The BeerCast

Merry Christmas from the BeerCast to all of our readers and listeners – and not to forget the brewers who make everything happen! In this, our fourth annual BeerCast Christmas Special podcast, we review six seasonal beers and give our thoughts – both on the ale itself and the ‘Christmassy Factor’ of the label (i.e. whether looking at the bottle puts us in the festive mood).

First up we have Fyne Ales Holly Daze (5.0%) from Argyll, before we head to California for Anchor Special Ale 2010 (5.5%) – the fifth version of their winter beer to feature on the BeerCast. Our third festive cracker is Odell Isolation Ale (6.1%), before we head to Germany to sample the oak-smoked delights of Schlenkerla Eiche Doppelbock (8.0%). Our penultimate beer this time is Titanic Christmas Ale (7.6%) from Stoke-on-Trent, and we finish with another Scottish beer – the 8.5% Santa’s Madness from the Madcap Brewery in Dumfries-shire. On the festive panel are Richard, MrB, Grooben and Shovels.



1. Holly Daze (5.0%abv)
Fyne Ales, Cairndow, Argyll.
500ml glass bottle

Fyne Ales are rapidly becoming a Scottish brewing institution, and 2010 has seen them push their expanding range of bottled ales, as well as producing the much-praised Fynebridge Black IPA with ex-Thornbridge brewer Kelly Ryan. We’re unashamed fans of Fyne here at the BeerCast – MrB grew up a few dozen miles from the brewery, and their strong cask presence in Edinburgh pubs is always a welcome sight. Holly Daze is their Christmas offering and was recently released in 500ml bottles.

What They Say -
“An antidote to Christmas. No strange spices, just a really good stronger beer with a crisp fruity hop flavour and plenty of malt. A refreshing beer to clear the palate.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB – A hoppy hit with a spicy something 8
Richard – It’s got a smoky aftertaste which I quite like 7
Grooben – Fruity notes and peaty overtones, the usual high standards from Fyne Ales 7
Shovels – I love the nice fruity aroma, I don’t know what category it fits into though 6

Label Christmas Rating
1/10 – The label looks like all their others, but it is called Holly Daze (Grooben)

2. Anchor Special Ale 2010 (5.5%abv)
Anchor Brewery, San Francisco.
535ml glass bottle

It wouldn’t be a BeerCast Christmas Special without the latest special festive ale from Anchor. Each year they produce a highly secret recipe, slightly different from all previous years – the 2010 vintage is the 36th in the series. The 2006 edition topped our beer rankings for a long time, and was eventually crowned beer of the year in our 2007 Beer of the Year show, (during which we also tasted the 2007 one). The 2008 version also scored well, before a dip last year with the 2009. There are never any tasting notes as the San Francisco concern keep the exact ingredients classified, but expect spices, piney freshness and all kinds of winter flavours.

What They Say -
“Chestnut in colour, with a hint of Christmas fruit and spice. This traditional ale is a real winter warmer.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Shovels – I could have two or three of these in a session 7½
Richard – Has a woody, sprucey, sap-like flavour to it 6½
Grooben – I like the Christmas tree flavours, it needs more body 6½
MrB – It’s like spicy Christmas flavoured water – I don’t think the flavour is that bad, it’s just the body 2

Label Christmas Rating
7/10 – It is just a tree, but to us this beer is now synonymous with Christmas (Shovels)

3. Isolation Ale (6.1%abv)
Odell Brewery, Fort Collins, Colorado.
355ml glass bottle

In 1989 Doug Odell decided to take his passion for home brewing into something more commercial. Together with his wife Wynne they left Seattle (where Doug had been brewing in his kitchen) and moved to Colorado to be nearer to his sister Corkie and start a brewery together. This they did in that same year, producing beer for the thirsty college town of Fort Collins. In 1996 they acquired the facility to bottle their output, and shipped across the United States. They have a large range of English-style classics and seasonals – we sampled their Cutthroat Porter in BeerCast #49 back in June.

What They Say -
“Available each winter from the first of November until it runs out, Isolation ale is amber in color, malty and strong. We consider it a traditional winter warmer, without the addition of fruits or spices.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Shovels – Balance of sweetness, hops and bitterness – brilliant 8½
MrB – Very fruity, almost like fruit punch, I’d guzzle this 8½
Richard – You can quibble about how wintry it is, it’s just a good beer 8
Grooben – So many breweries bung the spices in and think that’s good enough – this proves otherwise 8

Label Christmas Rating
4/10 Wintry rather than Christmassy – but Odell have the best labels in the business (Richard) There could be presents inside the cottage (MrB)

4. Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche Doppelbock (8.0%abv)
Brauerei Heller, Bamberg, Bavaria.
500ml glass bottle

If you wander the historic cobbled streets of the Franconian town of Bamberg, you might be lucky and come across the Schlenkerla brewery tavern (it’s in Dominikanerstrasse). This classic Bavarian eatery is a half-timbered, geranium-clad hostelry of the oldest style. It’s here that the ‘original’ smokebeer is produced, by mixing beechsmoked malts with water and hops. We sampled this famous Schlerkerla Rauchbier Märzen all the way back in BeerCast #8, resulting in one of the most infamous BeerCast quotes (and the first ever 0 score) from MrB – “It tastes like hot dogs in a blender”. Their winter release is smoked with oak rather than beech, to give a slightly different flavour.

What They Say -
“The complex smokiness in “Schlenkerla Oak Smoke” is paired with the multifaceted bitterness of finest Hallertau aroma hops. With 8% alcohol and Bernstein color it matures for months in the deep brewery cellars underneath Bamberg into a special treat for smoke beer lovers for Christmas.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Milder and sweeter than the Märzen, but still smoky 6
Grooben – This is the smokiest smoky beer 5½
MrB – I like hot-dogs, I don’t like them in a drink 2
Shovels – The smokiness goes eventually but you’re still left with the hot-dogs 1

Label Christmas Rating
1/10 – What makes this Christmassy apart from it’s green? (MrB)

5. Titanic Christmas Ale (7.6%abv)
Titanic Brewery, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
500ml glass bottle

The Titanic Brewery might hail from land-locked Stoke-on-Trent but they have a nearby famous (or infamous) son. Captain Edward John Smith – who steered the Titanic to it’s ill-fated maiden voyage – was born in nearby Etruria. Founded in Burslem in 1985, the Titanic Brewery is currently owned by brothers Dave and Keith Bott who joined together to take over production in 1988 when the original owner ran into difficulties. Many of their beers have a naval theme – Steerage, Iceberg and Lifeboat.

What They Say -
“This sweet malty winter ale has a port-like aroma, oranges and lemons play around the edges of the tongue whilst dried fruit and cinnamon drive home the wonderful warming effect, the walnut aftertaste completes this slice of Christmas time in a glass.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Lambic sharpness, I just don’t know if it’s right 2
Shovels – I get blood oranges with grapefruit, and that’s it 2
Grooben – It ain’t no Christmas cake, that’s for sure 2
MrB – Tastes of lemons and oranges, I’m not saying it’s good 2

Label Christmas Rating
2/10 The Titanic on a red background is not Christmas (Grooben)

6. Madcap Christmas (8.5%abv)
Madcap Brewery, Annan, Dumfries-shire.
330ml glass bottle

One of the tiniest breweries in Scotland is the Madcap Brewery in Annan, a few miles southeast of Dumfries. All of their beers are released from 200 litre batches produced on equipment housed in a garden shed. They supply local pubs with cask ales, and also release a few bottles when time (and capacity) allows. These are uniformly strong and interesting – none of their bottled range weighs in at less than 7%abv. Their festive offering – Santa’s Madness comes in at 8.5%.

What They Say -
“Created in the style of a dark and malty, strong scotch ale, with the addition of selected seasonal spices to compliment the festive season.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Liquorice then smoke, this would go well with mince pies 5
Shovels – Three flavours – smoke, liquorice and monkey nuts 3½
Grooben – Aftertaste of those raw monkey nuts 1
MrB – Much more concentrated, really don’t like it 1

Label Christmas Rating
8/10 – Reindeer and baubles – what could be more Christmassy? (Richard)

