12 Beers Of Xmas Day 8 - Thunderstruck IPA

There is no mention of AC/DC in the blurb I read about this beer but Greg Koch of the Stone Brewing Co must be a fan.  This 19th Anniversary Ale is brewed with four Australian hops (I'm sure they would have thrown in a Geordie hop too if there were any) along with Aussie malt so surely the name has come from the title of this classic track (my favourite one if I'm honest) from Australia's finest rock export.  Anyway, I will be trying hard not to hum the tune as I drink it as that could result in serious spillage.  This is another beer I picked up from Bitter Virtue in Southampton and at £12.50 for a 660ml bottle it had better be good.      

I could smell the hops as soon as I popped the top off.  The Aussie hops used are Topaz and Galaxy alongside two new varieties, Ella and Vic Secret.  This is so bitter (95 IBU) and that was too much for my wife but for me it is awesome.  Grapefruit dominates.  Perhaps a tad one dimensional but who cares.  I'm loving it and I wish I had a second one.  I'm just glad it's a big bottle.  And to think it was only £12.50.  Absolute bargain.  

'Sound of the drums

Beating in my heart

The thunder of guns

Tore me apart

You've been

Thunderstruck'

And so have I.  Cheers.

12 Beers Of Xmas Day 7 - Straffe Hendriks Brugs Tripel

My first Belgian beer of my dozen was purchased from Bison Beer in Brighton.  I am assured I will not be disappointed,  It is a Belgian tripel, my favourite Belgian beer style so I have high hopes.  The De Haave Maan brewery is located in the beautiful city of Bruges.  The brewery dates back to at least the 16th century but the story of ownership by the Maes family begins in 1856 when Leon Maes (who became known as Henri the first) became the owner.  The Straffe Hendrik was developed in 1981 by Veronique Maes and her father Henri IV.  However the brand was acquired by another brewery in the late 1980s but in 2008 it was brought back home.  With recent investment it is now a state of the art brewery with a bottling plant and tavern.  The future is looking good.  

The beer is looking good too.  A lovely golden colour with a lovely white head with the trademark aromas of orange and coriander. Quite a spiciness in there too.  In the taste there are notes of ginger too among the fruity notes of orange and peach.  It has a spicy zing in the finish along with some nice bitterness.  As with all of the best Belgian tripels the strength surprises.  This one is 9.0% ABV but it is so easy drinking.  I am more than happy to have this 750ml bottle to sup all evening and at a cost of about £12 it is worth every penny.  With two more Belgian beers to come I must say this is beginning to look like my best #12BeersOfXmas yet with not a single duff beer among them.  I am over half way now so here's hoping.

Cheers. 

12 Beers Of Xmas Day 6 - Durham 1994 Anniversary Ale

It's Christmas Day and that means we are at the halfway stage in the @BeerOClockShow #12BeeersOfXmas.  Christmas has finally arrived so it is time to bring out the heavyweights.  Big bottles, big strengths and, hopefully, big flavours.  It is tradition for me to drink a beer from Durham Brewery on Christmas Day.  I love their beers so much and their stronger brews have such great depth and complexity I find they are perfect to enjoy alongside all the festive food.  Imagine my delight then when I saw this particular bottle for the princely sum of £14.99.  I've never paid this much for a bottle of anything before.      

This beer was brewed for Durham's 20th anniversary, hence the name 1994, which means it has been aged for 18 months.  It is described as an imperial pale stout and at a strength of 10.2% ABV it should pack a punch.  It is a 750ml bottle so the punch should be long lasting too.  It has the addition of pink peppercorns and orange peel.  I've never come across a beer with peppercorns that I have been enamoured by so I knew this was a risk.  I don't want to drink anything from Durham that will leave a bad taste in the mouth.  

The bottle is stoppered and I did cool it in the fridge for a hour before opening.  Durham beers are notoriously lively and I find this helps.  It did give a nice pop and nothing exploded.  It poured a nice golden colour and the aroma was not strong.  There were hints of orange there though.  There are similarities in the taste to their magnificent white stout, a beer I love.  The extra strength is noticeable as it warms all the way down.  A complexity of fruits and spicy hops are to the fore and at the end there is quite a peppery kick in what is a nice dry bitter finish.  To be honest I would have enjoyed it more without the peppercorns perhaps but it does leave a nice tingling sensation on the palate.  The orange peel is not so apparent in the flavours which was also a slight disappointment but overall it is a damn good beer from a brewery that will always be a firm favourite of mine when it comes to bottled beers.  Not their best but still one to savour and I do have a lot of it to savour.  Should keep me quiet tonight.

Cheers.

12 Beers Of Xmas Day 5 - Noel Vintage Christmas Ale

It's Christmas Eve and so I am in my home county of West Sussex today.  Andy Hepworth was Head Brewer at King & Barnes from a young age and when this excellent brewery was tragically shut following the takeover by those Dorset vandals Hall & Woodhouse in 2000, Hepworths was born and production began in 2001.  I was living in Horsham at the time of the closure and for me it was a very sad day.  I even got to go on the last ever brewery tour when we were charged with the task of drinking everything that was there.  King & Barnes Festive was my favourite tipple but they did a wonderful Old Ale and a superb xmas ale too.  Hepworths have carried on the tradition of the K&B Old Ale with their lovely Classic Old.  I am hoping this festive beer carries on the tradition of the K&B xmas ales.

