Halloween 2013

I had to drop Dot off for a works leaving do, so I though I would pop into the pub for a beer, it is Halloween, so I got a pint of Hobgoblin.  I really like Hobgoblin but when I looked at my change I wondered if I had mislead some but no it really was £3.15, I do not get out much and no wonder.   I can get four for that on offer in the supermarket but the pub prices were not putting people off, there was a 45min wait for meals and all these people were drinking.

I bought a Bass next it was about £2.50 slightly better.   As I sat on my own, I kept hearing people at the bar asking for Fosters (which they do not have), what is wrong with the youth of today.

Reviewed before but here are the two beers

Wychwood, Hobgoblin from England

5.2% dark amber with a thin head, fruity hop aroma, nice creamy malt taste, very good beer and the beast of the bunch for Halloween.

Bass, Premium Ale

4.4% amber with a thin head, bass has never had a good smell and I find it best not to sniff it but the taste is very good, fruity, malty and caramel with slight bitterness.

Bass was once one of the biggest brewers in England, not just England, the world, and I have drunk Bass in bars in the USA and in Belgium. It is now owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev and brewed by Marston's.

Stables, Beers

As I mentioned the Stables Brewery in the last blog, I thought I would be a good idea to review all of their beers I have had. Every one I have had have been from the Sun Inn or the beer tent at Beamish museum.

Just a reminder. The Sun Inn, was moved to Beamish from Bishop Auckland in the 1970s, and the inside it is set in 1913. Most of the beers sold there are now brewed locally at the stables brewery at Beamish Hall.

Stables, Beamish Burn Brown Ale from England

4.2% hazy amber colour with a good head, fruity malt aroma, bitter malt and hop taste.

Stables, Hetton Silver Band Hall Bitter from England

4.0% hazy amber colour with a thin head, citrus hop aroma, bitter citrus hop taste.

Stables, Bobby Dazzler from England

4.2% pale gold colour with a good head, some chocolate in the aroma, a smooth beer slightly sweet with some citrus, just ok.

Stables, Old Miner Tommy from England

3.7% pale gold colour with a thin head, very little aroma, it had a hoppy bitter taste with some citrus in there, good pale ale.

Stables, Beamish Hall Bitter from England

3.8% deep gold colour with a good head, not much aroma, average bitter taste.

Stables, Bell Tower from England 

5.0% dark brown almost black colour with a thin head, burnt toffee aroma, burnt roasted malt taste. Had it with our picnic, over the road in the park sat by the bandstand. 

Stables, Silver Buckles from England

4.4% light gold in colour with a thin head, slight hop aroma, citrus hop taste but slightly watery

Stables, Mahogany Drift Bitter from England

3.8% amber colour with a good head, malt and hop aroma and a good bitter taste. One criticism though, the newly designed pump clips do not fit in with the rest of the pub.

Stables, Beamish Gold from England

4.8% review to follow.

The Sun Inn, Beamish

Visited Beamish again today with the girls (Beamish is the open are museum of the north), it is half term and we have a pass for the year, we had our picnic with us as usual.

After lunch, while the girls went to the small fair ground with it's steam driven Merry-go-round, I popped into the Sun Inn to see if they had any new beers.

The Sun Inn, was moved to Beamish from Bishop Auckland and inside it is set in 1913. Most of the beers sold there are now brewed locally at the stables brewery at Beamish Hall.

Well there were two new beers but I was driving so only sampled one of them.

Stables, Mahogany Drift Bitter from England

3.8% amber colour with a good head, malt and hop aroma and a good bitter taste. One criticism though, the newly designed pump clips do not fit in with the rest of the pub.

The other new beer was

Stables, Beamish Gold from England

A 4.8% golden bitter, I will have to try this one next time, well now I have an excuse to go back.

Citrus hop free night.

In the last blog, I said Jonathan and I were sick, of gold coloured citrus hop flavoured beers, well tonight (Saturday) we made a stand and steered clear of such beers. Of course if I am to carry on collecting new beers, I will have to go back to sampling citrus hoppy beers soon, as that is what I expect I am going find the majority of new beers to be.

Here is the full list of beers we had, some I have reviewed in the past some are new but all are a change from gold coloured citrus hop flavoured beers.  Only the new beers have new photos, the rest are from the archive.

Jennings, Sneck Lifter from England

5.1% dark red colour with a good head, roasted malt aroma and nice roasted fruity malt flavor, very good on draught or in bottles.

Einstök, Icelandic White Ale from Iceland

5.2% cloudy pale yellow colour with a good head, nice sweet fruity aroma, fruity, herby, coriander, wheat beer taste.

Einstök, Icelandic Toasted Porter, Iceland

6.0% almost black with a good head, roast malt aroma, mild roast malt taste.

Grafenwalder, Weissbier from Germany

5.0% cloudy gold with a thin head, normal weissbier aroma, taste is bitter yeasty citrus, very nice (yes I used the citrus word but it is different in a wheat beer).

Belhaven, Wee Heavy from Scotland

6.5% deep amber with a nice head, fruity malt aroma, nice warming fruity malt taste.

Petrus, Blond from Belgium

6.6% golden with a good head, sweet yeast aroma, nice crisp fruity taste (this was as close as we got to a gold coloured citrus hop flavoured beer but it wasn't).

Petrus, Dubble Bruin from Belgium

6.5%, dark brown with a good head, aroma of roasted malts and fruit, sweet caramel with a bitter aftertaste, good (did you see what  did with the photo, very witty or what).

And finally one from just last week but here again to show we avoided the citrus hop.

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.

Of course all of the beers were sampled along with some very nice food, spaghetti bolognese and fresh bread, followed by chocolate cake and cream.