Beer Tasting: Howling Hops Farmhouse Saison (Sorachi Special)

I snared this saison at BottleDog in London. 

The beer pours mostly clear yellow-gold, highly effervescent, with a billowing, frothy and pure white head. Pleasant citrusy hops in the aroma, augmented with some dry wheat, pale bread, zesty lemon, tangerine, pithy grapefruit. Light to medium sweet flavour with mellow bitter grain husk, more citrus peel, some grass, wheat bread, and subtle saison yeast expression. Light to medium bodied with lively carbonation. Nicely balanced on the finish, with well rounded citrusy hops, more lightly dried wheat bread, some straw, tangerine, lemon meringue, mild pithy grapefruit, biscuits. 

Well, this is pretty great stuff overall. Super drinkable, with a nice amount of complexity. Great work.

Beer Tasting: Late Knights Hop O' The Morning

I inadvertently aged this one. I think it boasts two to three years of age. Thankfully, the beer is still in great shape, and shows almost no signs of wear and tear. 

It pours clear, dark brown with a frothy, light khaki head. The nose has lots of ashy roast, tobacco, burnt leaves, faint cocoa. The flavour is lightly sweet with prominent hard, ashy roast, some dry earth, torched tobacco leaves, bitter cocoa, leather. Light bodied with average carbonation. Dry and bitter on the finish, with more steady and sturdy ash, chalky bitter cocoa, old espresso. Lingering burnt pine in the aftertaste. 

Pretty OK overall, in that hard-edged ashy kind of way. There's a lot of flavour jammed into the 4.2% abv. 

Beer Tasting: Anspach & Hobday The Stout Porter

If I were to give a Most Improved Award to any one London brewery for the past few years, I would almost certainly give it to Anspach & Hobday. It's not that they started from a low base, though. It's just that they have kept plugging away across a broad range of styles (much broader than most breweries in the Big Smoke, it is worth noting), and they have now brewed highly accomplished examples of, amongst many others, double IPA, tripel, saison, barrel-aged beers, rauchbier and Belgian ale.

But one area where A&H have thrived since Day 1 is with their dark beers. Perhaps the best example is their [The] Porter, which ranks in the top 50 for its style on Ratebeer.com (amongst more than 11,600 entries for the style). 

The A&H Stout Porter is also excellent. I bought a bottle from the brewery when it was first released back in October 2014. I ended up aging the beer, and just opened it tonight. I am overjoyed to say that the beer has matured gracefully, and it now nothing short of world-class.

This original bottling pours oily black with a dense, frothy beige head that settles into a long-lasting cream. The aroma is enticing, with prominent notes of charred wood, cocoa, dried and leathery dark fruits, faint tangy berries and some earthy hops. The flavour is medium sweet, with richly layered chocolate character, bittersweet baking cocoa, old leather, more burnt wood, scorched earth, aged berries and hints of raisins. It is full bodied, lightly chewy, with fine carbonation. The beer finishes with moderate alcohol warmth, more rich and bittersweet dark chocolate, strong roasted malts, torched wood, burnt toffee, dried dark fruits. It is somewhat drying in the aftertaste, with a light tannic quality about it. Overall, the level of complexity here is superb. 

While A&H have improved on many fronts, their dark beers have always been stellar, and this beer is a testament to that. Well done.

Beer Tasting: Kew Petersham Porter

Kew have continued to crank out solid beers. As a reminder, this brewery operates within a challenging set of parameters, such as only using English malts and hops. Kew's motivation here is sustainability. Off hand, I can't think of any other breweries in London that make such an effort, so Kew should be commended for their efforts.

Today I try the Petersham Porter. At 4.3%, it's a relatively mellow offering. It pours clear, rich brown with a creamy, beige head. The aroma is fairly straightforward, with moderate roasted malt character, hints of dusty earth and chocolate. The flavour carries light to moderate sweetness and has notes of smooth, chocolatey malts, toasted biscuits, subtle earthy bitterness, and accents of prune and raisin. It's light bodied with fine carbonation and a velvety texture. The finish is nicely balanced, with easygoing cocoa, some toasted toffee, hints of dried berries and more bitter earth.

