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So after a spot of Sunday lunch at the Rutland Arms I felt I needed something to break up the run of stouts I’ve been having lately.  Having a nosey at the little beer fridge revealed the Mikkeller Nelson Sauvin I have had in there a while (I have another Mikkeller in there, but thats for a later review).  I picked up this little fella from the Dram Shop a while back.   I have to admit to being a fan of Nelson Sauvin so I had to pick this up.  The most recent NS-infused brew I had recently was the excellent Thornbridge Kipling, a pale hop fruit salad of mangoes and grapefruits – this guy has a high bar to hit.

I’ve heard a lot of hype about the Mikkeller brews, I’m yet to see a bad review and everyone seems to like them.  Reading their website puts a smile on my face – they’re brewing nomads, using various breweries’ equipment – I can imagine that adding another challenge, but they must be doing something right to command the level of respect I see reading other reviews.

Nelson Sauvin Single Hop IPA (6.9%) is packaged in a 330mL bottle, opens with a loud hiss (and a whiff of grapefruit, great start) and pours reddish orange with a massive moussey white head.  This doesnt seem to be replaced by bubbles – in fact I can’t see any.  The head takes a long time to break down and laces the glass as it does so leaving a rocky remainder.  The aroma is incredible – sticky mango hits you with full force, I’m finding it difficult to pick up anything else, it is literally like someone just sliced one open.  Wow!

Taking a sip, we have a medium/full mouthfeel and very little in way of carbonic tingle.  The mango gives way to grapefruit, a very simple and good balance between the two.  Not particularly bitter, but the flavour hit is massive.  How on earth have they done that?  The malt is just sweet enough in the background to blend perfectly with the fruit from the hops  - I find myself taking more and more sips to get that big hit of flavour again.  The grapefruit lingers on the tongue leaving a very slight warming alcohol finish.  It’s easy to forget this beer is basically 7% ABV.

As the beer warms slightly I’m seeing a very gentle but steady carbonation coming from the nucleation points at the bottom of the glass.  I didn’t drink this straight from the fridge but I left it to warm a little, clearly the warmer it gets the more the CO2 is showing itself.  It’s a very pretty beer, the colour looked so good I had to take another picture of it.  It’s very hard to leave it to warm, I want to finish it, this is an exercise in self-discipline.  Warmth brings forward a little more maltiness in the flavour and a little more grapefruit to the aroma, but the overall experience is very similar.

There’s no two ways to go about it: this is an exceptional beer.  It’s my first Mikkeller and now I know what all the fuss is about.  This is probably the best beer I have reviewed, and one of the best I’ve ever enjoyed!  I am very impressed… so impressed that I will now have to go and find more, I hope the Dram Shop has some left

Rating: 5/5 (Comfortably the best beer I’ve reviewed so far.  Fantastic!)

I saw on Twitter that these guys were doing a “12 stouts of Christmas” thing and thought, what a great idea.  So promptly bought the case!

The first I’m trying today (I’m a day behind, OK?!) is their Chilli Choc Stout (5.0%).  They are using locally sourced chillies from the Upton Cheney Chilli Farm, the “Fruitburst Habanero”.  Like the sound of it so lets give it a whirl.

The 500mL bottle opens with a short loud hiss.  It pours dark brown/black with a dense dark tan head… this recedes slowly without lacing the glass.

The aroma is very interesting.  There’s burnt coffee and chocolate notes, but something definitely different in there.  I’m having to swirl it a few times and get a few nosefuls to pick it up – not obviously chilli, but definitely something spicy.

The mouthfeel is medium, I expected it to be thicker given how it poured.  It is creamy on the tongue, and a little sweet.  The roast flavours come out as you swirl it across your tongue, and yes, theres some definite flavour of expensive, very dark chocolate as the sweetness subsides.  In terms of flavour, I can’t pick up the chilli – but then I notice that in the aftertaste, there’s a subtle but definitely present warming feeling that isn’t alcohol.  Almost “black peppery” in heat rather than what you’d expect from eating a chilli.

One thing is certain – these guys know how to make dark beer.  The more I drink, the more the chocolate flavours are coating the inside of my mouth.  Very Christmassy!  It’s massively complex!  I keep having to swirl the drink across my tongue to capture the different flavours in there.  Finally I notice the chilli on my tongue – it was hiding in the chocolate… sneaky!

The more I drink of this, the more I have a slow build up of chilli flavour right in the centre of my tongue.  Clever!

This drink marries chocolate and beer together very well indeed.  As well as the 5/5-rated Meantime Chocolate Porter.  The chilli adds another, subtle dimension but I’d really love to see some more chilli heat in there.  I guess they’ve had to cater it to the average palate – I love hot and spicy food, so to get more of a kick in this would really have been my cup of tea.  The risk there then, I guess, would be it could push this beer into novelty territory – which it isn’t.

Rating:  5/5 (I’m going with a 5, in my heart of hearts I think it’s a 4.5.  But I’m going to round up for Christmas)

Bit of a quick one this as its Christmas and so I am a bit less methodical.  Grabbed this bottle from the Dram Shop in Walkley.

Appearance: Pours light straw, no discernible hiss from the bottle.  A 500mL bottle too, not seen any Kernel ones in this format before.

Mouthfeel: Silky.  I am not an expert on Rye but I am guessing this helps!

Aroma: very hoppy but not overpoweringly so.  I know the aroma, but can’t put my finger on it.  Could be cascades!

Carbonation: Medium/high. Lots of bubbles.  Lots of thick lacing down the glass.

Flavour: Deliciously drinkable.  The flavour matches the hop aroma, theres sweet malt mixed in there, it’s really well balanced and refreshing.  Lovely fruity hop aftertaste, not very bitter.

Mini-rating: 5/5 (delicious!)

Another beer with a high bar, I first encountered Buxton at the Thornbridge-owned DaDa bar in Sheffield the other week.  I had four of their beers and they were all superb!  Thanks to the MyBreweryTap 52 Week Beer Club, I also have a Buxton ale in my stash here… so it’s getting cracked open.

Buxton Gold (5.2%) claims to be a refreshing golden beer and contains a mix of US and NZ hops: Amarillo, Liberty, and Nelson Sauvin.  I’m a fan of the latter, I love the mango flavour they impart, so we might be onto a winner here.  Let’s see.

The bottle opens with a short sharp hiss and pours burnt orange with a medium white head that fades very slowly.  The aromas coming off the beer are lovely – I can definitely pick up the Nelson Sauvin, I’m not great at picking out American hops but I can tell they’re there as well.  The aromas are fresh and pithy and very pleasant!

The mouthfeel is silky and slippery, and the flavour is dominated by a burst of fresh hops.  The beer manages to fill your whole mouth with bitter rindy flavours – I’m getting mango from the NS, but it doesn’t dominate.  There’s still an element of malty sweetness in here and it’s certainly a very refreshing beer.  At 5.2% I can see this getting me into quite a tangle if I caught it on draught anywhere.  The aftertaste is long lasting and fades to grapefruit.

It’s clean and refreshing and the impulse is to top up and finish it, but I’m resisting the urge and letting it warm a little.

Having done that, the hops have dialled back a little bit (or maybe I’m now saturated in lupulin!) and the malt has come forward.  Theres a lovely biscuity almost oaty malt flavour in there, framed beautifully by the hops.  I don’t know which I prefer, warmed or chilled, it’s almost like it’s two different drinks!  Both of them are delicious.  The aftertaste changes a little on warming too, less of the harsh bitterness, but still a rounded hoppy bitter lingering.

Rating: 5/5 (These guys are at the top of their game!  Refreshing, fruity, summery, superb.)

I have a hit and miss relationship with this brewery.  Some of their beer I really really like (Yakima Red, Wheat), some of it just doesn’t do it for me (Raspberry Wheat, Pilsener), and some of it feels middle of the road (London Porter, IPA, Chocolate).  I picked up this MCP from Waitrose.  I’ve had a couple of nice Peroni Gran Riserva in the Pizza express this evening so I’m ready to cap it off with a nice dark beer.  I’m hoping that theres a porter bitterness mixed in with the chocolate, I think it will go great if done correctly!  The label explains the use of four different roasted malts, and the addition of chocolate during the maturation period.

Meantime Chocolate Porter (6.5%) opens with a very soft hiss.  It pours black, with hints of dark ruby at the edges.  It has a fluffy, large compact head that very slowly recedes its way down the glass, lacing beautifully as it goes.   The aroma is promising, that characteristic grainy porter aroma mingled in with melted dark chocolate.  The aroma on its own would be heaven with a Rutland Arms brownie

The mouthfeel is medium full and silky on the tongue, and wow, they’ve nailed the flavour.  Coffee and rich, dark dark chocolate.  This is what a chocolate beer should taste like, everybody else take notice!  It’s warming, and packed with characteristic flavours you’d associate with cracked black chocolate on the top of a  rich dessert.  My only regret is not having something chocolatey to pair with it!  The finish is gradual, a dark chocolate bitterness similar to that found in high % cocoa solids chocolate.

You probably couldn’t drink more than one, but for the end of a meal, especially paired with a dessert, this beer would be exceptional.

Rating: 5/5 (I think I need to go back and get a couple of these for my stash!)

This little piggy came from the MyBreweryTap 52 Week US beer club.  I seem to be getting through these without realising… anyway.  I’ve heard of this one before so I’ve been looking forward to it.  I’ve had their famous Scotch ale and liked it, so let’s see how they take on an Extra Pale Ale.  It’s a seasonal summer ale, hopped and dry hopped, promising a pleasing floral aroma and clean crisp finish.  The name gives that away a bit, so let’s see.

St. Lupulin (6.5%) comes in a standard US 120z. bottle and has a great label.  It opens with an assertive hiss, and pours brassy orange with a steady carbonation.  The head is fluffy and white and quickly recedes to a couple of mm.  The aroma is very interesting, it’s got an almost orange-peel edge to it, as well as some sweet caramelly malt notes.  Reminds me a little of candied oranges.  Theres a medium full, silky mouthfeel and wow!  Ripe citrus bursts onto your tongue, oranges up front and orange peel / grapefruit at the rear.  Its very well balanced, the aftertaste is almost lemony.  This beer is a fruit salad!  I think i’ve left it to the wrong season, this beer would be absolutely exceptional on a summer afternoon.  There’s no hint of its ABV either,  it’s almost as gluggable as a Thornbridge Wild Swan.

Letting it warm a little doesn’t seem to change the character of the beer… the head becomes more compact maybe, but the flavours are all the same.  It knows what it’s out to achieve and it does it splendidly.
I had high expectations for this beer and it most definitely delivered.Before I realise it I’m getting to the bottom of the glass, and with some regret, it’s a bit like I just drank the last of Summer and we’re stuck in the cold and dark for another few months.  But I like the dark months, it gives me an excuse to try some dark beer!

Rating: 5/5 (if you see this, try it, but only if there are two bottles because you need to send me the other )

This is the first beer I’ve attempted from the new MyBreweryTap 52 week US beer club.  I’m a fan of US craft beer, they’re really blazing a trail and so divorced from the Budweisers of old.  Coronado are a brewing company based in California and of Mermaid’s Red (5.7%) they say – loaded with Cascade hops, roasted malts with a chocolaty finish and hints of caramel and spice.  It’s the second day of Autumn and this seemed appropriate!

The 12oz (355ml) bottle opens with a sharp hiss suggesting a lively carbonation.  Interestingly enough, when you pour the beer it creates a large, white/tan head packed with fine bubbles, but the beer itself seems lightly carbonated.  The colour is appropriate – a rich red.  The aroma is rich toffee, fruitcake, raisins and treacle.  It has a very satisfying, full, creamy mouthfeel.  The taste is all rich fruits.  There’s a powerful bitterness in the background but it doesn’t take over.  The finish is a rich chocolate and coffee flavour.

Letting the beer warm up a little, the aroma starts to give away some alcohol scent.  It is nearly 6%!  That flavour doesn’t massively make it into the taste though, only really to provide a backing to the rich fruit.  The fruit is still there as the beer warms but it takes on a more of a dark chocolate taste.  There’s a hint of spicy pepperiness.  The aftertaste is bitter dark chocolate (think Lindt 80%), with a delicate hint of black pepper.

Rating: 5/5 (I couldn’t drink this all night but for a dark autumn night this is absolutely spot on.  It’s delicious.)