Time to reflect

January is typically a time for reflection looking back on the previous year and looking forward to the year to come. That is after all why the month was named after the Roman god with two faces, Janus!

And what an apt post to do it on too, number 300 - I don't think I even dreamed I'd hit 300 posts when I started this blog 3 1/2 years ago! 2014 saw a slowdown in the number of posts due to the usual excuses (lethargy, apathy and procrastination) but will endeavour to be a little more frequent in 2015.

Despite the lack of blogging the beer sampling has still continued apace with over 1100 (new to me) beers sampled. I made great headway with sampling the wide array of beer Ireland has to offer, we may not yet have the depth and breadth of the UK but we have a bigger proportion of exciting brewers with even more planned for 2015. See my roundup of new openings and my Irish Golden Pints plus Irish beers to look out for posts.

The UK too has been no slouch, with so many decent brewers now available, I'm largely content to just drink our own countries' outputs rather than searching further afield. After all its usually fresher, cheaper and more interesting than most of the US stuff we can get over here. That's not going to stop me sampling stuff when I see it on keg, or coveting other people's beers when they're travelling but the UK can now proudly offer up brews to compete with the best of the US (as my Golden pints should attest).

So enough looking back, what does 2015 have in store? Well plenty more brewery openings of course, both here and across the UK as a whole will mean even more beers to sample with some other established breweries pushing into the limelight. Hopefully this will be the year that I finally get to Indy Man Brew Con and I'd love to go back and work at GBBF after a number of years off. I of course fully intend to get to the Irish Craft Beer and Cider Festival again too.

One of the highlights of the year will without a doubt be the Beer Bloggers Conference (which is in Brussels this year). With a number of pre and post conference excursions the weekend will be extended to almost a full week of beery education and frivolities. There's still time to book, hopefully see you there! Whilst on the subject of beery excursions Zephyr (The team behind the beer bloggers conference) are now also organising taste vacations, if you like good food, good drinks and travelling (and lets face it who doesn't?!) you can book a bespoke tour with them. Dislaimer: if you book through my affiliate link I get some monies!

300 posts in is also an excellent point to refocus the blog on beer and cider, especially on the island of Ireland which leads on to the launch of Our new blog (yes, Daisy is going to be writing too!)...drumroll please...DRINKS WE'VE KNOWN. Original eh? So expect to find whisky, rum, cocktails and perhaps even non-alcoholic beverage goings on at the other place. I'll try not to cross post too much, but if these things interest you please give us a follow.

That's all for now folks, thanks for sticking with me in 2014, all the best for 2015 and hope to see you all soon.

Apples up North

Another long overdue write-up this one, especially considering I was given these by the producers themselves. Sorry Andy and Dave!

Tempted have featured on this blog before but they have undergone a re brand and consolidation into 4 regular ciders. The new labels certainly stand out on the shelf, making good use of single colour and white space.

Summer Sweet is up first 5.7% and a hazy pale greenish gold. Dusty apple loft aroma and highly fizzy carbonation, which continues long after pouring. Fairly sweet apple fruitiness, some demerara sugar, coxs apples and a spicey apple compote finish.

The dry is also the same ABV, fizzy pale gold with slightly sulphurus tart lambic like nose. Lacing of white head with steady stream of bubbles. Spiky carbonation, dry tannic apple, slightly dusty, apple lofts, horse nosebag, old hay. Apple comes through more on the nose as it warms and a residual sweetness counteracts the tanins to make a moreish drop.

Special reserve differs from the previous releases by including cider apples in the mix alongside the cookers and eaters. Still 5.7% though. Pale golden cider with medium sweetness and a dry tannic finish. More complex than the regular dry and very drinkable. Probably my favourite of the core range.

Strawberry is as you'd expect, fairly sweet but with a real strawberry flavour rather than anything cloyingly artificial as you might expect. Its a little more sessionable at 4% and hinging on bronze in colour (perhaps from the juice). Daisy was a fan too.

Finally the XL was an 8% monster barrel aged special at Belfast Beer Festival this year. Its no longer available but was such a good drop that I will share my thoughts anyway, in the hope that Davy will make another batch! Fantastic rich molasses nose on this ochre-yellow cider. Smooth with no sign of the ABV rich rum marries fantastically with dry apple pulp and caramel to produce a superb cider. I certainly contributed to it selling out by Friday night.

