Sorry for not writing for a while, but...
My prefered ales for this July, and I sampled (just 😉) a few more than just these seven, start and finish with ales from my old employer up in Sheffield, Kelham Island Brewery (website), and deservedly so! Indeed, most of these ales were brewed in Yorkshire, which suggests a lot about what styles of ale I prefer, and nearly all brewers are favourites of mine too, they can hardly brew anything but decent ale!
My favourite was Kelham Island's Tiger Cub (4.7%), of which I can find little information, but I know what I like, and my own brief tasting notes will have to suffice... This is described, in the couple of other reviews I managed to find, as an American Pale Ale style of ale. Certainly it is a pale golden colour, hints of US hops in the very gentle citrus flavour, but the bitterness of the Tiger Cub was in no way subtle. I found this 'very bitter' and 'very nice' too, indeed, excellent!
My next review is of a regular seasonal ale from the ever-dependent, though getting quite expensive (to the landlord) brewery, Oakham Ales (website). Their Asylum (4.5%) is a pale amber bitter, with 3 of my favourite hops used, Amarillo, Cascade and Chinook, consequently, plenty of bitterness and fruit in the aroma and taste, notably grapefruit. This is dry and bitter, and I noted, very good indeed!
My third choice is from a brewery I can't remember experiencing before, from way up in Newcastle, Brinkburn St Brewery (website); having had advice from the excellent Marble and Magic Rock breweries, they've been brewing for nearly 2 years now. Great advisers, and using Cascade, Citra, Chinook and Waimea hops, indeed, dry hopped with Waimea pellets, means that their Fools Gold Remastered (5% and, from the name you may guess, this is a 'remastered' version of the ale they first brewed, Fools Gold) is very much to my taste! I got hints of citrus and exotic fruits in the aroma and taste, but, more importantly for me, this pale golden ale is very bitter, with a dry bitter finish, and quoting my notes, this is "very good!"
Next was the excellent, yes, yet another excellent ale from another very fine brewery, Twickenham Fine Ales (website), always quality ales from them too! Their 4.4% seasonal ale, Summer Sun, didn't let me down, and comes a very close second to Tiger Cub. An extra pale golden ale, with hints of fruit, grapefruit and mango, provided by the use of Citra and Delta hops, lovely jubbly, with a dry and bitter finish!
Back up to Yorkshire, ie Huddersfield, for the last 3 ales chosen, starting again with Mallinsons (website) Daniella (4.5%), another pale golden ale, the pump clip says 'fruity', but I only detected a hint of orange citrus flavour. Centennial and Ella hops used, which helped to make this a very bitter ale, fermented ot into a very dry finish too.
From York itself, and Rudgate (website) comes their 5% Grease Monkey, a wee bit different, the pump clip says brewed with barley (malted surely?) and wheat malt, and dry hopped with Galaxy. This was slightly hazy, presumably because of the choice of malts, a deep golden ale with a fruity aroma and tasting of peach and mango, and nice dry bitter finish, not bad at all!
My final chosen ale of the month, again from Kelham Island in Sheffield, was a wee bit different, and pretty interesting too! Apparently, not brewed with their usual yeast, but with a German lager yeast, and hops from the USA and Germany too, though I can't discover which hops. Another deep golden ale, pretty bitter with plenty of body and a dry finish...
Cheers!
