Earthquake

 Tonight I went out to the Burnt Pig Ale Ouse for possibly the last time before further restrictions arrive - because COVID 19 O future reader - and I made this trip not just because I love the place but also because, frankly, they had on Urban Chicken's latest effort: Earthquake - a coffee milk stout. Stout? Yes, stout. It became my favoured style of ale around 2017 and then sort of... well, apparently I am a beardy stout drinker now.

Would you like to know more?

Oh, you would? Lovely. The first thing that struck me on being served a whole pint (I usually have halves because I am that person in the pub) was the consistency of it. Good biscuit-coloured head in the dim light and a deep darkness reminiscent of a recently abandoned brown field site. Good musty coffee aroma delights the nose, a roasted sensation wafting across the gravel car-park only just starting to be overgrown by the flowering weeds. Good and rich, pregnant with the promise of a solid stout like the ground waiting for redevelopment. Maybe a flat for a professional or else some social housing, either way, something is coming. And the thickness was beguiling, deep and dark. An edge of Saxon warband atop the slightly brown darkness.

Onto the tongue and the reward is a thick viscous mixture, subtle dry coffee with a hint of something else besides. Good thick milk texture on the middle of the taste with a good running of the malt down the sides, big and full. Wallowing luxuriously as it turns over and over in coffee and lactose so that it feels like a breakfast ale in the late evening. A fitting and filling pint that would suit the labourer returning from a long shift just before they go home to the rest of the family. Full of the sort of exotic flavours that, though ahistorical, makes me automatically think of a pre-Norman world and then canals being used for industrial transport. The horse plodding slowly but doggedly along the tow path as the hedgerow and brambles slowly creep into it and onto the edge of the canal wharf. The longboat drifting laden with steel or textiles as the birds fly overhead from the meadows stretching into the middle distance. Copses of tangled oak and ash pepper the landscape, picking out hollows in the fields, like the coffee here.

It ends, though, it finishes. A warmth spreading down the gullet, a coffee dryness and then it is gone. It's good, really good. Deep and dark and perfect for a rainy evening where the weather has turned and the cold is seeping in through the water. Whipped clouds scud across a darkening sky as the sun sets in bruising of the light, street lamps burn, the room goes darker, the stout gets thicker and the fact that it is a pint of it really starts to hit. Not so strong that it will leave me with a headache but enough that it knocks the day on the head. Not so think that it feels like a meal or dessert but enough that it demands some chips and gravy on the walk home. A demand that I clearly gave into because it would be rude not to.

Overall? This is a brilliant stout. I am glad I got out to have it. If you get a chance, get out and have it. Lockdown is coming. This will set you up.

Urban Peaks

Good evening! I'm back! Lovely to have an excuse to go to the Crafty One, and as excuses go, this is the best. Heard it was on tap on Facebook about half an hour ago and came out to see. What is it? Urban Peaks brewed by Urban Chicken and Alter Ego - both of which are proudly local to my neck of the woods. And, well, it's been a bit of a long week back at work, so I thought I would go down and sample the latest because, well, it would be rude not to.

It is worth saying at this point that I have reviewed this ale anew as, the following day, it was dispensed with nitro and... well, let's just say this review is out-dated now. You can find the new review by clicking on these words. Do it. Do it now.
 

Would you like to know more?

It's a collaborative stout so it has the pedigree and the care and attention going for it straight off the bat, this promises much before you even get round to looking at it - it has big shoes to fill. Deep dark aspect, like the depths of a deep sea trench, but calm and placid demeanour. No fuss, no head, no drama. Collected, this chicken is not headless. Aroma is subtle, faint almond and a distant honey echo on the back end. A call from far away to make you strain to hear, the hairs prickle, the night draws in. The chicken is loose. And the initial impression is thus set, this is going to be subtle and without too much in the way of flamboyance. After things like Pit Pony (link) and Urban Pig (link) this is going to have a lot to live up to - a full body of malt and oatmeal, a deep plateau of chocolate, a burn of soft honey...

