Camra

[prinnysquad]

Colin - I'm impressed that you like Dark Island. I'll recommend Black Sheep Riggwelter alongside the other darker beers I did earlier. I often find that darker beers tend to give that little bit extra body, kick and aftertaste.

Kryss - What a sap. 'Off the beer'. What kind of mincer talk is that?

[dvdx2]

Colin - I'm impressed that you like Dark Island. I'll recommend Black Sheep Riggwelter alongside the other darker beers I did earlier. I often find that darker beers tend to give that little bit extra body, kick and aftertaste.

Kryss - What a sap. 'Off the beer'. What kind of mincer talk is that?

Sounds like his mrs is trying to get a few pounds of his waistline ;-)

[prinnysquad]

Henpecked mincer talk, then.

A few months under the thumb of married life and he'll only be allowed slimline G&Ts.

[kryss]

In fairness, I managed about 2 weeks. Let's go over the beers I've tried since, from worst to best. All from Big Rock Brewery btw.

Rhine Stone Cowboy

Really not worth my effort, just a light-ish beer that was particularly unimpressive.

Hefehopper

Brewed here in Calgary, and you can taste the white trash origins.

Abandoned Abbey

9.2% yet still easy to drink, but a little bland despite how strong it is.

Scottish Heavy Ale

This is it. Full flavoured 7% and every mouthful melts the world away.

[fuse]

Ealing Beer Festival one week away and I've managed to double-book myself on the Thursday; a complete disaster. Still, hoping to wrangle the Friday off in which case it's going to be a long one leading in to the weekend...

[prinnysquad]

Good work chaps. Pleased to see you're not as much of a mincer as first feared, kryss.

I was stuck on a course at Beamish last week. After it had finished I wandered along on my lonesome to the pub in the town area and had a cracking pint of Stables Brewery Bell Tower. 5%, and lovely and dark. Such a tonic to these light summer beers. Bravo to Beamish for putting the most local beer possible on - brewed less than a mile away.

9/10

[kryss]

Fortnightly update!

Trois Pistoles from Unibroue, Quebec

Whopping 750ml bottle at 9% and deserving of the 100 score it received from RateBeer. Bottled perfection.

The following are all from Big Rock Brewery.

Birch Bark

Canadian Imperial Stout - good strength and flavour, well worth a drink.

Last Best: Collaboration Brew #1

Mysterious white label, and a satifying brew if a tad weak for my tastes these days.

Warthog

Yeah, no. Just really unremarkable.

[prinnysquad]

Man, I can't tell you how much I want to try that first bottle, kryss.

Chinook Mosaic El Dorado, Shotgun Wedding American Pale Ale, 5.1%, 8.5
Sonnet 43, Its Gusto, Its Guts American IPA (#27), 6.6% 8.5
Provenance Brewing from Hydes, Nelson Pale Ale, 4.5% 8.5
Odell Brewing Co, St Lupulin, 6.5% 8.5
Stone Brewing Co, Go To IPA, 4.5% 8.5
Saugatuck Brewing Company, Michigan Wheat Ale, 4.7% 9
Rogue, Beard Beer, 4.8% 8.5
Rogue, Captain Sig's Northwestern Ale, 8.5
Brasserie Saint Germain, Rhub'I.P.A. 6.9% 9
Stone Brewing Co, Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA, 8.7% 9
Saugatuck Brewing Co, Neapolitan Milk Stout, 6.0% 9.5

[fuse]

Realised I never shared this list after the Ealing beer festival -

Canterbury ales - The millers ale - 4.2%
Nelson - Purser's pussy porter - 4.8%
Toolmakers - Flange noir - 4.8%
Gyle59 - Dorset GIPA - 5.4%
Aylesbury brewhouse - Rorsach - 4.4%
West Berkshire - Maggs magnificent mild - 3.8%

First was definitely the highlight out of my run, but seeing a porter named after my own pussy was a nice treat too.

[prinnysquad]

Flange? Pussy?

Superb. Shame you didn't have a half of Dr. Oilymarbles's Old Snatch to round it off.

Haven't had any of those, fuse. Good effort.

[kryss]

Man, I can't tell you how much I want to try that first bottle, kryss.

No word of a lie, it was immense. I'm trying to try two new beers per week, but I'm sorely tempted to get a bottle of Trois Pistoles for my post-lunch beer today. We'll see how I hold up in the off license later.

[prinnysquad]

Get that AND two newbies. Easy.

[kryss]

$9 a bottle son!

http://www.unibroue.com/en/beers/type/ale

Going for a Unibroue 17 Grande Reserve if they have one - 10% dark ale, winner of Dark Ale of the year 2010.

And holy crap, the company is owned by Sapporo!

[prinnysquad]

That's peanuts for quality, fella. It's premium product, not cat's piss tat. I've paid 20 quid for an imported top quality beer before.

[kryss]

True. Now I'm off to get a new glass or two and then crack open a bottle.