IPA is dead Part 3

In what is now becoming an annual tradition, Brewdog have recently released a batch of single-hopped IPAs. I bought a set of four bottles but also managed to snag a couple of one-offs in Brewdog Bristol, which I'll comment about in here too. This little lot took my Brewdog sample rate to a round 100, still 75 yet to try!
2012 reviews plus some mixed drinks last year.

First up: the four pack. Dana, a Slovenian Styriandescendent, Golding a UK hop that needs no introduction, Waimea an antipodean tropical workhorse and El Dorado a new proprietary US variety.

Dana was nothing to write home about. Nettles, melted plastic and cheap perfume on the nose not a particularly auspicious start. Medium carbonation, cloying sweetness, higher alcohols, herbal. Just not well balanced. Astringent notes but mostly sweet bready malt.

Golding (PDF)behaves as it should  peppery hops and citrus on the nose, balanced by a sweet caramel from the malt. It just doesn't have the power of the US varieties. Full bodied with a herbal hop bitterness, malt sweetness, slightly cheesy hop and dry finish. A solid UK style IPA in the realm of Marston's Old Empire. 

Waimea (vy-me-ah) (PDF) was the star of the 4-pack for me not so much with the saponic citrus hops nose redolent of fairly liquid but the lightly acidic sweet citrus juices, lime was very refreshing, overcoming the heavy malt sweetness that plagues some in the range. The result is a deceptively easy drinking IPA that could pass as a session beer if the ABV wasn't 6.7. See here for an Allgates brewed session beer using Waimea.

El Dorado is a really interesting hop. In keg aromas of kaffir lime and green tea abound. Its fairly herbal to taste, with tea tannins and some licorice notes, creating a very dry finish. In bottle its more of the same really, though some more traditional passion fruit an dpine on the nose, the tannins, kaffir lime and licorice are all there in abundance.

Simcoe single hop was snagged in bottle form on a trip to Brewdog in  Bristol last November. This American hop needs no introduction from me, Even at six months old it was one of the better offerings, pouring dark amber with white head collapsing to a lacing. Pithy orange on the nose. Orange peel and juice, bitter, medium bodied, medium carbonation and a sticky finish.

I was able to try Amarillo on keg in Brewdog Bristol. Hazy amber with off white lacing. Sticky pithy Seville orange, caramel and orange juice, medium bodied, fairly pithy dry finish. My favourite of all single-hop efforts to date, possibly helped by the freshness and perfect carbonation in the keg.

Not a bad showing this year then, I wonder which four we'll be treated to in 2014. This year's 4-pack is still available for £9.50 on Brewdog online and at other usual suspect outlets.

Not a Mess

Today's subject brewery has been on my radar for a long time, not least because of their fantastic Black IPA Conqueror and stronger sibling 1075 Conqueror. As the only member of the London Brewer's Alliance outside of the M25, Windsor and Eton have to demonstrate their worthiness to stand alongside such greats as Kernel and Brodies. This they have done amply and the beers below testify to that.

I got in touch with the brewery as I was after a bottle of Republika, their Czech Pilsen beer. This is very true to style, pouring a lovely gold, with plenty of carbonation and a pillowy white head. The nose with some honey and pepper. Medium carbonation, fills the mouth, rich honey malt and fresh saaz hop bite. A great pilsener, one which I'd happily drink again and again. Great to finally find one in the UK that can rival the Czech greats. 

The next few are a series of special releases. The first Windsor Knot was first brewed to commemorate the wedding of Prince William and Kate but proved popular enough to become part of the core range. Pouring into the glass a dark copper-red, the crystal malt influence is immediately detected as toffee and caramel but first the nostrils are caressed by fruity Nelson Sauvin. Medium bodied, lots of grapes and melon fruit, touch of marscapone, grapes, lycheee, little by way of bitterness, tongue tingling at finish. This must be fantastic on cask.

Kohinoor is an IPA (5%) with a difference. Brewed with jasmine and jaggery sugar to suggest an Indian influence and named for a 106carat diamond in the crown jewels. This is of course a Jubilee beer and is a good riff on a traditional English IPA. The nose is a touch musty, with marmalade that's been left lurking in the back of the cupboard unused for a few months. Soft carbonation and mouth-feel, there's a slight refreshing tartness, digestive biscuit malt and dry bitterness in finish. There's something lacking but I can't quite put my finger on it.

The other Jubilee beer is influenced by export stout but at a more conventional ABV (4.8%). It has a whole host of ingredients, including yams, millet, coffee and vanilla. Unfortunately most of these are lost with coffee being prevalent in both aroma and flavour and a whole lot of sweetness in the finish which is possibly from the yams. The body is a touch thin and lacking carbonation which makes this the biggest disappointment of the bunch for me. Still a tasty drop but it could have been so much more with a few extra ABV points.

I'm no stranger to Guardsman, W&E's Oak Aged beer, a good traditional bitter with some fruity wood notes. It pours amber in colour with a temporary foamy head and plenty of carbonation continuing to rise. Initial red fruit followed by shortbread and maltose with a subtle bitter finish.  Long leathery-pepper finish is unusual but moreish.

My stand-out of their range is the aforementioned 1075 Conqueror, a Black IPA (BIPA). I'm a fan of the style, but far too many breweries just make a hoppy stout/porter and call that a BIPA. Nothing wrong with the beer, some are fantastic but to me a BIPAs shouldn't have any roasted or astringent character from barley and perhaps just a touch of chocolate. This beer achieves that well and is one of my favourites. Dark Chocolate with tan head that collapses to a lacing. Pithy tangerine and chocolate nose. Rich orangey hop juice with a touch of milk chocolate in the finish. Perfect balance of hop bitterness and malt sweetness. Gentle carbonation helps it to slip down far too easily for 7.4%..

