In which I usually post a half-dozen links to items of interest I’ve spotted around the Beerblogosphere since my last Six Beer Links post. But seeing as I’ve been on holiday for a couple of weeks since my last proper read-through my RSS feeds and tuned back in to find 717 unread items waiting for me, I’ll be posting stuff in longer-than-usual batches until I’ve caught up…

1. Here’s a video chat with three members of Bellowhead, back-stage at this year’s V Festival on the subject of touring, brewing and diverse other things [via properganderonline.com]. Folk and Ale? Winning combination.

2. SIBA has launched (or possibly re-launched?) their ‘Local Beer Champion’ accreditation scheme for pubs who do their bit to support breweries in their region. More info at www.siba.co.uk/sibalocals.

3. This year’s 2011 CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain – Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde – looks like one I’d definitely like to try. And I’ve enjoyed many a pint of the always excellent runner-up (Marble Chocolate) and a one or two of the third-placed (Salopian Shropshire Gold) before now. Congrats to all three breweries!

4. The People’s Pint y’say? Good idea, having a lower-strength option on the bar for extended sessions. Bloody stupid name though. Would you be tempted to try a beer that sounds like a government initiative?

5. Via www.siba.co.uk, news that Molson Coors has announced plans to invest £175m in its UK breweries, including the recently-acquired Sharps. Which is a Good Thing in anyone’s book, surely?

6. Gotta love those Ralph Steadman labels from Flying Dog. Here’s news of a new one, courtesy of beernews.org.

7. Will Hawkes has profiled Sussex brewer Dark Star for The Independent Online [via darkstarbrewing.co.uk].

8. Zak Avery discussed the Is Saison the New Citra?, decided it isn’t and then explained his flavour-profile-based conclusion.

9. Mark Dredge got a few things off his chest with a piece on beer branding and I have to say I find myself nodding in agreement with just about everything he says there.

10. …his piece also prompted Boak and Bailey to follow up with a few simple but rather excellent Branding Tips for Small Breweries.

11. …and on the same topic, Jeff Pickthall’s PumpClip Parade blog was featured in a Guardian Online article on Real Ale’s Image Problem.

12. Over at Eating Isn’t Cheating, Neil has been looking into the world of Foreign Export Stouts and mentions a couple I haven’t tried yet.

13. Via Brew Wales, news that Brains Original Stout may soon be appearing in a larger Tesco near you. Any new bottled stout on the supermarket shelves is a cause for celebration (and worth a try or two) if you ask me.

14. Pete Brown encountered brilliant bar service at BrewDog Edinburgh, based around the principle of friendly, good-looking young people handing out hundreds of free samples of beer (he’s got a point there, what’s not to like?)

15. Martyn Cornell got a bit hot under the collar about Roger Protz and Otley Brewery’s new Burton Ale, which due to an accident of 1970s brand reinvention, apparently isn’t a Burton Ale.

16. BrewDog have announced the winner of their 2011 Photo Competition. I voted for the swimming dog myself, but there you go :)

Brewery: Brains
Location: Cardiff, Wales
ABV: 4.5%
Version: Bottled / Draught
Source: Sainsbury’s / Somers Town Coffee House

After a couple of years of careful consideration and much experimentation, I’ve come to the conclusion that Tandleman seems to be onto something: beer (or ale) – particularly session-strength beer (or ale) – really does taste better on draught, in the pub. Here’s a good example of the theory in action:

A while back I picked up a bottle of Brains’ The Rev James when it appeared in my local Sainsbury’s. I tried it not long afterwards and I have to say I wasn’t hugely impressed. My notes went as far as: “toffee aroma, ruby colour, nutty malt flavours, bit of a weird chemical tang” and then just petered out. It didn’t make much of an impression and I mentally filed it under “ah, well…”

A couple of weeks later I made a detour on the way back to Euston and on a whim, headed for the Somers Town Coffee House. Nice place – bit of a gastropub, lots of wood on the floors, chunky furniture, brass hand-pumps on the bar, about £20 for a steak, the usual sort of thing. Only a couple of ales on the bar, one of which was The Rev James (the other was probably London Pride, something fairly standard anyhow), so I went for the Rev. Much nicer it was too, even without the sparkler. The toffee flavours were enhanced, and those chemical notes had softened to a more rounded, herbal character. Altogether a much smoother, more satisfying pint. Perfectly pleasant stuff, thoroughly enjoyed it and I’d drink it again. Maybe not the bottled version, but on draught, no problem.

