Beer of the Week (w/e 29th April 2018)

[ROBCamra]

ROBCamra: La Chouffe (with any luck if Hawks still sells it, otherwise Estrella)
Thuck Phat: Salopian Renaissance
aleandhearty: Redwillow Smokeless
Wittenden: Kent Session Pale
Bucking Fastard: Five Towns Liberty
Aqualung: Oakham Citra
Mobyduck: Nethergate Umbel Magna

[Thuck Phat]

Not too bad a week:

Shipyard Melonhead*
Elland Lucky Dip
Salopian Renaissance*
Revolutions Manifest Stout*
Oakham Bishops Farewell*

A small but well formed selection and, on a chilly day, the stout would have taken it.
BOTW Salopian Renaissance. Another winner from Shropshire - pale, 5%, fresh, tropical fruit and a bitter finish.

[aleandhearty]

Good week for me, based on a wander round Leeds.

Brass Castle - Disruptor.*
Empire - Golden Warrior.
Brewdog - Dead Pony Club.* (keg)
Brewdog - 5am Saint.* (keg)
Red Willow - Wreckless.
Red Willow - Smokeless.*
Wylam - Galatia.
Ilkley - Hanging Stone.
Sam Smith's - Extra Stout.
Ilkley - Rombald.
Wishbone - Motueka.
Kirkstall - Black Band Porter.*
Nomadic - Strider.
Rat - White Rat.

A two horse race between the Disruptor and the Smokeless, with the latter, a smoked porter, just shading it. Sampled in The Reliance (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/65764/), Leeds.

[Wittenden]

Kent:quiet,but I was able to compare two moderate strength favourites in two trusted pubs.

Kent:Session Pale 3.7%abv. Pretty near perfect;so complex for its strength.
Dark Star:Hophead 3.8%abv.Citrus for the soul.
On balance, my BOTW is Kent's Session Pale,with a great range of nuanced flavours.Another week,it could go another way, especially if Burning Sky Plateau was added to the equation.

[Bucking Fastard]

Hertford,Reading,Croydon ;a very decent week

Colchester -- AKA Pale
Greene King -- Band of Brewers
Fullers -- ESB
Five Towns -- Liberty *
Three Blind Mice -- Azzaca *
Siren Craft -- Yu Lu *
Loddon -- N.O.T.U.S.
Burning Sky -- Aurora * (3PT)
Tollgate -- California Steam
Williams Brothers -- Good Times.

BOTW goes to Five Towns Liberty,described as a Blueberry,Pecan and Maple Syrup Pale Ale 5.5% and I certainly got the blueberries,and the sweetness before a refreshing hit of American hops.On very fine form ,during a long session in the peerless Nags Head (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/1691/).Quinno pitched up and gave a chance to sample a bottled Belgian beer with a balsamic vinegar nose which I failed to note.I liked it ,but most certainly an acquired taste.
Revolutions -- Tarzan Boy *

[Pubsignman]

Quinno pitched up and gave a chance to sample a bottled Belgian beer with a balsamic vinegar nose which I failed to note.I liked it ,but most certainly an aquired taste.

That can only be Duchesse de Bourgogne - http://www.brouwerijverhaeghe.be/en/duchesse-de-bourgogne

[Aqualung]

Only one of these (the Peerless one) was not in a Spoons {-


Titanic First Class 3.8%
Coach House Farrier's Best 3.9%
Weetwood Cheshire Cat 4.0%
Elgood's Golden Newt 4.1%
Tring Monngazing 4.2%
Oakham Citra 4.2%
Titanic Cherry Dark 4.4%
Exmoor Gold 4.5%
Titanic Stout 4.5%
Peerless Icebreaker 4.7%
Titanic Nautical Mild 4.8%
Sambrook's Powerhouse Porter 4.9%
Titanic Plum Porter 4.9%
Greene King Abbot 5.0%
Weetwood Revelry 5.0%
Greene King Abbot Reserve 6.5%

Only one of these was awful, the Exmoor Gold in the Newtownards JDW but the winner is Oakham Citra as tried for £2.49 in Liverpool's Richard John Blackler. I should also mention the Titanic First Class which has always flown under my abv radar in the past and is also a Boring Brown Beer. I liked it and it just shows that these beers don't have to be poor (like Doom Bore).


BOTW Oakham Citra

[Bucking Fastard]

That can only be Duchesse de Bourgogne - http://www.brouwerijverhaeghe.be/en/duchesse-de-bourgogne

That's it,I recognise the bottle.Thanks

[Mobyduck]

Some interesting beer at the back end of the week.

Hop Back GFB
Flowerpots Perridge Pale*
Alchemy Charisma
Tipsy Angel Angels Gold
Nethergate Umbel Magna*
Three Castles Liddington Castle
Wantsum Golgotha *
Purity Mad Goose*

Really Liked The Golgotha on keg, but have to go for Nethergate Umbel Magna as BOTW, A coriander infused 5.0% Porter, to be honest I didn't really detect much in the way of, coriander but a lovely beer with a subtle , not overbearing, spicy finish. Both were enjoyed in the ever improving Alfred Free House (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/35750/).

[rpadam]

I should also mention the Titanic First Class which has always flown under my abv radar in the past and is also a Boring Brown Beer. I liked it and it just shows that these beers don't have to be poor...
Blimey! Was it painful to say that?

[Aqualung]

Blimey! Was it painful to say that?

Only slightly! I also rate the ones by Brodies, ELB, Dark Star and others I can't remember. Slagging off Doom Bore reduced the pain!