Gypsies For Life!

The last couple of weeks at the shop have been manic, and I mean MANIC! I suppose when you sell four times as much beer in a week as you normally do that's to be expected though. That's my excuse for the lack of posts out of the way, but while I've had time away from the writing, it's still been very fun to read about what others have been getting up to during the holiday period. It was also very nice to see all the local Bloggers and beer lovers in the shop over the past couple of weeks, it made me feel a little inadequate when I saw shopping baskets full to the brim of glorious beer. I clearly didn't drink enough this Christmas. I even spied Tandleman at one point paroosing our specialist beers and we had a decent chat. (He even nearly went away with a Brewdog Badge!)

One thing I did read which made me chuckle was a post by Simon Johnson about his bug bears of the social media and the online writing scene. It made me laugh because, not only do I agree with some of them, I also indulge in some of them. So tonight I'll give out a shout to Scooper by writing about a Rare Collaboration beer which looks totally AWESOME (yup, I love saying awesome, I bet this is pretty craft too...) ;)

First the blurb; Mikkeller's Our Side is a collaboration brew between two 'Gypsies' - Mikkeller and Stillwater: a 7.5% ale in a large and very stunning bottle. (label designed by Lee Verzosa)

"Mikkel and Brian are two of the world's most unconventional brewers. By designing beers at various breweries around the globe, they have found the freedom to experiment and innovate, resulting in unique beers that often blur the lines of definition. After having met at a festival in Bodegraven, NL, the two realized that their first creations both were called Stateside. It was then an obvious decision to make the two recipes into a new product, packed full of piney, resinous hops, and backed by the esters of a farmhouse yeast strain."

The aroma is making my mouth water. It reminds me of the big Italian brews we used to get at the shop from breweries like Baladin and Borgo. Imagine if you will; Hoppy Saision meets IPA and that's the aroma.

It's intensely lively, the first sip fills your mouth with carbonation and CO2, amongst lots of Belgian/peppery yeast - so you don't really get an initial impression of flavour. Give it time to warm and a bit of a swirl to kick some of the gas out, and it reveals a really interesting and complex beer. Soft and floral. Really fruity. It reminds me quite a bit of the Pretty Things Jack D'or Saison. A soft, slightly sweet caramel malty-ness is matched with a drying, peppery Belgian quality which makes it very moorish. Some bitter orange, vanilla, honeycomb and a little citrus peel are in and around the body and the finish is long a drying.

It's a really interesting beer, but if both these brewers are 'cuckoo' brewers, then I'd like to know where they made it...

Would I call it Craft? Would I prefer it on Cask or Keg? Would I pair it with food? Will I give it a video review? ..ahh ballz to it, I'm far to busy drinking the beer! Now can I have a RT Simon?