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.

One of Beer Vikings favourite and a leading light in the UK Craft brewery scene,  Dark Star Brewing Co. are hosting a beer festival at their pub the Stand Up Inn in Lindfield, West Sussex.

The poster below is pretty much it for details but it’s running Friday 22nd May through to Monday 25th May.  Perfect for a Bank Holiday weekend.

Lindfield is on the cusp of Haywards Heath and is a beauty of an English village.

More details as we find them out.

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.

With Episode 8 of Oz & James Drink to Britain wrapping up the show, by visiting my backyard of Sussex and Kent I was really looking forward to finding out what drink there were going to choose.  With the obvious expectation it was going to be beer and then maybe they’d pop for Brewdog or Thornbridge.

Still, it was pretty exciting to see the guys go to some of the new wave of British vineyards in the area and stop in on Westerham Brewery.

As for my point about the ending with a whimper, the guys decided that tea was the drink for Britain. On one hand, totally understand, nothing beats a good cuppa.  On the other hand, it’s a total whimp out and against the whole grain of the show.

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