Day 145, Beer 145 - Oldershaw's "St Wulfram's Summit"

Today's Beer

Name – St Wulfram's Summit

Brewer – Oldershaw

Classification – Bitter

Strength – 4.3% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Deviously traditional. A 'new wave' beer walking among us disguised as an old favourite.

On the nose – Tree bark. Tree sap. Tree fruits. Tree mendous. (I tried not to write that. I honestly did.)

On the tongue – Peppery, sharp citrus bitterness, pine nut and savoury biscuit malts. Decidedly 'unbad.' (My word. Leave it alone.)

On the subject – Proof positive that this brewery, having taken recent giant strides, is now among the most exciting micros in the land. The branding is new, the bottle-conditioning has been greatly refined, and somehow their beers just keep getting better. 

On the market – This was initially brewed to showcase the restoration of Grantham's principle landmark, but responses have been so positive things may be looking more long term. Contact the brewery for the latest on this.

On the whole – 8.5%

Full Review

In some ways, Oldershaw Brewery have spent the last few years spoiling their own party.

And my life.

The good news is that they've simultaneously been planning a much better party, and thereby giving people like me the chance to live much richer lives - in place of lives that were actually far less fulfilling than we'd ever realised.

Let me explain.

A few short years ago, a beer like today's beer would have shot straight to the top of my high score chart. After all, today's beer – for all it's contemporary use of multiple high citrus hops sourced from across the world – is essentially a beautifully balanced amber bitter.

Since those days, Oldershaw's glorious party-wrecking has got well under way, and this has come in the form of some extraordinarily dynamic and creative beer creations, which have quietly placed this small brewery right at the heart of the modern 'hop-concious' craft beer scene.

Basically, the beers which Oldershaw and certain others have been producing (such as Blonde Volupta, Regal Blonde and Alchemy) are possesive of so much which is dynamic, vibrant, complex, exciting and just plain old delicious – that after while they make all the old classics seem just a little bit dull.

Personally, I now find even a well kept pint of Pedigree to be somewhat underwhelming. That's rather like an Archbishop losing interest in the Bible.

But as surprising and distressing as this apathy towards established favourites is, the rewards derived from these new beers are numerous enough to more than compensate.

However, what the beer world has needed for a long time now, is for some of the most exciting breweries to take a fresh look at a beer style which has fallen out of favour during this recent period of creativity. Falling out of favour is bad enough, but far more significant in these PR concious times is the fact they've fallen out of fashion. Fashion has become a dominant force in the world of craft beer, and one beer style in particular has become its victim.

That beer style can loosely be described as 'amber bitter.'  Or 'the browns', as they are so often referred to by those who would have them disappear for good.

It's actually not rocket science. We've simply needed someone to step up and create a 'brown' which has a sense of it's own place in time. Less of a Gordon Brown, and more of a James, or an Ian, or even a Cleveland Brown.

For a good few years now, the beer world has been in urgent need of a 'cool' brown. And – slowly but surely – such creations are gradually beginning to emerge.

Breweries who care just a little bit more about beer than they do about new-media lead popularity contests are starting to sneak out some amber, bitter-style beers which are, in themselves, every bit aware of the recent developments in beer recipe creation and the huge changes in the wider public's preferences that these developments have inspired.

Admittedly, even with this new approach, these new browns still feel less abundantly and immediately attention-grabbing than the ultra-hopped golden beers or even the sumptuous new breed of 'roasty toasty' darks, but making a massive instantaneous impact is not the only purpose of beer, and I firmly believe that a permanent loss of this middle ground beer style will spell disaster for Planet Ale in the long term.

These beers have been the rock against which all the recent displays of flair and ingenuity have been tethered. Many 'browns' were the very inspiration for all of the magnificent creativity we've all benefited from over recent times. But the way in which the beer scene has turned against them – like teenagers turning on their devoted parents – has been pretty regrettable in my opinion, and the potential for their permanent disappearance is worrying to say the least.

And so, even though Oldershaw brew beers which are clearly more 'jaw-dropping' and 'mind bending' than this beer, I'm possibly more glad of it's arrival than I have been about any other title on their list.

'Summit' has zero sweetness, a dynamic and refreshing bitterness, with a subtle savoury biscuit/nut base, and it has been brewed by a company who stand at the forefront of the recent march away from boring brown beer.

This is exactly the kind of product that the market needs.

A distinctly modern beer for the traditionalists to savour, and for the fashion victims to be reminded that the world of beer is a lot less 'black and white' than they've recently been telling themselves.

Brown is the new black.

And it's tasting great. 

Day 123, Beer 123 - Oldershaw's "Blonde Volupta"

Today's Beer

Name – Blonde Volupta

Brewer – Oldershaw

Classification – Premium blonde ale

Strength – 5.0% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye– Stunning. An almost luminescent mango gold.

On the nose – Truly massive citrus. Faint nutty malts. Just lovely.

On the tongue – Deliciously vivid citrus thrives amidst a perfectly pitched sharp, dry bitterness.

On the subject – Grantham is becoming something of a centre of excellence in these micro-brewery times. Oldershaw are but one of a growing bunch of breweries in and around this relatively small Lincolnshire market town, with Brewster's, Newby Wyke and Belvoir also conjuring up some seriously fantastic beers.

On the market – Cask versions of Oldershaw beers are appearing with increasing frequency nationwide, especially at the more 'trendy' end of the craft beer market. For bottles, try online at The Real Ale Store.

On the whole – 9/10

Full Review

In the context of this website, I've had a soft spot for Oldershaw Brewery right from day one.

I mean that quite literally, too, as the inaugural 'Day 1, Beer 1' slot was given over to their excellent premium ale Old Boy.

Back in those distant days (last November) today's beer didn't even exist, but having since sampled a great many of Oldershaw's ales, I'd say Blonde Volupta is not only an excellent addition to the range - but it might just be the very best of the lot.

Either way, it's special.

After a few short moments, it was obvious to me that this was a top-drawer contemporary craft beer, one which could stand shoulder to shoulder with any of the current hop heroes of today.

There's been all kinds of change at this brewery over recent times, the new owners have had the foresight to fully unleashed the creative talents of the extremely gifted team, and that freedom of expression translates into their new beers with remarkable eloquence.

Basically, they're lush.

Blonde Volupta serves as a drink to define these times, with crystal clear citrus and sharp fruit flavours - grapefruit, melon, kiwi, mango - investing everything they can into the mix, triggering an explosion of such vivid intensity that you can't help but smile. An astonishing salty bitterness keeps all this hyperactive fruit solidly in check, making it every bit as impressive as it is entertaining.

Add to this a subtle biscuit and pine nut finish, and you have a brewing achievement which borders on monumental.

As you may have noticed over recent times, these highly hopped 'yellows' are really starting to win me over. You could say that finally I'm beginning to see the 'light'.

But I really can't be certain whether it's me evolving or the beers themselves. I'm absolutely convinced that the recipes are getting better and better all the time, and if that's the result of all this crazy, almost fevered experimentation – then maybe it ain't so bad after all.

Without doubt, the 'yellows' and the 'blacks' have reaped the greatest rewards from all of this experimentation, if breweries could finally start working that same kind of magic with the 'browns', I might just start doing little leaps of joy. (In fairness, some breweries have already started to do precisely that.)

Anyway, of the yellows, few beers in the land can claim to be better than this one.

As good as this?

Maybe.

But better?

I seriously doubt it.

Seek it out and see for yourselves.

'Project Venus' - New Beer Launched

Many thanks to the women (and men) of Project Venus for the great evening at The Eden Bar in Grantham last night.

The Project was launching it's latest beer 'Venus Rouge' - a contemporary rendition of a traditional bitter with a scintillating balance of dynamic citrus hops and sumptuously nutty malts. 

The ale was enjoyed by everyone there - including a film unit from the BBC, whose presence suggests a growing interest in this industry initiative, which is fantastic for the 'gals' - and consequently fantastic for beer in general.

For those not yet aware, the 'gals' I refer to are a formidable group of senior figures from various craft breweries who have come together to collaborate on the creation of new beers, with the intention of making women everywhere feel more 'invited to the beer party'.

This does not mean they are brewing 'beers for women' (Venus Rouge itself has many qualities which might be termed 'masculine') it's just a way of letting other women feel less like outsiders in drink-territory usually inhabited by the menfolk.

Beer is not for men.

Beer is for enjoying.

And that's something we all like to do.

It's all fairly obvious stuff really, but the fact is that the 'us and them' mentally will persist without efforts like this being made to tweak the way we all perceive things.

So far, the project has involved Sara Barton (Brewsters Brewery) Kathy Britton (Oldershaw Brewery) Michelle Haylock Kelsall (Offbeat Brewery) Sophie de Ronde (Brentwood Brewing Company) and Sue Hayward from (The Waen Brewery).

At the end of the day, if these women can brew beers as good as 'Venus Rouge' whilst also making more women feel comfortable about discovering and loving good craft beer - then I will support their cause as enthusiastically as possible.

In the often grey area of women and beer, the global players Molson Coors recently had a big idea - the already notorious Animée beer.

'Project Venus' is a far better idea.

