Tuesday 21 June 2011

Homebrewing

If you have even the slightest interest in beer, many of you will know that home brewing, especially in the US, is becoming a big deal.Once seen as a bit of a maligned past-time as the preserve of old-men who were too tight too buy their mates a round at the local, it has instead become a massive past-time; many of the US brewers (most notably Sierra Nevada's Ken Grossman) starting out as home-brewers.

I have actually been in possession of a home brewing kit, albeit a basic Coopers kit, for a year but i have wanted to revisit it recently. So i have decided to put it to good use but add something extra.

I wanted to add an extra twist to the basic bitter recipe by adding a bit of summer zest to the beer. After the Malt has been dissolved in hot water, i will add some kaffir lime leaves and lemon peel to give the beer, hopefully a more refreshing taste for the coming summer months.

Will update on this when fermentation is complete and i can have a preview taste before being bottled, but hopefully it will accentuate the typical citrus flavours you get in a English bitter.

Oh, and this is in memoriam to one of the greatest saxophonists of all time who sadly died over the weekend:

Monday 20 June 2011

The Euston Tap and Sierra Nevada Torpedo

Haven't blogged for a while due to exams and all; revision is a killer. But i am now free to drink as much great beer as possible until i go away to Kavos where there will a lack of good beer for sure.
The Euston Tap, albeit in colder climes

As most in the English beer scene know, the Euston Tap has become something of a mecca for beer lovers in London and the home counties due to its friendly and knowledgeable staff as well as its amazing beer selection.

They serve both cask ale and keg beer, which will no doubt annoy some CAMRA members. I treated myself to two cask beers in the form of BrewDog's The Edge and The Redemption Brewery's Trinity. Both absolutely amazing beers form two very young breweries.

The BrewDog was my first and was in the mild style of ales. This often has a reputation for a lack of flavour, boring socks and sandals problem. But here that was simply not the case. It is incredibly low strength at 2.7% a.b.v. and made up in flavour what it did in taste. For such a low alcohol beer it was incredibly malty, there was an almost sourdough like taste to the beer, this was followed by coffee taste with a fruity after-taste. An excellent beer.

The second beer i had was the Redemption Trinity. Redemption are one of the newest breweries in London and they have some real guts behind them as they ride the wave of new London breweries like Sambrooks and Kernal. Trinity derives its name from the three types, the trinity if you must, of hop. They are all American and it is a pale ale in the style of the American Pale Ale. The nose is dominated by tropical fruit, as is the palette and it makes for a bloody refreshing beer at only 3%.
Better than it's younger brother

The Euston Tap also stocks bottled beer, albeit rather expensive at  minimum price of around £3.00 (making it possibly the only downside of this great craft beer bar), but quality does come at a price. I purchased a Sierra Nevada Torpedo and a Goose Island IPA. The Goose Island will have to wait, but for now, the Sierra Nevada. Most people will be familiar with Sierra Nevada's classic pale ale and it is very good, a store cupboard favourite for me; yet this i a wholly different beast. It is incredibly strong at 7.2% but the alcohol never really comes through. On the nose is an almost tutti-fruitti smell. like a sweet shop. The palette has some nice maltiness, and this is complimented by a massive explosion of tropical fruit and grapefruit. It is a roller coaster ride of flavour and one of the best bottled beers i have had for a long time. The only problem is that it is too drinkable, not good at 7.2%, you could get shit-faced pretty easily on these (although you would look more dignified than half the paint-stripper-cider drinkers).

Saturday 4 June 2011

Review: Badger Golden Champion

I'm going to continue the Pale and Blonde Ales theme for a while on this blog, it just seems too warm to be focusing on milds and bitters at this stime of year. Whereas with my first review i looked at a distinctly eclectic beer, whereas here i'm looking at what would at least seem to be, a more traditional English summer ale.

Badger's Golden Champion is an interesting ale. It styles itself as a: "delicately strong and refreshingly light" ale, with the great tagline: "summer in a bottle". This bodes well, as i am currently sitting in a very humid north London and i need something to slake my thirst.

And from the off it is a great summer drink. It is fresh and light, yet it has a sweet and malty taste which doesn't dominate. A good thing too as the malt gives way to a fruity and crisp after taste. Badger added an extra ingredient in the form of elderflower. I love this as it goes back all the way to a time where there were no hops to flavour ale, all that was used was the ingredients around them such as honey, heather and, like here, elderflower. This gives it an extra something, a certain something or other, that brings out all the fruit flavours. Bitterness follows through to give a certain amount of balance.

But this ale is not perfect in its own right. I can be a tad too sweet, especially due to the elderflower which, if anybody has tried elderflower cordial before, is very sweet. There is also a hint of a little too much carbonation. This could be from the bottle, but it is a little annoying.

Overall i would give this an 8/10. It is a great ale for a time like this, a hot and humid summers evening, but it i just a little over-balanced in terms of sweetness for it to quench my thirst properly.

Cheers