Instead of hops and American amped up add-on’s, the next holiday seasonal up for review is the traditional Winter Welcome from Samuel Smith’s.
Pours a garnet orange. That first aroma is pure British to my nose. The effect of malt and water together without impeded by hops. This is bright and pops on the tongue. A little metallic tang to it. Reminds me of orange pekoe and toast.
English Brewery # 3 – Tiny Rebel Brewing
It started with a garage and Gazz and ended up as a three time winner at the Champion Beer of Wales in 2013. Not a bad start for Gazz and Brad (the other half of the duo) and their Tiny Rebel Brewing.
And here is what I would order when in Cardiff….
1. “Arguably the coolest word on the planet, Cwtch is our very own untraditional Welsh Red Ale. Six malts, two US hops and weeks of Tiny Rebel love and attention go into making this unique beer. Citrus and tropical fruit dominate the taste that is backed up with caramel malts that balance the moderate bitterness. Drinkability & balance makes this beer.”
2. Full Nelson. “Our ‘Maori Pale Ale’ came together after months of experimentation with a very unique hop – Nelson Sauvin from New Zealand. Strong grape flavours are complemented by the sweet Munich malt, making this beer crisp and refreshing.”
3. Bonsai IPA. “”International” collaborations like this don’t come along very often, but when they do, someone’s supply of hops usually gets rinsed! Brewed with ALL of Arbor’s hops, this IPA is big on flavour and way too sessionable.”
4. “A unique schizophrenic beer where you’ll face off against floral hoppy flavours up front, leading into a dry spicy bitterness on the back. Need something a bit different to wake up your taste buds? It’s time to get FUBAR.”
5. And on cask: Hank an American Pale Ale. “This light US-style pale ale took a bit of tweaking to get just right. With tropical and citrus aromas and a low-to-medium bitterness, this is one easygoing West Coast-style beer. Floral flavours with slight caramel and biscuit notes make this well-balanced and highly drinkable.”
English Brewery # 2 – Brew By Numbers
The second stop in England is at Brew By Numbers or known by the shorter (BBNo.) They have quite a list of beers. All numbered that riff off of the founders early influencers from Australia and New Zealand as well as the now famed Kernel Brewery.
Here are my numerically ordered choices:
01 SAISON – Gotta start with the first
09 BROWN ALE – Brown ales get a bad rap but it is a must-try English style
10 COFFEE PORTER – How does English coffee differ from hyped American ones?
14 TRIPEL – A style that I need to try more of.
19 GOSE – had a few goses recently and it would be a good test
25 WHITE IPA – need to try at least one IPA
English Brewery # 1 – Howling Hops
As I was paging through a recent All About Beer magazine, I had the thought that for the months of January and February, I would cherry pick breweries to feature from the pages. And this month, we will head to England and peek in at three breweries over there.
We start at Howling Hops which probably makes gruits. Not.
Howling Hops started in the basement of the Cock Tavern. They outgrew the brew cave quickly. Brewing over a 100 different beers can speed that process and moved to an old brick warehouse nearby in the lovely sounding town of Hackney Wick where they now brew and operate their Tank Bar.
They offer beers mostly under 6% ABV with one beer down at 3%!
Here is what I would have in my first taster tray…..
Riding Ale 3.0% – gotta start with the low end and see what it is like
Running Beer 4.0% – slowly work up the beer ladder
Howling Pils 4.6% – to compare against the ales
Ruby Red 5.2% – because me mum’s name is Ruby
IPA 7.5% – finish up with the biggest beer on the list.
I am also intrigued by their Pale XX and the Rye Wit as well.
Holiday Ale # 15 – Winter Welcome from Samuel Smith
The middle picture on this British Winter Warmer changes each year but I like the Willie Shakespeare version the best. The weird pursed lips speak to me for some weird reason. Samuel Smith describes their seasonal as “a limited edition brewed for the short days and long nights of winter. The full body resulting from fermentation in ‘stone Yorkshire squares’ and the luxurious malt character, which will appeal to a broad range of drinkers, is balanced against whole-
Review – Toasted Oak IPA from Innis and Gunn
First off, I didn’t hold out much hope for this hoppy British beer. Not because of fear of the Innis & Gunn brewery. But because the two previous IPA’s that I had bought at Total Wine were old, old. My fault for not checking the best buy date, but still you would expect a store to rotate the old beers off the shelves. And this beer was coming further than the other two. And British IPA’s tend to be lightly hopped compared to American ones.
