Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
When I look for winter warmers, I look to places that have some serious cold weather. The places where some warmth is needed. So my three suggestions today are from England. You will notice that these don’t need high ABV’s to warm a person up on a snowy day.
Click
December 2010 Beers
for the pdf that you can print-out and take to the craft beer store.
We travel to England for our next seasonal ale. And the English make some excellent warmers that don’t assault the palate.
Fuller’s makes Jack Frost which they describe as, “brewed with Crystal malt and a dash of blackberries, Jack Frost delivers a fruity, robust yet refreshing flavour that lingers long on the palate.”
Zak Avery one of the leading lights of great beer in Great Britian has opened up a writing contest. I love entering contests so here is my entry. The theme is beer and time.
Flight of the Passing Fancy
Buckhorn in a ten ounce stubby bottle.
Leads to…. Thomas Kemper Weizenberry
Leads to…. me at the Crown City brewpub in Pasadena, California
Leads to…..grander travel to St. James Gate in Ireland and Andechs in Germany
Finally the curiosity turns to passion and blogging.
All of us at one time or another has wanted to go back in time to re-do a certain event. Especially if we came up with a cutting remark for the school bully AFTER being punched. There are some pivotal points that I would like a do-over on. But when it comes to beer, I would only like to add one thing to those times spent at the bar or brewery. I would like to go back and appreciate it MORE.
I am 40 going on 41. Thanks to a technically illegal start to drinking beer (if you can call Buckhorn beer), half of my time on earth has been spent drinking mostly good, a few spectacular and even fewer horrible beers. My journey has seen the fall of regional breweries, a famine of decent brews, the rise of micro-breweries, followed by a contraction that seemed permanent, then a fiery burst of growth that I am in the midst of enjoying now.
But that macro level view of the passing years is not what I remember most about the wide world of craft beer. What really fascinates me, as I grow older, are the varied beers that not only my palate experienced but also provide snapshots of where my life when I was enjoying that beer. I sincerely hope that it also is indicative of an evolution in my appreciation of beer.
Oh, how I would like to go back and speed that evolution along. I could tell my younger self to stop complaining about the changing label art on the Thomas Kemper WeizenBerry bottles and just enjoy the fruit bomb of a beer. Because in a few years, that beer would be no more and then the brewery would be no more. Folded up into Pyramid and just a footnote in craft beer history.
I would talk more with the people brewing the beer at Crown City and let them know that their oasis in a dry Los Angeles of the mid ‘90’s was really appreciated. I should have said it while Crown City was still packing them in. Because in a few years, they would be gone just shortly before the craft beer craze swept through Los Angeles.
I could go on and on but I need to spend the time fully enjoying this strange beer from Epic Ales that is in front of me as I type this. Coffee and cardamom combined into a fragile base beer. Does it work? Maybe. Only time will tell.
Beer for a cause. I love the community work done by our brewers. If it isn’t donating for a festival to raise money it is creating whole new beers with proceeds to go to help.
Here is another one from the UK!
WW Freedom was “produced to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act on 25th March, 1807. Traditionally floor-malted Maris Otter pale ale malt, crystal malt and Kentish hops combine with Fairtrade Demerara sugar to produce a deep golden ale. It is characterised by its mellow bitterness and long hoppy finish.
A contribution from the sale of each bottle is made to Stop the Traffik. Stop The Traffik is a global coalition of organizations, communities & individuals raising awareness of people trafficking & promoting practical action through a global declaration, media, events, celebrities & projects around the world through 2006 & 2007.” www.stopthetraffik.org.uk
Thanks to Jeff Evans, I finally learned about this Sunderland based brewery, Darwin.
“Established in 1994 the Darwin Brewery has grown steadily over the last ten years to become one of the most respected micro-breweries in the north of England. Recent awards of ‘CAMRA North East beer of the Year 2003/4’, ‘2004 Asda Beer Festival’ award and most recently the ‘2005/6 Tesco Beer Challenge’ is the perfect way to celebrate it’s decade in Business.”
Two of the most intriguing beers in their range are the Ghost Ale, their flagship golden ale with citrus tones and the Hop Drop Champion Ale made with cluster and liberty hops.
They also have a sister company, Brewlab that does that pesky technical and science sides of things. AND they also team up with the University of Sunderland, so that the next generation can see inventive British brewing.
Saw this English brewery mentioned on the always interesting Pete Brown blog and if he is a fan then we should all be on the lookout.
Hardknott Brewery came into being when a publican named David Bailey decided he wanted to brew instead of serve and this is what was created:
Fusion – a 4% ginger beer that has had chilli added to the mix.
Dark Energy – a 4.9% ‘sort of a stout perhaps, dark and fruity dry hops’ in Dave’s words
Continuum – their 4% ‘standard’ beer, dry hopped in the cask
Infra-Red – a 6.2% IPA (apparently ‘hoppier than a bucket of frogs’)
And in bottle there’s Granite (Barley Wine style) and Aether Blaec (Islay whisky barrel-aged stout).
TODAY: England V. Germany
No one would have thought this would have been possible. A titanic clash in the 2nd round. Can Germany regain the flair of game 1? Can England find the scoring that came so easily in qualifying?
Since this will be a battle, I have selected an appropriate beer. Bengal Lancer from Fullers. According to the fantastic Jeff Evans (if you don’t have one of his books, you are not a true beer geek).. “To my mind, Bengal Lancer sensibly marries a high score on the hop register with excellent drinkability. Bundles of Golding, Fuggle and Target hops present a resin-like bite and dry the palate, bringing tropical fruit and lemon jelly flavours to complement sweet, biscuity malt.
A little peppery warmth reminds you that this is not exactly a quaffing beer, but the way the leafy hops and their tangy fruit dominate the very dry finish means that you’re hardly likely to bolt the glass anyway. In short, it’s a solid, satisfying beer with bags of character.
The number of serious, grown-up IPAs available in the UK is increasing every day. Fuller’s latest take on the style is one of the best.”
TODAY: ENGLAND V SLOVENIA
The heavyweights and underachievers in the US group is the team from England. With their star power, they should be locks for the quarterfinals if not further. Is this the year that they and the Netherlands shake off World Cup bad memories?
Maybe with a nice session bitter from Batemans? Here is what the website says about XXXB: “Superb strong bitter with a complex palate, consisting of a delicate aroma of hops delightfully balanced by a prominent malty character. 5 times ‘Premium Beer of the Year’ at CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival.”
In England the Ruby Porter is known as Batemans Dark Lord, but is has been re-named for the U.S. market due to a trademark conflict.
Dark Lord has a deep black color with reddish hints and is capped by rich creamy foam. The aroma features roasted grain notes with spicy-citrus hop notes. The palate is roasty with hints of coffee and licorice and an underlying fruit accent and long finish. A mere 5% alcohol by volume.
In both 2007 & 2008 it was named among “The World’s Fifty Best Beers” at the Drinks International Beer Challenge.
This is one of the beers that I wish made it across the pond. We are starting to see more Bateman’s here in Los Angeles so hopefully, more esoteric British beers will find their way to my ‘fridge.
The Badger website says this about the stinger…”Hall & Woodhouse Head Brewer, Tim Morris, who helped to brew the recipe for the ale said: “Stinger is made from fresh organic Dorset nettles from the River Cottage estate added to the copper. It has a grassy herbal aroma with subtle gooseberry and lemon citrus notes that build up towards the end of the glass. It is finished with a slightly spicy after taste that lingers beautifully.”
Check out their full range of beers HERE.