Adam Croft

Imagine my delight when I opened my most recent box of beer deliveries and found this little baby inside – Ossett Excelsior – one of my favourite draught beers. Having never had it in a bottle, I decided I’d review it (if only to stop me gulping it all down in one mouthful). The beer weighs in at 5.2% and comes in a traditional square-shouldered 500ml brown bottle. The beer is described on the brewery’s website as having a ‘mellow yet full flavour that develops into a fruity dryness on the palate. A fresh hoppy aroma with citrus and floral characteristics.’

The beer pours clear and bright and the intense hoppy aroma hits the back of your nose before you even attempt to smell it. The nose is grassy and slightly fruity with no confusing undertones. The hop freshness is there in abundance and teases you into tasting it straight away. The mouthfeel is very lively with the Cascade hops seeping through the roof of your mouth, trying to find higher ground to infiltrate. It’s fresh and grassy and has a long, dry bitterness. The tremendous hit of Cascade hops is instantly recognisable.

The finish is long and dry with a long-lasting oily hop flavour. This is definitely one for IPA lovers and is beautifully refreshing on a summer’s evening, with fruity tones coming through much, much later than most beers’ flavours develop, displaying the beautiful complexity of this beer.

The only thing more refreshing than this beer is the knowledge that I can get it in bottled form rather than having to wait to find it on draught. Bootiful.

Imagine my surprise when I opened up a package sent in the morning post to find this striking blue bottle staring me in the face. I must admit that my first thought was What the hell are WKD doing sending me samples to review? After rubbing my weary eyes and taking another sip of coffee, I realised it was the newest addition to Adnams’ bottled beer range – Spindrift. This is a beer which has been available in keg form for three or four years, but the new 5.0% 330ml bottled beer has that little something extra.

The beer is described on the bottled as a ‘Bright blonde English beer brewed with East Anglian malted barley and wheat and hopped with English hedgerow and other aromatic hops’. The beer pours a clear, crisp, light amber colour with good condition and the head retention is very good indeed for such a light beer. The early nose gives a slightly metallic hint with an underlying hint of summer fruits, conveying a fresh and light aroma to the beer.

The mouthfeel is stupendous – the beer feels light, has great condition, and allows the hops to bounce off your tongue, retaining a grassy freshness which comes through even before the taste which brings a torrent of banana fruitiness – not sweetness – and a decent-sized apple hint. The hop selection (Boadicea and First Gold) is truly inspired and leaves Spindrift tasting like a true farmhouse ale – summery and refreshing.

If the weather gods allow us a few more weeks of glorious sunshine before this summer sees an end, Spindrift makes an excellent accompaniment to any summer’s evening.

Spindrift is available in cases of 12 x 330ml bottles at £18.99 through the Adnams online shop.

My latest selection of beers from the 52 Week Beer Club turned up earlier today, so it’s time to crack open a couple of bottles and see what they’re like.

The first one that caught my eye was a beer simply called ‘Ginger’, from the Williams brewery in Scotland. The beer professes to be a ‘traditional alcoholic ginger beer with a distinctly adult taste‘. One line that caught my eye was the one which claimed the beer contained no hops whatsoever. Oh dear – worrying news for a hop lover such as myself. Let’s see what it’s like!

On opening there’s a fair bit of fizz – always nice to see (hear). The ginger smell is there straight away – fresh and light. The beer pours well and has plenty of condition but head retention is poor to non-existent. There’s simply nothing holding the beer together in that sense – it’s more like a Ginger Beer than a ginger beer, if you catch my drift. The aroma is an odd mix of beer and ginger. Of course, no hop aroma and no other real body to the nose having used only light malt and wheat in the brew.

Mouthfeel is very fizzy, and very tangy – the fresh root ginger comes through pretty strongly and lasts long into the aftertaste. The taste is fresh, sharp and definitely gingery. At 3.8% ABV it’s not going to knock anyone’s socks off but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the intention. Williams wanted to create an authentic alcoholic ginger beer and they’ve succeeded. It’s gingery, and it’s beery. Simples! Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going outside to enjoy the rest of the bottle while the sun’s still around.

This beer is one which I know well in its cask form. Having been on a tour of the brewery, bought multiple casks and polypins of this beer for parties and beer festivals, and tried in in many pubs around the local area, I can honestly say I’ve never had it from a bottle.

