Beer Viking

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Around My Garden in 80 Beers – the lead-in

Posted by Doc D

at April 26, 2009

I’ve been inspired or something or maybe its just too much sunny weather for a Beer Viking. Let me try to explain – I’ve really enjoyed using Around London in 80 Beers and now also have Around Bruges in 80 Beers (2nd edition – you need to get it!) sitting in my hands just taunting me to make a raid on that Belgian town…

In the meantime I’ve set myself a project for the Summer of ‘09 (which has now started for me at least). The project is to enjoy 80 different respectable (=good to great) beers in my garden before the end of September. I am also going to use this as an excuse to post up short tasting notes and perhaps some vignettes on enjoying beer in the comfort of one ‘sown garden (or island or farm or empire).

Beer No 1 and No 2 are already done – in the can as they say in the tv/movie/video biz. And you can see a Flickr slideshow below. This slideshow should grow to well over 80 slides by the end of summer – as some beers will be worthy of more than a single photo.

Beer No 1: Ayinger Frühlingsbier, Germany

Beer No 2: Young’s Kew Gold, UK.

I will be back with my tasting notes of these two lovely brews later in the week.

Misc, Real Posts

Tags: Ayinger, beers, Belgian Town, Empire, Excuse, Garden Beers, Germany Beer, Gold, Kew, Lead, London, Photo, Slides, Slideshow, Sunny Weather, Tv Movie, Video Biz, Vignettes, Youngs

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Introducing BeerViking TV – Epic Pale Ale vs. Thornbridge Kipling South Pacific Pale Ale

Posted by Doc D

at June 15, 2009

The plan
It was simple enough – take two interesting beers to the beach, taste them, compare them, BrewRank the beers and video it. Oh yeah, we also needed to pick a winner.

The setting
We had post card perfect day and beach side location. Brighton beach (in Sussex, UK) on a sunny, clear and very warm day (temperature was around 25C/78F)… If it weren’t for the pier and the shingles (should really call them rocks) on the beach we could have even been in the actual South Pacific. It was a Monday or maybe a Tuesday. The beach was pretty empty. Although there was a guy paddling his surf board and a few tasty bikinis around, but that’s not important. What matters is the beer.

beach2

We had chosen well. It was the Epic Pale Ale vs. the Kipling South Pacific Pale Ale. This seemed to a fitting pairing. Two unique beers. One brewed in New Zealand with lots of hops (Cascade? – I am sure we could find out on the excellent Epic website but we’re lazy) and the other brewed in the UK using Kiwi Hops and by a Kiwi-Italian brewing duo… Crazy. Had to be good.

kilplingvepic1

Tasting Notes (abridged)
Ummm, need to re-watch the original video… [UPDATE to follow]

The Video (Beastie Boys mix): Filmed on Brighton beach in Sussex. This is the 1st in a possible series of beer taste-offs planned. Two great craft beers with lots of hops and unique tast – one from the UK and one from New Zealand but with crossed paths in the global world of craft beer. Backing track is Beastie Boys / Now Get Busy from the Wired CD (Creative Commons license). Enjoy!

The Winner
Epic won by just a tad. More bold. Epic scored 16 and Kipling scored 15.5 (out of 20). Both BeerVikings agreed on scoring and the winner (this time).

Verdict on the Flip Mino?
Well, the Flip is easy to use. Not sure about the camera work and the sound. Need to skill up on doing videos and editing software. Fun. Easy. This is just the beginning of Beer Viking TV.

Beer, Brighton UK, Pale Ale, Real Posts, Video, taste-off

Tags: Beastie Boys, Beer Taste, beers, Bikinis, Cascade, Craft Beer, Craft Beers, Epic, hops, Kipling, Kiwi, Mino, New Zealand, pale ale, Perfect Day, sussex, taste off, Thornbridge, Video

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Home Brew Online Resources

Posted by Doc D

at June 21, 2009

bitterbrewer

Nice set of brewing links thanks to the Bitter Brewer. BV will be adding this to this list over time. Wanted to save it as a reminder and to use later here – hence the quick dirty post.

Home Brewers Links:

http://www.northernbrewer.com

http://www.homebrewhome.com

http://www.basicbrewingradio.com

http://www.homebrewing.org

http://www.homebrewmart.com

http://www.homebrewery.com

http://www.monsterbrew.com

http://www.howtobrew.com

http://www.byo.com

http://www.homebrewtalk.com

http://www.beeradvocate.com

http://www.homebrewzone.com

http://www.DIYbrewing.com

http://www.brewboard.com

http://www.thebrewhut.com

http://www.homebrewheaven.com

http://www.homebrewtees.com

http://www.highgravitybrew.com

http://www.allaboutbeer.com

http://www.beertown.org

http://www.morebeer.com

Home Brew, Real Posts

Tags: Bv, Home Brew, Home Brewers, Online Resources, Reminder

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The Beer Academy: Tasting Session Beers over Britain – a very short summary

Posted by Doc D

at June 22, 2009

beeracademylogo
Back in May I had the pleasure of attending the Beer Academy’s 90 minutes tasting session “Beers over Britain Matched with Food” with a few mates. If you don’t already know about the Beer Academy then be sure to check out their course catalog. The Academy is part of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling. They run a series of courses around the UK for both professionals in the beer trade and beer enthusiasts.

The session we attended included matching some tasty British beers with food. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the food matching part. Time to start a campaign, with all my wine and foodie friends to branch out and to pair more beer with food.

Somehow my tasting notes from the evening got lost along the way home… But I know we started with an Italian Peroni Nastro Azzuro to clear the palette (good choice). Beer No 1 was St Peter’s Organic Ale, always good. Number 2 was Inns & Gunn a first for me, No 3 was White Shield IPA the classic IPA and we finished with Meantime London Porter perfect for the closing out this evening session in central London.

Beer, Courses, Pale Ale, Real Posts