Beer!

[ian]

Went to Craft Beer Rising, sadly spoiled by a simmering week long cold that decided to come to a boil en route, turning my nose into a veritable Niagara Falls of snot by the time I arrived. Then I started feeling like someone had driven a steamroller over me. And then reversed it over me to be sure. Not even restorative beer or three could resurrect me so I crawled home. Quite enjoyed a Brewheadz (never heard of them before) Fired Up Donkey red rye IPA. After that everything started to taste like the insides of my nose. Not a good thing, though still better than Stella.

Which is why I'm here listening to my head bubbling away and writing this rather than schlepping over to Fourpure to catch the end of Saturday's beer mile as planned. Bah. As my wife says of this parlous state of affairs: "you must be ill then."

I may try further self-medication with IPA later.

[Mrs Pingu]

Oh dear, that is rotten

[ian]

Bloomin' well is. I'm staying in a hermetically sealed bubble from now on. I think snot came out of my eyeballs. I have all the plagues.

I think I shall attempt to cure myself with tropical IPAs. I have Beavertown Tropigamma, some Brewdog Flatpack Fruitbat, and some Tiny Rebel tropical IPA. I must have more in the beer coffin. I'm sure they contain lots of vitamin C*.

*my most distinguished moment as a proper scientist was inadvertently discovering the biosynthetic pathway for ascorbic acid in plants, a bit of a metabolic mystery. All written up I submitted it to Nature and awaited my admittedly not-quite-Nobel Prize glory. A week later a letter came back from the editor saying sorry, we're just about to publish exactly the same thing from another lab. Bah.

[Mrs Pingu]

We've just been to Brewdog where Fierce were having a beer launch. I had Citrus Tart which was very limey and very tart indeed. I also wanted to take home a bottle of the Tropical Tart but the barman wouldn't let me, cos <reasons>.
Pingu had Moose Mousse which was nice and chocolatey. 

[ian]

Moose Mousse sounds a bit wrong. Reminds me that in my dedication to finding a cure, I had some Fourpure Limehaus kolsch last night which was rather refreshingly tart. A bit too summery for February mind.

I've added some Siren Pompelmocello, Green Flash Tangerine Soul Style IPA (I think I drank all the Passion Fruit Kicker), and Fourpure Juicebox to my tropical cold cure. I figure that if I can get my blood to an ABV of ~7% that virus will stand no chance.

[Hot Flatus]

There comes a point with some of these craft beers when you realise that what you are drinking are alcopops.

Anyhoo, Ive just been to Aldi and bought a single bottle (95p) of their American style IPA. Will it trump Brewdog Dead Pony (£1.50) as my staple beer?

Tune in later to find out...

[giropaul]

As it's the first weekend of the Belgian Classics it has to be an appropriate bottle this evening. I have found Orval, Straffe Hendrick and Rodenbach. Probably the Orval then.
Also time for some shopping again

[ian]

There comes a point with some of these craft beers when you realise that what you are drinking are alcopops.

Anyhoo, Ive just been to Aldi and bought a single bottle (95p) of their American style IPA. Will it trump Brewdog Dead Pony (£1.50) as my staple beer?

Tune in later to find out...

I once had an Omnipollo pecan marshmallow imperial stout with ice cream froth on top. I have a beard now and I hang out in Shoreditch Hoxton Dalston so it's allowed.

Fruity IPAs are great. Juicebox and Soul Style are both excellent. They're more IPA than fruit, but the citrus works perfectly.

[Steph]

Interesting post above about all lagers tasting the same. On my Aussie ride, I spent a couple of evenings in the Tanglehead pub/microbrewery in Albany. Their products all tasted the same.

In my first book, to answer the remark about standard yank 'draft beer', I waxerd as lyrical as I could about real ale, and a now-deceased yank asked rhetorically if there was a difference between beer and "imported beer". Two replies arrived, one pointing out the USA doesn't exactly rank in the top flight of brew-nations. The other compared yank "draft beer" to sex in a canoe...

[Hot Flatus]

Interesting post above about all lagers tasting the same. On my Aussie ride, I spent a couple of evenings in the Tanglehead pub/microbrewery in Albany. Their products all tasted the same.

In my first book, to answer the remark about standard yank 'draft beer', I waxerd as lyrical as I could about real ale, and a now-deceased yank asked rhetorically if there was a difference between beer and "imported beer". Two replies arrived, one pointing out the USA doesn't exactly rank in the top flight of brew-nations. The other compared yank "draft beer" to sex in a canoe...

Its a really weird thing but I used to enjoy the diversity of flavours of British real ales.

