Archive for the ‘American beers’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

American beer in East London

Monday, January 19th, 2009

americanbeersinwalthamstow

The mystery of the two Brooklyn India Ale bottles in an alley near our house has been solved.

It seems that Paul’s Wines — an ancient and tatty off-license on Orford Road in Walthamstow, East London — has upped its game on the beer front. It’s been decent for a while (lots of bottled ale, the occasional sighting of Brooklyn Lager) but now it’s probably one of the best specialist beer shops in London. The manager says it’s a permanent arrangement as long as they can keep hold of the supplier.

Don’t get over-excited: there isn’t that much competition when it comes to beer shops in London, and it’s no Utobeer. But it’s better than the Army and Navy beer section these days, and really, really convenient for us!

In stock now, on top of the usual suspects from Young’s, Shepherd Neame, Badger and Fuller’s (partial list):

  • Anchor Steam
  • Goose Island Honkers Ale
  • Flying Dog Hefe Weizen
  • Brooklyn Brown Ale; East India Ale; and Lager
  • Bernard Dark
  • RCH Pitchfork
  • Morrissey Fox
  • some ales from breweries I didn’t recognise
  • some weird looking beers from Russia, Mongolia, Corsica…
  • And the full range of Sam Smith’s.

I got a 10 per cent discount for buying (ahem) a few bottles.

Tags: ,
Posted in American beers, buying beer, london | 14 Comments »

Beer geek droppings

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Spotted in an alleyway in East London, not far from our house: two empty Brooklyn East India Ale bottles.

I haven’t seen this on sale anywhere other than Utobeer in London. Are there other beer geeks in the vicinity? (If so and you’re reading this — what’s wrong with the recycling bin, ya litterbugs?)

Tags:
Posted in American beers | 8 Comments »

Oktoberfest beers — USA vs Europe

Thursday, October 9th, 2008
Hofbrau Oktoberfest beer

Hofbrau Oktoberfest beer

The relentlessly thirsty Eric Delia posted some interesting thoughts on American brewers preserving European traditions the other day. This was prompted by an article in the New York Times, where the authors sampled 24 “Oktoberfest-style” beers before declaring that the top three were all American. The article makes the point that while the original Munich brewers are producing lighter and lighter beers, the American brewers have kept to a more traditional style and are doing it better.

It’s an interesting tasting, and has some good observations on the nature of festbiers:

“A good Oktoberfest beer is a masterpiece of balance and integration, delicious without being extravagant”

Although I did find it amusing that they considered beer that was 5.5-6% to be “rather mild”!

Certainly the three (German) festbiers we tried last night exemplified this idea of perfect balance. We drank Augustiner, Hofbrau and Spaten. It’s very difficult for us to describe what these beers tasted like, mostly because they’re absurdly drinkable and we gulped them down. The Augustiner probably won, with a more pronounced malt flavour and a crisp, dry finish that made us desperate for the next sip.

The balanced nature of these beers make it hard to identify specific flavours, but that’s not to say they’re flavourless. They’re certainly all much better than the standard lagers by these breweries, despite their relative conservatism.

In contrast, Brookyn’s Oktoberfest beer did not meet the high standards set by their “usual” lager. It ticks all the boxes in the BJCP style guidelines — it’s a gorgeous amber colour, with a tempting caramel aroma. But it doesn’t taste as wonderful as it looks, sadly. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, it just doesn’t have the same gulpability as the other three we tried. That could be something to do with relative freshness, of course.

Boak

Tags:
Posted in American beers, beer reviews, Germany | 10 Comments »

Less is more – Anchor Liberty Ale vs Old Foghorn

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
Anchor Brewery Liberty Ale

Anchor Brewery Liberty Ale

En español

I love Anchor’s Liberty Ale. It’s got that wow-factor from the moment that you pour it into the glass, with its hazy golden shine. The fruity-floral aroma gets me seriously excited, and the flavour doesn’t disappoint, with hints of peaches blended beautifully with the American hops. It has that kind of robust, unctuous body you get with American pale ales which makes the whole drinking experience seriously satisfying.

