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Thursday, 24 December 2009

Theakston Mild


"Boasting a smooth, rich flavour, Theakston Mild is a classic example of a Mild brewed to perfection."

Brewer: Theakston
Beer: Traditional Mild
ABV:
3.5%
Style: Mild
Colour: Black
Out: All year round

A lot of younger drinkers have been getting in on the real ale recently. With more and more joining CAMRA every year, I feel privelged in knowing that I am helping raise awareness of beer to people of my age every time I'm out and about (be careful if you see me, I can talk for hours and hours on the subject.)

However, one of the stereotypes that accompanies the younger drinker is that we prefer the golden, hoppy ales with no regard for classic bitters, and even less your dark beers. The mild is a drink that it is unfairly called 'an old man's' drink, a tag I try and quash every time I'm at a pub serving milds. CAMRA has also tried to raise awareness of good milds by dedicating May as 'Mild May,' in an effort to raise knowledge and purchases of this style of beer. As someone who was born and raised in the midlands, I feel it is my duty to keep the mild alive, with Banks's original often being cited as the best mild around and one of the true instigators of the style.

I recently returned home for christmas, and perhaps it says something about my character that the first thing I did was find a local pub I had never been too in an effort to sample some nice beer that differs from the stuff I'm used to in the south (St Austell, Adnams, Badger, etc.)

As I walked into the Duke Inn in Sutton Coldfield (a lovely, oldschool pub where everyone knew the landlady by name and vice versa) my heart leapt for joy when I saw a Theakstons Mild pump clip sitting proudly in front of one of the pumps. Immedietly I ordered a pint. The liquid poured dark with a nice, creamy head. It was ever so slightly chilled so I left it for a few minutes to warm up before taking my first sip.

The problem with milds is if they are not brewed well they can be very thin and watery - this, to my relief, was not one of those times. The first taste was exceptional. A rich, smooth taste greeted my mouth, with hints of roasted chocolate underlying the overall flavour. The tiniest amount of liquorice creeped in but not too much. I also noticed, unlike a lot of milds, this did not linger in the very bitter category, a hoppy aftertatse being prevelant but not overpowering.
The taste only got better as the pint went down. The liquid was almost velvet on the tongue, an exquisite, delicate flavour that left me wishing I had time for another one!

The ABV of this is typical of milds, clocking in at a very humble 3.5%, making it perfect to session or just the one if you fancy a quick pint on a busy day. I can imagine it would go great with a meal but I have never had the chance to experiment with that - yet.

Another great thing about milds is that, due to the lower ABV, they often find themselves being priced better than other beers. This pint cost me £2.38, a perfectly acceptable price for a small pub. Prices will undoubtedly vary from place to place.

Overall, this beer is a classic example of how to do a mild right. Honestly, I am not a huge fan of Theakston beers, their old perculier being pleasant but not brilliant, and the classic bitter and black bull bitter both not impressing me. This, however, is fantastic, a perfect blend of tastes that is probably a result of the three malts used in the brewing process (dark, crystal, and pale) that creates the superb, rich character of the beer.

For me, the mild is a lost style of beer that needs to be rediscovered by the general drinking public. While CAMRA has shifted peoples stilted attitudes towards ale in general, I feel milds still have an unfair tag latched onto them by people that are basing their opinions on ignorant stereotype. If you love milds and dont want to see them die out other than at beer festivals, please order one if you ever see it behind the bar at your local pub - or even ask the landlord/lady if they would ever consider stocking them, because when they are done right they are sublime.

Final Grade: 8.5/10

Monday, 14 December 2009

Mini Beer Festival at Essex University




Three years ago, Essex University was a perfectly acceptable place to drink ale. While only ever stocking the one ale - Adnams Original Bitter - it was always kept in superb condition and, at £2.10 a pint, I was always up for a pint or twelve.

Then something happened.

For some reason unknown to me or my friends, the Adnams became vile. It was thin, stale, and soapy. This did not change for many months, and when we enquired all we got was a shrug of the shoulders and blank faces. While disgruntled, I had no reason to be dismayed as there were many, MANY good real ale pubs in colchester to visit, so that was exactly what we did up until present day.

Until last weekend. Last Saturday something very special happened - there was a mini real ale festival. On hearing the news I checked the beer list and my heart jumped for joy, not only was there a good selection of local ales, but it was indeed being put on in conjunction with CAMRA! Not only was I looking forward to the beers, but this was also a chance to chat to numerous CAMRA members outside of the big beer festivals, and finally I could work out if I would ever muster up the courage to turn up to a Colchester CAMRA meeting.

