Brewery: Ilkley
Beer: Wit Marie
ABV: 4.5%
Style: Witbier
Date: 11th April 2013
Venue: The Tap, York (Pint)
Clear for a witbier with a finger foamy white head. This has a hint of spice that desperately tries to keep things interesting. It largely fails. Drinkable but forgettable. Never mind.
Rating: 2.5 (Average)
Brewery: Treboom
Beer: Drum Beat
ABV: 3.8%
Style: Golden Ale
Date: 10th April 2013
Venue: The Swan, York (Pint)
Having never heard of Treboom at the beginning of the week all of a sudden the Beningbrough based brewery and I are getting fairly well acquainted. This bills itself as a bitter but we’re in Yorkshire so it’s really more of a golden ale if we’re going to be sticklers for detail. Thin frothy head and a thirst quenching light malty taste. The hops are better balanced in this than in many a Yorkshire session beer but it’s not particularly scintillating. Nice enough for one or two.
Rating: 3.5 (Give it a try)
Brewery: Treboom
Beer: Myricale
Style: Wheat Ale
ABV: 5%
Date: 9th April 2013
Venue: The Tap, York (Pint)
As this was brewed in aid of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust I felt compelled to have a pint of it. Apparently it’s also got some “bog myrtle” in it. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I certainly didn’t taste anything massively out of the ordinary. Similar in a sense to the Adnams Kristal White I had the day before in that it’s basically a clear golden wheat ale that delivers some tangy citrus but not all that much else. This one is better bodied than the Adnams effort though thankfully so the flavour actually stays in your mouth for more than a brief moment. Fairly enjoyable.
Rating: 3.5 (Give it a try)
Brewery: Dark Star
Beer: The Art of Darkness
Style: Porter
ABV: 3.5%
Date: 9th April 2013
Venue: The Tap, York (Pint)
Comes across to me more like a mild than a porter due to the low ABV but everywhere seems to categorise it as a porter so I’ll bow to superior knowledge elsewhere. Almost black in colour with an off-white foamy head. Burnt chocolate and coffee on the nose and, perhaps a little too predictably, in the mouth as well. Not a bad effort but a bit thin and a bit uninspiring. Worth a shot if you fancy a dark beer lacking in strength.
Rating: 3 (Worth a shot)
Brewery: Maxim
Beer: Boxing Hare
Style: Special Ale
ABV: 4.1%
Date: 9th April 2013
Venue: The Mason’s Arms, York (Pint)
A spring chocolate ale should be a recipe for disaster. Cloying sweetness was my main concern but there’s none of that at all. Instead there’s a very refreshing almost caramel like central flavour at work here. It’s a mahogany coloured ale with a medium tan head. Amongst the aforementioned caramel I also got some subtle toffee and vanilla, both of which made the beer especially pleasing. All in all, very nice, and extremely drinkable.
Rating: 4.5 (Highly Recommended)
Brewery: Adnams
Beer: Kristal White
Style: Wheat Ale
ABV: 4.2%
Date: 8th April 2013
Venue: Ye Old Starre Inn, York (Pint)
This is a funny wheat beer this one. Closer to a Belgian Witbier than a Hefeweizen, but at the same time it’s not really applicable to that style either. Rather inconsequential taste, with standard citric notes coming through only briefly. Smells slightly too tart. Clear appearance for a wheat beer. Unusual but not particularly interesting.
Rating: 2 (Not Recommended)
Brewery: Locher
Beer: Appenzeller Weizenbeer
Style: German Hefeweizen
ABV: 5.2%
Date: 29th March 2013
Venue: Restaurant Ried, Zermatt (Bottle)
Always on the look out for new wheat beers, and this one is pretty decent. A Swiss hefeweizen that comes in an appealing swingtop bottle. Smells quite bready and is very cloudy in a similar light way to Edelweiss or Weihenstephaner rather than the darker Schneider varieties. Little bit too sweet until the end when there is a fairly pleasant bitter aftertaste. Not bad, but not one to seek out if not in the area.
Rating: 3 (Worth a shot)
Brewery: Redwillow
Beer: Smokeless
Style: Porter
ABV: 5.7%
Date: 20th February 2013
Venue: Trembling Madness, York (Pint)
Another smoked porter here, but not as good as the Thornbridge attempt. There’s a lovely burnt note on the nose and a pleasant dark auburn colour that almost matches the very nice badge design. Very malty but overall a little too thin which means that the smokiness doesn’t really have the same impact on the taste buds as one would like.
Rating: 3.5 (Give it a try)
Brewery: Redemption
Beer: Fellowship
Style: Porter
ABV: 5.2%
Date: 20th February 2013
Venue: Pivni, York (Pint)
A decent attempt at matching the genius of Fuller’s London Porter, but it is nowhere near as good. Dark ruby appearance and a pleasing note of burnt liquorice on the nose. The taste has a good chocolate and burnt malt body but then the finish comes along and it all fades away far too quickly, which is a real shame as otherwise it could have been a really good porter. Still worth a go but it isn’t all that it should be.
Rating: 3.5 (Give it a try)
Brewery: Redemption
Beer: Urban Dusk
Style: Premium Bitter
ABV: 4.6%
Date: 18th February 2013
Venue: The Tap, York (Pint)
Billed as a ‘dark ale’, so in essence it’s just a darker than average bitter. Very white thin head. Fairly respectable in all areas but it doesn’t really stand out. Was quite refreshing and easy to drink but it didn’t blow my socks off. Some nice toffee notes in the taste that were a little more pronounced than one would expect. Would make a decent session bitter.
Rating: 3 (Worth a shot)
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