Guest Blog #8 - Rachel Soens on Winter 52wbc (part 2)

Espresso Stout by Dark Star Brewery
Wow, this Stout has the strongest scent of coffee ever. However it was utterly lovely. I would happily drink this after a meal instead of an actual coffee. I’d happily munch biscuits with this stout. In fact if I was feeling particularly naughty on a camping trip I might be tempted to have the Stout for breakfast! Totally delicious and one of my favourites.

Black Dub by Wensleydale Brewery
Now this Stout was one definitely on our favourites list. Rich and yet light at the same time. Very easy to drink and very tasty. I would love to try a drop of this in a steak pie and the richness would enhance the meat and enrich the gravy. Tom wants to try it ice cold in the summer.


Bitter by Butcombe Brewery
This Bitter had a dark stewed tea colour. A properly bitter bitter if that can be a description. I would really enjoy this in a bitter shandy. I would also like to try it in a rich gravy with plenty of tomato in a sausage casserole. Good hearty food would complement this brew.



Black Pearl Stout by Wooden Hand Brewery
This Stout has a very rich scent; it is very heavy, very very heavy, like a treacle pudding after a big roast dinner. I couldn’t drink many as it’s very filling. It would be a lovely winter warmer. I found the more I drank of the bottle the more I enjoyed it. A nice comfort drink after a long walk in the cold.

Highlander by Fyne Ales
Even though this bottle of bitter had lain in the fridge for a couple of days untouched when I opened the bottle the liquid frothed up and out when I took the lid off. However the Highlander was instantly forgiven once I tasted it. Delicious! As tasty as Connor McCloud himself. I could quite happily make this a regular tipple. My favourite out of the entire crate. I would love to try a little of this tipple in a beer batter for battered fish.

Stocking Filler by York Brewery
Tom says this Dark Ale reminded him of a mince pie. Perhaps my taste buds are playing up because to me it tasted like smoked chicken, (which I once tried in Lancaster – very nice). Well Tom loved it and would get it again. I thought it was okay but wouldn’t fight him for a bottle.



80 Shilling by Williams Brothers
I liked this bitter very much indeed; in fact it’s fighting the Highlander to be my favourite out of the crate. It is light even though it had a slipperish texture on the tongue. I will definitely get this one again. It reminded me a little of a Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut bar with it’s lovely chocolately aftertaste.

A big thanks to Rachel for reviewing the beers. If you'd like to guest review our next mix please contact richard@myBrewerytap.com

You can sign up to the 52 Week Beer Club here, we still have a small number of mixed cases of the same selection available here.

Guest Blog #7 - Rachel Soens on Winter 52wbc

"Well the last few weeks have been eventful. I’ve had a birthday, been offered and then started a new job, various laptop problems, then MyBreweryTap kindly sent me a crate of marvellous booze to review. I was a kind bunny sharing the (mostly) delicious liquid with my other half, Tom. I apologise for the shaky photos of the bottles, I was trying out my new camera (I mentioned i’d recently had a birthday didn’t I and was excited to try out my new toy). As you will be able to tell from my reviews I love to cook and when tasting beers I’m always thinking of different ways to incorporate the flavours within my cooking as well"

Zeitgeist by Brewdog Brewery
This Black Lager was far lighter on the palate and stomach than I expected. As I poured it into the glass the dark colour brought an expectation of heaviness, however the brew is a delicious molten horlicks tasting brew. It has a warming aftertaste that I really enjoyed with definite coffee and dark chocolate overtones. The hint of liquorice is very mild luckily for me as that is not my favourite flavour. Many people when cooking a chilli dish throw in a couple of pieces of dark bitter chocolate to enhance the flavour. I would be really interested in trying some Zeitgeist as an ingredient in a chilli based dish. It would need to be a strong flavoured meat perhaps beef or venison to complement each other. Over all I thoroughly enjoyed this lager.

Dunkel by Freedom Brewery
This dark russet lager was not what I expected at all. It was extremely light compared to it’s colour and easy to drink. Perhaps a little too easy to drink for my taste buds but thoroughly enjoyed by Tom who is more of a Peroni type drinker than a real ale lover. I found the aftertaste was stronger than the initial flavour. The more I drank of it the more I liked it with the aftertaste working well with the initial tasting and the toffee flavour becoming more apparent the more you drank. I would be quite happy knocking this back all evening as it wasn’t too heavy and would make a good party booze. i.e. being able to have a bit of a dance round my handbag between gulps.

Brodies Prime by Hawkshead Brewery
I found this dark premium ale to be very spicy and bitter. It smelt very fruity like a malt loaf. Although light on the stomach the aftertaste reminded me of a Fishermans friend. I found the taste that strong that I could not recommend drinking this when eating all you would taste would be the aniseed flavour. I’m afraid Tom thought it tasted of soap however we still managed it, (waste not want not!). Not one of our favourites.

Gorlovka by Acorn Brewery
Oh dear, yet another liquid Fishermans friend. The aftertaste is not as strong as Brodies Prime although the liquorice flavour is extremely pungent. The bitterness was making the back and sides of my tongue tingle and the liquid had a bit of sparkle to it. I may be tempted to try this if I had a bad cough. Forget a hot toddy, try a Gorlovka instead! Also be aware this is much more alcoholic than it tastes you could accidently end up on your back, but on the bright side your cough would have disappeared.

