Meantime Coffee Porter

Meantime Coffee Porter

Style: Coffee Porter

Alcohol Content: 6%

From: Greenwich, London, England

Purchased from: Meantime Brew Shop, Greenwich

http://www.meantimebrewing.com

After months and months of badgering my girlfriend, she finally relented and agreed to accompany me on a tour of the Meantime brewery. When we arrived, I was quickly accosted by a proper London cockney known only a Big Al. This lemon squeezer (geezer) was certainly loud and proud of his East end roots. He dropped beautifully crafted one liners followed by ever so charming compliments. Quite frankly this man was a stand up comedian with a passion for craft beer and well worth the entrance fee alone! After a hour of his routine and several samples of beer (including my favourite Yakima Red), we embarked on a tour around the brewery escorted by the extremely knowledgeable Jack. It was certainly the most entertaining brewery tour I have ever attended and is well worth a repeat visit. Emma enjoyed it especially due the fact that Big Al asked her for some fashion advice. Turns out they are both big fans of Aquascutum (what ever that is?).

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. Does the 2014 version hold its own? Let's find out.

Colour: Pours a thick, sticky jet black with a light tan head. The foamy head will stay around for the duration (always a good sign in my book).

Aroma: As you would expect for a beer with the word coffee in the label, the dominate aroma is bitter coffee. This aroma is underpinned with notes of dark chocolate from the blend of chocolate and roasted malts. Sublime stuff! 

Body: Slightly lighter than Meantime's original London Porter, but this could be due to the fact I drank this rather promptly after removing it from the fridge. A noticeable thickening effect takes place after fifteen minutes in the glass. Note to self, always serve you drinks at the correct temperature.

Taste: Full of very heavy americano notes which linger longer due to the bitterness of the hops. An extra coffee kick is provided by the addition of freshly ground coffee during the mashing process. These beans help to add the essence of dark fruit whilst the roasted malts provide sweet chocolate notes on the dry finish. Each sip will have you gasping for more. Meantime really know how to make great beer and make me proud to say I'm a Londoner.

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/dark-star-espresso-beer.html

Different to:http://beefsbrewery.blogspot. co.uk/2013/07/hogs-back-hop-garden-gold.html

For the latest news on reviews follow me on twitter @beefsbrewery or like me on Facebook at Beefsbrewery

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

For the latest news on reviews follow me on twitter @beefsbrewery or like me on Facebook at Beefsbrewery

Meantime London Stout

Meantime London Stout

Style: Stout

Alcohol content: 4.5%

From: Greenwich, London, England

Purchased from: Waitrose

Normally i would begin each blog by writing about the brewery. However, as i have review Meantime's Chocolate Porter earlier in this blog, i thought i would write a bit about the origin of the stout (I promise i will keep this brief).

If you lived and worked in the London Docklands during the 18th and 19th centuries, you would of most likely of known a porter. A porter (much like today) would help move your bags between the ship and your hotel. Eventually (and simply due to the sheer volume that they consumed), Porters would lend their name to a strong dark ale. Before 1700, London brewers sent out their beer very young and any ageing was either performed by the publican or a dealer. Porter was the first beer to be aged at the brewery and dispatched in a condition fit to be drunk immediately. The stout first appeared in the 1730's. Stout where first classed as strong Porters, but as time evolved, they became there own unique style. For example, Guinness Extra Stout was originally called "Extra Superior Porter" and was only given the name Extra Stout in 1840. Stout is now enjoyed the world and Guinness has become one of the biggest players in the commercial beer market.

Brief history lesson over. Now onto the tasting.

Colour: Dark as the knight or jet black like all good stouts should be. On the pour you notice a large head is formed. The head takes on a whitish brown colouration that is rather bubbly (not like the creamy head that normally accompanies a Guinness). 

Smell: From the bottle, you are hit with scent of toasted biscuits with a hints of vanilla and milk chocolate. These aromas come from the mix of dark malts and hard water used to brew this beer. This beer is very inviting. 

Body: Very similar to that of a Guinness but without the creamy edge. This beer has a velvet/silk mouth-feel.  It definitly feels a bit heavier than the chocolate porter that i reviewed earlier in this blog. However, that being said you would be able to have a couple of these before you would noticed how full you where.  

Taste: This beer is full of earthly complex flavors. On your first sip, you are greeted with a mild filter coffee taste. You also get some sweetness which will make you think someone has slipped a sugar into your coffee, i mean beer. Also on the palate, you get notes of hazelnut with a slight mineral finish. I can imagine that this finish comes from the hard water that is used to brew this beer. London has traditionally been know as a hard water area. Hard water, is water that is high mineral content as opposed to soft water which has a low mineral content. Good examples of soft water style beers would be Pilsner. One thing i will note is that the hops used are not overly powerful creating a very mellow flavor  This is a sipper beer which would be best enjoyed by the fire on a rainy winters day.

Hello Guvnor !

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Meantime Chocolate Porter

 Meantime Chocolate Porter

Style: Porter

Alcohol content: 6.5%

From: Greenwich, London, England

Purchased from: Waitrose

Last week i was due to go to a craft beer pub in Richmond called the Pig's Ears with my good friend Mala. Now i had not seen Mala for quite some time so i was very excited about the evening. Whilst on the train i heard that a signal had failed in Barnes and that no trains where running to Richmond. I hopped of the train at Twickenham, crest fallen. Firstly i was not going to see my friend but secondly i was not going to have any tasty beers that evening. After talking to the staff at south west trains, i worked out that i had a one hour wait ahead of me. Gasping for a beer i decided to head to a near by Waitrose to see what they had in stock. Lucky they had the Meantime Chocolate Porter in stock, so i picked up a bottle and headed back to the station to wait for my train.

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.

Now i will admit that i have tried this beer before but i drank it very chilled and it spotlit the taste some what. Make sure you serve your beer at the correct temperature people. Now onto the tasting.

Sexy Boy!

Colour: This brew is a dark as the night (like all good porters should be). On the pour you notice a white/brown head a bit like a latte. The head is not very thick and disappears after a couple of minutes.

Smell: As soon as you pour the drink you, get hit with a smell that is similar to a chocolate hobnob. This comes from the four roasted dark malts and the real dark chocolate that they add during the maturation process. Now you may think that as they have used real chocolate that the smell might be quite bitter but its actually very sweet on the nose.  

Body: Light and actually quite refreshing. Normally, i would associate porters to be quite heavy so it was a pleasant surprise that this beer was not like that at all.There is low level of carbonation and pours very smoothly. Here, i will also mention the body of the glass that the Meantime Chocolate porter is served in. It looks very sexy indeed and helps it to stand out from the crowd.

Taste: Just like the smell you get a taste of chocolate hobnob on your first sip. As you enjoy your first sip, you get an aftertaste of an espresso or black americano with a slightly mineral finish. This finish actually helps to cleanse you palate by removing the bitterness of the coffee taste. Now i actually drank my Porter with a Chili Con Carne. The sweetness of the beer helped to balance out the spicy of chili. Very good match indeed!

Follow me on Twitter for the latest news on reviews @BeefsBrewery