The BeerCast

The first podcast of any year is always one to look forward to – as tradition dictates it’s our BeerCast Beer of the Year show. As highlighted in our recent preview, the four highest scoring beers from the podcasts recorded in 2009 are re-sampled, and a winner picked. Previous winners are Anchor Christmas Ale 2006 (2007) and Hop Back Summer Lightning (last year), so whichever beer came out on top this time, it would be in good company. Re-tasting is always an interesting experience, as a second go often brings a different result from last time – and so it was to prove. The four beers in our BOTY show were St Austell Tribute (4.2%), Carnegie Baltic Porter (5.5%), Stone Ruination IPA (7.7%), and Goose Island Christmas Ale 2009 (7.0%). On the extended panel – Shovels, MrB, Andy, Richard, Jess and Grooben, all of whom were seconded to a remote and snowy location to sharpen the tastebuds…

1. St Austell Tribute (4.2%abv) 500ml glass bottle
St Austell Brewery, St Austell, Cornwall.
BeerCast#33 scored 40½/50 (81%) 28th May 2009
Originally tasted by Steve 9; Richard 9; Grooben 8; Shovels 7½; Stu 7

What They Say - “Tribute is a magnificent example of a bronze coloured English bitter, with a rich aroma of biscuity malt and tart citrus fruit from the Willamette hops. Juicy malt, hop resins and tangy fruit coat the tongue, while the finish is long and lingering, with a fine balance between malt, hops and fruit, finally becoming dry and bitter.” [Roger Protz]

What We Say…
Grooben - Much nicer than your standard session beers
Richard - As an English bitter you can’t get a better example
MrB - I don’t like it, it’s too watery and too biscuity
Shovels - It’s very subtle but very nice
Jess - There’s some kind of citrus in there, it’s very drinkable
Andy - It reminds me of drinking Tennents in working men’s clubs around Edinburgh

2. Carnegie Starkporter 2008 (5.5%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Carlsberg Sverige AB, Gothenburg, Sweden.
BeerCast#28 scored 32½/40 (81%) 1st January 2009
Originally tasted by Jess 9; Shovels 8½; Andy 8; Richard 7

What They Say - “Carnegie Starkporter är Sveriges äldsta ännu använda varumärke. Smakrik, fruktig och med en tydligt rostad ton och stor beska. Inslag av karamelliserat socker, kaffe och choklad. Carnegie Starkporter kan lagras upp till 10 år. När den lagras mjuknar smaken och aromenens komplexitet ökar.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB - I like porters a lot, but that’s far too sweet
Shovels - I think we’d had a lot of mediocre beers that night
Grooben - It’s a half-pint beer – although it is smooth
Richard - Sweet and it’ll get sweeter, I’m not that keen on it
Andy - I’m not sure it deserves to be in the BOTY Show
Jess - Can’t believe I gave it a 9, I think we were maybe too happy because we were on holiday

3. Ruination IPA (7.7%abv) 355ml glass bottle
Stone Brewery, Escondido, California.
BeerCast#36 scored 38/40 (95%) 13th July 2009
Originally tasted by MrB 10; Shovels 9½; Steve 9½; Richard 9

What They Say - “So called because of the ‘ruinous’ effect on your palate! This massive hop monster has a wonderfully delicious and intensely bitter flavour on a refreshing malt base. One taste and you can easily see why we call this brew ‘a liquid poem to the glory of the hop!’” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB - I stand by my 10
Richard - Love that piney resinous hop aftertaste
Jess - I can see why everybody go excited about it
Grooben - Expertly balanced, I’d give it 9½ too
Shovels - It’s the single malt whisky of IPA’s
Andy - They’ve managed to get the perfect balance point so you don’t taste furry-teeth sugary-ness

4. Goose Island Christmas 2009 (7.0%abv) 750ml glass bottle
Goose Island Brewing Company, Chicago, Illinois.
BeerCast#43 scored 25/30 (83%) 16th December 2009
Originally tasted by MrB 9; Grooben 8; Richard 8

What They Say - “Specialty Belgian malts create a deep garnet color and a truly rich old European flavour in our classic Christmas Ale. And the generous amount of crystal hops adds that extra spicy aroma to your pint, perfect for a wintry night.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Jess - It’s smoky but not as interesting as the Ruination
Richard - This one makes good use of it’s brown ale base
MrB - Not Christmassy, tastes like a nicer Goose Island IPA
Grooben - I think Ruination would blow away anything
Shovels - Gets high praise from me, it’s easy to drink
Andy - Pretends to be smooth but leaves you with a sharpness I don’t like

