Beer of the Week (w/e 21st June 2015)

[ROBCamra]

Mobyduck: St Austell Proper Job
Aqualung: Kent Berry Mild Porter
london calling: Siren Craft Mums the Word
Wittenden: Dark Star Hophead
Bucking Fastard: Dark Star American Pale Ale
Real Ale Ray: North Cotswold Yawnie
Thuck Phat: Blue Monkey Marmalape
aleandhearty: Magic Rock Rapture
ROBCamra: Hart Harts Citra

[Mobyduck]

Quite slack this week,
Darksatar Hophead and APA
Portobello Summer Pale and Westway Pale
Itchen Valley QED
But by far the best and most enjoyable was..
St Austell Proper Job, A worthy BOTW.

[Aqualung]

A day in Manchester produced some nice if ridiculously expensive beers but the winner came from the One Inn The Wood micropub in Petts Wood.


Portobello Westway Pale Ale 4.0%
Brodie's Amarillo 4.2%*
Backyard Dandelion & Burdock Porter 4.2%*
Long Man Copper Hop 4.2%*
Kissingate Black Cherry Mild 4.2%*
Taylor's Landlord 4.3%
Loddon Green Bullet 4.6%
Dunscar Best Bitter 4.1%
King Red River 4.8%
Old Dairy Blue Top 4.8%
Kent Berry Mild Porter 4.8%*
Northern Alchemy UK Hopped 4.9%
Kelham Island Miami 5.0%*
Blackjack Stout 5.0%*
Hambledon Nightmare 5.0%
Marble Lagonda IPA 5.0%*
Thornbridge Kipling 5.2%*
Buxton Gold 5.2%*
Redwillow Sleepless 5.4%*
Thornbridge Jaipur IPA 5.9%*
Phoenix Wobbly Bob 6.0%
Brodie's Hoxton Special (keykeg) 6.6%*


The winner is the Kent Berry Mild Porter. This is a brew along similar lines to the excellent Titanic Plum Porter but I think it's better as the berry fruits give it a sharpness. Kent brewery is becoming one of my favourites,


BOTW Kent Berry Mild Porter

[london calling]

Siren can really do great beers and their Mums the Word -a cherry chilli milk porter was probably the best beer I have had this year.
also worth a mention were three Mallinson beers.Pale and hoppy as usual.
spa 9
real deal
baby simcoe
and two beers from Ansbach and Hobday rarely found on cask
smoked brown
best bitter

[Wittenden]

One of the birthplaces of cricket:
Dark Star-Hophead 3.8%abv: Dunno if they've changed the recipe:this tasted more tropically fruity than I remember, and a notch less tooth raspingly astringent. Perhaps more to my taste!

[Bucking Fastard]

A poor week,but a sensible calm before the storm.

Dark Star -- American Pale Ale*
Tring -- Moongazer *

I enjoyed the Tring beer but BOTW goes to Dark Star American Pale Ale on fine form in the Old Cross Tavern ,Hertford .A present for fathers day well received.

Next week is the start of a weeks booze cruise so expect a much longer list and a very late submission.Should be quality ale all the way :nishelypished:

[Real Ale Ray]

North Cotswold - Yawnie

[Thuck Phat]

All quality this week:

Blue Monkey Ape Ale*
Blue Monkey Marmalape*
Hop Back Summer Lightening*
Oakham Bishops Farewell*

BOTW Blue Monkey Marmalape. Another winner from a reliable brewery which looks like a BBB. It isn't.

[ROBCamra]

A day in Manchester produced some nice if ridiculously expensive beers but the winner came from the One Inn The Wood micropub in Petts Wood.


Judging by your reviews so far you weren't in Manchester really you were in Chorlton which is one of Manchester's most expensive suburbs. ;)

[Aqualung]

Judging by your reviews so far you weren't in Manchester really you were in Chorlton which is one of Manchester's most expensive suburbs. ;)

It's all Manchester and the Frozen North to me!! How does that work anyway? People don't go to Kentish Town or Putney and say they are not really in London.
At least the beer quality was good apart from the Port Street Beer House which was a complete joke.
if I go to Manchester again I'll find an area full of Holt's pubs and / or Spoons.

[ROBCamra]

It's all Manchester and the Frozen North to me!! How does that work anyway? People don't go to Kentish Town or Putney and say they are not really in London.
At least the beer quality was good apart from the Port Street Beer House which was a complete joke.
if I go to Manchester again I'll find an area full of Holt's pubs and / or Spoons.

Chorlton cum Hardy was a totally separate small town until Manchester swamped it.

No-one in Chorlton thinks they live in Manchester.

There's a JDW in Chorlton The Sedge Lynn (JD Wetherspoon) (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/56290/). Pretty good it is too. :cheers:

[Aqualung]

Chorlton cum Hardy was a totally separate small town until Manchester swamped it.

