I’ve started sampling my way through that selection of Great British Beer Festival 2011 beers that I picked up from Sainsbury’s last week. Here’s what I’ve checked out so far…

Williams Bros Profanity Stout 7%
A big blast of smoky coffee and liquorice flavours and plenty of dry bitterness on the after-taste, but delivered by a slightly thin mouth-feel, which was a tad disappointing. I like stronger stouts a lot, and I was expecting a lot from this one, so maybe it was a victim of over-inflated expectation, but I just thought that at 7% ABV it ought to have a bit more going for it in terms of body. It’s no BrewDog RipTide, put it that way…

Williams Bros Caesar Augustus 4.1%
I thought this second beer from Williams Bros was (perhaps oddly) much more impressive. A lager / IPA hybrid (judging by the the back-label, in this case an ale brewed with lager yeast, then cold-stored before being dry-hopped with ‘IPA hops’, if I read it right) it’s actually one of those rare beasts: a bottled session beer that tastes really rather good indeed. Pale gold in colour, malty in flavour with a hop-burst after-taste that builds and builds, it benefits from not being over-gassy or watery on the mouth-feel. Very nice indeed. A definite candidate for my favourite bottled session beers list.

Harviestoun Wild Hop IPA 5.1%
Pale almost to the point of crystal clarity with a big, big citrusy hop profile: there’s a mix of Fuggles, Goldings and assorted American hops in this one, apparently, and they really shine through. There’s just enough malt sweetness to keep everything check and the beer has a very pleasant mouth-feel as well. All in all a rather excellent drop of ale all round. One I’d definitely be happy to try again, in bottle or draught form alike.

Robinson’s Frederic’s Great British Alcoholic Ginger Beer 3.8%
Definite ginger aroma from this dark copper-coloured beer. Strong malty character with a hint of lemon and a good wallop of Ginger. Jo (who drank this one and has provided the tasting notes) reckons it could be Robinson’s Young Tom with added Fentiman’s ginger beer (in the same way that Ginger Tom is Old Tom + Fentiman’s). Not too sweet; definitely a proper ale-with-ginger rather than an alcopop-masquerading-as-ginger-ale. Very pleasant.

Sadler’s Worcester Sorceror 4.2%
A copper-coloured bitter with a slightly spicy, peppery edge to a mainly malt-led, cough-drop sweet base. Good mouth-feel (not too thin). Easy-drinking and very flavourful indeed. Another good session beer, from what’s turning out to be a very good selection all round.

Hunter’s Full Bore 8.0%
Slightly cloudy (but maybe because I didn’t realise quite how much sediment there was in the bottle) golden amber coloured strong ale, packed with marzipan and toffee flavours, it doesn’t taste quite as alcoholic as its 8% ABV might suggest. Smooth, sweet and distinctly drinkable, a highly enjoyable strong ale, I might have to get a couple more of these in while the stock is still available.

So far, so good. I know these beers were selected by means of a public / expert tasting / voting session (I got an invite myself, but I couldn’t schlepp on down to the Midlands mid-week to take part) and it seems as though the pre-selection process has resulted in some very good choices indeed. More to follow on the other six (and I might have to go back for three of the four I missed – the wheat beer among them excluded for intolerance reasons) when I’ve had a chance to drink them.

Brewery: Harveys [@Harveys1790]
Location: Lewes, Sussex, England
Style: Barleywine
ABV: 8.1%
Version: Bottled
Source: Beer Ritz, Leeds

Open It! beer number two: Harveys Elizabethan Ale. I’d been keeping hold of this one for almost a year, since our first visit to Beer Ritz last December.

Harvey’s Elizabethan Ale turned out to be pretty much aroma-less and poured a deep amber colour, with absolutely no head. A rich, smooth mouth-feel conveyed a selection of sweet, sherry and toffee notes, with touch of red wine fruitiness and a slightly grapefruit-sour after-taste.

I think I was a victim of my own mental hype with this one. It was pleasant and flavourful, just not as amazing as I’d hoped it might be. Somehow I had built up an idea that “strong barley wine reminiscent of the ‘October Ales’ brewed in domestic brewhouses during the sixteenth century” was going to deliver something weird and wonderful in the flavour department; a distinctly herbal tang, perhaps, or hints of some other exotic ingredient; something more Elizabethan-tasting (even though Harveys Elizabethan Ale was actually first brewed in 1953 to mark the coronation of Elizabeth II, rather than being a re-creation of any centuries-old recipe). Serves me right for over-thinking it.

Usual caveats apply: I might have had a flat bottle, or one of a not-so-good batch, or it might not have been left to age for long enough to get the full benefit. It certainly wasn’t a bad beer by any means and I definitely wouldn’t say no if someone put a bottle in front of me, but it isn’t one I’ll be making a point of seeking out.

Brewery: Hardknott [@Hardknottdave / @Hardknottann]
Location: Millom, Cumbria, England
Style: Red IPA
ABV: 6.5%
Version: Bottled
Source: Utobeer, Covent Garden, London

Friday Night was Open It! night, so I brought out a trio of beers that I’d been saving for a while. First up was Hardknott Infra Red. I (literally) grabbed this bottle off the shelf on a visit to Utobeer earlier this year (I think it was their last one) and had been saving it ever since.

The first thing I noticed was the thick, spicy hop aroma that poured from the bottle when I cracked the top. Infra Red poured with a deep, copper-red body and a frothy beige head.

Hardknott Infra Red is a very savoury beer. The first sip brought a flood of flavours that were all about the hop-burn. It was slightly sour (in a Belgian Red kinda way) and slightly metallic, with a long, lingering dryness, and hints of something that was struggling towards sweetness but never quite arrived. Burnt sugars – caramelised roast veg, something like that – came in towards the very end but there was still nothing you could call ‘sweet’ about it.

All in all we’re talking a distinctly acerbic, bone-dry, big IPA in a very definite Brewdog Hardcore mode, rather than what seems to be a more common sweet malt base for the big US-produced IPAs that I’ve sampled recently. Definitely a beer for the more adventurous palate, but one that rewards the bold-hearted with a big, brash blast of hoppy flavour. I liked it a lot and I’ll be buying more the very next chance I get.

In my London and York posts I mentioned that I picked up a few choice bottles of ale on my travels. Here’s what I brought back from those far-off, exotic, blessed-with-a-specialist-beer-shop places:

Picked these three up at Utobeer in Borough Market. I’m a big fan of Flying Dog, having enjoyed pretty much everything of theirs I’ve managed to get my hands on to-date, so a chance to grab these three was just too good to miss.

• Flying Dog Double Dog – A Double Pale Ale, “dry hopped with an insane amount of Cascade and Columbus hops”.
• Flying Dog Wild Dog – A 355ml version of the barrel-aged Gonzo Imperial Porter release.
• Flying Dog Raging Bitch – their 20th Anniversary brew, an 8.3% Belgian IPA.

Three more from Utobeer and then a bottle of the good stuff as a souvenir of our evening at The Porterhouse:

• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot – the 2010 / 35th anniversary release of Sierra Nevada’s famous barleywine style ale.
• Hardknott Infra Red – the third release from Dave’s brew house, a big, red, 6.5% IPA.
• Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale – one of a few legendary US brews I’ve been keeping an eye out for.
• Porterhouse Brain Blasta – a bottle of 7% thrice-hopped ale for the road.

These four all came from The Bottle in York. More big, bad American brews…

• Victory Golden Monkey – I was tempted by the Hop Devil next to it, but couldn’t resist the Monkey’s Belgian allure.
• Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA – 60 hop-additions over a 60-minute brew for a 6% ABV IPA with 60 IBUs.
• Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre – “A deep, mahogany Belgian-style brown ale brewed with beet sugar, raisins, and Belgian-style yeast.” Had to be done.
• Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA – 90 hop-additions over a 90-minute brew for a 9%ABV IPA with 90 IBUs.

Some pretty special bottled ales there, I reckon. With what’s in there already, my beer cupboard is nothing less than a treasure trove these days. Mind you, I think I really do have to start drinking some of it though, this hoarding habit of mine is getting a bit ridiculous…

Brewery: Thornbridge
Location: Buxton, England
Style: Green Hopped IPA
ABV: 7.7%
Version: Bottled
Source: Courtesy of MyBreweryTap.com

Halcyon 2008 was my first Thornbridge beer and it was magnificent. Halcyon 2009 turned up as a bonus item in my recent order from MyBreweryTap.com and it was…

Well, Mark Dredge summed it up quite succinctly (and has linked to a few other folks who pretty much concur). And I know I’m a bit late to the party, so I’m just going to chuck my 4p-worth into the hat with a quick gist of what I got from this incredible beer:

A nose-burst of fresh, grassy hops, cut through with lemon and lime, developing to newly-peeled clementines after the pour; the sticky tang of resinous pine honey, a steadily mellowing sweetness slowly rounding out to vanilla caramel; a light, balance-preserving, hop-bitterness on the after-taste that keeps the sugars nicely in check; above all: half an hour of purest beer-drinking pleasure from another truly memorable Thornbridge brew.

MyBreweryTap.com is offering a 12-case of Halcyon 2009 and Jaipur (the new, bottle-conditioned version) for £37.50 or a 12-pack of Halcyon 2009, Jaipur and St Petersburg Imperial Stout for £38.00 (plus p&p in both cases). Or if you’re in the vicinity of a specialist beer retailer then they might have singles bottles available. But however you source it, you really, really should make the effort to track this one down. Very highly recommended indeed. Huge thanks to Richard for sending this one along.

Brewery: Marble
Location: Manchester
Style: Strong Pale Ale / Strong Ruby Mild
ABV: 5.7% / 6.0%
Version: Draught
Source: Marble Arch, Manchester

It’s always a pleasure to walk up to the bar at the Marble Arch (actually, I could stop this sentence right there) and find they’ve come up with a new draught ale. So it was double the joy on Saturday evening when I spotted not one but two new brews to sample. It was the start of the evening though, so first things first: a couple of pints of Marble Pint, please. It’s one of those quintessentially British beers that manages to pack a flavour-punch despite weighing in at only 3.9% ABV, so it makes for an ideal session starter. And – ah, what the heck- a sample-sized half each of Beer 57 and Brew 1691 Mild.

Marble Beer 57 turned out to be a strong (5.7% ABV), full-flavoured pale ale. Not as dry and hoppy as the Pint and slightly darker in colour, it’s much closer to Marble Dobber in character, just slightly sweeter. Very pleasant, very palatable, very drinkable. Goes great with food as well (the pan-roast chicken was especially good on Saturday). I’m just not sure how likely it is to become a Marble regular, given that it is so Dobber-like, so if you’re interested in sampling this one, it might be worth seeking out now, in case it’s not around for long.

Now then, Marble Brew 1691 Mild. A strong (6t.0% ABV) ruby beer that you really should try if you get the chance. Jo and I were both completely blown away. It’s a quite lovely shade of burnt umber (my pic was taken at the end of the night so probably doesn’t do it justice) with a spicy-sweet aroma. Jo hit the nail on the head when she said it’s like eating a tiramisu from the top-down: the first flavour that hits you is a rich, creamy chocolatey digestive-biscuit, with a light dryness to follow, finally giving way to a lingering after-taste of sweetish sherry or semisecco marsala wine. Absolutely gorgeous stuff; definitely one of the tastiest beers I’ve sampled all year. If strong, sweet beers are to your taste then you should definitely seek it out.

Brewery: Greene King
Location: Bury St Edmunds
Style: Strong Ale
ABV: 6.5%
Version: Bottled
Source: Sainsbury’s

Red berries and black cherries explode out of the bottle as the cap pops off and carry on through to the flavour. A big, malty, nutty sweetness dominates, with just a faintly hoppy after-taste waving to get your attention, but generally it’s jam and marzipan and fruitcake and more jam all the way.

If only I had a few oatcakes and a nutty, crumbly cheshire cheese in the fridge, this would be a slow-sipping marriage made in… well, Sainsbury’s, as it happens. The stuff was in a £3 for 4 deal, so I thought I’d give it a go. Thing is, there aren’t many Greene King beers that I’ve been impressed with to-date – they’ve generally been a bit too factory-bland to be remarkable – but Old Speckled Hen‘s bigger sibling makes the grade.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Brewery: Outstanding
Location: Bury, England
ABV: 7.4%
Version: Bottled

Outstanding are one of my very favourite local breweries – they produce the house brew for The Trackside in Bury and their Outstanding Stout is one of the best I’ve ever tasted on draught. This bottle of Pushing Out – their Belgian-esque strong pale ale – was the second-to-last of a batch that I was lucky enough to pick up late last year. I sent a bottle of Pushing Out down to Mark Dredge for #beerswap #1 last year and he described it in his write-up as “like pick n mix, fruity and sweet, but then beneath this it’s earthy and peppery, minty with the slightest hint of Orval”.

I drank one myself at the time and reckoned he’d pretty much hit the nail on the head. But this one had sat in the beer cupboard for another five months and the other week my curiosity overcame my patience and I decided I’d waited long enough to find out how it might have altered in the interim.

The answer: it seemed to have become even sweeter. The hop flavours had smoothed out and mellowed, but the sugars hadn’t settled down in the same way, resulting in a beer that was malty and quite syrupy, with a distinctly chewy mouth-feel. There was still a herbal tang in there to give it a bit of bitterness and stopped the sweetness raging out of control, but it was a hard-won fight. I didn’t have any trouble finishing it, but then I’ve always had quite a sweet tooth. Someone with a stronger hop-preference might have struggled.

I’ve got one more bottle of Pushing Out in the beer cupboard, which I’m going to keep for as long as I dare, just to see what it does next. And I know from e-chatting to Alex at Outstanding that they’ve been re-designing their bottle labels (which is obviously why I haven’t seen any of they up at Bury Met recently) so I look forward to seeing the new designs when they’re ready.

