Black and Tan Experiments #14 - Sam Adams Imperial Stout and Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

I'm still in America, the land of big roads, big cities and big beers.

Sam Adams Imperial Stout is a gloriously delicious stout. Full of rich chocolate flavours and aromas with hints of aniseed. By far one of the best Imperial Stouts I've had in a while. I'd been enjoying it for a while when I thought about adding some Hoptimum for a Black and Tan.

Hoptimum is an Imperial IPA with an IBU of 100. It's an extremely bitter and hoppy beer. It's not that strong in aroma compared to many DIPAs, but it's very strong in taste and alcohol.

The mixture surprises me. From experience I was expecting the high IBUs to cut through the stout and add bitterness to the stout. As it is, the Stout overwhelms in this case, with only a bit of hoppiness in the taste.

Two individually great beers make an okay black and tan.

The Friday Pint #21 - Great Lakes Elliot Ness

Those of you who follow me on twitter (@mrdavidj if you don't and would like to) will probably be aware that I am currently in the USA. I've drunk a fair amount of Dogfish Head, and had a rather good afternoon at Erie Brewing Company yesterday, but those will be covered in another post. For this is The Friday Pint post, and although my netbook tells me it's 1:11 on Saturday Morning back home, here it's only 20:11, and so the night is still young.

The weather today in Cleveland was hot, at least to me it was hot. It was the kind of heat where just walking a few minutes makes that entire pint of water you just downed seem worthless. This probably wasn't the best weather for me to enjoy beer in, but I made a good go at it.

This week's Friday Pint came from the Great Lakes Brewing Company, and was an Amber Lager, called Elliot Ness. It was one of those beers that served it's purpose, but failed to provoke any kind of notes in my notebook.

The pulled pork sandwich that I had with it however was gloriously tasty, with some of the best chip seasoning I've ever had on chips. I followed this with some of their homemade chocolate chunk ice cream, made with their porter. Whilst it was rather tasty, I felt it didn't quite seem exciting as the description.

After food and beers, we went on the tour. The things of note that I felt worthy of mentioning are the fact that some of the waste malt is used in the resturant for baking pretzels and bread, and that the beer served in the resturant comes straight from the tanks in the brewery, completely bypassing the kegging process, meaning fresher beer.

I liked Great Lakes. After the tour I popped back in to use their toilet before the drive back and discovered the pub downstairs. It seemed like a good place to drink in, and if it wasn't for the fact that I was feeling perpetually dehydrated, I probably would have stayed for one more.

Black and Tan Experiments #13 - Brewdog 3

Late on Saturday Night, Jonny Bright posted this tweet...

I'm guessing he was rather drunk at this point, though this tweet still put the idea into my head, and so earlier this evening, once I had got back from Leeds and dropped my suitcase off, I headed up to Brewdog Camden.

I've had both Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink The Bismarck! on their own before. I find of them to be a bit harsh, especially when it comes to the aroma. It's difficult to distinguish anything underneath the burning alcohol that wafts up from the glass.

Combine the two though, and it actually becomes a lot more drinkable. Everything about it mellows, and the taste becomes a chocolate followed by burning followed by a lingering sweetness, that ultimately satisfies.

Quick research tells me that I'm not the first person mad enough to actually try this. At least one other person has tried it, and noted this fact on the internet. There are references to A TNP/STB Black and Tan here and here. It's not clear if these are two seperate people, or the same insane beer drinker.

It's not something I'd reccomend having on a regular basis, but it's something I reccomend trying, even if you didn't like the component beers.

 

Black and Tan Experiments #9b - The Bourbon Barrel Bearded Lady Edition

A few weeks ago, I tried a black and tan using Magic Rock's Human Cannonball and Bearded Lady. Yesterday, as part of the European Beer Bloggers conference, I got the chance to try this mix using the new barrel aged version of Bearded Lady, of which there are just 8 kegs in existence.

The barrel ageing has made Bearded Lady a lot smoother, and as such, it drinks a lot easier than a 10.5% beer should do. It's full of bourbon hints in the aroma, but they're not overpowering like some barrel aged beers can have. When it becomes mixed with Human Cannonball, it's very similar to the standard mix, with slight hints of bourbon taste coming through, which presently surprised me as I was expecting this to be drowned out by the hops in the Human Cannonball.

Photo to come later...

European Beer Bloggers Conference - Live Beer Blogging

Okay, so this isn't "live". I'm writing it whilst drinking the beers I'll be talking about in this post, but I've opted to not try and actually tweet anything about the beers, as the wifi in the room we're drinking in is horribly unreliable.

The first brewery at our table is Marble Brewery from Manchester. They've bought with them a beer made in collaboration with Emilisse Brewery from Holland, an Earl Grey IPA. It's been made using earl grey tea, and has a lot of citric bitterness.

Second to pimp their beer is Roosters Brewery, with a single hop IPA called Baby-Faced Assassin.  It's a Citra IPA, made with a single variety of malt. As with most Citra hopped beers, it's not really my thing, but it does seem to be at the more likeable end of the range for me. Now I've had a few sips, it actually tastes more like grapefruit juice than it does a beer.

Next to the table is Great Heck Brewery, serving us Stormin' Norman, an American Style IPA, hopped with Cascade and Columbus.  I don't seem to be getting much hop aroma from this, and to be honest, the taste isn't really doing much for me either.

Brewer number four is Slater's Ales with Top Totty (queue Parliament jokes and pump clip taste debates).  To me, it's a nice, lager like ale. There's not much aroma, but it's clean, crisp and very refreshing. I'm not a fan of pale ales, but this I enjoy

Next to our table is Mark Dredge, representing Camden Town Brewery with a bottle of US Hells. I've had one bottle of this that I've "got". The others haven't quite met expectations, and this is the same. It's nice, but it doesn't quite match that bottle that made me "get" US Hells

Half way through and Adnams are serving us with Ghost Ship, a "Ghostly Pale Ale". It contains a combination of Moteuka and Citra hops. These combine to create an aroma and taste that I quite like. It's still not my style as a pale ale, but in the right circumstances, it's a beer I'd enjoy.

Seventh to the table is Innis and Gunn, showcasing their Scottish Pale Ale, which will be available to buy soon. As with all Innis and Gunn beers, it's aged in oak barrels, in this case, Bourbon Barrels. It has a sweet, whisky like aroma, with a hint of vanilla in the aroma and the taste. It's a good beer, but the fact it is sold in clear bottles does put me off

The Leeds Brewery are the eight people to the table, bringing with them Hellfire, a "Fiery Pale Bitter".  It had a subtle aroma of grapefruit, and a bitter taste. After several pale ales I'm starting to get tired of them now. Variety is a good thing. Thankfully, I know Otley have bought Oxymoron with them

Talking of which, Nick Otley is at the table now. Oxymoron is a Black IPA. Aromawise it's one of those annoying bastards of a beer which I can recognise the aroma, but can't quite place what it is. It seems to be a mix of coffee, chocolate, liquorice and aniseed, with something else as well.

Finally, we end with Brains and Brains' Dark, the brewery's Mild. It's full of rich, chocolates and burnt malt flavours. This is the sort of beer I enjoy, and I'm pleased to finish on this.

Sprawling across the web...

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Anti-Social Beer Drinking

Right now, the attendees of the European Beer Bloggers Conference are enjoying beers from all around Europe. Beers from the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and Bulgaria are all present.

I tried a few myself. There's some good beers there, but I found myself struggling to appreciate them. I needed to sit down, and relax with a good beer. This is what has bought me to North Bar.

It's incredibly antisocial of me, but you know what, I don't care. I enjoy beer best when I can relax, just me and a beer, which is exactly what I have right now. There are other people here, but at this table it's just me and a bottle of Mikkeller 19. From what I understand it's brewed with 19 hops. I can't say I'd know that if I hadn't been told, but I can say I rather like it.

Anti-social beer drinking. Try it some time, you might enjoy it.

The Friday Pint #20 - Raw Brewing Company Grey Ghost IPA

With the EBBC registration and trade show in an hour and a half's time, choosing to come up to North Bar and drink my 20th Friday Pint probably isn't the best of ideas. Here I am though, with a pint of Raw Brewing Company's Grey Ghost IPA. I'm impressed. It's pale, and bitter and seems like a very good start to the day. It's not really inspiring any extravagant descriptive hyperbole from me, but it is a rather good IPA. So, 20 weeks on from when I started this strand, with no real plan in mind other than to improve my writing and descriptive skills, what have I acheived? Well, I'm still not entirely sure if there is a plan or structure. I'm trying to stick to my original idea of trying something new, though this hasn't always been possible, or appropriate. Some of the pints have been responsible for a stream of writing about themselves, whilst others have merely been sipping matter as I jot down what's in my head. I'll be honest and say this one isn't really doing either, despite it being one of the best Friday Pints in recent weeks. Kind of disappointing this post really, isn't it?

Black and Tan Experiments #12 - Magic Rock and Brooklyn.

So, I am now in Leeds, and after failing to find a comic book shop to buy this weeks issues of Batman, I find myself in North Bar.

I like it. It's how a bar should be in my mind. A bar is long, it can get busy, and conversations often merge into one murmuring noise. A pub in comparison is more square, it will often have separate areas for different purposes. A pub is very different from a bar.

I look at what's on. Behind the bar on the blackboard I see the words "Black and Tan", in this case a mix of Magic Rock's Dark Arts, and Brooklyn Lager. On the bar though is Brooklyn's Soriachi Ace. I order a half only to find it's run out.

And so here I am, Black and Tan #12 in front of me. It's my first beer since reaching Leeds. It's not overly impressive. The lager mellows the stout in a way that isn't really noticeable, but makes it a lot more quaffable. Dark Arts on its own I tend to sip. This I appear to be swigging.

I have half a glass left. The question is, with the pre conference pub crawl looming, do I stay for another?

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The weeks ahead...

With just two sleeps before I head up to Leeds for this year's European Beer Bloggers Conference, and just seven until I head to America, I felt it was time to take a look at what I'll be doing, and also, what I'll be missing.. Firstly, this weekend in Leeds. The location was partially influential in me deciding to go. I've never been to Leeds, and so it'll be nice to take some time to have a look around after the Magic Rock Trip on Sunday. As for the conference itself, I'm hoping to come away with a lot of new knowledge, and put faces to a lot of the names I have been talking to on twitter, and on here. It'll also be nice to meet the faces I've already seen again. I'll have a couple of dry days after the conference (I think we'll probably all need them) before I fly to America. I'm going over to visit my Girlfriend, who will be taking me to several beery places in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. I also know that she already has several bottles waiting for me, including some Dogfish Head, and a few bottles of Infinium (I rather love her somewhat for some reason). There will be Friday Pint posts, and I'm hoping to try at least one Black and Tan Experiment whilst I'm over there. Of course, being out of the country means I'll be missing a few things here and there. Firstly, there's The Skatalites, who play in London on the day I leave. Southampton Beer Festival takes place on the 31st May to the 2nd June, and Brockenhurst Football Club are having another festival between the 2nd and 4th June. Random Hand are playing somewhere in Stoke Newington on the 2nd. I don't know where, I can't go, so it's worthless finding out for me. I'm sure there are more things I'll be missing, but these stand out. To make matters worse, I miss the chance to see The Real McKenzies in Pittsburgh by a couple of days. Still, I doubt I'll be worried about that when I return with a case full of American beers.

The Friday Pint #19 - Otley O3 Boss

With a week to go until the European Beer Bloggers Conference in Leeds, and a week and a half until I go to America, I'm back in Southampton, and I've stopped off at the South Western Arms, next to St Denys station, to try some of the beers at their festival. Hopefully, I'll be able to ignore the fact that they have Rochefort 8 and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout in their fridge, both available for a rather reasonable price of £3.60 a bottle, and try some good beers. There's some breweries I recognise here, but a lot that are new to me.. For my Friday Pint this week, I have chosen one of those that I am already familiar with, Pontypridd's Otley. The beer in question is O3, a chestnut red ale, with 4.4% alcohol. I think I may have had this before, but not being one for caring about ticking, or keeping meticulous records of what I've drunk, I can't really be certain. Let's ignore that though and just focus on the pint in front of me. It's the first of the day. It's the only pint I'll have today. After this it's halfs all the ways as I attempt to try as many beers as I can before I start to feel either a) drunk, b) bloated or c) I can't really taste the beers anymore. I highly expect though, that we'll be leaving long before any of those occur. The beer is a light red in colour. It catches the light well, creating an amber glow on the table as it shines through. It's the sort of image a marketing campaign could be built upon, a glowing amber pint, a shining beacon of relaxation and enjoyment. Aroma wise (I have a slight cold again, perhaps unsurprisingly) it's subtle. If there is anything distinguishable, I'm not experienced enough to distinguish it. Taste wise, well, I'm half way down the glass already. I keep going back for more. It coats the mouth with a lovely moreish taste with a hint of sweetness. This is what I want a beer to be like when I *need* a beer. I don't want anything challenging or unusual, I want something I can drink and enjoy without thinking about it. London Pride is one of those beers, and now Otley O3 has been added to that list. I'm going to enjoy the rest of this pint, and then go for one of those Rochefort 8s. I might as well enjoy myself whilst I'm alive.

The Friday Pint #19 - Otley O3 Boss

With a week to go until the European Beer Bloggers Conference in Leeds, and a week and a half until I go to America, I'm back in Southampton, and I've stopped off at the South Western Arms, next to St Denys station, to try some of the beers at their festival. Hopefully, I'll be able to ignore the fact that they have Rochefort 8 and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout in their fridge, both available for a rather reasonable price of £3.60 a bottle, and try some good beers. There's some breweries I recognise here, but a lot that are new to me.. For my Friday Pint this week, I have chosen one of those that I am already familiar with, Pontypridd's Otley. The beer in question is O3, a chestnut red ale, with 4.4% alcohol. I think I may have had this before, but not being one for caring about ticking, or keeping meticulous records of what I've drunk, I can't really be certain. Let's ignore that though and just focus on the pint in front of me. It's the first of the day. It's the only pint I'll have today. After this it's halfs all the ways as I attempt to try as many beers as I can before I start to feel either a) drunk, b) bloated or c) I can't really taste the beers anymore. I highly expect though, that we'll be leaving long before any of those occur. The beer is a light red in colour. It catches the light well, creating an amber glow on the table as it shines through. It's the sort of image a marketing campaign could be built upon, a glowing amber pint, a shining beacon of relaxation and enjoyment. Aroma wise (I have a slight cold again, perhaps unsurprisingly) it's subtle. If there is anything distinguishable, I'm not experienced enough to distinguish it. Taste wise, well, I'm half way down the glass already. I keep going back for more. It coats the mouth with a lovely moreish taste with a hint of sweetness. This is what I want a beer to be like when I *need* a beer. I don't want anything challenging or unusual, I want something I can drink and enjoy without thinking about it. London Pride is one of those beers, and now Otley O3 has been added to that list. I'm going to enjoy the rest of this pint, and then go for one of those Rochefort 8s. I might as well enjoy myself whilst I'm alive.

The Friday Pint #18 - Hardknott Æther Blæc (2011 Epsilon)

This week I was unable to get to a pub due to having to wait for a delivery which never came (try to avoid companies using Yodel if you can). As a substitute, I have decided to open one of the bottles that normally I'd put off opening, in this case, Hardknott's Æther Blæc (2011 Epsilon).

Æther Blæc (2011 Epsilon) is a "stout beer aged in a 28 year old Speyside whisky cask". The bottle states that the cask was originally filled with Aultmore in 1982, and that the stout was aged in them for six months.

I'll be honest and say I had hesitations about opening a bottle of which a) I only have one of and b) there are only 636 of in existence. I had planned on leaving them for a couple of years (I also bought a bottle of the Lambda) thinking that they would be better then. The only thing is, better than what? As I say, I only have one bottle of these beers. Unless I go out and track down some more the moment I drink them will be it. I'll have no idea if they've improved or not.

As for now. This bottle that I have poured out. The aroma seems to be full of blackberries, somewhere between blackberry yoghurt and blackberry cheesecake, with each attempt to try and distinguish the aroma giving me different things. The blackberry element also seems present in the taste, and contributes to the beer seeming much less than the 8.5% that is stated on the bottle.

This beer is currently very easy to drink, though as a downside it seems to be lacking in flavour for a stout. Actually, that might be wrong. It's more that the flavour is subtle, rather than the full on flavour that I was expecting.

If I come across another bottle I think I'll buy it and put it away for a few years. If I don't then I'm reasonably happy with this. It's not a beer that has made me stream praise, but it's good enough and after today, that's just what's needed.

The Session #63 - The Beer Moment

 

This month, The Session is being hosted by Pete Brown. The topic for discussion this month is "The Beer Moment" This is what came to mind when I read the announcement...

Last year, on the 23rd of December to be exact, I had a beer moment. It involved a beer I had drunk numerous times before, Young's Double Chocolate Stout.

I was on my way home from London to Southampton for the Christmas Weekend. I had packed a bottle and glass to enjoy on the train. One of my favourite things about winter is that there are times where it is so cold that a beer can be just left outside for a while to bring it to a good drinking temperature. This was one of those nights, and so by the time I got to open the bottle on the Woking to Weymouth train, it was the perfect temperature.

Now, as I said earlier, this is a beer that I've had many times before. It's amongst my favourites from my eight or so years of drinking beer. On this occasion though, there was something different. It tasted better.

This got me thinking, is there something more to the enjoyment of beer than just the beer itself? Was the enjoyment of this beer moment influenced by the fact that I was on my way home, to share and enjoy more beers and a few days off work. How much is enjoyment of anything influenced by the circumstances in which that thing was enjoyed, or not enjoyed.

I can't actually think of any other occurences that have come close to feeling like a "moment" as this one. It actually seems like the last time I drank a beer for pleasure, rather than a purpose, like my "Friday Pint" or "Black and Tan Experiment" drinking. As I think I may have read another blogger (or perhaps a few bloggers) write before, it's easy when trying to be analytical about beer to lose track of what got us started in the first place, those moments.

I find that "The Beer Moment" is most likely to come when I'm not thinking about it. Sometimes it's good to step away from being critical and to just enjoy something for what it is, not just in the world of beer, but in the world in general.