Quirky Catalans

When I wrote about the Alltech Brews & Food Festival a few months ago, I mentioned that James from Alltech was kind enough to fill the gaps in my Barcelona Beer Company sampling with an armful of freebie bottles. Today, at long last, I'm getting them written about as well.

There's an endearing quirkiness in their artwork, enough to let me forgive the fact that the first one I opened doesn't have an ABV on the label. The brewery website tells me that Big Bear is 5% ABV. It's an amber-coloured pale ale which goes big on malt, all wholegrain bread and bourbon biscuit. There's enough of an old-world hop tang -- jaffa oranges and metal -- to give it the overall feel of an English bitter, and Young's Ordinary comes to mind in particular, though it's quite a while since I last tasted that. The extra weight from all that malt does mean it's not as quaffable as a typical bitter, but it's fine for slower drinking. Sometimes it's nice when a brewery which goes all-out with its yoof craft branding delivers a resolutely traditional-tasting beer. Psyche!

On to the IPAs next, and the first is Cerdos Voladores using prestige US hop varieties Amarillo and Centennial. The brewery says it's their "rowdiest" beer, though it seemed pretty lazy when I poured it, taking a bit of agitation to get a head on. It looks handsome, though, a deep orange with just a slight haze through it. There's no slacking in the aroma: it's fresh and punchy, all lime zest and juicy nectarine. It tastes quite sweet, but in the balanced sense, with the hops still to the fore. The acidic waxy citrus underlies everything and lasts the longest, but on top of that thumping rhythm is a melody of mandarin and mango. The low carbonation I complained about actually makes for really easy drinking and despite that palate-pounding bitterness and not-insubstantial 6% ABV, I could definitely see myself reaching for another of the same after finishing one.

High expectations, then, for what did come next: Miss Hops, Barcelona's "high IPA", though still the same ABV and only a slightly higher IBU level. It looks the same, and has a similar reticence about head formation, but is much less -- how shall I say? -- hoppy. The aroma is a gentle peach and honeydew with a warm undercurrent of alcohol beneath. The first flavour I got was quite savoury and dry, almost musty. There are bright notes of tangerine and a resinous dank, but it's all quite monotone and serious. After the blazing jollity of Cerdos Voladores I was really in the mood for something happier, something this very saturnine IPA didn't deliver.

Quite a rollercoaster there in just three beers but my overarching advice is plump for the pigs.

Bang on target

I've been doing well on my random Sainsbury's shelf sweeps. Last year the uninspiring selection yielded up this beauty, and I wasn't expecting to get lucky again when I randomly selected Wolf Brewery's Battle of Britain, but it's lovely.

Yes, it's a 3.9% ABV brown bitter: whoop-de-do. It's not doing anything more daring than that. The carbonation is wonderfully light, the hopping is gentle and oh-so-English, combining with the malt for a sort of Terry's Chocolate Orange effect with bonus hints of sandalwood and just a little bit of dry metal at the end. It's a flavour I associate most with Young's Bitter, but Young's isn't nearly as good as this when bottled, and I suspect a lot of that has to do with overzealous carbonation.

This stuff is everything I want in a session bitter, something I find far too rare in bottled English beer.

England bottles it

Beer, I mean, not Saturday's rugby (though they did that too). I paid a flying visit to England at the weekend with a particular beer-hunting objective in mind which I'll cover in a subsequent post. I also managed to fit in a couple of bottled English ales I'd never had before. The first was from Herefordshire, and the Wye Valley brewery. Its Butty Bach is yet another rather bland golden ale, missing both the sweet malt and the bitter hops of proper English beer. Inoffensive and disappointing. Wood's Shropshire Lad is a red ale with rather more flavour, of the earthy, mushroomy sort. There's not quite enough for it to be interesting, unfortunately. Coupled with the heavy gassy texture it all means some tough going for not so much reward.

Moving south to The Flower of Cities All, I came upon the competing strong ales of rivals Fuller's and Young's. The latter's Special London Ale (no longer made in London) has a lot of the features of ordinary Young's Bitter: the taste dominated by bitter orangey notes. It's almost double the strength (6.4%), and tastes it, but doesn't have as much of the flavour. Instead there's a gassy sharpness which, oddly, only abates when the yeast from the bottom of the bottle is added. I'm not a fan of this one. As expected, Fuller's put on a better show with their 1845. Again it's an orangey-red hue, but pours to a lovely thick head. The flavour is highly complex and offers a great mix of ripe fruity sweetness and smoky, hoppy bitterness, leaving a dry aftertaste. This is a powerful, serious beer which rewards considered sipping: just like a strong ale should.

It's windmiller time

"What brings you to Bodegraven?" I was asked three times last Sunday on my short visit to the sleepy village between Utrecht and Leiden. My response, "Why, the brewery, of course", drew unanimously surprised looks, particularly odd since two of the questioners were staffing said establishment, and the other was drinking at the next table.

The De Molen brewery and restaurant, as the name suggests, is in a windmill, much like my beloved 't IJ brewery in Amsterdam. The large back room was occupied by a private party so I took up residence in the sunny front parlour to begin working my way through the beer menu on the adjacent blackboard. Menno, host and brewer, was on hand to offer notes on the background of each. I may even remember some of what he told me.

Pilz first. Menno said he had to make a pils because the market demands it. I was very glad to see that Ireland isn't the only country whose microbreweries have to face this hurdle. It's pretty inoffensive: dry, grainy and generally unchallenging. The red-amber Bock lager is a very different proposition. This one is highly malty, yet bitter, with none of the sugariness often found in dark lagers.

