Extreme beers

[sheffield hatter]

I don't know why I haven't started this thread before, but was finally inspired (if that's the right word) to do it today, after seeing the beer menu on the Crow Inn's Facebook page. Of course, I didn't just look at the menu, I also went to the pub and tried some of the beers. This is what I found:

North Brewing West Coast Pale 4.5%. £6.30/pint. I just had a half of this, because a) I wasn't sure I'd like it, and b) I was planning to have something else a lot stronger at the same time. I've been getting into West Coast Pales because they usually have a bitter finish (unlike New England IPAs, which are just fruit juice). This one was a little odd, as there was no vibrant, juicy flavour to kick off with, it was almost musty, but not in the *there's a major fault with this beer* sort of way. It was more subtle than that, saying *we're trying to do something different here, please bear with us*.

Mikkeller George! Barrel Aged Bourbon Imperial Stout 13.8% £14.70/pint. A third of this cost a modest £4.95, and it tasted like every penny of that had gone into making it, so I'm not sure who's paying the brewers, the delivery guys and the very friendly pub staff, to name just a few; I guess HMRC will have wanted their share too. Luxurious, sweetish, complex, intoxicating.

Little Earth Project Hedgerow Blend 2019 5.4%. £7.20/pint. I just had a third of this, as it is a "four barrel blend of sour saison with wild hops, plums, damsons and elderberries", and I thought there was a fair chance it would turn out like a home made elderberry wine gone wrong. Just a lucky guess.

Mikkeller Black 18.0% £12.90/pint. I didn't ask if they had a smaller glass than a third, but I would have been fully justified in doing so. "Huge boozy barrel aged legend of a stout" it says on the blackboard, and who am I to say that any of that isn't true? First impression was a bit disconcerting, as there was a fizz on the tongue which says, "hey, this beer is still bloody fermenting, are you sure you want to drink it now?" But then it tastes like something very mature, something subtle, something that looks you in the eye and says "Hello!". Then it does something with hops, those hops that remind me of lemon sherbet (and which I don't like when Thornbridge put them in a session ale, but in this context seem, umm, pretty much ok). And then, goddammit, it's got a bitter finish. I spent the best part of an hour slowly going through a third of a pint of this one, alternating with the saison but finishing with the stout, and when I was two minutes walk down the road from the pub, there was a new flavour that I hadn't noticed before. It was that orange marmalade thing from Fullers ESB, but dialled up to 11. I didn't turn round and go back for more, but I might be back tomorrow.