Wetherspoon’s International Real Ale Festival time again, which means another selection of 50 beers to (hopefully) sample. This time around I hoped to improve on the mis-timing that marred my last Festival experience, so following a tip from Simon J – see comment #7 on that post – Jo and I headed to The Paramount instead of The Waterhouse, where it turned out they had 8 pumps dedicated to the beer fest brews.

Of course, these things are always going to be a bit hit and miss: you turn up and take your chances, hoping that the more interesting beers in the festival booklet will be the ones they have on tap when you’re there. Alas, it was not to be on this occasion, either. None of the six headline International beers were on and only one of the European imports. Ah, well. C’est la vie. Determined not to be too disappointed, I perused the selection on offer and got stuck in to a few half-pints:

Brains Dark – First up: a dark mild from Wales. Jo had a couple of halves of this one whilst I was sampling my way along the pumps, but she very kindly let me have a sip or two. Dark, nutty and very mild indeed (although almost to the point of having no real distinguishing flavours at all) this is one of the more palatable milds I’ve tried recently – the other two (Holt’s and one other I can’t remember the name of) being sour as under-ripe cherries and not in a good way – and at 3.5% ABV you could happily drink this one all night. You might wonder why you didn’t try something more interesting instead, though…

Wooden Hand Cornish Mutiny – Tim often extols the virtues of good Cornish ale, so I made a point of trying this one right off the bat. It turned out to be a very fresh, very refreshing malty ale with a zesty citrus tang. At 4.8% it would make for a good session beer as well, I reckon. Good stuff, highly drinkable.

Thwaites Double Century – This one ought to be familiar to anyone who’s browsed the shelves of Tesco’s bottled ale section. It’s impressive in bottles and I’m happy to say even more so on draught: A 4.8% ABV golden ale with a lovely, fresh, bitter-sweet tang of grapefruit and fruity hops (Jo suggested it was like a bitter orange sorbet) with an extremely smooth finish and a bitter after-taste that’s just about right. One of the Blackburn brewery’s very best, and no doubt about it.

Rhymney Export – A golden brown bitter ale from Welsh brewer Rhymney, Export was another fresh-tasting beer; a good, smooth mouth-feel and just a hint of fresh strawberry made this one another easy-drinker, although at 5% it might just creep up and mug you by the end of the night. Worth the risk, though, I reckon.

St Georgen Brau Keller Bier – This Bavarian import poured a slightly cloudy golden amber colour, had zero aroma (even Jo, whose nose is much better than mine, was hard-pressed to detect anything) and despite a distinct, green-apple-sour tang, with a very bitter hoppy after-taste, wasn’t huge on flavour either. It wasn’t unpleasant, but I certainly wouldn’t have gone back to the bar for another.

Speaking of going back to the bar, at that point I wandered over and perused my way up and down the pumps, but just couldn’t see anything else that grabbed my attention. If memory serves they had the JW Lees Hopping Mad, Caldonian Raspberry Fool (fruit beer, hmmm…), Bateman’s Dragon’s Den and Mauldons Silver Adder, but none of those really stood out (although on reflection the Hopping Mad might have been worth a try…)

So Jo and I decided to wander up to The Waterhouse (the other Wetherspoon’s pub in that part of Manchester city centre) on the off-chance that they had a more interesting selection on offer. But instead we found an almost identical range: at least four cross-overs, with Okell’s Red and Sharp’s Red Sloe (fruit beer, hmmm…) the only differences that I could spot. Well, apart from one other: they did have Palm Steenbrugge Blond on as well, but after over-hearing two gents discussing it (“bit bland this, isn’t it?” “aye, you’d expect more from a 6% beer”) I decided to pass. So we decamped to the City Arms next door (where, let’s face it, every day is beer festival day) and had one more in there before calling it a night.

