Beer of the Week (w/e 21st February 2016)

[ROBCamra]

Bucking Fastard: Vale Gravitas
Mobyduck: Gloucester Priory Pale
Wittenden: Old Dairy Copper Top
Aqualung: Six Bells Dark Angel
london calling: Bad Seed Session IPA
Thuck Phat: Blue Monkey Infinity
aleandhearty: Salopian Golden Thread
Komakino: Malt the Brewery Starry Nights
Real Ale Ray: Cronx Nektar
oldboots: Harrogate Kursaal Imperial Stout
ROBCamra: Dark Star Hophead DRY

[Bucking Fastard]

Very decent week

St Austell -- Tribute
Hackney -- New Zealand Pale Ale
Brodies -- Azacca *
Hackney -- American Pale Ale
Peerless -- Triple Blonde *
Five Points -- Pale
Maldon -- Oscar Wilde MILD *
Frog Island -- Natterjack
Otley -- 05 Hop Angeles
Volden -- Porter *
Southwark -- Rukin' Red *
Whitstable -- Pale Ale
Oakham -- Inferno*
Fullers -- Bengal Lancer *
Windsor& Eton -- Zinzan's Drop*
Loose Cannon -- Abingdon Bridge *
Wuindsor& Eton -- Tree Tops
Chiltern -- Double Fifty
Vale -- Gravitas *
Kingstone -- Premium Stout


Some great ale on the crawl around Walthamstow with RAR and Mrs Ale,but BOTW goes to Vale Gravitas on top form in The Hop Pole,Aylesbury which just slipped down a treat.

Next week end month sessions with first visit to Tapping the Admiral ,so good chance of a quality BOTW.

[Mobyduck]

A fair selection this week.
Quantock Nightjar
Arundel Castle
Gloucester Priory Pale
Darkstar Hophead
Darkstar American Pale Ale
Skinners Betty Stogs
Greene King Yardbird
Orkney Raven
Samuel Smiths OBB
Signature Brew Session
Celt Experience Dark Age Mild
Moncada Notting Hill Pale
Marble Chocolate
Longman APA
Wadsworth Dirty Rucker (BABOTW)
Oakham Citra
Tap East Coffee in the Morning

Some good and some dire, but the BOTW was Gloucester Priory Pale, an easy drinking 3.7% beer, extremely fruity and hoppy.

[Wittenden]

Kent and East Sussex:after last week's drought, a better day on Saturday.
FILO Brewery-Bourne Blonde 4% abv.Crisp,pale hoppy bitter.Grassy.I liked its description as a "light ale".
Romney Marsh-Best Bitter.4%abv. Robust caramel best:ripe fruit.Again, I can't fault the description.
Tonbridge-Rustic 4%abv(badged as Hoockers Hooch, house beer)Fruity dark bitter:lacking condition.These three taken at The Globe
Dark Star-American Pale Ale 4.7% abv.Lentenly austere pale ale.A salad of bitter herbs.This would have benefited from being drunk outdoors on a warm summer's evening.
Old Dairy-Copper Top 4.1%abv.Really approachable dark bitter.Farmyard hops,succulent malt.Taken at The Milk House and my BOTW.

[Aqualung]

A good week for me :-

Brentwood Blond 3.8%*
Adnam's Prop Hop 4.0%
Adnam's Mosaic 4.1%*
Quantock Wills Neck 4.3%
Oakleaf Pompey Royal 4.5%
Wadworth / Nausta Lapland Red Ale 4.5%
Titanic White Star 4.5%
Red White Duck 4.8%
Adnam's IPA 4.8%*
Mobberley Galena Stout 4.8%*
Titanic Plum Porter 4.9%*
Brodie's Californian 5.0%*
Dorset Midnight Blinder 5.0%
Hop Back Summer Lightning 5.0%
Brodie's Black APA 5.0%*
Jennings Snecklifter 5.1%
Phipps Gold Star 5.2%*
Slater's Haka 5.2%*
Brodie's Jamaican Stout 5.4%*
Red Kangaroo 5.4%
Springhead Roaring Meg 5.5%*
Six Bells Dark Angel 5.6%*
Lymestone The Abominable Stoneman 7.0%*


The winner is the Six Bells Dark Angel (£3.30) as tried at this Joules pub in Newcastle-Under-Lyme which turned out to be an excellent town. I would call it a strong dry Coffee Stout, it has very little sweetness considering the ABV. Honourable mention must go to all three Brodie's beers and the Abominable Stoneman.


BOTW Six Bells Dark Angel

[london calling]

Some pretty good beers and some pretty poor.
POOR
listers -limehouse porter
paradigm -strong and dark
crafty devil-mikey rayer
crafty devil-safe as milk
crafty devil -straight out of canton
wishbone -gumption
black edge -cascade pale
one mile end -black ipa
GOOD
celt -cerridwen
celt -horse cranium
hopcraft -temple of love
waen -mellowdrama
bad seed-session ipa BOTW

[oldboots]

A bit late this week. An incredibly difficult choice between Brass Castle Bad Kitty and Harrogate Brewing Co's Kursaal Imperial Stout. As it was barrel aged for six months the Kursaal Imperial Stout just has it.