Golden Pints 2015

The year is nearly over which means it is Golden Pints time.  A year in which I discovered more great pubs selling great beer.  I am delighted to see that micropubs are popping up all over the place and more breweries with a hop fixation are starting up so the future is bright.  

As always, each winner is accompanied by a little explanation as well as some close seconds listed where applicable.  

If you want to check out the Golden Pint Awards made by others then click here.

Best UK Cask Beer

Yakima IPA - Great Heck (7.4% ABV)

This is always the most difficult category for me and yet again this proved to be the case.  This winning beer popped up at my local one lunchtime in January and it disappeared quickly.  It came on again twice in April and it was just as gorgeous on both occasions.

There were some very close seconds within this category as usual and these were, in no particular order, Pogo (Salopian), Dobber (Marble), Black Thirty Three (Brighton Bier) and Black Oktober (Vibrant Forest).

Best UK Keg Beer

Old Ford Export Stout - Redchurch (7.5% ABV)

A few more keg beers were consumed by me this year and this one stood out.  Last year their bottled Hoxton Stout won my bottled beer category so they obviously know how to do a good stout.  Rich, smooth and blooming strong.  A cracking stout.     

Best UK Bottled Beer

VIPA - Tatton (6.3% ABV)

Plenty of choice in this category as usual.  This particular beer was quite unusual.  Rich and robust with quite a distinctive flavour with toffee apple notes.  This beer was their 5th anniversary brew brewed with both UK and European malts, Cheshire honey and UK Bramling Cross and Cascade hops.  Another great IPA brewed with UK hops.         

Best UK Canned Beer

Bloody 'Ell - Beavertown (7.2% ABV)

Next year I am expecting to have many more canned beers.  This beer was one I had hoped to find and it actually exceeded my expectations.  A simply WOW beer with a sensational aroma and a taste to match.

Best Overseas Draught Beer

Robust Porter - Smuttynose (6.6% ABV)

This year a family trip to New Hampshire and Vermont threw up a great selection of beers worthy of winning this category.  It was a fantastic hopfest over there but a pint of this beautifully smooth smoky porter wins it for me.

Best Overseas Bottled Beer

Battle Axe IPA - Kelsen Brewing (7.2% ABV)

The highlight of my holiday in terms of bottled beers.  This strong IPA had lovely orange citrus notes and a full hop aroma.  Fabulous.

Best Overseas Canned Beer

Heady Topper - Alchemist (8.0% ABV)

I thought I would search in vain for this beer but amazingly I found it.  A tremendous double IPA that lives up to the hype and is so easy to drink.  

Best Collaboration Brew

Kofra Stout - Redwell (5.9% ABV)

Can't think of too many successful collaborations beerwise so how about this collaboration between Redwell and a local coffee shop.  My wife thought this beer was simply stunning and I thought it was pretty decent too.

Best Overall Beer

Yakima by Great Heck

Hard to choose between all of the above because they are so very different.  However, the cask choice wins it for me because cask is best!!

Best Branding

Beavertown

They win simply for the artwork on their cans. 

Best Pumpclip

Downlands

Always a joy to see a Downlands beer with the distinctive signpost.  I liked it so much I bought the t-shirt.


Best Label

Durham Brewery

Not so much for the design as such, although they are great, but because I know that what is inside the bottle is going to be an absolute joy.  I haven't consumed nearly enough of their bottled beers this year but I do have a special one lined up for my '12 Beers of Xmas'.

Best UK Brewery

Vibrant Forest

      

I'm going fairly local for this award.  Vibrant Forest began brewing back in 2011 and are based in Lymington, Hampshire, on the edge of the New Forest.  This year they won the beer of the festival at my local Yapton Beerex and their beers are now becoming much easier to find all across West Sussex.  My favourite beer from them was an amazing pint of their Imperial Russian stout, Black Oktober (9.0% ABV).  

Best Overseas Brewery

Rock Art

A visit to their superb brewery tap in Morrisville, Vermont gave me the opportunity to sample a couple of their magnificently hoppy beers.  Every beer I tried from them was first class and they were so close to winning the Best US Draught and Best US Bottled Beer categories with their Citra IPA and Belvidere Big IPA respectively. 

Best New Brewery Opening 2015

Vocation

Back in July I had a couple of pints from this brewery at Cask Pub & Kitchen.  Pride & Joy (5.3% ABV) was a beautifully hoppy American Pale Ale and Divide & Conqueror was a magnificent black IPA (6.5% ABV).  I'm hoping for more from this brewery in 2016 - and they do cans too!!

