tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14782183113834025052024-03-13T06:31:44.501-07:00The Fatal Glass Of BeerJoe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-86100800829985181522021-11-09T10:36:00.004-08:002022-02-28T09:51:43.929-08:00Craft Beer World, now and then<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-070gLeGP-Fk/YYq9Xdd188I/AAAAAAAABOM/_YitgkRFqgIN28d1Q-Uo88cLcLktuoXAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9792.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-070gLeGP-Fk/YYq9Xdd188I/AAAAAAAABOM/_YitgkRFqgIN28d1Q-Uo88cLcLktuoXAQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_9792.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the <a href="http://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-fatal-glass-of-beer.html">very first post on this blog</a>, I acknowledged <a href="https://www.beerdredge.com/">Mark Dredge</a>’s book <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17251413">Craft Beer World</a></i> as instrumental in changing the way I
drink, and think about, beer. I found it around the time I first dipped a toe
into the possibilities of beer outside of macro lager, and it enchanted me. When
the book was published in 2013, Brighton already had several craft-leaning
pubs, and beer started to take up more and more of my headspace.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was transported back to that time when I read that Mark
was releasing a sequel, <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50891458-the-new-craft-beer-world">The New Craft Beer World</a></i>. I imagined a version
of myself, seven years younger or maybe, in a much sadder scenario, stuck in
the same dead-end retail job in which I first encountered <i>Craft Beer World</i>
and with Holsten Pils still my favourite beer. What would that beer world look
like now, and how would it compare to 2013?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Beer styles is one obvious change, and the most significant
omission from the 2013 edition is the New England IPA, simply because it didn’t
exist at the time of writing. Hazy IPAs are now so ubiquitous that it’s easy to
forget what a recent development they really are (although proto-NEIPA <a href="https://alchemistbeer.com/#">Heady Topper</a> is included in the American Imperial IPA section.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The descriptions of the other beers in the IPA chapters of
the book seem pretty old-school today. The word “juicy” doesn’t feature once,
and some of today’s most sought-after hop varieties are notable by their absence,
too – although Citra features, it’s outnumbered by Cascade; none of the beers
included use Mosaic, which was commercially available but far from commonplace
in 2013. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mark also points out that in 2021, “the IPA family has got a lot
broader in general”. In the original edition, there was much less distinction
between IPA sub-styles; in the recent update we have beers labelled West Coast,
East Coast and even Northwest IPA, with a double page spread dedicated to
sorting through the regional IPAs of America. <span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today’s other style du jour, the pastry stout, is also
pretty much absent in the first book. Again, a trailblazing beer does feature –
Three Floyd’s “blockbuster” imperial stout, <a href="https://www.3floyds.com/over-21/?redirect_to=https://www.3floyds.com/beer/dark-lord/">Dark Lord</a> – but there’s little hint
of the coming blurring of lines between beer and confectionary. A section
entitled ‘German Curiosities’ includes examples of Gose and Berliner Weisse
which seemed impossibly obscure at the time – most of the beers listed are
American and very few, if any, UK breweries were making these styles then. Their
current popularity would have been difficult to predict, as would the recent
tendency to load them with smoothie-like fruit purees and lactose. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Visually beer is so different now, with all the colourful cans and the
opaque orange glasses of IPA,” Mark tells me, suggesting that the visual impact
of some styles might be the secret of their success. “I don’t think hazy IPAs
or thick fruit sours would be as popular if it weren’t for things like
Instagram and Untappd.” I’m just an armchair commentator, and from where
I’m sitting, it’s can be difficult to tell which styles are actually popular
with a broad range of drinkers and which are the most Instagram-able. It’s hard
to know whether someone in the position I was in 2013, picking up <i>The New
Craft Beer World </i>as an guide to navigate craft beer, would even know about
fruit smoothie sours.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The accessibility of craft beer is, one obvious change that
has occurred in the intervening years between <i>Craft Beer World </i>and its
sequel. “Back in 2012 when I wrote the book there were only a few places where I
could buy or order interesting beers”, Mark says, “it’s now become normal to
find great beer everywhere.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Back then, I probably wouldn’t have believed you if you’d
told me that in the not <i>too</i> distant future, I’d be picking up a can of
Mikkeller’s American Dream lager during my weekly shop at Sainsbury’s. I <i>certainly
</i>wouldn’t have believed that I would purchase said can only once before
losing interest, such is the variety of craft beer in 2021. (I would also have
been pretty shocked to hear that Mikkeller would then end up on a personal list
of boycotted breweries after <a href="https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/sightlines/2021/7/1/former-mikkeller-employees-allege-culture-of-bullying-harassment-and-indifference">accusations of harassment, bullying and misogyny</a>,
but that’s another story…)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If we consider the greater accessibility of craft beer,
there is one big elephant in the room – corporate take-overs. Some of the
breweries featured in <i>Craft Beer World</i> really are everywhere now. In
some cases, that’s a great thing. <a href="https://www.camdentownbrewery.com/beer/hells-lager/">Camden Hells</a> is a small miracle, wedged as it
is between pumps for Kronenbourg and Amstel all over the UK, frequently the <i>only</i>
decent beer on the bar.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But at the same time, selling out to a multi-national can
render a brewery’s output permanently uninteresting. I would place both Meantime
and Beavertown in this category – note that both are included in <i>Craft Beer
World</i> for excellent porters which have since vanished from their line-up.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of the beers and breweries featured here have become
very easy to find, but in happier circumstances. Take <a href="https://yeastieboys.co.nz/">Yeastie Boys</a>, who feature
in the original book several times – I was so intrigued by them. They’re from
New Zealand, of all places! And they’re named after the Beastie Boys! They are
now, happily, partly a UK-based operation, and I need daydream no more about
how their beers might taste.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That’s good news, of course. But the greater visibility plus
the sheer number of breweries there are now does mean a certain lost romance. I
asked Mark if there was anything he missed about craft beer in 2013, and he
replied, “ten years ago, there were a lot of beers which I’d never tasted but I’d
read about them online and I have really visceral memories of imagining how
they’d taste and longing to drink them. There was something thrilling about the
beers I’d never tasted.” That happens less and less in today’s craft beer
world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Whilst I can confirm that Mark’s infectious enthusiasm shines through
just as clearly as ever in the new book, it <i>is</i> easy to become jaded. But
for me, the beers listed in <i>Craft Beer World </i>still hold an indelible
romance. The pages are so well-thumbed that I will recognise a beer from the
book instantly – if I find one I haven’t tried, it becomes an essential
purchase. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GoflLVqYawQ/YYq_GBYoxDI/AAAAAAAABOU/LAo5ahqamngpOsKBkDZpbKFNPFwEMHxGACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9226.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GoflLVqYawQ/YYq_GBYoxDI/AAAAAAAABOU/LAo5ahqamngpOsKBkDZpbKFNPFwEMHxGACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_9226.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was able, recently, to get in another tick, albeit in a round-about
way. Some of the breweries in the original book are no longer with us, such as
Boston’s <a href="https://boston.eater.com/2015/11/24/9793796/pretty-things-beer-ale-project-closing">Pretty Things</a>. Conveniently for me, Boston’s loss was Sheffield’s
gain, and the same people are behind <a href="https://beerofsmod.co.uk/">St. Mars of the Desert</a>. Not only that, but
they’ve revived some old favourites. So, seven years later I can finally say I
have tasted Jack d’Or saison – and it was every bit as good as I’d hoped.</span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I doubt I’ll be <i>quite </i>so dedicated to hunting down all the beers
in the new edition – but for some readers, this book will be the beginning of a
beautiful friendship with beer. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>The New Craft Beer World</i> is out now. For what it's worth, I bought my own copy. Thanks very much to Mark for answering my questions.</b></p>Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-84175922652401680872021-02-13T05:08:00.002-08:002021-02-21T01:45:00.718-08:00Do you remember drinking Friary Meux?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xQMFB4MaioE/YCfN_B8ocfI/AAAAAAAABLw/cyr9CXZ_hwsOmRftNxupVEN0yvc8zJqVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1607/Friary.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="1607" height="253" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xQMFB4MaioE/YCfN_B8ocfI/AAAAAAAABLw/cyr9CXZ_hwsOmRftNxupVEN0yvc8zJqVQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h253/Friary.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>For the past six months or so, I've been digging for information on the <b>Friary Brewery</b> in <b>Guildford</b>. In 1956 it merged with the Meux brewery to become <b>Friary Meux</b>, and was taken over by Allied Brewers in 1964.</p><p>Deep Google searches and newspaper archives are bringing up lots of fascinating stuff on the history of the brewery, but it's much more difficult to find any material on the beers themselves.</p><p>So I thought I'd put out an appeal. <b>Do you remember drinking Friary Meux beers</b>? </p><p>Any first-hand recollections would be hugely appreciated. Leave a comment, or if you prefer, drop me a line at joetindall at hotmail dot com. </p>Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-48540854041042672332021-01-28T23:56:00.002-08:002021-01-28T23:56:40.835-08:00I know very well, but all the same...<p>Our ability to succumb to the immersive illusion of fiction
film is often referred to as ‘suspension of disbelief’. From what I remember
from my time as a Film Studies student, <a href="https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Metz_Imaginary.pdf">Christian Metz</a> tells it differently –
we don’t simply switch off the part of our brain that consciously knows that
the world playing out on the screen isn’t real. For Metz, it might be more
accurate to say that we allow ourselves to become immersed in the film, whilst
simultaneously marvelling at the workings of the ‘machine’ that enchants us.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Borrowing a phrase from psychoanalyst Octave Mannoni, Metz
suggests that the viewer in the cinema tells themselves “I know very well, but
all the same…” This is what I tell myself when I drink alcohol-free beer. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A common retort to alcohol-free beer is that other drinks,
naturally lacking booze, are available. Rather than have a beer you could just
drink tea, sparkling water, juice, and so on. This is a reasonable point,
except it supposes that beer is merely a drink. Especially in the current miserable
circumstances, it is also often part of a special sort of personal ritual,
signalling the moment when the working day is done, dinner’s eaten and the
washing up done. The point at which I sit down on my sofa and enjoy a couple of hours of
freedom. These moments are important – they’re pretty much as good as it gets
at present - and deserve some ceremony. But at the same time, I don’t want to
drink every day. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So I might sit back with an alcohol-free beer instead. On
one level, I am trying to suspend disbelief, buying into the fantasy that I’m
relaxing with a ‘real’ beer. If it’s no good, the illusion is shattered. But at
the same time, the very fact that I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">am</i>
assessing whether the beer is good or not means that the illusion is never
total. And if the beer <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> good, I
might find myself thinking, “hey, this actually tastes like beer! How did they
do that?” Like Metz’s film audience, I am both allowing myself to be swept up
in the illusion, whilst also admiring the brewery’s ability to sweep me up in
the first place. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All of this means it is difficult to assess the quality of
alcohol-free beer from a neutral standpoint. Beer is never going to taste the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">same</i> once you take the booze out;
equally it’s easy to overrate some examples just for tasting vaguely decent.
There’s no accounting for taste, but I have seen people whose opinions and
palates I trust very highly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">raving</i>
about a 0.5% stout that I poured down the sink because it tasted like damp
sticks.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wanted to write something on this subject that says
something beyond, “some alcohol free beers are nice, actually.” So what follows
is a brief attempt to categorise the sub-genres I’ve found on my travels
through the 0.0 – 0.5% beer world.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wk3q5Eseu6w/YBMbFt3NNII/AAAAAAAABK8/FN_NpSvGTLEvjmikXQj87vKf5ZLMA6pkACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8458.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wk3q5Eseu6w/YBMbFt3NNII/AAAAAAAABK8/FN_NpSvGTLEvjmikXQj87vKf5ZLMA6pkACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_8458.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><b>The watery ones</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you had never tried an alcohol-free beer, but had to
guess what one is like, I think you might assume they were watery and bland. In
many instances you’d be right. Some examples go beyond mere blandness and are
actually quite impressive in terms of their near-total absence of flavour. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brewdog</b>’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.brewdog.com/uk/alcohol-free-beer-48">Nanny State</a></b>, for example, has a promising hop aroma which briefly
translates to the palate before fading to absolutely nothing. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://untappd.com/b/mash-gang-california-uncommon/3913563">California Uncommon</a></b>, from AF-beer
specialists <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mash Gang, </b>does it the
other way round. Bizarrely sold as an alcohol-free malt liquor, which is
meaningless gibberish, it starts off tasting like straight-up H20, but then a
hollow ghost-flavour of toasted malt niggles at you in the finish. Both are
pretty unsatisfying.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The sweet ones</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">AF beer often has a lot of residual sweetness. This sounds
unpleasant, and in some cases it is – dry-hopped wort, anyone? But in others it
works very well. Hoppy styles seem to particularly benefit from the extra body
this brings, and the sweetness rounds out the flavour and offers a good
foundation for hop character to assert itself. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mikkeller</b>’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://untappd.com/b/mikkeller-weird-weather-non-alcoholic-hazy-ipa/2428751">Weird Weather</a></b>
is the best alcohol-free IPA I’ve encountered so far. Allow for the extra
sweetness and it is convincingly beery, with juicy stone fruit notes and a
citrus kick in the finish. <o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TVyD-5yr6lE/YBMa3GBABMI/AAAAAAAABK4/x_UyhvLj4lccqyEEEhqf8yHCUI7kXO18ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8438.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TVyD-5yr6lE/YBMa3GBABMI/AAAAAAAABK4/x_UyhvLj4lccqyEEEhqf8yHCUI7kXO18ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_8438.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal">The various IPAs from <b><a href="https://www.coastbeer.co/shop?gclid=Cj0KCQiA3smABhCjARIsAKtrg6IFWhGv8VbLBWI5vZWDx3_d56EN8knlxqYtE-k0j8HCOo7B5qhg2sIaAqbnEALw_wcB">Coast</a></b>
are quite similar, perhaps because they are also contract brewed at De
Proefbrouwerij in Belgium. Their standard IPA has an odd strawberry jam flavour
which is quite pleasant but not likely to let you forget that that’s merely
near-beer in your glass. A recent range of single-hopped beers are much better,
with much more precise hop flavour.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One big success in this area was the short-lived <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Guinness 0.0</b>, which had a sweetness
that would stop the flagship product from tasting so acrid and bland. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54901824">Famously withdrawn in record time due to disconcerting possibilities of contamination</a>
(announced just slowly enough for me to finish a 4-pack), I hope it’ll return
in a form fit for human consumption.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The ones with lactose<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Picture the scene; the brewing team are sitting around
having a post-shift pint, pondering a potential new line.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"I think we need to diversify our range and make it as
inclusive as possible. We should make an alcohol free beer – lots of people are
more mindful about their drinking these days and we don’t want to alienate
customers."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Great idea! And let's put dairy products in it!"<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Look, I don’t want to get militant vegan on you, but I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> think its safe to say in the current
climate emergency, we all have a responsibility to think again about our
consumption of products that derive from intensive animal farming. May I
suggest that <a href="https://www.brewdog.com/uk/lost-af-12-x-can#:~:text=Ingredients%3A,malted%20oats%2C%20yeast%2C%20hops.">milk in an alcohol free lager</a> is just about the most pointless,
wasteful use of animal products imaginable? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The ones with
adjuncts</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One way to paper over the less convincing elements in
alcohol-free beer is to add in some additional flavours. This is a delicate
balancing act. It’s already not real beer; take the adjuncts too far and you
end up with a sort of simulacrum that supposedly simulating beer, whilst
predominantly tasting of grapefruit, or coffee, or rhubarb and custard sweets.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When done right, though, this is perhaps the most enjoying
and deceptively beery category of them all. Non-alcoholic stouts are tough to pull off, and a lot of those I've tried just taste like malt extract, if not Marmite. However the aforementioned <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mikkeller</b>’s coffee-infused <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://untappd.com/b/mikkeller-beer-geek-flat-white-0-3/3611383">Beer Geek Flat White 0.3%</a></b> is superb and I had settled on this
being my go-to school night treat until I bought 4 bottles, all of which were
infected and sour. I'll try again soon and hope that was a dud batch. Hamburg’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kehrwieder</b>
also do wonderful things with coffee in their <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://untappd.com/b/kehrwieder-kreativbrauerei-road-runner-coffee-stout-alkoholfrei/3549557">Road Runner</a></b> porter. <o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bVKyZ8gmy2s/YBMbNqVUv9I/AAAAAAAABLE/Z2ps8AmSj38kzLc2lpJvLomDmVb96vsYgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8462.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bVKyZ8gmy2s/YBMbNqVUv9I/AAAAAAAABLE/Z2ps8AmSj38kzLc2lpJvLomDmVb96vsYgCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_8462.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal">On the fruity end of the spectrum, I’m a big fan of <a href="https://untappd.com/b/lowlander-beer-lowlander-0-00-wit/3220333"><b>Lowlander</b>’s <b>0.0 Wit</b></a> (another brewed under contract at De Proefbrouwerij, who
clearly know their stuff). Made with waste lemons and limes from bars, this
threatens to teeter into fizzy pop territory, but retains an element of rustic
wheat that hits the spot. Another shout for <b>Mikkeller</b>, too – they’re the best in the AF game, for my money –
whose <b>Limbo</b> series of fruited sours
is superb. <b><a href="https://untappd.com/b/mikkeller-limbo-riesling/3587161">Riesling</a></b> is the pick of
the bunch for me, with a complexity and dryness that <i>almost</i> matches its boozy equivalents.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">And the others</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then there are some beers that don’t fit really fit into any
of the sub-genres outlined above. Two recent highlights come from UK brewers. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Signature Brew</b> recently released <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.signaturebrew.co.uk/collections/live/products/lofi">Lo-fi </a></b>(<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DISCLAIMER</i></b> - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my samples were gifted by the brewery</i>),
which although maybe slightly on the thin side, could never been accused of
being watery. It’s billed as a New England IPA, and does a good impression of
one. This includes a couple of the less desirable tendencies of that style;
tropical notes not quite gelling with savoury caraway, and a touch of
asprin-like hop burn, but these are minor enough to overlook. It’s good fun and I’d
definitely add it to my regular weeknight rotation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ridgeside</b>’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.ridgesidebrewing.com/shop/p/currant-wisdom-05-blackcurrant-and-apricot-sour">Currant Wisdom</a></b> is a sour so heavily
fruited that the blackcurrant and apricot qualify as stars of the show, rather
than adjuncts. It starts off a little watery, but the sour fruit tang soon
overpowers that, whilst a smooth vanilla note fills out the middle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So there you go. Some alcohol-free beers are nice, actually.
<o:p></o:p></p>Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-57028457617845720722020-09-27T12:17:00.000-07:002020-09-27T22:42:28.772-07:00Beers from the smoke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tOqdtqZoPYQ/X3DjM1YC4FI/AAAAAAAABJY/MFm2zN4PqGAPTUL4-CtWk6SIuSjUspcOACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/GBUL0911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tOqdtqZoPYQ/X3DjM1YC4FI/AAAAAAAABJY/MFm2zN4PqGAPTUL4-CtWk6SIuSjUspcOACLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/GBUL0911.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p>In life, I am a planner. In beer drinking, I am a ticker.
