Beer of the Month (January 2019)

[-Bezza-]

@Hoddy - shop at Hog's Back Brewery if you're interested and haven't been there. Little pricey for some of the beers but a decent range on stock. Not quite as comprehensive as Inn At Home in Guildford.

 

[Hoddy]

@Hoddy - shop at Hog's Back Brewery if you're interested and haven't been there. Little pricey for some of the beers but a decent range on stock. Not quite as comprehensive as Inn At Home in Guildford.

Agreed. But Inn at home in Guildford is closed now so actually from a wide range bottleshop point of view in that area its the best we’ve got. And it’s a range of the rochfortes ive not seen anywhere else. You local to the hogs back?

 

[-Bezza-]

Agreed. But Inn at home in Guildford is closed now so actually from a wide range bottleshop point of view in that area its the best we’ve got. And it’s a range of the rochfortes ive not seen anywhere else. You local to the hogs back?

Oh, I didn't know it had closed. Haven't been into Guildford for quite a while. I'm about 10 mins drive from the brewery.

 

[Martybhoy]

Is there a thread for February's beer of the month. Can't find anything?

 

[-Bezza-]

Is there a thread for February's beer of the month. Can't find anything?

Not sure there is. Should probably be something a little easier to get hold of though!

 

[Zephyr259]

Is there a thread for February's beer of the month. Can't find anything?

Not yet but currently it seems I'm the only one to have drank January's beer. Maybe @-Bezza- has a point?

 

[-Bezza-]

Not yet but currently it seems I'm the only one to have drank January's beer. Maybe @-Bezza- has a point?

I had the 6 and 8 last night, so will have the 10 tonight! Couldn't make it a hat-trick yesterday.

The 6 was a lot more like the Belgian beers I'm used to in flavour - full and malty, strong body and a noticeable sweetness. I've never really paid much attention to colour before and had always just seen Belgian beers as being dark so was sort of surprised to note how brown this one was, albeit very dark brown.

The 8 was visibly darker, being a very dark brown in the glass although amber when a strong light was shone through. I could really start tasting the darker malts in this one compared to the 6 - there was a toasty bitterness / dark chocolate flavour lurking in the background and the general maltiness wasn't as prominent. I think I actually preferred the 6 as the 8 just felt a bit inbetween to me, being neither one thing nor the other - it was almost like it had two flavours at once rather than the base malt and darker malts sitting in balance. I also found the carbonation level to be a bit too high for my liking.

Looking forward to the 10.

 

[Martybhoy]

I could only get my hands on the 8.

Any suggestions for February?

 

[-Bezza-]

So the 10 is now inside of me.

Poured nicely as you would expect from a bottled beer although the head didn't seem to last that long (possibly the glass). Similar in colour to the 8 although possibly a touch darker. When tasting, you can definitely tell this beer was a step-up in alcohol content being big, strong and warming. It also had an extra bitterness compared to the other two, either because it has more hop bitterness or just because of tasting the alcohol - I'm not sure. I wasn't getting any of the residual sweetness of the 6 and the darker notes weren't as obvious/pronounced as the 8; a lot more balanced overall with an even, mellow, deep, dark malt flavour.

I'm no expert beer reviewer and largely forget what one beer has tasted like when I've moved onto the next. But I do think they offered something different. Would be interested whether others are tasting the same thing as me.

Overall, I think I preferred the flavour of the 10 overall - as I said, deeper and more balanced - but at 11.something% there are only so many bottles of this that I could drink before my faculties give way. And for the extra price (£4.80 vs £2.70 for the 6), I'm not sure it was that special. Don't get me wrong, it was a quality beer and a nice treat, but just wasn't world-cup-winner "wow" for me. The 6 and 8 are solid beers too, just in a slightly different way.

 

[-Bezza-]

I see @braziliain hasn't been online much recently so in the interests of keeping the great Beer of the Month flowing, can I suggest Anchor Steam Beer (California common) as the February beer. I think this is sold in both Tesco and Sainsbury's. Great style of beer in my opinion.

 

[Zephyr259]

I see @braziliain hasn't been online much recently so in the interests of keeping the great Beer of the Month flowing, can I suggest Anchor Steam Beer (California common) as the February beer. I think this is sold in both Tesco and Sainsbury's. Great style of beer in my opinion.

I'll second this suggestion, mainly because I've just read about it in Dave Carpenter's Lager book and was going to try it anyway once I'm home. A beer tesco stock should get more people joining in.

 

[braziliain]

I see @braziliain hasn't been online much recently so in the interests of keeping the great Beer of the Month flowing, can I suggest Anchor Steam Beer (California common) as the February beer. I think this is sold in both Tesco and Sainsbury's. Great style of beer in my opinion.

Apologies all, I've been in Australia since the start of the month and my phone doesn't seem to work so I'm on an enforced digital detox! I have just managed to get on at this airbnb though so I'll start the Feb thread.

Anchor Steam beer it is.