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Beer Review: Calvors Dark Lager

15/03/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle I like a good dark lager, I must admit. They’re like light-bodied porters. The Calvors Dark Lager is the last of the English lagers in the Calvors line which I’m reviewing (disclosure: Calvors sent me a batch) and it’s probably my favourite. Suffolk-based Calvors has created a wonderfully drinkable dark lager. It’s effervescent to start with, although any trace of a head or any carbonation disappears very quickly. The colour is reddish-brown, like a diluted cola, and the nose is strong, sweet malts. The taste isn’t quite so malty as the nose promises, but it has a lovely crisp texture and there’s a tiny bit of cloves in there and some clean hops. It had gone in...

Beer Review: Calvors Amber

09/03/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle We’re back on the hunt for quality lager and I do believe we have found one. Last year we looked at the Calvors Premium, which impressed, and now from the same stable I’m trying Calvors Amber. Suffolk-based Calvors were kind enough to send me a batch of beer to test. The difference between ale and lager comes from the fermentation process. Ales are made with yeast strains that ferment at the top of the wort and the flavours the beer with chemicals called esters. Lagers use bottom-fermenting yeasts, which don’t tend to add much in the way of flavour. The Amber is more of a bronze colour and the head dies immediately, although gentle carbonation remains. There’s...

Beer Review: Barnsey by Bath Ales

01/02/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle West is best. I love the West Country. If the great cities, friendly people and awesome beach culture weren’t enough of a draw, there’s also the beer… We’ve looked at Bath Ales’ Gem before, so now we’re looking at another of its flagship ales, Barnsey, a deep mahogany-coloured bitter which combines Chocolate and Crystal malts to a Maris Otter pale malt base. Bramling Cross provides the hop content. It looks appetising enough, like a good old-fashioned best with a head like the surface of the moon. It’s a toasty marshmallow head with a popcorn nose. Mmm. Yeasty. The sweet nose contradicts the bitter taste. There’s a lot of bitter hoppiness going on, which is good. There’s a...

Beer Review: Cornish Mutiny by Wooden Hand

21/01/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle I do like Cornish beer. They always seem to major on malt and throw in just enough cheeky hopiness to give it a zesty kick. Wooden Hand is one of the newer brewers in Cornwall, formed in 2004 but growing fast. I picked up this bottle of its malt-fest Cornish Mutiny at a Tesco near Polzeath. The Cornish Mutiny is a dark murky brown colour with very little carbonation. There’s a very sweet toffee nose to it and a heavy biscuit edge. It’s fairly bitter too. It’s fairly light-bodied despite being a healthy 4.8% in strength, making it very easy to drink. It’s chewy, extremely quaffable and for those that like malt, you’re in for a treat....

Video: Cornish Beer Review

12/07/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle I was recently down in Cornwall and along with my US beer blogging sister Suzanna we made our way through some local beers. These include some small brewers such as Wooden Hand, Harbour Brewing and Keltek Brewery, plus a look at arguably three of the most famous best bitters from the Duchy, St Austell’s Tribute, Sharp’s Doom Bar and Skinners’ Betty Stogs, which are available across the whole country. Apologies to Penpont and Tintagel Brewery – my video review of your beers didn’t make the final cut due to sound issues. I’ll return to them in a follow up video when I’m next down. The common theme of the beers we feature is that they are all...

Ten Great Session Ales

15/06/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle It’s an oft-used term that really needs definition: Just what is a “session beer”? In a nutshell, a session beer is a highly drinkable beverage that is light enough (typically less than 5% ABV, according to this Beer Advocate feature) to enable multiple beers to be downed during a “session” (time period) without intoxicating oneself. Some beers are way too heavy going – however flavoursome – to be considered “session” beers. One of my favourite ales, Jennings’ Sneck Lifter, is just over 5% ABV in strength but is so flavoursome and complex that (personally speaking) I’d rather save it for an isolated beer occasion, similarly some imperial stouts have that ‘beer plug’ effect, being very filling in...

Stateside View: Samuel Adams’ Bonfire Rauchbier

08/09/2011

Follow @TheGuestAle The American brewing scene is in rude health. So The Guest Ale has drafted in an English expat to cast her expert eye on the latest trends. In the third of her posts, all the way from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Suzanna Lee-Kendall reviews Bonfire Rauchbier by Samuel Adams. Whilst sitting around a camp fire on a dark forest mountain top in rural Pennsylvania, you could be forgiven for perhaps expecting to be startled by a bear or a coyote, but not by the beverage you are about to start quaffing. Recently, I was perched on a tree stump around just such a fire when I was first handed a bottle of Samuel Adams Bonfire Rauchbier. It was a dark night so I...

Stateside View: Samuel Adams Irish Red

29/08/2011

Follow @TheGuestAle The American brewing scene is in rude health. So The Guest Ale has drafted in an English expat to cast her expert eye on the latest trends. In the second of her posts, all the way from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Suzanna Lee-Kendall reviews Irish Red by Samuel Adams. I would go out tonight but I have a selection of American craft ales chilling in the fridge at home. Today’s warm, late summer air in my Pennsylvannian back yard is as good as any that a Wealden beer garden has to offer and so it’s the ideal time to sample another beer from the Samuel Adams Harvest Variety. This time it’s the Irish Red. The Boston Beer Company boasts that this ale...

Stateside view: Samuel Adams’ Harvest Pumpkin

23/08/2011

Follow @TheGuestAle The American brewing scene is in rude health. So The Guest Ale has drafted in an English expat to cast her expert eye on the latest trends. In the first of her posts, all the way from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Suzanna Lee-Kendall reviews Harvest Pumpkin by Samuel Adams. Anytime anyone opens a variety pack of anything, be it a box of fine chocolates or a big bag of Monster Munch there runs the risk that some samples are going to be better than others – a few duds mixed in amongst the superlative and the average. The same will probably ring true with the variety box of beers I recently brought into my Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania home. The Samuel Adams Harvest...

Beer Review: Worthington’s White Shield

07/08/2011

Follow @TheGuestAle When it comes to India Pale Ales (IPAs), Worthington’s White Shield has stood the test of time. It dates back to the 1820s as one of the original beers shipped out to the India with an über-dose of hops to preserve it on its journey. After a long voyage of its own as a brand (you can read the entire history here) it’s now regarded as one of the best IPAs on the market. It won CAMRA’s Gold award in 2006 and beer writer Roger Protz calls it the “granddaddy of IPAs”. I’m actually revisiting the White Shield after my first tasting – shown in this video review at Borough Market’s Rake Bar – didn’t go down...

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