Òrach Slie & Glenfarclas 15

Another half and half post, this time featuring a beer I got sent in return for writing some recommendations for Nottingham pubs on the Harviestoun Blog.

Òrach Slie is the barrel-aged version of Harviestoun's 'Schiehallion' lager, the first Harviestoun beer I ever tried - many years ago. Not only that but it's aged in Glenfarclas whisky barrels, Glenfarclas being a distillery that happens to be one of my favourites. I went for the 15 year old to see if it made a good half-and-half pairing, since it was one of the ones out of Glenfarclas' core range that I'd not tried in the past.

The nose of the Òrach Slie is dominated by the malt, I didn't get much of the whisky/sherry notes to start with, but that malt nose was great, with a lovely spice to it. The nose on the Glenfarclas 15 was classic Glenfarclas, all you'd expect in terms of those big sherry notes; dried fruit, caramel and buttery toffee along with a marzipan sweetness.

On the palate the Òrach Slie is impeccably smooth, the whisky seeming to contribute more to the texture at first than the flavour.  It's initially light but with a weighty finish as the whisky influence comes through, giving it a luxurious sweetness. I suspect the casks weren't as heavily sherry-influenced as they were for the whisky. In this case the beer is embraced and caressed rather than given a hefty kick it often is with the big imperial stouts that are whisky barrel aged. It's different, and very pleasant.

The Glenfarclas 15 on the palate has lots of marzipan and burnt toffee flavours, then the finish reveals more juicy prunes and nutty, cashew notes. that contrast nicely with the relative lightness of the Òrach Slie, that's despite it being a 6% beer. I think as a pairing the Glenfarclas 10 might well have worked better, with it being that bit lighter, but the contrast was enjoyable.

The Òrach Slie is available from the Harviestoun web shop for £17.50 for a pack of three. There are some great Glenfarclas 15 year old (70cl bottle) packs around with a miniature of the 21 and the 25 for about £55 - a fantastic choice if you're looking for a Christmas whisky.

Lastly many thanks to the folks at Harviestoun for the beer - slàinte!

Nottingham Pubs

The folks over at Harviestoun recently asked me to write a guest post for them about my five favourite pubs in Nottingham

Now I’m sure there are all sorts of blog posts around about drinking in Nottingham. I suppose like most UK cities it has a rich brewing history, and there are loads of great pubs. A quick look at a copy of the Good Beer Guide (even if it’s the one copy I own dating from 1993) points you toward some pubs that have been regular haunts for visitors for a very long time. Now my recommendations are no sleight on those pubs that are something of a ‘must visit’ for visitors to Nottingham, but having lived here on and off for more years than I care to think about, there are some places that I would (and did) recommend that are maybe a little more off the beaten track. They are places that I drink when I go out to pubs now, having lived in Nottingham, and even at times lived in its pubs, for a large chunk of my adult life. These pubs are also entirely biased to where I have worked and played since I have lived here so apologies to some fine boozers that are not in my part of the city. It’s all personal, so go and have a read, hopefully enjoy it, and make other recommendations!

Spring Drinking

Well we've had a couple of false starts but slowly, surely, Summer is getting closer and closer, and if you're anything like me an evening's drinking habits change tack a little. Whilst I'm still drifting into cold evening fare (the other week I was drinking a bottle of Harviestoun's Old Engine Oil 'Old Engineer's Reserve') I generally find myself moving toward the hoppy end of the beer spectrum and away from dark warming brews. Stouts from the cellar give way to IPA from the fridge, currently heavily supplemented by a big beer order from BrewDog - if you're looking for big, hoppy, flavours I don't think you can go too far wrong.

