BEERS #2 - Beyond the Pale

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It was trying Pale Rider at a Wetherspoon down south after years of drinking it in the Fat/Devonshire Cat that made me realise how little of cask beer is decided at the point it leaves the brewery.

Quite right, there's a Czech proverb about how beer is 'brewed at the brewery but made at the pub'. You're looking after a living thing. I was speaking with a pub landlord at a village near Settle in December and while he was in many ways a knobhead he described the handpulled ales as his babies and each of them I tried was absolutely spot on (Thwaites, so nothing exciting).

[phes]

This is something that was often cited by craft breweries as a contributing factor to reducing or stopping production of cask beer. How frequently they would find their beer poorly conditioned or being served past its best. And it's understandable, the number of pubs out there that don't have the skills means growing and reaching other demographics while meeting your own expectations is difficult.

[ConscriptedJelly]

You guys ever buy some tins of lager and it ends up tasting metallic? even though its a brand you regularly buy?

[Ferris]

Yeah but I was snorting a lot of mercury at the time.

Jokes aside - it's probably oxidation. A can has been dinged and caused a tiny air leak in the seal which has allowed the beer to develop off flavours (usually described as "cardboard/sherry" type aromas, but every time I've come across it, I'd call it a rusty/metallic type of flavour).

As far as I'm aware it's totally fine to drink, just tastes a bit shit because some donkey dropped a pallet of it in the warehouse.

[phes]

or you're having a stroke

[Norton Canes]

Had a Tegernseer Spezial the other night, really creamy and buttery for something so light (yes I'm useless at describing tastes), good stuff.

Also, went to the local brewery Friday night where they had some Omnipollo beers on tap. Not a brewer I'm familiar with - they're Swedish but they seem to brew a lot of beers (and I mean a lot of beers) in conjunction with other breweries. Picked their Double Maz off the pub's app menu only to be told half a pint was a cool 7 (seven) pounds. Which seemed steep, even for 8.5%. Bar owner told me that was down to import costs, and also that people had been flocking to his place from all over when they realised they had Omnipollo brews on tap. In fact one guy had flown up all the way from Cornwall just to get some. So I took a punt, and... yeah, it was nice - really thick, cloudy amber, lots of depth. Drew a line at their Anagram Blueberry Cheesecake Imperial Stout though.   

[phes]

Omnipollo are most famous here for their pudding stouts. They have never been cheap to buy here, but have (had, it's been a while) always been a benchmark at what they do. The beers range from from not cheap to eye wateringly expensive. The beer that I recall really taking off here was the Yellow Belly brewed with Buxton.   

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Morrisons have an pecan mud cake imperial stout from Omnipollo, 330ml bottle for £8 which is a pisstake really.  That's bottleshop prices. The only point of buying beer from a supermarket is that it is extremely good value due to economies of scale.

[Norton Canes]

Hmm. Might get a t-shirt made up for visits to craft bars:

DO I LOOK LIKE I WANT A PUDDING STOUT?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Ah yes, I tried the new Rochefort Tripel for the first time yesterday.

Loads of sediment swirling around. Very orangey with some spicey/herbaceous notes. Relatively easy drinking too, albeit it is 8.1% Much different to the likes of Chimay Tripel which is hoppy, sherberty creamy, or Westmalle Tripel which is close to the benchmark for the style.

I'm surprised Rochefort settled on it. All their other beers have unique character and aren't sold on the basis of a label description. If you want a beer very much like Rochefort 8 for example, tough, there isn't one. This feels like they have sullied the brand a little bit, even breaking the spell.

[phes]

I've been wondering if the explosion of pudding stouts coincided with the pandemic. It's makes a lot more sense to brew drinks that have a much longer shelf life with potential disruption to supply chains and outlets. I saw a bar in Birmingham reopened after lockdown with an 'imperial stout fest', which will be the only kegs they weren't forced to flog cheap or give away.

