The BeerCast

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.

Edinburgh is a city well known for festivals, and fortunately for us on the BeerCast they aren’t just restricted to the arts. The 2009 Scottish Real Ale Festival has rolled around again, held at the Assembly rooms on George Street. As promised in our recent preview we turned up with high expectations, given the impressive beer list. Getting right down to business, the first beer sampled was the Hebridean Brewery’s Seaforth Ale (4.2%), which completed the full set from the Stornoway producer (we sampled their other four beers during BeerCast #30). Seaforth was very light, slightly soapy but a decent golden ale – a pretty good start to the festival.

Next up was Williams Bros Birds & Bees (4.3%), a new beer from the Alloa brothers Scott and Bruce. Recently it got through to the finals of the Sainsbury’s Bottled Beer Challenge – we’ll have to see how it differs in the bottle, as on cask it was flowery and lemony and very sessionable. We were trying to work out if it was their Williams Gold remixed slightly, as it has many similar tastes. The third beer on the agenda was Traditional Scottish Ales’ Gold Thistle (4.5%), a sharp-tasting golden bitter which suffered from a poor woody smell. The flavours were light and hoppy, with a bit of golden ale biscuit.

Windie Goat are a very small micro who brew almost exclusively for the Failford Inn in Ayrshire, and having previously sampled Gutter Slab (5.5%) we had to go back for another taste. After three gentle golden ales, the difference was startling – Cascade hops on the nose, and a wonderful bitter citrus flavour and aftertaste. It was so good that it sold out very quickly, so we can count ourselves lucky to have got in while we could. Beer number five was from a producer I’ve never tried before – Aberdeenshire’s Hillside/Deeside (they recently changed names) – their 4.0% Nechtan. This one was also tremendous, grapefruity and refreshing, it really delivered that zesty summer flavour many brewers fail to get into their beers.

Beer six was the traditional ‘BeerCaster’s choice’ round, where we buy one for someone else on the panel – avoiding the cruelty of a 9% barleywine. The one I ended up with was Sulwath’s The Grace (4.3%), which tasted far stronger than it’s abv and had a similar grapefruit aroma to the Nechtan. The flavours were different however, there was a sweetness I’d not picked up in any of the previous beers, presumably down to the mix of two types of malt and three of hop. Sulwath are based in Castle Douglas near Dumfries, and clearly put a lot of effort into their beers if this one was anything to go by.

The final beer of the night was the also traditional ‘lucky dip’ round, selecting a totally new random beer based purely on the name. This year it was the turn of Caledonian’s Top Banana, which given the name unsurprisingly had some gentle banana tastes on the back of a powerful banana aroma. It was nice for a fruit beer though, and reminded me of Wells&Young’s Banana Bread Beer. A sweet palate cleanser at the end of the night – almost like a dessert after a (particularly lengthy) meal. Speaking of which, we’ll be back tomorrow for seconds. Stay tuned…

Question 1. 3×80=…?

Each beer-producing country has peculiar quirks that serve to make it’s brewing unique. It could be the water, the type of hops, the variety of barley used. Scotland has large variations in these without doubt - but it’s history that counts around here. Beer was first produced in the chilly Highlands 5000yrs ago, using heather and herbs in place of the as yet un-imported hops. As far back as 1509, Aberdeen had over 150 brewers (all female - the original alewives). After the Act of Union in 1707 there was reduced tax on beer in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK, and no tax at all on malt.

As a result, the 18th Century was a boom time in Scottish brewing. The different strengths of beer were classified based on the amount charged per barrel, in shillings. Originally a 3.5%abv beer would cost 60 shillings per barrel, a 4%abv ale 70 shillings, and so-on. To some extent England did this too, but it’s north of the border that the system stuck. Shillings passed into history long ago, but beers here are still produced in those categories, and 80/- are the most common. So for the debut BeerCast podcast, our (somewhat reduced) panel tested three local 80’s, all from within 40 miles of BeerCast HQ.

1. William Wallace Ale (4.5%abv)
Traditional Scottish Ales Ltd, Bridge of Allan.
500ml glass bottle

Traditional Scottish Ales have two main brewery sites in central Scotland, an original site in Stirling, and a second acquired in 2006 after a merger with the Bridge of Allan brewery. The latter was founded in 1997 in the Victorian spa town outside the campus of Stirling University, where many of the BeerCast panellists received an early education in the merits (and pitfalls) of beer drinking. The area was first settled to take advantage of natural copper deposits in the area, and these minerals give the local water a distinctive taste. As befits their name, Traditional Scottish Ales’s brews have patriotic names - none moreso than William Wallace Ale, named after the iconic Highland hero who, as summed up by Shovels, “gave it to the English, or something”.

