Smooth operators

The slow trickle of American beers into Ireland seems to be continuing. Redmond's had a couple of new ones on my last visit and I snapped them up. Samuel Adams Holiday Porter first. It's a magnificent beer from start to finish. Colourwise it's a deep black with ruby edges. The attractive sweet aroma will follow you round the room. A sharp prickly fizz starts the mouthfeel, but quickly subsides leaving a full and silky texture. Following the richness of the texture there's the richness of the flavour: milk chocolate and raisins first, dark chocolate and plums at the end. Very much in the same league as St Peter's magnificent Old Style Porter and a crime to sell in mere 355ml bottles.

Next up is one of those beers whose style I had no idea of until I opened it: Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale. The big hoppy aroma on uncapping the bottle was the first clue, and the orange amber colour was the second suggestion, that this is an American-style IPA. I rather like Sierra Nevada's own IPA for its rough and uncompromising bitterness. This is a much smoother affair, full bodied and lightly carbonated. The flavour is full of peaches: sumptuously bittersweet with a gorgeous sherbety quality. It is, in short, Goose Island IPA by Sierra Nevada. I had me a Goose Island last Friday night, but I've always room for another, whatever the label.

More American beer like this, please, Mr Importer, sir.

Wot no cream? Wot no oysters?

Having thoroughly enjoyed their Old-Style Porter recently, I expected big things of St. Peter's Cream Stout when I eventually tracked it down. I confess to being a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong: it's really really good stout, but I was anticipating something, well, creamy. This one is a very heavy dense stout, deep black in colour and with barely any gas. It is very sweet, with a caramel aroma and an overriding burnt toffee flavour. Yet, right at the end, there's that back-of-the-throat dryness of the sort you only get from quality stout. Next time I'm in the market for a half-litre of black beer which requires a mortgage, however, I think I'll stick with the Old-Style.

On the subject of English stout, I also recently acquired a bottle of Marston's Oyster Stout. The Oyster made by the Porterhouse in Dublin (from oysters) is one of my favourite stouts, so I felt it necessary to check out the competition. First of all, there is no indication on the bottle whether it is actually made with oysters or not. There is no list of ingredients, just warnings about the barley and malt. I had to go to the web site to find that it is, in fact, mollusc-free.

And that's not the only thing missing. Some of this could be down to an unfair comparison with the super-premium St. Peter's, but I found the Marston's almost devoid of any flavour. It's slightly dry; it's slightly bitter; but it's really not much of anything. "Marston's Don't Compromise", apparently. Compromising on this already watery number would indeed be a tough proposition.

Right posh booze

The St. Peter's brewery in Suffolk presents two opening gimmicks to the punter: an 18th century-style high-shouldered bottle and a hefty (€4 here) price tag.

Their Old-Style Porter is a blend of new and old ale, quite light in colour. With most craft-brewed porters one expects a significant sharpness, but this is totally smooth. Not that it's creamy or in any way bland -- far from it. This is rich and flavoursome with a distinct chocolate kick to it. More than anything it reminds me of the chocolate ale made by Speight's in New Zealand (review here). Textbook delicious.

St. Peter's also make an Organic Ale, though with this one it's harder to see where your €4 goes. In general, I've been a bit disappointed with organic beer: brewers seem content with their Soil Association certificate as a selling point rather than putting the graft into the flavour. The St. Peter's organic is a light amber colour and tastes tangy and mildly bitter. It's decent, and stands up as a good English light ale, but it lacks the depth, richness and warmth required for promotion to the premier league.

Dark beer, it seems, is where St. Peter's excels. They also make a Cream Stout, which I haven't been able to find on sale, but you'll be the first to know when I do.