Hardknott Cool Fusion

After a few jobs the other weekend and with the lawn mower packed away in the shed it was time for some liquid refreshment.

Hardknott's Cool Fusion is a 4.4% abv beer that strongly features ginger. Whilst it was the prominent spice there was also lemon which made it seem incredibly fresh tasting.
Lovely white fluffy head, good body, unlike a lot of ginger beers this avoids being too dry, balanced well with its malts, citrus, and candy sugar sweetness.

Shopping

I was reading the great posts on their recent Munich trip by The Beer Nut and The Bitten Bullet, and decided that as I was over the other side of Cardiff for a meeting I should do some beer shopping. German beer shopping, after reading their exploits.

As always this involved heading to the Cardiff Beer shop/Discount Supermarket, but again, despite good intentions to only buy a few German beers, I was swayed by their great choice and ended up with a bit more than intended.





The first I decided on was a name I recognised from their Munich posts, although I couldn't remember the opinions presented.

Ayinger  Ur Weisse  5.8% Dunkelweizen
Hacker-Pschorr  5.5% Hefeweizen
Oettinger 4.7% Helles




These two on the left will be my first US Craft beer in a can experience.
Ska Modus Hoperandi IPA 6.8%
Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA 7.1%







 Moving back to Europe I got  a classic, the Tripel Karmeliet, an Abbey tripel weighing in at 8.4%.
Back to Blighty and one from the Kernel, always reliable, although this is a collabaration beer with Brodies, a black IPA and 6.9%.

After two good beers from Hardknott I went for a hat-trick and got their Cool Fusion, 4.4%.

In the shop they were also doing a deal on the beers from the Brains Craft brewery, 4 bottles for a fiver. Whilst i was a little underwhelmed by their Barry Island IPA, although a fairly decent beer, I had wanted to try some of their newer offerings. The cask versions do not seem to make it round my way so this was an opportunity I took.




Weiss Weiss Baby, 5.9%
Colonel Williams, the Martyn Cornell collabaration East India Pale Ale, 6%.
A Pils from the Hills, pilsner 5%.
Boilermaker, an IPA brewed with Penderyn whisky infused oak chips, 6.5%. I did hesitate over this one as whiskey beers are not my thing but thought I'd make up the foursome with it.

So after a little run of night shifts this week I'll have to decide which to start with.
As always, any comments on these beers appreciated, good choice? bad beer? let me know.

Hardknott Code Black

I've been a bit hit and miss with Black IPA's so far, but scored a big fat hit here.

Hardknotts's Code Black is 5.6% abv, 500mls, and I handed over £3.29 for it. Although seen on the blogging merry-go-round alot I had not seen any bottles myself before, and I also got their Colonial Mayhem, the mild that weighs in at 8.1%!

Pours quite lively as you can see, lovely mocha head, an aroma that was sharp fruit and malts, some coffee. The body was thinner than I was expecting, but lovely tropical fruits, something that's burnt (if that makes sense), perhaps the coffee. The lightness moves round the mouth very well, and a long bitterness, although not a harsh one, carries on.

Hugely enjoyable.