Panellists – (clockwise from top left) Grooben, MrB, Shovels, Richard

BeerCast panel verdict
Odell Isolation Ale 33/40
Fyne Ales Holly Daze 28/40
Anchor Special Ale 2010 22½/40
Aecht Schlenkera Eiche Doppelbock 14½/40
Madcap Christmas 10½/40
Titanic Christmas Ale 8/40

Please keep those comments and emails coming in – thanks for all your comments this year. Our final podcast of 2010 is the big one – our fourth annual BeerCast Beer of the Year show. This time, we’ll have five of the highest scoring beers from our podcasts this year, sampled by a specially extended panel. Stay tuned for a BOTY preview…

Yesterday we went south of the border for our second best new British beer of 2010 – Thornbridge’s awesome 7.7% imperial stout Saint Petersburg. Today we come back north to bring you the third in our best of 2010 series (in order of release) – the star of June’s Scottish Real Ale Festival, a golden session beer from Argyll.



Fyne Ales Jarl (4.0%)
Fyne Ales, Cairndow, Argyll
(cask only, released June 2010)

Every once in a while a beer turns up that proves why British beers are the best in the world. It’s all very well singing the praises of mighty abv concoctions (which we’re guilty of as much as the next beer website) – but people who snub ‘weaker’ beers for Imperial balsamic-infused walnut porters are missing out. Sometimes a beer like Jarl, the 4% summer seasonal from Argyll’s Fyne Ales, comes along and reminds you that session beers need not be bland or insipid.

One reason for this could be the involvement of one of the breakout hops of 2010 – Citra. This Sierra Nevada-backed powerhouse screams pineapple and tropical fruit from the off, with a lovely slightly bitter grapefruity aftertaste. Jarl was created for Fyne Ales’ summer beer festival in June, and made it down to Edinburgh for the annual SRAF – in fact it was so new it wasn’t even in the official guide. The Viking-themed Jarl (named after the Norse Earls who battled for much of Scotland) was definitely the find of the festival.

We’ve visited Fyne Ales a few times, as BeerCaster MrB hails from nearby Ardrishaig (nearby in Argyll terms, i.e. 30 miles away at the other end of the loch). The Delaps have been quietly winning plaudits and expanding their range further south for a few years now, which is great to see. Last month they collaborated on a beer with ex-Thornbridge brewer Kelly Ryan (who once worked at Fyne). FyneBridge Black IPA was very well received in London, and has recently been spotted at the Three Judges in Glasgow. They have also announced planning approval for a brewery tap, which is fantastic news for the future.




Join us tomorrow for the next in our ‘best of new brews’ feature. Due to the popularity of Jarl, Fyne Ales have decided to add it to their regular range from January 2011 on cask and February 2011 in bottles.

Fyne Ales website

Following the announcement that Highland Orkney Blast was awarded the 2010 Champion Beer of Scotland, it was time to pay a visit to the festival as a punter and sample some of the new and unusual beers on offer this year. Nobody attends the SRAF to drink Deuchars IPA, after all. As ever, the larger ballroom was opened up to escape the warm atmosphere of the main hall – providing a rather ornate backdrop to the business of drinking beer. I got there to find the rest of the guys drinking the aforementioned CBoS from Orkney – the third time in four years Rob Hill’s brewery has won the title – and with three different beers.

Obviously, I’d had a sample of Orkney Blast already that day – check back later for my thoughts on judging the Champion Beer – so I set off to find something I’d never seen before. First to fit the bill was Fyne Ales Jarl (4.0%), which was so new it wasn’t in the official programme. We’re tremendous fans of Argyll’s finest at the BeerCast, having visited them a couple of times – and their Cairndow brewery recently hosted their own beer festival, at which they launched their latest beer – Jarl. It features a relatively new high alpha hop – Citra. First presented at the 2008 World Brewing Congress, the Sierra Nevada-backed hop gives a fabulous tropical fruit flavour to Jarl. It’s extremely sessionable, golden and with a lovely bitter grapefruity aftertaste to compliment the pineapple up front.

