Day 41, Beer 41 - Goose Island's "Honker's Ale"

Today's Beer

Name – Honker's Ale

Brewer – Goose Island

Classification – 'English Style' Bitter.

Strength – 4.3% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Uncommonly attractive ale. That's exactly what it looks like.

On the nose – Bionic dark malts! Licorice and sticky toffee pudding.

On the tongue – Tangerine peel versus burnt bark in a vat of maple syrup. Trust me, it's nice.

On the subject – Out of Chicago, John Hall and, later on, his son Greg evolved a really genuine local micro into a pretty genuine global micro by harnessing the power of customer involvement and seemingly keeping their heads screwed tightly on. Impressive. Their website modestly speaks of their growing presence in 'the Europe'. Sometimes, clerical errors can be so damn heart-warming.

On the market – Ouch. Specialist shops only in the UK. Online outlets are plentiful. This came my way via Richard at the Real Ale Store - (website under construction I'm told).

On the whole – 8.5/10

Full Review

'Blackcurrant undercurrent.'

Try saying that after a few glasses of this stuff!

But, yes, this beer does have such an undercurrent of flavour running through it but, quite honestly, there's so much going on in this drink that any undercurrent – however delightful – simply doesn't make it onto the list of 'vital things to mention.'

Where to begin...?

Well, how about starting with this – A more potent clash between bitter and sweet you will seldom find. Every single mouthful gets you guessing at which is the more dominant. It's an incredibly fine line between the two, which in itself reveals a lot about the rarefied engineering going on behind this brew.

Experts brewed this beer – there's no doubt about it.

Coming in to play after each of those aforementioned mouthfuls, is a finish imbued with the most delicious apple pie quality – bringing yet further emphasis to that bitter sweet conflict.

It has the sultry appeal of a dark beer – a bock springs to mind – and yet it has all the lively tingles associated with a golden ale or even a boutique lager.

This is a powerhouse brew, and it doesn't waste any time making a big impression. Only the occasional faint trace of a soap-like after-taste prevents me from sending a current-record-equalling 9/10 score in this mighty beer's direction.

If only the bottle were of normal size – and not this very small 335ml– then I'd have had more time to get to properly know it. Maybe then I'd have re-evaluated that soap-like flavour entirely.

It's funny, the folks at Goose Island even recommend pouring this drink into an Imperial pint glass. But surely they realise that 355 into 568 just doesn't go!

This whole tiny-portions issue just refuses to stop bugging me...

Anyway, there's no escaping it - this is a truly fine ale.

My (decent sized) hat is off to the Goose.

Who's Been Robbin' Robinsons?

Well, the answer is that no theft of any sort has taken place.

In actually fact, the folks over at Robinsons were all in on it! They were perfectly happy about their delivery man speeding these goodies over here to Beer Year Towers, and we were even happier to receive them.

All these beers will be featuring over the coming weeks, and I have to admit to being especially excited about the two variant forms of Old Tom - 'Chocolate' and the even more tantalizing 'Ginger.'

I always considered myself more of a dog man until now.

That may be about to change...

So, thanks to Robinsons for this (perfectly legal) consignment - it's great to have another great brand on board!

Day 40, Beer 40 - Lymestone Brewery's "Foundation Stone"

Today's Beer

Name – Foundation Stone

Brewer – Lymestone Brewery

Classification – Golden Pale Ale

Strength – 4.5% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Radiant, warmest gold.

On the nose – Very refined. Young Mr Malt and the fair Miss Hops are clearly on very good terms.

On the tongue – A delicately poised tussle between high and low flavour themes. Riveting stuff!

On the subject – Based in the former premises of the legendary Bents, Staffordshire's Lymestone Brewery was a bold step taken by Ian Bradford after his 18 years brewing at Titanic. This beer alone implies that this step was a giant leap for beer-kind.

