I need to return to Chicago!

Excepting quality beers from Goose Island and Sierra Nevada, I hadn't tried an American ale for quite a while, neither had I mentioned 'brewsters', as in, women brewers, rather than the brewery with a woman head brewer called Brewsters! Anyhow, I spotted this delightful IPA in Morrisons, and was very glad I bought it! 

Lagunitas IPA (6.2% - website), and here are my brief notes, written immediately: This is a hop monster, incredibly strong fruity citrus aroma and flavour, with a lovely dry bitter finish. Loved it! Then I've read elsewhere and learnt that it does use hops++ (DER!) and quite a lot of comment about the malt in the flavour, but, believe me, it is very subtle, hops dominate.   

Lagunitas appear to be based in California, and in Chicago... Well, the only place I've visited in the USA is Chicago, so let's go with that end of the business, particularly as their head brewer there is a brewster! The beer is very good, the company appear to be owned by Heineken, though Goose Island of Chicago isn't independent anymore either, and Mary Bauer's love of ale and science is infectious (see video). 

Keep on brewing Mary, I look forward to sampling more, cheers!   

Hoppy New Year!

Have an excellent year with plenty of ale, cheers! 

Christmas Drinking...

Well, I did my drinking at the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and on the 24th, the Dolphin had 5 of its 6 ales from Sussex. There was the ever-present regular Dark Star Hophead (3.8%), my usual drink at the Dolphin, and what I drank on Christmas Eve too, and one of the local guests was Franklins Explorer (4.7%), with a deep amber colour, fruity, a bit sweet at first taste, then drying out...      

Of course, there was the regular Sussex Best from Harveys (4%), and the third regular, Youngs Special (4.5%) from north of the Thames; no need to comment on them!  

The other two guest ales were 1648 Gold Angel (5%), a golden bitter, as you'd expect, with a citrus aroma and flavour, and from the excellent newish Sussex brewery, Downlands, their 5% porter Devils Dyke; a reminder of one school trip in my youth, though I didn't drink porter then, we just visited the Devils Dyke.... 

The Devils Dyke and Gold Angel ran out that day, and were replaced by 2 excellent pale hoppy ales I was spoilt with for my Christmas Day lunchtime session, ie the always excellent Oakham Citra (4.2%), pale, hoppy, citrus, just what the Citra hop does for the ale, and I have to admit, all the Oakham ales I have drunk have never disappointed me, quality always!  

 

Finally, from a Swansea brewery I had never sampled an ale from before, the rather superb Waen Mousse Warning! They describe it as "hellish good beer", and it has Citra, Cascade and Centennial hops, so, like a much more fuller bodied Citra, but with a deeper intensity in the flavour, a bit more dry and bitter too, gorgeous!    

Anyway, if I don't write again before, Happy New Year, cheers!

Merry Winter Ales!

The FILO Our Auld Ale, a whopping 6.5% and secondary fermenting, I'd imagine, is on for the third year at their 'brewery tap', the First In Last Out, High Street, Hastings. What can I say that I haven't said in previous years? It's mighty damn good!    

Also, at the Dolphin Inn, Hastings, I recently drank the Kent brewery, Old Dairy, Snow Top, a mere 6%, another excellent winter ale, tasting like a full bodied heavy old ale, as it should. I have drunk other winter/old ales recently, but these two stand out...    

Anyway, have a merry festive season, cheers!

Nice one, West Berkshire Brewery!

Congratulations to David Bruce and West Berkshire Brewery for becoming members of the Worshipful Company of Brewers (website); the Brewers' Company having received their first Royal Charter from Henry VI in 1438. David said that he is "delighted to be invited with Simon Robertson-Macleod to become a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Brewers." 

An Excellent Green Hopped Ale

I wrote a piece for my Hastings blog earlier, as, yesterday, I had finished off the 2 firkins of the excellent Dark Star Green Hopped IPA (6.5%) at the Dolphin Inn, Hastings, Rock-a-Nore Road... Well, I didn't drink the full 18 gallons, but I did have a few pints from both casks, not least the final 2 pints from the second firkin.

As you will probably be aware, a green hopped ale requires fresh hops, ideally, picked on the day of the brew. Dark Star Brewing (website) use "fresh English hops", ie Simcoe, in this very seasonal ale. Yet again, this year, this was an excellent ale, with a deep amber hue and fruity aroma, the taste is fruity, but dry, not particularly sweet, leaving a dry bitter aftertaste, exceptional, indeed, cheers!    

The Hillsborough Hotel - Fit for Business, indeed!

Further to my blog of 2 weeks ago, I can confirm that Tom and Brigitte have well and truly got the show on the road again at The Hillsborough Hotel, 54-58 Langsett Road, Sheffield S6 2UB (Tel: 0114 232 2100 - Twitter link). This was a pub I worked at whilst at university in Sheffield, but under an owner many times removed now. It is an away fan 'friendly' pub, with B&B (6 bedrooms), good locally sourced freshly cooked food, and just 2 tram stops away from Sheffield Wednesday's ground, and easy enough to get to Sheffield United from here by tram or bus too.  

Having cleaned up and refurbished the cellar since taking over, Tom and Brigitte have 6 regularly changing, well conditioned, real ales served from handpump. There is an emphasis on promoting local ales, but they sell ales from further afield too. Today, they have some excellent local ales, from Sheffield and Yorkshire; ie the hoppy citrus flavoured 4.5% Exit 33 Hop Monster (website), 4.0% Wentworth WPA (website), 4.2% White Rose White Dragon, and the 4.3% Great Heck Voodoo Mild (website). From further afield, 4.0% Charnwood Vixen (website), and from Cornwall, the excellent stronger tasting hoppy bitter, the 5.7% Black Flag White Cross IPA (website). 

I look forward to my next visit to Sheffield, cheers!