I had a Siren Sea and Sky last week, suitably enough while on holiday in the Shetlands. If you like gueuze beer with a salty tang, I can recommend it highly.
― Neil S, Wednesday, 5 October 2016 12:43 (seven years ago) link
I also sampled the local brews, Valhalla and Shetland are the two breweries up there. The former were more memorable, including a couple of smoky, light golden beers, which sounds like a contradiction but actually worked very well.
― Neil S, Wednesday, 5 October 2016 12:45 (seven years ago) link
imago have you tried this time travel beer?
http://www.beergonzo.co.uk/buy/beer/mad-hatter-brewing-co-tzatziki-sour-p1463
― minimal hat spiritualism (seandalai), Wednesday, October 5, 2016 12:40 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this could be fun! although i'm usually much harder to impress when they're aping the berliner weisse rather than the belgian gueuze. if i find it i'll give it a try for sure
― imago, Wednesday, 5 October 2016 13:09 (seven years ago) link
That tzatziki sour was... Not for me. Not even close.
― Tim, Wednesday, 5 October 2016 13:19 (seven years ago) link
btw let it be known that I had a few sips of Rodenbach Grand Cru again the other day, and yeah it's the greatest beer ever
dear sour beer upstarts, this is your target
― imago, Wednesday, 5 October 2016 13:50 (seven years ago) link
Just been sampling the Beavertown 'Sour Power' farmhouse red (a collaboration with Arizona Wilderness and Mikkeller) and measuring it up against RGC for strongest test conditions - and I'm delighted to say it really holds up! A great effort, very nicely balanced with a strong sour kick powering through the initial bitterness. Not as perfectly integrated as its control, if we're splitting hairs, but I'm not sure it's trying to be. A very fine beer. Beavertown had been good for a functional if mostly dull IPA up until this point, feels like a bit of a gamechanger
― imago, Monday, 14 November 2016 01:15 (seven years ago) link
i think beavertown gamma ray is pretty great. on tap it's really lively.
had a really nice estonian porter last night, by a brewery called pohjala. been drinking a lot more dark stuff - had a thornbridge raven on friday and on saturday i had an omnipollo imperial stout made with vanilla and marshmallow - not as wacky as that might sound, was very strong and coffee-like.
and a nice mikkeller pilsner with my dinner yesterday evening.
― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Monday, 14 November 2016 11:08 (seven years ago) link
I don't know if Gamma Ray has changed or my expectation for beer, but the first time I had it, which I guess was 3 years ago, it was a revelation. It's still a decent option though.
― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 22 November 2016 15:13 (seven years ago) link
the Beavertown brewery is worth a visit if you are in reach of Tottenham Hale, straight from the cask in 1/3 or 2/3 measures and pretty cheap with it.
― Neil S, Tuesday, 22 November 2016 15:15 (seven years ago) link
Wild Beer Co's new lobster and cockle beer cannot be good, surely.
― Horizontal Superman is invulnerable (aldo), Tuesday, 22 November 2016 15:16 (seven years ago) link
lol
― imago, Tuesday, 22 November 2016 15:39 (seven years ago) link
Gorblimey.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 22 November 2016 15:44 (seven years ago) link
I will be waiting for someone I trust* to taste that before I go anywhere near it.
*basically nobody anymore
― Tim, Tuesday, 22 November 2016 15:52 (seven years ago) link
I had a banging pint of gamma ray at the weekend, thinking about it is ruining my Tuesday
I have one of their weird new IPAs in the fridge that I probably shouldn't drink tonight
― Dadjokke (Sgt. Biscuits), Tuesday, 22 November 2016 15:59 (seven years ago) link
You should drink it
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 22 November 2016 16:12 (seven years ago) link
Drink the beer
Don't listen to Hand.
― Tim, Tuesday, 22 November 2016 16:21 (seven years ago) link
Unless you want to.
― Tim, Tuesday, 22 November 2016 16:22 (seven years ago) link
There's a £45 'rainbow' package of weird collaborations on offer at the local Oddbins, featuring some really enticing sours and goses (including Beavertown, I think, and also a slightly saner WBC effort). When we've dispatched the Danish sours we bought yesterday we'll probably grab the lot and report back
― imago, Tuesday, 22 November 2016 16:25 (seven years ago) link
yeah I drank the "Beavertown Lupuloid IPA", it gets the thumbs up
It was very zingy
― Dadjokke (Sgt. Biscuits), Tuesday, 22 November 2016 23:01 (seven years ago) link
The one I had was fantastic.
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 22 November 2016 23:46 (seven years ago) link
Had a pint of Gamma Ray last night, it's fine and perfectly enjoyable but I don't really get why people like it so much compared to other similar beers.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 23 November 2016 13:54 (seven years ago) link
This IPA arms race has jaded us all!
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 23 November 2016 14:05 (seven years ago) link
it is the best of the commonly available pale ales - like it's approaching meantime prevalence. there are others i prefer that are less commonly available.
i dunno if there's an issue of how it's kept either but i have really come to love it since moving to clapton, the windsor castle 5 mins from my flat always has it and drinking there has made me rate it really highly.
― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 23 November 2016 15:00 (seven years ago) link
yeah I think I just don't really like pale ale any more
― imago, Wednesday, 23 November 2016 15:04 (seven years ago) link
I must go to the Windsor Castle some time, it has been on my list for a while
― Neil S, Wednesday, 23 November 2016 16:13 (seven years ago) link
does the windsor castle sell crisps these days?
― conrad, Wednesday, 23 November 2016 16:22 (seven years ago) link
Regarding all Beavertown beers, even when it is well kept, it is almost always much better from the can.
― Chewshabadoo, Thursday, 24 November 2016 09:49 (seven years ago) link
Gamma Ray tastes like Lilt with sherbet lemons dissolved in it to me
― mahb, Thursday, 24 November 2016 10:21 (seven years ago) link
or are you thinking of this - https://www.magicrockbrewing.com/beer/high-wire-grapefruit/?age-verified=0c490bf0fc
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 24 November 2016 10:25 (seven years ago) link
Haha.
― Chewshabadoo, Thursday, 24 November 2016 10:51 (seven years ago) link
i'm not gonna lie i drank the whole can
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 24 November 2016 11:24 (seven years ago) link
I had an Engine Vein from the Cheshire Brewhouse last week, a genial experience, nothing fancy just a beer in a glass and a serene feeling, i take my hat off!
― saer, Thursday, 24 November 2016 11:31 (seven years ago) link
Ah "100% natural pink grapefruit flavour" the key ingredient of any great beer. I've never had a good British fruit beer; only the Belgians seem able to do it well. See also: chocolate, honey, coffee, vanilla, etc; I'm generally of the opinion that malt and hops are flavour enough for beer.
― mahb, Thursday, 24 November 2016 12:11 (seven years ago) link
I would generally agree with that opinion but I am a great fan of Titanic's Plum Porter, better (I think) than the Wiper & True one which seems to have been getting some attention recently.
― Tim, Thursday, 24 November 2016 12:14 (seven years ago) link
the fruity Leffes I've tried over here in France have each been cloying and terrible in their own ways. The Leffe "Des Vignes" for instance I think literally just contains a shot of sweetened grape juice in each bottle. It's less part of a beer continuum than the "sirop" culture that kids over here grow up with. The adults have their aperitif, which might be a glass of wine or a beer, and the kids have water with a spoonful of grenadine or mint or lemon syrup stirred in. Beer in France is seen as a continuation of this really, I think - it's not supposed to be complex, or "serious" or even high quality. It's like one step away from an alcopop.
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 24 November 2016 12:45 (seven years ago) link
Had a Wild Beer Co Sleeping Lemons last night - it was good but not mind-blowing, I think I'd built up my expectations a bit too much. Or maybe I'm just getting bored of gose.
― wanderly braggin' (seandalai), Thursday, 24 November 2016 12:50 (seven years ago) link
The export version of Sleeping Lemons is far superior.
― Horizontal Superman is invulnerable (aldo), Thursday, 24 November 2016 12:55 (seven years ago) link
that magic rock beer is not a fruit beer. nor are really any of the beers discussed here.
― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Thursday, 24 November 2016 13:50 (seven years ago) link
Fruit beer rockism!
― Tim, Thursday, 24 November 2016 14:45 (seven years ago) link
the fact that puritanism extends to griping about sweet beer proves that the northern predilection for puritanism runs deeper than religion. i blame the winter
― ogmor, Thursday, 24 November 2016 14:55 (seven years ago) link
sleeping lemons is the least impressive WBC I've had
had a To Øl blueberry sour yesterday, was very nice
― imago, Thursday, 24 November 2016 15:05 (seven years ago) link
runs deeper than anything
― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Thursday, 24 November 2016 15:26 (seven years ago) link
i'd say i'm trying to distance myself from fruit beer rather than create a canon!
I'm about as Southern as they come and fruit beer as an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 24 November 2016 15:29 (seven years ago) link
yeah but like an ale with some notes of fruit in it is not "fruit beer". fruit beer is like fruhli or something.
― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Thursday, 24 November 2016 15:30 (seven years ago) link
i mean i get the need for puritan pejoratives, eg "sherbet" etc etc so people can define themselves in the way they choose to but that doesn't mean they're accurate.
― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Thursday, 24 November 2016 15:31 (seven years ago) link
fruit lambics would have you very confused then
― imago, Thursday, 24 November 2016 15:31 (seven years ago) link
pecheresse and chill tbh
― imago, Thursday, 24 November 2016 15:33 (seven years ago) link
both lindemans and timmermans (and also boon) make fruit lambics that could convert a john smith's advert, and some british breweries are catching on
― imago, Thursday, 24 November 2016 15:38 (seven years ago) link