Tags
ale, beer, Bibble Pale Ale, craft beer, Dark Sister beer, Heaney Irish Stout, lager, Old Engine Oil beer, opinion, Pepper Spray IPA, pilsner, Port City Optimal wit, review, Trees looking at you IPA
A word to gladden the heart.
My son treated me, for Fathers’ Day, a subscription to a craft beer club. Basically, each month they send eight beers in a variety of styles and flavours, and my job is to enjoy, and hopefully pass comment.
This is supposed to happen on their website, but unfortunately, due to some technological malfunction, it won’t work. I have asked, but the help desk are unable to … help. So here are my reviews:
1: Pepper Spray – described as an IPA with black pepper. From Belgium in a can. 5.9%ABV.
An unfortunate name, nice amber colour. Nasty acrid aroma, and equally unpleasant hoppy, citrusy, acrid flavour. Not to be repeated
0/5
2: Port City Optimal Wit – Belgian style white ale with spices. From Virginia, USA, in a bottle. 4.9%ABV
Pale, almost colourless, dishwater-cloudy look, with a vague, nothingness taste. No.
1/5
3: Trees looking at you – Lost+Found session IPA. From UK, in a can. 2.8%ABV
Cloudy, yellow citrus drink. Tastes like weak orange squash with an added unpleasant bitterness. Quite horrible. Is this really a beer? Never again!
0/5
4: Pilsner – Garden Brewery Lager. From Croatia in a can, 4.5%ABV
Nice clear pale beer. Pleasant flavour with not too much fizz. Good beer to relax with. Would happily drink a few.
3/5
5: Bibble – Pale Ale. From Somerset, UK, in a can
Pleasant pale ale. Lovely colour, flavour is a little on the hoppy side but would happily have more than one.
3/5
6: Heaney – Irish stout, From Ireland in a bottle. 4.3%ABV
Lovely traditional dark stout. Full flavour and satisfying. A proper stout, very repeatable.
4/5
7: Dark Sister – Dark strong beer. From Belgium in a bottle. 6.66%ABV
Trying to be mysterious with a dark side, but really a nice, full, dark beer with a good head that remained to the end. Good traditional taste with a rummy nose (described on the bottle as chocolate and coffee). It’s a yes from me.
4/5
8: Old Engine Oil, Engineers Reserve – Darkest beer. Harviestoun brewery, Scotland, in a bottle. 9%ABV
The best of the batch. A surprisingly smooth and flavoursome beer, very dark and stout-like and no sharp edges. At 9% one would need to be wary of having another – but this is one not to be missed.
5/5
It seems that the younger drinker is bored with traditional tastes, and will put anything in the mix to make it ‘edgy’, ‘trendy’, ‘exciting’, but basically producing a foul brew, an alco-pop fizzy drink like the colas and ades from their childhood – or may be I’m just a boring old fart who sticks to a decent ale.
What do you think?