Bitter at it's Best

I was prompted to write this after finding a bottle of Merlin’s Magic at the back of the beer cupboard, how I missed it I really don’t know as the label stands out a mile, as with all the Moor Beers it’s label is great and it’s printed on the same lovely paper, this time in bright orange which really does catch the eye.

Merlin’s Magic is Moor’s take on the classic English bitter only not bland and boring like a lot of the bitters out there. It pours a lovely amber colour with a big head with lots of fine bubbles. The nose is malty, fresh, caramel and lightly spicy with the faintest hint of some hops.

The flavour is light, malty and quite sweet then spicy followed by a lovely hoppy bitterness that has the slightest hints of peaches and fruit, This really is a top notch bitter.

Merlin’s Magic comes in at 4.5% ABV and is one of the best bitter’s I’ve had in a long while, It’s certainly well balanced and much more interesting and packed full of flavour than nearly all of the regular beers in my local, it would make a great session beer I just wish casks of it made their way up here.

Hat’s off to Justin and the guys at Moor, you can follow them on twitter here or visit their website here. You can also view my other Moor beer reviews here or read Justin’s Meet the Brewer here.

Justin with a few of his many awards

What is your brewery capacity?

We currently (June 2010) have a 10 UK barrel plant, but are evaluating an upgrade to 20 barrels to help us meet demand both in the UK and internationally.

What is different about your brewery?

Having lived and chased beer all over the world I have a different perspective about beer than many other brewers. I describe our brewery as a Belgian farmhouse brewery with American innovation, producing beers in the British ale tradition.

I believe that true secondary conditioning, unfiltered, unpasteurised, and preferably unfined is essential to produce a beer full of flavour, life, and longevity. We package beer primarily in cask, but also in bottle and keg, and all of it is treated the same way – i.e. naturally conditioned with yeast, unfiltered and unpasteurised.

I have a massive aversion to the use of cask finings, but must use them for the majority of our cask beers as most pubs don’t have the level of staff education to manage and sell unfined beer properly. Fortunately there are some very knowledgeable and enlightened pubs, such as the Queen’s Arms in Corton Denham, where we can sell unfined beer with all its natural yeast haze and goodness, and it flies out the door faster than clear, fined beer does.

During brewery tours I spend time educating people about why cloudy beer became synonymous with bad beer in the UK, why that is no longer a valid link, what finings are, and what unfined beer should look and taste like. After the tour the large majority of people agree that they would prefer their beer unfined if given the choice. Hopefully one day there will be enough educated people so that we can stop using finings altogether.

Another thing different about us is that we don’t believe that keg is the enemy. Good beer is good beer, whatever the packaging and method of dispense. That’s why we fill our kegs the same way we fill our casks and without any finings. Go to Germany, the US, Belgium, Czech, etc. and you’ll find absolutely amazing beers served via keg. The aversion to keg in the UK that’s existed for the past 30 years was down to the beer in them rather than the vessel itself. Some beers are actually better suited for serving a bit cooler and with a bit more gas. People should judge a beer by its merits rather than what vessel it comes out of.

How long have you been brewing for?

I learned to brew in San Francisco in 1995 during the US craft brewing revolution, having just returned from living in Germany. What a great time and place to be!

How did you get into brewing?

My dad gave me my passion for quality beer at an early age (I won’t incriminate him by saying how early!). However, I never thought I would be able to brew myself until my West Point TAC Officer gave me a taste of his homebrew. That really opened my eyes and set me off on this crazy journey.

What beers do you brew regularly?

The beers I try to keep in stock regularly are:

Revival

Northern Star or Southern Star depending on the season

Merlin’s Magic

Peat Porter

Ported Peat Porter

Somerland Gold

Hoppiness

Old Freddy Walker

JJJ IPA

What special/seasonal beers do you brew?