What They Say - “This full-bodied malty ale is rich ruby in colour with a satisfying crisp dry aftertaste. Hand brewed in the heart of Scotland with only the finest malted barley, choicest hops, yeast and pure Scottish water.” [Traditional Scottish Ales]

What We Say…
Richard - Strongly sweet ale, I prefer McEwans 80/- to this 4
Shovels - Caramel aftertaste that is quite unpleasant 3½

2. St Andrew’s Ale (4.6%abv)
Belhaven Brewery, Dunbar.
500ml glass bottle

Belhaven was the oldest independent brewery in Scotland, having started production in 1719, until taken over by the Suffolk giant Greene King in 2005 in a deal worth £187million. According to the 2007 Good Beer Guide Belhaven has 275 tied pubs in Scotland. They produce four domestic beers, Best, Best Extra Cold (is nothing sacred?), 80 Shilling, and St Andrews Ale, which the panel sampled today. Belhaven are sited in Dunbar, a coastal town of 6300 people, 30 miles east of Edinburgh. First settled in the 7th Century as part of Northumberland, it was destroyed in the 9th Century by the Picts, and within a hundred years was part of Scotland. According to the Met Office it receives more hours of direct sunshine and less rainfall than anywhere else in Scotland, due to it’s easterly coastal location. The locals call it ‘Sunny Dunny’.

What They Say - “A bittersweet beer with lots of body. The malt, fruit and roast mingle throughout with hints of hop and caramel.” [The Good Beer Guide]; “A rare modern phenomenon – a beer that tastes like beer. A smooth, full bodied, malty flavour and fruity palate, St Andrews Ale is the perfect mellow way to wind down.” [Belhaven Brewery]

What We Say…
Richard - Similar to the William Wallace, but not quite as tacky 5
Shovels - More refreshing and less sweet than the first one 5

3. Golden Promise (4.5%abv)
Caledonian Brewery, Edinburgh.
500ml glass bottle

The Caley opened in 1869, and is the only remaining brewery in Edinburgh. In the mid 19th Century it was one of over forty, producing such a malty stench the city was nicknamed ‘Old Reekie’. The brewery’s two founders were in their early twenties, and were drinking buddies at the Golf Tavern on Bruntsfield Links. In 2004, they signed an agreement with Scottish & Newcastle (who had just closed the second last brewery in Edinburgh, at Fountainbridge) to brew their products under license. The Caledonian Brewing Company is an independent company, and brews the famous and multi award-winning Deuchars IPA - one of the greatest Scottish beers. Golden Promise is one of it’s lesser-known brands, and is named after the variety of malting barley used in it’s manufacture.

What They Say - “The first organically-brewed beer in Britain, Golden Promise is a five time winner at the organic food awards, and won a silver medal at the 2005 International Brewing Awards. It has a delightfully rounded sweet malt flavour, reminiscent of Ovaltine. It’s aromas are spicy, with a hint of dusty cinnamon and vanilla.” [Caldeonian Brewery Ltd]

What We Say…
Richard - Nice golden hue, it’s the best thing we’ve drunk today 7
Shovels - More subtle flavours to it, which is a good thing 7

BeerCast panel verdict

Golden Promise - 14/20
St Andrew’s Ale - 10/20
William Wallace Ale - 7½/20

Panellists - (from left) Shovels, Richard

Site news
In the latest of a long line of promises and missed deadlines, we are on the final stretch of getting the podcast out. Currently we’re tracking down a file host for our RSS feed, and when we do our freshly completed and polished debut BeerCast will be available on iTunes - obviously, we’ll let you know how and where to subscribe the moment it goes live.

Secondly, this week sees a flurry of excitement for the panel, as festival season grips the blog. Our full complement of Edinburgh-based BeerCasters will be attending the Scottish Traditional Ale Festival, notebooks and tasting glasses at the ready. Meanwhile over the Atlantic, our South American correspondant Hopmeister has been dispatched to Ecuador to discover the secrets of Galapagos lager*, and our Quebec-based panellist Craig AS (Phd) attended the recent Montreal beer festival. He filed a report, which will be published in due course. So look out for another BeerCast first - three posts in a week. Crikey.

* Surprisingly, this is actually true.

Second Update (Andy, Dec 2008):

Hello i’m moving the site over from blogger to thebeercast.com and through the magic of television i can now wholeheatedly insert the original collectors item BeerCast No. 1 right here:

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #1 - Count the Shillings
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed