Tasting Notes: Black Sheep: Riggwelter

Black Sheep: Riggwelter (England: English Strong Ale: 5.7% ABV)

Visual: Light chestnut brown coloured body with reddened hues. Middling sized brown froth head. Still.

Nose: Milky chocolate. Cocoa dust. Lightly earthy. Crushed peanuts. Light caramel. Raisins.

Body: Liquorice. Lightly earthy. Cake sponge. Milk texture. Light ginger bread. Light prickling. Greenery. Malt chocolate. Raisins. Light charring.

Finish: Gingerbread. Earthy bitterness. Greenery. Nutty. Bitter chocolate dust. Light milk. Bitter coffee remains. Peppery. Dry treacle.

Conclusion:This shows how earthy hop flavours, and even liquorice notes, both of which are so often a weakness in badly made beers, can be used in satisfying and robust ways.

I think a lot of it comes from the balance of the weight of the beer to its drinkability. This is weighty with a slight milky, creamy grip and thickness at the core but around that is a dry general bitter like feel. The slight dryness is what makes it easy to drink, the thickness adds enough to make the earthier bitter notes more manageable and less wearing that they can be in lighter beers.

There is a gingerbread and peppery spice throughout it – a savoury tingling set of flavours that complement the solid earthy bitterness well without contradicting them too much. It is a very traditional set of bitter notes but behind that the extra malt weight gives hints of dark fruit, raisins, and even manages to make that hint of liquorice feel like a welcome release rather than an off note. It makes for very much the heavier take on the traditional earthy British bitter.

If that earthy bitterness, even a strong ale take on such, does not appeal to you then this will probably not be one you find to your tastes. If, however it does not put you off then you may find, like I do, that this stands on the ideal point between a weightier ale, and a drinkable bitter. Old school but done right.

Background: When the parents came down to visit, as well as the beer from Christmas I mentioned in some previous notes, they also brought a box of Black Sheep beers for me. Many thanks again! Black Sheep are good brewery up north, named after the creator who was the black sheep that left the Theakston brewery to set up his own. Which makes sense. Anyway, this is one I had many times back in the old days, but had not revisited recently, so was looking forwards to trying it again. Went with Jack Off Jill again as backing music, Sexless Demons and Scars this time.

Advertisement

Tasting Notes: Shepherd Neame: 1698

Shepherd Neame: 1698 (England: English Strong Ale: 6.5% ABV)

Visual: Clear caramel brown. Fizzy white head of moderate size but does not last long. Some small bubbled carbonation.

Nose: Light toffee. Light black cherry. Light chalk.

Body: Christmas cake. Light chalk. Odd mix of thin and chewy mouthfeel. Light liquorice. Brown bread. Slight sulphur. Walnuts.

Finish: Light chalk. Light liquorice. Brown bread. Christmas cake. Almonds. Slightly earthy. Greenery and sage. Dry marzipan.

Conclusion: I don’t know if the time in the bottle hurt it rather than helped it, despite this being bottle conditioned, but when I first took a sip of this it felt like something there wasn’t working. It felt a bit light up front. Now it was close to working, there was subtle toffee and black-cherry in the aroma, which is a good standby of an English Strong Ale, but those elements didn’t follow through into the body.

The body instead calls to Christmas cake, but with a savoury walnut like backing before heading out into an earthy and even more obviously nutty finish. Which all seems pretty appropriate as this was first bought at Christmas and – well Christmas cake is pretty obviously appropriate to that, and I can just about wedge the nuttiness in under that to claim there is some sort of thematic consistency going on here. Probably.

It feels light early on, which is a fair flaw – occasionally showing the weight this beer needs, but it was disappointing. As time goes on the layers seem to build up so it feels a lot more present at the end, which makes it much more satisfying. As said at the start, initially this felt like the time in the bottle had hurt rather than helped it, and it was very much that early lack of weight that was the most obvious tell of that.

So, how is it when it has had some time to build up that flavour and weight? Well now it is very nutty, which is ok but I do feel disappointed that the Black Cherry and the Christmas cake notes seem to have fallen by the wayside as they could really have done with some more play. In return there has been an increase in savoury greenery and earthy hop bitterness which does the job at rounding it out.

Overall, takes a while to get going, but solid when it does – nutty, earthy and very present. Not shiny and exciting but a solid enough beer to spend time with.

Background: This beer has had quite the journey to get to these tasting notes. It was originally grabbed by my family for when I was going to head up last Christmas. Anyway, so covid was everywhere, so I never went up north, but since my family don’t drink this style of beer they kept it until we could finally meet up. Many thanks! So, this is now fairly close to its best before date of November 2011, but as it is bottle conditioned hopefully that should not be an issue, or may even make it better. We shall see. Went with Garbage V 2.0 as backing music, because that album is a classic and thus should be listened to regularly.

Tasting Notes: Tynt Meadow: English Trappist Ale

Tynt Meadow: English Trappist Ale (England: English Strong Ale: 7.4% ABV)

Visual: Very dark cloudy brown with a good sized creamy brown head that leaves suds.

Nose: Chocolate dust. Roasted nuts. Light lactose. Figs. Dark fruit. Dried plums. Crushed peanuts. Ash.

Body: Creamy. Plums. Malt drinks. Bitter coffee. Light oak. Fig rolls.

Finish: Bitter coffee. Ash and smoke. Brown bread. Cashew nuts. Slight mint. Earthy.

Conclusion: Unlike a lot of the new Trappist breweries, this doesn’t seem to be worried about aping the usual Trappist style selection. While it wears some similar notes to a quad, this is very much influenced by the English Strong Ales and ESBs rather than its Belgian cousins.

This is creamy and thick, using a lot of dark fruit notes, backed by ash and earth subtleties to underline it. It isn’t as polished or big as a lot of the Trappist beers – it instead concentrates on doing a strong dark ale well. So, it is not unusual for a heavy British ale, but still works well

The creaminess is the most pushed character – nothing too sweet, just very thick – with light herbal notes and grounded backing meaning that it ends up a quite savoury take despite the dark fruits and higher abv.

Nicely filling and chewy as a beer – nothing too exceptional but does the base job well. I would be interested to see how ageing one of these goes.

Not quite up to levels of awesome I expect from a Trappist brewery, yet at least, but different to most of that crowd – albeit more normal for a British beer. Ok. It is a good start, and I’m interested to see what else they bring out.

Background: Ok, it is kind of old news to most of you now – but I am still shocked by the (ok kind of slow) explosion of Trappist Breweries. It may not seem like much, but considering there used to be only six, amazing quality, Trappist breweries, the double digits amount available now seems like a spoil of treasures. As long as they keep the quality up that is. As you may be aware, a Trappist brewery is one accredited saying that the beer will be brewed by the monks themselves – with the money made going to help the upkeep of the monastery, and in general their quality is very high. This, however is the first English Trappist beer – I’m not a big on patriotism, or go England, or whatever, especially these days, but it was a curiosity that caught my attention. I’ve had it a couple of times before this, may grab one for ageing, but not really taken time to sit down and examine it before this. Grabbed from Independent Spirit and drunk while listening to Erocks metal covers of the Doom soundtrack. One day I will bore of covers to game soundtracks. Today is not that day.

Tasting Notes: Little Earth Project: The Brett Organic Stock Ale 2017

Little Earth Project: The Brett Organic Stock Ale 2017 (England: English Strong Ale: 10.5% ABV)

Visual: Cloudy apricot.

Nose: Funky. Lemon curd and lemon cake. Crushed nuts. Oaks. Stewed apricot. Cake sponge.

Body: Tart yet oily. Acidic apples. Tart grapes. Stewed apricot. Dry white wine. Dried apricots. Hop oils. Lemon. Slightly dusty. Yeastie. Raspberry late on. Toffee.

Finish: Dried apricot. Tart jiff lemon. Lemon cake. Dry white wine. Gooseberry. Hop oils. Popcorn. Brown bread. Raisins and dry sherry. Vanilla yogurt. Dusty bitterness. Funky.

Conclusion:This is both heavy duty and tart freshness, with both elements complementing and contrasting the other so neither become too overwhelming. A good start.

First impressions are of a yeast funkiness worthy of a lambic coming out in the aroma, with oats, nuts and similar backing it up in that lambic way. However, instead of the crisp dry notes of a lambic what it is backed by is thick, heavy stewed fruit that tells you instantly that something different is coming up.

The body is next, tart but thick with hop oils giving an oily base of stewed fruit acting as a solid middle. The tarter lambic like notes are laid on top of that robust body, used sparingly like spice to add to a meal.

The after that tart notes lead out into the finish and it then it finally sinks back into hop oils, darker fruit and dry sherry notes as a distinct contrast to the brighter middle. Even here though there is a white wine air that the brett uses to bring more lambic imagery.

Despite the lambic like calling this is a thick oily, almost old ale feeling traditional styled British beer. There is lots of the slightly more cloying tartness and thickness rather than the clean lambic sheen – however in the middle of the beer the flavours owes little to the dark heavy old ales. While it has the tart and thick old ale character mentioned, but here it is pushed in a brighter, lighter fruit and tarter notes. Mixing the thickness of an old ale with the freshness of a lambic, and pushing stewed apricot and lemon fruit notes that actually feels like a call to new world hop stylings. Eventually these bright notes do descend though and it falls back into those darker fruit notes of the more traditional take in the finish.

This isn’t super polished, it feels more like a beer that evolved naturally, left to find its own way rather than being polished and designed to an ideal. It feels organic in how it developed within the guidelines of the ingredients used, and it shows that in the wide range of elements delivered. It is nowhere near single minded as a beer, nor organised -scatter shot in how it throws things out. However it throws them out full bodied, mixing traditional elements with twists of style. Well worth trying as long as the idea of something a bit more haphazard does not put you off.

Background: This one caught my eyes for a number of reasons – the very simple label, with seemingly hand stamped details upon it of the beer’s name. The fact it is a take on the old stock ale that was traditional for so many years in the UK, the fact it is loaded with brett which is always an interesting yeast to see that adds acidity and funk to a beer, or the fact that over 10% abv this is never going to be dull. Any which way I grabbed it from Independent Spirit and tucked it away for trying on a later day. So, the day finally arrived, I put on the ever good for slow, heavy duty drinking music – Godspeed You! Black Emperor! – Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven, and broke it open.

Tasting Notes: Full Sail: Wassail Winter Ale

Full Sail: Wassail Winter Ale (USA: English Strong Ale: 7.2% ABV)

Visual: Ruddy red, or brown if not held to the light. Some carbonation. Large solid toffee brown head.

Nose: Cinnamon. Cherries. Caramel. Slight cream. Slight cloves and nutmeg.

Body: Nutmeg. Raisins. Malt chocolate. Warming vinous red wine notes. Caramel. Earthy bitterness.

Finish: Glacier cherries. Dry malt chocolate. Crushed peanuts. Cloves and nutmeg. Dry roasted peanuts. Toffee. Earthy bitterness. Sour red wine vinous notes.

Conclusion: This feels like a Christmas spiced dopplebock in a lot of ways – a quick search tells me it is a English strong ale – Michael Jackson’s book calls it an old ale – though that may have changed since the book was published. Any which way – definitely has some dopplebock like notes.

Anyway, this is a dry malt chocolate and dry roasted nut tasting base – smoothly deliverer and grounded by what feels like an earthy British hop style – a part that made me finally decide to list this as English Strong Ale style. A solid base, and one offset by slight caramel sweetness, but one that could have become wearing if not for the other two big influences.

Influence one is a vinous – sour red wine and sweet glacier cherries style set of notes – giving high sweet notes and vinous depth that makes for an interesting top and tail to the beer. This develops the more dopplebock like elements, bringing out rich raisin notes and Christmas cake imagery to this winter beer.

The other influence is the moderately used spice notes– a nutmeg middle, clove heaviness and cinnamon sweet spots. Again it really widens the range of the beer and is used heavily enough without dominating the beer.

Together it is very Christmassy, very solid. Very smooth and with a very good range. A medley of Christmas experiences – cake, wine and spice, all shown in one beer. Very high quality and well worth trying if you can grab it. Not a world best, but about as good as you can get without reaching those echelons.

Background: An American beer? As part of my China trip? Yep, found this in a supermarket in Chengdu and memory told me it was one of Michael Jackson’s 500 beers. I checked when I got back, and I was right! Go me! Before I get too full of myself though, the supermarket had another Full Sail beer that was also one of Jackson’s 500 picks which I did not remember, so missed a chance to grab. Stupid me. Anyway, drank this on a cruise down the river – had to ask the staff for a fridge so I could chill it as the room didn’t have one by default. Due to being a solo traveller I had to share the room with another traveller – a Chinese man who spent a lot of time walking around in his boxers and rearranging his junk. So, yeah, a …unique background to doing these notes.

Tasting Notes: Brewdog: Beatnik Brewing Collective: Blond Export Stout

Brewdog: Beatnik Brewing Collective: Blond Export Stout (Scotland: English Strong Ale: 7% ABV)

Visual: Clear gold. Small bubble carbonation. Large yellowed creamy white head.

Nose: Oatmeal. Cocoa and chocolate bourbon biscuits. Cloying cream. Bitter coffee. Roasted nuts. White chocolate. Milk. Orange zest. Chocolate dust. Light roasted bitterness and hop character.

Body: Cream. Bitter cocoa dust. Roasted nuts. White chocolate. Butter. Orange zest. Slight cloying cream.

Finish: White chocolate. Bitter cocoa. Dry roasted peanuts. Buttery. Lactose. Bitter roasted hops. Milky coffee. Oats. Light smoke – Applewood?

Conclusion: White Stouts, while not at New England IPA insane level popular, do seem to be popping up more often than they used to. Some try very hard to be exactly like a stout but blond – some have come close, but none have 100% succeeded. This goes with the approach I like better – working in a lot of the traditional stout notes, but emphasising elements you can only get with a blond ale.

There is definite bitter cocoa from a more traditional stout – delivered in a dusty, gripping, gritty kind of way, and it heads out with lots of milky coffee – there is no doubt it is in the stout area. However the main base is very blond ale influenced – kind of milky with a kind of traditional made butter thickness and white chocolate sweetness. It takes the thickness of a stout and uses it in its own way.

Also, while I have had a lot of oatmeal stouts, the actual oats used in making the beer seems much more evident than in those – the milky, creamy character really seems to give the oats a very definite muesli oaty kind of style. On the other hand the smoked malts used don’t seem to be as heavy influence. It comes out late on in what I think is an apple wood smoke kind of style, I think, my memory for different wood smoke is weak. It adds weight and, along with the roasted nut character, gives more notable dark stout depth.

It doesn’t all work – the cream can get a slight cloying note that doesn’t match here – but in general it is distinctly well done. I think we are still waiting for the classic blond stout to come out and define the style – but this is a good step in the right direction.

Background: Ah, “English Strong Ale” The style you use when you have no fucking clue what it comes under. I mean, is blond stout a recognised style yet? There seem to be enough of them these days. Anyway, I joke, but I had no idea either so just went with “English Strong Ale” like ratebeer and co. Anyway, this was voted for, brewed by and generally sold to Brewdog shareholders, which as you may guess means I am not an unbiased actor on this beer. This is a blond stout made with cocoa, coffee, vanilla, smoked malt and oats to try and give it that stout character but with a light colour. Grabbed directly from Brewdog’s online store. Drunk while listening to Propagandhi – Potempkin City Limits – it did lead to me wondering how the band would respond to Brewdog throwing their legal weight around recently about the word “Punk” in relation to beer. I would guess badly. Very badly.

Tasting Notes: Lawman: Elixir: Zig-Zig-BA: Sherry Halliwell

Lawman: Elixir: Zig-Zig-BA: Sherry Halliwell (Scotland: English Strong Ale: 7.4% ABV)

Visual: Murky, hazy blond to peach skin. Virtually no head. Rim of bubbles and a thin dash of grey for a head.

Nose: Musty hops. Sour grapes. Peat smoke and bacon. Sherry. Soaked raisins. Sour stewed apricot. Very slight prunes. Fudge. Vanilla.

Body: Vanilla. Quite light texture, slightly watery when cool. Menthol. Sherry trifle. Light citrus undertone – pineapple. Cherries.

Finish: Menthol. Ash. Oatmeal. Raisins. Musty hops. Slight liquorice. Sweet pineapple. Smoked meat. Lemon cakes. Sherry trifle. Hopped bitterness.

Conclusion: Ok, this doesn’t work (Spoiler warning by the way!) but I respect the direction it is trying. It is just, well, it is a bit of a mess, but an ambitious mess. I’m not going to disrespect that.

This has a lot of vanilla laden throughout it – almost enough to suggest it was Bourbon barrel aged, rather than its chosen sherry ageing; but that is soon dispelled by big sherry trifle coming through clearly afterwards. In fact lots of sherry notes hit – with sherries and spice throughout. Underneath that there is some cloying hop character, in a slight citrus styled pineapple coming floating through. The hop character is kind of muggy though – that kind that can get old fast, and doesn’t deliver the fresher notes very cleanly. I think it is due to ageing the beer – time in the wood has given added complexities, but has worn out the pleasant sides of the hop character pretty quickly. Odder still this has smoke and sulphur stylings – moderately used, not heavy – but possibly in a kind of charred woods style? Any which way it gives a sulphurous real ale on tap touch to this.

