31st March 2014

So the clocks have now gone forward (at least here they have) and soon it will be summer. I'm looking forward to taking a few these brews to a beach somewhere. For now though, I'm stuck indoors drinking these. 

Trade Winds (Scotland)

This is another beer that surprised me with how good it is. I suppose it shouldn't, it's obviously in the book for a reason. It had a very nice, sharp, almost citric edge to it. It also had a taste which belied it's pretty weak 4.3% strength. This would be brilliant for a post-work session, although it was just as good while relaxing on a Saturday evening too.

Westmalle Trappist Tripel (Belgium)

Smells like wine. It also tastes a little like wine. A wine that's been corked. A wine that's been corked and then left in the open for a couple of weeks. If you like wine you'll probably be horrified by that idea. But I don't like wine. I like beer, and as a beer this is a winner. A little bit fruity, a little bit bitter, a little bit boozy. Add all those things together and you end up with a special beer.

3rd March 2014

So this is the first blog post of 2014, I can but apologise for the delay. It's also my first blog post as a married man. I'm very grateful to have found someone who will tolerate this obsession I have developed for beer. 

Tanglefoot (England)

As you can see, it was Christmas time when I drank this during my almost annual trip to my mum's house in Britain. I had bought a few beers from my book on my previous trip to the UK, this was one of them. Unfortunately that previous trip was 18 months prior to this one, and the one I'd left there had gone all cloudy and weird. So I bought another one just to make sure I didn't poison myself. This is a pretty good beer, tastes a little bit like cream crackers, so would probably go well with a slab of cheddar.  

Köstritzer Schwarzbier (Germany)

Dark lagers are still a bit strange to me. I look at it in the glass and I'm expecting it to taste like a stout or porter. But it doesn't. It tastes like a lager that's been a little bit burned. This toastiness makes them so much more tasty than the generic lagers you buy by the shedload from your local supermarket. This has a smooth, almost creamy mouthfeel, and I can't believe I used the word "mouthfeel", I've been reading too many other beer sites. There's a danger that I'm starting to take this too seriously.