Brewery: Anchor Brewing
Location: San Francisco, USA
ABV: 8.2%
Version: Bottled
Source: Beer Ritz, Leeds

Inspired by The Beer Nut‘s recent exhortation to get stuck in to your stash from time to time – rather than watching all those lovely bottles of strong ale slowly mature towards some nebulous and tricky-to-accurately-judge nirvana of agèd perfection – I decided last weekend to bring my sole bottle of Anchor Old Foghorn ale out of the beer cupboard, a mere four months after putting it away on the top shelf, with the rest of the Good Stuff. And I’m extremely glad I did, because now I know to pick up a good half dozen or so bottles of this rather magnificent ale the very next time I see it on offer.

Anchor Old Foghorn pours a lovely dark chestnut colour and from the first sip releases a cacophony of rich, sensuous flavours: toffee and coconut predominate in a sweet and heady swirl, with developing red wine and sour cherry notes on the after-taste, which help to take the edge off the sugariness and stop it becoming too cloying or sickly. The alcohol hit is noticeable yet quietly under-stated and the mouth-feel is smooth and chewy, all of which makes for a glorious, slow-sipper that’s quite, quite delicious… particularly once that initial sweetness settles down a bit and the flavours begin to merge and mellow into something that’s a real joy to sample.

Definitely the sort of ale I’d like to become much better acquainted with. I have a feeling my next trip to Beer Ritz is going to be an expensive one…

Jo suggested we have dinner and a couple of pints at the Marble Arch on Saturday and it didn’t take much to get me to agree (she had me at ‘dinner’, to be honest, ‘pints’ and ‘Marble Arch’ were icing on the cake). We were hoping to get there early enough to bump into MyBreweryTap.com‘s Richard Burhouse (@MyBreweryTap) and Rob Derbyshire (@BGRTRob) of Hopzine.com fame, but alas they got there earlier than we did and had already supped their fill and moved on before we’d managed to get into town.

So instead we ended up chatting to half a dozen complete strangers over the course of the evening (topics of conversation ranging from bondage trousers and Stiff Little Fingers, to the relative acoustic merits of the Bridgewater Hall and the Lowry, via the best way to get to the Palace Theatre by car whilst avoiding the gas-main works that have buggered up the city centre for months) and had a bloody good time doing so.

There was ale involved, of course. And oh, my word, what ale there was…

On arrival, I headed for the bar to get Jo her customary half of Marble Stouter Stout and made a b-line for the Thornbridge Raven, which Rob D had mentioned was on earlier in the day. As it weighs in at 6% ABV I thought I’d just go for a half to start with, so I got myself a pint of Marble Pint at the same time, to ease myself in. But Jo finished up her stout and sent me back to the bar for another (along with our food order) and the Raven was so damn good – a dark, smoky, delicious black IPA with a lingering hop-bite – that I couldn’t resist a second. And that pretty much set the tone for the session…

Our food arrived just as we’d both gotten a pint of Marble Chocolate in and we feasted on char-grilled belly pork and black pudding (actually, the best damn black pudding I’ve ever tasted) with duck’s egg for starters, followed by sea bass served with creamed crab meat and spinach for Jo and turbot poached in red wine on creamed polenta with salsify sticks for me, and some lightly steamed greens on the side. Fantastic food, as always in the Marble Arch – we’ve eaten there a few times now and have never been anything less than blown away by whatever we’ve ordered – and it all went extremely well with the rich, tasty Marble Chocolate. Perhaps a dark ale or stout might not the obvious choice for a with-food beer, but the bitter-sweetness of the chocolate and roasted malts were very complimentary indeed to the satisfyingly meaty, beautifully cooked fish dishes.

After dinner we ordered dessert: another Marble Chocolate for Jo, whilst I decided to try a pint of Marble Brew 14. This one was a completely new to me (although apparently it went down rather well on the first #twissup pub crawl / blogger outing in Sheffield back in January. Brew 14 turned out to be a feisty session bitter that was all about the bitter oranges and big hops with a long, dry finish. Very, very good indeed and one I’d definitely have again.

At this point, Jo and I were thinking about winding down and heading home, so I opted for a quick half of Marble Dobber for the road. But of course, one half of Dobber is never enough and as I was heading back to the bar for another top-up, I spotted a new pump clip nestled among the array of Marbles: Thornbridge St Petersburg! I’ve been trying to track down and try this 7.7% ABV Imperial Stout for a while now, so this was just too good an opportunity to miss. And it was delicious: rich, smoky malt, chocolate and coffee, blended to perfection. A top-up of that one was absolutely compulsory, it would have been the very height of rudeness not to.

That really did finish the evening off for us and we weaved our way out the door to find a tram and head home for a nice cup of tea and a kip. Lovely, lovely evening and a fuzzy, fuzzy head the next day, but absolutely, totally worth it. I tell you what, it’s a good job we don’t live just round the corner from the Marble Arch, we’d never be out of the place.