I do like a good infographic, me. This one, from online travel agents redspottedhanky.com, comes courtesy of their PR people at Bigmouth Media.
I have no idea if it’s factually accurate or not, but it’s one the train + ale fans (that’ll be my Dad, then) might appreciate.
Walking up to the bar in Manchester’s Port Street Beer House requires an exercise of willpower. The temptation is to cast your eye over the bewildering array of pump-clips, start seeing beer-flavoured stars and just blurt “one of everything!” then just hope your liver (and your wallet) can take it. It just all looks so good.
My top tip: they have three blackboards up on the wall behind the bar: one for their cask ales, two for their draught beers. Focus on one of those boards at a time, and just pick one. Assuming you’re in for a session, you’ll have plenty of time to switch boards later. Try not to worry that you might miss a really good one on another board that runs out just as you come back for your second pint – c’est la vie. Plenty more top-notch beer in the cellar. And for the love of all that’s hoppy, don’t even think about looking at the bottled beer menu, not until you’re settled in with your first of the evening. Quite apart from the fact that some of the prices in there will send you screaming out the door, it’s the start of a slippery slope to decision-making madness.
Of course, I’m a great one for ignoring my own advice, so I usually end up trying (and failing) to take in all the on-board options at once and make some sort of plan for the evening. Which almost never works, especially given my habit of changing my mind six or seven times before I actually get to the bar. Anyhow, here’s where my decision-making process (such as it was) took me last Saturday night:
Magic Rock Dark Arts
I’ve had Dark Arts a couple of times before and for me it’s the dark star of the Magic Rock range. It’s a wonderfully deep-flavoured stout, delivering a big hit of dark chocolate, coffee, charcoal-smoke and toasted nuts, wrapped up in a smooth, satisfying mouth-feel. At 6.0% ABV it’s not a quaffer, and maybe it was a bit adventurous as a session starter, but what the hell, too good to risk missing out on.
Thornbridge Halcyon Imperial IPA
Last year I tried and loved a bottle of the Halcyon 2009 Harvest, so when I saw this one on the board – presumably the new, 2010 Harvest vintage – I jumped at the chance top sample a half on draught. Halcyon is a very, very impressive beer indeed. A 7.4% ABV Imperial IPA, it delivers bucketloads of big, fresh green-hop flavours, topped off with an enticing honey aroma. In the glass and on your tongue, sticky sugars mix and merge with all those sharp, citrus hops in a perfect blend of sharp and sweet. Big flavour, big impact, always a beer that’s worth seeking out. Great stuff.
BrewDog Winter Porter
I fancied something dark and roast-malty again after that big blast of hops and this one leapt off the board at me. Come on though, ‘Winter Porter’ is their Christmas porter with the tinsel taken off, isn’t it? It’s the same blend of dark, smoky roast malt and fruity, spicy notes from a dash of chili, if I remember correctly. Yeah, thought so. Not that I’m complaining, mind. It’s a lovely drop and at 6.0% ABV it packs a satisfying kick as well. Grab the chance to try a drop of this one if you see it anywhere.
Moor Illusion
I wanted to dial down the alcohol content for my next one, so I went for a pint of Moor Illusion, a 4.5% ABV black ale that I’ve enjoyed before. So what went wrong this time? I’m really not sure, but for some reason I was just over-powered by a blast of coffee and hops, lots of coffee, lots of hops and then more coffee and more hops on top. It was very sharp, very dry, with a burnt, charcoal-taste to finish. I was bemused, befuddled and frankly gutted, but I just couldn’t finish it. Bizarre, but true.
Brasserie Lefebvre Barbãr Bok
For my last half pint of the evening I opted for a Belgian beer that I’ve tried and enjoyed in bottled form couple of months ago. Barbãr Bok is a dark ale that’s brewed with honey, which the brewery website says is “from Yucatan in Mexico and is hardly noticeable”. I’d argue that second point, I thought there was a lovely, deep honey tone, that blended well with the Belgian yeast tang and the toasted malt flavours. All in all, a sweet and delicious strong ale that I’d be happy to sit and sip any time.
Good session, all things considered. But then that’s one thing you’re pretty much guaranteed at the Port Street Beer House, whatever you end up choosing.
Last June Jo and I went to see her folks in Bridgnorth and stayed over at the (highly recommended) Bull’s Head in Chelmarsh. The night we were there, they’d booked a singer/songwriter by the name of Gren Bartley, who turned out to be very good indeed.
With rather superb guitar-picking skills and a lilting but strong and clear vocal style, he’s reminiscent of a whole bunch of ’60s & ’70s acoustic folk/blues guitarists: Davy Graham, Tim Hardin, Ralph McTell and Jackson C. Frank to name but a few.
Jo and I liked him so much we bought him a pint at the interval and then a copy of his first album, Carry Her Safe, at the end of the night. That turned out to be a wonderfully varied mix of folk, blues, bluegrass and instrumental guitar numbers.
This video accompanies ‘Start Up Again’, a track from his forthcoming album, Songs to Scythe Back the Overgrown, which is due to be released in March this year:
Gren also plays (or has played) in a duo with fiddle player Tom Kitching. They’ve released two albums: Rushes (2007) and Boundary (2009), both of which are available on Spotify and via Gren’s YouTube Channel.
To support his new album in March – three more songs from which you can listen to on SoundCloud – Gren will be touring folks clubs, pubs & festivals. The details are on his website, grenbartley.com.
Another Nottingham office day, another 20 minutes to loiter before my train, another visit to The Kean’s Head (this is a routine I could get used to). This time around I decided that I would go for a half of the Maredsous 8 Brune that I spotted on my last visit, but didn’t try at the time. It was 8% ABV, but I had that train to catch, so there was no danger of having more than just a half.
I tell you what, it was a close-run thing, because Maredsous 8 Brune was very tasty indeed. I think I’ve had the 6 (Blonde) and 10 (Tripel) Maredsous variants before now (and maybe this one as well, in a bottle). This brune variant has the classic Belgian yeast tang, but where its lighter counterparts are sharp and hop-led, this variant (perhaps as you’d expect) is sweeter and nuttier: toasted, caramelised chestnuts and maybe a touch of marzipan almond. There’s a very slight red wine sour-sharpness cutting through the burnt sugars, keeping everything nicely in check and very well-balanced.
Deep and flavourful, the only thing that might have improved this one was that perhaps it could have done with being a little warmer, maybe breathing a while to let those rich flavours reach their full potential. But it was still very good indeed. I might be back for another one of those before too long.
I picked this one up before last Yule on a scouting trip to check out Delilah Fine Foods, a deli in Nottingham that I pass on the way to the office. Their selection wasn’t too bad at all: mostly European lagers, with Gouden Carolus Triple the pick of the bunch.
I’ve had a couple of other Gouden Carolus beers before now (notably Gouden Carolus Christmas) and enjoyed them both immensely, so I was looking forward to this one. I’m very pleased to say I wasn’t at all disappointed.
The Tripel is a wonderfully rich, complex beer; plenty of hop-sharpness and honey-sweetness marrying in idyllic harmony. There’s a spiciness to the after-taste that dances on the palate and the whole thing is conveyed along by a wonderfully smooth, sensuous mouth-feel that’s just the right side of syrupy.
I’ve been gradually getting to know a few more Belgian beers over the past few years, and I think this is definitely one of the best I’ve tried so far. Highly recommended.
Jo (my lovely missus) is a big fan of ginger beers. Over the past three or so years she’s tried a fair few of the bottled gingers currently on the market and a few draught ones as well. And she’s very kindly agreed to contribute the occasional tasting notes to pass on the benefit of her extensive knowledge of the subject.
One thing Jo has noticed is that there are two distinct types of “ginger beer” available in the shops. One is your actual beer-with-ginger type beers, which taste like ales with added ginger flavour (such as Robinson’s Ginger Tom and Prospect Dragon Ale). And then there are what she prefers to call “ginger alcopops”, which tend to be much sweeter and fizzier (typified by the hugely overly-sugary Crabbie’s).
We’re kicking the series off with Ginger Beard from Wychwood, a few sample bottles of which their PR agency was kind enough to send in a few months back. It’s 4.2% ABV in bottle (4.0% on draught) and pours a strong golden amber colour.
Here’s what Jo has to say about it: “It’s got a long-lingering ginger flavour, properly fiery. A good, malty undertone and not too much sweetness means it’s more sticky ginger cake than ginger biscuit. Not too heavy on the lemon, no hint of cloves. And it’s definitely a beer-with-ginger, not a ginger alcopop.”