Overall a great selection from an up-and-coming UK brewery. Certainly one to watch out for and I hope their third Jubilee beer (due out in Autumn) is something special.

The brewery can be found on Twitter @WindsorEtonBrew.

I was kindly sent the beers in this post (except the 1075) after I enquired about Republika. The fact that the beers were free did not colour my judgement of them, but feel free to bear that in mind.


Addendum:
A Ratebeer friend kindly brought me over a bottle of Knight of the Garter, W&E's session golden ale. This only served to reaffirm that  the brewery knows their stuff. Its a honey-blonde with temporary fluffy cream head that soon collapses to a lacing. Peppery citrus nose. Sweet biscuit malt up front with lemon and passion-fruit following in behind. Medium carbonation. Touch of yeast esters and English hop bitterness.

Northern Ireland's biggest brewery.

Northern Ireland has four brewers. I've already reviewed one of them; so decided its time for another. County Tyrone is very beereft* but thankfully Whitewater beers are stocked by both Asda and Tesco. I bought the entire selection of their beers in order to review them. The beers are available fairly widely and most real ale pubs in Northern Ireland have on of their beers on draught.

As you can see from the picture above they have a distinctive and simple brand which helps the beers to stand out on the shelf. They brew a range of different styles, though the beers tend to fall at the lower end of the ABV spectrum. Copperhead is the new session beer. The nose has apricot fruitiness and grassy meadows. Fruity body with a dry bitter finish and some malt sweetness.It is a golden session ale and very quaffable at 3.7%. Its the only whitewater beer available on draught at GBBF this year.

Belfast Ale on the other hand is a much darker, reddish colour. Lively carbonation in this one as you can see from the picture. It has a spicy, peppery hops aroma with fruit shortbread.  Fruity at first taste then the goldings hops become apparent. Fairly long finish with some dryness 

 

 Belfast lager is as good a British lager as any. The clean hop aroma comingles with esters that come from the use of an ale yeast. The beer is a lovely pale yellow with gentle carbonation and a small head. The body is light with pineapple notes and a bitter finish. Could easily have polished off another few bottles of this if I'd had them.

Clotworthy dobbin is a classic porter. At 5% its the strongest beer that Whitewater brews. The aroma is of a washed rind cheese with vinous fruits and underlying alcohol. The taste is chewy caramel malt, fermented apples and a dry sweetness. Seems more like a best bitter than a porter, which isn’t how I remember it from draught; so I may need to try it again. I was lucky enough to try a whisky barrel aged version of this at Belfast Beer Festival last year which rounded off this complex beer nicely. Look out for it!

No Irish brewery worth their salt would be without a stout in their portfolio and this one is no exception. The dark brown beer poured very lively with a thick tan head. Lovely aroma of roast barley, chocolate, coffee and raisins. Thick bodied, dry stout with burnt after-taste and a bitter chicory finis. This is my favourite of the five beers sampled here, though if I were to pick a beer to drink multiple of in one session it would be the lager.

*My new word, invented 28/07/11!

BSF Beer List

CAMRA Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) 2011 is almost upon us, with the first staff being on site at Earl’s Court in less than a fortnight.  I will be there from Saturday 30^th July until Saturday 6th August to work on Bières Sans Frontières (BSF). Yesterday the beer list was released (handily pasted here by Craig) and my, what a beer list it is too. Bigger and better than ever this year with four separate bars (one bar per stillage) there will certainly be plenty to try. In total there will be beers from fifteen different countries for sampling (in addition to the four that make up the UK of course!)

  

American cask beer at GBBF 2004 (from BSF photo gallery)

I’m hoping to work on USA cask beers and decided to take a look at how many beers to potentially expect.  There are 189 beers (cask and bottle) from 89 USA breweries. This is by all means a small proportion of the total but certainly more than in previous years of GBBF. Of these 80 have a cask offering and 9 are only available in bottles. They range in size from big players like Sierra Nevada right down to micros such as Franklin's Restaurant, Brewery & General Store.

Some stats for tickers: 21 states are represented with the top five origin states being Oregon (11), Maryland (10,) California (9), Colorado (8) and Massachusetts (7). 5 breweries from Portland, OR; 4 from Baltimore, MD and 3 from Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s possible to drink beers from breweries whose names begin with 19 different letters of the alphabet.

I’m not sure the exact number of new breweries represented this year, though I’m sure this information will be available in the BSF programme during the festival. There’s a handy list builder on the CAMRA website which can aid you in designing your own drinking plan. There is also a rating and comments system which may give you some indication of what beers will be the most popular. Bear in mind that there may be last minute substitutions or that a beer may sell out before you get a chance to try it; so don’t go getting disappointed if the one beer you visited the festival to try just isn’t available. Deal with it, there’s plenty more to choose from!

I’m not going to go with any plan in mind for which American beers I want to try, I’m hoping to taste as many as possible. There’s plenty of my favourite styles (IPA and porter) and some intriguing other beers (barrel aged, added chillies, rye) to keep me satisfied during the festival. And for post festival I have a shopping list of bottles which I’ll have to narrow down into what can fit in my suitcase. Notice I’m naming no names for a better chance of the beers I want to try being available!

See you all there soon!