These two characteristics compliment one another, especially whilst travelling,
but if I’m not careful spontaneity can go out the window. Whilst I’ve had many
beer experiences in which careful planning paid off and I was right to leave
nothing to chance, the experiences I <i>wasn’t</i>
expecting are often more powerful.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The photo above is a memento from one such occasion. As my
train pulled into Kings Cross, I smelt smoke. Not the kind that might raise
alarm bells in a major railway station, but delicious smoke, charcoal
grill-type smoke. I don’t know what it was – possibly something as mundane as a
ham and cheese toastie wafting down from the refreshments car – but it was
especially evocative, and put immediately in mind of rauchbier. In fact,
rauchbier was already on my mind; I’d read that morning that <a href="https://www.anspachandhobday.com/"><b>Anspach and Hobday</b></a>
would be pouring theirs at their Bermondsey tap room that day.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With my nose held high in the air, chasing aromas like the
grotesque children in <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c4/Bisto00.jpg/220px-Bisto00.jpg">vintage Bisto adverts</a> or Divine in John Waters’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.mediamatic.net/en/page/88062/workshop-odorama-scent-creation">Polyester</a></i>, I formed an improvised plan.
I’d need to change trains at London Bridge, so a one-stop diversion could have
me in Bermondsey in no time. Over to Druid Street for a swift smokey treat,
then back on my way. That’s exactly what I did, and it was wonderful. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why am I telling this story? I don’t know, really. It is a
very long and quite tangential way to start talking about rauchbier. To discuss
this style, I need to return to that word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">evocative</i>.
Rauchbier feels especially appropriate at this time of year, as distant
bonfires spread their aromas far and wide, soaking into your clothes and
confirming that summer is well and truly over. I’ve drunk <b><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/Ratings/Beer/Beer-Ratings.asp?BeerID=13159">Spezial Rauchbier</a></b> on
Brighton beach in mid-30 degree heat, and it was still great – but a crisp
autumnal air is undoubtedly more appropriate.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was delighted, then, to find that not one but two London
breweries have tried their hand at the style for the A/W 2020 season – the
afformentioned <b>Anspach and Hobday</b>, and <b><a href="https://www.signaturebrew.co.uk/">Signature Brew</a></b>, who <b><i>kindly gifted me two
cans of theirs. </i></b><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fkf1mS3HEXE/X3DkYmaYksI/AAAAAAAABJg/oI_kTx-E34kfJ3qPdDr5o76xaYNySw84wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/0A78141C-2309-462E-95D9-B8A687A5B1C5-2BCAE1D0-9C4D-4DED-BC28-A4EC70BFE06E.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fkf1mS3HEXE/X3DkYmaYksI/AAAAAAAABJg/oI_kTx-E34kfJ3qPdDr5o76xaYNySw84wCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/0A78141C-2309-462E-95D9-B8A687A5B1C5-2BCAE1D0-9C4D-4DED-BC28-A4EC70BFE06E.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal">Signature call their offering <b>In the Dark</b>, so I was surprised that it poured a pretty light amber
colour reminiscent of Vienna lager. The aroma proves quickly that there’s
nothing half-hearted about it though, with a big hit of smoky bacon on the
nose. This is, as will be obvious to anyone familiar with rauchbier, a large
component of the flavour, if not an original tasting note. Once you get used to
the style, what’s interesting is what <i>else</i>
is going on beyond the ham. In this case, the smoke is well integrated with the
malt flavour, mingling with toasted and bready notes. There are some almost
salty mineral flavours, and just a touch of lemony astringency lending a welcome
zingy freshness, before finishing on a burnt caramel note. Like the best smoked
beers, this balances intensity, complexity and drinkability very well indeed –
I confessed by ticker tendencies at the start of this post, but I’d happily
forget all that and drink this all night if I found it in my local.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hiH-3P8J0Nc/X3DkiFjyGDI/AAAAAAAABJk/ZK_9_kITYD0-jS0XahBWaetGjrvzsIVHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/653B1909-3003-4D17-8F2F-C5FBBB549874-514EEC68-113B-44DA-A98D-79E9735B094C.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hiH-3P8J0Nc/X3DkiFjyGDI/AAAAAAAABJk/ZK_9_kITYD0-jS0XahBWaetGjrvzsIVHQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/653B1909-3003-4D17-8F2F-C5FBBB549874-514EEC68-113B-44DA-A98D-79E9735B094C.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal">To Anspach and Hobday, then. This year’s simply titled <b>The Rauchbier</b> is, for
the first time, a lager. It makes for a beautiful pour, with a big off-white
head that sticks around right til the end of the glass (a result of the addition of that very un-Germanic ingredient, maize?) That meaty umami smoke
is there in spades, as per, but rounded out by an intriguing herbal note suggestive
of oregano. Spot on, really – but the real coup here is actually more about
texture and mouthfeel. The carbonation is relatively soft, which makes the beer
feel full and smooth – closer to <a href="https://www.schlenkerla.de/indexe.html#"><b>Schlenkerla</b></a> marzen poured directly from the
cask than the bottled equivalent.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Time for more planning – how can I get hold of more of these
beers to see me through the lengthening nights ahead?<o:p></o:p></p>Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-56833255036261851282020-09-03T23:26:00.006-07:002020-09-03T23:36:04.002-07:00(Actually) brewed in Brighton<p> Basing your brewery in Brighton is a great idea, from a
marketing perspective. It’s a popular summer destination, so you have that
association going for you; it’s well known for its bohemian character, so
there’s that, too. There are recognisable landmarks like the Laines, or the
skeleton of the burned out pier that now eerily shadows the slick, pointless
i360 tower. You could draw on these in your branding.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not such a great proposition financially though. Rents are
high, second only to London. So you can see how one might form a dastardly plan
to claim, or at least heavily imply, to have a brewery based in Brighton,
whilst taking care of the inconvenient of business of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brewing beer</i> somewhere cheap in the Sussex countryside. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">To be clear, there are a number of excellent local breweries who don't actually brew in Brighton and have never suggested that they do. They have made the city their primary market and have become associated with it. I have no problem with that whatsoever. <a href="https://www.gunbrewery.co.uk/"><b>Gun</b></a>, <b><a href="https://www.franklinsbrewery.co.uk/">Franklins</a> </b>and <b><a href="http://www.downlandsbrewery.com/">Downlands</a></b> are amongst my favourites. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the strategy I describe is increasingly familiar, and brings about
various questions about contract brewing and transparency. It might be worth
making a distinction between contact brewing – where beers are made to your
specifications at a third party brewery, such as <a href="https://missinglinkbrewing.com/">Missing Link</a> in East Grinstead
– and cuckoo brewing, where brewers don’t have their own site but do the
hands-on work on other breweries’ kit. The former isn’t ideal, but can be an
important step towards breweries establishing themselves in their own permanent
home. The latter is preferable in terms of transparency; the ownership of the
stainless steel is less important than the understanding that the group of
brewers representing the brand name on the can, or bottle, or pump clip, rolled
their sleeves up and made the beer you’re drinking.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But there is also the question of authenticity and a sense
of place. If I’m told a beer is from a certain place – be that Brighton, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-belgium-battle-builds-between-1420153585">Brussels</a>, <a href="https://hopandschwein.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/transparency-in-german-contract-brewing/">Berlin</a> – then I expect it to have been brewed there. It is an important factor,
one of the intangible things adjacent to whatever’s in the glass, that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">means something</i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Assuming it means something to others, too, I thought I
should pull together a small directory of the breweries who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actually</i> brew in Brighton. I can't guarantee it’s complete - these things move fast. Still, if you’re in
Brighton and want to legitimately drink local, here’s some options.<o:p></o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C10I5a18bzI/X0ggaAAYPfI/AAAAAAAABH0/L3LY2-LmaH4PzrvdFpbjtdvRMkUj3FneQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_2675.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C10I5a18bzI/X0ggaAAYPfI/AAAAAAAABH0/L3LY2-LmaH4PzrvdFpbjtdvRMkUj3FneQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_2675.JPG" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.brightonbier.com/">Brighton Bier</a></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Brewing since 2011, Brighton Bier is the city’s original
craft brewery. For a good while they were the only full scale commercial
brewery in the city, and have been known to speak their minds about those
breweries claiming Brighton heritage whilst brewing elsewhere. Before setting
up at their current Kemptown brewery, they began life at Hand in Hand brewpub just
down the road. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their flagship pale ale, simply named <b>Bier</b>, typifies what
they do so well. Endlessly drinkable, it crams a lot into its 4% ABV, with lots
of fresh lemon and pine and a moreish bitterness. Their cask beers are also
excellent – find <b>South Coast IPA</b> in good condition and you won’t want to drink
anything else. Their output can feel a little samey at times – a lot of pale
ales at around the 5% mark - but regular beers like <b>Grand Havana</b>, a beautifully
smooth cask porter, and <b>No Name Stout</b> balance things out.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The beers used to be available in cans, but that seems to
have stopped, and whilst they do make it outside of the city, they’re at their
best in one of the brewery’s excellent pubs. <a href="http://www.brightonbierhaus.pub/">Brighton Bierhaus</a>, the most
central of the three, is designated as the official taproom, but the equally
excellent <a href="http://hausonthehill.pub/">Haus on the Hill</a> and <a href="http://www.freehaus.pub/">Freehaus</a> in the Hanover area of town are also
highly recommended. <o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6EsSGzzx4DY/X0gjMbMNYiI/AAAAAAAABIY/eatr649aaRIwM5aeq5gj2xwuSjK_BoEqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_9162.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6EsSGzzx4DY/X0gjMbMNYiI/AAAAAAAABIY/eatr649aaRIwM5aeq5gj2xwuSjK_BoEqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_9162.JPG" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://handbrewco.com/">Hand Brew Co.</a></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wrote <a href="http://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-free-state-of-kemptown.html">a profile on the Hand in Hand brewpub back in 2018</a>,
and much has changed in the time that’s passed. The ‘idiosyncratic’ brewing set
up, which necessitated a kind of ‘make do and mend’ approach, has been expanded
and modernised and, most significantly, Hand Brew Co. has outgrown the
premises. A new brewery and tap room in Worthing is set to open soon, which is
exciting news. The beers have always been impressive, but have grown
increasingly accomplished over time. Most recently, I was seriously impressed
by the <b>Hans Pilsner</b>, a dead ringer for a herbal, bitter Bavarian pils. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The new operation in Worthing doesn’t, however, replace
in-house brewing at the pub. Head brewer Jack assures me “we’re still brewing
at the Hand and always will.” As is blindly obvious, the best place to find
these is the pub itself, happily also one of Brighton’s most characterful boozers.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7dAKthOzKh0/X0ghAfncxEI/AAAAAAAABIA/O09FlcAosYwvZZ6QZ7TQbxjxKmY0qQYRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/CDBB27B8-3813-481A-A15D-96A3DE3D1525-B1150AD8-9044-4264-8EE8-8A51EF6C6AFE.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7dAKthOzKh0/X0ghAfncxEI/AAAAAAAABIA/O09FlcAosYwvZZ6QZ7TQbxjxKmY0qQYRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/CDBB27B8-3813-481A-A15D-96A3DE3D1525-B1150AD8-9044-4264-8EE8-8A51EF6C6AFE.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><b><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BRZNBEER/">BRZN</a></b></p></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">BRZN has apparently existed in some capacity for over a year
now, but completely passed me by until a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled
across their new venture on my way home from the shops. Initially operating as
a cuckoo brewer, they moved into a shipping container in what’s known as the
‘Cobbler’s Thumb’, just up the road from Preston Circus, in May. Their model of
selling beer directly to pubs was challenged by lockdown, so now they open
their doors every Saturday for takeaways.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The beers are pretty inventive, ranging from fruited sours
to imperial milk stouts, and they seem to make liberal use of the magnificent
Voss Kviek yeast. I was hugely impressed with <b>Modern Solutions</b>, a Voss-powered
pale ale with cold brew coffee from the superb <a href="https://pharmacie.coffee/">Pharmacie roastery</a> in Hove.
Combining both foam bananas and the little pink shrimps that shared their pick
‘n’ mix bag, sweet orange, zesty and floral coffee notes and a gentle,
refreshing acidity in the finish, this is an incredibly flavoursome beer for a relatively
low ABV of 4.5%. On the strength of Modern Solutions, I’ll be back at the
shipping container pretty soon.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jyupyWcsFzU/X0gisRwVyvI/AAAAAAAABIQ/aupEy2R4JOcnhWaD4cdxxX74LrEz16S9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_7770.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jyupyWcsFzU/X0gisRwVyvI/AAAAAAAABIQ/aupEy2R4JOcnhWaD4cdxxX74LrEz16S9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_7770.jpg" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.unbarredbrewery.com/">Unbarred</a></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Unbarred began life as a homebrew operation, before setting
up commercially through the aforementioned Missing Link. They now have a
permanent home in Brighton, having taken over a great purpose-built brewery and
taproom space from the now defunct Holler Brewery last year. For me, the beers
are far more consistent these days.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It would be reductive to say that Unbarred specialise in wacky
adjuncts, but they’re certainly not averse to them - it's part of the 'anything goes' approach to brewing implied by their name. These range for the tasteful - <a href="https://untappd.com/b/unbarred-brewery-cold-pressed-summer-stout/2682586">pale stout with Nicaraguan coffee cherry tea</a> - to the... decadent. Take <a href="https://untappd.com/b/unbarred-brewery-bueno-shake/3448603"><b>Bueno Shake</b></a>, a
hazelnut milk stout inspired by a certain European chocolate treat, or <a href="https://untappd.com/b/unbarred-brewery-dip-le-donut/3691513"><b>Dip Le Donut</b></a>, a coffee and doughnut white stout which uncannily reproduces both the
sweet bready quality and the gooey glaze of a Krispy Kreme.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If the thought of all that makes your teeth hurt, then look
to something like their <a href="https://untappd.com/b/unbarred-brewery-casual-pale/3394157"><b>Casual Pale</b></a>, an aptly named easy-going pale ale, full
of refreshing lemon and pine notes on a faintly biscuity pale malt based that’s
made for multiple laid-back pints. <o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JWT4UnWCTBQ/X065AJha7vI/AAAAAAAABIw/YJDfTSQzWDUwzPjoNVP4QpkTw8oykIJTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/AD9D66FF-06C0-41E5-A4EA-3EBA38CF49E3-9A4CC2DA-DE27-496D-AE8B-AD4212496754.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JWT4UnWCTBQ/X065AJha7vI/AAAAAAAABIw/YJDfTSQzWDUwzPjoNVP4QpkTw8oykIJTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/AD9D66FF-06C0-41E5-A4EA-3EBA38CF49E3-9A4CC2DA-DE27-496D-AE8B-AD4212496754.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.urchinpub.co.uk/">Larrikin</a></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">I've been slow to investigate Larrikin because of shellfish. The brewery operates out of the basement of The Urchin, a Hove pub specialising in shellfish, a cuisine to which I am extremely averse. However much I want to support what is by all accounts a lovely pub and a small Brighton-based brewery, the thought of sitting sipping beer in a room that hums of mussels is not my idea of a good time.</p><p class="MsoNormal">I was excited, then, to see that Larrikin had started selling cans to take away and drink in a neutrally-scented environment. This seemed perfect until I opened them. I have to assume that something is going wrong in the canning process, because all three beers (IPAs of various iterations and ABV) were the same unappetising brown colour, like fruit left out to go oxidised. They also all tasted remarkably similar, with a sweet fruity note recalling boiled sweets, and some fresher melon notes that were reasonably pleasant. </p><p class="MsoNormal">It's hard to believe these beers were as the brewer intended, but then ideally, I think the brewer intended for them to be drunk in the pub and I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm exaggerating about the shellfish thing for comic effect, but according to those whose opinions matter (i.e. people who can stand to be in the same room as a prawn), the place is excellent. And yes, they do brew an oyster stout - it would be mad if they didn't.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="512" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Fiprs6A9Mw/X1HcU6a8U-I/AAAAAAAABI8/KFW3LQjw4IAqsaRt5FK5c0THqe996P0rACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="320" /></div><a href="https://loudshirtbeer.co.uk/"><b><u>Loud Shirt</u></b><br /></a><p class="MsoNormal">Loud Shirt is probably the Brighton brewery I'm least familiar with. Hence the lack of relevant photo; hopefully this snap of kids TV icon and loud shirt trailblazer Dave Benson Phillips will suffice. They have been brewing since 2016, but I’m not sure how long they’ve occupied their brewery in Whitehawk.</p><o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal">I may as well acknowledge that, even if unconsciously, the name and
general ‘embarrassing dad’ vibe of the branding has probably been a barrier to investigating their stuff. I did once encounter their <b>Ecstasy Stout</b> at a local CAMRA festival;
rich and chocolatey but with an unusual clementine note (is it Sorachi Ace?), I
liked it enough to forfeit the ticking potential of such a setting and went
back for more.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">They do bottle and can, but I was unable to find anything for my important research, so Loud Shirt remains a bit of an enigma for me. Some of the beers sound very appealing; <b>Hallucination Brune</b> in particular - I'll be keeping an eye out for more.</p><p></p>Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-46796409993546199232020-08-02T11:46:00.004-07:002020-08-03T01:23:02.068-07:00Mein biergarten<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5fCxca4COVA/XycJ38fwP7I/AAAAAAAABHU/JISG5c3MJOwSb1TeWD21zFCHoMsdjocygCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_7618.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5fCxca4COVA/XycJ38fwP7I/AAAAAAAABHU/JISG5c3MJOwSb1TeWD21zFCHoMsdjocygCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_7618.jpg" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">Like everyone else, I’ve been stuck at home a lot lately.
Aside from the three-and-a-bit months of fairly strict lockdown, I’ve also been
slow to return to the pub – partly because I’m still anxious about COVID-19 and
don’t fancy taking the risk, and partly because I’m happy drinking at home.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My new garden certainly helps. I count myself lucky to have
some outdoor space, something of a rarity for rented flats in Brighton. It’s
small, and a bit of a ‘fixer-upper’, but big enough that I can satisfy a
medium-term dream and sit drinking lager at a trestle table, pretending I’m in
a German biergarten.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To further aid this holiday-at-home pretence, I’ve been
drinking my way through a box of beers from Franconia, purchased from <a href="https://www.hier-gibts-bier.de/">Hier Gibst Bier</a> (thank you to <a href="https://twitter.com/BonsVoeux1">Jezza</a> on Twitter for the tip). I’d always assumed ordering beer
from abroad would take ages and be extremely expensive, but neither is true in
this case. Based in Bayreuth, this site stocks beers from all over the region.
Of course I understand that bottled beer is a poor substitute for Franconian
lagers poured <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.franconiabeerguide.com/discdet.php?IDKEY=ZYRI030202">bayerische anstiche</a></i> in
the brewery’s own timber-framed pub, but it’ll do me just fine. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These beers are designed for drinking, not thinking. But I’ve
been pondering what makes them so satisfying and so highly regarded. Some of
the classic lager descriptors don’t necessarily apply – some of these beers
aren’t ‘clean’ for example – diacetyl is not uncommon amongst my selection, but
then I’m not diacetyl-averse. They might not be exactly ‘refreshing’ either –
they often have a rustic, bready quality that feels more <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nourishing</i> than quenching.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h9umCcGaTUE/XycJ_i2-P2I/AAAAAAAABHY/fWelZB4GVP8IQYeNqELGlxLwnjmoYBSmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_7636.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h9umCcGaTUE/XycJ_i2-P2I/AAAAAAAABHY/fWelZB4GVP8IQYeNqELGlxLwnjmoYBSmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_7636.jpg" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">The <b>Lagerbier</b> from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BrauereiFaessla/?rf=104091459628132"><b>Fassla</b></a> in Bamberg exemplifies a lot of
what these beers do well. Pouring a rich golden colour, it has a huge depth of malt
flavour. If that conjures up thoughts of something sweet and sticky then think
again, because it’s wonderfully balanced, finishing with herbal hops and a
mineral note that leaves it slightly dry.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What is it that makes these beers different to, for example,
those found in Munich – good lagers, sure, but in comparison to the best of the
Franconian beers in this box, it seems like they’re missing an extra layer of
complexity. Is it <a href="http://allaboutbeer.com/decoction-mashing/">decoction</a> that makes the difference? Fermenting in open
containers? Or are these practices just relics of the brewing past, held onto
more for a sense of rustic authenticity than anything that actually benefits
the beer?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Maybe I’m onto something with that last thought. I’m
attaching a considerable romance to these beers, as my whole pseudo-biergarten
project suggests. And I’m fine with that. Another box is on it’s way from
Bayreuth as we speak. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As well as the Fassla
lager, I especially enjoyed the <b>Kellerbier</b> from <b><a href="https://www.mainseidla.de/">Brauhaus Binkert</a></b> and the
<b>Breitenlesauer Pilsner</b> from <b><a href="https://krug-braeu.de/">Krug-Brau</a></b>. On a slightly different tip, the
<b>Fraundorfer Rauchbier</b> from <a href="https://www.bierstrasse-franken.de/brauerei/brauerei-hetzel-ohg/"><b>Brauerei Hetzel</b></a> is an excellent, light and hoppy
take on a favourite style of mine.<o:p></o:p></i></p><br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-13374967538536880652020-05-12T02:41:00.000-07:002020-05-12T02:41:10.908-07:00Tasting beer: a confession<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7_0o2MMuIxM/XrpvFND-BWI/AAAAAAAABGM/_Jon9ByFy6kla33C65PnaJhvgarUgW7swCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="488" height="347" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7_0o2MMuIxM/XrpvFND-BWI/AAAAAAAABGM/_Jon9ByFy6kla33C65PnaJhvgarUgW7swCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Capture.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s an odd confession for a beer blogger – sometimes, I
can’t really taste beer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This has been going on for a couple of years. It comes and
goes. I can taste some beers more than others. One day my palette might be
operating at full power, but the next I might find the IPA in my glass no more
flavoursome than tap water. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem isn’t my sense of taste so much as smell, which intermittently
loses intensity. As is fairly obvious, olfactory perception is a large
component of taste, and this is particular important with beer. In fact, I don’t
seem to have any issues tasting food. It’s the relationship between aroma and
taste in beer (but also coffee and wine) that I struggle with. Thankfully I can
still enjoy scented candles, freshly cut grass and dusty libraries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There isn't a clear medical reason for this,
according to ENT specialists who’ve shoved cameras so far up my nostrils that
my eyes watered. I’ve tried so many different nasal sprays that I could
probably start a side blog noting their nuances. In September, I had an
operation to cut back inflamed soft tissue behind my nose. None of it seems to
make much difference.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Should I admit this? Might it damage whatever shred of
credibility I have as someone who opines on beer? Well, hopefully it goes
without saying that if I drink a beer than I can’t really taste, I’m not likely
to mention it on this blog. It’d be dull reading if I did – every post would
say “yet another beer that is almost completely devoid of flavour” – and unfair,
too. I decided to write this post whilst reflecting on how my drinking has
changed over the past couple of years, and how I’ve adapted to the situation. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One factor is temperature. It’s not exactly a revelation
that flavour and aroma is slightly muted by colder temperatures, but I’m
particularly sensitive to this. Any beer that’s been kept in my fridge needs
30-60 minutes at room temperature before I get stuck in. This is more difficult
in pubs, where keg beer is often served far too cold for me. If I’m just having
one pint, it tends to be from cask, which is (hopefully) cool but not cold. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This gets complicated if I’m settling in for the evening.
Let’s take my beloved Evening Star in Brighton as an example – they’re likely
to have numerous beers across cask and keg that I’ll want to try over the
course of a session. I have to be a tactical here; start by ordering two beers,
one cask and one keg. Drink the cask beer first, allowing the other glass to
warm up a little. Then, there’ll be a kind of rolling system, one beer ready to
drink whilst another ‘matures’ on the table in front of me. I’ve made it work
but it involves more thought and planning than a simple evening in the pub
should, and answering the inevitable “why have you got two beers?” question can
be embarrassing and long-winded.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then there’s beer style. Heavily hopped IPAs are the
unfortunate casualty in all this; although very bold in flavour, they rely
heavily on the aromatics. I haven’t completely stopped drinking them, but I have
to be pretty careful. What could be more disappointing than ordering a pricy
2/3<sup>rd</sup>s of hazy, hyped DIPA and having to desperately chase the
ghosts of flavours that should be dancing a samba on your tongue? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve found myself gravitating towards simpler, subtler beers
– not because my palette has ‘developed’ or ‘matured’, which would be
self-congratulatory, elitist nonsense. I just find that the roasted coffee
notes of a porter, the bready malt and grassy hops of a pilsner, the rustic hay
and pepper of a saison, all present themselves boldly on my palette. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a satisfaction in going back to these beers, which
can be unjustly overlooked in the IPA-driven craft beer world. I’d prefer to
just drink whatever I wanted, though. And I’d like to go back to ordering one
beer at a time. It would make buying rounds with my friends so much simpler. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-9154325804049392182020-02-28T04:42:00.000-08:002020-02-28T04:42:19.123-08:00On veganism and beer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pOmgrR2UKDA/Xlg54tk-yuI/AAAAAAAABFU/cGyUoUE0BRYL4uk53tr5IG1aUyVj8XsBwCEwYBhgL/s1600/D5F0A182-9F1C-41F2-973F-9774970B053B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pOmgrR2UKDA/Xlg54tk-yuI/AAAAAAAABFU/cGyUoUE0BRYL4uk53tr5IG1aUyVj8XsBwCEwYBhgL/s640/D5F0A182-9F1C-41F2-973F-9774970B053B.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Recently I told one of the young people I work with that I’m
vegan, and apparently blew his mind. Every time I see him, he asks me a series
of questions about how this works, ranging from “are those leather shoes?” to “can
you have bread?” It is quite possible that he will one day ask me if vegans can
drink beer, and I will laugh and say “of course we can.” Usually.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once, it was simple. If you needed to ensure your beer was
dairy-free, you could simply avoid anything sold as “milk stout.” Clear,
obvious, right there in the name – this stout contains milk. Or at least,
lactose, the sugar found in milk, which gives these beers their creamy
sweetness. Sorry, vegans, look elsewhere. These days, lactose doesn’t always
announce itself with such clarity. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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By law, the presence of milk must be clearly signalled in
ingredients lists on bottles and cans, so shopping for beer isn’t an issue. In
a pub or bar, though, you don’t have access to this information. A pump clip
might make things more obvious, but modern craft beer bars don’t always display
these. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Certain beer styles are easily swerved. Take the
much-maligned “pastry stout” subgenre (which, incidentally, I was fond of when I
was merely vegetarian). Omnipollo’s <a href="https://untappd.com/b/omnipollo-chocolate-vanilla-coconut-blackout-cake/3497868" target="_blank">Chocolate Vanilla Coconut Blackout Cake Imperial Stout</a> doesn’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sound</i> very
plant-based, and I’m happy to stick to that assumption and look elsewhere.
Terms like “milkshake” and “ice cream” may seem infantile when applied to beer,
but they’re useful because they heavily imply the presence of lactose.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Beyond that, things can get a little hazy – no pun intended.
Heavily dry-hopped IPAs, especially those with added fruit, increasingly turn
to milk sugar for balance, as have some big, dark beers – often imperial stouts
or even Baltic porters. At the point of sale, it can be difficult to establish
whether these beers are suitable for vegans. You could ask the bar staff, but
they often aren’t sure themselves. Looking online often isn’t much help either.
The result is that I’m now hesitant to order beer styles once loved, just in
case I end up with dairy ingredients in my glass. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Veganism is, for me and many others, a strongly held ethical
position and as such, I would be irritated to unwittingly lapse on this
conviction by drinking an inadequately-labelled, lactose-laden IPA. This
shouldn’t be underestimated. But it is also worth remembering that some people
are lactose <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">intolerant</i>, and such a
mistake could cause them real discomfort. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ktKAC3Z_dB8/Xlg52M8exQI/AAAAAAAABFQ/2lGGNSyh1awtoL9mVbINkYrxBJtnBN-8gCEwYBhgL/s1600/7D6999C6-631D-4174-85D8-48F384A176E7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ktKAC3Z_dB8/Xlg52M8exQI/AAAAAAAABFQ/2lGGNSyh1awtoL9mVbINkYrxBJtnBN-8gCEwYBhgL/s640/7D6999C6-631D-4174-85D8-48F384A176E7.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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To be
clear, I don’t really care if breweries make beers that aren’t vegan, if that’s
what they want to do. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Ritchie Bosworth,
head brewer at Coventry’s <a href="https://www.twistedbarrelale.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>Twisted Barrel</b></a> brewery, suggest there’s no need. “In <span style="font-family: inherit;">I</span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">PAs/Pales, lactose is only really used to balance beers that have been
badly designed in the first place, with sweetness required to balance an
excessive use of hops,” he writes in an email. “In most cases, these pale beers
are too vegetal/bitter to drink without the addition of lactose to balance them
out.” All of Twisted Barrel’s beers (and all food served at their taproom) is,
and always has been, vegan.</span><span style="color: #201f1e; font-family: "segoe ui" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In dark beers, Twisted Barrel use several methods to
replicate the sweetness and body of lactose. They mash at high temperatures,
producing longer, complex sugar chains yeast struggles to process, leaving more
sugars present in the final product. This is particularly effective with old
English yeast strains that don’t ferment complex sugars. Oats and wheat mimic
the sweet, creamy qualities, especially in combination with vanilla pods; this
combination is often used in their pale beers too. In beers like <a href="https://www.eebriatrade.com/products/beer/twisted-barrel/15456-put-your-faith-in-a-breakfast-stout" target="_blank">Gods Twisted Sister: Breakfast Edition</a>, oat milk is even added for smooth, silky texture.
This goes in after the boil at a rate of around 1ml oat milk per litre of beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is, then, an argument that brewers should think more
carefully about the drinkers they’re losing by using lactose unnecessarily. But
either way, my principal problem is that there is no consistency in the way
pubs and bars communicate whether what they serve is suitable for vegans. Some
breweries make efforts to communicate this their end, and I know I’ll always be
safe with something from <b>Cloudwater</b> or <b>Moor</b>. Whether pubs pass on this message
is less certain – sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. If I walk into a
bar with 10+ taps and only one is actually labelled vegan (which isn’t
unfeasible), am I<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>really to assume
that none of the other options are suitable?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Isinglass remains a complicating factor. This fining agent,
made from the swim bladders of farmed fish, isn’t really suitable for vegans or
vegetarians. Frustratingly, its use is difficult to detect. It isn’t listed as
an ingredient even when it’s used and bar staff often don’t know. Beers that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">don’t </i>use it, perhaps not fining their
beer at all, don’t always make this clear, either. I will confess to adopting a
“don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when it comes to isinglass – many vegans will be
more particular.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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By way of a solution, I point to my local brewery, <b><a href="https://www.unbarredbrewery.com/" target="_blank">Unbarred</a></b>.
They’re known for hazy IPAs and beers with culinary adjuncts or added flavours –
<a href="https://www.unbarredbrewery.com/honeycomb-milkshake-pale" target="_blank">Honeycomb Milkshake Pale</a> and <a href="https://untappd.com/b/unbarred-brewery-chai-latte/2551838" target="_blank">Chai Latte</a> are fairly typical examples. Both
contain lactose. However, in the Unbarred taproom, these beers are clearly
marked with an ‘(L)’, and vegan beers with ‘(VG)’. This is so simple that I
have to ask – why isn’t everybody already doing this?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-54831082168872618712019-08-02T02:48:00.000-07:002019-08-02T02:48:28.455-07:00Snapshots from Athens<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRijWebK8vY/XMdROJ3dVuI/AAAAAAAABCc/tDL4oOgpToQjVxHVbWalTBTllSq2iAuvQCLcBGAs/s1600/82E1B579-CA7D-4141-80F3-724C51AFDF31.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRijWebK8vY/XMdROJ3dVuI/AAAAAAAABCc/tDL4oOgpToQjVxHVbWalTBTllSq2iAuvQCLcBGAs/s640/82E1B579-CA7D-4141-80F3-724C51AFDF31.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>1.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The label on the bottle in front of me reads ‘<a href="https://untappd.com/b/solo-solo-antagonist/3059716" target="_blank">New EnglandBarley Wine</a>’. What, I wonder, is the impulse behind this seemingly
contradictory collision of styles? Ignorance? Provocation? Is it a ploy to
trick geeks like me into parting with their hard-earned Euros, or something
genuinely inspired?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The blurb on the label is (quite reasonably) written in Greek characters, so
this beer can’t explain itself to me. Only one thing for it – I taste it, in as
open-minded a manner as possible. Sticky barley sugar registers first, then
pithy marmalade. A lilt of tropical fruit before a big, bitter boozy orange
finish, like a stiff Old Fashioned.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later on, I look the beer up and find it’s brewed with
Norwegian farmhouse yeast (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/291.html" target="_blank">kveik</a></i>)
and, just for a while, the concept of beer styles seems laughably inadequate.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aHqoDGhmGy0/XMdRfcqt6UI/AAAAAAAABCw/-8sUQWWI3hMCMS6qc0tPAoUsC0JjmhWFwCEwYBhgL/s1600/EE03EEC9-571E-4CD6-BFD4-0D68E055BCD4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aHqoDGhmGy0/XMdRfcqt6UI/AAAAAAAABCw/-8sUQWWI3hMCMS6qc0tPAoUsC0JjmhWFwCEwYBhgL/s640/EE03EEC9-571E-4CD6-BFD4-0D68E055BCD4.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>2.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inside the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Pub/The-Lazy-Bulldog-Pub-503824716445713/" target="_blank">Lazy Bulldog</a> pub, you’ll find beer engines,
vintage Guinness advertisements, and West Ham football scarves on the wall. Slick,
perhaps recently painted, everything here is a little too neatly placed to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really </i>resemble a shabby English pub.
Nor would I want it to – I’m not here for a pint of Pride, but for the
extensive range of Greek beers on the bar.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I plump for <a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/noctua-head-twister/444273/91686/" target="_blank">Head Twister, the pale ale by Athens outfit Noctua</a>. Is it the power of suggestion that makes it taste peculiarly of <i>home</i>? Served with a tight, creamy head,
it’s all Digestive biscuits, elderflower and orange. I never thought I’d come
to Greece and come across a dead ringer for Hophead.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I last about 5 minutes outdoors before a chilling breeze
sends me back in. The sky’s darkening and the air feels charged. Sure enough, soon
the streets and pavements are overflowing with rainwater and opportunistic
street vendors emerge, seemingly from nowhere, flogging umbrellas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Good news for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BarleyCargo/" target="_blank"><b><i>Barley Cargo</i></b></a>, the specialist beer bar in the
centre of the city – it soon fills up. But their luck doesn’t last long – a few
forks of lightening and growls of thunder later, and the lights go out. A
piercing alarm beings to ring. The proprietor runs back and forth, on the
phone, occasionally silencing the alarm, only for it to sound again moments
later. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The lights flicker and come back on, accompanied by suddenly
deafening music. The panicked barman runs behind the counter, reaching
frantically for the volume dial and, in his haste, mistakenly turns it the
wrong way.</div>
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Steeling myself for a wet wander back to my apartment, I order
a glass of <a href="https://untappd.com/b/sigri-brewery-sedusa/2711376" target="_blank"><b>Sigri</b>’s Sedusa</a>, revelling in its warming qualities – sandalwood,
crusty bread and cloves; orange zest and a little black pepper heat.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When I get back, I fail to operate the heating controls in
my Air B&B and dry my shoes under the grill.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b><b>General notes</b></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Athens is not a huge beer town, but it is a good
one. Aside from the aforementioned Barley Cargo, I’d recommend <b><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/brewstreet.athens/" target="_blank">Brew Str</a></i></b>. This
friendly bottle shop has a small outdoor drinking space and is friendly and well-stocked
with Greek beers. Although it’s a little way outside the city centre, a trip to
<b><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thelocalpubathens/?rf=225662590780224" target="_blank">The Local Pub</a></i></b> is also essential. I’ve nothing against identikit industrial-chic
craft beer bars per se, but I certainly prefer places like this, which are
focused around good beer but also genuinely </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">do</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">
seem to function as local pubs.</span></li>
<li>All the Greek beers I tried were good, at least.
