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.

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!

We’ve had notice that Mark Justin, a Publican with a Master of Wine, has organised to two very special days at Le Gothique on December 3^rd and 4^th. Carola Brown from Ballards in Hampshire and Duncan Sambrook from Sambrook’s in Battersea will both be here on Thursday 3^rd to talk and field questions about their beers. With Simon Dixon from Shephard Neame on Friday 4th.

Duncan will have both his astoundingly successful “Wandle Ale” plus his long awaited new brew “Junction”. This will be the first time Duncan has had to interact with the public in relation to the new Junction ale.

Historically it was the woman of the household who brewed the beer in days of old. Now Carola Brown finds herself one of the very few female brewers in the UK. She will be making the journey up the A3 to talk and also field questions about her long running success story that is Ballards. With 6% Wassail on tap it should make for a very interesting evening.

Friday between 4pm and 6pm Simon Dixon from Shepherd Neame will be on hand with the Moshi Asahi Ale that was brewed using the same hops and malts as their world brand leader Asahi Japanese lager.

As well as the Sambrooks, Ballards and Shepherd Neame beers there will be a further 20 ales available on rotation from behind the bar.

To register your intention to attend simply email marklegothique@aol.com The first 50 to do so willreceive a free goodie bag of bottled delights.

Both days we will be open from 12 noon with our guest brewers arriving at 4pm & 7pm.on Thursday and 4pm on Friday.

Full Beer List

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.

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.

And this bottle conditioned beauty is wonderful and goes straight to the top of the charts of my Christmas beers.

It poured a dark reddish colour with almost no head.  You can get the hops and malt right on the nose.

Taste wise, you get some sweetness before the hops kick in and that goes to quite a dry finish with a nice mouthful of yummy making you want even more.

I can’t find any details about this except for on the bottle. 

Weltons Imperial Festive is from Weltons the Real Ale brewers (again) from Horsham, West Sussex.  Looking at their site you realise that keeping up with their beer production is going to be quite a fun task in itself.

Best before date on my bottle:  25/12/2009 (love it).

Anyway, here’s what the bottle says:

This is a BOTTLE CONDITIONED, mahogany coloured beer, full of rich flavours from the Imperial malts and Admiral hops.

Scores:

Beer 17

Christmas Beer 18

Due to missed connections, earlier tonight I was able to pop into a favourite little shop of mine.  I had to hold off the growing extensive Christmas beer collection there (only so much room in my bag) and picked up a few new ones.

First to get the pour was the Watou Tripel, a Trappist beer from the town of Watou, Belgium.  Michael Jackson has a great breakdown of Watou Tripel vs. the  St BernardusTripel.

I’m getting used to the opening of the Belgians and so had a glass all ready and waiting (in the kitchen sink).  What I loved was that my bottle (a 330ml) was dated Best before:  21 02 11.

Poured with what I would call an off-white head, that even 30 minutes late is still hanging around.

Colour wise, I’ve got written down a caramel orange colour.

I got a bit of a malty nose.

Taste, I thought it was fairly smooth, almost light upfront with some of the bitterness of the hops coming in towards the end finishing with quick a clean citrus note.

I would definately have this one again.

http://zenzele-brewery.blogspot.com/ is an inspiration.