English Craft Beer

When recently in Londontown I wove my way through Borough Market on a mission: Find Utobeer. Utobeer is a craft beer shop offering over 600 rare/small batch beers from all over the world. They have a large collection of one-off UK beers that get no distribution outside of the UK, some not even outside of London. Naturally I had to buy some of these and squirrel them away in my suitcase.

With the help of the very nice man I chose three beers to take the journey across the ocean. I wanted more but stopped at three when the conversation in my head became "what clothes could I throw away to make room for more beer....."

A good friend of mine is the Brewmaster and Beer manager for Cypress Street in Atlanta, obviously I had to share them with him. So last night.... we had a tasting.

BEER ONE
Brewery: The Kernel, London, England
Beer We Tasted: IPA - Chinook, Amarillo, Nelson Sauvin hops

The Kernel is a brewery in the Bermondsey area of London (southeast). They opened their brewery in 2009 and have quite often been hailed as "the best brewery in London." I'm super jealous/sad/annoyed/happy (a range of emotions) that I just now learned about the actual brewery, but the next time I'm in London, I am on a Kernel mission. Kind of dying to try their Centennial Pale Ale and their Export India Porter.

The first thing you notice about the IPA we tried is the beautiful color on the beer- the golden hue looks inviting and well-crafted. And the taste? Delicious. Clean, precise, and crisp. You taste grapefruit from the Amarillo hops- not the fruity, tart part of the fruit, but the pith which aids in creating the lingering bitterness signature to their beers. The bitterness smooths out and leaves a lovely taste in your mouth. Sessionable. 5.8%.

BEER TWO

Brewery: Dark Star, West Sussex, England

Beer We Tasted: Green Hop

Dark Star is about an hour and half south of London, near Brighton. It began as a tiny brewing adventure in the basement of a pub in 1994. By 2001 their beers were so popular they set up a proper brewery in Ansty and eventually grew into the location they have now. Which may or may not have been decorated by Banksy.

We tasted their Green Hop. I LOVED this beer, however this is not for everyone. It is a big IPA brewed with Simcoe hops which have an earthy, piney flavor to them, but what makes this beer so amazing are the fresh green hops they put in the batch after fermentation.

When you open Green Hop the floral scent is almost overwhelming, in a fantastic way. It smells like a garden in the summer and the color is that perfect golden hue. The taste is actually quite different. It's IPA bitter then super smooth, with a quick floral hint on the front of your sip, but remarkably the only massive floral aspect to the beer is the nose. I could drink this all day. Loved. 6.5%

BEER THREE

Brewery: Oakham Ales

Beer We Tasted: Citra

Oakham Ales (forgive their bad website) is located in Peterborough, England about 2 hours north of London in the largest brewpub in England. Their beers have won award after award and they've grown from a small brewery to a large brewery and a beer distributor for European beers into the UK. 

The beer I brought home was the Citra, American Pale Ale (APA). Again, loved.

This beer is a single-hop brew with only Citra hops. Oakham were "the first UK Brewery to commercially the first brewery in the UK to brew with Citra back in 2009." Now the beer is a permanent fixture in their selection winning two Gold in the International Beer Challenge 2011 and 2012. It is clean and refreshing. The bottle says "A light refreshing beer with pungent grapefruit, lychee and gooseberry aromas leading to a dry, bitter finish" and I wholeheartedly agree. The lychee fruit taste is unusual for Americans, not a fruit we consume a lot of here, but it's refreshing. The beer is in no way sweet, it is definitely hop-driven, and I love the malty aftertaste. If I was in a pub and this was on draft.... watch out people.

I hope you have been inspired to travel to England for your own personal beer journey. If you do go, check out The Rake near London Bridge or The Cask Pub and Kitchen in Pimlico both of which have amazing selections of craft beer. It's not many places you can get craft beer in pubs in England as most of the pubs are owned by the massive breweries, so do some exploring and find a gem.

Happy Drinking!!

London!! Part Two

Day Two began... later than planned. I blame jet-lag.

After a day of work meetings I met up with one of my favorite people, Louise, and off we went for dinner at Byron Burger. Everyone had said to me 'You have to try Byron burger, it's so good', or some variation on the theme. So I did. And it was (dramatic music here) not so good. I live in America, and if there's one thing we do well, it's burgers. Though the UK often matches our skill, it was not the case here. But we got beer- wae hae! And I got to try a very tasty Wit brewed in London and not available in the States. And that's always fun.

Then we pub crawled our way through Fulham, fancy pub crawled. We did have a destination... we just never made it there.

I woke the next morning and decided I need to drag my lazy bum out of bed and for a run. It was overcast, it was threatening sheets of rain, it was perfect. Along the Thames I went!

what a pretty house boat!

Then it was off to another meeting... and finally meeting Louise at Borough Market, one of my ultimate favorite places in London. If you've never been and you like food or wine or beer, you need to run there. Quickly.

Borough Market is the country's most renowned food market and has been synonymous with food since 1014, possibly earlier. It is settled in the shadow of London Bridge and is home to over 100 food and beverage vendors- all locally grown and made foods. The high standards of produce is controlled by a food quality panel that governs Borough Market. Farmers, cheese mongers, bakers... they come right from their farms to the market to your mouth to your belly. It's a delicious, and healthy, process.

We wandered through.... and salivated....

The entrance

chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate

See? You want to go now don't you?

We tubed it back to Soho to meet some friends for dinner (even though our bellies were quite full) and I said a very sad goodbye to Louise. I miss her so! But the rest of my time would be 100% wedding focused. 

I moved to a hotel closer to the wedding festivities, the Tune Hotel at Kings Cross. It's a new super cheap hotel with three locations in London: Kings Cross, Liverpool Street and Westminster and is fantastic value for your money. You can get a room for as little as $60/night in Central London! The chain is Asian and have hotels all over Asia, they've recently expanded into London and Edinburgh. 

The style is minimalist and clean, the rooms are smaller, but the bathrooms are large and pristine and it feels like a proper hotel, not some cheap crappy budget hotel. Let's face it, I'm a bit of a snob and I just can't do budget hotels. My friend made me stay with her in one in Earls Court 8 years ago... bunk beds... I still have nightmares.

All settled, I power napped then jumped on the tube and headed for Camden. Let the wedding festivities begin!

Beer Geek Tuesday

There's a neighborhood bar I like to frequent in Atlanta called Cypress Street. On Tuesdays they have a Beer Geek night, which means they have small batch beers and do a food pairing with them.

This week I was "dragged along" by my friend Josh. He's had a rough week, I've had a rough week. Beer was needed.

The brewery of the evening was Bell's, one of my favorites out of Michigan. They only distribute to 18 states, so if you live in one of the unfortunate 38, you should think about moving.

Tonight's beer fest was centered around Bell's Hopslam. Delicious and hoppy and bitter. I love hoppy beers, and I will be bold in saying the best IPA's come from America- we do the IPA proud. 

Hopslam is brewed with 6 different hop varieties and then dry hopped with Simcoe hops, a variety from the Pacific Northwest (you are all part of the 38 states, sorry). Balanced with a generous malt bill and a big dollop of honey, they keep the beer balanced. It's kind of a craze in Atlanta. You hear people whispering "Hopslam's been released" and then like a zombie craze people rush to the local beer stores and it's gone in an hour. Literally an hour. Cypress is apparently the last bar in Atlanta to have a keg. So we took full advantage of this.

Test photos: the firelight casts more beautiful shadows in picture 1 or 2.... hm......

My brother met up with us and like the renegade he is, he said no! to Hopslam and tried a little stout action. Left Hand Milk Stout that is.

It's ok, not my favorite stout in the world, and I love me some stouts. I mean honestly, I pretty much love many things.

A few other fine selections they have that are worth trying:

Mother Earth Dark Cloud

Munich Dunkel Lager

Kinston, NC

Sprecher Black Bavarian

Kulmbacher-style Lager

Milwaukee, WI

New Holland Monkey King

Saison

Holland, MI

(that is one seriously badass monkey)

Give them a go, let me know what you think!

Beer

Beer, the nectar of the Gods.

I am a girl who loves herself some beer. Craft beer, not shit Anheuser-Busch/Coors/Miller beer. Call me a beer snob, I'm ok with that.