No-one in Chorlton thinks they live in Manchester.



You could say that about most places in London but nobody in the old LCC area has any silly delusions like that.




There's a JDW in Chorlton The Sedge Lynn (JD Wetherspoon) (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/56290/). Pretty good it is too. :cheers:

Indeed, it was very welcome relief from the rip-off bars. It was only let down by cloudy Wobbly Bob.

[aleandhearty]

Bit late on parade this week, owing to a long weekend in London. Most of this week's drinking was done there and rather disappointing it was too. Several beers were very dreary and some in not very good condition. However, did manage to pick up a couple of new breweries in Whippet and Cromarty.

Whippet - House Dogge.*
Sonnet 43 - Bourbon Milk Stout.
Magic Rock - Rapture.*
Roosters - Buckeye.
Sharps - Coaster.
Youngs - Bitter, Special.
Cromarty - Hit the Lip, Happy Chappy.
Roosters - Birdman.
Portobello - Star.
Upham - Punter.
Dark Star - Hophead.

Easy winner was the Rapture.

[aleandhearty]

Siren can really do great beers and their Mums the Word -a cherry chilli milk porter was probably the best beer I have had this year.

My elder daughter has started to get into beer and she texted me a couple of weeks ago, raving about this stuff, when she was in the Cask Pub & Kitchen. It was also on in Stormbird, Camberwell, when we visited on Saturday evening, so she was happy as Larry. I wish I'd had it instead of the indifferent Hophead I'd ordered. Unfortunately, we only had time for one!

[london calling]

My elder daughter has started to get into beer and she texted me a couple of weeks ago, raving about this stuff, when she was in the Cask Pub & Kitchen. It was also on in Stormbird, Camberwell, when we visited on Saturday evening, so she was happy as Larry. I wish I'd had it instead of the indifferent Hophead I'd ordered. Unfortunately, we only had time for one!

She obviously has taken after her father and has taste.Although its rare to find indifferent hophead.

[Mobyduck]

Although its rare to find indifferent hophead.
I have found indifferent Hophead on occasion, more so in the last year( as demand has increased maybe pushed through the system a bit to fast?)
However I do normally get to drink it every week so the chances of a below par pint are increased.It is generally good though.

[aleandhearty]

Although its rare to find indifferent hophead.


I have found indifferent Hophead on occasion, more so in the last year( as demand has increased maybe pushed through the system a bit to fast?)

On Saturday, it was a little too cold, which didn't help things, but the characteristic hop flavour seemed rather subdued, generally, something I've noticed before. Moby's point about increased demand may well apply, as the quality of Rudgate Ruby Mild was all over the place, for a while, after it won Champion Beer of Britain.

[Wittenden]

Dark Star-Hophead 3.8%abv: Dunno if they've changed the recipe:this tasted more tropically fruity than I remember, and a notch less tooth raspingly astringent. Perhaps more to my taste!
Does this throw any light on it? I know they sometimes do single hop versions of HH.The pumpclip was blue as I recall, which I thought different, though I hadn't drunk HH for many months upto last weekend. The beer wasn't as extreme as I remember it,with some sort of antipodean fruitiness. More than pleasant, though.

[aleandhearty]

Does this throw any light on it? I know they sometimes do single hop versions of HH.The pumpclip was blue as I recall, which I thought different, though I hadn't drunk HH for many months upto last weekend. The beer wasn't as extreme as I remember it,with some sort of antipodean fruitiness. More than pleasant, though.

I'm pretty certain it was standard HH, but it certainly rings a bell when you say it was less astringent, with tropical notes.

[Mobyduck]

Does this throw any light on it? I know they sometimes do single hop versions of HH.The pumpclip was blue as I recall, which I thought different, though I hadn't drunk HH for many months upto last weekend. The beer wasn't as extreme as I remember it,with some sort of antipodean fruitiness. More than pleasant, though.

Not sure when your original quote was from but it sounds like you had Hophead Vic Secret (http://darkstarbrewing.co.uk/americanred/) which was this years Hophead special from January, although the pump clip was purple. Although it was more than drinkable, It was my least favorite of their specials, the Hophead Galaxy and Hophead Simcoe and Ahtanum from previous years were far superior in my view.

[Wittenden]

Not sure when your original quote was from but it sounds like you had Hophead Vic Secret (http://darkstarbrewing.co.uk/americanred/) which was this years Hophead special from January, although the pump clip was purple. Although it was more than drinkable, It was my least favorite of their specials, the Hophead Galaxy and Hophead Simcoe and Ahtanum from previous years were far superior in my view.

Saturday!

[Mobyduck]

Saturday!

Must have been normal Hophead then.

[ROBCamra]

Hart - Harts Citra tried several times in The Baum last week during and after our
Meet The Brewer with John Smith (yes really) from Hart.:cheers: