Black Cab Stout

About the Beer

Source: Griffin Brewery, Chiswick, England (Fuller, Smith and Turner PLC)
Style: Stout
Strength: 4.5%ABV
Colour: Black (as a London Black Cab)

Tasting: at The United
Rating (out of 10): 9

Notes:

I don't know what other experts would say, my utmost (or maybe only) criteria in assessing a beer is whether it is delicious.  I cannot find any other reason to enjoy a beer, (it is much easier to getting drunk if you drink whisky, vodka or gin; and "show" your "taste" by having a glass of wine).  And my first-time drinking of this Fuller's Black Cab Stout fits very much what I demand of beer drinking - it is very delicious, from the first mouthful to the very last.

The beer books told a lot about the "invention" of this style of beer in London and was so loved by the working class people (i.e. the porters), from there the name came.  And the stronger version of porter was called stout.  Nowadays, when you speak of Stout, it almost automatically means Guinness.

It is true that Guinness is good, when you drink it on tap at a bar (but not bottled or canned).  Much better than other brews, such as Murphy.  But I think this Black Cab Stout is more delicious than Guinness, in ways of its deliciousness, easy-going character, and dry finish.

Black Cab Stout is so delicious that it gives you a taste of sweetness in your first mouthful of it.  More accurately, it should be called bitter-sweetness, but actually more sweet than bitter.  This may be described as "biscuit-like" or "malty" in those book, but anyway I prefer sweetness.  Furthermore after the first taste of sweetness, it gives you dryness in its aftertaste.  Such a perfect combination.

A really satisfying experience.

This is what introduced in the Fuller's website:

Black Cab Stout

Brewed with a combination of five different malts, some heavily roasted for a near jet black appearance, Black Cab Stout is 4.2% ABV and beneath its dark exterior features luxurious red berry notes, toasty aromas on the nose and culminates in a dry, bitter finish.

Broadside

About the beer

Source: Adnams Brewery, Southwold, Suffolk
Style: Strong Bitter
Colour: Dark ruby red
Strength: 6.3% ABV
Ingredient: Pale Ale malt, First Gold hops

Story: Brewed to commemorate the fierce Battle of Sole Bay fought against the Dutch Republic in 1672 off the Southwold coast

Awards: Broadside is a multi-award winner, including ‘Best Strong Bitter’ in the country, and awarded a gold medal at the Great British Beer Festival. Voted ‘Best Strong Bitter’ in the country, it was duly awarded a bronze medal at GBBF in 2011 and Gold award in the International Beer Challenge in 2009.


Tasting at The United
           500ml bottle

Rating (out of 10): 7

Notes: I treasure strong beer, generally, but not this one, unfortunately.  The dark ruby red colour seems a bit misleading to me, as it reminds me of impression of "refined" and "elegant" tastes of Belgium trappist beers.  Disappointingly, taste of Broadside is quite pale (I mean not complex enough), and not hoppy enough.

However, it seems that Southwold is a nice town as seen from the internet photos.  Should be a nice place to visit.

By the way, it is also interesting to see so many breweries naming their beers as those "numerous" British military victories (Admiral's Ale, Spitfire, etc).

Scarecrow & Oxford Gold - Golden Ales

Scarescrow

About the beer

Source: Wychwood Brewery, Witney, Oxfordshire, UK
Style: Organic pale ale
Strength: 4.7%ABV
Malt: Plumage Archer
Hop: Target

Tasting at Lamma
500ml bottle

Rating: 7.5 (out of 10)

Oxford Gold

About the beer

Source: Brakspear Brewery, Witney, Oxfordshire, UK
Style: Organic golden ale
Strength: 4.6%ABV
Malt: English Pale, Crystal
Hop: Fuggles, Goldings, Styrian


Tasting at Lamma
500ml bottle

Rating: 8 (out of 10)

Notes:

Spring is already here and summer is just outside the door, so I tried something more appealing to the eye - the golden colour of beer.

When you think about drinking beer, it makes more sense to emphasise its taste rather than its outlook.  But the advertising and branding people try everything to grasp consumers' attention and hence the aspect of colour comes to the forefront.  Roger Protz said, in his book "300 beers to try before you die", that golden ales were created (mainly) to counter the growth of mass-advertised global lager brands.  I don't know whether the advertising strategy or not, the creation offer some more choices for beer drinkers anyhow.

Scarecrow and Oxford Gold both have a very pleasant appeal to your palate, meaning a bit sweet, very refreshing, and smooth at the same time.  It does somehow strike a good balance between refreshing crispy taste (like lager) and offering a feeling of "bodiness" as expected by ale-drinkers.  In comparison, Oxford Gold is more aromatic, while Scarecrow offers a more citric fruity taste.

It was exciting that I found these two ales in an organic food shop on Lamma Island.  The only pity was that I had my dinner already.  I guess these two ales should go very well with seafood.

Chinese watery beers and others

Just visited Ningbo (寧波) and Zhoushan for a short trip.  As always you cannot expect much to see, eat or drink in the PRC nowadays, as it is an absurd country.  I tried to look for and drink some beers along my way.  It is only for the record purpose:

Watery beers

If possible, I tried to find out some local beers to try, and what I found in Ningbo is a beer called 大梁山.  It was interesting to see the label 大梁山 7度 and guessed it was of 7%ABV.  But we should not be that naive when we came across those products from this neighbouring country.  It said that "原麥汁濃度" is 7 while the alcohol content is actually around 2.5%ABV.  Simply speaking, it tasted like water.

I tried another bottle and I ordered 雪花純生.  Interestingly, it was also of 2.5%ABV, and it also tasted like water.

