Dog Shed Scandals

I've come to a conclusion that balance in beer is a most important thing for me. Many brewers get carried away with defining their beer as being either hop driven or malt driven. It's as if the two things are somehow mutually exclusive. As if somehow hops will spoil the malt or the other way round. It's not that I don't like a light hoppy beer as such, they are just improved by the addition of a little coloured malt, it doesn't have to be much. Equally, I don't mind a nice malty mild or porter, providing it actually has plenty of chocolate or caramel flavours, but this would be better with some hoppy stuff as well. OK, I know it might then fail to be in either category, but it would be a more balanced beer, in my view.

Of course this goes against the very popular light hoppy beers that are fashionable today. Many breweries do extremely well selling almost nothing but pale, flowery, hoppy ales. They do indeed show off the nuances of the various hop varieties well. There might be the odd porter thrown in, just for good measure, but if that has got much hop bittering that would be it; very little in the way of aroma hops. This does make me wonder if this is partly why so many people "don't like darker ales" because you need a little of both; a good hop profile and malty backbone. It might then come down to personal preference as to the proportions of each.

There is no such scandalous imbalance in Barngates Red Bull Terrier 4.8%. If I leave out my own beers, which if I didn't I'd be quite rightly accused of bias, this beer has to be my favourate Cumbrian beer. I am sure this is because it has just the right amount of hop bitterness, aromas and malty body for it all to work together.

I've been missing this beer; we've not had it for a while. Alan reminded me that we were short of dark beers. I phoned John at Barngates and he said I can't have any this week, but wait until next week and I can. I can wait for such a nice brew.

It was also good to hear from John that trade is brisk. They expanded the brewery last year, so it's good to know the investment seems to be paying off. Nearly every brewer I've talked to in Cumbria reports good business this year. Some having the problem of being unable to keep up with demand.

He also said he has read my blog. There, aren't you glad you're brewing my Red Bull Terrier now John? Yes, your right, say nice things about my blog and I'll be nice back. I really am that easily pleased.

Predictablility

In Seaching for good beer and Penrith Beer not so good I complain about the beer choice not being as good as I'd like. What am I complaining about though? The beers were perfectly good beers. Nothing, really, technically wrong with them.

I remember David from Cumbria Legendary Ales first delivering his King Dunmail, which is a classic best bitter. I was disappointed by this particular beer after having had his Dickey Doodle and Wicked Jimmy - which I think are both excellent. I commented to him that I was less than completely excited about this one. He pointed out that the King Dunmail is designed to be a Best Bitter, and as such it is.

Lately I have seen some fuss over Tetleys closing down. Now to me this beer is nothing special. It's not a bad beer but I will not be mourning it's demise. I think it is unfounded to blame the owners of the brand for letting it fail. I believe any advertising in support of an old fashioned brand would have been commercially unwise, throwing good money away.

(Alan says "Tell'em to stop complainin' 'n' drink sumut else")

We have got Keswicks Thirst Fall on the bar just now. I'd class it as a Best Bitter but probably not in the classic sense. It's got some other stuff going on, more adventurous than the regular and predictable stuff out there. Malty and hoppy in equal amounts and a good balance between the two. Most importantly plenty of late drop hops - some aromas to play with your nasal cavity and enhance the whole experience.

I've also got Moth Bag from Bargates on the pulls here. Earlier I had reason to go down to Ravenglass and happened to park outside The Holly House. The Landlord came out to see me as he recognised the car. Well it would have been rude not to go in for one wouldn't it? He had TT Landlord on the bar. both of these beers hit you with some hoppy effects and let you KNOW you are drinking ale.

I met Jeff Picthall yesterday and I'll apologise now for plagiarising his comments. We were discussing some beers that we had tried and he pointed out why some didn't excite me. Tirrel for instance, is a good brewery, I have the beers here on occasions - and provided they haven't fallen out with me for making these comments will do so again. They sell and people seem to like them. I don't choose Tirrel for myself because they all fall into the category of classic.

So the question is why does a micro brewery want to brew something that is just a facsimile of an existing brand? Or alternatively, why do we so mourn the passing of big old unwanted breweries when there are so many micros that can do the same thing?

But equally, if you are in a pub and you pick your mates pint up by mistake, and you can't tell it's a different beer then what's the point of it being different? What's the point of a beer that's OK but no different to Watneys Red Barrel?

With the varieties of hops and malt and yeasts available and the variation to flavours and aromas depending on when you put the hops in the brew, why do so many beers taste the same? When there are so many beers out there to be tried, why do pubs put three beers on in a row that are all the same?

Tandleman gave Meantime Coffee Porter a bit of a slating and I've had something similar myself and not liked it. But at least it's different, if truly awful. It's a bit like modern art that most of us question, but at least modern art pushes the boundaries as does Coffee Porter.

To continue the art metaphor, a painter has a vast palate of colour to choose from and a huge range of media with which to work. If he used green pastel all the time he'd have to be a damn good artist to excite anybody.

(According to Alan, Picasso had a green period - bah, for a Manc he knows far too much)