Scottish Beers 1

This and the next blog will be about Scottish beers that have been kindly supplied to me by a friend, Jackie, whose son brought them back with him after a trip to Scotland, I believe, whatever, many thanks! I'm going to start with my favourite, then my least favourite, then move on...

So, my favourite was from Dundee brewery 71 Brewing Co (website) and their 7.5% Funky Drummer, brewed with oats and wheat added to the malt in the grist. It is a DIPA (double dry hopped IPA), a style developed in the USA with plenty of hops, thus plenty of flavour, and a stronger than a usual IPA. The hops used were Azacca (hopslist), Cascade (hopslist), Columbus (hopslist), Citra (hopslist), Simcoe (hopslist) and Mosaic (hopslist), consequently, this pale and slightly hazy ale has plenty of flavour, indeed, with hints of peach and citrus in the aroma and taste, and with a nice dry bitter finish. 👍

My second beer, which you will come to understand why I wasn't so fond of it, is brewed in Edinburgh by Vault City Brewing, the self proclaimed 'largest sour beer 'producer' in Scotland (website), and I'm not overly fond of most 'sour' beers. This was their 4.0% Grapefruit Lemonade Crush, again brewed with wheat and oats in the grist, as well as lemon juice and grapefruit zest added to the mash. You get what it says on the label, smells sour, tastes of citrus with a dry tart finish. When I want fruit juice, I'll drink fruit juice, thank you all the same.

The next 2 beers both come from Alloa brewery Williams Bros Brewing Co (website), the first was their 5.6% Twelve Cents IPA, single hopped with Centennial hops (hopslist). Another slightly cloudy (I'm careful how I pour!), yes 'vegan' friendly, pale amber beer, with a hint of citrus in the aroma, citrus and forest fruits in the taste, and a dry bitter finish, 'not bad at all' I noted.

The second Williams Bros beer was their 4.5% El Perro Negro, a golden pilsner style lager with Seville Orange added to the mash. Unsurprisingly, there is a hint of orange in the aroma and a fruity orange/citrus taste, finishing off nice and dry, and for this rare drinker of lagers, I wrote 'very refreshing' in my notes, so happy to drink it, cheers!

My next blog will cover the other 5 Scottish beers I was gifted, cheers!🍻

Another Brew for Ukraine Ale in Sheffield!

A few months ago I published a blog mainly written by Dave Szwejkowski, aka Dave Unpronounceable, founder member of Steel City Brewing (facebook), about his visit to Ukraine earlier this year. It also reported that, at this important time for Ukraine, Steel City Brewing are supporting Brew for Ukraine (website), for which they brewed a mighty Ukrainian Imperial Stout at 11.8%, Vlad the Invader (below), the brewery's profits from the ale went to the Brew for Ukraine Crisis Relief Project. I since wrote that £800 was donated to the project (blog).

Vlad the Invader

More recently, Steel City Brewing brewed a collaborative ale with Weird Bear Brew Co (website) to support Brew for Ukraine (website). This time it's a mighty 9.5% DIPA called Russian Warship, Go F*ck Yourself (my asterisk, and top image above) with the brewery profit again going to the Brew for Ukraine Crisis Relief Project. 

I believe that this is in cans too, and Weird Beard may have some available, but casks of this ale were supplied to 3 Sheffield pubs, you lucky drinkers in Sheffield! That is, The Crow Inn, 33 Scotland Street S3 7BS (website) and Shakespeare's, 146-148 Gibraltar Street S3 8UB (facebook), both written about in this blog from April, and to The Rutland Arms, 86 Brown Street S1 2BS (website), written about in this blog from April.

Still on at The Rutland Arms yesterday, presumably some left for today, and soon to appear at The Crow Inn and Shakespeare's...

Great stuff, and oh to be in Sheffield this weekend! 😋

Budmo Dave!