Having Recently been down in Cork, I picked up some interesting beers in a Bandon Carry out off-license. I also picked up a few interesting bottles in an off-license in Enfield recently after a nice meal at the lovely Lee's Chinese restaurant. We arrived in time for the early bird menu it seems which is good considering we were celebrating the news that on top of the three day week I was put on back in January, the whole company now takes a 10% pay cut. That was worth celebrating so after dinner I walked up to the off-license to see what they had. Enfield used to be the home of the Celtic brew company and is home of Finnians beer, alas they have not been producing for a number of years and I was hoping I might find an old bottle. I did not but I found a few others beers to add to my collection, one of which is the Porter.
Rather than talking about each bitter, I'm just going to go over them quickly and mention which one stuck in my mind the most. All of them are English bitters. The 1698 and the ESB are both strong bitters while the Brakspear is a more traditional bitter with a lower ABV.
I enjoyed all three of these beers immensely, The English bitter seems to be a style of beer that I can drink with pure enjoyment, just like a good Pale Ale.
All three have a typical strong malt taste dominating at first and then ending up in Bitter Hops. The one I remember most though, that for me stood out was the Fullers ESB. It just had something extra, was smoother and the one I would most likely search out again. If however I can not find one, I will quite happily take either of the others with the Shepherd Naeme 1698 being my second preference.
One other thing, My Wheat beer has now been conditioning for two weeks. Last Saturday I tried a bottle and it unfortunatly tasted nothing like a proper wheat beer, however it was very Malty and these bitters reminded me of the concoction that I brewed, except mine does not have the strong bitter hops. I will certainly drink my brew and with luck it will carbonate a little more as it seemed a little on the low side. I will start my next brew this weekend.
Last night I tried this Porter I picked up in Enfield, I picked up two bottles actually as I thought I might like it from the description. This is my first beer from Wells although I have sampled one of their Young's range. This is the Wells Bombardier Satanic Mills.
If I can sum up this Porter in one word, it would be Luxurious. This is clearly a world class Porter and I would love to do a side by side comparison with the excellent Fullers London Porter I had recently. The Chocolate Malt reminds me of a Cork style Dry Irish stout of which Murphy's is probably the best known world-wide. This was much better than Murphy's, far more complex and at the end of the day is a Bottled Porter and not a Nitro Kegged stout. I know there is such as thing as a bottle of Murphy's thanks to The Beer Nut so I will have to hunt one down but I can not imagine it is as good as this. While drinking, I kept thinking I could smell a smoky aroma and sometimes I could pick it out in the taste. I thought it was my imagination but on doing a little research I found that its not just me. I have heard of smoked beers, indeed VelkyAl over at Fuggled just sampled his Smoked beer and found that it is quite drinkable. I am now in the mind to try brew one myself.
Anyway that is all for now, some excellent beers and I have a lot more to try out.
Rather than talking about each bitter, I'm just going to go over them quickly and mention which one stuck in my mind the most. All of them are English bitters. The 1698 and the ESB are both strong bitters while the Brakspear is a more traditional bitter with a lower ABV.
I enjoyed all three of these beers immensely, The English bitter seems to be a style of beer that I can drink with pure enjoyment, just like a good Pale Ale.
All three have a typical strong malt taste dominating at first and then ending up in Bitter Hops. The one I remember most though, that for me stood out was the Fullers ESB. It just had something extra, was smoother and the one I would most likely search out again. If however I can not find one, I will quite happily take either of the others with the Shepherd Naeme 1698 being my second preference.
One other thing, My Wheat beer has now been conditioning for two weeks. Last Saturday I tried a bottle and it unfortunatly tasted nothing like a proper wheat beer, however it was very Malty and these bitters reminded me of the concoction that I brewed, except mine does not have the strong bitter hops. I will certainly drink my brew and with luck it will carbonate a little more as it seemed a little on the low side. I will start my next brew this weekend.
Last night I tried this Porter I picked up in Enfield, I picked up two bottles actually as I thought I might like it from the description. This is my first beer from Wells although I have sampled one of their Young's range. This is the Wells Bombardier Satanic Mills.
If I can sum up this Porter in one word, it would be Luxurious. This is clearly a world class Porter and I would love to do a side by side comparison with the excellent Fullers London Porter I had recently. The Chocolate Malt reminds me of a Cork style Dry Irish stout of which Murphy's is probably the best known world-wide. This was much better than Murphy's, far more complex and at the end of the day is a Bottled Porter and not a Nitro Kegged stout. I know there is such as thing as a bottle of Murphy's thanks to The Beer Nut so I will have to hunt one down but I can not imagine it is as good as this. While drinking, I kept thinking I could smell a smoky aroma and sometimes I could pick it out in the taste. I thought it was my imagination but on doing a little research I found that its not just me. I have heard of smoked beers, indeed VelkyAl over at Fuggled just sampled his Smoked beer and found that it is quite drinkable. I am now in the mind to try brew one myself.
Anyway that is all for now, some excellent beers and I have a lot more to try out.
Fuller's ESB is a lovely beer, I had one of them in Sheridan's when we were down in Galway, though that might a way to drive for a bottle of beer!
ReplyDeleteEnglish ales, much better than than irish stuff at the moment anyhow
ReplyDelete