Several were excellent, none were infected or overcarbonated or any of the
other issues you sometimes encounter in European countries with relatively young
beer cultures. I was particularly impressed by <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/kykao.gr/" target="_blank">KYKAO</a></b>, from Patras, and the
gorgeous <a href="https://chiosbeer.gr/cb/shop/smokedrobustporter/" target="_blank">Smoked Robust Porter from <b>Chios</b></a>.</li>
</ul>
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<br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-19176800118534630622018-11-23T11:07:00.002-08:002018-11-23T11:35:13.306-08:00Artisautza garagardoa Bilbon<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0eWN0aG26kc/W_XCWYTqnqI/AAAAAAAABAw/m9hRdp8DxZY2qPcaXxaJmWy8HQ5QehnMACLcBGAs/s1600/9C39F49F-9BBE-4F5E-AFB4-84EF711C8C64.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0eWN0aG26kc/W_XCWYTqnqI/AAAAAAAABAw/m9hRdp8DxZY2qPcaXxaJmWy8HQ5QehnMACLcBGAs/s640/9C39F49F-9BBE-4F5E-AFB4-84EF711C8C64.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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There’s a resinous quality to the air on Goienkale, in
Bilbao’s old town. Shops selling studded belts, Dr. Martens and Dead Boys
records give this street a certain vibe – like Camden, but not trying so hard –
which is completed by the groups of scruffy but friendly-looking young punks
crouching outside the bars. The dank aromas might be something to do with them.</div>
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When I first visited Bilbao, aged around 14, my main
priority was seeking out cheap Ramones CDs. That mission quite likely took me
to this part of town, though I can’t really remember. It was probably the
gently edgy feel to the place that made me fall in love with the city – it was
one of the first places my parents took me on holiday that I actively enjoyed,
rather than passively being dragged around between plates of chips and glasses
of Coke in continental cafes. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Priorities changes, of course. There seems to be a punk show
on at a squatted building down the road; but I’m more interested in wolfing
down vegan <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pinxtos</i>, the Basque
equivalent of tapas, in a couple of the local bars. My introduction to Basque
beer comes at <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Pub/Tirauki-641655402569604/" target="_blank">Tirauki</a></u></b>, where a
selection of bottled beers displayed on the bar offer a welcome diversion from
the Heineken brands on tap. From these, I opt for <i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://latxikadelacerveza.es/project/pink-porter/" target="_blank">Pink Porter</a> </i>from local outfit<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://latxikadelacerveza.es/" target="_blank">La Txika de la Cerveza</a></b>. I'm </span>a little taken aback at first, not expecting
vanilla and dark sugar that suggest rum ‘n’ raisin ice cream. Served cold and
being relatively light of body, this hits a sweet spot between refreshing and
interesting.</div>
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Moving out of the old town and crossing the river, I head for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><a href="https://www.facebook.com/bihotzsanfrancisco/" target="_blank">Café Bihotz</a></u></b>. This place
is intimate, but very cool in a minimalist, Scandinavian fashion like a hipster
coffee shop – which, by day at least, is what it is; in the evening, candles
are lit and beer pours from six draught lines. Initially bypassing these, I get
stuck into the menu of bottles and cans, starting with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zapaburu</i></b> from Basque
brewery <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/LaugarBrewery/" target="_blank">Laugar</a></b>. Billed a hazy IPA
but not especially murky, it has a sticky tropical mandarin edge, balanced with
a touch of dankness. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dumbstruck</i></b> from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/jakobslandbrewers/" target="_blank">Jakobsland</a></b>, a little further afield in Santiago de Compostela, is
an ode to Citra hops, bursting with juicy lychee.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of the draught beers, I plump for the local option - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://basquebeer.com/en/" target="_blank">Basqueland</a>’s</b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/basqueland-project-brut-reynolds/668616/" target="_blank">Brut Reynolds</a></i></b>. Obviously enough, it’s brut IPA, a zeitgeist style at the
moment and one I happen to be keen on. Like the best examples, this has a real
precision and clarity of flavour, boosted by a very dry and bitter finish. I
struggle all the way through the glass to put my finger on the dominant
flavour – my best attempt is citrus zest and cannabis, with an earthy pine sap
quality. On the way home, in a misplaced effort at sophistication, I stop at a cocktail bar and order almost blindly from a menu written in Spanish. I
curse my monoglottism when a mango smoothie-style drink arrives in a milk bottle with a striped paper
straw. I mention it because it was accompanied by a sprig of fresh oregano; chew
on a leaf and sip the mango puree and the flavour sensation uncannily recalls the
IPA from earlier in the evening.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The principal rationale for choosing Bilbao as a destination
was the <a href="https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/" target="_blank">Guggenheim museum</a>, somewhere I definitely did not appreciate
on my previous visit as a teenager. It’s sensational, obviously, but a lengthy
wander through its galleries builds up a significant hunger and thirst; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><a href="http://www.basquery.com/" target="_blank">Basquery</a></u></b> is the answer. Though
listed on Ratebeer and other sites as a brewpub, it looks to me more like a
full-size production brewery with a deli, bakery and restaurant attached. The
staff, initially bamboozled by my presence (I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">think</i> I was maybe slightly early for full lunch service and this
was the source of confusion, but I can’t be sure) valiantly overcome a
significant language barrier to sort me out with a nice lunch and some
impressive beers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://untappd.com/b/basquery-itsasbeer/2818334" target="_blank">Itsasbeer</a> </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</span></span> a saison incorporating grape must from a local
winemaker specialising in the beautifully dry and acidic Basque white, <i>txaokoli</i>. I’ll admit to being a
sucker for almost any beer that straddles the boundary between grape and grain,
but there’s something particularly wonderful about the crisp, tannic quality of
white grapes in a saison; a gently floral air rounds it out and a dry,
peppery finish almost demands another swig. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://untappd.com/b/basquery-hitman/2068527" target="_blank">Hitman</a></i></b>, an IPA, is less
distinctive, but very good, recalling that same mango/oregano interplay I’d
found over at Bihotz the previous evening.<o:p></o:p><br />
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An audible buzz of conversation hit me from halfway down the
street as I approached <b><u><a href="http://singularbar.com/" target="_blank">Singular</a></u></b>.
The place is bustling, seemingly fulfilling an important
community function as a place for locals to meet for beer and <i>pinxtos</i>. The tap list is short but well
curated and boosted by a decent selection of bottles and cans. I choose another
from <a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/basqueland-aupa-all-united-pale-ale/250723/" target="_blank"><b>Basqueland</b>, <b><i>Aupa</i></b></a>,
and settle down with my book. I’m distracted first by the beer, which has an
austere blood orange bitterness about it and a remarkable cleanliness. Then
there’s the general ambience of the place, the people-watching potential, and
the delightful old beagle scampering about. Before long I’ve put the book down,
deciding I need no further stimulation than the beer in my glass and the
ambience of the room. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A can of <b><i>Salda Badago</i></b> from the
unfortunately-named <b><a href="http://gross.beer/" target="_blank">Gross</a></b> brewery in
San Sebastien follows. The flavour is oddly nostalgic – it tastes <i>exactly</i> like <a href="https://www.barrattsweets.co.uk/sweets/fruit-salad/" target="_blank">Barratt’s Fruit Salad chews</a>.
The key elements here are pineapple and vanilla, but there’s a more grown-up
edge of sharp tropical fruit and a notable bitterness in the finish. To finish,
a small glass of <b><i><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/laugar-aupa-tovarisch/311137/" target="_blank">Aupa Tovarisch</a></i></b>, from the aforementioned <b>Laugar</b> (‘aupa’, by the way, is apparently a Basque expression
meaning something analogous to ‘cheers’). This is a complex imperial stout that
I initially find hard work, such is its intensity – my notes read “I will
probably feel very pissed by the time I’ve finished this (very small) glass.” A
rounded coffee depth of flavour props up notes of maple syrup, orange oil and
gingerbread, finishing on a port wine tang. After a good 45 minutes of slow
sipping, I decide its excellent and leave before I can be tempted by another.<br />
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<b><u><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Penguin-Bar-Bilbao-1055650597840929/" target="_blank">Penguin Bar</a></u></b>
has a somewhat familiar feel; with a minimal, faintly industrial vibe and
16-strong tap list chalked on the walk, it's in the mould of craft beer bars in
major cities the world over. Personally, I don’t hold that against the place;
it's atmospheric with a young, hip crowd amongst whom I obviously feel right at
home. There are several house beers, and its not easy to ascertain who brews these
– some sources suggest it’s <b><a href="http://txg.eus/en/" target="_blank">Txorierri Garagardoak</a></b>, based just outside the city in Sondika. <b><i>APA Blonde</i></b> eases me in,
and it’s a solid West Coast pale ale with a resinous, piney quality rounded out
by some stone fruit. <o:p></o:p></div>
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To follow, I catch up with a couple of Barcelona breweries. I’m
excited to <a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2016/06/drunken-sailor.html" target="_blank">reacquaint myself</a> with <b><i><a href="http://edgebrewing.com/beer/apassionada/" target="_blank">Appasionada</a> </i></b>from Barcelona’s <b>Edge</b>, but I'm let down as its vibrant
passion fruit aroma is muddied with buttery diacetyl. <b><i><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/garage-whiplash-beanz/609758/" target="_blank">Beanz</a></i></b>, a double IPA brewed
in collaboration between <b>Garage Brewing</b>
and Ireland’s <b>Whiplash</b>, is
straight-up bizarre. I’m taken aback by its distinctly Middle Eastern vibe,
which primarily recalls mint tea but with a musty quality redolent of saffron.
Tropical fruit lurks underneath, sure, but I’m astonished to look it up and
find that it <i>doesn’t </i>contain any kind
of wacky adjunct ingredient. Perhaps this is what happens to New England IPAs
when the savoury, caraway-type flavours almost completely take over? It’s
interesting to begin with, but soon becomes difficult to drink. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Barcelona might be the more obviously fruitful location for
beer, but on this evening in Penguin Bar, the Basque country easily has the
edge. I’m aware that I end almost every travel post on this blog by saying
something along the lines of ‘city X might not be an obvious beer location,
but if you’re going anyway, there’s good stuff to be found.” Having spotted
this trend, I should now resist it, but the truth is it applies perfectly to
Bilbao. The dedicated ticker, such as myself, will gain satisfaction from the
fact that the city’s beer locations can all be visited over the course of a
weekend. There may be a couple of duds along the way – the worst Spanish beers
can be <i>really</i> bad in my experience - but
that’s tolerable. And at the very worst, I can heartily recommend sitting with a
one-Euro tin of Mahou on the edge of the <span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nervión</span></span> river in the sun.</div>
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<br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-26054834511339720962018-10-09T13:35:00.002-07:002018-10-09T13:35:58.666-07:00Drinking in Vilnius, pt.3 - Lithuania's craft capital<div style="text-align: center;">
Catch up on my Lithuanian adventure in part one <b><a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2018/09/drinking-in-vilnius-pt1-jovaru-alus.html" target="_blank">here</a></b> and part two <b><a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2018/09/drinking-in-vilnis-pt-2-lithuanian.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.</div>
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The concept of 'craft beer' only really makes sense in a particular context. A beer like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale emerged in a marketplace almost entirely dominated by mass-produced lager; the craft beer ideology, which values independence, traditional methods and bold flavour, defined itself against that dominance.<br />
<br />
How, then, do we understand this imported American term when applied countries with rich traditions of independent and flavoursome beer? That binary opposition - craft vs mass produced - is complicated when there is a tradition, like cask beer in the UK, that <i>is </i>independent and flavoursome, and yet doesn't sit entirely comfortably within widespread understandings of craft beer. And craft beer is also not necessarily tied to a place - you can travel for thousands of miles in search of local brews, and find IPAs pretty similar to those you enjoy at home.<br />
<br />
As <a href="https://oct.co/articles/fight-save-lithuanian-farmhouse-beer" target="_blank">this article for October</a> suggests - farmhouse beer in Lithuania is in a precarious position, some of its brightest stars facing the possibility of extinction. It would be a terrible shame to lose these unique brews and find them all replaced by double IPAs. For the time being, though, there is welcome variety on offer in Vilnius. Much as I enjoyed the esoteric traditional beers, I wouldn't want to drink them all the time. The obligatory trendy craft beer bars showcase a modern-minded brewing scene in fine fettle, and in some venues American-style craft and farmhouse styles rub shoulders.<br />
<br />
Pluck a bottle of <a href="http://genysbrewing.lt/en/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Genys</a>' <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/tamsus-mi%C5%A1kas/492029/" target="_blank">Tamsus Mi</a></i></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/tamsus-mi%C5%A1kas/492029/" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">š</span>kas</a> f</span></span>rom the fridges at <u style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g274951-d8746382-Reviews-Bambalyne-Vilnius_Vilnius_County.html" target="_blank">Bambalyne</a></u> and you might expect one of the distinctively Lithuanian dark beer labelled as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tamsusis. </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What you actually get is</span> a chocolate porter. And a very
good one, too – sweet and creamy with chocolatey decadence, but with a hint of
sharp dried fruit, coffee roast and earthy nuts to add complexity. <a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/genys-dark-forest-ba/606104/83882/" target="_blank"><b><i>Dark Forest</i></b> </a>is, I think, the barrel-aged incarnation of the same beer, and
has many of the same qualities alongside a sizeable dose of vanilla and a very
subtle bourbon aftertaste. I’ve plenty of time for strong, assertive
barrel-aged beers, but the strength of this particular one is its subtlety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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What’s in a name? The moniker <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/p/nisha-craft-capital/65542/" target="_blank">Nisha Craft Capital</a></u></b> is a statement of intent; their
anniversary T-shirt that reads “it’s been 2 years since the day that Vilnius
was introduced to beer” even more so. I’m happy to dismissively roll my eyes at
that notion – others might be less generous. Obviously enough, there are none
of your rustic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kaimi</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">š</span>kas</i> here. Lithuanian brewers are
well represented, however, but working with international styles. You don’t
need to travel to Lithuania to drink a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/apynys-mango-milkshake-apa/592563/" target="_blank">Mango Milkshake IPA</a></i></b>, for instance,
though I was especially taken with the version from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://apynysbrewing.lt/en/about-us-2/" target="_blank">Apynys</a></b>. I ordered it for some silly fun, but what I got was a
sophisticated take on the New England IPA – not overly sweet, and using mango
almost as seasoning to boost the naturally juicy hop profile rather than as an
overbearing adjunct. A grainy, lager-like note in the finish might placate
those who complain that modern IPAs “don’t taste like beer.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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A less convincing take on the NEIPA is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blacklightbeer/" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blacklight</b>’</a>s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/50020/364229/" target="_blank">Multijuice</a></i></b>. It opens with a sharp
tropical aroma, and initially tastes soapy, floral and waxy with a big lemon
zest dimension. Some sticky passion fruit emerges eventually, but that’s the
only concession to the expected fruit salad effect you’d expect from the style.
The good news is that it is, in all other respects, a very good beer; subtle
and sessionable with bright flavours that complimented a summery evening
beautifully.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I mentioned <a href="https://dundulis.lt/" target="_blank"><b>Dunduli</b><b>s</b></a>
in my <a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2018/09/drinking-in-vilnis-pt-2-lithuanian.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>, noting that whilst they’re primarily concerned with modern
craft styles, they make the occasional nod to tradition. Their IPA, <b><i><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/dundulis-humulupu-ipa/202698/" target="_blank">Humulupu</a></i></b>,
was Lithuania’s first, and it’s pretty good, though already somewhat dated with
caramel malt and English-style earthy, spicy hops, finishing on a notably
bitter piney note. Their beers are easily found in Vilnius, including at
several branches of their own <b><u><a href="http://spunka.lt/" target="_blank">Špunka</a></u></b>
bars. I visisted <a href="https://www.facebook.com/etmonu.spunka/" target="_blank"><b><u>Etmon</u></b><b><u>ų </u></b><b><u>Špunka</u></b></a>,
seemingly a popular spot for attractive young people and absolutely heaving.
Here I drank <b><i><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/dundulis-gutstoutas/202690/" target="_blank">Gutstoutas</a></i></b>, a sweet oatmeal stout with a tobacco-like hop
profile and chocolatey depth of malt flavour. Sadly it’s also thin where it
should be rich and creamy, with a touch too much buttery diacetyl and some
off-putting acidity. I’d highly recommend you swing by for the ambience, and
probably best stick to the IPA when you do.</div>
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Just around the corner is <b><u><a href="http://www.prohibicija.lt/" target="_blank">Prohibicija</a></u></b>, situated off a buzzing communal courtyard
amongst a number of other bars and food joints. If you want a break from
oddball Lithuanian styles but still want to drink local, a visit here should be
your priority. The aforementioned <b>Apynys
</b>teamed up with Russia’s <b>Courage</b>
and <b>Midnight Project</b> from Belarus
for <b><i><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/apynys-courage-midnight-project-3-in-1-ipa/656835/" target="_blank">3 in 1 IPA</a></i></b>, and it’s another clean and accomplished effort. Though
crystal clear, it has much of the saturated stone fruit character you’d expect
from a much hazier beer, but is much more refreshing and less intense.</div>
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Also skirting the NEIPA fruit bowl is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://untappd.com/b/kuro-aparatura-marakesas-hopfenweizen/2468222" target="_blank">Marake</a></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="https://untappd.com/b/kuro-aparatura-marakesas-hopfenweizen/2468222" target="_blank">šas</a></span> </i></b>from
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/kabrews/" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kuro Aparat</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ū</span>ra</b></a>,
nominally a ‘hopfenweiss’ with the emphasis very much on the hop rather than
the weiss. Alongside the tropical fruit there’s an edge of gooseberry which
just verges on tartness and freshening the whole thing up like a squirt of lime
on a wedge of ripe mango and finishing on a gorgeous zingy, sherbet-like note. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://untappd.com/b/kuro-aparatura-nemiegose-pareigose/2710800" target="_blank">NemieGOSEPareiGOSE</a></i></b>, from the same brewery, was similarly impressive. Clean and
sharp with a tart green apple quality, it also has a notable coriander
component which gels very nicely with some pear-like esters, finishing with a
perfumed, rosewater taste. <o:p></o:p><br />
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I feel no shame in admitting that after just a few days of oddball farmhouse beer, the occasional IPA really hit the spot. But I'd never take the latter at the expense of the former; after all, hopfenweisse and gose are no reason to travel to Vilnius - raw ale and keptinis are.<br />
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<br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-62851672587636450442018-09-13T13:56:00.000-07:002018-10-10T12:01:17.948-07:00Drinking in Vilnius, pt. 2: the Lithuanian national character<br />
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Part 1 of my Lithuanian adventure can be found <a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2018/09/drinking-in-vilnius-pt1-jovaru-alus.html" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">here</a>, and part 3 is <b><u><a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2018/10/drinking-in-vilnius-pt3-lithuanias.html" target="_blank">here</a></u></b>.</div>
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The most obscure farmhouse beers initially attracted me to
Vilnius but really, my goal was seeking out beers with a distinctively
Lithuanian character regardless of the size of the brewery. It doesn’t take
long to notice some common characteristics amongst Lithuanian beer and certain
descriptors – rustic, barnyard, nutty, straw-like, etc. – are bound to recur
throughout this post, which covers a variety of beers that don’t necessarily
all come from tiny microbreweries, but do all offer a flavour of Lithuania.</div>
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Take <a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/tarusk371-kanapiu-alus/248005/" target="_blank"><b><i>Kanapi</i></b><b><i>ų</i></b></a> from <b>Taru</b><b>škų</b>, a modest
regional rather than a tiny one-brewer operation. They’re known for
their Kanapinis range, <a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2015/08/two-lithuanian-beers.html" target="_blank">one of which I have tasted before and enjoyed</a>. However I was
most intrigued by Kanapių, which boasts the interesting gimmick of being brewed
with toasted hemp seeds, and quickly found it on tap in <b><u><a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2018/09/drinking-in-vilnius-pt1-jovaru-alus.html" target="_blank">Šnekutis Mikalojaus</a></u></b>. It smells a lot
like toasted seeds, and the nutty, earthy quality in the aroma quickly
registers in the taste, too. Its full bodied and sweet, almost like unfermented
wort, but also deeply savoury, earthy and herbal, with lots of bread crust,
mint and cereals. Wonderfully complex, downright weird, very tasty.</div>
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Leave the old town and head for the river which separates
Vilnius’ centre from the slick, shiny financial district and you’ll find <u style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://alausnamai.lt/" target="_blank">Alaus Namai</a>.</u> This unpretentious
basement pub has an impressive beer list, including examples from some of the
small traditional brewers. Most excitingly to me was <a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ram363no-268i382o-kaimi353kas-alus/102099/" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Kaimiškas</span></i></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">keptinis</i> beer brewed by </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ram</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ū</span>no
</b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ram363no-268i382o-kaimi353kas-alus/102099/" target="_blank">Čižo</a>. </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This old
Lithuanian tradition involves baking the mash in an oven before fermentation.
