UK Weekend Beerage

Wild beer co. Madness IPA
ABC, Hoi Polloi pilsner
Brew York, Eternal Hoptimist TIPA
Northern Monk, Neapolitan IPA

Especially looking forward to the last two...

 

Not to brag, but it's been a pretty freaking unreal beer week for me.
Returned from a trip to the US with some Treehouse beers (Sap and Curiosity 34) that were pretty special.
Followed that up with some new homebrew (El Dorodo hopped pale ale).
Then I had to go on a business trip to Germany and my US colleagues brought some freaking Trilluim (Double Dry Hopped Stillings Street and Galaxy Dry Hopped Fort Point Pale Ale).
Crazy good beer for the past 4 or 5 days. Hopefully I'll get off my butt and post some pics to the forums once I get back to the UK later this week.

 

An overbudget extension to my house has left me penny pinching in the most stereotypical scottish manner , 6 bottles of Steinhauser from Aldi is backed up by Brave New World and Axe Man IPA from the same establishment

they've still not put in the fucking plumbing so I can't get my homebrew on the go yet either

rather envious of @CwrwAmByth and @captaincoffee

 

Brave New world is now my go to beer from Aldi, still like Long White Cloud and Farmhouse Ale too. Really like Tempest beers.

 

That certainly wasn't a typical beer week for me. I do wish Aldi down here had Tempest brews.
This weekend I had pints of Timothy Taylor's Landlord, Undercurrent (Siren), and No Rest for Dancers (Lost and Grounded) at The Spaniard. Something about drinking beer in a 400+ year old pub makes it taste better. Landlord was as good on cask as always, and No Rest for Dancers was pretty good. I wasn't too impressed by Undercurrent. I've liked the other Siren beers I've tried a lot more. I also had a bottle of Ola Dubh 16 and a can of TenFIDY I had at home. I really wanted to love TenFIDY, but despite an amazing head, smell, and mouthfeel, I actually didn't love the flavor.

 

The 12? That's one of my go-to Scotches. I love the 18, but the 12 is so affordable and good. I just finished a bottle of the Eirigh Na Greine (which was just so-so) and haven't cracked my bottle of Cruach Mhona (a peated Bunnahabhain whiskey) yet. One of my favorite distilleries overall.

 

Was it the regular or the special reserve? Honestly, I like the regular better than the reserve. I drive over to the brewery once a year when I'm in the area to get 6 or so. Alan is a super-nice guy.

 

Abbeydale Absolution on cask. Awesome stuff.

 

By chance is the reserve on the flat side? I find that's usually the case with aged impy stouts.

 

I love both versions of the beer, so don't get me wrong when I say I think the regular is slightly better. The mouthfeel of both are sensational, so while I would say the carbonation is on the lower side for the reserve, I wouldn't say it was flat. The regular does produce a bigger, richer head.
The regular version is very thick and sweet, with a lot of barleywine characteristics in addition to what you'd expect from an impy stout. The reserve is toned down in those areas a bit, an picks up some additional barrel characteristics. However, despite two years in the barrel, it doesn't pick up the level of flavors you'd get from a massive bourbon barrel aged beer like Parabola or BCS. I assume the barrels have been used multiple times, so the influence is more subtle, but I don't have any source to back up that claim/guess.

 

Ardbeg 10 is my go to islay one, it's good value too especially when you compare it to ardbegs more spendy offerings

I'd definitely recommend trying some of the independant bottlers offerings too, they can be much better value than the distilleries own brands, especially for single casks. Although your really have to taste before buying

err, beer something something

 

Hey guys, I'm visiting from New York. I went to Brewdog Soho last night and had some delicious Cloudwater brews as well as a few cans to go. Also visited Waterloo Tap the day before and enjoyed that as well. Are there any other must visit pubs and bottle shops in London I should visit?

I'm also visiting Bath but I think DJ-Hophead's recent post has that visit covered. Cheers!

 

Argh...grumble, grumble...Brewdog Soho pisses me off a little considering they charge more for Brewdog beer there than at other pubs. I try not to go there unless they have a specific beer I really want.
This post has a lot of good recommendations consolidated:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/london-beer-recommendations-for-visitors.96473/
It is mostly still valid...although the Kernel doesn't do a tap room on Saturday any more.
I don't know where you are staying, but my two favorite stops are Craft Beer Co Covent Garden and Cask Pub and Kitchen near Victoria. However, that's just based on quality and selection of beer, not the traditional pub atmosphere (which these don't quite have).

 

Nice tap takeover at Small Bar, Bristol for Paris Craft Beer Week last week :

Outland BA Dried Apricot
La Debauche Chapitre 13
Craig Allan Cuvee dOscar
La Debauche Summer Oddity
Craig Allan/La Debauche Obscura

Great to see these beers reaching our shores. Good mix from low ABV black IPA in Chapitre, cucumber based beer in Summer Oddity and a lovely Wee Heavy ale in cognac barrels which was the stand out in Obscura.

 

Evening all
Started off with Allendale's Mosaic (nice), followed by a Jaipur IPA. Now on a slightly old bottle of Guinness FES....