The strangest thing about De Molen Dubbel is its apparent opaque muddy brown colour. Only when held up to the light is the deep red hue apparent. It's heftily bitter and the only hints of fruit -- raisins to be precise -- arrive after a few minutes of warming. Much more fruit is present in the powerful and bitter hazy orange Tripel. 9.2% ABV and deceptively smooth drinking.

Oddity de jour was Ongemoutgraan, a 4.5% ABV pale yellow beer made mostly from unmalted barley. It's a laborious process, says Menno. What it produces is a grainy, worty, porridgey flavour balanced against a zingy hoppy bitterness, and much more flavour and body than the strength suggests. An ideal summer refresher, but pretty good on a December afternoon too. Engels is another masterpiece of originality: its English heritage is apparent from the sweet and hoppy aroma. While there are a couple of English ales with the whole chocolate-and-oranges thing going on (Young's Bitter springs to mind), none have it expressed as strongly, and deliciously, as this one. And, frankly, there aren't enough beers named after the founders of communism.

I was fortunate that Menno chose the time of my visit to show off one of his latest creations to a regular. Cue expectant look from the Beer Nut in the corner. The dry-hopped Amarillos Winter Warmer was just a week in the bottle. It's another 9.2% monster, this time in an IPA sort of style, though made with La Chouffe yeast. The flavour is brimming with peaches and madarins, balanced against that IPA bitterness. Add in the flat and sticky feel of a very young and very strong beer, and you have the ideal dessert accompaniment.

De Molen beers aren't confined to their place of birth, however. Most are bottled, and a shop on site sells them alongside a variety of other artisan products. I took two bottles away with me. My only previous experience of Stoombier was the one produced by Pelgrim in Rotterdam, by which I wasn't terribly impressed. De Molen Stoombier is much much better: brimming with citrusy flavours resulting from its dry hopping. It pours to a lovely foamy head and makes for very easy drinking, despite a fairly weighty 5.7% ABV.

Proudly displayed in the De Molen shop is the brewer's certificate from the 2005 Great British Beer Festival, where Borefts Stout won Favourite Belgian/Dutch beer. Borefts is a very dry and gassy beer, and begins with a carbonic sharpness, reminding me in particular of Guinness Foreign Extra, but in a good way. It's very filling and warming, possessed of a mild chocolatey bitterness. Not the world's greatest stout, but I can see how it would be a "favourite".

In the microbrewery windmill leagues, I think my heart still belongs to 't IJ, just for its sheer oddness. However, the warmth of the welcome and the quality of the beer make De Molen well worth the trip to Bodegraven. The regulars and staff ought not be at all surprised by this.

Back on the ale trail

I spent a couple of days in London over the weekend and managed to fit in a fair few pints of the interesting. Or at least what counts as interesting to me.

Starting simple I tried Young's Bitter, which is London's answer to a pint of plain: very well-balanced and ticking all the right boxes for bitter without being too fussy. Another quality Young's beer. Courage Best is in the same league, though lighter and less challenging. Also at the entry level is Greene King's IPA. While this suffers from a bit more of a sparkle than is strictly warranted in this kind of ale, the bitter, hoppy aftertaste is very pleasant.

Broadside is a fairly common premium bitter. It is, in fact, very bitter indeed. I think they were trying to do something daring with the recipe here, and while the result is certainly bold and distinctive it lacks the warmth and subtlety of good bitter. Olde Trip tries to do something similar as well, but fails and fades into quite an average, non-descript beer.

Turning up the hop quotient we have a Welsh bitter on sale in Wetherspoon's called Brain SA. It has a very unusual raw green vegetal taste with hints of smoke. Very tasty. Similarly vegetal is Landlord, though this one crosses the line from bitter into sour and is a bit of an acquired taste, I reckon. Reverend James is so hop-laden that is has almost no foretaste but packs a big bitter hops punch at the end. Yet even it pales in comparison to my find of the trip: Theakston's Black Bull. The Bull is strikingly headless, despite having a faint trace of sparkle. Tastewise it has nothing up front but holds back a massive green hops taste which is quite delicious. And at the end there are hops dregs in the bottom of the glass. If that's a gimmick, it worked. Theakston's, you've done it again.

While I was contemplating my Black Bull in the Museum Tavern in Bloomsbury last Friday evening, one of the regulars mentioned to the barman that it was too warm to be drinking ale. Nonsense, I thought, but over the weekend I noticed that the brewers and their marketing people seem to have been making an effort for the ale fans who want something in their line more suited to warm weather. And so, from Fuller's, we have Discovery. This is hand-pumped but lager-like in appearance. It's certainly much lighter than bitter, but it didn't put anything back where the bitterness and warmth were taken out. The result is rather hollow and bland. Summer Solstice is in the same genre and suffers from the same lack of flavour.

Not only was it summer, of course, but the World Cup was on. Our friends at Greene King have produced a series of guest ales being sold in Wetherspoon's. 4-4-2 is a pale ale with a big taste. Daring, but a bit cloying. Perhaps one pint is supposed to last the full ninety minutes plus stoppages. 1966 is much better: bitter and spicy with a solid dose of hops for flavour. The Wychwood people have also made a World Cup beer, called England's Ale. This is dark, smooth and easy-drinking with a smoky, burnt character. Up to scratch with the other quality Wychwood beers.

So much for England. While in London I made the obligatory visit to the mighty Belgo. I wasn't especially adventurous in my beer selection: plumping for two from the Grimbergen stable on draught. The blond is a very full-flavoured heavy, dry beer. The dubbel is rich, sweet and chocolatey.

If every weekend was filled with this much English and Belgian beer I'd be very happy. And very very fat.