The BeerCast

This weekend saw the continuation of an Edinburgh tradition – the annual open day at Stewart Brewing. The Loanhead micro throw a yearly birthday party to celebrate another 12 months of trading – and happily the BeerCast had an invite. Each year Steve and Jo produce a special celebration ale to mark the occasion – named after the brewery’s birthday. This time out, brewer Iain put together Stewart 6, which was served up to the public – alongside several of their regular beers such as Copper Cascade, Edinburgh Gold and Pentland IPA. As if that wasn’t enough temptation, there was a free BBQ out the back of the brew unit, plus a hop challenge to select a potential addition to the Pentland IPA as a new line – we were split between the American crystal and New Zealand southern cross.

As for the Stewart 6 – the abv of which I didn’t catch, but we think it nudges the 5% mark – it pours a dark amber to medium brown colour. Looking very much like a pint of bitter – which is nothing if not pleasing to a Northerner like myself, it has a healthy dose of malt on the aroma, with some moderate bitterness and a touch of fruit from the Perle hops. Tastewise it’s extremely malty, which is not surprising as there are six different kinds in the brew – it’s the chocolate malts that come to the fore, with a dark, dry flavour and a pronounced bitterness. You can tell it’s a celebration beer – things have definitely been thrown in there – but it all seems to work out very well.

Stewart are really one of Scotland’s success stories when it comes to brewing. After several years of working for other prodcuers, Steve took the plunge and opened the premises in 2004 – initially brewing at Strathaven before the Bilston site came on line. Their beers are a common site in Edinburgh, last year they launched a range of bottled beers to complement their traditional range – and this culminated in their 5% Hollyrood picking up the best Blonde/Golden Pale Ale in the 2010 World Beer Awards. Talking to Jo today, they are soon to be relocating to larger premises on the same industrial estate, which can only be a good thing as the demand really seems to be there. Rumours of a 6% IPA in the future are particularly exciting. Anyway, with the current tough times for the industry, it’s great to celebrate a local success story – many happy returns from all at the BeerCast.

Stewart Brewing

There was a great bit of local news this week as Loanhead’s Stewart Brewing picked up a gong in the 2010 World Beer Awards. Hollyrood (5.0%) was named world’s best Blonde/Golden in the Pale Ale category, announced at the end of July by a selection of beer writers chaired by Roger Protz and Jeff Evans (news taking a while to filter through up here). It’s a great reward for Steve, Jo and the team, and is particularly impressive given that Hollyrood has only been bottled for around a year (originally being a tweaked version of their cask Pentland IPA recipe). Hopefully this will spur Stewart Brewing on to more awards in the future. Other Scottish winners were Arran’s Blonde (Europe’s best grain-only wheat beer), Innis & Gunn’s Innis & Gunn Original (Europe’s best speciality Pale Ale) – more good news for Edinburgh, and two awards for Harviestoun; Ola Dubh Special 40 Reserve winning World’s best dark speciality ale, and Old Engine Oil taking Europe’s best porter.

Stewart Brewing
2010 World Beer Awards winners

Last night saw the launch of two new beers from Stewart Brewing – their fairly new Dopplebock [sic] (7.0%) and their very new Pilsen (5.6%) – which was only bottled at the weekend following eleven weeks of conditioning. The BeerCast were invited along, so we turned up at the Windsor Buffet on Elm Row and joined in the fun. After a quick chat with Steve and Jo Stewart – not to mention a couple of complimentary pints of Holyrood – the pilsner came out for sampling.

It poured a nice pale gold colour with some haze, and had a pretty dominant hop aroma – some orange and even stone fruit on the nose, which was pretty unexpected. Of the two main branches of pilsner, Stewarts’ points very much down the Bohemian – Saaz rather than noble hops, but there’s no corresponding spice or earthy maltiness in the aroma. This continues in the taste – pretty hop-forward for a pilsner, but considering it had only been bottled a few days ago the ‘rawness’ is to be expected. The aftertaste is dry and bitter, with just a touch of malt.

This reminded me very much of the Appellation tasting we attended in May, where the then-new Dopplebock had just been bottled. That time it was also slightly unbalanced – but the tasting last night has proved how far it has come. With a couple of months under its belt the doppelbock is outstanding – full toasty flavours of malt, with just a touch of sweetness, and the 7% alcohol giving a warming finish. Compared with my tasting notes from back in May the difference was really noticeable, the flavours have really come together.

Turning back to the Pilsen, the consensus was that it’s a very drinkable, hoppy lager. It really doesn’t taste 5.6% at all – it could really sneak up on you in a session. Although it lacks some of the characteristic Bohemian maltiness at the moment, hopefully those flavours will come. The bottle design is almost identical to the doppelbock – we were debating whether this would cause confusion – but having a signature range in conjunction with the recently re-branded regular bottled lineup is a nice idea, and will hopefully mean more experimentation for Stewart Brewing in the future.

