BEERS #2 - Beyond the Pale

[Crenners]

Yeah, Verdant and DEYA and so on are comfortably £6.50 on the reg.

[Ferris]

Fucking hell I need to start a brewery in the UK.

There seems to be a hesitancy at the $5 per can mark here, it's rare to see a beer go past that and they're typically in the $4 range (~2.50 gbp) and local pale ales are pretty good. Maybe those UK ones are better but that's a lot to spend in order to find out.

[shoulders]

Yeah, paying through the arse here, I'm afraid. It is more of a bar than bottleshop these days but Brownhill & Co in Leeds even sells German lagers for takeout at near bar prices (£4+).

Conversely, traditional real ale has kept a lid on the price rises, possibly as it has a much more price sensitive audience.

[chutnut]

Unfortunately that does seem to be pretty common, thankfully they're mostly beers I have no interest in.

I wish I could find somewhere like Raynville or Trembling Madness around Bristol. There's a few that have a limited selection of German/Belgian beers but they always seem to have the same things in and never anything that exciting. Sainsburys has started stocking Schneider Weisse and Weihenstephaner though, and the Co op round the corner sells ABK so at least I can get an average hell lager pretty easily

[shoulders]

It might not suit your wallet or home drinking regime but those guys and Beers of Europe near Norwich do free delivery so long as you get a batch load in.

Will power after that though, which is difficult.

Personally I find if there's around 6 or 7 in the house they'll go in 3-5 days but if I cover the spare room in beer I'll calm down and take it steady.

[shoulders]

Just having a Brugse Zot blond inspired after the chat upthread about it.

On tap, so smoother. I can appreciate the feedback on this one as there is a elevated phenolic thing to it.

However I generally associate that flavour with the style. If I'm having a Belgian blonde I quite desire a creamy, slightly wheaty, bittersweet, verging on sickly beverage. Hint of verdant herb garden about it too.

Over the course of the drink you get a golden glow build up (especially when they pour you a 0.33 instead of 0.275 and so you get a bottle worth for £3.90). Not beginner level like Leffe, but pretty mid-range Blond, I'd say.

The Untappd rating is 3.67 which just shows quite what a boost you get when you're a well promoted brewery of recent fashion. I think that's a fair rating but I also look at what Untappd rates amazing Czech lagers and want to punch walls through.

[Psybro]

I'm trying a New England-style TIPA for the first time on an expired can that was half price at £3.79 and a bit bemused how much technical expertise and different hop varieties have gone into producing mildly carbonated pineapple juice.

[Ferris]

That style of beer is so difficult to get right, it is very easy to devolve into mulch and nothing. Unlike a lot of styles that improve (or at least, stay stable) with age, a lot of hop aromas fade in a week or two so if you have something that relies on beta acids and aromas then it's very easy to go wrong if you're not sure what you're doing. Uh oh, a bad beer.

...but cost of all those hops (when brewing I'll spend more on 150g of hops than on 6kg of malted grain) means no brewery wants to brew something they can't sell so if it's not great, well fuck it stick it out at a discount because we've got to make some of that back somehow.

I'm convinced that's why crappy IPAs abound.

[phes]

Just don't ever buy expired NEIPA. Triple NEIPA is borderline undrinkable when it's fresh

[chutnut]

Seems like I was unknowingly drinking the 2nd best beer of 2021 last night
https://untappd.com/blog/the-top-10-beers-of-2021/1391

[Crenners]

Yessss crushing it.

[chutnut]

It might not suit your wallet or home drinking regime but those guys and Beers of Europe near Norwich do free delivery so long as you get a batch load in.

Will power after that though, which is difficult.

Personally I find if there's around 6 or 7 in the house they'll go in 3-5 days but if I cover the spare room in beer I'll calm down and take it steady.

I have actually used Beers of Europe once a couple of years ago, but I normally find Trembling Madness has the best balance of value and selection.
I've been putting an order in about once a month for a while now but I don't really want to be spending that much so regularly (and I'm starting to get through them quicker and quicker each time), I just want somewhere I can pop to every few weeks to get something decent

[purlieu]

Yeah, I remember having a TNEIPA and thinking "this is quite a nice vodka and pineapple, but it's not really what I want from a beer."

[Psybro]

Yeah, I remember having a TNEIPA and thinking "this is quite a nice vodka and pineapple, but it's not really what I want from a beer."

It's a bit like the hyper-realistic vegan meat substitutes to me. Can be very nice, but still seems fundamentally odd to spend a lot of money on a 10% beer masquerading as a tropical smoothie when one or the other of the real thing will do just as well.

Titanic Plum Porter tastes of both beer and plums without either element being sacrificed. A lot of micro brews now feel like somebody patiently explaining something I don't understand to me, at length. I just smile and nod and pay £5 for a half.

[purlieu]

Hmmm, I don't think many people buy NEIPAs out of an idealogical refusal to buy tropical fruit drinks, to be fair.

I do enjoy a NEIPA once in a while when I fancy something alcoholic but fruity and refreshing, but even then it has to have a reasonably hop bite to remind me what I'm drinking.

