Samuel Smith's 'India Pale'

I've had a couple of superb summery beer and food meals over the last few days. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was a great match for the asparagus risotto I had the other night, the hops fulfilling the same role as the acidity in a good cool-climate white wine might; cleansing and invigorating the palate without having so much fruit that it overpowers.

Apparently after a couple of years the blue
 veins will appear naturally.
So this isn't a 'blue cheese' as such.

Slightly more appropriate to a few days up in sunny East Yorkshire was Sam Smith's IPA with some cheese that we picked up from Roberts & Speight in Beverley. True to form we went in to buy some tickets for their Spring Wine Tasting (you can have a read about some of the wines here) and came out with cheese, bread, beer, wine and a couple of tickets. Armed with some fresh crusty bread, a small jar of Cheese Maker's Pickle from Cottage Delight, a chunk of very very mature Mull cheddar (see the picture)* and I was ready to go.

The beer pours a deep golden colour and has a fairly restrained orange-pithy hop aroma with a back up of hazelnuts. The gentle toffee malt came forward more on the palate, and there was a lovely sort of old-school bitterness to it - none of your new-world tropical fruit flavours here thank you very much! There's plenty of body, which also shows it can be done without  jaw-dropping levels of alcohol - or any other part of the anatomy for that matter. I realise that this isn't the most revolutionary or exciting beer in the world but I thought it was a good traditional IPA, and it went superbly well with the sweet fruit of the chutney and the tang of the cheddar. An apple for my pudding and I was well set-up for a tough afternoon of relaxing in the sun.

5% abv. £2.29 (55cl) from Roberts & Speight, Beverley - local wine merchants with a decent range of local and imported beers and glassware; well worth a visit if you're in the area. It's always good to see a beer that's seaweed fined and so entirely vegan.

* I know nothing about cheese, maybe Steve will be able to enlighten me as to what's gone on with the cheddar. I can only tell you how good it tastes!

Roberts & Speight Spring Wine Tasting: Whites

Roberts & Speight are the earliest wine shop (or even off-licence) I remember visiting. They are based within easy walking distance of where I grew up in Beverley, East Yorkshire. Although they've moved away from the first shop I remember as they've expanded the deli and food hamper side of the business, they're now much closer to Beverley town centre, and if last night was anything to go by, they're very much at the centre of Beverley's wine/foodie community too.

Because we only arrived after fulfilling our parental responsibilities we didn't get to try all the wines but I think we did manage to get through quite a few. If there is any criticism it's probably only one born of my wine-geek status. Due to the evening being (understandably) geared towards sales there were lots of wines that from more fashionable areas rather than the weird and wonderful that I look out for. I'd have loved to get to try some of the Alsatian and German wines that R&S stock but I'm not so naive as to believe that Riesling's about to overtake Kiwi Sauvignon as the darling of the nation's palate any time soon. Luckily I love New Zealand wines too! Having said all that there were some wines dotted about that were certainly very different, and from chatting to the various company representatives looking after the tables I sated my thirst for more wine knowledge as well as flavour experiences.

White wine highlights:

