Day 151, Beer 151 - Salopian's "Oracle"

Today's Beer

Name – Oracle

Brewer – Salopian

Classification – Golden Ale

Strength – 4.0% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Pale, suspiciously hypnotic straw gold.

On the nose – Generous amounts of citrusy marvellousness. (Sometimes only made up words will do.)

On the tongue – A massive grapefruit-heavy thwack from an implausibly 'light' beer. Astounding.

On the subject – Well, there's really too much to neatly sum up here... (Read on.) 

On the market – Oh, how I tire of revealing that a fabulous beer is hard to come by! Shrewsbury based Salopian work overtime providing their own decent coverage of the western areas of England but, like so many other superb small breweries, they can only reach so far. (Will someone please tell the major supermarkets there's been a beer revolution going on for a few years now!) This rare specimen was retrieved by trained specialists at Newark's Real Ale Store.

On the whole – 8.5/10

Full Review

Why aren't the majority of the best UK beers available in supermarkets?

I'm obviously not talking about the beers which are 'known as' being the best – those beers which hog the often minuscule areas set aside for 'proper beer' which come from the likes of Greene King, Badger, Marston's, Greene King and... well, Greene King. These beers are fine in themselves, many of them are more than 'fine', but nobody who follows the beer scene still believes any of these brews represent the best of what's being produced in Britain today.

In fact, most beer aficionados (one of which I hope to be when I grow up) have spent the last five years or so watching a gargantuan gulf opening up between those beers which have been sharing the crown for many decades – and those entirely different beers which really ought to be wearing it now.

But when I walk into most supermarkets, certainly those I work or live nearby, I find I'm still asking myself the same old question...

“Where's all the good stuff?”

Incredibly, after a period of such ferocious evolution and creativity within the beer industry, as things stand the only way of seeing bottles of Thornbridge standing shoulder to shoulder with concoctions from Kernel, Magic Rock, Brew Dog, Marble, and any number of other 'well known' contemporary breweries – is at a specialist retailer or within the dispassionate confines of a specialist dealer's website.

I find this bizarre. It's also hugely frustrating.

Most of all though, it's plain old unacceptable.

These massively exciting beers should either be getting some of the existing 'proper beer' shelf space in big supermarkets, or preferably they should be getting a section all of their own. After all, what possible commonalities do Fursty Ferret and Bombardier share with beers such as Jaipur, 5AMSaint, or Conqueror 1075?

Beyond the fact these are all beers – what else is even remotely similar about them?

So come on ASDA, come on Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Morrisson's – aka “The Big Four” – it's time for you all to help your customers to take part in this new and exciting consumer experience. Quite apart from the public service aspect, you're also guaranteed to increase your profits massively, as an entirely new demographic suddenly adds its ever-growing ranks to your checkout lines.

I can but dream...

Until then, I'll just tell you about another fantastic beer you probably won't currently find in your local supermarket, another beer which could be greatly improving your day if only you could get your hands on it.

Oracle is actually something of a liquid surprise. At 4.0% ABV, you could be excused for expecting a beer that's light in impact as well as in alcohol content. This is very much not the case. Many breweries in the aforementioned 'contemporary proper beer' arena take great delight in demonstrating to us just how much flavour can be crammed into drinks of relatively low or 'sessionable' strength, but Salopian have clearly gone to extraordinary lengths here to create what could well be the very best example of this low booze, high taste concept.

Swathes of vivid grapefruit, kiwi, lime, pineapple, orange and gooseberry tumble over each other against a backdrop of subtle savoury biscuit, granary bread and pine nuts. It's not just the wealth of flavours, but the sheer potency of them which instantly and continuously impresses.

Light bodied, infused with a glorious sense of freshness and a stunning clarity of construction, this is a perfect summertime beer which is light enough to stick with until sundown. Here in the gloomiest depths of winter though, I found the experience every bit as gratifying.

I just wish more of us could share in the delights of beers like this without having to drive thirty miles (like I did) or searching around online only to be further restricted into making a bulk purchase.

Change is already long overdue.

Over to you, “The Big Four”.

Day 148, Beer 148 - Windsor & Eton's "Canberra"

Today's Beer

Name – Canberra

Brewer – Windsor & Eton

Classification – Commonwealth Ale (Confused? Read on...)

Strength – 4.0% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Deep, lustrous chestnut. Like some gloriously implausible rum and molasses cocktail.

