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Category: To be savoured


Hornbeam Top Hop Best Bitter, 4.2%, Manchester, UK

By MatthewCoupe — 2 Comments
February 27, 2012
Brewskie

I can’t imagine many people have heard of Denton, let alone been there. Using the youth of today’s scale of rating places which goes as far as to ask the question ‘Does it have a Primark?’ the answer is no, although there is one in Stockport now which isn’t a million miles away from Denton. It does have a TK Maxx though, and it turns out, it also has a micro brewery called the Hornbeam brewery. Having spent a lot of my childhood in Denton visiting my Gran I was particularly surprised to find this out and also saddened at the same time. A quick Google search reveals that I drive past the brewery every Tuesday on the way to taking our little pesky dog to his training course; we even stop at the Sainsbury’s for beer amongst other things fairly regularly. I’ve never seen a bottle of Hornbeam in there and it’s right next door!

In 5: Vanilla, Cloudy, Amber, Citrus, Denton

In a world where it’s cheaper to buy something on ebay shipped in from China than it is to buy the same thing at the shop on the corner of your road this isn’t surprising. Perhaps the issue of the big supermarkets stocking real local produce is an argument for another day.

So how was the beer itself?

It poured nicely, even though it had been kept in the fridge instead of room temperature as directed on the label (not to self (again) read the label first!!!). It has a lovely vanilla nose with a cloudy outlook – a bit like the Manchester weather where it is brewed. It is amber in colour with a sharp yet palatable taste as the sweet vanilla aroma contrasts nicely with the citrus ever so slightly floral taste. If I had to categorise it I’d say it is somewhere in between an IPA and a best bitter and it was thoroughly enoyable.

On a side note, I really love the styling of the bottle and branding of the brewery, great work!

This article is copyright © 2012 

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Lakeland Gold, Hawkshead Brewery, 4.4%, Cumbria, United Kingdom

By MatthewCoupe — Leave a comment
November 1, 2011
Brewskie

Brewskie is back! Sorry for the gap in between reviews, life has rather taken over the last couple of months and although the drinking hasn’t necessarily stopped, the writing about the wonderful things we’ve been drinking unfortunately has.

In 5: Bitter, Sharp, Lively, Tasty, Satisfying

So now we’re back, we decided to come back with a bang and grabbed a bottle of Lakeland Gold off the beer shelf that we’ve been saving for a good few months for the occasion. We bought this flavoursome little number during our trip to the Lake District back in July. The guys at Hawkshead have done a truly wonderful job of opening up their brewery to the public in 2006. When planning our trip we did some research on Breweries in the Lake District and thought that Hawkshead looked like an excellent place to stop for a bite to eat and a jar to drink, we were proved very right. It has a great selection of home brewed ales as well as a selection of international beers and hand picked wines if you are that way inclined. I’ve posted some photos of the brewery below for you.

The Lakeland Gold is a lovely bitter brew with a very distinctive flavour. It is a little darker than a regular golden beer with more of a bitter bite than you get with the regular summery golden beers. But that’s not to say it doesn’t work, there is enough sweetness running through the flavour to keep it interesting and lively. Every mouthful is different and the more you drink the more you discover about its little nuances and it’s this intrigue that keeps you wanting more.

I bought a decent sized batch of bottles of this beer and although I generally only ever drink one of them in a session it’s one I know can be relied upon to give me that beery fix I need after a long day at work. It’s most certainly full bodied and would be particularly good with a curry, the hotter the better!

This article is copyright © 2012 

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Lakeland Bitter, Bitter End Brewery, 3.8%, Cumbria, United Kingdom

By MatthewCoupe — Leave a comment
August 22, 2011
Brewskie

So, weddingfest 2011 is officially over and the Brewskie family are back at home looking back on a summer of romance, holidays and most importantly, beer. We enjoyed the Cisk in Malta, the Kronenberg in France but by far and away the most fruitful beery destination was the good old Lake District. We visited the excellent Hawkshead Brewery (review to follow) and tried more of the local ales in the pubs around Windermere. But perhaps the most refreshing sight was the high street shops selling the local beers in abundance alongside the other local produce. So we filled out boots, well the boot of the car anyway!

