It's The End of the World as I Know it...

No really, it is. You see, for the month of September (well, until the 28th when I am hosting a poker game), I will be forgoing my favourite* thing in the entire world - BEER. I had intended to do this experiment at the same time last year, but I ended up back in Edinburgh, on another long stint, and the thought of being away from home and beer-less was too much to handle.

My reasons for the temporary cessation of my hop-releated activities are manifold, not the least of which are the following sample exchanges from recent years...

Me: I feel fat.**
Herself: It's all that beer.

Me: My stomach's not well.
Herself: It must be the beer.

Me: My teeth are full of holes.
Herself: That'll be the beer.

Me: I've got a nasty rash on my...
Herself: Did you ever think about drinking less beer? ***

Secondly, I'm curious myself what a month without the amber nectar would do for my ever expanding waistline. I suspect I'll drink less as a whole, which can only be a good thing (?!??). And, if it turns out to be easily do-able and has some positive health aspects, I would consider doing it a couple of times a year.

Right now, some readers are thinking "He's only giving up beer? Not all booze? WTF?" Yeah, I know a lot of people give up the sauce for a month (or more) at a time and fair focks to them, but that's not something I'm keen on at the moment. I did three days dry last week while suffering with a nasty flu and it nearly broke me.

What will I replace the beer with? I'm not sure yet. More wine probably, maybe some cider and maybe an increase in "Ton" **** consumption; we shall see. I do like alcoholic Ginger Beer (like Crabbie's) and I think this might be acceptable as it isn't beer per se, I think.

On a more on-topic note, I got some more of the Gerard Bertrand Domaine de Villemajou Corbieres  2008 in O'Brien's earlier. It's still on at €14-99 and I urge you to try it, especially at this bargain price. I have been decanting it since 4pm so I expect it will be rather nice, later on.

* A couple of other things spring to mind, but this is a family blog.

** She has a point here.

*** Three of these four examples are real.

**** My Gin and Tonic - Pour 2 American shots of Bombay Sapphire into a tumbler containing  3 cubes of ice and a partially squeezed quarter of one lime. Top up with 150ml (one small can) of Schweppes tonic. Enjoy with some Meanies (yes, really).

Xmas Beers

Contents of beer fridge

As regular readers of this blog will know I have spent the last year and a bit commuting for work to Edinburgh. While this is a major pain in the ass there are compensations. Firstly Edinburgh is a cracking town, with lots of great bars and restaurants; it may have a cracking nightlife too but I'm too old and lazy to find out. Secondly, there is lots of ale there. Not just the "twigs in your beard" real ale, but loads of IPAs (India Pale Ales), stouts, porters and everything in between.

Pretty much every bar has one or more "Guest Ales" plus whatever ales are Brewery mandated. The Haymarket bar near me, has a rotating selection of about eight "Guest Ales", with the result that every visit is a voyage of discovery. In Ireland, with a few notable exceptions (go Porterhouse!), there is very little decent ( non mass-produced) beer  available on draught.

There has certainly been an increase in the availability of "Craft Beers" in off licences and to a lesser extent Supermarkets recently, but the selection in most pubs is poor at best. I know when we go out for a jar in Embra we will walk out of any pub that doesn't have at least one decent ale (or hoppy Lager - see below).

I wonder is there a gap in the Irish market for some decent draught Ale? Perhaps the cost of storing/serving cask conditioned ales is prohibitive compared to cooled, pasteurised mass produced beer? I did try Smithwicks Irish Pale Ale and while it was a noble effort I found it a bit fizzy, cold and mild compared to what I was used to in Auld Reekie.

Anyhoo - ramble/rant over. I have had a lot of beer related thoughts rumbling round my melon for a while and wanted to put them down on "paper". I ended up with some time to kill in Carrickmines this morning, for a variety of reasons, so I popped into O'Briens with a view to stocking up with some festive beer.

Note1: I'm not  a Beer snob (OK, maybe a little), but I'll drink just about any beer put in front of me, apart from those terrible watery US lagers (Bud, Coors, Miller etc); it might be an idea to put them through the horse a second time...

Note2: As evidence of this see bottles of Vitamin H in picture above, I do like me a cold 'ken on occasion. However I'd never drink it after any of the below as it probably wouldn't compare well.

Anyway, this what I done did get...

From Harviestoun Brewery
Schiehallion Lager (€2.99 50cl) - A very hoppy/fruity beer that I didn't believe was a lager for ages. Like no other Lager you'll taste, a favourite of mine on draught in Scotland.

Bitter and Twisted (€2.69 50cl) - Another magnificent beer, this time a hoppy golden "Blond"ale.

From Brew Dog Brewery
Punk IPA (€2.40 33cl) - Hoppy, fruity and fantastic; a fuller, stronger iteration of their Trashy Blonde (IMHO).

77 Lager (€2.15 33cl) - Another full, flavoursome hoppy lager.
Note3: They do a red ale "5am Saint", which is a dry-hopped masterpiece.

Misc.
Budjovicky Budvar (€2.99 - 50cl) - The real deal from the Czech Republic. Apparently I am a "legend" for drinking six bottles one night in the Orchard and not being off my head, but I don't remember...

Grolsch (8x50 cl cans for €10) - of all the mass produced lagers, this, (and Becks) are probably my favourites and 8 for a tenner is damn good value.

