If you know me or of me, you will know I like beer. Over the last few years I have been collecting photos of every new beer I have.
I now have over 2,000 individual beers photographed and have realised that many beers that I assumed I have photos of, I haven't.

This blog will be therefore be an account of my quest for new beers to photo and how I enjoyed them (or not).
My email is ralphgant@sky.com.

Saturday 12 February 2011

Leffe

Well we have had my favorite local beer, now for one of my all time favorites.
Leffe, the blonde in particular, although the Brune, Triple and 9 are very good as well.  
Leffe, Blonde, Belgium
6.6% deep gold colour with no head, sweet malt and bubblegum aroma, slightly sweet strong bubbly malt taste and a slight bitter aftertaste.

Leffe

Big bottles.

Sad photo collection

Here is a very sad photo collection  Pubs RIP soon there will be nowhere to drink

Friday 11 February 2011

Favorites

Feeling a lot better today but as there may not be any new photos and reviews for a day or two, I thought I would choose a few of my favorites (either by taste or label) and post them as a stopgap.

First one has to be, Camerons, Strongarm, (Hartlepool) England.
4.0% ruby red colour with a very good head, fruity malt aroma, fruity caramel bitter taste, also good in bottles. My hometown beer and as with hometown beers you either love them or hate them, I love Strongarm.
Nowadays, searching for new beer all the time, I do not always get to drink the beers I particularly like, so it is rarely that I get to drink Strongarm.

Camerons - the lion roars again  tells the story of the brewery over the last few years and the changes in ownership. Personally I am not sure closing one brewery to save another brewery was a good thing to do.

Camerons, Strongarm, England

Thursday 10 February 2011

Hospital

Within hours of my last post, I was in Hospital with my hart going mad. It eventually went back to normal after about eight hours but I didn't get out of there and home for another seven and a half hours. Apparently I have Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and have been advised to cut my alcohol consumption by half.
No beer reviews for a couple of days, sorry.

My arm

Wednesday 9 February 2011

England

I had a bottle of red wine with the football and then a new beer.
Banks,s, Mild, England.
3.5% dark amber colour with a poor head (not at all like a mild), malt aroma, slightly bitter, burnt malt and nutty taste.
I had, had the bottle of red wine so I do not know how reliable this tasting is.

Banks,s, Mild, England

Thornaby

Dropped the twins off at school and went straight to Thornaby town centre to look around the shops, Dot shopping for presents, me looking for new beers. ASDA had lots of beers but not one I haven't had, Lidl also had a few but again nothing new. I did find one however in Home Bargains, always worth looking in as they do get the odd different beer. Later in the big Tesco in Stockton, I was also disappointed that they had no new beers either, so I bought shoes.

Just had a lovely chicken and bacon paster bake with roast vegetables (my new signature dish), no settling down to watch England v Denmark, the only thing to decide now s what beer to have.

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Preview

Here is a preview of the beers I will be reviewing next.  They were bought in France as my Fathers Day present last year and I think it's about time I drank them.

Presentaion Box

Darlington Again

Well we had another trip to Darlington today, Dot had seen something in a shop there that we had to go back for.
I did get two new beers though and saw two others but they were nearly £5.00each, so I gave them a miss.

We picked the Twins up on the way back, we have all just had tea and soon it will bath time followed by the Simpsons and after that, when they have gone to bed, I can have a beer.

Monday

Had a day doing nothing, Dot was working.  I did get my PDA working properly again and updated the list of beers I have tried, so now I just need to remember to take it with me when I am beer shopping.  Also put new maps in the GPS bit of it, ready for a trip to Spain.
Sorry no new beers to report on.

Monday 7 February 2011

More Saturday Beers

After we had eaten we had another couple of new beers, first we had an Ilkley, Ilkley Best, England.
4.0% gold colour with a thin head, aroma and taste is hops, lots of hops, if you like your beer hoppy I think you will love this one (more of an IPA than a bitter to me).

Ilkley, Ilkley Best, England

The next beer was a Greene King, IPA Export, England and it tasted less like an IPA than the previous beer, but don't get me wrong it was good though.
5.0% darker than your usual IPA and it had a hint of toffee in the taste, nice.

Greene King, IPA Export, England

We also had a Leffe and another old one that I can not remember for some reason.

Sunday 6 February 2011

Lazy Sunday

What a miserable, wet, gray and cold day, spent it eating and watching very poor television.  This weather is making it difficult to to keep up with my 2011 Project 365, a quest to take a photo a day for 2011.

I still have some new beers from last night to review on here but I will leave that until tomorrow now.  Tonight I am taking a break from beer, I may have a vodka later though.

Fuller's Next

We then shared two old favorites Spitfire and a Bombardier before moving on to a new beer, Fuller's, Jack Frost, England, another of the beers I got in Darlington.
4.5% deep amber colour with a thin head, fruity aroma and taste but not blackberries as the label states.

Fuller's, Jack Frost, England

Wensleydale Beers

The first beer of the night was a weak Mild (as Mild should be) and it was very tasty.
Wensleydale, Rowley Mild, England, that I bought on offer in Campbells, Leyburn, in Wensleydale.
3.2%, black colour with a poor head, good roasted malt aroma and taste, a good start to the night.

Wensleydale, Rowley Mild, England

The second beer was also bought on offer in Campbells, another beer from Wensleydale.
Wensleydale, Poacher, England, a complete opposite from the previous beer.
5.0% gold colour with a good head, slightly soapy citrus aroma, hoppy orange citrus taste, good beer. There was an even hoppier beer later but you will have to wait for the next review.

Wensleydale, Poacher, England

Last night

The food was fantastic and we had some really good beers some old favorites and some new (I will review the new beers later).
We ate, drank and talked too much, all good though. Dot, Lorraine and Jane (Lorraine,s sister), sat in the dining room and talked loudly, while Jon and me moved into the the lounge and watched Match of the Day.
Even though it as late when we got home, I had a coffee and Dot had a coffee and a Cointreau while we watched part of a film.