London Brewers: A Depression

The beer which alerted me to Pressure Drop was Stokey Brown, delivered via an Ales By Mail Taste of London Case (think smoky chocolate smothered fruit cake).  It sufficiently impressed to cause me to seek out others of theirs to try, reviews below. They're now at almost 30 releases and going strong and were the tenth best new brewery in the world for 2013, no mean feat when there were more than 2600 new openings last year!

Up first is Wu Gang Chops the tree, named for the Chinese legend about the man banished to the moon to chop down a tree that regrows every night for eternity. Its a "foraged herb" hefeweisse, but we're not told whats in it. Hazy burnished gold with fluffy white head collapsing to a mere lacing. Spicey, slightly tart aroma of cloves, black pepper and lemon peel. Medium body and full of flavour for its fairly diminutive strength (3.8%). Interesting peppery tingle and a woodsy sage like herbal note, slight szechwan like tongue tingle in a dry finish. Its like a grisette saison.

Builders Tea is a 4.3% porter with added tea. Dark burgundy tinged brown with rich bourbon biscuit aroma with some vinous port notes and tart elderberry. Lacing of dark head, tingle of carbonation. Full bodied, dry and earthy, burnt toast, a sweet lactose middle section then tanins kick in. Finishes pretty dry with a bit of plum jam and plenty of burnt toast.

Slightly stronger at 4.9% is Street Porter, a take on a traditional London Porter. super dark brown with fluffy muddy mocha head. Burnt roasty barley with a fruity undercurrent. Extremely dry and toasty coffee barley, long dry finish. A little one dimensional and disappointing given the delight of the Builders Tea. Will have to give it another go next time.

  

Finally Bosko is Pressure Drop's signature IPA weighing in at 6.5%. dark amber brown with lacing of cream head with rich sweet malt and pithy mango nose. Full body, quite creamy mouthfeel, juicy fruit forward, low bitterness, slight acridity in finish. Its competent but not in the top league of UK IPAs.

 

On the strength of these beers I will definitely seek out others of theirs, particularly Freiman's Dunklelweiss which sounds particularly tasty.

Pressure Drop

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Vienese Beers

Whilst I'm drinking in one of my favourite capital cities (Edinburgh - I should be just getting served inthe Bow Bar right now if all is according to plan) I thought i'd post up my trip to Vienna a few months ago (been parked half-finished in my drafts since then...). Primarily a work trip, there was ample time in the evenings for a beer or two in Vienna's many brew pubs.

Siebenstern (7-stern) in the city centre is a cavernous drinking grotto, with a large island bar serving a variety of its own brewed beers. Among such novelties as a heady hemp beer and pointlessly spicy chilli hells there's a fairly decent marzen, dunkel and some fantastic rauch beers. Rauchbeer Extreme was particularly good, with lots of smoke, but not overpoweringly so, dried fruit and malt flavours allowed to come through in behind.

Centimeter II is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Near to that is Centimeter II, not a brew pub but it has a good range of beers on draught and a "picture"menu for those of you (myself included) who doesn't know all that much German. Be warned the ribs are mammoth and come with about a kilo of roast potatoes, no lie!

Next up was Wieden Brau a shiny brewpub bedecked backstreet boozer where four riffs on traditional German styles were obtained. I particularly enjoyed the dry-hopped fastenbock beer, full of fresh grapefruit juice from the use of cascade hops.

Helles, Dunkles, Marzen, FastenBock

This may be old hat in the UK, but after a week of samey malt led bocks this was a breath of fresh air. The marzen was also enjoyable, bready malts and nettley hops, perhaps the first I've enjoyed in that style.

The final brew pub visited on this occasion was 1516. Owned by an English ex-pat this is where i tried some of the zanier brews of the week. They also do a good line in food, though you have to navigate the smoky downstairs section to getupstairs for a decent table. Maybe worth booking ahead as we had to wait a while for a table.

weisse, oatmeal stout, IPA, amarillo smoke and oak aged DIPA

Victory Hop Devil IPA was an enjoyable recreation of that famous US brew. However Amarillo smoke was perhaps the zaniest brew and most enjoyable all week. Hazy dark brown with enticing smoked meat and chocolate coupled with tangerine on the nose. First flavour is herbal hops followed by a big punchy citrus spike and the smooth mouth feel with smoky chocolate, followed by a bitter finish.

