Tortilla, a London-based chain of burrito cafes, have started selling some decent American beer — Goose Island IPA, Brooklyn lager, Anchor Steam and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

I’m a fan of their places anyway (the Market Place outlet round the corner from Oxford Circus is a good place to refuel if you want something quick, not too dirty and cheapish) and so this has me quite excited. Brooklyn lager is a lovely accompaniment to fiery beans and rice.

What’s more, it’s refreshing to see somewhere like this understanding the need for good beer, rather than just beer that goes with the Mexican theme.  (Though you can still get Corona, Dos Equiis and so on.)

It’s also exciting because we know from reading blogs that many people have got into good beer (including cask ale) through one of these consistently good American bestsellers.

We’ve blogged before about how Brooklyn should be perfect for the London market, with its cool packaging and, more importantly, distinct and full flavour. We’re definitely seeing it a lot more in pubs, clubs and off-licences, which can only be a good thing for promoting quality beer in general.

Train journeys have certainly improved since the arrival of the Sheffield Tap and other takeaway beer places at some of Britain’s train stations.

A recent trip was enlivened by bottles of Sierra Nevada Torpedo, a delicious American IPA which is a favourite of Rake manager Glyn’s, and Goose Island Matilda.

The latter is the Chicago brewery’s attempt at a Belgian-style ale. They’d apparently like us to drink it from a “wide mouthed goblet” but, on a train, you have to make do with a little plastic glass.

On this showing, we’d say that it tastes really, really similar to Leffe Blonde, if perhaps a touch more bitter. Would Goose Island be flattered by that comparison? Probably not, though we don’t mean it as a criticism. (We’re quite partial to the odd glass of Leffe, despite its ubiquity and Big Industrial Brewing pedigree.)

Both variants of the Brooklyn/Schneider Hopfen Weisse in their beautifully designed bottles

We hated Schneider Hopfenweisse when we tried it a couple of years ago and I almost turned my nose up when offered it on draft at the Devonshire cat, Sheffield. Nonetheless, I got my half (a mere £2.80…) and gave it another go.

It’s always a good idea to give a beer a second chance. Wowzers, Penny. I take it all back. It’s wonderful.

It’s like a turbo charged wheatbeer with crisp, almost tangible hops; bubblegum cut with grapefruit. Truly extreme and fabulous for it. Oddly, the German-American parentage gives this a very Belgian aroma (booze + spice) which really adds to the pleasure.

Boak

We thought an ice cream beer float sounded like a good idea and others (notably Mark Dredge and Zak Avery) have raved about it.

As I was staying up to watch the Superbowl, I thought I’d give it a go with two of my favourite American imports, Brooklyn Chocolate Stout and Ben & Jerry’s.

And, do you know what? It was horrid.

The lovely dark chocolate roastiness of the beer became metallic and cheesy. The two ingredients cancelled each other out.

I had to pour it away.

Boak

We then watched with dismay as a grumpy uncle poured a bottle into a glass and spent the next hour ignoring it while he read the paper. When he left, it was more-or-less untouched and had gone flat. Could he not have ignored a cheaper, less interesting beer instead?

“Have you got a nice stout?”
“Well, there’s the Dark Star, but that’s 10.5%. How about Anchor Porter?”

“Have you got anything south American?”
“Er…. Quilmes?”

“We want some sour beers. Have you got anything by Cantillon?”
“Yes, but it’s about £8 a bottle.”
“That’s fine. One bottle, two glasses, please!”

“Why are you having a lager again, mate?”
“Coz I want something cold and refreshing, with bubbles, that doesn’t make me feel like my Dad.”
“Goose Island IPA is cold and refreshing, and your dad wouldn’t like that.”
“Stop trying to make me drink your old man beers.”

“How long would you keep a barley wine for, in the cask?”
“Well, we keep ours for up to six years, but you could definitely keep it longer, if it was filled properly.”
“Oh, I know our filling techniques, and they introduce way too much oxygen.”

“What do you have that’s a normal strength and comes in a normal pint glass?”

