Tasting Notes: Jennings: Cocker Hoop

Jennings: Cocker Hoop (England: Bitter: 4.2% ABV)

Visual: Hazy yellow to lemon rind. A good sized slightly banoffee tinged head that leaves small clumps round the glass. A small amount of carbonation mid body.

Nose: Slight lemon curd. Vanilla cream. Wet slivers of bark. Touch of nettles. Tangerine and passion fruit.

Body: Sherbety. Lemon. In fact lemon sherbets. Mandarin oranges. Light bitterness behind and moderate earthy hops.

Finish: Good bitterness and creamy hops. Mandarin oranges again. Turmeric and hops. Slightly prickly in its bitterness. Slight custard cream biscuits.

Conclusion:  There are flavours you often only get as subtle side notes in beers. They are presumably used so as to use them full force in a beer would be considered very hard, or possibly off-putting.

Thus finding a full force and pure flavour of mandarin oranges in the midst of this beer was a fricking shock.

Thus (for a second Thus) I am happily enjoying this. Technically an ok beer with a bitter kick, but with that mandarin laced straight throughout in pure form it cannot help but bring a smile to my face.

This is the difficult part where I have to try and think of how other people will receive the beer as opposed to just my quite random enjoyment of it.  Well I think others will enjoy it. Its solid made, a golden hued bitter with a nice quirk to make it stand out.  You may not make that weird squee of “Its Mandarin fucking orange” like me. Most likely because you are not mental and odd. You probably will enjoy it though.

So to try and be vaguely objective in the subjective beer world, well its flavoursome, if not a huge range, a solid kick if not excessive or outstanding.  It’s definitely above average and fun.

Now to sod objectivity.  It’s a massive mandarin orange bitter. Try it, try it!

Background: One of Michael Jackson’s 500 recommended beers and picked up for that reason. Drunk with friends so had a few second opinions.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: Scotch Ale

Brewdog: Scotch Ale (Scotland:  Scotch Ale: 7.5% ABV)

Visual: A very dark brown with reddened hue and a bubbly beige head. Above average carbonation.

Nose: Raisins. Treacle and liquorice. Thick honey. Glacier cherries and heap of malt.

Body:  Bitter. Lots of liquorice. Treacle and walnuts. Honey. Black cherry and malt loaf.

Finish: Walnuts and liquorice.  Dry. Malt loaf. Quite bitter.

Conclusion:  I’ve had a few bottles of this now and I keep swinging back and forth on it opinion wise.

Its solid and thick, lots of liquorice that comes in dry, yet with a nigh sickly honey and treacle counterbalance.  It’s all forthright and forward. You don’t get any hidden surprises in this beer.  Depending on how you are feeling the flavour seems either endearingly exuberant or sickly and single minded.   It doesn’t help that the scotch ale style can be hit and miss with me, but this one seems to be able to vary within a single beer.

Nothing is subtle, everything is thick and heavy. The liquorice dries your tongue, and the counterbalancing sweetness actual manages to make it feel drier. This does result in a barren mouth after a full bottles tasting.

On balance I’d say I’m just slightly leaning away from it. The flavours are good, but they wear out their welcome before the end. The honey that is its special ingredient is both its best asset at the introduction and its worse asset at the end as it gets sickly.  The thing is, up front it leaves quite an impression. If only they could keep it from getting overbearing there is something good under there.

It’s a beer that has its moments and when the flavours integrate just right it can be distinctly enjoyable. A sign of promise but slightly rough as a beer.

Background: One of four prototype beers released just before Christmas, with the intent that maybe one of them will become part of Brewdog main line. This is the last that I had to review, and I had had a few bottles of it before doing this review.  This beer was made with 8 different malts and honey is added.  Normally I’m not a huge scotch ale fan, though there are exceptions. I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beers.

Tasting Notes: Bladnoch: 17 Year

Bladnoch: 17 Year (Scottish Lowland Single Malt Whisky: 17 Years: 55% ABV)

Visual: Slightly yellowed grain.

Viscosity: Very slow puckering that drips down in a steady fashion from the spirit.

Nose: Slight eggs. Not harsh for the abv. Pencil shavings. Bags of rice. Pancake mix. Water makes much more musty and sulphur touched with a hint of sugar dusting.

