Williams Brothers 'Prodigal Son'

Sainsbury's Great British Beer Hunt seemed to me to come and go with barely a whimper. I'm not sure if there were simply far too many exciting things happening for it to register, in the form of IndyMan and DeMolen, or whether it was a lack of quality entrants, lack of publicity or maybe I've just been too busy with other things to 'catch the vibe' so to speak.

It's something that I still think is worth supporting but it might not carry on that way. Tucking the new beers in a seasonal aisle along with Halloween hats and Christmas crackers seems crazy to me - OK the beers might not be part of the permanent range but they're neither are they naturally associated with a holiday. The stock also has to be there; there's no point in allowing an entrant if they don't have the beers to go where they're required and you end up with some of last year's beer coming back into the competition.

On the positive side, beers like the Prodigal Son from Williams and the Harviestoun Wild Hop Gold are bold, experimental, and really make the competition. Even aside from skunked clear bottles and re-entries, too many were, for me, indicative of a section of the beer market that is content to put 'traditional' on their labels and hope the beer sells, possibly as a 'genuine local' product - lots of soapiness and very little thought. Prodigal Son is nothing like this, it's the best I've had although I've not tried everything I got hold of - I've yet to try the winner so maybe there is time for redemption yet. Prodigal Son is a lovely, juicy, mouth-watering drop, the aroma reminded me of leafy blackcurrant and it's got a herbal, medicinal quality with a lovely ginger spiciness in the finish. There's character right across the nose, palate and finish; always a sign of quality.

Nottingham CAMRA's beer festival is on at Nottingham Castle this weekend. Due to having to commit myself to other things I'm not able to go, which is disappointing because it is a great all-round festival; but with over 1000 different beers there it seems that even for someone with an interest there is a lot of mediocre beer out there to get past before you get to the really stellar performers. My list out of the 500 or so breweries that I was really keen to sample something from only ran to a dozen or so that I'd not tried before. In an ideal world it would be great to try everything once , but with so much choice (and a limited supply of cash and 'constitution') you have to be picky, and not all 'real ales' are are created equal, any more than all beers are.

Prodigal Son is 4.1% abv and was in a 3 for £4 deal in Sainsbury's.

Williams 'Ceilidh' Lager

Sometimes it seems a shame that there is not much of a voice for lager. There's much clamour about cask ale and American style craft beer, and even to people not familiar with either they are obviously different - they often look different, and the bolder flavours can make them taste very different too.

I thought Williams Ceilidh was a great beer, but lager, more than any other style, might well be lost amongst the vast number of beers on the market. Lost once in the sea of mediocrity that is mainstream lager, passed over by cask-orientated pubs that might well not be able to sell interesting lager if it comes in a keg (the chances are that keg lines are tied up to 'must stock' beers.)* It might even be overlooked a third time by those amongst us that love big flavours, the hop-heads and the flavour explorers (and I'm not claiming innocence in this!)

It did get entered in this year's SIBA Craft beer in Keg competition, where it won a gold. I hope that's a good sign for the future. Who else is going to stand up for a well-made, flavourful, domestically brewed lager? On pouring it doesn't look much different to most lagers. There's plenty of body, a citrus hoppiness that's subtle rather than being an IPA punch, a gorgeous satisfying biscuity-malt sweetness and a fresh lemony-citrus finish. Now all we need is some summer sun to get outside and drink it in.

4.7% abv. £1.79 (50cl) from Beers of Europe (I'm not sure it came from there, it might well have been from Gauntleys, one of my local wine shops, but I couldn't remember what I paid for it.)

* I've not blogged in a while, mainly because I've been busy, but partly because I've drank nothing that inspired me to write. Changing to lager from more traditional beers (that some would have us believe are the only ones worth drinking) was what got me going again.

Williams Brothers 'Midnight Sun' for Pancake Day

I'm rarely one to miss an excuse to drink beer, and this porter pancake syrup recipe from Mug of St. Arnold (also on Twitter) gave me an excuse to not only open a beer I was looking forward to, but to play around with a bit of it in the kitchen and eat pancakes!

Once I'd fathomed out the crazy American measurements (why on earth sugar is measured in a fluid quantity I'll never know) and converted them into good old fashioned bushels, away I went. This is my sort of cooking. It involves very little skill, and beer. 

The beer I went for was Williams Brothers' Midnight Sun Porter. It smelled gorgeous when it was heating up, looking a bit like the molasses at the Bundaberg Rum distillery that I remember from my Queensland days - although slightly more appetising! The syrup thickened slightly on cooling, and still had plenty of boozy quality to it (maybe a 5.6% beer was a bit excessive for the exercise but I'm not complaining) and the cinnamon complemented the original spiciness of the porter which came out a lot because of the heat.

The result was that the syrup was a lot better than the pancakes. We got some delivered with a load of food by mistake so we got them for free - ready made pancakes that is - and they were worth every penny. Frankly I should have just bothered myself breaking a few eggs open - live and learn. Still, the syrup was a resounding success. I may have gone a bit mad with my first helping but my wife went back for seconds and thirds, and the remainder (and there was some even though I halved the measurements, the recipe does make a lot) is destined for ice cream later on today.

As for the beer au naturelle, well, it's a modern porter and it's definitely up to the Williams Brothers' usual high standard. There's plenty of body and bitter coffee malt to back up the rich, spicy dark fruit flavours on the palate and bitter chocolate notes on the finish. Once it was in the syrup all of those fruits became like liquid mince pie filling.

I got this one from Gauntleys in Nottingham. Not sure what I paid for it but a quick search had it at £1.89 from Beers of Europe. At this price it's a bargain for a 50cl bottle, given what you'd probably pay for a comparable American beer.

Williams Bros. 'Caesar Augustus' Lager/IPA Hybrid

- A what?

- Lager/IPA hybrid - you know?

- No bloody idea what you're on about.

- Look at the back label then...

The first one of the Sainsbury's beers I picked out was brewed as a lager then had hops chucked in - presumably to give it more character. Fair enough.

Here's what Williams say about it:

"We use the term lager/IPA hybrid because we cold ferment this beer with a classic lager yeast. The initial fermentation takes at least two weeks, after which we lager (store) the beer at zero degrees for a minimum of four weeks, during which we add a chock load of classic IPA style hops and allow the two to marry - fanfare!"

The result? A really good beer. Gentle, floral hoppy notes, the lagering seems to have rounded out the flavour - holding back the aggression you can get from some IPAs. A crisp, clean citrussy beer with enough fizz to give it a pleasant, creamy texture, and a light, sweet, honey-like kiss on the finish.

One thing I've always liked about Williams bros beers (and I've reviewed a couple on this fledgling blog) is that they can do the subtle well, they don't feel the need to have 'shouty' flavours, character through a melding of different flavours rather than letting one go mad. Of course, I've not tried the Profanity Stout yet (I'm thinking that sounds less subtle.)

This is a really excellent beer, a bridge-builder if you like, that could be enjoyed by hop heads and lager drinkers alike. If this is the standard of the Beer Hunt beers than everyone is in for a treat!

4.1% abv. £1.89 (50cl) at Sainsbury's