Light and Dark

I've been busy recently, lots of decorating, assembling furniture and a first turn at wallpapering hence the lack of recent posts. All good fun, not,  and now I have a weeks holiday just when its half term holiday.

I certainly though have not been denying myself some decent beers, including another trip to the Cardiff beer shop to pick up some new bottles. I did tend to hit the more well known names this time, Thronbridge and Kernel bottles, Mikkeller and Anchor again. I could have gone for some breweries I've not experienced before but the above mentioned when on the shelf I really felt I couldn't pass over.

Tonight however I drank one from my last shopping trip pre xmas, Orkney Brewery's Dragonhead stout, and then followed it with another bottle from the Mikkeller Single Hop IPA series, this time the Nelson Sauvin.

Obviously 2 very different styles of beer, but at the end of the day its still malts, water and hops.


 Orkney's Dragonhead, a surprisingly low 4% considering how it tastes, 500ml bottle.



On the other side is a Mikkeller Single Hop Nelson Sauvin IPA, a much bigger 6.9% abv, 330ml bottle.





 Both in excellent condition when opened, aroma's flowing free from the pour. One was chocolate, earthy notes and wood, the other bountiful exotic fruit, which was which??!!

The taste couldn't live up to the aroma's surely?
Oh yes, but first the look - black as a stout should be, with a head that clings on throughout being respectable to the image, and the colour of light melted chocolate, which I'm convinced got darker as I drank more. Oily in texture, good mouthful, you just keep swirling the glass to see how it looks and settles. Dark chocolate, light coffee on the tongue, woody and a little smoke. Total joy. Within the creamy sensation you get some vanilla, and then a good roasted end.

Why did i follow a stout with this IPA, I'm not totally sure. I know I wanted to continue the high qualitity I had just had had, I didn't want to be let down with a lacklustre beer and the last Mikkeller was a pretty good bottle. And I'd recently re-discovered Brewdog's 5am Saint and fancied another similar hit of hops, so hoped this would provide it.

Wonderful colour, sort of a bright copper, the citrus and passion fruit aroma. Great freshness again with this bottle like the last, the bitterness creeps back in your mouth and hits the back nicely, fades a little early but by then your going for another sip so it's a moot point. Crisp sharp orange that should be left in the fruit bowl a little longer, and a wonderful hop dryness.


Good choices.

Mikkeller Tomahawk Single Hop IPA

Mikkeller Tomahawk IPA, from their single hop series, one of a number of breweries running with this concept, their occasional collaborators Brewdog being another.
I did look for tomahawk on Wikipeadia to learn that its a trade name for Columbus, a well known American hop.

Really good hazy orange colouring , with a massive head that reduces to frothy white covering.

An amazing hoppy aroma of grapefruit, pine, dilute orange juice.
Its oily, has pine and citrus, obviously the bitterness is foremost,  The flavours dont quite live up to the aroma though.
The bitterness lingers at the upper back palate, its quite intense but not harshly so.
Fresh, spiky, very enjoyable.
330mls, 6.9% abv.

Cardiff Discount Supermarket - New beers

Just as the Pub Curmudgeon was posting about Independent beer sellers and supermarkets, i was spending money that had only been in the bank for a matter of hours (electronically i suppose, not real money).
Fortuitously my wife had left her lunch at home and rang to see if i was going over her way to drop it off. Seeing as travelling into Cardiff was not on the list of jobs she had given for my day off i took this as an order rather than a request.
But this meant i could combine it with a trip to the beer shop.

Now i know i have mentioned them once or twice, but it is really a fab shop.


View Larger Map


You wouldn't guess the depth of range from the outside, pretty much any Belgian beer you can think off, British from up in Orkney down to Keltek in Cornwall. The US is represented regularly by Anchor, Brooklyn and Flying Dog now, dotted with specials from Sierra Nevada and others. Many other countries are represented by their more well known breweries, such as Australia and Little Creatures.
He also has a good range of changing German beers although he admits supplies are not as varied as before, the proprietor is friendly and good for a chat about what's new and good.
They have however found new suppliers and the shelves have been brightened recently with the likes of Thornbridge, The Kernel and Bristol Beer Factory. They certainly have come up trumps this time though, with small supplies of Mikkeller and Nogne O.
If you love beer and are in or around Cardiff then you have to visit,  at 97-99 Whitchurch Rd, Cardiff, South Glamorgan. 

What did i buy? My beer geek heart skipped a beat when i saw the Mikkeller, and he only had 2 bottles of the Nogne O so i took one. Beer Geek Breakfast and from their single hop series the Tomahawk IPA, the Nogne O is the Brun belgian style ale.
The one and only Kernel I've had was brilliant so from the range of 5 or 6 there i took the Pale Ale Citra and Cascade, and from an equally wide selection from Thornbridge i fancied the Saint Petersburg. 
My first Odell Brewing Co. beer will be the St Lupulin, and from Anchor is the large bottle but low abv 'Small Beer'. 
Following Ghostie's post i also picked up Berliner Kindl Weisse - wonder how much he paid for it in The North Bar? 

In the photos you can see the others i bought, hence i think that will be my last trip to the shop this side of Xmas!

 Speaking of Xmas, I got the seasonal offering from the Bristol Beer Factory 'Bristoloe' and one from Ridgeway Brewery who seem to brew for export to America more often than not, but I had their Reindeer Droppings before and it was quite good so took the 'Reindeer's Revolt'

And while we mention Christmas I see Tesco have a Leffe gift pack on sale. The post i did last year about a similar present is surprisingly one of the most read here, often through the google images picture I took. The gift I saw today is a 330ml bottle, glass and bottle opener, I think it was £5.99.

Whilst there i did also pick up two bottles I've not seen before, Asahi Premium Black lager, and Crabbie's Black Reserve. This is a 6% abv giner beer oak matured with extra spices, citrus and ginger for longer than normal.