Friday Night Football

Didn't go out this Friday, three times in a row now but stayed in and watched the football. Boro (Middlesbrough F.C.) my local club were playing Doncaster, it was Boro's first time on TV for what seemed like ages.  Boro have just sacked their manager this week as they are struggling in the league, in 2013 they have won just 5 games from 33 played.

Anyway tonight we won 4 - 0,  make that 6 games from 33 played and I had two new beers, both IPAs.

I would usually save these beers for Saturday night with Jonathan but he is sick of gold coloured, citrus tasting, hoppy beers.  To tell the truth so am I, most of the beers coming from the smaller brewers are Pale Ales, IPAs, Golden Ales, Blond Ales and they all look and taste the same.   Beers for the youth market, beers that are not too unlike the lagers they have been drinking.

I think tonight (Saturday) we will be drinking mainly bitters, stouts and wheat beers.

Growler, IPA ian & Paul’s ale from England

3.5% deep gold with a thin head, hoppy aroma, some caramel in the hoppy taste. Tasted stronger far than it's 3.5%.

Salisbury, Sarum IPA from Engalnd

4.3% gold colour with a thin head, sweet fruity aroma but a slightly watery hoppy taste.

This theme of citrus tasting hoppy beers, is continued here.

My Top Ten Canned Beers

I have often read or heard it said that you can not get a decent beer in a can, well as with lots of other popular misconception about beer, I disagree and think you can (not intended to be a pun but it is fitting).

Although I must admit some canned beers are dreadful but they would still be dreadful in bottles or on draught. Many of these are what we often refer to as Tramp Juice, very strong lagers used purely to get inebriated fast, with no regard for taste.

The beer I will list here are beers that I consider very drinkable in the canned form. Most of these beers have already been covered in my other Top Tens but it is worth mentioning that the cans are just as good.

Tetley's, Original Bitter from England

3.6%. amber colour with a thin head, malt aroma, and dry bitter malt taste.  I think this could possibly be the best mass produced canned beer in the world but it has to be this one, the original, not the smooth stuff, I do not like that one at all.   This is an old review and I am not a sure as I once was, since production has moved away from Leeds and Yorkshire but I am willing to see how it settles out.

Grimbergen, Blond from Belgium

6.7%, gold colour with thin head, sweet aroma and fruity malty taste, a really nice abbey beer, even in cans. In Belgium, cans cost more than bottles but you have to pay a refundable deposit on the bottles, so if I am bringing beer home to England it is cheaper to buy the cans.

Badger, Tangle Foot from England

5.0% deep gold colour with a poor head, fruity aroma, slightly malty with some fruit flavour, quite a good drink, even in a can.

Jenlain, Ambrée from France

7.5% amber colour with a nice head, fruity aroma, sweetish but strong malty taste, very nice, one of the best French beers I have had so far, even in cans and better than the Blonde.

Grafenwalder, Hefe Weissbier from Germany

5.0% cloudy gold with a thin head, normal weissbier banana yeast aroma, taste is yeasty banana with some bitter citrus but very slightly lacking in body although still very nice. A good hefe weissbier from Germany, only available in cans and plastic bottles, from Lidl this beer is very good and cheap as well. Photos of the old and new labels.

Morland, Old Speckled Hen from England

5.2%, amber colour with a head that disappeared fairly quickly, malty aroma, bitter, liquorice malt taste, drink this one quite often, I like it a lot, even from the can.

Pelforth, 3 Malts from France

6.9% deep amber colour with a good head, slight caramel aroma, caramel malt taste, very nice.

Hoegaarden, Witbier from Belgium

5.0% pale yellow colour with a good head, slight citrus aroma, nice citrusy yeast though quite a thin tasting Witbier but very enjoyable, I like it a lot and it is usually reasonably priced.  One of the best, even in cans.

Marston's, Pedigree from England

4.5% amber colour with a good head, malt aroma, roasted malt taste, a good reliable beer.

Wychwood, Hobgoblin from England

5.2% very dark amber with a thin head, fruity hop aroma, nice creamy malt taste, very good beer.

Doing this blog, I have found a lot more than ten canned bees that I would drink regularly if I had the chance, so the beers above are just a selection of the caned beers that I think are very drinkable.  You may disagree and that is your prerogative.   I am sorry to say I did fine a lot more of the Tramp Juice type canned beer than I thought I would.

Maybe a Top Ten Canned beers to avoid next.

One last thing, cans are so convenient and very often much less money than the bottled version.  

