Five O'Clock Shadow

When I saw this in the bottle shop I kinda knew that I would be buying it soon and lo, it was so. I'm attempting to cook at the same time as drinking, which is always fun, but tonight I cook for many people all at once with different meals, including using butter to cook me some fried eggs whilst attempting not to set the smoke alarm off in the hallway as I apparently like a challenge. Indeed, tonight is the night I drink Weird Beard's Five O'Clock Shadow being an IPA of estimable character - by which I refer to its ability to gain esteem rather than being within finite probabilities - and apparently best served with Tex-Mex food.

So, of course, I'm having it with ham, eggs and chips because I am contrary and all that. Also, as I am a heathen, I have left it chilled only to the temperature of the cupboard under the stairs. Would you like to know more?

KeTo RePorter

This was one of the surprises from my crate of porters and stouts, a replacement, and my does it come in an interesting bottle. The use of the brown leaf as a motif makes me think that this is designed for the autumn but here I am having it in in the Summer, because I am different doncha know! Also, it is late in the evening and it is the sort of time that is ripe for something a bit darker and heavier regardless of weather or situation. I am reviewing the rather interesting looking KeTo RePorter by Birra del Borgo and rather looking forward to it.

Anyone would think that I have a thing for stouts that I am finally getting to indulge. Well, anyone would be right about that. Would you like to know more?

Tzara

Hard to categorise the offering tonight, it describes itself as Koln-style beer that is brewed like ale and then matured like lager. I have no real idea what to define this as in terms of my tags and I have decided to go with lager and pale, which is the best I can do I guess. Looking forward to it and I must point out that this was a gift from a student of mine saying goodbye to start exams. Thank you that student, you know who you are, for this rather nice looking Tzara from Thornbridge.

Now that scene has been well and truly set and my food is well and truly made to have with this bad boy, being soup from a can and some tortilla and dip, would you like to know more?

Milk Stout

Willow got me a present, you see, a big crate of porters and stouts for to be having as I love them so much. Which is really nice of her, I thought, and so I finally got round to having some of that bounty this evening as I had the opportunity and thought, well, whyever not? And, frankly, I had no real reason not to. I had a quick squiz of the ales on offer and went with the Milk Stout from Left Hand Brewing Company, an employee owned brewery in the United States. I mean, if that's not socialist-sounding enough to put the willies up people that aren't enamoured of egalitarianism I don't know what is.

Also, in fairness, it has the words 'milk' and 'stout' on it. And it's a purple can, so I'm already sold. Would you like to know more?

Raindrops on Roses

It is getting a bit brighter and warmer, so I should probably see about interspersing my lovely stouts and porters with other styles before I get (even more) boring. I picked this up from the local bottle shop ages back on a whim, mainly because I liked the look of it and I'd seen people enjoying it on the Twitters and I had some spare cash, hoping that it would be a decent little ale to pass the time between my new passion for stouts. I refer, of course, to the earworm that is Raindrops on Roses from Thornbridge and the winner of a homebrew competition in 2016.

Not sure I can really relate to whiskers on kittens or even brown paper packages all tied up with string, give me the full throated roar of a thunderstorm any day of the week. Would you like to know more?

Bourbon Coffee Broken Dream

After getting hold of these two sisters from Siren Craft Brew I was hoping to review them side-by-side but life doesn't always let you work that way. So it was that I had the Broken Dream original last week, and you can read that by clicking here, and this week I am reviewing the slightly more powerful sister brew Bourbon Coffee Broken Dream - but the power is not in the ABV, for that is the same, but in the flavour. I have heard only good things about this particular ale and so I hope that I am not in for a disappointment, we shall see!

There's plenty to be wary about at the moment, obviously, but I shall ignore all of that and simply get down to the ale, I've waited a long time and it would be rude not to. Would you like to know more?

Modus Operandi

I am looking forward to tonight's review, I had been seeking it when I saw it at the bottle shop long before the bloke there tried to convince me to buy it, he continued in his patois anyway because I'm not sure many people are looking out for a Modus Operandi from Wild Beer Co. in the local area! This is the 2016 version and it's been sitting about in my understairs cupboard for a bit of a while. No time like the present!

As ever, mania may well be afoot, would you like to know more?

Broken Dream

Got this in a big crate of beer from a seller online and I've been waiting for it a good long while. Back in March I found its sister ale in the local bottle shop but wondered about whether I should have it or not, then I found this crate and decided to wait to maybe do a side-by-side but one thing or another got in the way. However, I can do them in the right order. Tonight I am reviewing Broken Dream - a breakfast stout from the lovely Siren Craft Brew Co.

In case it wasn't obvious, I have rather built this up in my head and there has been precious little time to be having multiple ales as I drown myself at work. So, some pent up beer geekery may well be afoot soon. Would you like to know more? You can't say you weren't warned!

Windrush Stout

Time for a cherry pie of an evening after a day of sunshine and the melodious sound of children's laughter. Or, at least, as close as one can ever actually get in reality that is not based on selected shots from those odd placeholder photo images you can get on the internet these days. As it is a cherry pie that we have before us I was rooting in the cupboard to find something suitable and decided upon the Brixton Brewery Windrush Stout that I got in a while back. Dry stout, chocolate malt and a sweet cheery cherry pie, what could be better?

There is also the fact that I am awash with ale at the moment and need to clear some space for the summer holidays, so any excuse is a good excuse, right? Would you like to know more?

Trolltunga

Trolltunga, the bottle tells me, is a rocky outcrop in Norway that, well, looks like a troll's tongue in stone. And Buxton Brewery, for it is they, decided that it would make a great name for a gooseberry sour IPA. I, for my part, decided that the afternoon would be the best time to have this. A changeable day of weather and some bright but dull garden photos, despite the fact that now the sun is shining in full strength, made it a decent enough time to pour and so I did.

I have been enjoying my half term. Plenty of work to do, plenty of politics to make me fearful and give me a headache but also plenty of ale to make me too relaxed to care too much. Would you like to know more?