Let's make it bigger.

The Old Boy and the New Man?

The more you drink beer, the more you'll enjoy beer.

Is this necessarily the case?

Does consuming more ale in ever-wider varieties lead to a greater appreciation of beer in general? You would think so, wouldn't you. But just to see for sure, I thought I'd run a little test.

So far on The Bottled Beer Year, I've taken a pretty close look at 110 different beers. I've looked, smelled, tasted, and contemplated time and time again, and I can safely say that no two of these drinks have been remotely the same drink experiences.

But to know if I have stayed the same myself, I decided I needed to go back to the very beginning - to the very first beer I reviewed - and review it all over again.

So I did.

Without referring to my original review, I took another look at Oldershaw's 'Old Boy.' I knew it wasn't going to be massively scientific, but I suspected it might reveal quite a bit about how I now relate to beer after trying out so many varieties of it in recent months. 

Did my greater awareness of beer shine through?

Have my tastes in beer changed?

Well, you might want to start by checking out my first Old Boy review here.

And now, without further ado – here is that (rather fascinating) second opinion...

Day 1 (Again), Beer 1 (Again) - Oldershaw's "Old Boy"

Today's Beer

Name – Old Boy

Brewer – Oldershaw

Classification – Premium ale

Strength – 4.8% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Rich chestnut, infused with burnt orange.

On the nose – Fruity malts, bitter nuts and black treacle.

On the tongue – A classically styled but distinctly contemporary rendition of an English premium ale. A good malt presence and dynamic hops.

On the subject – As this is an experimental review, I'll just let Oldershaw do the talking themselves.

On the market – With the new regime now firmly in place, there's a noticeable spring in this brewery's step, and their cask versions are popping up at all kinds of 'groovy' establishments nationwide. But availability of Oldershaw's bottled range is still in the 'growth' phase nationally. Pester them directly here.

On the whole – 7.5/10

Full Review

'Old Boy' is a clever name for this beer.

'Old' is appropriate because it reflects the strong sense of tradition at the very core of this entire brew, whilst 'Boy' is the essential reminder that this beer is also very 'now', with all its zesty hoppiness and its highly nuanced array of complementary flavour themes.

The fact that my spell-checker recognises neither the word 'zesty' nor the word 'hoppiness', suggests that my PC has yet to move forward into the modern era of craft beer production.

I digress.

My point is that this beer is nicely pitched at the broadest cross section of the market, it is mindful of the needs of the traditionalist fashion sceptics and the new army of hopheads which continues to swell in numbers.

Needless to say, my spell-checker is also at a total loss with the word 'hophead'.

I rest my case.

Old Boy is richly fruity, and has a properly punchy bitterness – all underscored by some delicious hazelnut/cashew base notes. It's hearty and substantial, but also feels dynamic and immediate.

The bottle-conditioning is pretty nicely done too (I wonder if they've been tinkering with their methods over at Oldershaw...?) and the consequent 'pub served' feel of the beer is pretty impressive.

Distinguished, robust, intensely flavourful and hugely rewarding.

He's a good lad is Old Boy.

---------------------------------

Conclusion?

Well, there it is. My all-new look at that very first beer.

Needless to say, I have now compared them myself, and I was quite surprised by several things.

I rated the beer slightly higher this time, albeit by just 0.5 of a mark. It seems that spending these many months being barraged with hordes of 'yellow' massively hopped beers has not yet turned me into a 'hophead' – in fact it appears to have been a setback in that regard. This is surprising to me because in very recent days I'd started to sense a slight shift towards the 'yellow zone'.

From the two 'At A Glance' sections I learn that 'oak' has somehow become 'chestnut', but perhaps the addition of 'infused with burnt orange' gets me out of trouble there.

But the greatest differences are in the improved bottle-conditioning (which is a great relief to me) and in my greater awareness of the more contemporary use of hops, which I seem to have totally dismissed the first time around. The 'traditional feel' (which does get mentioned in both pieces and is indeed the greater contributor towards overall 'character') is all I talk about in the first review. Either I was harsh, plain ignorant, or they've upped the ante slightly in the brewhouse.

All in all, I think for my very first review the original was a passable attempt. The bottle-conditioning rant proved to be merely the first of a great many, and it was interesting to see that this huge industry nuisance was causing trouble right from the very start.

Let's hope things continue to improve on that score like they appear to have done at Oldershaw.

In the meantime, I look forward to running a similar test after another 110 beers.

But I'll have to drink them first.

Stay tuned...

Reasons To Be Cheerful - 1, 2, 3!

Good old Gary!

Gary Gooch, that is, Sales Chief at Oldershaw.