All my Top Tens

Getting back to normal

My back (sciatica) is still the same but I seem to be managing the pain batter with the right mix of drugs now. I have had scans and X-rays and have a ruptured disk, -- from Wikipedia -- Spinal disc herniation pressing on one of the lumbar or sacral nerve roots is the primary cause of sciatica, being present in about 90% of cases. Sciatica caused by pressure from a disc herniation and swelling of surrounding tissue can spontaneously subside if the tear in the disc heals and the pulposus extrusion and inflammation cease. -- let's hope so.

What this means is, I can type again (still only with two fingers though) and can therefore, get on with a large backlog of beer photos and reviews. The backlog is not a big as it could have been, as I have not been drinking much either.

I will make a start by looking as far back as last Saturday and two very contrasting beers.

Sadler’s, Mud City Stout from England

6.6% black colour with a good head, roast malt aroma, sweet mild roast malt taste very nice.

K1, K1 Premium Beer from the UK

4.8% gold colour with a nice head, sweet malt aroma, fizzy but flat, watery and tasteless, an alcoholic alternative to soda water.

Some of the Beers form our September trip to France

I though a would review the beers from our France Sep 2013 trip,  these are some of the new beers I found on this trip to Picardy and Paris. We had quite a variety of beers between us some good and some not so good, so here we go and once again, in no particular order.

Haacht, Mystic Witbier met Krieken from Belgium

3.5% cherry flavoured wheat beer, red colour with a good head, sweet cherry aroma, sweet cherry taste, not for me but Dot liked it.

Coq Hardi, Blonde from Belgium

5.5% gold colour with a good but fast dispersing head, malt aroma, slightly sweet lager taste. Thought it might work like Viagra.

Jenlain, Ardente from France

3.1% deep pink colour with a nice head, summer fruits aroma, strawberry and cherry taste, another one for the girls.

Brouwerij Moortgat, Maredsous 6 Blonde from Belgium

6.0% hazy gold colour with a thin head, sweet yeasty aroma, slightly bitter sweet fruity yeast taste, very good beer and not really a new one to me but we had it in Paris.

Grimbergen, Rouge from France (yes France not Balgium)

6.0% very deep red in colour with a nice head, the aroma is of red fruits the taste is of sweet strawberry, yet another one for the girls although this one is a lot stronger.

Bretagne, Britt Blanche from France

4.8% cloudy gold colour with a thin head, yeasty aroma, slightly sweet yeast and coriander taste, very nice.

Bretagne, Britt Blonde from France

6.0% hazy gold with a poor head, hop and yeast aroma, nice citrus yeasty taste.

Brasserie de Milly, Rebelle from France

5.5% hazy amber colour with no head, not much aroma and it was fizzy and slightly sweet.

Bretagne, Britt Gwiniz Du from France

5.4% amber colour with no head, caramel malt aroma and nice caramel malt taste.

I have a load more of the bottles I bought still to drink and I think some of these bottles are from our previous trip to France in May.  In fact it could be quite some time before I catch up on the rest of the bottles and cans from both trips to France in 2013.

Cornwall Trip, the Bottle Beers

This has taken longer than the draught beers from the trip, because as well as being unwell, I had not finished the bottles until recently. Some of these bottles I also had in the draught form but I will include them anyway.

The Draught beers can be found here.

St. Austell, Proper Job

5.5% deep gold colour with a good head, sweet subtle lemon hop aroma, dry bitter citrus hop taste.

Skinner's, Corish Blonde

5.0% gold colour with a thin head, caramel aroma, fruity refreshing citrus hop taste, it says wheat beer on the label but it was more like a blonde.

Skinner's, St Piran's Ale

4.5% gold colour with a thin head, citrus aroma, malt and citrus hop taste.

St. Austell, Korev

4.8% gold colour with a thin head, a very nice lager

Lizard, Frenchmans Creek

4.8% deep gold colour with a good head, citrus hop aroma, grapefruit hop taste.

Lizard, An Gof

5.2% amber colour with a good head, caramel aroma, slightly bitter treacle toffee taste.

Wooden Hand, Black Pearl

4.5% black with a thin head, roast malt aroma, mild roast malt taste.

Wooden Hand, Cornish Gribben

4.1% gold colour with a good head, fruity caramel aroma and taste, it was a bit flat.

Wooden Hand, Cornish Buccaneer

4.3% gold with a thin head, citrus hop aroma and taste, not the best beer.

Wooden Hand, Cornish Mutiny

4.8% amber colour with a thin head, chocolate aroma, slightly sweet fruity taste although it is a bit thin.

Sharp's, Chalkys Bark

4.5% deep gold colour with a good head, floral and ginger aroma, complex citrus and ginger taste.

Sharp's, Chalkys Bite

6.8% gold colour with a thin head, melon and apple aroma, not unlike Duvel in taste.

The Cornwall Trip.