Body: Slick. Sweet custard. Alcohol is noticeable here. Cream doughnuts. Touch of sweet lime. Much sweeter with water. Also adds malt loaf and raisin. More water brings out chocolate cupcakes and banana.

Finish: Clinging and viscous remains.  Butterscotch? Warming with a good dose of oak. Slight milky chocolate.  Waters adds a squeeze of lime and more chocolate – almost a dry chocolate cake.  Slightly milky. More water makes almost banoffee like or light coffee cake.

Conclusion: Lowlands whisky tends to remind me of Irish whiskey for some reason. Probably the habit of triple distilling. Which this distillery no longer does. Yet it still reminds me of it. Huh.

For all its imposing abv this whisky has the same light touch and sweetness I attribute to its Irish cousins. Light fluffy doughnut in the body, chocolate in the finish and benefits massively from a touch of water to open up. However even neat the years of it prevents the alcohol from burning too much. Very smooth and easy going.

It took a while to grow on me. It’s not got a huge range on the nose, but you get a nice range of sweet flavours when you hit the body. Very easy drinking and the chocolate finish really lasts.

I’ve heard this referred to as a dessert whisky and it does make sense to view it as such. Don’t put it against anything too heavy, but the sweetness would suit pavlovas or banana splits or the like.

Overall decent though not varying much from the sweet theme.  There is much more on each level though. Nose is light, body better and finish brings occasional coffee cake like rises into the mix. Don’t hurry the sips then, let it soak in and roam.

Overall I would say I enjoy it. I also hear Bladnoch play with quite a range of peating and casks. So I think there may be a whisky out there from that really fits into the whisky milieu I prefer, but even as it is it bodes very well for spirit as it takes a style that is not my favourite and makes me appreciate it.

With this expression I am impressed, with hope for the distillery more so.

Background: Lowland malts often have an image problem. These date way back to late 1700’s when Highland whisky was not allowed to be sent below the highland line and lowland whisky turned out massive amounts of low quality whisky.  They never seem to have quite recovered despite a massive change in quality over the years.  Bladnoch has closed and reopened many times over the years and is currently one of the few surviving lowland distilleries. From the age I’m guessing this expression predates the reopening back in 2000. From what I can see, unlike many low land distilleries Bladnoch is no longer triple distilled and hasn’t been for about 50 years. My research could be wrong on this though.

Tasting Notes: Bristol Beer Factory: Imperial Stout

Bristol Beer Factory: Imperial Stout (England: Imperial Stout: 8.5% ABV)

Visual: Heavy black. It pours smooth and has a slightly viscous sheen where it passes. Smooth and loose bubbles for the head, but not much of it. The bubbles only cover about half the pint, with the rest a light coffee shimmer.

Nose: Roasted nuts.  Roasted nuts. Lactose, yet matched by solid bitter coffee that is the mainstay of the aroma.  Slight cream cheese and chives under that.

Body: Bitter chocolate. Very smooth texture. Very bitter. Burnt toast. Still a cloying cream element. Light coffee influence.

Finish: Really bitter chocolate into dry milky coffee. Very heavily roasted coffee beans. Walnuts.

Conclusion: A lot of bitter stouts these days come with a heavy hop character that can really get sticky. The thickness of stouts can make the hops grip far past their welcome.  This bad boy is a bitter stout, but brings it in with what feels a much more natural yet heavy bitterness.

Seriously, the main body of this takes the chocolate and coffee elements and ratchets up their bitter side.  Its like how when you first have unsweetened chocolate. That kind of jolt of pleasurepain as you acclimatise.  Yeah, that kinda thing was the beers first kick.

Add to that a cloying cream cheese and chive element that is laced throughout and a roasted character and you get a solid sturdy no nonsense imperial stout. There’s no real surprises. Ok, ok barring cream cheese and sodding chive which I will admit was unexpected. There are no other real surprises but the texture balances a smoothness of style with a grip to let the flavour get hold with consummate ease.  Then the beer just doubles down on its bitter elements as a matter of course.