Tempted? Cider

@Tempted

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Kilmegan are a relatively new concern who I hadn't heard of until coming across them at the beer festival. They're the closest thing to Somerset cider I've come across so far on this island. Andy is based inDundrum, County Down

Kilmegan Dry: Pale yellow with good mix of tannins and dry apple juice, yet not astringent and very drinkable. Bottle even drier than it was on draught but effervescence actually increases the drinkability.

Pale yellow, steady stream of carbonation, light apple and floral aroma, dry cider playing well against unmistakable elderflower, not stupidly sweet like some flavoured ciders can be. Would be fantastic with food too.

@KilmeganCider

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Its great to see ciders of this calibre coming out of Northern Ireland, it shows we can compete with the best in Somerset, Herefordshire and elsewhere in the world.  I tried to put the idea in the producers mind of producing a collaboration for next year's Beer Festival, we'll have to wait and see if they act on it or not!

Wild Things

Wild beer have come of age and so has their beer with the release of their first (spirit) barrel aged beers. Ninkasi, Wildebeest and a barley wine aged in Somerset Cider Brandy, malt whisky (a highland and Islay blended) and Marc de Bourgogne barrels respectively. All 10% ABV and available at the usual suspects.

I started with Ninkasi, one of my beers of the year for 2013. Immediately on opening you can smell the oak and boozy notes from the cider brandy barrels but the unmistakable tart apple of ninkasi is there in the background. Flavour remains much the same though body has become fuller, aided by reduced carbonation in comparison to the original but its lost some of the Belgian yeast esters which made the beer so complex in the first place. Still excellent as a beer and worth trying but I prefer the unaged version.

Now Raconteur is a new arrival. The anonymous barley wine* brewed with these barrels in mind remains hidden in the background and the Red wine parades around the palate. This is so wine-like that its almost no longer a beer. Rich molasses and sour cherry nose. Boozy grape notes and oaky vanilla. Smooth and full bodied, light carbonation, grape must, caramel, vanilla. Tonnes of port like rich vinous character...must have been a lot of wine left in there.

If wine lovers are looking for a beer that hasn't deviated much from their usual tipple then this is it. It would make an excellent pairing for dark meats and at 10% certainly has the oomph to cut through them. At about £12 for 750ml its not unreasonably priced either when compared to wine.

The Whiskebeest remains true to its parents, but becomes more rounded and hides its strength all too dangerously. Pours dark peaty brown with a light beige lacing. Whisky immediately apparent on the nose, slightly smoky but not all phenolic...something like highland park and Caol Ila?
Full bodied and thick, coffee comes first as with the original but then some warming whisky, melding seamlessly with the beer. Chocolate, toast, more coffee and sweet vanilla follow. This is barrel ageing at its best.

Three fantastic examples of barrel ageing then that I recommend you try. If I were to pick just one it would be whiskebeest, but then its my kind of beer!

*A special release of the unaged beer "zulu charlie" showed a fairly sweet, rich malt led beer with red apple, yeast esters, which could only have enhanced those red wine notes.

Wild Beer

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@WildBeerCo

(Real)Irish cider!

I recently picked up some Irish ciders from Drinkstore and drink my way through them at the weekend. All are quite different; so thought it might be informative to compare and contrast.

Double LL up first in a nice 750ml bottle for sharing with Daisy (I had an oversized pint glass and she got the rest!) It Pours cloudy orange tinged yellow with gentle carbonation - certainly looks to be the real stuff. Dusty apple lofts on the nose. Quite tannic and dry in the mouth with residual sweetness to prevent tartness. Slight wild barnyard character & rich braeburn-like eating apples come later. A nice lengthy finish too, just what I look for in a cider. It certainly sounds like some thought has been put in to designing the blend of juices

@DavidsOrchards

Stonewell's effort is a blend of 5 apple varieties (Dabinett, Michelin, Jonagold, Elstar & Falstaff) though I'm not sure what each brings to the party.*All are good juicing varieties and bring a blend of sweetness and tannins to make a decent cider. It pours an attractive deep burnished gold with apple pie and custard on the nose. Quite light in body, sweet at first but a dry tannic finish with later vanilla and caramel as it warms. The carbonation is quite light, which suggests bottle conditioning perhaps but the finish is very brief - perhaps some more cider apples in the mix would up the complexity.. The medium behaves in a similar vein but the sweetness actually helps the apple flavours to last longer in the mouth.

Something quite different is a "low-alcohol cider", Tobairin at 1.5%. Pours extremely pale blonde with greenish tinge and slight bubbly head. Steady stream of bubbles with unmistakable sweet jonagold juicy flesh on the nose. Fairly sweet but with a pleasant tartness in the finish which ups the body and prevents it from becoming cloying. I actually quite enjoyed it and is certainly a good stepping stone for the Koppaberg crowd to try the real stuff.

@StonewellCider

I must mention at this point the Republic's ridiculous tax laws on cider, meaning even this 1.5% cider ends up being sold at 4.20 a bottle, well north of beers even 4 times the strength. It shows that UK cider makers get a pretty decent deal actually. Extend the tax relief to Ireland's craft brewers!

So how does longueville house stack up? Its much darker than all the others Bright amber with white lacing dusty apple lofts and toffee apples. Tart granny smith and rotting hay, touch of wild yeast perhaps and very dry, slightly tannic finish building like a decent scrumpy but with slightly unusual turps note in the middle.  Very much a scrumpy style but something I can't quite put my finger on which doesn't quite sit right. It appears to use just dabinett and michelin apples, which would certainly lead to a more tannic character! Certainly intrigued how their cider brandy will taste though!

@longuevillecork

So a great range of ciders, all of which are enjoyable and I look forward to trying other releases.Stay tuned next week for some reviews of ciders from North of the border! 

Drinkstore kindly offers a 10% discount on Irish Craft Ciders and beers to Beoir members. So aside from supporting local businesses there are now also tangible benefits of being a member (spend 100euro in a year and make your membership fee back), why not join up![/recruitment drive]

*Jonagold is an eater-  cross of golden delicious and jonathan. Michelin is a 140 year-old Midlands cider variety, Dabinett a slightly younger Somerset cider apple, Elstar, Falstaff & Jonagold are all eaters, Golden delicious crossed with jonathan, james grieve and Ingrid Marie respectively.

Cidre World

One of my most anticipated drinks books of the year has just arrived on my doormat; so I thought I'd write a few words on my thoughts on Pete Brown and Bill Bradshaw's new book: World's Best Cider.[post title a nod to Pete's favourite cider ;)]

From Amazon

So aside from the grandeur on the dust jacket ("most successful beer writer" and "greatest cider expert" both sounding perhaps a little far fetched, but I'll let it pass as marketing exuberance) does this book pass muster? Its great to see cider put into layman's terms (it is after all the layman's drink) with some of the myths debunked and a handy guide to what to drink and apple based alcohol drink variants around the world. Yes, this beer also covers those drinks distilled from cider such as apple brandy and eau de vie. It may be pedantic, but if you're going to include Northern Ireland within the island of Ireland (makes sense in the context of the book) then the rest of the UK should be labelled "Great Britain". Politics aside (and real vs "fake" cider is also covered) its great to see the new Northern Ireland producers featured, albeit in very brief form with similar thoughts as my own.**

For me its the coverage of North American cider culture where this book excels, an area I previously knew very little about, but thanks to almost 60 pages in this book I feel like I'm well on the way to also becoming a cider expert...ahem. A short but well curated bibliography of websites and books should help those eager to find out more.

I've long admired Bill Bradshaw's photography and they look great in glossy format in this coffee table tome, including some previously unseen pics, and I'd go so far as to say these are worth the cover price (£25 but as usual cheaper on Amazon) alone. Its certainly the most attractive cider book  I've seen to date and one I'll continue to flick through long after I've absorbed the information. It certainly leaves you thirsty!

There's also a cider with food section, alternative dining options to wine being all the rage these days and there are some great suggestions I'm looking forward to trying out. Chocolate and cider brandy truffles anyone?

So pedantry aside, this is a fantastic book for the cider lover in your life, it looks great, packed full of information and out right in time for the Christmas rush. It officially launches next thursday (I paid for my copy on Amazon, no freebies this time!) so keep an eye on Pete's blog for launch events near you.

*I'm from Somerset and drink a fair amount of cider as per stereotype.

**Sadly no acknowledgement for your humble reporter but I'm sure plenty of people helped out who weren't named either!

World's Best Cider By Pete Brown & Bill Bradshaw RRP £25 Jacqui Small LLP (London) ISBN: 978-1-906417-99-4

Unlikely Places

Sometimes you bump into people in the most unlikely of places. 

A trip down to the Linen Green craft village last week ended with a coffee in the cafe : who should bump into me but Davy from Tempted Cider. He'd been delivering juices to  the farm shop on site and was refuelling for the journey back to Portadown.

Davy (right) with Mac's cider's Seán
at Hilden Beer Fest August 2011

A cry of "cider!" led me to recognise him and we chatted a while about the apple harvest for the year just gone (pretty poor) and the year to come (signs are good at the moment) and success of his cider south of the border. Some orchards which had produced 16 tonnes in 2011 barely managed a tonne after last years wet weather.

For the first time; some cider apples have been included in the blend, sourced from orchards in the Republic. This should bring more tannin to the mix to make ciders more reminiscent of Somerset which I grew up on.

He's recently secured a large order for a well known large pub chain for their summer cider festival. It will be the first time that a Northern Ireland producer has been featured alongside those from across the water and another great sign that an area that was once dominated by the big boys South of the border is coming into its own with artisinal production. Hopefully they'll take their rightful place in Pete Brown's and Bill Bradshaw's new World's Best Cider.

MacIvor's Scoops Silver

Greg and the team at MacIvor's cider are this week celebrating their first of hopefully many awards for their cider. The traditional dry cider (reviewed on this blog back in June 2012) won silver in the International Brewing Awards for a cider above 5% ABV, coming second to the Behemoth that is Thatchers Vintage.

Copywrite Simon Dewhurst Photos Ltd

Ciders were judged by a panel of 6 international cider expert producers chaired by Bill Taylor chief brewer at Lion Group.

Its great to see Northern Ireland products gaining recognition at such a high level and I hope that this well deserved award will help to promote our regions products to a further audience. Greg et co can be proud for this fantastic achievement after just 6 months in earnest operation and that a well-deserved sales boost is seen off the back of this. Here's to the 2013 crop tasting even better!

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What to drink in New Zealand

Merely an indicative, rather than exhaustive list, based on my "top ten" beers whilst in New Zealand. There are obviously plenty of beers I didn't get to try but these ones make an excellent starting point. So, in reverse order:

10.Wigram Spruce Beer may not be for everyone, but if you like the use of interesting spice additions then you should try it. Pale ale in style this has added manuka and spruce bringing herbal though not medicinal qualities to thebeer. Think Williams Bros Nollaig and you're not far off. Spicy nutmeg and honey notes combine with spicy dry malts like a bastardised Christmas cake. White pepper, creme caramel and increasing spruce (not spruceness) arrive as it warms up. Not something for everyday drinking sure, but worth a try.

9. 8-wired hop wired is all that you want from an NZ IPA Pithy lime and passion fruit nose, sweet malt to balance it without any 'orrible caramalt notes, light carbonation so you don't end up with a mouth full of gas then lots of Nelson Sauvin grape, motueka lime and a pithy finish.

8. Epic Mayhem is a sticky pithy  IPA in the American style - hazy with a resinous pithy nose,clean hop profile and bite with balancing malt and a long resinous finish. Epic to me seem to be the Kernel of the southern hemisphere with plenty of hop-forward ales, though unlike the KErnel they focus on a core range which is fairly widely available.

7.Croucher Galaxy IPA is the best use of that hop  I've come across. Strong peaches, mango and passion fruit like the old 1 penny fruit salad jacks Smooth bodied with fruity passion fruit and a touch of chalky mature cheddar rind just in the long finish with pineapple notes.

6. Yeastie boys Digital IPA brings yeast to the fore as an integral flavour component which adds some cheesecake notes to this IPA. The recipe is also open source which is pretty cool. Melon and custard creams in nose becoming pineapple cheesecake on warming. Think that’s the yeastie boys yeast coming through as I got similar flavours in their pot kettle black too.Plenty of Motueka flavour and perhaps a touch of NS grapeiness.

5. Yeastie Boys Golden Perch is a seasonal brewed for the premiere of The Hobbit Light in body with medium carbonation, passion fruit, orange pith and a slight bitterness in finish with balancing shortcake malt. One of the best session beers I tried in NZ. For those of you headed that way its due out in bottles soon; so keep an eye out!

4. Croucher Patriot is a proper BIPA strong orangey simcoe with chocolate (think jaffacakes), grapefruit and cocoa on the nose. Medium carbonation, with initial malt sweetness seugueing into pithy citrus and some lemon cheesecake notes. Touch of coffee and dark malt round it off nicely.

3. Epic Epicurean is perhaps a tad pricy for a casual drink down the pub, but for a special occasion its perfect.  Kelly had been taunting his twitter followers with pictures of the ingredients arriving and I was determined to try it whilst here.I got my wish when we shared a bottle on New Years Eve at Brew on Quay in Auckland. ich smoky coffee and sweet thick honey on the nose. Smooth, thick body with rich coffee, sweet chocolate and a long dry finish.

2.8 wired iStout I actually tried in the UK before travelling to New Zealand but its a fantastic imperial stout that deserves to be on this list. Sweet coffee and dark chosolate on the nose. Unctuous and thick mouthfeel, with a good roast barley finish.

1.Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta is a fantastic fusion of tea and hop. Its infused with bergamot which really comes into its own when blended with NZ tropical fruitbowl hops. Strong passion fruit and tannic tea flavours, its probably a beer that will divide opinion as does the eponymous tea, but it was by some margin the best beer I tried whilst in New Zealand.

Best cider was Good George's new effort, made even better in the "hop-drop" form; that's right dry-hopped cider! No idea if its an original idea but its new to me and tastes great. Using high quality concentrate (apples canbe hard to get hold of) then dry-hopped in the conditioning tank its like a flavoured cider without the artificial taste that coats your tongue in the usual suspects. The nose is strong grapefruit and kiwi notes. Rich hoppy fruit flavours with no bitterness in sight but a tang of apple tartness lingering in behind.

Honourable mentions were Mata's festive seasonal tried at the Croucher flagship bar in Rotorua with free piece of carrot and orange cake. The beer tasted exactly as the cake did! Lots of cinnamon on the nose  with cola, orange peel, carrot cake and a sweet nutmeg finish. Definitely a dessert beer but it does what it says on the tin fairly well.

Croucher's NZ Pilsener was one of the best pilseners I've had in a long time, brewed with all NZ ingredients but keeping true to the Czech recipe by sticking to Saaz hops, albeit those much transformed indigenous cultivars Motueka ("B Saaz") and Riawka. Crisp nelson sauvin grape aroma (there may be some dry-hopping), very fruity with lots of grapefruit, lemon and herbal hop with a bitter finish but still with that crisp malt and cleanessthat all the best pilsners have.

A Hilden Narrative

I spent a good chunk of yesterday at Hilden Brewery Beer festival. After spending all of last year working at the festival it brought a different perspective to be on the other side of the bar. I went along with some CAMRA friends and Reuben (Tale of the Ale).

Feeling more than a little delicate after the previous night's tasting I needed to line my stomache with some decent grub. Thankfully the grill was fired up and i got me a tasty ale-marinaded pork belly with pesto. Also available were Lamb burger with goats cheese, steak chilli con carne and various other tasty morsels. It was a good plan to grab food quickly as the queue grew to over an hour in length later in the day!

My first choice of beer wasn't available; so went for the Hilden twisted hop. This is as good as other people have said it is, with a good dose of bitterness in the finish, reminding me somewhat of Fuller's Wild River.

Moving south of the border Metalman Pale ale on cask was tasty. I later tired Chameleon Ginger, another decent pint but my taste buds had been pummeled by the spicy Barney's Brew just before. The festival then got packed out with everyone turning up just before 4 to take advantage of free entry (£12 after that!)

A highlight beer wise for me was Ossett Hopmonster. With fresh Nelson Sauvin hops involved the beer was in American-hopping territory with lots of juicy oranges on the nose and mango rind in the flavour. Another  Ossett-brewed beer, this time from the Rat brewers was a close second. Dirty Rat (a 3.5% mild and a new addition to the beer list) pours thick black-brown with good tan head. Plenty of flavour packed into this one, touch of roast barley, coffee, chocolate, full mouth feel, it wiped the floor with the Whitewater Belfast Black on cask, which just tasted of water in comparison.