We brew a bunch of seasonal beers, but never as many as I’d like. There are so many ideas for new beers in my head that we’ll never get around to all of them. Fusion is one of our really exciting beers that gives everyone a real buzz, forgive the pun. Check our website for details.

Where do you think the future of brewing lies?

The future of brewing lies in the balance of innovation, tradition, collaboration, excitement, intensity and ultimately drinkability. There is a place on the shelf for the multitude of global beer styles, as well as ones that haven’t been created yet. Unfortunately there are too many boring, similarly styled beers being replicated up and down the country. Drinkers are rightfully demanding more than that. Equally, there are some novelty beers attracting large price tags but aren’t really drinkable. Collaboration with other brewers and an open-minded approach to flavours, ingredients and techniques is really important. The Americans have done an excellent job at fostering that spirit. Hopefully we can create similar ties amongst brewers and drinkers.

What is your proudest moment in brewing?

There have been many proud moments with the brewery. If I have to choose one, the first that comes to mind was the launch night of JJJ IPA. Seeing the sincere enjoyment it brought all the people there, having my wife be a part of it, and sharing the moment with James and Josh was fantastic. We knew we had created something special, and we’re immensely pleased that many others continue to agree. Getting me out of the pub that night was difficult (and continues to be!). The next morning my wife had the kind understanding to let me sleep in. Despite being 4 hours late to our friends house and having a sore head, I just couldn’t stop grinning.

What was the last beer you drank?

I’m drinking a lot of Northern Star at the moment. It really hits the spot for me – a very sessionable ABV, huge hops coupled with an equally enjoyable malt backbone, and too addictive to not have another. It is up there with my desert island beer – Bear Republic Racer 5.

What is your favourite hop?

It would be a tough choice between Riwaka, Citra and Chinook.

What is your brewing ambition?

It’s my ambition to keep brewing quality, interesting, admired beers for many years to come, and build bridges with like-minded brewers around the world to drive the industry forward. Oh, and to get people to stop the use of isinglass finings!

Do you have a Brewing hero/inspiration?

Within the industry I would give Fritz Maytag quite a lot of credit. Everything he does is quality and his team are second to none. You just need to look at his revival of so many dead styles, the investment in building a world-class brewhouse and distillery, the way he nurtured a family with his employees, iconic branding, the list goes on. Without him I don’t believe we’d have had the craft brewing revolution. It was heart breaking to hear about the recent sale of the company, as it will never be the same without his personal ownership and control.

Which beer do you wish you had brewed?

I’ll turn the question around slightly. If I could intern at various breweries I would love to spend time at Russian River, Westvleteren, Schneider, Cantillon, Schlenkerla, and Pilsner Urquell. However, as understanding as she is, I don’t think my wife will look too kindly on me going off on that many jollies, no matter how work related they are!

Favourite hobby outside of brewing

Apart from brewing and having a family there isn’t much time for anything else. When there is I like music, films, going to the beach and playing mah-jong with friends.

Anything else you want to tell us?

Drink Moor Beer!

Thanks to Justin for taking the time out of his busy brewing schedule to fill this in, Long may he continue to make great beers.

You can find more out about Moor Beer Company on their website here, facebook here and twitter here. You can usually find their ales on Beermerchants too.

Lovely label, lovely beer

So as soon as it was in stock I had ordered a case of mixed Moor beers, including Merlin’s Magic, Revival, Somerland Gold and of course JJJ IPA.

As you will know if you have read my other Moor reviews I really love their branding, its bold, bright and simple, not only does it look great it feels great too, all the labels with the exception of Fusion (which is on some nice shiny paper) come on a lovely thick, premium paper. The are all in distinctive 65cl bottles too.

JJJ poured a lot darker than I imagined it would, It’s probably closer in colour to a West Coast IIPA than a traditional English IPA, it looked absolutely delicious, the light breaking through the deep golden copper colour and bathing my coffee table in a lovely copper hue.

There are loads of hops and sweet fruits on the nose, the hops are flowery and citrusy, the malt smells sweet and fruity, these are topped up with a nice big hint of booze and a hint of yeast.

