Beer of the Week (w/e 12th May 2013)

[ROBCamra]

Mobyduck: Dark Star Revelation
london calling: Sharp's Black Rock IPA
trainman: East London Brewing Jamboree
Oggwyn Trench: Coach House Honey Pot
Wittenden: Farrier's Arms 1606
Bucking Fastard: Falstaff Plato Mild
Real Ale Ray: Oakham JHB
Thuck Phat: Oakham Bishops Farewell
aleandhearty: Red Squirrel Hopfest
Aqualung: Windsor and Eton Conqueror Black IPA
ROBCamra: Welbeck Abbey Henrietta Grande

[Mobyduck]

Its been all Darkstar this week,
Genesis
Revelation
Hophead
American Pale Ale

The winner this week is the nice but rather dangerous Revelation.

[london calling]

lots of dark beers this week inc
xt -pi mild
glastonbury -black as yer at
binghams -smiled
greenjack -albion mild
but my fav was
sharps black rock ipa

[trainman]

East London Brewing: Jamboree

Sampled yesterday at the splendid, new-to-me, Barley Mow (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/22162/), where the line-up also included Maldon Gold and Darkstar APA.
Shame the rest of the day didn't pan out quite so well...

[Oggwyn Trench]

Bad planning this week means only two pubs visited :(

Coach House - Honey Pot
Coach House - Cheshire Gold
Wye Valley - Butty Bach

BOTW Coach House - Honey Pot

[Maldenman]

East London Brewing: Jamboree

Sampled yesterday at the splendid, new-to-me, Barley Mow (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/22162/), where the line-up also included Maldon Gold and Darkstar APA.
Shame the rest of the day didn't pan out quite so well...

Hmm, commiserations JB, felt the same last week after our play-off exit to a park team. Wigan were Alty's big rivals in the Northern Premier League when I first started watching them!

[Wittenden]

Two great Kentish bitters:
Farrier's Arms-1606: a 3.7abv session bitter-mid brown,rich malt and a long bitter finish.
Goacher's-House Ale:3.8abv.Earthy and peppery, my kind of beer.
Two fine beers that I could have drunk all night, but unfortunately reality got in the way.
My BOTW-Farrier's Arms 1606: a beer from a micro that I hadn't tried before, and which wasn't indiscriminately stuffed with random hops.

[Bucking Fastard]

A bit of variety during a half decent week.

Navigation - Gold
Timothy Taylor - Ram Tam
Timothy Taylor - Golden Best
Copper Dragon - Golden Pippin
Tetley - Bitter
Falstaff - Plato MILD
Dark Star - American Pale Ale (3 pint test passed with flying colours)
Dark Star - Revelation
Titanic - Nautical Mild (wont please purists,very bitter finish)


BOTW goes to Falstaff Plato Mild,the 4.4% helped give it a bit more body and drinking it in the Royal Oak,Ockbrook only added to the enjoyment.Not far from M1 J25 and in the running for POTM if you will excuse me going off topic for a second.

[Real Ale Ray]

Oakham - JHB

[Thuck Phat]

Oakham Bishops Farewell

[aleandhearty]

Decent week for me, boosted by a flying visit to London. Came across a couple of breweries and a handful of beers I'd not tried before. This week's contenders:

Old Bear - Goldilocks.
Sam Smiths - OBB.
Fernandes - Simcoe.
Ossett - Northern Lights.
Goose Eye - Over & Stout.
Partners - Tabatha.
Liverpool Organic - Jade.
Oldershaw - Grantham Dark MILD.
Whittlebury - Golden Vale.
Nottingham - Rock MILD.
Brains Craft - Gold Coaster.
Red Squirrel - Hopfest.
Windsor & Eton - Conqueror.
ELB - Nightwatchman.
Harveys - Sussex BB.
Sambrook's - Pale Ale.
Roosters - Wild Mule.
Saltaire - Blackthroat IPA.
Roosters - Cream.

An easy winner this week. The Red Squirrel Hopfest was on fine form at The Tabard, W4, on Friday night.

[Aqualung]

Another good week for me :-

Hook Norton Hooky Gold 4.1%
Milestone Loxley Ale 4.2%
East London Brewing Co Nightwatchman 4.5%
Turner's Ruby Mild 4.6%
Woodforde's Nelson's Revenge 4.6%
Mauldon's Blackberry Porter 4.8%
East London Brewing Co Jamboree 4.8%
Ringwood Fortyniner 4.9%
Cotleigh Osprey 5.0%
Dark Star Festival Ale 5.0%
Windsor and Eton Conqueror Black IPA 5.0%
Brodie's Old Street Pale 5.0%
Brodie's Mosaic Pale 5.0%
Welton's Old Harry 5.2%
Marston's Old Empire 5.7%
Welton's Persian Princess 6.0%
London Fields Shoreditch Triangle 6.0%
Brodie's Dalston Black (Keykeg) 7.0%
Brodie's Big Mofo Stout (Keykeg) 10.5%

There are four contenders Comqueror Black IPA, Persian Princess (a coffee flavoured porter), the Shoreditch Triangle (a strong red ale) and the Big Mofo Stout. The W&E Black IPA gets it, as much because I really like this type of beer than anything else. This was £2.45 in the Rayner's Lane Village Inn Spoons.

BOTW Windsor and Eton Conqueror Black IPA

[aleandhearty]

BOTW Windsor and Eton Conqueror Black IPA

My No.2 this week. Definitely one of the better Black IPAs out there.

[Wittenden]

My No.2 this week. Definitely one of the better Black IPAs out there.

Quite enjoyed this one, but didn't really understand the concept:if it's black it should be rich and comforting, not a glass of hop tea!

[Aqualung]

Quite enjoyed this one, but didn't really understand the concept:if it's black it should be rich and comforting, not a glass of hop tea!

To me variety is the important thing. that's entirely the point of the Black IPAs in that they are more like a dry stout than a porter.

The Welton's Persian Princess I tried last Saturday tasted like it was a short measure that had been topped up from a bottle of Camp Coffee. I enjoyed it a lot, but I'm not sure about the three pint test! The clip calls it a Coffee Porter but Perfect Pint calls is a stout. It's definitely not a "normal" pint.

[ROBCamra]

Welbeck Abbey Henrietta Grande tried in The Baum (where else?). :rolleyes:

Light and hoppy, but definitely not a hop bomb, very pleasant.

Not a single solitary beer tried at Halifax Beer Festival was even close to winning although a couple in The Three Pigeons afterwards were in with a chance.:cheers: