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.

Thursday 10 July 2014

IOM Beers, well Okell's that is.

I have not been the Isle of Man for over twenty years, although before that I was there every year for the twenty years in a row.  Although I do keep in touch with what is going on now over there during TT Week.

I have very many good memories from the twenty years I had visiting the IOM for TT Week, although the beer is not one of them, so this should be good.  Saying that, the twenty years since my last visit may have made a difference, also my taste in beer may also have changed in all that time.

Okell's, IPA from the Isle of Man

DSCF6331 Okells, Dr Okells IPA, Isle of Man

4.5% yellow in colour with a very thin head, sweet hoppy aroma and taste but not too bad, a nice IPA. Had this one previously but the label has changed quite recently, as you can see and it's changed its name slightly from Doctor Okell's IPA.

Okell's, Maclir from the Isle of Man

Okell's, Maclir, Isle of Man Okell's, Maclir, Isle of Man

4.4% yellow colour with a thin head, not much aroma and the taste was nothing like a Wheat Beer, in fact it was more like an IPA but it was OK.  Saying that if you order a Wheat Beer, that is exactly what you want, not an IPA.

Okell's, Aile from the Isle of Man

Okell's, Aile, Isle of Man Okell's, Aile, Isle of Man

4.7% black colour with a thin head, it sort of had a tar aroma and taste, not very good at all.

All in all, I am still not sure about Okell's but these did seem to be slightly better than I remember and I did have twenty years of holidays drinking over there.  When I say drinking over there, I really mean that, I drank loads.

Tuesday 8 July 2014

Some Good Missed Beer's

As I have not been posting since March I have missed some very good beers, today I will try to catch up with a few of them.

This is harder than I thought it was going to be, not that I haven't had a good beer or that I had too many, its just that I am still finding it hard to remember. I really should write them down as soon as possible and to tell the truth I usually do but some just sneak passed me. This list should be OK, I hope.

Wells, Sticky Toffee Pudding Ale from England.

Wells, Sticky Toffee Pudding Ale, England. Wells, Sticky Toffee Pudding Ale, England.

5.0% deep amber with a nice head, toffee aroma, very nice toffee taste. Bit sweet but very nice.

Great Newsome, Winter Warmer from England

Great Newsome, Winter Warmer, England Great Newsome, Winter Warmer, England

4.6% peep amber colour with a good head, spicy aroma and a nice Christmas taste. Although I did have this one in April.

Batemans, English B Bock from England

Batemans, English B Bock, England Batemans, English B Bock, England

6.0% deep red colour with a poor head, sort of a mild aroma, nice deep complex tasting beer. Of course it was rather strong.

Starting Again

(This is sounding repetitive, so I wont, here are some of the beers I have had over the last couple of weeks.)

Well that is what I wrote a few months ago, here I really hope to get started again.

So here are some of the new beers I had last week.

Affligem, Affligem Triple from Belgium

Affligem, Affligem Triple, Belgium Affligem, Affligem Triple, Belgium

9.5% deep gold with a nice head, nice strong beer aroma, yeasty alcohol taste, no a beer for drinking quickly but it was quite nice.

Because I did the one Affligem, I though I would do the rest of those I have had up to now.

Affligem, Affligem Dubbel from Belgium

Affligem, Affligem Dubbel, Belgium Affligem, Affligem Dubbel, Belgium

7.0% hazy dark brown colour with a good head, fruity aroma, smooth dry slightly sweet fruity taste, another good one.

Affligem, Affligem Blond from Belgium

Affligem, Blond, Belgium Affligem, Blond, Belgium

6.8% abbey blond, gold colour with a good head, hop aroma, although the commercial description says "low on bitterness" I found it to be bitter with a hoppy taste, still very good.

Affligem, Affligem Rouge from Belgium

Affligem, Affligem Rouge, Belgium

6.7% red colour with a thin head, red bury aroma, fizzy sweet strawberry / raspberry taste, not bad for a fruit beer but I do not like them, bought it by accident. How do you rate a type of beer you do not like? It was good I suppose and the others liked it.

Well I suppose that will do for a comeback, I promise I will be back very soon indeed and nothing like the time it took before.