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In a time honoured tradition, the Beer Viking crew recently had their annual Christmas Cracker.  Sometimes we get more organised and arrange a pub crawl and send out invites and sometimes it’s just the two captains, Doc and Tank, trying as many quality beers as possible.  On that point, it really is about enjoying beer for what it is, a great beverage.  At the end of year of hard tasting, one’s palate and desire to enjoy a beer can get a bit jaded and so this is the kind of line under the year kind of thing.

2009 was along the unorganised, if you like unplanning line and as you’ll see below we had some incredible beers.

Doc had recently been on a mini-raid of California, where he managed to hit up some sweet spots and uncover a great joint near Los Angeles.  I got a text from him on the way to the airport and it was such a delight to read.  One bottle of Pliny the Elder is coming back for us to share.  We discussed various options and then went for a landmark shot, which you can see a picture of below.  It meant that the drinking conditions were sub-optimal but for such a rare treat as a fresh Pliny the Elder in the UK, it was worth it.

From here, we walked through the wet and cold night to the Rake, with full intentions of carrying on from there.  It turned out Borough Market was having a bit of cheese night and so it was a slightly different crowd than normal.  A couple of nights previous the Otley brewers were in, with a special they had brewed with Glyn Davies Roberts, the Rake manager.  Most of the beer had been drunk but lucky for us the Otley O Ho H was on cask.  I’m a big fan of this beer and Doc D was quick to give his thumbs up.

This was soon followed by bottles of the Anchor Christmas ‘09 (angled for by Doc due to his excitement of his Anchor Brewery Tour the week before) and the Sierra Nevada Celebration ‘08.  Which reminded me that on my previous days visit, I had been told that a couple of kegs of ‘09 were downstairs.  A quick word with Tom and at the first opportunity this was on and soon we were having some pints of this tasty seasonal brew.

Next was the Brooklyn Winter and Great Divide Hibernation, during which we had some more conversations with Tom and soon the decision was made to share some further bounty raided in NORCAL.  Some choice cans, yes you read that right, CANS of beers.  Soon we had set up camp on by the brewers signature wall and were making our way through 21st Ammendment IPA, 21st Ammendment Monks Blood and Big Sky Brewing Co. Moose Drool.

It was at this point things started to go off the boil but we all agreed that it was a pleasant surprise to have just tasty beers out of cans.  Reminders of teenage kicks, thankfully Doc had ignored my earlier suggestion on first viewing the cans as an opportunity to do a couple of shotguns.  We followed this up with the Great Divide Denver Pale Ale, which is the point where all brewrank scores stopped for the night.

We made our way through the rare treat to most, even more special in Europe, Moonlight Death & Taxes.  We then had to taste one of my favourite Christmas beers of all time, De Dolle Stille Nacht.  Then onto the Great Divide Fresh Hop ‘09 and finishing with the Goose Island Christmas.

There may have been a few more to round out the night, like I’m thinking the Dark Star Imperial on cask but can’t be sure as this is where the notes and the memory stopped.  All in all, a wonderful and solid Christmas Cracker ‘09.  Hope you can join us next year but for now, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

The list in full:

1. Pliny the Elder
2. Otley O Ho Ho
3. Anchor Chrismtas ‘09
4. Sierra Nevada Celebration ‘08
5. Sierra Nevada Celebration ‘09
6. Brooklyn Winter
7. Great Divide Hibernation
8. 21st Ammendment IPA
9. 21st Ammendment Monks Blood
10. Big Sky Brewing Co. Moose Drool
11. Great Divide Denver Pale
12. Moonlight Death & Taxes
13. Stille Nacht
14. Great Divide Harvest 09
15. Goose Island Christmas

Some of the BeerViking’s had the pleasure in being part of the first social media British Beer community Beer Swap (#beerswap on Twitter).  Doc D has already filed his report on his beers and this is mine.

I was matched to receive beers from Sam Lanes from Real Ale Reviews.  Being Leeds-based, he chose to send through the following choice Yorkshire beers:

• Copper Dragon Orange Pippin
• Leeds Brewery Pale
• Leeds Brewery Best
• Saltaire Brewery Cascade Pale

Copper Dragon Golden Pippin

What they say:

A light refreshing blonde ale brewed using a specially selected hop to create a citrus fruit flavour.  This golden coloured favourite is equally appealing to real ale and lager drinkers alike – ABV 4.2%

My Review:

White head, that goes but leaves some lacing.  Old gold colour, looks quite effervescent.  Nothing particular on the nose, some slight greeness of hops and with that floral but nothing too much.  Thin mouthfeel.  Quite sweet, with some bitterness coming through.  A brewrank of 12.

Leeds Pale Session Bitter

What they say:

An easy drinking pale ale. Light and hoppy with delicate floral notes and a well balanced finish.  ABV 3.8%

My review:

Slight head, yellow gold colour.  Slight bitterness on the nose, with perhaps some perceived (wished for) yeast smell from the Yorkshire yeast.  Nice mouthfeel, a decent amount of hops to bring some citrus through, with some faint fudge chewiness.  Would definitely have again.  A brewrank of 13.

Leeds Best

What they say:

A classic Yorkshire Bitter. Finest English hops blend perfectly with our unique Yorkshire yeast to create a full flavoured beer with a superb hoppy finish.  ABV 4.3%

My review:

Good head, again quite bubbly to look at. Russetmuscat colour.  Not getting a particular nose.  Fresh mouthfeel. A taint of bitterness, an easy drinker…I would almost say lagerish.  Might have again and a brewrank of 12.

Saltaire Brewery Cascade Pale

What they say:

American style pale ale with the floral aromas and strong bitterness of Cascade and Centennial hops.  4.8% ABV.

My review:

Nice tight head that lasts, very bubbly. Maybe as dark as burnished.  A resinous, nutty nose.  A creamy mouthfeel, with a nice warmth from the malt gives way to a joyous astringency of the hops with a great length (as in I’m hungry but don’t want that taste to go away soon).  A brewrank of 14

Overall

I thoroughly enjoyed my #beerswap experience.  The thought into what beers to send Darren from Blog ‘o Beer, Harvey’s Imperial, Dark Star Imperial, Dark Star Sunburst (collect+ blew this one out) and Ascot Alligator, was perhaps as much fun as getting them (but being obvious as no comparison to drinking them.)

It was a great idea from the guys (Mark and Andy) and I’m sure has helped pull the beer community together a little more and I’m sure that real world friendships will be formed a beer festivals around the countryside soon.

My only question is, when’s the next one!

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.

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.

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.

This weeks the beer of pits Anchor Small Beer vs. Ballard’s Old Bounder, 21 Birthday Boy.

The main reason to choose these two was driven by the story behind the Small Beer, which is that it’s created by running a second load of water through the mash of the Anchor Old Foghorn. So as I had the Small and didn’t have the foresight to have an Old Foghorn, I went for the Birthday Boy, which is Ballards 21st edition of Old Bounder, their barley wine.

On the Old Bounder, the brewery launches the latest version with a Charity Beer walk in early December, hope to make it for 2009.

Here’s my notes:

Anchor Small Beer, California, 3.2%. Refreshing taste, quite sour with grapefruit upnote. An interesting beer and would be keen to try more.

Ballard’s Old Bounder (21st, Birthday Boy) 9.5%. Barley Wine, UK.  Christmas Pudding in a beer? Port-like in flavour. Strangely enjoyable.

It wasn’t really close for me on this one as the Anchor Small took with a knock-out in the first.  For me, the Old Bounder was quite complex but didn’t quite get there for me on this tasting.  I enjoyed the Anchor Small a lot and do look forward to trying it again, though this time pitting it against the Old Foghorn to enjoy looking for the lineage.

A final note on the Small is that the bottle I had cost me 5 quid and though I enjoyed this beer greatly and like what Anchor is trying to do here at that price I would say there’s a lot of beer ahead of it in the queue.

Having enjoyed the train crawl in Oz and May Drink for England,  I was pretty chuffed when I was given an Adur Velocity and Hepworth Pullman, as well as having train names, they are Best Bitters.

Adur Velocity, Sussex, 4.4%.  Golden brown, quite a nose, bubbly. A fun ride along the length. Gentle bitter.  Here’s what Adur have to say:

Velocity (alc. 4.4% vol) is a traditional English bitter with a fresh flavour at the lower end of the bitterness scale. We add a handful of the ruinously expensive German Hallertauer hops just before the beer is fermented and the result has excellent aroma and just a hint of an old fashioned marmalade.

Hepworth Pullman, Sussex, 4.2%. Golden brown A nice straightforward bitter.

Pullman @ 4.2% abv is a First Class bitter with a crisp bite balanced with a silky finish.  Brewed with Admiral & Golding hops,   Pullman is a luxurious ale to be enjoyed on its own or with fine food. 

It’s not really much of a contest tonight, sadly as the Adur takes it quite easily.  I believe it’s probably the use of the the German hops that does it.

In a desire to pick things up a bit in the hunt, I decided to pit two very excellent beers against each other.

Thornbridge Kipling is one of my current go to beers. I really enjoy the understated use of the Nelson Sauvin hop from New Zealand that is quite fresh and delicate but still satisfies my hop cravings.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is an undoubted classic that is often most people first taste into the joyful land of hoppy brews.

The tasting was at the homestead, so obviously both were bottles.

The Kipling was first and I struggled to leave any for the head to head.  Don’t go to this beer expecting blow your head off bitterness. It’s quite gentle, fresh. A little grassy perhaps.  At first I was thinking the length was a little short near the end that perception was changed.

Even on the first sip, the Sierra Nevada tasted a bit heavy, maybe dirty even.  I obviously still enjoyed the beer and I liked the heavy hop notes more.

So, on the head to head. Like everything it’s all about mood, and perhaps as it was a nice sunny afternoon in Sussex I have to say that initial funk on the Sierra Nevada made me give the thumbs up to the Kipling here.  Well done to the boys up in Derbyshire, they really are making some of the most exciting beer I am tasting at the moment.

I’d love to hear opinions of anyone else who’s pitted these two excellent brews against each other.