Porters

Beer Review: Glencoe Wild Oat Stout

13/07/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Glencoe is one of my favourite locations in the UK, so my eye was drawn towards the name on the bottle in Tesco’s beer section. I love a smoky stout too, so it was great to get this traditional Scottish stout into my collection. The maker, TSA (Traditional Scottish Ales) Brewing, specialises in Scottish beer recipes and names them after famous landmarks and Scots. The Glencoe is a lightly-hopped “toasted oatmeal” flavoured stout, which pronounces the roast malt taste and aroma. It’s a wonderful deep black colour with a little light lacing on the head. There’s a wonderful rich, roast malt, slightly coffee taste that lingers longer than any beer I can remember! It’s very smooth indeed...

Beer Review: Mallinsons’ Chocolate Stout

06/07/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Mallinsons is a microbrewery up in Yorkshire but I came across its fabulous Chocolate Stout at The Cask Pub and Kitchen in Pimlico, London. I must admit I was blown away! There’s a roasted, smoky malt nose which almost smells like mocha coffee. It looks a little like an espresso in a pint, though. It’s pitch black in colour and there is a lovely light bubbly head that stays on for the duration. So it looks and smells great, but how does it taste? Luckily, as good as it looks! There’s a really light and fluffy texture, although it’s pretty full bodied. There’s a magnificent long coffee and chocolate taste which lingers on the tongue. It also...

Beer Review: Original Flag Porter by Darwin

30/05/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle I have just tasted the Original Flag Porter by the Darwin Brewery of Sunderland. It’s a resurrection of a 19th century porter using a yeast from 1825 salvaged from a wreck in the English Channel matched with a contemporary porter menu. It is magnificent! There’s a roast malt über-fest in the nose, almost like Marmite, and it’s a rich, black colour with a hint of red and fizzy light head that clings to the glass. The by now fully-whet appetite is in for a smooth taste experience: it’s got coffee and sweet caramel malt flavours. Hops try to fight through but the malt wins hands down. The essentials: ABV: 5% Colour: Pitch black Nose: Marmite malt overload...

Beer Review: Hepworth Brewery Conqueror and Iron Horse

07/04/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Hepworth Brewery of Horsham, Sussex, is a familiar face in the South East of England and I’ve reviewed a number of Hepworth’s beers before. I rocked up at their stand at Penshurst Farmers Market in Kent and purchased a bottle of the Conqueror stout and Iron Horse bitter. Conqueror Named after William of Normandy, the Conqueror is a 4.5% ABV stout made with roasted barley and Admiral hops. It’s wonderfully balanced in its near full-bodiedness and has a pleasant, smoky feel. The flavour isn’t too strong and the nose isn’t really there, but as far as a session porters go this is very pleasant indeed. Iron Horse So named after Trevithick’s steam engine, the Iron Horse is...

US Beer Review: Fore-Smoked Stout

30/01/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Recently I’ve been very impressed with the offerings of a little-known brewery up in Michigan, Founders Brewing Co. Has this northern state got a good thing going on in the craft ale business? Time to sample the goods from another relatively young Brewery from up there! Today’s pick is “Fore-Smoked Stout” from The Dark Horse Brewing Company, which has been boasting brewing with quality ingredients in Marshall, MI since 1997. Time to see if I’ve backed a winner… Straight of of the gate (err, I mean bottle) it pours black as oil. If you have ever looked at the oil that is drained out of your car after 4,000 miles in your engine you’ll get the picture....

US Beer Review: Founders Brewing Co. Porter

21/01/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle Last week I sampled the “Backwoods Bastard” ale from Founders Brewing Co. and was blown away by the depth and quality of this offering from a little-known but well-intentioned brewery from Grand Rapids, Michigan. This week I was curious to see if anything else in its line-up could follow the Bastard’s lead and send me into beer bliss for a second time. I prefer something dark and mysterious, so the Founders Porter was my choice. The bottle bears an image of a Victorian lady and simultaneously promises the ale to be “dark, rich and sexy”. To me, the image bore a rather too -close resemblance to the ghostly Woman in Black of the same name and so to me...

Beer review: Ola Dubh Special Reserve 12 by Harviestoun

01/01/2012

Follow @TheGuestAle I have the indulgent triumvirate of Christmas, my birthday and New Year in the space of a week, so to treat myself I spent a record amount on a small bottle of beer which came highly recommended from a colleague. Ola Dubh – “Black Oil” in English – is a collaboration between the Harviestoun Brewery near Stirling, Scotland, and the Highland Park distillery from Orkney. Similar to the Innes & Gunn Oak Aged Original, which is matured in barrels previously used to store Bourbon, Ola Dubh is an imperial porter matured in malt whisky barrels from Highland Park. If you know your scotch, then you’ll know that Highland Park is a smoky, peaty and elegantly smooth whisky...

Beer Review: Ultimate Stout by Bristol Beer Factory

28/11/2011

Follow @TheGuestAle Continuing the stouts for winter, today I downed an Ultimate Stout from the Bristol Beer Factory. Brewed with roasted malts and a Belgian yeast, the Ultimate Stout weighs in at a heavyweight 7.7% and follows on from the rich stout pedigree that Bristol Beer Factory produces, such as its wonderful Milk Stout. The stout is pitch black, lightly effervescent early on with a slight coffee nose. The taste is deeply complex, with heavy hints of liquorice, coffee. It’s full bodied and rich at the back of the tongue. It’s pretty light going for such a heavy beer but a real black beauty. The essentials: ABV: 7.7% Colour: Pitch black Nose: Light coffee Taste: Complex mix of liquorice...

Beer Review: Sierra Nevada Porter

18/11/2011

Follow @TheGuestAle You’ll see a lot of American craft beer reviews and video this week, because The Guest Ale is munching on the Big Apple this week. We’re in New York City for a few days, checking out the craft beer scene, so look out for upcoming video content. Here’s one cracking American porter that you can get in the UK: Sierra Nevada Porter. Possibly better known for its Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, many brewers like to include a porter in their repertoire and Sierra Nevada has really nailed this. After originally been sceptical towards porters and stouts, it’s characterful creations such as this which has made me determined to drink more of the stuff this winter. Malt is...

Profanity Stout by Williams Brothers

09/11/2011

Follow @TheGuestAle As the days get darker in the UK, so should the beer. Winter offers a great chance to try out porters/stouts (I’m not going to go into the difference between stout and porter here…it’s a long story) as they’re often heavier going than lighter, more summer-friendly beers. My first stout of the season is the Profanity Stout by Alloa’s Williams Brothers. The Williams Brothers Brewery is a wonderfully experimental crew whose repertoire includes resurrected ancient beer recipes. From its modern line comes the Profanity Stout, a contestant in Sainburys’ 2011 Great British Beer Hunt. It’s a wonderful deep black with a short-lived, brown effervescent head. The signature flavour of stout will be malt, although only a very...

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