January Pale Bitters

Since the New Year I've had 6 very good pale bitters, 2 newer favourites, 2 older favourites, and 2 completely new (to me) excellent ales! First 'newer favourite' is Cowcatcher (4.8%) from the East London Brewing Company (ELB, website), an "American Pale Ale" (APA) that I continue to call "gorgeous!" I do like it... With a big fruity aroma and citrus fruits and passion fruit in the taste and a dry bitter finish, just as I like my ales... The second 'newer favourite' is another APA, Prohibition (also 4.8%) from Kent Brewery (website), and also a pale golden bitter, with plenty of citrus aroma and taste, another excellent bitter, indeed, both surpass the 'older favourites!"

The two 'older favourites' include Naked Ladies (4.4%) from Twickenham Fine Ales (website), named after statues in York House gardens, Twickenham, another pale bitter with less obvious citrus fruit in the taste provided by Herkules, Celeia and Chinook hops. Indeed, this is more like a straightforward pale bitter than the fruit extravaganzas of the earlier two APAs mentioned. The second is Jeffrey Hudson Bitter (JHB , 3.8%) from Oakham Ales (website), with Challenger and Mount Hood hops offering a light refreshing pale bitter with a more subtle fruit to the taste and a dry finish. OK, these come behind the 'newer favourites' probably because of the strengths, and also because, well, I do love the bigger citrus aromas and flavours!

To the newbies, for me that is... First Eye-Opener (4.5%) from Stonehenge Ales (website), a pale golden bitter with a BIG citrus orange fruit aroma, no hints from the brewers of the hops used, but I'm making an informed guess they're from the USA. Also, citrus in the flavour with a dry bitter finish, I've noted "refreshing and gorgeous" so there you have it, gorgeous!

My second newbie, and last reviewed for today, is Some Might Say (get it? Song title! Oh yes, and 4.4%) from the Manchester Brewing Company (website), subtitled a Session IPA. Plenty of Simcoe hops from the USA used here, consequently plenty of aroma and flavour, with a BIG fruity aroma of peach and exotic fruits and similar in the taste, pale golden colour with a dry bitter finish. Some might say it was pretty gorgeous too, in fact I shall say it, gorgeous, lucky me!

I'll soon be publishing a guest blog from the Isle of Wight, can't wait, cheers!

More Excellent Pale Hoppy Bitters!

I've had so many very good pale hoppy ales already this year, and a look at my previous, now redundant, Beermeister blog will describe many of these regulars, if not all! OK, among them Salopian Hop Twister, imbibed in more than one bar this year (hence my using this image!); Oakham Scarlet Macaw, Asylum and Bishops Farewell; Dark Star Hophead and American Pale Ale (APA); and a particular favourite of mine, Twickenham Naked Ladies... 

In addition, have been these excellent, totally new, ales to me, including East London Brewing Company (website) Cowcatcher (4.8%), an 'American Pale Ale' style pale golden ale. This has a fruity aroma, as you'd expect from American hops, with citrus and passion fruit in the taste, and a dry bitter finish... I wrote "gorgeous" in my notes, so I obviously enjoyed drinking it!

The next ale is from Stourbridge-based Green Duck Brewery Company (website currently under construction), whose Dynamite Lady (5%) is described on the pump clip as a "powerful hoppy ale", and they aren't wrong! With a strong citrus aroma and flavour, it made me write 'marmalade' in my notes, full bodied, with a dry bitter finish, this is the type of ale I love to knock back, and I gave it a +++ in honour of its quality, lovely jubbly!

I'm still gobsmacked that I've tasted so many excellent ales this year already, and this more local, to me, being based in Sussex, Franklins Brewing Company (website), with one of the ex-Dark Star brewers in the hot seat, adds Resurrection 'Extra Pale Ale' (4.4%) to my list... I described it as very pale, hoppy, dry and bitter, and, once again gave this a +++ rating, loved it!

Hertfordshire-based Tring Brewery (website) provided my next great discovery with their Pale Four (4.6%), unafraid to brag about the hops used, they are Amarillo, Cascade, Simcoe, and Citra, and dry-hopped to boot! These provide a now typical 'America Pale Ale' style, big citrus aroma, very fruity, with grapefruit and tangerine in the flavour, and an amber dry bitter too, another +++, It's the way I score them, and, quite frankly, all these ales mentioned in this specific blog meet this high level of quality. 

I was going to make this the last ale mentioned in this blog, but an experience earlier today made that not happen, but from the Panda Frog Project, the "experimental arm" of Mordue Brewery (website) came my favourite of all these new ales, if I was asked to name one, the 5% Allelic Drift; we looked it up, and it's something to do with genetics, lost me a bit! Anyhow, it's a pale golden ale with a great fruity aroma, peach and grapefruit in the taste, and a very dry and bitter finish, loved it too!

Then, today, I had a few pints of the excellent Salopian (website) Freeze Frame (4.8%) at the Royal Air Force Association bar in Bexhill-on-Sea, the Albatross Club; don't bother trying to drink this at that venue, it will have sold out, but... don't be disappointed if you live in the area, because they'll have replaced it with the wonderful Thornbridge Jaipur by tomorrow! Anyway, I had to add this to my list, well, because it was pretty damn good. Another pale bitter, generous fruity aroma with grapefruit ++ in the taste and a dry finish, and I still walked the 5 miles home along the seafront, in a very pleasant mood indeed, cheers!