One of the good ones, this. Definitely worth trying if you’re a fan of the style.
Something a little different for a Thurdsay evening. Psych-rockers Sleepy Sun have a definite Black Mountain / Pink Mountaintops vibe and their second album, Fever should appeal to fans of Kinski, Comets on Fire, Crippled Black Phoenix, Espers and the like.
Gregory Alan Isakov is a singer-songwriter, originally from South Africa, with for albums to his name. He sometimes play solo and sometimes with his band, The Freight. He’s performing here with bandmate Ramaya Soskin, live at Miss Peapods in Penryn, Cornwall.
Based on listening to a couple of his albums on Spotify, I’d say his songwriting seems reminiscent of the lilting, poetic, cerebral likes of Leonard Cohen (particularly on his cover of ‘One of Us Cannot Be Wrong’), Stephen Fretwell, Wilco or Iron and Wine. Definitely one for my ‘Listen Again’ list.
Another day at Nottingham HQ yesterday, another pre-train pint after work at the Kean’s Head (it’s a tradition, or an old charter, or something). And and a new guest beer to try: Bateman’s Salem Porter.
I’m always happy to try a new porter and turned out to be a very tasty one. As well as the anticipated roast malt flavours there was a good dose of dark, berry-fruit sweetness. The overall effect was something akin to Green & Black’s dark chocolate with cherries – a personal favourite and so no bad thing.
A rather good mouth-feel rounded off a very pleasant porter experience, one that I’d be happy to re-visit.
Last summer Jo and I went along to the Outstanding Brewery up in Bury to have a chat with the brewers about social media, online marketing and what have you. After a quick tour of the premises, we sat and talked about websites, Twitter, Facebook, keyword advertising and what-have-you. Then after an hour or so of (hopefully useful) conversation (and a beer or two) we left with a bag of label-less bottles – Outstanding aren’t bottling much at the moment, focusing most of their efforts on supplying the local pub-trade, so it was mostly a few end-of-cask-filling leftovers – that the Outstanding chaps very kindly thrust our way.
We were also sent away with a few friendly warnings (as in: “not sure what this one is, could be anything, good luck”) and a warning in no uncertain terms about one of them in particular: a rare-as-rocking-horse-poop bottle of Outstanding’s genuinely rather excellent Matron’s Delight – an 8% imperial stout / winter warmer that was the definite Beer of the Festival for me at last year’s National Winter Ales Festival.
The Outstanding fellas confessed that this one had quite possibly been “double-finished by accident”. Not so much primed, as primed to go off, potentially explosively. “You’ll want to stick that in the fridge for a while and open it over the sink.” Dave Porter advised, whilst the other Outstanding blokes nodding along in agreement.
Three weeks ago today, I put it in the fridge. Last night, I decided to open it. Jo and I stood ready: me with the bottle, bottle opener and pint glass already in the sink, Jo with the camera ready on my phone, in case anything interesting happened. I popped the cap, and…
…pffft.
No explosion, no need to wipe down the ceiling or ourselves. So far so good, and the pour was very promising indeed. I mean, look at that! Lovely, no? I couldn’t wait to try it.
First up, plenty of strident aromas: rich fruit cake, liquorice, coffee, red wine. Then a sip, and a definite explosion of flavour: huge, sour-sweet berry fruits, lots of coffee again, then some sour cherries, plenty of dark chocolate (85% cocoa, minimum), a touch of rye bread, some sour red wine… uh, oh. Did I mention sour a couple of times there?
Obviously I knew there was a chance that this one wasn’t going to be 100% fresh or 100% drinkable, but by heck I was determined to give it a good go. Alas, though, it quickly went from “maybe not as delicious as the last time I had it” to “er, hang on, this really isn’t right”. I managed about a third of it, but as I manfully sipped my way down the pint it gradually became more and more apparent that no, I wasn’t going to be able to finish this one. Not without making myself quite poorly, anyhow.
And so, with a heavy heart, I made my way back to the kitchen sink and poured again…
Which was a real shame, because when Matron’s Delight is on form it really is a terrifically tasty strong, dark ale that’s packed with flavour and character; one that I’d happily sup halves of all night (as long as someone else promised to steer me afterwards). By all the gods of malted barley I wish Outstanding would brew this one on a regular basis and bottle it up more often!
All content by Darren Turpin, unless otherwise stated.
