It came in two forms Bashah 2009 Highland Park and Black Raspberry Reserve and Bashah 2009 Imperial and Tayberry Reserve,

Awesome label, awesome beer

This occasion came in the shape of Open It round two.

I’m still in love with the label too, it’s definitely up there with the sexiest beer labels ever It really does add to the occasion along with the champagne style bottle and caged cork. Although the cork isn’t the easiest in the world to remove, I had to resort to using my teeth.

It poured with less head than the Black Raspberry version but looked pretty much the same otherwise. It smelled tart and peppery with lots of fruit, like raspberry but not, there was also a good whiff of boozy whisky and a little bit of vanilla.

Flavour wise I didn’t get as much fruit coming through as the other bottle but there was the lovely spicy pepper from the aroma and the fruit that was there was nice and tart, There was a huge whisky kick and loads of smoke in there too which made for a really delicious beer.

Other than that my notes don’t really say much, I as just sat enjoying the moment.

Although I have to say I definitely liked the Highland and Black Raspberry version better.

I also opened a Rogue Brutal IPA the same day which as nice as it was wasn’t in the same league as the Bashah Reserve.

News broke a couple of days ago that Dogma was back in the Brewdog store (you can buy it here) so I thought it was about time I published this.

Dogma previously known as Speedball

Dogma has had a bit of a rocky road, It was originally called Speedball when it was first released but the powers that be weren’t happy with the references to a certain cocktail of drugs so the decision was made the name had to go. Newly branded as Dogma, the heather honey ale hit the shelves and I bought a load of it (I’ve still got 1 final bottle stashed away for a special day), which surprised a few as the first time I tried it I couldn’t quite get my head around it and wasn’t sure if I liked it, but as the glass emptied, it grew and grew on me.

Reading the label it’s got loads of different ingredients in including Poppy, Guarana, kola nut and heather honey, although with the exception of honey I have no idea what the others are supposed to tastle like.

It’s one of those beers that has loads going on from the moment you open the bottle.  It pours an amazing deep glowing amber colour with a good off white head, The first thing on the nose is the honey, sweet, sticky and flowery, with  a hint of malt and a little bit of lemon from the hops.

In the mouth it’s got so much going on, there’s honey and heather up front, with a good whack of pepper and bitterness combined with a malted milk biscuitiness, It finishes  quite softly with the honey but then it’s surprisingly dry right at the end which I guess comes from the hops.

The closest thing I can think of to Dogma is that it’s a bit like William Bros Fraoch on steroids.

I’m sorely tempted to buy some of the new batch to see how it compares to the bottle in my cupboard, I’d suggest if you’ve not had it to sick a couple of bottles in your next beer order, you won’t be disappointed.

You can buy it from the Brewdog website here.

Punk X, Canned Punk and Original Punk

From what I’ve seen and read there have been a few consistency issues with Punk IPA over the last few months, so hopefully new Punk will address these and Punk IPA will once again be a staple in my beer fridge.

Not long after the release of Punk X, Brewdog announced they were releasing Punk IPA in cans and that they were to contain the new and improved Punk IPA, I was quite excited about this as I’ve been after finding more options for wild camping beers for a while, and in this case James was kind enough to send me some  so I decided to do what everyone else was doing and compare the cans to the bottles of Punk X, I also decided to through a bottle of original Punk IPA into the mix and to taste them blind for good measure, a bit like I did here.

As I wouldn’t be opening and pouring the beers I wouldn’t know which was which although I was pretty sure I’d know once I had seen and tasted the beer, so I gave the new packaging the once over before sticking them in the fridge.  I have to say the new can looks brilliant, the Punk branding really translates well onto a can and makes it stand out the only issue I can forsee is that they do look a bit like can’s of pop, which will no doubt raise a few eyebrows.

Clear, Fresh and floral

So onto the tasting, I got my self comfy in my favourite chair just as the first glass was brought in.

It was a really clear almost amber colour, a lot darker than I remembered Punk being, it smelled really fresh, the floral notes were huge and there was a big hanfull of freshly cut grass throwin in for good measure. It tasted almost exactly the same, It was well balanced, the malty backbone was great and there were enough hops in there to give you a good kick, the finish was quite bitter but not overpowering or sharp in the way that I recalled..

I soon polished off the glass, had a quick half pint of water and then started on glass number two. The first thing that was clear was the colour, it was a completely different colour, a lot paler and not as ambery. Punk number two didn’t have such strong aroma, there were hops there and a little bit of grass but they were no where near as powerful as the first glass. It felt thinner in the mouth and and the malt from the first beer wasn’t there, It was also a hell of a lot more bitter than the first, It took me a bit longer to finish this one due to the huge bitterness but the glass was soon empty, washed and ready for the third and final beer.

Punk number three was the same colour as beer number one all be it a lot more hazy. The aroma’s were there but not quite as lively and didn’t jump about as much as Punk one, There was an almost sweet smell to it too which definately came from the malt and this was present

Clear but very bitter

in the mouth, It tasted pretty much the same as Punk one but slightly more toned down and not quite as zingy.

While finishing Punk number 3 off I drew my conclusions on the front of the TV guide, pretty much straight across some blokes huge forehead, I’ve no idea who he was but I’m sure he’d not mind his photo being recycled.

I wrote that I thought Punk number one was the Can, mainly beacause it tasted so fresh, which was likely because it was the newest of the three beers, it was also the same colour as Punk number three but clearer, suggesting it was a filtered finished product more that beer number three was.  Punk number two was definately original Punk, mainly because of the bitterness, I’d also suggest that it wasn’t at its best, I really wish that  had noted the batch number.

To be honest canned Punk was the beer of the three,

Floral but hazy

I loved the freshness and I loved the balance of hops and malt. It’s definatley down to the new recipe, if Brewdog can keep it consistent and it keeps well in the can then it’s back up there where it belongs.

As for the actual can I looks cool and feels more solid than some of the cans I’ve had from the USA lately, It will certianly be finding it’s way into my rucksack next to my tent for my next camping trip in the mountains.

If you wan’t to try it you can buy it from the Brewdog site here and I hear it might be in shops very soon too.

Bitter sweet prawns with a hint of lime!

I was searching through my beer cupboard when I stumbled across a bottle of  Brewdog Punk IPA hidden away behind my few remaining bottles of Punk X and a couple of cans of fosters (don’t ask), the best before date was fast approaching so this instantly became the bottle of choice for the batter.

Now as with most batter I like to have the liquid that I’m using ice cold, I’m not sure of the technical reasons but I just find it gives a better texture, so the chose bottle of Punk IPA spent all day in the fridge followed by 30mins in the freezer.

With the beer sorted I now wanted to spice things up a little, the main was chicken satay from Jamie Oliver’s 30minute meals, so I wanted to add some flavours that would match up to those of the satay, I nearly went for the obvious choice and thought about chucking a load of chilli in but then that would have been easy. Instead I decided on sweet dessicated coconut to take the edge off the bitter beer and a little bit of lime zest to add some zing.

I was quite impressed with the results (I hope Dave was too)  the beer came through along with a little bit of bitterness, the coconut balanced this out quite well and then there was a lovely clean lime finish along with the flavour of the juicy prawns. The coconut also added a great texture to the batter. So I thought I’d share the recipe with you. It’s all a bit rough and ready as I made it up as I went along

Ingredients

• 75g corn flour
• 1 Bottle of Ice Cold  Brewdog Punk IPA
• Zest of a lime
• 1 handful of desiccated coconut
• salt
• pepper
• 1 packet of fresh raw king prawns (5 or 6 prawns per person)
• Oil for deep frying.
• plain flour for dusting

Method

• Chill the Punk IPA for as long as possible then place in the freezer for 30mins or so.
• De vein and butterfly the prawns, set aside
• Place the flour in a bowl, season with salt and pepper
• Add a big splash of the Punk IPA and mix well, now this is where you need to use your own judgement, you need a batter that’s just a bit thicker than double cream, so keep adding the Punk IPA until you have the right consistency, if it starts to look a bit thin add some more flour. Drink the rest of the beer.
• Then add a handful of coconut along with the lime zest and mix well.
• Dust your prawns with some plain flour, this just helps the batter stick to them.
• Heat your oil up to 180 degrees C.
• Dip your prawns in the batter then carefully place them in the hot oil, fry until golden brown and nice and crispy, they don’t take long and you don’t want to turn your prawns to rubber.
• Serve with some salad and sweet chilli dip.

We went up to @davelozman ‘s where he’d pulled a few special bottles from his stash and cooked a huge chunk of lamb stuffed with haggis, It was then we realised that in our haste to choose some special beers we had ended up with a fridge full of rather strong beer

Funky Label, Funky beer!

in big bottles, luckily the night was young so we set to work.

Bottle one was Mikkeller Funky E Star (9.3% ABV), a Belgian inspired pale ale, the label was brilliant, really psychedelic, unfortunately the notes on the back were all in Danish so we had no idea what to expect. It poured a light copper colour with a little bit of yeast haze, it smelled of sugar and had a prominent yeasty smell too. Taste wise it was smooth, quite sweet and hoppy with a lovely funky spice and some hops there fore good measure, a great start to the night.

Great beer, great cause

Next up was D.W from Sharp’s, it poured very similar to the Funky E Star,  it also had a similar sort of nose, yeasty, sweet and slightly hoppy, this carried through into the flavour, it was a little bit softer, slightly less bitter, more rounded, it hid the ABV very well and despite it’s sweetness it was so easy to drink but never too over the top, to my surprise, I preferred it to the Mikkeller, although it shouldn’t be a surprise as Stuart makes some absolutely stunning beers and is always trying new things.

Beer of the night for me

Bottle 3 came in the delightfully packaged Williams Brothers Fraoch 20th Anniversary Ale, It’s their delicious heather ale that’s been left to mature in single malt whisky casks it weighs in at 11% ABV and pours a really lovely orange marmalade colour there’s definite whisky on the nose along with the some apple and floral notes, It tastes brilliant, beer of the night so far for me, it was zesty, fruity and quite dry with a lovely bitter sour finish that added a bit of spice, I couldn’t quite believe just how drinkable it was, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of the alcohol. I could have quite happily drank the entire bottle of this my self.

Excellent porter but the Peat was MIA

Next up was Moor Peat Porter, this was the beer with the lowest ABV of the night, at 4.7% it was half of just about the rest of the beers we drank, It held it’s own though, it was deep, rich and roasty, it had loads of coffee in it  and just a little bit of dark chocolate, I didn’t get much peat from it but it was lovely and smooth and went surprisingly well with Daves hazlenut and chocolate desert.

Not sure about this one

Bottle 5 was a bottle I’d brought back from GBBF with me, Rouge’s Chipotle Ale (5.5%), I think it was dedicated to a Spanish author who made some sort of ale and smoked chilli dish, but I need to check up on that, It poured a dark amber colour which was a lot lighter than I thought it would be, It smelled and tasted like someone had taken a beer and tipped a bottle of smoked Tabasco in it, there was a little bit of malt on the nose other than the chilli but that was about it. Not surprisingly it tasted much like it smelled, I’m a huge fan of smoked chilli but I’m not sure the balance was right in this one, it was soft and well carbonated in the mouth but all I could taste was the smokey chilli, which soon became over powering, the afterburn was quite nice though, definitely a beer to have in small quantities.

At this point we got a text to see if we wanted to pop round to a birthday party, never ones to turn down the chance of a party we packed the remaining few Open It beers up and headed out of the door.

Peaty whisky beer is great!

After a quick taxi ride in the snow we arrived at the party and promptly cracked open the bottle of Harviestoun Ola Dubh 40, another whisky beer, this time it was a dark one, it poured with a thin creamy colour head, the aroma was predominantly smokey with notes of peat and the whisky. The flavours were quite complex, peaty and smoky with undertones of whisky and oak, the flavours are well balanced and nice and mellow. This would be perfect sat in front of the fire after a day out in the snow.