Surprisingly dispensed from a cask via a beer engine and happily served in a
branded clay mug, it had a strong aroma of overripe fruit, somewhat like a
Belgian dubbel. A sharp, fruity, plum-like flavour struck me first, then
medicinal sarsaparilla and liquorice. As I grew used to it, I began to notice
parallels to a German dunkelweiss, the caramelised grain flavours gelling with
banana and rhubarb. The complexity far outstrips even the best dunkelweiss
though, and further surprises kept coming the more I slugged – smoke, rye
bread, honey – and the bitterness seemed to build and build. Exactly the sort of
delicious oddball I came to Vilnius for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Beer nerds who want to find out more about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacetyl" target="_blank">diacetyl</a> can do so
using an <a href="https://www.charlesfaram.co.uk/sensory-training-kits/" target="_blank">off-flavours kit</a>, adding a drop of this much-maligned chemical
compound to an otherwise neutral beer in order to study it and better spot it
out in the wild. If you want to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really </i>revel
in diacetyl though, I’d recommend a trip to Lithuania, where a great number of
beers are positively riddled with it. You could start with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.davra.lt/" target="_blank">Davra</a></b>’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><b><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/davra-daujotu/112998/" target="_blank">Daujotu</a></b></i>, also
available at Alaus Namai. As I drank this beer, I pondered the nostalgic memory
it stirred in me; something about it strongly reminded me of sweets I’d eaten
as a child. At first I thought it might be <a href="http://www.clearancexl.co.uk/WebRoot/Store3/Shops/es136752/5A11/AB3C/DB1B/BFB4/D388/0A0F/111B/B60B/Chewits_Ice_Cream_Flavour_10g.jpg" target="_blank">ice cream flavoured Chewits</a> but,
although there is a strong vanilla component to its flavour, that wasn’t quite
right. Eventually it hit me – the <a 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" target="_blank">popcorn flavoured sweet you find in a packet of Jelly Belly jelly beans</a>. Diacetyl is often described as something like
buttery or butterscotch-coated popcorn, so it makes sense. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Daujotu might surprise you because, a) it tastes of almost nothing
but diacetyl, a flavour that most beer geeks agree is generally undesirable and
a tell-tale sign of sloppy brewing, and yet, b) it’s extremely drinkable. Leave
your preconceptions of what flavours do and don’t belong in a beer back home if
you hope to enjoy drinking in Vilnius.</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The butterscotch is dialled down a little in </span><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/davra-varniuk371/102042/" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Varniuku</a>, Davra's <i>tamsusis</i>. This term denotes a dark beer, though this might turn out to be a straightforward porter rather than an indigenous Lithuanian style. Varniuku belongs firmly in the latter category, though it has plenty in common with Czech and German dark lagers - milk chocolate, caramel and cola, with the diacetyl singing harmoniously with bready roasted grain.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J6P7sbLrt8w/W5l6DZiCGlI/AAAAAAAABAA/eGC9E3-ad-g3zcI4SgmiZiY6CCGtDV2mACLcBGAs/s1600/C7CA8297-D752-4559-B2EB-BA2EB662EE53.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J6P7sbLrt8w/W5l6DZiCGlI/AAAAAAAABAA/eGC9E3-ad-g3zcI4SgmiZiY6CCGtDV2mACLcBGAs/s640/C7CA8297-D752-4559-B2EB-BA2EB662EE53.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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In the gorgeous cellar bar and bottle shop <b><u><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/p/bambalyne/17776/" target="_blank">Bambalyne</a></u></b>, I was recommended<b> <i><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/dundulis-cyrulis-pils/352532/" target="_blank">Cyrulis</a> </i></b>from <a href="https://dundulis.lt/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Dundulis</a>. Influenced by Czech pilsners, where diacetyl is
also not uncommon in smaller doses, the beer nevertheless speaks with a
tell-tale Lithuanian accent as suggestions of hay and walnuts emerge.This approach is indicative of Dundulis’ wider ethos; though dealing
principally in modern styles, they also respect tradition. A commendable ambition,
but I had mixed experiences with the beers, and the more esoteric styles were
to my mind less successful.<br />
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Also at Bambalyne was <b><i><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/dundulis-syrne/473656/" target="_blank">Syrne</a>,</i></b> brewed with peas
in the grist in a practice popularised by grain shortages in the Soviet era.
It’s an interesting concept but unfortunately a minor disaster of a beer. (I realise I have just recently written that a shift of perspective around off-flavours is required to understand Lithuanian beer, but there are limits.) Smelling fairly strongly of manure, it’s flawed with smoky notes that recall at
best Islay whisky, but more accurately TCP, and finishes on an unpleasant sour
note that suggests it’s infected. Their <b><i><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/dundulis-keptinis-alus/640984/" target="_blank">Keptinis</a></i></b> is better, with some
vibrant apple and plum notes and a porter-like caramelised malt character,
though it’s still distractingly acidic. There’ll be more on Dundulis’ more ‘craft’
offerings next time, but sadly their nods to tradition, however admirable, aren’t
yielding delicious results.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4sRXbHOCM7E/W5qnnEIT53I/AAAAAAAABAM/sv_q2kpAYdovC86pDXYAuZ3K5V1EVZENQCLcBGAs/s1600/8F208F43-3FD1-4488-A372-6BF59AFBD566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4sRXbHOCM7E/W5qnnEIT53I/AAAAAAAABAM/sv_q2kpAYdovC86pDXYAuZ3K5V1EVZENQCLcBGAs/s640/8F208F43-3FD1-4488-A372-6BF59AFBD566.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
A more refined beer with peas is <b><i><a href="http://birzualus.lt/en/beer/#radvilu" target="_blank">Širvenos</a></i></b> from regional
brewer <b>Biržų</b>. A fairly conventional
lager in style, it’s hard to tell whether the peas make any difference to the
flavour or whether this is just the power of suggestion. It’s a touch sweeter than your average lager, with lots of honey eventually giving way to tangy
honeycomb and crisp malt. Unlike some I tasted in Vilnus, this is not a beer that shocks and puzzles, but it has a certain something.<br />
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For another twist on lager, I’d pass on a tip from the barman at <b><u><a href="http://jususnekutis.lt/en/pubs-of-real-bear-by-snekutis/pub-snekutis-st-stephen-str-8/" target="_blank">Š</a></u></b><b><u><a href="http://jususnekutis.lt/en/pubs-of-real-bear-by-snekutis/pub-snekutis-st-stephen-str-8/" target="_blank">nekutis Stepono</a></u></b> and recommend <a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/armeniukas-jurgenborg/317904/" target="_blank"><b>Armeniukas</b>’s <b><i>Jurgenborg</i></b></a>. I suspect the malt in
this beer might be Lithuanian, as it shares a slightly rough, dusty, rustic
quality with many of the other beers mentioned in this post (and some diacetyl,
though at this point that should go without saying). The focus, though, is on hops – seemingly noble hops, though they
come off dank and citrusy rather than grassy and herbal. As it warms, estery
weissbier-like notes take over, with waves of banana and pear. Whilst it’s not
the most distinctively Lithuanian beer, it is nevertheless not quite like anything
I’ve tasted elsewhere and I absolutely loved it.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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As with many European beer cultures, though, there are plenty of
brewers more interested in foreign influences than local tastes. In my final
digest from Vilnius, we’ll look at some venues who proudly advertise something
called ‘<i>craft beer</i>’.</div>
<br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-36673323815386353052018-09-06T23:37:00.000-07:002018-09-15T13:14:16.794-07:00Drinking in Vilnius, pt.1 : Jovarų Alus<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_6rPuzDAuuQ/W42wMuFpDCI/AAAAAAAAA_c/zmvBVebCXawtH1QCll4WXSpQsfANEKjSQCLcBGAs/s1600/photoserv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_6rPuzDAuuQ/W42wMuFpDCI/AAAAAAAAA_c/zmvBVebCXawtH1QCll4WXSpQsfANEKjSQCLcBGAs/s640/photoserv.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/319.html" target="_blank">Lars Marius Garshol</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Whenever I think about Lithuanian beer – which has been,
over the past few years, fairly frequently – a very specific image is summoned
in my mind. The image is of a brown PET bottle, the label of which depicts a grimacing
man with a tangled grey beard, a battered straw hat on his head. The picture is
one posted by Lars Marius Garshol, chronicler of obscure and fascinating
farmhouse beer traditions, on his <a href="http://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/" target="_blank">wonderful blog</a>.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This photo, and Lars’ tales of Lithuania’s beer culture in
general, fascinated me. The branding looked so <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">weird</i>, and the descriptions of the beer were even weirder. The
country has a beer culture that is distinctly its own, with brewing practices
and flavours that might seem pretty wacky to outsiders. And whilst I’ve been
able to sample <a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2015/08/two-lithuanian-beers.html" target="_blank">a couple of industrially-produced Lithuanian brews</a>, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> interesting stuff comes from
small farmhouse breweries. At the least, you’ll need to take a trip to the
capital, Vilnius, to taste it, if not to the rural breweries themselves. Not
willing to subject my family to the latter, this summer I finally took the trip
to Vilnius.<o:p></o:p></div>
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On arriving, I wanted to track down the beer from the
picture as my first taste of Lithuanian farmhouse beer. Happily, this was easily
achieved, as it’s the house beer at a small chain of Vilnius bars called <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://jususnekutis.lt/en/welcome-to-snekutis/" target="_blank">Šnekutis</a></span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. The portrait on the label of the
aforementioned bottle is of the eccentric owner, and you’ll recognise his likeness
in painted portraits, 2018 calendars and even glazed ceramic figurines dotted
around the bars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The beer is brewed by </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jovar</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ų</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Alus</b>, whose <a href="https://oct.co/articles/fight-save-lithuanian-farmhouse-beer" target="_blank">70-year-old brewer is known as ‘the queen of Lithuanian brewing’ and uses a yeast strain her grandfather reportedly found in a forest</a>.
When I first stumbled across Lars’ blog, that story alone had me determined to
taste the beer.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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You might find this brew sold under the name <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jovar</i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ų Šnekutis</span></i></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, though
it is available in other places labelled simply as </span><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/jovaru-alus/36938/" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jovar</i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ų</span> Alus</i></b></a>. In a very
unusual and very old Lithuanian tradition, this is a ‘raw ale’, meaning that
the wort is not boiled. One consequence of this practice is that lots of
protein from the malt remains in the beer, and one of its most striking
features is a mouthfeel so full you feel you could almost <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chew</i> it. Another is that the beer has a short shelf life and can be
a little unstable. This may explain why two glasses I tasted, both on the same
day across two different branches of <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Š</span>nekutis, tasted remarkably different. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S657BAIDi78/W42wmARR3wI/AAAAAAAAA_k/EQtqWSKYd-saH1xe8QrXzOrLqL-EcO6FQCLcBGAs/s1600/D9752822-CD4E-4C63-A7E3-50BA77C8246E.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S657BAIDi78/W42wmARR3wI/AAAAAAAAA_k/EQtqWSKYd-saH1xe8QrXzOrLqL-EcO6FQCLcBGAs/s640/D9752822-CD4E-4C63-A7E3-50BA77C8246E.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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The first of these was at <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Š</span>nekutis
Mikalojaus</u></b>, a large and studenty place sporting large TV screens and
table football as well as traditional wooden knick-knacks and hearty Lithuanian
grub – a plate of crunchy fried rye bread with garlic known as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kepta duona</i> is the best bar snack I’ve
ever tasted. Here, the Jovar<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ų tasted</span> a little sharp, with some
lemony acidity, and ever-so-slightly metallic. The finish was flinty and
exceedingly dry. I found it very drinkable and not uninteresting, but it didn’t
seem as distinct as I’d hoped, recalling a very rustic saison at a stretch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Just outside Vilnius’ beautiful medieval old town is the
first of the chain’s bars, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Š</span>nekutis
Stepono</u></b>. Here the crowd is perhaps a little older, and included a few
families finishing up traditional meals. Despite carefully combing Lars’ indispensable
e-book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.garshol.priv.no/download/lithuanian-beer-guide/" target="_blank">Lithuanian Beer: A rough guide</a></i>
for recommendations, I found myself stumped at the bar, unable to recall the
names of the beers I’d read about and a little shy about asking for
recommendations. The answer was to order a Jovar<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ų</span> to ease me in whilst I tried to
make a little more sense of what was on offer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Whilst recognisably the same beer I’d tasted earlier in the
day, I was taken aback at the contrast. That hint of acidity was completely
absent, and the beer came across much sweeter, with hints of vanilla. Diacetyl,
a feature of traditional Lithuanian beer rather than an off-flavour, was
prominent, along with some nutty notes. The finish was just as gloriously dry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This glass gave me much more of what I’d hoped for from
Lithuanian beer. It was wonderfully complex, and lay outside of any recognised beer
style I could care to mention. I took a moment to reflect on how I was making
one of my most desired beery ticks, drinking farmhouse beer in Vilnius, and
suddenly finding the feeling of being just slightly out of my depth
invigorating.<o:p></o:p></div>
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An auspicious start, then, to a week’s worth of adventure.
During this time I tasted a wide variety of beer, from the very niche-est,
traditional styles to the very juiciest mango-infused IPAs. Further thoughts on
my experiences will follow soon.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
See <a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2018/09/drinking-in-vilnis-pt-2-lithuanian.html" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a> for part 2</div>
</div>
Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-21924335647329305812018-08-30T14:27:00.000-07:002018-08-31T01:52:55.713-07:00Normal beer<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dlN0zrN9n6c/W4hg6-zZXFI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/uc-wUBoixgweDmFA6d4U3pEJL07cXTnRgCLcBGAs/s1600/vlcsnap-2018-08-30-22h13m11s162.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="640" height="386" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dlN0zrN9n6c/W4hg6-zZXFI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/uc-wUBoixgweDmFA6d4U3pEJL07cXTnRgCLcBGAs/s640/vlcsnap-2018-08-30-22h13m11s162.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gordon Ramsay's horrified reaction to Timothy Taylor's Landlord</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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A middle-aged man stares in disbelief at the tiny cup of
coffee in front of him. A bewildered young woman stands before a cluttered
chalkboard menu, ignored by a disinterested barista. “I just want a coffee”,
says a frustrated fellow, sparking an increasingly absurd montage. One moment
shows a man being served hot water, coffee grounds and milk in three separate
glass containers.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The above are scenes from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kra1eWAiKvE" target="_blank">a McDonald’s advert</a>, advertising
their coffee offering as a refreshingly simple, down-to-earth, unpretentious
escape from the confusion of hipster coffee shops. I find it irritating, and
perhaps I should – after all, it’s poking fun at people like me who care
somewhat about the coffee they drink.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG8y1h6HNBA" target="_blank">Another of these ads</a>, though, pushes me past irritation and
into the realm of indignation. Here, a stream of exhausted punters try in vain
to discover the secret of that most mysterious of drinks, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">flat white</i>. “You don’t know what a flat
white is?”, asks a self-satisfied barista with a well-kept beard and immaculate
canvas apron. Looking away in pity, he guffaws, “oh dear!” In the final
sequence, a dutifully smiley McDonalds employee <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">finally</i> unwraps the enigma, explaining that a flat white is “like a
stronger latte, just with less milk.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Why couldn’t those
attractive young coffee shop people just </i>say<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> that in the first place!?”</i>, I suppose we’re supposed to scream at
the telly. But my response to this advert, especially having just watched it
several times in a row to write this, is hot-faced anger. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, it’s just a McDonald’s advert. McDonald’s adverts are
patently absurd at the best of times; try <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVw3HcUV_KM" target="_blank">this one</a>, in which a fictional
food quality inspector assures us that they only use top quality chicken in their nuggets.
