Skinners Big Sister

Well, another guest ale came on not too long ago at my local pub, and it was great. From the makers of award winning beers such as "Betty Stoggs" comes a nice ale called Betty's Big Sister. Skinners brewery in cornwall unveiled this winter beer in October last year, and last week was my first opportunity to try it.

Curiously, the tap label was massive. Like about 4 times bigger than the rest of the guest ales. My fellow drinker Ricky said that it must be compensating for something. (note: not too long ago there was a christmas ale with flashing lights on the tap label- turned out to be disappointing)

But ever the optimist, I ordered a pint and it turned out to be one of my best decisions that week. These winter ales are often described as "winter warmers", but the way I see it, that just seems to mean they are more alcoholic. Big sister is a "warming" 5.3% ale, in comparison to its very much more established sister Betty Stoggs at only 4%.

Having tried both Betty Stoggs and her Big Sister, I have to say I definitely prefer the latter. Even though Betty Stoggs was winner of last years CAMRA best beer. As a dark amber ale with enough alcohol to make you merry but not ruining the flavour, big sister was very drinkable. So much so, that when I went for a breakfast there in the morning I just had to have a pint of big sister for fear of it running out!

Hobgoblin Ale

Well its fair to say that Hobgoblin is way up there in my favourite ales. It was one of the best I have tried and one of the only ones I continue to regularly buy for self consumption at partys and at home. Hobgoblin is essentially a dark brown ale, with a lovely hoppy taste and usually comes at a perfect 5.2%. It is not too expensive, but I have found it is difficult to find it on tap.

 Fortunately I have been to 2 pubs in my life that does it, one of which is in my town, and one where I used to go to university. The spinning wheel in Paignton, and the Hobgoblin pub in Bath. Both of these places pull a great pint if your ever in the area.

Above is the spinny, and below is really one of my favourite hideouts in Bath, the Hob itself.

Hobgoblin is brewed by Wychwood, who do a whole selection of absolutely fantastic ales. I will post about these ales in due course. To be honest they are my favourite brewery because other than some of the paler ales that arent to my taste, they have never put a foot wrong in my book. They are also Brewers of my favourite ale of all time, which will be revealed in the next post I guess. I also own a hobgoblin t shirt, and a hobgoblin pint glass, bought from their online shop. I hopefully will be going on a brewery tour there sometime soon, it will be awesome!

So in short, try Hobgoblin, its great. Whether in a can, bottle or draught, its usually always great.

Wessex Banger and Tom Wood's Vanilla Orchid

As the ale festival continues down at Wetherspoons, my knowledge of ales and brewery expands also. I kicked the night on wednesday off with a pint of the delicious Wessex Banger.

I had never seen Wessex Banger before, or even heard of the Cottage brewing company, so it was a nice opportunity to sample something quite rare. It is described as a mature dark fruity ale. I am going to be honest when I say that I'm not quite sure what it means by mature, maybe it is the strong flavour. It was dark, and so I was looking forward to having a pint. However, I was somewhat concerned about it being a fruity ale, I was not sure about whether it would ruin it or not. Happily, the taste of fruit was by no means overpowering and it turned out to be a good pint. If it is there still again tonight, I will certainly have another.

Another festival ale I tried was "Tom Wood's Vanilla Orchid". Once again, the idea of messing around with unusual flavours has never really served me well in the past (for example, dumpling ale and espresso ale... urgh) so I was not optimistic. However, a fellow ale fan and good friend of mine "Fred" Pearson told me that it was actually not bad.

So I gave it a whirl, and low and behold it was not bad at all. Just like with the wessex banger, the extra flavour the brewery had decided to add was not too strong and did not ruin the ale. Unfortunately I could not find a picture of it, as it was brewed especially for the ale festival alone and therefore can't be bought. I personally would not buy it again as I prefer not to have these odd flavours mixed in, but I did enjoy it.

Whilst researching the Tom Wood brewery in Lincolnshire, I discovered they make a variety of best bitters (my favourite category of ale) and there was a few of them I would love to try. Unfortunately, because it is a micro-brewery, it is very difficult to get their beer without going to one of their licensed pubs. Damn. 

Pheasant Plucker and the Noah's Ark.

Today I was invited to the pub after work by some colleagues (yeah, part of the cool kids now) and I had some ale which I have had before and trust. Pheasant Plucker is another one of those local ales like Otter Ale that can literally be found everywhere in South Devon. This is good, as it makes a fine pint.