Another excellent beer from Moor

Bottle 7 was another from Moor, this time the Cider Brandy cask aged Moor Fusion (8% ABV) This was another dark one, it poured with a much bigger head than I expected, the cider brandy was there in the nose as well as some dark sticky fruit, kind of like dates or fig rolls, the flavour was surprisingly mellow, it wasn’t as roasty as I thought it would be, there was oak in there along with some apple and toffee, there was a hint of chocolate there too but only just. This really was a winner but it’s one for sharing.

Proof that chilli and beer can work.

Next up was my last bottle of Crown Brewery’s Ring of Fire (10.3%), A huge barley wine style beer brewed with loads of  fresh chilli, it was as good as I remembered (you can read my review here) It poured with a really thin head and little aroma, although I could just pick out some chilli. The chilli really hits you in the mouth, it gets the back of your throat and warms you through, it’s incredibly rich and the brown sugar in it is  quite sweet, again it’s another beer that’s best off shared between a couple of you.

Things got a little hazy here

Last but not least was Brewdog and Mikkeller Devine Rebel Mortlach Reserve 2008, bottle number 290 of 1000, it’s another barley wine that’s been singled hopped with Nelson Sauvin then aged in the Mortlach malt whisky casks, it was at this point the tasting notes on my phone got a bit jumbled and my tweet of the picture simply said “hell yeah”, the few notes on my phone said dates, chocolate and lots of booze followed by the words “Grzd stiff bt neds longe in bottle” which I think translates as great stuff but needs longer in the bottle….luckily I’ve got a bottle in the cupboard which I’ll save for when Dave and my self are a little less worse for wear.

Beer of the day was certainly the Williams Fraoch 20th Anniversary beer, I really need to find some more of it.

And that’s it Open It day 2 …well and truly done! I think tonight’s Open It will be a little more sedate and I might just open the one beer….we shall see.

15% beer in a Baileys glass...that's rock n' roll

I’d been holding onto it since October and with the snow blasting down outside I felt there was no better tie to Open It.

It poured jet black, really thick and oily with a huge deep dark brown head, it looked like a glass of dark chocolate with a frothy milk chocolate head. As the beer swirled around the glass it left obvious legs on the glass, just like a good wine, not surprising when it weighs in at 15% ABV, making it stronger than a lot of wine in the supermarket.

It smells amazing, deep, rich dark roasted malt, loads of  roast coffee and chocolate, there’s a little bit of booze on the nose too but it doesn’t take anything away from the rest of the nose.

The first thing I noticed when I took a sip was just how smooth and how full bodied AB:04 was, it was incredibly rich, the coffee really stands out at first, dry, roasted, fruity and that lovely balanced bitterness that great coffee has, then the chocolate slides in, silky and bitter like real dark chocolate, just when you think it’s over the Naga chilli makes an appearance giving it a green raw chilli tang followed by a pretty decent afterburn, not blow your head off but by the time I’d finished the bottle I knew I’d been drinking beer with chilli in. The flavours hung around in my mouth for ages, most of all the coffee, it was really predominant but it a good way.

It could possibly do with a bit longer in the bottle just to mature a little bit and give it that extra edge, luckily I’ve got one more bottle left in the beer cupboard.

This is possibly one of the most complex and brilliantly put together beers I’ve ever had, the flavours really do blend amazingly well, big hats off to the guys up at Brewdog.

Let’s just hope tomorrow and Sunday’s Open It beers can live up to this stunner.

Well stocked bar, well kept beer, nice one

Now I will be honest I’ve not been in Turners Mill for a very long time, although over the years we have had some fantastic times in there, most notably the world cup in Japan when it opened in the wee small hours so we could have  a few beers with a bacon buttie and watch England under perform yet again. I’m not entirely sure why I’ve not been in more often, my dad goes in there quite a lot.