Is there a whisky equivalent? When I head for the cabinet in search of a dram as the summer comes on I go less for the peaty end of things - there's something about the bonfire notes of a dram like Argbeg Uigedail or the Bunnahabhain 11 I wrote about the other week that seem to exude warmth. Similarly big, rich sherry-cask aged whiskies can be a bit heavy come the summer (unless you're talking Glenfarclas 105 with an ice cube - heresy maybe, but summer heaven). That's not to say I don't think whisky can be a summer drink, I'd go for it any time of year. Much as I enjoy a gin & tonic I prefer one as an aperitif rather than something to while away a contemplative hour or so of a late evening.

It's decision time then. What to add to the cabinet for a late spring whisky? Speyside is a natural destination for something sweet, lighter and more summer-friendly, but there are other light, delicate drams out there. I've particularly enjoyed Bunnahabhain 12 recently, it seems to be a much more complex dram than I remember (might be my palate, might be the fact that since 2010 they eschew chill filtration). Balblair's 1997 offering is also in the running for my first bottle for the summer; another sweet, easy-drinker that I've been impressed with recently (Inverhouse are obviously gearing their production to my palate*). Others in the running are Glen Garioch Virgin Oak and Bruichladdich Classic Scottish Barley.

If anyone has any recommendations feel free to pass them on, in the mean time I'll carry on musing and attacking that stash of IPA I think.

* OK, probably not!

The 'Golden Pint' Awards 2013

Here we are again, the end of another year! Beer blogging has really had to take a back seat this year but I still manage to squeeze the odd half in here and there so hopefully I've had enough to put together some worthy candidates. Usual credit to Andy and Mark.

1. Best UK Cask Beer: Dark Star Green Hopped IPA.
2. Best UK Keg Beer: Summer Wine Teleporter was particularly good.
3. Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer: Wild Beer Co. Ninkasi. Stunning stuff, must get myself some more and do a proper write-up.
4. Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer: Sierra Nevada 'Northern Hemisphere Harvest' 2012.
5. Best collaboration brew: I think the only one I've had was Thornbridge/Mountain Goat 'Thorny Goat' which, since it was excellent, I'm sure is a worthy winner!
6. Best Overall Beer: Has to be the Ninkasi.
7. Best Branding, Pumpclip or Label: Black Iris pumpclips, still some great work going into those.
8. Best UK Brewery: Wild Beer Co.
9. Best Overseas Brewery: De Molen.
10. Best New Brewery Opening 2013: Not sure I've even had anything from a brewery that's only opened this year!
11. Pub/Bar of the Year: Pivni in York.
12. Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2013: See point 10!
13. Best city for beer in the UK: York
14. Beer Festival of the Year: Failed to get to any unless you count an inaugural 'craft beer' shindig at the Kean's Head, which was home to some excellent beer!
15. Supermarket of the Year: I'm yet to be convinced this isn't a complete oxymoron.
16. Independent Retailer of the Year: Trembling Madness, York.
17. Online Retailer of the Year: Not used many but I think Beer Ritz wins again. Good beer, good service, what more can you ask for?
18. Best Beer Book or Magazine: Tim Webb and Stephen Beaumont's Pocket Beer Book 2014 has been quite a good read.
19. Best Beer Blog or Website: Toss up between Steve and B&B for different reasons, but Beers I've Known I think. 
20. Best Beer App: Untappd, again if only because I don't use any others, but I think it's a good bit of fun.
21. Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitterer: Wow, hard merkin to fill, I've only ever given this to Simon. Might have to plead too little time spent on Twitter.
22. Best Brewery Website/Social media: I like Harviestoun's shiny new site, and at the risk of being considered open to (more) bribery, it was nice to be quoted on there!

Cheers, all the best beverages for 2014. My resolution is to get more beer up on the blog. (Don't expect the whisky not to keep coming though!)

Harviestoun 'Ola Dubh' 16 & Highland Park 16

Is there a better way of relaxing after work on a cold evening than with a bottle of imperial stout? Yes, of course there is; you can relax after work with a glass of impy stout that's aged in whisky barrels to enhance the flavour. Or, even better, get yourself the aforementioned bottle, and get yourself a glass of the whisky that was the previous inhabitant of the barrel... Now that's got to be the way to do it.

