Dead Men Brew No Ales

First week back and I am so bushed. I can't complain, got a fair bit done and everything seems far rosier now than it did later. However, I was surprised, pleasantly, by a parcel yesterday that contained not one but two (no, count 'em, two!) beers from someone I know up in Cumbria. Cheers! It would be rude not to drink them quickly and so it is that tonight I fell upon Dead Men Brew No Ales from Renegade like a starving man in the desert falls upon the sand. No... wait, that didn't sound right.

Ah, nevertheless, this is a black IPA, which is always a plus point as far as I am concerned, and I'm looking forward to telling you what I think - which is what I assume you clicked the link to come here for. Would you like to know more?

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?

Epic Beer

A friend and I had been trying to get together for a bit of pub crawl in Ilson for some time. See, last year about this time he had taken me around Derby and I, like the capricious soul I am, have never got round to writing up the experience. However, I had promised him a tour of my gaffe and some of the pubs that are to be had. Since then we have had some new pubs open, including the bottle shop, and it was time. Thankfully, our wives were also in need of meeting up and thus organised us into a night on the pubs.

We set out into the warm summer's evening and found that my usual was shut, it being Wednesday, and so had to quickly take that into consideration. A recce earlier in the day had identified some decent ales on and so it was that we ventured into town in high spirits and with some gung-ho spirit! Would you like to know more?

New England IPA V2

It was a while ago now, but we had a lovely friend come to stay and visit. You may remember her as the Belgian with whom I drank some beer back in 2014 (find that by clicking the word clicking). However, all of this is mere prelude as I wanted to share something a bit special and had picked this up from my local bottle shop with the exhortation to 'savour it'. I'd picked it up on a whim as I'd missed that they had any in, but seeing a collaboration between the giants of the craft scene, BrewDog  and Cloudwater meant that I really had to part with a sizeable fee to see what happened.

Before getting down to this I have seen many opinions expressed on this ale and I should point out that I did not have those in mind when having this. I had intended to follow it up with other ales but, for reasons that will become obvious, I did not. Would you like to know more?

Tied in Notts

We'd planned a day out at the beach in Nottingham. Yes, I know, and it had been raining for a while. We checked the weather and it said that it would stay cloudy and we figured that would mean that the crowds would stay away for fear of more rain, so that was good. Hitting an early bus, the entire family trekked on down to the centre of Nottingham and had our way with a virtually empty mock beach in the square. then, because we could, we headed up to the castle and made merry with the playpark and the telescopes there. I took my chance and, while Willow had a shufti at the gift shop with children in tow, I chanced to visit two pubs: Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem and The Crafty Crow because it would have been rude not to.

Would you like to know more?

Skadoosh

For my birthday earlier in the year I picked out and bought two ales that I would not ordinarily get. Obviously, with the memory of last year's Sink the Bismarck (see here) I decided that I would go big and enjoy something utterly insane again this year. So it was that I bought me a can of Wild Weather Ales' Skadoosh because it was a mental 11% ABV DIPA with a panda on the can and what more could anyone reasonably ask for? It's been chilling for the best part of two weeks now and the sun is shining and warm in the garden, though it's been a warm and dull day so there are few flowers out, and the perfect weather for such a mad ale.

A long day with the family doing not a lot but with a chance to have a haircut and even buy me some electric clippers to try and control the mess that is what I call a beard. Time to kick back in the sunshine that has threatened through the cloud cover all day, enough to keep things uncomfortably warm, and enjoy a can, right? Would you like to know more?

Orange 'n' Basil

Something of a trend seems to be emerging this summer, that is, the trend of having sour ales when it is warm and sunny because they seem to help. This trend is not helped by such wonders as the sours that are on offer and, today, I ventured into the garden again to enjoy me a sour IPA from Mad Hatter Brewing Co., that is aptly named Orange 'n' Basil. The chap at the bottle shop recommended it highly when I was picking up the Tzatziki Sour (see here) from the same people and so I naturally picked one up the next time I was in. Combined with a quick lunch of noodles with extra spice and a feeling of invincibility, this was already shaping up to be rather nice.

Being at home more does rather allow me to branch out and try different things. And I may have been in to work to do some tidying up and I may have been stupid and spent some time doing extra marking for a pittance in order to have some money to spend rashly later in the year. However, this is not the time nor the place to be discussing any of that, it is a place to discuss beer and so would you like to join me in learning more?

Shangri-La

An enclosed kingdom in Tibet, cut off from the outside world, maybe based on a valley in modern-day Pakistan and culturally equivalent to some Chinese echoes about such places, with denizens that live far beyond what the rest of the world would consider normal. The name of a made-up place that has come to represent the concept of a paradise on Earth and, now, applied to a large bottle of IPA from Arbor that I have had waiting for a good long time. It was one of the first bottles I picked up from my local bottle shop and has been patiently waiting for the summer. It struck me as a summer ale, you see.

Now is that time, now it is summer and I have the time to tackle it and I am looking forward to Shangri-La by the computer to watch some TV because I can. You can tell by the picture that it has been in warm places, almost eight months waiting, and that I could have chilled it. I did not chill it. Would you like to know more?

Superluminal

I shall be honest, I got this in as I misread the label and thought it was the amazing Subluminal stout, but I'm not complaining. Buxton make a fantastic range and they've yet to put a foot wrong for me, so I was actually looking forward to this. A sort of birthday present and it's been sat in my fridge for what feels like an incredibly long time. However, the official marking period is now over, and I've broken up from work, time to surface with style!

Hot and humid weather, dark and grey outside, brooding and ready to rain. It is obviously the time to break out the big summer ale guns with this IPA and a sour touch. The last sour I had, Waimea Sour, in London did a great job with the humidity, so I have high hopes for this, Buxton Brewery's Superluminal sour IPA. Would you like to know more?

