Two Cocks Brewery 1643 Leveller Bitter

Two Cocks Brewery 1643 Leveller Bitter
Style: Bitter

Alcohol Content: 3.8%

From: Enborne, West Berkshire, United Kingdom

Purchased From: Noble Green Wines, Hampton Hill, United Kingdom

http://www.twococksbrewery.com/

Have you ever got to that stage in life where you just want to stop what you’re doing and head to the countryside? Well, in January 2009 Michael Butcher and Paul Palmer did just that, leaving the West End of London behind for a taste of the “quiet life” in Enborne, Buckinghamshire. Here they set up a farm on 40 acres of lush English countryside, with the intention of selling provincial food stuffs primarily focusing on rare animal breeds. After stumbling across a rogue hop vine in October 2011, the pair decided to open a brewery. As the farm is based on an old English Civil war encampment, ‘Two Cocks’ decided to doff their cap to this historic period and label their beers accordingly. With names like Roundhead Bitter and Clavier Golden Ale, plus the addition of a real cockerel feather on the label of each bottle, the spirit of these times are forever remembered. The subject of this review is 1643 Leveller Bitter.

Colour: Pours a deep chestnut with a strange lemon yellow hue once settled in the glass. A thin, light brown head is also initially present but this quickly fades away after a few seconds in the glass.

Aroma: The first thing you will notice is that this bitter smells rather sweet. The malt provides a wholemeal bread sensation which is promptly followed by notes of sweet, slightly burnt caramel. This would suggest to me that Two Cocks have used a caramel malt which is just on the verge of becoming roasted/chocolate malt. As this drink settles, the aromas become slightly nutty and less sweeter than before.

Body: Rather surprisingly, this beer feels a lot thicker in the mouth than I was expecting it to. The rich stickiness coats every crease of mouth and lingers in the shadows for the duration of your pint. This helps to provide a clogging sensation on the back of your throat, causing you to drink more and more in order to refresh your palate.

Taste: As soon as you take a sip, you could be mistaken into thinking you’re eating a wholemeal roll smothered in dark treacle. Whilst this can be initially quite sickly, this feeling soon dies down as the bread notes begin to move to the fore. Although this beer is not extravagantly hopped, the hops used help to provide subtle notes of lemon which in turn loosens the sticky treacle taste. This citrus edge also helps to develop the flavour as the drink warms, revealing a strawberry jam like after-taste. In short, this is a lovely bitter that you should enjoy in a Ye Old English pub whilst catching up with the in-laws. If this was on cask in my local, I certainly would be ordering a few cheeky pints.

As 2014 draws to a close, I would like to say thank you all for taking your time to read my posts. Whilst I am not a professional beer writer by any stretch of the imagination, I have found everyone’s warmth and support overwhelming for my blog. Hopefully I have given some insight into the world of craft beer and potentially inspired some of you to follow in my footsteps. With that in mind, I came across this quote from Oliver Cromwell whilst researching this review:

“No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going.”

Happy New Year to you all, and I hope to hear from you in 2015.

For Emma, my present and future.

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/east-london-brewing-foundation-bitter.html

Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/wild-beer-company-somerset-wild.html

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

Harvey's Imperial Extra Double Stout

Harvey's Imperial Extra Double Stout
Style: Imperial Stout

Alcohol Content: 9%

From: Lewes, East Sussex, United Kingdom 

Purchased From: Corbetts Real Ale Shop, Dorking, Surrey

http://www.harveys.org.uk/

This beer is a re-creation of a classic 19th century beer. During the Victorian era, London became well known for brewing stouts. London's hard water was perfect for brewing these pints of happiness and as the centre of commerce, these beers began to be exported world wide. One of these happy customers were the old Russian Empire. As a developing economy, Russia soon grew very envious of the British position as an economic powerhouse. In order to "keep up with the Jones", Russia began to import vast quantities of strong stout (typically above the  five percent sold in the UK). Sensing a unique business opportunity, Albert Le Coq began shipping beer to Russia directly from London in 1820s. His export business was initially very successful, however, by 1904 the business was faced with a number of challenges. High custom levies and frequent forging forced Le Coq's company to search for a new home inside the Russian Empire. A site at Tartu in modern day Estonia was eventually selected and the brewery went from strength to strength up until the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917. The new Bolshevik soon began to nationalise all the breweries in the USSR and this beer was slowly phased out of production.

It wasn't until the mid the late 1980's until this beer would reappear again. Lewes based brewer Harvey's began negotiating with the descents of Albert Le Coq to acquire the original recipe. Soon very limited numbers of this beer began to appear for sale directly from the brewery and staying true to its legacy the Imperial Stout was awarded Gold at the International Beer Challenge 2012 and Gold in the Stouts and Porters Category at the International Beer Challenge 2013. Hopefully this beer lives up to its sky high reputation and history.
     

Colour: Pouring a dark, jet black complete with a small tan coloured head, Harvey Imperial Double stout just encourages you to delve into its murky depths. The head will dissipate very quickly once in the glass, which disappoints me slightly as I really love a dense head on my stouts.

Aroma: As soon as I opened the bottle I smelt the acidic stench of vinegar. My first thought was perhaps the bottle was out of date or spoiled. I have been burnt by this before and I can remember the bitter disappointment of pouring the beer down sink. Seriously worried, I visited the Harvey's website in order to locate some tasting notes. Needless to say I was delighted to read that this vinegar aroma was indeed part of the nose of this beer. Thank God! Soon this sensation slowly lifts to give way to hints of dark chocolate and liquorice. Yum!

Body: This stout was actually a lot thinner than I was expecting, but I guess with this level of alcohol, it's hard for any beer feel dense. Perhaps my lusting after a bottle of Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout has some what skewed my vision of what a perfect stout should be, but this drink is very, very different to this ideal. Without a hint of carbonation to speak, this beer feels like thick oil greasing every crevasse of your mouth. As it slowly sips down your throat, the alcohol will release a slight burn. This is definitely a slow drink to enjoy over the course of an evening.

Taste: As eluded to earlier, the first sip can be rather abrasive. The sour vinegar mixed with burnt coffee and bitter dark chocolate is certainly not to everyone's tastes. As the drink warms, the flavours begin to mellow. The vinegar notes become similar to that of sour dark cherries. The whole drink begins to taste like a divine slice of black Forrest cake with a subtle hint of soy sauce. Interesting combination hey? I personally really enjoyed this beer but be warned, this is not a beer for beginners! A beer with these qualities need to be worked up to, otherwise you will be put off for life and you will never get to enjoy this beautiful complex drink in all its glory. Sip it and serve at room temperature.

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/kernel-brewery-london-1890-export-stout.html

Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/windsor-and-eton-brewery-canberra.html

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