Smooth cream on the tongue, lighter than a dessert stout but more than a milkshake IPA. Soft, like down but without the drying dusty quality. Slips over the tongue, not too heavy or wet. There's a familiarity there, signature of the Urban Chicken stable but lacking the usual fullness that comes with it, almost like there's a gap in the ale somewhere where the rain gets in. The subtle warm honey gathers at the edges and briefly threatens proper violence before the almond makes itself known on the precipice. Then the cream remains along with the coating of honey to make the throat comfortable after a week of taking lessons.

It's not bad, not bad at all, but the subtle flavours are betrayed a little by the body of the stout itself, it lacks the oomph of what I have come to expect and lacks the thickness that would allow that understated darkness and lack of drama to become a proper player. Like a music video mismatched to the soundtrack the notes are all there but remixed down and away from the original power and the necessary grab to make it all the way to the number one spot. Indeed, the strength of 5.5% ABV is hidden well, so that there is no unwelcome alcohol burn, but, at the same time, the body isn't enough to carry it. Had this been an imperial then maybe that could have built the power needed to let those subtle flavours shine brighter, but at least this isn't going to have me falling asleep when I've finished!

In the background the Cardigans tell me that they can erase and rewind, in a remix stripped down to the bass. It's a solid sentiment. But for the physical distance, the screens and the giving of details, the place is as it always was. As it should be. Happy chatter, good natured drinking. The quiet near the cans a haven as it has always been. The serious business of reviewing ale aside, it is clear that there is still life here and that the lockdown has left scars but not, thankfully, much else in the business.

Unassuming, that is how I like to think of this part of the Crafty One, like the stout. It's not a heavy thick weight like the imperials I've had of late. But it's not watery either. There's a lack of body that I usually associate with the stouts of the Urban Chicken stable, sure, and there's an argument that none of the feature flavours are bold enough to make themselves felt as a consequence. Indeed, were it not for the pump clip I would have been hard pushed to identify any chocolate in this brew - my initial impression was that there wasn't any and even knowing that I was supposed to look for it, it doesn't really pounch above the warmth of the honey. And that, itself, is but a shade. There's a hint it could be bigger but the watery nature does rather dominate as you go for bigger swigs even if the honey rapidly fills in and prevents anything too untoward.

A car starts to careen on a long desert highway. The almond builds sip on sip, an element of biscuit and Battenburg, crowding that honey with a slightly drier taste. No drying of the mouthfeel but less wet. Like a good wetsuit or a lady driving a car with her feet. No, it's the wrong music video for the song, but the games are gone for now: everyone has lost their favourite. Luckily this stout remains.

A glimmer of an end, a promise of grander things. And a reminder that two brewers can be greater than the sum of their parts. I am glad that I came out to have this one. I am glad that it was brewed and available. It is great to know that collaborations such as this exist. But it does not compare as well as one might hope to the greats that I have had in the past. The almond never really rises to make the grade as it ought, though it is there in the dry nuttiness, and the chocolate is just too subtle to really make a difference. The honey plays its part, trying to cover for the carbonation (or the lack thereof, not a bad thing in and of itself), but, again, never really has the power needed to make the most of the contribution. Someone else opined that maybe it was oats that were missing, something to give that cream something to ride on and surf down, something to let that honey hang around a bit longer and be counted. I don't know, I am no brewer. If you are able, and you feel safe enough, then this is worth venturing to the pub to have, absolutely. As critical as I am, this is still good ale and a decent stout, it won't be around very long!

However, what must last, what must survive: this place. It is good to be back. I didn't realise how much I'd missed it but that is testament to the deliveries during lockdown. Highly welcome, very appreciated, but they could never replace a visit.