[thelittlemango]

Omnipollo are great, but as mentioned, very expensive here. That's actually quite an authentic part of the Swedish experience though, I've been to their taproom/bar in Stockholm a bunch of times and love it, every beer I've tried has been excellent, but they're also all about £8 for 2/3 (as is standard in most places in Stockholm unless you drink 'Big Strong', which is pretty much Carlsberg).

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I noticed Amsterdam quite similar, stuff like a pint of Heineken for €5.5 euros or a bottle of Trappist for €6. Hmm yeah, just let me mull that over.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/blog/2021/6/30/the-landscapes-of-lager-utopian-brewing-in-devon-england

Great article about Utopian Brewing, a rare (for the UK) lager specialist brewery from Devon that make classical central European lagers with nearly 100% British ingredients.

[phes]

Fascinating to read that they feel fine details in the process is perhaps more important in achieving authenticity than fine details in the ingredients.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Occasionally enjoy Hobgoblin beers but their IPA on keg is some genuinely bad, bad brewing that speaks of trying to straddle two different audiences rather than actually trying to brew a good beer.

Fresh, but that's it. Slurry-like ice cold keg ale with a pile of hops heaped on top of it with no thought to integration or balance. Embarrassingly piss poor.

Why am I drinking this? Because I'm in rural Devon and that was the only available ale.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

That was such a fucking disaster of a beer it's really made me appreciate this Jail Ale at the pub next door, a silky smooth cask conditioned brown bitter with some woody dryness in the finish.

This wouldn't normally invite superlatives but that total wank earlier brought into focus that good cask is magic evolving stuff that is a genuine art to both brew and keep well. Fucking pleasure to drink this, won't take it for granted.

[phes]

Been on the cask dissolution at the bridge, watching the swifts bank and trains slide by

[king_tubby]

Plague Pub!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Finally got round to visiting the new bar PIVO on Old st, London. Those living nearby should give it a try. Venue itself isn't dramatic though it is still new and comfortable, but the sidepull poured specialist Czech lager is well worth trying.

Unetice 12°, Albrecht 11°, Kutna Hora 12°, Kanec polotmavy, Cvikov Sklar 8°, Jarosovsky 13° on tap today along with several others.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Tfw there's a bottle of Mahrs aU chillin' in the fridge for later.

[Paul Calf]

On the strength of a recommendation in this thread, a recent case I bought included six Mahrs aU and it was a fantastic decision.

[DrGreggles]

Popping to Beers of Europe this afternoon.
The shop is open again!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Decided to have a Humbser Biere (not sure why the French e is there, it is from near Furth in Germany).



Unfiltered helles. This is bloody lovely, much more interesting than I thought it might be. It is a little spicy, almost cloves, biscuity, a little floral like a kellerbier, and crisp like a helles but with a fuller thicker texture. The balance is what makes it a great beer, it leaves you moments to dwell on and enjoy while remaining a full on all-day-cuntable bier.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Mahrs time.

Oh yes

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

https://m.faz.net/aktuell/stil/essen-trinken/getraenke/neue-interview-reihe-drei-biere-im-gespraech-17404245.amp.html

Some good beer tasting, covering Westvleteren XII, Spezial Rauchbier and Boon Mariage Parfait Geuze.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

My review of Kossel Brau Mariahilfer Halbdunkel Vollbier is as follows:

Shit me that's good

[purlieu]

Yes, been a favourite of mine for ages, the Mariahilfer. Kössel's range is generally excellent (although their hefeweizen is very light and fruity and not to my taste), the halbdunkel is only second to the Mariator Weizenbock, which is one of the Best Beers.

[Smeraldina Rima]

Decided to have a Humbser Biere (not sure why the French e is there, it is from near Furth in Germany).

It's an often unused German plural.



"Since 1746 the Humbser beers from Fürth have been known for their good quality." So you had a Humbser Bier from the Humbser Biere brewery.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Danke schon