Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Turn To Red

Red beers seem to me to have a bit of an identity crisis. Rightly or wrongly the drinking public associate colour with flavour. When I worked in a bar in Australia the Guinness was viewed with suspicion by some, and it was suggested that it 'did strange things to you' despite it being 1% abv lower than the XXXX that was the 'standard' beer. In the minds of some, a dark beer is something warming and wintry; beer to ward of the chill, and pale beer is the summer or warm weather alternative; beer for the garden. It's an easy stereotype even if the preconceptions aren't always backed up in reality, a little like the 'brown is boring' tag. IPA and other big hop-hit beers are the darlings of the 'craft beer scene', praises being sung from rooftops here and across the Atlantic, so where does this leave red ale - ignored and lonely?


Anyway, to beer. Since we seem to have skipped summer in favour of a second, slightly warmer, winter, I wondered if a few red beers might be seasonally appropriate. I had Buxton 'Kinder Sunset', Great Newsome 'Pricky Back Otchan' and Welbeck Abbey 'Red Feather' kicking about so, with a nod to  Killing Joke's debut EP, I thought I'd compare them.

I have had beers from Buxton before and always enjoyed them, although apart from the Moor Top that I had on my way up to the Thornbridge Brewery the other week I can't remember what they are. I'll never make a ticker, it's a good job I've got Untappd to keep an eye on me. The Kinder Sunset pours a deep ruby red, and it has sweet cherry fruit on the nose and flavours like the toffee off a toffee apple. I found the soapy hops a bit off putting, it's one of those things I like in a beer in small doses but sometimes it's too much. (5% abv, Slurp sell it for £2.75 for a 50cl bottle.)

Given the reputation that Buxton have I was pleasantly surprised that I preferred the Great Newsome 'Pricky Back Otchan'. The hops were less soapy, and there's a delicious minerality to it, an almost metallic dry bite that I really enjoyed. It's a bit less red-coloured than the Buxton, possibly veering away from the red theme, but it's as close as I had. Again there's plenty of malty, biscuity aroma. (4.2% abv, £20 for a case of 12 50cl bottles if you can pick it up from the brewery.)



Last up was Red Feather from the Welbeck Brewery. A tasty brew, enough body despite its relatively low alcohol to give it some structure. This one is definitely all about the malt, there's lots of sweet biscuity flavour and a touch of spice, all backed up with chocolate and caramel. (3.9% abv, £2.70 for a 50cl bottle from Hops in a Bottle.)

Red beer; difficult to pin down to a style maybe? Given it seems we have a love of getting everything labelled and neatly compartmentalised - placed into a genre - maybe that's why it's a bit tricky. It's a bit like reggae-dub-punk-metal-industrial-gothic-synthpop bands I suppose...




Sunday, 8 July 2012

Houblon Chouffe

Back in my pub-management days we used to have La Chouffe on tap fairly regularly, and despite it being a whole lot more pricey than the usual beers we had on draught it always used to go pretty quickly. The consumption was also helped along by some very keen staff and their rigorous attention to quality control by way of constant tasting.

As a result of this beer's stable-mate being such an old favourite I was a little worried I might not like this one, it being labelled up as a double IPA, albeit in a hybrid with a tripel form, I thought it might just end up being a one-dimensional hop-monster. My worries were unfounded.

It pours with a slight haze. On the nose there's light citrus; lemon and a hint of pine. It starts light and almost sherberty and then the floral hops kick in on the mid-palate, I love the way the hops sort of sneak up on you as you drink it. For such a strong beer it comes across as really light and refreshing - dangerously drinkable. There's a crisp clean finish that also contributes to its moreish nature. All in all it's pretty spectacular, I really enjoyed it.

£7.44 (75cl) from Beer Ritz

Friday, 6 July 2012

Gwaun Valley Brewery

It was our last day in Pembrokeshire and we braved the weather in the Preseli Hills and made the half-hour trip from Narberth to the Gwaun Valley Brewery.

Sometimes you find out about things in the strangest places. I noticed some cider, and a price list, in the window of a camera and sports optical shop in Narberth - an unusual combination if I ever saw one. I popped in to see if they had any beers and ended up with a couple from Gwaun Valley, which led me to have a look where they were - hence the trip across the Preselis. I jokingly asked the guy in Celtic Vision if he had any trouble getting an off-licence for a camera shop. 'Oh, it was far weirder than that, we own the ice cream shop next door and we had to get the licence to sell our home-made alcoholic ice-cream.' Now that is proper entrepreneurial thinking, Richard Branson's got nothing on these people!

We had a couple of samples off hand-pull at the brewery along with a nose of some different malts and some hops. It's only a small operation based in an old granary. It stemmed, like many microbreweries I suppose, from a home brew project, and they brew six hundred litres or so of beer a couple of times a week. We made off with a couple more bottles ( I was driving), one of which went down a treat with the home-made ciabatta bread pizza we had for tea. I'll do some reviews as I crack open the bottles. If you do ever find yourself in Pembrokeshire I recommend paying the brewsters at Gwaun Valley a visit, if nothing else they have a very good roof.

