Right then, one last 2008 round-up piece. And then it’s a slight change of direction for me in 2009.

As I mentioned at the start of my first 2008 ‘rest of’ post, I went a bit mad last year in an effort to try one of everything I could possibly find in the local supermarkets and in any off-licenses I happened to be passing. As a result I’ve found myself enjoying some truly fantastic beers, but also sampling rather a lot that fell into the ‘take it or leave it’ category: not quite distinctive or impressive enough to be worth making the effort to buy on a regular basis. And I also had one or two that were just bloody awful, but thankfully they were few and far between.

So anyway, in 2009 I’m going to try to focus on seeking out the best examples of those styles of beer that I know I’ve particularly enjoyed to-date: stout, porter, strong ale, dark ale, black lager and IPA. I’m going to try to avoid sampling endless variations on the light ale / pale ale / summer ale / best bitter theme just for the sake of it, unless they seem particularly interesting. Or at least, that’s the plan, anyway.

But for now, on with that round-up:

Brakspear Oxford Gold (4.8% abv, bottled)
Tried this one as part of a trio of organic beers, along with the Whitstable Bay (see previous post) and the Duchy Select (below). This one was a full-flavoured golden ale with a light, fresh aroma and a hoppy flavour. Very nice indeed.

Duchy Originals Organic Select Ale (6.2% abv, bottled)
This strong ale from HRH’s organic range pours a lovely dark red and has a tangy, sweet flavour with plenty of toffee and malt notes to savour. According to the website, it gets its full-bodied, complex flavours from a mix of organic hops and organic Plumage Archer barley malt organic rye and oats added. Whatever they put in the stuff, it works quite nicely indeed: well worth tracking down a bottle or two and I might re-visit myself before too long, it’s usually on the shelf in my local Sainsbury’s.

St Peter’s Amarillo Ale (4.8% abv, bottled)
Picked this one up as part of the Sainsbury’s summer ales promotion (there’s no info on the St Peter’s website, so it may have been a limited bottling for the promo). Amercian Amarillo hops give this beer a cloudy, ginger-beer colour and a huge aroma of citrus and spice. The flavour is big as well: slightly sweet and spicy with more ginger and lemon; rather like a wheat beer, all things considered.

Highgate Old Ale (5.3% abv, bottled)
Highgate Old Ember was one of my very favourite beers and a regular in the cupboard until about a year ago, when it seemed to disappear from the shelves.I’ve been keeping an eye out for it ever since and I was rather hoping that it had been re-branded as Old Ale… but it turns out they’re different brews (Old Ember is 6.5% to Old Ale’s 5.3). Old Ale is almost as dark Old Ember and its rich mouth-feel, malty sweetness and liquorice-bitterness make it one well worth trying, but somehow it just isn’t quite the same… my search goes on.

Davenport’s Original Bitter (4.0% abv, bottled)
As far as I can make out this one used to be a West Midlands staple, available pretty much everywhere in the region, but these days it’s brewed in smaller quantities by Highgate. And I’m afraid it was nothing special, to be honest: a light amber colour with a faint hoppy aroma, a slight bitterness and just a hint of citrus. One of those take it or leave it brews I mentioned at the top of the post.

Doctor Okell’s IPA
One of the winners of the Sainsbury’s promo (personally I was rooting for Red Rat’s Crazy Dog Stout, but there you go). Very lager-like to begin with, it warmed up to a reasonably hoppy light ale, but it wasn’t really anywhere near hoppy enough or strong enough for a proper IPA. Mind you, judging by the beer catalogue on the Okell’s website (which is rather excellent, you should definitely give it a visit) they don’t actually produce a beer over 4.8% abv (the traditional porter, which I would like to try), so perhaps it’s against their mission statement or something..?

Durham Brewery St Cuthbert (6.5% abv, bottled)
This was the last of the batch of bottles that I bought from The Vineyard in Belfast. It poured with a great deal of hiss and fizz but settled down to a lightly effervescent ale characterised by a rich, nutty flavour with hints of toasted bread. Not the best beer of this strength that I’ve tried to-date and not one I’d rush back to, but not too bad, all things considered.

Ridgeway High & Mighty Beer of the Gods (4.5% abv, bottled)
Another one from the Sainsbury’s summer promotion, High and Mighty Beer of the Gods is from Peter Scholey’s virtual or ‘cuckoo’ brewery (which means it’s brewed under contract by another brewery). The label proclaims it a British variant on a classic American over-hopped style, but I actually got more chocolate and malt from the initial flavour, with the hops kicking in on the after-taste. Overall though it was quite sharp, hoppy and generally very pleasant indeed.

