Tasting Notes: The Beers of New Year's Eve 2010
Jo and I have ourselves something of a New Year’s Eve tradition that stretches back… ooh, must be three or four years now. In a nutshell: early doors curry, followed by a few pints and then back home before it all starts getting bloody silly.
For the curry leg, we headed over to our favourite curry house, the Lime Tree in Prestwich. Always great food, bottled Black Sheep Ale for those as don’t want to drink the lout, and conveniently located almost next door to the Heaton Park tram stop. Which makes it very easy indeed to get on up to The Trackside in Bury. A great NYE venue, this: no messing around with tickets on the door, no fancy-dress-clad youngsters quaffing shots and making a racket; just a selection of eight or nine real ales, a fridge full of bottled Belgians, and a clientele of similar mind to ourselves. Spot on.
Wandering up to the bar, I asked what was recommended and the landlord (who wasn’t serving, but was on hand having a pint) said he was drinking Moorhouse’s Broomstick, which was good enough for me. One of their monthly specials (actually October’s), this turned out to be a very light, fresh-tasting 4% ABV session bitter, with bucketfuls of clementine-hop flavours on a light malt base, with a more orangey marmalade flavour as the pint warmed up a bit. Very refreshing indeed, it was. Just the ticket after a curry.
I was going to have another one of those, but then my eye was caught by the Trackside’s house beer – Piston Broke, brewed by Bury’s own Outstanding Beers. I’ve had this one many times before and it’s something of a favourite: a 3.9% pale golden ale bursting with bitter hops and a good measure of orange-citrus, it’s like a cross between Marble Pint and Marble Best; lovely stuff.
After that though, I was in the mood for something a bit special and I caught sight of a bottle in the fridge that I’d been meaning to try for a while: Judas, an 8.5& ABV golden Belgian from Browerij Alken-Maes (which turns out to be part of the Heineken Group). The barman – a chap I’ve spoken to a few times before, who I know is a big fan of dark beers and porters – warned me that it might be a bit on the fizzy side, but I decided to give it a go anyhow. It turned out to be a pretty classic Belgian blonde ale, with that distinct Belgian yeast-tang. It was slightly effervescent rather than overly-fizzy and had a lightly-spiced flavour with a touch of floral honey sweetness. A very pleasant slow-sipper that I thoroughly enjoyed, so when Jo suggested we stay for one more after that I had another one of those.
Speaking of Jo, she’s asked me to mention the beer she was drinking for most of the evening: Edwin Taylor’s Extra Stout from Bedfordshire-based brewer Banks and Taylor. This 4.5% ABV stout was an almost opaque black and despite quite a thin mouth-feel it delivered a range of flavours, with very strong, dry coffee flavours dominating the after-taste to begin, but releasing sweeter, blackberry fruit notes as the beer warmed up a bit. Good enough for three halves, anyway, with a Greenfield Black Five thrown in for variety.
On the way back, we broke with tradition by actually being sociable and accepting an invite to stop off at our neighbours’ place. This of course was purely in keeping with the spirit of New Year bonhommie and had nothing whatsoever to do with the dozen or so bottles of single malt in their possession… although it would have been rude not to, so I had a drop of cask-strength Talisker (again, just to be sociable). And then a drop of Balvenie Golden Cask (rum finished or something, not their best effort). And then a drop of Jura. After that then we headed home, to feed the cat and watch the run up to midnight with Jools Holland and his Fake Hootenanny (recorded a couple of weeks before, sorry folks…) and I toasted 2011 in with a drop of Caol Ila.
So, Judas turned out to be my last beer of the decade. Certainly not a bad one to finish on, all things considered.
