Here we go with another round-up of beery blog posts and news items that have caught my eye in the last couple of weeks:

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Back in January I declared my intention to steer clear of average, bog-standard bitters and pale ales as far as I possibly could. When it comes to the buying of bottled beers I’ve done pretty well. Purchases of a pretty superb stout selection from BeerVentures.co.uk, a case of rare and rather exquisite Belgians from BeerMerchants.com and a couple of excellent BrewDog orders have helped to keep the quality averages consistently high and I’ve been exercising my willpower when it comes to supermarket purchases: only the most interesting-looking new stuff for me.

Inevitably though, there have been a few that in spite of their apparent promise haven’t turned out to be quite as remarkable as I’d hoped. And seeing as there are only so many times that your humble beer blogger can stretch “bitter ale, malty, some hoppiness” (or vica-versa as applicable) to a full Tasting Notes write-up, here’s another quick catch-up piece to clear the backlog from the notebook:

Shepherd Neame Late Red (bottled, 4.5% abv)
A very deep-ruby red bitter brewed with late-season hops. Not sure if the seasonality of the hops adds anything in particular to the flavour profile, but the brew was distinctly hoppy and bitter, although at the same time a bit on the flat side and without much else to distinguish it. Not bad, but not great either.

Jennings Golden Host (bottled, 4.3% abv)
A golden amber pale ale with a very hoppy nose that somehow doesn’t carry through into the flavour, which was quite mild and if anything, had a honey-sweetness rather than a hop-bitterness. With a touch of citrus as well, this would make for a pleasant summer quaffer, but isn’t one I’ll be looking out for in future myself.

Thwaites Liberation (bottled, 4.8% abv)
A smooth-drinking, but with barely a distinguishing characteristic to report back on – a touch of sweetness but hardly any bitterness to balance it out. I would have expected more from Thwaites, who usually know how to put out a decent brew and at 4.8% it should really have had a bit more bite, surely?

Black Sheep Yorkshire Square (bottled, 5.0% ABV)
A dark amber bitter with a hoppy, fresh-tasting flavour, good bitterness and hints of citrus to make things interesting. Nice. But not remarkably nice… (Ed wasn’t blown away either).

Orval Trappist Ale (bottled, 6.2% ABV)
I picked up a bottle of Orval in Tesco during my recent Belgian-familiarisation drive. It poured with a big head and a big aroma and turned out to be slightly cloudy, slightly effervescent and slightly sour. Not a hint of sweetness anywhere and a rather odd after-taste, too. I know this one’s meant be a taste that’s worth acquiring, but I don’t know… I’m unlikely to be going back any time soon, I think.

Wood’s Shropshire Lad (bottled, 5.0% ABV)
I’m pretty sure this one must have gone off in the bottle. Or at least, I hope that explains the cloyingly sweet, marsh-mallow, unpleasantly yoghurty flavour that saw the bulk of it dumped down the sink. I’ll give it another go sometime – if only on the grounds that my brother-in-law swears it’s actually a decent drop – but honestly, this particular bottle was just undrinkable.

Badger Golden Champion (bottled, 5.0% ABV)
I was highly impressed by Badger’s Golden Glory a while back, but this one didn’t quite hit the same high-notes. It was pleasant and drinkable enough: a rich, golden ale with a light, hoppy flavour and some definite citrus notes. But again, I’d expect more from a 5% ABV beer. And from a marketing perspective, I’m just not sure why Badger would want to have two such similarly-named ales in its range when they have such distinct characteristics? Anyhow, my advice: stick to Golden Glory for a much more interesting flavour experience.

Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA (bottled, 5.3% ABV)
Along with a few others in this round-up, I rather think this is a beer that would perform much better on draught than it did in the bottle. A golden-amber ale that actually had a much more malty profile than it’s claim to IPA-status would suggest, with the hops not really kicking in until the after-taste rather than being up-front and central as you’d expect. With hints of honey-biscuit and a pink-grapefruit citrus tang it’s not unpleasant by any means, but it’s not remarkable either.

