Beers of note #1

 On Sunday I picked up 3 local beers from the garden centre. Well, it was Fathers day which seemed a good enough excuse.

The first was 'Southville Hop' from the Bristol Beer Factory.

I have a particular fondness for American style ales. The hops they use have a strong, distinctive taste with citrus and floral aromas. This beer is made in the American Style but has a twist in that at 6.5% its strong. The combination works well giving all the hop aromas you would expect but with a bitterness and kick that adds its own character.

My only  complaint is the yeast they use for bottle conditioning, the slightest movement disturbs it and I have never managed to poor a completely clear glass. But its not enough to stop me buying it and this has been one of my favourites for some time.

The other two are more traditional ales. 'Goats Leap' from Cheddar Ales is a strong IPA (5.7%) with a full flavour and good body. It doesn't have any strong characteristics to speak of, but that's not a criticism. It's everything you would expect from a good IPA and I would happily drink this all day, or until unconsciousness made it impossible.

Finally, 'Thunderbridge Ale' (4.7%) from  Masters Brewery near Wellington. A dark ale that reminds me of another of my favourites, Exmoor Stag, although this is darker with a richer, full bodied, more caramel taste. Again, like Goats Leap it just tastes right, if you know what I mean.







Three fine ales with different characters making a most agreeable end to Fathers day!

Back from the dead.

I think it's long overdue that I revived this blog, quite apart from anything else I have a lot of crap going round my head that it would do me good to get out and put in some sort of organised form, if only to make some sort of sense of it.
I shouldn't have any excuse not to keep posting as I now have the PC, phone and cheap and cheerful tablet so I should be able to write something whenever the urge is upon me! I'm sure the world will be much richer for having my thoughts and opinions on the Web
Your welcome!

Big Brew Day Approaches!

My lady wife is off to a craft fair with the outlaws this Saturday so I will take the opportunity to spend the day brewing.

As I already have a large batch of an amber bitter bottled up I have decided to make two 10litre batches. One an American style pale ale with cascade hops, similar to this one. The other a dark seasonal ale based on a recipe from St Austel Breweries called Big Smoke. This is a first for me, its a lot darker than any of my previous brews and I have never tried a beer with smoked malt in it. Should be fun.

This will give me a nice selection of beers for Xmas and well into the new year! Cheers!