Great British Beer Festival 2007

[m31andy]

Great British Beer Festival Tasting Notes....

Previous Years are here: 2000/2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009.

Ah, much better. The beer festival has been over three days and here is my review. Not bad eh? Thanks as usual for those who kept me propped up: clanwilliam and gmh (and friends) on the Tuesday and sethur, cuvalwen and ciya on the Friday night. Though, yes. Next year we're definitely going to eschew Friday night and do an afternoon instead.

Bartrams: Cherry Stout (4.8%)
"The sensuous hints of chocolate lead to a subtle hint of cherries in this fruity stout." I hadn't realised I'd tried this last year, so here it is again. What's rather strange is that I don't particularly like it for completely different reasons this year. I found the brew thin-tasting and characterless. *

Beartown: Ginger Bear (4.0%)
"The flavours from the malt and hops blend with the added bite from the root ginger to produce a quenching finish." This was very nice. A very dry finish with the tang of ginger on the tongue. The aftertaste was not to obtrusive yet still with a nice flavour. ****

Downtown: Eiderquad (4.0%)
"Pale gold in colour, this beer is hoppy with lots of floral aroma and citrus notes. Spicy citrus with peppery lemon. Try it and see" I quite liked this. It was dry, but refreshing and it was quite peppery. ****

Grand Union: Honey Porter (4.9%)
"Caramelised fruit and honey on the nose and palate. The black malt character adds balance and bitterness that build in the after taste. Liquorish can sometimes be present." Quite sweet, but a very, very nice porter with a stunning liquorish flavour. ****

Greene King: IPA (3.6%)
"A light, uncomplicated, session bitter. Copper coloured with a bitter introduction, sweetish malt undertone and refreshing increasing bitterness." Okay. This one has to be explained. I've never tried it (or at least not when I've been sober enough to remember what it tasted like). I've always thought that other folk were right and because I don't like session bitters, I'd hate it. But, you know, sometimes you have to push and try those boundaries. At least now I can say with authority "I hate this beer. It's Officially Vile." I found that the nose was almost absent, there was a harsh undertone on the palate and the aftertaste was very strange, almost metallic. *

Hogs Back: Hop Garden Gold (4.6%)
"Pale golden best bitter, full bodied with an aroma of malt, hops and fruit. Citrus hop flavours are balanced by malt and fruit. Hoppy bitterness grows in a dry aftertaste with a hint of sweetness." I liked this, even if the tasting notes are a little overly-redundant. It has a soft taste, sort of akin to Demerara sugar, I didn't necessarily notice the hoppiness. ****

Iceni: Raspberry Wheat (5.0%)
"Straw-coloured. An American style ale, delicately flavoured with summer fruits. Made with Hershbrucker hops, wheat and lager malt." I last had this three years ago. I found it overly sweet before, but this time it was a lot dryer. The flavour of the fruits was still very delicate though. ***

Isle of Purbeck: Solar Power (4.3%)
"A premium lager-style beer, golden in colour with a distinctive 'noble' hop aroma from the Bavarian Hallertau late hop addition. The palate is a soft balance of malt, caramel and wheat malt providing a clean and refreshing finish." I have to admit to being predisposed to not liking this beer on account of the name (honestly...) but it was nice. Hoppy, light and full of flavour. ***

Nethergate: Umbel Magna (5.0%)
"Smooth, creamy porter infused with coriander. Roast grain supported by caramel and butterscotch with some bubblegum character, but the coriander dominates throughout." This is a brew that I've been meaning to try for years and kept forgetting. It was really quite pleasant. A really deep caramel flavour and the coriander (that is of the seeds, not the leaves) really cut through to give a pleasant spiciness. I'm not sure what the "bubblegum character" is supposed to be, though. ***

Phoenix: Arizona (4.1%)
"Yellow in colour with a fruity and hoppy aroma. A refreshing beer with citrus, hop and good bitterness, shortish dry finish." A highly hopped brew. Very nice, with a clean, dry finish. ***

Theakston: Grouse Beater (4.2%)
"A golden mid-gravity bitter with initial sweetness balanced with a moderate hop bitterness." Okay, I have to confess to this being my beer of the festival. Yes I know it's Theakston, it's a major brewery in this country. But at least they're independent again. This beer was absolutely fabulous. Crisp, clean, a proper creamy Yorkshire brew with the flavour of apricots (although it is apparently brewed with blueberries). Slightly sweet, a special bitter, but oh, t'was nice. *****

Theakston: Old Perculier (5.6%)
"A full-bodied, dark brown, strong ale. Slightly malty but with hints of roast coffee and liquorish." I've loved this beer for a very long while, but it's always difficult to get a decent pint of it. This was a decent pint, with a thick chocolatey flavour and creamy malt. ****

Tipples: Jack's Revenge (5.8%)
"An explosion of malt, chocolate, roast and plum pudding fruitiness. Full bodied with a deep red hue and a strong solid finish that develops into a vinous fruitiness." Yeah, I think that they were trying to compensate for something there. The brew had a deep rich flavour, but of nothing much. It was richly bland. Very weird. **

Yates: Sun Goddess (4.2%)
"A lager-style cask beer, light and fruity with agreeable bitterness." A pleasant brew, mild flavour, unassuming and drinkable. ***

Cider

I didn't drink any cider this year. Which is a bit of a shock really!

Comments

[billyabbott.livejournal.com]

Thursday afternoon is, of course, when the cool kids go.
As for beers, I also tried the Umbel Magna (which I've only had in bottles before) and was impressed by it's peppery aftertaste, which it doesn't have in the bottles, most tasty.
I also managed to get some of the Iceni Raspberry wheat, which always seems to have run out in previous years (they seem to have got the beer order sorted really well this year), was quite tasty.

I need to write up my beer list sometime...

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

Very true! I was impressed by the Tuesday evening crowd though. It was busy, but not overly so. And, to be honest, Friday night this year was much better than last year - at least in terms of beer available.

We were muttering about a Wednesday afternoon for next year, but may be I can persuade the other cool kids that Thursday is the afternoon to go.

I'm rather impressed with myself that I've been keeping this "beer diary" for the festival for so long. I do wonder either what happened to the 2002 notes or whether I was even there.

I didn't think I'd had the Iceni before, but checking back I did manage a half back in 2003. I wasn't so impressed with the flavour last time. But that might be because my tastes have changd somewhat. Back in the day I almost exclusively drank Guinness. Nowadays I almost exclusively drink crap cider. Which is a lot sweeter.

[duckyone.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm drunk just from reading that.

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

*grin*

I should point out that the majority of those were half pints (I think I only indulged in extra with the Grouse Beater) and, indeed, the Greene King IPA was only a mouthful - I let sethur finish it off as it was making my stomach clench!!!

So that's only seven and a half pints over two evenings. (I've a suspicion I drank more than that on Saturday night, clear!!!)

[sethur.livejournal.com]

Ah, but if you remember this was to set a baseline. Given that Greene King IPA is a correctly brewed real ale that is weak, watery and shite, it's like a Greenwich Meridian from which you measure all other beers. And it was apparently just as well you two left when you did, I hear that, for the first time, things started getting ugly towards closing time.

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

Really? That's not good. Hmm. Perhaps it has got to big.

The thing about Greene King IPA is that I can't imagine a more shite beer. You'd have to be going some (or get a really bad batch) to beat that for sheer awfulness. And, I'm pretty sure, it was a *good* batch of IPA.

*shudders*