The BeerCast

List-making is par for the course at this time of year – which explains our recent flurry of posts detailing our favourite new British beers. The trouble with compiling lists, however, is that you can’t add everything (unless it’s one of those Channel 4 shows like ‘the best 100 children’s breakfast cereals’). Listing our six – and I’m not sure why we decided on six – best new beers that were launched in 2011 left plenty out of the picture. But here they all are!

Well, we did actually mention Kernel IPA Double Black during our nomination of stablemate IPA 100 Centennial. It was almost a coin-flip decision on which of the two made it – they were both sublime. Other beers put out by brewers who made it into the top six were RedWillow Ageless, and Tempest Citra and Canyonero. Ageless in particular drew great praise in 2011.

Looking at Kelso’s Tempest Brewing – Canyonero was one of the more remarkable beers I’ve had for ages. On the face of it, a 5.9% bitter. But the Pacific Jade and Wai-iti hops produced all kinds of aromas and flavours – oak, vanilla, pepper, toffee, spices. Staying in Scotland, this year was a fine one for Black Isle – and their new Scotch Ale and Black Stout could make 2012 their best year yet. They could have made the list, easily.

One of the most blogged-about brewers of the year weren’t represented either – Huddersfield’s Magic Rock. Yorkshire pundits featured them heavily in their ‘best of’ lists – and with good reason. Human Cannonball, Dark Arts, High Wire – all superbly drinkable, and from a pretty much brand-new producer, Magic Rock have really hit the ground running.

Other great new beers that debuted in 2011 – Fyne Ales Sublime Stout, Meantime Yakima Red, Dark Star Carafa Jade and Thwaites Old Dan. Give me each of those on a night out, and I’d be a happy man indeed. The last twelve months have been a great vintage for British brewing – let’s hope the next twelve are even better…

If you have a standout new beer – then let us know in the comments section. Next up on the BeerCast, our annual Christmas Special podcast – our panel get to grips with six festive beers. After that, we preview our most important BeerCast of the year – our fifth annual Beer of the Year Show. Stay tuned…

Blackburn’s Thwaites Brewery have been upping the ante recently, announcing a few new interesting beers to their core bottled range. We’re all huge fans of everything Lancashire here on the BeerCast – apart from Shovels of course, as he hails from the wrong side of the Pennines. However, even he forced Thwaites Double Century through gritted teeth in our 2008 Beer of the Year Show – although it didn’t win, shot down by the all-round drinkability of Hop Back Summer Lightning.

Founded in 1807 by Daniel Thwaites, the eponymous brewery have retained loyal to their roots – still producing their beer from the Blackburn base they originally occupied. Renowned for their love of dray horses – the symbol of the company – tradition plays a big part in their outlook (critics of the red rose county would say that’s all we have – I would counter with a butter pie in the face). Back in 1957, on their 150th anniversary, Thwaites produced an old ale called Old Dan – “a splendid warming strong ale in the nip sized bottle.”

Nips (i.e. thirds of a pint) were the way these hearty ales were distributed – different to the nips up here in Scotland, obviously – but still necessary given the higher alcohol content sported by these old ales. Old Dan waned in popularity since the late 50′s – but has recently been revived as a 7.4% Fuggles-laden ‘super-premium’ brand. Modernity having caught up (certain parts of Yorkshire excepted) the bottles are now, inevitably, 330ml – but they still look pretty smart. Even the wonky rear label is apparently intentional (a nifty trick if the bottling plant malfunctions).

Old Dan pours chestnut brown and totally flat, with a single lonely stream of rising carbonation. The label proudly sports the ‘bottle conditioned’ tag, but it has actually been filtered and re-seeded, which really doesn’t add much to the equation. Some alcohol comes out on the nose, with sweet caramel and toffee, and a touch of dark stone fruit. Big, warm, fruity malt flavours take over from the start – plums, damsons lead into an increasingly sweet, malty finish. More booze arrives as the beer goes down. It’s remarkably mellow for 7.4%, and is really rather good indeed. Lancashire’s answer to Theakston’s Old Peculier?

Thwaites Official website

The London contingent returns once again to test the beery waters with Andy, Jess, Andrew, Marc and newcomer Kath. We chose a random selection of beers which intrigued us and tried not to veer off into unrelated and surreal topics too frequently. First up, Thwaites Very Nutty Black (3.9%) from Blackburn, then we moved down to the South West and sampled Skinners Cornish Knocker (4.5%). The third beer on the podcast is from Sweden – Nils Oscar God Ale (5.3%), before we finished on a stronger note with Ringwood Old Thumper (5.6%)…

1. Very Nutty Black (3.9%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Daniel Thwaites Brewery, Blackburn, Lancashire

Nutty Black is one of the core beers produced by Blackburn’s Thwaites Brewery – and is an award winning mild, having twice been named Champion Beer of Britain. At 3.3%, when the brewery decided to launch a bottle-conditioned version they upped the alcohol to 3.9% (jokingly referring to it as export strength) and christened it Very Nutty Black.

