3 ales from the far north

Three more ales, this time they all hail from north of the border in Scotland.

Atlas Three Sisters, 4.2%

As a result of several takeovers and mergers the Atlas Brewery is now part of Sinclair Breweries with their ales under the Atlas range and brewed at the Orkney Brewery. A malty nose with a hint of berries, malt upfront with maturing underlying berryness and bitterness with a lasting bitter berry taste, too complex for a session beer but definitely one to savour, 7.75/10.

Emma says: ‘Awful’ she declined to comment further.

Traquair Bear Ale, 5.0%

Traquair House Brewery is at Traquair House, dating back to 1107 and is Scotlands oldest inhabited house and as a result has an interesting history which you can read about here. The ale has fruity malt and raisin aromas, the taste has a nutty maltiness with a bitter hop background with a dry bitter finish. A perfectly nice ale just not that memorable, 6.5/10.

Cairngorm Black Gold, 4.4%

Cairngorm brewery was founded in 2001 in Scotland’s ski centre of Aviemore and they have a well regarded range of ales. The Cairngorm Black Gold is a very very opaque dark stout, it has a rich malty smell with hints of caramel and nutes, bitter coffee flavour to start with a developing sweeter almost dark chocolate taste, this is followed by a quite nice coffee taste finish. A good quality stout, 7/10.

Merlyn, Ebulum and Lammas

I've tried three more ales, one good, two a little disappointing.

Great Orme Merlyn, 4.9%

The Great Orme Brewery hails from North Wales and was established in 2005 it has a small range of ales and if they are all as nice as the Merlyn then they’ll do very well indeed. A lovely caramel and chestnut aroma, on the palate there is immediate sweet caramel malt with a building bitterness which never overpowers and an aftertaste which is slightly herbal. Very easy to drink, 7.5/10.

Emma Says: 'chestnuts and almonds smell, sweetchestnut with a bitter finish'

Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale, 6.5%

Brewed by the Williams Brothers Brewery Company from Scotland, elderberry black ale was introduced to Scotland in the 9^th century by Welsh druids, the recipe was apparently taken from a 16^th century record from the Scottish highlands. This pours a dark black, elderflower sweetness offset with malt on the nose, the taste is roasted malts followed by dark fruit notes with a dry herbal finish. For me fruit enthused ales need to have a stronger taste than this, it almost felt a bit like an alcoholic herbal tea, which for some will be a good thing but I’d prefer a stronger flavour, it’s also a little over carbonated, but it’s certainly drinkable and just needs some tweaking, 6.5/10.

1648 Lammas Ale, 4.2%

The 1648 Brewing Company have a huge range of ales listed on their website, Lammas means “Loaf Mass” and celebrates the first wheat harvest of the year, and is a custom brew for the Eastbourne Lammas festival. Lots of orange and general citrus aromas, a generous head which lasts, the taste is a bit of an explosion of grassy bitter and sour notes which then mellows, leaves a lasting floral bitter taste. A little unbalanced for me, and took a long time for me to drink due to its sourness, 5/10.

Some Teasel, a Leviathan and a visit to the Wild West

Gosh I’ve drank three more ales, so here are my reviews of them, unfortunately Emma was not present for two of these so her tasting notes are only available on one of the ales.

Stroud Brewery Teasel, 4.2%

A craft brewery operating out of Stroud in the Cotswolds producing a range of organic and vegan ales, this is the second of their ales after I tried the Budding back in my first ever review. The ingredients list includes black pepper so I was definitely expecting a peppery edge, pours a dark orange with a pepper, honey, orange citrus aroma. On the palate there is a spice, caramel, and toffee with a definite undertone of pepper and a clean finish, really enjoyed this and in my mind superior to the still good Budding, 8/10.

Emma Says: ‘Honey farm smell, toffee caramel taste, but still bitter and horrible’

Hopdaemon Leviathan, 6%

Hopdaemon are a small brewery based in Kent producing ‘Hell raising Kentish Ale’, and I liked the branding on the bottle which is quite a eye-catching design I think. This strong ale is surprisingly easy to drink, spicy malt aromas, not an overpowering body despite its abv, on the palate you get a syrupy malt caramel with a good lingering bitter finish. Very morish and way too easy to drink for the strength of the ale, but for me that is a good thing. 7.5/10.

Nobby’s Wild West, 4.6%

Nobby’s Brewery based in Northamptonshire, are another small brewery producing a range of 6 regular brews and seasonal ales for almost every month of the year. This pours a chestnut brown colour and on the nose has a mild roast caramel aroma. On the palate there is a smooth almost cigar smoke like malt with just the slightest hint of toffee with a pleasant slightly acidic bitter aftertaste, different but nice, 7/10.