Pub/Bar of the Year

Brooksteed Alehouse, Worthing
Hole In The Wall, Southsea
             

Joint winners here.  My favourite micropub, the Brooksteed Alehouse, won my best New Pub/Bar Opening last year and this year it progresses to take the main award.  My weekly visit is something I always enjoy.  I just wished I lived closer to it.  The Hole In The Wall, tucked away in the back streets of Southsea, knocked me out on my first visit earlier this year and a second visit followed shortly after.  Oh if only every pub was like this one.  Friendly, compact, wholesome food and an ever changing selection of cask ales.  There is a pretty good keg selection too.  

Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2015

The Watchmakers Arms, Hove

The latest micropub to open up in West Sussex and it is another superb place to drink.  Conveniently, just a short walk from Hove train station.

Beer Festival of the Year

Great British Beer Festival 2015

My winner last year was the Sussex CAMRA Branches Beer & Cider Festival 2014.  This year they changed venue and it was very disappointing.  Nowhere near as enjoyable.  I did get to work at my first beer festival in 2015, my local Yapton Beerex which was great as always, but the GBBF was hugely enjoyable once again.    

Supermarket of the Year

Marks & Spencer

Difficult choice because I like a few of them for different reasons but M&S win it because you can now buy branded bottles too along with their own-brand ones including a couple from the excellent Siren Craft.     

Independent Retailer of the Year

Cotteridge Wines, Birmingham

Winner for the third year running and after a visit in April they just keep getting better as you can read about here.  There isn't a retailer locally that comes close to them although I am glad to have Bison Beer in Brighton and Bitter Virtue in Southampton which are both well worth a visit when I am in their area.

Online Retailer of the Year

Beers of Europe

Once again this year I have used Beer Hawk, Ales By Mail, Beer Merchants, Beers Of Europe and Yorkshire Ales.  The service from all of them has been first class without exception.  However, you don't always know how good a company is until you get a problem.  One of my deliveries from Beers of Europe had a problem which they dealt with superbly.  They do also have a fantastic range which includes bottled beer from UK breweries that you cannot find elsewhere.  

Best Beer Book or Magazine

'Brew Britannia' by Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey

I got a few beer books for Christmas last year and this one was by far the best.  A great read which was so good I decided to review it.  You can read that here.      

Best Beer Blog or Website

BeersManchester

My blog has links to all of my favourite bloggers and there have been a few additions this year but BeersManchester wins again.  Jim has been a bit quiet recently due to other commitments but his last two posts have come at the right time because they have reminded me why I like what he writes.

Best Beer App

Untapped

Winner for a third successive year.  Keeps track of everything I drink and a valuable resource for things like the Golden Pints when I need to look back at what I have consumed over the year.  I like collecting badges too of course !!

Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitter

@BeerOClockShow

The Twitter mouthpiece for the wonderful Beer O'Clock Show podcast.  They represent all that is wonderful about the friendly world of beer on Twitter.  It was a pleasure to meet up with Steve and Mark once again this year on the Beer O'Clock Show Brighton Pub Crawl in June.        

Best Brewery Website / Social Media

Redwell Brewing

This brewery got close to winning the best UK Canned Beer award with their awesome West Coast Pale so they deserve to win this award again for sending it to me.  Their website is still first class, their Facebook posts and tweets are always great and, most importantly, they are really nice people too.           

That brings 2015 to a close.  An excellent year although I still haven't explored London in any detail so that is something I must do next year.  My main trip next year though will be to the Norwich City of Ale in May.  

Happy Christmas and New Year to you all.

More Worthing Beer Destinations

Worthing is definitely becoming one of my favourite local beer destinations.  Recently two more pubs have opened that are well worth a visit and you can add them to my list of top Worthing pubs that I wrote about earlier this year (see here).  Both pubs have risen from the ashes of pubs that have been closed for a while and are housed in lovely historical buildings of great architectural value.  In short, two very welcome additions to the Worthing pub scene. 

First up we have The Egremont.  If you head east along the sea front from the Wandering Goose (about to be renamed the Goose Craft House with ten more taps) and then head inland along Warwick Road you will find this imposing pub on the corner with Brighton Road.      

The Egremont reopened earlier this year after a substantial refurbishment.  Not being a local to Worthing it is not a pub I had been in before this makeover but it is a pub with great historical interest and much of the character of the building has been retained.  The pub was built in 1835 when it sat next door to the Tower Brewery.  This became Chapmans Brewery in 1930 and later the Egremont Brewery.  The pub was once a hotel and signage on the outside still shows Dolphin Ales & Kemptown Brewery.  When you visit it is worth strolling outside along both sides of the pub to take in all the historic signage that has been retained.  Inside it is modern with shiny wooden flooring throughout, a mix of low and high traditional tables and a selection of stools, chairs and bench seating on which to park yourself.

They have only been open a few months but they have already made themselves popular with the local real ale drinker.  I was quite fortunate in that my visit followed on from a weekend beer festival and all beers that were left over on the stillage were priced at £2 per pint.  I therefore enjoyed a Little Valley Hebden's Wheat (4.8% ABV) rather than going for their single guest ale, Harveys Old, that I was very tempted by.  Harveys Sussex is regularly available alongside Dark Star American Pale, Hop Back Summer Lightning and two house beers (brewed by local micro Goldmark).  

Turning left out of the Egremont you head towards the centre of town.  Before reaching the bright lights and turning right you are on the main road out of town northwards.  Passing Waitrose on the right you come to the Corner House shortly afterwards on the same side of the road.  This pub has only been open a few weeks and it is the sister pub to the Beach House, a cafe/bar on Worthing seafront a few doors down from the Wandering Goose (Goose Craft House).  The Corner House is a lovely building dating from 1895 having been built over an existing structure that was built nearly a century earlier.  Previously the pub has been known as the Anchor, Jack Horner and The Stage.   

It's a grand looking building and inside it is bright and welcoming with wooden flooring throughout, comfortable seating and a nice warming log burner.  It is a lovely pub for the long winter months whereas the Beach House suits summer drinking although you will find there is a garden here to enjoy when the weather turns warmer.  The central bar offers some local ales (Bedlam, Langham and Arundel beers when I visited) alongside the bland Whitstable Bay Pale from Sheps.  I very much enjoyed a pint of the Bedlam Golden Ale (4.2% ABV) served in a branded glass.  Keg taps were offering Brewdog Punk IPA, Whitstable Stout from Sheps and a lager from Bedlam.  Certainly something for everyone.              

These two pubs are both well worth including on a crawl around Worthing.  I wouldn't remove any of my previous favourites so I guess you'll need to drink a bit more or drink halves to fit them all in.

Cheers.    

Redwell West Coast Pale

I'm hoping beers are like buses.  Once one pops through the letterbox two more turn up.  A couple of weeks or so after Redwell Brewery sent me their lovely Kofra Stout (read the review here), another Redwell can arrives much to my delight.  So hopefully a third one will turn up!!  

  

This time it is the West Coast Pale (5.6% ABV) that I hoped to enjoy.  The can has the same quality design as their others but this one is a lovely bright orange colour.  This one will certainly stand out in the dark.

The term 'West Coast' refers to the West Coast of the US of course and these beers tend to be very much dominated by those lovely US hop varieties which grow in the hop fields of the Pacific Northwest.  The 'East Coast' pales tend to be more balanced by a bigger malt presence and the inclusion of a spicier European hop character.  I love both types but my preference is for the 'West Coast' so this beer should be perfect for me.

The beer pours nicely and has a lovely golden colour with the right level of carbonation which resulted in a bit of a white head.  The aroma was exactly what I expected.  Somewhat estery with the promise of lush tropical and citrusy fruit flavours to come.  Once again my wife got to try it first and it is always a sign of approval when a second sip is taken.  Handing it back she said the taste disappeared but that opinion was quickly revised as it hit back.  'You'll love it' she said.  I can see what she means.  The aftertaste was gentle at first but the big tropical fruit flavours, particularly mango, came bursting through and lasted throughout.  The citrusy flavours were less grapefruit and more orange I thought which isn't a bad thing either.  The malt base is stronger than in some West Coast pales I have had previously and has a nice biscuity quality.  Indeed I do love this beer.  No surprise there really but it is great to finally sample a beer you have longed to try and that it meets all your expectations.       

This beer is another winner from Redwell.  When will that third bus arrive?

Cheers.

Supermarket Sweep

Supermarkets are beginning to see 'craft beer' as a possible growth area in what is otherwise a difficult marketplace due to the onslaught from discounters Aldi and Lidl.  However, even these discounters are now trying to compete in the beer market.  I don't have an Aldi near me but I've been trying some of the new beer range from Lidl to see how they compare to the offerings from other supermarkets.  I am not going to cover Tesco and Sainsburys a great deal in this post other than to say I think their beer ranges have stagnated in the past 12 months, particularly the latter.  I rarely spot anything worth trying in either of these stores.  Waitrose is pretty much the same too.  They have some decent locales but they come at a price and rarely discounted.

I will begin with Morrisons.  They were always quite boring when it came to beer and, as with Tesco and Sainsburys, tried bringing in their own range of beers brewed by national brewers in the main such as Marstons.  Last month they revamped their selection at my local store by introducing a 'craft beer' shelf.  Priced at £1.65 each or 4 for £6 this selection also included cans (Thwaites 13 Guns and Adnams Crystal Rye).  They are sticking to mainly known and popular brands such as Sierra Nevada, Goose Island and Lagunitas from the US, Pistonhead from Sweden as well as a few from the UK such as Brewdog and Hardknott.  At these prices these are excellent value for what is quite decent beer and my favourite of all by far is the Azimuth IPA (5.8% ABV) from Hardknott.

This beer is full of both tropical and citrusy fruit flavours with a great bitter finish.  This is a beer I will pick up again at the bargain price of £1.65 and also from Hardknott, at  the same price, they have Infra Red (6.2% ABV), an American Red.  I will be trying this soon too as it is now in my cupboard.

So top marks to Morrisons for giving quality at a very decent price.  Let's see how this compares with my local discount store, Lidl.  In the past they have sold beer from the Marstons family (including Wychwood, Ringwood and Jennings) and Shepherd Neame at bargain basement prices ranging from 99p - £1.29.  Having tried most of them I would say they are all overpriced.  Beer to avoid for fear of damaging your palate.  Now they have brought in a bottled beer range from micro brewers all over the UK.  The prices have increased slightly (£1.29 - £1.49) but has the quality gone up?  Here's a quick appraisal of the ones I have tried so far.  

This one from the Kite Brewery, a 4.1% ABV pale ale, was described as light, crisp and hoppy.  I could not really use any of these words to decribe what I was drinking here.  It had a sickly malty sweetness dominating over any hop character that may have been present.  Surely things can't get worse than this one?   

   

I've enjoyed something from the Leeds Brewery before so I had higher hopes for this one.  Having said that I am not a fan of golden ales and that is the case once more.  It was drinkable so an improvement from the Welsh Pale Ale but that is all I can say about it really.  Still too much sweet malt character with little in the way of hop notes.    

The third one comes from another Yorkshire brewer, the York Brewery.  I have had plenty of decent beer from them in the past and I have enjoyed the cask version of this beer, Guzzler (4.0% ABV), previously where I described it as a nice golden hoppy bitter.  So what happened to this bottle then as I actually found it to be quite malty with toffee notes and only a slight bitterness could be detected and far from the promised grapefruit notes.  Very disappointing.    

I love Sadlers beers so surely I can't go wrong with this one?  Worcester Sorcerer (4.3% ABV) is not my favourite from Sadlers but it is what it says it is.  A very well balanced golden bitter brewed with local hops and this was by far the best of the bunch so far.  At £1.29 this is one I will happily pick up again.  A very decent beer.  

Finally I picked up this one from Kent brewer Hopdaemon.  The beers I've had from this brewer before have been decent.  This beer has a nice spicy hop character but there are notes of tobacco and something else that wasn't pleasant either in the finish.  Not the worst but, once again, a beer I won't want to try again.  My wife gave each of these beers a try too and was much less complimentary than me.  I think she is becoming more of an expert on quality beer than she realises.  There are certain styles she doesn't like at all but generally appreciates quality and she could detect none of that here.    

Overall my haul from Lidl was very disappointing.  Top marks for trying to expand their range but the quality just isn't there.  I'd much rather pay two or three times the price of some of these beers for something drinkable. 

Finally let's look at Marks & Spencer.  I have favourably reviewed some of their M&S range previously but they are not resting on their laurels.  Firstly, they are now selling branded beer with bottles from Siren (Soundwave and Undercurrent), cans from Fourpure (Pils and Session IPA) and this gem from Sierra Nevada.  Morrisons had the Sierra Nevade Pale Ale in their range but I'd much rather pay the extra for the Torpedo Extra IPA (7.2% ABV).  This one at M&S was still less than a couple of quid though so I didn't have to pay a lot more for it.      

They have also introduced a 'craft' range.  Own branded 330ml bottles from a number of decent brewers.  To be honest the ones I've had in this range have been largely disappointing.  Not disappointing as in the Lidl sense.  Most of those were unpalatable.  These were just not up to the quality I was expecting but they weren't unpleasant.  The Island Hopper Pale Ale brewed by Windsor & Eton had no body whatsoever and was largely flat and lifeless.  Flavourwise it was ok.  Some orangey marmalade notes sat alongside some burnt caramel.  

The Double Hopped Citra IPA (5.9% ABV) from Oakham was one I was really looking forward to but this was again a bit lifeless too.  It had nice citrusy notes of lime alongside a tropical fruit sweetness.  Whilst it is a decent beer it does not compare favourably with the 4.9% ABV Citra IPA in their 500ml bottled range, also brewed by Oakham, which is quite magnificent.      

An improvement is the Battersea Rye (5.6% ABV) from London brewer Sambrooks.  This beer was warming with rich fruits, treacle toffee and a slightly smoky edge to it.  Likewise, the Maritime Salted Caramel Porter (5.5% ABV) from Meantime which I had last night was interesting and not as bad as I was expecting it to be.  Salty and spicy with notes of toffee and chocolate.  This one also had a good level of carbonation too.        