On the way back we had something to eat and a cheeky half of 'Cwrw Tafarn Zinc' which is apparently brewed especially for the Tafarn Zinc - it's the pub you can probably just make out for the glare of the sun in the photo. I've no idea who it's brewed by but I figured it was a little more authentically Pembrokeshire than St Austell Tribute and Worthington's. Also in Rosebush, just round the corner from the pub, is the amazing Pant Mawr Farmhouse Cheese shop, where me, my wife and our daughter munched our way through a selection of six of their cheeses - all of which are veggie friendly. Best of the bunch, or at least the ones we decided to smuggle back over the border, were the 'Caws Preseli' and the 'Mature Cerwyn' although it was a close run thing for me with the two smoked cheeses. If I have a particular moment of inspiration I'll see how they match them up with some of the beers.

So that's Pembrokeshire done for another year, and as a bonus I've got a haul of beers to enjoy and  review. The weather was as bad as I ever remember it being, as I may have mentioned once or twice, and I have been going there on holiday almost my whole life, but I know I'll be back. It's a beautiful part of the world, and it seems that the explosion in breweries is reaching to the far west, I hope it continues!

Sir Benfro... Diolch yn fawr!

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Tomos Watkin 'Cwrw Hâf' & 'OSB'

Cwrw Hâf from the Tomos Watkin brewery over in Swansea is apparently 'A Taste of Welsh Summer.' Well indeed. In the six days we had in Wales we had six days of what I heard a local describe as 'Pembrokeshire sunshine.' Maybe the taste of summer reference is a nod towards the percentage of water in beer?

Anyway, the constant deluge of rain didn't stop me sniffing out some Welsh beer, although I didn't get to as many pubs as I might have liked - although that was mainly because of having to drive. I got these two from the Spar in Narberth. The Cwrw Hâf is perhaps a little more of a commercial style than the more locally brewed beers I tried, it's not bottle conditioned and it's simple, but tasty. Initial aromas are of citrus, particularly lemon, and there's a good refreshing bite and a sweetish, clean finish. It's not a particularly complex beer, and I think that means it wouldn't really benefit from being bottle conditioned, sometimes it's fine to keep things simple! 4.2%.

'OSB' or 'Old Style Bitter' is a bit more full-bodied; it's a copper coloured bitter with a spiciness and a bit more pithyness/orange peel flavour to it, along with more expressive biscuity malt. Good head retention. Again it's not going to register as one of the world's most complex beers, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. A drinker not a thinker? 4.5%.

Not entirely sure how much I got these for, I think it was about £3.60 for the pair. Well worth it if you want something tasty for sheltering from the south-west Wales rain!

Iechyd Da!

Sunday, 1 July 2012

Penlon 'Ewes Frolic' Lager & 'Tipsy Tup' Pale Ale

A gap in the terrible weather today and a great time was had by the family down in Saundersfoot. As a bonus we swung by 'The Quay' for a half of 'Firewater' which, from what I can work out, is just cask Worthington's which has retained an old nickname back from when Firewater was actually one of the beers served at the pub. Since it's served via a jug from firkins tucked away behind the bar you're hardly besieged by branding telling you exactly what it is you're drinking, so I guess it's pretty easy for an old name to stick.

The 'Ewes Frolic'  and 'Tipsy Tup' are two from a selection of Penlon beers I picked up from Ultracomida; a coffee-shop/wine-shop/deli in Narberth. It's not quite as local as the Preseli beers I tried the other night, but they're brewed not too far north of here in Ceredigion. The 'Ewes Frolic' is a bottle-conditioned lager which pours clear up to a point (I shared it, my wife got the clear half). There's enough citrus hop character in there to get your mouth watering and it keeps its lager credentials with its light body and good, clean, smooth finish. It wears its 5.2% abv well. Although I was a little suspicious of the addition of 'a teaspoon of corn syrup' to get the bottle maturation going I enjoyed this one - it certainly didn't end up with the sweet corn taste you can sometimes get in an American adjunct lager.


The 'Tipsy Tup' is a pale ale, and again it's bottle conditioned. It pours a not dissimilar colour to the lager, with a good thick head to it. It has a touch of soapiness on the nose, but not enough to make it unpleasant, in fact it provides a good counterpoint to the gentle pithy bite of the hops. I thought this was at least as good as the lager, it would make a really good session beer - in fact it'd be great if the Cresselly Arms would get this in cask as the new Firewater! 3.8% abv.

Just as an aside if you do have these beers in bottle they do have quite a heavy sediment, if you don't like yeast in your glass let it settle for a good while and pour very carefully. They do actually recommend decanting into a jug then into your glass, presumably so you can see the sediment better while you pour as well as get a good head on your beer.

I'm not sure on the individual prices since the receipt isn't entirely clear but I got a selection of four Penlon beers for £10 from Ultracomida.

All of the Penlon beers I got are vegan friendly.

Iechyd da!