Or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h20VEwyQSA0" target="_blank">this</a>, which plays on the timeless stock character of the young punk who
absolutely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">loves</i> working in a fast
food restaurant. And actually, aside from anything else, coffee culture genuinely
can be a bit wanky and being reminded of that from time to time is probably
healthy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the impulse behind it is more sinister. This advert
plays on people’s insecurities, their fears of looking thick by asking
questions, their assumptions that they’ll be ridiculed if they dare admit that
they’re lost. It asks them to stay safe, accept an inferior product from an
unethical corporation, rather than risk the embarrassment of exposing
themselves by asking a perfectly reasonable question that any barista worth
their salt would be delighted to answer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Deeper still, the notion of “just wanting a coffee” or, even
worse, just wanting a “normal” coffee disturbs me because it summons an image
of a dystopian world in which everyone drinks the same watery brown-grey slop. When people say normal coffee, they're really saying, "the kind I like" and, by implication, "if you don’t, then maybe there’s something weird
about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i>."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Anyway, there’s a point to be made about beer here,
somewhere. In a recent article in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sun</i>,
which I won’t link to because they don’t deserve the clicks, a collection of
baffled drinkers sample a range of craft beers, pulling exaggerated grossed-out
faces for the camera and grasping for poetic ways to express their distaste. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Never mind that they drank them straight from the bottle or
can. Never mind that the very fact of being asked to take part would have
prodded them towards rejecting these beers in the first place. What nags me
about this piece is that it demonstrates the same kind of safe rejection as the
aforementioned McDonald’s adverts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This attitude is sometimes called reverse snobbery. Reverse
snobbery is certainly at play when simple things like a pale ale are dismissed
as ‘poncey’. And reverse snobbery towards beer can be frustrating for those of
us who love the stuff. It’s an inferiority complex that, we might think, denies
people the pleasure we get from great beer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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How, then, do we deal with this attitude? I’m not sure. It
probably involves making beer accessible, open, easy to digest. But I’m quite
sure we should <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">avoid</i> anything that
further divides craft beer from those who have decided, however arbitrarily,
that it’s not for them. Delighting in reverse snobbery by, say, composing
Tweets wearing negative reviews from the Sun article as a badge of pride seems,
to me, a little smug (craft beer already looks pretty smug from the outside). At
worst, it could be interpreted as ridiculing less ‘enlightened’ tastes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
So, to clumsily return to blasted advert that set me off in
the first place, I guess I’m saying that craft beer should be less like the
conceited hipster barista and more like the approachable McDonald’s employee. I’ll
reformulate that into a catchier slogan at a later date.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-33041662353045281942018-07-30T11:09:00.000-07:002018-07-31T00:33:22.175-07:00 Bière artisanale sur la Côte d'Azur<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XqsI9ILiQ58/W1jKLvEmmfI/AAAAAAAAA-c/wYjd_SVI3h4GN5zJI9Sw_AiDSO-bh1gDACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3676.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XqsI9ILiQ58/W1jKLvEmmfI/AAAAAAAAA-c/wYjd_SVI3h4GN5zJI9Sw_AiDSO-bh1gDACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_3676.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
There are more breweries in France than in neighbouring Belgium. Putting aside the obvious fact that its a far larger country, you may be surprised by this statement - I certainly was when I first read it in Jeff Alworth's <i><a href="http://www.jeffalworth.com/p/blog-page.html" target="_blank">The Beer Bible</a></i>. Belgium is internationally renowned for its beer; for the uniqueness, tradition and attention to detail its best examples represent. France is known for wine.<br />
<br />
The binary opposition between grape and grain is, admittedly, too simplistic. Italy is dominated by wine, and a wildly inventive beer culture emerged there precisely <i>because</i> of this fact. In France, though, beer is both widely undervalued and restricted by a small handful of recognised styles. Most French beer is lager. Many others are variations on the <i><a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.com/2016/09/biere-de-garde-brief-survey.html" target="_blank">biére de garde</a> </i>tradition - <i>blonde, ambrée, brune </i>- with the occasional <i>blanche</i>, much like a Belgian witbier, thrown in for good measure. Characterful beer from independent but industrial breweries is cheap and easy to find in supermarkets, but Heineken seems to have a firm grip on most bars.<br />
<br />
The south of France, withdrawn from the brewing tradition in the North, is a particularly unpromising destination for beer, and you could be forgiven for forgetting it altogether and conceding to the delicious local rosé. But there are rumblings. Nice now has two branches of <u style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.beerdistrict.fr/" target="_blank">Beer District</a></u>, a specialist beer bar serving French craft and imports - sadly I was unable to visit, but their existence is a huge development in a city that is otherwise largely indifferent to beer.<br />
<br />
Nice, too, is home to the functionally-named <b><a href="https://brasserie-nice.com/" target="_blank">Brasserie Artisinale de Nice</a></b>. At a glance, their core range is unimaginative, consisting as it does of a <i>blonde, ambrée</i> and <i>blanche</i>. However, each of these is given a subtle but interesting twist - grains of paradise and chickpeas form part of the grist for the <i>blonde</i>, whilst the <i>ambrée </i>is hopped with Cascade. Lukewarm responses from <a href="https://boakandbailey.com/2015/10/la-brasserie-artisanale-de-nice/" target="_blank">Boak and Bailey</a> and <a href="https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2016/01/a-week-in-provence.html" target="_blank">The Beer Nut</a> a couple of years ago suggest a recent improvement in quality control, because all three of these beers were clean, well-made and vastly exceeded my expectations. The fairly straight-up <i>blanche</i> was the best of the bunch for me, but the sticky tropical notes of the <i>blonde</i> were certainly a welcome surprise.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hV0c5YUtiYc/W1rTYHanZlI/AAAAAAAAA-s/3XQZRh4OLswXUaYKWXRad-IHeokLSfSnwCLcBGAs/s1600/A1028474-9BA6-479E-B1D8-E8F43893CC86.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hV0c5YUtiYc/W1rTYHanZlI/AAAAAAAAA-s/3XQZRh4OLswXUaYKWXRad-IHeokLSfSnwCLcBGAs/s640/A1028474-9BA6-479E-B1D8-E8F43893CC86.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
In Nice you'll also find the <b><u><a href="https://allez-hops.com/" target="_blank">Allez Hops!</a></u></b> bottleshop (or, in the more poetic French term <i>cave á biére)</i>, which looks as though it's opened fairly recently. There are plenty of US, Belgian and British imports here, but also a great selection from beers from all over France, many of which stray far beyond the typical conservative styles and into official 'craft' territory.<br />
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The <i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/popihn-new-england-ipa/513530/" target="_blank">New England IPA</a></i> from <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Popihn/" target="_blank">Brasserie Popihn</a> </b>in Vaumort was the highlight of my selections - not as straightforwardly juicy as some examples of the style, it's balanced with zesty lime and grapefruit, some minty and pine resin notes and a moderately bitter finish. I also loved <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.brasserie-ladebauche.com/" target="_blank">La Débuache</a></span>'s <a href="http://www.brasserie-ladebauche.com/portfolios/cognac-barrel/" target="_blank"><i><b>Cognac Barrel</b></i></a>. The brewery is in Angoulěme in the Charente region, near Cognac; this area is strewn with vineyards growing grapes for the famous brandy named after that town. The beer is a strong <i>ambrée</i> aged, obviously enough, in a cognac barrel. I love this idea, which is progressive whilst expressing a sense of place. It's malt-driven and faintly spicy in that woody, aromatic way, with a dimension of mustiness and austere booze.<br />
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Another <i>cave á biére</i> awaits down the coast in Antibes. I visited this lovely town during an almost eerie lull as the locals geared up for the World Cup final, streets gradually emptying and the near-silence occasionally broken by fans driving past honking horns and shouting "<i>allez les Bleus</i>!" <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Beershop06-1808767639394537/?rf=524855647707571" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: underline;" target="_blank">Beershop06</a> was cool and serene; had there been more of a buzz about the place, I'd have gladly taken advantage of the opportunity to choose a bottle from the fridge and drink it on the premises. Instead, I took a selection home, choosing relatively local brews from a selection more generally weighted towards Belgian beer.<br />
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Some specials from <b><a href="https://brasserie-nice.com/" target="_blank">Brasserie Artisinale de Nice</a> </b>caught my eye; <a href="https://untappd.com/b/la-brasserie-artisanale-de-nice-ipa-li-fumadi/2350995" target="_blank"><i><b>IPA Li Fumadi</b></i></a> is a fairly old-school affair, with some barley sugar sweetness in the malt, stone fruit and sherbet and a bitter finish. It's made more interesting with the addition of smoked malt, used sparingly and gelling surprisingly well with the hops. <a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/la-artisanale-de-nice-camin-lewis-blonde-esb/639106/" target="_blank"><i><b>Camín Lewis</b></i></a><i>, </i>an ESB with Earl Grey tea, is perfumed with oily, zesty bergamot flavours balanced by toffee malt and has a beautiful dry, tannic finish. I also want to mention <a href="https://untappd.com/b/colgan-s-brewery-pacific-pale-ale/2657227" target="_blank"><i><b>Pacific Pale Ale</b></i></a> from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/colgansbrewery/" target="_blank"><b>Colgan's</b></a>, which has been on the receiving end of some savage 1-star Untappd ratings. Undeservedly so, though it drinks more like a saison than a pale ale - bone dry and vinous, with that white wine parallel boosted by white grape, lime zest and passion fruit notes.<br />
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Back from the coast and nestled into the hills is Vence, a beautiful medieval town that boasts an incredible chapel designed by Matisse and the <a href="https://www.davidlebovitz.com/the-best-socca/" target="_blank">best socca</a> you'll ever taste amongst other delights. As I prepared for a leisurely stroll into town one afternoon, I Googled the term 'craft beer Vence', not expecting much from my results. Imagine my excitement on discovering <a href="http://www.kfemalte.com/" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: underline;" target="_blank">K'fé Malté</a>. A real hole-in-the-wall place, it's nestled between a cheese shop and a butcher and seems to perform a similarly vital community role. As I sat outside, locals wandered past and chatted to the owners and, returning at peak time on a Friday evening, the place was spilling over with drinkers from all walks of life.<br />
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The beer menu is entirely French, and includes four draught beers. <i>Á la pression</i>, I drank <a href="https://www.bieredelarade.com/accueil" target="_blank"><b>Biére de la Rade</b></a>'s <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">La Torpille</span>, an aromatic and citrus-heavy session IPA with some soft lychee notes in the background. Impressed, I moved onto their stout, <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">La Muréne</span>, which was initially chocolatey and rich, then acrid, dry and gently bitter.<br />
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On my return visit, the menu had an extra page advertising a range of bottles from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Tribbiera/173539572691844" target="_blank"><b>A Tribbiera</b></a>, apparently Corsica's first microbrewery. I figured this was a pretty unique opportunity, so ordered <a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/a-tribbiera-apa-cuvee-speciale/131610/" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">APA</a> - not, despite the name, an American pale ale, but a blonde with Corsican chestnut honey. I began to regret my decision once the beer was placed in front of me; a 500ml adorned with WordArt-esque branding printed on a sticky label, ink running with the condensation, it looked like a pretty unpromising homebrew. I remained cautious with my initial sips - although not advertised as sour, it had a definite tart edge, which made me think it might be infected. Except generally, beers that are unintentionally acidic are riddled with other off-flavours, whereas this tasted clean and precise. The tartness may even be an effect of the chestnut honey, which is musty and earthy, not particularly sweet and has a notably bitter quality. I'd grown quite fond of it by the time I'd drained the bottle.<br />
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Not all the beers I drank in France were great. Some were not even good. Several were bland. Others were really quite bad. Whilst I'm reluctant to name and shame, it's worth sounding a cautionary note lest this post come across as unrealistically positive. French craft beer is a gamble - pick a beer off the shelf at random, and off-flavours may well await. Personally, I'm willing to endure the occasional flop because the hits mentioned here were worth it. Furthermore, in seeking out craft beer in a region that doesn't really go in for it in a big way, you occasionally discover businesses like K'fé Malté and Allez Hops! The passion for beer necessary to make a go of places like this can surely warm the hearts of even the most cynical drinker.<br />
<br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-43859109429894746872018-06-06T11:54:00.000-07:002018-06-06T12:54:55.436-07:00ISO: malt liquor<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OV-siRNGiC0/WxgqkruMhUI/AAAAAAAAA98/kC6zO8JjXx82h8GdR-2t5GUBlcbLBOZxQCLcBGAs/s1600/Mickeys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OV-siRNGiC0/WxgqkruMhUI/AAAAAAAAA98/kC6zO8JjXx82h8GdR-2t5GUBlcbLBOZxQCLcBGAs/s640/Mickeys.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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When my dad was a young boy, he’d see adverts in Marvel
comics for something called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tootsie_Roll" target="_blank">Tootsie Rolls</a>. These are small, chewy, toffee-like
sweets, though he assumed from the pictures they were the size of a Mars bar. As
I understand it, their appeal was as much to do with the exoticism of the all-American
imagery in the adverts as it was their imagined flavour; “they were American
sweets”, he told me, “so they would be better than ours.” Decades later,
visiting the States for the first time, he bought a packet. And they were… OK.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In my (slightly older) youth, I too was strongly attracted
to an American delicacy, though its image and reputation is quite different to
the squeaky-clean Americana of a vintage Tootsie Roll ad. I longed to taste malt
liquor. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This confusingly-named beverage <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> made of malt – cut with a fair dose of rice and/or corn - but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">isn’t</i> really liquor; it’s beer. Alongside
the adjuncts in the grist, it may also have enzymes added to encourage the
yeast to break down the sugars in the ingredients, boosting its alcohol content
significantly above the light lagers that otherwise dominate the market. And
it’s cheap. Emerging in the 1950s, it was marketed initially towards affluent
white people; one (<a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/country-club-malt-liquor/12231/" target="_blank">surviving</a>) brand was actually called Country Club. <o:p></o:p></div>
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According to <a href="https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/malt-liquor-history-sleazy" target="_blank">David Infante’s excellent history of the style for Thrillist</a>, malt liquor began to sell well in black neighbourhoods <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">before</i> companies began to consciously
target this demographic. But target them they eventually did. From the
mid-1970s onward, black celebrities such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoWK5dW5c-8" target="_blank">Rufus Thomas</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZaI-WRh5vI" target="_blank">Red Foxx</a> promoted
various malt liquors.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the 1980s, the 40z bottle was introduced (though nobody
seems to know exactly why). As gangsta rap emerged at the end of that decade,
40s of malt liquor became ubiquitously associated with hip hop. St. Ides, a
brand that came to public prominence at roughly the same time as NWA,
capitalised on this, and extensively used rappers to promote the brand. <a href="http://www.portmangroup.org.uk/codes/alcohol-marketing/code-of-practice/rules/sexual-success" target="_blank">The Portman group would be rightfully horrified</a> by a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcZ3Fs9758E" target="_blank">1993 ad</a>, in which Ice Cube
raps, “get your girl in the mood quicker / get your Jimmy thicker / with St.
Ides malt liquor.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Plenty of black folks objected to this kind of marketing. In
John Singleton’s 1991 film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Boyz n the
Hood</i>, Lawrence Fishbourne plays Jason ‘Furious’ Styles, father and mentor
to Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) In one scene, the two take a trip to Compton, where
Furious warns of the dangers of gentrification in black neighbourhoods. “Why is
it that there’s a gun shop on almost every corner in this community?” he asks
the gathering crowd. “Same reason there’s a liquor store on every corner in the
black community. Why? They want us to kill ourselves. You go out to Beverly
Hills, you don’t see that shit.” One onlooker challenges him, and Furious tries
his best to press his point whilst, in an over-the-shoulder shot, we see the
young man continuing to glug from his 40z of Olde English.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qrzCjtYVATw/WxgqrmVx6dI/AAAAAAAAA-A/JAUv8yYcEtEf31hyHAIhm-2FfuxgzQemgCLcBGAs/s1600/Boyz%2Bn%2Bthe%2BHood%2Bmalt%2Bliquor%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="1361" height="350" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qrzCjtYVATw/WxgqrmVx6dI/AAAAAAAAA-A/JAUv8yYcEtEf31hyHAIhm-2FfuxgzQemgCLcBGAs/s640/Boyz%2Bn%2Bthe%2BHood%2Bmalt%2Bliquor%2B2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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That Ice Cube could appear in both <i>Boyz n the Hood</i> and ads for St. Ides is something of a
contradiction. In his role as Doughboy, a troubled young gang leader who fears
for his life after murdering a rival, he provides the film’s thoughtful,
painful conclusion. Reflecting on the cycle of violence he has found himself
caught in, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7JtisjbvB8" target="_blank">Doughboy’s final symbolic act is to pour away what remains of the bottle of malt liquor in his hand.</a></div>
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Furious in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Boyz n the
Hood</i> speaks for many in black communities who were concerned about the
negative influence of this potent brew on young people in their neighbourhoods.
Their criticism damaged these beers’ reputations, and brands ceased advertising
almost altogether. And, as hip hop entered a more luxurious
fur-coats-and-diamonds phase, flashy champagne brands such as Cristal and Dom
Pérignon took precedence as the rapper’s tipple of choice. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Why, though, did I want to try it? It’s unlikely to be good –
beverages designed for maximum inebriation at minimum cost rarely are, because
flavour is kind of surplus to their requirements. And anyway, malt liquor isn’t
entirely unique – the likes of Special Brew or Super Tennents are pretty
similar, but these brews don’t particularly call to me from the fridge of the
local corner shop. But there <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is </i>something
quintessentially American about malt liquor; it’s big, brash, and in
questionable taste. Its association with gangsta rap, and all the racial and
economic inequalities that that implies, also suggests something of what makes
America such a deeply troubling, fucked-up place. <o:p></o:p></div>
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On my recent visit to the US, I decided I wanted to finally
satisfy my curiosity and track down a 40ozer. This was surprisingly difficult,
but I did eventually suceed – a bottle of <a href="https://www.mickeys.com/av?url=https://www.mickeys.com/" target="_blank">Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor</a> in
a 7-Eleven in Austin, passed across the counter in the iconic brown paper bag.
At 5.6% ABV, it’s not as strong as I expected, though there is some variation
amongst malt liquors and some can top 10%. Owned by Miller, Mickey’s is
apparently known for smaller bottles than mine; its 12oz packages are referred
to as ‘grenades’ which they very, very faintly resemble. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It looks like any other lager in the glass, and the aroma is
pretty familiar. There’s a touch of honey on the nose, and you can tell just
from a sniff that it will be sweet. My initial impression after a tentative
first sip was relief; it’s nowhere near as bad as I feared. There’s a tiny
touch of something that is recognisably malt, followed by dollops of sweet
apple that recalls cheap cider almost as much as cheap beer, and a slightly
oxidised, papery taste lingers in the background. Aside from being sweet (ever
more so as you persevere with it), it legitimately <i>tastes</i> <i>like sugar</i>, and a
sticky, syrupy mouthfeel emerges if it’s allowed to exceed ice-cold
temperatures.</div>
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Whilst my dad might have been underwhelmed by his
long-awaited packet of Tootsie Rolls, Mickey’s actually somewhat <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">exceeds</i> my expectations. But I’ve
changed since I first daydreamed about slugging from a 40 at a crusty punk show
in some imagined American basement. Mickey’s is theoretically surprisingly
drinkable, but I didn’t drink very much of it – my teenage self would be disappointed
to know that I left more than three quarters of the bottle. And absolutely horrified
that I sipped it from a bougie wine glass. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-92072631239429675612018-05-08T12:34:00.002-07:002018-05-08T12:34:52.944-07:00Keep Austin beered<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G1Upk4ftW18/WuohrMJf8MI/AAAAAAAAA8w/DJdiAtnR5cwT1d5mSuvwo3uh4T0TPo3jACLcBGAs/s1600/ABGB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G1Upk4ftW18/WuohrMJf8MI/AAAAAAAAA8w/DJdiAtnR5cwT1d5mSuvwo3uh4T0TPo3jACLcBGAs/s640/ABGB.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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At the <a href="https://theabgb.com/" target="_blank"><b>Austin Beer Garden Brewery</b></a>, a country band is playing. Sillhouettes of the occasional
cowboy hat stand out amongst the crowd. Behind the stage is a row of large
fermentation tanks, crowned by a lit-up sign that reads ‘Pils! Pils! Pils!’