Which brings me to something that’s been bothering me about the whole International Real Ale Festival experience. For the record: I think it’s great that a huge pub chain like Wetherspoon’s is supporting real ale with this sort of national promotion. And surely giving regular drinkers the opportunity to try the good stuff for £1.69 a pint (or the regional price equivalent) is one of the best possible ways to convert them from swilling fizzy cooking lager to sampling (and hopefully enjoying) something with more flavour and genuine character. But setting that noble goal aside for a moment… would it hurt to put a little more variety into the festival selection for those of us who already sing in the choir?

I ran a quick tally of the types of beer listed in the Festival booklet and – discounting the ‘speciality’ categorisation, which they seem to be using to cover a range of miscellaneous styles – here’s what I reckon was on offer: 2 milds, 1 stout, 2 porters, 1 Belgian blonde, 1 wheat beer, 1 rauchbier, 3 fruit beers, 2 flavoured (1 coriander, 1 rum), 10 ‘golden’ (pale) ales and then no fewer than 26 varieties of bitter (I’m lumping the booklet’s ‘bitter’, ‘best bitter’ and ‘strong bitter’ labels into one category here). Oh, and there was 1 lager, wasn’t there? I mean, the aforementioned St Georgen Brau Keller Bier was listed as a ‘speciality’ beer in the booklet, but according to the website, it’s bottom-fermented and is left to “mature unbunged in deep vaults”… so that makes it a lager, right? Not that I’m getting prissy about a lager being included in a real ale festival or anything. But if it’s a lager, then call it a lager, that’s all I’m saying…

And yes, I realise it’s a Spring beer festival and so naturally a lot of breweries will be keen to showcase their Spring seasonal beers. But given that the vast majority of those bitters and pale ales on offer didn’t seem to have any particularly Spring-specific seasonal ingredients – assuming of course that dried hops and malted barley aren’t particularly seasonal – would it really have been difficult to reduce the number of bitter / pale ales and make a bit more effort elsewhere? A couple more stouts, perhaps? One or two more Milds or Porters? And how about a few genuinely strong (6%+) ales, which IMHO is where the really impressive flavours tend to be found? Surely they don’t stop brewing the stuff just because the average temperature has finally risen above freezing?

Okay, I’m probably grumbling and grousing for no good reason. Apologies to the Festival organisers, who I’m sure must have put in terrifically long hours to source and sample the selection of beers on offer, particularly the International Guests. And hey, all I have to do is wait until October and Wetherspoon’s will trot out the autumn / winter beers for their next festival and I’ll be happy again, right? Of course I will. In the meantime, I’m attempting to drum up a drinking buddy or two for another Festival session on Friday night, hoping for a new selection to launch into. And if all else fails, I still have a cupboard full of choice stouts and strong ales to keep me entertained all summer long. I’ll shut up and get me coat, shall I?

This Saturday’s Independent Magazine carried an advert / feature placed by CAMRA, suggesting a selection of bottled ales and bitters that can be “served refreshingly cool… the perfect tipple to accompany summer barbecues at home or the pub.” 10 to 14 degrees celsius, ideally…

And the seven cool-ones of choice are:

• Wychwood Hobgoblin
• Fuller’s London Pride
• Caledonian Deuchars IPA
• Brakspear Brakspear Bitter
• Brains SA
• Sharp’s Doom Bar
• Greene King Greene King IPA

I can vouch for Hobgoblin, Deuchars IPA and Greene King IPA – all very nice indeed at cellar temperatures – although I wasn’t all that impressed when I tried a draught pint of Brakspear Bitter a couple of weeks ago (mind you, it was mid-session when I was on something much stronger and heavier, so maybe that wasn’t the best time to try it).

The last three are now on my ‘to try’ list. We’ve just had a brick barbecue built in the back garden (which could explain the recent spate of crap weather) so hopefully I’ll be able to get a few in for the first time we fire it up…