Red 'n' Black

I know, I know, it's Good Friday now and it's all darkness and mourning and sorrow. Dulled gongs, bells with no ringers and what have you. It is fitting therefore, I think, to review a porter (being a dark ale) from a brewery that is craft-ish without being a full craft brewery. I speak of course of the Red'n'Black limited edition porter from Robinson's from whom I've yet to have a clanger. I picked up this bottle from the local low-cost supermarket on offer, and it is the limited edition, not even a bad batch. I'm not complaining, they did me the Mocha too and that still ranks as one of the best ales I've had.

So, to remember the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross (or just to celebrate the fact that there are chocolate eggs over the weekend), would you join me in the review of this version of a porter?

Beer Review: A Second Brace of Brews

Still on holiday and still having a relax, of course the evening was dominated by beer and reading Rivers of London, which isn't half bad. Tonight's efforts brought forth a second gift from a good friend and colleague of mine, given as he is leaving our hallowed halls to take up the mantle of leadership elsewhere. He shall be missed but hopefully not too much, I am planning a beery trip sometime over or after the summer down his neck of the woods.

In the meantime, it has been a lovely day and plenty going on here. The lodge is quiet, the children are mostly asleep and the limbs are limber from riding cycles. Thus it is that I propose to have a couple and then off to bed for a trip home in the morning, it's a long drive, but we don't need too early a start. We still have flies buzzing about, not too many but enough to be annoying. Anyway, yes, I have a Joseph Holt Maplemoon and Robinson's Unicorn Black on hand and I'm not afraid to use them.

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Beer Review: Unicorn

Today it is Father's Day and so I really ought to review one of the ales that I was given by my daughter as a present. We'd been in to Aldi a few weeks ago and she'd observed me perusing the selections. Knowing that I like ale she then proceeded to tell me all the beer that she would choose for me, including this rather nice example, because this one had a unicorn on the front of it. She also wanted to get me Wizard (see here) and Double Dragon. Funding dictated only two ales and Aldi sold out of Wizard. So, of course, now I get to try and review Unicorn in celebration of the day that honours fathers. The Double Dragon will have to wait.

Of course, I contend that every day is father's day so it does seem rather strange to be setting aside a whole day to celebrate the patriarchy in such an obvious fashion. However, with an ale from Robinson's to hand (and they do seem rather good at the Twitters) I can't really complain too much. I check my privilege, find that it is doing very well, thank you, and meander off down the route towards tea and and ale in my very comfortable middle-class and largely unthreatened life.

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Beer Review: Wizard

It's the third ale in the beer festival haul from Aldi, but not my last. I shall get through them as quickly as I can but I shall also endeavour to enjoy them as they were intended to be supped rather than thrown down, like a barricade. Bonus points if you have any idea what I'm semi-quoting. For the rest of you, relish the thought that you are sane and immune to such jumps. I haven't looked up the legend but it deserves thanks: the legend of the wizard of Alderley Edge - the thanks because it has inspired the brewing of tonight's amber ale: Wizard from Robinson's who have given much enjoyment recently.

Add to that a hearty day's toil and a bad back from carrying one of my children recently (and utilising the shoulders, ah, I'm getting too old for this) and you have an evening that is made for enjoying a nice ale and a nice ale that was made for an evening of enjoying it.

Ouch, that is one over-exposed photo, my camera phone sucks. Would you like to know more?

Beer Review: Dizzy's Dark Side

I have seen this around and about and I have been wanting to give it a try for some time now. Well, I finally have the opportunity as I settle down to another hard graft at the chalk-face of History. I am referring, of course, to the sister brew to Robinson's Dizzy Blonde in the form of Dizzy's Dark Side and I don't mind complimenting the artist of the bottle jacket on a clever use of colour on the shoes.

My love of dark ales is, perhaps, rather well-signposted on this here blog, so it is of no surprise to all of my reader that I am choosing to review another type of dark ale. Especially as it has been a constant of my visits to a local supermarket of late, taunting me from the pies section, and so I had to cave eventually.

Would you like to know more of my brush with this rather delectable dark, but also curiously light, ale?

Beer Review: Old Tom with chocolate

After the success of the Old Tom with ginger earlier in the week (see here) it seemed somewhat churlish not to try the stable mate with whom it was bought. Still no review of the original, but perhaps I can rectify this in the year ahead, maybe not. In the meantime, it is clearly time to sample another ale in my garden. This, of course, makes perfect sense as the summer slowly dies and is replaced by the cold winds of the winter that threatens... no, wait, it's just more sunshine. Who ordered this autumn?

I'm not complaining, it means I get more shots of the garden in its glory with an ale in the foreground and that is good enough for me. Makes me look like a proper photographer even though I am plainly not one. Yes, it is the turn of Old Tom with chocolate and can you tell that I am rather looking forward to this one? There's something about chocolate ales that seems to draw me to them like a moth to the light.

So, why not rest your weary bones as you settle back on the wooden chairs near the lawn (I still haven't cut it) and let me regale you with my thoughts on the ale before us. Excited? Well, let's go then!