On the nose – Good God! Big hops with equal treacle (which should be a band name) underscored with delicious smoky liquorice (which definitely should not be a band name).

On the tongue – Rich, rewarding and complex with fabulously zesty hops, all kinds of complimentary sub-flavours and an overall punch far greater than its strength ought to allow.

On the subject – This is the final beer of three brewed by Windsor & Eton to commemorate ‘Jubilee 2012’, and it’s arguable they've saved the very best for last. (See one of them reviewed here, and trust me that the other was totally ace.)

On the market – Another ‘grab it while you can’ beer arrives on The Bottled Beer Year, with the safest bet of doing so being to purchase from the brewery direct.

On the whole – 9/10

Full Review

As the inevitable 'end of year reviews' begin to clog up every last media outlet over the coming weeks, much will be said about what has been (in any UK-linked territory at least) the 50^th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s time spent having to shake hands with unwell, poorly paid taxpayers – otherwise known as The Diamond Jubilee.

What might not be mentioned during all this dewy-eyed hullabaloo – not nearly as much as it should be, at least – is the relatively small contribution made to these festivities by a certain UK brewery, in the form of three enormously lovely (and even more enormously diverse) commemorative beers.

Long before this year-long national party had started, the magicians at Windsor & Eton had been quietly impressing me and thousands of other ale fundamentalists with an ever growing roster of astonishing beers, each of which manages to combine cutting edge characteristics and flavour themes with an equally immediate sense of tradition – an elusive little trick which few other breweries ever quite manage to pull off.

Uniquely, Canberra is called a ‘Commonwealth Ale’, and whilst that’s probably just the brewery entering into the spirit of their own idea and having a bit of fun with the royal theme, it’s also perfectly fitting that they should essentially invent an entirely new beer style for this brew because in my experience there just ain’t nothing like it currently available on the open market.

From the moment of contact with the lips this stuff begins racing around the full flavour spectrum like the proverbial bat out of Berkshire, and before you can properly identify any specific notes – it’s already begun firing barrages of new tastes at you as though it genuinely intends to kill you.

And this pleasantly aggressive characteristic is one of the things that most impresses about Canberra. After you remind yourself of the relatively benign alcohol content (4.0% ABV),  you realise it beggars belief how they've managed to empower this drink with such a wealth of robust flavours as well as its almost menacing sense of inner might.

Specifically, the flavours at play here are spiced orange citrus, ginger cake, green figs, fennel, restrained cocoa, delicate traces of maple syrup – and the malts underpin all of this with a super-unique roasted nut, char-grilled tree sap kind of a twang which, frankly, leaves you wanting to sit the hell down and contemplate the inside of your own mouth for a good old while.

This really is a genuinely dynamic and hugely rewarding concoction.

All in all, this three beer salute to the British monarch has been imbued with a majesty every bit as grand as the one it was intended to reflect. The only difference being that this Windsor brewery has taken just a few short years to generate the same glorious heritage which a certain other local resident needed half a century to acquire.

An exaggeration?

Sip it and see.

Day 146, Beer 146 - Windsor & Eton's "Kohinoor"

Today's Beer

Name – Kohinoor

Brewer – Windsor & Eton

Classification – Commonwealth IPA  (And, children, that stands for Commonwealth 'Indies' Pale Ale as opposed to Commonwealth 'India' Pale Ale, m'kay!)

Strength – 5.0% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Deep, rich, almost aristocratic amber. One might even offer forth a daft nonsensical word like 'amberstocratic' if one were a spineless, bottom-feeding cretin. (Doh!)

On the nose – Citrus Kong, high on steroids, tearing up an Asian herb garden. A deadly fragrance, but a beautiful one.

On the tongue – Punchy bitterness, surprisingly full bodied, and with an array of delicate herbal and spiced notes which put the ‘India’ right back into ‘IPA’.

On the subject – One of three beers brewed to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by one of the most exciting breweries in all of Britain, the Commonwealth, and the world.

On the market – All of the usual W&E stockists as listed on their website here. But wherever you find it, buy it quickly. This won’t be around forever.

On the whole – 8.5/10

Full Review

This is not my favourite Windsor & Eton beer.

I laughed to myself when I wrote that opening line, because it’s rather like some wealthy aristocratic lady declaring “sapphires aren’t my favourite blue jewels.”

