Beer of the Week (w/e 23rd November 2014)

[ROBCamra]

Wittenden: Long Man Old Man
Aqualung: Gypsy Hill Beatnik
Real Ale Ray: Beowulf Chase Buster
Mobyduck: Dark Star Hophead
Thuck Phat: Byatts Regal Blonde
aleandhearty: Rat Pied Piper
Bucking Fastard: Byatt's Regal Blonde
london calling: Dark Star Hophead
ROBCamra: Alechemy Extra Pale Ale

[Wittenden]

Kent and Sussex new 'uns:

Hop Fuzz- (The) English-4%abv. Not sure if the indefinite article applies.(Not taken in Strood...)Earthy brown bitter:touch of seaweed about it.
Long Man-Old Man-4.3% abv.Not far off a 5.My first meeting with this Sussex brewer.Dark brown to black:coffee and plums . Long dry finish.A real find.
Dark Star-Hophead-3.8%abv-First time I'd tried this for a while. Seems to have a bit more malt flavour, a plus point for me.
Firebird Brewing-4.3%abv-Pale and floral Golden ale,from another newish Sussex micro.
My BOTW-Long Man Old Man.A Sussex Old Ale, a style that I increasingly favour.Drier than a strong MILD, perhaps it's a Porter.Pity I could only have the one. Taken at The Cat Inn

[rpadam]

My BOTW-Long Man Old Man.A Sussex Old Ale, a style that I increasingly favour.Drier than a strong MILD, perhaps it's a Porter.

A good example of a favourite style of mine too.

[Aqualung]

Not a brilliant week for me :-

Wild Card Pale 3.4%
Oakham JHB 3.8%
Gypsy Hill Beatnik 3.8%
Truman's Runner 4.0%
East London Brewing Company Foundation 4.2%
Jenning's World's Biggest Liar 4.3%
Wild Card Porter 4.7%
Exe Valley Exeter Old Bitter 4.8%
Lymestone Pudding Stone 4.8%
Naylor's Old 5.0%
London Beer Factory Paxton Pale 5.0%


The winner is another low ABV one Gypsy Hill Beatnik, a real hop bomb at the Wild Card Brewery.
The Pudding Stone was my first Spoons Xmas ale and will probably turn out to be one of the better ones having looked through the list.

BOTW Gypsy Hill Beatnik

[Real Ale Ray]

Beowulf - Chase Buster 4.5

Lots of great ales sampled on An Ecumenical Matter's Black Country crawl yesterday, this was the best by far in Sedgley Working Men's Club, off all places!

[Mobyduck]

Not a brilliant week for me :-

Not good for him, nearly non existent for me,
Darkstar Hophead
Darkstar American Pale Ale
McEwans Champion (bottle)
Weltons Autumn Shades

The McEwans was surprisingly enjoyable ,a left over bottle from last Christmas I had been avoiding , the Autumn Shades a possible contender for BABOTW (basically bloody awful) but at the risk of making London Calling chuckle (he knows what I mean) Beer of the week is Darkstar Hophead in particularly good form this week .

[Thuck Phat]

A varied week:
Langton Hop On
TT Landlord*
Everards Regimental IPA
Dow Bridge Centurion
Wood Farm Flaming Glory
Byatts Regal Blonde*
Oakham Bishops Farewell*
Dr Morton's Typopotamus
Mauldons Silver Adder
Adnams Ghost Ship*
Abbeydale Moonshine*

To my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed the Ghost Ship.
BOTW Byatts Regal Blonde. More a light amber than blonde with a clever mix of hops which makes it very moreish. Passes the 3 pint test even at 5.2%.

[london calling]

[QUOTE=Mobyduck;69536]Not good for him, nearly non existent for me,
Darkstar Hophead
Darkstar American Pale Ale
McEwans Champion (bottle)
Weltons Autumn Shades

The McEwans was surprisingly enjoyable ,a left over bottle from last Christmas I had been avoiding , the Autumn Shades a possible contender for BABOTW (basically bloody awful) but at the risk of making London Calling chuckle (he knows what I mean) Beer of the week is Darkstar Hophead in particularly good form this week .[/QUOTE
No chuckling this week.

[london calling]

Black black black this week.These were all good or better than
saltaire -dark matter
hop stuff -gunners porter
b+t -plum porter
trumans -original porter
howling hops -mild
wild card -ace of spades porter
brewdog -santas paws
brewdog -Brixton porter
the 2 brewdogs were superb
trumans while not the best porter was sparkled and had a great drinkability about it
but BOTW was
Darkstar -hophead 2 pints taken in the refurbished George 1V Chiswick. as good as I have had.

[ROBCamra]

Alechemy Rhapsody Extra Pale Ale. Tried in The Baum of course.

At 3.8% a perfect session ale. Nicely hoppy, but not a hop bomb.