Mena Dhu

Mena Dhu by St. Austell Brewery

Style: stout, stout porter 

Try if you like: Bath Ales 'Darkside', Guinness original, Fullers London Porter, dark chocolate, coffee, roasted vanilla flavours, demerrera sugar.

If you've read any of my previous posts, you'll know I have a soft spot for Cornwall and it's brewing output and when I visited Clovelly (actually in Devon - we 'skipped the border for a day) whilst holidaying in Cornwall last summer, I came across a half pint of this: the mighty Mena Dhu - St.Austell Brewery's signature stout. It is, simply put, sublime. It is everything a stout should be but, as Spinal Tap so elequently put it, turned up to 11. As far as I have tried, this is the perfect stout: thick, luxurious head, smooth and chocolately body with all those coffee and toasted malt notes you so crave from something so richly coloured and kissed by treacle. From amidst this mocha and hop infused fog flits the undertone of vanilla and smoke which is what gives this brew the elevation above many in its peer group. All of this and very little weight mean that you could go for a few before realising it. I enjoyed my half pint in the summer sunshine with the sea breeze wafting over my catatonic face and it didn't feel a joy out of place - who says stouts are for winter? If you can find this anywhere bulk buy the stuff. 

I have to congratulate St.Austell: they've produced something nothing short of legendary. I look forward to the day this gets some serious 'mainstream' attention.

A beer dripping with class: Schiehallion.

Name: Schiehallion

Brewery: 

ABV:

Style: pale lager.

Found it: My wife picked it up in Waitrose.

Try if you like: The dryer, hoppier side of life like Hop House 13 by Guinness, IPA's of both American and European persuasions and dare I say it, champagne!


You smell this beer coming a mile away. The nose is one of the crispest I have ever scented. Amid this current soul-melting heatwave, the intensely crisp, fresh and hoppy aroma of this wonderful lager will lift your molten soul to cool summer nights amid freshly mown meadows and sunsets golden and bronzed. Forgive me my poetic pretensions - this does smell incredible and certainly invites the drinker with tantalizing promises of refreshment and on that front, it certainly does not shy away.


Just because a beer is refreshing doesn't mean it has to be light on flavour as so many pale beers tend to be (think Corona - light on body and character sadly) - this just simply is not the case with Schiehallion and it entertains an unconventional juxtaposition: it is both refreshing and rich. The taste has depth; a depth not too far removed from treacle sweetness which is mashed down and tempered by hop bitters and the finish echoed the spirit alcohol tinge you sometimes attribute to brandy - perhaps why the champagne element is cited by the on-bottle blurb. According to said blurb, whole pressed hop cones feature in the alchemy and this may account for this floral nose and intense aromatics. It is a beer of distinction and needs to be sampled. If, like me, you prefer more malt and brown sugar with your beer, then you may find its hoppy grassiness a little overwhelming but I just couldn't ignore the complexity of this nectar's architecture and so I was seduced by it. I couldn't help but appreciate the form. I can't believe I just referred to a beer's flavour as being architecture...

Brooklyn Summer Ale

Brooklyn Brewery, NYC
ABV  5%
Found in Waitrose.
Style: "Sunny Pale Ale"
Try if you like: beers with a balance of hops and malty sweetness like Golden Champion by Badger in the UK.

I love this brewery - I really do. Their sublime Brooklyn 'Lager' is found in most supermarkets these days and has made a name for itself for being the most boisterous and flavoursome lager daring to sit in fridges and on shelves: it's a full-bodied ale in lager garters - a surprise to delight and intoxicate in equal measure. Their output seems to be gathering momentum here in the U.K. which only fills me with excitement and anticipation (they do a porter!). My darling wife bought me a selection of five beers for a little surprise on a Friday after a particularly bothersome week at work and the Summer Ale was one of these five. 

If you, like me, constantly waver between wanting a crisp, malt-flecked refreshing lager and a flavoursome traditional ale, then you have won through this achievement by the New York demi-giant: it delivers the character of a British ale with the refreshment and zest of a lager. This is also reflected in the weight of the brew which sits lightly in the stomach as much as it dances on the tongue: all the flavour of ale but with the air of a lager but not too much fizz either. There's some crisp hops breezing through the notes and the most intriguing hint of hay. Forgive me getting a little Wordsworth here but I must confess to the aroma field grass that has just been passed by rain and is now basking in rejuvenating sunshine. It's a delightful brew that captures the essence of what it is to enjoy a beer outdoors. But one; try one: you'll want more, this I assure...you. 

Warming ales for Colder Times: Barnsey by Bath Ales.

Name: Barnsey.

Brewery: Bath Ales.

ABV: 4.5% (bottle).

Style: dark bitter.

Availability: Around the Bath/Bristol area, in supermarkets. Sainsburys seem to have a decent stock around the South East.

Try if you like: Doombar, Rebellion Red, Abbot Ale, bitter, sweet malts, Gem, dark ales, stouts, chocolate and coffee.

Ale goes in seasons. The palette seems to do the same. The air is turning crisp; the leaves are kissed with burned-orange and sunset yellow and so the time has come for the drop to do the same: turn darker and richer. I tried a citrus-hopped lager on Friday night and it felt as out of place as sleigh bells dangling betwixt the legs of the Eater Bunny. Trust me, I adore this particular lager and have raved about it many times but at this time of November, it felt flat. Too light. It's cold outside and the morning air smells of wooodsmoke: it's time for dark bitters, stouts and porters. Following that Friday, I had a bottle of Barnsey on Sunday and felt at one with nature: my beerological clock synchronised with the planet and all was well. 

Barnsey delivers depth of flavour and that is the Bath Ales guarantee it seems. You're going to get chocolate, hints of coffee, brown sugar and smokiness all interlacing a hoppy bitterness that never sours the scene but leaves the wave that crashes echoing with freshness. It's a gorgeous ruby chestnut on the pour and the nose is all smoked caramel and brûlée sugar. Festive flavours seem to unravel from the background to the fore as you sip and sip: at one point, I started to be reminded of a Speyside single malt I adore as a sherried-whisky note emanated forth. 

I've drunk this burnished beauty in the summer with a barbecue; it delivers great harmony with hickory smoke meats and in the latter seasons, it is perfect with those roasts and stews. My point here really is that although it does pack the flavours of Autumn and winter, please don't overlook it when the sun puts the effort in: it isn't heavy and carries its bold flavour with the deftness of a ballerina. This brewery cannot do a single thing wrong: the flavour they get into their bottles astounds me

every time I drink one of their brews. Please believe me when I say I do not in any way work for their marketing department: I just absolutely love their ales. Barnsey is hard to find down my way (Ascot) so whenever I chance upon a bottle, it's as if it were the last bottle of beer left on the planet. I cannot fathom how anyone who enjoys beer could ever fail to adore this. Never mind the bombardment of Christmas adverts, if you want to get in the mood for the jolly season, drink one of these: even Scrooge himself would be merry after a Barnsey.

Dublin: the lighter side of porter.

Name: Dublin Porter.
Brewery: Guinness, St. James's Gate, Dublin.
ABV: 3.8%
Style: Porter.

Availability: Widely available in most supermarkets.

What I paid for mine: £1.79 (Tesco).

Try if you like: Coffee, dark chocolate, vanilla, stout, porter, dark ale.

When I'm about to drink a porter, there is a volume of expectation with a bar set extremely high by both Fuller's London Porter and the similarly syrupy Anchor Porter: I want a porter to be rich, dark, smokey and bittersweetly indulgent which both of these aforementioned ales most certainly are. Guinness have made a porter which brings forth some of these things but also foregoes and in their place are some surprises - ones that were a welcome change and a fresh interpretation of something I deeply adore: the porter.

Guinness have been 'upping their game' of late no doubt thanks to all the microbrewery shenanigans that have been dominating the brewing headlines for the past five years and anyone who has been reading this blog for a wee while will know what I think of their recent Hop House 13 lager, released as part of the 'Brewer's Project' range. Dublin porter also hails from this recent mega-engagement that the empirical St. James's Gate brewery has been making with the modern market. I'm very pleased to say that those lads and ladies in Dublin have made a porter definitely worth spending time with. At 3.8%, nobody is going to need a stomach pump before they operate heavy machinery post-Dublin consumption and you don't feel that in the head at all. What surprised me the most was that nor do you feel it in the stomach: this is a light porter. You could session this boy. That's right: session. It's that light.

However, this 'lightness' come with a compromise on indulgence: where some porters are essentially smoked-treacle-sumptuousness, Dublin forgoes the real smack of full body and as a result, has a slightly more measured flavour than you might expect from this type of beer. I feel that I must interject myself here, though, and state that this is not a negative for the brew in any way, shape or form: it simply is just lighter. I dare say it is also more refreshing than any other porter I have tried and this is what surprised me the most: it was fresh both on the nose and the tongue.

The characteristic porter treacle-brown is definitely presented in the pour and on the palette but, as I mentioned before, it is measured in favour with more a vanilla tone as opposed to the traditional dark chocolate smoke and I mean it when I say vanilla: it is most certainly there more so than the caramel the bottle cites. These smokey flavours are definitely there but they come in the echo of the finish and the memory of baking biscuit will waft from the back of your throat as you finish your drop. 

You keep going back for sip after sip awaiting the weight of the beer to come in yet it never does. You do get coffee and you do get toasted malt but a reserved delivery is the overall experience. I can really see this doing well as a beer to enjoy when watching outdoor sport in Autumn and winter and its lighter percentage will mean you can actually engage in critical analysis of the action with your comrades without needing to concentrate like a neurosurgeon. Guinness have made a good porter hear and if you do find some porters a little too sickly or indeed, find Guinness draught too thick and disappointing, this is a fantastic antidote. 

Sea Fury - finally, the storm reaches my shores!

Name: Sea Fury
Brewery: Sharps, Cornwall
ABV: 5%
Style: Special Ale
Where I found mine: Sainsbury's and Tesco for around £1.90

Try if you like: Gem, Broadside, stronger ales like Fullers 1845, dark fruits, raisins and rum, treacle.

