Is Ireland really Guinness country?

Aren't you lucky followers!? 2 posts in as many days! The topic this time: Is Ireland really just a haven for the black stuff or can they actually brew decent beer over there? Well a family wedding has given me the perfect excuse to take a week off from revision and head over to sample the best the emerald isle can offer. I'm hoping it won't just be a week drinking the black stuff and that somewhere, secretly hidden away, there's a real ale scene that's been left undiscovered by us mainland dwelling beings. I'll be updating regularly while over there so stay tuned for updates!

Wetherspoons: friend or foe?

One of the debates currently raging in the beer world concerns if JD Wetherspoons is an asset to the beer industry or if their stack em high, sell em cheap mentality is demeaning the good name of British beer. After being hassled to update this blog more frequently I thought I'd throw my 2 cents into the discussion.

Most Wetherspoons consistently have a range of real ales on for nicely low prices. The main argument against them is that in their ambition to sell large quantities of ale, the quality can sometimes suffer. Firstly, I feel that this argument holds little weight as the quality of the beer in Wetherspoons is not significantly worse than many other reputable outlets. I can't count the number if times I've seen the Cask Marque symbol displayed with pride in a pubs window only to go in and be presented with a poor range of badly kept beer. The hurt is doubled if, for example, you end up paying £3.50 for a shockingly kept pint of London Pride. At least in Wetherspoons the damage to the wallet is kept at a minimum.

Secondly, the frequent beer festivals held by the chain bring a large range of quality ales together in one place at occasionally disgustingly low prices. I once frequented a Wetherspoons in Manchester to be greeted with a lovely pint for under £1.50!

Finally, by selling the beer cheap it means that a whole new class of beer drinkers can be introduced to real ale. Many of my friends have been converted to real ale as soon as they find out that it is often around 50p cheaper per pint. Even if they're drinking it for the wrong reasons at least it's being drunk. Furthermore, the array of 50p off vouchers provided to me as a CAMRA member don't harm the cause either.

The Last Week In Beer

Last week was quite an interesting one in terms of beer tastings. I had quite a few opportunities to get stuck in and try a shed load of different beers. The start point of the week was a trip to the JD Wetherspoons "beer festival" on Wednesday. I use inverted commas because the festival at my local Wetherspoons consisted of 4 guest ales and then the usual array of crappy Ruddles and Green King IPA. Nevertheless I got stuck in and started with a Rooster Angry Yank IPA, a 5% strong bitter using cascade and Amarillo hops, which while I found it to be relatively inoffensive it seemed to perfectly fit into my category of a pale session beer despite the IPA label. Feeling marginally let down I then opted for the Wychwood Elderwych a lovely light 3.8% golden beer. I found the beer to be highly refreshing with a lovely floral, slightly spicy finish. With the other 2 beers a stout, a style I’m not fond of at the best of times let alone at the start of spring, and a Hyde’s Plum Treat I decided that was about as much experimentation as I could handle and stuck to the Elderwych for the rest of the evening.

A christening in Birmingham provided the perfect opportunity to get out of London and hopefully find some interesting new beers. Before mounting the train there I undertook the now obligatory trip to the Bree Louise near Euston Station. Upon arriving and realising we had very little time my friend and I decided that the best course of action would be to order 4 halves in order to maximise the range of tasting available. As is often common when blind tasting a number of beers we both found 1 to be exceptionally offensive, the other 2 to be quite pleasant and the 4^th a delight. Although we disagreed upon which one of the 4 was the delight it was universally agreed on the bad one.

After arriving and settling in to the house of one of our friends who had kindly agreed to put us up for the weekend we headed out for a pub in central Birmingham; The Victoria which proved to be lovely pub with classical decor contrasted by a young lively crowd and a smorgasbord of music types. As the evening flitted away into a haze of beers and catching up with old friends alas I cannot remember masses about the beers that were drunk apart from again having a particularly nasty stout which tainted the palette for a good while and also enjoying a nice offering from the Wye Valley Brewery; Butty Bach. Butty Bach has been a beer recommended to me by a friend and as far as I can remember his recommendation was a sound one.

The next day with a few hours to kill before our train back to London we decided to visit a pub which I had found in the Good Beer Guide; the Country Girl in Selly Oak. As we arrived we were greeted by a large, brightly lit and friendly staffed pub. Luckily they were also in the midst of their spring beer festival. Overhearing our discussion about which beer to have the barmaid informed us that it was possible to order a 3 1/3 pint tasting stick with 3 different beers. Needless to say we quickly grabbed this opportunity. The highlights for me were White Horse Village Idiot; a light, golden 4.1% beer that had a nice early hop hit which descended into a refreshing fruity aftertaste and Bateman’s Victory Ale; a deceptively drinkable 5.9% IPA which after my rant last week was a nice surprise.