The beer pours an inviting deep golden colour.  A little lively but I managed to retain all of it due to a speedy pouring job.  My wife thought it was a bit tasteless which doesn't bode well although she did say it was very warming which indeed it is.  There's a strong sweet malty base and a bit of a spicy tang in the finish.  I was wanting a richer, boozier smoothness with hints of rich fruits with a spicy hop character.  Not sure why I was expecting this but I guess I was thinking back to the old K&B Xmas Ale.  For a 7.5% ABV beer it is a little lacking in flavour really.  Too much malt character for me.  It does warm you up though and it is pleasant enough but doesn't hit the heights of my first four beers.       

As a footnote to all this Hepworths are moving to a larger, spanking new brewery to the south of Horsham in 2016.  This new brewery will have three times current capacity and it should be operational in April.  I will be sure to pay them a visit once they are up and running.

Cheers.

    

12 Beers Of Xmas Day 4 - A Over T

After my trip to New Zealand on day three I am coming back much closer to home for day four.  It is the only beer in my list that I have tried before although it was many years over.  Hogs Back Brewery are located in the village of Tongham, Surrey at the foot of the North Downs and are now well established having begun brewing back in 1992.  This bottle was bought on a recent visit to their excellent bottle shop located within the brewery complex.  As well as selling their own beers they have an excellent range of beers from all over the UK as well as a good selection of Belgian beers in particular.  It was thanks to this shop that I got introduced to the superb bottled beers from Durham Brewery many years ago so I have that to thank them for too.  Having said that they don't seem to stock them any more!!  Boo!!

A Over T is a 9.0% ABV barley wine and although it may send you Arse Over Tit if you drink too much it is actually an abbreviation of Aromas Over Tongham.  I am sure when they are brewing the lovely aromas come wafting through the air for all the villagers to enjoy.  Their play on acronyms knows no bounds as they also brew TEA (Traditional English Ale) and OTT (Old Tongham Tasty).

This beer had very little head after pouring but there was a nice gentle carbonation giving a good mouthfeel.  The aroma was gorgeous.  Very boozy with the promise of intoxication.  Barley wines are so rare nowadays and I love them.  I was unsure if this beer would meet my expectations from how I remember it but they were exceeded.  This beer is fantastic in every sense.  Plenty of intense rich fruits that have been soaked in some rich liqeur that you would find in your Christmas cake or pudding.  Flavours of orange notes come out so perhaps the soaking would be in cointreau.  Enough of all this - I'm off to savour the rest.  Next time I'll buy a case of it.

Cheers.   

12 Beers Of Xmas Day 3 - Super Conductor Double IPA

For day three of the @BeerOClockShow #12BeersOfXmas I make my first excursion to foreign parts and I could not go much further.  8 Wired Brewing Co are based in New Zealand and they began as a contract brewery in 2009.  I think the modern term is a gypsy brewer and in their first five years they brewed at four different breweries.  Despite this they have won many honours beginning with the highest award in New Zealand of champion brewer in 2011.  For the past four years they have been the only brewer from the southern hemisphere to appear on the ratebeer.com list of 'top 100 brewers'.  After a few years of roaming they now have their own brewery in Warkworth, north of Auckland.  I don't normally have too many hoppy beers over Christmas but this Double IPA caught my eye when I visited the excellent bottle shop in Southampton, Bitter Virtue.  It did cost £6.20 but it had a long way to come and I'm sure it is packed with plenty of expensive hops.

Super Conductor IPA (8.88% ABV) is packed full of New Zealand and Aussie hops and when I say packed I mean packed.  There is still a good sweet malty base to it which comes from a blend of four malts which tries to keep the hops under some sort of control but it is a losing battle at the end of the day.  There is a resinous quality to this beer that I love.  Very rich and satisfying but with a dry bitterness in the finish.  I could drink this down very quickly which at nearly 9.0% ABV could prove to be a mistake.  Probably a good job I only bought a single bottle of it then.

Cheers.   

12 Beers Of Xmas Day 2 - Roman Imperial Stout

It's day 2 of the @BeerOClockShow #12BeersOfXmas and Christmas would not be complete without an imperial stout to savour and I have had some crackers in the past.  This one comes from the Downton Brewery based in Wiltshire.  The brewery name comes from the village in which they are located close to the northern edge of the New Forest with views of Salisbury Cathedral to the north.  I have enjoyed their bottled Chimera IPA (6.8% ABV) before but other than that I know very little about them.  This particular bottle was purchased from Beers of Europe for the princely sum of £3.19 so quite a bargain as long as it tastes good.

Let's get this bottle opened then.  No fizz at all when I flipped off the top and not much life when I poured it either but a few bubbles surfaced by the time I had it poured.  I was pleased to find it tasted fine with the right amount of carbonation.  My wife didn't like it but that's not unusual for this type of beer.  She thought it tasted like a very strong HP sauce.  I've never trie dthat before so I wouldn't know. I thought it had plenty of flavours which were well balanced.  Quite rich with notes of molasses, liqorice, some chocolate and some raisin.  There wasn't much in the way of smokiness or coffee.  There was a nice rich body to it with a bittersweet finish.  Not as good as other imperial stouts I have had but a long way from being the worst.  A very pleasant beer indeed and one I would go for again.

Cheers.