Golden Pints 2013

Each year Mark Dredge and Andy Mogg ask beer bloggers and geeks of the internet to vote for their favourite beers and beer related stuff of the year. After an extended break from blogging, here are my belated 2013 Golden Pints.

Best UK Cask Beer: Oakham Citra
For me, there really can be only one winner in this category: Oakham Citra. It's a beer that is well balanced, brilliantly hoppy and has me coing back for more every time I drink it. I'd go as far as saying that it's one of, if not the most drinkable beer I know. 

Best UK Keg Beer: Beavertown Gamma Ray
In 2013, there were definitely more contenders in this category than with the cask beers. I've recently been enjoying Bosko IPA from Pressure Drop, Weird Beard's Five O'Clock Shadow and Mariana Trench, but when it came down to it, it had to be the delicious Gamma Ray from Beavertown.

Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer: The Kernel Table Beer 
The Kernel's Table Beer is possibly the best session beer I know. It's low in alcohol but packs a massive hoppy punch. After a long day at the office, I like nothing more than cracking open my first bottle. It's the botted beer I drank the most in 2013 and I can't imagine getting bored of it any time soon.

Best Overseas Draught Beer: Lagunitas IPA
From the first time I had Lagunitas IPA I was hooked. I've had it every time I've seen it since. Simply a brilliant IPA, nothing more to it!

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer: Oskar Blues Deviant Dale's IPA
I'd heard really good things about this beer before I tried it. I try not to let hype get to me too much as I have been disappointed by over-hyped beers in the past, but by god did this live up to expectations - and then some! I had a couple of cans on NYE as it seemed like the perfect brew to ring in the new year with. I can't wait to get some more!

Best Collaboration Brew: Fyne and Wild Cool as a Cucumber
I only had this a couple of times, whilst it was on at the Draft House in Fitzrovia but it blew me away. It's a delicate, flavoursome and down right intriguing beer!

Best Overall Beer:Oakham Citra
As I said above, Oakham Citra is probably my favourite beer right now. Thirst quenching, balanced and beautifully flavoursome.

 Best Branding, Pumpclip or Label: Siren Craft Brew
Siren have created a place for themselves in many people's hearts in 2013 with some damn fine brews. They also have an eye for design as their packaging is destinctive and just downright cool. 

Best UK Brewery: Adnams
This was a toss up between Thornbridge and Adnams as both are incredibally consistent and are probably more consistant across a wider range of styles than anyone else I can think of.

In the end Adnams won out because of their combination of tradition and innovation. I'm not a huge fan of bitters but Southwold Bitter is my favourite. Ghost Ship has thorughout 2013 been one of the beers I have come back to time and again and lets not forget their Dry Hopped Lager which was lively and full of peaches. Innovation and Clump Sagin also kept me happy!

Best Overseas Brewery: Sierra Nevada
Sierra Nevada have been a firm favourite as long as I have been drinking their beers. Their pale ale is of course brilliant as is Torpedo. This year, I have also been really impressed with Harvest and Bigfoot.

Best New Brewery Opening 2013: Weird Beard
There have been some excellent breweries open this year. Siren have rocked people's worlds, Bad Seed have given Yorkshire another fine brewery and Fourpure have added to London's ever growing list of purveyors of top quality beer. But there could only be one winner and it has to be Weird Beard. 

Their name is great and so are their pump clips but most importantly, they brew fantastic beers. The first I tried was Five O'Clock Shadow which I have come back to repeatedly. Their Amarillo Belgian IPA was exemplary and Hit the Lights and Camden Beard (still calling it that haha!) were great too. An excellent addition to the London brewing scene.

Pub/Bar of the Year: The Well and Bucket - Shoreditch
The Well and Bucket has become one of the places I go to the most to drink. Its decour is cool, the staff  are friendly and helpful and above all else the range of beer is superd.

I also love the Drafthouse Tower Bridge, The Black Heart and The Earl of Essex but The Well and Bucket pipped them to the post. 

Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2013: Brewdog Shepherd's Bush
I've only been once so far but it blew me away. It's taken the feel of the existing Brewdog bars and amped it up. It's bigger, better and has more beers! A great addition to their growing bar chain.

 Beer Festival of the Year: Craft Beer Rising
In February, Craft beer Rising brought together an excellent selection of new and established breweries and threw some music into the mix for good measure. The setting of the Old Truman brewery was great and it had a really lively feel. Bring on CBR 2014!  