Overall, it's a very drinkable beer, although not surprisingly (given the strength) it doesn't have a lot of depth. That's not a knock on it, however - I certainly recognise that this type of porter is built for drinking by the pint. It would be fun, though, if the brewery made a stronger version of this beer. I think if some of the characteristics that are already present were intensified, it could be quite interesting.

Beer Tasting: Kernel India Pale Ale Amarillo Mosaic

Another week, another new Kernel IPA. This one features two hops that I very much enjoy: Amarillo and Mosaic. Indeed, Kernel's single-hopped Amarillo and Mosaic IPAs are some of my favourite beers the brewery has ever produced. While I don't think this combination quite matches up to the level of the single-hopped versions, it's still outstanding, and more expressive than the vast majority of IPAs out there.

This one pours hazy orange-gold with a frothy white capping. The aroma features a lot of plump and juicy citrus, particularly orange and tangerine, along with melon, pear and a little dank pine. Light to medium sweet flavour with a nice pale, bready base, some ripe cantaloupe, more tangerine and orange, restrained piney bitterness. Medium bodied with average carbonation. It's lightly resinous on the finish, somewhat warming, with gooey citrus fruits, more orange, nectarine, tangerine, pine, further pale bread and melon. Overall, it is a classic Kernel IPA: juicy and vibrant, and the liquid vanishes all too quickly.

Beer Tasting: Kernel Stout

Today we try one of Kernel's stouts. This version is "a blend of two different stouts one of which was dry hopped" and has an ABV of 8%, which places it pretty close to 'imperial stout' territory, at least in my estimation.

I'm a huge fan of Kernel's stouts, whatever the ABV. While the brewery garners a significant amount of praise for their hoppy offerings - and deservedly - their dark stuff is, in many cases, just as good. The Export Stout London 1890, for example, is the highest-rated beer in its category ('Foreign Stout') on ratebeer.com. That's a huge accomplishment - the category includes a universe of more than 700 beers, according to RateBeer.

With that digression behind us, on to the beer at hand. Of note, it was bottled in October of 2015, so has presumably had enough time to coalesce.

This one pours deep brown, with a rich and lasting beige cream head. The aroma gives away a lot of dark chocolate, ashy roast and burnt coffee. The flavour follows wonderfully, with a hard-edged roasted malt character that I consider one of the hallmarks of Kernel's darker output. Again, we get a lot of dark and bittersweet cocoa, rich coffee, some scorched earth, and a moderate punch of alcohol. The beer is full bodied and somewhat chewy, with a delicate level of carbonation that lends the beer a velvety texture. The finish includes further bittersweet chocolate, earth, some woody dryness, very slight hints of oily pine, burnt sugars and an enveloping alcohol warmth. Overall, it's a classic Kernel stout: robust, richly layered and hugely drinkable.

Beer Tasting: Partizan Saison Lemongrass

I've always loved the low-ABV Partizan saisons. I typically drink them fresh but, for no reason other than curiosity, I aged a Saison Lemongrass for a little less than a year to see how, or if, the beer changes; it hasn't changed, really.

It's as delightful with a little age as it is fresh. It pours a perfectly clear pale yellow with moderate effervescence and a dense, creamy white head. The nose carries dry dough, biscuits, lavender, vanilla and hints of lemon. The flavour follows nicely, with mellow doughy sweetness, lemon meringue, a touch of bitter citrus peel, grass, straw. Its light body and lively, massaging carbonation makes the beer a pleasure to drink. The finish has further vanilla notes, lemon meringue, angel food cake, doughy biscuits and slight bitter hay.

The balance is excellent. Lemongrass can sometimes be a little overbearing and even astringent, in unfortunate cases. Here, it provides a nice layer of complexity. This is a wonderful beer.