All in all 3 very good ales.

A stout, a welsh king, and a National Trust castle

An eclectic range of ales in today's blog...

Titanic Chocolate and Vanilla Stout, 4.5%

Titanic Brewery are a sizeable brewer based in Stoke and produce around 2.3m pints a year. This is their bottled Chocolate and Vanilla Stout, first up I'm a little perplexed about the clear bottle, there are very good reasons for brown bottles which are well documented, so this must be for marketing reasons. The ale itself is pitch black with a tan head, on the nose this is fantastic, rich indulgent chocolate with a lot of vanilla as well, on the palate it was basically bitter with a tiny hint of sweetness, disappointing. Titanic state that they are renowned for their stout on their website, and that may well be true but I fear that may be on keg, they need to sort their bottles out as this was disappointing. 5.5/10

Emma Says: ‘Chocolate orange smell, bitter strong coffee’

Celt Bleddyn 1075, 5.6%

The Celt Experience are an organic brewery based in Wales, a quick note for their bottle design, it just looks really classy and refined and it looks like a lot of thought has gone into their branding. Named after a powerful Welsh king from the 11^th century this is a suitably strong ale 5.6% in the bottle and 7.6% in cask. Pours a deep golden colour with aromas of grapefruit and pineapple, spice and fruit followed by a bitter citrus dry finish, really very nice indeed, would love to try the cask, 8.25/10.

Emma Says: ‘honey and apple blossom smell, bitter and soily, classic soil’

Westerham Scotney, 4.3%

Westerham Brewery are Kent based and produce an interesting array of ales, this one was originally exclusively produced for the National Trust using hops from their Scotney Castle property hence the name. Chestnut brown in colour, slight peach and caramel on the nose, smooth texture, spicy fruit with a medium bitter finish, a good one to finish a session with, 7.25/10.

Three interesting labels

Well my first blog in a week or so as I've been a bit busy, but I've had three ales which I think are trying with their labelling to really attract the ‘trendy’ ale drinker. So this is a blog reviewing three of these ales and also for what it’s worth I'm going to comment on their labelling more than usual.

Flat Cap Ted, 5.0%

First of all there’s been some comment over the blogosphere about Flat Cap beers business model where they are more a purveyor of beers rather than a brewer as they get other breweries to produce it, and their use of the word ‘craft’. Frankly I don’t really care that much, there is a certain appeal to the thought of a small brewer producing great ales independently but if you don’t want to sink cash into a brewery and other breweries have spare capacity it makes sense and as long as the quality of the ale is intact, I do not see why it matters. 

It’s interesting to look at who Flat Cap are aiming this beer at because I’m struggling to understand the label, it’s a pop art style image of a man in a flat cap laughing who’s then described as some kind of spy in the following text;

 ‘Born to Russian immigrant parents TED grafted his way to Cambridge where after achieving a double first in Enigmatology he was recruited by MI5. Caught in a compromising position in the Urals whilst turning the KGB agent ‘goat’, TED’s life took a surreal twist.’

I like the idea of giving the ale a character to give a personality to the beer, so good idea, but the execution is slightly wrong for me as the picture and the text do not marry up, the picture should be more suave to match the image of a spy. When you’re in one of the quite trendy ale emporiums like the Powder Keg, the Dean Swift, or one of the Draft Houses that are springing up all over London, and you are presented with a fridge of different bottled ales or a menu of ales I do not think this design or name is going to stand out and nobody will read the text.

So onto the ale itself, it’s a British Pale Ale with a honey aroma, plenty of toffee and spice with a biscuit malt and a long bitter finish, I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite all the somewhat unusual imagery on the label this ale has traction and is a good base for Flat Cap, 7/10.

Batch 9: The Black Lager, 5.0%

Batch Brew are a new microbrewery based in Winchester, this is their flagship brew and the first one they created, bottle conditioned and pitch black in colour this is almost in the style of Budvar dark rather than a Carling so don’t be put off by the word ‘lager’. The use of lager in the description is interesting and in contrast to the flat cap I think the branding here is very slick both on the label and website. The label is very distinctive and I like giving each ‘Batch’ or different beer a number, they have a Batch 16 (Wheat Beer) and a Batch 18 (Pale Ale) which I have in my cupboard to be reviewed in the future with identical labelling but different colour. I wonder how the number is decided, is it arbitrary? or is it the number of Batches that they are on?

