Atlantic IPA - UK (ABV 4.8%)

Cornish brewed, "Sharps Atlantic IPA",  reminds me more of a traditional English Bitter than an IPA. Pours a nice pale golden amber and looks great in the glass but is lacking that IPA hop aroma. It is a mild tasting beer with a smooth malty mouth feel and the slightest hint of citrus hop.

Nice enough sessionable beer but not a great IPA. Apparently in the UK they also have a cask conditioned version that is supposed to be very good.

Beertasters "Wunderbeer 4, Autumn" at Five Bar

Beertasters' event "Wunderbeer4" hosted by Five Bar in Mt Lawley was billed as a tribute to Autumn. We were moving on from the lighter refreshing beers of summer towards the darker stouts & porters of winter by tasting the amber, red & browns of Autumn. The beers were matched to foods by the kitchen at Five Bar, see the menu above.

First up we were served slice of Pork Belly on a bed of Spaghetti Veg with a Smoked Orange Sauce. This German inspired dish was matched with two traditional German beers for a side by side comparison, "Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel" & "Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen".

Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel (ABV 4.7%)
Weltenburger claim their Barock Dunkel is the world's oldest dark beer. It pours a lovely dark amber with a creamy head. It has an almost sweet toasted malt aroma (some burnt caramel). A medium bodied beer with almost no carbonation. A very nice German Dunkel but the weaker of the two beers with this dish.


Aecht Schlenkerlra Rauchbier Marzen (ABV 5,1%)
I am usually not a fan of smoked beers but the matching food made this Rauchbier an exception. It has been flavoured by exposing the malt to the smoke of Beech logs at the traditional Schlenkerla-maltings. This bottom fermented Rauchbier had an almost bacon like smokiness, lovely dark colour with a reddish hue at the edge of the glass. This beer was perfect with the pork belly, the orange sauce and smokey beer combined famously in the mouth. A really good match!

The next dish to be served was a Spiced Lamb Ragout served with home made Turkish Bread. This Middle Eastern spiced dish was to be matched with " Green Flash Hop Head Red" and the traditional English "Fuller's 1845 Strong Ale".

Green Flash Hop Head Red (ABV 7%)
This is a very highly regarded beer from a highly regarded brewery. Green Flash, in typical American craft brew style, have taken a quite malty beer and packed it full of hops. In this case Columbus, Nugget and Amarillo hops (with a generous dry hopping of Amarillo hops). The Caramel malt gives this beer a lovely reddish brown colour and adds to an almost sweet aroma. The hops really do dominate this beer giving it a spicy resinous hop aroma and taste. The  Spicy Lamb Ragout seemed to accentuate a fruity hopiness in this beer, a terrific match!

Fuller's 1845 Strong Ale(ABV 6.3% )
This traditional style Strong Ale is brewed with a variety of pale malts and an amber malt for colour. It is bottle conditioned and flavoured using the very English Golding's hops. On its own this is a fine Ale, a lovely dark amber colour and an enticing spicy fruit aroma. With the Spicy Lamb the beer lost its flavour and masked the spiciness of the Ragout making it taste merely salty. Probably the least successful match of the evening.

It is very difficult to match beers with desserts, the flavours often compete or even clash in the mouth, these matches proved a triumph. We were served a Chocolate Parfait Slice matched to the fabulous "Nøgne Ø Imperial Brown Ale" and a Champagne Fruit Salad (topped with a Saison Fizz) matched with "Liefmans Goudenband".

Nøgne Ø Imperial Brown Ale (ABV 7.5%)
This brew was originally brewed at Copenhagen's Nørrebro Bryghus as a collaboration with that brewery. Brewed with a variety of malts ( Maris Otter, Wheat, Brown, Amber, Munich and Caramel) and hopped with Columbus, Chinook & Golding's hops, this is one fine and tasty brown ale. A super malty aroma loads of toasted caramel and chocolate with a slight floral hop aroma. This beer really complemented the Chocolate Parfait nicely.

Liefmans Goudenband (ABV 8%)
I wouldn't normally associate a Belgian sour beer with dessert but the crispness of the Champagne Fruit Salad with a whisked Saison topping really worked well. The Liefmans has an unusual malty aroma and a nutty, raisin taste. It has a slightly sour finish produced by the specialist malts and yeasts used to brew this beer. Liefmans actually recommend pairing this beer with goats cheese!

To finish the evening we were treated to Pont-l'Évêque cheese served with a tart strawberry puree and fresh Pear slices. The cheese was matched with the superb "Mikkeller/3Floyds Boogoop Buckwheat Wine".

Mikkeller/Three Floyd's Boogoop Buckwheat Wine (ABV 10.4%) 
Pours a cloudy reddish amber colour with a beautiful chunky head. A predominately hop aroma with loads of fruit, I get hints of pine and citrus on the nose but I also get some caramel malt. This beer hits the mouth sweet but does have a complex slightly bitter hit in the finish. Cut through the intense flavour of the cheese nicely and complemented the slices of pear beautifully. I love experiencing the combination of changing textures & flavours when they work. A very good way to finish the evening!

Landlord Timothy Taylor Strong Pale Ale - UK (4.1%ABV)

Thanks to Mark for letting me taste this rather traditional Yorkshire Bitter.

Brewed in a traditional West Yorkshire brewery that still uses its own natural spring water. A very traditional recipe using  Golding's and Fuggles hops together with Golden Promise malt and traditional English yeast.

This ale pours a golden amber with a medium head and a mild hop aroma. Has a nicely balanced flavour predominately hop but balanced by the Golden Promise malt. It has a crisp rather than bitter finish.

I had 2 bottles of this ale to taste, one I tried way too cold and it lacked flavour. The second was only slightly chilled, this seemed to bring out more aroma and flavour.

Samuel Smith's India Ale - IPA - UK

I imagine this is as close to an original IPA as you are likely to taste. Brewed at a very traditional Yorkshire brewery (est 1758), using traditional techniques and ingredients (they even use well water from the original brewery well). Samuel Smith's brews this beer using traditional "Yorkshire stone squares" top fermented with the same yeast strain the brewery has used since the 19th century.

The original IPA's were brewed at only a slightly higher alcohol content than traditional ales in the UK and this one at 5% alcohol matches that. Traditionally these ales were "generously hopped" to provide the flavour that made these ales so popular in the nineteenth century. By the standards applying in the nineteenth century today's modern IPA's, especially those. craft brewed in the USA, are massively hopped.

This IPA pours a lovely copper colour with a medium creamy head with a continuous medium lacing. Aroma is malty with some floral hop. Subtle flavouring with ever present malt, fruit hop and very slight bitter finish. This does not have the hop hit you get from a modern IPA but is nevertheless a very good traditional ale.

SCORE 4.2

Shepherd Neame Spitfire - UK

Another impulse buy thanks to the squat 500ml bottle, the nice dark amber colour and the RAF target crown cap. Brewed by Sheperd Neame who are apparently the oldest brewery in England.

This "Kentish Ale" has the characteristics of a typical English bitter. Malty aroma, some fruity mid palate taste and a very slight hopped finish. Pours with a small head and not a lot of lacing in the glass.

More flavour than a factory lager or ale but not a super beer.

SCORE 3.4

Brew Dog Punk IPA in a can! - UK

 

Light golden lager appearance with an almost sweet fruity hop nose.

This beer really doesnt taste much like an IPA. All fruity hop with more a malty sweet finish than a traditional bitter hop finish. It tastes very much like "passiona".

IPA for pretentious wankers, dont believe the hype!

SCORE 3.2