And so, as I'm here, I follow up this stout with a DDH IPA from Howling Hops called Top Buzzer. This is a thick hop-forward beast of an ale, still 5.6% ABV and a great fruity follow up to the dry almond aftertaste of the main event. I can heartily recommend it for the citrus power and the bright colour to match the gregarious mouthfeel. That isn't the review though, so I shall leave it at that!

B.P.A.V.K.

 It's a chocolate, strawberry, marshmallow, Imperial Stout in a 440ml can and it has been waiting for me for a while. So it was past time that I got round to it and I have the excuse of having been back at work proper for a week and a couple of days. Doesn't sound like much (hats off to all the amazing people who worked through the summer) but it has been reasonably full on.

Would you like to know more?

A fair while back now, I ordered a strawberry chocolate marshmallow imperial stout from

The Crafty One Bar and Bottle Shop

. It was, of course, duly delivered to my door.

I have now opened the can. I have begun to drink. It smells very strongly of strawberry chocolate marshmallow - heavier on the sweet end than the strength of the chocolate with a hint of Angel Delight hanging around the corners. Despite it being 10% ABV it tastes very sweet and welcoming. Dangerously so. And it is soft on the mouth, like a bit puffy marshmallow - who would have thunk?

On the sides of the mouth there is a bare hint of slippery chocolate mousse but this is mainly confected strawberry and sugar. It's gone down well with Willow. Very reminiscent of the original Dessert in a Can that I had a few years ago, actually, and about the same strength. The addition of the strawberry really helps with the enormous sweetness of the marshmallow and stops it being the sort of thing that makes my teeth feel all funny. However, the strength of the alcohol definitely rests in the stomach - making it easier to kick back a bit after a full week back. I moan, but it has been a full week and the students have clearly been happy to be back, making it good to be back.

Not much head, the aroma continues all the way down the glass. Ray Stanz would likely enjoy this on a cold winter's evening or out camping. Zuul would probably enjoy making it into something that would destroy all mankind, and it would be largely unthreatening were it not for the huge ABV. That alone would annoy Venkman by stepping on a church, to be honest. Still, at least the crossing of the streams would allow the Angel Delight strawberry goodness to cascade over the remains of the battle to allow for joyous consumption for a long while afterwards. Assuming you don't mind it having been irradiated.

In short and in closing, this is a good ale with which to end the week and likely to allow for some heavy sleep. Enjoy it, dive into the pool of whipped milk sugar-laced high-E-number count pink eighties icon material, swim luxuriously in the wafting aroma of deep strwaberry joy and allow the dark heart of this stout to wipe out all of mankind in keeping with the schemes of a spirit that thinks it's a god and is currently possessing a human from a fridge. At least, I think so, that may be the plot of a film with Bill Murray instead.

Bourbon V.B.M.

 It's wet and windy, work is on the way and I was wondering what would I do? How many 'w's can I get into alliteration? Should I beware of the dog, doggo or doglet? What is the circumference of a moose? (It's Douglas Adams with his face in a pie multiplied by Michael Palin squared) And so it was that I wended my way to a can of Very Big Moose by Fierce that I got delivered back in Lockdown from the Crafty One - I had two delivered because one was part of the cost of a bike from a friend - and I really must do a post about the amazing things done by the Crafty One soon.

However, right now, it's about an imperial stout aged in American Oak barrels that formerly held bourbon and so would you like to know more?

This took a bit of choosing - I was going to go for a stout, I knew that, but I wanted something worth it and big because it is the last chance I'll get for a while to drink beer going back to work. The trouble is, there are some excellent examples of big stouts that I have been building up, as evidenced by the post on the You're Not You When You're Thirsty (which, apparently, ran into copyright issues because now it's called The One We Can't Talk About and I've got one of those in too...). You see, the Crafty One is a bit too good at getting great stouts in and I'm not good enough at getting them drunk. After a few false starts I settled on this one for... well, I don't know why, but the fact is I opened it and poured.