In 5: Treacle, Hazelnut, Staycation, Nutella, Chocolate

So many beers, so little time, we needed to multi-task… As we opened our bottle of Lakeland Bitter we wondered if anyone else had ever drank it on the Eurostar? Probably not, but by golly we were glad we did!

A rich and deep nose is the first thing you notice, very much a rich treacle aroma. The taste follows suit, with a wonderfully complicated mix of flavours which attack your senses. It is very nutty, almost like a hazelnut liquor, with chocolate notes and caramel bites all flooding in without it being overly bitter; it is nicely hopped to balance the flavours. It really did fly down and the only disappointment was that we were on a train to France and couldn’t get any more of this lovely brew for a couple of weeks…

A big thumbs up from Mrs Brewskie too, who can’t quite believe that someone has managed to turn Nutella into a beer! In fact, this is only the 2nd beer to be given the 5 Brewskie pints, quite an accolade some (I) would say!

Hopefully the new wave of people having a Staycation can help this excellent brewery get it’s beers out to even more lucky punters, we will most certainly be stocking up on our next trip to the Lakes.

This article is copyright © 2012 

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St Mungo, WEST, 4.9%, Glasgow, United Kingdom

By MatthewCoupe — Leave a comment
June 29, 2011
Brewskie

In 5: Sweet, Full-bodied, Fruity, Tasty, Grand slam

We most certainly aren’t alone in our belief that as a general rule Scotland is pretty pants at sport; unless you count competitive eating as a sport… Or the annual “most ridiculous thing to deep fry and sell in a chippy” competition. But lo and behold if you turn on the Beeb during June and July you will be confronted by an old Scottish man trapped in the injury-prone scruffy body of Andy Murray prancing about with a tennis racket on his epic quest to never win a Grand Slam. Well we recently discovered a beer just a rare as a Scottish wannabe champion, a lager brewed in Glasgow meeting the purity laws of Germany?!

We were equally as intrigued, so here is our tennis themed review of St Mungo (the Patron Saint of Glasgow if you’re interested).

Much like a Glaswegian on a night out who’s had a Drop too much and is giving you a Volley of abuse, this beer Smashes you in the chops from the off.

It has a Baseline full-bodied fruity nose and the explosively sweet-tasting Serve of Andy Roddick with the classy counters of a peppery Roger Federer. You really get a sense of the Germanic about it as like Steffi Graf the taste lingers long after you expect and it just keeps on winning you over. Once you make a start you will want to Turnaround plenty of bottles of St Mungo instead of your usual Deuce of choice.

Don’t put up with the Racket, simply sit back, relax and call Time on your day at work with this beer, best Served cold and, if unfinished, Return to the fridge.

Serving suggestion: With strawberries and cream of course.

This article is copyright © 2012 

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Manchester Bitter, Marble Beers, 4.2%, Manchester, United Kingdom

By MatthewCoupe — Leave a comment
May 17, 2011
Brewskie

In 5: Hoppy, Bitter, Oasis, Straw, Tarty

Hailing from these parts we were always going to be slightly biased with our opinions of a beer brewed in the capital of the North. With plenty of water around you would have to be in a real Shambles not to be able to put together a quality beer. So does this beer make a City United, or will there always be those loyal to the Red and those detracting Bitter blues?

Well for starters it is a bottle-conditioned ale, something we really need to start paying a lot closer attention to. The sediment started to escape from the clutches of the bottle after we got a little overexcited pouring – the welcoming aromas coming from this simple yet stylish bottle were too much to handle.

Once in the glass it’s more of a light straw colour than an Ian Brown with a lovely foamy head that alludes to the lively nature of the brew. A single sniff and you quickly Cotton on to where the taste is going as it hits you with a bright hoppy punch. There is a real bitter taste to this tarty little number which is raw and borders on the uncontrolled but it’s brought just back into check by the Oasis of citrusy undertones. It’s nowhere near as fiery as some beers that hit you like a steam train on the world’s first passenger railway line but it certainly packs a good punch.

So if you are Alan Turing around the country and fancy a pint, grab a bottle of Manchester Bitter from Marble and you can be guaranteed a Haciending.

Show your love for Manchester on the I LOVE MCR Facebook page.

