Beer Viking » Tasting Notes

Salopian Brewery Darwins Origin (4.3%) – a great bottled beer

Doc D — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 15:37:09 +0000

We recently had the pleasure of drinking the Salopian Brewery Darwins Origin (4.3%) on cask at a small August bank holiday beer festival in Kent. From cask it rated a respectable 15/20 on the @brewrank scale. Here's how the Salopian website describes the brew:

Style: Darwin’s Origin is an eclectic mix of hops from across the world but this blend produces a beer that offers something to everyone. Crisp, tart, fruity and refreshing but also with a juicy malt background.

History:

The brainchild of Debbie here at the brewery, Darwin’s Origin is the most recent addition to the Salopian core range in both cask and bottle. It was brewed to celebrate Shrewsbury’s most famous son Charles Darwin. Like most additions to the permanent range of beers, Darwin’s started off as a monthly special and the reaction of our customers and staff saw it replacing Abbey Gates.

Then we were at Ales By Mail for a spot of manual labour and managed to grab a few spare bottles. Well… As bottle beer it's even a little bit better! A solid 16 out of 20. The appearance is a light copper colour. Aroma is sweet like flowers with a hint of vanilla. Taste is zesty and just enough hop to make you want more. We would call this a golden ale plus – by plus we mean it has pale ale and bitter tones. Finish is smooth. A solid session beer. We will continue to drink it.

To order yours check out the Ales By Mail Shropshire 6 Bottle Taster Case - a bargain and delivered right to your door.

Ales By Mail Tasting No 1 with Beerviking [Video]

Doc D — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:24:12 +0000

CAMRA Beer Magazine Summer '10 Review – Ales By Mail Tasting No 1 with Beerviking

The back story short version. Every issues of Beer the quarterly magazine of CAMRA has selection of bottled beers reviewed. We got an adavnce case and did our own tasting of sorts. In two parts pretty raw edit here… just the mash. We know these are a bit long and we need to ferment them next time… We are still learning and playing with the video format. We used the Ratebeer out of 50 and the Beerviking rating scales.

Part 1 – Video:

Tryst Brewery's "Blathan" 4.0%; score 35/50

Pen-lon Cottage Brewery's "Torwen" Dark Fruit Beer 4.5%; score 32/50

Mort Subite Oude Kriek 6.5%* (we actually taste the younger 4.5% un aged version in the video); score 38/50

Part 2 Video:

Atlantic Breweries "Discovery Golden Pale Ale" with Lime, Chili and Ginger 5.5%; score 31/50

Meantime Brewing Co's "Raspberry Grand Cru" 6.5%; score 37.5/50

Winner is the Belgian Mort Subite Oude Kriek.

Order this case here on Ales By Mail.

Posted via email from beerviking’s posterous

My Notes on Tasty #beerswap Northern Brew

thetank — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:01:39 +0000

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 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!

75% Done with Drinking my #BeerSwap Brews – the story so far

Doc D — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:38:29 +0000

The 1st great British Beer Swap has been a lot of fun despite some issues with Collect+ (the shipping service we used). A bog thanks must be said to the brains behind this event – Andy & Mark from http://www.beerreviews.co.uk/ and http://real-ale-reviews.com/ .

My SWEEEET set of beers came to me from The Beer Bear in Wales – thanks, mate. Here's the photo of my fine four pack:

The story so far … Is I have drunk 3 of them and will save the 4th, the Otley O8 at 8% for a little celebration or commiseration later this week. IMHO Otley are one of the best (top 10 maybe even top 5) craft brewers in the UK today. I've had O1 and O2 but never the O8 – so looking forward to it.

I am not one for long beer reviews, hence why I spend my time drinking in the field and tweeting… But here's my summary and ratings anyway:

Untapped Sundown Golden Ale rated 14/20, would drink this anytime. Solid session brew.
Pen-lon Gimmer's Mischief, had to give it a 12/20. Not my style a bit to smokey for me – but for some folks this would probably rate higher.
Frosy Ffin Gwill Warmer rated 15/20 in the end. At 6.7% it hides its strength. Aroma was slight carmel and apple. Color a rich dark amber. Taste a great balance of smooth malt and lite hop with more hints of apple.

The bottle of Otley O8 well that may top the list in the end. Cheers!

Posted via email from beerviking’s posterous

Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Fest – report of sorts

Doc D — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:16:41 +0000

Well its been almost 3 weeks since the BeerViking crew raided the La Gothique pub for the Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Festival. Better late than never – here’s our report…

Over 2000 people attended this excellent beer fest – which ran for 3 days. We ran into Steve from Beer Justice and some of the Shepherd Neame team as well… We guestimate that over 125 casks were consumed. The ratio of girls to guys was high with over 40% of the attendees being female. This is a sweet great result for the 2nd beer festival at this venue – a younger, hipper and more female crowd than your average beer fest. This may also have been the 1st festival to have Meantime London Pale Ale on Cask (at a beer festival that is, its on tap at many fine pub around London) – Meantime were one of the event sponsors, btw… Be sure to follow BeerViking on Twitter as there will be more beer and maybe even wine related events on Wandsworth Common coming up soon.

Here’s what we drank…

1. Shepherd Neame Faversham, Kent: Tipping the Admiral 4.0%, October
brew to celebrate Nelsons victory in 1805. Brewrank 10 – not so nice,
but drinkable.