Maxim Double Maxim Premium Brown Ale (bottled, 4.7% ABV)
This resurrected recipe has been lovingly restored by the Double Maxim beer company; it was first brewed in Sunderland in 1901 to celebrate the return of the Maxim Gun detachment from the Boer War. The beer is a deep chestnut colour with a slightly vegetative aroma in-bottle. Hoppy and sharp with an underlying marzipan sweetness that develops into a definite almond flavour as the beer goes on. Pleasant enough, not so impressive that I leapt to try the draught version when I saw it a few weeks later; although who knows, maybe that was an opportunity missed..?

Cairngorm Trade Winds (bottled, 4.3% abv)
This one was left over from the selection I picked up in last year’s Sainsbury’s summer Real Ale promotion. A pale golden ale with a rich, fruity flavour and a lingering bitterness that became more noticeable as the pint went on, backed up by a smooth, satisfying mouth-feel. Would probably try this one again, especially if I found it on draught (Ed was a bit more impressed than I was).

Marston Oyster Stout (bottled, 4.5% abv)
For a stout, this one was remarkably thin, fizzy and generally a bit limp: a hint of coffee and chocolate, but barely anything to distinguish it from bottled Guinness. I’ve had porters with a lot more body and bitters with a lot more flavour and a great many stouts that were superior on both fronts. Not one I’ll be rushing back to in a hurry.

Wychwood Dirty Tackle (draught, 4.0% abv)
Tried a pint of this one at the Bull’s Head in Manchester at the end of a session. A pleasant, rich-chestnut coloured bitter with a well-balanced blend of malt and hops and dry, bitter finish. Pleasantly drinkable, but not all that remarkable. No sign of it on the Wychwood website, either; I’m guessing it was a seasonal brew for the Five Nations or something like that.

That’ll do for this time around. Got a few more in the notebook, so I’ll post another round-up later on in the year.

Brewery: Jennings Brewery
Location: Cockermouth, Cumbria
ABV: 5.1%
Version: Bottled
Source: Waitrose

I love beers whose names have a story behind them, and this is a good one. From the back of the bottle:

A Sneck is a door latch and a Sneck Lifter was a man’s last sixpence from which he would lift the latch of the pub door and buy himself a pint, hoping to meet friends there who might treat him to one or two more.

Dodgy grammar notwithstanding, it’s a nice story, but sadly I thought it was more interesting than the beer itself.  It’s sold as a strong dark ale, and it’s defintely both of those.  It pours a dark golden colour with a creamy head, and the first taste is very creamy and smooth.  Too smooth?  I left it to settle for a while (though not for too long … this was one hour after I’d delivered my new novel, I was relaxing, and I am a writer you know), and the next few tastes were just as smooth.  There were chocolate tastes here, a hint of coffee and caramel, but the consistent smoothness just didn’t do it for me.  It was pleasant enough – I certainly finished it, and I’m not saying I’d never drink it again – but the complexity wasn’t there, and any beer that reminds me of the awful ‘smoothies’ they serve in some pubs turns me off it straight away.

2008 was something of a landmark year for me, beer-wise. Having started this ‘ere blog with Ed and Joe (we were later joined by Tim, of course) I got in touch with my inner scooper in a pretty big way. This resulted in frequent trips to the supermarket – or to the off-licence, or the delicatessen, or whichever liquor-retailing establishment I was passing at the time – to grab just about one of everything I’d not seen or sampled before.

As a result, and what with it being (let’s be totally honest) a lot less fiddly to drink the beer than it is to write up the tasting notes afterwards, I have something of a backlog. I’m now going to attempt to clear the majority of said backlog, in a series of mini tasting-notes (sipping notes) of three sentences or less, in roughly chronological order, based on the notes I took at the time. Which may or may not prove coherent enough to actually make sense. Time will tell. Here goes:

Young’s Christmas Pudding Ale (5.5% abv, bottled)
A 2007 limited edition, by all accounts. Tooth-cringingly sweet; a shot of intravenous marzipan. Not one I plan to risk my enamel with again.

Holt’s Touchwood (4.5% abv, draught)
One of Holt’s seasonal ales, on draught at our local, the Woodthorpe in Prestwich. A light, malty beer with a lingering, hoppy finish. Pale and easy-drinking, a definite session option.

Wharfedale Executioner (4.5% abv, bottled)
My Dad gave me this one at Xmas, 2007. A rich, red-brown ale with a subtle aroma but a potent mix of flavours; burnt coffee predominating. (Wharfedale has apparently since been acquired and re-named the Dark Horse brewery so not much chance of a re-visit here, unless they re-issue.)

O’Hanlons Goodwill Bitter (5.0% abv, bottled)
Another 2007 seasonal? A dark amber beer with a chewy flavour, citrus. Spiced, but not overpoweringly so.

Wychwood Bee’wyched (5.0% abv, bottled)
A pleasantly sweet, highly drinkable, golden ale delivering plenty of honey to the palate. Does exactly what it says on the label.

Greene King Fireside (4.5% abv, bottled)
Rich, red-brown in colour with plenty of malt, hints of caramel, citrus and spice. (So clearly much better than the pint of piss I was served when I ordered this one in London a couple of months ago.)

York Brewery Centurion’s Ghost (5.4% abv, draught)
Sampled at the York brewery tap, this one was definitely one of my beers of 2008: rich, dark, ruby-tinted, full-bodied, smooth-drinking nectar in a pint pot. Stunningly good, this is a session beer for the bold, or a sipper for the cautious. I’ll be hunting a Ghostly Centurion down the next time I’m in York and will produce some proper tasting notes when I do; it surely deserves a proper write-up at the very least.

York Brewery Stonewall (3.8% abv, draught)
Tried this one mid-session, in-between a couple of pints of Centurion’s Ghost. As a result, a direct quote: “Light, tasty, quite malty, easy-drinker, hoppy notes.” Best you’re going to get; needs a re-visit, clearly.

Harviestoun Haggis Hunter (4.4% abv, bottled)
A rich, malty, golden-amber ales that was apparently brewed as a Burns Night special last year. Hoppy after-taste and a hint of citrus; not too bad at all, but not one I’d dash to re-visit.

Bateman’s Victory Ale (6.0% abv, bottled)
Brewed to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and named as one of the world’s 50 best beers in the 2007 Beer Challenge. I can see why: it’s a rich, sweet, malty, mid-brown ale with distinct toffee flavours that I’m definitely going to go back to one day soon. Deceptively drinkable; at 6.0% you’d need to be quick to find your sea-legs after a few of these.

Thwaites Lancaster Bomber (4.4% abv, bottled)
A lovely rich-red colour with a smooth, malty finish. Very drinkable. Might go back to this one sometime.

Jennings Cumberland Ale (4.2% abv, bottled)
A pale, golden-amber ale with a very mild, hoppy character that isn’t too harsh or bitter. Not exactly remarkable, but not at all unpleasant at all.

Right, I think that’ll do for Part I. Part II to follow in due course…

The BBC website reported yesterday that UK beer sales are on the way down again – in pubs and off-licenses alike – to the tune of 7.2% year-on-year for July-September, according to figures from the British Beer and Pub Association.

The BBPA (or the BBC interpretation of the BBPA press release) was quick to blame the combined effects of the worsening economy and a 9% hike in duty on beer. I was surprised, though, that they didn’t make the rather obvious connection to the generally lousy weather we’ve had this “summer”. Surely that, coupled with the inability of any of the home nations’ football teams to qualify for the European Championship, would have had a fairly significant impact as well, no?

Anyhow, economic collapse and footballing ignominy aside, I’m happy to report that I’m still doing my bit, with a trip at the weekend to the (usually lamentably under-stocked) real ale section of the local Tesco which, to my surprise, resulted in the acquisition of no fewer than seven new (to me) interesting-looking bottled beers:

• Brewdog Punk IPA – recently reviewed and highly-rated over at The Beer Diary, so I’ve been keeping an eye out for this one.
• Morrissey Fox Blonde Ale – I actually had no idea when I picked this one up that it’s the subject of the new Channel 4 TV series Neil Morrissey’s Risky Business, which starts tonight. I’ll be watching that one via Sky+ later in the week.
• Williams Bros Midnight Sun – a rather interesting-looking porter from one of Ed & Joe’s favourite breweries (judging by the growing volume of their combined tasting notes to-date…)
• Farmer’s Harvest – a benefit ale for the NFU, but I’m not sure which brewery this is from as I couldn’t spot it anywhere on the bottle (or the NFU website).
• Jennings Golden Host – A premium ale from Cumbria.
• Orval – Belgian trappist ale; should be a good Autumn warmer.
• Pivovar Herold – Czech dark lager. One for the fridge.

There you go. Can’t say I’m not doing the best I can to help reverse that trend, eh?