The reality is that this brewery are responsible for some of my very favourite bottled beers, so when one of their creations isn’t quite as jaw dropping as one of their others – chances are it’s still probably far better than the vast majority of ales in the universe. So, on reflection, maybe that’s actually a more accurate way to begin this review...

‘This beer is far better than most other beers in the universe.’

Yes, that’s much better.

As I’ve already hinted above, one of the most instantly impressive characteristics of this beer (arguably its defining trait) is the playful way in which it introduces flavours and aromas from the Indian subcontinent. I say ‘playful’ because one can’t help but assume this is a nostalgic nod to the former British Empire and the “days of the Raj” – the very days that this beer variety was first created. But in all my years of enjoying IPA’s in all there multifarious forms, I’ve never before tasted one that evokes such a sense of India itself, and the results are both delicious and amusing.

But the fact is that these guys have such finely honed skills alongside their famously good instincts for recipe building, that they can literally chose to be playful as well as merely brilliant.

The levels of nuance are just bewildering. Some of the herbal and dried fruit 'twangs' (to name just two of many more) are almost there as flavours which you can ‘select’ to experience at your leisure, tuning your taste buds into them as and when you please, or switching certain tastes off in favour of others when the mood takes you. This, then, is rather like ‘interactive ale’, which the ‘user’ can engage with at any level that he/she desires. User defined beer is not simple to brew. These guys have the vast amounts of talent required.

The potency of the overall flavour theme and the perceived alcohol ‘thwack’ are both far bolder than the 5.0% ABV should really allow, which again shows us that these Berkshire magicians know how to maximise results from every ingredient in every part of the process.

It’s got a nicely robust salty bitterness, but there’s also a welcome sub-flavour of Jamaican Ginger Cake which brings with it enough of a subtle syrupy quality to counteract the saltiness and keep everything evenly balanced.

Overall, Kohinoor has enough ‘quirkiness’ to justify its classification as a ‘special edition’, and in many ways it is a very unique beer. But there’s also enough sheer class at play here to ensure that if this IPA decides to stick around long after the national party is over – I for one will not be complaining.

Day 133, Beer 133 - Windsor & Eton's "Conqueror 1075"

Today's Beer

Name – Conqueror 1075

Brewer – Windsor & Eton

Classification – Black IPA

Strength – 7.4% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Dark browns and and dark reds doing their very best not to look like black. And mostly failing.

On the nose – Smoky citrus. A veritable hurricane of licorice and tree fruit. Sort of impossible. Sort of magical.

On the tongue – A brief, sound bite appraisal? Of flavours such as these? Do me a favour!

On the subject – At this point in time, few breweries in Britain are generating so much unbridled excitement within my beer loving soul as Windsor & Eton. Irritatingly, I am by no means alone. Other pesky humanoids have also spotted the specialness, so it won't be very long before the whole world is singing their praises and they're being taking over by BMW or Microsoft. Success can be so wounding!

On the market – Growing rapidly for the brewery as a whole but this newbie bottle might be harder to find, initially at least. But there's little need to exert yourself, just go online at Beer Merchants or Ales By Mail.

On the whole – 9.5/10

Full Review

However the hell it came about, and regardless of whether its very existence is even possible or not – there's one thing I can safely say about the recently arrived beer style known as Black IPA...

It's utterly marvellous.

It really is.

Today's beer – which is merely one of Windsor & Eton's two renditions of this classification – is nothing less than a mind blowing drink experience.

This is the beer that every lover of dark beer in the known universe should be consuming at their very earliest opportunity. But the truly remarkable thing about these Black IPA's is that this very same recommendation can be given to lovers of beers at the absolute opposite end of the colour/flavour spectrum. If you like light, golden, citrus rich, hop heavy ales – this is your essential beer, too.

Crudely put, this is a vividly hopped, citrus rampant, medium bodied and lavishly malted stout. There's so very much more to it, but that's a pretty decent starting point.

Grapefruit, lime, mango and gooseberry (to name but a few of the huge array of dynamic fruits at play here) swirl and collide with deep swathes of cocoa, licorice, smoked bacon and roasted nuts. It's an astonishing sequence of flavour events, and among the most invigorating taste experiences I've ever known from any source – let alone from a beer.

There are so many elements which make you instinctively disbelieve what your mouth is telling you, but at the same time, the whole thing makes so much sense that you can't understand how these kinds of beers weren't dreamed up sooner.

