Beer of the Week (w/e 15th December 2013)

[ROBCamra]

hondo: Pilot Vienna Pale
Real Ale Ray: Bowland Sawley Tempted
Bucking Fastard: Oakham Bishops Farewell
Aqualung: Bingham Vanilla Stout
Mobyduck: Portobello American Pale Ale
Wittenden: Surrey Hills Shere Drop
Thuck Phat: Fat Cat Marmalade Cat
aleandhearty: Fernandes Simcoe
ROBCamra: Hop Studio York
trainman: Hawkshead NZPA

[hondo]

Pilot Brewery -Vienna Pale

[Real Ale Ray]

Bowland - Sawley Tempted

[Bucking Fastard]

Modest on the beer front,less so on the wine in a few London bars :o

Purity -- Mad Goose (3PT)
Mauldons -- Blackberry Porter
Abbeydale -- Deception
Titanic -- Nautical Mild
Oakham -- Bishops Farewell


BOTW goes to Oakham Bishops Farewell a regular and in great nick in The Merchants,still IMHO the best real ale pub in Rugby.


Next week is going to be large ,annual pilgrimage to The Old Fountain,the Hertford pub crawl and then some footie to top things off.

[Aqualung]

A fair selection this week :-



Marble Pint 3.9%
WJ King Poachers Moon 4.0%
Bath Gem 4.1%
Wychwood Bah Humbug 4.3%
Harvey's Old Ale 4.3%
Jenning's Red Breast 4.5%
Clouded Minds Hazelnut Porter 4.5%
Portobello Market Porter 4.6%
Brodie's Old Street IPA 5.0%*
Dark Star Coconut Porter 5.0%
Arundel Trident 5.0%
Clarence & Frederick's Oatmeal Milk Stout 5.0%*
Bingham Vanilla Stout 5.0%*
O' Hanlon's Goodwill Bitter 5.0%
Brentwood Jolly Decent Wallop 5.2%
Thornbridge Jaipur IPA 5.9%*
Everard / Devil's Backbone IPA 5.9%*
Triple fff I Can't Remember Porter 6.0%*
Harvey's Christmas Ale 7.5%

Several good ones this week and the contenders have a star beside them. The Dark Star Coconut Porter is not included as I'm not really sure if it works although I found it easy enough to drink. The Bingham Vanilla Stout just gets it. It was £2.45 in the Moon on the Hill at Sutton. Vanilla seems to be a good ingredient for dark beers as ELB Orchid Mild also uses it to great effect.


BOTW Bingham Vanilla Stout

[Mobyduck]

A fairly sparse and poor week consisting mainly of boring brown beer.
Langhams Halfway To Heaven
Wadsworth 6x
Theakston's Best Bitter
Buttcombe Bitter
Blacksheep Ale

To be fair the Buttcombe and Blacksheep were in good nick and drinkable for a couple of pints
the rest were very bland, but the week was saved by my BOTW
Portobello American Pale Ale a beer with some good flavour.

[Wittenden]

[QUOTE=Mobyduck;60691]
Wadsworth 6x


[/QUOTE
Wadworth's 6X-that was my beer epiphany when I was about 17, even though I was raised on Fremlins. I haven't tried it in years, not going to the West, and not beleiving it travels well.

[Mobyduck]

[QUOTE=Mobyduck;60691]
Wadsworth 6x


[/QUOTE
Wadworth's 6X-that was my beer epiphany when I was about 17, even though I was raised on Fremlins. I haven't tried it in years, not going to the West, and not beleiving it travels well.
Its no where near as good as I remember it 20 years or more ago,however my tastes have changed dramatically over the years and spoilt for choice nowadays although not much this week. :(

[Wittenden]

Surrey and southwest London:
Pilgrim-Progress Best Bitter (4%abv):Tawny, fruity,moreish best bitter.
Tillingbourne-Falls Gold (4.2%abv):Another not very assertive golden ale from a brewery new to me.Some hops in there somewhere.
Surrey Hills-Shere Drop (4.2%abv) : Hops forward, with some luscious malt.A Surrey stalwart.
Fuller, Smith and Turner- Bengal Lancer (5%abv): Amber, long lasting head, peppery hops. A bit loose.I preferred the bottled version.
All these taken at the Merry Harriers, Hambledon. my BOTW-Surrey Hills-Shere Drop.

[Thuck Phat]

From the following:

Purity - Mad Goose
Mauldons - Blackberry Porter
Tollgate - TGL
Fat Cat - Marmalade Cat
Downton - Winter Solstice
Abbeydale - Snow Job
Oakham - Bishops Farewell

The Bishops was, as ever, excellent and the Snow Job very good but BOTW goes to Fat Cat - Marmalade Cat. A well balanced, palish bitter colour with a gently bitter finish. Far too easy to drink at 5.5%.

[aleandhearty]

Another quiet week for me, not helped by my virtually teetotal father-in-law staying for the weekend!

Fernandes - Simcoe.
Fernandes - American Pale.
Rat - Black Rat.
Burton Bridge - Top Dog Stout.
Bradfield - Bombs Gone.

Easy winner was the Simcoe.

[ROBCamra]

BOTW is from Hop Studio, the slightly strangely named York.

OK they're from York (or more correctly Elvington)
but most of the amateurs that have been to The Baum this week (and there's been a lot) think it's brewed by York Brewery.

Anyway, it's a brown 4% bitter which is very bitter, very bitter indeed.

I didn't like it after the first mouthful, but then had 3 pints.:cheers:

That's also why I don't think tasters work by the way.

[trainman]

Hawkshead NZPA (6%), contrasting very well with a slow-burn chocolate chilli porter whose provenance I have unfortunately mislaid.
Tried at Clapham Craft (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/24513/) last Weds - the latest of the chain and very nice to have space to stand & chat at the bar for a couple of hours; takes me back...

[london calling]

Hawkshead NZPA (6%), contrasting very well with a slow-burn chocolate chilli porter whose provenance I have unfortunately mislaid.
Tried at Clapham Craft (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/24513/) last Weds - the latest of the chain and very nice to have space to stand & chat at the bar for a couple of hours; takes me back...

Could have been Magic Rock -chipotle punchline. Too much chillie for my liking.cheers john

[trainman]

Could have been Magic Rock -chipotle punchline. Too much chillie for my liking.cheers john
Thanks John, yes it had 'chipotle' on the clip somewhere. Chilli started slow but crept up on me, the NZPA stood up to it though.