Blog Tracker
12-02-2024, 09:20
Visit The Beer Nut site (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2024/02/animal-tendencies.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAV4Pb2nQOsOcM4Xg_6NYMwOTZf9WwpvmLQ55DxU7f1 tnm7VEET5LPH5ItqWHM7UQbnZQ-suLOGx43vcZUxUuFqjrppwFVIRfDcPK4sqpf2UkuWMX_C8RV8K CfRcT3LCKvwAs0ewg8gfcrbq9_wtB17mpXFY4MLueBikuIP71y VDGMps0rF1vLQ/w133-h200/otter_amber.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAV4Pb2nQOsOcM4Xg_6NYMwOTZf9WwpvmLQ55DxU7f1 tnm7VEET5LPH5ItqWHM7UQbnZQ-suLOGx43vcZUxUuFqjrppwFVIRfDcPK4sqpf2UkuWMX_C8RV8K CfRcT3LCKvwAs0ewg8gfcrbq9_wtB17mpXFY4MLueBikuIP71y VDGMps0rF1vLQ/s2925/otter_amber.jpg)The role of animals in the branding of English beers is a fine, and often parodied, convention. I've been in Wetherspoon again, inspecting the menagerie.
Devon's Otter Brewery is first up, with Otter Amber. It's rare that I have any quibble with the beer quality at Wetherspoon, especially in the more upmarket Keavan's Port where I got this, but I don't think it was quite right. There was a definite murk about the pale gold colour, and a lemon tartness that I don't think belonged. That was at least fairly easy to ignore, and beyond it I found a solidly malt-driven bitter, oaty and grainy at heart, with a top layer of candied citrus. I reckon it would be well suited to summer, being easy drinking and only 4% ABV. Only that off-putting twang would prevent me from enjoying a few of them in a row.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5bcCPB-eClUd_3csGGV3gC-licpYFIgYxEkxhKsMWeQZF5tWjXmIlwDurajBTHTdpQS3jMV1e jaxNUVOZTaa-JGIAnU906QHXUPHqmbixcCMom5-CIbJOHt32zc44seeDqgntKkoAZuZujX6EsjEwGgfw_VXuEgklD uYalH3ZX933R73ik5JZg/w141-h200/nethergate_old_growler_porter.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5bcCPB-eClUd_3csGGV3gC-licpYFIgYxEkxhKsMWeQZF5tWjXmIlwDurajBTHTdpQS3jMV1e jaxNUVOZTaa-JGIAnU906QHXUPHqmbixcCMom5-CIbJOHt32zc44seeDqgntKkoAZuZujX6EsjEwGgfw_VXuEgklD uYalH3ZX933R73ik5JZg/s2960/nethergate_old_growler_porter.jpg)I was surprised to discover I'd never tried Nethergate's Old Growler (it's a dog; grow up) before. The name is certainly familiar but maybe just because it's a JDW regular. It's a porter with a decent heft to it, at 5% ABV. That gives it a full body and a wholesome old-ivory head, the same colour as in those vintage ads for a certain Dublin-brewed stout that now pours with sterile bone-white foam. It turns out that the similarities don't end there. This is no chocolate-sweet porter but a drier, bitterer sort, showing the cabbage-and-zinc tang of classic English hopping. It's a refreshing change from the candified tendencies of contemporary porter brewing, and I would hazard a guess that the experience is close to how that Dublin-brewed beer tasted when it was still cask conditioned. This is a beautifully put-together beer: tasty, complex, subtle, and highly satisfying. I'd be quite content if standard porter were more like it.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzpffmUhghwBr_aEnT2A1ULZ3RSpLRh2uccFykcop44 ZkLzW5SjfwsCaNmQ5tBxblztpaMCgfpEHwWKuI3O-cXLdhF3aSKE_rzx72-A4sNtOZ9csL_L5oCoxTWKX6rI6PgL_NRzEwNuV_gzA35SH5RG5 KoN9j_KrLHURN4-qzs07wetp4Q5BOrw/s320/purple_moose_whakahari_bitter.