Their barrel aged DIPA was a little too OTT for me, the butterscotch overpowering the hop hit, but it was certainly a brave experiment in a fairly conservative country.

There are plenty of other brewpubs in Vienna that I didn't have time for, they remain for another visit. For a good map of what's available, use Ratebeer's places mapping function.

Go WEST

In the heart of central Glasgow is a green park area with various monuments and the People's Museum and Winter Gardens. There's also a splendid building that hosts a secret - a German microbrewery and restaurant. WEST (for that is its name, whether it stands for anything I know not).

Gleaming copper

The first thing you notice on entering is a cordoned off area which turns out to be a view to the floor below with gleaming copper brew kettle and mash tun. Its supposedly hi-tech and efficient in a way that German manufacturing is wont to be. Its possible to tour the brewery but this generally has to be booked in advance. Certainly something for a future visit I think.

Templeton beer badge

The bar itself seems like any other until on closer inspection you find four taps with the WEST brand. Available on our visit were the St Mungo Lager, Hefeweizen, Munich Red and Wild West (a kellerbier). Its a shame there's not more available, but I guess they have to go with what's saleable within the shelf life time whilst having the core beers available. Would love to try the dunkels though.

St Mungo Lager and hefeweizen

I ordered a pint for myself and a half for the lady. The pricing system is strange to say the least and almost put a dampener on the proceedings. A pint is £3.50 (about normal for these parts) but a half is £2.50. Meaning Two halves would cost a whole £1.50 more than a pint. This seems stupid to me, even taking into account breakages/pilferage and cleaning of smaller glasses there can't be such a difference. At least the prices were clearly displayed on the wall but I can't help but thinking people would end up drinking less because of it. It would also be a good idea to offer a four thirds tasting tray for say £5. Id certainly have gone for that.

Pricing concerns aside, how were the beers? The St Mungo's was bright as a pin with a crisp flavour, some biscuit malt and very drinkable. The hefeweizen was preferred by my other half. Hazy dark blonde with a yeast ester nose and a touch of citrus. They certainly both looked the part in their branded glasses. We also tried the Munich Red (pint split between two glasses...) which was a sweet toffee apple and malty caramel affair and a taste of the Wild West confirmed it to be a lightly hoppy blonde which didn't particularly interest me at the time.

Spinnach and feta filo

Veggie haggis burger

Being that time of day we chose to stay for lunch. I'd seen mixed food reviews online but decided the proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say. Despite being very busy they soon had found us a table and having had a big breakfast skipped starters and went straight for mains. Daisy chose a spinach and feta filo parcel with pesto and tomatoes and I had a vegetarian haggis burger with added blue cheese and mushrooms. The hand-cut chips were great, well cooked and all food came out in good time and piping hot. Arranged nicely on the plates and in a good sized portion we were impressed. All of the food tasted excellent and I fail to see where the comments had come from in reviews. Certainly no complaints here. There were plenty of German inspired dishes on the menu for those who like their schnitzels and sausage too.

White chocolate tart

Hefe-ice and berry compote

I've tried beer ice-cream before (X-Beer 33 at U Medviku in Prague) but wasn't too keen, it being a fairly bitter beer sorbet. The hefe-ice was much tastier. Really creamy but with the unmistakable influence of spicy wheat and fruity esters, it off-set the tart berry compote perfectly. The white chocolate tart was also tasty and paired well with the Munich red, but perhaps a tad too sweet for me.

Daisy enjoying St Mungo's Lager

In all then a good experience. Good beer, good food, friendly service and fair prices (strangely priced halves aside). I'd certainly return and try other beers and food, but please WEST, rethink your pricing or offer tasting trays!