Meantime Raspberry Wheat

Meantime Raspberry Wheat

Style: Flavoured Wheat Ale

Alcohol Content: 4%

From: Greenwich, London, England

Purchased from: Hog's Back Brew Shop
http://www.meantimebrewing.com

Meantime Brewery was founded by Alastair Hook in 2000. The originally Greenwich brewery was originally located 0° 2' 12" east of the Greenwich Meridian, moving to a site on nearby Blackwall Lane in 2010. This mission driven company aims to help the consumer rediscover their cultural and culinary beer heritage, which it believes has, in the UK at least, largely been lost as beer manufacture has been concentrated in the hands of a smaller number of ever bigger brewers, who do not wish the consumer to have any great understanding or appreciation of beer. Since opening the brewery has gone from strength to strength and their Coffee Porter won a gold medal at the world beer cup in 2008.

I will be honest with you, i am a big fan of the Meantime Brewery. I have already reviewed two of their beers on this site; the Chocolate Porter and their London Stout. Both of these drink are amazing and are among my most popular posts so far. So as a semi Londoner, i am pleased that to see that a number of Youngs pubs in Greater london and Surrey, now carry Meantime beer on draft. These are normally their crisp London Lager and their mildly hoppy London Pale Ale. However, the focus of this post will be something completely different; their Raspberry Wheat beer.

Colour: Once poured, you are presented with a drink that looks like cloudy cranberry juice. This cloudy colour comes from the style of beer (wheat beer). A nice bubbly white head is also present but this dissipates very quickly and leaves nothing in the glass.

Aroma: As you would assume, there are very strong notes of Raspberry smothered in sugar which ooze out of the glass like a waterfall down a cliff face. You can also pick out notes of creamed wheat mixed with slight hints of banana and cloves. These latter aromas are very reminiscent of the style, but seem a little out of place against the raspberry back drop.

Body: Seeing as this is a wheat beer, the drink is quite heavy in the mouth. This is not a drink that you can rush. There is a slight acidic/metallic after taste which clings to the back of your mouth after every sip. This drink has a very low level of carbonation and is almost flat after 5 minutes in the glass.

Taste: As you expect from a raspberry beer, the predominant flavour are raspberries. These are a little tart and slightly overpowering for my palate. There are faint hints of banana and cloves but these are subtly hidden by the raspberries. The more you accustom yourself with this beer, the more the raspberry flavour dissipates. It's becomes rather jam like as the beer warms. The aftertaste has a mineral water finish to it. It's as almost as if you can taste the fluoride in the London water. I must admit that this is not my favourite Meantime beer I've tried, but its always good to try something different. One thing i know for sure is that my girlfriend would love this.

I really love the champagne style bottles 

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/williams-bros-fraoch-heather-ale.html 
Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/lovibonds-dark-porter.html

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Brewdog International Arms Race

Brewdog International Arms Race

Style: Zero IBU IPA Or Gruit

Alcohol Content: 

From: Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK

Purchased From: Rays Wines, Ashford

Brewdog was founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie. The brewery at the Kessock Industrial Estate in Fraserburgh produced its first brew in April 2007. It claims to be Scotland's largest independently owned brewery producing about 120,000 bottles per month for export all over the world. The company moved premises to nearby Ellon in the Autumn of 2012, however it as been announced that the Fraserburgh site will be used as a brewing laboratory for experimental beers.

Brewdog's provocative marketing has been a key aspect of the business, and has gained them substantial international coverage.

Last year Flying Dog issued a challenge to Brewdog for battle collaboration entitled International Arms Race - Both beers are dubbed 'Zero IBU IPA' and the challenge was to brew an IPA style beer using no hops: the hops are replaced with berries, herbs and roots. Now, I have tried Flying Dogs version and it reminds me a lot of scrumpy cider from Somerset. I was not to keen on that but lets see how Brewdog's version measures up.

Colour: On the pour, you a presented with a bright red ale that reminds me of a very old school beamish that my old man used to drink. As the beer settles, a sheen of copper appears in the glass. The head starts off a brilliant white colour and slowly dissipates down to a small amount of foam. 

Aroma: To be honest this has to be the strangest beer I have ever smelt so far. There are so many new and interesting smells rising from the glass, its actually quite hard to know where to start from. Here goes. The first thing you will notice is that this beer smells quite sour. This can be a sign that the beer is off so I had a look at the expiration date on the bottle. To my surprise I had been sold a kipper. The beer had an expiration date of May. However, I decided to pull up my socks and carry on regardless. You are instantly bombarded with notes of cherry, blackberry and mint. There is also a few herbal notes such as thyme and rosemary. Something tells me that this is going to taste funky.

Body: There is a very low/ if any carbonation in this beer. This gives the body the feel of cherry juice that you can buy from the supermarket. This body helps to mask the ABV of this beer making this an extremely dangerous beer to enjoy on a session. 

