I say Yes to Edinburgh

So a managed a wee trip to Edinburgh the week before the big vote. I LOVE Edinburgh. It's just one of those cities with a good vibe. I had a little spare time between work, and wondered the streets on my own taking in the buzz, the tourists, and watching the world's media (OK, well the UK's media anyway) descend like vultures on the latest news morsel to pick over (endlessly as it turned out) till the vote was done.

I had hoped to have more time and check out a few new pubs, the Hanging Bat in particular was on my list thanks to recommendations from beer gurus like Michael Kerr. Work screwed me. I had less time than I needed and therefore decided to drop into Brewdog Edinburgh which was near where I needed to be. Like the rest of Edinburgh, it had an easy going vibe but plenty of people out for a Monday night. Lots of American's in there getting their hops on.

I sampled Brew by Numbers Tripel, which I found a little chalky, there was some nice light hoppiness going on but a little too yeasty (and not spicy yeast at that) for me. Next up was a quick sip of Brewdog's This.Is.Lager., ridiculous name aside there wasn’t much more going on here than in Fake Lager. It was fine, and a decentish pils, but not worth a second go round in my view. I finished with a quick half of Brewdog's Dead Pony Club, which is still a good light, session-able IPA that made me wish I'd just started with that. I left heartbroken with two beers behind the bar which were on the list (Grand Divide Yeti and Fantom Saison) which were too big to drink that night but I had no way of getting home with me (no check in luggage). I still managed to leave with a smile on my face, until a realised I had work to do in the Hotel...

Back home I managed to add on another couple of beers from the list:

232. St Bernardus Tripel

Style: Tripel ABV: 8% From: Drinkstore.ie

Description: Poured a nice dark straw colour, hazy, with a small perfectly white head. The aroma did the normal tripel thing, yeasty Belgian spice, a bit of fruit (I’d say a definite hint of apple), but then added in a hint of smoke. Flavour was more of the light apple fruit, a green grassy hops, spice (coriander). Light to mid bodied with a definite vinous quality.

Thoughts: Ah now this is how you do it. It’s a big beer, but plenty of subtly with it too – dangerous stuff with that high ABV hidden so well (till the second glass anyway).

Score: 8

233. St Bernardus Wit

Style: Wit ABV: 5.6% From: Drinkstore.ie

Description: Pale yellow in colour, cloudy, it poured with a small white head. My notes say “damn it I’ve got the cold and can’t get much from this” so that’s enlightening… there was a hint of orange and lemon, and a fair whack of wheat too. Slightly chalky wheat flavour to start, more of that orange juice in the taste, and – if I try really hard - maybe a hint of lemon rind and lemongrass. Pretty light bodied – expected it to be creamier.

Thoughts: With so many good beer produced by St Bernardus, I came into this with expectations. While there weren’t met by the beer, it was fine without ever being exciting or particularly tasty.

Score: 6

234. Rothaus Hefeweizen

Style: Wheat ABV: 5.6% From: Drinkstore.ie

Description: Colour was on the dark side of yellow for a hefe, hazy, and a big white head. Lots of orange juice in the aroma, and a hint of winter spices (clove, nutmeg, etc). There’s more of that orange juice in the flavour, again backed up by some clove and unripe banana. Medium body and creamy

Thoughts: Quite enjoyed this, in my opinion it was better than the Unertl version I recently sampled. Would buy again.

Score: 7

Cheers

An amber wheat and a night on the town

My blogging has been very tardy this month. Holidays, work, a child, a house, and some apathy (and, to further enhance my geekiness, Hearthstone) had me doing at other things, though still trying some good beers. There's a few posts in draft that need a bit of work, but I thought I'd better knock some crap out on a quiet night in...

Saturday past brought a friend home from London (waves) and an excuse to head out with him and my usual beer buddy. We hit the Hudson  and as usual got a great section of beer, without a dragon or a cartel in sight unfortunately... I particularly enjoyed the Magic Rock Rapture on tap which was all caramel malt, citrus hops and oily goodness. Dead Pony Club did its usual light hoppy thing,  and it was nice to see bottles of Rogue Mocha Porter and Kinnegar Yannaroddy in the wild. I also tried the locally brewed Hercules Yardsman but it didn't really show me too much (but in fairness I'd had a few big flavoured beers by then so probably not really a fair first tasting).


One beer  from the list to report too:

231. Unertl Weissbier

Style:  Wheat beer. ABV: 4.9%. From: Drinkstore.ie 
Description: Toffee apple amber in colour, a slight haze (mostly induced by my yeasty pour), with a big beige head - definitely dark looking for the style (or at least what I'm accustomed too). On the aroma there's some classic clove and nutmeg spice, but there's also a hint of smoke here too. A wee bit of light toffee in the flavour, more of that clove spice, wheat, but nothing huge flavourwise - and the smoke has completely disappeared. Silky mouthfeel, mid-bodied.  
Thoughts: This was grand, and nice enough on a autumn evening, but it came across just a bit bland to me. Would try again... but wouldn't go out of my way to pick it up.
Score: 6

Just a quick note to point out the next BeerClubBelfast is taking place on Wednesday 24th September in the Sunflower - that's a new night and a new venue. I'm working so won't be there but make sure to make be jealous in the comments or on twitter.

Cheers