Supermarket of the Year: Waitrose
I'm not the biggest supermarket fan. I dislike their agressive business practices, lack of sustainability and the way they treat workers around the world, so I try to avoid them where I can.

However, if I do end up in one to by beer, I tend to go for Waitrose. Their selection is great. 

 Independent Retailer of the Year: House of the Trembling Madness - York
York's House of the Trembling madness has a bar upstairs serving an interesting selection of beers with a bias towards Belgian styles. Downstairs is a brilliant bottle shop. It takes in the best of British, American and global beers. It's definitely York's best beer stockist and one of the best I know of. I spent New Year in York this time around a and got a fine selection of beer from them.

Online Retailer of the Year: Ales  by Mail:
Simply, they are the one I use the most. I had a cheap bin ends case from them early in the year which had a few duds in it but also contained some great beers at bargain basment prices! Their selection is great and their customer service is good too.

Best Beer Book or Magazine: Craft Beer World by Mark Dredge
A top book. I got this for Christmas and have been dipping in and out of it on a daily basis since. It contains interesting facts and lots of stories behind the beers he talks about. It's also really nicely designed and presented. 

Best Beer Blog or Website: The Evening Brews
The Evening Brews is a website I have come back to a lot during 2013. Its well designed and features pieces from an interesting range of contributors. 

Best Beer App: Craft Beer London
I use Craft Beer London a lot and it's repeatedly introduced me to new bars and beery stuff happening in London.

Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitterer: Nate Southwood
Nate is someone I've met up with a few times over a beer during 2013. He's passionate about beer, sometimes ranty, sometimes funny and always informed.

Best Brewery Website/Social media: Fourpure
Fourpure are still very new but they have launched with a fantastically simple but clear website. They are also engaging on Twitter and are using social media well to spread awareness of their brand. 

I popped down to try their beers on a Saturday a few weeks ago and was really impressed. Their whole core range is great and they have Pilsner on the way! Check them out on Twitter and try their beer!

Food and Beer Pairing of the Year: My home made veggie bean burgers and Kernel Table Beer
Simply a delicious combination and one I have gone for on a number of occasions.

Black Beauty and Craft Beer Rising

At the end of this week, Craft Beer Rising will be taking place at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. As well as the many fine beers that the exhibitors will be bringing along, the organisers have teamed up with the Lamb Brewery in Chiswick to make a very special beer.

One of the festival's organisers (Sam Lloyd) visited the Lamb to brew something interesting and exciting for the festival. What they've created is 'Black Beauty,' a Black IPA (or India Black Ale if you prefer). It's a style of beer that is currently very popular.

They took their inspiration from fine examples of the style such as Windsor and Eaton's Conqueror, Thornbridge's Raven and Beavertown's Black Betty. They wanted to produce a dark beer, but not one with the associations that some people who are newer to dark beer styles may have of stouts and porters as being thick and heavy. So, a BIPA with its lighter mouthfeel and combination of maltiness and real hop character was just what they were after.

Sam from Craft Beer Rising brewing Black Beauty

It's been brewed with a combination five light and dark malts. The hop selection is Amarillo, Citra and Galaxy for aroma and Galena for bittering. To give an extra twist of spiciness and warmth, they've added horseradish which was chosen as a more unusual alternative to using chilli.

As you can see from the top image with this article, the name and logo design for the beer are tongue in cheek, fun and very current! It will be available at the event on keg and in a very limited edition run of fifty bottles. Some of the proceeds from the sale of the beer will be going to charity.

Personally, I think it's a great idea brewing a beer specifically for the event and also choosing a style of this sort makes it a bit more unusual. They've also promised that if it goes down well, that it could be brewed again to make appearances on Craft Beer Rising stalls at events and festivals throughout the summer.

I can't wait to try Black Beauty as it sounds like it should be delicious. Just be warned, if I like it as much I think I will, the fifty bottles may not be around very long!

Beavertown America F*ck Yeah Pumpkin Ale

Beavertown America F*ck Yeah

London's Beavertown are brewery that are pretty hard to ignore right now. They make some fantastic beers including 8 Ball which is a rye IPA and a delicious smoked porter called Smog Rocket. After trying these, I was instantly intrigued by America F*ck Yeah, their spiced American Pumpkin ale. 

