Beer of the Week (w/e 20th July 2014)

[ROBCamra]

Real Ale Ray: Blue Bee Hyphen
Bucking Fastard: Blue Bee Hyphen
Mobyduck: Siren Craft Undercurrent
Aqualung: Dancing Duck Dark Drake
hondo: Williams Brothers Joker IPA
Thuck Phat: Kelham Island Pale Rider
oldboots: Blue Monkey Infinity
london calling: Adnams/Alchemist Enraptured
aleandhearty: Tigertops New Wave IPA
Wittenden: Yorkshire Dales Buttertubs
ROBCamra: Black Wolf ROK IPA

[Real Ale Ray]

Blue Bee - Hyphen

[Bucking Fastard]

Two crawls in one week so a decent selection.

Acorn -- Gorlovka
Wharfbank -- Tether Blonde
Blue Bee -- Hyphen
Stancill -- Barnsley Bitter
Roosters -- Yankee
Imperial -- Pithead Bitter
Sheffield -- Bianco Blonde
Great Heck -- Black Jesus
Ashover -- Milk Stout
Fyne -- Jarl
Triple fff -- Citra Sonic
Wickwar -- Bob
Box Steam -- Tunnel Vision
Mordue -- Northumbrian Blonde
Stroud -- Budding
Oakham -- Inferno
Diageo -- Guiness
Buxton -- Moor Top
Sharp's -- Doom Bar

I'm with Ray on this ,BOTW goes to an excellent Blue Bee Hyphen in the impressive Dog and Partridge on Will's 60th crawl around Sheffield.I will keep an eye out for this brewery in future if they are capable of brewing such a fine pint.

[Mobyduck]

A few interesting beers this week, most courtesy of my local beer festival.

Darkstar - Hophead 3.8%
Darkstar - American Pale Ale 4.7%
Langham - Hip Hop 4.0%
Siren Craft - Undercurrent4.5%
Alfreds - Winchester Pale 4.5%
Brightwater - Daisy Gold 4.0
Sherfield Village - Pilgrim 4.3%
Flowerpots - Stormchaser 4.5%
Itchen Valley - Belgarum 3.9%
Tillingbourne - Evolution No-4 4.5%
Downton - Apple Blossom 4.3%
Longdog - Kismet 4.5%
Hoptimist - Glass Half Full 4.0%
West Berks -Bruce's Original Dogbolter 6.0%

The best beer by far though comes from my favourite brewery from the last year, BOTW Siren Craft Brew - Undercurrent.
" Pale Ale with spicy,grassy aromas and a taste of grapefruit and Apricot. Undercurrent is part pale ,part oats and part caramel barley. Her swirls of bold, bready and nutty malt whirl into a concoction of spicy, citrus, floral hops. Mystery lurks in those cascade and palisade hops. Her silky , creamy body will pull you under".

I don't know about all that tosh but it was bloody good.

[Aqualung]

A trip to Derby yesterday provided some excellent pints, nearly all of which were new to me :-

Leatherbritches Lemongrass & Ginger 3.8%
Dancing Duck Ay Up / Ey Up 3.9%
Dancing Duck Waitangi 4.0%
Brunswick Railway Porter 4.3%
Falstaff Nemesis 4.3%
Funfair Waltzer 4.5%
Dancing Duck Dark Drake 4.5%
Burton Bridge Hooray Henley 4.5%
Leeds Midnight Bell 4.8%
Brodie's Old Street Pale 5.0%
Everard's Original 5.2%
Derby Brewery Indian Ink 5.2%
Fat Cat Marmalade Cat 5.5%
Dancing Duck Abduction 5.6%
Backyard X2 7.4%

Only two of these didn't appeal too much, the Funfair Waltzer and the Burton Bridge Hooray Henley. The Waltzer was too sweet and with Burton Bridge I'd forgotten a golden rule from a long time ago when their beers were stocked by Spoons, to avoid all their 4.5% one off brews as they were really boring.

The choice is between two Dancing Duck beers, the Abduction although not called one is an IPA in the new tradition and the Dark Drake which is a lovely full flavoured mid ABV porter, although the GBG calls it an Oatmeal Stout.

BOTW Dancing Duck Dark Drake

[hondo]

Williams Brothers - Joker IPA keg

[Thuck Phat]

A very quiet week with just Oakham Bishops Farewell and BOTW Kelham Island Pale Rider sampled. Quality not quantity and I'd forgotten quite how good the Pale Rider is when in good shape.

[oldboots]

Another heavy week with a trip to Newark (an unexpectedly good drinking town)

Atom - Pale Ale
Rat - White Rat
Rat - Ratatouille
Roosters - Italian Job
Lincoln Green - Misk Hills
Tring - Wild Boar
Blue Monkey - BG Sips
Blue Monkey - Infinity
Castle Rock - Harvest Pale
Oakham - Green Devil IPA
Oakham - Bishop's Farewell
Oldershaw - Castle Blonde
Acorn - Old Moor Porter
???? - Barnsley Bitter*
Old Mill - 3 Rivers
Partners - Blonde
Rudgate - Viking
Rudgate - Brew #7
Taylors - Landlord
Adnams (The Alchemist Brewery of Vermont) - Enraptured

BOTW a very close thing but Blue Monkey - Infinity just beats the Green Devil

* this had an handwritten pump clip with no brewery name, it certainly wasn't the Acorn beer but did taste uncannily like Theakstons Best Bitter.

[london calling]

Over Twenty beers to choose from this week. Enjoyed were
hopcraft - ?
tickety brew -pale ale
firebrand -saison
Brecon -copper beacons
Camden -hells lager
fallen -dragonfly
clouded minds-dolca vita (again)
weird beard -fade to black
clouded minds -clout stout
arbor -dr bomb
and BOTW was
arbor -half day ipa

[london calling]

Over Twenty beers to choose from this week. Enjoyed were
hopcraft - ?
tickety brew -pale ale
firebrand -saison
Brecon -copper beacons
Camden -hells lager
fallen -dragonfly
clouded minds-dolca vita (again)
weird beard -fade to black
clouded minds -clout stout
arbor -dr bomb
and BOTW was
arbor -half day ipa
I lost my notebook when out last Monday and had to remember what beers I drank and missed a stoater.Old boots post has just reminded me
BOTW is now
Adnams/alchemist-enraptured. Sorry Arbor maybe next time.

[aleandhearty]

???? - Barnsley Bitter*

BOTW a very close thing but Blue Monkey - Infinity just beats the Green Devil

* this had an handwritten pump clip with no brewery name, it certainly wasn't the Acorn beer but did taste uncannily like Theakstons Best Bitter.

Suspect the Barnsley Bitter might have been brewed by Stancills. See here: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/main-topics/local-stories/no-need-to-be-bitter-over-lost-beer-1-6458120

That Infinity must be good stuff, Green Devil was my BOTY, last year.

[aleandhearty]

Middling week for me, unfortunately missing out on my Sunday afternoon wander round town.

Rat - White Rat.*
Potbelly - Captain Pigwash.*
North Cotswold - Cotswold Best.
Abbeydale - Absolution.
Abbeydale - Redemption.
Great Newsome - Jems Stout.
Itchen Valley - Citra Hop.*
Tigertops - New Wave IPA. *
Five Towns - Niamhs Nemesis.*
Hanlons - Copper Glow.
Wentworth - Oyster Stout.*
Rudgate - Brew No.7.
Wentworth - Gold.
Fernandes - Centaur.*

Easy winner this week was the New Wave IPA, which was exactly what it said on the tin: a very hop forward IPA, with an incredible long finish. Another beauty from Tigertops. It's such a low key operation, that it's very difficult to find out any additional info about the beers.

[Wittenden]

Rutland,Yorkshire,Lincolnshire:
Grainstore -Ten Fifty: 5%abv-Old school malty bittersweet strong bitter.An actual and spiritual descendant of Ruddles County.
Theakston-Lightfoot:4.1%abv-lightish goldenish bitter.Some pepper at the end.Too cold.
Theakston-Old Peculier:5.65abv-dark and nourishing, but thinner than before.Too cold.
Pennine (Bedale)-Best Bitter:3.9%abv. Described as Brown Ale on clip. Brownish, ardent, then mellowed to caramelised blackcurrants.
Yorkshire Dales-Buttertubs:3.7%abv-pale and citrussy, gorse bushes yet very approacheable.
Poachers-Shytalk Pale Ale:3.7%abv-insubstantial.Silly pump clip.
My BOTW-Yorkshire Dales Buttertubs.Very approacheable and drinkable.Pushing 5 star. Taken at the wonderful Farmers Arms, Muker.

[ROBCamra]

Same brewery as last week for me Black Wolf, although this time it's going to be their ROK IPA.

It's a cracking good beer, but at 4% it's probably not really an IPa whatever they choose to call it. :cheers: