Thornbridge Alliance Strong Ale Reserve 2007: Open It!

Open It! is all about a reason to open those bottles that you never know quite what to do with, you've earmarked them as for a special occasion, but how many special occasions are there? My saved bottles are usually pretty strong so the times I want to open them are also limited. Open It is the perfect excuse to dig into the back of the beer fridge.

My first 'Open It' bottle, is a Thornbridge Alliance, Strong Ale Reserve 2007 11% ABV. I bought this bottle about a year ago from The Groves excellent bottle list.

Here's what the label says:

The Alliance Strong Ale Collection, During 2007, an alliance based on friendship and love of great beer between Thornbridge's Head Brewer Stefano Cossi and Brooklyn Brewery's Garrett Oliver led to the brewing of this refined Strong Ale which has been matured for over 18 months before being bottled. The Collection includes the unoaked Alliance Strong Ale and two finished exclusively in fortified wine casks. Spanish oak Pedro Ximenez Sherry (PX) and American oak Madeira.

My bottle is #258 Unoaked Strong Ale.

Here are my tasting notes:

Pour: Burnished golden/amber colour, good carbonation, off white head
Aroma: Fruity, syrupy, figs, raisins, alcohol
Flavour: Raisins, figs, sherry, maple syrup, fruity hops, some bitterness, smooth, well hidden alcohol, very well rounded.
Aftertaste: Lingering fruity hop flavours, alcohol, cleaning carbonation, some residual bitterness.

I'm not a fan of these type of 'strong/old ale' style beers usually, I just don't go for those complex malty, dried fruit falvours but I enjoyed this, It was very refined and easy drinking despite its high alcohol content, in fact it drank like a 6 or 7% beer rather than the hefty 11% it is.

Thanks to Mark and Andy for coming up with the great idea of Open It, now what to have next?

Cheers!

Marble Specials

We took delivery today of Marbles latest corked and caged 750ml special bottles. One is a US style IPA called "Utility Special 2010" and the other Marbles "Stout Porter Stout" which previously has been bottled in the smaller 500ml standard bottle. I'm always excited to try anything new from Marble, so I thought I'd crack them both and share my thoughts.

Utility Special 2010 IPA ABV 6.5%

Aroma: The cork comes out with little force and a decent 'pop' and the beer pours a lovely golden colour. The beer is slightly hazy with a bright white head. As might be expected the aroma is typical Marble, a big sweet fruity aroma reminiscent of pear drops. Its dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin but smells more of pears than gooseberries to me; pears, grapefruit and maybe some tropical fruits.

Taste: The Nelson Sauvin really comes through as the beer hits your mouth, the flavour and astringency remind of white wine flavours, its slightly thinner than the 7.2% Vuur and Vlam but has a similar smoothness. Its also a bit thinner in mouthfeel than 5.9% Dobber and definitely more bitter than both. The flavour is more grapefruit, gooseberries and a sort of candied pineapple. Its nicely carbonated, less so than US IPA's, but still plenty and it makes it very drinkable.

Aftertaste: I like bitterness in beers and this one doesn't disappoint, and as mentioned above the carbonation is soft so the beer goes down easily. You're left with loads of bitterness at the back of your mouth/tongue which just makes you thirsty for more.

This is another great IPA from Marble. I believe its one they've brewed in the past when experimenting but didn't put it into their regular line up. Maybe tastes have changed? I'd say its not as refined as Vuur and Vlam and its slightly thinner and more bitter than Dobber. To me It's sort of an IPA version of Marbles session beer PINT and a very satisfying hop fix if thats whjat you're after. Another great Marble IPA.

Stouter Port Stout ABV 5.1%

This is a beer I've had before both on draught at the Marble Arch and in the bottle. To be honest though I can't remember exactly what it was like.

Aroma: This cork also leaves the bottle with a satisfying 'pop', the beer pours a thick black/brown colour with a milky coffee coloured head. The first thing I smell is chocolate and then roasted malt. There's a rich plummy smell and a bit of a burnt toast aroma.

Taste: The tastes in primarily bitter chocolate, coffee and a slightly vinous charachter (as you might expect). Once the beer warms up a bit there's a decent velvety mouthfeel. There are lots of hops in there, and lots of roasty malt flavours.

Aftertase: There's a cleaning carbonation on swallowing and the aftertaste is a hoppy bitter astringency to the sides of the tongue rather than the back of the throat.