Good choices in supermarket: Chimay Red and St Feuillien

I gave up drinking beer in restaurant the next day and changed my tactics to visiting a supermarket.  Luckily there was quite a large selection and we picked up Chimay Red and St Feuillien.

We drank them fastly and there should not be much adjective on what they tasted like.  It was simply that: beers should taste like this, and it should be doubtful whether those watery stuff be called the same name.

Munich Brewery

When wandering in a very "high-class" mall (in which you cannot come across more than five people in any direction you looked at), I found this Munich Brewery and walked in.

It was advertised that the beer sold are brewed at its own micro-brewery, and the waiter emphasised that the micro-brewery is simply located on-site inside the bar and restaurant (as taught by my own intuition and experiences, I was very doubtful that those tanks inside the air-conditioned restaurant really supply all the beer sold in the premises).

Anyway, I tried the wheat (yellow) beer and pilsner. Yes, they tasted fresh and nice. I should find myself excited when I walked into a micro-brewery (!!).

Wheat beer

Pilsner

But unluckily, the micro-brewery was situated in a strange country of PRC. 

Anyway, it was my holiday trip after all, and should be remembered nicely.

The Beer Bay, and Admiral's Ale

My love for the British ale dated years ago when I tried some popular ones like Kilkenny (yes, I tried that in an Irish pub, my old acquaintance: Delaney), Boddington (because it claimed itself to be "cream of Manchester").  But that's only the beginning that I "met" British ale somehow lightly.

Of course, I "met" London Pride some time later and I really started to fall in love with British ale.  I tried various way to find more and more options here in the city.  Not very successful unless some bottles presented on the shelves of city'super and oliver, including Fuller's other brands (ESB, Honey Dew), Black Sheep, Good Time, etc).

But no bar or supermarket in the city could provide such a large number of selection of British ales in such affordable prices than the beer shop in Central, The Beer Bay.  You can try more options here than anywhere else downtown, in front of the beautiful Victoria Harbour.

Among various ales I met here, Admiral's Ale, recommended by the friendly shopkeeper, is surely one of my favourite.

About the beer

(extracted from the website of St Austell Brewery)

Admiral's Ale 5% abv (bottle conditioned) This premium bottle-conditioned ale has been uniquely brewed using our own Cornish Gold malt. Locally grown barley is traditionally malted using a special kilning process which develops a deeper intensity of colour and flavour than ordinary barley malt. Blended with both Styrian Golding and Cascade hops, the result is a deep bronze ale with a delicious rich biscuit flavour and a wonderful spicy aroma.  Brewed to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805. Awarded a Silver medal at the International Beer Challenge 2012. Gold Winner at the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival 2010. "Supreme Champion" in the 2008 International Beer Challenge.

Tasting at The Beer Bay, and The United
           500ml bottle

Rating (out of 10): 9.5

Notes: That won't be many occasions that you could call amazing in beer-drinking.  It may seem exaggerating, but it was indeed a wonderful experience, that barely matched by others, when I tried Admiral's Ale for the first time at The Beer Bay.  I thought I was drinking something dramatically performed by fairies of flowers and hops.  The aroma just conquered me.

From time to time, I miss the taste of Admiral's Ale and the striking feeling it gave me when I first met her.

It should not be drunk too often, and should really be saved for special occasion when you wish to refreshing some of your beautiful past memory...

Thank you, the shopkeeper, for introducing the beer to me.

Three beers shared by buddies from America

It is glad to hear some drinking news from my buddies in the US, so I am pleased to share these new bottles of beer (I admit that not tasting any of them) with you:

Cusquena (a Peruvian beer)

tasted in a Peruvia restaurant in Oklahoma City, US

guest comment: a bit bland, but actually went well with the very sour ceviche (salad with lime) and very salty arroz con mariscos (rice with seafood)

Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale

tasted at Dallas, Texas, US

Three Philosophers

tasted at Dallas, Texas, US

guest comment: Strong(9.7%), Rich and Full flavor but easy to drink 

I have not tried any of the above three.  But the colour of the Three Philosophers is really tempting (and it's 9.7%ABV!!).  The Peru beer and food is exotic to me, and the Blue Moon mysterious.  Anyway, thank you my buddies!

Brakspear Triple

About the beer

Source: Wychwood Brewery, Witney, Oxfordshire

Strength: 7.2% ABV

Colour: dark copper

Brewing craft: This beer went through three fermentations, in which two were in Brakspear's "Double Drop" System, and the third fermentation continued in the bottle.  The bottle I had, marked with the bottle number 2084625, was filled at 6/7/2012 (you could check the date at the website www.brakspear-beers.com. In this way, you could actually store your vintage in cellar with known duration).  Hops were then added three separate times.

Malt: Crystal, Black and Maris Otter pale malts


Tasting at The United
           500ml bottle

Rating (out of 10): 8.5

Notes:

I bought the bottle at the Beer Bay, thinking about something stronger for the salty and oily food of the Lunar New Year.  Eventually, I had the rich beer at the dinner table of the New Year feast (sharing it with my father, sister and brother-in-law).  And the experience was so satisfying.

Strong craft beer does not easily let you down, as long as you are not fancying fast downpour through your throat.  What I mean is that if you are willing to take your time, drink slowly and treasure something extraordinary, strong craft beer should be your good choice.  This Brakspear Triple gives you a illusion of some good stuff from a Belgium Abbey, except that it produces some typical aroma usually associated with British ale.

Aromatic in your nose, while very rich in your palate.  A bit (not very) hoppy.  All these characters make this beer a good match for Chinese food.  Not that kind of ice-cold Tsing Tao for salty fried squid, but imagine some brandy goes with roasted duck.  Yes, just like that while you don't need to worry about those 40% brandy making you headache fastly.

It is good to drink slowly, just like a glass of good wine.