Colonsay 80 Shilling Ale Pint bottle

I know, I know I can hear you say thought that this was a whisky blog and your blogging on about bloody beer again! Well who cares it's my blog and I will write what I want! Anyway had to tell you about this 80 Shilling from the Colonsay Brewery. This is one of the best beers I have had in a long time rich full flavoured with a creamish finish! Not sure if I can find the smoke they are talking about on there website but then again maybe it's there or maybe I am just looking for it - never feer I will be drinking this alot I imagine so no worries about me checking it out again in the future.

Also being on their site you see a lot of tongue in cheek humour coming through which I feel is there because the guys who put it there are funny and it's mnot just marketing bollocks. Make sure you look up their business plan under the brewery section. Priceless!

Anyway there is an IPA and a lager to try so there will be more on here.

A must try!

Orval Trappiste Beer 6.2%

Found this wee monastray belgian beer from Orval and thought I would give it a go. This is a Trappiste beer. You have to love Wikipedia! I had never realised the reasoning behind trappiste beers before but it is a very rigourous organisation with only 8 Trappiste Abbeys producing beers under the following rules:

1. The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist abbey, by or under control of Trappist monks.
2. The brewery, the choices of brewing, and the commercial orientations must obviously depend on the monastic community.
3. The economic purpose of the brewery must be directed toward assistance and not toward financial profit.

We have got to love monks for the contribution they have made to the drinks industry - bar maybe buckfast!

What I would say about this beer is that it doesn't taste too strong - has a slight fairy liquid note on the nose (something I get in beer quite a lot - and no I have cleaned the glass properly!) there is a red fruity note in the middle of the taste and hints of spice and a little bit sour but very pleasant.

Anyway - not that I know but - I would say this is not a typical Trappiste and some night I must try several at once. Worth a try but would say it would be the odd bottle here or there rather than a regular bottle to reach for!

Sierra Nevada Summerfest 2007

When I posted my musings on the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale someone left a comment saying I should try the Summerfest - alas they thought I would have to wait until summer as did I - however I spotted this tonight in Tesco so had to buy it. Admittedly it is Summer 2007 and not this year - you don't need to be a genius to figure that out as it is flamming freezing here!

Anyway this 5.0% traditional lager is bottom fermented which means it is fermented at lower temperatures with as little air contact as possible and then cold stored for as long as possible. As Sierra Nevada seem to be a very traditional company I would imagine that this would be nearer to the traditional six months than the mass produced 6 weeks of some companies. Ok this is all new to me - I am learning as I go - so bear with me!

Anyway I have chilled my beer as instructed by beer pages so lets see what its like:

First of all an excellent head on it - soft hoppy style - very soft and refreshing but with a zingy bite (in a good way) on the finish also some lemony notes. Overall I like this and look forward to a day when I can drink this in the sun! Prefer the Pale Ale but thats just my personal taste.

Nice beer though!

BeeWyched Honey'd Ale 5.0%

Wychwood brewery is one of my favourites and although a honey beer not the first thing I would reach for every night (although I have been known to have the odd waggledance). being from Wychwood I just had to give it a try.

Nice refreshing brew with a fruitiness and the honey doesn't over power so I like this, in the finish a lot more malty notes come through and then the honey sweetness returns.

Cracking stuff and not to sweet and has typical Wychwood character.

St Peter's Organic Ale 4.5%

Bought this in Adsa tonight and thought that I would give it a try. Well this "This lovely beer won the Soil Association’s top prize in 2002" well surely that should swing it for anybody! actually have tried a few things from the St Peter's brewery and thought they were pretty good so here goes.

Very much an English style ale - very easy to drink and not overly hoppy at all. Touch of citrusy notes and soft dryness in the finish. Overall not a bad beer although bizarrely for an organic beer it has a slight solventy note in the finish!

As i say note a bad beer but not one I will be rushing out to buy again - knew I should have picked up the Hobgoblin from http://www.wychwood.co.uk/ instead. Anyway as for a score i would say an average 7 /10.

More info available at http://www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk/

"the taste of salty, lime flavoured ass" aka Miller Chill

So this great review on http://www.liquorsnob.com/ today and just about split my sides so thought i would share it with you below.

Great to see a site that truly says what it thinks!


"We're usually huge fans of Miller products (Champagne of Beers 4 Life!) but we tried Miller Chill recently and were unimpressed. It's described as a Chelada and judging by all the Spanish on the site, it's being aimed at the Latino market. We hope they like the taste of salty, lime-flavored ass, because that's what they're being given."

Oh you can find out more about salty ass beer at http://www.millerchill.com/ if your interested.

Greene King Hop Beer 5% (AKA Butt plug bottle!)

Bought a bottle of this in Tesco tonight it was formerly known as The Beer to Dine for. Thought that I would give it a go, not bad wee beer but nothing great fairly easy going, touch of citrus notes and a bit of a bitter after taste: They recommend drinking it with slightly spicy food with a touch of sheer coincidence I finished it along with a Chicken Biriyani and to be honest it did improve a bit giving off slightly creamery notes.

Very much a session beer for drinking on a hot summers day with a bit of spicy food. If had to rate it then I would say about a 7/10.

Interestingly on the Greene King website http://www.greeneking.co.uk/ they do not mention this beer - may be as some of the stuff I found on this beer on the internet people were complaining that Greene King perhaps have chickened out and went to far down the commercial route!



The best quote I found on the internet about this though came from http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/greene-king-hop-(formerly-the-beer-to-dine-for)/24678/



"Comes in a bottle that looks like a butt plug, so my expectations weren’t very high." - Classic!

Trade Winds

This is one of my favourite beers of all time - very much for me a session beer as much as I love beers like Dark Island http://www.orkneybrewery.co.uk/products.htm#DARK and Black Cuillin http://www.skyebrewery.co.uk/skye.htm Trade Winds is vert much an every day drinker and something that you can have several pints of in an evening and not get bored.

The Elderflower used in the production certainly comes through in the final product - a beer worthy of winning CAMRA Champion Speciality Beer of Britain for three years running 2004, 2005 and 2006.

A soft subtle beer with a cracking elderflower edge that does not over power the beer - definately if you like beer and you have not tried this try it now. For me a 9.5/10 beer I have yet to find a real beer drinker that does not like this.

Please drink this beer!

Blackford Ale

Just tried the Blackford Ale from Tullibardine http://www.tullibardine.com/shop.aspx at nearly £4.00 a bottle its not cheap but at least it is a "true" whisky beer unlike the stunning Innes and Gunn in that this is matured in casks which has previously contained Tullibardine Whisky. You certainly get the taste of the whisky coming through a bit like the traditional hauf and hauf - when the remainder of a whisky has been poured into a beer glass. I have to say that I don't overly rate this beer as much as I wanted to... there seems to be an over sweetness which is probably due to the wood maturation. The whisky flavour comes through but I would say if you can tell that it is Tullibardine then you have an amazing sense of taste and smell. I feel that the sweet whiskyish taste that comes through on the finish is just a little bit over powering and a little bit fake. All in all not my favourite glad to have tried it but far prefer the Innes & Gunn and at nearly £4 a bottle I wont be rushing out to buy any more.

Hobgoblin

A great beer from wychwood brewery, one of my favourite breweries. Apart from the great taste of this strong ale - I love their advertising - "What's the matter Lagerboy, affraid you might taste something?" Sums things up nicely I think.

Anyway would reccomend that you try this, a beer with a hell of a lot of flavour. www.wychwood.co.uk
Whats the matter lager boy