The pub it’s self is quite smart and trendy inside, a lot more welcoming and open that I remembered it to be. There’s 5 handpull’s, two of which are regulars (Speckled Hen and John Smith Cask) The other 3 are guest ales, in this case 3 from the NovEMBER ale festival, which even without the festival promotion, change pretty regularly from what Pete the manager was telling us. Apparently they sell a decent amount of cask ale every week so the turnover is pretty fast. Pete also told us that the punters like to try new things and aren’t scared of the higher ABV beers, which is just as well because one of the festival ales was Rampant Gryphon which weighs in at 6.2%. Unfortunately it wasn’t ready to serve so we had to make do with some of the other beers. Pete also said that they have a great range of beers to choose from so I’ve got high hopes for the future.

The pub was pretty busy and there were people ordering lots of food (which looked and smelled great, just basic pub grub but there’s nowt wrong with that) so we opted to stand at the bar.

The first was beer I went for was a Trashy Blonde (4.1% ABV) from Brewdog, In all honesty it was the best pint of Trashy Blonde I’ve ever had, it was in fantastic condition,  it was a lovely clear golden colour with a slightly hoppy floral aroma with hints of slightly sweet malt, It tasted even better than it smelled, Light, biscuity malt followed by lovely floral notes and a delicious bitter bite at the end. Great stuff.

Foxes nob settling nicely

Next up was Liberation Ale (4% ABV), which I’d never had before, It came all the way from the Jersey Brewery, It’s a nice light, pale, bitter, brewed wtih Hallertau and 2 different Goldings, It’s got a real grapefruit and orange taste with a mild bitterness, not quite as punchy as the Trashy Blonde but still a pretty tasty beer. Like the Trashy Blonde it was also in great condition.

Finally I tried Davenport’s Foxes Nob 4.4%), A beer I had only ever had in bottles before. This was the darkest and strongest of the 3 beers, it was by far the maltiest of the beers, quite rich and fruity, with hints of plums and raisins, there’s a decent bitter finish too, much more pronounced than the Liberation but not as aggressive as the Trashy Blonde, to be honest it wasn’t quite my cup of tea and a half was enough for me.

We finished the night with a pint of Trashy Blonde (First pint my dad has bought me for ages), before heading home for an early night.

My one criticism would possibly be the festival tasting booklet, It would have been nice to have had a few more notes in there, maybe a bit more about each brewery and some space for writing your own notes would be good, maybe even some sort of place to collect stamps to get a free festival glass or something. Definitely one to think about.

Big thanks to Ember Inns for arranging the tasting, huge thanks to Pete and the Staff at Turners Mill, who were welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable. I’ll most certainly be heading up there again soon.

You can visit the Ember Inns Website here

Brewdog's Great branding

Brewdog haven’t been without their critics, yes, at times, I’ve been one of them but over the last few months, they seem to have got back to concentrating on brewing and selling great beer.

The Abstrakt Series has been great so far, interesting beers, well packaged, while  slightly price they are different and interesting enough to make me want to buy and drink them, they also get people talking for the right reasons. I’m lucky enough to have a bottle of each stashed away for a special occasion and to have tried each one when they arrived, My pick of the bunch so far has to be AB:03, while I thought it smelled pretty terrible it tasted fantastic, Big and boozy, stacked full of strawberries and raspberries with a hint of whisky sweetness and then a lovely bitter, tart finish. Having said that I’ve not tried the latest one AB:04 yet, which has coffee, chocolate and the all important chilli in it.

They re released Chaos Theory, which as I’ve mentioned before is one of my favourite Brewdog Beers. It’s hoppy, light and utterly drinkable, I found it really hard not to drink the bottles I bought all in one go. I hope it goes back to being a regular on the Brewdog brewing roster.

Next 5AM Saint appeared in my local Morrisons, alongside Punk and Trashy Blonde, competitively priced and readily available, great stuff. I’ve also heard that Tesco are stocking Hardcore IPA as their Finest American IPA, I’ve yet to find any but at £4 for 3 bottles it’s a steal and no matter what you think about it being re badged or re branded, the important thing is it’s in the supermarket….I just wish my local  Tesco could be persuaded to stock it.