On a technical level it is extremely well made, on a personal level it is a tad more bitter than I usual go with for with stouts. It’s a beer that I would enjoy very much to have a half of on tap. Considering the abv and strong flavours that would seem to be the perfect measure for it.  On Imperial Stout Vs Imperial Stout I probably prefers BBFs more Belgium style “Ultimate Stout”, as it has a bit of a smoother character and complexity from the Belgium take. This is more of a solid force forwards.

So, a well made beer, how much you like it will be determined by how much it’s straight up style and bitterness appeals to you.  Me, I’m not complaining, but will probably return to its Ultimate brother.

Background: One of the twelve stouts of Christmas.  BBF already had an imperials stout in their range – Ultimate Stout, but that was based on Belgium yeast while this is in the more traditional Russian Imperial Stout mould. BBF are always good with stouts so the journey through the twelve stouts of Christmas is a treat.

No New Articles due to SOPA

I found out about the blackout a bit late in the day, but to do my bit there’s not the planned update today. I may not be American but I recognise SOPA as the ignorant and harmful bullshit that it is.

I urge those of you in the USA to do all you can to strike it down

http://americancensorship.org/

The Alcohol Aphorist

Tasting Notes: Bradfield: Farmers Blond

 

Bradfield: Farmers Blond (England: Golden Ale: 4% ABV)

Visual:  Very clear grain to yellow with a decent white head.  All very clean and crisp, almost lager like in styling and moderate carbonation.

Nose: Musty hops and light citrus lemon. Meringue.

Body:  Middling bitterness and earthy hops character. Very crisp. Lemony character and slight lager crisp character.

Finish:  Lemon curd and bitter hops. Touch of pineapple. Slight nettles. Thick vanilla ice cream. Slight hop oils. The left over feel on the tongue thickens over time.

Conclusion:  This is a very lager influenced golden ale. There’s the moderate carbonation on the pour, the pale clear character and the extremely white bubbled head.  If it wasn’t for the telling slight thickness of character I could have guessed it as a particularly bitter example of a polish lager, right down to that crisp dry hop finish.

But no, it is an ale, just a very light and refreshing one, with that slight extra grip for the main lemon flavour that that entails.  A nice touch of bitterness to it, which helps explain why I so often get the more citrus bitters mixed up with the heavier golden ales. There can at times be a thin line between the two for the hop character they bring.

This beer is predominantly a light citrus to dry hop body and it really isn’t big on putting on a show.  Pleasant enough and the lager like elements will make it an easy drinking summer thirst quencher, but I will admit it would not be my first choice.

A beer of passable nature, but no shine.

Background: For some reason a lot of farms seem to be linked to beer in one way or another, be it having a small store selling it, making it, or the like. Maybe it’s a good way to make money on the side, maybe its just they have the ingredients close to hand. Any which way it seems to be responsible for the many rustic bottle labels and tap handles that you see around Britain.  In fact it does seem to a British thing, possibly part of the reason for the beard and woolly jumpers image that ale has had for many a year. I honestly can’t remember seeing a similarly predominant farm label theme in any other county.  Anyway I digress, this beer was a kind gift from Will, brought from his home county. Thanks mate.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: Abstrakt:08

Brewdog: Abstrakt:08 (Scotland: American Strong Ale: 11.8% ABV)

Visual: Mahogany tinged honey gold with a white dust of a head. The head never froths heavily even mid pour.

Nose: Strawberry. Champagne and mandarin orange mix. Sugar cane and brown sugar. Brandy snaps. Milky chocolate. Very sweet. Dry malt and toffee.

Body:  Golden syrup and marzipan up front. Toffee and milk chocolate.  Some bitter chocolate depending on the moment.  Big amounts of fudge. All the stout like elements are mid body to end.  Strawberry and glacier cherry at the back. A moderate amount of pineapple hop moments but not heavily.

Finish:  Milk chocolate. Roasted nuts and deep bitterness. Tea like tannins. Coffee. Feels very fresh as it airs around the mouth. Fudge and bitter chocolate towards its last moments. Creamy in its bitterness. Still a touch of pineapple.

Conclusion:  Ok, it’s a blond stout. Ok.

I’ve accepted the existence of Black IPAs for a while now; blond stouts really shouldn’t be that much for my brain to handle.

