As posted in the good beer thread, but thought I'd put in here as well:
Last night, I had the following:
Brewdog Punk IPA
Brewdog Trashy Blonde
Anchor Liberty Ale
Goose Island Harvest Ale
Piratt
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
We all know what Punk & Trashy are like (good).
The Liberty Ale is a 6% American IPA. It's nice and bitter, not too strong, had a surprisingly creamy and longlasting head (something lacking from our friends from Fraserburgh. Nice and pale, but had a good grassy and citrusy push in the taste. I highly recommend it. 8/10.
Goose Island Harvest Ale - Rated one point below Liberty Ale on BA. I think that's pretty generous. It wasn't bad, far from it, but it didn't wow or excite me. It's 5.6% and I think that's part of the problem. For the colour and texture it really needs a bit of alcohol to cut through it, but it just didn't seem to ever come. It's an American Bitter (apparently) - which is very different to the Bitters over here but nevermind. I got caramel and liquorice from it. Again, not a bad head retention. It was my first dip into Goose Island stuff and I doubt I'll be back in a hurry. 6/10.
Piratt. SHEEEEEESH. I had this a while back, and I wasn't impressed. This bottle had been at the back of my girlfriends fridge for months. I wasn't expecting much, but it was truly excellent. A strong (10.5%), but like any good ale you don't know it, Belgian ale. The head is full, sticky, and lingering. The taste is sharp, there's a slight lambic taste in the background which just urges you to drink more. Nice and malty (which I love), more dry hopping would be fabulous (but then again, what beer wouldn't benefit from it? ) and an almost toasty sort of flavour. BA gives it 90, which I think is very fair. For me? 9/10.
And finally, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Anyone that has read a post of mine in this section that is about alcohol will know I'm a huge SN fan. The availability of this beer is fantastic (Asda, Tesco & Morrison's all stock it), and I urge you to try it. It's a big American IPA. Nice and hoppy, and full of flavour - spiciness being the prevalent one. The head isn't great, but because I love it so much it get's poured into my throat quicker than the head can dissipate. However, I perhaps shouldn't have saved this until last - it was a bit lost of me truth be told but I know how good it can be. Different to the Piratt, so I wouldn't want to say which is better. However, I'd go for the SN each time. 9/10. (Their Torpedo is a 9.5 - I've yet to have anything better).
And after all that, I'm NOW drinking Tesco Lager.
DrunkenJester, what was your deleted thread about? *Creep*.
I kept having grand ideas about setting up an (off forum) trading post for beer & ingredients (I originally emailed the Dons about it, they had a chat but decided it wouldn't be possible to do it through this forum) but never quite got round to it.
it's still 2 weeks green yet so I'd like to let it mellow first, I have my all grain batch but it seems very mild flavour, need to batch prime and bottle that yet so still a while for that.
