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Banana Bread Beer

neil — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:29:28 +0000

The label on the bottle gives a full description of the story behind the naming of this beer. Beer dates from around 3100BC, when it was also known as liquid bread – the base ingredients between bread and beer being very similar. The banana part of the name comes from the addition of fair trade bananas during the brew.

The latter ingredient is immediately obvious when the top comes off – a full bouquet of fruit fills the nose. The taste is sweet, but not sickly. A really very pleasant experience indeed! Widely available.

Marston’s Old Empire

neil — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:09:13 +0000

Marston’s is brewed in the home of real ale brewing in the UK – Burton on Trent – and, in line with their ‘Marston’s Don’t Compromise’ byline, has reverted back to a more genuine IPA style to create Old Empire. It’s brewed to be stronger than a standard ale (5.7% ABV), has a typical pale colour and is bursting with hop flavour and citrus notes. The nose is beautifully pungent with rich hops (too much for Erin to stand – she hates when I first open a bottle of this) and while the strong flavour may be too much for some it is very quaffable in the hands of an expert. Or me.

This is a reliable standby in the caravan in Eyemouth – the local Co-op always seems to have this stocked! Not seen this on tap as yet, but hopefully will see it around. As with most bottled ales which are not cask conditioned it may well be fizzier than the real thing – so hunting down a cask version is very much on my list of must-do’s! I’ll let you know here when (not if!) I find it.

Fursty Ferret

neil — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:21:33 +0000

Robert Burns Ale

neil — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:51:52 +0000

Belhaven brewery is situated 30 miles along the east coast from Edinburgh in the town of Dunbar. Famous throughout Scotland for their Best beer, and now owned by Greene King, the brewery has a long history of producing many types of ale throughout it’s history as an independent brewer. In recent years this has dwindled significantly, but with Greene King’s guidance and the knowledge that cask ale is bucking the current trend of downward spending, a few bottled beers are to be found on the shelves!

One of these is Robert Bruns Ale: produced in celebration of the Bard and available this year in plenty time for the 250th anniversary of his birth. A rich, sweet malt flavour which complements haggis, neeps and tatties as well as it would any hearty Scottish meal – but equally good on it’s own!

Anchor Steam Beer

neil — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:43:20 +0000

Having previously consumed a beer from back home, it seems only right that the circle is complete and some local San Francisco brew is enjoyed also! From a beautiful copper brewhouse in downtown San Francisco comes this amber beer that can be found all over San Francisco and beyond. It has a dense head, refreshing hop flavour and very fizzy – of course! But a decent enough drop and one that you could enjoy over the course of an evening – much as I did.

Jacobite Ale

neil — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:12:58 +0000

I was able to spend an evening in San Francisco on my last night on this particular visit, and we found ourselves in what I can only really describe as antapas bar specialising in Indian cuisine. So what was a boy to have in such bizarre surroundings? Well, a beer from Traquair House – about 30 miles south of my home back in Scotland – of course! Add that to the fact the beer is brewed with coriander, and the odd combination of everything is complete!

However, it was a decent drop. The coriander was present on the nose and in the aftertaste, adding a lovely herbal note. It’s a very dark beer, with hints of chocolate – and very nice with some Indian bites! At 8% though, not exactly ideal as a session beer!

Chestnut Beer

neil — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:29:19 +0000

A special brew from Morrisons, taking in the flavours of chestnut to create a warming festive brew. This is created by the Titanic Brewery in Stoke on Trent – which began life back in 1985 but now produces over 1.7 million pints – most of which must be for Morrisons!

Winter Hop Ale

neil — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 23:20:34 +0000

A rich, ruby-red coloured ale in a bottle. Not particularly hoppy (as per the name) or spiced (as per the implication of the name) but nice enough. It hides it’s 7% ABV well, but all that could happen is that you get a sore head pretty quickly for no real gain.

Trashy Blonde

neil — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:23:49 +0000

Another delicious beer from Brewdog, Trashy Blonde is a blonde beer (as you might expect) and as such is naturally refreshing and floral. But, this being the brewery it is, the beer also has a fair bit of balls and will bite you in the ass given half the chance.

Punk IPA

neil — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:52:45 +0000

What can I say about this little beauty? The bottle seems to say it all to be honest – it doesn’t care if you like it or not. It even doubts you have the sophistication and the palate to truly appreciate the complex flavours within. Well, that may well be true. However, I can say with some certainty that this beer truly does grab you by the bollocks, whip them out from your pants, applies them directly to a belt sander and douses the swollen, skint, scratched scrotomy mass in lemon juice, vinegar and salt. And that’s a complement! Unbelievablely hoppy and bitter – this beer is a winner!