All sounds interesting, no? What makes it a mess rather than an enjoyable beer is the slightly lighter texture – it is just slightly thin and watery. Not hugely so, but it means that the sulphurous element feel heavier than they should, and the musty hops are given too much emphasis. It interferes with what should be a complex rich ale. The sherry notes, the vanilla, all of them would benefit from more grip, and the sulphur and muggier hops would be mellow background notes with a heavier ale and so would work better.

A beer that aims for the stars, and with a thicker beer may have succeeded. I respect that, but it didn’t really work. Ah well.

Background: So, a Spice Girls reference. Huh. At this point the standard thing would be to bash the Spice Girls, but feh they did well for themselves with some harmless pop. Can’t really get too worked up about it. I think my music snobbery has worn off with old age. Enjoy what you like and all that, even if it isn’t my taste. Anyway- they call this beer a KK ale – a mostly forgotten beer style – which seems to be a heavily hopped, higher abv blond ale. So, that intrigued me, and a bit of Sherry Barrel ageing intrigued me more. So I grabbed it. Another Independent Spirit beer – got some other establishment beers coming up shortly. Decided to go with some appropriate music for this; So, of course, with this being Spice Girl linked, I was listening to Ihsahn -After. Real brain breaking stuff.

Tasting Notes: Wychwood (Marstons): Bah Humbug

Wychwood (Marstons): Bah Humbug (England: English Strong Ale: 5.0%)

Visual: Reddened mahogany brown. Lots of small bubbled carbonation. Browned inch of a bubbled head.

Nose: Lightly roasted. Light nutmeg. Malt drinks.

Body: Caramel. Cinnamon. Light chestnuts. Slight chocolate, grows over time. Quite treacle texture and slight flavour as well. Soft vanilla notes. Nutmeg.

Finish: Cinnamon and nutmeg. Slight vanilla. Slight brown bread. Light oak notes. Soft treacle. Butterscotch.

Conclusion: This feels like your standard, non real ale, bottled ale – but spiced up for Christmas. Ok, went a bit “damning with faint praise” on that opening – but please do not read that too harshly, let me expand.

The base has that smoother feel that I find tends to come with pasteurised beers, with accompanying higher levels of sweetness. It has less evident texture than the real ale version which I have also tried, and a cleaner sweetness. Kind of a clean caramel and light treacle style backed by some vanilla. As is indicated in the opening that is kind of standard for this kind of beer, to my eyes at least. From the colour of the beer I would also admit to expecting it to be closer to the chestnut coloured bitter style of ale, as for that this seems a tad light on the bitterness and hop stylings. However on the malt side it matches exactly to expectations.

Instead of notable bitterness and some earthy work from the flavouring hops, this actually goes to work with the spices in the same space. Moderate but present – they call to Christmas with the nutmeg matched with cinnamon sweetness. It is a pleasant, slightly warming flavour – very gentle in intensity, but despite that the spice is the main flavour here. It is nothing out of the normal, but solid and matches the season it is picked for nicely.

Soothing malt base, moderate spice – no complaints, does what you would expect. Some people dislike the distinct feel and taste of the pasteurised beers, but it matches the spice usage here. As mentioned, I have also tried the lower abv real ale version – It has a better, more gripping texture – the flavours are less distinct, but in that have more subtle meshing between them and with lower evident sweetness. Either way it is a solid enough drink for the season, but not one to actively hunt out.

Background: Not sure if this still counts as English Strong Ale, as it is down from its old 6% abv of years gone by. However I’m not putting it under spiced beer as the cinnamon added to the beer doesn’t dominate that much in intensity and it doesn’t really match any other style cleanly. I had drunk the lower abv, real ale, take on this in a pub the day before, but this, pasteurised bottle version was provided by my family while I was back home for Christmas – many thanks!

Tasting Notes: Swannay: Orkney Blast

Swannay: Orkney Blast (Scotland: English Strong Ale: 6% ABV)

Visual: Clear thick gold. A cm of creamy and loose bubbles that leave sud rims.

Nose: Barley. Lemon. Slight grit or salted rocks. Soft caramel. Resin, digestives and peach.

Body: Soft and hoppy. Light bitterness, rises slightly over time. Hop oils. Juicy grapes. Mossy greenery. Dried apricot. Prickly. Golden syrup feel and taste. Resin. Peach.

Finish: Tart white grapes. Hop oils. Dry bitterness. Salted popcorn. Greenery. Gherkins. Peach. Jolly ranchers. Slightly earthy.

Conclusion: An IPA Barley Wine hybrid? Ok, at 6% abv that is a bit low for what I would expect for a barley wine, pretty much spot on for what I would expect an IPA to be. Hmm, so what elements are going to shout barley wine I wonder, what is going to make it such a stylistic mash up?

I’d guess that it is the thick texture, quite syrupy and backed by a quite resinous character that makes it a slower drinking experience than you would expect from an IPA. The actual hop bitterness you would expect from the IPA side is actually comparatively restrained. The hop character is shown much more in the fruity notes – it feels like lower abv fruit backed barley wine rather than an IPA to me. Oddly it is the side I expected to be more emphasised that seems less shown here. Then again, these days IPA seems to be attached to anything with high hop flavours, so I can’t blame this one for following that trend.

Behind those welcome characteristics are a few rougher elements – quite a bit of greenery that doesn’t fit – a mossy character. There is also a slight salted rock roughness that could be interesting if used well, but here again it doesn’t fit with the syrupy character. The thicker texture makes the rough elements grip too much, and so stick around long enough to outstay their welcome.

It feels unpolished – lots of big flavours but little integration and those harsh off notes. Still drinkable, but feels over clingy and resiny for the thickness.

Ok, but not really a style mash up that works.

Background: Ok, I normally go with how a beer describes itself – however this calls itself an IPA Barley Wine, which is a bollocks term in my opinion, so I went with the ratebeer call of English Strong Ale which seemed a fair shout. Anyway, drunk while listening to some Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, and Black Sabbath. Good old school metal. This was a birthday present – many thanks!. You may hear that a lot in the next few weeks. Pretty much all my friends gave me beer. I have good friends.

Tasting Notes: The Talabheim Brewery: Otto’s Last Stand

The Talabheim Brewery: Otto’s Last Stand (England: English Strong Ale: 7% ABV)

Visual: Dark and cloudy, a very dark brown to black body and bubbled beige large head.

Nose: Figs and raisins. malt chocolate. Light tart grapes. Vanilla. Vinous.

Body: Big. Figgy pudding. Liquorice underneath. Malt chocolate. Bitter and slight charred underneath. Brown bread. Tart grapes. tingling texture. Vinous. Vanilla. banana.

Finish: Fig rolls. Malt chocolate drink. Dried sultanas. Light charcoal dust. Tannins. Brown sugar. Banana. Cloves.

Conclusion: Homebrew day! This is such a nice one as well. Ok, time for the high concept pitch – it tastes kind of like a brewed up, higher abv Fuller’s ESB. It has that figgy, dark fruity character and malt chocolate baking writ large.

The extra abv allows it a bit more weight, pushing a vinous sour grape backing and thicker body with it to make it a more boozy figgy pudding dessert style joy. Beneath that it manages to work a solid base, bitter and slightly charred to keep it from becoming too sweet.

It ends up being a three way for the style between a well balanced ESB, a vinous English strong ale and the sweet high notes of a barley wine. It is, frankly, a dangerously drinkable brew. At times the mix of raisins and light banana notes makes me think of a UK ale interpretation of the great Aventinus.

And no I am not just saying that because I have it, and because it is a home brew the chances are you do not. It is genuinely impressive.

Ok, to be fair, flaws then. Well, it is very boozy and sweet – if that isn’t your thing then this will not be. It can be a touch overly alcohol tingling, with the sweetness dominating the flavour. I have a feeling a few years in the bottle would really do this nicely to make this a real masterpiece. Hmm, I have none left though. Sad face. Still only a few minor rough edges to this gem of a beer.

This is the best tasting beer that most people will not get to try.

Background: Homebrew tasting notes time! Two bottles were donated to me by a workmate a while back (Many thanks) and I asked if he could check with the home brewer if it was ok to do notes on them. By the time I had got the OK I had already drunk them. Thankfully another workmate had a bottle spare I could have, so I nicked that to do these notes, again many thanks. As you can probably tell the homebrew is Warhammer Fantasy themed. This was drunk while listening to More Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes. I cannot recommend them highly enough as a hardcore punk band, great energy.