On the market – Outside of the UK Midlands, online is the way to go. Mine was supplied by The Real Ale Store which, yes, does happen to be in the UK Midlands.

On the whole – 8.5/10

Full Review

This beer drinks like a walk in the woods.

It's a liquid autumnal stroll through a moist English copse, where the berry bushes swell with plump, over-ripened fruit, and the well trodden early fallen leaves issue forth their sumptuously earthy twang – and this is just the beer's flavour I'm dealing with here!

The fragrance is quite a different matter - far more tropical and zesty, more of an equatorial coastal forest than a misty English glade.

The mix of all this, though, results in a beer of such varied, nature-extracted richness that it simply forces you to become both satisfied and entertained.

It's a fun drink experience, more 'fun' than many beers manage to be, but it should be added that this is the sophisticated, cultured kind of fun I'm talking about. Its more of an amusing university lecture than a piece of music hall slapstick.

I liked this beer an awful lot. It instantly made me - for want of a better word - 'happy', and it kept me feeling that way till the very end. Without a doubt it has set me upon a (woodland) path in search of the next beer on Lymestone's list.

And I will not be walking along that path.

I will be sprinting.

Day 39, Beer 39 - Spire Brewery's "Britannia Cream Ale"

Today's Beer

Name – Britannia Cream Ale

Brewer – Spire

Classification – Strong Amber Ale

Strength – 6.4% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Gorgeous shades of yellow and gold, ruined almost entirely by copious amounts of floating yeast. I tire of this subject almost as much as it tires of me...

On the nose – Thickly buttered hot cross buns. Toasted, of course.

On the tongue – Fresh ginger and pink grapefruit. In a cake.

On the subject – Chesterfield's Spire Brewery is the brainchild of David McLaren. As a former secondary school teacher - he will have NONE OF YOUR BACKCHAT about his beers.

On the market – Local suppliers score an A+, but non local suppliers all get detention! Mine was supplied by The Real Ale Store (who totally loves 'Sir' and always brings him an apple)

On the whole – 8/10

Full Review

If you'd just been through what I've been through, you'd realise just how hard it is to know where to begin.

From the very first sip, this crafty little beast had me all brow-furrowed and head-scratching and, if I'm entirely honest, I'm still pretty bewildered by what I just experienced.

Before I go any further, let me quickly establish that this is a beer that needs to be taken very seriously.

It is, in other words, a very serious beer.

It's a serious beer, and I've been left with little reason to doubt that it's probably also quite an excellent beer.

But I couldn't be absolutely certain of that, or of anything else in relation to this brew because - boy oh boy - is it enigmatic!

It simply refuses to fall neatly – if at all – into any of the usual beer categories, and the brewery's claim that it is a 'cream ale' is certainly one that I'm in no great hurry to embrace.

For sure, there are cream-like aspects to the beer, particularly in terms of the sumptuous buttery fragrance and that huge Hagen Dazs head which billows forth impatiently regardless of how fast you pour.

But a long time before I would have thought of picking out 'creaminess' as this beer's overriding defining quality, I would surely have opted for one of the clearly more dominant properties such as its highly hopped 'kick' or its richly complex finish, or I'd have focused onto its unrelenting citrus appeal.

Mind you, its not as though any of this matters after a few mouthfuls, because at an insidiously deceptive 6.4%, this ale soon renders most Earthly matters devoid of any real significance.

But then again, at 6.4%, I probably shouldn't be craving several more of these – but the awful, terrifying truth is that I am, and it wouldn't be fair on the beer not to confess that.

To be even more fair, though, I also have to confess that my craving is not necessarily due to an intense love which has developed for this ale. The feeling I have is more akin to an investigators obsession with a case he can't yet solve, such is the tremendous sense of intrigue behind this beer and its devilishly elusive character.

Day 38, Beer 38 - Cooper's "Original Pale Ale"

Today's Beer

Name – Original Pale Ale

Brewer – Coopers

Classification – Pale Ale (Original!)

