Something Something Something Something Dark Side

I have a sweet tooth, I love chocolate, and biscuits. I like things that are full of malts and caramel. I drink far too much coffee. I like deep flavours and intensity. I used to be scared of dark beers. Their blackness intimidated me. That was until I realised that many of my favourite flavours can be packed into a stout. I can't say I prefer them over heavily hopped pale beers, because they aren't really comparable. But I certainly like to end an evening with a dark beer. Venturing into four dark beers in succession is a new experience for me, and an opportunity to compare and contrast some flavours.

166: Barista, Summer Wine Brewery, 4.8%
Not an especially strong abv for a dark beer, an espresso stout. Boy does it do what it says on the tin. Deeply flavoured with heavily roasted coffee, and hints of caramel. Absolutely delicious. I do enjoy when a beer is thicker than this (not sure if this is the right terminology), but I suppose that is down to the 4.8%.

166: Dark Arts, Magic Rock, 6%
Doesn't give off heavy aroma, slight burnt caramel. Tastes of hazlenut and buerre noisette. Ridiculously delicious. Not sure I agree with the tasting notes on the bottle of liquorice, blackberries and figs, but perhaps that is my taste buds.

167: Milk Stout, Left Hand Brewing Company, 6%
My first milk stout. Brewed with lactose I believe. Chocolately smells. Sweeter tasting than the previous two beers, perhaps that is the lactose. Smooth, and not particularly bitter. Would have been nice to eat with icecream I think, the smoothness would have worked well.

168: Saint Petersburg, Thornbridge, 7.7%
A Russian Imperial Stout. Not sure what imperial infers... with IPAs it seems to lead to a stronger more complex beer. Seemingly the same is true for this stout, as has a whole additional dimension. It still is sweetish, with notes of coffee, but also has a slight tang to it, and it richness adds to the intensity. The more you drink, the better it gets.

I think comparisons between light and dark beers should not be drawn because they are two totally different entities. I also think think it is hard to pick a favourite dark beer, when they display such robust flavours, and great variation. Barista was all about the coffee, Dart Arts had totally different predominant flavours. I would buy all of these beers again and again and again.

Pale Ale Night

As it was the topic for the session, and having already written my blogpost, when choosing what to drink last night, some more Pale Ales seemed suited to the occasion.

53: Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale, Flying Dog, 5.5%
Not particularly pale in appearance. A very hoppy smell. I thought I was smelling Citra hops, but was being a bit too much of an eagerbeaver in my endeavour to identify flavours as apparently Cascade is the hop variety used. Must remember to not get too big for my boots! Very fresh smelling beer. Taste was quite malty, but quickly disappears. Not particularly bitter. Not vastly unique, I would argue, but a good beer nonetheless.


54: Hermes, Summer Wine Brewery, 5%

Very pale in appearance. Smells of tinned peaches and mandarin. A really lovely aroma. Very bitter. Flavours similar, but not strong and meaty, and in conjunction with this the bitterness is pushing the boundary of too intense. It just manages to hold up against it though. Burnt orange peel bitterness. Drinking this pale ale made me realise that I might be missing out a bit when I share bottles, as this beer got better the more I drank, and the more accustomed to the bitterness I got. Another thought provoking beer from Summer Wine!

55: High Wire, Magic Rock, 5.5%
Massive amount of fruity aromas coming through. Mango maybe, a bit grassy. Amazing smell. Flavour-wise, was very different (something I am finding more and more often that the flavour isn't at all like what you'd expect from the smell). Malty, I was expecting more hops based on the 'west coast pale ale' discription. Popcorn and caramel flavours. In terms of appearance and bitterness, it struck the middle point between the Flying Dog and the Summer Wine.

All three beers smelt hoppier than they tasted, all were very enjoyable, and a learning curve, because they were all vastly different from each other and the beers from Thornbridge. It seems that not only are beer styles massively varied, but also that within styles, there are big variations.

The journey continues...

Guiseley Beer Festival

Spent Friday night at Guiseley Beer Festival, a charity Beer Festival run by Guiseley & Distric Lions at Coopers, one of my favourite haunts.

Arrived in plenty of time for doors opening. Early in fact, so got to try a beer at the bar first.

45: Siberia, Ilkley, 5.9%
A Rhubarb Saison style beer, brewed in collaboration with Melissa Cole. A beer I noticed being written about when I first began blogging, and wanted to try. I actually was a little disappointed because the rhubarb to me was so subtle that I missed it. It was perfectly palatable and actually pretty yum, just not quite as I'd anticipated it. Possibly my first Saison...

7 o'clock hit, and the doors upstairs opened, where 24 beers were available. Not sure whether to be proud or mortified, but I actually managed to sample all 24 (through thieving mouthfuls from other people I hasten to add), although true to the challenge sips won't count as a tick.

46: Smokeless, Redwillow, 5.7%

Foolishly, I started the night on a dark beer. I panicked. I knew I wanted to try this beer, and faced with a choice of 24 beers, and an overwhelming concern that if it was popular it might run out, I caved under the pressure! It was really good, not at all Smokeless though (bizarre choice of name really). An excellent choice for a few drinks down the line...

47: Overkill, The Revolution Brewing Company, 4.5%
Wanting to cleanse the palate a bit, and having just had the Rhubarb Saison downstairs, I chose this offering as it also had rhubarb in the description. A rhubarbed wheat beer. Not at all bitter. In comparison with Siberia, the flavours of rhubarb were unmissable and delicious. Wheat beer, still not sure about them. I enjoyed this beer a lot, but there was just something about it that I would have preferred to not be there.

There was then had a bit of an incident. Beer festival school boy error style. Mr T went up to the bar, and got two different beers. And he forgot which was which. One was incredible, the other, was good but just paled in comparison. After feeling a bit silly and using up some more beer tokens, we got to the bottom of the identities.

48: Some Like It Blonde, Worsthorne Brewing Co., 3.9%
This was the good one. At 3.9% it was good. I picked it because of the description of New Zealand hops.

49: Diablo IPA, Summer Wine Brewery, 6.1%
This was the incredible one. I wrote on the tasting notes "super yum". A wonderful smell, tropical fruits, bitter. Another fantastic IPA. My first Summer Wine, was looking forward to this and was not disappointed.

50: Teleporter, Summer Wine Brewery, 5%
Started on a dark beer, finished on one. The tasting notes said this was brewed with 10 different malts. Was just beautiful. Have become a massive fan of Summer Wine after just two drinks. For me, the stand out beer of the festival.

I've been to lots of beer festivals before, but this is the first since I started blogging, started the challenge, and started to actually learn about beer. It was the first festival in which I've made choices based on the brewery, not on the funny name of the beer. And it showed, I had better beers than ever before, and consequently am feeling slightly smug. Although still learnt a lesson about planning the evenings drinks more carefully, starting at lower strengths and pale, and working up (not as strong a lesson as those few drinking 10.5% pints of Ampleforth Abbey cider all night... am guessing a few sore heads around Guiseley on Saturday morning!). A good range of beers, with some proper gems.


Looking forward to next year!