The BeerCast

The latest addition to the growing BrewDog empire arrived quietly last night, with the laid-back opening of BrewDog Edinburgh. Following the original in Aberdeen, the second branded bar for the Fraserburgh operation opened with a very unBrewDog-like ‘soft’ launch – primarily to check everything worked before the official launch in a few days. The BeerCast were there to check it out of course, it being on our home patch – and a quiet Tuesday night turned into a marathon eleven-beer session. It’s what BrewDog would have wanted.

Situated in the rough and tumble Cowgate the first impressions are that it’s smaller than I was expecting – and a good deal colder with the crazy aircon maxed out. It looks a treat with all the exposed pipes and reclaimed brickwork, very much the North American brewpub feel about it. BeerCaster MrB – who has also visited the Aberdeen bar – told me it’s very similar in layout and despite what I was saying, is actually larger than their flagship.

There were a few opening night niggles – the card machines weren’t working, and some of the beers on the menu hadn’t arrived – but everything considered the launch went really smoothly. Speaking of the beer – there’s a lot of choice on offer. Five BrewDog beers on keg font, including the new Punk IPA and the Belgianified Punk Monk – plus three guest imperial stouts (more on them later) and a whole host of bottles.

Laid out behind the bar – which is unadorned by any cask handpumps, of course – a selection of imported brews from the US, Europe and some select British brewers (such as the Kernel, which unfortunately hadn’t arrived as yet). Priced by the bottle – starting at £4 for a 330ml – some of them really weren’t cheap, the larger 22oz American beers will probably (depending on how scarce they are) set you back £8-£12. MrB picked up three beers and it cost him £30.

I don’t think this is a real problem, however – these are all pretty rare beers not available in any other Edinburgh bar. BrewDog pride themselves on being different, and they have achieved this in spades here – so much so that they totally changed the way we drink. Usually in a round, one of the four of us goes to the bar and buys four pints. Last night, we were buying one drink and getting four glasses. It’s like having a tasting session, in a bar.

The beers were awesome – in order, I managed to put away Mikkeller Vesterbo Kaffestout (on keg), Nogne Pale Ale, Nogne Red Horizon, Port Brewing Hop-15, Mikkeller Coffee IPA, Nogne Imperial Brown Ale, Mikkeller Spontankriek, Mikkeller 10, Three Floyds Jinxproof, Alesmith Yulesmith and Cantillon Vignerone. My goodness. I challenge anyone to have a better beer night than that yesterday in Edinburgh. It was like being at Craig Garvie’s house (except without the sci-fi artwork).

The picks of that particular bunch were the pummelling Nogne Red Horizon – a 17% sake-yeast infused monster, Alesmith’s Christmas Double IPA which was magnificently hopped, and pretty much all of the Mikkeller beers (which is why we tried so many). Spontankriek was just fantastic, tongue-curlingly sour, but still so drinkable – and the 10 was like drinking a blend of tuck shop Fruit Salads. And the Cantillon – just lovely.

So our verdict on the new BrewDog bar? They were after somewhere different, not wanting to copy the many great pubs Edinburgh already has. Well, they have certainly achieved it. It’ll get very busy because of size and location, so there won’t ever be a shortage of customers. The bar looks a treat, very much in keeping with the BrewDog ethos. Some will balk at the prices – but this, unfortunately, is the way these beers are going. You can get Punk IPA or 5AM Saint for £3.20 a pint, which is pretty standard these days. However, the bottled selection alone makes it worth the visit.

Cantillon are the last remaining lambic brewery in Brussels, and on my recent trip to Belgium I managed to make the trip to where it all happens and have a look round. For a few Euros you get a self-guided tour around their facilities and then have a taste of two of their beers. Guides only take around pre-arranged tours, but fortunately for us there was one of those going on, so we did a bit of eavesdropping to augment the ten-page booklet given out. Established in 1900, they use the same equipment (see photo below of the original red copper cooling vessel, still going strong), and traditional methods. Continuing in the hands of the same family, Cantillon and their distinctive ‘man overbalancing on chair’ logo are found throughout Belgium.

Obviously I’ve been to a few breweries in my time, but never a lambic producer – only a small corner of Belgium can claim to produce this distinctive style of aged beer (the Senne Valley area south west of Brussels is the heartland). The mash tuns look like any others, the process is the same until the wort has had the hops cooked and removed, when it is pumped into what looks like a giant pie dish for the magic to happen. Here it is cooled (during the night and only between October and April) with window shutters open to allow the airflow to bring naturally-occurring windblown yeasts into contact. Then it’s placed into wood barrels for the fermentation to take hold. In truth, there are more microorganisms in the barrel wood than arrive on the breeze, but it all helps. The beer is then aged for three years once the barrels are sealed (they are left open for three days to vent the carbon dioxide in case of explosion). But what does it taste like? The samples we were given were their Gueuze and their Framboise, Rosé de Gambrinus.

Cantillon Gueuze 100% Lambic (5.0%)
A blend of one, two and three year old lambic, the Gueuze is their stock beer and is a classic Belgian style. It’s also famously something of an acquired taste, particularly for a Brit like me raised on bitters and stouts. It was poured for us at the brewery serving area, and was (as you can see from the photo) totally opaque and extremely hazy, almost peachy in colour. A vinegary tartness dominated the aroma, with gooseberries and other sharp fruit coming out. On the palate it was colossally sour, extremely bitter with an acid tartness. My girlfriend gave up after a couple of sips, so I had both and managed to get through them, but I’m not going to deny it was a struggle. I can see why lambics are revered, but I’ll clearly need to drink a lot more before I get a taste for them.

Rosé de Gambrinus (5.0%)
The other Cantillon we got to sample was their blend of two-year old lambic and raspberries. The fruit is added for between five and six months, then before bottling more young lambic is added to promote refermentation. This one was unsurprisingly a deep, cloudy pink colour with a tart raspberry sourness on the nose. This comes through on the taste as well, which is predominantly the sour lambic with a rising bitter fruitiness at the end. It’s like mistakenly eating a green raspberry from a bush – but the fruit gives it a more forgiving finish than the straight Gueuze. These are challenging beers, no doubt about it, and ones that any beer lover should try – even if they aren’t immediately accessible like other styles.