Wednesday 9 December 2009

TASTING NOTES: Innis and Gunn IPA


There is a bone of contention amongst a few of my beer comrades as to whether Innis and Gunn's oaked beers are a tasty addition to the array of Scottish ales available. I've always been fond of their standard ale, on occasion, when I'm feeling like a change of pace. Its a rich, buttery, diacetyl, malty, heavily oaked sweet ale. It certainly isn't something I would drink more than one of.

Besides the standard release I've had their 2005 special, their 2006 IPA (which differs in abv and malt/hop bill from this one) and their rum cask release. All have been perfectly drinkable. I'll be sampling three of their beers over the next few days, the standard, the rum and in today's case, the IPA.

This is a 7.7%abv, oaked English IPA. Served slightly chilled in an Innis and Gunn glass

Pours with a light amber body. No haze or cloudiness as its not bottle conditioned. Puffy, dense white head with good retention.

Aroma, not huge or overwhelming. A touch of oaky sweetness, little bit of malt and a touch of alcohol. Little bit of mustiness also. Taste, creamy, almost overly sweet hop tainted malt. Lots of honey and sweet oak. A touch of English bittering hops but certainly not overpoweringly so. Malt rich alcohol on the finish.

A bit of an oddity. Not particularly interesting or memorable. Its a little boozier than the standard ale with a handful more hops however the sweetness of the malt and overpowering oak character is a little off putting. This may be worth a peek at some point but I can't see it turning any heads. Solid, but underwhelming.

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Food and Beer pairing: Pheasant....


A late birthday present landed my way this week. Two shot pheasant, one cock and one hen. The next thing to do was turn this wild game into something very tasty. I ended up pairing the food with Brewdog's Punkmonk. This is essentially Punk IPA brewed with Belgian yeast. It gives the beer a rich Belgian nose, similar to something a little offbeat such as Orval or De Ranke XX. It does however remind me somewhat on a homemade extract Pilsner I made years back, thats not necessarily a point in its favour.

The taste was spicy and well hopped, that being said the Belgian yeast seems to split the flavours down the middle. Its an odd mix of traditionally hopped 6% IPA with yeasty, chalky Belgian character. Its solid but I think the Punk IPA still reigns supreme.

Anyways, the food. This is of course a beer blog but food is just as important in my world so this post may be somewhat of a departure from norm.

Yesterday I skinned and gutted the birds. A suprisingly straightforward process, I was expecting much more blood and turmoil.

The process was, cutting the wings off at the joint. Then pulling the tail feathers out and cutting the legs off (cutting around the bottom then pulling hard to remove the tendons)

Next, cutting off the head followed by making a slit in the flesh. Basically then pull it all apart, ripping the skin from the body. Lastly, small cut inbetween the legs and crown and yanking out the insides. Quick wash under the tap and done.

I seperated the breasts and marinated them in port, gin, salt and pepper and a touch of nutmeg and cinammon. Left to soak for a few hours.


I did the legs confit, so, a bottle of vegetable oil , season the legs and cook for 1hr 30mins on a low heat.

I made a stock witht the carcass, carrot, celery, garlic and bay leaves. Cooked down, strained, then reduced to a third. The sauce was made with diced red onion, star anise, port and stock, cooked and reduced down and finished with butter.


The breasts were finally wrapped with smoked streaky bacon, pan fried and left to rest. Then served with the sauce along with brussel sprouts with bacon, shallot, honey and cashew nuts.


Twas a fine meal all round, however the legs.... dry as a bone. I think its fair to say next time they are getting slowly cooked in a casserole. The Punkmonk went very well. Ideally something with a bit more caramel and malt and a little less hops would have gone well, something like an old ale or rich beefy stout.

TASTING NOTES: Urthel Hop It


The last Belgian IPA I had was Brewdog's attempt at an amalgamation of a dark styled hopped ale and a 'Belgian IPA'. T'Smisje IPA, which I reviewed last month was a fantastically tasty, hopped and balanced brew. Hop It was one of the first heavily hopped Belgian's I was aware of, now its time to dig in.

