Purple Moose – Ysgawen

Brewery –          Purple Moose

Beer –                 Ysgawen (Elderflower Beer)

Origin –              Porthmadog

ABV-                  4.0%

Style –                Fruit Beer

Season –            Spring

Now I’ve got to be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of fruit beers. Personally, I believe them to be a bit of a gimic, a hype, a fad, and above all most of them don’t taste beery enough!

But with it being warm outside and having never tried an elderflower beer a go I thought I’d buy one and see what it had to offer.

To be honest it wasn’t my cup of tea as it was a bit sweet, almost like a pear cider. Soft floral, and still.

The Elderflower flavours are quite obvious from the initial swig, but an oddly developing mint flavour soon wraps around the tongue. Offset against the natural bitterness of the hops it tingles the tongue which is oddly addictive.

The finish is like a sweet white wine, it coats the tongue and the taste lingers for an extraordinary amount of time.

I would describe this as a desert beer. It’s sweet, clean, fresh, and fruity. Not one of my favourites but if you’re looking to try all of what beer has to offer it’s certainly worth a go.

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Quantum Brewing Co. – Pale Ale

Brewery –          Quantum Brewing Company

Beer –                 Pale Ale

ABV –                 4.5%

Origin –              Stockport, England

Style –                IPA

Season –            Summer

Summer Evenings are the time for big hoppy ales to quench the thirst and excite the tongue, and Quantum’s Pale does the trick!

What first drew my attention to this ale was the fact that the hops that go in each batch are different and are chosen by followers on twitter! Ooooh how novel! But seriously engaging the drinker in decisions regarding the beer is genius! No wonder they claim to be innovative on the bottle!

This particular batch has Maryanka, Celeia, Chinook, Cluster, and Perle hops as it’s make up, but what matters most is that there’s a hell of a lot of them.

The nose is rife with them, floral yet crisp with hints of tropical fruits.

The heavy hop content give this beer all you’d expect of a good IPA. Robust bitterness contrasted by sweet passionfruit, fresh and invigorating. Not death by hops like other ales but not sweet and sickly. A far more balanced grown up IPA, and a 4.5% it’s not going to ruin your weekend! The finish has a developing bitterness that lingers, but it’s dry and cider like.

Slightly cloudy, bright, brilliant, fresh and inviting, a great ale, flavoursome but not daft and overdone.

 

 

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Marble – Dobber

Brewery –          Manchester Marble

Beer –                  Dobber

Alcohol –           5.9%

Origin –              Manchester, England

Style –                I.P.A

Season –           Summer

I know what you’re thinking… 5.9%,  IPA,   Central Northern English Brewery…. Yes my friends it’s another Jaipur challenger!

Looks the part with its orange amber colouring and hazy glow, topped off by its lively white frothy head.

Scents of Lily’s and other floral notes give it a light and airy nose. Hoppy undertones and sweet passionfruit help give it the extra depth.

A decent amount of carbonation give this ale a fresh, zesty, and lively mouthfeel balanced by its bitter hoppy backbone. Intense grapefruit, is a welcoming contrast to the sweet tropical fruit notes.

The finish is extremely bitter, to the extent that it provides almost a minty numbness leaving you begging for the next swig.

Solid, Satisfying, Thirst Quenching, Exciting, and packed full of flavour.

Jaipur or Dobber… it’s too close to call! Let me know which is your favourite?! 

 

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Shepherd Neame – Celebration Ale

Brewery –           Shepherd Neame

Beer –                   Celebration Ale

Alcohol –            4.0%

Origin –               Faversham, Kent

Style –                Golden Ale

Season –            Spring

Having had a few beers, when the wife nipped down to the local off licence I asked her to get a couple of beers for me, certainly not expecting much from the fags and booze late corner shop.

She came back with a Green King IPA (boring) but then pulled this gem out of the bag.

The fact that I’d never heard of the beer, despite it being a Shepherd Neame, immediately got my attention.

The usual Shepherd Neame characteristics were there dark amber, hoppy, reliably satisfying; however this beer is softer, smoother, more quaffable, and surprisingly refreshing for a hoppy ale.

Deeply hoppy on the nose but not pungent, it has a sweet aromatic hoppy backbone. A developing bitterness gives a great deal of satisfaction after the beer has long gone.

Fresh, Hoppy, Clean, a great beer to clean the palate between courses.

Definately one for the HopHead

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Budvar – Yeast Beer

 

Brewery –          Budvar

Beer –                 Krouzkovany-lezak (Yeast Beer)

Alcohol –          5%

Origin –             Czech Republic

Style –               Lager

Season –           Spring / Summer

I’m certainly not known for being a lager fan but I’d like to set the record straight. It’s not the style that’s the issue, it’s the mass production, which leads to lack of care and attention, poor flavour, over carbonated… you get my drift.

This lager caught my attention whilst looking on Artichoke Restaurant in Chester’s website, where some kind soul had made special mention of this lager which they’d managed to get a few barrels of, and used the phrase ‘come and try it before it runs out’

This is one hell of a good lager; in fact the best lager I’ve ever tasted!

And  as it’s just 5 minute walk from my house, and the bar is child friendly, I get to take the little one along.  Just as the Geordie’s call Newcastle Brown Ale, “Dog” (walking the dog was their excuse to go get a pint), I think I’ll call his lager Henry, and I’ll certainly be taking my little boy Henry for a walk this afternoon!

Now I don’t usually go into details as to how certain beers are made but as this extra process in its production makes such a different I thought I’d let you all know;

Taken from the BudweiserBudvar website http://www.budweiserbudvar.co.uk/EXCLUSIVELY-ON-DRAUGHT

“Budvar Yeast Beer is the unpasteurised version of Budvar Original, encapsulating all the same taste cues and as fresh as if it were being drunk at the brewery tap

It’s brewed with the same care and patience as ORIGINAL,has the same ABV of 5% and uses the same ingredients in a 100 day brewing cycle.

The big difference is that being unpasteurised with extra yeast cells being added by hand at the last stage of the brewing process, Budvar Yeast is a brew of almost worldly freshness and purity”

Now my blurb!

Budvar Yeast is beautifully crisp, clear, lightly carbonated (hooray) and has a frothy, clean bubbly white head.

Fresh is the word to describe it’s taste. Cut grass, sweet, refreshing, crisp; like sinking a pint of Spring.

Far from having a bitter, tinny finish like many lagers, Budvar Yeast has a sweet lasting and smoother finish, leaving you longing for the next swig.

Calling this a premium lager would not do it justice. Platinum Lager, Royal Lager, Mega Lager… it’s certainly a cut above the rest.

I stongly suggest you hunt this lager out… In fact visit http://www.budweiserbudvar.co.uk/EXCLUSIVELY-ON-DRAUGHT any pray you’re near one of the few pubs that are selling it!

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Anchor – Liberty Ale

Brewery –           Anchor Brewing Co.

Beer –                  Liberty Ale

Alcohol –            5.9%

Origin –              San Fransisco, California

Style –                American IPA

Season –            Summer

A beautifully cloudy American IPA, Citrusy Orang Bouquet, Fresh and Enticing.

Zingy Lemony on the Tongue with a honey undertone, leading to a bitter-sweet finish.

American IPA’s tend to have a very floral citrusy backbone, and this is no exception. A great beer for a Summers night, full of flavour.

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