Quite simply, in terms of the open market, beers like this really didn't exist just a few short years ago, and yet these guys are brewing this one like they've been doing it for aeons.

That's a remarkable achievement.

But then, this is a remarkable brewery. And with all of their usual technical prowess, creative ingenuity and sheer class, they are brewing a remarkable example of a remarkable beer style.

Whatever kind of beer you think you prefer – Black IPA will rapidly replace it.

And be sure to drink a bottle of Conqueror 1075 before you shake your head in disagreement with that statement.

I can guarantee you won't be shaking it after.

Windsor & Eton - The Return!

Transforming my day from a mere Thursday into a glorious landmark occasion is this second batch from Windsor & Eton Brewery.

I've made no secret of my admiration from this mighty micro, and I stand by my prediction that this will go down in history as one of the most successful small breweries of its generation.

My previous reviews of their beers can be found here, but these latest arrivals could well outdo their stable-mates if all the considerable recent hype is true.

The beers are (from left to right...)

Conqueror 1075 - (Black IPA) 7.4% ABV

Republika - (Pilsner Lager) 4.8% ABV

Windsor Knot - ('Royal Wedding' commemorative beer) 4.5% ABV

Geographically speaking, it seems only fair that this brewery should step up to the plate with a beer to mark a certain recent royal event, but it's really those other two beers that are going to keep me up all night with excitement for the next couple of weeks or so.

Stay tuned for the reviews.

Day 116, Beer 116 - Windsor & Eton's "Knight of the Garter"

Today's Beer

Name – Knight of the Garter

Brewer – Windsor & Eton

Classification – Golden ale

Strength – 3.8% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Warm, rich gold.

On the nose – Ultra-grapefruit. Ultra-orange. Ultra-nice.

On the tongue – A model golden beer. Dry, citrus rich, and ceaselessly refreshing.

On the subject – So much to say. I reckon I'll just invite you to read on...

On the market – Hardly the ubiquitous label that it should be, but whilst the momentum is building try online at Ales By Mail.

On the whole – 8.5/10

Full Review

And so it came to pass that my third Winsdor & Eton beer was able to officially confirm my long held suspicion.

This is one of the most excellent new breweries in Britain.

And it's 'rapiers at dawn' for anyone who claims otherwise.

There is a sense of finesse and long-established style about everything they create. But equally strong is the feeling of humble, forthright integrity, the presence of which never allows their obvious self-assuredness to spill over into arrogant showmanship – that unfortunate lamp-post which certain other new breweries seem unable to resist cocking their legs at.

Knight Of The Garter is an intricate beer, but the sublime balance is so inescapably comforting, and the overall composition of the many flavours has been so skilfully pitched, that is easy to forget just how dynamic, nuanced and complex this ale really is.

Vivid (but never unruly) high-note fruits collide with a superbly sharp bitterness, and the overall citrus dryness is supported nobly by gentle nut and savoury biscuit malts.

The grapefruit, so abundant in the aroma, never attempts to dominate in the mouth, but instead it makes room for other clearly defined fruits such as orange, mango and even kiwi.

This is a real treat. It's one of those unashamedly 'enjoyable' beers, and I have to say I was very sorry to watch it (rapidly) disappear.

All in all, I salute this brewery.

Their presence in the marketplace is as welcome as any other brewery I know.

It's been a genuine pleasure to discover them.

Day 93, Beer 93 - Winsdor & Eton's "Guardsman"

Today's Beer







Name - Guardsman

Brewer - Windsor & Eton

Classification - Best bitter

Strength - 4.2% ABV


Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye - Rich, deep, fulsome amber.

On the nose - Lemon, ginger cake, wild-grasses. Nice.

On the tongue - Drinks like a modern classic. High citrus hops over a gently nutty base.

On the subject - Windsor & Eton Brewery have an ambition to have their beers take a place among the most recognised sights in their illustrious town. In my opinion, they are setting their targets far too low, because their beers are just far too good.

On the market - Criminally rare. Decent local coverage but drinkers everywhere deserve access to this brew. Fortunately, someone invented the internet for just such a purpose - so try Ales By Mail.

On the whole - 9/10


Full Review

This is lovely.

I tried to talk myself out of kicking-off this review with that opening line - but this beer was in absolute control of what was to be written right from the start.

