Beer Tasting: Hackney Brewery Dark Lager

Most off-licences are pretty boring when it comes to beer. But Broadway Wines, right on Broadway Market in Hackney, offers a decent range of beers, highlighted by some local breweries such as London Fields and Hackney Brewery. My most recent visit to this offy yielded a new Hackney Brewery beer: Dark Lager. (I also snagged a killer Cypriot pale lager. How could I not?) Hackney Brewery seems to have a somewhat limited distribution of its bottled beers but it's nice that one can get them locally.

So, dark lager. Off-hand I can't think of too many other examples of this style getting made in London. Camden has definitely done one but, aside from that, dark lager (or amber lager, or vienna...) is mostly unmined territory. And fair enough as it's not an especially sexy type of beer. It's not as crisp as a straight pilsner and it's not as hearty as a stout. I enjoy a nice dark lager probably more than the next guy but I've never found myself desperate to drink one.

This dark lager from Hackney carries on the style's tradition by being perfectly drinkable though not terribly exciting. It pours clear brown with a frothy, quickly fading beige head. There are lightly toasted dark malts in the nose with subtle dry chocolate and scorched earth. Light to medium sweet, the flavor holds smokey dark malts, a bit of burnt earth bitterness and well-toasted wholegrain bread. Medium bodied with fine to average carbonation, it's fairly low-impact stuff. Reasonably well balanced to finish with moderate roasted malts, more sugary and charred toast, earth, ash, faint burnt leaves, rocks and just whispers of burnt toffee. It is an interesting beer, pretty well balanced overall and easy to drink. It was fun to try.

Beer Tasting: By The Horns Morning Glory Breakfast Stout

I recently tried a bottle of the By The Horns Breakfast Stout, which I picked up from the brewery. It's a good all-around beer and certainly ticks all the boxes you would expect of a stout. It doesn't have a ton of depth but at 5.4% ABV I'd say the focus here is more on drinkability than life-changing complexity.

The beer pours rich, black-brown with a thick, creamy mocha cap. There are lots of well-roasted malts in the nose, some char, hints of blackberries. The flavor is lght to medium sweet with strong roasted malt character, some scorched earth, tangy berries, baking cocoa. Medium bodied with fine carbonation and creamy mouthfeel. Fairly dynamic on the finish, further dark, tangy berries, sturdy roasted malts, dirt and bittersweet baking cocoa. Good one. (Score: 3.6/5.0)

Sierra Nevada at Craft Beer Co. Islington: A Recap

We learned a few things from the Sierra Nevada event last night at the Craft Beer Co. Islington, such as:

1. Londoners get pretty excited over Sierra Nevada. Just look at how many people showed up. To be fair, Sierra Nevada is a fantastic brewery, and the brother (Steve Grossman) of the founder (Ken Grossman) was at the event last night. Steve only spoke for a few minutes but I guess he was around to speak to the punters one-on-one if anybody wanted. Given the crowds I couldn't be bothered to make my way through the chaos to reach him. In case anyone's wondering, Steve is standing by the beer fridges in the photo below (i.e. the second quadrant).

That's a very busy pub.

2. The Craft Beer Co. Islington lacks adequate ventilation. I suppose enough rabid drinkers will steam up any pub; suffice it to say, there were enough drinkers present last night.

3. Sierra Nevada doesn't always hit the mark. I tried their Two Headed Ruthless Rye last night and, to be frank, I was not a fan. That said, three of my drinking companions also got halves of this rye double IPA and one of them quite enjoyed it, while the other two thought it was just OK. Perhaps my days of loving any 10%+ ABV double IPA are simply behind me. But I just found the Two Headed a bit too aggressive in terms of both the alcohol presence (it's 10.4%) and the bitterness, which consisted primarily of extremely abrasive pine.

It took me a while to finish the Two Headed.

4. Tom Cadden: legend. (But I guess we already knew that.)

The Tom Cadden Stamp of Approval.

5. The Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Fritz & Ken's Ale is drinking rather nicely at the moment. This imperial stout came out almost exactly four years ago when Sierra Nevada was celebrating its 30th anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, they brewed a series of beers featuring guest brewers, including American beer luminaries such as Charlie Papazian, Fred Eckhart, Jack McAuliffe and, in the case of the beer at hand, Fritz Maytag. At four years old, this beer is certainly showing some signs of its age (namely, moderate oxidation), but there are definitely some interesting elements. I got lots of dark, dried and leathery fruits, bittersweet baking cocoa, sturdy roasted malts and overarching burnt wood. If you happen to have a bottle I would recommend opening it sooner rather than later. Many thanks to Paul for sharing.

Good beer.

All in all I had fun last night. It was certainly a shame that the original shipment of beers for the event froze in transit (and were thus not drinkable) but the replacement line-up definitely kept people happy - I gather that by the end of the night only the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was left standing.

Until next time.

The Week in Beer

There's a lot of beer stuff happening in the coming week. Without a bit of planning, you might not be able to make it through. Here's a little road map to help.

