The BeerCast

BrewDog made something of the splash yesterday, as they released the second slice of equity for prospective investors. Seeking to raise £2.2m to finance a new, carbon-neutral, brewery – there was certainly plenty of interest, if the Twitter flood was anything to go by. Kenny over at the Beer Monkey posted his thoughts on the implications of the deal – which, to be honest, doesn’t really float my boat (if you’ll pardon the pun) – but fair play to BrewDog for trying something different, and their legion of investors for supporting the company.

Personally, I’m just keen on the beer, rather than dabbling in financial markets. With that in mind, last night Edinburgh’s bloggerati (i.e. us and Craig from Make Mine a Half) gathered at the BrewDog Bar for a night devoted to the most successful style in modern brewing – the India Pale Ale. More often than not you’ll find the flagship of a US brewery to be an IPA, and the new wave of Atlantic-thinking European breweries are following suit. There are a few reasons for this – the increased variety of hops available, brewer’s desire to experiment, and the bitter, fruity bite makes them just so damn tasty.

There were plenty of examples on offer last night – in the past BrewDog Bar special events have been hit-and-miss affairs, with beer taking an age to appear or not being available. Not so with this one – straight in the door and the choice was between two of BrewDog’s (Punk and Hardcore IPA’s) and eight others *deep breath* Port Brewing Wipeout (7%) and Hop15 (10%), Flying Dog Snake Dog (7.1%), Evil Twin Before, During and After Xmas (10%), 8 Wired Hop Wired (7.3%), Mikkeller Koppi IPA (6.9%), 10 (6.9%) and 1000IBU Light (4.9%).

Clearly, if you’re a fan of imported hop-led beer, that’s a list that’s going to take a while to make a selection from. I started off with something I’d had before – the fantastic Mikkeller 10. From the bottle it’s akin to drinking liquid fruit salad – served cold on keg, the fruitiness takes a bit of a back seat – but it’s still outstanding. The blend of ten different hops is impossible to differentiate, but it’s a corker regardless. The 1000IBU Light is not, however. Pushing the hop envelope to the limit, and yet at session strength, it’s a total bitter bomb (although the clue was there in the name).

Next up, New Zealand’s 8 Wired brewery, and their all-kiwi ingredient Hopwired, which was fantastic. Crisper and with a different fruit edge to the American IPA’s – by design – the southern hemisphere hops give the beer quite a distinctive edge. Evil Twin’s BDA Xmas was even better, a riot of pineapple and grapefruit from the off. By this point, my palate had taken a battering (and I could still taste the 1000IBU). A couple of fruit lambics seemed like the obvious thing to do – hence Mikkeller Spontanredcurrant and Spontancassis. Harsh, acetic sourness from the first, harsh blackcurrant sourness from the second.

Job done, it was back to the draught IPA theme – and as luck would have it, the beer list had changed. The choice at this point was between the following – Southern Tier Oak-aged Unearthly IPA (11%), Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale (8.7%) and Cali-Belgique (6.9%) – and four 6.8% single-hop IPA’s from Mikkeller – Cluster, Warrior, Challenger and Galena. Well, having had both the Stone’s before it was the single-hop beers that caught my eye, and the Warrior was the pick of these. Mikkeller have nineteen in this series, so it was great to try some at last.

With that, it was time to head away – but not before a final beer. Or three. Produced at BrewDog’s facility in Fraserburgh for Denmark’s Evil Twin Brewery, Yin and Yang are 10% beers – one light, one dark – that can be drunk independently, or mixed together. It’s part clever marketing, part tremendous idea – a self-made black and tan. The light (Yang) is a double IPA, cloying sweet caramel – the dark (Yin) a roasty imperial stout. Combined, the sweetness mingles beautifully with the toasty flavours of the Yin – it’s really rather clever.

