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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Dark Star – Sunburst

Brewery –          Dark Star

Beer –                  Sunburst

Alcohol –           4.8%

Origin –              Partridge Green, Sussex

Style –                Golden Ale

Season –           Spring

A pale, smooth, lager like ale but do not be forlorn, for its simple looks belie it’s deeper complexity and flavours. 

Sweet honey notes, along with crisp apple creates a tangy sharp sweet nose. Thoroughly refreshing, the sweet tangy flavours continue in the taste controlled by a hefty hoppy punch.

This ale is unusual as it tastes stronger than it actually is. The flavours are deep, decisive, and bold; far more intense than some other hop driven and carbonated golden ales.

The finish is bitter long, smooth, and satisfying.

Great Ale, Great Brewery… Join the Dark Side!

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Fischer – Ambree Reserve

Brewery –           Fischer

Beer –                  Ambree Reserve

Alcohol –            6.3%

Origin –              Strasbourg, France

Style –                 Amber Ale

Season –            All Year Round

Spied this beauty on my 1st visit to Sandbach’s wonderful ‘Beer Emporium’. Comes in a stylish swing top bottle, embossed motifs, and at 6.3 cl (630ml to us in the UK) it’s a chunky and solid bottle of fun.

If the bottle is beautiful, then what’s inside is absolutely stunning. 

A Dark amber orange brew, silky and still and luminescent.  It has a deep hoppy nose, uncommon for the more continental brews, but also holds a slight vanilla sweetness which gives a depth and roundness to the aroma.

Wait for the foamy mountainous white head to settle before taking the first anticipated swig, unless you can’t wait, and don’t mind a face full of froth!

A good amount of alcohol flavour wraps around the mouth, but this is accentuated by spicy notes of ginger and nutmeg, and a sweet aromatic orange fruitiness, continuing through a long soft sweet finish.

This beer would be great as a finishing accompaniment to a nice warm bread and butter pudding; certainly a dessert ale!

Sweet, Spicy, Strong, and Satisfying, with a funky bottle to boot!

I cannot suggest you try this enough!

 

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Blueball – Frambozen

Brewery –          Blueball Brewery

Beer –                  Frambozen

Alcohol –          4.3%

Origin –             Runcorn, Cheshire

Style –                Fruit Wheat Beer

Season –           Summer

On our first visit to Kash Bar my wife chose a pint of Frambozen beer. Again usually fruit beers are served in small bottles or half glasses, but true to form, Kash give a frothy cool crisp full pint of Heaven!

Pink, pearlescent, cloudy, and luminescent; this beer is stunningly different looking, with a bubbling white, overflowing head.

The nose is sweet, with summer fruit raspberrys and white chocolate.

The mouthfeel is really smooth for a fruity wheat beer; uncarbonated, with the Blueball tang always tingling the tongue.

Notes of sugary pear and orchard scents, compliment the strong raspberry flavours, ending with a slightly hoopy dry raspberry finish.

This beer is incredibly fruity but wonderfully smooth. It feels like a cross between a wheat beer, a fruit beer and a mild, with wonderful intense fruit flavours, intensely Summery and drinkable but with an inherent smoothness mildness.

Weird, wonderful, and delightfully different.

 

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Blue Ball – Oor Bonnie

Brewery –          BlueBall Brewery         

Beer –                 Oor Bonnie

Alcohol –          5.0%

Origin –             Runcorn, Cheshire

Style –               Scottish 80 Shilling

Please be aware that this is a review of the bottled Oor Bonnie and will therefore differ from the cask due to the higher ABV and the conditioning of the ale.

Having tried the Eine Kleine Kolsch last week I thought I’d see what other delights BlueBall brewery had to offer. I was looking to get Spanked at Chester Beer & Wine (get a bottle of Spank beer, another BlueBall ale) but they did not have any in so I thought I’d give this a go.

The brew is a deep, robust, and vibrant red, with a soft white head.

Tangy and sweet on the nose

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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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Phoenix – Massacre

Brewery –          Phoenix Brewery

Beer –                  Massacre

Alchohol –        4.5%

Origin –             Heywood, Lancashire

Style –               Golden Ale

Season –           Spring / Summer

I strongly suggest that you get Massacred! Tried this in the Bear & Billet in Chester after a few beers, and whilst beer seems to get better the more you have, this truly blew my mind.

Golden, creamy, and a rich virbrant colouring, much like Batemans – Combined Harvest, this beer has honey sweet, and jammy / marmalade notes.

Wonderfully moorish and suprisingly easy drinking for a beer with such robust sweet flavours.

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Batemans – Combined Harvest

Brewery –          Batemans

Beer –                 Combined Harvest (Multigrain Beer)

Alcohol –         4.7%

Origin –            Lincolnshire, England   

Style –              Golden Ale

Season –         Summer / Early Autumn

I came across this beer on the discount section in Morrisons. I think it must have been delivered with the other Batemans beers they sell (XXXB, Victory Ale, Dark Lord) by mistake.

Down to 99p for the bottle I thought I’d give it a try and wow was I glad I did!

This beer is a true must try. Burnt Amber in colour with an off white head, this beer is beautifully aromatic and fragrant.

Marzipan and almondy on the nose, jammy, honey and resiny notes on the palate, with a hoppy back bone, and leading to a long sweet finish.

Incredibly easy drinking, and wonderfully different, a great accompaniment to warm British deserts like bread & butter pudding, jam roly-poly, and apple crumble!

What a stunner!

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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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