UK beer in the new era

Rhubarb sour sounds right up my street but I had a rhubarb cider recently that didn't taste of rhubarb at all, so I dunno.

Rhubarb does well with some sugar so maybe fermentation makes sense!

I assume rhubarb cider was fermented. Sorry I mean hard cider

Recevied some extras in an international trade:

Cloudwater NW DIPA Galaxy: well crafted, soft and delicate, holds a respectable position against the upper echelon of American IPAs.
Cloudwater Mormora Sour: a kettle sour with 2 infusions of Mormora coffee. Not disgusting, but certainly not something I'd seek out.

honorable mentions:
Modern Times x Cloudwater Roots of Coincidence Pale Ale: a colloboration brewed at the former in San Diego. Had notes of haribo grapefruit on the finish.
Mikkeller x Cloudwater Staring At The Pie NEIPA: also brewed at the former's San Diego brewery and billed as a "Key Lime Pie hazy IPA", what started out intriguing was plagued with some unwelcome flavors on the finish.

Please send any more Cloudwater cans you find to me ASAP.

Awesome stuff there

Pics of cans / bottles ?

No pics, sorry! I'm usually pretty good about pics too.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUzrjg2U8AAMuui.jpg

"neckstamper" "apa" (american pale ale apparently) - is, despite itself, very very nice

Wow, so the Beavertown part-takeover has really affected the quality of the drinks. Lupaloid and Bloody ’Ell both limp versions of their previous selves, tasting a bit Pilsner-y to my tastebuds.

You say it like they were ever all that!

We recently stumbled across (genuinely - didn't know it was on until we were in the middle of it) a mini craft beer festival in Deptford. Winning beer was, comfortably, the latest Redchurch sour (cherry I think?) which threatened to take the skin off our mouths

So much love for the Redchurch sours

tt is taunting me rn with offhand comments about how the pub she's celebrating half term with her colleagues in is serving Thornbridge sours ffs

Mine's a Lemsip :(

Get well soon, slugger

redchurch has gone into administration i think. a shame as the beers were great and i had some good nights in the brewery space over the years.

i haven't been big into many of their beers until now but pressure drop's 'play the dane' is a v good hazy ipa. i had a very good pohjala gose last week also.

agreed that Beavertown has dropped off. their pale ales (including the once ineffable Lupuloid) have that slight metallic tang that afflicts brewdog. not a huge diff between them now imo.

Yeah, used to be an easy-to-find (in Brighton at least) and reliable beer when you weren’t near somewhere with more choice, and I had hoped that now they were available in supermarkets in other places it would be a handy option, but…

fav UK brewery at the moment is Yonder (https://www.brewyonder.co.uk) - mostly saison/witbier styles with foraged ingredients, closest comparison is probably Wild Beer Co

Campervan Brewery Neon Blitz - Blueberry Berliner Weisse dry hopped - delish with a nice tropical bite

Not quite on the level of their Himalayan Gose but really nothing is

Speaking of Wild Beer, we've just opened a Dr Todd...

...and they have fucking taken things somewhere truly insane. Amazing. Beer of the year

Obviously RateBeer hates it. Fucking CAMRA squares

RateBeer was acquired by ABInBev so I plead that you not give them any traffic in the future. Thank you. Untappd is probably the best current arbiter of public opinion.

ah ok ty for the h/t

Untappd is a great little app.

I went to the Wild Beer Co. headquarters a while back. It's on a dairy farm in Evercreech and the shop, a low barn, concealing essentially a cave full of great discs of cheese, was unmanned. You have to ring an old-fashioned buzzer, titled 'push green button for cheese.' Easily one of the best places I've ever been to. Beer was great, too.

I had some innis & gunn mangoes on the run IPA last night, lovely flavour + nice and strong and I like the small cans so you don't look like a typical pisshead walking with one in the park. Shame it's a limited edition thing.

Redchurch alive and kicking apparently, and their table sour is truly wonderful - has that full round vinegary punch lacking in so many weak canned sours that I find myself slogging through (you know the sort, delicate herbal weisse-style bores where the effort's misplaced and the flavour's negligible)

I'm drinking a bottle of Boss Brewing Nutjob 4.5% Peanut Butter Pale and have to report that you should probably learn from my example and not do this to yourself, it's like diluted vinegar that's been left out too long then put in a sodastream.

HIT OR MISS – RHUBARB PASTRY SOUR (contains LACTOSE) – 4.6% ABV

A super-fun, summery collab with our neighbours DOH Bakery! This sour uses superfresh rhubarb, lactose, vanilla and hibiscus for a sweet and tangy pastry treat!

i now have 3 breweries within a 10 minute bike ride of me producing beers of just astounding quality. (and the occasional cursed batch like the above.) crazy times.

Which three?

https://www.howlinghops.co.uk

https://prettydecentbeer.co

https://www.gravitywellbrewing.co.uk

Our local brewery is Turning Point, and everything they produce (barring an ill-advised “mango sorbet” sour) is utterly fantastic. Top tips: Yellow Matter Custard (vanilla), Milk Foley (strawberry), Gravediggers Biscuits (coffee porter), and their perennial best seller, Disco King.

The major local craft brewery here in Glasgow would probably be Overtone and similarly they make some consistently fantastic beers. I can't keep up at the moment though as they've been doing at least two new releases a week for a while, so I'm about 2-3 months behind. If you're a DIPA or a TIPA fan then any you see by them should be a good buy especially.

I had one Turning Point last year when I did an order from Yorkshire Craft Beers I think, which was really great, but haven't kept up with them. Heard of Gravity Well and Howling Hops, but never tried them. Pretty Decent is a new one to me. Will keep them all in mind.

Despite loving the flavours and viscosity, I can't really cope with DIPAs and our local breweries (southern Hampshire) all seem to be heading more in that direction.

The Overtone beers I've had are all lovely.

I got a mixed case from Howling Hops last summer when they were doing huge discounts and they were all solid if unspectacular.

Only had a couple of Turning Points and they've been heavyweights (and coincidentally collabs) but pretty good especially the Tripel with Torrside.

I've liked everything I've had from Overtone, and particularly remember a cold brew coffee IPA.

Odyssey are my locals I suppose but I only really get to drink them during the football season because it's when I'm in town. Some amazing beers, I'd say a couple of years since anything really outstanding but consistently great.

Apparently Wild Beer have taken to calling their annual sour brew 'Coolship'. Not had one yet. Might be time

Been enjoying the newest sours from my two most local breweries Brick (guava) and Villages (yuzu) - perfect sunny weather drinks and reasonably light. Also had a few really nice beers from Arbor (based in Bristol) lately, the session ale (Pocket Rocket) is delicious.

I like Wild Beer's small batch brews but there's nothing exciting in their core range any more. I'd still drink them but would probably pick something else if there was an option.

I have to bite my tongue giving them money though after the crowdfunding fiasco.

I've been picking up some of Wild Beer Co's smaller batch stuff like you mention lately for keeping a while. I've always liked what I've had from the more wild/barrel aged etc 'special' side of their production, but not sure I've ever bothered with the core range.

I missed the crowdfunding fiasco though, what was the story there?

Back in the day Millionaire certainly, and to a lesser extent Bibble and Ninkasi, were probably as important as Jaipur in setting the benchmark for what the big names in the burgeoning craft beer market were capable of.

They were absolutely whoring themselves around to the macros at the beginning of 2017 saying they'd sell up if the price was right and could they please build a new brewery and taproom. When they didn't get any takers they crowdfunded over £1M to pay for it instead. Current status of the new brewery 4 years down the line is "still looking at potential sites".

These days I just drink <6% NEIPAs and sours that taste of dessert (sorry Tracer!)

If it has the letters IPA in it I'm avoiding unless there's literally nothing else. Gotta have hard rules

Anyway, currently in Bethnal Green dicing various taprooms. Boxcar isn't really calling out. Will keep browsing the map

Five Points it is. Feels like a decent call

Five points pale is a high point of the genre imo

Had a really good Best Bitter and an excellent Mild from Boxcar in the past so maybe that's where their strength lies.

https://i.ibb.co/qFn5DSF/IMG-20210627-183354.jpg

This is the one. Awesome