Though, looking at it, it seems a more deep honeyed gold than blond. If I had to eye it I would have guessed the beer as a Barley wine.  But enough about the appearance, lets get stuck in. The aroma is similarly barley wine sweetness, to sugar shock levels in fact.

The first sip was while the beer was chilled, and it kept to the sweet fruit barley wine style. Very smooth and thick. Insanely sweet.  So I let it warn a while.  Now I’m not going to claim a bit of heat magically changed it into a stout. For one because that would be bullshit.  It kept its barley wine characteristics top and tail, but then into the centre like a depth charge came chocolate fudge and coffee.

It was like a shot of stout had been dropped in becoming a stout heart of the barley wine body.  The finish similarly sprouted a mix of chocolate stout and barley wine sweetness. Even the aroma shifted for a more dry, muted and less sweet character.

So it’s a bloody mixed up beast then, but what would you expect, it’s an attempt at a blond stout.

Stylistic pixelbitching aside, is it any good? Well the insane sweetness is overwhelming, all sugar fruits and candy cane. This can get a tad sickly, but when warm the surprisingly bitter finish does a nice offset. It s a bit too random to be a great beer, but it is a beer that gets better towards the end of a gulp. That’s when the real richness of the flavours hit.

Its problem is its stuck half way between stout and barley wine, with maybe just a hint of blond ale finish. It has that slightly creamy yet dry touch of blond ale there.  It’s an experiment that doesn’t quite work, but I love the fact it has been tried. As I have said many a time, I prefer a beer with ambition that doesn’t quite work to one that aims for the middle or the road and succeeds.

This is a wild Frankenstein fusion that enthrals me with its attempts for all its flaws. It’s up to you if you think you will have a similar response.

Background: When you can’t tell an April fools joke from an actual beer its time to get worried.  Brewdog did a joke about a blond stout last April fools, then the buggers only decided to go and make it. Liqorice roots were added to the beer, and it was aged on coffee beans to give that stout flavour.  Despite Brewdog calling it a “Deconstructed Blond Imperial Stout” there is some discussion of the actual style it belongs to. Obviously it has stout like qualities, but I would tend to call the beer a Barley Wine myself.  Ratebeer has it listed as an American Strong Ale, which is a loose enough grouping of beers that covers a wide range so in the end I decided to go with their category choice until further notice.  Drunk while listening to the album “After” by “Ihsahn”.

Tasting Notes: Laphroaig: Quarter Cask

Laphroaig: Quarter Cask (Scottish Single Malt Islay Whisky: No Age Statement: 48% ABV)

Visual: A slightly custard hued gold.

Viscosity: Moderate thickness slow streaks with occasional larger sheets around the glass.

Nose: Smoke, oak and kippers with a touch of malt loaf. Water lightens significantly.

Body: Very viscous.  Salty but with custard sweetness. Slight alcohol tingle that never burns, and slight to moderate beef influence. There is peat throughout.Water adds a sherry touch and makes the sweetness treacle tart like.  Water adds chocolate and oak edging to it whilst enhancing the meatiness.

Finish: Dry oak. Bitter chocolate. Salt, smoke and peat.  Water makes much more chocolate filled, and closer to praline but without removing the salt and alcohol from the end. Spiced raisins.

Conclusion: Laphroaig is nigh always a classic in my eyes, but it is pretty much the medicinal marmite of the whisky range.

This version, which has no age statement, is Laphroaig with pipe and slippers, and a touch of rising oak beneath the surface.  A touch of class, but with an edge.

Salty and peaty, it is matched by delicious sweet smoothness. The higher abv gives it energy but not burn, and the sweet chocolate element that underscores the Laphroaig finish has a wonderful praline like element with water. All just turning the quality up a notch.  The abv also means it survives significant water play, becoming smoother but still keeping a hint of salt amongst the emerging spicy element.

The aroma similarly is rich, with the surprising kipper like element as an addition. Again deliciously unique and contrary, whilst still enhancing the whisky.

At around the same cost as Laphroaig 10 this is the much more distinguished competitor.  So what does the whisky lose from all this added class? Well the medicinal harshness for one, which for some is the defining element of the distillery.  It’s still not a light whisky, and definitely does not bow to public opinion, but it does have some of the rougher edges smoothed.