By this point, it really was time to leave, as I was entirely adamant that mixing two 10% beers together would create a 20% beer. To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure that it doesn’t…

You can check out what Kenny and Craig thought of the IPA Night here and here, respectively…

It’s Lagerboy’s station in life to chug his way through waves of yellow fizz – indeed, that’s what he thrives on. But just because he restricts himself to the see-though end of the spectrum doesn’t mean he has to sacrifice quality. Lager – that glorious process that results in cleaner, crisper beer – need not involve corn or rice. Crafted, bespoke lagers are out there now more than ever, and when it comes to reviewing them – there’s only one person fit for the job.

So it was that we let the froth-forward hoodlum loose on a lager from the most prolific (and talked about) brewer in Europe – Denmark’s Mikkeller. Founded in 2006 by two homebrewers – Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and Kristian Klarup Keller, they have released such noteworthy beers as 1000IBU, Beer Geek Breakfast, and Big Worse Barley Wine. Mikkel now runs things on his own, and with no brewery to call home, flits from one mash tun to another all over the continent.

It must be wonderful – essentially he can do pretty much anything he likes, brewing with contacts and collaborating with the likes of Stone, Alesmith, BrewDog, De Molen, Amager, and Nøgne Ø. The majority of Mikkeller beers are produced at De Proefbrouwerij in Belgium – and boy does he keep them busy. Last year, Mikkeller released almost eighty beers. And yes, at least one of those was a lager.

Mikkeller Czechet Pilsner is the recreation of an older beer of Mikkel’s – Tjekket Pilsner, which was originally produced in 2009 for a restaurant in Copenhagen. The new version is very similar – a Bohemian-style pilsner loaded to the gills with Saaz hops. It pours a deep, clear golden colour, and has a subtle grassy, fruity nose. The taste is crisp, and finishes with that sweet hop spice characteristic of the Saaz. Slightly earthy, the dry finish really makes this one stand out from the crowd…

Mikkeller website

Ever had nineteen beers in one night? How did you feel the next morning? Probably about as chirpy as I was the day after our latest RateBeer tasting at Craig Garvie’s. The Scottish king of the Tickers, every month or so Craig gathers people together at his house for an onslaught of outstanding beer. Thanks to his connections and fellow RateBeerians, there’s always an astonishing selection of the rare and famous on offer. This time was no exception…

Beginning with a bang as ever, first out of the blocks was Surly Darkness (9.6%) – a famed imperial stout released each year with a different monster on the label. Ours was the vampire vintage, and true to form was a smooth, sweet fruity menace, with a bitter ashy finish. There were hops in there as well, plus a coffee finish – yet the whole thing was really well balanced with all the potentially conflicting flavours.

Next up – a stinker! Does occasionally happen, even with such esteemed company. Kentucky Ale Bourbon Barrel Ale, at the tremendously specific 8.19% was flat, sweet and woody. The mix of bourbon and an unexpected watery finish combined to leave a taste similar to coconut milk – really not that great. Fortunately, Uinta Detour Double IPA (9.5%) brought us back nicely.

The next beer of note – after a very interesting Mikkeller Yeast Series Lager (which tasted like an IPA but finished like a pilsner) – was Fullers Vintage Ale 1999 (8.5%). How to sum this one up? In a word, fabulous. Twelve years old, and as a result mild and mellow flavours of sweet fruit cake, marzipan, toffee, sherry. Drinking this was effortless – the balance of rich, warming tastes was just lovely.

We then fired through a couple of De Molens – Op&Top (wheaty and lagerish), and Rijn&Veen (frighteningly carbonated sour wheat beer), and a couple of Kernels – IPA Citra 6.2 (outstanding), and Export India Porter (likewise). The next beer on offer was a true rarity – one of the Holy Grails of drinking. So much so, that it deserves it’s own post – so check back later for our thoughts on Sam Adams Utopias (22%) – the strongest brewed (i.e. not freeze-distilled) beer in the world.

Feeling pretty merry, we still had eight more to get through: US Craft Beer fans – check out some of these names…Lost Abbey 10 Commandments (10%), Surly Wet (6.3%), Oskar Blues One Hit Wonder (9%), Cigar City Humidor Series Jai Alai cedar-aged IPA (7.5%). The latter was the pick – although they were all good – woody from the cedar and bitter from the huge hopload. They were all good, however.

Back to Europe and the wonderfully named Ægir Bryggeri Tors Hammer (13.2%), a crunching barley wine of caramel, toffee and syrupy figs. There was no let up. This was followed by the even-more-crunching 19.1% Mikkeller Big Worst Barley Wine: Bourbon Edition, at which point I was pounding the table and begging for mercy. Tip a couple of shots of Jack Daniel’s into an imperial stout, see what happens.

Unsurprisingly I really can’t remember much about the last two beers – Deuchars IPA and Belhaven Best. They may well have been Cigar City Either (11.2%) and Cigar City Or (11.2%), my notes are more or less gibberish. Nineteen beers down, and time to leave the genial (and generous) company of Craig, to head home for a lie down and a spot of quiet whimpering.

Just looking at the alcohol by volumes of the beers we got through brings tears to my eyes…

9.6 8.19 9.5 6.2 8.0 5.0 8.5 4.5 5.7 5.1 22.0 10.0 6.3 9.0 7.5 13.2 19.1 11.2 11.2

Another month, another colossal tick-taste at RateBeer king Craig Garvie’s. Every few weeks Craig assembles a list of beers that would have any self-respecting beer fan salivating with anticipation, and as many people as possible turn up to share the goodies. As with the others (which you can read about here), I headed down with high expectations, and left fifteen beers later having had them totally exceeded in every way.

There’s no messing about with a tasting if Craig is involved – we piled straight into the big hitters with the 13% Parabola Reserve I from Firestone Walker. Most of his hefty Americans are the result of trades – and the generosity of the widespread community on RateBeer. There are a few UK importers of such beers, but it really is fascinating to get to try beers such as this.

Thick, chewy, barrel-aged molasses from the Parabola gave way to the next beer, the sublime Pliny the Elder (8%) from Russian River. The perfect American IPA? Clear gold, fluffy white head, dark pine aromas with grapefruit bitterness, wonderfully balanced. And all in such an understated bottle. Really, really something. I’ve chewed my way through many a big IPA, but Pliny is a rare beast in that it does not punish you in any way – it’s totally rewarding.

We moved to a British stylemate – Marble Utility Special 2010 (6.5%), which was difficult to compare as they are clearly quite different. The Marble was maybe slightly fruitier – more pineapple than grapefruit – and seriously nice. We then blasted through Marble’s Stouter Port Stout, Kernel Suke Quto Coffee IPA (which I reviewed in detail here), and the really drinkable London Brewer’s Alliance Porter (5.3%).

Back Stateside the next two up were bourbon barrel-aged beers. Craig’s not a huge fan of the style, preferring the Imperial Stouts – I have to agree that sometimes they can just be too much. The perfect example was Kuhnhenn Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine (14.5%) – interesting to taste a whiskey barley wine, but quite cheesy and almost unpleasant. Also quite sweet was Rockyard’s Imperial Red (10%), with Central Waters Bourbon Barley Wine being the pick of the imported darker beers, due to the smooth nature of the bourbon flavours (probably due to our bottle being a mellowed 2008 vintage).

It wouldn’t be a RateBeer tick-taste without a Mikkeller beer or two, so we then put away Ris a la M’ale (8.0%), a surprisingly mild-flavoured cherry, vanilla and almond beer (apparently brewed to taste like trifle), before moving on to a spicy Christmas beer – Santa’s Little Helper (10.9%) – which was big in every category. Spices, cinnamon, dark fruit, booze – sickly in parts but not too bad overall. Another cloyfest was Weyerbacher XIV (11.8%) – large wheaty marzipan flavours throughout.