Since discovering craft beer (including Fourpure Juicebox etc) all British real ales now taste the same to me 

[ian]

I confess I find British real ales a bit drab. My palette ain't subtle. I want big flavours. The sort of flavours that knock down tower blocks. I want beers that stomp downtown Tokyo (and yes, I know all the craft beer bars in Tokyo and Godzilla is under strict instructions not to stomp them as I'll be there this summer).

American 'domestic' beer, now that's a horror. I asked Jean-Claude van Damme, as a semi-professional Belgian, about that Coors Ice advert and his succinct response was 'they paid me and I didn't have to drink it' (for the record, I've no idea if my long running correspondence with Jean-Claude is with the actual Jean-Claude, or someone is yanking my chain, but then I've passed the point of caring about the distinction).

I'm on the medicinal Flatpack Fruitbat (I should credit Omnipollo as it's a collaboration with Brewdog). A raspberry smoothie IPA. Take that with your Greene King IPA, beer purists. That said, they should have used some oatmeal to give it a bit more mouthfeel. But it's plenty lush.

[Steph]

I tend not to go to pubs, because poverty. Every now and again, though, I will be at a festival, and Shrewsbury in particular has a superb beer festival (and cider, and wine) attached. My palate goes in cycles. I will be addicted to big heavy bitters in the style of Hobgoblin, and then stouts, such as Banks and Taylor's Edwin Taylor's Extra Stout, and then it will be Summer ales, citrus ales, Trappiste, Tripel, or gueuze lambic. Then it will be straight back to very dry IPAs. If we are to talk lager beers, I do have a real liking for Spaten bock.

[Pingu]

...Greene King IPA...

 

[andrew_s]

Greene King IPA used to be a decent beer, once, as did Boddingtons. (early 1980s)

Back in the present day, today's beers, in a real pub, have been Uley Severn Boar (nom nom nom) and Brass Castle Bad Kitty (nom nom nom), plus Exmoor Beast (nom) in Wetherspoons.

[nicknack]

Greene King IPA used to be a decent beer, once, as did Boddingtons. (early 1980s)

I have a hazy recollection of Doombar tasting of beer once upon a time.

[ian]

I only had Greene King IPA once. I was waiting for a train at Penshurst in darkest Kent and the pub opposite seemed like a better place to hole up. Ah, an IPA, thought I.

Jesus, it was like dishwater that someone had pissed in.

I can't believe Boddingtons was ever a decent beer.

[andrew_s]

I can't believe Boddingtons was ever a decent beer.

It was good before I went to the Antarctic in October 1981, and on the slide when I got back in May 1984.
In the interim there had been some sort of marketing tie-in with Whitbread for national distribution, rather than Manchester only. This progressed to a take-over a few years later. I blame the rapid increase in production for the slide in quality.

[SteveC]

When I went to uni in Manchester in '77, Boddies was an excellent session bitter.
After Whitbread's got involved it seemed to have had an intimate encounter with some crazy foam and has been ever since.

[Mr Larrington]

(Sing)

Twenty pints of Boddingtons, every Fruday night!
Twenty pints of Boddingtons, then it's outside for a fight!
Etc.

[ian]

I have to drink all these tonight. Wish me luck.

Dugges - High Five
Dugges x Stillwater - Mango Mango Mango
Dugges x All In - Tango Twang
Dugges - Tropic Folk
Dugges - Tropic Thunder
Omnipollo x Veil - Amun
Omnipollo - Magic #3,5 Pineapple Gose
Omnipollo - Mazarin
Omnipollo - Nebuchadnezzar
Omnipollo - Noa
Omnipollo - Selassie
Omnipollo - Perikles
Omnipollo - Leon

[Mrs Pingu]

I hope they do thirds.

[ian]

Given that some of them top 10% boozeahol it's probably a good job they do.

[Mrs Pingu]

Given that some of them top 10% boozeahol it's probably a good job they do.

That's what I meant [hic]

[ian]

All very good, though I confess I didn't drink them all (I've tried several before).

Shoutouts for the weekend though: Verdant x Howling Hops Eight Mansions (from the little beer stand in the food market behind the Royal Festival Hall), a DIPA that was deceptively moreish, brilliantly balanced without overloading the hops. In the same class as the Cloudwater DIPAs.

And then a Northern Monk Black Forest Strannik Imperial Stout from my porch, which was pretty awesome. Guinness it most definitely ain't.

Oh and Wild Beer Black and Blue, which sounded a bit odd being a 'raw' beer unboiled and sans hops. But was actually quite drinkable if you like sour beers.

[Mrs Pingu]

Harbour Brewing tap takeover tonight.
Raspberry & vanilla beer - too much vanilla for me,  I didn't need more than a taste.
Walloonie - om nom hops,

Had another 6dn/Magic Rock collaboration Magic Six which is still nom.

Magic Rock are the aces.