A great balance between Islay character, sweet smoothness, dry oak and spice, with enough odd elements to keep you interested.

Seriously. Just get it.

Background: Ah Laphroaig. The unmistakable whisky, and an old friend.  The Quarter Cask is one I have tried at whisky shows, and from shops sampler sections, but have never tried a full measure of.  Thus when I saw it at “The Raven” I thought it well worth giving it a try. There were no jugs or spoons for adding water so we improvised using a straw with a thumb over the top to transfer the small measures of water over. By stretching or compressing the flexible joint in the middle of the straw it was easy enough to ensure we drew up the correct amount of water. The quarter cask refers to the fact that the whisky has spent time in a smaller cask, thus has had more contact with the wood, which ages the whisky significantly faster.

Tasting Notes: Bristol Beer Factory: Choc Orange Stout

Bristol Beer Factory: Choc Orange Stout (England: Stout: 5% ABV)

Visual: Black. Really frothy fudge coloured head. The head is thin in depth, but thick in texture. It also leaves a coffee cup like remains around the rim of the glass.

Nose: Bitter coffee and coco dust. Overripe oranges and along with that a passing tartness.

Body: Thick textured. Heavy on the bitterness. Touch of liquorice. Chocolate orange lurks at the back.  Bitter cocoa. Slight milkyness and a touch of black cherry.

Finish: Chocolate orange. Milk. Still bitter chocolate and coffee hands in the air. Dry roasted peanuts and mandarin orange segments.

Conclusion: Not what I was expecting with this one. The choc orange term had me expecting a quite milky sweet stout with emphasis on terry chocolate orange style smoothness.

Obviously I was wrong.

The chocolate is the first distinct element main body, but it is in its raw unsugared version, all potent bitterness and bite.  This combines with the stouts bitter coffee styles for an impressive balance of bitter force against drinkability.

The orange is background element, feeling like actuall flecks throughout the beer for all its comings and goings.  It is at the finish that it dominates, and here it mixes the expected terry’s chocolate orange element on the tongue with bitter chocolate soaring in your mouth above it. There is then a river of tart orange juice flavour separating the two.

The result is a solid stout, but I am having a hard time deciding how I feel about it as the beer in my expectations clash against the beer in itself.

A bit more play to decide reveals that the orange touches almost disappear when the beer is chilled, when warmed slightly the orange juice almost separates from the stout to be come its own distinct element.  At no point does the orange flavours fully integrate. A strange oddity.

Id say that it does the job of defying expectations and being a solid stout. For that alone I’m willing to give it the time of day.  The beer does have reasonable staying power as the orange plays in different ways throughout the beer.

It is a beer I enjoyed, I have decided after much contemplation. It does not come in instantly enjoyable, but does earn that title over time. A beer you initially struggle with, but is distinctly its own thing, and does keep the fight between the bitter chocolate and orange well balanced if not integrated.

Bit of a tough one to get along with, but I can’t help but appreciate its unique stylings.

Background: Part of Bristol Beer Factories 12 Stouts of Christmas. Yes I am aware its New Years already and I’m only half way through.  BBF is a great brewery, especially on stouts. This version has had orange zest and juice added, and I presume cacao nibs as well like the chocolate stout.

Malt Musings: That Metal Tin.

I have this great metal Laphroaig tin, back from the days when whisky boxes were fearsome beasts designed to survive a nuclear apocalypse.  It’s found its uses over the years as a carry case for plugs, headphones, spare camera batteries wires and the like. It’s also great for bringing fragile stuff back from on holiday as long as ye use some bubble wrap.

However used this way it puts the shits up security people at airports majorly.

I will never forget their expression as they asked me to empty my bags. Nor my knowing realization of exactly what a metal tin filled with wires and batteries could possibly look like under an x-day.

Boy has my bag been thoroughly checked, double checked, swabbed for plastic explosives and so on over the years.

No real point to today’s musings. Just memories.

And maybe apologies to the poor airports staff who have to put up with those painful long seconds as I rummage in the bag to bring it to light.

I don’t do it to be pain, it’s just such a useful carry box. Thanks for being understanding, and not sending me to that private room for a more…thorough… examination.