Feek's Friday Beer, gin (and whatever you happen to be drinking on a Friday night) Thread

[Feek]

It's been a long, long time since I did one of these but I fancied a beer and what better place to share it with than GD. Some of you may remember that I used to do this very regularly.

Tonight I'm starting off with Shipyard America IPA.

Combining finest malted barley with a whole bunch of audacious American hops. This thirst-quenching and gutsy American IPA is dry, refreshing and explodes with grapefruity citrus flavour.

A decent pour with a nice hoppy smell. Not too fizzy either (I like my beer slightly below room temperature and flat) and I agree with the official description, it's certainly dry and has a nice citrus hint.

Anyone else drinking this evening? Share your beer!



I generally go for beer that's of 'session' strength but I just popped over to the One Stop for these and the weakest is this one at 5% so stronger than I normally drink. This doesn't taste stronger though. I'm enjoying it.

The glass is from the Herm Island beer festival. I don't go to the festival but I'm generally there a couple of weeks after and the landlord always lets me have a glass.

 

[Feek]

3 for £5?

Aye - Sadly they're in the fridge so they're a bit too cold but they'll warm up relatively quickly. I would have gone over to Morrisons but I didn't fancy the drive.

The herm beer and cider festival is this weekend ! (Started on the 4th - edit)

I think they do two a year, don't they? I know the latter one has gin as well as there were loads of them left when we went last year.


I also hear that the Mermaid has had the bar extended. I'm back over for a week in October this year. I offered to buy @chaparral a pint last year but he didn't show up.

Perhaps the Guernseyites would like to come over for a session? That'd be awesome.

 

[Feek]

The starter for my evening:

Too fizzy!

 

[Feek]

They do two a year. One this weekend and one in September iirc. (I did the September one last year, it was a fantastic day. Really sunny and hot)

I go to Herm in October every year and we generally have decent weather although it seems that on one day, it absolutely tips it down. Every other day is fine, just one day it always rains. I've been with friends who have managed to get sunburn in October!

If you like a pint it’s worth visiting sark too, cheap at £3 a pint not much to do over there mind you

It's not happening. I'm not leaving Herm for Sark!

 

[Feek]

What goes with beer? Fat, deep fried in fat of course.



Nowhere near as good as a bag of decent Black Country pork scratchings, the Mr. Porky stuff is very hit and miss.

Sometimes they're OK, other times they taste absolutely foul. This is one of the 'other' times and they had that horrible, soapy taste to them. I ate two lumps of pig fat and the rest went in the bin.

 

[Feek]

That is a pretty glass @Bickaxe
I don't blame you for not buying much from Brewdog any more - I think they're massively overrated, although their gin is nice

 

[Feek]

What do you lot think of them?

Haven't tried any.

 

[Feek]

Always found it tasted of pure iron

I'm not getting that at all. Mind you, despite what I said, I'm feeling the effect of the 5%!

 

[Feek]

Next beer.

A powerfully authentic IPA, Proper Job is brewed with a blend of imported American hops. It is a real treat of a beer with a growing reputation and is loved by beer enthusiasts far and wide. Perhaps the forerunner of all modern IPAs in the UK!

A beer with no smell. I'm taking a good whiff of the glass but there's nothing!

There's not a huge amount of flavour either but it's building slightly as it sits longer in the glass I'm getting something but really not very much. It's almost a bit spicy on my tongue and is growing on me a bit.

 

[Feek]

Kronenbourg 1664 for me.
BTW what happened to
kestrel
Lamot

as you don't see them anymore?

Ben Elton used to do a piece about Kestrel, it was quite funny.

A good thread but why just on Fridays?
What's wrong with Saturdays?
In fact, what's wrong with any day of the week?

Well, it's not a school night and I generally had a few beers on a Friday after work to relax and wind down for the weekend.
Perhaps I'll do a gin thread tomorrow

 

[Feek]

Final beer of the evening as I only had three (for a fiver).