Molloys Wine & Beer

Went down to Molloys on Thursday as promised to see what I could find of the wines I used to get when I frequented it, back in the day. I picked up the following (L-R):

Oyster Bay Pinot Noir 2007 - €16-49. This, as you can see was not cheap, but it should provide a reasonable alternative to expensive Burgundies as mentioned in the last post. I've had this once before and really liked it so here's hoping its worth the cash.

Vitae Sangiovese 2006- €12-50. We used to drink an awful lot of this and loved it. I was a bit apprehensive on opening this last night. oftentimes you come back to a wine you loved and are disappointed, either your palate has changed, see this post, or the wine isn't as good as it used to be. We were not disappointed. The bitter cherry flavours were in abundance, along with some other fruit, and it had a decent level of complexity and a long finish. Again, another wine I'd recommend with food, rather than without.

Trapiche Malbec 2007 - €10-99. Another old family favourite. We used to drink this by the bucket load but I have been unable to find it in a long time. This was my first Malbec, I can't remember if I bought it on spec or on a recommendation. Either way I'm hoping it won't disappoint.

I also bought a couple of "premium" beers to try from Shepherd Neame, both a snip at €3-29. I drank the Spitfire last night and it was indeed delicious. The blurb on the site says "In the mouth, the finely balanced flavour opens with a blast of rounded malt before the rousing, almost spicy hops follow through to provide a complex, multi-layered finish." Sounds about right to me.

I'll try the Bishop's Finger tonight and let you know, it's 5.4% abv as opposed to the Spitfire's 4.5 % abv so we'll see if that is a noticeable component in the mix.

**Update - The Bishop's Finger was delicious, stronger (duh) and a little more fuller flavoured than the Spitfire.

Lidl Beers

As I said earlier in the week

"I also bought 6 cans of Grafenwalder Pils (6 for €7, 4.8%) and six bottles of Perlenbacher Pils (6 for €7, 4.9%), I couldn't bear to buy the stubbies (250ml X 24) or the other lager 4.1%. In my experience if you buy cheap no-name beer the stronger stuff is usually better."

On Saturday night, with the aid of Herself, I conducted a blind tasting of the two different beers.

Both beers were poured into identical glasses, out of my sight. To look at, both beers appeared identical, a pale yellow colour with similar amounts of head, although the Grafenwalder came from a can and the Perlenbacher came from a bottle. 

The first beer tasted fine, a reasonable clean, crisp flavour. Nothing earth-shattering, but nothing unpleasant. The second beer, however had the same crispness but also had some lovely earthy, hoppy flavours and in general a nice full, balanced taste. Herself, also professed to prefer the second beer.

Beer1 - Perlenbacher Pils. Perfectly pleasant and good value at the price but lacking something,  5/10

Beer2 - Grafenwalder Pils. Fairly tasty and  good value, although I'd like to blind test it against some of the better known German Pils for comparison, 6/10

Note: According to their respective labels both beers are brewed under the German Rheinheitsgetbot . While this may not guarantee quality it does guarantee that they aren't full of additives.

Lidl - the return

Went back to Lidl, Grange Road, for the first time since I bought five sample cheap wines, three weeks ago. I was in a hurry but to my surprise I could not see any of the five I bought last time. this kind of invalidates any (positive) Lidl reviews I do as there is no guarantee the wines will be available should any reader feel motivated by my random scriblings, still, this could be of use for readers elswhere in the country/world.

What I did buy was a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (Sangiovese grape, mostly) 2005 for €5-29** ( not to be confused with a Montepulciano D'Abruzzo(Montepulciano grape)), this looks like the real deal and has the DOCG label, will drink and review shortly. Its also going for £7.99 in norn irelan so its either great value or I got the price wrong **(I soooooo did).

I also bought 6 cans of Grafenwalder Pils (6 for €7, 4.8%) and six bottles of Perlenbacher Pils (6 for €7, 4.9%), I couldn't bear to buy the stubbies (250ml X 24) or the other lager 4.1%. In my experience if you buy cheap no-name beer the stronger stuff is usually better.

BTW - the way things are going Lidl is fast becoming the only place I'll be able to afford to shop so I'd best find wine and beer I like, and quick.

**Update - Crap! - have just checked the Lidl Website and its €11-99, oh well, should be nice at that price.

Polish Beers

Just for a change of pace I thought I'd say few words on three of the Polish beers that are available here. I'm sure there are more than these available in shops but these are the three that I come across most.

Zywiec

My favorite of the three, but the most expensive. This beer has a lovely full, malty flavour that is difficult to describe. The bottle also has a coldness indicator to show when its the right temparature to drink- allegedly pronounced "jhu vitz uh".

Price: €2-50 for 500ml

Availablity: Tesco and elsewhere.

Tyskie
This is what I drank (along with Lech) until I discovered Zywiec. Clear crisp taste and a nice dry finish

Price: €1-89 for 500ml
Availablity: Dunnes and elsewhere.

Lech

To be honest I'd be hard pushed to distinguish between this and Tyskie in a blind test. Both are tasty, crisp lagers that are a nice change from Vitamin H, Carlsberg or god forbid, Bud.

Price: €1-89 for 500ml

Availablity: Dunnes and elsewhere.

Next beer post will be on Czech Beers, damn I hate research.