Outside, in the sultry evening heat, long communal tables are just as likely to
seat families sharing pizzas as groups of friends enjoying Friday night beers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The above scene encapsulates much of what is great about
Austin; the live music, the warm, welcoming vibe and the lager. Lots of
delicious lager.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are ales on the menu at the ABGB, but on a night like
this, straying from the broad selection of bottom-fermented beers is
unthinkable. <b><i>Industry Pils</i> </b>is superb,
with a depth of malt flavour that’s rich and hearty, followed by bitter, grassy
hops that make it lively and vital. If Industry is a homage to German lagers, <b><i>Rocket
100</i> </b>filters that influence through American tradition. Described as a ‘pre-prohibition’
lager, it uses corn in the grist, a practice now associated with bland beer
from large breweries and, more often than not, a cost-cutting exercise. It wasn’t
always this way; when lager was first brewed in the US, indigenous barley was
harsh and needed softening out with rice or corn. Rocket 100 certainly has
little in common with the Budweisers of this world; it’s robust and full bodied
with notes of toasted, bready malt, but the real draw is the gorgeous floral,
herbal hop profile which suggests orange and sherbet. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<b><a href="https://austinbeerworks.com/beer" target="_blank">Austin Beer Works</a></b> is the most present brand across the city. They don't necessarily specialise in lager styles, but do excel in this area. <b><i>Pearl-Snap</i> </b>is, apart from anything else, a wonderful name for a beer. It seems to suggest so much of the flavour you can expect without actually describing it; the smack of fresh, grassy, orange-like hops in the bitter finish was just what I was expecting and exactly what I craved when I ordered this at <a href="http://easytigeraustin.com/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Easy Tiger</a>, a venue which ingeniously combines a specialist beer bar with a bakery. That means oven-warm pretzels with your German-style lager. I should have drunk <i style="font-weight: bold;">Czech Yourself</i> before Pearl-Snap; it's more softly spoken, less brash, and suffered from following the assertive hop character of the previous beer. A shame, as it's a great example of the style.<br />
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Of all Austin's breweries, <b><a href="http://liveoakbrewing.com/" target="_blank">Live Oak Brewing</a></b>'s influences are the most emphatically European. Making your flagship beer a <i style="font-weight: bold;">Hefeweizen</i> is a statement of intent, and especially such a straight-up, unapologetically traditional example of the style. If I wasn't such an anxious ticker, I'd happily have drunk nothing but Live Oak Hefeweizen for the entire trip - it is superb. Need I describe it's flavour? Am I capable of doing so without falling back on the same descriptors we still borrow from Michael Jackson to evoke these beers? Banana, clove, etc. It's just pure class - easy drinking, but with such richness and depth of flavour.<br />
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Perusing the board at <b style="text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://craftprideaustin.com/" target="_blank">Craft Pride</a></b>, the Hefeweizen tempted me once again. This log cabin pub, which feels like it could have had a sawdust-strewn floor in a past life, plays old-time country music and has a draught list of over 50 beers, all from Texas. Broadening my horizons but staying with Live Oak, I plumped for <i style="font-weight: bold;">Live Oak Gold</i>, a seasonal pilsner for spring. The malt flavour is crisp and the hop character delicate and minty-herbal - it was a great way to celebrate the sun coming back out after an <a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/an-ode-to-jester-king-brewery.html" target="_blank">unseasonable cold snap the previous day.</a><br />
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A veritable glass of sunshine came next; <i style="font-weight: bold;">Hazed & Confused</i> from <b style="text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="http://pinthousepizza.com/" target="_blank">Pinthouse Pizza</a></b><i style="text-decoration-line: underline;">.</i> Pinthouse is a brewpub operating out of two Austin locations; I didn't make it to either, but their opaque, juicy pale ales and IPAs are easy to find elsewhere. Hazed & Confused is extra cool because <a href="https://www.austin360.com/events/food--wine/beer/pinthouse-hazed-and-confused-ipa-tribute-one-austin-favorite-movies/XJTN4UtqTGo0tOn9NnPz9H/" target="_blank">it's brewed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of local director Richard Linklater's <i>Dazed and Confused</i></a>. It seems weird to describe a beer as 'succulent', but that's the word that springs to mind; drinking this beer is redolent of biting into a chunk of perfectly ripe mango. There's a lot of pineapple in there too, and whilst the near total absence of bitterness might make it sweet for some tastes, it was fine by me.<br />
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At <a href="https://www.thebrewandbrew.com/" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: underline;" target="_blank">Wright Bros. Brew & Brew</a>, I had my pick of several Pinthouse IPAs. As the name implies, this is both a beer bar and a coffee shop. These two functions bleed into one another; visiting at around 9pm, both espressos and pints of porter were pouring; around some tables, punters chatted animatedly whilst at others, people worked on their laptops. The result is a markedly relaxed atmosphere which I like a lot (oh, and don't visit without grabbing a Korean-inspired taco at the <a href="http://www.chilantrobbq.com/locations/" target="_blank">Chi'Lantro</a> truck around the corner). <i style="font-weight: bold;">Electric Jellyfish </i>departs slightly from the intense fruit salad flavours of Hazed & Confused, balancing the juice with a certain dank, savoury quality.<br />
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A less conventional IPA came next; <i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://brewery.jollypumpkin.com/gammadeluxe/" target="_blank">GAMMADELUXE</a></i>, a collaboration between <a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/an-ode-to-jester-king-brewery.html" target="_blank">Jester King</a> and Michigan's <a href="http://www.jollypumpkin.com/jp/landing-page.html" target="_blank">Jolly Pumpkin</a>. It's inspired by the New England-style IPAs brewed by <a href="https://www.monkishbrewing.com/" target="_blank">Monkish</a> and looks the part, pouring semi-murky and with a distinct yellowish glow. There's a strong tropical fruit component to the flavour, too; juicy pineapple and grapefruit. The twist is in the use of Brettanomyces, which accentuates the fruity notes but adds a gentle musty note. It's gently tart and finishes tannic and dry, with not a hint of its intimidating 7.5% ABV.<br />
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A common bumper sticker and tourist T-shirt reads 'Keep Austin Weird'. Known as the live music capital of the world, it's the town that spawned <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Johnston" target="_blank">Daniel Johnston</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roky_Erickson" target="_blank">Roky Erickson</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butthole_Surfers" target="_blank">Butthole Surfers</a>, amongst a long list of other glorious oddballs. None of the above venues are especially 'weird', but the Austin's beer spots are consistent with the general vibe of the city. Like Brighton, my home, there's a chilled, live-and-let-live spirit that allows beautiful weirdness to thrive. Places like this make great drinking cities.</div>
Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-26652211026882807162018-04-25T09:07:00.000-07:002018-04-25T09:07:18.211-07:00An ode to Jester King Brewery<br />
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“Here in Texas, there are really only a couple of weeks a
year when you need to wear a jacket, when you can see your breath,” our tour
guide tells us. We’re standing next to a beautiful copper-lined coolship; this
large, rectangular, shallow fermentation vessel is used to deliberately
inoculate wort with wild, airborne yeasts and bacteria. Once nature has taken
course, the liquid is transferred to wooden barrels, and undergoes spontaneous
fermentation. Traditionally, this style of brewing is employed only in cool
weather, when lower ambient temperatures will allow the wort to cool overnight
and when the microbes in the atmosphere are thought to be at their most
balanced. For Jester King, that’s a tight window of time.</div>
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The strange thing is that, although we’re in mid-April, our
guide could be describing today’s surroundings. Arriving in Austin the previous
day, our Uber driver remarked, “y’all are getting a little taste of the Texas
weather”. It was a close, exhausting, almost prickly heat. Then a storm came
and the temperature dropped drastically overnight. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Most of the patrons at Jester King this Saturday afternoon
have jackets on; and scarves, and hats. Not me though; I packed nothing warmer
than a thin wool jumper, because I was going to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Texas</i> in the middle of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">spring</i>
and didn’t think I’d need them. Fire-pits are lit, people huddled close to
their warmth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grey ashy deposits stain
their clothes and, occasionally, float into their beers. Others get stuck into
photogenic pizzas from the rustic restaurant just down the hill whilst a band plays stripped-down
Christian songs and old country numbers on guitars, banjos and harmonicas. Bizarrely, a party of frat-boy types swagger up with cans
of Bud Light and are promptly, politely ejected.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What I’m trying to communicate is that Jester King is a
magical, serene place, and I’d have braved far colder temperatures to drink there.
Situated in Texas Hill Country outside Austin, it’s around a half-hour’s drive
from the city. Along the way, strip malls and roadside restaurants thin out,
replaced by vast ranch land. </div>
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Jester King make farmhouse beers. This is a broad term that
can encompass both clean saisons brewed with laboratory-cultivated yeast and
altogether wilder, more rustic beers. Jester King’s output lean toward the more
esoteric end of the scale but, for them, farmhouse is more than just a label. Their
house culture includes commercial strains from the European breweries that
influence them, such as Dupont and Thiriez, but also yeast and bacteria from
plants in the land surrounding the brewery. This reflects their ethos of making
beers that express something of their place; this can mean using foraged
ingredients, local well water and Texas malt.</div>
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<b><u><a href="https://jesterkingbrewery.com/spon" target="_blank">SPON</a></u></b>, the series of beers born of the aforementioned
coolship, are a fine demonstration of the brewery’s approach. Based on the techniques
used in traditional Belgium lambic brewing, including the traditional
long-winded ‘<a href="http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Turbid_Mash" target="_blank">turbid mash</a>’, they are not (and could never be) a simple
imitation. The yeasts and bacteria found in the beers are unique to their
surroundings – the same beer could never be reproduced elsewhere. <b><u><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/jester-king-spon-three-year-blend/575741/" target="_blank">SPON Three YearBlend</a></u></b> combines young and aged spontaneously fermented beer, much like
traditonal gueuze. It’s tart, but not so challengingly sour, nor as tannic and
oaky, as the classics. It finishes dry and slightly bitter, leaving an
impression of utter balance and harmony. <b><u><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/jester-king-spon-peach-apricot/460003/" target="_blank">SPON Peach & Apricot</a></u></b> has a jaw-droppingly
vibrant fruit flavour. It recalls the entire experience of biting into a peach; the sweet, juicy flesh, the dry sensation of
the skin and the gentle acidity. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Also given the coolship treatment is <b><u><a href="https://jesterkingbrewery.com/blog/introducing-scratch-brewing-co-jester-king-abscission" target="_blank">Abscission</a></u></b>, a
collaboration with fellow travellers Scratch Brewing Co. from Illinois. Jester
King’s ethos has been applied to this truly collaborative beer, which includes
ingredients from both the Scratch farm and the Jester King ranch. The wort was
infused with grapevines, fallen leaves, spicebush, juniper branches, laurel and
sassafras – I honestly don’t even know what most of those are, but I can tell
you they added up to a very tasty beer. Subtly tart and maybe a tiny bit salty,
it has a wonderfully vibrant herbal and botanical flavour which is never
overpowering; a less subtle approach could have ended up tasting like a
high-end shower gel.</div>
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<b><u><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/jester-king-funk-metal/186161/" target="_blank">Funk Metal</a></u></b> is one of the few Jester King beers that is
self-described as ‘sour’. It certainly has more bite than those I’ve mentioned
so far, but is no less balanced. An incredibly rich chocolate dominates the aroma and forms the foundation of its flavour, too. This is
followed by sour cherry notes and an acidic red wine quality, and it finishes
beautifully dry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s always a pleasure to drink a brewery’s wares at the
source but here, standing on the land that so heavily shapes these beers, it’s a
particularly special privilege. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>A word of advice; if you’re visiting the brewery using Uber, warn your driver that the map on their phone may try and take them up a rough track at the back of the property, and that they should look for the front entrance on the main road. When you’re being picked up at the end of your visit, I recommend walking down to said road and making that your pick-up point.</i></div>
<br />Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-90266539146239102652018-04-17T11:38:00.002-07:002018-04-18T00:03:55.586-07:00Old New Orleans Rhythm and Juice<br />
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Off the top of your head, what associations do you have with
New Orleans? Jazz, perhaps, which originated there; Tennessee Williams’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Streetcar Named Desire</i>, which
beautifully captures its humid buzz; the Hurricane Katrina tragedy; maybe, at a
stretch, Lil Wayne? Beer is unlikely to feature on your list. A quick wander
around the French Quarter will tell you that plenty of beer is consumed in the
city, though. If open container laws apply here at all, they are openly flouted
by carefree tourists spilling from jazz club to dive bar, beer in hand. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Granted, much of this beer is light lager from macro
breweries but if that doesn’t satisfy, you don’t have to look hard for
alternatives. If, say, you’re on a family holiday that is not specifically or
exclusively beer-focused, this is particularly useful. Pizzerias, music venues,
art gallery cafés and even bars aboard historic paddle steamers all have your
back. You may stumble across an unassuming hotel bar quietly serving eight Louisiana
craft beers on tap, and reflect on the fact that, in the UK, such an
establishment would be trying to pass itself off as a specialist beer venue.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are some places you should make time for, though, and
I’ll get to those. First, an observation – the apparent trend amongst Louisiana
breweries is for hazy, juicy beers in the New England style. Of the ten or so
pale ales and IPAs I tasted in New Orleans, only a few poured clear, and even
those – <a href="https://bayoutechebrewing.com/our-beers/biere-pale/" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bayou Teche</b>’s </a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://bayoutechebrewing.com/our-beers/biere-pale/" target="_blank">LA-31 Biere Pale</a></i> </b>or <a href="https://www.waywardowlbrewing.com/beer/" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clean State</i> </b>from <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wayward Owl</b></a>, for example – had a touch
of something tropical about them.</div>
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In a sense there’s nothing extraordinary about this, since
the popularity of these beers seems to have hit just about everywhere with a
craft beer scene, but it’s not what I expected. The swampy state is known for
its sticky humidity, and I expected the brewers from such an environment to aim
straight at the easy-going and refreshing. Hazy IPAs might be low in IBUs, but
they’re also kind of intense and sometimes share the thick body of a fruit
smoothie. On my visit, though, the weather was pleasantly warm but reportedly
nothing like the still heat that New Orleans experiences in the summer months.
And as such, I sure appreciated those juicy brews.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Amongst the best was <a href="https://www.tinroofbeer.com/brew/voodoo/" target="_blank"><b><i>Voodoo Pale Ale</i></b>, from Baton Rouge’s <b>Tin Roof</b></a>; its tropical vibe was given
further depth by a resinous, even slightly sharp edge, probably imparted by the
Simcoe hop. <a href="http://gnarlybeer.com/brews.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Jucifer</i></b>, brewed by <b>Gnarly Barley</b></a> in Hammond, was also sublimely
juicy, with a touch of sherbet lemon and a gentle bitter finish. <br />
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<b><a href="http://www.courtyardbrewing.com/" target="_blank">The Courtyard Brewery</a></b>
dedicates a good percentage of their output to incredibly turbid IPAs, some of
which almost seem to glow with a greenish-yellow luminosity. Situated a little
outside the tourist centre of the city, it’s a self-described nanobrewery and
looks like a tiny, tight space. You’ll need to come to the taproom to taste The
Courtyard’s wares, as they do not distribute and sell all their beer on-site
and on draught.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<b style="text-align: left;"><i>4<sup>th</sup> Best Body Surfer in the World</i></b><span style="text-align: left;"> has an allium aroma, and the flavour toes the line between savoury and juicy, like a mango salsa. The texture is creamy and smooth, and there’s a slightly raw bitterness in the finish. I liked </span><b style="text-align: left;"><i>The Wild Party</i></b><span style="text-align: left;"> better; it’s especially dank, with more of those onion-like notes, but also cranking the tropical fruit up a notch with bags of pineapple and a touch of blueberry. And to break up those IPAs, I tried </span><b style="text-align: left;"><i>And So We Can Acquiesce To Authority</i></b><span style="text-align: left;">, a rosemary and blackberry witbier. It’s incredibly refreshing and the unusual ingredients have been added with subtlety. It instantly recalls the quenching sensation of biting into a slice of watermelon, though I’m conscious that making that comparison makes the beer sound watery, which it is not. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">The taproom is a must-visit; basic in the manner of Bermondsey’s most down-to-earth (though with the welcome addition of a plumbed-in toilet), it doesn’t amount to much more than a few tables and chairs placed out the front, but this is charming rather than half-arsed and chimes with the laid-back approach that earned New Orleans the nickname ‘The Big Easy’.</span></div>
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A short walk into the smart Lower Garden District you’ll
find <a href="https://theavenuepub.com/about-avenue-pub/" target="_blank">The Avenue Pub</a>. Definitely a pub rather than a bar, it’s an old-timey
place by American standards; thought to date back to 1845, it boasts quirks
like a tin ceiling and fireplaces that, in the warmth of late spring, it’s hard
to imagine are ever lit. Louisiana breweries are well represented on the
extensive draught list, and I got my fix of juice from <a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/urban-south-holy-roller-ipa/415531/" target="_blank"><b>Urban South</b>’s superb <b><i>Holly Roller IPA</i></b></a>. One of the
highlights of the local beers I tried on this trip was <a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/great-raft-all-my-tomorrows/273909/" target="_blank"><b><i>All My Tomorrows</i></b> from <b>Great Raft</b></a> in Shreveport. This is a saison brewed with rye, and has a slightly
grainy, rustic farmhouse quality as well as bubblegum and black pepper. I could
have sworn the version I tasted was brewed with Motueka or something similar,
though can’t now find any reference to this online; my notes say that passion
fruit and lime flavours intensified as it warmed, which doesn’t sound much the
advertised hop bill of Mosaic, Citra and Bravo. Regardless, here’s the
important part – it was utterly delicious.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then came something really special. Each year, Montreal’s <b>Brasserie Dieu de Ciel! </b>release a
series of variations on their imperial coffee stout, Péché Mortel, in an event
known as <a href="http://dieuduciel.com/en/2018/03/07/journee-peche-2018/" target="_blank">Péché Day</a>. Not only were several of these still pouring at the Avenue Pub,
they were discounting them to $3 a pour as if they wanted to get rid of them. <b><i>Péché Framboise</i></b> is so good I feel
privileged to have tasted it; it’s amongst the finest stouts I have ever
tasted, astonishingly silky with a vibrant raspberry flavour that plays
beautifully off the decadent chocolate notes. <b><i>Péché Latte</i></b>, with added lactose, was a desert-like treat, all
sweet, creamy coffee. Do not leave New Orleans without going to the Avenue Pub.
Miss your plane if you have to. </div>
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Back towards the centre on the city, on the edge of the
French Quarter, you’ll find <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BlackPennyNola/" target="_blank">Black Penny</a></b>.
This well-worn-in pub might have an appealingly divey feel during its
late-night opening hours, but with the sun streaming through the window in the
late afternoon, it’s pretty idyllic. Note the absence of the ubiquitous, OTT
branded tap handles on the bar; all the beer here is in cans. Why this is, I don’t
know, but I <i>do</i> know that’s it’s an
impressive list featuring plenty of Lousiana breweries as well as those from
further afield. You’ll find oddities such as Lion Stout, the Sri Lankan brew
that Michael Jackson wrote about and which I’ve never seen anywhere before, and
selections from Wasatch, the first brewery in Utah since Prohibition – astonishingly, it
opened in 1986.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here I drank <b><i><a href="https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18854/310237/" target="_blank">Hoppyright Infringement</a></i> </b>from <b><a href="http://www.nolabrewing.com/brewery/" target="_blank">NOLA Brewing Company</a>. </b>Once, Dixie Brewing
Company made New Orelans’ local lager within the city, but closed after
Hurricane Katrina and relocated brewing to Wisconsin. In 2009, NOLA became the
city’s only active brewery. <a href="https://www.beeradvocate.com/place/city/11/" target="_blank">BeerAdvocate now lists about 15,</a> of which NOLA is
probably the most visible. The beer in my can at Black Penny is as good an example
of the hazy fruit salad double IPA as you’re likely to find without queuing up
overnight in New England (and I highly recommend their silky, hoppy <b><i>Irish
Channel Stout</i></b>, too.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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I should point out, by the way, that the easy-drinking, refreshing
brews I expected of the Pelican State are there when you need them; in the
excitingly sweaty Maison jazz club on <a href="http://www.maisonfrenchmen.com/" target="_blank">Frenchmen Street</a>, I dodged IPAs in favour
of <b><i><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/urban-south-coop39d-up-farmhouse-ale/415532/" target="_blank">Coop’d Up</a></i></b> from <b>Urban South</b>, a
refreshingly tart farmhouse ale with a beautiful peachy flavour and a slightly
salty finish. <b>Wayward Owl</b>’s <b><i><a href="https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/wayward-owl-family-tree-kristallweizen/492536/" target="_blank">Family Tree</a></i></b> is a kristallweizen – not normally a style I gravitate towards
because I prefer the fuller, mealy body of its yeastier relative, the
hefeweizen. Well, not in a humid jazz venue I don’t; the crisp, lager-like
quality really hit the spot, whilst the rhubard, banana and clove flavours I
love in German wheat beers were there in spades.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The visibility of good beer in New Orleans demonstrates, I
think, at least part of what people are getting at when they say beer culture
in the UK is “behind” that of the US. There’s plenty here to satisfy nerds like
myself; but equally, there is a mainstream understanding and appreciation of
craft beer here I don’t think yet exists at home. I like it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-74308700427200392792018-03-01T22:58:00.000-08:002018-03-02T10:05:21.393-08:00The free state of Kemptown<br />
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<i>The following is my contribution to <a href="https://barrelagedleeds.wordpress.com/2018/02/15/the-session-133-announcement-hometown-glories/" target="_blank">The Session #133, hosted by Gareth at Barrel Aged Leeds</a>. This month's theme is 'Hometown Glories'.</i></div>
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The year is 1989, and the Hand in Hand has no roof. Already
120-something years old, the pub is about to enter a new chapter; fermentation
tanks are edging their way down into the cellar. The arrival of this kit marks the
birth of the Hand in Hand as a brewpub.</div>
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Fast forward to 2017, and a fresh delivery of shiny
stainless steel has arrived at the pub. Two new fermentation tanks are being
lowered through a hole in the floor by the front door; leaving the roof intact,
this time only floorboards are lifted. They’ll be returned and carpeted over
again before the pub opens. Temperature controlled and able to contain the
pressure demanded of beer destined for a keg, these tanks reflect the ambitions
of Jack Tavaré, brewer at Hand Brew Co., the brand now operating out of the
Hand.</div>
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Modern tanks aside, the basic brew kit is the same one that
was installed those 28 years ago by then-landlord Bev Robbins, though the brews
that comes out of it are very different. “The beers were awful apparently,”
says Jack. “It was always the same base recipe and then when they were filling
casks, the landlord just used to put different stuff in it to make it a
different beer. I think there was one with… it wasn’t gravy brownings but it
was something like that. Some kind of brown, food-based thing.” Another, dyed
with red food colouring, was given the name Dragon’s Blood – an advertisement
for it is still painted on the side of the building, but something tells me
Jack won’t be reviving the recipe.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bBE3aHvEH6I/WphUegcV9RI/AAAAAAAAA50/SKLuriKfWUoA51herZIwZ2GE6ox3O8ZLwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_9163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bBE3aHvEH6I/WphUegcV9RI/AAAAAAAAA50/SKLuriKfWUoA51herZIwZ2GE6ox3O8ZLwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_9163.JPG" width="426" /></a></div>
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Crammed into a cramped, higgledy-piggledy space behind the
scenes, the kit works on the principle of a traditional tower brewery. Rather
than pumps, the flow process is propelled by gravity. The hot liquor tank and
mash tun are on the second floor, and the wort flows down into the kettle on the
level below. Once it’s boiled for an hour and hops are added, it’s transferred
through a pipe, passing a heat exchanger on its way through the bar and into
the fermenters in the cellar.</div>
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“We do actually use a couple of pumps now,” Jack laughs,
“we’ve modernised”. He’s made small improvements here and there, like installing
a manway on the kettle; previously, the only way to add hops was to drop them
through a tiny hole which also released steam. “So far we don’t have a
chimney,” he explains, “so when it’s boiling, steam just billows into this
room. But that was the only hole I had, so when I was adding hops I had this
steam blowing, hops going everywhere…”<br />
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Many of the old kit’s quirks remain, however, requiring some
creative thinking. For example, Jack sets his hot liquor tank to around 92
degrees. “Normally you’d want your liquor around 77 degrees, depending on what
you want your mash to be,” he tells me. “But below the element I get this pocket of
cold liquor." Because the contents of the hot liquor tank can't be mixed, "I have to overheat the top part so that when that’s mixed with
the bottom part and transferred into the mash tun, it will equal 77. You have
to work around it.”</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KXJ5pFYIUKg/WphTZWnxCvI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/BVgtP-aWkG8jmHDIbrv6xoa44IU1OMgEgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_9191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1600" height="358" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KXJ5pFYIUKg/WphTZWnxCvI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/BVgtP-aWkG8jmHDIbrv6xoa44IU1OMgEgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_9191.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bev and Brenda Robbins</td></tr>
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Hand Brew Co. has been the house brand since August 2016.
