CT Column 23/03/2011: Autumn's Calling

AUTUMN in Wellington tends to arrive first with a thud in the form of an icy southerly front followed by a relapse into ‘Indian summer’ and then an inevitable descent into winter. Unlike the majority of the population I relish autumn as it marks the start of the cooler months which I far prefer to the muggy heat of summer and the windy fury of spring.
For me the start of autumn is always marked by the release of Emerson’s Taieri George. Taieri George is brewed by Richard Emerson each year to honour his father George who helped to set up the historic Taieri Gorge railway which stretches into Otago from Dunedin. Taieri George is a spiced dark ale that combines cinnamon, nutmeg and organic clover honey with a range of dark biscuity malts and the Emerson’s house yeast to create a distinctly spicy and complex beer that is often compared to hot cross buns. This year’s vintage is particularly floral, a character that perhaps stems from the honey, with a well integrated spiced character and a suggestion of cola alongside the characteristic hot cross bun effect. The beer matches well with hot cross buns but is excellent alongside a spicy Moroccan Tagine, a perfect match for cool autumnal nights.
Another beer that I often find myself drinking as the weather turns is Fullers 1845. Fullers brew a range of fruity and malt accented ales on the road to Heathrow airport in London. 1845 is a rich tangy strong ale that combines toasty caramel malt flavours and a ‘sherbety’ marmalade accented yeast note with an earthy English hop character. The result makes a fantastic accompaniment to roast lamb, slow cooked beef, or a nice sharp traditional English cheddar.
And finally on the topic of autumn beers Founders will have a limited release autumn ale available on the taps around town at the start of next month.

Research: E.S.B

In the process of fine tuning my recipe for the Emerson’s brew I sampled a number of E.S.B.’s in order to confirm in my mind what I wanted from my interpretation of the style (As if I don’t drink them regularly anyway!). Extra Special Bitter is a style that sits in the gap between session beers and strong beers. While in the alcohol fuelled world of New World craft brewing between 5 and 6%abv often gets classified as session beer in reality beers of this strength are not designed to be drunk all night by the pint. However they are also not strong enough to wow with huge alcohol supported flavours and aromas that stronger beers might provide. The style does provide the opportunity to present a lot of character in a reasonably drinkable format. The reason I chose my E.S.B. recipe to brew on a larger scale rather than one of my lower strength session beer recipes was that it has more chance of presenting well from the keg where as I think it’s a lot harder to get a bitter or best bitter show its character chilled and fizzy.

Here are the E.S.B’s I tried over the last 2 months

Founders God Knows Best ... Bitter
A very malt accented interpretation of the E.S.B. style. Aroma features complex cara/munich malt characters with bready, light cocoa biscuity notes and a very clean neutral fermentation profile. In the mouth the beer is rich and malty with more light cocoa, sweet caramel and a touch of fruity hop character before a finely balanced finish. Over all a decent beer, would love to try it fermented with a characterful English yeast.

Titanic Captain Smiths
A great strong bitter with a very firm bitter finish. Aromas of caramel malt, dark fruit (plum), and earthy hops. In the mouth the beer presents a big crystal malt character with toffee and caramel which is more than balanced by a big earthy fruity hop flavour and a lasting bitterness which demands another sip. Good beer.

Charles Wells Bombardier
Aroma features burnt sugar, dark toffee, a hint of dried fruit and a hint of zesty earthy hops. In the mouth the dark toffee burnt sugar character is pronounced with a mid palate flash of hop flavour and a dry toffee bitter finish. Decent beer but somewhat one dimensional.

Fullers E.S.B.
A complex aroma of bright fruity hops with some citrus and berry fruit notes, the trademark Fuller yeast note of Marmalade and warm malt. In the mouth the beer has a rich complex malt profile with nutty caramel and toffee, bright citrus, ginger cake, bight hop notes and a perfectly ballanced finish that displays hop bitterness lingering malt in unison.

Another pub bites the dust

I have just learnt that the Courtenay Arms which has been closed for renovations will reopen as a kiwi theme pub. What absolutely dire news. Not only does that mean that I lose my quiet pint with a paper each Monday as I wait for Sarah to finish work but it also means the Wellington loses its only venue serving Fullers London Pride, Porter and ESB on a regular basis. And why the hell do we need a Kiwi Theme pub!!? Why do pubs have to be themed at all?. Yeah the Courtenay Arms needed some work, the one armed bandits needed to go and the junk at the back next to the couch needed cleaning up, a few beers from NZ micros wouldn’t have gone amiss, but a kiwi theme pub!!!? Grrrrr!!.

Yep I’m officially a grumpy old sod!

1999

In 1999 Neo Nazi David Copeland was terrorizing London with nail bombs, the world was looking forward with trepidation to the coming millennium, the absolute dross that is ‘Shakespeare In Love’ was taking out an Oscar, bombs were falling on Kosovo, Labour took control of the New Zealand Parliament, I was in my first year at University, Fulham achieved promotion to the Premiership and Fullers were brewing one hell of a beer.

My mate Pete was in the UK recently to attend a wedding. In addition to tracing his Scottish roots, catching a Radiohead show and doing some sight seeing he also managed a Fullers Brewery tour and a trip to the Ealing Beer Festival. From the Fullers shop be brought me a bottle of Fullers 1999 Vintage Ale. This, the oldest beer I have ever drunk, I imbibed with Sarah last night. It was extremely good.