Next I went for a hometown tipple, and Caledonian’s Surf Sup (4.0%). Deuchars IPA may be ubiquitous, but their seasonals can sometimes slip between the cracks. Surf Sup is their ale for June, and is also citric and sessionable. At exactly the same abv as Jarl it was ripe for comparison. The hops give less of a ripe fruit taste, it’s more lemon zesty than mango. It’s also pretty good, but the addition of the Citra hops elevates Jarl over Surf Sup on points. My third beer was Linger (5.0%) from the newly-reborn Fowlers who brew out of the Prestongrange Gothenburg in Prestonpans. It certainly does linger – very hazy with a ginger aftertaste, it was pretty empty after the ginger hit. It may need a touch more refining.

The next round was the traditional ‘buy something for the BeerCaster to the left’ round – which results in an even mix of nutty bitters and 9% barleywines. For MrB I selected Broughton’s Champion Double Ale (5.0%) – the only blend on offer at the festival (strong ale mixed with porter), it was a bit rough around the edges, but drinkable. It was Shovels buying for me, and I ended up with a Traditional Scottish Ales Bannockburn (4.2%). Described as a pale, golden beer with a ‘thick, tight head’ it was almost totally flat and pretty insipid. TSA had brought eleven beers to the SRAF, but this one wasn’t one to savour.

Seeking a high note, I then went onto Raj IPA (5.5%), from the Tryst Brewery in Larbert. It scored very highly in BeerCast #49 (from the bottle), on cask at the festival it was just as good. A classic strong IPA with corresponding piney resinous hop flavours, it was really outstanding. It was interesting to see how the flavour differed between a chilled bottle and a warmer cask pint – either way it’s currently one of the best British IPA’s out there.

The final beer I sampled was a dark one – Islay Dun Hogs Head Ale (4.4%). The Islay brewery were founded on the whisky-loving island of the same name in 2003, and have seven ales in their range. They are pretty tough to find over here on the eastern side of Scotland, so I was keen to try at least one. The Dun Hogs is a dark, roasty stout with a really nice bitter finish complimented by some initial sweetness. It’s always good to end on a dark note, and Dun Hogs Head was a great way to end the festival.

Thanks to all at CAMRA for hosting the festival, we’ll be back next year to sample more local treats. Whilst the overall winner of the 2010 SRAF was Highland Orkney Blast (with Black Isle Hibernator second and Cairngorm’s Black Gold third), the beers that really stood out for me were Tryst Raj IPA and Fyne Ales Jarl. Thanks to everybody for checking the BeerCast during the festival, we’ll see you again for another beer festival in the near future.

The concept of seasonality is now one of the hallmarks of modern cooking, pushed to the general public by the ranks of TV chefs and foodie magazines. Everything has a ‘time of year’, whether it’s the British asparagus, salty samphire, or humble mackerel (as one BeerCaster asked for in a fancy Edinburgh fishmonger’s, only to be embarrassed in front of a queue of shoppers when told there were none in the sea at that time of year). But can this approach be transferred to beer? Hops are seasonal, certainly, but after the harvest they can be dried and used at any time. It’s down to the styles and types of beer that can be varied depending on what the calendar says.

Now that Autumn is on us, it’s time to change the attitude and go for something different. The long summer (or in our case, short summer) is over, so the time for light hoppy pale ales is over. No need for urgent, tingling refreshment on a hot day now the clocks have gone back (or forward, as I put mine by mistake). Autumn brings crunchy leaves, darker nights, cool windy afternoons – and should be celebrated by the glorious British bitter. There can’t be another brewing nation on earth that can put out a finer nutty, foaming brown ale than us Brits – and now’s the time to partake.

So until the winter arrives and we all move on to warming stouts and porters, and then Christmas beers with alcohol and spice (before celebrating the return of Spring with zesty golden ales), take time out for a fruity, toffee-ish best bitter. Let the rich mouthfeel and malt characteristics reward you after that long Autumnal walk, or spot of Christmas Shopping (it’s never to early – and most breweries have online stores). Here are five choice Scottish beers for the season – Bitters, Ruby Ales, ESB’s, Amber Ales – all styles are well suited to this time of year. As we head towards November – have a seasonal beer on us.

1. Maverick (4.2%abv)
Fyne Ales, Cairndow, Argyll.
Classic fruity mahogany ale from BeerCast favourites Fyne Ales.

2. Red Kite (4.2%abv)
Black Isle Brewery, Munlochy, Black Isle.
Technically an amber ale, organically brewed north of Inverness.

