Wednesday 14 August 2013

Brains Craft Brewery 'Weiss Weiss Baby'

Brains Craft Brewery Weiss Weiss BabyFrom the Brains Craft Brewery department tucked in a corner of the Cardiff Mega Brewery is a bottle of 'Weiss Weiss Baby', their Weissbier.
I must admit I kinda like the name, being a nice gentle pun, enough to put a little smirk on the lips and acknowledgement of achieved amusement.

The bottled version is slightly weaker than the keg version, 4.9% vs 5.9% abv.
Slightly cloudy yellow, a fizz of a head briefly. A light yeasty aroma, it has a light mouth-feel, with some banana and yeast there but on the lighter scale of things.
Very refreshing, cold in the summer it would be perfect. It would struggle if put alongside some of the more recognised weissbiers out there but I certainly enjoyed it.


Monday 12 August 2013

Otley Oxymoron

Otley OxymoronOxymoron, a black IPA dry hopped to hell and delicious to boot!

When I first had this a few years ago at the Great Welsh festival it was my first BIPA, I wasn't totally sold on it but since then its a style I've enjoyed more and more, some great examples being from The Kernel brewery and Hardknott.
But I've also returned to the Oxymoron a few times since then, cask and bottle, and its become a real favourite of mine.

Excellent roasted malts but over the top pine and grapefruit burst out and up your nose tickling receptors.
Huge but balanced flavours.
The strong and dark sit beautifully with the bright, clean and striking hops.
Chocolate, roasted malts, grapefruit and pine singing, the bitterness has a great tartness to it.
5.5% abv.

Sunday 11 August 2013

Wooden Hand Brewery Cornish Gribben

Wooden Hand Brewery Cornish GribbenEvery year when we go to Cornwall I seem to end up drinking or bringing back some of Wooden Hand's beers, based in Truro they seem to have reasonable penetration of the south west market.

The only one I brought back this time was Cornish Gribben, a 4.1% bitter.
There was some lemon and orange aroma, but as I poured it the lack of carbonation was evident, this bottle was totally flat.
Shame really as the few mouthfuls I had were quite promising, with some toffee and citrus clearly there.


Oh well, there's always next year.



Tuesday 6 August 2013

Keltek Brewery King

Keltek Brewery KingAnother from the south west of England, this time its the Keltek Brewery, based in Redruth Cornwall.
King is a 5.1% ESB style of beer, 500ml bottle also purchased from Tesco like in the last post.

My photo makes it look a little darker than the amber it actually was, little aroma which was mostly of malt, toffee, and rich fruit.

Traditional in style, good body, strong flavours of malt, caramel, again some rich fruit alongside some spiciness.
Nothing complicated and a nice pint.