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!

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:

1. Untapped Sundown Golden Ale rated 14/20, would drink this anytime. Solid session brew.
2. 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.
3. 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

Earlier, I was able to pick up my beers for the Beer Swap.  I was very excited to find that Sam Lanes, from Real Ale Reviews, had sent through the following choice selection of beers from parts of Yorkshire.   Can’t wait to start the tasting.

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

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

While crap beer sales fell approx 7.2% in Q2 2008, Real Ale sales have increased 8.1% over the first 6 months.

This increase is take from SIBA’s figures on it’s direct distribution from smaller UK Brewers to 3,000 odd pubs.  Still, rock and roll.  Maybe soon I won’t have to get nasty to people when they are in a good pub and order something that shouldn’t even be given to dogs to make them drunk.

photo credit: christian moser

Beer Viking plays out of the home ground that is London, in particular a lot of research is put into Victoria, Soho, The Rake at London Bridge, Dullitch and Fulham.  Hailing from Canada originally I often get asked if I can stand all the warm beer in England and isn’t there anywhere that serves beer cold?

This is a remarkable question for a variety of reasons.

Most of them are to do with a matter of taste.  I have found that real ale cellared well, will generally beat most typical ice cold beer (read:  piss water) hands down.  With that in mind, a good guide to finding a decent cold beer in London is look for Cask Marque pubs.

Still, I understand what’s it’s like and sometimes you’re just jonesing for something like Sierra Nevada or Coopers.  In that case, there’s a few pubs around (we’ll start mapping them) but you can’t go far wrong by going to either The White Horse in Parsons Green or The Rake in Borough Market.  Recently, we also discovered that the 5th floor bar at Waterstones on Piccadilly is serving some tasty brews (e.g.:  Anchor Steam) and they serve them in frosty ice glasses – they come at quite a price but on a sunny day the view and the glass are worth that little extra bit.

Finally, as a complete fall back, look for a JD Wetherspoon.  I don’t generally visit them but they do promise to serve their lager at a frosty 1-3 deg. C and are also not hated by  CAMRA, so can pour a decent ale as well.

Here’s a couple of books that are handy resources as well: