Tasting Notes: Art Brew: Arbor Ales: Barley Wine AKA Double Trouble

Art Brew: Arbor Ales: Barley Wine (England: Barley Wine: 12% ABV)

Visual: Burgundy influenced brown with a light Carmel dash of bubbles that leave quite the trail around the glass.

Nose: light grapefruit and a toffee/caramel mix.  Touch of tangerine and fruit sourness.  Sometimes the sweetness turns somewhat treacle in style.

Body: Thick textured toffee and pineapple. Very sweet and hits instantly.  Fresh tangerine. Dry malt.  Thin sugar coating of chocolate eggs,  Glacier cherries.

Finish: Bitter and yet clashes with fresh grapefruit. Liquorice and malt drinks. A gin air from the alcohol.

Conclusion: Whilst putting a beer this high abv on tap is a brave move, Id say making a massive barley wine with a good dose of American style hopping then serving it in a very traditional style English pub is, if anything, even braver.  So, does it pay off?

Well, whilst I can’t say how well the pub will benefit but I can say it works well enough for me. Its ideal moment of grace is that first sip. Insanely sweet, lovely toffee and a hint of grapefruit. That first sip is a wonder.

Now if only you could frame that moment and make it last the entire beer then you would have yourself an all time great.  From the fact I am saying that means you can probably guess that it doesn’t quite hold onto that high,

Any sustained drinking leads to the alcohol and the weaker elements of the beer taking the floor from that lovely front.   Now if you take a decent gaps between sips you can offset that quite well, and frankly the abv pretty much demands that you take your time over it.  With this time and respect that lovely front shows itself again, so definitely don’t write the beer off.

It’s a very good beer, lots of massive flavour with just a few flaws holding it back, but it is still a heck of a beer.

Background: Found at the “Royal Oak”. Must say you don’t often find a 12%er on tap so I thought id give it a try. Art Brew have done a nice batch of beers with a fun bit of experimentation and Arbor have been solid enough so far that a collaboration seemed like a thing to try. Only a half pint drunk for obvious sodding reasons.  Note: the bottled version of this appears to be called “Double Trouble”, it may also have spent a little longer ageing.

Tasting Notes: Art Brew: Happy

Art Brew: Happy (England: Golden Ale: 4.9% ABV)

Visual: Clear amber gold, thin white bubbled sheen over the still body.

Nose: Prickly hop tingle. Apricot. Grapes. Distinct sour styling.

Body: Gooseberry. Slight tartness. Apples and apricot. Slick, not heavy on the bitterness. Pineapple.

Finish: Slight dry bitterness and charring with gooseberry notes at the sides.  Slight salt touch. Orange. Planed wood.

Conclusion: You know, this is the kind of beer I would normally describe as “cheerful”, but with a name like “Happy” you would probably think I was taking the piss, so I’d probably best start elsewhere.

Still, it is definitely aiming for the summer refresher style, with the emphasis on a slight tartness rather than on the bitterness.   Notably brings a lot of sharp fruit flavours to the game.  Considering the medium nasal tingling from the hop aroma I was expecting a much hoppier beer (A happy hoppy beer maybe) but the bitterness mostly vanishes during the main body only to return at the finish, where it tries to pretend it has been there all along.

Fresh and sour, it is kind of nice and somewhat eclectic.  The finish doesn’t quite tie in with the rest of the beer though – it seems to actively work against the freshness which is a pity.

I hate to say it, but it really is a cheerful if unexceptional beer.  Weak at the end, but a happy beer until then.

Background: Drunk in the beer garden whilst chatting with a violinist was warming up for a folk night. There were quite a few smokers out, which lead to some problem trying to get a decent tasting note, but in the end I managed to find a place without horrid aromas getting in the way.  Art Brew has a few stand out beers, I Beer being the most notable, but are generally a solid if unexceptional brewery.

Tasting Notes: Art Brew: Blackcurrant Stout

Art Brew: Blackcurrant Stout (England: Stout: 4.5% ABV)

Visual: Dark brown black with a very thin layer of browned bubbles.

Nose: Blackcurrant, slight fruit acidity and gooseberry sourness. Bitter chocolate and slightly chalky.

Body: Lots of blackberry, blueberry and slight milk chocolate mix with apple juice. It’s very sharp and fresh initially. Slight coffee touch. Chocolate cake. Very smooth and slightly sweet middle with a small amount of bitterness backing it up. Faintest hint of liquorice.