Another one in this range that had no life to it after opening though was the Ash Brook Red Lager (4.7% ABV) from Freedom Brewery.  Perhaps they've been asking for low levels of carbonation because it has been common with most of them to some extent.  The beer itself was interesting with a strong malty character, a little nutty and plenty of toffee notes.  The texture wasn't quite right though which spoiled it for me.  

   

There has been two stand-out beers for me that I have tried from M&S recently.  The first of these is from Warwickshire brewer Purity.  The Black IPA (6.5% ABV) is lovely and smooth with a great malty backbone to it.  The aroma was hoppy but these flavours were a bit more subtle in the taste but balanced well with the roasted malt.  I liked it a lot as did my wife.

  

The Greenwich Black IPA (5.7% ABV) from Meantime in the 500ml bottle range had many similarities to the Purity Black.  Again their was plenty of roast malt character and this beer was particularly dry in the finish which I had no objection to.    

I have it on good authority that the M&S range is far greater at their larger stores which I hope to check out in the near future.  For me they are giving the best deal when it comes to beer.  A varied and interesting selection.  Their own branded ranges, both small and larger bottles, are brewed by some of my favourite brewers and the quality is certainly there.  You have to pay a bit extra but it is still largely good value.  Morrisons have certainly done well with the prices they are selling known brands at.  You cannot go wrong with any of them at the prices they are selling for so if you like the beers they are stocking it's a winner.  Lidl are trying but for now they are not winning.  That to me is patently obvious.   

I will conclude by saying that not one supermarket can compare with a specialist beer shop.  If I lived close to one I would rarely buy beer from anywhere else.  Thankfully I have a December visit planned to Bitter Virtue in Southampton.  It is time to finalise my Beer O'Clock Show '12 Beers of Xmas'.

Cheers.    

Redwell Kofra Stout

I'm still not finding much enthusiasm for writing but when Redwell Brewery asked me if I wanted to review their new canned stout I could not refuse.  It arrived in time to help me celebrate International Stout Day too which was convenient.  I already had a bottle of stout for this particular day but I'm not averse to increasing my stout consumption.

  

I first came across Redwell when visiting their brewery during the Norwich City of Ale week back in 2013.  It was very early stages then in their story and since then they have gone from strength to strength.  Like all good craft brewers their beers are now available in cans and I enjoyed their Steam Lager when I found it in my favourite beer shop, Cotteridge Wines, earlier this year.  

Kofra Stout (5.9% ABV) comes in a smart green can.  The name comes from the fact that this is a collaboration with a local Norwich coffee shop, Kofra.  The beer is brewed using a blend of coffee that is roasted especially for them.  The can informed me that the beans came from Guatemala and Coasta Rica in a 2:1 ratio.  I'm not a coffee drinker.  I have not tried it since childhood and coffee chocolates are always discarded.  Here's the strange thing though.  I love the smell of coffee and I love dark beers with coffee notes.  Perhaps I need to give it a try again!!      

The can had probably been well shook up by the postman but it didn't explode when I opened it thankfully.  In fact it was only lightly sparkling with a head that quickly dissipated.  I made a mistake in giving the glass to my wife to try first.  My wife is a coffee drinker and she did not want to give it back to me.  I'd already enjoyed the aroma of coffee emanating from the glass and I was wanting to get my hands on it.  

I finally got my glass back with most of the beer still there and the first sip gave me an instant hit of coffee notes as I expected.  It had a nice soft mouthfeel making it very easy to drink and the strength of 5.9% ABV was not obvious as it slipped down so easily.  The more I drank the sweeter the stout became and the coffee bitterness fell away into the background.  It wasn't overly sweet though as the coffeeness was always there to keep it in check.  That's the other great anomaly with my love of beers from the dark side.  I do not like milk stouts but I do drink milk.  In fact the only milk stout I have enjoyed this year was one which had the addition of coffee.

Overall this is a very good stout.  My wife gave it a definite 10/10.  For me I tend to reserve that score for imperial Russian stouts with mental strengths but this stout has much of what I love about this style of beer.  From me it therefore gets an 8/10.   

Finally, how did it compare to the bottled stout I had lined up?  Black Brite (4.5% ABV) is brewed by Wentworths for the Barnsley Beer Company.  Fruity with a horrible aftertaste.  Thin and lifeless.  Not very good.  My wife thought it was undrinkable.    

       

So there you have it.  I am planning on visiting Norwich City of Ale again next year and hopefully I will get to visit Redwell Brewery again.  Great progress has been made it seems.  My wife will insist I bring a few cans of Kofra Stout back with me too.  

Cheers.

  

Wetherspoons International Real Ale Festival Autumn 2015

Yes it is that time of year again.  In the past I have spent two weeks going to my local Spoons drinking mediocre beer and writing about it.  Well sod that.  I've decided that life really is too short to waste time on the crappy things in life.  In the past six months I have really enjoyed going to some fabulous pubs along the south coast and drinking some top class beers.  For that reason alone I will not be trying to pack in as many of the 50 beers Spoons are offering this time around.  This lunchtime I did go to the Dolphin & Anchor in Chichester and picked up the beer list.  For a start they only had three festival beers for sale.  One was by Greene King and one was by Wadworths so I opted for a pint of the Exmoor Gold Export (5.5% ABV).  After buying the pint (which  took a ridiculous amount of time) I tried to find a table as my wife was due to join me.  The tables that were not taken were full of debris from departed diners.  It really was a squalid environment in which to sit down for a pint.  I moved some plates onto another table that was equally plate-laden and sat down.  The pint was pretty dreadful.  By the time my wife had arrived I had sunk half of it and I told her I was ready to leave.  Exmoor Gold is a decent pint but this was malty, sweet and sickly.  Looking through the festival list you get the usual international brewers visiting some of the worst breweries in the UK where they try in vain to recreate their beers.  You also get the usual UK brewers creating one-offs exclusively for Spoons.  This presumably means a beer they can produce cheaply enough for Spoons to flog at their low price.  There are one or two beers I wouldn't mind trying as is often the case but the chance of finding them on without popping in every day is slim.

In the past I have been pretty neutral about Spoons.  They can be useful in towns that have a poor selection of pubs.  However, when I got to thinking about it, the only Spoons I regularly go in is the Hatters in Bognor Regis.  Is it any better or worse than any other Spoons?  Probably not.  But it is the only pub in Bognor where you can get a decent pint.  Go along the coast to Worthing, Brighton or Portsmouth and they serve no purpose at all because these places are awash with excellent pubs where you can sit and enjoy a pint in pleasant surroundings.  In fact I have never been in any of the Spoons in these places and that's my point really.  It is interesting that Tim Martin constantly rants about the tax advantages that supermarkets have because sitting in a Spoons is about as pleasant as a trip to Lidl so perhaps they should be treated the same.  The difference though is that you go to a supermarket for the sole purpose of buying what you want to enjoy at home and so buying things at the cheapest possible price makes sense.  If Spoons want to compete with that they really should make their pubs more inviting but I would rather drink at home than sit in one of their pubs.

This has become a bit of a rant against Spoons and that wasn't really the intention.  They are what they are and some people like them and that's fine.  I don't and I can't change that.  We're all different and we all like different things.  What I really wanted to say was how my outlook on life has changed in the past year.  There are some things I no longer want to put up with and Spoons is one of these things.  Believe it or not there are still plenty of excellent pubs around.  Warm inviting places where the landlord will serve you a pint that has been looked after rather than having to wait in line to be served by someone who knows nothing about what they are selling.  Where you don't have to clear away dirty dishes to sit down at a table that is still filthy once you have removed the unwanted items yourself.  Where they don't advertise the world's biggest real ale festival which in reality consists of three different beers on launch day.              

That's it then for my review of this particular beer festival.  Go and enjoy these fifty beers if you wish but I will go to other pubs and find better beer,  It won't be difficult.

Cheers.

     

America Part Two - Vermont

How did Vermont compare to the excellent beer I found in New Hampshire?  We only had four days in Vermont but we were staying at a hotel with a brewery, the Trapp Family Lodge.  That was a good start.  However, good things happened before we even got to the hotel.  As we drove through Morrisville we just had to stop at the Rock Art Brewery.

    

Located in a modern building on the main road through Morrisville the inside bar area had plenty of their beers on tap and the shop had lots of goodies to take away.  Rock Art was founded in 1997 so have been around for quite awhile so it is surprising I had never tried their beers before on previous visits to the Stowe area.  

There was time for a couple of small samples.  Both were tremendous hoppy affairs.  The Citra IPA (6.0% ABV) was part of their single hop series and just about edged it as my favourite beer of the entire holiday.  Their Limited Access double IPA (8.0% ABV) wasn't far behind.  In addition, I took a bottle of Belvedere Big IPA, another double IPA at 8.0% ABV, away with me.  At 80 IBU this beer is insanely hopped and I absolutely loved it of course.     

We were staying at the Trapp Family Lodge, a sort of 'Sound of Music' theme park with pictures of the von Trapps everywhere in an imitation of an Austrian lodge set beautifully within the Green Mountains with stunning views.  There is even a lonely goat-herd up on the hillside.  Johannes von Trapp is the youngest of Georg and Maria von Trapp's children and he had a vision of a brewery dedicated to brewing Austrian style lagers.  The von Trapp Brewery began brewing in 2010 and earlier this year they opened a new 40,000 sq ft brewery capable of producing 50,000 barrels pa.

During our stay I sampled all four beers that were available.  They are not the styles I go crazy for except for the Dunkel.  The Bohemian Pilsner (5.4% ABV) was pretty decent but the Vienna Style Lager (5.2% ABV) was more flavoursome.  The Oktoberfest (5.6% ABV) was better than the Sam Adams version but still not to my taste.  Best of the crop by far was the Dunkel (5.7% ABV), pictured below.  It's a beer style I particularly enjoy and this beer was full bodied and malty without being heavy and sweet.  Very smooth with quite a crisp bitterness in the finish balancing out the smooth chocolatey character from the malt.

Let's take a closer look at Vermont because in brewing terms it is quite amazing.  From the late 1800s there were no breweries in Vermont.  Vermont passed their own prohibition laws way before the rest of the USA beginning in the mid 1800s.  Brewing did continue for a while but the beer was sold out of state.  Vermont was also a big hop growing area too at this time with production peaking in 1860 but following on from prohibition and the decline in the number of breweries production fell to virtually nothing by 1910.  Much of this is documented in a rather excellent book I picked up out there called Vermont Beer - History of a Brewing Revolution by Kurt Staudter & Adam Krakowski which I read once I got home.   

The guy who can probably be credited with the resurgence in brewing within Vermont was Greg Noonan.  In 1988, after three years of lobbying the Vermont legislature, he opened the first brewpub in Burlington, Vermont, called simply the Vermont Pub & Brewery (although the first brewery to appear in the state was Catamount in 1987).  This is a place I have visited a few times previously so I did not go in there this time.  Greg has also been cited with brewing the first black IPA (in 1994) so we have a lot to thank him for.

 

By 2010 Vermont had 26 breweries and since then I think Vermont can boast the most number of breweries per head of population within the United States.  With a population of just over 600,000 it can now boast 41 breweries making it one brewery for approximately every 15,000 people.  Compare that to the UK with one brewery for approximately every 45,000 people and you can see why beer lovers flock to Vermont.  

The Trapp Family Lodge is quite close to Waterbury.  Famous for being the home to Ben & Jerrys they are now proclaiming the town to be the craft beer capital of the world.  Quite a boast.  How can they make such a claim you may well ask.  

Let's begin with the Craft Beer Cellar.  This was one amazing shop with cans and bottles from all over the world in addition to beer on tap to take away in growlers of 32 or 64 oz.  The prices would make anyone in the UK drool too.  I had to drink whatever I bought in the last two days of my holiday so I was ultra conservative but the beer I bought only cost me the equivalent of £8.  In the UK this would have been double.  Perhaps this explains why it was two guys from Vermont who founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935.  They certainly would not be recommending you visit Waterbury.  I could actually have spent hundreds of dollars in this place.     

Across the road from the Beer Cellar was the Prohibition Pig brewpub.  Round the corner there is the Blackback Pub & Flyshop.  This crazy place has 25 world-class beers on tap and you can also buy your fly-fishing equipment here too.  Then there is the Reservoir Restaurant & Tap Room with 38 beers on tap.  I spotted another one across the road from the Blackback pub advertising 20 beers on tap.  It's all here.  Added to the fact that Waterbury is an idyllic sleepy town located in such amazing countryside within a state that is larger than Wales but with fewer people than Leeds you can see why I love Waterbury more than any other place on earth.  

And I still haven't mentioned the jewel in Waterbury's crown.  Heady Topper.  The Alchemist Pub & Brewery was one of the best brewpubs in the state so I am told.  In August 2011 Hurricane Irene hit Vermont.  It destroyed the Alchemist among many other homes, businesses, roads and bridges.  However, John & Jennifer Kimmich had already begun building the Alchemist Cannery, a 15 barrel brewery and canning line and this opened shortly after the closure of the brewpub.  They only produce the one beer (Heady Topper).  Demand is such that they brew twelve 15 barrel batches a week and in most places it sells out within hours of arrival.  The Beer Cellar was certainly devoid of it when I visited but I was determined to find it.  I looked at the list of places supposedly stocking it and a restaurant we really wanted to try was listed.  Success.  This beer has become legendary it seems.  It is a double IPA (8.0% ABV) packed with hops as you would expect.  On Untappd it has been rated over 80,000 times and the average rating comes out at 4.67/5.  Blimey I'd better not say anything bad about it then.  I can't.  It was everything I expected.    

As a footnote to the Alchemist story their old brewpub has been restored and is now home to the aforementioned and pictured Prohibition Pig (opposite the Beer Cellar).  Everything is so close together in Waterbury you could literally stumble just a few hundred yards and find over 100 magnificent beers on tap along the way.  If you want a beer trip then go to Waterbury.  I had to keep reminding myself that I was on a family holiday and not a beer trip but I did keep picking up great little beers wherever I could and the Heady Topper was a major find.

There is no need to restrict yourself to Waterbury of course.  About twenty minutes away along the interstate is Burlington, a vibrant university town (and largest town in Vermont), where you can start at the legendary Vermont Pub & Brewery.  Also within Burlington you can visit the Magic Hat Brewing Company, Switchback Brewing Company, Simple Roots Brewing Company, Infinity Brewing, Zero Gravity Craft Brewery as well as numerous bars as you would expect in a university town.  I did get to visit a bizarre but wonderful place called the Growler Garage.

Growler Garage is a beer geeks paradise.  This is a genuine beer filling station.  There is a tasting bar and once you find the beer for you they can fill a growler (64oz) or howler (32oz) with it for you to take home.  Bizarrely they also had a table tennis table in the centre of the bar area alongside numerous other amusements.  As well as the 21 beers on tap there is also an abundance of bottles to try too.  I could have spent all day in here but then I would had to have been carried out.

     

OK I think I have established that when it comes to beer Vermont is simply heaven.  I have certainly never been anywhere that compares to it.  What about the quality though.  I have already mentioned Heady Topper and the beers of Rock Art which I found impossible to beat.  What else did I find to enjoy in my short time here?  My first selection of cans I found included beers from some of my favourite Vermont brewers from previous trips.

Magic Hat #9 is not your usual hopfest.  It is a fruity pale ale with notes of peach and orange making it quite sweet and with a low bitterness.  I had a cask version of this at the original brewery many years ago.

The Take 5 Session IPA (4.3% ABV) from Harpoon was a perfectly acceptable session beer that had a more bitter hop character.  A perfectly acceptable session strength beer.  Harpoon are a large brewer with breweries in both Boston and in Windsor, Vermont.  They took advantage of the struggles at Catamount.  In the mid 1990s Catamount invested in a new brewery but sales flattened off and they ended up going bust in 1999.  Harpoon, based in Boston, were looking to expand and with a state-of-the-art brewery with a skilled local workforce sitting idle in Vermont they bought the brewery and the rights to the Catamount brand at a fire sale price ($1 million).  This was a fraction of the cost it would have been to have expanded their Boston site.  

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The Long Trail India Pale Ale (6.0% ABV) was hoppier still and at just under $2 this can was exceptional value for what was a very decent IPA.  Long Trail have been around since 1989 and I visited Long Trail's rather excellent brewery taproom at Bridgewater Corners about ten years ago so it was reassuring to see their beers are still excellent.   

Finally, a much more modern American IPA was the Conehead (5.8% ABV) from Zero Gravity Brewing.  Zero Gravity is a brewpub in Burlington that also makes awesome pizzas I am told.  This beer was stunningly good too.  A real hopfest.  I must visit and try their pizzas next time.     

 

My purchases from the Beer Cellar in Waterbury went down just as well.  The Shed IPA (6.0% ABV) was very citrusy with plenty of grapefruit notes giving it a very deep dry bitterness which I also enjoy.  The Shed brewpub was located near to Stowe when I visited it years ago but has since relocated to Middlebury which has been home to Otter Creek Brewing for many years.  Otter Creek began brewing in 1991 and in 2002 were purchased by Wolaver's, also of Middlebury.  The brewing names are kept separate and the two Otter Creek beers I enjoyed here were Backseat Berner, a 7.0% ABV American IPA and Overgrown, a 5.5% ABV American Pale Ale.  The Backseat Berner was the hoppier of the two but the Overgrown has the more citrusy hop flavours.  Both of these beers were fantastic.    

It wasn't all about hops and Vermont though.  I did buy one out-of-state beer, the Hipster Ale (5.5% ABV) from Evil Twin.  I didn't actually enjoy this beer though.  It didn't seem to have a great deal of flavour.  Perhaps my taste buds had been overloaded with hops too much but this one did not compare with any of the great Vermont beers I was enjoying.  

Finally, a big break from the hops came with the Maple Breakfast Stout (6.8% ABV) from 14th Star Brewing Company (named as Vermont were the 14th state to join the union in 1791).  Steve Gagner was serving in Afghanistan in 2010 when he dreamed of quitting the army and opening a brewery back home.  That dream has been realised and he is already moving to bigger premises.  This beer was smoky initially.  Coffee notes in the middle and a sweet maple finish.  It was a perfect contrast to the hopfest I was enjoying. 

The final beer I enjoyed was something quite different from the massively hopped beers I'd been drinking in abundance.  The Switchback Extra Pale Ale (5.0% ABV) is a more balanced ale with plenty of malt character to complement the fruity and aromatic hops.  Switchback began brewing in 2002 and all of their beers are unfiltered.       

So there you have  it.  Vermont is a unique state when it comes to beer.  If anyone wants a trip to sample some world class beers in an environment that is relaxing, peaceful and stunningly beautiful then look no further.  Just make sure you give yourself plenty of time though because you will need it as there is a lot to discover.

Cheers.