The two standout beers (not including the Pliny) came from Scandinavia, however. Nogne Ø Dark Horizon 3 (15.5%) was hugely sweet, but with a matching coffee bitterness to offset. Really drinkable – well, sippable – we followed it up with the incredibly rare Amager Ølbutikken IIIII (10.5%). Only 120 bottles were ever produced – of course Craig managed to trade for one, with his connections. Black, fluffy cream-coloured head, it had an odd nose of bourbon, coffee and tobacco. It was all this on the taste, plus oaky, with some sourness, and then massive alcohol burn. I still can’t decide whether I like it or not – it was just so complex. Which, of course, is what you really hope for from a tasting…

Massive thanks as ever to Craig for hosting – you can visit his blog here.

Mikkeller Koppi not pictured…

One of the inevitable consequences of pushing the limits of conventional brewing is the blurring of boundaries. Styles are merged, blended or just ignored completely. New ingredients arrive by the dozen, are integrated into a dozen more different beers, and then potentially endless varieties of hops, malt and strains of yeast are involved. In short – these days anything goes.

One of the must-brew styles of 2010 was the Black IPA – several hit the shelves over the course of last year. Experimentation is fantastic. Who’s to say that an India Pale Ale needs to be pale? Admittedly the clue is in the question, but then the rush of Cascadian Dark Ales provides a handy bracket for those concerned with semantics. Recently I managed to get hold of two examples (the only two on RateBeer – although there may be others) of a similarly oxymoronic style – the Coffee IPA.

For years coffee has been the reserve of dark beers – lending that lovely astringent roasty bitterness to stouts, porters and big imperials. But why not stick some in an IPA? It’s no co-incidence that the two breweries who did just that are known for their unorthodox approach to brewing, and their willingness to experiment. But how do the beers compare to each other? Only one way to find out…

Firstly we have the European challenger from the near-iconic Danish producer Mikkeller. Operated by one man – Mikkel Borg Bjergsø – brewing’s most celebrated cuckoo brewer (or gypsy-brewer as he calls himself) produces small runs of almost countless beers, working with the equipment of other breweries. Flitting from mash tun to mash tun gives him astonishing scope – last year Mikkeller released 76 beers.

His coffee IPA is the wonderfully named Koppi Tomahawk x Guji Natural Coffee (6.9%) – which reveals both the hop used (Tomahawk) and the coffee (Ethiopian Guji). It has plenty of coffee on the nose – smelling like a cold coffee that has sat for a while. There’s less on the taste – it’s bitter rather than harsh, and the coffee start gradually gives way to the hops for the decent IPA-like finish.

The other challenger doesn’t scrimp on the lettering either – Kernel Suke Quto Coffee IPA (6.5%) was released (co-incidentally) only a week or so after the Danish example. Also the labour of one man – affable Irishman Evin O’Riordain – we’ve featured London-based Kernel beers several times here on the BeerCast, and they never disappoint. Suke Quto are a coffee co-operative who also hail from the southern part of Ethiopia – so the results could be quite similar.

It’s surprising then, that they aren’t. Kernel’s Coffee IPA is firstly much lighter in colour than the Mikkeller – hazy deep gold rather than dark brown – but more importantly it’s the complete reverse in terms of the taste profile. This one is IPA out of the blocks as the hops come charging out first, before midway through the coffee bitterness arrives and pushes aside the first load of flavours. It’s such an odd – and more defined – transition, but it really works.

So which is better? Well, that’s a pretty tough choice – it’s fascinating that two ostensibly similar beers could be so different. The answer depends on whether you think Coffee IPA should highlight the first half of the term or the second. Without doubt the better IPA is the Kernel – the hops are present in the Danish beer, but only just at the end. However, this probably means that Mikkeller has the better coffee profile. Either way, they are both tremendous – proof that experimentation pays off, and that coffee beers needn’t be dark.

We weren’t the only people to pair up these two new challengers – Rob at Hopzine also got hold of the Kernel beer. You can read (and watch) what he thought here.