7 Distilleries, 7 Days

www.islayinfo.com/islay_whisky_distilleries

Well it was actually 8 distilleries in four days, but that doesn't quite have the same ring to it. I've just returned from a wonderful week spent on the west coast of Scotland including a visit to the islands of Islay and Jura.

To be honest I never used to be a fan of any Islay whiskys (or so I thought) because to my palate they were all phenolic peat-bombs with not much other flavour. However through trying whisky-cask aged beers such as Brewdog's Paradox range and Black Isle's Black Islay I came to appreciate that perhaps I had been unfair to them. Indeed not all Islay whiskys are peated and Bruichladdich is now among my favourite malts.

This post is more of a summary of where I went to, a brief overview if you will and I plan to write more in depth pieces on those distilleries I toured.

On Easter Sunday my whisky week began in Oban. Unfortunately they were fully booked for tours. A disappointing start to the week exacerbated by the rain outside,

The order of the day on Tuesday was an early start and two ferries to get from the mainland to Jura. As a long time favourite tipple I was very much looking forward to this distillery and wasn't disappointed.

A ferry back to Islay brought us into Port Askaig, home of Caol Ila - unfortunately closed for rennovation until a week after-bad timing! Bunnahabhain further up the coast were on holiday too, so no visit there either I'm afraid.

Wednesday morning I awoke to find myself in Bowmore (planned) with the eponymous distillery but a stone's throw from our door. That afternoon also saw a tour of Bruichladdich and Kilchoman on the west of the island.

Thursday meant visits to the the south coast "peat monster" distilleries, Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. Being within a few miles of each other it makes for a great walk, and the sea air certainly clears out the cobwebs!

Not a bad haul!

It wasn't just about the drinking however, I also learnt a lot more about the whisky making process, got to try wash (beer) and new make spirit and chat to like-minded people. I also returned acertain beer to its spiritual home and shared it around with anyone interested. Further postings to come!

All in all a very whisky week, but beer didn't escape completely un-noticed with beverages supped from Ayr, Islay, Oban Bay, Isle of Mull and Fyne Ales. More on these and the whiskys later. I'd definitely recommend a visit to this area of Scotland because not only is it beautiful, so are the drinks.

Punk in Belfast

An unassuming backstreet location

It seems that the Brewer's House was not the only new pub to open in the province at the end of 2011. As recommended by Ciaran, landlord of the aforementioned, a friend and myself went to investigate Hudson's Bar (@hudsonbar) in Smithfields, Belfast.

Unable to recall the name we gave Ciaran a bell and he confirmed the name. Not one that had previously appeared on our radar.

"Whisky, Ales & Disco"

Its not exactly the busy end of Belfast, dominated by "adult" shops and bric-a-brac. The bar itself is on the site of a former gay club on first site Hudson's seems like many other Northern Irish bars. Gleaming fixtures and fittings, large frontage and door staff. The similarities end there however as once you get over the threshold you sense something different afoot.

Free music

Maybe the fact that its packed full of people and the night is yet young. Or perhaps its the acoustic guitar playing something other than Irish folk-songs. Or perhaps its the Brewdog beer on draught. Yes, you heard correctly, Keg Brewdog beer in Belfast! Punk IPA and 5AM saint to be precise. A chat with the landlord reveals he is a Brewdog shareholder and wanted to be able to drink it on draught in his native country.

Fresh Brewdog

Okay; so its not the cheapest of pints (£4.20 each) but compared to the £3.90 asking price in the Crown and the John Hewitt for Belfast Ale it is worth more. There's a range of bottled beers and Williams Bros Fraoch, also on keg, plus the regular macrobrands and a big whiskey selection.

The food menu seems reasonably priced with big portions, though having already eaten the sampling of the edible delights will have to await a future trip. There's a further two floors that play host to DJ sessions and live bands at various times, but the ground floor bar is the main attraction. Its great to see a healthy mix of young and old, male and female, singles and couples.

I like the fact that they're trying something different and it certainly seems to be working. The Hudson isn't going to remain hidden for long.

In other news I finally visited the Garrick as recommended by a number of bloggers, turns out it was right next to Boojum (my usual burrito destination) all along. D'oh!

Session #62: Why I Blog

The session this month is hosted by Alan at Brewpublic. He wants to know what drives us as bloggers, what made us want to blog. I don't really have any more to say than what's in my introductory post. to summarise:

*I like talking about beer.
*I like being involved in the blogging community.
*I like being able to support Northern Ireland Brewers/ other businesses

That's pretty much it.

April CABPOM: Ballyblue and Great Divide Belgian Yeti

Ten months in and I'm still enjoying writing this feature, regardless of how many people find it interesting. I have a summary page in the works for the anniversary.