Onto the beer itself, a nice tan head with vanilla/cream malt on the nose, dark roasted malt, quite a lot of fizz and a short dry finish without any real bitterness, really refreshing, 7.25/10.

Emma Says: ‘sweet, pruney with a bitter finish’

Blue Monkey Guerrilla, 4.8%

The Blue Monkey brewery hails from Ilkeston in the Midlands and the name originates from flickering blue flames which used to emerge from the towns industrial furnaces which were known as ‘Blue Monkeys’. The labelling on Blue Monkey beers is again a pop art style image but one which syncs more with the beer than that used by Flat Cap, all Blue Monkey beers have a monkey on them as this is the Guerrilla it has a nice Che Guevara style beret.

The Guerrilla has been awarded several awards including SIBA national stout champion 2010. They describe it as a revolutionary stout and I can see why it has won awards. Rich roast coffee malt on the nose, a stout full of complexity reinforced with a strong but not overpowering bitter finish, excellent, 8/10

Emma Says: ‘rich coffee smell, tastes it nearly spits it out, that was awful’. She doesn't like stouts much.

In terms of branding here I think Batch Brew have really nailed it both in terms of the label and their website, Blue Monkey also have interesting design, but I think Flat Cap need to tweak there’s a bit.

West Country Ales Vol 3 and a cheeky E London Stout

So I've pretty much gone through my West Country selection of craft ales now, so here is my reviews of the last three, I've just had delivered a whole batch of ales as I described previously, and the last review of this article is my first one of those to celebrate international stout day yesterday.

Holsworthy Tamar Black, 4.8%

A dark roasted stout from Devon, the Holsworthy brewery is a small brewery and this is one of its three main beers and is named after the River Tamar. It smells of deep roasted coffee and on the palate it is dark chocolate and coffee building to a strong finish, very much a coffee stout and a pretty good one, 7/10

Emma says: 'quite high on the horrid scale'

Exeter Brewery ‘Fraid Not, 4%

This ale was made by the small Exeter brewery in response to a request by the Mountain Rescue Service and 10p goes to the charity for each pint sold which is a good thing. The ale is a clear golden and quite lager like, it is light floral and hay on the nose and palate with an odd twang which kicks in. Not really to my taste, but got a little better towards the end 4.75/10.

Emma says: 'tastes like when you accidentally suck your finger when you have just used nail polish remover'

Ringmore Shaldon Shag, 4.2%

This bottle conditioned ale named after a bird as you can see from the label, is from the Ringmore Craft Brewery in Shaldon, Devon. The ale pours a deep copper with a nice head, a delicate hoppy aroma with a hint of sharp fruit, starts with a blitz of bitter and fizz and is a little over carbonated for me, this mellows into a soft elderflower long and satisfying hoppy finish. Very refreshing and excellent ale just needs to dial down the carbonation a tad. 7.5/10

Redchurch Hoxton Stout, 6.0%

The Redchurch Brewery in East London’s mission statement on their website states ‘the redchurch brewery strives to create uncompromising modern beers to make you think’. This complex dark stout I think matches that statement very well. Pours a very dark black with a tan head, on the nose it rich, chocolate and malts, to taste it’s a thick hearty stout which evolves into a long floral slightly citric hop finish, a very interesting modern twist on the stout and I liked it, a lot. 8/10.

Emma says: nearly dropped it in anguish, head bowed momentarily and then said 'horrible'

A comparison of Beers of Europe, Ales by Mail and AleselA

It’s nearly Christmas or at least close enough to allow me to treat myself to a present of a range of ales so I've bought about 70 bottles from 3 online sources, Ales by Mail, Alesela, and Beers of Europe. When I was gearing up to buy from these sources rather than the supermarkets I found there was a dearth of comparison information out there so I thought I would blog on 4 aspects of these suppliers their Website, Range, Price, Communication/Delivery. There are other sources online such as Beerritz, and Beer Box but I chose these three as I don’t have an unlimited budget and those two are definitely more expensive and I couldn't really see why. First a little background on each.

•           Ales By Mail (AbM), founded by the brewers of the Terry Pratchett’s Discworld themed range of ales in 2009 and are based in Billericay in Essex
•          Alesela, is a small mail order company offering up a mainly Scottish range of Ales from its base in Scotland including a few from America.
•           Beers of Europe (BofE), probably the most established of the three, based in Norfolk with a gigantic warehouse and store.

Website

Of the three I'm going to definitely say I preferred the ease of use and clarity of Alesela website over the other two, the complexity and scale of their website is not in the same league as the other two websites and that’s maybe why they are able to make the experience much more preferable and it’s a breeze to use. AbM have another good website and loses out to Alesela only due to AbM’s website flips up to the top of the page when you add an Ale to your basket which I found irritating. Beers of Europe’s website is only recently relaunched and revamped and they need a better server or something as it can be slow to load between different pages and you have to click on the individual ale and load up its page to add it to the basket whereas on AbM’s website there is a button for this on the browsing page.

Range

BofE have a gigantic range which I don’t think is surpassed on the internet and really is phenomenal, I counted that they had around 800 individual different bottled ales available as well as other alcohol, and a lot of different branded pint glasses if you like those. AbM have a very good range as well as around 300 different ales they also have a nice looking range of gourmet sausages to go along with your ales which cannot be a bad thing. Alesela are a much smaller entity than the other two but they are an excellent source of Scottish ales and hopefully they can build on what is a good selection.

Price

Now this is tricky as it obviously depends on which breweries you pick, what ABV the ales are and where they are produced but I tried to maintain as even a selection policy as I could which was focused around 500ml bottles, 4-6%, and UK breweries. Delivery cost needs to be factored in; Alesela is a one off £6 plus £2 for every 20 bottles (ie 1-20 bottles £8, 21-40 £10, its cheaper if you live near the warehouse), AbM £6.99 per 24 bottles, and BofE is a one off £7.49. Another thing to consider is reductions, this is due to Best Before dates which don’t really impact Ale much, both Alesela and AbM have significantly reduced beers which I took advantage of, whereas BofE do not have any that I could find. I ordered 20 bottles from Alesela, 24 from AbM and 26 from BofE and the average bottle price was BofE - £2.50, Alesela - £2.60, and AbM - £2.75 which despite the lack of reductions on BofE shows the power of economies of scale.

Communication & Delivery

Upon ordering each send a confirmation invoice which were all clear and provided all the info you need. BofE sent me a confirmation of despatch via email, for AbM I received a text from the couriers telling me it would be delivered the next day and offering me the choice to text a response to change that if required which was a nice touch. Alesela also sent me a couple of emails updating me on the progress of the order. I ordered all three on Monday night and all three had arrived before midday on the Wednesday  which is excellent service. AbM and BofE both had very similar packaging of cardboard, but Alesela had an interesting plastic casing for the bottles which I liked.

A great sight

 Beers of Europe and Ales by Mail use cardboard packaging with polystyrene/newspaper filler

AleselA's plastic packaging for the bottles

Overall

All three companies provide an excellent service with Beers of Europe having the largest range, Ales by Mail offering a great alternative and a very impressive smaller firm Alesela providing a good range from Scotland. I'm not going to rank them as I only had a couple of small tweaks I would change about the websites which I've mentioned earlier, and I'm really pleased with my orders from all three firms and will be using them again in the future. I hope this information was useful for those of you who want to escape the monotony of the range the supermarkets provide. Over time I will be reviewing these ales on this blog so look out for that too.

http://www.alesela.co.uk/home.php

http://www.alesbymail.co.uk/

http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/

All the bottles laid out together, top left: Ales by Mail, top right: Beers of Europe, bottom right: AleselA

West Country Ales Vol 2

As I'm still working through my batch of West Country sourced ales here is a review of three more from Devon.

The Beer Engine Piston Bitter, 4.2%

The Beer Engine appears to be a Brewery/Pub in Exeter which was originally a railway hotel built in 1850 and from the pictures on its website looks like a lovely place to spend an afternoon.

It's a brown coloured ale, caramel on the nose with a rich, sweet taste with a pleasant malty bitter finish, not a complex ale but it tastes very good, really enjoyed it, 7.5/10.

Emma Says: ‘nondescript, sort of soilish’

Bays Topsail, 4.0%

Topsail hails from the Bays Brewery in Torbay, Devon and is the brewery’s flagship ale. The ale itself is deep amber in colour and woody and rich on the nose, on the palate it is balanced and has a lasting oak sweetness throughout, with a medium bitter finish allied with hints of pepper. It’s smooth to drink and really quite refreshing, 7/10.

Emma Says: ‘oaky and sweet but still wouldn't drink it’

Dartmoor Brewery Jail Ale, 4.8%

Lastly in this West Country selection is the Dartmoor Brewery Jail Ale and my least favourite of the three by far. The ale is amber in colour, slight citrus on the nose, the taste is quite uninteresting and maintains a uniform bitterness throughout. The bottle describes the after taste as ‘sweet moorish’ but I didn't experience either of those. Disappointing but not undrinkable. 5/10.

Emma says: ‘smells of citrus and tastes weird but I have just brushed my teeth’