Citra

Brewery: Oakham Ales

Supplier: Beers of Europe

Brewed with only Citra hops as the name suggests and gold medalist of the International Beer Challenge in both 2011 and 2012 in the "Ale up to 5%" category.

Appearance: Good bubbling, a medium white head that keeps very well, and a straw golden colour.

Aroma: Good fresh, white grape juice smelling hoppy head. 

Flavour: Clean, and fresh on the front leading into a powerful malty sweetness coupled with a well rounded lemon, passion and gooseberry fruit hops. After a while the flavour begins to go and it becomes heavier and tastes more like carbonated water.

Body: Medium body going into a more thicker body as it goes down your tongue, nicely carbonated

Aftertaste: A bit of an unpleasant dry bitterness on the aftertaste and an unpleasant iron taste. A little sweetness still remains

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 7, nearly an 8 but it was let down by its declining taste and unpleasant after taste.

Price Range: £2.19 for a 500ml bottle, very good price for a nice beer.

Food Pairings: I'm going to go with chicken Caesar salad, the freshness and balance of the beer reminds me of Iceburg lettuce and the salty chicken and dressing will complement it (as it does with the lettuce).

Oude Geuze

Brewery: Brouwerij Boon

Supplier: Beers of Europe

This is the 2009-2010 vintage of the well renowned beer. This bottle is bottle conditioned and contained a large amount of sediment; I left this in the bottle as I don't particularly care for it, you can leave it in (some people really enjoy it) but remember that will change the taste. I served this very slightly chilled (about 15 mins in the fridge.

Appearance: Slightly cloudy golden beer with a thick white head that dies down a lot but is still quite large. A nice constant stream of bubbles.

Aroma: Very strongly of lemon sherbet from a distance but as you get closer you get cherry juice, pharmaceuticals and a hint of tropical fruit.

Flavour: Burnt plastic right on the front and this leads right into a juicy but soured flavour with a hint of sweetness in the background, a bit like those "super sour" sweets. 

Body: Light, punchy and extremely refreshing

Aftertaste: That classic puckering coupled with a slight note of that weird burnt plastic taste with a bit of iron.

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 4, let down by the weird burnt taste but still super refreshing.

Price Range: £1.69 for a 250ml bottle; good price, good bottle size, OK beer - would be decent for a really hot day.

Food Pairings: Sounds a bit of a cop out but I would pair this farmhouse ale with a Plowman's Lunch; with the apple's sweetness being enhanced by the sour beer (and vice versa), the sharpness of both the cheddar and beer's sharpness working well together, and the bread rounding it all out.

Centennial IPA

Brewery: Founders Brewing Co.

Supplier: Beers of Europe

This is their dry hopped IPA and is a 2010 World Beer Cup Silver medalist in the American-Style India Pale Ale category. I served this one slightly chilled.

Appearance: Dark honey colour with very little head, even when pouring violently, and the little that does come dissipates very quickly.

Aroma: Smells strongly of hop resin, with a solid grainy back like breakfast cereals. Smells boozy.

Flavour: Very strong sweet resin on the front but with a nice, round supporting malt base. These flavours work well together making it very sweet. This leads quite quickly into the aftertaste, although a hint of fresh apple does develop that is carried to the after taste

Body: Very thick, but flows very well. Very wet and thirst quenching.

Aftertaste: Hits you with a powerful hoppy booze coming through, like hop infused vodka. This is slightly dry (in a good way) with a hoppy bitterness

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 8 ... just, as it is very good but maybe a tad too boozy.

Price Range: £2.49 for a 355ml bottle, very good price but you wouldn't want to have too many of them as they are quite boozy; and remember, always buy hoppy beers as fresh as possible.

Food Pairings: I think some sort of sharp, smooth, fruity dessert like a lemon tart, or grapefruit posset. I read that spiced chocolate goes well with this but I think that they would both detract from one another, but that is personal taste.

All Day IPA

Brewery: Founders Brewing Co.

Supplier: Beers of Europe

Well Founders Brewing Co. needs no introduction, and this is their Sessionable IPA. Their advertising for this was based around compacting loads of day trip gear (e.g. camping, fishing, BBQing, etc.) into the shape of a bottle, with the slogan "It's amazing what you can pack into a 12-ounce bottle". These beers are going to be coming out in Cans Soon, this I'm excited about as I'm a big fan of the Canning Revolution. I served this one slightly chilled.

Appearance: A deep golden colour, lots of bubbles and a nice bubbly off white head.

Aroma: Those typical grapefruit and lychee flavoured hops coupled with a strong aroma of honey flavoured Greek yogurt.

Flavour: A thick supporting malt body, hints of a corny taste but nothing unpleasant. This goes into a nice bitterness from the hops. Not much of the hop flavours coming through that were promised in the nose. You get a hint of sweet resin, in-between the two flavours mentioned above, that build gradually when drinking. 

Body: Nice and wet but with what I call a floury texture/taste in the malts, a sort of malty and bitty puckering of the tongue. 

Aftertaste: The asftertaste is a bit too dry and bitter for a session ale for me. Hints of apricot after some time.

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 6, a nice beer and a good drinker.

Price Range: £2.09 for a 355ml bottle, a good price (especially as that includes shipping). Might get it again but  I think there are other session IPA's that are done better.

Food Pairings: Personally I wouldn't pair this with anything but the sun; but if i were to eat with it it would probably be some French fries, not too flavour intense and nice and salty (which would highlight the sweet resin flavours).

Coffee Stout

Brewery: Nils Oscar Company

Supplier: Beers of Europe

This brewery is named after a renowned Swedish farmer who rebuilt the agricultural practices of his family farm. This farm still supplies the brewery, in their effort to be a 'Grain-to-Bottle Brewery'. This particular beer is made with fine espresso, using sun-dried coffee beans from Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza in Brazil.

Appearance: Nice, thick murky brown/black with a thick coffee cream head that settles into a good, constant, thin head. 

Aroma: Sweet coffee, chocolate and vanilla on the nose. A bit like great coffee with tonnes of sugar/vanilla chucked into it; this is an abomination to coffee, but this is beer so it works. Hints of iron when it breaths. 

Flavour: A bit watery at first but then you get that same acidity that is in really dark chocolate (80%+). This goes into a dark coffee flavour coupled with a rich dried cranberry taste that is coming through (a flavour often found in high quality coffee). After the flavours settle down there are notes of chocolate throughout. 

Body: Incredibly smooth at first, but once you get past that then you can notice the bubble right at the back of the tongue. Maybe it is the sharp contrast but the bubbles aren't totally pleasant.

Aftertaste: This is not non-pleasant side of the coffee part as there is a dry roasted bitterness that is too much after the lovely, sweet flavours before.

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 7, the bitter back lets it down but it is still a very good beer. This might have been better slightly chilled, even though I'm against chilling dark beers.

Price Range: £2.45 for a 330ml bottle, a fantastic price for this beer.

Food Pairings: Some German beefy sausage, those ones that are slightly dry and salty, that coupled with some wholegrain mustard would make a great accompaniment to this beer.

Monk's Stout Dupont

Brewery: Brasserie Dupont

Supplier: Beers of Europe

This is from a Belgian farm brewery that is mostly known for their Saisons and blond ales. They use a house special yeast (thought to be a mix) and often brew a high temperatures creating more fruity esters.

Appearance: Thick, impenetrable black with a milky coffee coloured head. Don't know if it was shaken up but it erupted with opening and took a long time to settle to pour fully.

Aroma: Quite a medicinal smell at first but this goes into a sweet smooth coffee nose but with hints of washing up liquid. 

Flavour: Smooth on the front and then a rough acrid coffee flavour on the back teamed with some tobacco. Not too much flavour as it quickly transitions into the aftertaste.

Body: A nice body for a dark beer, smooth and well rounded. A little too carbonated for me, working with the acrid flavour.

Aftertaste: What I'm getting on the back is some roasted vegetable note (surprisingly pleasant in this beer) with some smokiness. Hints of tomato as well. Rough on the throat. 

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 6.

Price Range: £1.99 for a 330ml bottle, a very good price for a nice beer.

Food Pairings: Like the Celebration Stout I would pair this with a tomato based stew/casserole; however, whilst that would go better with a meaty dish, this would go better with a more vegetable based dish such as ratatouille.

Zombier

Brewery: Fyne Ales

Supplier: Luvians Bottle Shop - St Andrews

This beer was developed by Jake Griffin and Chris Lewis and it was a prize winning beer at the Institute of Brewing and Distilling's Scottish Home Brewing Competition. One of their prizes was for their beer to be produced, bottled and sold by Fyne Ales, and this is the result.

Appearance: A thick impenetrable blackness. Thick tan head that stays for a long while leaving a thinner head that stayed the whole drink.

Aroma: Heavily of rusty grapes at first but this transitions into a sweet roasted chocolate aroma (with the smell of red grapes still present). A bit of spicy pepper right at the back of the nose

Flavour: velvety chocolate on the front that develops in to a slightly astringent coffee roast flavour. That front quickly disappears with drinking leaving just the after taste.

Body: So smooth it's like oil, a little too smooth as it feels like the flavour is slipping away. The carbonation is a bit rough and it bites the back of your throat.

Aftertaste: Again, that rusty red grape taste at the back that is common in home brewed stouts and porters.

Overall: The is a really nice flavour to it but some things let it down. Therefore this gets a rating of 5.

Price Range: £3ish for a 330ml bottle, not a bad price but I wouldn't buy it again; would for £2.

Food Pairings: Something with a rough texture to compensate; maybe some rough, flavorful bread such as rye bread or sourdough with a strong hard cheese such as cheddar.