If the majority of you, my dear readers, are anything like me, you'll be familiar with discovering a beer then spending a good hour  or two looking through the brewery's website, longingly flitting through their full range and forlornly admiring the breadth of output on offer as only one or two of the stable will ever be in your everyday reach. I often do this with Theakstone (as all I've ever seen in the flesh is XB and the gorgeously rich Old Peculier). I used to count Sharps of Rock, Cornwall amongst this company but thanks to the ever climbing profile of their most famous beer, Doombar, the rest of their paddock is seeing the light of day in supermarkets. 

One beer I particularly used to hanker for is the very one I found in my local branch of Tesco of all places: Sea Fury. Those who have read this will know what I think of Doombar (to save you reading the review - although please do! - I adore the stuff) and my expectations for this ale were set very, very high indeed. Sharps know what they are doing. They also seem to brew with my palette in mind. If that is the case, in my narcissistic mind, they brewed this beer bespoke to my own mouth. After reading it's profile on the home website, (I'll admit more than a few times) I knew we'd get along famously. How foolish And pessimistic I was to think I would never, ever possess one.

The darker side of brewery is where my preferences seem to go and when the weather turns on us here in the UK, after spending so little time with us in true heart-breaker fashion - I feel my beer-soul yearning those autumnal, stewed fruit and smoke flavours. Imagine then, how my grizzled British psyche felt when I first read the words: "An aroma of inviting roasted and dark berry notes gives way to sumptuous, fruity, malty flavour and a moreish hop finish." on the Sharps website. It danced like frolicking Morris dancers 'neath a sun-blushed maypole (Freudian slip?). I cannot begin to tell you how true to this description it is to actually drink...oh okay, maybe I will!

Rich. A wave of richness and a depth of stewed and rum-soaked dark fruits and roasted malts tumbling, crashing and rolling in biscuity malt sweetness that just keeps giving and giving and giving before receeding out to leave you in a misting of hop bitterness that never really finds a sharp edge but balances the rich sugars very well indeed. If you have tried strong ales, you'll love this and from tasting it, you'll be wondering how the percentage is only 5% abv: it does not taste like a beer of that measure: it belongs with the Old Dan's and Fullers 1845. However, it doesn't floor you as they do but it does arrest the senses and drag you down into its chestnut brown depths. Sea Fury is an apt moniker for the way the beer feels in the mouth: it is delicately carbonated and as odd as this may sound, it feels in the mouth like the churning foam seen in rough, shale-breaking surf around this fair isle's coasts. It's as if you were tasting the churn from the breakers of an indulgent, malt-steeped ocean: taste it and you will hopefully know what I mean - it is a unique mouthful that gives you a passionate, raisiny plunge. Unless you can't tell already, I think Sharps have made an incredible special ale here and it really does suit the shift from summer to autumn. I'm so exited to try this again and as with all beers I find and adore, I fear it's time being as fleeting as the summer sun: long may this furious brew batter our supermarket shelves! An absolute modern classic that has shot up into my favourites list.

Honeydew Time Machine

Name: Organic Honeydew.
Brewery: Fullers, The Griffin Brewery Chiswick, London.
ABV: 5% (bottle & tap)

Style: organic golden ale.

Availability: Available in most good supermarkets and numerous pubs in and around London and Berkshire.

What I paid: £1.99 at Waitrose.

Try if you like: Crisp, cold lagers with some actual flavour, imagine a floral, honeycomb-inflected European lager with very little hoppy bitterness.

As I write this, the sound of pouring rain is yammering on the rooftop and the trees outside the window are sagging in the wind: it is fair to say that British Summertime has gone the way of the Mayfly: deserted pastures familiar and not set to return again for another year. The autumnal damp is outstretched before us and that overcast blanket of smearing grey they call 'sky' is with is until June next year.

Beer can break the seasons. There is no need to despair. Summer sunshine can be and has been bottled. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Fullers Honeydew.

The gold of a July sunrise has been locked into every single bubble and drop of this pale straw organic brew shimmering with a colour like pale honey which, coincidentally, is what the beverage takes its name after as the bee's best is used in the brewing.

As one would expect from such a marriage, the flavour is an incredibly refreshing and sweet ballet with the dryness of hops with very little bitterness resulting at the finish. Instead, you are treated with a crisp edge and malty flourish just as the sip ends which isn't too far removed from territory usually occupied by a continental lager. 

Indeed, Honeydew is a wonderful pint to quench that dusty summer thirst with - it is instantly refreshing with a flavour that holds itself best when served chilled as you would a lager. Richness is spared in favour of keeping the whole experience light and somewhat nectared as the honey intermingles with the bubbles allowing for this to be a true Summertime quaffer. 

Every drop of this ale takes me back to summer sunsets when my friends and I would partake of a glass or three up at a pub in Harrow-On-The Hill from which we could see the microcosm of countryside they have up there and watch a fairer part of the capital be bathed in the late day glow. If you yourself ever tire of the grey and the drudgery: fill a glass with some of this beer and lay back and think of Summer.