Harviestoun's 'Ola Dubh' 12 was one of the highlights of my first blogging year, and Orkney's Highland Park is a whisky that usually features in many people's 'must try' lists - something I'd agree wholeheartedly with. For someone like me who only occasionally delves into very peaty whiskies Highland Park in general has long been a destination of choice - complexity through the peat without going so far as making it the whisky's raison d'être. It was great to get hold of different versions of both a whisky and a beer I've really enjoyed in the past - whisky geek heaven and beer geek heaven rolled into one!

Highland Park 16 was 'crafted exclusively for travel retail' so it was never widely available on the UK's whisky shelves. It was withdrawn in 2010, only featuring as part of their range for a little under five years.*  Presumably during or after the five years or so of release the guys at Harviestoun nabbed a few of the barrels to age the Ola Dubh version of their Old Engine Oil, and the Ola Dubh 16 is the result.

The beer... It's got a lot more power than I remember the 12 having, this time the whisky really hits you - even more surprising given I was drinking it alongside the whisky itself! However those whisky notes die off pretty quickly in a finish that reveals more of the smoke and coffee notes.

The whisky... It's got loads of citrus-fresh aromas; sweet orange dominates but there is spice, nuts and sherry too. On the palate it's more floral, with more bite than I was expecting from the nose - in a good way. It's a rich, self-indulgent whisky with a smoky bonfire finish. It's very accessible, and it makes you want to go back for more, and more...

Probably not the most detailed tasting notes I've ever written, but this was all about the combination - and what a combination - grab both if you get the chance!

Harviestoun 'Ola Dubh' 16; 8% abv. £4.50 (33cl) from The Whisky Shop
Highland Park 16 is still available from The Whisky Exchange at £60.75 for a litre at the time of writing - the mini was £7.95.

* From the Highland Park website entry.

The 'Golden Pint' Awards 2012

It's that 'reflective' time of year again. Organised by Mark Dredge and Andy over at Beer Reviews, have a look at Mark's site if you want to know what it's all about but it should all be pretty self-explanatory!

1. Best UK Draught Beer: Thornbridge 'Kipling.'
2. Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer: Hardknott 'Queboid.' A close call with several others, but I picked this and the Brasserie d'Achouffe for number four because they switched me on to a style I've not really been a massive fan of before.
3. Best Overseas Draught Beer: Duchesse de Bourgogne. Although I only had a bit of a taste, its balsamic loveliness really sticks in the mind.
4. Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer: Brasserie d’Achouffe 'Houblon Chouffe' 
5. Best Overall Beer:  I think it has to be the Brasserie d’Achouffe 'Houblon Chouffe' - I absolutely loved it!
6. Best Pumpclip or Label: I might be biased because the beer's so good (it was a contender for number 2) but I love the elegance of Harviestoun's 'Ola Dubh' Highland Park aged range.
7. Best UK Brewery: Williams Brothers, because I can't remember having a beer from them that I haven't enjoyed - they're experimental but don't compromise consistency.
8. Best Overseas Brewery: Although here aren't many I've had more than one beer from Nils Oscar's beers seem to be consistently good.
9. Pub/Bar of the Year: The Kean's Head in Nottingham. Yes, I'm biased because it's the pub company I used to work for and it's run by a friend of mine, but even on Friday and Saturday nights in town it's a nice little oasis of calm amid the madness.
10. Beer Festival of the Year: The Sheffield Tap. Well, it's the closest I got to a beer festival (for shame) but life's hectic. Although I didn't get there, and so I'm judging by amazing sounding write-ups, the Indy-Man Beer-Convention is the one I'd most like to get to in 2013, finances permitting.
11. Supermarket of the Year: I might plead the fifth on this one. Nobody really deserves any recommendation. Nottingham's Waitrose rarely has anything they advertise as a chain, and their 'deals' are perplexing at best. I've left beers at the counter too often when it turns out 'it's not those, it's the ones next to them that are on offer.' Sainsbury's Great British Beer Hunt was a lame effort this year, mostly average beers which they hardly bothered to promote. The only positive thing about supermarkets for me is the bakery they've opened at the Lidl near me. Go independent!
12. Independent Retailer of the Year: Hops in a Bottle in Mansfield; friendly, and clearly run by beer fans for beer fans.
13. On-line Retailer of the Year: Beer Ritz. A considered selection rather than trying to stock everything for everything's sake. Easily navigable website and speedy service. 
14. Best Beer Book or Magazine: Michael Jackson's Beer Companion. Why would you need anything else?
15. Best Beer Blog or Website: Boak and Bailey. Informative and entertaining!
16. Best Beer Twitterer: Simon H Johnson. Same as last year, same reasons as last year, and this year I got to meet the man beneath the merkin!
17. Best On-line Brewery presence: Durham Brewery, in the form of Elly Bell, although Broughton deserve a mention for sending me beer when I win their Tuesday Trivia Twitter quiz - I'm entirely open to bribery!
18. Food and Beer Pairing of the Year: Williams' 'Cock O' the Walk' as part of a Burns' Supper, even if the whisky sauce was the star!
19. In 2013 I'd most like to: Get to a CAMRGB Twissup and meet some of the guys I chat to on Twitter!
20. Open Category: BrewDog. Some superb beers, although there is the occasional slip-up! and they opened a bar in Nottingham. Kudos.

Cheers, all the best beverages for 2013.

Harviestoun 'Wild Hop Gold'

This wasn't quite the first of the Sainsbury's 2012 Great British Beer Hunt beers that I tried but it was the first one that was both drinkable and not simply one of last year's entries that had been put back in the competition. Normally I wouldn't usually buy beer in clear glass for obvious reasons, but I fell foul of the 3 for £4 deal and the first bottle I had from the collection was light-struck; serves me right really.

Moving on to more positive things; Harviestoun's Wild Hop IPA was one of the highlights of last year's competition for me, and so I was looking forward to this one. On the nose it's really floral, bursting with elderflower and orange blossom aromas. What it really reminded me of was an Alsace Gewürztraminer; fruity and dry, but with loads of aromatic floral character with pink grapefruit and spices on the palate. I think this is a well-made beer but it's so different I found it a bit overpowering - I really think it would have been much better with food. Having said that this competition should be about trying different things, and just because it's not necessarily to my tastes doesn't mean it's not a good beer. I would definitely encourage people to give it a try, it's that bold in favour that might just be that it's one of those love it/hate it kind of beers.

I was at a wedding over the weekend and I got talking to someone about bold fruit flavours in new world wines popping up in some beers, and making people realise that beer really can be more interesting than just a bland commercial lager. The disappointing thing was I'd had Thai curry for dinner earlier; I should have had it with that, it would have been a brilliant match.

4.4% abv. It's part of Sainsbury's Great British Beer Hunt range for 2012. I found it in the seasonal food rather than the beer section, priced at 3 for £4 or (I think) £1.89.

A Year in Beer

It's been roughly a year since I started blogging about beer. Although this Blogger blog only really got going after the Robin Hood Beer Festival in October, I had written some pieces before, some of which I transferred over when I recently found copies. If you'll indulge me just a little recap here are, in alphabetical order rather than one of favouritism (making it much easier for me to decide), my favourite five bottled beers I have reviewed in the 140 or so posts I've written on this blog in the last year:

Brasserie d’Achouffe 'Houblon Chouffe'
Bristol Beer Factory 'Southville Hop'
Hardknott 'Queboid'
Harviestoun 'Ola Dubh' 12
Thornbridge 'Raven'

And so a conclusion can be drawn - I'm still a big IPA fan all these years after my conversion in the first pub I was ever assistant manger of, years after Youngers IPA has gone the way of all things. There is the caveat however, and that's that big hoppy IPAs (and big imperial stouts) are liable to stand out clearly in the memory. Witness how many times new world wines 'are better than classed growth chateaux' in whatever latest wine challenge.