This is another very tasty beer, which stands out in its strength of flavour for its relatively low ABV. Its very roasty and bitter and very Christmasy. I can see myself tucking into one of these with some cheese or christmas cake over the Christmas holiday.

You can buy Marbles beers including the new specials here. They're also available via our pick and mix list here.

Winter 52 Week Beer Club

Its hard to believe that 2010 is nearly over, and its almost time to start thinking about Christmas.... its also time for another release of our 52 week beer club.

For this winter case we’ve put together a selection of beers which are traditionally enjoyed at this time of year. As the days become shorter and the weather turns colder our minds turn to fuller bodied, maltier, rich and warming beers, such as stouts, porters and black lagers.

There are award winning beers from Hawkshead and Fyne Ales not to mention Dark Star’s delicious ‘Espresso Stout’ which last year was named Worlds Best Speciality Beer at the World Beer Awards. We’ve included contemporary black lager style beers from two mavericks of the British brewing scene, Freedom and BrewDog and also a traditional Scottish 80 shilling beer from the excellent Williams Bros. There are also winter seasonal beers from Three Castles and York breweries, and three tasty full bodied stouts from Wensleydale, Wooden Hand and Acorn (their awesome 6% ‘Gorlovka’).

Also included in this case is a beer with a massive following in the South West which has only just been bottled for the first time; Butcombe ‘Bitter’, and if you need a break from the dark beers at some point there’s a classic pale ale ‘J.H.B’ from the very popular award winning Oakham brewery in Peterborough,.

Don’t forget this case makes a cracking beery present and will be available as an individual mixed case on the website here for just £24.99. We also have fantastic US mixed cases, mBt T shirts and some very special corked and capped Marble bottles on the way some of which will no doubt make it into my stocking on Christmas morning!

You can subscribe to the 52 week beer club here. The case above will shortly be available as an individual mixed case to find out exactly when please follow us on (@myBrewerytap) or 'like' our page on Facebook.

The full case tasting notes are below.

Craft beer in cans?

These crazy 80's designed canned beers from Maui have recently come into my possession and I've been excited all week about drinking them. The thought of decent beer in a can is a bit of a struggle for a lot of people, but after drinking some canned Oskar Blues beers earlier in the year I've been eagerly looking to get my hands on more.

Why cans? I hear you ask, well I suppose some of it is novelty factor, cans are traditionally what crap beer comes in, and as I've still had very little decent beer in can its still a real surprise to crack the top and smell a big hoppy beer or a roasted stout and even more of a surprise to pour something thick in body like a 10% imperial stout out. This is obviously a bit pathetic but my reaction is still 'wow its just like in a bottle', in fact the cans I've had so far have seemed fresher and sharper in flavour than bottles. Lets see what these two are like.

Maui Brewing Co. 'Big Swell IPA' 6.2%
I pull the ring-pull and there's a familiar crack then hiss, and then WOW the hop aroma pours out of the can toward my nose. Poured into my glass its a golden colour and hazy, not much filtration evident here. Its packed full of fruity tinned satsuma flavour and tropical, piny hops. Its has a great mouth feel which again is alien out of a can, its smooth and bitter, but not massively so. Its very drinkable and reminds me of a few other beers I've had in bottles but I can't pin it down... Vuur & Vlam?.. Southern Tier IPA maybe? Whatever, its another superb beer in a can, and all the way from Hawaii in this case.

Maui Brewing Co. 'CoCoNut Porter' 5.7%
This has a roasted, caramel sweet aroma and pours jet black with an off white head. I'm still slightly surprised that its coming out of a can. Its sweet at first but the taste then gives way to fruity chocolaty malt and toasty coconut. As you'd expect from a porter the mouth feel isn't too thick and there's a decent dry mouth cleaning carbonation to it. Moreish beer definitely.

If you think about it, canning beer makes a lot of sense compared to bottling, firstly there's much less risk of the cap seal failing and the beer oxidising, and there is no risk of the beer within being spoiled by daylight and becoming 'light struck'. They're easier to carry, easier to store and quicker to cool. I'm led to believe than aluminium is a much better recycling material than glass, so they're green too. They certainly take up a lot less space when empty (and crushed).

The principal problem with breweries canning beer is the public perception of cans, in that its previously been the packaging method of choice for industrial lager. Discerning beer people associate cans with crap beer which is often overly filtered and carbonated. I'm sure this was just the same in the US though before breweries such as 21st Amendment and Oskar Blues pioneered the canning of craft beers. It took the first taste of one beer to change my mind. There is of course another problem in that canning equipment is expensive and contract canning requires large minimum quantities making it unfeasible for many small UK craft brewers.

