UK beer in the new era

have any of you even tasted Hawkshead's stuff before? not sure i have

p.s. the last two, most ilx-friendly, motherlode beers are incoming

over a caprese soup

Burning Sky (with Liberty Brewing Co) did 'Descent into the Maelstrom', which is a bit of a misnomer, because the strong, well-hopped initial taste gives way to a refreshing sweet citrus glow. probably the least impressive beer so far but not *bad* per se

Last but not least, Beavertown / Tempus Project - Universal Mind, a strong but well-balanced smoky porter - I know I just called out smoked beer as undrinkable but this dials it back enough and undercuts it with sweet earthy rich tones (those marsala barrels kicking in) and a lasting taste. Very flavoursome - I certainly approve. If you like smoky beer then this is a killer (especially at over 10%).

have any of you even tasted Hawkshead's stuff before? not sure i have

Rolled the dice on a can of this at the weekend - first time in ages I've poured a beer away half-way through (sure I remember liking some of their beer in the past, mind):

http://www.northernmonkbrewco.com/sites/default/files/styles/400_by_600/adaptive-image/public/beer/nmbco_-_tom_joy_nm1386_.jpg

Made up for it with some very palatable Five Points dark beers (also learned that the Five Points Railway Porter makes really top-drawer cottage pie liquor).

Oh and the Orbit Altbier (amusingly named "Neu") is delicious. I like Orbit beers a great deal.

am finally drinking a tropigamma

wtf. ban hops

would you like some beer with your hops sir? and perhaps some slightly incongruous fruit?

tt has an einstok white. fucking furiously envious

tropigamma isn't gigantically hoppy.

einstok beers are shit.

but if you want to drink budweiser pale ale and praise it cos it's from country x your options are various.

a big grapefruit-hop hybrid that didn't even have any grapefruit in it

einstok is really nice and has a slight sour buzz that makes it all come together

nothing like any sort of budweiser

so heated rn

i didn't like tropigamma at all - but cos it was too fruity, not too hoppy. they named it after tropicana and even to look at it it's really dense and unbeerlike.

had gamma ray again this evening - always great. neck oil also. wasn't hunting them down they're just good basics.

gamma ray is not unpleasant i agree

Kernel raspberry London sour tonight over crisps - extremely refreshing, fine saison base, the sour and the fruit perhaps lacking some of the depth and intensity of their damson sour but still a fine effort. I recall it from that craft beer festival a few months back, where it had a starring role - bottled perhaps less stellar but I must emphasise still an extremely tasty light sour

A kind word for Belhaven's Scottish Oat Stout, tonight over popcorn - it's really really tasty and actually rather sophisticated, dulling the usual stout sweetness and giving it a rounded, bitter quality.

I really liked Tropigamma! But not as much as their blood orange thing over the summer, which the bloke at the great offie in seven sisters says sold as quickly as he got it in (and he also admitted buying a case for himself)

tt just returned from the black heart with four bottles of trolltunga (see OP)!!!! oh my god

it's so, so great. get it while you can. everybody's doing gooseberry sour now but this is the north star. three cheers for buxton/lervig!

what did you drink it "over"? i have to know.

one of papa john's finest pies

you had a papa john's on xmas eve? is everything okay?

yeah I had a bottle of Trolltunga a couple of days ago and thought it a v good example of the form

drank a Blacklight Banana by Siren yesterday which is a sweetish imperial stout. claims to feature coffee beans "stored in bourbon barrels" pre-roasting which I struggle to believe would make any discernable difference tbh. decent anyway

you had a papa john's on xmas eve? is everything okay?

― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Sunday, December 25, 2016 9:42 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

night of the 22nd!!

last night we were lazy after present-wrapping so had crisps with dips lol

and ya the blacklight banana will have been appreciated, it's not bad at all

got a big haul of mostly american and scandinavian beer at an off licence in dublin yesterday. to-ol's christmas stout is nice, slight note of orange and cardamon but mainly just a good winter drink. have a few mikkellers and some seasonal sierra nevadas also - might be a basic admission but i love the sierra nevada christmas beer.

At the Toll Gate, Turnpike Lane, last night: Long Man Old Man old ale. Very good. I've realised that I'm more or less certain to love anything calling itself 'old ale' (whereas, for example, anything called 'ruby ale' I tend not to like very much).

Partizan's saison kriek one of the best of its kind I've had recently. tt bought a bottle the other day and we're drinking it now - extremely refreshing, quite dry, really noticeable if understated sour kick, fruit very subtle. Low alcohol content might raise suspicions but this is pulled off very smartly

not UK per se but I am looking at a Mikkeller Spontanberliner w/ Passion Fruit and I wholly recommend etc etc

https://scontent.flhr2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16797653_1381153738617820_5068002515587798665_o.jpg?oh=af2156377b04e0017b1d0e20a762b947&oe=5935AC31

Wild Beer's new brewery mockup looks like the postapocalyptic version of Spurs' corporate hospitality area

never noticed before that their logo is EVIL OVERLORD

pity that one lone ghost sitting on the edge of the fire pit

isn't drinking beer supposed to be fun

it looks like a community centre.

a lot of the places craft beer breweries choose to decorate or host are really awful, like crappy mdf tables etc. give me a pub with a few good taps anytime.

when it's a little venture in a repurposed quasi-industrial space then I can appreciate ramshackle furnishings but the pretentious back to clean and hard basics realness of brew dog frinstance is a fucking atrocity

i like the purity bar in birmingham

'the english restaurant' in spitalfields is my new favourite pub of all time

such a lovely place

they have many belgian classics - i'm currently drinking a bottle of the straffe hendrik quadrupel which i bought at the barman's recommendation - it's excellent and if we're extending this thread to the continent then i'd advise trying it (should you be a fan of strong, complex ale)

Beavertown's Tempus project is shaping up very nicely indeed! Screw Tropigamma, this is where it's at. Their Moonshiner berliner weisse and their El Mariachi gose are both *excellent* - refreshing and intensely flavoured. Just get the price down next time

Fierce Beer from Scotland have done a nice tropical sour, the Tropical Tart - refreshing and authentically tangy with good fruit and a nice nutty aftertaste. Also pretty cheap as these things go

Thornbridge are far too up and down for my liking, although Love Among The Ruins and Days of Creation were truly great sours the only beers of theirs I'd seek out are the raspberry Imperial stout, and Serpent.

From aldo's megapost upthread. I can confirm that Days Of Creation, a prizewinning lambic red, is astonishing. They've more or less matched Rodenbach, except with notes of stilton and (as my friend noticed) strawberry supplanting the earthier cherry of Grand Cru. Cost me £17 for a bottle but worth it tbh as a one-off. Now do it again but cheaper. One of the best beers I've ever drunk

Now, in a stunning pvmic, I'm about to tuck into Timmermans' pumpkin special :D

Oh - raspberries, not strawberries! xp

Too many ales are too strong %. Something like 4.5% should be the max. Below 4% is what it should be. It's so rare to find bottled ales that low today. I'm not sure why they're cranking it up so high. Belgian ales is a slightly different affair, but english ales are session ales, I'm baffled by the 6% ales I see.

there've been strong English ales since almost literally forever though?

Yes, the sub-4% standard is a legacy of the first (and second?) world war I think. Stronger ales respond better to bottling: the pasteurisation process knocks the body/flavour/mothfeel/whatever out of most things below 4%, so you end up with thin, bland beer. For sub-4% to work, it's really got to be unpasteurised on draught.

I agree with that, but tbf there are some p decent low ABV beers about these days, purposely brewed with flavour in mind, e.g. Redemption's Trinity

early 19th century stouts were often over 7 percent.

Drinking Love Among The Ruins right now for tt's 29th. Thornbridge, it is safe to say, have cracked the code