It is true to say that certain beers are so well crafted that they write the reviews themselves. With these beers, every element has been engineered with such precision that the experience of drinking them is a clearly defined one, and leaves no room or need for interpretation or embellishment.

Such beers reach you with an impossible sense of immediate familiarity - even though you never tasted them before in your life. It's a strange magic, and always intensely pleasurable.

This is as good an example of such a beer as any.

Where to start?

Well, there is a dryness to the high-citrus principle flavour theme which makes for one of the satisfying sequences of opening sips I've yet experienced here on The Year.

But that's only where the fun begins. As your bedazzled mouth gradually starts to come to terms with what's happening to it - a further string of highly pleasant surprises begins to play out, with all manner of complementary flavours mingling and interweaving at multiple intensities, ultimately amounting to an enormously gratifying glass of beer.

The label reads 'Oak Crafted', and I have to say that this made me a little wary before the pour - probably due to a mild phobia of 'oaked' wines that I've been unhappily developing over recent years. But, mercifully (and perhaps quite perplexingly) I could detect no sense of any kind of 'oak' at all. In fact, regardless of the role oak has allegedly played in the brewing of this ale, I can cheerfully report that it has had no discernible effect on it's taste. I can only suppose the oak was used to assist in the silky smooth feel of the drink, in which case it was probably a very wise move.

But, key thing is what this ale does taste like.

In short, it is veritable kaleidoscope of zesty bitterness, brought mesmerically into balance by an exquisitely delicate nutty base.

That skilfully pitched nuttiness provides a delightfully savoury backbone for the beer - the fruits are never allowed to rampage freely about the place as I suspect they would like to - everything just feels very tightly honed and orchestrated.

I like this brewery more and more with every new title I try. Every beer of theirs is excellent, but somehow every new one seems to outdo the last.

This is easily the best yet.

It is a quite glorious ale.

Day 65, Beer 65 - Windsor & Eton's "Conqueror"

Today's Beer






Name – Conqueror

Brewer – Windsor & Eton

Classification – Black IPA

Strength – 5.0% ABV



Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Vivid, hypnotic black.

On the nose – Spices, herbs, wild-grasses and faint liquorice. Remarkable.

On the tongue – Smoky cocoa with an exotic, perhaps even eccentric twist.

On the subject – These Windsor & Eton chaps have managed to create the sense that they've been around for ages. That's partly due to the branding, but it's mostly due to the highly refined feel of their products. The reality is that they're actually one of the youngest breweries around, having only come into existence in 2010.

On the market – Not yet hugely stocked nationwide in the UK, but beer like this won't retain 'boutique' status for too much longer - however hard it tries. Try online at Beer Merchants.

On the whole – 7.5/10



Full Review

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

It is no coincidence that this beer has been named 'Conqueror', because that is precisely what it intends to do to your taste buds - and it's not going to hang around for their permission.

This is a magnificently brutal drink experience which left me so very pleasantly invaded that I began to see entirely new justifications for global domination.

This beer makes war make sense.

And 'war' is pretty much what this ale is all about. A shrinking violet it most certainly is not. It bombards the mouth with smoke and spice, and offers only black treacle and double espresso as relief from the savagely delicious onslaught.

It is hugely enjoyable, and it's combative nature should in no way dissuade pacifists from partaking in a jar or two. Everyone should be encouraged to face this beast.

For those who demand a certain bullishness from their ales - those who frown upon beers lacking in substance, character or 'fight' - they will find a worthy ally in this brew.

Liquorice, treacle toffee, wild grasses, cooking apples, gooseberry - all pitch in with pugnacious exuberance, and it makes for a melee of the most distinguished kind.

Too much for some?

Well, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if a small number of newcomers to Planet Ale found this a bit too savage for their evolving palates.

But for the rest of us - particularly those of us who like to wrestle with the mightiest of delicious brews - there's all kinds of bloodthirsty fun to be had with this very impressive beer.


.

Windsor & Eton shall not be beaten!

Three brave and mighty brews from Windsor and Eton have arrived to restore some order and impose a bit of civil obedience to The Bottled Beer Year.

So, stop all that messing about and pay attention!

The beers are - (from left to right)

Conqueror - (Black IPA)

Guardsman - (Oak crafted best bitter)

Knight of the Garter - (Golden ale)

I'll be sure to escape reprimand by giving each one a full feature over the coming weeks.

W&E - I salute you!