The Kernel

A few weeks ago I blogged about some lovely beers from The Kernel. One of the beers we had, although delicious, was a bit too lively on opening and some beer was lost as it spilled over the rim of the bottle. Following this, Evin from The Kernel contacted me to explain why this had happened and then sent a few complementary beers. Not necessary, but much appreciated. I recently read Bob Arnott's blogpost after a similar experience from The Kernel. My feeling is that The Kernel's passion for their products shines through as they clearly want to ensure their customers get the best experience from their products, and will lead me to buy their beer again and again. A couple of bottles were drunk late one night following Baildon Beer Festival, some of the others we had this evening.

121: CSCS, The Kernel, 5.1%
Smells sweet like pineapple, overripe mango, with a slight tartness. A bitter beer, it tastes as it smells, although slightly more subtle. Very lightly carbonated. Delicious. The hops, I believe are Citra Simcoe Cascade and Stella. There is clearly a great art to mixing hops and making a recipe that blends as well as this.

122: Chinook, The Kernel, 5.4%
Smell is more subtle, fruity and sweet. Also some sharpness in the smell. Tastes of malt, with fruity hops coming through as well. Again very lightly carbonated. Slightly nutty taste... walnut maybe, complimenting the bitterness.


123: Galaxy India Pale Ale, The Kernel, 7.2%
Fruity smell, but mixed fruit not clearly tropical. All three of these beers are so different from each other, but also share some qualities. This is much stronger, but more rounded in flavour. A hint of nuttiness in there too.

124: India Pale Ale Black V, The Kernel, 7.2%
My first black IPA. A hoppy, fruity, delicious mix, with slightly more malt than other IPAs. Definitely darker in colour, but the taste is very similar.

My conclusion? Beer from The Kernel is awesome. That, I'd decided weeks ago. These beers, and their quest for delivering a high quality product has cemented my opinion. Try some.

Hops, Hops, and more Hops

Jubilee weekend. A long bank holiday. Perfect excuse for celebrating and cracking open some exciting bottles of beer that have been sat in the cupboard, gently whispering "open me!" every time I venture into the kitchen. Myself, Mr. T and Mr T. Snr., spent en evening with Kernel and Mikkeller, and some lovely matured cheddar for palate cleansing (yes, was trying to be a bit sophisticated!). What an evening!

59: Export India Porter Columbus, The Kernel, 6.3%
Lost quite a lot of the beer as it bubbled over the top of the bottle on opening. First impressions were confusion. In my experience (vastly limited as it may be) porters are not usually hoppy, and yet the aroma coming off this beer was very hoppy, with just a touch of caramel. To taste, it is caramel, malty and bitter orange chocolate. Hints of coffee and a dark depth of flavour. Did something strange to my teeth... made them a bit fuzzy and squeaky. Odd. This beer was more what I would would expect from a porter, and done very well. This is what I imagined a Black IPA would taste like, and a whole new type of beer for me.

60: Nelson Sauvin Pale Ale, The Kernel, 5.5%
Lovely lovely smells. Peachy passion fruit. A little motor oily weirdly. Just before you take a sip you breathe in the smell again and it's yum yum yum. Flat, not fizzy. A very dry bitterness. Tastes just as it smells with a little bit of pine. My favourite part of the beer was that moment, just before taking a sip where you breathe in the aromas. Beautiful.

61: S.C.C.A.NS, The Kernel, 6.9%
Brewed with five types of hop, including Nelson Sauvin again. A stronger abv than the Nelson Sauvin Pale Ale, but a familiar similar smell. A bit fresher and less oily perhaps, but definitely similar. Peachy, fruits and tang. Tasted of peach and was crisp and bitter, and definitely there was tangyness. Slight malty sweet finish. I felt that the extra hops added flavour, and complimented each other.

62: Green Gold, Mikkeller, 7.0%
Smells a bit boozey, port or sherry, and slightly unnatural. Some red apples, a bit sweet and sharp. Tastes biscuity, and sweet followed by bitter. An IPA, and the most unique IPA I've had. Not sure about it to be entirely honest.

63: 10, Mikkeller, 6.9%
An IPA brewed with 10 different hop varieties. To date, my record is 5 I think. A complex tangy smell, but well balanced and pleasant. Very difficult to pick out flavours though because there are so many there that they meld together, the most stand out was of light orange. Crisp taste. Very bitter initially. Clearly it's very skilful to successfully mix 10 hops into one beer, and make them work. Very difficult to pull out any flavours, but maybe that isn't the point, maybe it ought to be celebrated as a whole and not to be picked apart and analysed. For my amateur palate, I think single hop IPAs still are leading my preferences of taste, despite enjoying this bottle. I'd rather have the simplicity at the moment. Maybe more distinguished palates will feel differently.

64: 19, Mikkeller, 6.8%
Just to be sure, the 19 hop IPA next. Concerned that this will really be too much. A really fruity smell. Fresh crisp, light smell. Again, aroma blends together really well. The taste, lovely. Really really lovely. Can't pick apart flavours, just know that it is beautiful. I take it back. 19 hops are certainly better than 10.

The Sparrow's Birthday

When we realised it was The Sparrow's birthday, the ensuing visit was inevitable. Not only to show support and help celebrate their success, but also because they were marking the occasion with two new keg lines and some very special beers indeed.