Wednesday 5 March: Brodies Tap Takeover at The Rake. The event is scheduled to kick off at 5pm and the available beers will include:

Cask:

London Fields Pale Ale
Bethnal Green Bitter
Hackney Red IPA
Shoreditch Sunshine

Keg:

Hackney Red IPA
Dalston Black IPA
Hoxton Special IPA
Chinook Bacon IPA
Awesomestow IPA

Thursday 6 March: Rest day.

Friday 7 March: Mikkeller Tap Takeover at the Kings Arms. Bring your drinking boots if you want to tackle this list:

American Style (Prairie Collab) 
BA Big Worster Chardonnay 
Chill Pils Yuzu
Cream Ale 
I Hardcore You (w/ BrewDog) IIPA
Illegal Mikkeller
Jackie Brown Brown Ale
BA Orange Yuzo Glad I Said Porter Grand Marnier
Simcoe IIPA
Wheat Is The New Hop Wild Yeast IPA
BA Årh Hvad!? Grand Marnier
Spontanelderflower
Spontanroseship

Saturday 8 March: Siren First Anniversary Party at the Craft Beer Co. - Clerkenwell. There will be a great range of beers including several of the classics plus a couple debuts:

Maiden 2013 (Barrel Aged)
Maiden Barley Wine Base Beer
Limoncello IPA
Calypso Sour - Dry hopped with Citra
Neither 
Das Soundwave Cask - Soundwave brewed with German Hops
Flying Dutchman - Our Collaboration brew with Evil Twin
Seven Seas Black Wheat IPA
Broken Dream Cask & Keg
Undercurrent Cask & Keg
Sound Wave
Liquid Mistress
Aramid

Sunday 9 March: Rest day.

Monday 10 March: An Evening with Sierra Nevada at the Craft Beer Co. - Islington. SN ambassador Steve Grossman (brother of brewery founder Ken Grossman) will be on hand, as will some 12 offerings from the brewery.

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Good luck all.

Beer Tasting: Brew By Numbers 08/01 Stout - Export Strength

I got this bottle way back in the early days of Brew By Numbers' existence; the bottled-on date is 06/02/2013, so the brewery had been running for about three months or so at that point. And, as such, this bottle has had plenty of time to develop.

Since this beer's debut, BBNo have put out a few iterations at varying ABVs; this one clocks in at 7.4%. It pours deep brown-black with a huge, lasting beige foam head. The aroma is quite dynamic, with plenty of well roasted malts at the core, surrounded by baking cocoa, some dark fruits and toasted bread. It has a medium sweet flavor with rich, slightly bittersweet cocoa, restrained charred malts, some raisins, chocolate cake, light flinty minerals, some dark bread and milk chocolate. Medium to full bodied with average carbonation and an exceedingly creamy mouthfeel, the beer is a delight on the palate. The finish has just a touch of alcohol warmth, followed by lots more richly roasted malts, baking cocoa, moderate scorched earth bitterness, ash, slight tobacco and further chocolate cake. Rich and complex, this beer is also impressively well balanced and drinkable. If you happen to be sitting on a bottle of this beer that was released in early 2013, I would drink it now because I cannot envision it getting any better than this. It's really quite exceptional.
(Score: 4.3/5.0)

Beer Tasting: The Kernel Pale Ale Motueka+

I had this bottle at home just a few days after picking it up at the brewery. It pours mostly clear gold with frothy, pure white head. The aroma is nice and outrageously inviting, with some bready pale malts, a bit of semi-ripe tangerine, orange and mango. Light to medium sweet is the flavor with pale, lightly dry bread, touches of pine, orange, citrus rind, hay. Light bodied with fine carbonation, the beer practically drinks itself. The beer finishes with restrained pale bready sweetness and quenching citrus fruits, grapefruit, orange rind, sticky pine, faint grassy bitterness. Lovely stuff. Stupidly drinkable. This is The Kernel on form. (Score: 4.1/5.0)

Beer Tasting: Beavertown Quelle Saison

Beavertown has taken a few swings at saisons in the past (previous efforts include Bramley Apple/ Barley Champagne, Dark Saison, Hara-Kiri and Chili Lime, to name a few) but the Quelle is their most straightforward attempt yet. And, if you ask me, it is also perhaps their most successful, although the Dark Saison was quite impressive as well. So, good effort to Beavertown for showing they've got the basics down. This beer would certainly be a nice addition to the standard roster.

The Quelle Saison pours well and cloudy yellow-gold, fairly effervescent, with a lasting, virgin white froth head. There's zesty citrus in the nose, namely lemon and orange, with hints of pine needles and grass. The flavor has light sweetness with a bit of pale wheat bread, spicy yeast, mellow grassy bitterness, juicy lemon and tangerine, light citrus rind. Light bodied with fine, massaging carbonation, it is a very approachable beer. Moderately dry on the finish with further wheat bread, cleansing minerals, melon, lemon, grapefruit, slight grassy bitterness. A delightful saison. Exceedingly drinkable with nuanced character. There could be a bit more complexity but for a first go this is nice. (Score: 3.8/5.0)