Anyhoo, this was the first I&G beer that I have had, the marketing copy says, “Its fervent hoppy character hails from the unique addition of large quantities of hops at three separate points during brewing. The result is a beer that’s rounded yet refreshing, with delicate floral notes and oodles of zesty freshness.”
And here is what I think, or what I would have thought if this beer hadn’t been light years from prime condition. Though it is difficult to tell without any bottled on date. Thus my Total Wine trip was a total IPA loss. This beer, in poor condition, is sickly sweet with a light bit of hops and metallic notes in the background. The toasted oak isn’t clearly coming through but if you swirl it around your mouth a faint bit of it appears. And that is disappointing because toast notes and hops could really work well together.
Maybe if I had cellared it, the sweetness would have diminished and it would be better. As it is, I have learned a lesson. Big Box stores make you do the legwork.
English Brewery # 2 – Five Points
Our second stop is at Five Points Brewing Company. But not the historic neighborhood in NYC but in London. It is a small, neighborhood brewery in Hackney. Their flagship is a pale ale and their labels are simple but really effective. Very Kernel like and I like that a lot. But enough about labels. What beers would I put in my first taster tray?
OK. They have three mainstays and those are what I would get first. The pale which is a 4.4% session beer with Amarillo, Centennial and Citra hops then the Hook Island Red which is a rye beer and then finish up with the Railway Porter, a London classic.
Another plus they subscribe to the London Living Wage inititative. Good to see that.
English Brewery #1 – Pressure Drop
Time to see what is going on in England in 2014. I wish we could get some of the more nano British beers but I guess that is what travel is for. So count this month as a quick hit of three breweries to watch for if you find yourself ‘cross the Pond as it were. And we start with Pressure Drop in London.
What caught my eye first was the cool bottlecap logo and the tech term name. But digging just under a little and I saw this on their website, “three blokes in a railway arch doing lots of cleaning and trying to make the tastiest beers we can.” Simple. I like that.
Now usually I would pick a few beers that I would put in my taster tray but I would choose all of them from their list. So instead I am going to focus on the one beer that I think is the most English of the bunch. And it is the one with the coolest label too….
Street Porter – “A classic London beer style with a long and colourful history, Porter originated in the city around 300 years ago. While there are conflicting accounts of the exact origins of Porter, it’s clear the beer has been enjoyed by hard-working Londoners for centuries. We use traditional malts and Kentish hops in ours, and we’ve also brewed experimental versions with tea, coffee, oysters, chipotle, and New World hops.”
I love the idea of taking a classic style. Brewing that in traditional fashion and then doing experimental version offshooting from that. The tea version is making my mouth water right now. Now if I was in a Picasso mood, I would try their Dunkelweiss, their version of a smokey wheat beer.
Green Jack
From Lowestoft, UK, comes the easternmost British brewery, Green Jack.
Here is what the importer Vanberg & DeWulf have to say about them, “All Green Jack beers are brewed with Flagon winter barley, all grown and malted in Norfolk (which Dunford says is in most growing seasons the best barley in the world.) Moreover all are fermented with the same four strains of English ale yeast which can be traced back over 100 years and use whole flower hops. 90 percent of production is cask, 10% in swing top bottles”
I will be on the look-out for these two offerings:
Trawlerboys
“A Full-bodied and a copper-coloured premium bitter brewed with English whole cone hops, rich and malty with fruity hop flavours. This Best Bitter has been named after the nickname of Lowestoft Town Football Club as Green Jacks new flagship brewery is opposite Lowestoft’s Crown Meadow stadium. The pump clip features the Lowestoft-built (1978) stern trawler the Boston Sea Stallion launched by none other than Mrs. Thatcher.”
Green Jack Rippa
“This 8.5% ABV English triple was named Supreme Champion Winter Beer of the UK by CAMRA in 2007, this is an amber ale redolent of peach and grape with an herbal, tropical bittersweet taste and a fruity bitter finish. RIPPA is brewed with pale ale malt, caramalt, maize, wheat, and sugar. UK Challenger hops lend a black pepper spice aroma, and Slovenian Celeia hops add bitterness.”
Fuller’s 1845
I will be looking for this Fuller’s offering on shelves but I don’t know why they couldn’t mature the beer for 150 days to match the anniversary.