Not only has he popped over to drop off the very latest creation from his own stable, but he's also left me with a couple of delights from two other equally exciting craft brew firms - Vale and Tring.

The trio of ales are (as pictured from left to right) -


"V.P.A" (from Vale) - Golden ale. 4.2% ABV

"Blonde Volupta" (from Oldershaw) - Premium blonde ale. 5.0% ABV

"Side Pocket For A Toad" (from Tring) - Premium golden ale. 4.5% ABV


Each one will be sampled and featured here on The Year very soon.

On paper, they aren't a million miles apart in terms of their classification and strength, but I've a pretty big hunch that 'on paper' is where those similarities will end...

Stay tuned.

Day 55, Beer 55 - Oldershaw's "Alchemy"

Today's Beer

Name – Alchemy

Brewer – Oldershaw

Classification – Golden premium beer

Strength – 5.3% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Well, just by looking, you'd think this was just another golden ale. But it's not... (Read on!)

On the nose – Rampant breakfast! Mr Kellogg and his friends should be very afraid!

On the tongue – A uniquely balanced golden beer, with a depth of flavour like no other.

On the subject – Lincolnshire's Oldershaw Brewery have new owners at the helm these days. Keep a very close eye on them, I would advise.

On the market – Selected Lincolnshire stores (Hallam's Deli, for example) but word is now spreading. Richard is stocking at Newark's Real Ale Store, or drop the brewery a line.

On the whole – 8.5/10

Full Review

Next time you find yourself contemplating the idea of drinking beer for breakfast – cast your bleary eyes in the direction of this brew.

It's simply bursting with morning goodness – toast, marmalade, cereals, honey – and it has all been assembled with the most skilfully balanced precision.

I was wishing for daybreak after the first sip.

It should be noted that for those of you who frown upon morning alcohol consumption (all of you, I hope!) – this brew is also ideal for the hours which come significantly later in the day.

Without wishing to get too unbridled in my praise of this beer – it is quite simply gorgeous, and I reckon it has to be among the best golden beers on the market.

My age old misgiving (if not gripe) about the 'golden' ales, is that they are very often overtly sharp and austere in flavour, they can easily lack any real balance, and they have the habit of being pretty unsubstantial in consistency.

Oldershaw have triumphed over all of these usual adversaries by underpinning the hops and the citrus theme with lashings of all that aforementioned toast, honey and cereal – achieved by ingenious use of a very sumptuous pale malt/wheat combination – and they've somehow managed to make the body firm and robust.

It's fresh, it's appetising, and it has a ridiculously lovely butterscotch finish that will do nothing less than delight you.

This is a mighty creation from a small micro.

Oldershaw are definitely going places, but they may need to reassess some important things before very long.

Because in my view, their skills are already far too big for their current boots.

Day 46, Beer 46 - Oldershaw's "Grantham Stout"

Today's Beer

Name – Grantham Stout

Brewer – Oldershaw

Classification – Let's not be silly.

Strength – 4.3% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – That classic stout look. 'Black' might be the optimum word.

On the nose – A sophisticated cocoa-liquorice blend. Foxy!

On the tongue – Vivid complexity. Fresh, light-bodied and sumptuous.

On the subject – Oldershaw have named their stout after their historic home town. To hell with Margaret Thatcher and Issac Newton... this brewery might just be this town's famous name of the future!

On the market – Specialist stores, and a growing local presence. This beauty came direct from the brewery.

On the whole – 8/10

Full Review

A slow nod of the head followed the first sip of this.

That nod spoke volumes.

Oldershaw have taken a delightfully no-nonsense approach to this beer, but that's not to be confused with a 'no-style' approach.

They've executed this brew with precision, and the complexity is as varied as any stout I've tried for a good old while.

I was almost expecting to discover chunks of dark chocolate, sticks of liqourice and a whole bunch of cocoa beans – so fresh and immediate were these intense flavours.

It's delightfully light in the body. Too much weight, when combined with these darkly powerful flavours, can so often make for a soupy experience, but not here. Not nearly.

This is a fine rendition of a stout. Traditional, but also kind of chic. The SIBA award displayed on the label was clearly well earned – as such awards nearly always are.

However, if I did have a gripe, it would be about that very same label.

There's a point at which that good old micro-brewery 'no-frills' charm starts to flirt dangerously with second rate branding.

And, when the beer behind the label is as good as this, there's something particularly heartbreaking about it.

In this era of ever-increasing artistic obsession, silly stuff like label design begin to matter more than they should.

Ridiculous and tiresome, perhaps. But it is the way of things now.

Great beers risk being overlooked and sidelined, when all that might have saved them was a new set of crayons.