[phes]

Deya's steady rolling man hits that sweet spot. Somewhere in between an NEIPA and PA, tropical but crisp and refreshing with light pine and bitterness. Abv of 5.2 is perfect to give it a bite without being boozey. Plus it's a core beer and has been for 5 years.   

[the Fallen]

Radler then

a crate for xmas. Self-xmas: I'll have to drink twice the amount, but as the main obstacle to that is resources, that obstacle has been just about vaulted

[thelittlemango]

Unfortunately that does seem to be pretty common, thankfully they're mostly beers I have no interest in.

I wish I could find somewhere like Raynville or Trembling Madness around Bristol. There's a few that have a limited selection of German/Belgian beers but they always seem to have the same things in and never anything that exciting. Sainsburys has started stocking Schneider Weisse and Weihenstephaner though, and the Co op round the corner sells ABK so at least I can get an average hell lager pretty easily

Bottles and Books on Gloucester Road has a decent selection:

https://bottles-and-books.myshopify.com/collections/craft-beer/belgian

They also run the Sidney and Eden bar nearby which is worth a visit.

[Ferris]

So I've got that covid they have now but it hasn't been too bad; mild flu for a couple of days last week and a bit tired, but my symptoms are fully gone and I'm just waiting for my quarantine to end. Monday I had a weird sensation of my tongue registering... metallic? Oily sort of? Very unusual but whatever.

Anyway, had a beer for first time in a week (a pale ale I know and quite like) and it tastes rank. Like, properly horrible - watered down old orange juice and undrinkably bitter. The bitterness is sharp and all through my mouth in a way that's really jarring and unexpected. Tipped it away.

I know I know "ha ha that's what all IPAs taste like ha ha" but yeah seems like my palate has been fully rewired. Writing it out here because I can't think of anyone else who'd give a shit.

If you wanna stay a true Framconia 4 lyfe beer-o-phile then you should avoid this microscopic widow-maker because your palate might be on the line.

[Norton Canes]

Yeah had it back in September, only felt bad for a couple of days (thanks, AZ!) but sense of taste and smell was shot for a week or so during which time beer might as well have been lighter fluid. Back to normal soon enough tho'.

[Norton Canes]

Anyway was given these for Christmas, always nice to get beers I've not had before



Drank the Hallendorfer Winterweizen last night, lovely stuff, darker and cloudier than I expected, very... hazlenut.

[Crenners]

I've had that Winterweizen and really enjoyed it, too. I love how versatile wheat beer is in marrying different styles.

[purlieu]

Ah yes, that's a great one. Those amber hefeweizens are always beautiful. The Mariahilfer Erleichterung hell is a beautiful helles, a bit hoppier than the style normally is but done brilliantly.

[shoulders]

Thanks to Xmas presents it has been a really trad deluxe Belgiany evening, so Bernardus and Caroulus Christmas beers then Chimay Tripel.

I find some Belgian beers I have now a little disappointing to return to but not those 3 to be fair.

My partner had Troubadour Obscura too. Ridiculously good beer.

[thelittlemango]

Anyone get any absolute shockers from family members who think "they likes beer, I'll get some of that"? I've had a rancid red ale today that I was close to pouring down the sink.

[Ferris]

Nothing terrible, but my palate seems to have returned. Had another one of the IPAs I chucked away last week and still tasted slightly odd, but basically fine. So there you go.

[king_tubby]

Anyone get any absolute shockers from family members who think "they likes beer, I'll get some of that"? I've had a rancid red ale today that I was close to pouring down the sink.

I took my own beers to my mum and dad's for Xmas, because whilst I appreciate their decision to shop at a local brewery based in a unique eight sailed windmill, I've tried that beer and it's mostly awful.

[shoulders]

I got a set from Rebellion Brewery in Marlow, Bucks from an Aunt and Uncle one year and although it was local to them and new for me that was a classic example of a pre-craft movement ale brewery getting away with some shocking produce purely on account of novelty factor. Might have survived in the 90s but everything had a whiff of fuggles and farts. The Blonde Ale I could have poured away given the level of enjoyment on offer. Perhaps they are better on cask, I bloody hope so.

One time I got a beers of the world box set picked up from Netto or Iceland from my boss, which contained Stella Artois, Holsten Pils, Becks and Fosters. Had to laugh. You can tell who the people who put that box together are hoping to rinse.

[chutnut]

Bottles and Books on Gloucester Road has a decent selection:

https://bottles-and-books.myshopify.com/collections/craft-beer/belgian

They also run the Sidney and Eden bar nearby which is worth a visit.

Cheers that does have a few things the other places I've been going to don't, so I'll definitely give it a visit at some point. It's still a pretty limited selection compared to the big bois up north though.

I'm off here next weekend which has a pretty mad amount of stuff on the menu
https://www.theoldbookshopbristol.com/

[jobotic]

Got bought a Delriums Noel pack for Xmas. 10% ruby ale? I'm really not going to like that. I don't like their silly name either. Ha ha alcholism.

Looking forward to my bottle of Viru that I bought at a trendy offy weeks ago more.