Personally I think its only a matter of time before we see canned craft beer in the UK and I think whoever does it first will have a great marketing angle to help the advertising of their beer. No prizes for who's been thinking about canning recently.

A massive thanks to Chris Mair, BrewDog's Scottish sales manager for getting me the beers!

Mark Dredge wrote a great blog on canned craft beer on his Pencil and Spoon blog earlier in the year here.

Raising a glass to Thornbridge(kel)...

I've been saving this bottle for a while now, Its Thornbridges (Caol Ila) barrel aged St Petersburg "The Islay Whisky Reserve" from 2006. I bought it from The Grove about a year ago and its been looking at me ever since, tempting me to indulge.

Beers like this are supposed to benefit from some aging, this bottle has had a very lazy few years and I seem to recall someone tweeting a month or two back that the beer was nearing its best, so as the clocks go forward, the nights draw in and with the weather turning filthy it feels like the right time to open it.

I'm intrigued as I pop the cap on this 4 year old beer, will there be a hiss from the carbonation? what will it smell like? how will it pour? what will the condition of the beer be like in the glass?

Only one way to find out...

Cap off: There is a decent hiss suggesting the beer has held its carbonation over the years, I don't have to get very close to the bottle top at all before I'm hit by the aroma.. a big evocative smell, heady with phenolic (TCP like) and peaty Islay aromas.

Pour: The beer pours a beautiful black, thick and smooth in appearance. Its pretty much opaque as I hold it up to the light but with cola brown edges. The condition looks good, as I tilt the glass away from me bubbles emerge from the deep black liquid, morphing through shades of brown to leave a light browny/white slowly dissipating head,

Taste: Its not quite as thick as I'm expecting but its smooth, very smooth with a skimmed milk consistency. The whisky character is dominant as the aroma precedes the taste but as the beer hits the middle of the tongue it gives way to sweet chocolaty malt, treacle, raisins, figs and an oaky woody flavour that's either phenol confusing my taste buds or coming from the casks the beer was aged in. There's also a distinct but distant saltiness.

Aftertase: Smokiness comes through now, smoke, peat, a touch of tar and loads of alcohol, not biting on the back of the throat burn, but a mellow yet spicy whisky note on the back of the palate. There's a touch of carbonation as the beer goes down, but not a bite, this beer is smooth. You are however left with an amazing lingering phenolic Islay whisky flavour, and the aforementioned oakey woodiness which gives a slight astringency on the sides of the tongue almost like you might get from a nice cigar. Its anaesthetising my palate like you might expect from a good Islay Whisky.

This beer was worth the wait. Its boozy and big, and thankfully I like Islay whisky, because if you didn't this would probably be a bit of a struggle. There is so much whisky character in this beer, its smudged all the way through it from first to last. I wonder if the whisky character has become more prevalent with age? Just as I hoped this beer was a fantastic antidote to the foul weather outside, all I was missing was a roaring hearth. It was yet another great Thornbridge beer for me and a very enjoyably and decadent drink indeed.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish Kelly Ryan, Thornbridge's soon to be ex brewery manager every success in what ever he ends up doing back in his native New Zealand. I don't know Kelly particularly well and I don't pretend to be an authority but its obvious to me that he's has been an important part of the current renaissance in British brewing not only in his work as part of the innovative brewing set up at Thornbridge but also in his embracing of social media on behalf of Thornbridge. His tweets and blogs have been an informative and exciting link to Thornbridges happenings over the last year or so I've been reading. Thornbridge along with a few other breweries continue to lead the way in British brewing, and their beers, ideas, and ethos have been a big inspiration to me.

Good luck Kelly, and cheers!

You can buy Thornbridge beers here

Guest Blog #6 - Graeme Hilton on Autumn 52wbc

This is the third and final part of my review of the 52 week beer club autumn case. The last four beers are all at the darker end of the colour spectrum. Judging beer flavour from the colour is a rough and ready way to quickly work out what you want when you get to the bar, but there are some surprises in the mix. Thornbridge brewed a beer named Raven which was a darkly coloured IPA. Blind tasters said it was an IPA, but then were flabbergasted to be shown they were drinking what appeared to be a stout! Thankfully there are no such surprises in the final four bottles in the autumn case, which means I've left the rich, dark beers for when we really need them - when the nights are swiftly drawing in and we want something rich and warming while we watch rubbish television with our WAGs!


