UK Weekend Beerage

It's alright, that's a Scottish Aldi. The Scots here like to rub the quality of their Aldi beer selection in our faces.

 

Ended up making an eebria order on the tail end of my new job celebrations with money I don't yet have, but hey, YODO (You Only Drink Once). So I was happy to receive in the post today from Buxton:
2x Yellow Belly
2x The Living End Bourbon BA
1x Double Axe
1x Rain Shadow
1x White Wine Saison

 

My B&M is awful! It's still full of awful Christmas beers and macro lager. It's been nigh on 4 month since I've seen any Guinness in there...

 

In the past I have used and been happy with:

Beers of Europe - particularly for German and Belgian stuff in the more traditional vein, as well as US stuff like Odell and Sierra Nevada

Beer Ritz - good range of English craft

Beer Merchants - same as above (and cheaper than Eebria with some stuff) plus they sometimes get in harder to find but popular foreign bits like Struise and Cantillon

Ales by Mail - British craft

Beautiful Beers - run by a Dutch bloke who seems to put in good research stuff to get from the continent so it normally has a good range of Dutch and Belgian stuff as well as local East Anglian wares

Eebria of course - only problem is the delivery cost if you want stuff from multiple breweries

I've also used Tiny Rebel's online shop which I believe is fulfilled by Ales by Mail. I'd recommend all of the above really, though I haven't used them in the past 2 or 3 years as I've been more inclined to just seek out beer wherever I happen to be travelling and save the delivery costs. There's also a few newer ones that look decent like Beer Revolution and Beer Gonzo which I can't speak for personally. Oh, and I've seen people talk favourably about Brewdog and Mikkeller's webshops. Finally I have also heard good things about a Dutch site called Firma Beer which seems to put a good effort into US craft imports if that's your things.

Congratulations on the new job! I'd love to go to Craft Beer Rising but unfortunately don't start until the middle of March. On the plus side I'll hopefully be moving in with a friend of a friend in Hanwell which is where Weird Beard are based.

 

On Tap or in those draught cans with the widgets I tend to steer clear, but the original cans and bottles of Dublin/West Indies Porter/FES I do enjoy when I see them going for cheap.

 

God damnit Siren... (Siren/Omnipollo Life is a Peach peach cream IPA) Can only think that it's because it isn't fresh/must have been poorly stored by the shop?


Aaand bleurgh - it's a boozy mess. Avoid.

 

Just tucking into a glass of Buxton Double Axe (10%) which I presume is a double up version of the brilliant Axe Edge. Lots of Amarillo, Citra and Mosaic hops, with wheat and oats in with the malt to add body.

I sense it would have been better fresh, as this is about 3-4 months old. It's still excellently balanced, with the sense of big hops hanging on in there, and a lovely big malt backbone that doesn't get too sweet. Amarillo is the hop that seems to remain most, giving it a spicy marmalade like quality (duly pairing it with Happy Shopper jaffa cakes), but there's also a hint of zingy Citra cutting through it all.

It's nice but I still don't think you can beat a fresh Axe Edge, which I would still rate as the best US-style IPA you can get in this country.

 

Followed by Buxton The Living End Bourbon BA (11%) one of the best imperial stouts I've had. First off lots of cocoa, vanilla and a good dose of bourbon, minus the harsh booze. As it develops you get a bit of dark fruit too as the complexity develops. Also good with Happy Shopper jaffa cakes.

 

I really like Fallen because when they're good they're really bloody good. But they can be quite hit and miss from what I've heard. Platform C was freaking amazing though.