3. Red Squirrel (3.9%abv)
Arran Brewery, Brodick, Isle of Arran.
Nutty, malty beer that donates to Red Squirrel charities on Arran.

4. St Magnus Ale (4.5%abv)
Highland Brewing Company, Swannay, Orkney.
Another nutty one, but with more roast than the Red Squirrel.

5. Red MacGregor (4.0%abv)
Sinclair Orkney Brewery, Quoyloo, Orkney.
Fruity ruby ale, current silver medal Champion Beer of Scotland.

(looking slightly further afield, five English beers that would go down very well on an Autumn evening are Bath Ales Barnstormer, York’s Yorkshire Terrier, Bristol Beer Factory No.7, Fuller’s ESB, and Daleside Old Leg Over).

Grooben checking the beer list

Another day, another day at the beer festival. We returned to the Assembly Rooms for a second helping of the best of Scotland’s real ale, eager to see what else we could discover. The beers were pretty much the same as the day before, so we fired straight into the list sampling ones that had caught our eye from the Friday. The first beer I went for was the weakest in the entire festival – the traditional Scottish mild, Belhaven 60/- (2.9%). Brewed to a very old recipe, it was characteristically light and roasty. Milds always taste to me like watered-down porters, and this one was no exception. But as a delicate starter beer, it was a nice subtle start to the proceedings.

Next up it was the newest beer from Edinburgh’s other producer, Stewart’s Edinburgh Marathon Ale (4.2%). This family-run brewery from Loanhead make some great beers such as Pentland IPA and Edinburgh Gold, both of which were also at the festival – but Marathon was one I’d yet to sample. It was a very drinkable malty session bitter in the – dare I say it – ‘Northern style’. There was a touch of sweetness to it as well, which came through in the aftertaste. After that, I went for one I was looking forward to from the preview list – Plockton’s Starboard IPA (5.1%). One of Scotland’s smallest breweries, they are attached to the Plockton Inn in the Ross-shire village of the same name, and started up in 2007. Starboard is a strong hoppy IPA with a fantastic dry bitterness. It was pretty cloudy stuff, but that didn’t affect the taste at all – it was superb.

Beer four was one that was also highly rated – it had just been awarded the Champion Beer of Scotland for 2009, decided on the previous day. Sinclair Orkney’s Raven Ale (3.8%) won the top prize, becoming the third consecutive champion beer from that group of northern islands (following 2008′s Scapa Special and 2007′s Dark Munro, both from the Orkney Brewery). Their neighbours Sinclair Orkney did very well indeed this year, picking up second overall as well with Red MacGregor (third placed was Caledonian XPA). Raven had a sweet smell and taste, which was predominantly fruity with a growing biscuit aftertaste. It was nice, and certainly improved as you drank it, but for me there were better beers on show this year.

For example, Fyne Ales Vital Spark (4.4%) is a dark ruby ale with so much fruit in the malt it almost tastes of blackcurrants. The hops come and go, and the richness of flavour give it a great lasting finish. It’s fantastically drinkable, and a prime example of a session beer that isn’t pale and slightly hoppy. However, we learned at the festival about the sad death of Fyne Ale’s co-owner Jonny Delap. It was only a couple of months ago that we met him on a trip to Cairndow in Argyll to pick up some beers for a long weekend – he was such a friendly man and will be sadly missed.

The last beer I tried in the festival was Hillside/Deeside’s Broichan (5.2%). After thinking very highly of their Nechtan yesterday, the Broichan was just as interesting, although very different. A strong Scottish ale, this was fruity but not like Vital Spark – more pruney than blackcurrant. There was a smokiness to it as well – the tasting notes suggested it would be a “perfect beer for fireside drinking with cheese and oatcakes”. I don’t think you can argue with that, it was even pretty good when drunk around a rickety table on a Friday afternoon.

So that was it, another Scottish Real Ale Festival over. We managed to get through a huge amount of differing ales, with various degrees of success. The overall winners might have been Raven Ale, Red MacGregor and Caledonian XPA – but for us the standouts were Windie Goat’s Gutter Slab, Hillside/Deeside’s Nechtan, and Plockton’s Starboard IPA. We’ll hit the festivals again at August’s Great British Beer Festival in London. See you there…