RCH Ale Mary
This is a 6.0% bottle conditioned beer that's listed as "Something Different". Pour carefully to avoid the sediment. The aroma on this is quite interesting; it's like you've opened the oven while the Christmas cake is in there. Loads of clove, ginger, cinnamon and other seasonal spices. I'll admit I didn't chill this beer before tasting, but I think this benefits from being a little warmer than usual. The flavours really come out; all plum pudding and brandy butter. This is definitely one for a cold night when you need cheered up. Also, my wife's only comment was "Oo! That's lovely", so I guess I'd better get a few in for consumption over Christmas!


Felinfoel Double Dragon
The 4.2% flagship brew of the Felinfoel Brewery in Wales. This is a deep copper colour and pours with no head. The aroma is a little nutty, as is the initial flavour. Later there are some toffee notes that come through. To be honest I was expecting more from this beer, but it seems to lack depth to me. What do you think?


Hogs Back TEA
Another 4.2% beer, but from Hogs Back Brewery in Surrey. This one is "Brewery Conditioned" which means there is no sediment. On pouring there is no head, but there is a constant stream of bubbles which slowly form a thin head round the rim of the glass. The initial taste is very smooth and there is the hint of grass from the hops in the background. The whole beer is held together with a smooth malty flavour. This is definitely a beer you could drink quite a lot of!


Meantime Chocolate
And finally, the strongest beer in the case at 6.5%. This is a small bottle, 330ml, but worth every millilitre! It pours a deep black, with practically no head, just a thin rim of bubbles around the glass. The aroma is like standing in a Belgian chocolate shop; all heady chocolate and praline. The first taste is like rich dark hot chocolate with a hint of lightly roasted coffee. This is a truly great beer.

So that's the end of my review series on the Autumn case from myBrewerytap. I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing the reviews.

A big thank you to Graeme for his great unbiased reviews of this quarters case. We'll have another guest bloggers thoughts on our Winter case as soon as its available. If you'd like a stab at reviewing and guest blogging in exchange for some free beer please get in touch - richard@mybrewerytap.com

You can sign up to the 52 Week Beer club here. The current excellent selection is also available as an individual mixed case here but don't leave it too long as they'll all be gone soon!

Twissup Manchester/Huddersfield

A 'Twissup' for the uninitiated is the name that was devised to describe a piss up organised by and involving the people who blog, write, sell and above all use Twitter to network and discuss all things beer. The inaugural Twissup was held in Sheffield in January 2010 (which I attended), the next one was in Burton on Trent in May 2010 (which I didn't) and Saturdays venue was to be split between the beery delights of Manchester and my home town of Huddersfield.

As I only had to travel from Huddersfield no early starts were necessary and I rolled up to Huddersfield station at about 10:15am to meet Matt and Mark from Hawkshead and James and Andy from Summer Wine breweries. The train journey passed quickly and after a rendezvous with the other Twissup'ers at the front of Piccadilly station, we were guided by Dom (one of the brewers at Marble) on to the first destination of the day, an eagerly awaited visit to the Marble brewery.

I've made no secret of my love of this brewery and its beers, since my first sip of PINT a few years back I've been hooked on their aggressively hopped beers and contemporary branding. The breweries reputation has been growing quickly in recent years, with their beers often discussed at length online and well deserved acclaim coming from further and further afield.

The tour started with us being handed a glass of Dobber, quite a strong beer to start an all day session (5.9%) but one of my favourites so I wasn't going to complain. The group was split up into manageable portions and we were each given a 15 minute talk through the processes and intricacies involved in producing Marbles beers. The Marble brewers James, Dom and Colin were great hosts, they always give an impression of self deprication and of being slightly overawed at the praise heaped on their beers, praise which to me at least is more than justified.

The brewers then led us 100yds up the road to the Marble Arch, the brewery tap which also used to house the original brewery in its depths somewhere. The Twissup is all about socialising and putting a face to a name while enjoying great beer, and there can't be many better pubs in the country to do that in than the Marble Arch. The pub is a beautiful grade 2 city centre Victorian building replete with sloping tiled floors and and mosaic decoration. My first pints were W90 followed by Bitter, both were bitter, fragrant, hoppy and perfect lubrication for the socialising which was in full swing now.

As the Twissup gained momentum we all pushed on to the Angel just down the road where the drinks of choice were Pictish Centenial (another of my favourite breweries) and Harviestoun Ola Dubh (stupidly strong for 1pm drinking). I can remember very little about what I talked to people about but the great thing about Twissup is that you know the people there even if you don't, and there is always another conversation to be had often inevitably about everyones shared passion.