So that was the thoughts – or re-thoughts – of the panel during the tasting of the four beers that had made it through to the final. The next thing to do was go round the table and mark down a first and second choice for beer of the year. Given the comments about one of the beers above, it wasn’t really a surprise when the slip of paper had circumnavigated the table. Stone’s Ruination IPA was a resounding choice for BeerCast Beer of the Year 2009. Fitting, given that it debuted with a record score of 95% that will struggle to be beaten. There was a tie for second between the Goose Island Christmas and St Austell Tribute – despite certain comments on both it seems festive warmers and English bitters always seem to do well in our BOTY shows. But there was really only ever going to be one winner – the fantastic balance of massive hops and punchy alcohol really came through in Stone’s strong India Pale Ale. It was a deserved winner.

Our panel also tasted a fifth beer - a surprise bought by Richard and smuggled to the podcasting under the strictest secrecy. BrewDog’s Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32%), the strongest beer in the world. Listen to our tasting after the BOTY voting, and check back to the website in a few days for a full review post on what’s becoming the most infamous beer in Britain…

2009 was a great year for the BeerCast, we managed to get through 63 beers over the space of 16 podcasts, attend several beer festivals, and unleash a few new panellists on the podcasting public. As things wind down over Christmas we’ll be turning our attention towards the turn of the year – which means our annual BeerCast Beer of the Year Show. We tally up the scores achieved by each ale over the last twelve months, and take the four highest scoring away to a secret location for a re-sample. Which beer will follow on from Hop Back Summer Lightning and become our BOTY for 2009? Here are the four contenders.

First up (in order of when we initially scored them), you have to go all the way back to New Year’s Day and a snowy evening in Stockholm. Although our Swedish Special eventually hit the airwaves in March, and having been recorded on an iPhone it sounded like we were lisping underwater, our first finalist made it all the way through the year in the top four placings. Carnegie Baltic Porter 2008 (5.5%) came top of BeerCast 28, despite being brewed by mega-behemoth Carlsberg, who bought its Gothenburg creator Pripps Bryggeri. This sweet, earthy porter scored 32½/40 and thankfully we managed to track some down in the UK for our BOTY show.

Next is the only UK beer that made it through to our final four, the flagship ale from Cornwall’s St Austell Brewery, Tribute (4.2%). This classic English bitter won the highly competitive SouthWest Special of BeerCast 33, which produced several high-scoring beers. Recording a tally of 40½/50, it drew praise for its balance of malt and citrus, including two 9/10 scores. English session ales have traditionally done well in BeerCast BOTY shows, with Coniston Bluebird Bitter and Thwaites Double Century respectively making it through to the first two end of year spectaculars. Neither won though – can the self-styled “Taste of Cornwall” fare better?

Our final two beers hail from over the Atlantic, coming from two heavyweights of the American craft brewing scene. That’s no co-incidence, as smaller-scale producers are very rarely found in the UK. Things are changing though, thanks to importers such as James Clay, and specialist beer retailers like Norfolk’s Beers of Europe, York’s The Bottle, and Edinburgh’s own Cornelius. Our third beer is Stone Ruination IPA (7.7%), a “liquid poem to the glory of the hop” from California. Ruination blasted to the top of our leaderboard (where it remains) in our IPA Battle, BeerCast 36 in July, ending up with a 38/40 score for an almost perfect 95% rating. The balance of hops and alcohol make this truly special, and as it garnered the first ever BeerCast 10 score (from MrB, of course) – it has to be the favourite for our 2009 BOTY show.

The final beer that made it through is also our most recently drunk – coming from last week’s Christmas Special. Anchor’s festive beers have done very well in the past, but their 2009 beer was gazumped in spectacular fashion by Goose Island Christmas Ale 2009 (7.0%). Racking up 25/30 it finished with the second-highest score of the year, ironically bumping Goose Island IPA out of the top four in the process. The Belgian malts and Crystal hops combine for the wintery tastes, and although our panel felt it wasn’t as classically festive as others they tried, it was still head and shoulders above the rest. This could be a dark horse for the title, particularly as a Christmas beer has won previously, Anchor Christmas Ale 2006, won our first ever BOTY show.

So as our list stretches from the afore-mentioned Stone Ruination IPA on 95% down to Dieu du Ciel’s terrifying Péché Mortel coffee-infused imperial stout on 14%, we can look back at another great drinking year on the BeerCast. We’ll be recording the BOTY show at New Year, and it’ll be up sometime within the first couple of weeks of January. Stay tuned for surprises, controversy, and personal highlights, and in the meantime everyone associated with the BeerCast wishes our readers and listeners a fantastic Christmas and New Year, and all the best for 2010.