The brewery admit it’s different in its bottled form to its cask form; the ABV jump to 4.5% is an immediate flag, but the beer is introduced by its bottle as ‘The Hoppy One’. The beer pours well and has good condition but does appear to be filtered if not pasteurised. Head retention is pretty good for the style and colour of beer. Now, you’ll have to forgive me if I’m a little vague or off-form with the tasting notes here. I’ve had this blasted sinusitis for the best part of a week now and although I can (mostly) smell again, it’s not going to be 100%.

The aroma is fresh and clean and the hops are noticeable. Mouthfeel is light and vibrant and there’s a rather prominent taste of bananas and exotic fruits which give way to a momentary metallic twang which in turn fades into that musky hop bitterness which we know and love. The aftertaste is all about the hops, leaving a beautiful mellow, smoky hop feel to your mouth. The aftertaste is so stunning it leaves you in two minds whether or not to spoil it with another mouthful of beer (and that’s not something you get very often).

If this beer is the best part of a percentage point stronger than its cask equivalent, it doesn’t show. It’s still the same lovable, drinkable Sidepocket we’re used to. I’ll you something else, too: I think it’s clearing out my sinuses. They should put that on the label.

If you live within driving distance of Tring, I’d strongly recommend picking up a polypin of this beer next time you’re having a party or get-together. At a friend’s recent housewarming party, thirty-six pints of this beer went down very nicely indeed with the guests. Failing that, keep an eye on your local branch of JD Wetherspoon – I’ve seen a couple of Tring beers on in there recently and I hope that continues.

Let’s face it – we all like a good pub quiz. The chance to flex your synapses whilst quaffing a good pint or six has long been a popular draw for many British pubs. The Family Holiday Assocation, however, are taking it one step further. March 25th 2010 will see the dawn of the World’s Biggest Pub Quiz, a UK-wide event which aims to have pubs up and down the country taking part.

“We’re appealing to all people to bring a group of friends, family or colleagues together and try to break the record for the World’s Biggest Pub Quiz, so more disadvantaged families can enjoy a much-needed break in 2010,” says Joe Hipgrave, fundraising manger for the Family Holiday Association.

If you want to find out which of your local pubs are participating, be sure to visit the World’s Biggest Pub Quiz website to see what’s going on in your neck of the woods. What’s more, you can even get your local pub involved. Just download an organiser’s pack from the website and see how easy it is to get involved. I’m told there are currently more than 362 pubs signed up so you’re in good company!

As an additional incentive, each organiser whose quiz raises more than £100 will have the chance to enter the competition to win a seven-night Caribbean cruise on NCL’s newest Freestyle Cruising ship, Norwegian Epic, which will be launched in June 2010. How about that, then?

It looks as though Christmas has come early! This morning I took great delight in accepting a delivery of beer from Daas – an organic premium Belgian brewer. Out of the two I received, I decided to review the Daas Witte wheat beer first – partly because I quite like wheat beers and mainly because it’s not even 1:30pm yet and the Witte is the weaker of the two beers, coming in at 5.0% ABV.

The beer pours very lively and gives a beautiful hazy appearance – deceiving for a Belgian beer newcomer, but characteristic of any good wheat beer. The nose is fantastic. You can smell the yeast underneath the immense fresh, fruity aroma. The mouthfeel is incredible as the liveliness of the beer accentuates the spicy, citrus flavours. The hop character is superb – just right for a spicy wheat beer. There is a noticeable nod to grapefruit and sharp orange flavours which are given a fantastic twang by the hops employed – a bitterness which lasts long after the last sip.

The hop kick leans nicely towards the English Blonde Ale profile, making it an ideal beer for the English drinker who wants to experience the best that Belgium has to offer. Whilst being incredibly accessible from a drinking point of view, Daas Witte remains loyal to its wheat beer profile and is a fantastic example of the style. This beer is strong and feisty in every way. In fact, I’d go one further and say that this beer is downright sexy.

As I sit and write this in mid December, it’s probably not the best time to be drinking an iconic summer refresher but my radiator is extremely warm tonight so I see no reason to pay reverence to my calendar.

This is a beer which will be recognisable to any real ale drinker across Britain and I’m sure there is nothing I can say about this beer which hasn’t already been said. I’m going to have a go, though.

The brewery describe Summer Lightning as ‘an extremely pleasant bitter, straw coloured beer with a terrific fresh, hoppy aroma. This, coupled with an intense bitterness, leads to an excellent long, dry finish.’

The beer pours cleanly and leaves a respectable, though short-lived, head. For such a light-coloured beer, though, it’s quite impressive. Said colour is a light straw hue and would be considered very light even for a commercial lager – let alone a real ale. The nose is light and zingy with citrus notes and a detectable hop component. It’s very fragrant in a flowery sense and has a certain lager quality to it. As the head settles, it smells noticeably like a German Kölsch.