My love for beer began when I lived in Austin, TX and it has grown steadily through the years. Now I brew my own beer, which has been a successful adventure, about 70% of the time. (I won't share the story of the Hefeweizen that tasted like bathroom cleaner)

Below are 3 domestic breweries and beers I love. We'll start with 3 and come back to this topic. Regularly. 

Try them out and tell me what you think! And if you have favorites of your own, share, I love to try new beers.

Starr Hill Brewery

Located in Crozet, VA (close to the University of Virginia) Starr Hill began brewing in 1999 and distributes through much of the south and east coast, check out "Where to Buy".

My brother, cousin and I visited Starr Hill's tasting room recently and tried many of the beers on tap. It was the holidays, sometimes beer is a necessity.

They have a great tasting space, to the left of their bottling space-

You pay $5 to sample 6 different beers, with a very generous pour.

Our favorites were:

My choice: Monticello Reserve Ale- an unfiltered American-style wheat beer made with wheat and corn. East Kent Goldings hops. Light and smooth with a sweet finish from the corn.

Cousin choice: Festie- Amber lager. Very malty- their "tribute to the great German lager"

Hallertau hops.

Brother choice (and my second choice): Dark Starr Stout- Dry Irish Stout. This is thick and smooth and delicious. It's won more awards than any other Dry Irish stout in the country. Delicious. Perle hops.

Other favorites that weren't on tap that day are The Love (German Hefeweizen), The Gift (Seasonal Bock), and Jomo (Lager). I am not a lager fan typically, but this is so delicious. 

Shiner

I know, not a tiny craft brewery. Instead a nod to Austin for teaching me about beer. Is this the most amazing beer you will ever have? No. But it's good and cheapish and worthy of a mention.

On a hot summer day there is literally nothing as fantastic as drinking an ice cold Shiner. This could be something I heard repeatedly while living in Austin and has therefore been drilled into my head, but I think it's true.

Shiner Brewery lives in the beautiful Hill Country between San Antonio and Houston in a tiny town named..... Shiner! Shiner, Texas. 

Shiner has been brewing beer for over 100 years and distributes to 40 out of 50 states (sorry Northeast), but most Shiner beers you can only get in Texas. 

We all know about their largest export: Shiner Bock.

But here are a few lesser known brews that are worthy of a try-

Shiner Black Lager - Initially added to the Shiner family as the 97th Anniversary brew. The darkest beer they brew, but still a light, very session-able beer.  Smooth, clean but with complex malty flavors and a hint of coffee. One of my favorite Shiners. Czech Saaz and Styrians Hops.

FM 966 Farmhouse Ale - Straw-colored beer. It smells farm-y, like hay and wheat and barns. It has a hint of spice and fruit. It's taste is more complex than Shiner typically produces, which is lovely. Golding, Sterling and Meridian hops.

Anderson Valley Brewing

Located in Mendocino County, California, Anderson Valley has been brewing beer since 1987.

If I'm at a bar (I should say when, not if) and I see Anderson Valley on the menu, I will always try it. They don't distribute in every state yet, so check here to find some close to you.

Not only are their beers fantastic, they are an incredibly environmentally-conscious company. They have solar panels installed on the property which provides 40% of the company's electricity needs; they recycle everything from glass to their spent grains which go to local farmers; and their beer bottles are made of up to 65% of overall recycled content.

I haven't yet gotten the chance to visit the brewery, but from beers I've tried along the way, here are some favorites.

Winter Solstice: One of my favorite beers to drink. A seasonal ale. Dark Amber color, spicy/malty smell and taste, and the alcohol content is about 7%, but you wouldn't know it. Which can be interpreted as either awesome or dangerous. Love this beer.

Hop Ottin' IPA: Deliiicccciiioooouusssss. Citrusy- but more grapefruit than orange. Coppery color. Fantastic American IPA.

Boont Amber - I tried this last night for the first time. Piney, caramel taste, medium-bodied and easy. Session worthy. On draft at the restaurant, which is always nice.

Those are our three breweries today. Next week: three more! 

Happy Beer Drinking!