What are you drinking ?

[jt]

Ok, so What Are You Brewing was a hotty, as topics go.

Now I'm 15 pints into a keg I only filled on Tuesday and wondering if anyone else has a favourite at the moment ?

It's my second brown with US-Oh05 and it's better than the forst, maybe Ikept the temps down a bit during the scorcher we had in januray

[Pilgrim]

Ah, so that's why I haven't got my card yet :-)

[Greig McGill]

Yeah, sorry mate. I batch them, and sometimes the pile gets a bit high. :( Hoping to get them out this week.

Sam: I didn't see a payment. We need a better system. Luckily I'm resigning in August, so it shall become Not My Problem! ;)

I know, crap attitude. I just miss life before SOBA admin!

[denimglen]

Catillon Gueze - tasty.

[Ally Mcg]

Founders Generation Ale.

Nice. So nice that its the first time I've been at Poms in while and only had one beer for more than a pint or 2.

[Pilgrim]

Had a beer tasting at a mates place on Friday night. 15 beers altogether. I won't bore you with tasting notes from all of them but a few deserve a special mention. All ratings are from 1 to 10.
Townsend Brewery Old House ESB 5% Appearance, lumpy; Taste, Fruity with hints of Apricot and some chocolate; Mouthfeel, Smooth; Comments, A Bitter Aftertaste Rating 8.
Pink Elephant Golden Tusk 7.1% Appearance, Cloudy; Taste, Very Malty with Caramel; Mouthfeel, Thick could taste the alcohol; Comments, Very nice; Rating 9 (My favourite beer of the night).
Battika 4 Originalno (Russian) 5.6% Appearance, Clear Red; Taste, Caramel; Mouthfeel, Smooth; Comments, Quite Tasty; Rating 8.
Mike's Organic Mild Ale 4% Appearance, Clear; Taste Tobacco - Like licking an ashtray; Mouthfeel, Awful; Comments, Had to eat a pile of Chicken chippies just to get rid of the taste; Rating 3 (Now this is a shame because I've been to Whitecliffs brewery a number of times over the years and used to like Mike's Mild, but I don't like what they've done with it now).
A great evening with some worthy beers an honourable mention must go to Green Man Celt; Dux Norwester; Emersons Dunkelwiess, Green King Strong Suffolk and LaTrappe Tripel.

[Steph]

Interesting what you said about the Mike's. I think it taste like an old sheep. Lanolin is the primary flavour I get from it.

[Martin Bridges]

Yesterday we went out to Hallertau for lunch. Superb as always, in every respect. I started off with a Statesman - the hoppiness really seems to have been cranked up in that bad boy. Very very nice. Then moved on to the Bring Your Daughter To The Porter. Yes, it is on, despite no mention on the website or the blackboard. Several of the staff didn't seem to know either but I persisted, and it was well worth it. Rich, dark chocolate with a hint of smokiness. Truly wonderful. I just had to take a takeaway bottle of each home with me.

And the food was excellent too. Not entirely convinced by the green walls in the bar though...

And tonight I shall be visiting Galbraiths to try and get me some PKB. Dark beer heaven these last couple of days.

[Barry]

PKB is on? Is that official?

[Reviled]

Cant go past Hallertau's food IMO, I need to get out there for dinner cos theyve changed the menu!

[David Wood]

Darkies for me tonight. A rigger each of Emerson's Hoppy Porter and Founders Short n Stout to celebrate the end of my uni exams.
Drinking the EHP now, seems a bit thin bodied but is improving as it warms. The smoked malt is there, but not too strong. It is definately hoppier than a normal porter - but not much. Maybe I'm unfairly comparing it to all the PKB I've been drinking.

[Martin Bridges]

Pot Kettle Black at Galbraith's last night. A serious beer, certainly much bigger this year than last. It suffered a bit from being served too cold (as usual for guest non-lagers at Galbraith's) but opened up as it warmed up. I was impressed with the way that the hops and roast remained in balance on the palate, but the lasting impression was of roast, which persisted into a very long aftertaste. As I mused on this on the bus home I decided that the fact that the roast was the main thing I could remember meant that this wasn't really a Black IPA. An excellent beer it is, but an IPA should leave me thinking of hops. Not only hops, but hops should be fairly prominent in my sense memory. Maybe the absence of dry-hopping contributed to this?

Sadly I doubt I'll be able to get back for another try and further consideration and pondering this week, though I would definitely like to.

[Stu McKinlay]

It's defnitely a porter Martin... the Black IPA thing is just a bit of a laugh. Everyone else has an IPA that's not really an IPA, so why can't we do a black one?

Funnily enough it was originally (2 years) intended to be a really americna brown ale... I just got carried away with the roast. This year's version is a little closer to the homebrewed versions I did in 2007 and 2008. not quite as hoppy but we're still learning about NZ hops. Anyone can use american hops because there's so much literature, NZ hops are the wild west of brewing. I'm committed.