At 5.9%, I can’t drink too much of it, but then again, it does come in diddy little bottles, and that level and depth of flavour makes it ideal for sipping over a long period of time.

We also really enjoyed their “Special Ale” last Christmas. So I was quite excited to try Anchor’s Old Foghorn Barley Wine. This beastie is 8.8% and pours much darker than the Liberty Ale. It has a similar tantalising smell, although with more sherry notes. It’s incredibly sweet — quite a contrast to the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barley Wine we drank last week, where it was all hops and no malt. I have to say I found the Old Foghorn a bit one-sided.

On a slightly related topic, with a view to reducing our airmiles, we’re going to attempt to clone Liberty Ale. Any suggestions? I’ve found a few recipes on the internet as a starting point, but if anyone’s got any personal experience to share, that’d be great, particularly on priming / conditioning it to get that wonderful mouthfeel.

Boak

Tags: ,
Posted in American beers, beer reviews | 7 Comments »

Anchor Liberty Ale y Old Foghorn

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
Anchor Brewery Liberty Ale

Liberty Ale, de la cerveceria Anchor

English version.

Me encanta la “Liberty Ale”, de Anchor. Se encandila a primera vista, con su lustre dorado y nebuloso. Me seduce el aroma de fruta y flores, y el sabor es aún mejor, con notas de melocotón que se mezclan perfectamente con el lúpolo americano. Tiene un cuerpo robusto, que me satisface con cada buche.

Es fuerte – 5.9% — así que no puedo beber demasiado. Normalmente la sorbo lentamente, para disfrutar de la profundidad de sabores.

Nos gustó la “Special Ale” de Navidad tambien. Por eso, tuve muchas ganas de probar la “Old Foghorn Barley Wine”. Es 8.8%, y es más oscuro que la Liberty. El aroma es tan atormendator como la Liberty, pero con una pizca de jerez. Es muy, muy dulce – casí empalagosa. Tengo que admitir que la encontré desequilibrada.

Bueno, en este caso “less is more” — prefiero la cerveza más lígera. Por cierto, nos gustaría copiar Liberty Ale la proxima vez que elaboremos cerveza en casa. ¿Hay alguien que ha creado algo similar?

Boak

Tags: , , ,
Posted in American beers, notas de cata | 3 Comments »

Rogue Smoke Ale

Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

A bottle of Rogue Smoke Ale

Wow. What a great beer.

When we asked people to bring us bottles of beer for our 10th anniversary in February, our chum Nick presented us with a bottle of Rogue’s Smoke Ale.

We had a feeling it might be special and, as often happens, that’s stopped us drinking it.

Tonight, after a particularly successful day’s brewing, it felt like the right time to crack it open.

It smells, as expected, like bacon, but once that’s died away with the big fluffy head, there’s a lot of zesty hops and a crisp malt flavour which beats the pants off a lot of dunkels we had on our recent German jaunt. It’s top fermented and that might be why it reminded us a little of a brown ale.

So, like we said at the top, a great beer, and inspirational. We have to make something like this now!

Bailey

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in American beers, bottled beer | 2 Comments »

Trans-Atlantic Beer Tasting Simul-Post

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

adnams.jpgOr, “Sadly, we don’t know Mr Bean”.

Last week, we had a pint with Wilson of Brewvana fame. We were several thousand miles apart; he was drinking at lunchtime, we’d just got home from work; and the banter was by email. It kind of worked.

We’d agreed which beers we were going to drink so that we could compare, based on the UK beers Wilson could get in Iowa, and which American beers we could get in London. Somewhat ironically, he found it easier to get hold of Adnams Bitter than we did. So the final line-up was Adnams Broadside and Anchor Porter. Here’s how it went from Wilson’s point of view, and here’s how it went from ours:

(more…)

Tags:
Posted in American beers, beer reviews, bottled beer, real ale | 4 Comments »

The Rake at Christmas and Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout

Friday, December 21st, 2007

If you want to get into the Christmassy spirit in London, a trip to Borough Market is a winner. Geese, game pies, mulled cider, and carol-singers under a tree. A real Dickensian wonderland (just wish they had Dickensian prices). All the better if you go on a weekday afternoon when you should be in work.

