Friday 26 August 2011

Sharp's Brewery - Doom Bar

Now I must have had a dodgy one the first time I tried this because I've tended to avoid it, until I had little choice this week. How glad I am too, this is a great pint!

I had it with a meal and then asked my wife if she minded driving home so that i could have another!! (In my defence I had just driven all the way back from the coast :-)

It's in that category that you could call a session beer.

Brewery: Sharp's (Rock - Cornwall)
Beer: Doom Bar
Style: Premium Ale 4.0%

Another beer to add to my long collection of likeable west country ales!

http://www.sharpsbrewery.co.uk/our-beers/doombar/

Here's a little bit about the name and its origins:
Where the river Camel meets the Atlantic Ocean on Cornwall’s rugged north coast, a sand bank, centuries old, known as the Doom Bar protects and calms this beautiful estuary. Sailors respect the Doom Bar knowing it to be unforgiving if met with haste or arrogance.

Saturday 20 August 2011

Great British Beer Festival 2011

Honourable mention must go to the following beer:

Brewery: Beeston (Norfolk)
Beer: On the Huh
Style: Premium Beer 5.0%

In the GBBF brochure it gave this description:
Chestnut in colour, this is an old style traditional strong bitter. Smooth, malty, rich and full bodied.
I just gave it three stars, however as it was one of the last ones I tried on the day, I honestly can't give you much more description than that!! But as it got the same marks as the Potholer it couldn't have been too bad.

Further beers I had, that got two stars, which would imply an acceptable beer are as follows:

Brewery: Braydon (Wiltshire)
Beer: Yetiz
Style: Bitter 4.1%

Brewery: Keltek (Cornwall)
Beer: Magik
Style: Bitter 4.0%

Brewery: Exe Valley (Devon)
Beer: Silverton Pride
Style: Bitter 3.9%

Brewery: Kelburn (Glasgow)
Beer: Red Smiddy
Style: Premium Ale 4.1%

Brewery: Surrey Hills (Surrey)
Beer: Shere Drop
Style: Bitter 4.2%

and finally one that only got 1 star

Brewery: Church End (Warwickshire)
Beer: Goat's Milk
Style: Golden Ale 3.6%

I had underlined citrus and dry finish and whilst I don't mind a bit of tang it's not my favourite flavour in beer. Although I seem to be seeing many more "citrus" beers at the festival as years go by. Is it an industry idea that these flavours are more palatable? Or a change in drinking habits?

Thursday 11 August 2011

Great British Beer Festival 2011

Brewery: Moles (Wiltshire)
Beer: Mole Catcher
Style: Premium Beer 5.0%

This was probably my favourite beer of the day.

I don't know anything about this brewery, its was first time i'd come across it. The best accolade I can give it was it reminded me of an old favourite of mine King and Barnes Festive, praise indeed!

http://www.molesbrewery.com/site/

The flavour description in the brochure probably backs up my claim by describing the taste as malty, spicy hop and the look as ruby, brown, and the taste - bitter/sweet, a perfect beer, maybe for a colder evening.

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Great British Beer Festival 2011

Having visited last Thursday, I thought I'd pass on my thoughts about my personal favourites. I shall also do it over a number of posts. So here goes.

Brewery: Cheddar (Somerset)
Beer: Potholer
Style: Golden Ale 4.3%

This was my equal second favourite beer of the day.

http://www.cheddarales.co.uk/

This was my first beer of the festival, and I wasn't disappointed either. The taste description in the brochure said dry, refreshing and zesty, and I underlined refreshing, so there you go! With just a hint of citrus, (a hint is all you need and many of the summer beers appear to over do this slightly). A great beer on which to start the day.
Brewed in Somerset it adds to my opinion that west country beers are some of our best.

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Otter Brewery

Last week I spent a very pleasant week in South East Devon, not far from Branscombe, and on three occasions we visited the Hare and Hounds pub at Putts Corner, a few miles south of Honiton.

The pub had Branscombe Vale Breweries Branoc which I tried first and whilst it tasted fine I just felt it didn't have quite enough flavour for me, that said I had it at lunchtime and would've considered more if i'd been 'on an all day sess'!

However, on the next two visits I tried the Otter Ale. (My wife had the Otter Bitter - which is a bit of a mouthful to ask for?! -which i liked but not as much as the Ale)

The Ale was rich in taste and rich in colour and went down very smoothly. Maybe this was, in part, due to the fact I was relaxing on holiday with family and friends whilst also surprisingly enjoying good weather too. It would definitely also be due to the fact that all the beers here were being served straight out of the barrel and the pub clearly looked after its ale!

Otter and I go back a long way in fact, I've been a regular attendee a the GBBF over the years, but i have to say I don't often follow up a beer I've drunk at the festival and look out for it elsewhere, that wasn't true with Otter which I found 'bottled' in an off licence just up the road from where I was living, Otter Head in this case, a bottled beer well worth investing in!

http://www.otterbrewery.com/

Beer: Otter ale

Brewery: Otter Brewery

Category: Premium ale
ABV %: 4.5

http://www.cyclopsbeer.co.uk/dynamiclist.php?beer_id=4207