The most read article I've written was this one questioning BrewDog's policies about topping up in a couple of their new bars. This is mainly because of this post on their forum, which I can't read because I'm not a shareholder - so I still have no idea what it's about. Oddly, the most searched for term that has brought the most people to my blog is 'Peter Griffin no bones.'

So what's the other lesson? Well, if traffic is important to you, and you'd like to boost your Wikio ranking, whatever that is, then the wisdom I can share from my first year of blogging is: Say something controversial about BrewDog, preferably involving Peter Griffin. Sweet.

I'm kidding, don't send hate mail (again).

On a more serious note I'd like to say thank you to everyone that does read this blog, everyone who chats to me on Twitter and keeps my beer and blogging enthusiasm going, and in particular to B&B, Zak, and Steve, owners of the blogs that people read before stumbling blindly into this one.

Cheers all!

Harviestoun 'Bitter & Twisted'

Is it the water? The weather keeping them indoors? Whatever it is that keeps the Scots making great beer and the world's finest whisky (a 16yo sherry-cask Glen Scotia provided an ideal accompaniment to this) I hope it continues for a long time - at very least until I shuffle off this mortal coil anyway. Harviestoun are currently vying with Williams in terms of being my personal favourite Scottish brewery. My review of their Wild Hop IPA* has been gobbled up with the loss of my old blog but I thought it was one of the best beers in Sainsbury's Great British Beer Hunt, along with the Williams Bros' entries (see here for Simon's review over at at CAMRGB).  Even years of working for Scottish and Newcastle wasn't enough to scare me off beers from north of the border (used to be a big fan of this on hand-pull). I've heard vague rumours that there's a brewery up near Fraserburgh somewhere, but they seem to keep really quiet. If it were me I'd try and get some more PR, get in the press and stuff, but what do I know?

So, the beer. If you've ever had a home made lemon cheesecake, with ginger nut biscuits mixed in with the digestives to make up the base, then you already know what this beer tastes like without trying it. It's got a great balance of biscuity malt and tangy citrus hops, and all at a very reasonable session strength. Much as I hate supermarkets, it does instill bit on confidence in the future of British Brewing when they're prepared to stock proper, decent beer like this. All right, it's not shouty, and it's probably not as exciting as the latest must-have hop-bomb from across the pond, but like I say, it's a proper beer. Job done.

On a side note, I'd had a few days off the beer before trying this, and I love how alive your palate gets after a few days rest. Even if the rest of your body is tired beer's great for invigorating the mind and the soul. Although I'm sure you knew that or you probably wouldn't be reading this.

4.2% abv. £1.99 (50cl) from Ocado

Tempting as it was to put Therapy?'s Potato Junkie as a music match (don't click on that if you're easily offended) my favourite electronic artist has a tune called Bitter and Twisted so it'd be rude not to post it. (Hat-tip as ever to Mark for beer and music matching!)



* Is this still about? It's not on their website.

Harviestoun 'Old Engine Oil' & 'Engineer's Reserve'

A few weeks ago I was reviewing several beers whilst trying to get my head around how beer could work in conjunction with oak. One of the best of these was Ola Dubh, a version of Harviestoun's Old Engine Oil porter aged in Highland Park whisky casks. It's great to have a bit of continuity with blog posts so it was good to get the chance to try the inspiration for the Ola Dubh, courtesy of Harviestoun, even if I did it in rather the wrong order.* As a bonus, I also got sent the special edition 'Engineer's Reserve' version of the Old Engine Oil , so I thought I'd give them a try in tandem.