2008 Beer of the Year Show
2007 Beer of the Year Show

In an industry plagued by news of pub closures and faltering breweries, Cornwall’s St Austell are one major success story. They have flourished from small regional producer to one of the largest in the country, and have done it largely off the back of a single beer – Tribute. Their flagship 4.2% amber-coloured ale is found over most of England and Wales (although rarely in Scotland). This is something of a shame, as it’s extremely good and currently sits in our top four beers of 2009, and could well take it’s place in our Beer of the Year Show at the beginning of January.

St Austell are far from a one-trick pony however, and have recently increased their output with the addition of a new beer - Smugglers Ale. At 6%abv, it’s a rich ruby coloured beer, evoking the history of smuggling and wrecking on Cornwall’s coasts. Interestingly, it’s actually a blend of an un-named dark ale and an oak-aged barely wine, which is then returned to the whisky casks and matured for a further minimum three months. According to St Austell’s head brewer Roger Ryman, Smugglers Ale is a “truly complex beer with hints of whisky, creamy vanilla, toffee and spice.”

It pours with a fast-dispersing head, and is highly carbonated with a small amount of sediment in the base of the bottle. Roger isn’t kidding when he says it’s complex, the first thing I got from the smell was dandelion and burdock, but that may have been the tang of the Fuggles mixing with the oak aged aromas. As you’d expect, the roasted malts come out strongly in the taste, along with sugary molasses and the highlighted toffee. It doesn’t taste 6%, the vanilla sweetness shields the alcohol flavours in particular.

It’s very tasty indeed, strong yet drinkable – you can certainly tell two different beers have been blended together as the sweet malts hit the ruby whisky flavours. That’s actually what it reminded me of towards the end, a ruby malt whisky ale. Crucially – and this is where a lot of the more bespoke whisky ales fall down – the sweetness is balanced and not overpowering. It’s very good indeed, and so is a real pity that Smugglers Ale is currently only available in the South West of England. We were kindly sent some to sample, but might have to get more smuggled up to us somehow - it’s worth the risk.

St Austell Official Website
[Smugglers Ale is also available from St Austell's online shop]

The GBBF is Britain’s largest beer festival, and as soon as you step through into the main hall at Earl’s Court you can see why. As mentioned in our previews last week, it’s the sheer scale that makes this a step up from any other festival – hundreds of beers, dozens of bars, thousands of silly hats. It’s very tough to know where to start – so as with other beer festivals a random pick is always good, something to drink while concentrating on the epic programme to pick what to have next.

1. Funfair Dive Bomber (4.6%) Derbyshire

Always a good idea to start with a golden ale, to appreciate the delicate hop aromas and flavours before the stronger things take over. Dive Bomber is certainly golden and subtle – maybe too subtle for me, there’s not much zing there. It’s certainly refreshing for a hot day, which it was outside. A light one to start with.

2. Cains IPA (3.5%) Merseyside

Liverpool’s Cains Brewery were one of the many larger producers who had their own bar at the festival. I’m a fan of their other beers, but had not tried their IPA until I wandered past and decided to give it a go. For a start, it’s copper-coloured, and is very creamy. Very little – if any – hops come through at all. It tastes like a canned bitter rather than an IPA.

3. Salopian Shropshire Gold (3.8%) Shropshire

Salopian are a Shropshire brewery that are new to me, so I decided to go for another light golden ale when I passed the ‘Mid-West England’ bar. The printed tasting notes describe an ’unusual blend of body and dryness’ - and they are right. There was a very dry spicy elderflower taste to it, with a subtle but noticeable finish of ginger. Very nice, and very refreshing.

4. Cricket Hill Colonel Blides ESB (5.5%) New Jersey

After the excitement of writing the International beer list preview, the American bar was something of a disappointment. Only half a dozen beers on tap, with a big queue for a fridge of bottles. Not to worry, I went for one of the kegged ales in the form of an ESB from the Cricket Hill Brewery in Fairfield, New Jersey. It was totally flat, but tasted good – plenty of malt and a little hop to back it up, nothing really overpowering (to be expected at a restrained 5.5%), although having said that the mild flavours didn’t give away much alcohol. Could be dangerous on a session, this one.