Ballyblue and Ballyoak

I've noticed that I'm yet to feature any cheese from Northern Ireland; so this month rectifies that. Fivemiletown is a  dairy that takes milk from a local collective of farmers and produces a variety of cow and goats milk cheeses. I picked up a couple of these this week and in perusing their website discovered some tasty sounding recipes which I decided to make and pair a beer with.

First up then, the Ballyblue which is very similar to cambazola (a blue-veined brie). I chose a Great Divide Belgian Style Yeti to pair with. Now not everyone will have this bottle lying about, but a good substitute would be Guinness Foreign Extra Stout or Bristol Beer Factory Ultimate Stout, both strong rich variations on regular stout. The beer pours deep black with a chocolate tinged tan head. It has a fruity milk chocolate nose, with hints of roast barley and plenty of vanilla. There’s a fruity sweetness to the beer (no doubt from the Belgian yeast) and a gentler mouth-feel than those others in the yeti family. Warming but not boozy with a long gentle roast barley and chocolate finish. A lovely beer in its own right, but how doe sit pair with food?

Monster beer for a monster dish of food.

I chose the Ballyblue and wilted spinach pasta to pair this with. I think I probably used only half the amount of pasta suggested so ended up  with a sauce that was very rich indeed. This was no problem for the stout which was able to cut right through the fat and refresh the palate for the next bite (carbonation is key!). The roast barley was able to extract the earthy spinach from within that cream and cheese and the touch of lemon zest interacted with those yeast esters adding some extra "zing". Chocolate and cheese is now an accepted pairing and those chocolatey notes in the beer bring out some of those ripe fruit notes in the cheese.

Next up is the Ballyoak, which is similar to those tubes of Austrian smoked cheese but with a better texture. Omelette is the order of the day for this dish.I'm lucky enough to have a selection of fresh herbs so chose sage, lemon thyme. curly parsley and coriander for the omelette. The cheese is tricky to grate so do it in advance, rather than when the omelette's waiting for it (like I did!) I would pair this with a Trappist Tripel but have none to hand, so a regular Abbey style will have to do instead. I've a bottle of both Tripel Karmeliet (reviewed here by Pete drinks) and Mikkeller's Belgian Tripel in the fridge; so will try both out.

 Two very different looking beers here but how do they compare? The Karmeliet pours effervescent hazy blonde with fluffy white head that collapses to a lacing. Spicy wheat and banana toffo yeast esters on the nose. High carbonation, honey malt, spicy wheat and smooth oats combine with a warming esteric finish.The Mikkeller beer is one-dimensional in comparison. It pours dark amber with thin off-white head. Aroma of bread, caramel and burnt sugar. Very sweet with strong boozy note and a hint of lemon. Sweet and alcoholic finish.

Omelette and two Tripels.

 So how well do they pair with the omelette? The boozy Belgian tripel stomps all over it hiding the flavours whereas the tripel karmeliet complements the dish well. Those spicy esters and wheat bring out the herbs, the sweetness pulls out the smoky cheese, the oats and yeast really highlight the asparagus in ways I can't quite describe and our old friend carbonation cleans the palate between mouthfuls. A lovely pairing again, showing complementary flavours are just as valid as contrasting.


However for me the ballyblue and Belgian Yeti pips it to the post, just; so that becomes this month's CABPOM.

#IMPOFF

I had been planning to clear some of my Impy stout stock, so what better time to do so than a mass twitter drinking session? The four bottles I dug out were a range of ABVs and different takes on the style, with two being barrel aged and two straight up Impys. 2 English, 1 Irish and an American effort.

Beers lined up to meet their destiny

First up was Black Sheep. This was brewed for the Great Baltic Adventure in 2010. I've had this on cask before; so was looking forward to seeing what it was like in a 2y/o bottle. It looked the part with a big open fluffy head and a dark brown in colour. At first it was disappointing with some higher alcohols and yeast esters hiding all the malt and hops had to offer. Thankfully after some breathing time it opened up to reveal rich hedgerow fruits and a roust malt backbone. Not nearly as complex as the aged cask but likeable nonetheless.

Another beer I'd had before next then, this time a 2010 bottle of Dark Star. I drank a five year old bottle of this last March and wasn't particularly impressed: It obviously had reached a low point in its maturation cycle as this one showed none of those off-notes.Really unctuous (yes, oil like) this one, evil black beer with fluffy tan head. Aromas of blackcurrant and molasses. Tobacco features heavily in taste, alongside roast barley and warming booze. Long finish with a touch of Marmite. Nice.

Switching it up a bit I cracked open my bottle of Porterhouse barrel aged celebration stout, one I knew I had to try after both the Beer Nut and Reuben posted reviews. Thankfully it was in stock at Drinkstore and now was the time to open it. Dark brown with coffee and whisky on the nose. In the mouth its milk chocolate and whisky with a long oaky vanilla finish. This showed off what a barrel can add to a beer. I agree with Ghosty that barrel ageing can bring a lot to the table and although not every beer is done well or can be OTT those excellent examples make the search worthwhile.