Pheasant Plucker is brewed in Ipplepen, Devon, by a brewery called Hunters. To be fair, Hunters is more known for its flagship beer, Hunters Gold. Its not to my tastes, so I never bother with it personally. But hey, they do a good job with this one at least.

 To start the review I will mention the smell. I never really care, but when you drink you do put it quite close to your nose and I couldn't help notice it smelt a bit spicy and a bit like caramel. The thing I like most about Pheasant plucker as a fan of dark ale, is the flavour. It really is bitter sweet, I kid you not. You get both the "aaaaahhh..." of a good bitter and the "mmm" of a sweet drink. The ale is quite flat and has a thin bubbly head, which is just the way I like it.
I find that generally carbonation ruins any flavour of beer. This is precisely why you will not see me dead with a pint of Carlsberg in a pub. I will have a 'real' beer thank you very much.

The pub in question today was the Noah's Ark in Paignton. Curiously, I live less than a minutes walk away and if it wasn't for this one house, I would be able to see it from my window. However, I have only been in there 3 times, including today. This was generally because of lack of atmosphere and expensive drinks. But it turns out this is my workmates hideout for after a shift, so I guess I could get used to it. I didn't really get the full experience, as it was between 3 and 5 on a tuesday night. Who am I to complain, I got a few great pints from there today.

I have been told they also do on tap other beers by Hunters, such as half bore (4%), Gold (obviously) and Full Bore (8%!), which I am dying to try.

Cheers!

Otter Ale

I don't think this blog would be complete without mentioning Otter Ale at least once. If you check my list of favourites on my other blog, you will see that Otter is one of my favourite local Ales.

Brewed right here in devon, it really doesn't have to travel far to get to the tap and can be found in quite a lot of local pubs in the area. I would seriously recommend it, as it is very good. It is another pretty standard ale if you are out on a night of drinking. Not too dark, but not too pale. Its not a very thick beer and it doesn't have a particularly overpowering flavour, so you can drink it casually with ease.

In the words of a man called Doug Litt, "You can't go wrong with an Otter Ale". He is right on the money. You actually can't go wrong with it whatever mood you are in. If you are an experienced ale drinker, it is refreshing as a basic beer. If you are just exploring the world of ales, Otter can be a good start point.

Abbot Ale and the Churston Court.

If there was a good, delicious ale to recommend on draught, Abbot Ale would be right up there.

And so we find ourselves on my very first "Ale review". I don't know much about using wishy washy terms such as 'fruity notes' or 'tones'. I will say about colour, tastyness, and satisfaction. You know, things that real humans can understand. If I do find I learn the meaning of these words, I shall certainly explain them thoroughly before using them off the bat, as they say.

So, Abbot Ale. One of the first, if not the first, draught Ales I ever had. I thought it would be a good start point to talk about as I have had it on draught in a number of pubs, in bottles, and more recently out of a can. Abbot is brewed by Greene King in bury St Edmunds, and it is a dark amber ale with a refreshing taste. It is usually found at about 5% alcohol, which means your not going to get slaughtered after 3. It is a good all round drink that you can just keep going on until last orders (just ask my friends Alan and Wade). I would say it is not too filling, and is just the right balance of heaviness if you are looking to have a 'standard' ale for the night. 

Out of the bottle and the can, it is not so good. But it never is with draught ales. They do put up a decent fight for themselves but the carbonation is a bit more than I would want. But hey, if that is what there is and you are nowhere near a pub, go for it, it is still delicious.

Even first class oaf politician Boris Johnson likes a good pint of Abbot.

The best pint(s) of Abbot I have had on draught to date was at the Churston Court Inn, in Brixham. This lovely pub is an old church house full of character, and best of all, some sofas. There is nothing like having a good sofa in a good pub with good beer, and good friends for company.

 When Alan first recommended Abbot Ale to me, he was not wrong when he said "it sneaks up on you". I said, "Like a real Abbot?". To which he replied, "not exactly."

What he meant was, (and I'm sure Alan and Wade will vouch for me) is that you really don't realise you are drunk until it is far too late to doing anything about it.

The First Post on What-Ale.blogspot.com

Afternoon gents, allow me to kick off this blog with its first ever post. Here is a quote from one of the men who helped me decide to make a separate blog about my ale adventures, Paul Garrard.

"When a man is tired of Ale,he is tired of Life."
                                      
                                         Paul Garrard

Have fun reading this blog as it grows and matures, much like a good home brew.