Fullers Vintage Ale 1999 8.5%abv

Pours murky amber with a healthy white head. Aroma features a heady complex mix of stone fruit, particularly apricot, orange fruit, nutty chewy malt, barley sugar and a hint of fortified wine. On the palate there is a velvety smooth mouthfeel, nutty rich malt, reminiscent of Tom Hardy’s, dry barley sugar, orange fruit, a hint of warm Xmas cake spice all leading to an incredibly rounded smooth finish. Knock out beer!

Cheers Pete!

Battle of the Bests- Southern Round

At the start of Feb I reviewed a couple of Yorkshire best bitters, I thought it would only be fair then that I review some from the south this month. I chose one very widely distributed best that is bordering on national (and to a lesser degree international) brand status ,Fullers London Pride, one obscure best from a brewery whose products I will become all to familiar with when I visit my partners hometown of Horsham ,Hall and Woodhouse Fursty Ferret, and a best which is reasonably common around the south of England and has recently been showing up regularly around here, Wadworth 6X.

Fullers London Pride 4.7%

Coming from the only regional brewery left in London, London Pride is a pretty common sight on the pumps around England and can be picked up pretty widely from supermarkets and off licenses in my neck of the woods.

London Pride pours a burnished gold with a tight white head. Aroma features the classic Fullers yeast nose of orange fruit, crisp warm malt and a faint hint of tangy hop. On the palate there is sweet malt reminiscent of baking, orange fruit and a balanced finish of malt, citrus fruit and gentle bitterness.

Wall and Woodhouse Fursty Ferret 4.4%

Wall and Woodhouse seem to quietly brew away wooing the supermarket competitions every now and then with another awful fruit syrup spiked golden ale. However in 2000 they were in the right place at the right time to merge with Sussex brewer King and Barnes as the company reeled from a hostile takeover bid from Shepard Neame. I’m not a huge fan of the Badger beers however I better get used to it as I will be spending some time in Horsham next year when I visit the UK.

Fursty Ferret pours a light copper with a fluffy white head. Aroma features an estery blend of apples and pears with a hint of caramel malt. On the palate the fruit salad effect continues cushioned by a rich sweet crystal malt base which leads to a solid bitter finish

Wadworth 6X

Wadworth are a family brewer who have pushed 6X to become a relatively major brand in the south, partially through a 6Xy advertising campaign, sorry I couldn’t resist. I have relatives near Devizes so I hopefully will be have a poke around there Victorian tower brewery next year.

6X pours a mid copper with a creamy white head. Aroma features fruity hops, a hint of plum and a metallic note. On the plate the fruity notes are continued with plums and berry fruit, earthy hops and a touch of sweet malt leading to light fruity bitter finish. Rather complex even if all the flavours are rather subdued.

The Session- Barley Wine

A Question of Style

There is often a fair bit of debate about where the line is drawn between old ales and barley wines. The beer I have chosen for this session, Gales Prize Old Ale, is often considered to be an old ale and indeed contains the word old in its name. However it seems to me that both World Beer Cup and BJCP style guides for Old Ale and Barley Wine have a vary wide scope. The contemporary ‘old ale style’ seems to draw its ancestry from sweet dark fruity Burton Ale at the lower end of its gravity and strong aged tawny October Ale* at the top, quite a range!

The contemporary ‘barley wine style’ also draws its ancestry from October Ale, with American versions showing a family resemblance to another of October Ale’s descendants, India Pale Ale. I would argue that there is no significant difference between strong old ales and barley wines.

A Very Precious Beer

In March 2006 the Horndean Brewery was closed following the purchase of George Gale & Co by Fullers in 2005. It was widely believed that following the closure of the brewery Prize Old Ale ,which relied on antique equipment, would be lost for ever. Fullers announced during the following year that they did intend to continue production of Prize Old Ale and then after I raised the issue on beer-pages here Fullers PR manager Georgina Wald confirmed that a Chiswick brewed version was about to be bottled.

Whether Fullers have been successful at matching the character of Horndean brewed Prize Old remains to be seen, what is for sure is that the only Horndean brewed Prize Old Ale I am ever likely to drink in the future sits in my cellar.

The Calvados of the Beer World

Michael Jackson once compared Prize Old Ale to Calvados apple brandy from Normandy. The beer certainly does display an enormously complex range of fruit and vinous aromas and flavours which slowly develop, meld and change as the beer ages. Horndean Prize Old was bottle conditioned by simply running the ale into bottles un-primed with only its residual yeast count to give it condition. As I have discovered with certain vintages of my own Merchant of the Devil Imperial Stout bottling in this manor accentuates the esters and promotes vinous oxidative characters to form in the beer.

With my own experience of Calvados being non-existent (I’m more of a port man myself) my description of the 2004 vintage went like this:

Big vinous fruit aroma, hints of caramel , and nutty malt. On the palate the vinous notes turn decidedly raisin, with hints of prunes and alcohol warmth, surprisingly the malt weight is relatively low with dry alcohol cleaning things up nicely. A truly exceptional beer.

Michael Jackson also once wrote of Prize Old Ale “Is there any beer that better accompanies a roquefort or stilton?” on this I am in complete agreement.

*October Ales or Beers were strong highly hopped beers brewed in the Autumn to mature through the winter and spring and be tapped in mid summer when the heat made brewing small beers
impossible.