Since the initial installation, the brewery has been almost constantly used,
with only short spells of inactivity. Bev ran the pub with his wife Brenda until
he passed away in 2006. He brewed under the brand Kemptown Brewery, reviving
the name of a <a href="http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Kemp_Town_Brewery_Ltd" target="_blank">historic brewery</a> that operated in this part of Brighton until the mid-1960s. “I
think the way he got round it was by making ‘Kemptown Brewery Co. Est. 1989’
the full legal name,” Jack says. The kit was then used sporadically until it
was taken over by Gary Sillence. He maintained the Kemptown name whilst using
any spare capacity for his own brand, <a href="http://www.brightonbier.com/" target="_blank">Brighton Bier</a>, now a much larger
operation based in a unit just down the road.</div>
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Around the time Gary left, the pub was taken on by its
current owners, Jen and Clark, leaving the brewery temporarily empty with the
intention of starting brewing again once they’d found their feet. Jack was then
operating a small brewery, Beercraft, from a pilot kit at the <a href="https://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-watchmakers-arms.html" target="_blank">Watchmaker’s Arms micropub in Hove</a>, whilst working bar shifts at the Hand. “I was working behind
the bar here and we got chatting about the brewery. I said “I think I should do
it!””, Jack tells me. As Hand Brew Co. grew, he had less and less time to
dedicate to Beercraft, and took the decision to merge the two companies. He
hopes to move the small pilot kit up to Kemptown for trial recipes.</div>
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And the beers? Well, they’re excellent, reflecting an
obviously meticulous attention to detail despite the equipment’s vagaries. I loved
<b>Hans</b>, a clean and bitter pilsner. This gets the full lagering treatment,
spending a generous eight weeks in the tanks, currently tying up a large
percentage of the brewery’s capacity but absolutely worth it. <b>Ayyyy</b>, a US
breakfast stout is just as impressive; brewed with lots of oats for a decadent
creamy texture, its richness is rounded out by cocoa nibs and beans from Hove’s
wonderful coffee roasters, <a href="http://www.pharmacie.coffee/" target="_blank">Pharmacie</a>. Aside from these, the current focus is on
dry-hopped pale ales, though Jack has ambitions to move into Belgian styles.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LxhEJOC65tY/WphUmSncFCI/AAAAAAAAA54/iqOJzLECBSkuSHUvkRLpGCxg4lquFWSQwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_9188.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="899" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LxhEJOC65tY/WphUmSncFCI/AAAAAAAAA54/iqOJzLECBSkuSHUvkRLpGCxg4lquFWSQwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_9188.JPG" width="358" /></a></div>
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Initially, the beer brewed on the premises was exclusively
sold here. Around 75% of the Hand beers are sold on the premises, but the
remaining casks and kegs are sent to various bars around Brighton and the
surrounding area. So whilst you don’t have to visit the Hand in Hand to try
them, you really should. It’s small and well worn-in in the best way, walls
covered with breweriana and ceiling beams decorated with a collection of ties
snipped from the necks of punters by former landlady Brenda as a reminder that
they were no longer at work. On my afternoon visit, there’s a warm community
spirit to the place; regulars pop in for tea served in dimpled half-pint mugs
as well as stemmed glasses of beer. It’s one of Brighton’s most characterful
pubs.</div>
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Above the door hangs a sign that reads ‘you are now entering
the free state of Kemptown’. I like the sentiment, but wondered if it had any
further significance. “I really don’t know,” says Jen, landlady and director. “I
think it just meant “anything goes” as its Kemptown and bonkers!?” And as such,
it sums up why the Hand in Hand is such a wonderful place.</div>
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<i>My sincere thanks to Jack and Jen for their hospitality. In the interests of disclosure, I'll point out that they refused to let me pay for my beers.</i>Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-2672377730276035172018-02-05T12:22:00.000-08:002018-02-07T08:54:00.495-08:00Two schooners of black saison and a portion of kimchi fries please<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last week, I received an exciting package. Contained within was the first freebie I have accepted (alright, the first I've been offered) in association with this blog. And I wasn't offered it, actually - I specifically asked after I was sent an intriguing press release. The contents of that package were three large bags of crisps, sent to me by a PR company on behalf of Walkers. </div>
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What caught my eye was the suggestion that these crisps - three flavours under the <a href="https://www.walkers.co.uk/crisps-range/max-strong" target="_blank">Walkers Max Strong</a> brand - have been designed specifically to pair with beer. The email reads as follows;</div>
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<i>"Walkers has specifically designed its new range to be a strong, spicy accompaniment to a refreshing pint; so whether you're enjoying a craft ale, a pint of pilsner or a can of cold lager - Walkers Max Strong has you covered."</i></div>
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We could pick that apart, but that's not my intention. I'm mainly interested in the idea that Walkers <i>needs</i> to pointedly market their crisps as an accompaniment to beer.</div>
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Beer and crisps belong together. They just <i>do</i>. In this sense, the suggestion of pairing crisps with beer seems an odd thing to hang a marketing campaign around. I can't image a biscuit manufacturer emblazoning the words 'try me with a cup of tea!' across their packaging, though it would be a similarly obvious, common sense, <i>automatic</i> association to make. Pubs sell crisps, and if you're ever peckish in a pub, you're likely to buy a packet without a second thought.</div>
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So what might this branding exercise tell us about the state of beer and potato snacks in 2018? Well, perhaps that an increasing interest in the artisanal credentials of the beer we're drinking might extend to the way we snack. Pubs and bars that sell beer from small, like-minded breweries might well extend that principle to the rest of their offering, crisps included. If a craft beer bar sells crisps at all, you might find the words 'hand-cooked' on the packet; cheese and onion crisps that proudly name the specific cheddar in their recipe. Whether Walkers (part of the Pepsi conglomerate) actually feel the loss of this relatively small corner of the market I don't know, but the launch of the Walkers Max Strong brand <i>does</i> suggest that they might want a piece of it.</div>
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But, perhaps most importantly, I wanted to know how well they <i>actually</i> went with beer. Sadly, I'll never know the answer when it comes to the Jalapeno & Cheese flavour, since they contain rennet and so are not suitable for vegetarians. At least I appreciate the clear labelling me to tell me so. Oddly, the Hot Chicken Wings flavour <i>are</i>, as are Chilli & Lime. </div>
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Alarm bells rang immediately at the focus on chilli heat - the crisps are labelled for their fieriness on a scale ranging from medium to extra hot. Beer (lager, at least) is often thrown at spicy food arbitrarily, presumably because it's served cold and chilli is hot, and perhaps because both constituent parts are generally thought to be good for the soul. Once a significant hop profile is involved, this pairing generally falters, with fiery chilli either obliterating the subtleties of the beer or, even worse, the beer's bitterness accentuating the scoville effect rather than calming it.</div>
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My road-test involved nothing more scientific that munching on a small handful of each flavour whilst drinking whatever happened to be in my fridge over the course of a weekend. The chilli and lime flavour is merely medium on the heat scale, but plenty hot by my standards. The citrus element gives a bit of zingy life to the peppery paprika depth. <b>Brasserie de la Senne</b>'s <b><a href="http://brasseriedelasenne.be/?portfolio=zinnebir&lang=en" target="_blank">Zinnebir</a></b> was a surprisingly good companion here; though significantly bitter in a grassy, European way, if anything the beer tames the heat a little. The pairing doesn't particularly add anything to either the beer or the crisps, but they get along well enough. <b>Burning Sky</b>'s <b><a href="https://untappd.com/b/burning-sky-brewery-grisette/2489364" target="_blank">Grisette</a></b> didn't fare so well; it's a delicate beer with floral and herbal notes from additions of marigold and chamomile, with a gentle lemon note and a peppery finish. The heat in the crisps treads all over it, and I might as well have washed them down with a glass of sparkling water. <b><a href="http://www.browar-amber.pl/en/products/grand/" target="_blank">Grand Imperial Porter</a></b>, from Poland's <b>Browar Amber</b> went the other way, the big beer wiping out the lime and curry-like spicing of the crisps but gelling surprisingly well with the lingering heat for a kind of chilli and chocolate sensation.</div>
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I expected the spicy seasoning would be the dominant flavour in the Hot Chicken Wings crisps, but they taste very much like I remember roast chicken tasting (or, at least, they taste like existing roast chicken flavour crisps). The heat comes late but is fairly intense, reminding you that you've gone up a notch on the fiery scale as it pokes at the tongue and perhaps leaves a slight sting on the lips. Again, <b>Zinnebir</b> stood up to the plate, holding its own against the fire. The <b>Grisette</b> didn't have a chance - it's delicious, by the way, in other circumstances. The umami meatiness didn't gel with the <b>Grand Imperial Porter</b>, sitting uncomfortably alongside the beer's desert-like richness. One better suited to the 'cold can of lager' end of the spectrum, I think.</div>
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The trouble is, I think, that I thought too hard about all this. We don't <i>need</i> to think about what crisps we chomp on in the pub. The correct beer and crisp pairing is, within reason, any beer with any crisps. Because it just <i>is</i>.</div>
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Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-72801012338742426232017-12-31T12:33:00.002-08:002017-12-31T12:33:43.681-08:0012 Beers of Christmas - Day Twelve - Burning Sky Trafalgar Wines Celebratory StoutI've already written and deleted several paragraphs in which I try to summarise a tumultuous 2017, each time concluding that nobody a) needs to know or b) really cares. Suffice to say, I'm not really into New Year's Eve, but this one does have some significance. Not enough to prompt me to <i>do</i> anything other than sit drinking beer on my Grandma's sofa, but still.<br />
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One significant thing about the dawn of 2018 is that it roughly marks the third year anniversary of this blog. The past two years have been busy, and I haven't posted as much as I'd like. In the meantime, it's seemingly become a beer and travel blog, which wasn't my initial intention but I'll take it. And, out of character as it may be to say it, I'm very proud of much of what I have posted. So it meant a lot to hear my name called for the Silver award in the Young Beer Writer category at this year's British Guild of Beer Writer's Awards ceremony. I think this picture sums up my feelings pretty well (that's me on the left).<br />
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That goofy grin stayed glued to my face until the last train back to Brighton, when I plugged in my headphones, tied my scarf around my eyes to block out the harsh light and caught some much needed sleep. (Incidentally, another big congratulations to <a href="https://www.beesononbeer.co.uk/">James Beeson</a>, who deservedly took home the Gold prize). So, amongst all the uncertainty and loss, there's been plenty in this past year to celebrate. Which calls for a celebratory beer.<br />
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I haven't posted a <a href="http://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/golden-pints-2016.html">Golden Pints</a> round-up for this year. One of the reasons for this is the realisation that I wanted to nominate the same names in the same categories as last year, and/or the year before, to the point where it seemed ridiculous writing it all out again. My favourite brewery of 2017, for example, is <a href="https://www.burningskybeer.com/">Burning Sky</a>, just as it was last year. And my favourite bottle shop <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Always_Was,_Is_and_Always_Shall_Be#/media/File:Ggallinfirstalbum.jpg" target="_blank">always was, is, and always shall be</a> <a href="http://www.trafalgarwines.co.uk/">Trafalgar Wines</a>. To put my puny blog's anniversary into perspective, Steve is celebrating a staggering 35 years in the business. And for that, he got a very special beer, which he was kind enough to gift to me and other loyal customers to share the love.<br />
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<b>Day Twelve - Burning Sky Trafalgar Wines Celebratory Stout (UK, 8.5%)</b></div>
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Even at arm's length whilst I poured, a huge aroma of coffee, dark sugar and clementine hit me, and I knew I was in for a treat. On the first sip, the bourbon barrel in which the beer aged is clearly doing a lot of heavy lifting. Often that means vanilla and booze, which is great, but the bourbon character here is far more <i>interesting</i> than that. It's very woody, with notes of pithy clementine and sweet cherry. </div>
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I can't be sure if there's something just a <i>tiny</i> bit tart in there, or whether that's the power of suggestion because the only other beers I associate with such a strong oak character are lambics. There's certainly plenty of smooth chocolate in there to temper if, if it is there. A gentle booze warmth emerges the more I drink, which happens a little quicker than it probably should due to both its deliciousness and an appropriately minimal level of carbonation - nobody wants fizzy imperial stout, do they?</div>
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Another triumph for Burning Sky, and a fitting tribute to Brighton's best booze merchant. Happy new year, one and all!</div>
Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-6583797433917562802017-12-30T12:38:00.002-08:002017-12-31T01:42:21.004-08:0012 Beers of Christmas - Day Eleven - Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PmUsReB-v3E/Wkf2SmFgtsI/AAAAAAAAA38/tvpJobrKc-Y6Vo4BTRv1STYbzto94uaEACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3080.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PmUsReB-v3E/Wkf2SmFgtsI/AAAAAAAAA38/tvpJobrKc-Y6Vo4BTRv1STYbzto94uaEACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_3080.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<b>Day Eleven - Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva (Belgium, 10%)</b></div>
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De Struise have a reputation as agitators, producing beer that tests the boundaries of traditional Belgian styles, and sometimes exists pretty firmly outside them. Pannepot, as strong beer by my standards, is one of their tamer offerings. This vintage edition further ages that beer on oak. The beer itself was bottled in 2016, which suggests a lengthy ageing process. And although the label doesn't tell us where this oak comes from, my guess based on the aroma would be sherry casks. </div>
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If I'm wrong, then it's a huge coincidence that this tastes so strongly of sharp sherry. You could be fooled into thinking someone had poured a nip of sherry into the glass when you weren't looking. It verges on over-the-top, especially on the first couple of sips, but after a while I got used to it. More sweetness comes out as it warms, which balances the puckering, tannic quality somewhat. Tht sherry tartness recalls sour cherries, and with plenty of bitter chocolate, coffee roast and currants, it's not a one-note beer.</div>
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While it's certainly demanding - not an easy-drinker by any means - it never drinks anything like its ABV. Probably worth the five year wait, then.</div>
Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-68424764312448359362017-12-29T14:31:00.000-08:002017-12-29T14:31:09.482-08:0012 Beers of Christmas - Day Ten - De Dolle Stille Nacht<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Day Ten - De Dolle Brouwers Stille Nacht (Belgium, 12%)</b><br />
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This being the only yuletide-themed beer in my 12 Beers line-up, I should probably have drunk Stille Nacht before the big day. Luckily, it has a lot to offer beyond festive gimmicks, and not a pinch of cinnamon in sight!<br />
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A healthily lively pour, it's thankfully easier to wrangle into a glass than <a href="http://thefatalglassofbeer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/12-beers-of-christmas-day-eleven-de.html" target="_blank">some other De Dolle beers I've encountered</a>. Even before lifting the glass to my nose, there's a strong aroma of honey and sweet orange, but the first gulp surprises with a resinous bitterness. I wasn't expecting that, although bitterness is a noted characteristic in many De Dolle offerings, and it's especially notable in a beer that was bottled over a year ago. The sharp citrus quality, along with a tingling carbonation, adds a lightness to the syrupy Madeira booze underneath.<br />
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On the strength of this bottle, I should make Stille Nacht a Christmas staple.Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478218311383402505.post-16721227311255728102017-12-29T13:03:00.000-08:002017-12-29T13:03:19.952-08:0012 Beers of Christmas - Day Nine - Westvleteren 12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Day Nine - Westvleteren 12 (Belgium, 10.2%)</b></div>
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Westvleteren 12 is probably the ultimate “saving it for a
special occasion” beer. Often referred to as the best beer in the world (as if
there’s any such thing), I’ve often thought I need a pretty good reason to
drink the bottles in my possession. I also told myself I should age them for at
least two years before cracking the cap. Well, the post-Christmas lull seems as
good a reason as any to me now, and this was bottled at the end of March 2015.
No excuses; just open the bloody thing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s a bad start, as despite careful pouring, my glass is
full of enormous chunks of sediment. They look like fat suspended in gravy, and
I find it massively off-putting even if it’s unlikely to have much impact on
the flavour. And actually, I soon forget it, because that flavour really is <i>very </i>good. Initially it’s very sweet,
with notes of caramel and cola, and also strikingly boozy, leaving a warm
feeling in the chest like a nip of brandy. Keep drinking, though, and these
qualities are rounded out by smooth but bitter chocolate and dried fruit, figs
and plums. The depth of flavour is massive, but in fact, it’s quite easy
drinking; after that first initial shock of alcohol, it doesn’t really drink
its strength.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Best beer in the world? I wouldn’t think so on a sticky
summer evening. I probably wouldn’t even think so if I was drinking it in the pub with my
friends. But right now, on a chilly winter evening where I have the time to
really ponder it, it’s pretty much the best beer I could have in my glass.<o:p></o:p></div>
Joe Tindallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07813216049234374256noreply@blogger.com0