I also managed to meet up with a number of friends from last year and some Ratebeerians/ Twitter types who I'd arranged to swap beer with. Thanks to everyone who brought me beer and to The Beer Nut for my new Beoir T-shirt as well. Adam from Leggygowan cheeses was also giving out samples alongside his goat's milk fudge, all excellent. They're certainly ones to watch and will feature on my blog in due course. I also met Mark from Clanconnel, and Grainne and Tim from Metalman were back up for the day too (doing a stint on the bar to help alleviate the queue!)

The day passed swiftly and in no time at all the train beckoned and we headed back to Belfast for a night-cap in the Bridge Bar, where I bumped into Tale of Ale again (who had gone to Belfast for dinner at the excellent Molly's Yard restaurant)

Now I'm set to be staying in Northern Ireland for the foreseeable future it looks as if I'll be attending a good few of these yet. The weather held-off and we enjoyed a baking day with some decent beer, great grub and a spot of music. Recommended.

Despite having my camera with me, I completely failed to take any pictures getting caught up in conversations with old friends and new on all manner of topics. Sometimes its best to leave your blogger's hat at the door and just enjoy yourself.

Drinking in Cardiff

Despite being fairly well travelled in the UK, I had not visited the capital of Wales. I was given the chance to rectify this recently when I was invited to take part in a Beer Academy tasting course hosted by Evan Evans* in their Cardiff pub, the Cricketers.

Simon Buckley serves up Gold

The pub is fairly well-turned out with up to 8 cask beers on at any one time. The course was interesting and well worth the trip. We tried Archers Gold (Archers is now an Evan Evans owned brewery) and Evan Evans Cwrw. Simon Buckley of Evan Evans certainly knows his stuff and I look forward to sampling their new offerings.

I was also fortunate enough to bump into Robert Gale, photographer behind the Beer Lens site, always good to put a face to a name, especially when they're so friendly.

Following the course I decided to go via a few other pubs to the Great Welsh beer and Cider festival, where I was keen to try Wales' newest brewery, Tiny Rebel.First stop was Cardiff CAMRA branch pub of the year, the City Arms. Hosting its only miniature beer festival I opted for a half of Doc Brown, Tiny Rebel's session bitter and found it met very much with my approval. We also had the fun spectacle of the naked bike ride passing outside.

From there I moved on to brew pub Zero Degrees, which completes my hat-trick having previously visited both the Bristol and Reading brew pubs. Here I tried the mango beer, the mango certainly noticeable but just not all that inspiring.

I hot-footed it along to the CIA Motorpoint Arena for the festival, where £10 got me a glass, program and a couple of pints. I headed straight for the Tiny Rebel brewery (Twtter) stand, unfortunately already much depleted with four beers sold out. I did get to try the Full Nelson a fantastic Nelson-Sauvin single hopped effort and Cwtch, an easy drinking American pale ale. I met one half of the brewing team, Brad, who was kind enough to let me try the end of Hadouken DIPA from the cask. I certainly hope to try all of these beers again! They'll be available in bottle soon.

I also got to try Brains brewery's new Barry Island IPA, brewed with the help of Real Ale Guide's Simon. An enjoyable East Coast USA style IPA, not pithy and brash like those west-coasters but a lovely beer. Look forward to trying other iterations brewed on the new craft plant, of which #3 was Mr Martyn Cornell. Also good to see Ffion fully recovered after her Japan/ #EBBC12 combo.

Cardiff is certainly well worth a visit and I look forward to returning to investigate some more pubs. There doesn't yet seem to be any "destination" beer bars, though perhaps that's not too bad as it prompts you to sample a variety of hostelries.

* As a member of the Evan Evans tasting club I got the course fee and all beers courtesy of the brewery, thank-you!

South Coast's Finest

An old haunt of mine that I always have to return to when in Southampton, this beer Mecca is still a relatively well kept secret, but more people deserve to know about it! Tucked up a nondescript residential street is Bitter Virtue, my vote for best beer shop in the country. You'll have to make the trip there yourself as (somewhat unusually in this day and age) they don't offer a mail order service.

Walking into the shop you're greeted by either Ann or Chris behind the counter and a whole array of beers spread around and about. To your left is a display cabinet full of glassware and a shelf of ciders. The fridge to your right holds those beers that work well chilled and a smaller tall shelf contains a plethora of exciting strong beers from around the UK.

The next grouping of shelves stocks a range of UK brewers, from local favourites to some of the exciting up and coming UK brewers from further afield. Then there's a German beer section, followed by perhaps the piece de resistance, an extensive Belgian range including a good proportion of Belgian's sour beers. Chris and Ann frequently make the trip across the Channel to restock and often source some interesting gems. Chris is a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and can read Flemish; so consult him if you get stuck! At Christmas time the special beers fly out in no time.

Perhaps one of my favourite features of the shop is cask beer on gravity available to take away in a 4pint container. Priced very fairly and with a try before you buy policy its well worth partaking. I used to buy beer here then go to a BYOB gig venue around the corner and sup out of my tankard...those were the days!

Eyes left now and you're met by a goodly selection of US beers. There's also a table of the more recent and exotic additions to the range, including Italian craft breweries and the now ubiquitous Mikkeller's offerings.

The shop is well worth a special trip to Southampton, though with a selection of decent boozers nearby, why not make a day of it?

What beer shop does everybody else rate? I'd like to see your posts on it, support the independent retailers!

And Another One

Love the fox and apple in the logo!

It seems that everywhere I look I find a new cider producer*. No bad thing because I like a good cider me, especially in these warmer summer months. I spotted this particular producer's wares in the Brewer's House and got in touch to find out a bit more.

MacIvor's cider is a new focus for Greg MacNeice. His ciders are made with 100% fruit (no concentrates here!), with apples sourced from Macneice Fruits. He is influenced by the traditional farmhouse ciders of the West Country and has spent some time visiting cider makers there. He is also influenced by the French cidres of Bretagne as that's where his wife hails from. These observations he brought back to Northern Ireland with him to make cider out of Armagh's famous Bramley apples (among others). I was offered two of the new season's production from MacIvor's and I'd have been a fool not to accept them. I'll review them now:

Medium Cider (4.5%) Pours pale gold with lively carbonation, apple skin and candy floss on the nose. Fairly sweet red apple character with a touch of sulphite and perhaps some pear in the finish.Its a touch on the sweet side for me, but I can see this being a popular beverage (potentially over ice (shudder), but anything that weans people off of the ubiquitous "cider" brands has to be a good thing right?!). An email from Greg confirmed that this cider is aimed at those people, but of course is a much more traditional production method. I've also just found out that there are 12 different varieties in here, which helps produce that more rounded flavour than a low number of varieties could offer.

Traditional Dry Cider (5.6%) Pours slightly darker gold and noticeably less carbonated than the medium. Notes of custard, hay and toffee apples on the nose. Dryish but not drying or tart, subtle apple flavour and long dry finish. I like the balance and subtleties in this one and would certainly drink it if I found it in the pub.

Here's hoping that we get the cider on draught at Belfast Beer Fest this year.

*Not quite, but there's a similar number to breweries here!

FABPOW: Mushroom stroganoff and cider

FABPOW=Food& Beer Pairing. I guess that this is really a FACPOW!

Not all food and drink pairings have to be planned out meticulously in advance. Nor do they have to be haute cuisine or use an uber rare/ expensive drink for pairing. Some of the best can be spur of the moment things.

I had a load of mushrooms I'd bought reduced last weekend that needed using; so decided to make stroganoff. This needs something sweet and fruity to help bring out the flavours, which is often wine but I plumped for cider. The cider section in Asda is in sorry shape, not even sporting the likes of Weston's, so ubiquitous on the main land but rarely seen outside of Wetherspoon over here. What I did pick up was a 750ml bottle from McCann's, a Northern Ireland producer, which I must have previously overlooked due to its proximity to Magners and Stella Cidre on the shelf. I used about 250ml in the dish, leaving the best part of a pint as a chef's perk.

It pours a slightly hazy light gold, almost perry coloured with a steady stream of fine bubbles. The nose is sweet mushy golden delicious apples, with richer bramley's underneath and a touch of old straw. 

Fairly sweet in the mouth, certainly a high proportion of eating apples in the mix, but with just enough tannin at the back of the palate to be medium rather than sweet in category. Gentle carbonation and a dry finish leaves you going for more. Not bad for just over £2! 