Whilst eavesdropping, we also worked our way through a few beers, including Sierra Nevada Unrivaled, a rye beer with a hint of smoke that actually tasted how we’ve always imagined rye beer ought to. It’s a late contender for beer of the year — very complex and utterly delicious, with citrus hops and fruity, nutty, spicy flavours, too.

Doggie Style delivered an American style IPA (heavy body, lots of hops) at only 4.7%. It’s yer actual session beer, that.

Goose island Christmas Ale (7%) was a final treat. It was £9.50 for a large bottle. It was like malty golden syrup with a touch of orange. Nice, but not as nice as something like 1845. We wonder if some complexity got lost on the Atlantic crossing?

There are now several trendy bowling places in London, following the success of Bloomsbury Lanes which opened a few years back.

On Friday, we went with a bunch of mates to All Star Lanes, also in Bloomsbury/Holborn, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the beer on offer.

We’re huge fans of Brooklyn Lager, so we had a couple of those. We also tried Sierra Nevada Summerfest (Beer Nut’s not convinced; we weren’t impressed either) and finished with our beer of the week, Anchor Liberty Ale. We were also pleased to see Sierra Nevade Pale Ale and Brooklyn Chocolate Stout on the menu. All were priced at around £4 a bottle.

Sadly, but understandably, most people there were going for the cheaper option: a bucket of Coors Light.

There are also exciting looking cocktails, milkshakes and ice cream floats. Would a Brooklyn Chocolate Stout ice-cream float work? We’re sure Mark will get round to trying that soon, at any rate.

Anchor Small Beer is a great idea — a very weak brew (3.2% abv) made, in historical fashion, from the ‘second runnings’ of the mash used to make Old Foghorn Barley Wine. In other words, it’s a beer made from leftovers, which appeals to our green streak as well as to our instinct to avoid hangovers.

Good as the idea is, however, the beer itself is a bit disappointing, being very thin in body and with the bittering hops overdone so that it’s as astringent as over-stewed tea.

Here’s Tom’s review — he liked it more than we did. And the Beer Nut has just reviewed it, too, finding it a bit fizzy.

In recent months, we’ve really been enjoying American brewery Flying Dog’s Amber Ale, which has those characteristic US hops, but is mellow and balanced enough to drink with any kind of meal, or even to chug from the bottle at a party. At an umbrella-assisted barbecue this weekend, we decided to try out a couple of other sessionable beers from their range.

First up, Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale, which shows that it’s not only English brewers who have a knack for coming up with puerile names for their products. The beer itself (5.5%) is excellent, and not unlike Fuller’s ESB, with marmalade being the common flavour. It went well with grilled meat and, yes, was good to drink from the bottle.

Tire Bite Golden Ale is brewed with German hops. On the whole, we found it less exciting, although the bottles that came from the ice bucket later in the evening were much better. Is it an attempt at a Koelsch? Other people at the party who aren’t as fussy as us loved it.

The Rake at Borough Market can be hard work. We’ve found it’s more-or-less bearable between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, though, which is when we happened to go for a pint on a recent afternoon off.

We’ve written about the Rake lots of times before, but one thing we’ve always shrugged off is the price of the bottled beer. Our view has always been that imports should cost more and that it was worth paying the inflated prices to be able to drink hard-to-come-by beers somewhere other than our front room.

This time, though, even we were astounded to find ourselves paying £9.50 for just over one UK pint of Stone Cali-Belgique IPA.

Yes, this is something to do with the exchange rate; and, yes, the very nice bar manager did warn us before opening the bottle; and, yes, it was a very interesting beer. In short, we’re not really criticising the Rake for charging what they need to — they’re running (an apparently very successful) business, after all.

What it did make us question is our own priorities. Should we take such a prohibitive price as a sign that we ought to focus our energies on drinking local beers, at least until the dreaded Crispy Crunch^TM is over? After all, it’s not as if we can’t get insane IPAs or stouts full of citrus hops in the UK these days.

The Stone Cali-Belgique IPA is their standard IPA made with Belgian yeast. It’s almost an educational tool, demonstrating what difference a brewer’s choice of yeast can make. It tastes spicy, floral and sugary, with reminders of Duvel and Hoegaarden. Probably not worth £9.50, though… Thom of the Black Cat brewery reviewed it here and didn’t like it much.