The flavour is strong, very strong, yet velvety and smooth, it’s quite sweet but that’s well balanced with the hop bitterness which isn’t huge but you certainly know it’s there. There were all sorts of flavours going on, grassy notes, fruity raisins, zesty grapefruit, this was one big boozy beer, having said that it was really well balanced and incredibly drinkable.

Now fast forward a few months to the the day I got twissed up in Sheffield tap they had a fantastic range of Moor beers on including JJJ, and even though it was still early in the afternoon I just had to try a JJJ on cask, Its 0.5% less ABV than the bottled version and it seemed to be a little bit lighter in colour, although that could have just been me.

The taste was much the same but it was a lot less boozy, slightly lighter, more biscuity and even more drinkable, it really was a top beer, possibly even better on cask than in bottle.

If you want to try Moor Beers for your self then you can buy them from Beermerchants or visit the Moor website

Before things got too heavy..

For me it was meant to be a quick stop off for a pint on the way back up north, but one thing lead to another and I ended up spending the day there.

We worked out way through many of the great beers the tap has to offer,  including Thornbridge Jaipur, Meantime IPA, Thornbridge Wild Swan,Thornbridge St Petersburg, Thornbridge Raven, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, All of the Moor beers (Half & Half, Millys, Northern Star, JJJ IPA, Old Freddy Walker, Hoppiness, Somerland Gold, Ported Peat Porter, Peat Porter, Merlins Magic and Revival)  from the various taps and hand pulls situated on the huge bar. We also got a quick tour of the cold room where Yan stores all his precious wares, including a rather impressive range of bottles and glasses. It was here when Stu spotted a keg of Sierra Nevada BigFoot Ale that things really started to get a little messy.

Some of the beer we had already drank wasn’t exactly “weak”, JJJ for example is 9% ABV,  but BigFoot was that next step up, which on a Sunday afternoon and surrounded by all the beer you could ever need, in great company is, well,  a little bit on the crazy side. If Stu had gotten his way, none of us would have got a look in,  thankfully he was in a sharing mood and distributed the beer around the table. This was the first time I had had BigFoot on keg and it was mind blowing, bitter sweet, perfectly balanced malt and big hops, yum yum yum.

Stu and BigFoot

Then from somewhere a couple of bottles appeared on the table, these included a Thornbridge Murmansk, Westvleteren 8, Hardknott Granite and a couple of unlabeled bottles of Matthews home brewed beers, which were meant for Yan to take home but as ever he played the generous host and cracked them open. The Westvleteren was a bit of a gusher, not being one to waste beer, a certain member of the group decided to slurp it off the table, to be honest he had the right idea as its a bloody good beer and doesn’t come cheap.

However this wasn’t the silliest thing that particular member of the group did that afternoon, as he got up to go and catch his train he decided to perform a party trick of his, which is apparently staring to happen more often and proceeded to smash a bottle of Stuart Howe’s Chilli IPA all over the floor of the tap, this not being bad enough he then sucked some of the splash back from his trainer, which resulted in some rather odd looks from others in the pub.

Thornbridge Raven on top form

One by one the group dwindled and it was soon time for me to hop back on the train  and head home, I just wish I had left time for some food as an afternoon on strong beer after a full day of drinking during Twissup started to take effect, to put it bluntly I was bolloxed.

I had wicked day despite constant ribbing from Matt about my accent, it’s just as well his homebrews were pretty damn good and he also has a wicked sense of humour which lead to a couple of texts to our lass saying I wouldn’t be home any time soon as I had been arrested.

All the beers I drank were in tip top condition, really well kept and the range of beer available is simply stunning and is due to get bigger very soon. They all easily surpassed the bottled versions of the beers I had. I just wish I could get beer this good locally.

Big thanks to Yan for being so hospitable, Kelly and Scoop for sharing their knowledge and passion and to Matt and Stu for making me laugh more than I have in ages, hope to do it again very soon.

Please forgive the name dropping above,  it’s not often I get to drink in such illustrious company (outside of Twissup that is) They were/are a great bunch of guys who know their stuff.

You can view my pics from the day here

Moor Beer? Yes Please!

I couldn’t wait for them to arrive, so no sooner had they landed on my doorstep, I had cracked open the rather delicious Somerland Gold, It went down a treat. This left me wanting Moor, so I ended up cracking open a Revival.

Moor Revival is labeled as a Hoppy Pale Ale, so it sounded right up my street, It comes in the same 640ml bottle that the other Moor Beers come in, it also comes with the same lovely labels as the rest, each one a different colour and as I said before, I really do love their branding.

Revival pours a golden copper colour with a thin white head, the head lasted all the way down the glass despite it being so thin.

Revival smells really great, malty, hoppy, zingy lemon and heaps of citrus, with just a hint of sweetness coming through.

This is another of those beers that tastes exactly like it smells, the biggest flavour without doubt are the hops and the citrus that comes with them, these add a lovely bitterness that’s not overpowering and balances the biscuit and caramel sweetness that comes through from the malts. The hops don’t blow you away like some of the mega hopped US IPA’s but this is one of the most hoppy English beers I’ve ever had and really well balanced to boot. O

Did I mention it’s also one of the most flavour packed 4% beers I’ve drank too…?

So far out of the Moor Beers I’ve tried (reviews for the others coming soon) this is by far my favourite, the flavour is bang on and I could have quite easily supped the other bottle straight away, I restrained as I really want to share it. It’s not cheap at £3.80 a bottle but in my opinion it is well worth it. The empties also make great decorations ;o)

Check out their website @ www.moorbeer.co.uk – it’s been updated since my last review and has a bit more information.

Moor Somerland Gold IPA

Now they aren’t cheap, at £4.50 a bottle but they aren’t so pricey you don’t want to drink them, for one the bottle is 660ml so its bigger than your usual bottle of ale and secondly the labels are brilliant.

When I say brilliant i mean they are simple, yet packed with info (along with the cool little slogan “Drink Moor Beer”) and also as strange as it seems, they feel really, really nice, they have used a lovely weight of textured paper and this really does add to the sense of occasion.

Anyway enough talk of the packaging as we all know that you shouldn’t judge a book (or bottle) by it’s cover.

Somerland Gold pours a really lovely golden colour, but then you would be gutted if it didn’t given it’s name. It did have a little bit of a haze but it is bottle conditioned so we can forgive it that much.

The head isn’t huge but it does last really well, its light and frothy with a slightly creamy tinge.

The aromas were of hops with a little bit of malt and maybe some grass or pine

My first reaction to the taste was WOW! It was light yet full of flavour, the hops hit you straight away you then get some of the malt coming through and a little bit of citrus as it fizzes up your tongue….this then lasts and lasts – it leaves your mouth tingling with joy and wanting to drink Moor and Moor of it. (see what I did there??)

I was trying to think of other beers that it compared to – it’s not quite as brutal as Thornbridge Halcyon or Mikkeller Stateside IPA, i think it’s a bit lighter and maybe a touch more balanced than both of those, it’s also possibly more drinkable than those, i supped this bottle in no time…well apart from half a glass that i gave to Emily, she also thought it was very tasty but maybe a little on the hoppy side for her.

All of the afformentioned ales are in my top 10 so it would certainly put Somerland Gold up there with the best ,It would also  seem that Somerland gold is often regarded as the poor brother of Moor JJJ, if that is the case then I am certainly in for a treat when i open my bottle of JJJ.

It might not be the time of year for drinking summery IPA but if you see this beer i urge you to give it a try.

Check out their website @ www.moorbeer.co.uk – their t-shirts look cool!

Somerland Gold Label

Somerland Gold label

Sommerland Gold Beer