Strength – 4.5% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Translucent English mustard. Only much prettier.

On the nose – Soy sauce drenched Portabello mushrooms and apricot jelly.

On the tongue – Actually a 'golden' type beer in certain ways – but truly out on its own in many others!

On the subject – Australia and Coopers, they've both been around for a good old while, but this brand shows no sign of relying on heritage alone. One look at the website demonstrates their obvious affection for all things 'now'...

On the market – Ought to be a lot easier for those outside of South Australia and Victoria. Got this at the fabulous and very new Real Ale Store in Newark, Nottingham.

On the whole – 7.5/10

Full Review

To Australia now, and where better to start than with a nice large can of Castlemaine XXXX?

Or, how about a not so large bottle of Coopers Original Pale?

375 millilitres to be exact – a quirky old size for us northern hemisphere types.

But a better size, it must be said, than 330 millilitres... an amount which leaves us beer bottle reviewers with far less time to properly experience what might have been a very good ale if only we'd had a few more mouthfuls by which to reach a proper understanding.

Consider this an unsubtle hint to the 'shrinking bottle' beer industry. Whichever way you look at it, drop-for-drop we punters are all paying a bit more money for a bit less beer. The world of craft ale is rapidly turning into a global pub which only serves half measures. Me no like!

Anyway, the good news is that in fewer sips than I would have liked, I was just about able to discern that Coopers OPA is a rather fine brew.

It comes at you like a golden ale, hopped to the gills and light in the body, but it has plenty of extra tricks up its sleeve to set it apart in spades.

There's a richness of complexity which belies its light colouring, and there are enough lower pitched flavour themes to keep lovers of far darker beers more than happy.

There's also a clear sense of historical awareness in the make up of the drink, which lends it an oddly aloof air of dignified superiority. Its not quite a snob, but it does expect you to know which fork to use for the fish course.

I was in a bit of an overexcited hurry to crack this open having just got back from what is clearly the most exciting new craft-beer retail outlet in England, and I quite forgot that it comes bottle-conditioned. However, the sediment found herein is of the consistency of very fine dust, and is therefore no hindrance to the enjoyment – whether it winds up in the glass or not. The bottle-conditioning techniques employed by Coopers are an excellent model for secondary fermentation, as good as any I've so far encountered. Take heed, all those with gloopy yeast!

By the end of the (teeny weeny) bottle, I'd had a pretty fabulous (and pretty short) time.

A great Australian brand have produced an excellent beer - by the standards of any nation.

Here's hoping for a full sized version in the not too distant future – one which will ensure that us adults can join the fun, too.

Day 37, Beer 37 - Wold Top's "Against The Grain"

Today's Beer

Name – Against The Grain

Brewer – Wold Top

Classification – Gluten Free Real Ale. (The 'real ale' claim is not backed up by bottle-conditioning, I feel compelled to add...)

Strength – 4.5% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – An almost white gold. A gorgeous, crystalline clarity.

On the nose – Excitable sweet hops. Plums and cola cubes lend a hand.

On the tongue – Easy going tropical fruits and highly pitched hops. Complex, but in no great hurry.

On the subject – Wold Top's foray into the gluten free market is part of a growing movement to accommodate those poor beer lovers who some beers hate.

On the market – A sensitive subject. But as the message gets out, so will this priceless variety of beer. Try the brewery direct.

On the whole – 7/10

Full Review

Those of you who caught my recent post on Watau's Wit Bier may recall that it was then that I finally had to accept that I had a slight allergy to beers of that particular variety.

Wheat, it appears, is not my greatest fan. At least not when it is forming the basis of some of the world's most excellent beers (...he wept.)

So, basically, the timing of today's beer could hardly have been better. But before I could properly tackle this brew, I needed to address a few long held preconceptions.

Whenever I see a beer advertising itself as being 'gluten free', my initial knee-jerk reaction usually comes in the form of a 'hmm' rather than a 'yum!'