The stroganoff is fairly simple to make. Fry an onion and clove of garlic in butter until translucent, then reduce heat and sweat down ~400g mushrooms for 10mins. I used a mix of chestnut, portobello and baby button plus dried oyster, shiitake  and porcini to give a good depth of flavour and mix of textures. Remove the lid from the pan and allow the mushroom juices to evaporate, then add 250ml cider or wine, simmering for two minutes. Add a tub of crème fraiche and 1/2 tbs of cornflour made up in 2tbs water*,  stirring well until thickened. Serve with rice and sprinkle with parsley/ chives if you so desire. Simple!

It pairs perfectly with the stroganoff. You'd expect it to make a decent fist of it,what with it being used in the dish but I think it brings more to it than that (certainly a better pairing than wine and stroganoff). The earthy, umami in the mushrooms provides a contrast to the sweet, fresh apples, riffing off each other. The carbonation and alcohol content cut through the crème fraiche, refreshing the palate and the rich sauce is perfectly complemented by the dry, slightly tannic finish to the cider. Such a simple pairing but a classic. 

*I used the liquid from rehydrating my dried mushrooms for extra richness.

A food and beer dinner.

I like to try beer and food combos out, but they tend to be spontaneous, selecting a beer from the cupboard based on what I'm cooking. This time I decided I would decide what I'm cooking based on what beers I wanted to drink. I tried to arrange it so that the beers would go with two courses each then used my girlfriend as the guinea pig. They seemed to all go down okay so here's the details:

Vegetarian ceviche

Starter:Vegetarian ceviche...

Regular ceviche is a seafood salad originating in Mexico, so I found a vegetarian recipe using hearts of palm to look like octopus. And I don't have a martini glass so made use of my St Stefanus Glass.  

...paired with Lindemans Cuvee Rene

Garrett Oliver suggests gueuze with regular ceviche (that's how I found out about the dish) and it certainly works well here. The lime juice accentuates the gueuze sourness which acts as a great palate refresher. I'm now eating fish again so will certainly try the more authentic seafood version, which I reckon will make an even better match.

Goats cheese bruschetta with rocket and balsamic tomatoes

2nd Course: goats cheese bruschetta...

I already know geueze works well with goats cheese, those bretty funky barnyard flavours pick up on that capyric acid in the cheese to give you full on farmyard, but the lactic acid in the beer also helps to bring out those hidden citrus depths.  

If you're not a fan of the gueuze then try a hefeweisse or (as I chose) a biere de garde.

...paired with 3 Monts Biere de Flandres

I had a disappointing experience with Jenilain ambree but glad I didn't give up the style as a lost cause because this was a superb beer. The slight wild yeasts again accentuate the goatiness but the herbal sage and slightly peppery flavours in the beer work well with both the cheese and salad. Last but not least the all important carbonation helps to cleanse the greasy cheese from the palate between mouthfuls.

Fruity salmon and tasty veg.

Main Course: Cider Poached Salmon...

Having bought a fillet of salmon and at a loss of how too cook it I turned to my Traditional Beer and Cider recipes book. I found this recipe and it works well with a simple tomato sauce, roast new potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli.

...paired with Thatcher's Somerset Vintage Cider. 

The the unused cider is an obvious pairing choice, accentuating those fruity flavours in the salmon and with enough sweetness to counter the acidity of the tomatoes.

 The 3 Monts didn't hold up quite so well, 

but was by no means a poor partner for the food.

Now with Minieggs

 Dessert: Key Lime Pie...

A dessert I've long enjoyed but never attempted to make until now. I was surprised at how simple the recipe was, the hardest part is waiting for it to set!

Melt 100g of butter and mix in 250g of crushed digestive biscuits. Spread into a 20cm loose bottomed tin, shaping the edges to 4cm. Chill in the fridge for 30mins. Combine the zest and juice of five limes with a carton of double cream and condensed milk and leave for a few hours to set. Simples.

Purple hued.

...paired with Shot in the Dark Blackberry lambic

This was the only sensible choice really, a nice fruity lambic to contrast the lime sharpness and condensed milk sweetness of the dessert. This is my second and final bottle of the beer and its drinking even better than a few months ago. blackberry, sweet cream, sour lambic, tart citrus - its a great match and probably my favourite of the lot.

If you've not tried food and beer pairing at home then give it a go and why not try converting a few sceptical wine drinkers whilst you're at it?!