Viña Real Barrel Fermented Rioja Blanco, 2010. One of the best everyday drinking whites. The oak was noticeable but not overpowering. £9.99.*
Cuvée Guy de la Nine Ugni Blanc, 2009. From old vine UB and apparently only produced in the best vintages. If you ever wanted to disavow yourself of the impression that Ugni Blanc is only good for making wines to turn into brandy then this would be up there on the list. Lots of generous, soft stone-fruit flavour and good acidity. £18.99.
'Flor de Vetus'  Verdejo, Rueda, 2011. One of a couple of Verdejos I tried, this one being a good, ripe example that did will to retain the acidity and keep its freshness. £10.99.
Greywacke, Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc, 2011. Head and shoulders above the other Kiwi Sauvignons really. Elegant rather than tropical - definitely a nod towards Cloudy Bay as was expected, although mercifully in a different price bracket. £14.99.
Ch. Bocasse, 'Les Jardins,' Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec, 2009. This was definitely one that appealed more to the wine geek in me, from a south-western France appelation I'm not familiar with, made from Petit Manseng and Courbu (amongst others). It's a real fresh fruit cocktail. There was also a late-harvested version, Les Charmes Celestes, which was obviously sweeter, without being cloying, keeping the lime freshness of the dry version but adding another layer of prefume. £11.99.
Dom. Jean-Paul Balland Sancerre Blanc 'Grand Cuvee' 2010. Luxurious, more full bodied example of SB. My wife's favourite of the whites we tried and I wouldn't be far behind her in the queue if more were to be handed out. The gooseberry is there, but subtly complementing the minerality rather than jumping up and assaulting the palate. A beautifully elegant wine. £18.99.
Mud House Marlborough, Pinot Gris, 2009. Another one that I thought was really good value for money at £7.99 as part of a case. Most definitely a nod towards Alsace rather than Italy, with generous fruit and a luxurious, almost oily, quality. £9.99.
Seifried Estate Nelson, Grüner Veltliner, 2012. I've read speculation about Grüner being NZ's next 'big thing' and if this is anything to go by then they might be right. Although I've tried Siefried Estate's wines before (we visited there back in 2005), this is a new one for me. It's got a fresh, sherberty nose and a really tangy acidity. £10.89.
Langlois-Chateau, VV Saumur, 2005. Great to see a Loire Chenin in the mix. Beautiful use of oak to complement and set up the honeyed flavours of the Chenin as it's developing. At over six years old its got plenty to offer; lively cool climate acidity keeping it fresh and youthful. £16.99.

I'll post some more about the reds tomorrow. It's a testament to the quality of the whites that we spent so much time on them that we ended up rushing the reds a bit, but there were certainly some great reds too!

* I've just quoted the price per bottle as listed in the programme from last night just to give you an idea of what price range the wines come in. These are retail prices from the merchant (Roberts & Speight) not the supplier. R&S's discount is at least 10% on a case of 12, and quite often more.

Down DIPA

Last night was The Campaign for Really Good Beer's Twitter event, #downDIPA, and it was brilliant to see the CAMRGB logo on a bottle of beer. For some more thoughts on CAMRGB have a read of Matt's account of the DIPA night here.

Fame at last!

It's a real shame that the guys at Arbor couldn't get behind the 'event beer' if you like. I'm only saying that because one of the great things about the Impoff evening was the irrepressibly enthusiastic Elly Bell from Durham brewery really pushing it and getting people excited. Unfortunately, due to the condition issues with the Down Deeper I think Arbor probably felt that they couldn't do a similar thing. Like I say, it's a shame it turned out that way, but I can't fault them for having a go and brewing the Down Deeper specially for the event. Cheers guys!

I did try the Arbor; while it has been suggested that it might improve with a bit of cellaring I thought I'd give it a whirl. It would have seemed odd to participate in the event the beer was created in honour of and leave it sitting in the cellar! As advised I poured it warmer than fridge temperature. It looked a bit like scrumpy cider in the glass. There was a bit of stewed fruit aroma; apple crumble mixed in with the skunk-weed hoppiness. I actually got it to open up a lot more by chucking in a bit of taste-free 2.8% lager that we'd bought for a party we had last week (it's basically fizzy water). Once I'd done that the pine and grapefruit aromas really came to the fore along with buttered crumpet flavours.

Next up was Hardknott Queboid, billed as a Belgian style double IPA. It pours darker than most IPAs, brown with a reddish hint. There's a hint of smoke on the nose, complementing the big hop aromas. It's a mighty mighty beer lurking in the guise of a Belgian brown ale. The power of the malt balances up the hops beautifully, it's deep and rich, with restrained sweetness and a hint of Belgian ale's dustiness. As it warmed in the glass I got spices, with some cinnamon and fruit cake. It really is a magnificent beer. It's been a while since I had a beer that I really fell in love with, but this is up there with the best beers I've ever had from a bottle.

The final beer of my evening was Nøgne Ø's Imperial IPA. Again it's darker than you might expect, looking rather more like a traditional English IPA. It's a full bodied, almost chewy beer. There's lots of treacly sweetness which isn't really lifted up enough by the hops for me, the hops sort of wallow around in the alcohol. I can't help thinking it was a bit overdone, they might have been better aiming for the 8% abv that the Queboid weighs in at rather than 10% - it didn't wear its alcohol particularly well. Add to this a not altogether pleasant, almost blue-cheese like, finish and I've got to say I wasn't too impressed overall. While I can be a harsh critic at times, when my wife tried it she seemed to think I was trying to poison her, but it wasn't that bad.

Am I an Imperial IPA convert? Well, perhaps not, but the Queboid was so good that it sets a benchmark, and I now know how good double IPAs can get, I'm definitely keen to try more. A couple of highlights from what I can remember from the Twitter time-line were Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA (c/o Roberto) and, from various people, the Red Willow Ageless. Two more for my 'must try' list!

Arbor Ales 'Down Deeper.' 10.2% abv, £2.94 (33cl)
Hardknott Queboid. 8% abv, £3.12 (33cl) Both from Beer Ritz.
Nøgne Ø Imperial IPA. 10% abv. £5.50 (50cl) from York Beer and Wine Shop.

Re-Release

I had a bit of bad news today, in the form of a letter from the WSET informing me I'd failed the spirits part of my Diploma because of a bad tasting component.

It's back...

This is the last part of the whole level four diploma I need to get through to pass what is a two year course that has gone into a third year. I've passed the theory twice, so I think my basic knowledge should be fine, but I just don't get to practice tasting spirits enough. So the plan is to devote a bit of love and attention to this blog, and turn it into, at least in part, a spirits blog.

So here's to a new adventure, and further education of my palate!

If anyone would like to help me out, please read the Help Wanted! page or get in touch through Twitter.

Chilli-off

Friday evening, and I thought I'd do a chilli-themed Transatlantic Taste Test. Two quite different beers, with a chilli link. The first is from the Cave Creek brewery in Mexico and the second from Fallen Angel down in Sussex. The theory was that I could get to taste the beer once the initial shock of the chilli spiciness wore off.

Chilli wraps for tea!

Cave Creek Chili Beer is billed as a premium lager with a quite a big, not particularly scary looking chili added. It's a golden colour, the head collapsing almost immediately on pouring. Once the bottle's open the chilli provides a surface for the Carbon Dioxide to be released, so it bubbles away in there (a bit like a floating etched logo). The aromas are all green chilli and the taste, unsurprisingly, reflects that. Although it's a lager it didn't taste a great deal different to the Fallen Angel Fire in the Hole that I reviewed back in October. After the chilli heat had worn off (well, sort of) and I began to taste the beer underneath it seemed to be a pretty standard, sweetish adjunct lager, certainly nothing spectacular (unless you like your beer to have that distinctive sweetcorn taste).

There's the little fellow...

According to this video (thanks to Carl for pointing this out) you are supposed to eat the chilli. I did, and it didn't taste of anything. I'm not sure if that confirms my suspicion that it wasn't a particularly spicy chilli in the first place, or if it had been there long enough for all the flavour to go into the beer.

Next up was the Fallen Angel Black Death. This one's a bottle conditioned stout, Camra sticker and all, so I was expecting something quite different, and perhaps a bit more serious. However, given it's made with Naga chillis with a Scoville rating of 850, 000 I thought the spice might take a bit of getting through! If I remember rightly the Fire In The Hole (its little brother) suggests drinking it in shots. I didn't.

More chilli head than beer head?

From an initial sniffing it was easier to get some roasted malt and coffee aromas from the Black Death - as you'd expect from a stout - although there was loads of green chilli the beer underneath was much more obvious than in the Cave Creek. Again it poured dead flat. Once I'd allowed my palate to adjust (hammered it with chilli) some sourness came through along with another, bigger, chilli hit.

Overall I remain unconvinced. I love chillis, but I think that the reason beer is so great with spicy food is that it provides a contrast, and when the beer you want to quaff to complement the chilli high just adds to the high it doesn't quite work. I'm not sure that these aren't just novelty beers, to be consumed at student parties and the like, so maybe actually taking a bit of time to taste them isn't what they had in mind. Still, here's to someone brewing the world's first Chilli Gueuze!

Cave Creek Chilli Beer, 4.2% abv. £1.79 (33cl)
Fallen Angel Black Death, 5.2% abv. £2.29 (50cl)  - prices from Beers of Europe.

Nom...