Drink Along - Dark Star Sunburst

Dark Star are one of my favourite breweries. They're one of the best breweries in the UK. It's a shame therefore that some of their best beer never makes it into bottle. Sunburst, however, does.

Sunburst is brewed with Maris Otter pale malt and a multi-cultural blend of Cascade (USA), Styrian Golding and Challenger (UK) hops*. It's lager-gold in colour with a slight haze which, when you consider it's a filtered beer, is a little confusing. I get that grapefruit flavour that's synonymous with Cascades right at the end of the tail, before that comes lots of lemon, like lemon balm or lemon curd maybe, lemon but thick in texture, lemon muted by sweetness. Lemon sherbets before you get to the fizzy bit! And then after all that hop comes a grainy finish, a little like biscuits, a little cereal, right at the end there as it starts to dry out. I think that grainy flavour is a product of Maris Otter malt, it just seems to have character about it that other pale malts don't.

The bottle says "enjoy from the fridge for extra sharpness". I've read that two or three times and I'm still baffled by what it means and how it could be true.

More of that lemon sherbet is showing up as the beer warms, it's interlaced with that Cascade grapefruit flavour and it all sits on top of that biscuity malt. Very nice indeed. As it gets warmer I'm either going mad or there's a kinda almondy, marzipan like aroma there. That will sound nuts**, but if you're drinking along, it might make sense.

This is a solid, pleasant, well made beer. The fact I'm not going mad for it is because it's Dark Star, and when you're drinking Dark Star your expectations are raised a notch or two.


* Note: Cascade are actually grown in the UK too, so there is a chance that they aren't from the USA. I always imagine Alan Partridge when I think of Sytrian Goldings - an interesting bit of trivia about Styrian Goldings is that they're actually derived from the Fuggle hop, not the Golding hop. I always imagine Partridge attempting a joke about "Styrian Fuggles" to an audience that just looks bemused in response whilst he chuckles to himself. Just me then ...

** Pun most definitely intended!

Drink Along - Lymestone Foundation Stone

This is another one that stood out from the summer-case-crowd through the strength of its branding; simple in design but well executed with a modern feel to it. Foundation Stone is a 4.5 % pale ale that’s made with pale and crystal malts and Boadicea and Pilot hops.

It’s lager-golden in colour, really pale, the aroma is quite muted but there’s some malt there, bready and biscuity notes from the malt backed up by some toffee and caramel. The flavour is dominated by the finish and comes and goes quickly. There’s not much up front at all and then in sweeps this pretty hefty bitterness towards the end; it’s a sharp, bright, punchy bitterness that reminds me of something you’d get from a noble hop. Right at the very end it dries out and you get some of that malt coming through, sort of grainy, sort of cereal and then it’s gone.

Perseverance brings a gentle peppery hop note that appears just before the bitterness, you have to go looking for it though. And, whilst we’re looking, I get a slight lactic tartness too, in the flavour and then in the aroma as a sort of yoghurty, sour milk character.

I’m struggling for things to say about this beer, help me out ...


Find out more about the Drink Along here.

Drink Along - Meantime Wheat

German hefeweizen (or wheat beer if that’s easier) was a bit of a gateway beer style for me. They don’t tend to be very hoppy or very bitter, they’re usually quite sweet and they’re different enough from lager to get make you curious. I guess approachable would be the word I’d use, enough to pique an interest but not palate-shocking enough to scare you off.

Meantime Wheat is a decent enough example of the style, brewed not in Germany but in East London. It’s 5 percent ABV and uses wheat and pale malt, perle and northern brewer hops.

Wheat beers should be drunk with the yeast in. I find this adds a richness to the feel of the beer and gives it a thicker, more velvety texture. When served from a bottle in Germany, the beer will be poured almost completely into the glass before the last few drops are swirled around the bottom of the bottle to pick up as much of the sediment as possible, this is then thrown in too. When pouring, it’s also important to be quite aggressive, you want to create a big pillow of head to sit on top of the beer.

Meantime Wheat is a glorious, glowing amber colour with a white fluffy cloud of head on top. I’m thinking that more must be at work in this beer than wheat and pale malt – how else could that colour have been achieved? The yeast-driven phenols are there but they’re not easy to pick out as one of the traditional banana, clove or bubblegum. I get some orange notes and a sort of hummy, pear drop flavour that I’m really struggling to describe. The body is a little thin, there’s a caramel, toffee sweetness lurking in the background and it feels like it needs more body for that to be brought forward. Combined with the heavy carbonation, I can’t help but think of seltzer water.

I don’t really drink much wheat beer these days; that’s the thing with a gateway, you tend to move on into the house. When I do though, it’s more often than not with food. Wheat beers work really well with desserts I think and one of my favourite combinations is a banana-forward wheat beer with banana pancakes, delicious.

So, am I being a bit tough of this one, what do you think?


Find out more about the Drink Along here.

International IPA Day

"On Thursday August 4th, craft beer drinkers across the social sphere and across the globe will raise pints in a collective toast to one of craft beer’s most iconic styles: the India Pale Ale."

You can find out more about the first ever IPA Day here, and you can stock up in preparation here.

Drink Along - Bitter End Lakeland IPA

Our first beer in the 52 Week Drink Along is Bitter End Brewing Co Lakeland IPA. This bottle stood out from the rest of the summer case through the strength of its branding. You can tell the bottle label has been designed on a budget but the information is clear, the presentation is distinct and the styling suggests a modern beer from a brewery that cares about the quality of their product above all else. Top marks so far.

Bitter End are based in Cumbria and have been brewing beer since 1995, their mission statement says: “We pride ourselves in making innovative, progressive and exciting full flavour beers, which are not to be confused with mass produced, bland, tasteless beers”. Sounds good to me. Lakeland IPA is made with pale and crystal malts, cascade, simcoe and first gold hops.

The beer is pound-coin-golden with a white head; immediately after pouring I notice heavy carbonation with lots of tiny bubbles billowing from the sides of the glass. The aroma is subdued but I can detect lemony citrus with a sweetness behind it – imagine the smell of a concentrated lemonade syrup.

The first few mouthfuls are dominated by syrupy sweetness and by those lemony citrus notes; combined with that heavy carbonation I’m immediately thinking shandy! The fizzy drink style shandy you get in two litre bottles, the stuff that’s only something like 0.1% alcohol. Half the glass is gone and it’s perfectly enjoyable, just not what I was expecting at all.

As the beer warms I’m getting more hop aroma and flavour; a pungent, dirtier hop flavour that could be coming from that simcoe. There’re are no faults in this beer, it’s very clean and tidy, I’d guess a California ale yeast strain is at work here. And as it warms further it’s getting better and better, that hop flavour is coming through stronger, I’m getting a floral quality to it now – something along the lines of cut flowers, and then there in the finish there’s a grainy, biscuity flavour coming from the malt. I’m really enjoying this beer as I empty the glass.

If we’re talking IPA, I want more hops. Add to that the 5.5% abv and I’m going out on a limb to say I find this closer to an American Pale Ale than an American style IPA. The bitterness is right but I’d like the beer to be drier, that sweetness becomes a bit too much at times and I think a drier finish could tighten things up and further improve drinkability. Don’t get me wrong though, I think this is a great beer, faultlessly made with some good hoppy presence and nicely balanced malty backbone.

Over to you ... what do you reckon?