Friday 30 January 2015

#tryanuary

Now here's one of those random Twitter-advertised events I actually agree with. An excuse to drink more different types of beer during the month of January in spite of neo-prohibitionist driven 'Dry January'. Obviously a vicious evil ploy to crush the beer industry. But let's not forget the truth; the moderate consumption of beer increases bone density and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. So all in good health, the aim of the game was to try many new 'never tried before' beers.



First up, from Adnams more experimental arm. Jack Brand Dry Hopped Lager. The crispness of a pale lager with tangerine and tropical notes. Overall quite pleasant. Next up, from Roosters new canned range, Fort Smith. A rather good beer it is too, brewed by none other than Oliver Fozard a brewer who was trained by the same master as myself. Although I would argue that Craig taught me some things that Olly didn't. Namely the five-move exploding heart trick. Nonetheless Fort Smith clean and up front with grapefruit, pine and tropical hops leading to a snappy lingering bitterness.    


January also brought some IPAs, my favourites were both the most balanced. Siren Soundwave was resiny, smooth and all tropical and citrus. Lagunitas IPA surprisingly had more body to it than hop attack. Lovely, fruity, balanced and reminded me of my first ever Goose Island IPA. Salopian Sentinel and Tiny Rebel Hadouken were both big abv, heavy malt presence with lots of Cascadian hops struggling against the tide. Not really my sort of thing.



Moving on from IPA Schlosser Alt was a class act. Lovely waves of toast malt leading to caramelly finish. On a similar note Augustiner Edelstoff was a finely tuned 5.6% export lager. Bold and malt forward yet crisp and toasty with virtually no hint of alcohols. Obviously put together by textbook perfection in brewing practice.



Bigging up the malt front also was Black Sheep Imperial Russian Stout. Which is sweetish and roasty with lots of coffee and dark fruits going on. A nice Imperial stout with good drinkability. Although to top things off I had to have a beer and food pairing somewhere down the line.


Tiny Rebel Dirty Stop Out is a smoked outmeal stout with a subtle smokeyness and brooding bitterness. A quality pairing for chip shop smokey sausage, chips and curry. A rather splendid end to the month.

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