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Tonight at Sheffield Hatters Inn
A delivery from Harveys of Lewes today: a case of 12 cans of their stout, going cheap because near to the best before date; 12 bottles of their Imperial Russian Stout, which is based on the brew made at the Latvian brewery founded by the Belgian, Albert Le Coq (the label on the bottle is a facsimile); and 12 bottles of Elizabethan Ale, a barley wine.
I started with the stout, which was in tip top condition despite its journey from Sussex to South Yorkshire. "Smooth and bitter", it says on the tin; my main impression was of roasted barley malt, and very good it was too. Best before end of May? I can manage 12 cans in five days...
Next, the Imperial Stout.
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Tonight at Sheffield Hatters Inn
First up is a can I picked up at Morrisons a couple of weeks ago, Ridgeside Objects in Space 4.8%, described on the 440ml can as a double hopped pale. It's hazy and very pale - grapefruit colour, which doesn't bode well for me after my experience with Pentrich Barricades (see #317 in this thread).
This is how it was described on the brewery's Facebook page prior to release: "A brand new pale ale is in tank and ready to go! Dry hopped with Amarillo, El Dorado and Mosaic; this can only release [I think they mean can-only release] will be extremely easy drinking and has a low level bitterness and juicy body."
Hmm. Probably only easy drinking if you like your beer really fizzy and not tasting very much of beer.
This is what the blurb on the can says: "Hazy, soft and saturated, for 'Objects' we've blended US and European hops to produce heady, stone-fruit and berry aromas. Filled with flavours of tropical fruit pulp, and tempered by a restrained but satisfying bitterness, 'Objects in Space' is a new school pale that knows where it came from." So, blended US and European hops...knows where it came from. Amarillo, El Dorado and Mosaic are all American hops, I believe.
I don't know about stone fruit aroma, but I did get some blackberry on the nose. At first, because the beer was poured and sipped straight from the fridge, I didn't get much flavour at all, just an impression of grapefruit and soda water, but mostly the latter. As the beer approached room temperature it gained a bit more flavour but any low level bitterness remained speculative, if not imaginary. I swilled the second half of my first pouring around in my festival glass to release some of the gas, which was an improvement. (I have low tolerance of carbon dioxide in beer, and often use a fork to release it if drinking a larger amount. Though I did once embarrass myself by using a pen for that purpose in this pub: The Hermitage Bar ) It began to remind me a little of Settle Brewery's Nine Standards Golden Ale that I had in February at this surprisingly good Chef & Brewer pub in Lancaster: Greaves Park, though that was a well balanced beer with a bitter finish, while this is a hop-forward beer with no discernable bitterness.
So, £3 well spent then? I could hardly claim to have enjoyed this beer, having given it a bit of a pasting in the above notes. On the other hand, I've certainly had worse. As I mentioned when banging on about Barricades, this sort of beer reminds me of having to drink grapefruit juice with soda water when taking a course of antibiotics many years ago. This one, to be fair, has a bit of an alcoholic taste about it and the grapefruit flavour, compared with my memory of Barricades, could almost be described as subtle. But to me it still seems like a beer for people who don't like beer. Call me old fashioned (I know you won't let me down).