Craft Beers

Beer Review: Dead Pony Club by Brewdog

19/04/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle The modern, American style hop-fests that Scottish brewer Brewdog produces may not be to everyone’s liking. Those who favour malt-dominated ales and lighter weight beers may be averse to Brewdog’s strong, hoppy beers unleashing their floral notes on the Great British drinking public. However, for a gentle introduction to Brewdog’s line, look no further than the Dead Pony Club. While a massive leap from Brewdog’s near alcohol-free Nanny State, Dead Pony Club is still quite light at 3.8%. After all, we’re talking about the brewer that created the nuts strong Sink the Bizmarck at 41%. Dead Pony Club pours a rich amber-toffee colour and fizzes out of the bottle like a real livewire. As you would expect...

US Beer Review: Winter Solstice Seasonal Ale by Anderson Valley Brewing Co.

10/12/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle During the Summer Solstice this year I was conveniently positioned at that Mecca of mystical sun-worship, Stonehenge. It was fantastic despite the bus loads of cagouled camera-toting overseas tourists and the sea of packed lunches and flasks of tea spread out by the natives. Alas, the days are now short and dark and I find myself days away from the Winter Solstice. Ideally I’d be in County Cork by the Drombeg Stone Circle for this occasion but snowy Pennsylvania will have to suffice. My thirst for a decent beer remains unchanged and so it’s with some delight I stumble upon an aptly named beer from a brewery this side of the pond. Enter Winter Solstice Seasonal Ale...

US Beer Review: Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre

07/12/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle There are only three things I just can’t stand about Pennsylvania: they are December, January and February. Otherwise I have no complaints. So I’m always looking for something to lift the winter blues and tonight I think I just found it…. Typically at this time of year I should be sampling the Christmas ales with their predictably spicy palate. Tonight I passed that up in favour of a Belgian style dark beer from those brewing masters at Dogfish Head. I spotted it and had always wanted to try it. Bring on the Raison D’Etre mahogany ale! I tend to gravitate towards the Belgian dark ales as they lack bitterness and can be remarkably and pleasantly smooth. This...

Beer Review: Innes & Gunn Blonde

18/10/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle You need to be in a certain kind of mood to drink quality craft beer, I believe. Preferably, treat the bottle in isolation and never chew gum less than an hour beforehand! This is my view of Innes & Gunn’s line. They’re often so strong and rich that you can only take your time and enjoy the beer in perfect isolation. This was the case when I reviewed the Innes & Gunn Oak Aged Original and it was the same for the Innes & Gunn Blonde, which is matured in American oak barrels to impart a vanilla flavour. First up, it’s a very attractive colour indeed. It’s a rich Pilsneresque gold with a lager-like nose to it....

French Beer Review: Noire de Slack by 2 Caps

03/09/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Here’s a man after my own heart: Christophe Noyon, founder of the 2 Caps brewery outside Calais. The two ‘Caps’ in question being Cap Gris-Nez and Cap Blanc-Nez on the North French coast, where Noyon and his wife Alexia started their microbrewery in 2003 in response to the industrialised and generic beer market in France. I couldn’t agree more, having recently noticed the paucity of decent beer outside of northern France. Alas, this is as far as 2 Caps’ beer is distributed currently. I reviewed its Blanche de Wissant last year, having picked up a bottle in the Côte d’Opale, and have finally got round to the Noyons’ (in my view) far superior Noire de Slack –...

Beer Review: Curious IPA from Chapel Down

24/08/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle There’s a vineyard in Kent, England that quite sensibly decided that it would be a very good idea to make some beer too. Chapel Down from Tenterden has come up with a quite superb India Pale Ale (IPA) in the form of its Curious IPA. If you’re familiar with the Kernel Brewery’s works then you’ll know what I mean when I say the Curious IPA smells a little like one of the Kernel’s brews: grassy with a citrus overlay of orange peel. It’s a big, fat heap of hopitude! The hops in this case are the noble Golding, Brambling Cross and the popular Citra variety. In tandem with the barley and wheat malts Chapel Down has created...

Beer Review: Wadworth Beer Kitchen Whisky Barrel Aged Premium Bitter

20/08/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle There are a number of breweries doing this: fermenting beer in wooden whisky casks to extract those smoky whisky flavours. Cracking stand-alone beers such as the reassuringly expensive Harviestoun’s Ola Dubh and Innes & Gunn’s Oak Aged Original can count the Whisky Barrel Aged Premium Bitter from Wadworth Beer Kitchen to their number. It’s aged in a whisky barrel for between two-three months to absorb the flavours from the oak casks. The whisky flavour is very subtle, I must say. The taste is more sweet caramel with an orange peel twist. It’s a deep copper colour with a bitter shandy nose, frisky head and medium bodied feel to it. Pleasant enough but whisky barrel beers are quite...

Beer Review: India Pale Ale by Wadworth Beer Kitchen

03/08/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Here is a little gem from The Beer Kitchen, which is a new “hand-crafted” range from Wadworth. I think it’s right on the money here as it aims for the discerning beer drinker, certainly a growing breed as the range to choose from continues to expand. The company was kind enough to send me some samples and on what was #IPAday on Twitter it was only right that I cracked open the India Pale Ale. It looks to go back to the roots of India Pale Ale by avoiding the über-hopped modern American interpretation of the beer style and opting for a traditional British style. It’s made with Pale and Crystal malts, and Challenger, Citra and Target...

Beer Review: Wheat Beer by Wadworth Beer Kitchen

29/07/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Here is a little gem from The Beer Kitchen, which is a new “hand-crafted” range from Wadworth. I think it’s right on the money here as it aims for the discerning beer drinker, certainly a growing breed as the range to choose from continues to expand. The company was kind enough to send me some samples and, being summer, I kicked off with the Wheat Beer. It’s a classic “Belgian White” style. The brewer adds a beer yeast which it says presents a clove and coriander edge. Clove certainly is a feature in the taste along with the classic lemon meringue pie flavour and nose that tends to be a mark of these Belgian Whites. It’s zesty,...

US Beer Review: Crooked Tree IPA by Dark Horse Beer

14/06/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Hell just froze over. Yup, I finally like really chilled beer. I’ve lived in the US for almost 16 years and it’s taken me until today to even contemplate not resisting drinking a beer that has been “chilled”. I’m English, I like room temperature. But it’s another stinkin’ hot day in Pittsburgh, PA today and I’ve actually cracked and chilled an India pale ale (IPA) to cool me off. The sacrilege began when I selected a Crooked Tree IPA from the Dark Horse Brewing Co. Situated in Marshall, Michigan these mavericks began brewing their flavoursome offerings when they opened their microbrewery back in 1997. Of their year round Crooked Tree IPA they claim it’s “inspired by West...

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