And what a pour! It came out black and dark, with a biscuit coloured head and an actually noticeable fizz. I don't know what I was expecting from a big stout, it's 12.5%, but a fizz wasn't really it. Instant hit of the aroma in the air, pungent and thick, as one would expect. The can claims that there are vanillin flavours and I don't know what that word means, but I suspect it is vanilla-based from the oak like what Innis & Gunn do with their ales, but that's not the nose of this at all. No, the nose is deep and pungent, thick, dark and... a bit like a whiskey if it had been blended into a milkshake? Yes, milkshake, but with whiskey, that's it.

Willow commented that the can made her think it should be either mint or pistachio, and I can see where she is coming from, but I had no such expectations as I took a sip. Instantly, there's a hit of the alcohol on the tongue, very reminiscent of my limited experience with whiskey. My friend from Carlisle who knows about such things (well, I should clarify, there are two who take their whiskey seriously and several who, although serious, are not in the same league) would sometimes try to ply me with whiskey and get me to understand its complexities and tastes. The feeling on the opening of this is similar to what I got then - strong and whiskey. This is followed by the fizz, yes fizz in a stout (and it is surprisingly not incongruous, it's like finding out that Sandy Toksvig replaced Stephen Fry fronting QI, it shouldn't work. But then you watch it and it sort of does and you understand why it was done, even if you think QI has kinda moved far beyond its original charm), and then a calming velvety chocolate at the end settles over the remains of the mouthful. The sides are awash in the usual thick maltiness and the overall impression is one of potential conflict.

Now, I can see the case for the vanilla stylings, it is subtle but it rests on the chocolate malt and the fire of the whiskey remaining from the barrels and super-charged by the 12.5% ABV. It draws the experience together because it hits at the same time as the fire of the alcohol, suffuses the bashing waves of chocolate at the end and laps gently at the edges of the texture. When the aftertaste kicks in it is with the memory of the fire from the whiskey barrels and the calming shroud of the fog of vanilla from the oak in the barrels. It's hard to properly explain, but this is a very big moose of a stout, meaning the name is fitting, and there is a feeling that one is in the Canadian wilderness awaiting the approach of a large shaggy animal from the depths of a frozen forest. Luckily, the taste is enough to keep one warm and fuzzy. Or maybe it's the strength. I don't know. One thing is certain, it is as surprising as the lyrics to I'm a Lumberjack by Monty Python, but not in anything like the same way.

One thing is clear: it is a sipper of an ale. I wouldn't recommend taking anything other than sips. It sits well in the glass, it works well at room temperature. It is indulgent, luxurious. Willow said it was exactly like the 72% cocoa Peruvian single origin chocolate that Moser Roth used to do through Aldi (I like to be topical, and beer and Aldi are topical on Twitter right now, right?) in that she expected it to be minty (and, indeed, was convinced it was for a good year) and yet it wasn't all because of the green in the packaging. The can has a lot of green, it is true. However, I cannot speak to that. I do not detect any mint (or pistachio) but I do detect the whiskey. I detect the malt. It should be a milkshake. It is not, it is a stout. And the day is wet and miserable, so the strength and the fire is perfect and welcome. Even the feeling that the alcohol is trying to escape through my nostrils (another feature of the ill-fated attempt to explain whiskey to me) is not off-putting. It feels very much like this stout is just a delivery system to inject the whiskey, sorry, bourbon into my system.

Like the vast and foreboding wilderness of the conifer forests of Canada or the Taiga in northern Russia, the still blackness of the stout drowns all sound to be left with an enveloping and plush silence, fat with the potential of life and imagination, ready for the cold reflected light of the moon to illuminate in monochrome. But not to drain the world of colour, rather to cast it in a new and artistic light. That is the overall feeling of this ale, surprising and inconstant but welcoming in its eccentricity and comforting in its darkness with the edge of the alcoholic strength. If you are planning on a hike to see the sun at midnight or even experience perpetual night then this is the ale I would recommend taking with you to have when you strike up camp and wait for the aurora borealis to begin. That might also explain the green on the can, come to think of it!

For those looking for a rating, you are maybe on the wrong beer blog, but I would rate it Very Big on the Moose scale.

You're Not You When You're Thirsty

 Hmm, cobwebs. I can clear that. Oh, and some dents, they'll buff out eventually. Oh, is this thing still on? Oh, oh! It is. Sorry, stream of consciousness there, I apologise. I am just finishing off a You're Not You When You're Thirsty from S43. Obviously I picked it up from a delivery from the Crafty One (see here) because they have been amazing over the Lockdown (I mean, they're amazing generally, but offering beer deliveries since March has been amazing. Rubbish for my bank balance, but amazing for all other things).

Would you like to know more?

Brazilian Breakfast Coffee Stout

This has been sitting on the shelf in the beer cupboard for nearly a year and, well, it has been sitting there long enough. As the springtime sort of becomes a thing again and the snow begins to recede in terms of threatened falls and the chances of snow-days disappear again for the year it seemed like the time to wake up from hibernation. After spending so much time curled up like some small woodland mammal in the burrow I, like Bill Bailey, have a shock of unruly hair and a need for some coffee. But this is a blog that mainly documents beers rather than coffee and so it comes to pass that I shall be trying some coffee stout.

Of course it's a coffee stout. Today I am mostly reviewing the powerful Brazilian Breakfast Coffee Stout from the rather amazing little Southsea Brewery that was picked up for me by my wife nearly a year ago, well, okay, in the summer, but still a while back. Following on from some pretty big names and big hitters lately I'm not sure what to expect but even if it holds its own it will have been a big one!

Burnt Pig

It has become something of a habit that if I have to travel a long distance to the supermarket beyond the roundabout then I tend to drop by my local and get me a half of something nice and lovely. This habit has been rather hidden from this blog since I started it in September and I haven't been posting here that much, nevertheless, as I attempt to breathe life back into this husk of a place and get me writing again it seemed like a good point to start talking of my favourite local haunts.

I refer, this time, to the excellent Burnt Pig Ale 'Ouse that has been something of a feature on here for a while now. Today I want to talk about the board of offerings that they ad on this Saturday and the stout that I was lucky enough to snag with a game of shut the box again, not as good as the collaboration with Urban Chicken but still a decent catch.

Urban Pig

These days I don't get out to pubs very often because I am so busy (woe is me) and so it is something when I get out to try something brewed locally. Basically, when a tweet (yes, I know) crosses your way telling you that there's some chocolate stout brewed exclusively for your favourite ale house now being served you drop the baby duties, which I was involved in, and you get yourself out to sample the brew. Then, as if you needed further encouragement, you accidentally drop into the place again whilst out shopping.

I refer, of course, to the rather nicely named Urban Pig Chocolate Snout from Urban Chicken that was brewed specially for my local boozer. 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?

Day in London

Following the success of the Tuesday night (see this finely crafted link) and the sharing of some lighter ales, my father and I did indeed get the train the following day to London to see the exhibition and share some meals. We stopped off for breakfast in Carluccio's in St Pancras (we agreed that this was easily the nicest of all the stations with rail links north) where I had a lovely mushrooms with scrambled egg on toast, hit the exhibition and then I took him on the longest walk you can really manage in London to The Harp - because I would be remiss not to. It was a lovely warm day, my father and I got to share our observations about architecture in the capital and ruminate on the effects of Modernism and Gerogian-style buildings mingling due to the gaps left by the Blitz and other such human disasters, all the while looking in at the occasional park and discussing the Russian Revolution because, frankly, why wouldn't you?

Surprised to meet Gandhi here but only snapped
Virginia.

