Beer Advent Calendar 2013 - December 24th

Today is the final beer advent. Wah! :'(

I've been sharing my polypin today, it smells really nice when you open the tap! £16 for 5 litres is pretty good economy, £1.80 a pint. It is a tasty beverage.

I'd forgotten what beer I had left in the calendar, it's a pretty good one.

 Weird Beard - 5 o'clock Shadow 

I've recovered a little of my sense of taste today, my final beer is quite similar in style to Jackhammer - though doesn't rate quite as highly on the IBU scale. Similar strength too.

This is a good IPA, strong citrus flavours and a good malty flavour.  It's quite refreshing, and not as bitter as Jackhammer.  Good bottle.

36/42

Damn it. It's over again.

Beer Advent Calendar 2013 - December 23rd

I think the cold I mentioned in the tiny text on the previous blog has taken offense that I only wrote about it in tiny text.  Now it's trying to steal my tastebuds.

Fine.
You win, cold.
Now fuck off.

Today's beer was supposed to be one of the more interesting in the calendar, but it's ruined by my cold.

 Brewdog - Jackhammer 

Jackhammer was meant to be devastatingly bitter.  So bitter that human taste buds couldn't detect all of the bitterness.  My walking-wounded taste buds made Jackhammer taste like Punk IPA, and I've been abusing them with menthol all day.  It must be seriously bitter.
It's very dry and the only discernible flavour was grapefruit.

I'm not scoring it properly.  Because that would be unfair.

Brewdog - Jackhammer gets...

Pirate/Crumpet

Beer Advent Calendar 2013 - December 22nd

 Hobsons - Postmans Knock 
Another nice looking bottle today - and another porter.  Suitable I think, the weather has become overwhelmingly wintry, so have the beers.  Only this would be more of a summer porter...

This is quite a light porter, extremely light body, almost too watery but saved by firm flavours.  Easily detectable sweet chocolate taste and some mild malt.  Very refreshing and very un-porter-like.

32/42

I have a cold.  Not now.  Come on.

Beer Advent Calendar 2013 - December 21st

I went to the Plough and Harrow for lunch today.  It was filling.  Also went for a nice long drive in my new wheels - seeing how high I could get the average MPG.  I managed 45.6 MPG for the trip in the end.  I think I need to get a service done.

Anyway.

 Cheddar Ales - Totty Pot 
Iabn picked my beer today, as my usual selector has returned to her homeland.  Thanks Iabn...

This is a nice porter, not too special though.  Good carbonation and as you can see the head was huge! (insert your mum joke here) There's a load of sediment in the bottom of my glass.
Strong roasted flavour, chocolates, bitter finish - a little coffee.

32/42

Opened my 5 litre polypin of Old Speckled Hen today - looking forward to enjoying that over Christmas Day.

Beer Advent Calendar 2013 - December 20th

No time to ramble this evening.  I'm al go!

 Arbor - Why kick a moo cow 

Beer name of the year award goes to...this is a take on a NZ town called Waikikamukau.

Why kick a moo cow is a New Zealand pale ale, which means...ummm. The hops are from NZ.  It's bottle fermented so it's as cloudy as the sky right now.  Nice pale ale.  Loads of fruit in the flavour with a nice yeasty taste (as the yeast was in the bottle).  Huge fruity hoppy finish.  Which is my favourite kind of finish.

38/42

Beer Advent Calendar 2013 - December 19th

I went shopping today, in Cardiff.  Walked around for a bit - saw things I could buy for people and then purchased them online.  It just seems wrong.

 Harviestoun - Ola Dubh 
I've been looking forward to this beer more than any other I recall purchasing for the calendar.  Scotch matured ales are one of my favourite types of beer.

Most of the serious scotch aged ales I've had are from Brewdog, the Paradox beers.  Usually they're over 10% ABV and are pretty strong - sometimes too strong - drink-ability is not their forte.
Ola Dubh is only 8%, has all the good features of a Paradox with none of the negatives.  It's been aged in 12 year Highland Park casks for (up to) 6 months.
It smells of whisky (obvs!), prunes, chocolate and rich malts - tastes sweet, with a terrific peaty note, bitter finish.

I was really doing my best not to give anything full marks this year, but I can't really find fault with this one.  It's an ideal scotch aged ale.

42/42

Beer Advent Calendar 2013 - December 18th

Today I was told it was Christmas in exactly 1 week.  Balls.  You know as soon as it's Christmas day, it's pretty much over...and then all I've got to look forwards to is clearing off Christmas debt, working off Christmas podge and saving money.  T'riffic.

 Wooden Hand Brewery - Cornish Mutiny 

Well.  It was bound to happen eventually.  I was going to get a beer that wasn't very good.

I'd heard some negative things about Wooden Hand from a friend, so wasn't expecting this beer to be very good.

The bottle is nice enough, I should have noticed that they put apostrophes around the words 'hoppy' and 'biscuity flavour' in the beer description.  I always assumed that meant they were using the phrases ironically, or trying to be funny.

It's got quite a zesty flavour with some strong carbonation - there's an unpleasant chemical undertone though. It's a bit musty.  Seems to have some OK reviews around t'interwebs, not for me!

14/42