This article is copyright © 2012 

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Avery Brown Dredge at BrewDog HQ, 7.5%, Fraserburgh, United Kingdom

By MatthewCoupe — Leave a comment
April 8, 2011
Brewskie

In 5: Balanced, Easy Drinker, Hoppy, Tasty, Strong

Ten points for guessing what happens when you get three top beer writers together for a couple of days in a brewery? Well, surprisingly enough they get drunk! Oh yeah, and they make some beer too. Although it seems that the clever schedulers at BrewDog got the order the wrong way round when they invited them over to make a specially commissioned brew – they let them do the drinking before they did the working. If our drunken cookery after a night out is anything to go by – oven left on, burnt toast, cold cans of beans – we weren’t expecting much from this special edition BrewDog brewed by some half cut, hungover beer lords.

Just hanging out with my mates

We know most of our readers aren’t exactly beer experts and don’t worry, we’d never heard of any of these people before we set up Brewskie. Thankfully, through the powers of t’interweb, and with a lot of help from Twitter and the Blogsphere we can find out; what they’re drinking at any moment in time, what beers they like, when they’re going to the toilet, who they’re drinking with, when they fart… you get the idea. Trust us on this though, they really know what they’re talking about and if they like a beer, you can guarantee it’s going to be worth drinking.

They can obviously talk the talk, but are they master brewers who can really walk the walk?

Well first things first, we can assure you that although A-Very Brown Dredge sounds like something they had to do to the Thames once all the Victorians had finished dumping in it, it really is a mighty fine beer.

It pours like a lovely fresh pilsner with lots of little bubbles that keep it alive throughout the experience. Our first impressions were that this is a very BrewDog beer with that same distinctive, hoppy, raw, citrusy taste that explodes in your mouth. However with this beer there is something a little different, something more. A bit like the Combined Harvest that we enjoyed so much, there is a real balance of flavours which stop any one aspect of the beer from getting too carried away and taking over. This balance of flavour, with a hint of bitterness in the aftertaste and just a touch of sweetness, thrown in with the fact that it is ludicrously tasty keeps you coming back, and back, and back for more. For a beer weighing in at 7.5% it is a real achievement to have created such an easy drinker. We just wish we’d ordered more!

The only question we have is; where was our invite to this beer brewing party (and the royal wedding come to think of it)? Lost in the post no doubt… We wait in anticipation for the next brewing session, and a shiny golden ticket!

Dredge A-Very Brown Brewskie – don’t mind if we do thank you.

This article is copyright © 2012 

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Zeitgeist Black Lager by BrewDog, 4.9%, Fraserburgh, United Kingdom

By MatthewCoupe — Leave a comment
April 5, 2011
Brewskie

In 5: Light, Black, Smokey, Rich, Not like Guinness with a Rennie in

First garlic… bread, then cheese… cake and now black… lager, seriously.

Sounding a little bit more like the setting of a baddy lair in a Bond Movie than a beer we really couldn’t resist picking one of these up when we saw it. A wonderful concept and a frankly bizarre label quickly draws your attention to this funky little beer sitting on the shelf waiting to be plucked. A little research tells us Zeitgeist has been around since early 2009 but this is the first we’ve seen of it. Although we’re still new to this beer thing I’m not sure that counts as a roaring success. But we didn’t let that put us off – we hadn’t heard of half the beers we’ve tried so far before we started to really look.

So what’s black lager all about? It’s not like the mildy irritating pop band Blue, who aren’t blue, or the lesbian fantasy Pink, who clearly isn’t pink; it’s proper black, like the night. In fact, it’s darker than the night, it’s like the night in the middle of the desert and someone turned off the moon and the stars.

We thought that lager was supposed to be yellow and sold in packs of 4 cans with little plastic bird/fish/fluffy animal catchers holding them together? Well apparently this hasn’t always been the case and lager was originally a black coloured drink, or so the BrewDogs tell us on their cryptic, creepy Zeitgeist website.

OK, so we’ve established it’s a little bit ‘Salad Fingers’ on the outside, and that it’s black on purpose but what’s it like on the inside?

Well it’s surprisingly refreshing and light considering it looks like someone has dropped a Rennie in your pint of Guinness. The rest of the experience is kind of how you might expect a black lager to be, smokey, chocolatey, rich, malty and a little bit treacly. Somehow, it works. It’s the lightness that really surprised us and we almost feel like you need to try this in a blind taste test to fully appreciate it. Either a blind test or drunk in a seedy nightclub, but not the kind of place you might find a Batemans Hooker. Naughty.

If you like it, tell them at the little Zeitgeist blogaroo they set up to let the drinkers guide the brand direction – quite a nice idea if you’re a nerd like we blatantly are http://www.zeitgeistbeer.com/blog or better still, tell us via the comments below or on some other manner of Social Media on which partake. Eyes right. ->

This article is copyright © 2012 

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Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, 5.6%, Chico, California, United States

By MatthewCoupe — Leave a comment
March 13, 2011
Brewskie

In 5: Cloudy, Bold, Distinctive, Bitter, Moreish

A highly recommended American beer? Yeah, that’s what we thought too.

Well it took us a few mouthfuls to get used to the powerful, full bodied flavour that this Pale Ale throws straight at you but we were soon singing the praises of this hard hitting little beer. There is no messing about with the brewing process and with just the 4 ingredients and no preservatives Sierra Nevada have crafted a classic hoppy yet slightly bitter brew with distinctive flavours that is really moreish. When it’s poured it has a wonderful golden body with enough life in the head to keep it interesting throughout the drinking experience. It’s more bitter and less citrusy than other pale ales we’ve tried but don’t let that take anything away from what Sierra Nevada have done by bottling up this golden pale delight.

If you are ever lost in the Nevada desert, parched and thirsty, this would be an ideal beer for you. Once you’ve got your bearings, head over to Vegas and Pair up your trip with a couple of bottles of Sierra Nevada. It’s certainly not a gamble and you would be feeling Royally Flush with your choice after heading Straight to the bar. When you get back from your little trip I can guarantee you will end up with a Full House of bottles of this lovely stuff.

Make sure you take the Sierra or you’ll end up with an Escort, and the Mrs wouldn’t be too happy about that now would she.

This article is copyright © 2012 

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Schneider Weisse Tap 7, 5.4%, Kelheim, Germany

By MatthewCoupe — Leave a comment
February 15, 2011
Brewskie

In 5: Dark, Enjoyable, Flavoursome, Medicinal, Citrus

Interesting fact: If you don’t speak German and you want to order a beer in Germany you need to be careful how many fingers you hold up. Unlike in the UK and other inefficient countries, in Germany, if you only want 1 beer you show them your thumb and then your first finger becomes your second beer and so on…

Every day is a school day on Brewskie! Although I wouldn’t worry about getting it wrong too much as there’s only 1 thing better than a beer, 2 beers!

So, the beer, well it’s not labelled as a dunkel (dark beer) but it is pretty dark in colour. Don’t let that fool you though, there is quite a citrus whiff to it and the taste is light. As it’s rather flat it seemed to fly down without really touching the sides. There was a moment early on where we were getting a little bit of a TCP smell and the taste does have some strange notes to it that we couldn’t quite put our fingers on. Overall, this Wesley (Schneider) definitely doesn’t deserve the Ballon d’or, instead it is an average player in one of the world’s most competitive arenas.

If only someone were to offer us a gallon d’beer right now…

This article is copyright © 2012 

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Liverpool Organic Brewery’s Liverpool Pale Ale, 4.0%, Liverpool, United Kingdom

By MatthewCoupe — 1 Comment
February 14, 2011
Brewskie

In 5: Clear-cut, Crisp, Presence, Distinctive, Traditional

Sedimentary my dear Watson. As soon as you pour this distinctive pale ale you know it has been brewed in a traditional but organic way as its cloudy body emerges from the bottle. Take care to leave the sediment in the bottle unless you enjoy a big mouthful of yeast at the end of your drink. This beer is a credit to small breweries and far removed from any mass produced ale in the supermarket. We aren’t really sure what the suitable for vegetarians and vegans label is all about so we just made the credible assumption that they are declaring it free of any rats or mice that may fall in during the brewing process of some of their rival breweries. This is a popular brew amongst those in the know and there are other stronger brews from the Liverpool Organic Brewery that we are looking forward to trying too. It doesn’t come cheap but you will be hopping mad not to try this brewskie if you get the chance.

This article is copyright © 2012 

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