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What beer to drink in Brussels

Chris — Wed, 08 May 2013 21:51:28 +0000

Follow @TheGuestAle As I write this I am enjoying a small glass of Leffe and awaiting my Eurostar at Brussels Midi station. It’s actually really nice in that sweet, clovey, characteristically yeasty familiarness that we know most quality Belgian beers to be. Think “Belgian beer” and at one end you may think the genius of Trappiste monks, and at the other the ubiquitous Stella Artois. My Brussels-based beer connoisseur colleague tried to convince me that the Stella Artois in its home town of Leuven is worth trying. I’m not so sure, but I was happy for him to introduce me to a sample of other local delights, starting with La Chouffe. La Chouffe Coming in a 750ml bottle, this unfiltered blonde beer was made for sharing. Rumours that the Belgians can hold their consistently strong beers in by nursing one per night are wide of the mark, but visitors could be caught out. La Chouffe is 8% ABV and is horribly easy to drink. Weirdly, it reminds me of a cider. If you “drink with your eyes”, so they say, then you’re psychologically teed up to think “cider” when you see the green La Chouffe bottle with its garden gnome [...]

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US Beer Review: Anchor Brewing Special, San Francisco

Chris — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 03:52:07 +0000

Follow @TheGuestAle San Francisco is possibly my favourite US city and I happened to be there on business this week. As well as being introduced to the impressive bar-cum-off licence, the City Beer Store, by my US colleagues, I also felt it would be conspicuous of me not to review beer from San Francisco’s most famous brewer, Anchor Brewery. Despite tracing its roots back to the 19th century, Anchor Brewing was at the forefront of the revival against the generic mass-produced beers of the 1970s. In the UK, we are probably familiar with the Anchor Steam brand, but in San Francisco I got hold of some other bottles to review… Liberty Ale Anchor Brewing’s Liberty Ale was first brewed in 1975 and uses classic two-row pale malts and whole cone Cascade hops, and it’s those fresh, aromatic hops that give Liberty Ale a really fruity nose, almost gooseberry. It’s a lovely golden amber colour with a strong, frothy head, probably a result of the “bunging” carbonation process. The taste is a really refreshing lemon sherbet and I can just imagine how this 5.9% strength beer would have impacted drinkers in the ‘70s who had grown accustomed to average big brand [...]

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Beer Review: Dead Pony Club by Brewdog

Chris — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 04:18:51 +0000

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 from a “California Pale Ale”, there is familiar grassy hop nose with just a hint of gooseberry fighting to be heard. The taste is sharp and zesty, and is a more or less toned-down version of the nose…and it repeats well too! It’s relatively smooth going and I must say it might rival the delicious 5am Saint as my favourite of the Brewdog line. At 3.8% the Dead Pony Club really is a soft introduction into Brewdog and UK takes on [...]

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Beer Review: Curious Brew by Chapel Down

admin — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:35:24 +0000

Follow @TheGuestAle When you’re confronted by the Gold Medal Winner at the International Beer Challenge 2012, you have great expectations. That is exactly what the Curious Brew from Chapel Down in Kent promises. Curious Brew is a premium English lager and there’s one theme that runs throughout: elderflower. The beer pours clear and pale in colour with lively carbonation at first. Once the head dies down you’re left with a busy glass which reminds you a little of champagne. Those elderflower hits I told you about start at the nose and follow through in the taste. It’s crisp, light in body and pleasantly flavoursome without being overbearing. A real winner. The essentials: ABV: 4.7% Colour: Pale wheat Nose: Sweet elderflower Taste: Elderflower Our verdict: Crisp, floral and refreshing. A giant among lagers. Website: http://www.chapeldown.com/Category/65-beer.aspx Follow @TheGuestAle Tweet

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Beer Review: Bath Ales Dark Side

Chris — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:43:33 +0000

Follow @TheGuestAle I revel in the opportunity to visit Bath and I happened to be there again this week. Cue the opportunity to pick up another Bath Ales beer from Waitrose – this time the Bath Ales Dark Side stout. Up front, this is as close to a session ale as a stout could possibly ever be. It’s a nice round 4% ABV, bang on session strength, and it’s light-bodied and smooth, not the heavy “stout plug” types of the traditional black stuff. I think this is the quickest I’ve ever drank a stout! I feel like I’m drinking Marmite. It’s really heavy with black malts and benefits from a good balance of Fuggles hops but the malt fest stays on your taste buds for an eternity. It pours with a wonderful white bubbling head which sticks around for a while and creates good lacing. The nose is rather wheaty, but the taste is all malt with a hint of those Fuggles hops. The essentials: ABV: 4.0% Colour: Pitch black with creamy white head Nose: Wheaty Taste: Rough malt and bitter hop Our verdict: One of the easiest stouts you could ever wish to meet Website: http://www.bathales.com/our-ales/aid/dark-side/ Follow @TheGuestAle Tweet

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Beer Review: Curious Porter by Chapel Down

Chris — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:31:44 +0000

Follow @TheGuestAle Tucked away down a country lane outside Tenteden in Kent is the Chapel Down winery. Not only does it make wine, but it also does a very passable line in craft beer. We already reviewed the Curious IPA, but tonight is the turn of the Curious Porter. The bottle conditioned London style Porter is matured in oak, giving it a woody feel and mountains of character. You can see the crystal malts come through in the reddish hue, the chocolate and black malts in the strong sweet Marmite nose, and the bitter Admiral hops fighting through to make themselves known. It’s wonderfully balanced and smooth, not too smoky, not too burnt, just a right balance of those black and chocolate malts with the bitter hop. A near perfect partnership! There’s a really impressive lingering coffee taste on the tongue. This beer won’t let you forget that you’ve drank it… Magnificent! The essentials: ABV: 5% Colour: Black with reddish/brown hue Nose: Sweet oily Marmite Taste: Smooth, sweet, smoky treacle Our verdict: Definitely one of my favourite porters to date and well worth the drive to get it Website: www.chapeldown.com Follow @TheGuestAle Tweet

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Beer Review: Calvors Dark Lager

The Guest Ale — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 22:26:27 +0000

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 seconds. A very, very quaffable dark lager. Well done, Calvors. The essentials: ABV: 4.5% Colour: Diluted cola Nose: Sweet dark malts Taste: Light malty taste with crisp pilsner undertones Our verdict: Very satisfying experience. Website: http://www.calvors.co.uk/lager/dark-lager.php Follow @TheGuestAle Tweet

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Beer Review: Exmoor Beast

Chris — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:34:41 +0000

Follow @TheGuestAle Wow. I just had my head blown off by a beast of a beer from the West Country. Exmoor Ales’ Beast weighs in at a hefty 6.6% (geddit?) and is named after the oft-spotted mythical (or real?) beast of Exmoor. This beer is sinister. It’s dark ruby, almost blood-like in colour with a lovely creamy mocha lacing, almost like a porter. The Exmoor Beast gets that colour – and its molasses and raisin nose, I imagine – from its use of Chocolate and Crystal malt. Challenger and Goldings provide the bittering and aromatic hop content. The taste is filling and deeply satisfying. It’s full bodied and it displays powerful cinnamon spice and clove hits with an oily aftertaste that’s almost reminiscent of an oyster stout. Despite its name and fearsome cover image, I reckon the Exmoor Beast would work really well as a Christmas ale. The essentials: ABV: 6.6% Colour: Blood-like dark ruby Nose: Molasses and raisin Taste: Spicy, biscuity Our verdict: Very satisfying but one is enough Website: www.exmoorales.co.uk Follow @TheGuestAle Tweet

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Beer Review: Calvors Amber

The Guest Ale — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 22:39:47 +0000

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 a sweet raisin and molasses nose, the body is medium-light and the flavour is rich and sweet with a toffee edge. The essentials: ABV: 4% Colour: Bronze Nose: Sweet raisin Taste: Subtle malt and toffee Our verdict: Quaffable for sure. Not your everyday lager. Website: http://www.calvors.co.uk/lager/amber-lager.php Follow @TheGuestAle Tweet

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Beer Review: Hopdaemon Skrimshander

Chris — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 07:34:07 +0000

Follow @TheGuestAle It’s been a while since I last sampled an English IPA; it’s not really been the season. So I dug out the Hopdaemon Skrimshander, something I picked up on a trip to Faversham last autumn. It’s a proper Kentish beer, made from local hops. First impression is the massive head. It dissipates pretty quickly but it’s wonderfully carbonated throughout. The colour is cloudy marmalade, not wildly attractive. It’s described as “aromatic” but I didn’t really sense much of that bar a little distant tangerine in the nose. The taste is also rather neutral. There is a zestiness but it’s got a chewy maltiness to it that lingers at the back of the mouth for a long, long time. The hoppiness is very subtle indeed. Overall, it’s more of the old school English-style IPAs, which is a welcome break after all that American citrus-loaded, sense-dulling hoppitude. The malt wins, which isn’t usual for IPAs, and neither is the comparative lightness of 4.5%. But there’s not a great deal of flavour, to be honest. FYI a “skrimshander” is a ye olde term for a young seaman. So there you go, you learn something new every day. The essentials: ABV: 4.5% [...]

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