This is very much a truncated story of pubbing about London primarily due to the fact that I needed to have the time to get the alcohol out of my system before driving back home in the evening. A feat that I managed (with suitably long gap twixt drink and drive of around five or so hours) and got home at a late enough point that Willow, Hooty and Girlie were asleep, but the Boy was awake. 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?

Pit Pony

I have been meaning to get round to reviewing this for a long time. I heard, through the Book of Faces, that there were to be bottles of Pit Pony available and then waited with bated breath for them to be dropped. I've had this already, on draught, and thoroughly enjoyed it as it is a fine example of an oatmeal stout. You can find my thoughts about it by clicking these words. So it was, when it was in the local bottle shop, I rushed out with the exhortations of my long-suffering wife to get some in. I managed to bag two bottles, intending to share, as there was limited stock. Then life sort of intervened, I had intended to share it with a visitor but ended up trying something a little hoppier and murkier instead. Then I finally got round to having it and thus, tonight, can review the whole experience!

Look at it! The day had been windy and cool with occasional sunshine, we went out with some friends, but by the evening it was cooler and with rain threatening so there was no chance to have it out in the garden. Instead, I had it in the kitchen whilst cooking and then eating an omelette, because I know how much my eating habits feature. Would you like to join me on a journey through Urban Chicken Ale's Pit Pony oatmeal stout? You would? Wonderful!

Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout

This has been sitting around under the stairs since that crate of beer around Easter, I figured it was high time that I got round to it and had it of an evening. Darkness outside, lit by the glow of one of the last sodium burning lamps on the road, with a decidedly cool feeling in the air from a day of rain, the perfect time, one might suggest, for a stout. To be fair, though, nearly every time is the perfect time for a stout so that may not be indicative. Anyway, with no ABV (but I was told as I drank it by some nice people online) and no Best Before this was always going to be interesting. I present to you Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout from Rogue Ales based on Oregon.

It's a crap picture, for which I apologise, the light was bad and I wasn't anticipating getting a better shot. I was already a bit late in getting a photo and the head had gone so I was in a hurry. And, sometimes, I am just that bad at taking a photo. 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?

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?

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?

Kofra Stout

This was one of those evenings that needed a stout, you know, one of those days that, however nice, just required something to give it pep and spring. So it was that I turned to a can that I picked up from the newly extended craft beer range in the evil Empire that is Tesco. I can't complain too much, their new range is a pretty good one even if I haven't yet sampled all of it. Anyway, all that aside, it was a sunny day and time to try the Redwell stout effort: Kofra Stout. It promises coffee and unicorn tears and I, for one, can't wait to see what difference that would make.

I mean, unicorn tears. It's... different to say the least. Would you like to know more?

Middle Aged Spread

This was acquired through a beer swap with someone online and I am beyond excited. It is Maunday Thursday on the Easter calendar and the Last Supper is about to be held. Treachery threatens but, then, one could argue that the actions of Judas were necessary because of what had to happen next. Not a brave man nor a bad man, but a man, simple and nothing more or less. The blackness of the day that is to follow and the chasm that was opened, albeit briefly, was something borne of no more and no less than the actions of mankind. Much like this beer review and swap, which is far more edifying and cheerful. Perhaps a little too cheerful for the Easter story. No matter, I am very excited to try Appleby Brewery's Middle Aged Spread of a stout.

Allusions to Easter aside, would you like to know more?

LocAle Stout

On the countdown to Easter we are officially at Wednesday. Time for me to regale you with aborted efforts to join in last Friday with an effort online to sample local ales, that is, ales brewed in the local area. As it was, I was required to drive a bit so there was no drinking for me. However, I have been keeping an eye out for locally brewed stuff and this took me to the local Wetherspoons - The Observatory - and my favourite local being the Burnt Pig. In these places I did discover two locally brewed stouts and, well, you know me and stout lately. So here's a review of some of those!

In truth, this is all the local ale that I have had in local hostelries. Local ale for local people, there's nothing for you here, unless you're local. Also, Ilson, because. Would you like to know more?