Taste: On your first sip you will notice hints of gin and tonic mixed with pine and grassy notes. This is undercut with gritty earth notes. Upon the second sip, you can start to pick our herbal notes like rosemary and thyme and a orange peel. To be honest, this drink tastes a bit like a Ricola cough drop. These flavours make sense given that there is no hops in this beer and the herbs have been added to this brew to add flavour and aroma. I have to say I personally did not enjoy this beer very much. It’s an interesting concept by I will not be going back for more.

Similar to: Umm Nothing I've ever tasted or reviewed.
Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/erdinger-uriweisser.html

For the latest news on reviews follow me on twitter @beefsbrewery

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA

Style: IPA

Alcohol Content: 7%

From: Healdsburg, California, United States

Purchased From: Utobeer, London Borough Market, UK

http://bearrepublic.com/

The Bear Republic Brewing Company is an American microbrewery located in Healdsburg, California, USA. It was established by the Norgrove family in 1995, with Richard G. Norgrove as brewmaster. The name is said to refer to California's 1846 Bear Flag Revolt. In 2006, Bear was named Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival. The this review i will be reviewing there Racer 5 IPA. I first came across this beer during a "craft beer festival" at Bryon burger. I was presented with a choice of five beers and i decided to go with the racer 5 (mainly due to its name and the style of beer). Quite frankly it blew me away and now i will review it for you on my blog.

Quite like the old school Instagram look on this pic

Colour: Once poured into the glass you are presented with a bright orange/yellow liquid with a minimal head. This head will settle down and leave a very small amount of foam in the glass. This foam will stay around for the duration of your drinking experience. Lord this drink looks amazing i just want to dive write in.

Aroma: Once poured into the glass you are absolutely bombarded with scents and aromas. You can pick out a boutique of  aromas such as grapefruit, elderflower, lemon peel, grass and fresh pine. After drinking craft beer for two years there is only one other beer that i have tried that matches this boutique and that is the Kernel Brewery IPA Columbus. Which like this beer is also truly divine.

Body: As this beer is heavily hopped with Chinook, Cascade, Columbus and Centennial hops, the bitterness actually makes this beer feel heavier than it actually is. It strikes the perfect balance for an American IPA; easy drink-ability (due to low levels of carbonation) with a slightly stickiness in the after taste.   

Taste: There are sour notes such as pink grapefruit and lemons mixed with pine. There is also a ever so slight bitter aftertaste which come from the blend of hops used in the making of this brew. This helps to round the flavor off very nicely. If you warm the beer in your mouth, the flavor will actually change quite drastically. Rather than a fruity beer, you are presented with notes of caramel and hobnob biscuits. Its like a drink of two halves. In my opinion, this is one of my favorite beers and i will go back to it again and again.

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/kernel-brewery-ipa-columbus.html
Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/meantime-chocolate-porter.html

For the latest news on reviews follow me on twitter @beefsbrewery

Einstok Icelandic White Ale

Einstok Icelandic White Ale

Style: Wit or White Ale

Alcohol Content: 5.2%

From: Akureyri, Iceland

Purchased From: A wine shop in Brighton. Can quite remember the name

http://einstokbeer.com/

The Einstock brewery is located just 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle in the fishing port of Akureyri, Iceland. There, the water flows from rain and prehistoric glaciers down the Hlíðarfjall mountain and through ancient lava fields, delivering the purest water on earth and the perfect foundation for brewing deliciously refreshing craft ales.

From the land of the Vikings!

Colour: Once poured into the glass you are presented with a very pale yellow almost white liquid (as the name suggests). On the pour, you will get a luscious white head that is very bubbly. This will completely disappear after a couple of minutes. No foam is left in the glass at all which is quite strange for a beer of this style.

Aroma: Very faint grassy and gassy aromas are given off by this brew. In fact, the aromas given off by this beer are very similar to those given off by Duvel which i reviewed earlier in this blog. Smelling deeper you can pick up very faint notes of coriander and lemon peel. I must admit this is not the most inspiring beer i have ever smelt. It just feels as if its missing something for my taste.

Body: This beer is quite light which i was not expecting from this wit beer. There is a very low level of
carbonation which makes this beer very drinkable. There is not a hint of stickiness at all.

Taste: Rather surprisingly for a wit beer i can taste a mix of apples and pears (and before you ask that's not my attempt at cockney rhyming slang). There is also a mix of pine and grassy notes followed by a mildly acidic aftertaste on the palate. As these flavors are very delicate, this is not a beer that's going to punch you in the face. Its a easy drinking beer that would go very well with your roast dinner on a Sunday.

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/duvel.html
Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/skinners-heligan-honey.html

For the latest news on reviews follow me on twitter @beefsbrewery