39: Endless, Redwillow, 3.8%
Thought I would start the evening off with a not too strong pale ale. So far, the pale ales that I've sampled since beginning this blog have, at best, fallen into the category of "nice". None of them have been outstanding. Rather, beers that would work well as a session ale, or an accompaniment to food. Endless, however, broke the mould. Lots of hoppy fruity aromas, hints of peach and papaya (just my kind of thing), a touch of bitter, but not too much. A lovely lovely beer, and made even more so by my surprise that a beer with less strength and bitterness could make such an impact. For me, it has seriously raised the bar on pale ales.

40: Hell's Lager, Camden Town, 4.6%
A very crisp and refreshing lager. A good lager. Struggled to pick out flavours in this, but this is probably due to the style. Definitely would be good on a hot summer day.

41: Two Captains, Nøgne Ø, 8.5%
A double IPA, a type of beer I seem to be developing a bit of a penchant for. Not brash and in your face, but still packed with floral fruity flavours.

42: Imperial India Pale Ale, Struise/ Mikkeller Elliot Brew, 9.0%
Very different IPA, biscuity, darker malt. Again, fruit smells and flavours, but more berries, darker fruits. The side of the bottle had a lot of gumpf, in what presumably is Flemish. After some feeble attempts using google's interpreter, and some stab in the dark guessing, we concluded that as the brewers developed this beer, they increased the IBU (bitterness) levels from 130 to 216. This seemed to make sense. It was very bitter, appropriately so, the flavours stood up well to it. The bitterness slowly worked in waves down your tongue, starting at the tip and spreading down into your throat. Intense and interesting.

43: Nelson Sauvin Single Hop IPA, Mikkeller, 6.9%
Another single hop IPA. Definitely think IPAs are becoming a favourite, but especially the single hop varieties. IPAs like Elliot Brew's offering have so many flavours and sensations going on when you drink them, and whilst this is wonderful, my preference for now is the more manageable chunks of single hops, easier to get your head around. And this one was lovely, all cherry and peach. A new hop for me I think.

44: Citra Single Hop IPA, Mikkeller, 6.9%
Following a trip to Hawkshead Brewery last week, and discovering that Windermere Pale is made with Citra hops, and having the opportunity to smell some raw (if raw is the word...) Citra, seeing Citra Single Hop IPA on the bottle menu was a no brainer. It is bizarre how familiar it was, despite never having had this beer before. I'm not saying it didn't have unique qualities, I'm sure that drinking it directly next to Windermere Pale or other beers containing Citra would have highlighted how different brewers use the same ingredient to different effects. One particular type of hop adding such a specific flavour, was very interesting. Again, a lovely IPA

Struggled to pick my favourite today, as tried such a variety of beers and all of them were a bit special. I missed out on Dunnock, one of two collaboration beers that The Sparrow brewed with Saltaire Brewery, although Mr T had some and recommended it. In the end, I have settled with the first. Endless, from Red Willow. Having such a distinctive beer, bursting with flavour, but suitable for a session and with a lower abv.... Surprised me and made me think twice about pale ales.

Thanks Sparrow for another lovely evening, and Happy Birthday! Here's to another year!

IPA is Dead- BrewDog

I've drunk beer before, but never really gave it much thought. As part of this challenge,  I want to open my mind (and my taste buds), whilst trying not to become a tankard touting beer bore.

My other half, Mr Ticker, thought that a good place to start was BrewDog's IPA is Dead. Each bottle is made with the same ingredients and to same strength and bitterness (according to the gumpf on the pack), but with one different hop variety per bottle. Not a cheap start at nearly fifteen pounds for a 4-pack (BeerRitz), but not surprising for such a niche product.

Being a geek, I was quite excited to start in this way because it's like a science experiment. If I could taste a difference, I would know that this is due to the different hop varieties. I was pretty worried that they would all taste the same, and as usual leave me opinionless, and pretending to agree with Mr T, piggy-backing onto his descriptions.

Tick Numbers 1-4

1: Challenger, BrewDog, 6.7%
First tick! My initial thought was 'tangy'. Mr T told me this was probably what is commonly described as bitterness. A perfectly palatable beer but not much else to say, enhancing my concerns that the 4 IPAs would taste the same.

2: Moteuka, BrewDog, 6.7%
Phew! Massively different to Challenger, smelt very flowery and had hints of tropical fruit. Check me out, identifying flavours already! I also thought it had a much softer taste. Mr T was adamant that there were green apples floating around somewhere.

3: Galaxy, BrewDog, 6.7%
Not as big a contrast between ticks 1 and 2, but still markedly different, fruity flavours, something tropical, possibly lychee. I thought it was a bit nutty too. Even though I knew it was brewed to have an equal level of bitterness with the other beers, I felt it was more bitter, astringent maybe. Mr T thought it was sharper, zingy and not as rounded at Moteuka.

4: HBC, BrewDog, 6.7%
Mr T had never heard of this hop variety before, he thought it was more subtle and less punchy than the other beers, but not without taste. I agreed it was subtler, still fruity and bitter. We both felt that the bitterness disappeared faster with HBC. Is this what is descibed as a clean finish?

IPA is Dead was an interesting experiment, and I spent a lovely evening with 4 tasty beers and appear to have learnt something! Hops clearly can have a massive effect on a beer. IPA is Dead Medley is rumoured to be released in late May and will contain all 4 hops in one beer. Looking forward to trying this, and dissecting it to see if I can pick out any of the individual hops. Probably not, but will give it a go!

331 beers to go.

Wish me luck!