What They Say – “Normally brewed solely for the home market, Daniel Thwaites has broken all the rules with an export strength version of its award winning ale. The same great well rounded flavours and nuttiness lie within.” [ratebeer.com]

What We Say…
Jess – Quite light, not too bitter. Some lovely fruity berry flavours 8
Andrew - Bit fizzier than a stout. I could drink 1000 pints of it 8
Andy – A bit bitter and acidic. Not as nice as Sam Smith’s 6½
Kath – It tastes like beer 6½
Marc - Smells like Dandelion & Burdock. Tastes like it too 6

2. Cornish Knocker (4.5%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Skinners Brewery, Truro, Cornwall.

Steve Skinner cut his brewing teeth on the island of Jersey, before moving to Cornwall and going into larger scale production. That was 1998, and his beers have won plenty of plaudits since – possibly due to the local ingredients used in production – all components of their beers are sourced from within ten miles of the brewery. This local pride also extends to the names of the beers – Cornish Knocker is inspired by the elfin fairies who inhabited Cornish tin mines, said to be spirits of old miners.

What They Say – “A strong, clean tasting golden Ale, not too sweet with a fresh flowery aroma” [onlinebeerfestival.co.uk]

What We Say…
Andrew - It might not be nice but it has flavours at least 8
Marc - Makes me think of the washing up bowl 7
Jess – I’m a bit disappointed by it. It’s a bit watery 5
Andy – Similar taste to just before you’re going to be sick 4
Kath – Bit of a metal flavour at the back of the mouth 3

3. God Lager (5.3%abv) 330ml glass bottle
Nils Oscar, Nyköping, Sweden.

Nils Oscar were founded in 1996 and named after a distant relative Nils Oscar Sunderberg, who was born in 1865 and has his picture proudly displayed on each bottle. They put out a huge and varied range of different beers, such as IPA’s, dark porters, barley wines and a festive Kalasjulöl. Back in early 2008 we featured their India Ale on our Swedish special podcast, BeerCast 28. Will our panel similarly enjoy their God Ale?

What They Say – “The end product is a hoppyaromatic all-malt brew where the special malt brings a remarkably pleasant malt character. It is fresh tasting and smooth as becomes a Dortmunder Export style beer.” [ratebeer.com]

What We Say…
Marc - There’s definitely something milky going on 7½
Andrew - A touch of Whiskey-ness and citrus toilet duck 7½
Jess – It’s like someone chucked loads of fags in this. Tastes like gooseberries and mold 4
Kath – Tastes like cheese and ash and dust 4
Andy – It tastes like unpasteurised yak’s milk  3

4. Old Thumper (5.6%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Ringwood Brewery, Ringwood, Hampshire.

On the edge of the New Forest between Hampshire and Dorset sits the market town of Ringwood, home to the Ringwood Brewery. They were founded in 1978 by Peter Austin – one of the pioneers of British microbrewing (see here for an article on Peter written by the legendary Beer Hunter Michael Jackson). One of Peter’s more famous sayings is “a brewery shouldn’t sell beer farther from its door than a horse can walk in a day” – Ringwood were established with this belief, and still have a major presence in the New Forest, despite having been bought out by Marston’s plc in 2007.

What They Say – “Luscious balance of grain and hop in the mouth, bitter sweet finish with delicate fruit notes” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Jess – I really like it. It tastes like crème brulée 8½
Marc - Couldn’t drink a lot of it 8
Andy – Orangery, doesn’t have that soapiness Cornish Knocker had 7½
Andrew - Lots of body, the ‘christmassiest’ 7
Kath – Good in a different way to Nutty Black 6½

Panellists – (clockwise from top left) Andy, Jess, Marc, Kath, Andrew

BeerCast panel verdict
Ringwood Old Thumper 37½/50
Thwaites Very Nutty Black 35/50
Skinner Cornish Knocker 27/50
Nils Oscar God Ale 26/50

That’s it from our London panel for now. Edinburgh, it’s back over to you.

Since our highly enjoyable Beer of the Year Show 2007 where Anchor’s Special Ale 2006 was crowned our first ever BOTY, we have tried and tested all manner of ales here on the BeerCast. Nine different panellists sampled their way through 73 different beers over the course of 2008, spread over 16 podcasts. As tradition now dictates, we ended up with a ‘final four’ – those that scored the highest marks last year – which we then pitted against each other to see who would take Anchor’s crown.