Brewdog in Spoons, what ever next?

Then to top it all off my local Wetherspoons had Brewdog Edge on cask for the opening night of it’s autumn beer festival, To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much, the tasting notes said it was a 3.2% mild. To be completely honest it blew me away, It was a lovely dark chestnut colour, almost black, with a thin off white head, the aromas weren’t huge but there were hints of hops and malt.

The taste was out of this world, for such a low ABV it was packed with sumptuous roasted malt, hints of smoke and then a lovely lingering bitter hop note throughout, that just made it ridiculously drinkable. My only criticism would be it was slightly thin and maybe a little too cold, but they are only slight concerns.

For me Edge is Brewdog back to their brewing best, taking a traditional style of beer and adding their twist to it, I really could see Edge flying off the shelves if it was put in some nice 500ml cans.

They’ve also opened up a new bar in Aberdeen, reports have been good and I’m now desperately trying to find a reason to be passing by so I can call in for a few beers.

Of course the last few months haven’t been without a little bit of Brewdog controversy, there’s been all sorts said about cask beers, the measures available in pubs, feeding IPA to lambs and the Tesco IIPA thing, but as I wrote this post I didn’t care, I was back in love and admiration (and maybe a bottle of Punk and AB:03) for what Brewdog have done over the last few months*. Long may It continue.

*With the exception of those few little stunts I mentioned earlier, don’t worry I’m some way off becoming one of those people who think they can do no wrong.

Probably the best beer on sale at morrisons.

Much to my amazement and delight this week they introduced a few bottles from the Brewdog range, Including Punk IPA,Trashy blonde and the rather delicious 5am Saint. They were all priced at a rather tasty £1.59 per bottle and stood out a mile next to all of the standard bottles of beer.

I decided it would be rude not to buy a couple of bottles of 5am Saint as it’s my favourite of the 3. I then rang my dad to tell him and he promptly visited the store and cleared the shelves…nice one dad.

So what’s 5am Saint like?? It’s a deep ruby red with a huge head that has a hint of yellow in it. The aromas are huge, Citrus zest, deep rich malt and a hint of sugar.

The flavours are even bigger, it’s smooth in the mouth but then the Nelson Sauvin hops batter and bombard your tongue left, right and centre. There’s a buttery biscuity sweetness in there amongst the citrusy hops then there’s a sharp bitterness that lasts ages and makes your tongue tingle, It’s one of those beers that leaves you wondering if you will be able to taste your next drink.

For me it’s the best beer available in my local Morrisons, pipping Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to the title but only just.

If you have a Morrisons near you then get straight down there and buy some, if they don’t have it, ask them why then plead with them to stock it.

You can read more of my beer blogs on Brewdog here, read James’ meet the brewer here or visit the Brewdog website here

Brewdog Chaos Theory (taken from the Brewdog site)

I first tried Chaos Theory back when it was a prototype beer in a test case with Bad Pixie and Zeitgeist, Chaos Theory really stood out and soon became a staple in my beer cupboard until Brewdog inexplicably stopped selling it, much to the dismay of lots of Brewdog fans.

Chaos Theory is a 7.1% ABV Singled hopped IPA that uses  the wonderful Nelson Sauvin hops to produce a great floral beer with some really interesting flavours.

My advice is that if you like IPA, beg, steal and borrow some money to buy a case of this wonderful beer, OK maybe don’t steal it as that will get you into a lot of trouble and stealing is very very wrong.

Not only will you get 12 bottles of one of the best beers Brewdog have ever made you also get a free keyring to boot and you can never have enough bottle opener keyrings.

So get your self over to the Brewdog website and buy some before it’s all gone, hopefully if enough people buy it they will persuaded to make it a regular beer instead of a one off.

Oh and thanks Brewdog for making my day and no doubt getting me into more trouble with my other half for buying more beer that I don’t really need, although I could argue I do need this beer. Let’s just hope it’s as good as I remember.