Entrapment!

I've just got back from my local Sainsbury's laden with clanking bottles again. Last week it was Fuller's Vintage Ale going cheap that got me, now they're selling off beer competition leftovers for 50p a bottle. I piled all the Brewdog Chaos Theory into my trolley but I thought taking all the Williams Brothers IPA would be going too far, so there's still some of them on the shelves in the Brookwood branch. If you have a Sainsbury's nearby it's well worth checking it out ASAP.

Sainsbury's Beer Competition

Sainsbury's Beer Competition has finally started. I first got wind of this when a post on Brewdog's blog said they'd got three beers in the final. The thought of paying supermarket prices, not Utobeer prices, for the Brewdog beers certainly got me excited so I've been looking forlornly at the normal range of beer in my local Sainsbury's, uninspired by the usual selection.

Fortunately a post over at Jim's Beer Kit alerted me that it had finally kicked off so when my local branch was still the the same old, same old I hot footed it down to a bigger branch. There in the first aisle I saw was a fine selection of beers, and on a four for the price of three offer!

I stocked up on the Brewdog beers, but also took the opportunity to get plenty of supplies of the others. I'm currently working my way through them with the assistance of the lovely Lisa.

Here's some tasting notes for the Brewdog beers:



Dogma, the beer which was once the infamous Speedball, was very sweet tasting from having honey in it. I don't actually remember the original having honey in so maybe the recipe has been tweaked. I can't say I noticed the kola nut and guarana but then I wouldn't know what they taste like anyway. I do like to see experimentation in beer but this one wasn't really to my taste.

Chaos Theory is a amber coloured IPA and I much preferred it to Dogma, plenty of hops and a touch of darker malts to give it a bit of body. Thumbs up for this one.

Hardcore IPA has definitely been tweaked apparently they couldn't get all the hops they wanted when they first brewed it. It now has a fantastic aroma, much better than the original, and no diacetyl in the taste which some bottles I had suffered from. I'd prefer something this strong to have a bit more body though, all pale malt and what must be a highly attenuating yeast leave this a bit thin.

And one from the Williams brothers: The birds and bees. I was a bit wary of this one as amongst some of my favourite hops (Styrian goldings and Cascade) it also lists elder flowers as an ingredient. I'm sure one of Badgers beers has elder flower in and it's not to my taste. I needn't have worried though as this one is a good, refreshing Summer beer. Lets just hope we get a bit more Summer!

The White Horse, Parsons Green

I went up to London at the weekend, not to get to the GBBF, but to see a mate. The lovely Lisa had spotted many pubs were making an effort with their ales to coincide with the GBBF though, and we managed to take advantage of this.

The fact that this was the only weekend the Old Mitre is open tempted us, but as our friend lives in walking distance of the White Horse in Parsons Green that made more sense.

The pub was packed out when we got there but they had plenty of bar staff so it didn’t take long to get served. Popularly known as the Sloney Pony most of the clientele did look posher than what you find in your average boozer. Apart from the woman who’d dressed up as a Thai prostitute that is. Or so my friends who’ve been to Thailand tell me, my interest in Thailand only goes as far as the boxing of course. 

The pub has long had a reputation for serving good beer, even in the days when it was a Bass pub. Its particular claim to fame was that it employed a full time cellar man and I once had a trip with the Craft Brewing Association to visit the cellar. I can't say much more about that as we got to visit the bar too and they had a barley wine on draught. I've no doubt that I was briefly very knowledgeable about cellarmanship until my memory dissolved in alcohol though. 

There was a good range of beers on offer, tending towards the more unusual. Never having seen Fraoch heather ale on cask I had to give that a go and the lovely Lisa went for something herb flavoured from Thornbridge. Both tasted a bit funny, not 'funny ha ha' more 'that's funny this tastes a bit crap'. After that Lisa retreated to the safety of a pint of Harvey's bitter whilst I went to no hops to more than you could shake a stick at with a Dark Star Hophead Extra. 

The Hophead Extra was a cracker, very much in the American IPA style and not the sort of thing you often see on cask. It had huge taste of citrussy hops and more alcohol than it is sensible to drink by the pint.



I'm glad I had it as after that we moved on to a Spanish restaurant where the beer was nothing worth mentioning, so I won't.

 

Beer for the non-beer drinker

My brother Dave suffers from an unfortunate and embarrassing condition. He doesn't like beer. As a compassionate man I have taken it upon myself to try and find some way of bringing joy into his otherwise dull and meaningless life. 

As he's a big fan of coffee I first tried him on Meantime coffee beer. This did show some initial success but then he managed to detect hop bitterness so it was rejected.
Williams brothers Alba, an old fashioned ale flavoured with pine, worked a treat though and got the thumbs up. It's a shame it's not more widely available as it's a classic brew. I find the pine flavour makes for a really refreshing drink, despite its strength.

Last night I tried out on him a couple of brews I got from Booths when I was in the lake district. First up was another historic ale from the Williams brothers, Fraoch, the heather ale. I find this sweet and delicately flavoured. Sensitive soul that he is my brother managed to detect some bitterness but it still got the thumbs up. I know Sweet gale, or as it is less appetisingly known Bog myrtle, is used in making Fraoch. This used to be one of the bittering agents used in old fashioned unhopped ales so it's probably that he's noticing. I'd love to try making an unhopped ale but I'm not sure where I could get bog myrtle from. Would I need to wander round picking it next time I'm in the Scottish countryside? And which part of the plant do you use?

Next drink I tried was Crabbies alcoholic ginger beer. I was hoping this would be a beer with ginger added, like Dalesides Morocco Ale. In fact it was just a ginger beer with added alcohol.  It went down well with Dave but I can't count this as a success as I'm sure it's never been near a barley grain. I might as well have brought him an alcopop. It did open up another possibility though as my Chai beer has a strong ginger taste amongst the spiciness. I'll bring a bottle round next time. 

I find it frustrating that alcoholic beverages don't have to list their ingredients. It would be much easier to find out how unusual tasting drinks are made if they did. On the Williams brothers website no mention of hops is made but for all I know they could be included. No hops does fit in with the symptoms by brother displays of not liking hop bitterness (or Humulophobia to give it its Latin name) though.

I'm currently having a go at making an unhopped bragot flavoured with honey and spices inspired by Radical Brewing. It will be interesting to see how this goes down with Dave, and if anyone else has ideas for beer that might help him overcome his terrible affliction suggestions are more than welcome.