Beer Review: Old Tom with ginger

One of my favourite ales from way back, long before actually starting the whole rigmarole of keeping a blog on the subject of reviewing ales, is Robinson's Old Tom and so when I spied that there were variants of this to taste, with ginger and chocolate, I had to try them. The fact that they were on offer was just icing on that particular cake. The first one to be thus tasted was the ginger variant, because reasons.

It's early days yet so who knows where this might lead? I suspect that it will lead to a review, who knew?

Now that we have introduced ourselves to the ale on a formal basis, what say we get to know one another better? Hmm? I shall put on some music (I recommend the Pet Shop Boys, because of course I do) and slip into something a little more comfortable... my dining room. Would you care to join me there?

Naval Standard

Some friends were over for the weekend with their littlest and it seemed prudent to visit a steam railway and offer some ale. The main companion of this particular beer journey was not a fan of the ale but his wife had brought along some specialist stuff she had discovered, which was eventually not tried over the weekend, but it is coming: consider yourself warned! A trip to the supermarket to pick up a chocolate gateau also garnered a return visit to the Muirhouse Brewery Taps, and a much welcome return it was, and so there was even some actual cask ale imbibed. It was a very nice weekend, the weather has been lovely, and the trains were much appreciated by all the small people. I believe that counts as a success!

Join me, won't you, for a sojourn along the wild flower side of the path, pausing only to sniff of the scent and sneeze because of the hayfever induced by city living and the slow inexorable drift to the ultimate heat-death of Universe. Would you like to know more?

Major Oaks

It's a cultural exchange... sort of. I visited a friend of mine who lives close to the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest and took along some of what I considered to be the best the local breweries could offer and some cheap offer beer from a local supermarket. We watched Doctor Who, YouTube videos, Commando and went walking in the woods. Not in remotely that order. By dint of having halves we demolished quite an ensemble of ale. I should point out that my companion for the evening, having served at numerous beer festivals, now tends to make pronouncements like "that's good beer" when pressed for opinions and not a lot else. He likes to frustrate reviewers and pedants. I fall under both categories.

So, journey with me now into the evening of men lost to fate. We left mainstream politics and entered the Sherwood Zone. Ahem, I mean, yes, click to read further of the evening!

A Challenger Appears

A visit from an old friend from University days who lives locally was designed to give a chance to review some local draught ales. This is something that needs to be done, where we are now has many actual pubs within walking distance that would provide some lovely chances to compare bottled and draught ales. More to the point, there's an opportunity that has so far been missed due to the fact that those draught ales that have been tried have not been reviewed here. So it is that this blog lacks Pedigree, Champion and Black Sheep that could have been compared to their bottled versions. Alas, sportsing meant that I had a buggered foot and so I had to stay in. Luckily, my friend has served at beer festivals and knows his stuff, so I was able to rely on him to provide the night's beverages.

Despite his rather good selection, we ended up having full pints of everything, which did rather slow down proceedings and meant that we only managed to get three tastings. No matter, they were all new to me and local to him and so nothing was lost.

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Beer Review: Dizzy Blonde

I saw this, Willow had been talking of going blonde again, and so I had to buy a brace of them to enjoy as a couple. It didn't quite work out as I had intended, Willow had her's a few days earlier than I, but we were able to compare a few notes in the drinking.

Tonight, of course, I am reviewing Dizzy Blonde by Robinson's because it has such a good name. It reminds me, in humour, of the much missed Trashy Blonde by Brew Dog that I enjoyed before I started reviewing ales.

I was surprised by the longevity of the head of this ale, it arrived quite quickly and then seemed to hang around past its welcome. There was a the dryness that one associates with blondes and a thin sort of feel to the ale as a whole. At 3.8% it was very much a drinking ale, on that would stand repetition without giving you a massive headache, but there was also something about it that made me feel as though it would be a one off. Certainly it had a nice taste, which is the best I can do I'm afraid, no long descriptions this time! It worked well with the slightly hot version of the Toscana pizza I had to accompany it and that's about all that I can say for it. It was not over-powered by the pizza but nor was it completely able to hold its own so that I had a hard time placing the taste other than 'nice'.

A mite too fizzy at the beginning but flattened as I left it alone and so improved over time out of the bottle. It had waited almost a week in the bottle and this didn't seem to have done any harm. I had also taken the odd step of chilling it, or rather Willow had stored it in the fridge, so maybe that had an effect. After the Cobra episode I think it's something that I appreciate the point of more, however it did no favours this time and I suspect this would have been better at room temperature.

Drink this for a laugh at the name and maybe as part of a cultural exchange. I am asking much for this to carry its own review and do so with any great fanfare. It is passable and weak enough that you can probably have a bevvy of them and avoid ill-effects. It is a background drink, have in large crowds with loud music and discuss whatever the heck you want in shouted comments, a beer that will support rather than dominate and will leave a nice memory of something fuzzy and ephemeral.