It is starting to become a bit of a routine that I have been hitting both Slowbeer and Purvis for free beer tastings, and have to say I did pretty well last Friday. Getting to Slowbeer right on 5pm, I had to wait for the Jagiello beer rep to turn up. Having already tried 2 of the range, I wanted to see what the others were like. There was a Pilsner, a Honey and Cherry beer along with these, so I knew there was going to be a lot of sweetness. The Pilsner was easily the easiest drinker of the bunch with good texture and less hops than I would expect. The rep said this beer was the most popular in Australia, and after tasting it was easy to see why.
The next was the Honey, which had a decent floral honey smell and the standard super sweet taste from these beers. The texture was fairly watery but funnily enough, there was no massive sweet aftertaste. However, the Cherry outdid all of the other beers for sweetness. It tasted like I had like a cherry sherbet in my mouth. It was almost too sweet for even me, and this is supposedly the most popular in Poland. I would still say the chocolate is my favourite from this Polish brewer, and happy that I still have a bottle of this at home.
After that I went to Purvis and met up with my Cus as had found they also had ciders to try. The three ciders came from the single company (can't remember which) and all were different apple types. Of the Cox, Katy and Gold, I found the Cox to have the most flavour and more enjoyable to drink, then the Katy and then Gold. Having found out that Kristy had to drink Gluten-free, the guys recommended she try an overseas beer that has been selling best in their gluten free range. However, reports are that it is no good, but will not repeat what she told me. So it seems that the O'Brien's Brown Ale is still the best we have found.
Of the beers on offer, they all came from Brew Boys, which I have to say is not a brewer I have had much of. The Maiden Ale was pretty flavourful with a good malt body. The Seeing Double Scotch Ale was pretty good too, with some good caramel taste and small hop aspect. The Stout was super roasted and the burnt carbon from the malt really hung around in aftertaste. The boys also tried a black and tan by adding the Maiden with the stout and have to say they balanced out each other quite well to give a long taste profile. Then as a little treat they boys cracked a Amager and Mikkeller collaboration beer. The alcohol was pretty high and definitely had some spirit qualities, but to be honest I have tasted better beers of this style, but there was a decent mouthfeel and a good dark malt backbone. Still, not enjoying the Weasel Brunch series, I hope that the Amager part of the combo is good.
Still, it didn't finish here. Celebrating the last night of Brad and Seda staying at my place, I took them out to the Royston for good food and beer. I started on the Brew Dog Punk IPA whcih even for me I find to be well balanced with the hops lingering for a good amount for this style. The malt is good enough the carry, and meld into the hops. Jimmy arrived (with good news that his Trivia nights will be back next week) and joined us as we got onto the Bridge Road Red Rocket, which went down a treat with after after dinner. Feeling ok after all this, we hit Mountain Goat and was amazed to find they had Holgate Temptress on tap. Along with the cucumber sandwich, skipping girl and steam through a cascade-hopped randy, I ended up getting another pint of the Temptress. The Rocket and the Tempress were easily the best beers of the night, and Brad even said it was one of the best beer tasting night he ever had. I hope we have many more to enjoy, and we even had one on Sunday when at a little housewarming for Brad and Seda I took across my growler of Brew Dog 5am Saint. It really is a well rounded beer with some great flavouring. The hops is a little too much for me, but still balanced enough with classic Brew Dog malt background to make it an enjoyable beer.
It is good to have this level of tasty beer available to me within walking/cycling distance to me, and that I am able to enjoy it just about anytime I like. Not to mention the stash of beer I am still getting through at home, it really is an important time for me with beer, and really rising the wave that I hope will keep taking me to where I want to be...not just drunk.
Cheers,
Beef
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