We had intended to record the podcast just before the turn of the new year, but unfortunately a procurement issue meant we had to delay until the end of January. After a few weeks we managed to find all four beers once again, and the BOTY show could take place. The worthy finallists were – Thwaites Double Century, Hop Back Summer Lightning, Theakston XB, and BrewDog Hardcore IPA. As scoring had been done in each individual BeerCast, for the final we re-sampled each one and gave our general thoughts, before going round the panel and simply picking a winner. For this BOTY edition, the panel consisted of Richard, Shovels, Grooben, and the Hopmeister Tom. First up, Thwaites Double Century…

1. Double Century (5.2%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Thwaites Brewery, Blackburn, Lancashire.
BeerCast #12 scored 26/30 (87%) 23rd Feb 2008
Originally tasted by MrB 9; Stuart 9; Richard 8

Grooben – Very dry and bitter at the end
Richard – Great hoppy session beer with a hint of orange
Tom – Really nice but gives you ‘hangover tongue’
Shovels – I don’t get the wow factor but it’s decent stuff

2. Summer Lightning (5.0%abv) 500ml glass bottle
The Hop Back Brewery, Salisbury, Wiltshire.
BeerCast #19 scored 27/30 (90%) 4th Aug 2008
Originally tasted by Shovels 9; Grooben 9; Richard 9

Grooben – It’s a summer beer, maybe a bit incongruous for winter
Richard – Very hoppy and pleasant, but you can’t tell it’s 5%
Tom – I’ve tried this before independently and it’s really quaffable
Shovels – On tap it’s one of my favourites and I always look for it

3. Theakston XB (4.5%abv) 500ml glass bottle
Theakstons Brewery, Masham, North Yorkshire.
BeerCast#17 scored 25½/30 (85%) 19th Jun 2008
Originally tasted by Tom 9; Shovels 8½; Richard 8

Grooben – Nicer than I would have expected, but a bit sweet
Richard – Just one would be very nice, bit molassey and treacly
Tom – No nasty aftertaste, it’s a lovely session ale
Shovels – I really like it, the sweetness isn’t too much

4. BrewDog Hardcore IPA (9.0%abv) 660ml glass bottle
BrewDog, Fraserburgh, Scotland.
BeerCast#15 scored 33½/40 (84%) 27th Apr 2008
Originally tasted by MrB 9½; Richard 9; Grooben 8; Shovels 7

Grooben – It must be very difficult to make a beer as strong as this but as palatable
Richard – You’d have to savour this one almost like a trappist ale
Tom – This one really stands out because of it’s individuality
Shovels – It’s like an American IPA but tastes less hoppy

So the beers had been re-tried and thoughts given – but only one thought counted, the overall winner of the four. The final step of the Beer of the Year show was to go round the table and pick the one that stood out the most…

Grooben
“I’ve never had XB and darker sweeter beers aren’t for me, but I really liked it. The Hardcore IPA was a bit much for my personal tastes, and was above the other two, but overall the XB was the best.”

Tom
“Hardcore IPA was the only beer that was trying to do something different, and you aren’t going to forget your first taste. The others would eventually become forgotten I think. Hardcore IPA made me stand up and take notice so I vote for that.”

Shovels
“My favourite was Summer Lightning as of the four I’d drink a lot of it either in the pub or from bottles, it’s a really great session ale – light and refreshing.”

Richard
“My favourite had to be Summer Lightning, it’s the kind of beer you can really drink. Hardcore IPA is tremendous but you can maybe only savour it – you can get pleasure from Summer Lightning all throughout the year.”

So that was it. A depleted panel compared with last year maybe, but the responsibility of selecting our beer of the year was still just as great. In the end, our winner was Hop Back’s Summer Lightning, a superb golden ale in the classic English tradition. Congratulations to them, and thanks to all the panellists for their opinions over the course of last year.

• Listen to the episode here:BeerCast #27 – Beer of the Year 2007
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back soon with another podcast episode. Stay tuned for details…and please leave us comments on the blog or iTunes, or emails. Cheers!

The BeerCast’s 12th podcast is a trip close to home for panellist Richard, as we explore more beers from the North West of England. We’ve sampled beers from the region before, during episode three, which uncovered two of the four eventual Beer of the Year candidates for 2007 (Daleside IPA and Coniston Bluebird) – so we all had high hopes for the next batch. The first one tasted this time is Tirril’s Academy Ale (4.2%), from Westmorland in Cumbria (so not strictly a red rose beer). Then we move on into Lancashire for Joseph Holt’s Thunder Holt (5.0%) – a drink brewed in celebration of Manchester’s predictably damp weather. A short distance away is Blackburn, home to the Thwaites empire. Producing beer for two hundred years in the same family, they recently launched a celebration ale called Double Century (5.2%), which is our third beer. Finally, we try a brown ale from Liverpool’s Cains Brewery – Dragon Heart (5.0%). On the panel today – Richard, MrB, and BeerCast first-timer Stuart…

1. Academy Ale (4.2%abv)
Tirril Brewery, Appleby, Cumbria.
500ml glass bottle

The Tirril Brewery began life in a pub – the Queen’s Head Inn in the Westmorland village on the River Eamont. Tirril was famed throughout the country for it’s nearby academy, which in the early 19th Century was said to be on a par with Oxford or Cambridge for the teaching of mathematics. In celebration of this history, Academy Ale is a three-hopped malty beer produced by Tirril – who now inhabit slightly larger surroundings in Appleby than their original pub. In between, they operated from a stately home which was previously used by a WWII tank regiment. During the army days, the notable door knockers of Brougham Hall were taken down for safekeeping – and it’s a picture of one of the giant clangers that gives Tirril their brewery logo.

What They Say – “A dark, full bodied, very traditional rich and malty ale flavoured with three varieties of English hops.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Nice malty ale, although the hops are drowned out 7
MrB – Not much of a smell, tastes slightly caramelly 6
Stuart – It’s quite fizzy, I don’t mind this at all 6

2. Thunder Holt (5.0%abv)
Joseph Holt’s Derby Brewery, Manchester.
500ml glass bottle

Manchester is renowned for it’s terrible weather – but Joseph Holt have the perfect solution. Thunder Holt is their longest standing seasonal beer, and it chooses to celebrate the rain and showers rather than hide from them. Founded in 1849 in Oak Street in the centre of the city, Holt’s has been in the same family for four generations. They overcame the American Civil War – which you wouldn’t think would harm a northern English brewery – but the sudden lack of new world cotton to feed Manchester’s mills plunged the city into recession. They are now tied to 127 pubs, all of which are within 25 miles of their home city.

What They Say – “First produced over five years ago, Thunder Holt is a delicious red russet traditional premium ale with the light citrus flavours of challenger cone hops and dark crystal malt.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Stuart – There’s a nice kick to this, I can’t stop drinking it 9
Richard – Has an almost aniseedy aftertaste 8
MrB – This has a great back of the mouth taste, it’s fantastic 8

3. Thwaites Double Century (5.2%abv)
Thwaites, Blackburn, Lancashire.
500ml glass bottle

Another local family brewery are Thwaites, founded in the east Lancs milltown of Blackburn in 1807. In 1843 the original founder Daniel died, leaving the brewery to three of his twelve children. One of whom was also called Daniel, and under his stewardship the operations flourished. He eventually became MP for Blackburn, and the Thwaites concern today is one of the UK’s top ten breweries by volume. They also own over 400 pubs in the north of England. To celebrate their 200th birthday, last year they launched a celebration ale in a fancy embossed bottle, called Double Century. Will we be joining in the celebrations?

What They Say – “This refreshing amber coloured premium ale is well balanced with a malty character. Double hopped using English golding and fuggles with the late addition of Bramling Cross, it has a bitter orange finish.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Stuart – This has a wow factor from the first taste 9
MrB – Warm alcohol feel to it, that’s the absolute business 9
Richard – Tremendous, light and moreish with that orange finish 8

4. Cains Dragon Heart (5.0%abv)
Cains Brewery, Liverpool.
500ml glass bottle

In our last North Western edition we ended on a seasonal beer from Liverpool’s Cains brewery, and we do likewise for episode twelve. The Dusanj brothers have breathed so much life into the formerly ailing outfit, that they turn out a special ale every month of the year. January sees them release Dragon Heart Brown Ale, and with this particular variety of beer endemic to the north of England it’s a must-taste. Others include a strong bock, a dark lager, a wheatbier, and the raisin beer we sampled back in podcast three. But will our panel take to the Dragon Heart – particularly BeerCast debutant Stuart – a self-confessed fan of the brown ale genre.

What They Say – “This strong brown ale is brewed to a 19th Century recipe and fermented in traditional open vats. A blend of premium ale malts and the finest of English hops combine to produce a fruity and complex character.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Got some treacle in there, it’s nice but not amazing 6½
Stuart – This is slightly too sweet for me 6
MrB – Tastes like a northern bitter, a bit stouty 6

BeerCast panel verdict

Thwaites Double Century – 26/30
Joseph Holt’s Thunder Holt – 25/30
Tirril Academy Ale – 19/30
Cains Dragon Heart – 18½/30

Panellists – (from top left) MrB, Stuart, Richard

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #12 – Red Rose Beers
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with an organic beer special, and another debutant BeerCaster joins the panel. Stay tuned for details…and please leave us comments on the blog or iTunes, or emails. Cheers!