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
Brewskie
This beer has history: the label says “since 1890”, so San Miguel have had over a century to get the beer right. But there is more to the past than a date, as two years ago in the floods that destroyed a lot of rural Pakistan, my Filipino colleague and I spent a long deployment together discussing our first beer once we left the country. We agreed that we would one day meet to drink a San Miguel in the Philippines, and finally we did it last month.
In 5: Wet, Icy, Cold, Damp, Fizzy
The one I drank that night was in a can. I’m not sure Brewskie will even post a review of a beer that is drunk out of a can (Mr Brewskie is becoming a purist)? In my defence I’ve drunk a lot of bottles the past fortnight too. Still the beer tastes good, and we’re served it with a glass full of ice cubes which appears to be local custom and I assume aims to keep it cold. You can taste the fruit of the hops going in, though it is well controlled so that it is clean with a pleasantly sweet after taste. Equally, the gas is just right providing a sufficiently robust fizz to back up the strength of the flavour. The pale colour is sufficiently golden and keeps its head to keep me sipping, which I’m encouraged to do by the ice cubes which I think are melting and diluting the contents of the glass. I remember my colleague explaining to me how he used to buy a 24 pack with his friends on a weekend and spend all afternoon drinking all the cans and I can understand why. He’s paid the price however and is drinking “San Miguel Lite” which together with the ice cubes looks like it tastes of nothing. There are another two types of San Miguel behind the bar so it is definitely the most popular drink in the country, 95% market share I read somewhere…
The food in this part of the country is a lot of fried or barbecued pork and fish so we keep on drinking, the saltiness is refreshed by a new can. It occurs to me that the ice cubes could be a way of counteracting the dehydration effect in the tropics, but the morning afterwards the beer passes the hangover test too. Like most foreign beers, it is a pilsener with limited scope for doing something special: San Miguel just does it well. If only they wouldn’t serve it with ice cubes…
This article is copyright © 2012
Brewskie
The quest for international beery goodness took us to Wales recently. Well actually, Wales was brought to us via a wonderful Christmas present consisting of a selection of beers from The Great Orme Brewery. What a perfect gift. For those of you not in the know, the Great Orme is a big rock in North Wales, with a tram, a dry ski slope and an amazing toboggan track (note; it was amazing when I was 12 and may now be in a horrendous state of disrepair). There’s some nice scenery and views too if you’re in to that sort of thing. It turns out there is also a Brewery, although not on the Great Orme itself it’s pretty close by.
In 5: Bright, Sweet, Rounded, Tasty, Citrus
A big fan of a pale ale this seemed like the most sensible choice for a first taste of the Orme “a refreshing blonde ale bursting with citrus notes” according to the fancy label. We certainly don’t disagree. It pours an amber colour and is bright and sweet from the off. The pale hops give a touch of bitterness and the citrusy high notes are quite something. It has a sweet and fruity flavour which give it a rounded finish and offset the bitterness just enough.
It’s a very pleasant beer and would be perfect to provide that much needed refreshing moisture in a beer garden on a fine summers evening after work.
This article is copyright © 2012
Brewskie
A contribution from an ex-pat in Myanmar who shall remain anonymous for more reasons than one!
In 5: Repressed, Semi-precious, Dubious, Lingering, #2
Booze and politics don’t mix. So how is the #1 beer from the #2 dictatorship* in Asia going to shape up? Pouring it from the bottle sat at home in Yangon/Rangoon, there is a definite yeasty smell which leaves me worried that the brewing process has been a little repressed. But I’m not going to protest (it has only just been made legal in this country and so I’m going to be one of the first to give it a go) and I have my first taste.
It’s a little flat and very cold, which on a Sunday afternoon in December when the temperature tops 31°C means that it goes down quick. I’d like to share this with my friends, but this is a country which made it illegal for people to be together in groups of more than 5 in public places. So I decide to drop all my sanctions and open a second bottle.
The same smell comes out the second bottle, but I decide to be diplomatic and turn a blind eye (nose). The label proudly displays medals from international beer competitions which at first seem like quite dubious accolades, but on further inspection it seems like it has actually won them! Unfortunately, for a country renowned for its gems, this beer is nothing more than semi-precious. It does the job, but it’s not going to take any prisoners (out of character for a country which still has a reported 2000 people incarcerated for their political belief). You can’t help but notice that the yeasty, murky taste won’t go away, which serves as a subtle analogy for the rest of the country that is doing everything possible to reform itself on the international stage.
*Brewskie challenge has been set, to review the #1 local beer from North Korea.
This article is copyright © 2012
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
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
Brewskie
In 5: Tasty, Full-bodied, Sweet, Refined, Quality
¡Ay, caramba!
We discovered this little beauty on a little Brewskie night out in Liverpool and absolutely loved it. Ever since, we’ve been on a mission, scouring the supermarkets and specialist shops looking for the distinctive yellow label to brighten up our day. It took a few months of hunting but we finally managed to track it down and bring some home for a sampling and by Jove are we glad we did. I think we picked it up in our local supplier, Carringtons in Didsbury along with some Dunham Massey Deer Beer (review to follow soon!).
It’s not often we try a lager and something stands out so much that we think, wow, this is truly great stuff. It’s sweet, fizzy and a real mouthful of joy that would taste as good on a boiling hot day as a cold, dreary winter evening. A lovely foamy head stays throughout and it’s hard to believe that a lager can be so full bodied and bold, but refined and refreshing in equal measures. It oozes quality and it really makes you wonder why it isn’t lining the shelves of the pubs and bars of the UK in place of some of the other tripe.
It certainly brightened our evening and having tried quite a few South American beers recently this is certainly up there amongst the best of them. A fantastic start for the South American beers on Brewskie, hopefully there will be some more great ones coming our way soon!
Hasta pronto, Pacífico Clara!
This article is copyright © 2012
Brewskie
In 5: Refreshing, Crisp, Cheap, Golden, Tasty
“Is it pronounced Sisk or Chisk?” we asked the lovely Maltese waitress, “Sisk, Chisk, however you want to say it” was the helpful reply. Turns out service isn’t high on the list of priorities in Malta, eating and more importantly drinking beer are very high. On a previous trip to Malta we had a seat on the captain’s bridge of the Malta – Gozo ferry, on the way back we sat in the bar and tried to keep up with our Maltese guide drinking cans of Cisk like they were water. His goal was to drink a can for every 10 minutes of the journey. Our struggles just made him smile.
Everywhere you go in Malta you will see signs for Cisk, outside bars and cafés, on billboards and on umbrellas and verandas. There is no doubting it is the Maltese beer of choice for both locals and tourists alike. Generally speaking the beer you have on holiday will often taste nicer on holiday, and when you get home you go back to your regular tipples. This is not true with Cisk, although we’ve never seen it stocked in the UK the little supply we brought back with us taste just as good this side of the Mediterranean, especially as a curry chaser (lamb tikka jalfrezi if you must know)…
It is a lovely refreshing lager with a nice crisp finish that will barely make a dent on your wallet. By the pool, at the bar, with a meal, it seems that Cisk comes out trumps in any scenario and the Maltese are very proud of this.
It is refreshing to visit a country where the local produce costs local prices and the imports cost imported prices. If only the UK would take note and support local beer!
This article is copyright © 2012
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
Brewskie
In 5: Refreshing, Smooth, Organic, Malty, Mellow
We picked up this funny little misshaped bottle of beer on an educational trip our local Waitrose – to see how the other side live. It is brewed on the site of a medieval hall from water they pull out of the ground on the brewery site itself, which is always nice, considering beer is pretty wet and water is by far the largest constituent ingredient. It is also organic and approved by the Soil Association… Yes, there is something called the Soil Association. Apparently the worm wasn’t so sure but the ants ganged up on him and made him vote yes and no one likes the slug so they didn’t tell him when the vote was.
Back to reality… When you get yourself one of these beers obviously the first thing that strikes you is the shape of the bottle. After drinking so many beers from round bottles we didn’t even realise the shape was like an old medicine bottle until we go it home and into the fridge. Apparently the bottle is a copy of one from Gibbstown, near Philadelphia which dates from c. 1770. There is no real explanation why they copied this exact bottle shape but who cares, it’s different and it’s pretty cool.
So enough waffle, what’s the beer like?
Well firstly it’s got a lovely amber colour to it. There is a lot going on with the aroma too, fruity with a hint of something sweet. When we finally tucked in we were thoroughly impressed with how it tasted. It’s a lovely mellow brew, which is both refreshing and smooth. It has a slight malty undertone to it and as an organic beer the flavours could be a little too strong, and although the beer occasionally borders on the wild side it is just about kept in check with a delicate balance.
This is a real easy drinker and one of the better organic ales we’ve come across. St Peter would definitely have this coming out of the taps in his Basilica if he were still around.
This article is copyright © 2012
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