Camden Town Brewery Indian Hells Lager

Camden Town Brewery Indian Hells Lager

Style: Lager

Alcohol Content: 6.2%

From: Camden Town, London, England

Purchased from: Real Ale Shop, Richmond Upon Thames

http://www.camdentownbrewery.com/

To reference a piece of cocky rhyming slag, I am cream crackered. Work has been tough since the turn of the year. Perhaps it's just the growing pains of a new role, but my real job has forced me to (temporarily) cut back on writing this blog. Personally, this pains me greatly as I find writing very therapeutic and extremely tasty.

Time; where does it go? It feels like only yesterday I was telling you all about my three beer resolutions. This weekend, Emma and I plan to make good on one of these resolutions by attending Craft Beer Rising this Saturday. Currently in its third year, CBR is considered to be one of London's premier craft beer festivals. However, after reading though the excellent list of breweries showcasing at this event, I can't help but notice some notable absentees. London based Kernel and Partizan are no where to be seen along with one of my favourite breweries Siren. Whilst I am naturally disappointed by their absenteeism, I have a plethora of new and exciting breweries to explore. Names such as Bear Hug Brewing and Saltaire wet my taste buds the most. Naturally, I will try an remember what I had and give you all a little write up next week.

Now onto this weeks tasting, Camden Town Brewing Indian Hells Lager or IHL for short. This beer appears to of taken the London Craft beer scene by storm. Every blogger worth their salt seems to be raving about its hop heavy drink-ability. Should I believe the hype? Let's find out.

A little bit of the back story behind the brewer: Jasper Cuppaidge is the grandson of Laurie McLaughlin, who ran the McLaughlin’s Brewery (Mac’s) in Rockhampton, Australia between 1910 to 1960. When Laurie past away he past on all his recipes to his daughter Patricia, who in turn then passed them onto Jasper. On Patricia's 50th birthday, Jasper decided to try and recreate one of Laurie's beers in the cellar of Horseshoe and that’s when it all started… Eventually the brewery moved from the cellar into several converted railway arches in Camden town and they opened for business in the summer of 2010. Camden Town are now considered to be one of London's premier craft beer breweries offering a range eight core beers and a range of seasonal offerings.

Colour: Pours a bright copper/orange topped with a tightly packed, pure white tight head. After a few minutes in the glass this reduces down to a heavy dusting of foam which laces the glass perfectly on every sip you take. Initially Indian Hells looked slightly cloudy once settled. However, I would attribute this to chill hazy as I drank this straight from the fridge. Looks like a lager so far!

Aroma: As soon as you open the can, your nostrils will be bombarded by notes of fresh pineapple and lychees. It's like a big tropical hop bomb has just exploded in my nose (just a lot less painful). There is so much sweetness rising from the depth that you will forget that this is meant to be a lager.

Body: One of the remarkable features of this beer is ability to trick your palate. Whilst the nose suggests a thick, sweet IPA style body, Indian Hells drinks almost like a soft german Pilsner. The delicate body tickles your taste buds before the resinous hop notes clog you throat and slow your drinking pace. What a pleasurable drinking experience!

Taste: Indian Hells' nose successfully translates into the taste. The juicy pineapple and lychee notes return but this time bring some back up in the form of a delicately tart lemon. This rich sweetness playfully mixes with a crisp malt base to help bring this drink to a beautiful crescendo. This beautiful beer hides its ABV extremely well, so be careful it doesn't creep up on you. Truthfully, this drinks more like a pale ale than a lager (or perhaps all this style blending has eroded all of my senses, I'm not sure). To paraphrase the immortal rap group Public Emeny, Do Believe The Hype!

Do believe the hype!

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/sly-fox-brewing-pikeland-pils.html

Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/stone-and-wood-pacific-ale.html

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

Camden Brewery Pale Ale

Camden Brewery Pale Ale

Style: Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 4%

From: Camden Town, London, England

Purchased from: Hog's Back Brew Shop

http://www.camdentownbrewery.com/

Now i am no stranger to this beer. Almost a year ago to the day i was drinking one of these beauties in the Old Red Cow in central London. I remember talking to my good friend Jon about writing this blog whilst sipping on this brew. You could say, that this was the beer that started it all. However as time past, the drink faded from my memory. Whilst touring the Hog's Back brewery, a bright green object caught my eye. As i drew nearer, the familiar font drew crisper in my eyeline. Yes!!, I screamed. I had managed to find a bottle of Camden Town Brewery Pale Ale outside of London. Naturally, i whisked the bottle off of the shelf and into my shopping basket. I now had in my hand one of the beers that gave me the inspiration for this blog you are now reading today. So enjoy this post as much as i enjoyed drinking this fine pale ale.

Firstly, a little bit of the back story behind the brewery.Jasper Cuppaidge is the grandson of Laurie McLaughlin, who ran the McLaughlin’s Brewery (Mac’s) in Rockhampton, Australia between 1910 to 1960. When Laurie past away he past on all his recipes to his daughter Patricia, who in turn then passed them onto Jasper. On Patricia's 50th birthday, Jasper decided to try and recreate one of Laurie's beers in the cellar of Horseshoe and that’s when it all started… Eventually the brewery moved from the cellar into several converted railway arches in Camden town and they opened for business in the summer of 2010.

Bright and refreshing label just like the beer

Colour: This beer pours a light copper brown with a juicy, thick white head. This beer looks like the quintessential pale ale. The head stays around for the duration of the drink.

Aroma: When you first smell this beer, you will be presented with sharp citrus notes mixed with fresh pine needles. As the drink warms, the aroma profile of this drink changes slightly. Notes of tropical fruits such as mango and sweet kiwi come to the fore. There is also a every slight note of rich molasses holding the aroma together like a bow on a present.

Body: This drink is very light in the mouth at first. Once consumed, a sticky honey like resin will coat the back of your mouth. This intensifies as the beer warms, leading to the beer feeling a lot thicker than before.

Taste: Now for the important bit; the tasting. What sets this beer out from the rest is that in my opinion, this drink actually has two different flavour profiles. One fresh the fridge and another as the beer warms. Once opened, a sweet lemon flavour is presented to your taste buds. The sweetness helps to dull the lemon tones slightly to make the beer very refreshing. On the second sip, you can pick out notes of freshly cut grass mixed with pine needles. One of my favour parts of this beer is the ginger-nut biscuit after taste. As the drink warms the lemon crispness dies down to relieve a slightly bitter lemon taste with notes of caramel biscuits. All theses different flavours can be contributed to the varied hops used to make this beer. In fact, no less than seven are blended into this beer. Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial and Citra provided the citrus flavours while Columbus and Simcoe provide the pine notes (I know that's only six but I cannot find the flavour profile for Calypso hop). A lovely beer indeed.

Similar to:http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/flying-dog-doggie-style-pale-ale.html

Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/moa-brewery-blanc.html

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