This is an interesting one, if only because Helen originally hails from Pendle Witches country. Moorhouses, the brewer, is based in Burnley and was founded in 1865. It has won more CAMRA and international awards than any other brewer of its size. Apparently, when it reached 140 years of brewing in 2005, it celebrated with a steam train extravaganza. Find out more at www.moorhouses.co.uk.
The beer is designed to be a light golden beer, with soft, crisp and bitter-sweet flavours. It uses Maris Otter and Crystal malts, invert sugars, torrefied wheat, Fuggles hops, Lakeland water and Moorhouses own yeast. Although they describe it as a light gold beer, it looked more like a traditional copper colour to me, and tasted like a very good bitter. I liked it.
ABV is 5.1%. It does not say it is bottle conditioned, but it was hazy so I suspect it is.
Thursday 27 August 2009
Sunday 23 August 2009
RCH Old Slug Porter
Well, what was that about raining and pouring? Here's another dark ale from a brewery that I had not heard of before I tried their bitter as part of my sixty beers. The brewery in question is RCH of Weston-super-Mare and the beer was Steam Bitter - see review on July 29.
As might be expected, this is quite similar to the Red Rock Dark Ness, though it has a little bit more body that made it more to my taste. The derivation of the name is quite interesting. Apparently, in the old RCH brewery they had a problem with slugs getting into the brewery. As the beer leaves a trail down the glass as you drink it like a slug, that's how the beer was named.
Information about the contents however is almost as sparse as with Red Rock Dark Ness. Although we are informed that "...the key to [Old Slug's] nutty, woody flavours, chocolatey finish and honeyed toffee nose is quality West Country ingredients and a long maturation period - as well as adding no artificial preservatives in the brewing process", all the label tells us is that it contains barley and may contain wheat, oats, rye and spelt. No mention of hops at all, let alone the variety!
It is bottle-conditioned and the ABV is 4.5%
As might be expected, this is quite similar to the Red Rock Dark Ness, though it has a little bit more body that made it more to my taste. The derivation of the name is quite interesting. Apparently, in the old RCH brewery they had a problem with slugs getting into the brewery. As the beer leaves a trail down the glass as you drink it like a slug, that's how the beer was named.
Information about the contents however is almost as sparse as with Red Rock Dark Ness. Although we are informed that "...the key to [Old Slug's] nutty, woody flavours, chocolatey finish and honeyed toffee nose is quality West Country ingredients and a long maturation period - as well as adding no artificial preservatives in the brewing process", all the label tells us is that it contains barley and may contain wheat, oats, rye and spelt. No mention of hops at all, let alone the variety!
It is bottle-conditioned and the ABV is 4.5%
Thursday 20 August 2009
Red Rock Dark Ness
Well, it never rains but it pours - another Red Rock ale. This one is an award winning dark beer, as its name suggests. It won first place in the Dark Beers section at the South Devon CAMRA beer festival 2007 apparently.
As we come to expect from Red Rock, all they tell us about the ingredients is that it contains "spring water, malted barley, hops and yeast". It is a good example of its type, smooth, liquorice-tasting and bitter to the taste. However, I still prefer the golden ale!
It is 4.5% ABV and is bottle conditioned.
As we come to expect from Red Rock, all they tell us about the ingredients is that it contains "spring water, malted barley, hops and yeast". It is a good example of its type, smooth, liquorice-tasting and bitter to the taste. However, I still prefer the golden ale!
It is 4.5% ABV and is bottle conditioned.
Monday 3 August 2009
Red Rock Traditional English Bitter
Well, no need to explain about the brewery, as I did all of that on July 14. Again, there is little detail about ingredients, but I did manage to glean from the website that they are pale malt, a hint of crystal malt and a blend of Cluster, Styrian and Goldings hops designed to produce a well balanced bitter.
This is quite a nice bitter, but I must say I enjoyed their Back Beach golden ale more. Like Back Beach, it is bottle conditioned. ABV is 4.2%.
This is quite a nice bitter, but I must say I enjoyed their Back Beach golden ale more. Like Back Beach, it is bottle conditioned. ABV is 4.2%.
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