeared on the aftertaste. Kernel Pale Ale Riwaka (4.9%) showcases a hop I’d not heard of until recently, but it was lovely. Refreshing citrus and grapefruit. However, Kernel’s Pale Ale Mount Hood was frighteningly bitter – so much so that it dominated every other component, and was overly sharp. I think that’s my seventeenth different Kernel beer, and finally I found one I don’t like.*

The next slab of dark American beers came and went – Full Sail Imperial Stout (7.5%) was a highlight, a classic roasty coffeeish boozefest. South Oregon Pinup Porter (5.5%) and Pelican The Perfect Storm 2009 didn’t quite match up – the Pinup because of the abv (although it would make a terrific session porter – we’re not alcohol whores here). The Pelican was a barrel-aged barley wine, a style I just can’t get along with – whisky, syrup and woody sweetness in spades.

That was about it – by now it was approaching 1am and the tasting notes were getting a little out of focus. I’d also sustained a minor shoulder injury after being shot by the cork from one of the Sierra Nevada reserves (ceiling ricochet – we all accept the risks in this business). We had time for an Imperial Rye Munich Ale – which is a new style in my book (Short’s Brew Ginger in the Rye), and a very nice big NZIPA from Epic (Mayhem at 6.2%). To be honest, ‘very nice’ is about all I can remember.

Thanks again to Craig for hosting – you can get a second opinion of the tasting at Steve’s blog here. Considering I’d put away 25 beers, I felt pretty chipper – a new record…!

*Not that I was looking, of course. 16/17 is a pretty outstanding strike rate

I’m not sure what the collective noun would be for a group of beer writers – although there are so many archaic terms relating to brewing that at least one of them might fit (a ‘sparge’ of beer writers?). An alternative would be a ‘twissup’ of beer writers; one of which took place in the fine city of York over the weekend. A Twissup is Twitter-planned meet-up (or p*ss-up, if you prefer) of assorted bloggers who arrive en masse in a startled city to swap stories, put faces to websites, and of course drink plenty of beer. We’re big fans of the York drinking scene here at the BeerCast, so Shovels and myself went down to join in.

The very long day began at noon with a tour of the York Brewery. We’ve done that before, but it’s always interesting to poke around a brewery, and Mick the head brewer was so amusing in his delivery that the tour was highly entertaining. It was bookended by a couple of their products of course, so beforehand we sampled Motueka – which Mick cheerfully said he could never pronounce and had never even tried; and after the tour we tried First Light. Both were what York do best – pale golden session beers, and the frankly delicious Motueka was definitely the pick.

From there, it was through a Narnia-esque hidden passage to the back of Brigantes and a pretty average Brass Monkey Bitter, which had a unusual coppery flavour. Cafe Pivni (Pivo as was) was the next destination – one of our favourite drinking destinations in York, as there’s always something interesting on. Even a large array of BrewDog beers didn’t slow us down as there was plenty more on offer. I say this because of course coming down from Scotland we have many opportunities to sample BrewDog’s beer – but less to try Camden Town’s Camden Pale Ale, which was lovely. Pivni had only last week replaced Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with this British equivalent, and I think others agree with us that it was a great decision, even considering the class of SNPA.

Also at Pivni we caught up with Ann from the Hardknott Brewery – part of Cumbria’s flourishing microbrewery scene. Keen to differentiate themselves from the others, Hardknott concentrate on more unusual brews – as they say “there’s more to beer than just ale”. While we were chatting to Ann about the brewery, she passed round some samples of their 2010 Ӕther Blӕc, a rich and boozy barrel aged imperial stout. We’d actually already got hold of four of their beers for a future podcast, so check back in a few weeks for our Hardknott Brewery Showcase.

After a brief pitstop at the House of the Trembling Madness for a pint of Brooklyn Lager, the next stop was the Rook and Gaskill just outside the city walls. With the ceiling adorned with old pump clips, it reminded me of the Market Porter in Borough, and had a huge range of ales on. By this point we were chatting to members of the York University Real Ale Society and to Gavin Aitchison, beer columnist of the York Press. With several local guides we then launched into an impromptu outer walls pub crawl, scurrying over the road to the Waggon and Horses (which according to Beer in the Evening is 0.0 miles away).

With Gavin having taken everyone under his wing, we had a great couple of darker ales in the Waggon, served by the friendly landlord Paul Marshall. Ascot Penguin Porter and Revolutions Kraftwerk both went down really well, the latter from a music-themed brewery that specialises in dark ales, and only produces beers with abv’s of 3.3, 4.5 and 7.8% to match the old vinyl notations. Kraftwerk was an extremely drinkable brown (or ‘Braun’) ale with a lovely bitter malty finish.

From there, we still had another four pubs to visit, so we headed through to the Phoenix, and then the Slip, the Swan and finally the Golden Ball. York has some fantastic historical pubs in the city centre – such as the classic Blue Bell – but those just outside the walls also have many of the original features, or like the Phoenix have had them restored. We’ll be putting together another edition of our York Pub Guide to take these into account, as they all deserve a visit. As for the beers, Ilkley Mary Jane, Five Towns Vintage 51, Salamander Dr Awkward and Osset Corker rounded off the day in some style.

So that was it for the twissup – twelve hours of drinking and chatting, during which time we managed to get through sixteen beers and ten pubs. Many thanks to Gavin and the lads from the York Real Ale Society for the evening pub tour, and to everyone Shovels and myself chatted to during the course of the day/night. The next twissup is rumoured to be in Edinburgh in October – being the BeerCast’s hometown expect us to be leading the course around several of our local pubs…

Greetings,

As John mentioned in his comment, lager has been somewhat under-represented of late so here’s an indication that Americans arent totally clueless when it comes to beer.

In the 1800′s Brooklyn was home to over 45 breweries, producing a wide variety of beers. The onset of Prohibition in 1920 (one of the American governments dafter ideas) put paid to that, but the Brooklyn Brewery, established in 1987, is trying to retain some of the old traditions.

They produce a few different beers but i’m trying the Brooklyn Lager for the purposes of this post. Check out their (very loud) website for more details. Its their original and best-selling beer, an amber lager that displays a firm malt centre supported by a fine bitterness and floral hop aroma (it says here).

I like this, its a good lager – quite dark with pronounced maltiness and real flavour. This is the anti-Budweiser. At 5.2% it packs a decent punch as well. Unlike some of the other North American beers so i’ve tried so far you might even be able to find it in the UK, although i’m not entirely sure of that.

As ever, happy drinking…

Brooklyn Brewery