Adnams Broadside & 'Spirit of Broadside'

My latest half-and-half expedition featured Adnams Broadside and 'Spirit of Broadside', which  is a beer eau-de-vie rather than a whisky.

Just to explain the technicality a little. This isn't just a whisky that is at a very young stage, although at one year old it hasn't aged as long as a new make spirit would have to be in order to be legally classified as whisky. In addition it is made from distilled beer rather than distilled ale. A key word here is ale, which is technically not flavoured with hops (ale flavoured with hops is beer) and although nobody would claim that Broadside is the hoppiest of beers on the market it is very much a beer,* and hops being an ingredient means that even at an older age it still won't become whisky.

So what we've got here is a bit of a different animal, it's not whisky for the reasons I've outlined above, but if you're going to put it into a broader spirit church then it's got to be whisky's cousin rather than gin, vodka or rum for example. In terms of assessing the quality (as opposed to saying whether I enjoy it) I think it's fair to look for similar quality indicators as you'd look for in a whisky - complexity and a smooth texture which continues on to a finish. At such a young age that might be unfair but you would expect smoothness and a pleasant finish from any quality spirit, and at the price it's got to be thought of as being in that bracket.

As for the original beer? I think it's fair to say that 'English Strong Ale' is a style that I don't generally go for, I often find the sweet malt a bit too much and prefer something with more of a hoppy bite. That said, Broadside is one that I do enjoy, a ready alternative to a big stout as a winter (or, as seems to be the case, late spring) warmer. It's a comforting beer, dense, ruby coloured and brooding. There's lots of rich fruit cake in there; it's a brandy-soaked Christmas pudding of a beer. Its sweetness means it's one to linger over rather than quaff, which is probably a good thing since it weighs in at 6.3% abv. Its distilled brother is a beautiful burnished copper colour, perhaps reflecting the stills it was created in. It genuinely reflects the flavours of the beer, but with a real lightness that makes it really fresh. Its relative youth works in its favour - it's no big, menacing sherry-monster. There's a sharpness on the nose, fresh green apple and some stewed pear. Unsurprisingly on the palate there's a lot of sweet malt, and Bourbon-like vanilla, but it's generous and smooth without that feeling of it needing a few more years in cask that I've had with some new release/young whiskies. I'm not going to claim that it has the long finish that you pay good money for with a decent malt, but it is genuinely different and it's perhaps not even fair to mention that since it stands up as a spirit on its own - or in this case to accompany its namesake.

Given earlier that evening, after being lulled into thinking warmer weather was finally upon us, I'd got caught in a hailstorm and soaked to the skin, this was a great warming combination.

Broadside and Spirit of Broadside are both available from the Adnams website for £19.99 (for 12) and £32.99 (70cl) respectively, although I picked up a couple of Broadsides for £3 on a Waitrose deal.

* Unless it's served on hand-pull, then it's a 'Real Ale' but I'm not even touching that debate with a very very long barge pole.

Arbor Ales 'Single Hop Series: Motueka'

I saw this one on Beer Ritz's list last time I did an order and had to go for it. Despite the only other beer I'd had from Arbor to date not being that successful I had heard great things about them and thought they warranted a second chance at least. The other reason was that Motueka (near Nelson on the south island of New Zealand) is a place with good memories for me; it's where I filled an ambition of mine to learn to skydive. I wasn't very good at it (although, clearly, not fatally bad) and skydiving is something I'm sure my wife is pretty glad I got out of my system. Along with the whole 'overdid watching Point Break as a kid' thing the holiday in New Zealand revolved a fair bit around wine and wineries. I'd not long started work at Oddbins and the bright, gooseberry fruit of NZ Sauvignon had grabbed me (and in my wine classes many novices since) and got me realising that there is no mysticism to describing flavours in wine (or beer or anything else) it's far more about practise, and enjoying the process. I started to learn the different flavours that come even within one grape variety, and learned that all NZ Sauvignon Blanc isn't just about super-ripeness and tropical fruit, indeed I preferred some with more restraint, with a citrus tang. So, Motueka the hop. Biased? Most probably, but there's nothing wrong with going into something hopeful of a good experience.

It's light, with an elderflower note on the nose. On the palate I got a touch of flour but lots of grapefruit and lime with a grassy finish. All in all a great quencher, and great to get all those lovely fresh hop flavours out of a beer at properly sessionable strength. Much as I love those moreish American style IPAs at 6%+ I think I could drink more of this without it hating me! It's got that old 'sunshine in a glass' thing that New World wines are so good at (even if in part they are trying to shake it off as an image). More citrussy than tropical; just as I like 'em.