Finish: Blueberry, sour grapes, blackberry. Slight apple tartness and a light charring to the air.

Conclusion:  Much as I love a good stout, they are very rarely well suited for a session. With a tendency towards strong flavours and high abv, they tend to be best nursed and enjoyed slowly.

This is a bit different from the pack then.  Packing in the fruit flavour it really adds a new element to the stout flavour with massive sweetness, and more importantly, a tartness that makes it oh so easy to drink.

The stout elements are solid, and pretty much in the middle of the expected range. It really is the fruit that makes this so immensely enjoyable and a bit different.

As an examination beer it is ok, but as a session drink it’s a great job done good.

Background: I’d had this beer earlier in the week and enjoyed it so much I decided I had to tasting note it.  Art Brew id pretty much the locals main thing to have on tap, and seem to be getting quite a handle on their craft as of late, and started bringing out a few odd experiments.  Oddly rate beer lists this a retired brew, which is demonstrably false.

Tasting Notes: Art Brew: Monkey IPA

Art Brew: Monkey IPA (England: IPA: 6.4% ABV)

Visual: lightly bronzed amber with a lightly brown tinged head that leaves soapy sud trails.

Nose: Orange, lime wheat and hop bitterness. Light toffeeness, chocolate malt drinks and a touch of cinnamon. Passion fruit.

Body: Bitterness, slick and syrup textured. Fresh lemon, pineapple. Lots of citrus. Slight custard and syrup sweet.

Finish: Lots of hop bitterness, wheat and popcorn. Pineapple and orange.

Conclusion: IPA’s are wonderful things. There is a huge range of sub styles that fall under the heading, from the early heavy hop and alcohol bombshells, the middle of the road styling of late 90s, to the huge citrus American attacks.  This one plays with the fresh citrus style mentioned before, but rather than tying it to a very fresh and fresh bubbling body, this goes with the thicker texture I’d associate with the English and real ale style and pushes up the lemon freshness.

That thickness makes the hoppiness very sticky, and ties the bitterness long into the finish.  A trick that annoys me heavily when used with imperial stouts but seems to work fantastically with IPAs.

A good pint, refreshing, yet forcibly bitter to the end. Not an uber stylish take on the beer, and not as Artful as the breweries name indicates, but they can still be proud of this IPA as a long lasting mix of IPA styles.

Background: The “spanked” version of this beer was one of the earliest tasting notes I did, so it’s a bit of fun going back and doing the base beer version of it.  Art Brew is a local brewery (well comparatively) and linked to out local watering hole.  The staff of the pub are a great crew which always makes for a better tasting note atmosphere, even if they are piss taking bastards some days (which I mean in a good way) (In case they are reading this, yes I am talking abut the La Chouffe incident(s)).

Tasting Notes: Art Brew: Hip Hop: Centennial

Art Brew: Hip Hop: Centennial (England: Golden Ale: 4.3% ABV)

Visual: Pale clear grain amber with a thin reign of off white froth.

Nose: Lots of sweet pineapple crumble and custard. Light lemon meringue and hops dusted over it. Sweet but slightly sharp, Smooth.

Body: Very smooth, light creamy bitterness. Pineapple smoothies, vanilla. Slight sharp lemon and jelly.

Finish: Pineapple, then slow growing dry bitterness. Light hops, malt and lime. Custard

Conclusion: A return to the single hop range, and we find with this one example of where those wonderful pineapple flavours that are evident in so many of my favourite beers come from.

With the single hop beers, I feel I am critiquing the hop as much as the beer, and this example is no exception.

It’s a very lovely beer as is, with the most obvious elements being pineapple, vanilla and custard.  Lots of flavour that I enjoy seeing rounding out a good IPA or golden ale.  It’s a solid beer, not as wide range as the cascade hop version, but definitely demonstrating a hop of varied uses

Works well by itself, and will work well in combination, so worth an explore.  A solid base of a good beer.

Background:  Hip Hop is a single hop line of beers, using the same base recipe but with the hops changed.   Having had a few of the range I do always enjoy comparing the hops to gain a better background to the beers.   Art Brew are a small brewery that turn out the “I beer” which I deeply enjoy and so far have turned out a reasonable range of other beers.

Tasting Notes: Art Brew: Hip Hop: Cascade

Art Brew: Hip Hop: Cascade (England: Golden Ale: 4.3% ABV)

Visual: Honeyed amber with a light off white bubbled head.

Nose: Citrus, wheat and hops. Pineapple and grapefruit, lemon fresh with light toffee.

Body: Sour grapes, white wine and grapefruit. Bitter and wheat filled hop back. Toffee and custard sweetness.

Finish: Bitter and rising charcoal mixed with a hint of liquorice and treacle.  Ground coffee and good hops, quite floral and perfumed.

Conclusion: Now this is a hop with some legs to it, lots of the grapefruit and citrus.  It brings a lot of the flavours I associate with the American style IPAs, with a touch of sweetness in-between the forceful and full boded expression.

As always single hop beers are great fun for working out which hop is responsible for which part of your favourite beers flavours and textures, and for that I always recommend trying a few.

This beer is a fine beer in itself, a heavy pint of flavour in yer glass.

Great hop, well made, good beer.

Tasting Notes: Art Brew: I Beer

Art Brew: I Beer (England: Golden Ale: 4.0% ABV)

Visual: Clear yellow gold with a light bubbled head.

Nose: Crisp, vanilla, light hops. Lemon and orange. Very smooth, cream, honey. Light spice and toffee.

Body: Smooth, cream, toffee. Smooth hops, slight grassiness. Honey, more vanilla. Jaffa cake centres.

Finish: Hops, light charring. Wheat chaff. Bitterness finally. Malt.

Conclusion: Art brew have had a good rep with me for a while, and this beer is the main reason.

An exceptional session beer, low enough ABV, plentiful flavour, smooth and light with enough hops at the back to kick.

A pint that shows that session beers don’t have to be boring, the bitter ends makes each smooth sweet gulp a new refreshing moment, and you appreciate it all the more Just enough harsh and just enough sweet.

A subtle patch work of interactions and delights, less an assault (though it has its strong flavours) but more a cobweb of intricacies and flavour.

Just right in every way.

Tasting Notes: Art Brew: O’Kanes Wit

Art Brew: O’Kanes Wit (England: Belgium Style White: 4.7% ABV)

Visual: Opaque cloudy orange yellow with a medium sheer white bubbly head.

Nose: Lemon, wheat, orange.

Body: Lemon, wheat. Caramel. Golden syrup. White wine. Vanilla and grapefruit.

Finish: Light wheat. Orange, lemon, somewhat sour. Grapes.

Conclusion: A pretty bog standard Belgium style wit. Refreshing and citrus marked with a wine like finish but none of the Belgium polish. Or so it seems initially. It feels like it has all the right elements but no song and dance to it.

So why did I say initially?

because half way through you start getting vanilla and grapefruit developing in a call to the new craft beer style, adding a nice sharp and sweet body to get your attention back.

Not perfect, but it does a nice mix of Belgium and craft.

Tasting Notes:Art Brew: (Hip Hop) Green Bullet

Art Brew: (Hip Hop) Green Bullet (England: Golden Ale: 4.3% ABV)

Visual: Light yellow grain clear with a small bubbled head.

Nose: Light lemon fresh and sharp, jiff and orange.

Body: Lemon cheesecake, slightly sharp. Sweet. Jaffa cake centre and sponge. Lots of citrus and slightly sour.

Finish: Slight bitter, malt and hops. Malted drink, quite a bit of dry zesty hops. Sour, ground lemon peel. Very sharp.

Conclusion: Bit of a wake up call, citrus and a touch of hops. Slightly sour. Nothing fancy but refreshing. The hops at the end is overdone for a summer refresher. A decent spark but not one to have often, a touch rough and ready rather than a fully rounded experience.

Tasting Notes: Art Brew: MMX

Art Brew: MMX (England: Barley Wine:8.4%)

Visual: Slightly burnished hazy red with a small bubbled head.

Nose: Slight syrup, quite light.

Body: Treacle, cherries. Thick cream. Thick cloying texture. Lots of sweet condensed cream. Chives. Bitter slick. Orange. Fruitcake, red wine and liquorice.

Finish: Dry bitter chocolate, slight charred elements.

Conclusion: A formidable thick bodied ale, rich sweet and creamy and good bitter touches. A nice sippable, slow drinking ale. Wonderfully rounded and complex. Not a winter warmer as one would expect but more a smooth rich relaxing beer.

One for long lazy days, or whilst getting ready for a kip.