Ragnar Raspberry

A good friend of mine from Oop North was round a while back in the holidays for a trip round the locality and some decent hostelries, long overdue, but he brought with him a few things that he'd picked up when he was having some time off in Gloucester, because why not. One of them I was very excited to see given the reception it had garnered over on the Twitter-sphere. Being a proper beer-bore I pay attention to these things. Naturally I waited for a day when it wasn't so warm and ventured into the garden.

It is, of course, Ragnar Rsaspberry Wheat Beer from Eden River Brewing Company, much championed by some people I know. And it has been a lovely day for lazing around the garden after taking a tiny child for a long wander. 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?

Hitachino Nest: White Ale

There I was, in the bottle shop, buying my latest haul and I had collected some ales that I was keen to try. I was also trying to keep my weekly spend down (sad confessional fact here: since the shop opened I have never spent less than a tenner each week) and satisfied that I had what I wanted. The owner then mentioned this little number and how much he had enjoyed it. I realised at that moment two things: 1. I am such an easy mark; 2. I was going to buy it anyway. So I added Hitachino Nest to my haul and bought it, taking me over a tenner once again. I can't complain, ale is ale, right?

Anyway, it's a Japanese ale from Kiuchi Brewery and imported from the brewery itself. Of course I went for maximum casual racism and had it whilst cooking a Chinese-cuisine inspired meal. Would you like to know more?

Blue Moon

I realise that I am very late to this party, as I usually am. The later one turns up to the party the more likely that all the amusing drunks are drunk and you can play the sober one looking after them, in my experience, mind you, I tend not to go to parties very much so I could have missed my guess, who really knows? Point is that this particular ale has very much done the rounds on the places I frequent with many people having tried it, reviewed it and rated it to the point where you may well ask why I am bothering reviewing it. The reason is, of course, because I can. Also, I haven't done it already and I am something of a complete-ist. What ale is this? Why, it's Blue Moon from the, uh, Blue Moon Brewing Company. Which is original.

After last week's wheat beer are you ready for a second dive into that particular pool? You are? Well, good, you can follow below the break and view my own rather esoteric journey.

Hefeweizen

Well, that is a bit of a surprise! Apparently this is the first wheat beer that I have reviewed, I could have sworn I'd done others. No matter, if that is the case that is the case. A warm day with humidity and the sort of heat that made doing garden stuff an actual chore rather than something of a pleasure. Still, got most of the weeding done and watered the plants (and a bit of the lawn so badly mauled by my buying of a mower). All of that and we managed a trip to our local IKEA because we know how to live, we do!

In any case, tonight I shall be drinking Hefeweizen: a wheat beer from Germany brewed by Altenmunster and that has sat in the pantry for almost six months awaiting consumption. And thus I make it sound more like a heroine from Austen. Ah well, the point is that I feel like I have done some actual labour towards and ale rather than just my usual labouring and am actually looking forward to it.

Would you like to know more?