But anyway, onto the beer! There was originally going to be eight or nine ales on, but only six were settled in the end. Of course I tried them all and they were:

Fox and Hind (Red Fox) 3.8%
Saffron Blonde (Saffron) 4.3%
Silent Night (Saffron) 5.2%
Artic Fox (Red Fox) 4.5%
Essex Beast (Nethergate)6.2%
Umbel Magna (Nethergate)5.0%
Yo Boy (Mersea Island) 3.8%

I had tried the Umbel Magna, Yo Boy, and Essex Beast before (not that I remembered much after!) so was keen to try some new ales. We arrived just after noon and were one of the first groups of people to arrive minus people working there. Straight away I delved to the bar and ordered half a pint of the RFB.

Fox and Hind Bitter (3.8%)

A great little beer this one. A traditional session bitter with a medium body and nice, malty flavour. This one is packed full of good old fuggles and Herefordshire Dwarf hops. The brewery itself was set up only the other year and is run by the bloke behind Crouch Vale's Brewer's Gold so you know his beers are going to carry some prestige. As your sessions go this is a mighty fine one and was a great start to the day, slowly sipped as someone from CAMRA came over to ask us what we thought and was particuarly happy to know we were all already members of CAMRA. But back to the beer. This was a solid sessioner that avoided being too thin or void of flavour, better than your bog standard bitter, a solid 7/10. Good stuff.

Saffron Blonde (4.3%) *BEER OF THE FESTIVAL*

Well well, it is a quite a claim to give this pick of the festival considering Essex Beast and Silent Night are on the list, but this was a belter of a beer, especially consdering this usually isn't my territory (I'm a diehard mild/porter/stout lover) but let me explain why.

Ever since I moved to the south I have been flooded by hoppy/citrus beers such as Crouch Vale Amarillo and the ever classic St Austell Tribute. Saffron here have crafted their own hoppy masterpiece, mixing rich taste with an underlying hoppy greatness. What this beer has going for it is a subtle smoothness that mixes with the lively golden ale, an intruiging mesh of hops and underlying malts that leads to a quite unique flavour that mixes with the citrus undertones. Whether you like this style of beer or not, it is impossible to deny this ale its greatness - a superb perfection in this category of ale, one to be enjoyed over and over because it has that little something, that unique briliance about it. 9.5/10

Silent Night (5.2%)

This was very close to winning beer of the festival, and if it was a personal biased choice then it would win hands out (I love my dark beers)

Silent Night is a ruby porter brewed by the fantastic Saffron Brewery. This medium/heavy weighted beer has a full fruity taste accompnied by a rich chocoalte flavour that melds into a subtle coffee accomapniment to the main body of beer. As the pint goes down an invograting spice hits the back of the throat, a lingering bitterness turning into a fruity finish as the final dregs of the pint is finished. A quality pint indeed, and I make no overratings when I give this a
9/10 - it is that good.

Artic Fox (4.5%)

One of the drawbacks of being a beer lover is having to give negative reviews when you don't want to. Unfortunately, Artic Fox falls into this category. I am personally a big lover of the Red Fox brewery, their Wily Ol' Fox being a personal festival favourite of mine. However, here Artic Fox falls rather short of its targets. A thin, sourly fruity brew, Artic Fox tries to be a refrshing fruit beer but ends up tasting rather stale on the pallate. Whether this was the specific barrell we got I do not know, but this was an atnicipated drink all night, and I ended up with a rather bland tasting, strange beer that wasn't quite sure what it was. While not an awful pint, it let down expectations indeed, the only saving fact being a rather enjoyable hoppy flash of flavour. 4.5/10

Essex Beast (6.2%)


In the immortal words of a mate of mine the day after this festival, "The last thing I remember is having a pint of Essex Beast." Never has a beer been summarised so aptly - if you're not careful it will be the end of you. Essex Beast has been a love of mine ever since running into it at last years Colchester Beer Festival and again at the Clacton Beer Festival. Brewed by the ever solid Nethergate (who also make the very lovely Old Growler) this beer is a strong dark beer that creates a lovely toffee aftertaste accompnied by a beautiful sweetooth flavour, most likely a result of the chocolate malts used. A robust beer that delivers a warmful, real taste, you'd better make sure you love your dark beers, otherwise this little belter will sneak up on you and punch you in the face. 8.5/10


Umbel Magna (5.0%)


Based on a 1750's recipe, this red porter has a hint of coriander that completely changes the complexity of the beer. I personally find this to be a very heavy beer, one to be enjoyed in the evening, and as a result I only touched late aftenoon as opposed to my friend who had a pint at 1pm, holy cow! Irregardless of the richness of the beer it is one that should be savoured, a rather unique blend of spices, malt, and coriander that leads to a very unique tasting experience - a good one to say the least! I have always been a fan of this beer, one that has won many an award at festivals, including the bronze award at the Great British Beer Festival 2000 for speciality beer - go try it. 8/10