I'm wary of them, and I start thinking of 'science' and 'medicine' in ways which make me oddly queasy. This is usually followed by some positive thoughts on behalf of those who will benefit from such products – those with allergies, Coeliacs and so on. But the bottom line has always been that I'd never dream of actually buying one.

Enter Wold Top Brewery and their recent shipment of ales which included their very nicely branded 'Against The Grain'.

I have now finished my first ever gluten free beer, and the question is – were any of my prior reservations in any way justified?

Is this as good a beer as any of those without the gluten free claim, and if so, are we on the cusp of a potential revolution in beer production?

Well, on this evidence, it may be more of a revolt than a full on revolution, but to all intents and purposes – my wariness and reservations had no business keeping me from this stuff in the first place.

This brew didn't sweep me off my feet, but it unquestionably grew on me – and how many of your favourite beers have crept up on you like that, only to steal your heart forever...?

The body is exceptionally light, and how much of that is due to the 'gluten free' status I don't really know – but whatever the cause, its a refreshing and elegant consistency which, ironically, is not a million miles away from the feel of many a fine wheat beer.

There's a slightly nervous, skittish feel to the flavours, which might hint at the odd enforced compromise or perhaps an 'experiment' too far – but the main grapefruit theme becomes increasingly dominant and it leaves you wanting more by the end of the glass.

Frankly, the beer did not simply grow on me – it literally evolved during the course of the ten minutes or so that I spent with it (some beers take much longer to finish off!) What began as a suspicion of some slightly plastic contagion, slowly transform into wonderfully subtle peppery citrus hints which were almost mesmerising by the end.

I think I need another bottle of this, along with some of the other gluten free offerings currently out there - to get a broader understanding of their overall strengths and weaknesses.

But, as a first time visitor to the very exclusive Club GF – I'm already sniffing around for full membership.

Day 36, Beer 36 - Wensleydale's "Wensleydale Gold"

Today's Beer

Name – Wensleydale Gold

Brewer – Wensleydale

Classification – Blonde Ale

Strength – 4.5% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – Intense amber. 'Yellow' feels more accurate than 'gold.'

On the nose – A vivacious citrus kick.

On the tongue – Summertime. Liquefied.

On the subject – Starting out in 2003, the Wensleydale Brewery has established a formidable presence in and around the Yorkshire Dales, and that presence is growing.

On the market – Locally, let's just say 'not a problem.' Otherwise, online is the best option. This was a Beer Ritz specimen.

On the whole – 7.5/10

Full Review

Is there such a word as quenchtastic?

Of course there is, and I've no doubt that it is often used in reference to this pretty fine ale.

As you might expect from this beer variety, the high end flavours are dominant, but there are a lot of them at work here – if they are all a little on the subtle side. During a full glass, though, each characteristic gets its chance to shine, and shine they absolutely do.

What is especially worthy of mention is the way in which my nose was almost brutally assaulted at every opportunity by the spiced lemon zest which is constantly being released from the bursting foam. For this reason alone – each sip of the stuff is quite an experience.

My first month or so of daily beer exploration here on The Year has shown me a lot about the merits of 'gold' or 'blonde' beers...merits which had always been lost on me before. I'd complained many times about their lack of balance, complexity and nuance – and once I even went as far as comparing them unfavourably to mainstream lagers...though this was mostly to marvel at the subsequent reactions (after all, I was attending a summer beer festival at the time!)

But I'm happy to say that the sun is slowly coming up and I'm beginning to see the light.

There is complexity in these brews, there is nuance, and there's certainly plenty of excitement in the drinking of them.

This beer, I might add, is as good an example of all this as any I've yet tried. Its lively, its busy, its characterful... its even a little bit aggressive.

So it does seem fairly clear that I've been missing out all this time, but thanks to beers like this one - those days of ignorance are now well and truly over.

Long may the 'gold' rush continue.