First up, the original. It pours a gorgeous black, with a crema-coloured head. There are lactic notes on the nose, along with bitter chocolate and coffee, but it's really on the palate that it comes to life. It has a lovely way of moving between coffee-bitterness and a treacle-like sweetness and back again. It's full-bodied with a luxuriously sensuous mouthfeel, like melting chocolate. There's a long, lingering smoky bitterness in the finish.

The reserve is, unsurprisingly, similar, but with everything turned up a notch - for want of a better description it's kind of an 'Imperial' version of the original. The chocolate is more noticeable, it's got even more body, and the balance shifts more towards the sweetness. I got more of the spices, demerara sugar, vanilla and burnt malt than the original, and less of the dried fruit. Considering it's half as strong again as the original, it wears its alcohol really well.

Of the two, for me the original pipped the reserve to the post, although it was a close run thing (my wife preferred the reserve). If nothing else it reinforces my opinion that it's richer beers that are better candidates for oak ageing. These are certainly rich beers.

Beers of Europe retail the Old Engine Oil at £1.75 (330ml, 6.0% abv) but I'm not sure of  a price on the Engineer's Reserve (9% abv), it doesn't seem to be widely available. Thank you very much to the folks at Harviestoun for giving me the chance to try these beers, they were very much appreciated!

Edit: I've been told the Engineer's Reserve is a US exclusive, hence there being no price information for the UK.

* In the interests of 'research,' next time I order some beer I'm going to have to get myself more Ola Dubh for comparative purposes - a sacrifice I'm most definitely prepared to make.

Harviestoun 'Ola Dubh' 12

Having finally banished the cold I had I thought I'd throw myself back into my oak-aged beers.

This one's from Harviestoun, a brewer I first came across when we had their Schiehallion lager on hand pull in the pub I was working in, many years ago. I have to admit to certain preconceptions, Highland Park being a whisky I'm a fan of. I was certainly interested in seeing if any of the heathery characteristics I associate with the whisky would be transferred to the beer.

From the opening of the bottle there's a blast of Pedro Ximénez sherry and demerara rum aromas. It pours black with a tight tan-coloured head. The aromas on actually smelling it are like an Irish coffee, all cream and whisky. The initial sweet sherry aromas don't come through on the first sip, the beer (somewhat mercifully) taking over. There's lots of coffee, walnut, burnt malt, smoke, tobacco and cinnamon on the palate. Compared to something like BrewDog's Paradox Jura it retains its 'beery' character well, rather than becoming a completely different animal. It's heady without burn, but it's in the finish that the whisky really shines through, and it's there you can detect the heather of the Highland Park.

On the oak exploration front, does it need it? Possibly not, although I've not tried the Old Engine Oil porter that inspired this beer, I certainly will if I get a chance - if it's half as good as this it'll be a great beer. Does the barrel ageing help? Most definitely, it's all about the whisky rather than the oak, but I can't see how you'd get this depth of character and flavour without it. Great whisky's finish goes on for days in the depths of your mind, and this is a beer that comes close to recreating that.

8% abv. £4.25 (33cl) from The Whisky Shop

This one's called... Dubh. Deep, dark, dirty and not to everyone's taste.

Harviestoun 'Wild Hop' IPA

Another corker from the beer hunt range, this time from Harviestoun.

Gold colour with quite a short head retention.

I wasn't sure of the ideal serving temperature, so I tried it cold then again once it had warmed up to around cellar temperature.

When cold it's a big hop head-shot, almost making your eyes water! All citrus, particularly grapefruit, and the coldness seems to take away any floral hoppiness and replace it all with bite. Seemed a less feminine IPA compared to something like Brewdog's 'Punk' IPA.

When it warmed up it mellowed a bit (although it's all relative) and some of the floral hoppiness came through. Still a hop belter though.

5.2% abv. £1.99 (50cl) from Sainsbury's.