Sharpest tools in the shed!

Blog 4. Just one more week until the blog's series finale! I have decided to branch out in the beer aisle this week and bring you 3 beers from Sharp's brewery in Cornwall, England. Sharp's brewery was founded in 1994 by Bill Sharp with the ambition of brewing 500 beers a week to pay the mortgage.

I was surprised at the variety of Sharp's beers available to me in a Scottish supermarket and the 3 I have selected are: Atlantic Pale Ale, Doom Bar Amber Ale and Seven Souls Dark Ale. 3 different ales to try and see which one I  prefer!

First up, we have Seven Souls. The Dark Ale! At 5.4% in strength; I have started with the strongest 1st tonight. Was this a good idea? Only time will tell... I have poured these beers into a glass tonight to see the colour contrast between them! There is a slight liquorice aroma to this one to match its almost black colour! First sip is not what I was expecting with a hint of chocolate and coffee with a very subtle bitterness. Quite a pleasant beer and I would recommend stout drinkers to give this one a go! Overall, 6.5/10.

Second on the agenda is the Atlantic Pale Ale! Coming in at 4.5% we have an averaged strength ale. Lighter in colour to that of the Seven Souls, it replicates the typical beer. With a sweet and fruity aroma it matches its tastes with a fruity hop hit with a sweet and refreshing finish! Lovely beer and I would recommend it to the lager drinkers wanting to branch out and try something different. Overall, 8/10!

Last up for tonight's episode we have the Doom Bar! I must admit I have had this a few times before as it usually pops up as a guest ale in a few pubs from time to time but I will try remain neutral! At 4.3% we have our weakest of the evening but not a weak beer by all means! A slight hoppy and nutty aroma! Taste is good with a sweetish malt flavour with a slight floral hop flavour to it! I must say, compared to the cask ale of this beer; I much prefer the bottled version! Overall, 7/10.

That's all for this evening folks! Tonight's winner would definitely have to be the Atlantic Pale Ale! I think this may be my favourite of the blog series so far! Please stay tuned next week for the blog finale. I will try finish on a high! As usual I hope you've enjoyed this blog and please feel free to share among friends! Hopefully give you some inspiration for the weekend!

Till next week!!

The Wild Wild West!!

Here we are! The blog series finale! I have decided to go all out and leave the beer aisle behind me and indulge in the pub experience! I have just returned from West Brewery Glasgow where I have undergone top class research. West Brewery has been sitting on Glasgow Green for 11 years with a company ethos of "Glaswegian Heart. German Head". West Brewery have tours available in their micro-brewery. They have many beers to choose from in their beer-hall style pub. Each beer being available in the form of pint, stein or jug! Obviously for the blog finale we went for something more than the usual pint and opted for the stein(Purely for the craic and entertainment purposes)! I feel if I opted for the jug I would be completely incapable of writing this blog now!

Picture Stolen from Google as it was dark when I was there.

Lovely Candle Lit Beer 

First stop on our western adventure was West4, a session lager at 4% in strength. This beer was a nice light beer very easy to drink. Almost like it was made for the stein! With a citrus aroma it made the beer refreshing and crisp. The only issue with this beer was that it lacked real flavour. Overall, 7.5/10 for this beer!

Murray and Jake joining me on the beer tasting! 

Next up, Wild West! At 4.9%, this was the unfiltered lager which gave it a slightly clouded look. On first sip you could taste mild bitterness from the hops in the beer joined with a fruity aroma and citrus flavour of passionfruit. Another easy to drink beer with more flavour to it and a prolonged taste after sip which made it that bit more enjoyable. I personally would give this beer an 8/10!

Shout out to sober Leah. No such thing as a diet that doesn't allow beer! 

So for the final beer of the beer blog, I opted for the GPA (German Pale Ale). At 5.9% I feel it was this stein that tipped me over the edge. A lovely delicate beer with a floral, grassy aroma. On first sip you are greeted with a hoppy hit with a prolonged bitter taste with a long lasting flavour it was rather enjoyable. To be honest it was a nice beer but I'll give it a 7/10 for reasons I am not sure on other than it took me longer to finish this stein.

Trying to power through the last one!

Overall, tonight's winner has to the be the Wild West. An easy drinker and full of flavour. However, don't let this discourage you from the others. All very good beers and easy to get through a stein of each of them! I would also recommend West Brewery to anyone for a drink. Lovely atmosphere and a cracking beer garden. We sat inside on this occasion as it was BALTIC outside!

3 empty steins!

I hope you have enjoyed the absolute garbage I have been writing in these blogs over the weeks but that is it from me for now! If you could help me out one last time by sharing it if you enjoyed it I would greatly appreciate and leave a comment if you would like to see more in the future!

Thank you all!

Over and Out.

Forget your 6 Pack! I've the 4 pack

Back again! Sorry I've been a bit late on posting. Uni work is starting to pile up and can't even afford to have a drink. Hence why I'm back again with this weeks Student edition! I have been to the beer aisles to try and find you lot the cheapest lager available. I have a selection of 4 beers from 3 different shops. Tonight! Our guests are: Morrisons Saver Lager, Hendry's Scottish Lager, Belheather Scottish Lager and the old faithful, Tennent's lager. (I must add. Tonight is a Tinnie edition. No bottle opener required).

First up tonight is Hendry's. I picked up Hendry's in Aldi and only cost me a mere £3.08! However, only weighs in at 3.5% on alcoholic strength. Cracking of the can 6/10. First sip pleasant enough, Solid carbonation and doesn't taste completely awful! Not much else I can say really other than the tin looks like a Tennent's rip off.

Second on tonight's guest list is our cheapest and weakest of the evening! The Morrison's saver lager... £1.76 for the 4 tinnies! Absolute life saver if you're that far into the overdraft. 2% though. Non-alcoholic in my opinion... Cracking of the can 4/10. Doesn't inspire a lot of confidence... First sip; Bloody Awful! (Other opinions may vary. I've been psychologically damaged by the horrendously ugly tin).

Next up we have Belheather. Splashed out a bit on the saver menu for this one. £3.35 for the Tinnies in Lidl. Weighing in at 3.8% making it the strongest yet. Cracking of the can 5/10.. Rushed it a bit! First sip is good. Definitely the nicest lager so far. Again the can itself looking a bit like a Tennent's knock-off!

Lastly, we finish on a high with the Big Juicy! The old faithful! The Vitamin T! Only costing me £3.59 in Aldi. Cracking of the can was a bloody 10/Tennent's! The absolute pinnacle of can opening. Coming in at 4% it's also the strongest lager of the night! Honestly, compared the others from tonight it is just worth the 20p extra or however it works out. Can designed in such a way that it even looks like a pint!

I think it is fairly obvious the winner of the evening is the old faithful, Tennent's. It is just the safe option. Still cheap and can be bought pretty much anywhere! Prices do vary but rarely exceed the £5 mark for a 4 pack. To finish tonight's blog I leave you with a lesson I learnt from a wise man in the beer aisle when selecting my beers for the evening, "They all get you pished, son!"

Cheers!

Willie Brews

Back again for round 2! Back to sample more beer for YOU (Not for my own benefit at all). Today I have selected another Scottish Brewery, William Bros. Brewing company situated in the brew capital of Scotland, Alloa. Started Brewing in 1988 so have been around for a while.

So on my recent trip to the beer aisle I picked up 3 of their beers available in most supermarkets. For todays review we have: Caesar Augustus Lager IPA Hybrid, Birds and Bees and Seven Giraffes. Tried to select some beers that would not be available as easily in pubs.

First up we have the hybrid! Something that is new to me I must admit this Lager IPA. Caesar Augustus has an alcohol percentage of 4.1%. On first sip this beer is quite light and crisp. I would class it as an easy drinker with a slight bitter taste to it like most IPAs but light and crisp like a lager. However, I would say that there isn't much flavour to it and find it quite dull but would drink again as it is quite refreshing and quenches the thirst! Overall, 7/10 score. I was expecting more from the unusual hybrid! More of a session beer (One I could drink lots of)! Onto the second!

 Second on todays guestlist is the Birds and Bees golden summer ale. Coming in at 4.3% it has a bit more to it than Caesar Augustus but not worth worrying about. Initial sip is a pleasant one! Instantly a fruity hit with moderate hint of bitterness. Personally, I would say its everything you could ask for in a summer ale! Scores for the beverage: 8/10! Very nice and refreshing and will definitely have again!

Finally for today we have Seven Giraffes. The strongest of the bunch at 5.1%! However, still pretty average for an IPA. The beer has quite a sharp taste to it on first sip hoppy mixed with Citrus flavours! The name Seven Giraffes stems from the fact that they have 7 varieties of malted barley (Nothing to do with Giraffes). This beer is different but don't know if I would go for it again! It is full of flavour but for me there is just too much going on and for that reason its 5.5/10 for me!

So that's it for today folks! Today's favourite would have to be the Birds and Bees! Something that is nice and refreshing and just a bit different. I should add that all bottles are 500ml unlike Brewdog last week at 330ml!  If anyone has any recommendations for next week then by all means please leave a comment! See you all next week and happy drinking!

Slainte!

The Hair Of The Dug!

As this is my first time in attempting to write a blog,  I feel I must tell you what I am doing here!
In my coming blog series I intend to sample some of the finest beverages available to you in your local beer aisle! I must come clean and confess that I do not yet hold all the knowledge on beer (key word being yet!). However, I do hope to inspire you readers to at least consider trying some of the beers yourself!

Before I get stuck in to my primary research I should probably tell you what the beer of choice is for today... First up we have a selection of beers from Brewdog! The Brewers from Aberdeen, Scotland have been growing in popularity with their craft beers over the years! Martin and James (The founders) started brewing their own beer because the other industrial brewed beer was Sh*te! And by its growing popularity it would seem the vast majority would agree with them.

Some of the beers I have on trial today are: Punk IPA, Dead Pony Club and Jack Hammer.

So I have my beers to my left and bottle opener to my right I am ready to begin... First up is Punk IPA. Coming in at 5.6% with the alcohol percentage we have a classic golden IPA! Initial sip is good. A very light and crisp taste to this beer (goes down a treat!). This beer would be one of the most popular from Brewdog and I understand why. This moderately bitter IPA is a hoppy beer with a hint of fruitiness (not an explosion of flavour as said on the bottle). However, its drinkability has not been hindered! Overall I'd give this beer a rating of 7/10. Good beer and easy to drink just very similar to other IPA's on the market. DONE! On to the next beer!

 Next up, Dead Pony club! A lightweight of its division! Weighing in at just 3.8%. However, this is not to be laughed at! It sure packs a punch with the huge hop hit on the 1st sip. This beer is quite flavoury with again a hint of fruit and a bit of spice. This sweet beer with its bitterness just keeps you going back for more. Overall, I'd give this a 7.5/10. Very refreshing with a lasting flavour, just a bit too weak for me. Now! Onto the last...

For tonight's finale we have the heavy weight of the night! The Jack Hammer. At 7.2% I fear it might go straight to my head so I apologise if any gibberish spills out! On first sip this beer literally hammers the taste buds! There is a real bitterness to this beer which is quite overpowering at times. However, there is a citrus hint to the beer which is quite pleasant. If a bitter beer is what you are after then this is the one for you! "Jack Hammer- If bitterness is a place, you have reached your destination." Overall, Jack Hammer scores a 6/10 for me personally. Strong flavours but just a bit too bitter for my liking.

As the bottles empty I feel it is time to announce my favourite of the evening. Tonight's winner for me would be the Dead Pony Club. For me it is just full of flavour and is just what you need after a long day. The only thing I would like is if it was a bit stronger!
Please do not let my reviews put you off any of the beers tasted tonight. As said before I don't really know what I am talking about and if you do try these for yourself and are not fans, these are not the only beers available! If you are in a Brewdog pub (Dog friendly by the way) you are bound to find a beer for you from their vast variety!
Anyway! That is all I have for you this evening but please keep an eye out for my next blog which will showcase some other beers available if none of these tickle your fancy!

Over and out!