2. Buffy’s Brewery of Tivetshall St.Mary’s, Norfolk: Norwich Terrier
3.6%, Amber coloured with grapefruit notes. Styrian, Mount Hood hops.
Brewrank 12 – reasonable brew.

3. Dark Star Haywards Heath, Sussex: Ocktoberfest 5.2%, Using German
malts and hopped three times. Brewrank 15 – NICE! Dark Star rock.

4. Downton Salisbury, Wiltshire: Pumpkin Ale 4.4%, Special dark version
of Downtons Halloween Brew for this festival. Brewrank 13 – nice
stew like taste of pumpkin.

5. Twickenham Fine Ales Twickenham, London: Strange Brew 4.1%, Dark
golden ale. Hint of spice. Five different hops. Brewrank 15 – golden
syrup with a hint of lime.

6. Wolf Attleborough, Norfolk: Werewolf 4.5%, Red-brown with
pronounced malty bouquet. Brewrank 6 – yuck!

Beers 7+ (maybe it was 12 in total?)… After this the rating notes seemed to have vanished. Well it was Halloween. But I know we drank some Downton Quadhop, Moorhouse Black Cat, More Dark Star Octoberfest (nice!), Japanese Asahi Ale (smooth) and Triple fff Stairway to Heaven (tasty).

Beyond this it did get a bit crazy and we mainly drank dark beers as I recall… Below is our random photostream of people enjoying the Halloween WCBF on Friday Oct 30th. Video of the winner of the Meantime case coming out next.

Halloween WCBF on Friday Oct 30th:

Triple Rock Brewery & Ale House, Berkeley – west coast raid cont…

Doc D — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:25:54 +0000

Triple Rock Brewery & Ale House, Berkeley
Note: draft post…

Beer List

Pinnacle Pale Ale – english style pale ale, very light, pretty average. 12
Kolsch .45 – sharp, true to style. 14
Millstone Wheat – fresh, citrus, also true to style. Very drinkable. 14
Bug Juice West Coast Pale Ale – hoppy, long finish. Nice. 15
Red Rock Red Ale – wow, very stornly hopped, tight finish. Classic! 16
Black Rock Stout – very nice stout, smooth. 15

Guest Ale
Sacramento BrewCo IPA – very solid ‘west coast’ IPA. 15.5

Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A.

thetank — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:45:34 +0000

He’Brew Bittersweet Lenny’s RIPA. A 10% double IPA using Rye malt that I have a brewrank of 16 to.

What I Say:

Dark brown beauty. A caramel, grainy with balanced hop coming through nose. From the nose, I was expecting it to be a lot heavier and surprised by a Sweet and Sour (the rye malt?) giving way to what I would have describe as a sweet, cherry, bitter hoppiness, that fades leaving you with a wonderful after taste.

I know this is in effect to be a Double/Imperial IPA but I would suggest that this actually could be considered more along the lines of a Belgian trippel and would be curious to taste it in a flight against such.

What They Say:

Before that, I have to have an additional say with I love the fact that the Shmaltz Brewing Company (who are behind He’brew and Coney Island) published the recipe to this find brew.

Malts: 2-row, Rye Ale Malt, Torrified Rye, Crystal Rye 75, Crystal Malt 65, Wheat, Kiln Amber, Caramel 70

Hops: Warrior, Cascade, Simcoe, Crystal, Chinook, Amarillo, Centennial. Dry Hopped with Amarillo and Crystal

Ladies and Gentlemen, Shmaltz Brewing Co. is proud to introduce Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A. Brewed with an obscene amount of malts and hops. Shocking flavors – far beyond contemporary community standards. We cooked up the straight dope for the growing minions of our nation’s Radical Beer junkies.

Saturday Night Showdown: Wallop vs. Torpedo

thetank — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:56:43 +0000

A recent mission enabled me to add to my current stocks with a visit to Utobeer. Put some beers outside (it’s turned a bit colder again at night in the countryside but 10 C is a good temp) and for no real reason decided to pit the Sierra Nevada Torpedo against the Victory Hop Wallop.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo:

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale is a big American IPA; bold, assertive and full of flavor and aromas highlighting the complex citrus, pine and herbal character of whole-cone American hops.

Victory Hop Wallop:

We celebrate the pioneering spirit of old Horace ‘Hop’ Wallop and those who dare mighty adventurous things in this vivid, robust ale. As our annual homage to the hop harvest, expect loads of aromatic splendor and bitter beauty.

Below are my tasting notes:

16. Sierra Nevada, Torpedo; Dark amber. Woody, nutty & boozy. Alkaline & thick bodied. Balanced hop bitterness w fruit cake complexity coming through
16. Victory, Hop Wallop; Golden. Grainy, floral nose. Well-rounded mouth. Lovely subtle Harvest brew that is one to see out

Both are awesome beers and would have either of them again in a second (in fact, you’ll see I’ve given both of them 16s) but I have to pick a winner and it’s got to be the Hop Wallop, probably just for the name (but maybe for the subtle approach they seem to have taken).

This is my first Victory beer and as Utobeer has a few more from the range, I’m going to make a visit next week a priority to pick up a few more bottles.

Final note is that on first sip of the Wallop, my immediate thought was I’d really like to see how Thornbridge Kipling stands up against this.