Yo Boy (3.8%)

I've always had good experience with Yo Boy and today was no exception. A brilliant, brown bitter, Yo Boy is a well balanced beer that has a great, malty body accompnied by a medium weighted texture. Mersea Island really know how to brew their stuff, this being no difference. Not much more to say on this one other than try it. A constant pleaser. 8/10


-

Overall, while it may have been a very small festival, the day embodied what I love about beer and drives me to continue drinking and reviwing it. Not only was there a slew of good beers available, but there was a great atmosphere about the place including several CAMRA members as well as my own beer loving friends. As the day went on, the room only got more busy, with more and more people embracing the spirit of real ale and chatting away in excited jest. I very much look forward to the university hosting such an event again.


- The Ale Lover.



Friday, 11 December 2009

Kiss me Quick


"Caledonian yet again cement themselves as a brewery of the highest tier"


Brewer: Caledonian
Beer : Kiss me Quick
ABV : 4%
Style : Special
Colour: Mid Brown, Tawney
Out : December


My first experience withthe Caledonian brewery was in April 2009 at the West Bromwich Beer Festival, the beer in question being their montly fruit concoction: Rasperry Fool.

The beer was one of the best I had ever tasted, a perfect balance of alluring rasperry overtones and a strong malty substance. It had what I would later call the 'Caledonian touch,' a taste which I seem to notice in all the good Caledonian brews, that little something which feels almost like an author's signature on their work, in this case most likely the local water and mix of the finest natural ingredients.

Skip forward to December and I am pleased to see scrawled on the blackboard in chalk at my local pub, 'Kiss me Quick,' a beer I know to be another Caledonian monthly ale. This beer pours mid brown in colour and is 4% ABV, making it ideal for sessioning.

The aroma is pleasant, encapsulating that 'Caledonian touch' to the nose as well as hinting at a sweetooth biscuity smell.
The taste itself is divine, a captivating mixture of said biscuity flavour, smokey aftertaste, as well as a full bodied malt. The weight of the beer is medium although it started to veer towards thin territory near the end of the pint, but not too thin.

About halfway down I started to detect some fruit hints, possibly orange, with a more pronounced 'sweet tooth' flavour, probably from the molasse used in the brewing process. The texture is velvety smooth from the first sip to the final dregs, a cracker of a beer and a great winter warmer.

Caledonian consistently put out excellent stuff and this is no exception.Highly recommended to anyone whoe enjoys the biscuity flavoured beers, medium bodied, or a more malty emphasis with smokey substance.

Final Grade: 9/10

Ale loving origins.


For the longest time I only ever drank lager. This cold, gassy stuff was drinkable but not enjoyable, it was more a refreshing drink on a summers day, or simply what I drank if I was at home.

About one month after I turned 18 my father introduced me to a local midlands ale called 'Banks's Bitter.' Immediately I was amazed at the complexity of the flavour, the rich tasting malt and the smooth hops leading to a powerful and exquisite taste.

"This is incredible," I said to him, my father smiling back, glad that I finally appreciated what he called 'real beer.' We would spend the rest of the night talking about beer in the pub over many more banks's, the conversation getting more and More merry as we progressed. From then on (once the hangover had ceased) I realised there was no turning back. I would spend the next week researching all the different types of ale, realising just how much of a world I had been missing out of.

Now three years later I consider myself an ale lover, and while not an expert, I hope I have at least some useful information to give on the topic of real ale. For me, my love of ale only increased with the slew of brews I tried at a variety of pubs. In September I moved to university in Essex, thus opening myself up to an entirely new world of beers that departed from the midlands style of brewing. Here I first tried beers brewed by Adnams, St Austell, and Badger. I also started to going to the local pubs that supported local breweries such as Mighty Oak, Mersea Island, Red Fox, and Crouch Vale.

My love for ale only increased with time, the fact that one of my closest friends was also a big ale fan only acted as a catalyst for the amount of beer I would ingest in the years to come. Last year I finally joined The Campaign for Real Ale, known more commonly as their acronym: CAMRA. This fine group has been pushing for quality real ale for over three decades now, supporting microbreweries and organising festivals to bring to the public eye the wonderful world of real ale. Through CAMRA, Britain has finally regained the title of brewing capital of the world.

This was only meant to be a very brief introduction to how I became involved with ale and my int erst in it. More detailed posts to do with my experiences as an ale lover are soon to come along with actual reviews of ales and breweries.