Holly Berry by Three Castles Brewery
This Ale was an odd one. I loved the flavour, reminded me a little of Leffe. Very pleasant to drink if you didn’t smell it first. It smelt of lemon, but not delicious lemons. Not the sort of lemons that you slice and pop in a Gin & Tonic, not the juicy tasty lemons that you quarter and squeeze over your smoked salmon, not the sharp lemon in a scrumptious summer tart. No, unfortunately it was the lemon that you smell in cleaning products. One whiff of this ale and you are immediately transported back to primary school and being forced to smell the lemony dirty dish cloth the dinner lady insisted on wiping your table with when you are trying to eat your fish fingers and peas. Shame because the ale tastes lovely! As long as you don’t inhale when drinking this is a lovely lovely drink.

JHB by Oakham Brewery
I didn’t spot the citrus in this Summer Ale until the second sip and then it was like a slap in the face. However a playful friendly slap if that is possible because this ale is delicious. Very, very much a summer ale. I could see myself on a warm summers evening enjoying this drink Al Fresco with a fabulous fish based salad. This would also make a fab shandy with cloudy lemonade."

Many thanks to Rachel for reviewing the beers, I'll post the second part of Rachel's review shortly. If you'd like to guest review our next mix please contact richard@myBrewerytap.com

You can sign up to the 52 Week Beer Club here, this mix is also available as an individual mixed case here,

US 52 Week Beer Club Spring (3rd) Quarter

The selection for the Spring Quarter of our US 52 week beer club is now finalised. We decided to release the third quarter of the US52WBC ahead of schedule as many of the beers recently became available to us and most of the beers included benefit from being served as fresh as possible.

The case includes excellent beers from 9 US breweries including sought after beers from Smuttynose and Ballast Point. It also includes some great canned beers from Caldera, which might change your opinion of canned beer forever!

We're already planning ahead for the final subscription 4th quarter release, we're getting word of some great US beers on their way to the UK in 2011 and we expect to be able to include lots more exciting and hard to find US beers.

We will also definitely be running the US 52wbc for 2011/2012 but as before it will be a fixed subscription club which we'll cap at 50 members so keep checking our Twitter and Facebook pages for news on the launch of the next years club.

The third quarter tasting notes are below, the beers will hopefully ship later this week.

New Thornbridge Bottles

We've just taken into stock a couple of new Thornbridge bottles which I think deserve shouting about. The first is 'Wild Swan' a beer I've enjoyed on draught many times. Described as a "White Gold Pale Ale" its a 3.5% very light pale ale with citrus notes and refreshing bitterness.

From the label " The essence of summer in a glass! Wild Swan evokes those long summer days with its brilliant white gold colour, aroma and tastes of light bitter lemon, hints of subtle herb spiciness and a long, hoppy refreshing finish."

Its a bold move by Thornbridge to bottle such a low abv pale ale, bottling ales is a tricky business at the best of times, and beers low in strength tend to be subtler in flavour so any off characteristics have no where to hide. That said Thornbridge don't traditionally bottle condition their beers by re-seeding the bottles with yeast, instead they use a centrifuge to lower the yeast count in the beers. This technique preserves body and flavour in the beers which would be stripped out using a conventional filtering method. I'm not sure what Camra's opinion is of this technique and whether it qualifies in there eyes as "Real Ale" but the beers certainly taste great, and are noticeably more flavourful than a beer which has been filtered and pasteurised. This is an effortlessly drinkable pale ale and at 3.5% you could have quite a few before any ill effects were noticed.

The second new bottle we now have available is another controversial one in some peoples eyes. Thornbridge have produced their first (as far as i'm aware) Lager, "Italia". The beer is a collaboration with Maurizio Folli of Birificio Italiano an Italian brewery with a great reputation particularly for producing flavourful lagers. And this isn't any old lager, in true Thornbridge style its all about the flavour and Italia is a really crisp clean Pilsner packed with European 'noble' hops which give the beer a grassy, herby quality. It also seems more subtly carbonated than your average lager giving it a really easy drinkability, this is going to be another fantastic summer time beer.

According to the bottle label "Ingrediants are fine Pilsner malt and Hallertau Northen Brewer, Perle and Spalter Select hops, after a cold fermentation and a long, very cold maturation the beer offers herbs and lemon zest on the nose with a malty note that appears as the beer warms up. In the mouth it is soft with creamy malty notes and moderately intense hops; the finish is herbal and minty with a firm bitterness"

So why is it controversial? because some people seem to have a problem with even the word "lager" when it comes to good beer. Within seconds of posting on our Facebook site last night there were negative comments because I was drinking lager and I'm sure there were lots of people thinking the same and dismissing 'Italia' because its a lager and not an ale. I can sympathise with this view point, I would have perhaps thought the same a few years ago.

Beer is such a polarizing subject, especially in this country. When people first discover real ale they are so taken with the flavour and drinkability compared to lager that they assume that all real ale is good and all lager is bad. In reality there are lots of flavourful lagers about and lots of badly made real ales. I think a lot of traditional real ale drinkers would get a lot out of checking out some well made lagers from time to time, I know I have. Lager doesn't always mean bland, watery fizz it can sometimes mean crisp, full flavoured and refreshing as with Thornbridges new lager "Italia".

You can buy Wild Swan and Italia here. They are also available via our pick and mix service here,

There will be a mixed case featuring Japiur, Kipling, Wild Swan and Italia available on the site shortly.

We are also now able to offer Thornbridges bottles wholesale, if you have a wholesale enquiry please contact sales@myBrewerytap.com