I didn't get anything in this week so I'm throwing it back to my early teenage years on the sand dunes by cobbling together whatever I can get my hands on in the garage. Found myself some Tyskie and a Red Stripe, plus some random Worthington's Creamflow which I am only assuming my dad brought round for a BBQ one time.
Might have to step up to whisky if I want something classy.
I’ve 3 different various browns and 3 new limited edition stouts from Larkins that I picked up last week. The stouts sound up Ian’s street.
The 3 near the top of this list.
https://craftcentral.ie/collections/...xoCKZwQAvD_BwE
Yeah those sound like my sort of thing.
I'm onto a Dunkel also by the Kernel and it's pretty decent but I'm gonna go for something a bit heftier next.
Fierce goodOriginally Posted by Baz
Tiny Rebel bad
As is often the case, imo
I'm a twit
Tiny Rebel are ace, you fool.
I'm having one by STEP which appears to be a series of impys aiming to replicate Quality Streets. This one's a strawberry cream and while I think strawberry works well in stouts when I've had one they've overdone it a bit with the lactose here.
Sacked off the beer for the night and having a Tanqueray Rangpur Lime gin. It's rather decent.
I'm having a month off it. I thought I must be about half way through but apparently it's only been five days.
What was the Hoppy Xmas Festive IPA like from Brewdog this year? I see they're clearing it for a quid a can and didn't know if it was worth a punt on a box.
Accidentally got some of my mead in my mouth while siphoning into the secondary and Jesus wept, it’s pure ethanol.
I rated it a 1.0
https://untp.beer/9yBwG
I'm a twit
Harsh.
Was it more the anti-climax of it being a bit meh, which I could probably cope with for a cheap session beer, or was it just wank?
1/5.
It's not that bad. It's an absolutely middle of the road beer. Wouldn't get near my bottom 10 worst ones I've drunk.
If it has any 'festive' flavours that belong in something like mulled wine then I'm giving it a 1 too, even though I've never tasted it.
Speaking of Brewdog, might not be worth facing Dublin on the day itself but could be worth a trip on Saturday or Sunday.
Last edited by Giggles; 06-03-2022 at 03:12 PM.
Beer boffins: what do I do here? Just bought this, then was told it was the last can they've got and it's not being brewed anymore. Do I keep it unopened, drink it but save the can, or stop being a nonce and just neck it and not worry because it's nothing special?
Seems a bit of a waste to horse down (one of) the last of these with a pizza.
Just drink it whenever.
I wouldn't keep the can personally but then I don't collect anything like that so dealer's choice.
I don't see any trash n to hang onto it though.
Kudos on going on the small pic end of the spectrum, unusual, and ridiculously tiny on a phone at least.
I contemplated picking up a can of Original Forest Fruits Ice Cream Imperial Stout but in the end decided against paying £5 for a drink I might not like.
Got a can of Brew By Numbers 05 Ipa Amarillo & Citra instead for a more reasonable £3.50, cos my mate recently shared a pic of a load BBN beers.
I'm a twit
My mead has passed what my dad calls the finger test! Basically you can see your finger through it. It’s clearing up.
Still hoping to bottle it on 10th April but might wait a while. Moving it to the final demijohn next Sunday, hopefully.
I'm a twit
Your mum passed the finger test.
Peroni Gran Riserva is the shit. I’m well oiled already, would recommend.
This is the tits.
I was in a place tonight that had 17 different bottled lagers on the menu. And we're not talking niche shit here, just the standard big brewery fayre.
Ugo Ehiogu would have been in his element.
Me, not so much.
Think they did have Staropramen on tap as well, which both sort of redeems them, and makes you wonder why they have the 17 bottled varieties in the fridge[s].
Having been in the beer doldrums for a while [mostly due to lack of anything halfway decent to buy over here] I've taken another punt at the sour section with something called Rainbow Sherbert Sour by Gwei-Lo, who I think are some sort of Hong Kong brewery.
Also a Dark Star Total Eclipse or some such [Hoppy Black IPA] which, whilst unlikely to be ground breaking, should be alright.
Probably back to the bargain basement Botham Cab Sav and Mai Tai recipe perfecting if they both let me down.
Two Brits based in Honk Kong if I recall correctly.Having been in the beer doldrums for a while [mostly due to lack of anything halfway decent to buy over here] I've taken another punt at the sour section with something called Rainbow Sherbert Sour by Gwei-Lo, who I think are some sort of Hong Kong brewery.
I've had a few things by them including collabs and that Rainbow Sherbet sour. Nothing amazing but they're decent.
That sour beer is actually alright. Managed a full 440 without it starting to grate, which is probably a first for me and a sour.
I had a Blueberry and Vanilla aged sour this weekend (this, but the 2019 version they did with blueberries), which was absolutely lovely. The aging mellowed all of the harsh notes, but unfortunately I got the last pour of the keg. Or fortunately, because they didn't make me pay for it as it was slightly short of a full pour.
On the other hand, the White Stout was a bit too sickly-sweet for my liking, which @Josh tells me is from the lactose.
Been working my way through Siren's 9th anniversary beer and cheese box this evening and I'm a very happy boy. The new West Coast IPA has been the highlight so far but still got the darks to come including this year's Maiden.
The cheese has been good too, but this isn't the thread for that.
Picked up a Blueberry Maple Sour earlier, but its not cold enough to drink tonight.
I'm a twit
Stick it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes and you'll be good to go.
The online place has got in these. Anything worth sampling?
Timothy Taylor - Boltmaker, Landlord, and Landlord Dark
Theakston - Old Peculier, Fursty Ferret, and Tanglefoot.
They do Samuel Smith too which would be my go-to English tipples. The pale ale and oatmeal stout are the tits.
Timothy Taylor are relentlessly average. Have you had An English Bitter? Then you've had a Timothy Taylor.
Old Peculier I think is a legit decent beer, for Fursty Ferret and Tanglefoot see my Timothy Taylor comments.
I'm starting with Omnipollo Plemora. "Raspberry crème brûlée sour ale brewed with lactose sugar, raspberries and vanilla." It's not earth-shatting but it's definitely too drinkable for 6%.
Old Pecuiler it is. I had a couple of ones out of Tesco the other week too. Some amber ale with a red label that was bland but inoffensive and a Proper Job IPA which was nicely hopped but skunked, though I’ll blame the shop on that and give them the benefit of the doubt.
Fullers London Pride was the amber.
Yeah, again, London Pride is just an okay English bitter. I think it's really had to make a really nice bitter which is why I was so pleased when Siren nailed that coffee one because basically nobody tries to do anything with them and they managed to make it still taste like a traditional bitter, just with more stuff.
Ah so amber is bitter. I was thinking of American amber. Been wanting to make an ESB for ages but brexit has made golden syrup disappear off the shelves here.
You really are so ahead of us with the beer and brewery thing though. Some of them are probably around years and churning out generic crap at this stage where they sound all exotic to us. Because we don’t have the brewery/landlord model we’ve basically had guinness, smithwicks, carlsberg, and Heineken on tap and absolutely nothing else here for decades (Budweiser and harp preceded the latter two but they’re the same thing).
Last edited by Giggles; 01-04-2022 at 06:42 PM.
An ESB is a bit of a weird halfway house between a bunch of different things. More body to it than an amber but you're not looking at like an 80 shilling or an 'old ale' or Scotch ale. Hoppier than that sort of thing too, but it's the likes of Fuggles and Goldings which are distinctive but not in that harsh, bitter way that American hops are.
And a lot of them all taste very much like each other.
Me and my brother in law did a pub crawl around Grantham back when we still lived that way and got the order allll wrong. Started with one pub which was always getting best beer awards because they had high turnover so they'd often buy lots of different local beer in relatively small quantities and keep it well, then we went to a small local craft chain which had the sort of things you'd expect (they were just being Brewdog Lite, essentially) and then after that had about four places where ALL they had were ESBs, ambers and golden ales. Didn't think it through properly at all.
Timothy Taylor Landlord was a pretty standard [decent] pub ale back in the before times when it was all CAMRA neckbeards. FortyNiner or whatever the Ringwood one is called too, but, as Ian says, the the prism of the modern world they're probably a bit average and I wouldn't be going out of my way to get hold of them.
What was the legendary ale from the midlands? Bantams or something? I was always fascinated by whether that would have been any good.
We’re seeing more taps of local breweries these days but you could still count in the hundreds (of taps) in the pubs that have them (Guinness and Heineken give free kegs to have them taken out). And you really still have the attitude among the public that all “craft” beer is 28% and will make you burn the house down after half a pint anyway.
What’s the best ESB you’ve had so I can look up a clone?
I'm not big on knowing my best bitters from my ESBs [and the rest] but I think I've had a decent ESB by Tribute [I think generally their ales are quite good]. Does Whitstable Bay count? That's another decent pub ale. I think Fullers do one as well but the best stuff is probably some random craft mob I won't have ever heard of, or Sam Smiths, they always used to be good all-rounders.
Most Sam Smiths I’ve had I’ve really liked.
Result on that one you mentioned though.
https://shop.supervalu.ie/shopping/w...-/p-1003051000
A clear bottle doesn’t fill me with confidence though.
Sam Smith’s is cheap as fuck. Not had it since I was about 18. Used to get completely wankered on about four quid’s worth back in my youth.
Yeah, not sure on the 'organic ale'. They do a pale in a can [which is more pale ale than bitter] which is decent and often on offer in the supermarket. I had a red ale by them at Christmas, which I think was a seasonal thing, that was quite nice. Not sure any of their stuff is going to be all that creamy though, if that's what you're after.
I had a friend who came from Chippenham who got me into 6X for a bit. I seem to recall that being alright.
Just picked up a Broken Dream Hard Pour Nitro Breakfast Stout.
Presume the hard pour refers to the way you are meant to pour the nitro cans [just checking so I don't make a massive mess of it later].
Yep, just tip it the full 180 .
Lovely beer, that.
Yeah. I've had quite a few of Siren's stout things, but not this one before [somehow] and it's very good.
It's so drinkable. They're one of my favourite breweries right now. Maybe my actual favourite.
Against my better judgement/Baz's advice I ended up getting one of those Brewdog Xmas beer boxes when they were going *cheep* the other week [still might be].
5 standard cans are fairly standard 5-6.5/10 jobbies [the planet stuff, pony, punk and elvis] so I shall be focusing on the others - off the top of my head a mango planet lager thing [low expectations], a guava hazy jane [also low], spiked IPA thing [i'm starting to worry about this selection tbh] and a few other potentially more acceptable things building up to Baz's 1/10 Hoppy Xmas. Full reviews to follow.
Whilst I was putting them in the fridge I found a rogue can of DEYA which has somewhat saved the day.
How much was it?
I'm a twit
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