Marston's Old Empire IPA

A memorable and deceptively easy-drinking IPA. This is an authentic recreation of the beer style created for, and enjoyed throughout the Empire. Goldings, Fuggles and American Cascade hops combine to give a crisp, citrus hop aromas, with a balanced, bittersweet finish.

The strongest of the evening at 5.7% and it has the strongest aroma. I'm getting a nice deep smell from this, it's almost chocolatey in the glass. Absolutely no fizz at all from it either which is a good thing.

Everyone has heard of Marston's Pedigree which I'm not a great fan of but this is a very nice drop in comparison. If you have a One Stop near you, go and buy three bottles for a fiver!

 

[Feek]

I want toast now.

 

[Feek]

I know there's a mafia based ranking system on here but I believe they're also known as mods or moderators.
I don't blame you for mentioning Carling, Fosters and Carlsberg but there was a time where I work where you couldn't mention SKOL to the bosses.

Actually they’re known as Dons, that’s what the user title says

Oh Skol. I remember the adverts. “Skol. It’s the taste that makes you do it”. It was rank!

 

[Feek]

Despite starting this last week (and I'm pleased to see how it's continued through the week, even though it's not been Friday), I don't drink much beer these days, I'm more a G&T person.

So it's time to rebrand the beer thread! It's now the Friday Beer and Gin Thread

I'm starting off this week with a Boodles. I've never had it before, I only picked it up earlier today because it was on special at Morrison's.

I like a gin that's got a lot of juniper and this doesn't disappoint. The scent is strong and the flavour really works. I can detect a hint of spice as well but no citrus which is becoming quite common in gin these days. For a relatively cheap gin, this is a good one.

My mixer of choice is always Fever Tree straightforward four star, full fat Indian Tonic. None of your slimline stuff or Schweppes tonic here!

 

[Feek]

A nice thing about drinking gin is that the measures are small compared to a pint so it's possible to get through quite a few different ones in an evening.

Gin Mare.

Made in Spain this does evoke the med - It's another quite junipery and herby gin with thyme and olives on the nose.

Look at me "on the nose", I'm starting to sound like a drink snob but I really can tell the herbs in the smell.

It's a very solid flavour and despite this bottle having been on my shelf for the best part of a year, I really like it. I bought it Duty Free so it was a 1l bottle for less than the price of a 70cl bottle in the UK.

It makes a really distinctive G&T. It's good.

 

[Feek]

Big fan of the American IPAs.

Don't they tend to be quite heavily hopped? I like that.

 

[Feek]

Brecon gin. I first tried this at the work Christmas party last year. They had three gins, this one, Silent Pool and Tanquery 10. Out of all three, this was the one I preferred the most and when I saw it in a supermarket a couple of weeks ago for £16, I had to buy a bottle.

It reminds me of Plymouth gin which is one of my favourites - A very flavoursome gin which makes an excellent G&T and at the discount price, it was an absolute steal.

 

[Feek]

Sipsmith is a nice drop.

Berliner Brandstifter. I first got a bottle of this from an airport in Berlin last year, finished it quite quickly and my sister got me another bottle a couple of months ago. It's vanishing rapidly!

This is one of my favourite gins. It's very earthy and has a very distinctive taste, almost floral and sweet but not overpowering. I love it.

 

[Feek]

Finally for this evening it's Blue Bottle gin.

This was the first gin I ever tried and I absolutely adore it. It's very different to the others I've had this evening and is quite a floral gin. It is a dry gin (which I like) but is just so complex and utterly unique. I can't recommend it highly enough. I go to Guernsey every year and since discovering this, I always bring a couple of bottles home.

It's a great gin to round off the evening.

 

[Feek]

I know its just swilling gin but 1L Bombay Sapphire has £9.50 off in Tesco at the moment. £18 for a litre.

I'd rather have Brecon or Boodles for the same price (more or less).