Southville Hop

This one was sent to me by someone I know on the Twitter and I had it and enjoyed it and promised a review. Alas, I had it before the marking began and so was rapidly snowed under with work until I could no more type a review than I could raise my head at the end of evening before going to bed and starting the whole marathon once more in the morning. What I'm trying to say is that this review has waited a criminally long time to be produced! No matter, it is here now, and I am pleased to be reviewing the rather excellent Southville Hop, an American IPA from Bristol Beer Factory in rather a delectable bottle.

Of course I took the opportunity to have this in my garden as it is the summer and it was in the stirrings of the recent heatwave (which I seem to be mentioning in every review at the moment) and I sat with it in the purple seat by the lovely painted fence, all courtesy of Willow, assailed by the smells of the flowers in the deep bed and the wildflowers spilling into the lawn. Which, now as I think of it, probably needs to be mown again. Because of course it does. Enough of this, would you like to know more?

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?

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?

Clwb Tropicana

I was given to understand that the drinks would be free but that was a lie and I am a little not bothered by it. After my ravings on Sunday (you can access them via this quick link if you like) it fell to me to remember the price of this offering and so I did - being £3 from my local. It was something that I had seen about online, again, and I wanted in on the action. Had it the best part of a week before venturing into the warm garden to crack it open as the sun sank below the houses opposite, lighting the tree but leaving much of the garden in shadow. I am referring, of course, to the Clwb Tropicana produced by those clever people over at Tiny Rebel Brewing Co. and I am rather looking forward to trying it.

So, with my tea far behind me and an evening stretching out ahead of me, would you like to join me in the journey along the path blazed by this? In essence, would you like to know more?

Session IPA Simcoe Mosaic

I have seen this brewery all over the online craft drinking circles and never heard a bad word about them, back last year I saw a chance to get hold of their DIPA from a micro-pub that my father took me to visit for a fiver and turned it down. Well, my local bottle shop announced that they had a crate of Cloudwater's Session IPA Simcoe Mosaic in and so I had to bob down and get some in. I don't even remember the price, I'm sure it was pricey, but I was keen to try it.

It was a sunny day too so, with lunch in hand, I was able to get out and sit in the garden on the picnic bench to enjoy it amid the sunshine and warmth. Would you like to know more?

Wild Boar

It's another beer review that is accompanied by tasks other than drinking beers. Tonight I reminisce over doing the garden and think about how warm the sunshine was whilst drinking the rather lovely Wild Boar by Buxton Brewery. I also rather show my lack of beer tasting chops here by having this as the first offering from the brewery despite how often I see them being touted as excellent by other beer drinkers and bloggers!

It's been a while in coming too, having bought this in way back before the third child was born, so this is much awaited and an IPA for the changing season. Also mowing the lawn and watching the slightly emotional Song of the Sea. Just saying. Would you like to know more?

Treason

Tonight's review was done on a sunny afternoon in the garden with the bees lazily buzzing through the budding flowers and the sound of buses plying the road outside my house far off and gentle on the breeze. It is also of an ale that I have been itching to get hold of for well over two years now after reading about it on another beer blog (now sadly no longer posting from what I can gather). I refer, in this instance, to Treason, a West Coast IPA brewed by a small brewery named Uprising Craft Brewery who seem to be operating out of the Windsor and Eton Brewery. I may be wrong.

I managed to pick this up from my local bottle shop after the proprietor had nipped down south for a bit and stopped off at the Windsor and Eton Brewery, indicating that there is significant overlap here. Anyway, the sun is currently high and the air is warm, would you like to know more?

Ease Up IPA

Long long day. Extra work. I'm not complaining, I am being paid for that, but it is worth noting. Also been a long drive. Time for a beer methinks and what better ale companion than one that was bought as a Christmas present (I know, I know) because it is the time of year when I can be realistically having the lighter ales. Don't get me wrong, I still like the stouts, but the IPAs I've been having of late along with the odd pale have made their mark.

Tonight I shall be sampling the potential delights of the garishly decorated Ease Up IPA from Adnams that was on at the Burnt Pig (click here) rather recently too. I didn't have it on tap, will I regret that decision? In the meantime, let us continue with the review. Would you like to know more?

Neck Oil Session IPA

Sunny days are here again, even if there are one or two showers about, and I am feeling on a bit of a health kick, so it stands to reason that I shall be buying in some veg and trying to make myself that most healthy of meals: a stir fry. With some sauce in a jar. Oh, wait, there's more than 5% of this bottled sauce that's sugar, you say? Around 5% salt? Oh, right. Bugger. Nice though. And, as I'm into the whole matching food with ale (or vice versa) then I shall be having the Neck Oil from Beavertown because I've been meaning to have it and review it for a while and it seems like the best time to be doing it.

Would you like to know more?

Island Records Session IPA

This can came with music recommendations, how could I not try it? I'll be honest though, I am pants at finding the music they suggested. I did find Slave the Rhythm by Grace Jones though and that was the third of the options presented on the can to accompany this Island Records can of Session IPA from Two Tribes Ltd and that will just have to do for the evening. Ah, no, they are play lists, here I go, going for the party version...

It's an odd one as I'm actually having this as an illicit treat. Would you like to know more?

Lupuloid IPA

I heard these were on in my local bottle shop and carefully planned my route going shopping to ensure that I would accidentally pass the shop with enough money to get some in. I've seen these things flash by on the beer feeds and felt left out as everyone said how good it was. Well, tonight I get to try it for myself and find out what I've been missing.

It's Lupuloid IPA from Beavertown Brewery and I am well-pleased to have it in my possession. Look at that can! I'm itching to get to the drinking and reviewing so would you like to join me by pressing the read more below frantically? Yes? Then do so!