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzpffmUhghwBr_aEnT2A1ULZ3RSpLRh2uccFykcop44 ZkLzW5SjfwsCaNmQ5tBxblztpaMCgfpEHwWKuI3O-cXLdhF3aSKE_rzx72-A4sNtOZ9csL_L5oCoxTWKX6rI6PgL_NRzEwNuV_gzA35SH5RG5 KoN9j_KrLHURN4-qzs07wetp4Q5BOrw/s3497/purple_moose_whakahari_bitter.jpg)Last of the cask is Whakahari, a bitter from Welsh brewery Purple Moose. I like this brewery; they make some great beers. This isn't one of them, however. Although it's a beautifully clear golden colour, it has quite a sterotypical soapy bitterness, dry and a little acrid. There is some softer fruit lurking in the middle, following the initial soapy hit -- I got red apple and a hint of juicy satsuma -- and then the acridity returns once more for the finish. It became less shocking and difficult by the half way point, and I'm sure is absolutely as the brewer intended. It wasn't to my taste, however. The name implies New Zealand hops, though I couldn't find any specified in the marketing. My guess is one of the harsher sort has been used, smoothed out by the cask serve but still with a slightly nasty edge. I'm sure somebody is into that sort of thing.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXR0nbcSASvio0SgQWeWxz8NU-CJEoagtzV-S6IZ2jWp5haggqPi7DM8EhU801kvEjVhY1ItL8DbNGuDkW2hKo Ym3B1nWOMJFyI-1Ak6jsODdzyoFId9mzFBvHpOZK4YUOyUV0QVg0AKHVlXOevH8c EzUp4EGB12A5E-MvmoDZqWcis38c5DW-ow/w200-h186/mad_squirrel_big_sea_west_coast_ipa.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXR0nbcSASvio0SgQWeWxz8NU-CJEoagtzV-S6IZ2jWp5haggqPi7DM8EhU801kvEjVhY1ItL8DbNGuDkW2hKo Ym3B1nWOMJFyI-1Ak6jsODdzyoFId9mzFBvHpOZK4YUOyUV0QVg0AKHVlXOevH8c EzUp4EGB12A5E-MvmoDZqWcis38c5DW-ow/s2095/mad_squirrel_big_sea_west_coast_ipa.jpg)Last year I wrote (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2023/07/peripherals.html) a bit about Mad Squirrel, having happened across their pub in Watford. They, too, are now on the Wetherspoon roster, with kegged Big Sea getting some point-of-sale promotion. I'm in for a half. It's billed as a West Coast IPA but is distinctly murked, pale yellow and opaque like a Vermont fog (I assume). The aroma doesn't give much away, and the texture is surprisingly thin for 5.5% ABV. There's a broad lemon-zest flavour, followed by a hint of New England IPA's vanilla sweetness. They combine in the finish to leave a kind of citrus chew-sweet aftertaste. I strongly suspect that this has been brewed for the price point (€5.50 the pint on Abbey Street): it has the framework for dramatic hop pyrotechnics but doesn't deliver more than, well, a damp squib. Big Sea looks to have replaced BrewDog's Planet Pale, and that's a step down in flavour, to my mind.
Cask porter is best in show, then. Not a major upset on this blog.
More... (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2024/02/animal-tendencies.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAV4Pb2nQOsOcM4Xg_6NYMwOTZf9WwpvmLQ55DxU7f1 tnm7VEET5LPH5ItqWHM7UQbnZQ-suLOGx43vcZUxUuFqjrppwFVIRfDcPK4sqpf2UkuWMX_C8RV8K CfRcT3LCKvwAs0ewg8gfcrbq9_wtB17mpXFY4MLueBikuIP71y VDGMps0rF1vLQ/w133-h200/otter_amber.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivAV4Pb2nQOsOcM4Xg_6NYMwOTZf9WwpvmLQ55DxU7f1 tnm7VEET5LPH5ItqWHM7UQbnZQ-suLOGx43vcZUxUuFqjrppwFVIRfDcPK4sqpf2UkuWMX_C8RV8K CfRcT3LCKvwAs0ewg8gfcrbq9_wtB17mpXFY4MLueBikuIP71y VDGMps0rF1vLQ/s2925/otter_amber.jpg)The role of animals in the branding of English beers is a fine, and often parodied, convention. I've been in Wetherspoon again, inspecting the menagerie.
Devon's Otter Brewery is first up, with Otter Amber. It's rare that I have any quibble with the beer quality at Wetherspoon, especially in the more upmarket Keavan's Port where I got this, but I don't think it was quite right. There was a definite murk about the pale gold colour, and a lemon tartness that I don't think belonged. That was at least fairly easy to ignore, and beyond it I found a solidly malt-driven bitter, oaty and grainy at heart, with a top layer of candied citrus. I reckon it would be well suited to summer, being easy drinking and only 4% ABV. Only that off-putting twang would prevent me from enjoying a few of them in a row.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5bcCPB-eClUd_3csGGV3gC-licpYFIgYxEkxhKsMWeQZF5tWjXmIlwDurajBTHTdpQS3jMV1e jaxNUVOZTaa-JGIAnU906QHXUPHqmbixcCMom5-CIbJOHt32zc44seeDqgntKkoAZuZujX6EsjEwGgfw_VXuEgklD uYalH3ZX933R73ik5JZg/w141-h200/nethergate_old_growler_porter.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5bcCPB-eClUd_3csGGV3gC-licpYFIgYxEkxhKsMWeQZF5tWjXmIlwDurajBTHTdpQS3jMV1e jaxNUVOZTaa-JGIAnU906QHXUPHqmbixcCMom5-CIbJOHt32zc44seeDqgntKkoAZuZujX6EsjEwGgfw_VXuEgklD uYalH3ZX933R73ik5JZg/s2960/nethergate_old_growler_porter.jpg)I was surprised to discover I'd never tried Nethergate's Old Growler (it's a dog; grow up) before. The name is certainly familiar but maybe just because it's a JDW regular. It's a porter with a decent heft to it, at 5% ABV. That gives it a full body and a wholesome old-ivory head, the same colour as in those vintage ads for a certain Dublin-brewed stout that now pours with sterile bone-white foam. It turns out that the similarities don't end there. This is no chocolate-sweet porter but a drier, bitterer sort, showing the cabbage-and-zinc tang of classic English hopping. It's a refreshing change from the candified tendencies of contemporary porter brewing, and I would hazard a guess that the experience is close to how that Dublin-brewed beer tasted when it was still cask conditioned. This is a beautifully put-together beer: tasty, complex, subtle, and highly satisfying. I'd be quite content if standard porter were more like it.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzpffmUhghwBr_aEnT2A1ULZ3RSpLRh2uccFykcop44 ZkLzW5SjfwsCaNmQ5tBxblztpaMCgfpEHwWKuI3O-cXLdhF3aSKE_rzx72-A4sNtOZ9csL_L5oCoxTWKX6rI6PgL_NRzEwNuV_gzA35SH5RG5 KoN9j_KrLHURN4-qzs07wetp4Q5BOrw/s320/purple_moose_whakahari_bitter.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzpffmUhghwBr_aEnT2A1ULZ3RSpLRh2uccFykcop44 ZkLzW5SjfwsCaNmQ5tBxblztpaMCgfpEHwWKuI3O-cXLdhF3aSKE_rzx72-A4sNtOZ9csL_L5oCoxTWKX6rI6PgL_NRzEwNuV_gzA35SH5RG5 KoN9j_KrLHURN4-qzs07wetp4Q5BOrw/s3497/purple_moose_whakahari_bitter.jpg)Last of the cask is Whakahari, a bitter from Welsh brewery Purple Moose. I like this brewery; they make some great beers. This isn't one of them, however. Although it's a beautifully clear golden colour, it has quite a sterotypical soapy bitterness, dry and a little acrid. There is some softer fruit lurking in the middle, following the initial soapy hit -- I got red apple and a hint of juicy satsuma -- and then the acridity returns once more for the finish. It became less shocking and difficult by the half way point, and I'm sure is absolutely as the brewer intended. It wasn't to my taste, however. The name implies New Zealand hops, though I couldn't find any specified in the marketing. My guess is one of the harsher sort has been used, smoothed out by the cask serve but still with a slightly nasty edge. I'm sure somebody is into that sort of thing.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXR0nbcSASvio0SgQWeWxz8NU-CJEoagtzV-S6IZ2jWp5haggqPi7DM8EhU801kvEjVhY1ItL8DbNGuDkW2hKo Ym3B1nWOMJFyI-1Ak6jsODdzyoFId9mzFBvHpOZK4YUOyUV0QVg0AKHVlXOevH8c EzUp4EGB12A5E-MvmoDZqWcis38c5DW-ow/w200-h186/mad_squirrel_big_sea_west_coast_ipa.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXR0nbcSASvio0SgQWeWxz8NU-CJEoagtzV-S6IZ2jWp5haggqPi7DM8EhU801kvEjVhY1ItL8DbNGuDkW2hKo Ym3B1nWOMJFyI-1Ak6jsODdzyoFId9mzFBvHpOZK4YUOyUV0QVg0AKHVlXOevH8c EzUp4EGB12A5E-MvmoDZqWcis38c5DW-ow/s2095/mad_squirrel_big_sea_west_coast_ipa.jpg)Last year I wrote (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2023/07/peripherals.html) a bit about Mad Squirrel, having happened across their pub in Watford. They, too, are now on the Wetherspoon roster, with kegged Big Sea getting some point-of-sale promotion. I'm in for a half. It's billed as a West Coast IPA but is distinctly murked, pale yellow and opaque like a Vermont fog (I assume). The aroma doesn't give much away, and the texture is surprisingly thin for 5.5% ABV. There's a broad lemon-zest flavour, followed by a hint of New England IPA's vanilla sweetness. They combine in the finish to leave a kind of citrus chew-sweet aftertaste. I strongly suspect that this has been brewed for the price point (€5.50 the pint on Abbey Street): it has the framework for dramatic hop pyrotechnics but doesn't deliver more than, well, a damp squib. Big Sea looks to have replaced BrewDog's Planet Pale, and that's a step down in flavour, to my mind.
Cask porter is best in show, then. Not a major upset on this blog.
More... (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2024/02/animal-tendencies.html)