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Australian Beer Review part 2: Great Beer in Melbourne

26/02/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle Following on from a look at the best beer in Sydney, I moved onto look for the best beer in Melbourne, somewhere where I lived for a while several years ago and which is still my favourite city in the world. The beer has massively improved since, although – for visitors – it has shot up in price. This makes having a really good beer even more imperative. We looked at a couple of great pubs and also drove out to the White Rabbit brewery in the Yarra Valley, more famous for its cracking wines than its brewpubs. The first place I went to was the excellent The Local Taphouse in the trendy St.Kilda suburb. Like many...

Australian Beer Review part 1: Great Beer in Sydney

20/02/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle Australian beer just goes from strength to strength. When I first went to Australia for a year on a working visa in 2002 I had to content myself with pretty generic lager brands and find a decent one to stick with, which for me was James Boag’s from Tasmania (which I still quite like chilled on a roasting hot day). Fast-forward 11 years and it’s a world away. The choice across the country is incredible, micros have sprung up all over and flourished, and beers are finding their way overseas. Two years ago I visited – and was blown away by – the Little Creatures brewery in Fremantle, Western Australia, famous for its crisp and fruity Pale...

American Beer Review: Groundhog Brew by Straub

17/02/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle It’s been frigid this February in Pennsylvannia. Temperatures have barely crept above minus six degrees Celsius all month long and anything above freezing feels like an absolute heat-wave. Last week they pulled the famed Groundhog from his slumbers in Punxatawney and against all odds he failed to see his shadow and predicted that spring is just around the corner! As I defrost my frozen kitchen pipes I have to chuckle at the old rodent’s sense of humour. At least that’s something to smile about and so, it seems, is the limited edition beer brewed for the occasion! Introducing Groundhog Brew from a long established brewery in these part, Straub. It was 1872 when their founder, German-born Peter Straub arrived in...

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: Coffee in the Morning by Tap East

30/01/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle Once again The Rake bar in London’s Borough Market served a newbie for my taste buds. Tap East is a microbrewery and brew pub on the Westfield shopping centre at Stratford, East London: AKA that stop you got off at for the Olympics. I wish I had known it was there as I have little reason to venture out that way now. Luckily, east came south and The Rake had Tap East’s Coffee in the Morning stout on draught. I’m in a stouty mood just now – it must be the weather – and this hit the spot. It’s pitch black with a light off-white head. Massive black malt nose, not really a big whiff of coffee...

Beer Review: Mikkeller Oyster Stout

24/01/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle I was at the Craft Beer Co. off London’s Hatton Garden the other day. I love the selection there and decided to splash out £3.95 on a half of Oyster Stout made by surely Denmark’s finest brewer, Mikkeller. Mikkeller’s beer really is reassuringly expensive; you know when you spend your hard-earned cash on a Mikkeller beer that it’s going to be worth it. I’ve got a soft spot for Oyster Stouts, one of my favourites being the Whitstable Brewery Oyster Stout (from the cask), but the Mikkeller Oyster Stout tops that, in my view – and not just because it cost me a king’s ransom. There’s a really silky mocha head crowning the wonderfully tar-black beer and...

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....

Beer Review: Raspberry Wheat by Whitstable Brewery

18/01/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle Following my predilection for the Whitstable Brewery Oyster Stout I overcame my disdain for fruit in beer and opted to try its Raspberry Wheat beer. I find it a very acquired taste and the very thought of red fruits in beer serves up sickly-sweet thoughts of Früli. The Raspberry Wheat is certainly sweet, something you instantly suspect as you pour out the cloudy red fluid into the glass. It comes with a rustic yeasty nose and there is some light carbonation although the head dies quickly. Taste-wise it’s sharp. You can pick up the raspberry but there’s a medley of fruits that come to the fore. I picked up some gooseberry but otherwise I found this a...

US Beer Review: Three Philosophers Quadrupel Ale by Ommegang Brewery

18/01/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle Sunday nights in January find many of us expats over this side of the pond sitting down to enjoy another thrilling episode of Downton Abbey. Such a rich and decadent evening of entertainment deserves a truly magnificent ale to match it. Enter something equally enthralling, complex and exciting. Enter Three Philosophers Ale by Ommegang Brewery. As an interesting aside, Ommegang Brewery began in 1997 in Cooperstown, NY in a purpose-built Belgian farmhouse replica. The brewery is situated on an area that in the 19th century was the Mecca of hop-growing in the States. rather like how Kent is to England I suppose. Its Three Philosophers Ale is a “Quadrupel” ale following the bold, complex and strong Belgian...

Beer Review: Magic Rock Dark Arts

05/01/2013

Follow @TheGuestAle It’s dark, artistic, magical and it totally rocks. Dark Arts Surreal Stout by Huddersfield brewer Magic Rock Brewing is one of my favourite of its genre on the market. I first sampled it at Brighton’s Cask (whatever happened to that place?) and was blown away. I used to be skeptical about stouts but it’s exciting numbers like the Magic Rock Dark Arts that brings me back to the black stuff. No quarter asked or given, Dark Arts is a 6% heavyweight. There’s a bonfire in the nose, leading you to expect a backstreet fighter of a stout, something rough and ready. Instead, it’s silky smooth with a big hunk of black malt with hints of coffee, liquorice...

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