The mouthfeel is sharp and zingy with the citrus notes coming through before you’ve even swallowed. There’s a definite hint of light liqourice coming through from the hop character; a strange thing to say about such a light beer, but it’s there. The hops continue through to the aftertaste which is sharp and somewhat tart in its bitterness. The peaty notes of the hops stay with you long past the aftertaste and leave you with a delightful reminder of what you’ve got to go back to.

This is a beer which has won many awards across the United Kingdom but, like so many, is not quite the same in bottled form as it is on draught or gravity dispense at a beer festival. A lot of light, hoppy beers struggle to find the same form in a bottle as they do au naturele but Hopback Summer Lightning does a comparatively good job of it. It’s quite amazing at how long the flavours linger in your mouth – long after the last sip has been taken.

Now, if you don’t mind, I’m off to enjoy the rest of the bottle.

This is the second of my BeerSwap beers as sent to me by Mark Fletcher and if last night’s beer is anything to go by I’m looking forward to this one! The beer comes in at 3.8% and is described on the brewery’s website as “an easy drinking pale ale. Light and hoppy with delicate floral notes and a well balanced finish.”

The nose is similar to the Leeds Best, but certainly more floral and yeasty. The yeasty smell was hard to pick out at first as the floral hop aroma fills the air but the more you smell, the more you notice the strong undercurrent of yeast. Onto the taste and the mouthfeel is lively and fresh with flowers dancing all over my tongue. There’s a massive fresh hop zing and a beautiful mellow citrus taste which leaves you wanting more. It’s even slightly appley – hops and fruit all the way which makes for a wonderfully refreshing beer. I don’t know which hops are used in this particular beer but I’m willing to wager the presence of some Challengers in there. The yeast is back on the aftertaste with the beer tasting fresh and ‘new’ – just how I like it.

It’s very rare that you get a bottle conditioned ale which tastes as though it’s fresh from the barrel but the Leeds beers I’ve tasted have been delightfully consistent. Fresh, light, hoppy, and very, very drinkable. Mark – you can send me more of these any time you like!!

As an amateur home brewer and lover of all things beer, I recently joined the Craft Brewing Association. I had been recommended to join by a couple of existing CBA members and at £15 per year, membership seemed more than worthwhile.

Shortly after joining, I received an email to let me know that my application was being processed and that I would receive a welcome pack in the post. The welcome pack arrived on my doormat this morning and I must say I’m impressed. Aside from the personalised letter, they had sent a list of all the members in my local area and encouraged me to make contact with them. As well as this, they included details of all the Craft Brewing Groups nationwide as well as details of upcoming events. They had also sent me the three latest copies of the association’s flagship newsletter, the highly informative and interesting Brewer’s Contact (cover price £2.50 per issue).

All in all, I must say I’m very impressed. Brewer’s Contact alone makes the subscription worthwhile and I’m sure I’ll get to see many of the other benefits once I start speaking to other members and attending events. If you’re a brewer, homebrewer, or even remotely interested in beer, I highly recommend you join the Craft Brewing Association.

Leeds Best, from the Leeds Brewery, was one of the fantastic beers I was glad to receive as part of this year’s BeerSwap scheme. Coming in at 4.3%, it’s described on the brewery’s website as “A classic Yorkshire Bitter. Finest English hops blend perfectly with our unique Yorkshire yeast to create a full flavoured beer with a superb hoppy finish.”

On the pour, the beer retains a decent head and shows a clean light amber glow. The nose is sharp and fruity with noticeable hints of strawberry and grape. The alcohol is also very apparent on the back of the nose which took me a little by surprise.

Onto the first taste, and the beer tastes dry and fresh with the hop character doing most of the work. No sign of the strawberries and grapes from the nose, though. In fact, there’s a distinct lack of fruity flavour but that’s by no means a bad thing. The ‘unique strain of Yorkshire yeast’ as advertised on the bottles gives a pleasing freshness and a nice yeasty flavour.

A few tastes later and the fruity flavours start to come through. The fresh grapey notes are apparant and the dry, grassy bitterness from the hops gives a superb finish. As you get further down the glass, the hop kick does, as with most similar beers, blend away into the background a little as your palate adjusts and gives way to something of a lager quality. Perhaps it should be referred to as a quality lager quality, as this isn’t a bad  thing at all. All in all, this is a very pleasant beer in superb condition and with just my kind of hop balance.