The Crafty One

I don't think I've actually reviewed my local bottle shop, which is something of an oversight as it has become something of a fixture for me these days. I went when it was just starting up and assumed I would spend about a fiver a week. Of course I ended up at a tenner, but then he started getting in the good stuff and announcing it on Facebook and so I had to come along and, well, long story short: I remember what it was like to have a bit of spare cash of a month, nowadays I seem to spend it all on beer.

I refer, of course, to the establishment that is The Crafty One Bar and Bottle Shop what is rather amazing and always has some decent stuff in stock or on the craft board. This visit was had because it was announced over Faceparts that there was some Macchiato and Limoncello IPA on tap, so obviously I had to pop along. Would you like to know more?



The last time I was out at the Crafty One I was off to have some of the amazing (that word is going to feature heavily and a I lack synonyms, so sorry) collaboration Stuart had done with Darren (yes, I know names) of Urban Chicken Ale called Craft E1 Mission to Space that will be about on these here pages soon enough, but the notable thing was the blizzard like conditions to get there. But warm memories and so it was with something of spring in my step that I set out late on Sunday evening to get myself over. I'll admit it was the sight of Macchiato by Wylam that had me trekking out on the evening but so excited was I that by the time I got in I had completely forgotten this. Instead, I scanned the craft board and spotted something doing the rounds on the Tweets that was Limoncello.

Limoncello IPA from Siren Craft Brew and HillFarmStead and Mikkeller. This was where I began my night's drinking because why not? The best brewery in the world, oh wait, Vermont (same thing) and the best brewery from my time back in the Leeds Beer Fest from whenever that was. I had to try it, obviously I had to try it, because it was 9.1% ABV and purporting to taste like Limoncello, hence the name, that I hadn't had since 2006 and my father's souvenir from Italy. It smelled very good indeed, tart lemon atop a bed of sweetness that wasn't a little reminiscent of lemon sherbets from my youth. Okay, I'm not that old, from my older youth. And yes, it was a good smell and a great look, improved significantly by the application of a spotlight. First taste was, well, it was like Limoncello, they weren't lying. There was a major difference though, this did not taste nearly as strong as the liqueur did back in 2006 and that was pretty dangerous. A good sour hit of lemon on the lips gives way to a bit of a storm of lemon sherbet around the tongue but mellowing to clear lemon sensation on the cheeks stacked with the lactose to keep things from getting too thin and oily. Refreshing, like a quick shower, and then cutting back to the throat like washing liquid through grime. A good sharp aftertaste that rapidly became dulled and clear, wanting me to take another sip. The danger here wasn't that you wouldn't enjoy the brew, it was that you'd knock it back and then have to have another.

I got talking to someone far better versed in beer than I at this point and he was sharing some rather amazing (told you) experiences chasing ales in Chester and some of the brews that he had caught. I don't mind admitting that he rather made me a bit jealoius with some of the stuff that he had found and unearthed. However, in conversation I remembered that I had come for the Macchaito.

I am a lightweight, I ordered halves. I got me some Macchiato from Wylam at 6.5% ABV being a hazelnut praline coffee porter. This stopped me short due to the aroma, it was amazing (again) and just smelled divine. It was a hazelnut praline smell, full of promise and chocolate. It reminded me of Christmas morning when you open the posh chocolates before noon or when you open Easter eggs on the morning of Easter Sunday before rolling them down the hill. Fresh and rich, but with something extra. Imagine a walnut whip broken open and then beefed up with steroids that allow the smell to fill a room and clear out the cobwebs by simple force of will. A chocolate like Freddie Mercury, it could have you whenever it wanted and it knew it and there was nothing, nothing, you could do about it. At this point, slightly taken aback, I retreated to online to try and gather my thoughts. I noted with wry amusement that Stuart and the beer man both did the same and that we were interacting electronically more than in real life. I'd blame my shyness but it was probably the ill-fitting coat and the fact that I am pretty poor at conversation. Anyway, this brew carried that power and danger into the mouth. Rich and full, viscous and chocolate-y. It wasn't the kind of richness that people apply when discussing Christmas pudding or the chocolate of the Montezuma's Chocolate Lager (here) this was the richness of praline, funnily enough, and the viscosity of melted chocolate in one of those balls that you get that melts at body temperature when you bite into them that I can't remember the name of. But better somehow, more decadent, more divine.

It must have been pretty good. I could have stood and sniffed it all night. I think it benefited a huge amount from being had after the lighter IPA because it was like having a proper dessert, like the sort of combination that is itself something of a meal and pudding. It was simply amazing, it was everything I hoped for and much more besides. I have this in a bottle and I have not yet had it - this made me glad that I had taken that punt and sad that I had not bought a second bottle. So I bought a second half in celebration of this fact, noting that there was more of the bubbles in the second one - mainly because I was getting down to it and not just sniffing it like some kind of mad beardy weirdo. Well, okay, like less of that.

I can heartily recommend either of these ales if you are lucky enough to find them in the wild. I, myself, will be heading back this Wednesday to partake again because they are so wonderful in combination. I am on holiday this week so it seems daft not to use the opportunity to have more of them. The real winner, of course, is The Crafty One and, if you are anything like local, you really ought to make the time to get there and see what is available. The publican is knowledgeable and friendly, the stock wide-ranging and exciting, with the mad and the forgiving, and the music strangely familiar and yet oddly edgy in strange places.

The short version: I need to get out to the pub more often in Ilson. It's only down the road!