The piece de resistance had to wait another night because I was all stouted out. That meant that I could bask in the glory of this beer for much longer. That beer is of course Goose Island Bourbon County. Pours black as night with a lacing of beige and a continual eruption of small bubbles that burst on surfacing. Vanilla custard and caramel liqueur on the nose. Thick and rich and warming with chocolate, robust barley, through coffee, chicory and a long warming vanilla finish. Coffee comes in afterwards and rumbles on alongside oaky influences and a final whisky kiss. This is a fantastic beer and I urge you all to seek it out if you haven't done so already!

Unexpected Places

Sometimes you find bars in unexpected places. Cookstown Hockey Club is one such. Maybe I was a bit naive in thinking it was just some kind of training room/ changing facilities.

The Old Ticket desk

Thursday night I took part in a charity fund raiser quiz (came second by 1.5 points!) held at the venue and was unexpectedly surprised. The venue used to be Cookstown railway station, with the bar being ticket office and waiting room and the original platforms and rails forming an outside seating area. A pub with so many characterful features has been on my doorstep all along! It's been recently refurbished with a glass wall to allow viewing of the period features. There's also a real fire, plenty of seats and tables and old railway paraphernalia adorning the walls (as well as hockey club photos of course).

On walking in I found bass on the splendid bar (though was not on) and I settled for a mass-market bottled-lager instead. Whilst perusing the spirits shelves behind the bar (stocked with 10 sorts blended whisky!) I spotted some familiar shaped bottles...Wells' Waggle-dance! It transpires these had been left over from a previous tasting evening.

Real Fire!

Who's this cheeky chap?

Under the arches

Old loo locks

Yes, that is a *** in the background

Coming in a clear glass bottle and therefore highly susceptible to light strike it was with some trepidation I poured the contents into a glass. Initial signs were good with a good head of foam forming and nothing untoward in the aroma. In taste its a fairly malty number, that 5% ABV helping it to stand up the ravages of time. There's some sweetness from the honey too and a small touch of oxidation at the back of the finish that doesn't detract from the overall experience (so I availed them of their second bottle too).

I now plan to return and also let the NI breweries know that here, in this most unlikely of places, is another potential outlet for their beers (though I don't think they'd be stocking cask).

IPA is STILL dead

ALLEGEDLY...  

Last year Brewdog released a range of four single-hopped IPAs designed to showcase individual hop varieties at their best. It was successful enough last year to repeat the experiment again with four different hops, namely Challenger, HBC, Galaxy and Motueka. Brewdog weren't the first with this concept, but its done well, the same base beer is kept simple to allow the hop to shine through whilst balancing the bitterness kept at 75 for all hops for fair comparison. Hops are added during the boil, at flame-out and in the conditioning tank (dry hopping) to impart as much flavour and aroma as possible. This year the ABV has been reduced to 6.7% from 7.5%, a smart move because it's slightly more amenable to drinking all four in one sitting for comparison purposes plus takes away some alcohol from the flavour allowing the hops to do the talking alone. There's still a small number of sets available to purchase here (service has improved hugely with the shop overhaul) Read on to find out my thoughts.

Four bottles lined up and ready to go

I started in the UK by choosing challenger as it seemed as good a place as any. Challenger is a dual purpose hop (used for both bittering and aroma). The beer pours a dark amber with a fluffy beige head that collapses to a lacing after a few minutes.Gives a hint of pineapple on the nose then redcurrant comes strongly. Getting green tea in the flavour, alongside tropical fruits, the caramalt comes to the fore in the middle and a long grassy bitter finish. Its like a hoppy green tea and tastes great.

 HBC (342) is an experimental new variety from the US. Pours a darker amber than the others. This has a strong mango and passion fruit aroma. Up front its quite soapy but this is soon replaced by mango yoghurt and a fairly boisterous bitterness. Its a bit unbalanced this one but still quite enjoyable.

Galaxy is a Perle Cross.This one is more subdued than the others on the nose, spicy white pepper notes and a touch of peach. A dominant lime peel note tramples over the slightly muddy malt and none of the peach i usually associate with this hop. A touch thin and perfumed in the finish. I was a bit disappointed with this.

Motueka is a New Zealand descendent of saaz. Fairly sweet smelling pineapple nose. Fairly pithy melon bitterness, some orange peel. long pithy finish. I seem to have saved the best until last and I'm unsurprised as I really love New Zealand hops.

At ~£2.80 a bottle they're an okay price and would recommend for the challenger and Motueka alone. I have a second pack; so hope to try out some blending experiments next month, and I'll report back then!