5. Marble Lagonda IPA (5.0%) Manchester

Time for another IPA – and I managed to find one I had been looking for since the beer list was published on CAMRA’s website. Manchester’s Marble Brewery put a quadruple addition of hops into Lagonda IPA, and you can certainly tell. Dark, strong golden colours and a similarly strong taste, almost hints of Camembert cheeseyness at the end. Very good indeed, the hops really sing from this.

6. St Austell Black Prince (4.0%) Cornwall

To finish, a darker offering – Cornwall’s St Austell brewery put out some great beers indeed, so an unknown dark mahogany bitter sounded good. It was really well balanced, as you’d expect from St Austell, some molasses sweetness and roasty malt. It was pretty hoppy, too – and I was searching for ages what the aftertaste reminded me of, until I came up with it – sugared tea.

On that note, maybe it was time to finish. Beer of the day – Marble’s Lagonda IPA. T-Shirt of the day - Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder. We’ll be back at Earl’s Court for more GBBF fun tomorrow. Tune into our Twitter feed (@thebeercast) for live updates, and check back here later for a report.

Once again we welcome two intrepid new beer explorers into the belly of the BeerCast. This time talented minstrels Kat Flint and Nick Hirst join us alongside Andy and Jess at the Belsize Park headquarters to quaff some beers purchased from that finest of British establishments, Marks & Spencers.

Andy was positioned a bit far from the mic and is a bit quiet at times (perhaps for the better!). We also run long on this one at an hour due to a couple of interesting diversions into beers for women and Tesco which were perhaps more interesting than the beer themselves. Still, hope you enjoy it. Andy

1. Buckinghamshire Ale (4.6%)
Vale Brewery, Brill, Buckinghamshire.
500ml glass bottle

What They Say - “Copper-red beer with a yeasty, bready nose and raisin fruit and spicy hops. Tart fruit, biscuity malt and bitter hop resins fill the mouth. The finish is dry and bitter with rich, juicy malt, burnt fruit and peppery hops” [www.beer-pages.com]

What We Say…
Nick - Nice, fresh, but not much to it, bit like a chemistry experiment 6
Kat - Smells a bit like coriander, like putting a penny on your tongue 5
Jess - I get that tart fruit on the tongue thing, i wouldn’t reach for it 5
Andy - Quite fresh, tastes a bit like Carex 5

2. Cornish IPA (5%)
St. Austell Brewery, Cornwall.
500ml glass bottle

What They Say - “A rich golden colour, and totally clear. It has a citrus bouquet with hint of malt and hop. These characteristics are replicated in the first taste to the palate, finishing with a modicum of marmalade bitterness. Perfection.” [realalenet.co.uk]

What We Say…
Nick - A delicious and well mannered beer 7.5
Kat - I could drink a few of those and be pretty happy 7
Jess - it’s nice, similar to Buckinghamshire in a way 7
Andy - More flavour than Buckinghamshire, some fruits in there 6

3. Yorkshire Bitter (4.6%)
Cropton Brewery, Pickering, North Yorkshire.
500ml glass bottle

What They Say - “A big sulphury nose with strong undertones of floral and spicy hops and tart fruit. Tangy fruit dominates the palate with sappy malt and spicy hops. Hop bitterness and tart fruit dominate the finish with light malt notes; it becomes increasingly dry” [www.beer-pages.com]

What We Say…
Nick - Bracing, Hair-chested, a working man’s pub beer 6.5
Kat - Bready, a pie & chips beer 6
Jess - Not as nice as the Cornish IPA 6
Andy - Darker, more bitter, bit too much for me 5.5

4. Organic Ale (6%)
Broughton Ales, Biggar, Scotland.
500ml glass bottle

What They Say - “On the nose there’s a sweet and orangy aroma, with plenty of caramel malt notes, herby, nettle aromas and a little earthy whiff of silage. On the palate it has a fine, chewy, creamy texture and plenty of malty character. The hops are there, adding a bitter twist to the finish, and that earthy, quite rich quality extends through the finish” [www.beer-pages.com]

What We Say…
Kat - Smells like beer trampled into mud, in a nice way 7
Nick - Honeyish, meady, a bitter finish 7
Andy - Zingy, Electricy, metallicy 6
Jess - Quite powerful upfront, could’nt drink much of it 5.5

Panellists - (from top left) Andy & Jess, Kat Flint, Nick Hirst

BeerCast panel verdict

Cornish IPA (27½/40)
Organic Ale (25½/40)
Yorkshire Bitter (24/40)
Buckinghamshire Ale (21/40)

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with BeerCast #36- a Blighty Vs Yankee IPA battle from the Edinburgh team. Keep the emails and comments coming in. Cheers!