Bath Ales Barnstormer (4.5% abv, bottled)
The other winner of the Sainsbury’s competition and a rather more deserved one than the Okell’s IPA (in my humble, etc.) This one was a rather fine chestnut-brown ale with a rich, roasted-malt nose and a nutty, chocolatey, biscuity flavour. A dried-fruit sweetness develops as the drink goes on, making for a well-rounded ale that’s very pleasant indeed.

Arundel Prize Fighter (4.6% abv, bottled) This one (yet another from the Sainsbury’s summer ale promotion) had a lovely, malty, chocolatey nose in the bottle and the malt carried through to the flavour, along with a sharp tang. A pleasant mouth-feel with a slight fizz and a warming sensation on the tongue made for a very tasty, very enjoyable bitter.

Bernard Special Dark Beer (5.1% abv, bottled)
An unpasteurised (microfiltered instead) Czech black lager that’s very dark indeed and quite tasty with it. Smooth and drinkable, with a faint tang of liquorice. Similar in character to the Herold Bohemian and BrewDog Zeit Geist I tried earlier in the year.

Hopback Summer Lightning (5.0% abv, bottled)
I have it on very good authority indeed (via my mate Andy) that this is an excellent draught session beer, just so long as you don’t actually plan on walking too far (or, in fact, anywhere) afterwards. In bottled form it was still pretty darn good: a pale golden colour, slightly honeyed to begin with, but a dry, bitter bite kicks in before too long to ensure that the overall effect is a nicely balanced, easy-drinking ale that I’m definitely going to have a couple of pints of on draught the very next chance I get. Definitely.

Right then, that’s enough rounding-up for now, although in future I might do a catch-up once a month or so just to keep things moving along. Back to the main Tasting Notes for me.

Brewery: Wychwood Brewery
Location: Oxfordshire
ABV: 5.2% (bottled, 4.5% on draught)
Version: bottled
Source: Asda (but available pretty much everywhere)

Colour me amazed … I thought this would have been covered here for sure!  It’s mentioned many times in this blog, but I don’t think anyone’s actually dedicated a posting to this fine benchmark of a beer.  So here we are.

I’ve loved Hobgoblin for years.  It’s one of those favourites I always make sure I have on hand, just in case a couple of the new beers I’m trying just don’t work out that well.  It’s full description on the bottle is ‘traditionally crafted legendary ruby beer’, and legendary it deserves to be.  Ruby red when poured, it’s a rich,  complex taste – chocolate to begin with, slightly nutty, malty, and a slightly bitter finish with hints of citrus.  Heavy perhaps, but that only adds to the taste, as does it’s 5.2% strength (but the strength never drowns the tastes, which happens with some dark ales).

Note – I learned very well on New Year’s Eve that Hobgoblin is not a session ale.  We were invited to a party at a friend’s house and, suspecting a profusion of Carling and John Smith’s Extra Smooth (my suspicions were correct), I took along two four-packs of this lovely drop.  I didn’t quite finish them, and besides, I blame the glass of red I had to finish the night for the fuzzy head I had next morning.

This one’s a winner, a regular on my shelf, and it comes with a great advertising campaign as well.  Perfect.

[DT:] Ladies and gents, it gives me very great pleasure indeed to present BlogoBeer.com’s very first Guest Post. The author of the following piece is none other than Mr Tim Lebbon, one of the UK’s best-loved and most prolific modern horror and dark fantasy writers. He’s the author of recent novels including Dusk, Dawn, The Everlasting, Fallen, Mind the Gap (with Christopher Golden) – and many, many more besides, see his website at www.timlebbon.net for details – as well as the winner of multiple awards for his fiction and a thoroughly good bloke to boot.

Tim and I were e-chatting a couple of weeks ago and he happened to mention a forthcoming trip to Cornwall, during which he was planning to make a point of sampling a few local beers. I asked if he’d be interested in writing a guest post for us, Tim said he was up for it (I said “Huzzah!”) and so, without any further ado, here we go:

Beheaded at the Polperro Beer Festival, by Tim Lebbon

Sometimes, I don’t think my wife believes me. Let’s face it, we booked that weekend in Cornwall at the beginning of the year, and it was only a week before we were due to leave that a friend told me that the Polperro Beer Festival was on at the same time (3rd – 5th October). Once we arrived at our caravan site and her suspicions faded away, we popped along with the two kids for a couple of hours trying out some of Devon’s and Cornwall’s finest (I was doing the trying, not the kids). It would have been rude not to.

The Old Mill House in Polperro is a proper pub. The atmosphere is very friendly, locals sit at the bar with their lazy dogs, the staff are welcoming and very cheery, old pub games hang on the walls or sit around on little tables, and there’s a cat sleeping on the bar. “It’s a real one!” my 5 year old son merrily confided in me as he poked it in the head. It was indeed.

The theme of the festival this year was ‘Beer Less Travelled’ – in an admirable effort to reduce the carbon footprint of the event, all the beers were from local breweries. There were twenty-nine ales on offer, ranging from light session beers to several stouts and porters. My kids didn’t fancy a pint, and my wife isn’t a fan (I know … I know …), so I ordered food for the hooligans and a prawn curry for Tracey, and went about trying a few for myself.

I headed straight in with a pint of Black Prince from St Austell Brewery. I’m a big fan of dark ales – Hobgoblin and Theakston’s Old Peculier are two particular faves – so Black Prince was an absolute delight. Deep and dark when it was poured, a rich nutty nose, and it went down a treat, leaving a surprisingly full-bodied fruity taste afterwards. A gentle 4.0% volume, it tasted stronger, very rich in body and feel. I’d have happily had a couple more … if there weren’t twenty-eight other ales on offer.

So next I plumped for Organic Brewhouse‘s Serpentine. Not as heavy as the Black Prince, this was a deep ruby colour, quite tangy (a bit too tangy for me, I think), and though it was 4.5%, there was something lacking. Perhaps going for a lighter pint after Black Prince was a mistake, but this one didn’t quite do it for me.

The kids were almost finished with their meals now, and Tracey’s prawn korma was reduced to a single sad bugger swimming around in what was left of the sauce. Startled, I took a closer look, but the ripples were merely caused by my son kicking the table. “I’m bored!” he said, so I offered him a swig of Serpentine. Bless him, he quite enjoyed it. Fighting the temptation to ensure a good night’s sleep for us all, I finished the drink myself, and then went up to peruse the menu of ales.

The pub has a perfect set-up for an ale festival, with the barrels stacked nicely in a marquee that connects through a set of French doors into the rear of the pub. So those not indulging in the festival ales (and it’s a very reasonable £3.00 entry, which includes a commemorative glass and a programme) can sit at the bar and enjoy the still-impressive selection of beers available as standard. But I didn’t want that – oh no – not with twenty-seven other brews to choose from.

I guessed this would be my last pint. Sadly, with a tear in my eye and a flutter of excitement – or was that trepidation? – I ordered a glass of the festival’s winning ale, Beheaded, from Keltek Brewery. I say trepidation, because this was noted as a 7.6% ale … and I have to say, every hint of that was there in the taste. Gorgeous. A beautiful deep golden colour, and sweet to the taste, though not cloyingly so. Its power was obvious, but the brewers were patently not simply out to produce an ale of almost apocalyptic strength – they have taken great care to ensure that taste is still present. The name is apt, as I’m sure that after three pints of this you’d feel as if you’d been beheaded and shown your own backside.

I waved a fond farewell to the Old Mill House and all those lovely ales, and promptly went and spent £40 on a leather fedora-like hat. My kids think it makes me look like Indiana Jones (but without the diamond stud earring and bank balance, eh Harrison?), and though I purchased it whilst in the cosy fuzz of real ale squiffyness, at last nearing the age of 40 I believe I’ve found a hat that suits me. “Since when have you been a cowboy?” some kid in my village asked recently. I asked him when was the last time he’d played baseball.

And it’s all thanks to the Polperro Beer Festival.

There are already plans afoot to attend next year as well, but this time for a full weekend, not just a flying visit (live music in the evenings, too, which is also a big draw). I’d thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for a fabulous place to stay. Polperro is one of our favourite places in the world, and that love has just been boosted ten-fold. It has many comfortable hotels and bed and breakfasts (including the Old Mill House itself … sleeping above a real ale festival … there is a Heaven after all), and some excellent places to eat.

Also, pasties. Need I say more?

On our long weekend away I also tried several more local brews in bottle form … but that’s a story for another time, and another hat.

Brewery: Fuller’s (Fuller, Smith & Turner)
Location: London, England
ABV: 6.3%
Version: 500ml bottle
Source: Sainsbury’s

Fuller’s first produced this strong ale for their 150th anniversary, back in 1995 and it seems to have been a firm favourite of their range ever since, winning the CAMRA Champion Bottle Conditioned Beer of Britain award along the way.

And it was an entirely deserved one, if you ask me. Pouring a clear ruby red with a thick bubbly head, 1845 gives off an enticing scent of spicy fruit cake as it wallows in the glass. The 100-day maturation process results in a rich, smooth beer of strong character as well as strong alcohol content: coffee, toffee and chocolate flavours are most prominent. Great mouth-feel as well; almost chewy.

Definitely one to try, definitely one to savour. I’ll be looking out for 1845 again.

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…