Hops Kill Robin Hood

Well, there we are then. I was right with my second point the other day... BrewDog's new beer is (drum roll really not necessary...)

'Hops Kill Robin Hood.'

So there we are, rather depressingly predictable. Shallow, brainless marketing apparently.*

I'll give it a try tonight, see what it actually TASTES like. Now there's a thought...

This is classic BrewDog though: 'It’s time the legend of Robin Hood was killed off as a marketing tactic.' Presumably opening a pub in Nottingham with a week-long special Robin Hood beer doesn't count? Hang on, of course, it's killing Robin Hood. I'm struggling to keep up with the sophistication.

*Oh. Should that read, a response to shallow brainless marketing? Actually, who cares?

Meantime London Stout

This was my beer for the 'Open It' weekend. Although I've not really had it that long, there's not much that I've had much longer either. I have wine going back to the days I first started in Oddbins down in London, but I tend to buy beer to drink (revolutionary concept there eh?). I am fascinated by the ageing process though, and I keep meaning to get some beers cellared for a longer time. I'm sure I'll get round to it at some point!

There's lots of coffee on the nose. On the palate more of the fruit notes come through, lots of damson and dark cherry. These fruit flavours work really well with the medium body, which provides just enough weight to give the beer some structure, but is light enough to showcase those fruits. Those fruits also provide a good counterpoint to the bitterness of the coffee and contribute to the gentle finish. All in all a most enjoyable beer. Rich and complex and perhaps importantly, without too much alcohol, meaning  it's mellow, but not to the point where you feel like a bit of a doze after you've finished it. Enjoyed both this and the Vienna style lager they make so I look forward to trying more Meantime beers.

4.5% abv. £2.19 (50cl) from Beers of Europe

Additional:

Nothing really to do with the beer, but since I wrote this the earworm has had me listening to Helmet's In the Meantime. nI had my last ever illegal (well, under-age anyway) pint at a gig where theses guys were supporting Ministry. No idea what it was, but damn sure it wasn't as good as the Meantime beer, although the gig was well worth the long trans-Pennine trip to Manchester. My cure for the earworm? Listen to the tune, so here it is...

 

You wouldn't have been able to do that in the nineties eh? Open to suggestions for a beer match for that one.

Local Feathers to be Ruffled

Cryptic I know, but BrewDog, who are quietly and subtly going about opening a new bar in Nottingham,* are apparently releasing a new beer to coincide with the opening. Apparently it is:

"A brand new beer brewed just for the bar that should ruffle some of the local's feathers..."

Disclaimer: *If you are likely to get touchy about Nottingham please close your browser.*

Still here? OK, you were warned... So I'm prepared to go along with the hype, and just for fun, inviting speculation about exactly whose feathers they are intending to ruffle, and in what way. I'm not from Nottingham, and although I am proud of my adopted home, I'm not averse to poking fun at it (it's a sign of affection don't you know).

• Nottingham CAMRA? General target, or them representing CAMRA as a whole. I kind of hope not, potentially be a bit lame. Entertainment value if it backfires though, are people really going to stop going to Castle Rock pubs? There's only one BrewDog bar round here, and lots of VERY good Castle Rock pubs.
• Nottingham myths and legends? Robin Hood's from Yorkshire kind of gig. That'd get them some press... Robin Hood's Doncaster Pale Ale anyone?
• Football? Well, Forest at any rate. My personal favourite. Rarely do folk round here get so stuck in a groove as when they start saying their team BELONGS in the Champions League. Although they don't have football in Scotland do they, so it's probably not a goer this one.
• Of course it might just be a beer, and the feather ruffling is just because it isn't Harvest Pale. But this is BrewDog of course. 

I also have to be quite nice to them between now and Tuesday in case I don't get through the door and have to rely on my spy network.

*Yeah, right.

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.

Subjectivity & Judgement

Had a fun discussion this morning on Twitter revolving around subjectivity. It began because a well-regarded beer was dismissed summarily by someone as 'tasting like stout' which he hated. So what? Well, apparently the guy is a 'beer judge.' OK, so maybe he should be avoiding judging the stout category, and he's obviously well within his rights to say whatever he likes about an individual beer - especially since it was outside of a competition - but it still asks a question about judgement generally. I'll leave that one since I wasn't there and don't know the man involved so I won't comment. (Hat-tip to Phil for the anecdote though - follow to join in!)

Homework

My blog is on something of a hiatus at the moment because I am both skint, and I'm supposed to be working towards a spirits exam next month. The exam is part theory, part tasting. To quote Dave Broom in Distilling Knowledge;* 'It is often said that tasting is an entirely subjective matter.' and indeed this same point was made by Paul in the Twitter conversation. However, in the case of exams (or judging for competitions), as he goes on to point out, it can't be. Objectivity has to be strived for. If, in a situation where you are supposed to be judging a drink on its merits, you say 'I don't like this...' you are answering the wrong question. Again, it's fine for the pub conversation, or your blog, or twitter. If I get to assess three whiskies in my exam next month and I just say, 'I don't like whisky, they're therefore all rubbish,' I'll get failed.

This is why there are clearly laid out criteria for the exam, and, as pointed out in the qualification for his statement about subjectivity, Dave Broom says 'The key question is, is it a good example of its type?' Similarly I would like to think that our stout-hating beer judge had his objective criteria set out by any competition organisers, and that he was using the same criteria and tasting approach as his fellow judges. Am I convinced as to the objectivity of all awards and competitions? Well that wouldn't be very objective of me would it?

I'm off back to the book, wish me luck!

*Set text for the exam. (Link is to him on Twitter)