pubs galore bar

[london calling]

cont.
I am a sucker for new beer but sometimes its the old fav that raise the bar
Sam Smith -oatmeal stout 8/10 lovely smooth quaffable beer Also a pint bottle .

[Mobyduck]

Tonight I started with Dark Revolution Mercury Rising.jpg 6.2% and supposedly a NEIPA, murky yes but I found the body too thin for what I recognise as this style, this seems to be a trait in their beers, good hop flavour but a little disappointing. 6.5/10
I followed this (still following) with a big boy, Vibrant Forest Umbral Abyss.jpg, an Imperial Coffee Stout weighing in at 11.5%, the can promises this-
"Umbral Abyss is a very rich and decadent experience with a dense aroma of coffee which is followed by thick malts, figs and liquorice. The flavour follows suit with supremely viscous lashings of oak, charred malts and molasses joining the pantheon. Enter the Abyss."
The Coffee's there but there is far too much Liquorice coming through for my taste, there is no doubt though that this is a well crafted beer and It's strength is hitting home as I write, thankfully I have a day off tomorrow. 8/10

[sheffield hatter]

Just the one beer tonight, but a pretty good one: it's a subtle New England IPA by UnBarred, a brewery based in my birthplace: Brighton. This one's called, erm, I've no idea what it's called as there is no name on the can. It's a very attractive can, all monochrome photos of waves breaking on the shore somewhere but I've no idea where. Somewhere in New England, I guess.

The hops are amarillo, azacca and el dorado according to the panel on the side. Hold on - could that be the name of the beer? UnBarred Amarillo, Azacca and El Dorado NEIPA 7%. Oops, missed the bit in the panel above: #01.21. So, it's their January 2021 NEIPA. It tastes much like any other NEIPA to be honest, but I've got to give them credit for making it fairly subtle, though in fact it still tastes like fruit juice to me*. And the only hint that it's got alcohol in it is that you feel more woozy after drinking it than you did before. Cheers.

Wait a minute, here's their website: "...this belter of a beer brings peaches, apricots and tangerine zest together in a smooth, soft, lightly bitter New England not to be missed!" Apricots! Yeah, too true. Hey, I got this for £4.95 for a 440ml can at the bottle shop in Sheffield's Moor Market, but they're advertising it on their website for £5.10 - so this beer is an actual bargain! And I got a 5% loyalty discount. Woo hoo!


* Pale Malt, Naked Oats, Flaked Oats, Malted Wheat were also involved, or had some peripheral involvement in the making of this product. But, hey, at least it's vegan. Is it bed time yet?

[Tris39]

It's a very attractive can, all monochrome photos of waves breaking on the shore somewhere but I've no idea where. Somewhere in New England, I guess.

A very pretty can and nice to see a monochrome label for once, not one that looks like a still from The Simpsons.

[sheffield hatter]

Tonight's beer is a magnificent 12.5% Imperial Stout from North Brewing in collaboration with Mikkeller. This 440ml can cost £7.50 from Beer Central. First impression is of a massively alcoholic beverage, seemingly stronger than the advertised abv. Made with barley, oats and wheat, and with added cinnamon, cocoa, coffee and vanilla as well as the expected hops and yeast. I was drinking this one fairly slowly, as you might imagine, and after enjoying the first quarter or third of the can, I began to feel that the chocolate was a bit overwhelming, and my enjoyment declined.

This is a fault that I suppose I pick out quite a lot in these modern beers, and it's particularly faulty in this one. I'm a great fan of subtlety, and I'm afraid there's nothing subtle about this beer. Take, for example, breweries that don't add actual coffee and cocoa to their imperial stouts, like Harveys, Pohjala and The Kernel: those flavours come instead from chocolate malt, and balance, subtlety and complexity come from the yeast, hops and barrel ageing. Those are beers that I'll buy again; not so much this one from North x Mikkeller.

[Mobyduck]

Tonight's beer is a magnificent 12.5% Imperial Stout from North Brewing in collaboration with Mikkeller. This 440ml can cost £7.50 from Beer Central. First impression is of a massively alcoholic beverage, seemingly stronger than the advertised abv. Made with barley, oats and wheat, and with added cinnamon, cocoa, coffee and vanilla as well as the expected hops and yeast. I was drinking this one fairly slowly, as you might imagine, and after enjoying the first quarter or third of the can, I began to feel that the chocolate was a bit overwhelming, and my enjoyment declined.

This is a fault that I suppose I pick out quite a lot in these modern beers, and it's particularly faulty in this one. I'm a great fan of subtlety, and I'm afraid there's nothing subtle about this beer. Take, for example, breweries that don't add actual coffee and cocoa to their imperial stouts, like Harveys, Pohjala and The Kernel: those flavours come instead from chocolate malt, and balance, subtlety and complexity come from the yeast, hops and barrel ageing. Those are beers that I'll buy again; not so much this one from North x Mikkeller.

Was all sounding good to me until you mentioned cinnamon , a no no for me.

[sheffield hatter]

Was all sounding good to me until you mentioned cinnamon , a no no for me.

I didn't notice the cinnamon, despite the fact that it was listed in the ingredients before the cocoa and coffee, which usually indicates there's more of it - which I find hard to believe. I didn't get much coffee either, but perhaps this is because I'm particularly sensitive to chocolate - it's that crude cocoa powder taste that I associate with drinking hot chocolate when I was a kid. I've had porters with added coffee grounds, which are also pretty revolting, in my opinion. Reinheitsgebot über alles! (Of course, with your aversion to cinnamon, that would have been the dominant flavour if you were drinking this beer!)