We don't generally do pumpkin ales in this country, they're very much an American thing. Often released as an Autumn seasonal beer, everyone from Dogfish Head to Brooklyn and Stone have had a crack at Pumpkin ales.

I must admit, I've tried a couple of pumpkin ales that I wasn't keen on. The taste can often be confused overwhelmed by spice. It turns out I just needed to find the right one!

America F*ck Yeah is a damn fine beer. The addition of pumpkin to the mash lends it a warm earthy quality and contributes to the beautiful hazy orange colour of the beer. The best thing about this beer is its balance. There's a presence from the hops but there's also the hearty pumpkin flavour alongside a touch of sweets from the malts and just enough spice.

The beer has a beautiful aromatic quality to it, with hints of ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Every element of America F*ck Yeah's flavour profile is perfectly balanced against each other. It's a brilliantly comforting drink for the Autumn or winter and makes a nice change from using a darker beer for the same purpose.

The range of different beers being produced by microbreweries in the UK at the moment is expanding all the time. From Wild Beer Co's Saisons to Thornbridge's Vienna Lager and Camden Town's wheat beers; breweries are making distinctive takes on European and American beer styles. America F*ck Yeah is for me a beer that builds on this spirit of innovation that we have in the UK brewing scene at the moment.

Personally, I'd like to see a lot more breweries having a crack at an American pumpkin ale. It's easy for a brewery to get this style wrong by having the spicy flavours out of balance with the other elements elements of the beer. This is however, something that Beavertown has definitely managed to avoid.

There are still a few bottles of America F*ck Yeah kicking around but it is a limited edition beer, so it may now be hard to find. However, if we show Beavertown how much want them to, then they may just brew it again!

Pig's Ear Beer and Cider Festival

Hazy Iphone photo - a few beers in!

Over the last five days, Hackney's Round Chapel has played host to Camra's 29th annual Pig's Ear Festival of Beer and Cider. I popped down on its final day yesterday, to sample a few local brews.

The first thing that hit me as I entered the Round Chapel was what a great venue for a beer festival it is. A mezzanine level runs right around the hall and provides seating for the punters, whilst the open ground floor plays host to bars and stalls right around the perimeter of the room.

Throughout the week, there has been a real diversity of beer on offer, including offerings from breweries throughout the UK and also a foreign beer stall but the real centrepiece of the event had to be the Hackney bar. 

The current resurgence in London's brewing fortunes has seen a number of fantastic little breweries pop up across East London, many of them in Hackney. London Fields, East London Brewery, Beavertown and Hackney Brewery were all represented, alongside brew-pubs such as the hugely popular Crate Brewery, Howling Hops and Tap East.

I was too late to sample beers from Crate, Howling Hops or Tap East as I went half way through the final day and they had all gone. However, I did have a lovely pale ale from East London Brewery and London Fields fresh and tasty Hackney Hopster. 

One beer that I gravitated straight towards was Redemption's Fellowship Coffee Porter. It's a well balanced, deeply flavoursome dark beer with (sorry to point out the obvious!) a bitter coffee aroma. It has hints of caramel on the palate and a distinct tang from the hops. Its clear to see why Redemption has been winning awards left, right and centre and why their founder and head brewer Andy Moffat has become one of the most revered people in London brewing circles.

These events are of course all about trying beers that you haven't come across before. With that in mind, I took a recommendation from one of the bar staff and tried a 'Hammer' from the Welsh brewery Hafod. It's strong-ish beautifully balanced pale ale with a good whack of hops. It's always good to find a new beer at a festival like this and I'll aim to seek out Hafod Hammer again in the future.

Alongside the myriad of beers, there was also a well stocked cider bar, offering a great range of proper ciders from throughout the UK. It was heartening to see how popular the traditional was cider proving, as it is on a bit of a downer at the moment, much in the same way to real ale during the seventies. 

The festival was made by the friendliness of the atmosphere. Everyone working at Pig's Ear was a volunteer and they all seemed to be having a great time. They well knowledgeable and really helpful too. East London Camra should be commended for putting on another excellent event. 

Next year, I'll try and pop down a bit earlier in the week, to take advantage of the full selection of beer before any of them start selling out. Despite the fact that quite a few beers had gone by the time I got there, the selection was still amazing. It was great to see so many people enjoying good beer and a great atmosphere in a location at the heart of London's brewing renaissance. 

Next year will be the 30th Pig's Ear Festival, I wonder what treats Camra will provide to mark the occasion?