Its 9.5%abv, served in an Innis and Gunn class, chilled. 330ml bottle.

It pours with a rich straw yellow body slight haze and a bubbly off white, creamy head. Solid retention and a touch of patchy lacing.

Aroma is rich and spicy. Lots of Belgian yeast, zesty alcohol rich hops. Some fresh flowers, touch of lemon zest and a whack of chalkiness.

Taste, initialy crisp spicy lemon hops. Crunchy biscuity malt with a noticable Belgian character. Syrupy honey sweetness, dry lingering lavender infused hops on the finish.

A balanced and very drnkable brew. Doesn't shout out as noticably as the t'Smisje IPA which just had a much more impressive and overwhelming hop character. That said this reminds me of Duvel with a bit more sweetness. Worth a go.

Wednesday 2 December 2009

TASTING NOTES: Harviestoun Ola Dubh 18 Year

I believe its time for a special brew, on this occasion its Harviestoun's Ola Dubh. What they have essentially done is bumped up Old Engine Oil, then aged the brew in Highland Park whiskey casks of varying ages. Available are, 12, 16, 18, 30 and 40 year cask aged beers. The latter being harder to come by and featuring a heftier price tag. I opted for the 18, somewhere in the middle of the range and not much more expensive than the 12, £3.99 for the beautifully presented 330ml bottle.

In regards to the brewery I don't think I've had close to a bad release from them. Their beers, fresh on cask are some of the most sessionable and flavourful ales available. Notable releases would be Bitter and Twisted, and Schiehallion (a superbly fresh hoppy cask lager)

This was served just under room temperature in an Innis and Gunn glass, 330ml bottle.

Pours with a rich, deep, crude oil body. Fluffy tan head with great retention, some patchy lacing up and down the glass

The nose on this brew is huge. Unctuous rich, smokey, peaty malt backed up by some ester sweetness. A touch of acetone and slightly musty malt. An almost rich meat stock aroma, think bisto.... in a good way. A hint of savoury on the nose doesn't detract from it. It works

Taste, a little disappointing to put it bluntly. The body is quite thin, far thinner than the pour would lead one to believe. Spicy, malty roasted malt. Creamy caramel malt and a touch of acidic bitterness on the finish.

I really wanted this to blow me away but it hasn't. Huge aroma but let down but a thin body and not enough balls and flavour. Worth a visit perhaps but warrant the £4 price tag it does not. Alot of work has gone into making this but I'm just not convinced its paid off.

TASTING NOTES: Odell's IPA

There has been a lull in recent posts, primarily due to an increasing workload and Christmas. However, the backlog will be heartily rectified with many beer tasting notes that have been in the works.

The beer this evening is an example of a balanced American IPA. To be honest the breweries, for better or worse have a habit of making IPAs in excess of 8%, hopped over 80ibus and have as much balance as a blue whale on a see-saw. In my experience its no bad thing. I don't seem to have a hop limit, I can't remember in five years using the phrase 'this is too hoppy', however balance is a commendable attribute in brewing.

This is a 7%abv IPA by Colorado based Odell. Served chilled in a La Chouffe goblet.

Pours with a rich deep yellow body. Rich amber hues, tight creamy nicotine stained head. Good retention and some snake-like lacing up and down the glass

Nose is full of sweet, honey-infused piney hops. A hint of freshly cut grass and a touch of lavender floating around there too. Some sweet caramel malt.

Taste, crisp, oily, silky hops. Perfectly balanced, citric hop bitterness permeated with chalky, sweet malt. Lasting spicy lemon hop bitterness on the finish

A very refreshing, balanced and drinkable ale. Tastes very fresh and the abv is well hidden. Certainly a contender in the US craft import market, stands up there with Stone, Victory, Flying Dog and Sierra Nevada.