Next stop was Bar Fringe where I have to admit I can't remember what I drank, or talked about although I did talk to Cooking Lager author of the very funny eponymous anti-beer blog, and thoroughly nice bloke. Bar fringe seemed a nice place with a decent selection and one I'll no doubt re-visit. It was getting to around 4pm by this time and time for the group to press on for the Huddersfield leg of the day. After a brief stop at the Staleybridge buffet bar for halves of porter and bowls of black peas we were on our way to my home town of Huddersfield.

Huddersfield has loads to offer beer wise and it was a bit of a shame that by this time there was no way we were going to fit in more than one or two pubs. As it was en-route we called in first to the Kings Head for pints of heavily sparkled perfectly conditioned beers. This pub is a regular haunt for me, either pre-match or first stop on a night out and I have honestly never had a pint in there that wasn't served in perfect condition. The pub itself isn't the most salubrious but the beer more than makes up for it. I would definitely recommend stopping in there for a pint of something light and hoppy (as the beers there generally are).

As I mentioned before I would really liked to have taken everyone to a few more Huddersfield pubs, particularly The Sportsman, The Star and The Rat and Ratchett. All places deserved of a beer lovers time, but as with the Marble Arch in Manchester, the main attraction on this leg of the Twissup was The Grove at Springwood.

The Grove is a beer lovers paradise. 18 hand pulls, 11 draught fonts and over 230 bottled beers. The pub has permanent hand pulls for some of the UK's best breweries including, Thornbridge, Marble, BrewDog, Gadds, Fullers and Dark Star. I've been spending more and more time in this pub in the last 6months and am always very happy to be spoiled for choice beer wise. I have to be honest and say I used to have a bit of an issue with this pub largely around the fact that they didn't use sparklers even though the pub is slap bang in the middle of northern sparkler country. I do think though that the quality of the beer at The Grove has really improved in the last 12 months and great credit has to be given to Ian, Chloe, Brian and the rest of the team at The Grove for attracting beer lovers from far and wide with their excellent selection of beers.

The Grove had promised to look after us at Twissup and we weren't let down, Thornbridge Halcyon, Moor JJJ, De Molen Blood, Sweat and Tears Bruichladdich cask and Stone Levitation were just four of the beers amongst loads of others I can't remember. It was a great destination and final pub stop for Twissup, and everyone got stuck into the beers with varying degrees of commitment and gusto, (bearing in mind we had been going for around 7 hours). Personally by this point I was doing my best to stay on sessionable beer with a view to not disgracing myself on home ground but remember particularly enjoying the Stone Levitation and Jever pilsner.

As the evening moved on everyone's thoughts turned to food and I was happy to send an advance group a few hundred yards to the excellent Kabana in Trinity Street for their famous BBQ platters which we refer endearingly to as "bin lids" (see the picture for why). This is a great Indian restaurant for hungry drunk people, the food is served without cutlery in a very communal way (basically everyone dives in) which really suited the atmosphere of Twissup and was a great end to the day.

After settling the bill and leaving a few coats we made our way back for a swift nightcap at the Kings Head before people caught there Trains on to where they were staying or back home. I'd had a great day, which again enforced my positive opinions on the people who surround and are part of the beer trade. I'd been pretty apprehensive on attending the first Twissup in Sheffield in January, but just 9 months later many of the people I'd met then are starting to feel like old friends.

Big thanks go to Andy Mogg (beerreviews) and Mark Dredge (pencil&spoon) for doing the majority of the organising for this Twissup, and also Dom (& Janine), James and Colin for the Marble tour and Ian, Chloe, Brian and Staff at the Grove for making us feel so welcome. Oh and of course the Kabana for yet again staining my fingers yellow for the next 24 hours.

I also really enjoyed chatting with - Matt and Mark from Hawkshead, James and Andy from Summer Wine, Rob and Matt from Hopzine, Martin, Steven from Aletalk, Zak Avery, Glynn from the Rake, Kelly (and Cat) and Caolan from Thornbridge, Yan from The Sheffield Tap, Baron Orm, Mark from Realalereviews, Mark beerbirrabier, Leigh Goodstuff, Chris McBride, Edwards80, Dave and Anne from Hardknott Brewery, Cooking Lager, Tandleman, Matt and Karen from The Evening Star and anyone else I missed. Roll on the next one! (apologies for only taking 1 picture on the actual day).

You can buy Marbles excellent range of beers here. And like The Groves excellent Facebook page here.