Thanks again to Steve and Jo for the invite to the tasting

Stewart Brewing website

Another week, another beer tasting at Appellation Wines on Dalry Road. Becoming something of a fixture for the BeerCast, not only do we get to drink some very good beer, but we also get to meet the producers and ask them questions, which is always good fun. The Stewart Brewery are no strangers to the BeerCast, since operations began in 2004 their distinctive pump clips are a regular sight across the real ale pubs of Edinburgh (they supply 250 pubs in total). In November 2009 they diversified, adding a range of bottled beers to their lineup. I tasted three of these when they first came out, but it was interesting to give them a second go at Appellation. Also on the menu was a BeerCast Exclusive – what Steve and Jo informed us was the first sampling pretty much anywhere of their latest beer – Stewart Dopplebock (7.0%). We began, however, with one of their all-time classics…

Edinburgh Gold (4.8%)
The 2007 SIBA Champion beer of Scotland in the premium bitter category, Edinburgh Gold sings fruity Tettnang hops from the first mouthful. On cask, it’s probably my favourite Stewart beer (although for me Copper Cascade runs it close). I’d not tried the bottled version before, but it compares very well to the cask, and is incredibly refreshing. Interestingly, Stewart decided to go for 330ml bottles rather than the standard 500ml – primarily to distance themselves from the competition, but also to appeal more to restaurants and bistros. I can certainly imagine pairing this with seafood, they would really complement each other.

Hollyrood (5.0%)
At only 3.9%, Stewart’s most popular cask ale Pentland IPA isn’t really strong enough for bottling – shelf-life would be something of a problem. As such, Steve and the team have styled a stronger beer along the same lines, but with more Amarillo hops added to the Magnum base. Weighing it at around 30 IBU’s Hollyrood is dry and biscuity with a fantastic citrus fruit aroma. All of their new bottled range are slightly hazy due to the lack of filtration, clearly this adds something to the flavour.

Embra (5.0%)
I was wondering who thought of the clever name for Stewart’s amber ale – the play on words of Edinburgh is also an anagram of the beer style – but it turns out nobody did until a customer pointed the fact out to them. Embra has Chinook hops added to the Magnum, and gives off sweet, slightly caramelly notes. An evolution of Edinburgh Marathon Ale Embra was the one I was initially unsure about – but this bottle tasted much improved on the one back in December.

St Giles (5.0%)
Named after the historic kirk on the Royal Mile, St Giles gives off some dark, roasty malt aromas. Hopped with Cascade and Magnum it gets better as it warms – all of Stewart’s bottled beers are designed to be drunk cold from the fridge (hence the amenable 330ml sizes), but St Giles really comes into it’s own when it approaches room temperature. The chocolate flavours start to come out, and the strength of flavour improves. Steve acknowledges this is their most challenging beer, but it’s one of the best.

Dopplebock (7.0%)
So after the four established bottled beers, came the new addition. The Dopplebock was brewed to be as faithful to the style as possible (albeit with slightly different spelling), so the fabled Reinheitsgebot purity laws were followed along the way. Tettnang and Saaz hops were added and the brew fermented at 12ºC. As a true doppelbock, these hops take a back seat to the dark, toasty maltiness that comes out on the nose and the palate. At the suggested cold serving temperature, a lot of the flavours are muddled, but once the beer warms the slight smokiness appears at the first taste, which gives way to the sweetness and warming alcohol. This one is extremely young, having been only bottled four days previously – and with a shelf life of two years will undoubtedly lose a lot of the ‘green’ flavours once it develops. Opinions at the tasting were mixed – as I guess they will always be for beers of 7% or higher – but the consensus was that this one is one to watch for the future.

Thanks to Steve and Jo Stewart for showing us the beers, and Ash at Appellation for hosting. We’ll be back for another tasting event, and will of course post our findings.

Stewart Brewing
Appellation Wines, 43 Dalry Rd, Edinburgh

After the Caledonian, Loanhead’s Stewart Brewery are probably the closest producer to BeerCast headquarters in Edinburgh. Throughout the real ale pubs in the city, their beers such as Edinburgh Gold and Copper Cascade are found fairly regularly. Within the last few weeks they have launched a new range of bottle-conditioned beers, so we had to snap a few up to sample. Historically, Stewart have concentrated on cask ales, so their lineup of three new beers (plus Edinburgh Gold) in hand-filled bottles is a welcome change of direction.

Embra (5.0%)
Stewart’s first amber ale pours a hazy, opaque dark orange colour – all of their bottle-conditioned range state that they are ‘naturally cloudy’. It smells hoppy with a slight mustiness from the yeast, but none of the promised fruit aromas. It’s very bitter, the hops really coming out on the palate – Embra has almost a pale ale tang to it. It is quite drinkable at 5% though.

Hollyrood (5.0%)
Hollyrood smells almost exactly like Edinburgh Gold, the grapefruit citrus flavours are really apparent from the off. Comparisons with their other beer continue on the palate, although Holyrood is slightly more bitter in the finish. This one’s pretty hazy too, although a lighter golden colour than the Embra. It’s pretty refreshing though, with the biscuity aftertaste.

St. Giles (5.0%)
Stewart’s newest dark beer is named after the historical kirk that stands on the Royal Mile, and is classed as a ‘smooth, malty contemporary taste of Edinburgh’. It’s got a wonderful aroma to it, roasted malt and a slight smokeyness that comes through like a porter. Highly carbonated, it fizzes away in the glass as the head vanishes. Tasting very similar to a porter, it’s the pick of the bunch and has a great strength of flavour.