Thornbridge Versa

Wonderful beer, buy it and try it.
 I keep changing my mind on what might be my favourite beer style but it's beers like this one that keep me swinging back to wheat beers.

This German Hefeweizen styled beer from Thornbridge is 5% and 500mls of nectar. With its wonderful bubblegum aroma, with citrus and cloves I wish I'd had bought more than one bottle because I knew this would not last in the glass long at all.

And it didn't, the hazy orange liquor, with its banana's, apricot wheat breakfast cereal, and perfect carbonation, it all went down so well and far to quickly.


I kinda spoilt the overall effect with the wrong glass, my weizen one was broken a while back and I've yet to replace it.

a big Stout round up

Little run of stouts recently either side of some night shifts and the holidays, some good, very good at that, some not. Two of the five are welsh beers.

The Sainsbury's beer competition last year produced one beer that was roundly praised, even surprising people that it was not more highly placed. I never got to a store whilst the competition was on, so missed most of the beers but a few weeks after I picked up two bottles left on a clearance shelf, the last bottles of the Williams Brothers Profanity Stout.

Spoiler - Its excellent, basically. 330mls, 7% abv.

Dark black ruby edges. Aroma of coffee and malts but also hop fruits coming through. Great full body, chocoloate, creamy, nice bitterness, rich coffee, rich figgy fruit. Excuse me while I go dig the other bottle out of the shed.




Pen-lon Stock Ram , bottle conditioned stout, 4.5%, Pen-lon are based in Ceredigion, West Wales, and all their range are conditioned and vegan friendly made on their farm. Previously I've had their Chocolate stout which was very good, but their bottles are still not easily obtained in South Wales.
It has conditioned well, light carbonation, reasonable full in the mouth. Aroma is light chocolate and ash. Taste is a little odd, there is coffee, its yeasty,  but also some slightly sour fruits, blackcurrants. Its also got a faint cheesy quality. Overall unfortunately I was not that impressed.

Neath Ales Black, this was brought to me in my christmas stocking, coool santa thanks!!
5.5%, 500mls, Neath ales black is light in the mouth, but nicely so, overall its flavours are light and nicely balanced with its body, making it very drinkable. There is bitter chocolate and rich fruit, an ash dryness, finishes with good bitterness.

Saint Petersburg by Thornbridge, is remarkable in that it drinks nowhere near a 7.7% beer. This Imperial Russian stout is beautiful to look at, in and out the bottle, to smell and taste. Beautiful mocha head, aroma is roasted malt, smoke, milk chocolate. Deep flavour, although not as huge as i was expecting, licorice, coffee, good hop bitterness alongside a little metallic edge.
One everyone should try.









Recommended by the Folk & Ale blog I picked this up on an occasional visit to Sainsbury's.
Brewed for them by Black Sheep brewery, one I've always enjoyed beers by, its 6% and damn tasty.
Very dark brown into a black, thick but small head, solid body.
Chocolate on the nose and mouth, milk chocolate, coffee with sugar, dried fruits.
Obviously much more easily available that most of the above and well worth checking out.

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.


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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.

Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival 2011- Friday review

It was friday, it was wales, it was raining.
No, actually it was belting it down in the morning to be honest, thankfully it lightened as the day wore on.
Whilst the easy transport links into Cardiff reminded me why i should go in there more often, the drunks screaming at each other in the street at 11am as i bought some lunch reminded me why i dont.

Anyway onto the CIA for the Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival 2011.

The souvenir glass this year came only as a half pint, and i soon had it filled with Otley's Saison Obscura as i wasn't going to miss it again !5.5%,  small head on a dark copper medium body. Light fresh spice, orange, light sweetness. Nice start to the day.

 With all the talk of Black IPA's across many beer blogs and none to be seen in South Wales i stuck to the Otley bar and tried their Oxymoron.
Black IPA, also 5.5% abv, pretty black (duh!) in colour. Noticeably mostly to me for a pine aftertaste, its also got coffee and a dominating citrus twang i couldn't put a name to. Must admit i wasn't initially sold on the black ipa style on this first try.


Another beer that i had pegged to try was the recent award winning Hopback Entire Stout. I thought it a little thin though, all be it with good coffee, chocolate bitterness. Okay, not bad, expected a bit more for a champion winter beer though somehow.

Red Kite brewery are very new, based in Carmarthenshire,West Wales, with a range of five beers, they had three i could see here. I tried the 'Gold Wing' a 4.2% golden ale, it was light and crisp, with a good drying bitterness, again citrus hop came through.
Another new brewery and definitely the closest to where i live is the new Llantrisant brewery, i believe its based in the Wheatsheaf pub in the town. 'Black Army Stout' is their first beer i was told, 3.9% abv. Thin in the mouth, no head really, light malts with hedgerow berries coming through well, possibly blackberry? It seemed more like a porter in style, it was okay, although for your first brew its encouraging to see them produce something different rather than a safe bitter.

I've never ventured over to the German bar at any of the festivals before but thought it was time to make the effort. Karg are not a brewery i'd heard of, so i plumped for their 5.0% Weissbier Dunkel. A gloomy looking wheat beer, dirty toffee in colour, it was sharp, green apple sour, banana and bready. Was it supposed to be like this?? Not totally unpleasant but unexpected and one i wouldn't try again.

Heart of Wales brewery  - Aur Cymru - a golden ale, its was quite dry, woody, medicinal and a little flat, didn't seem in the best condition.

By now the Champion Beer of Wales 2011 had been announced, going to Rhymney for their 'Dark', which i'll agree is certainly their best beer. Congratulations to them, they also took silver with 'Export' , and Otley  took bronze for 08, a previous winner itself.

 By now the place was really filing up, seemed to be more provision of chairs and table than last year, although as soon as anyone vacated chair it was pounced upon.

At this point i wandered for a bit trying to decide which to have next, one of the volunteers tried to sell me the Thornbridge Jaipur but i instead went for the 'Sequoia' which was not in the programme, (seemingly replacing their 'Lord Marples' which was supposed to be there but i couldn't spot it).
 Really good, hit the spot immediately. Biscuity, nutty, light brown in colour, nice and hoppy but not out of balance with the malts. Certainly my beer of the night.

Brains had the usual bar on display, a great photo here by Beer Lens, and they had produced exclusively their 'Strong Ale' for the festival. 6.5%,  it was less alcohol more sweetness, lightly spiced, fruity. A half was more than enough at the end of night.

Great festival, well done to all those involved.