So all in all an interesting week with some disappointments, mainly in the form of some rather offensive stouts, but also a lot of positives coming mainly in the form of some delightful golden fresh spring beers.

Whatever happened to IPA?

When beers were first sent to India to quench the thirst of the early colonisers they were well hopped, strong tasting, high alcohol beers. The reason for this was that the alcohol and hops meant that the beer would keep on the long journey across the sea. Over time this style of beer became popular, not only in the subcontinent, but also with drinkers a little closer to home. This was the start of a fine tradition of brewing and drinking of a most classic if British beer styles.

It both shocks and annoys me that this fine tradition of British brewed IPA's has descended into an appalling concoction of low taste, low alcohol and most importantly low quality session beers. A look at the majority of IPA's around today shows a complete lack of imagination from breweries. Breweries like Green King seem perfectly satisfied to brew a low alcohol session bitter with a large amount of pale malts and a barely noticeable amount of hops and put the IPA name tag on it. Now the reason I pick on Green King is because I believe their offering of IPA to be particularly offensive (and they have now taken to dispensing it in a smooth flow variety; something I find principally abhorrent). The modern brand of "IPA" is really just a pale ale! The most adventurous thing mainstream brewers are doing with IPA now is pumping it with citra hops and saying it has a "citrusy, refreshing taste". Oh come on guys! Use some imagination please. As much as it pains me to say it some small craft breweries over the pond have got the right idea and are making some truly fantastic beers. Harpoon Imperial IPA, a recent acquisition of mine, for example is a wonderful beer. From looking at the ingredients used in their beers, it seems obvious that small American craft brewers are much keener on utilizing the freshest and best ingredients possible not just the ones made in their own country. There seems to me to be a thought held by some ale enthusiasts in this country that British brewed beer should be made using British malt and British hops; even if this does not produce the best beer.


The long serving tradition of brewing quality IPA's has died away not purely because of breweries ineptitude but also to our governments recent barrage of negatively publicity against high ABV beers. While I agree that high strength, low price beers such as Super Tennants, which are essentially glorified central heating for tramps, are a problem and should be cracked down on, it seems Gideon and his merry band in Westminster are using a sledgehammer to knock in a thumbtack. Under the guise of aiding the social health of the country, they have essentially dealt a death blow to one of our most revered beer styles.


But thankfully some small brewers are beginning to realise this and are attempting to take IPA back to its proper roots. As I write this I am sipping on a delightful bottle of Downtown Chimera IPA; a wonderful 7% nicely hopped beer. BrewDog, a slightly alternative brewery in Scotland, are attempting, with their aggressive, heavily hopped Punk IPA and their delightful 9.2% Hardcore IPA, to bring proper IPA's back into the mainstream. With the country wide launch of their range in Sainsburys this should hopefully open up a new world of drinkers to this wonderful beer style.

If breweries want to get more younger drinkers into real ale they need to start doing something adventurous with their beers. As a young drinker myself I can safely say that as long as breweries churn out the same Fuggles or Golding hopped beers with little or no imagination, the industry, and it's associated lobbying group, will continue to struggle to shrug off the classical image of bearded oldies with sandals and socks.


In summary of my rather long rant, mainstream brewers need to pull their fingers out and either start making proper beer or stop calling the rubbish they currently churn out IPA.

The trials and tribulations of a home brewer

So late last year I decided I would give home brewing a bash. With all the kit ordered I was like a giddy child at Christmas when it finally arrived. The first attempt at brewing was a woodfordes wherry kit shortly followed by a coopers Mexican cerveza. Needless to say the lager was not up to standard and further reinforced my views on the weak watery piss that taints the good name of proper beer everywhere. Anyway, fast forward 2 months for the wherry to condition and it was the moment of truth for the endless weeks waiting for it to condition. With a select tastig panel (those friends of mine willing to risk upset stomachs and possible vomiting for the cause) assembled it was time to taste. First impressions were good; the beer had a mellow flavour with a subtle bitterness.


So what have I learnt from this episode? First things first, hombrewed lager is rubbish. I'll stick to ales and cider from now on. Secondly, it is possible to brew a reasonable ale in a run down student flat. Watch this space for news of future endeavours.