Wednesday, 7 September 2016

True Blonde Ale

Brewery: Ska Brewing
Supplier: Brewdog Dundee Bottledog

This is another from Ska brewing, this one being one of their flagship pale ales and made with honey gathered from bees local to the breweries town of Durango - supplied by a company called Honeyville. I served this chilled.
Appearance: Pale yellow, thin when held to the light. The head is pure white and quite large, but thins.
Aroma: Typical beer yeast notes with some resin and iron notes.
Flavour: Quite a simple pale note, leading into a slight green hoppy note and a hint of fruit. 
Body: Thin but not too thin, just the way a pale ale should be; very refreshing as well
Aftertaste: The afternote seems to fall into a more traditional British yeast note, with a little yeasty bitterness.

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 5, quite a nice simple pale, more like a British ale, though I couldn't detect any honey notes in it.

Price Range: £2.19 (usually £2.30) for a 330ml can; probably about right for what it is, I wouldn't go out my way for it, but I would be happy with it.

Food Pairings: Simple beer so a simple food - a toasted cheese sandwich.


Thursday, 1 September 2016

Tundra IPA

Brewery: Barney's Beer
Supplier: Work

So this one I got free from my work as the JHI worked together with Barney's Beers in this little experiment. For this beer about 40% of the sugars come from Fava beans, with the malt providing the enzymes, and then lots of hops to make it an IPA style. I served this chilled.
Appearance: Gold with a slight amber tints, there is a slight white head that thins to a thin film.
Aroma: Malty with a little apricot hop, there is also some corn notes underlying.
Flavour: A slight hop resin note in the front leading to a sweet malty note like barley sweets. 
Body: Quite a decent, with a nice full mouthfeel, especially for such little malt. 
Aftertaste: A nice subtle lingering of the flavours that settle into the mouth nicely. 

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 6, quite a simple beer more like a pale ale with a nice simple hoppy note.

Price Range: Free, don't know what it usually costs, quite a nice beer and I would pay a couple of pounds for it.

Food Pairings: Most pub grub, I would particularly recommend a slightly salty steak & ale pie.