Its not just the water and the limestone that the small town of Buxton in the peak district can be proud of: they now have a
brewery too! I'm a bit late to the party as there have been a plethora of other reviews on the blogosphere
(Beer Ritz Blog , The Good Stuff , The Good Stuff again , The Reluctant Scooper , Pencil and Spoon , Beer Paradise , A Swift One Reluctant Scooper again , The Beer Boy , Beer Reviews (Meet the brewer) , Tandleman , Eating Isn't Cheating,
Broadford Brewer), but ever since trying Axe Edge earlier this year (I'm glad Beer Ritz were out of Burton bridge IPA!) I've been itching to try some of the rest of the range. This weekend I had my chance to sup my way through the bottles sitting patiently in my parent's garage since I ordered them last month.Would Axe Edge be an indicator of great beer all round, or merely a lone stand-out in an otherwise drab range? Lets find out...
As I tend to do when out and about I chose to drink the beers in order
of ABV, but with so many to get through I enlisted the help of my dad in
the tasting, though he was too busy drinking to pass comment on many.
Moor Top was up first, a pale golden ale of very sessionable ABVwith subtle aroma of pineapple and yeast. Initial fresh bitterness becomes lemon and Passion fruit in the finish. Thirst quenching and one I'd love to drink a few of from cask.
Buxton Spa was next up. This mid-gold little beauty is packed full of juicy tropical fruit, like a beery Rubicon. A slight scent of cats urine (don't worry you can't taste it!) suggested citra and a quick website check confirmed that's the hop used in this beer. Mango sorbet with a hint of lime. Delicious and better than other citra-hopped beers I've tried!
Buxton Best is a brown ale but not a boring one by any stretch of the imagination. English hops assert themselves on the nose Peppery with faint blackcurrant Bitter taste up front with marmalade hops and gentle
carbonation. It has good malt
backbone to stand up to the bitterness.
Then on to one I had a chance to try on cask in Manchester. I wasn't keen on the massive head on cask (sparkler alert) as the beer tasted quite dull in comparison.A much better affair in bottle. None of the roasted notes present in some Black IPAs. Wear a blindfold with this one and you'd swear it was pale.
And then on to one I was salivating for: Axe Edge. At 6.8% this double IPA is certainly not one you can knock back at a pace or you'd soon know it! Fairly unassuming citrus nose on this amber beer. Gentle carbonation,
high bitterness but well balanced by mango, resin and lemon and a strong
malt backbone.Plentyof flavour from the UK, USA and NZ hops and in my top three beers of the year (so far?). I wasn't disappointed.
No brewery lineup is complete without an imperial stout in its range and Buxton is no exception, with Tsar at 9.5% being theirinterpretation of the style. Thick and opaque with an orange tan head thebeer certainly looks the part. Legs show the presence of high alcohol but its well disguised. Cola and chocolate nose. Thick body with treacle and a coffee finish. Very bitter which although not unexpected certainly hit my palate after the much sweeter IPAs!
A great selection of beers then from one of my favourite breweries for 2011. Hopefully I'll get to try others of their offerings, though asever being based nowhere near and with a sea in between its none too likely unless a passing blogger takes pity on me! (I did get to try Old Big 'ead which was hiding in a Spar in Hope, but didn't really take any notes)
You can follow the brewery on twitter
here and head brewer
here. The website is also worth a look for some info on how the beers were named
Edit:
I found Wild Boar (5.7%) and High Tor (6.3%) at the
Vineyard in Belfast! Very unexpected but welcome nonetheless! I thought I'd include them in this post rather than do a new one.
Wild Boar is an award winner (Champion bottled beer SIBA North) for the brewery and its easy to see why. An immediate fresh and pithy grapefruit aroma on the nose from those New Zealand hops I didn't need the label to tell me are there in abundance. It pours a lovely hazy blonde with thick off-white head which hangs around for ages. In the mouth its fresh mango and pineapple followed by plenty of grapefruit and then the tongue-smacking bitterness I so love in these new zealand hops. Lurking in the background is a bit of drier bitterness too from those European hops used. On the finish the malt peeks its head through the bitterness before descending again leaving with your tongue bathing in pine resin and demanding another glug of beer, which I duly provided it. Drinking this beer is akin to drinking a regular IPA through a straw with several hops jammed in it. This is up there with Axe Edge and Spa as my favourite Buxton brews. Bottle conditioning gives it just enough sparkle to accentuate the hops whereas I think force carbonation may just send the bitterness up my nose and kill the moment.
High Tor as my second beer this evening has a lot to live up to then. At 0.6% stronger it certainly ha sthe alcohol to act as a follow up.On first inspection its disappointing, pouring a murky red-brown with no head whatsoever. On the nose is passion fruit and caramel, the complexity lacking in comparison to Wild Boar. My first thought is that its very sweet. Certainly plenty of toffee and there's some stewed plums in there too with a balancing bitterness which isn't anywhere near as in your face. I'm thinking perhaps that I drunk these in the wrong order. The malt bill is certainly king with this beer and I get golden syrup and raisins with
a few more sips. I reckon this beer may be a candidate for keg as the carbonation is quite sprightly enough to keep it vital. After a bite to eat the hops are a bit more noticeable, likewise the alcohol but I find myself craving more wild boar. A nice drop then but not in the same league as that earlier beer.
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!