4.0% abv. £2.75 (50cl) from Beer Ritz.

A Mystery Whisky (That Wasn't)

A woman came into the shop where I work looking for a particular bottle of whisky the other day. She didn't know the name although she had the empty* bottle in her handbag. Since it wasn't something I was familiar with and I don't read Japanese either I couldn't really help her very much. She said she really wanted to get hold of some more but didn't even know what to put into a Google search to start trying to find it since everything on the label was in Japanese.

So I offered to attempt to use the magic of the internet to help, and there was a race. Twitter and its randomness versus email, which kind of seems a little bit old fashioned now!

After half a dozen re-tweets Twitter, in the shape of Bob French, came back with an answer:

@gareths121 Think it's a shochu not a whisky: goo.gl/03DLK 5th bottle from the bottom - called 'sea of clouds'...
— Bob French (@BobNotBob) March 22, 2013

Further information came from Adam Matheson in the form of a blog post on the Shōchū in question.

Maybe it's a case of 'it's not what you know, but who you can tweet'? Many thanks to all the people that re-tweeted and to those that took the time to have a look and solve the mystery. In terms of old vs. new, Twitter was quicker but Tatsuya, the Suntory whisky ambassador, also came up with the same answer - one shot, one goal - it might be old fashioned but it still works.

* If there had been some left in the bottle this whole thing might well not have happened, given it looks like a clear liquid!

Hegarty Chamans 'Cuvée 1' Minervois 2004

Back in early 2005 I started working for Oddbins, the once mighty high street wine retailer.* Remember high street wine retailers? They used to exist before the supermarkets took an interest in wine and squeezed them out, and were a great way for people like me with no castle/expansive cellar/butler to learn about wine. Anyway, plenty has been written on the subject and I'm not here to gripe about the unfairness of it all.

Hegarty Chamans, as I've mentioned before, was a favourite of the then assistant manager of the first Oddbins I worked in, a guy who taught me an awful lot about wine in the best way possible - drinking it with me. All this time later and I'm through four levels of wine qualifications, and I'm now officially allowed to put letters after my name to, as my mate put it, 'tell people I know things about alcohol.' This seemed an ideal wine to celebrate going from being a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed wine adviser (sort of) who knew absolutely nothing about wine to bagging myself a WSET diploma; which means I now know how little I really know.

Apart from all the sentimentality this is a lovely wine, I really like the rustic, herby Southern French style, they're a real demonstration of how you can get depth of flavour without over-ripening or a reliance on pure power. On the nose there's lots of red and black currant, and on the palate it's got a lovely herbal olive tapenade flavour.. Velvet-smooth nearly a decade after the vintage.

I paid £9.99 for this one back in 2005, which really was a bargain at the time. A more recent vintage is currently available in the UK through Adnams for £15.99.

* To give them their dues, Oddbins seem to be doing all right for themselves down south, albeiit on a smaller scale from when I started. Beer selection to be applauded too, according to London types on Twitter (Matt, drinking Rocky Head Pale Ale and London Fields Brewery Black Frost Stout to be precise).

Sierra Nevada 'Northern Hemisphere Harvest' 2012

The other day I got a little paranoid about freshness of hops, probably ably assisted (if that's the right word) by the lovely folks over at Aleheads.  I have a tendency to end up with lots of IPA knocking about and really ought to get them drunk. I know, it's such a chore. The paranoia is not helped by codes rather than 'born on' or 'best before' dates. Although at least with this one you know roughly when it was made I guess, what with it being the name of the beer.

Anyway, to stop myself lying awake at night worrying about the ticking away of the glorious hop flavours in my cellar I thought I'd get this down me.

As if to reassure me from the off, it pours a beautiful burnt orange colour, and rather than the attacking hoppy nose I was half expecting from an American IPA at this strength (6.7%) it was actually quite restrained, more fruit (mango and passion fruit) than pine and pot. On the palate? Well if the name 'Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Wet Hop Ale 2012' is a mouthful then I suppose that reflects the beer. The tropical fruit aromas don't sink into a fug of sweetness; there's a crisp grapefruit pith note to balance the sweeter fruit in there, allowing the malt to come to the party and give the beer some weight. The finish is clean, bitter-sweet and suitably moreish. For me this is really a great beer, nothing too overdone, allowing complex rather than shouty flavours. Try it young and fresh. I think.

But hang on, what if I actually quite like the hops to be a bit more mellowed with age? I won't sleep easy until the next IPA fix now, wondering if my next bottle might not be quite mature enough.

6.7% abv. £5.88 (71cl) from Beer Ritz.