Having carefully selected some beers in Utobeer to go with Christmas dinner (more on that after Christmas) we retired to the Rake for a quiet drink or six. We hadn’t been for a few months – it’s rather difficult to get in the door in the evenings these days – and were pleased to see that what was on offer had changed considerably since the last time we were there. Not that there was anything wrong with the previous selection, it’s just good to see change and variety.

On tap; HopBack Entire Stout, O’Hanlon’s Goodwill, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, La Chouffe N’ice, Koestritzer Schwarzbier and I think Maisels’ Weisse. In bottles, another two hundred or so.

yeti.jpgOf the various beers we had, Goodwill was great in that it wasn’t just a standard bitter with some cinnamon in it. Instead, the brewers had gone for citrusy flavours and succeeded in creating a nicely balanced, warming bitter. Similar citrusy flavours abounded in Celebration Ale, which also tasted of peaches. La Chouffe was very tasty, but then at 10% it should be! All excellent beers.

But the star of the show was Great Divide’s Yeti Imperial Stout (in bottles). Now, we’d had a few drinks beforehand, so I’m not sure in the cold light of the morning I’d be as bold as to say it was the best beer I’d ever tasted (which I said a few times last night to anyone who’d care to listen…) But it knocked our socks off sufficiently that we ordered another one straight afterwards, rather than try a new beer. It’s 9.5% and almost jet black, with a gorgeous mocha-coloured head. It reminded me of an amazing hot chocolate I once had in Spain, which was 85% cocoa solids. Incredibly chocolatey, thick and silky, but not at all sweet. It’s very bitter (it proudly boasts “75 bittering units”) but the hop bitterness blends perfectly with the cocoa bitterness. It’s a sledgehammer of a beer.

Tags:
Posted in American beers, beer reviews, london, pubs | 6 Comments »

Brooklyn East India Pale Ale

Sunday, December 16th, 2007

brooklynipa.jpgBoak’s collossal haul from Quaff’s included one beer we were both excited to try — Brooklyn’s East India Pale Ale. We’re huge fans of the ubiquitous Brooklyn Lager, and of American IPAs, so it seemed certain to appeal.

I’m sure this is the kind of thing that our friends in the US can find fairly easily, but this is the first time we’ve ever seen a bottle in the UK.

We thought it was delicious. It’s a lovely burnt orange colour, with sweet malt and incredibly powerful American hop aroma and flavour.

The obvious comparison is with another favourite of ours, Goose Island IPA. We actually struggled to work out how, if at all, it tasted different, eventually deciding that we thought it was a little more bitter — slightly “crisper”, to get all la-di-da about it.

It’s also stronger than Goose Island IPA (6.8 per cent compared to 5.9) so it might also stand to be compared to Titan IPA which we’ve had at the famous Rake bar.

But… Goose Island might still have the edge.

Posted in American beers, beer reviews | 9 Comments »

Starring Sierra Nevada

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

knockedup.jpgWe went to see Knocked Up last night. We liked it, tut this isn’t a film review site — you don’t care what we thought about the movie. You want to know what the beer angle is.

Well, this is surely the first and only film to signal a character’s hipness by having him chug Sierra Nevada Pale Ale throughout.

Paul Rudd‘s character, Pete, spends one scene knocking back SNPA from the bottle like that mock product placement slot for Pepsi in Wayne’s World. Later on, its possible to see where his character has been by the trail of small brown bottles with lime green labels littering the flat surfaces in his house.

Does the fact that we even noticed this mean we’ve crossed some kind of line into obsession…?

Tags:
Posted in American beers | 6 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »