Konstrukt

Quite a few months ago (about six months in fact) I wrote about how home brewers were stepping up their game, and even putting a few commercial brewers to shame with what they had to offer.

Back then I was given a bottle of strong Stout from my (at the time) work colleague Tom Fozzard called Konstrukt. It was an interesting item for many reasons. Mainly because it had a sticker on the top saying "Do not open till October the 1st", but also for all the things this prospect and the bottle brought about.

At the time I can remember saying "Bollocks! I'm opening this next week!" ... It seems though, that my magical beer chest of wonders can make time fly by pretty quickly when beer is hidden away, out of sight, and out of mind.

Awesome label aside, Tom's taken quite a risk with this one. After all, he's given out quite a few of these, and who knows - it could be crap by now. It could have even been crap to begin with!

I've taken the wait though, and come hell or high water, I'm blogging my findings on this beer at October the 1st, 00:01, be it good or be it bad... Tom has made me wait so I'll honestly tell him what it's like in my personal opinion. After all I can't resist a strong dark brew.

Well, It's midnight now! Time to drink some late night beer.

Konstrukt is a 9.2% beer, coming across with a devishly dark pour and a large lively white/tan solid but rocky carbonation. The aroma is light and very reminiscent of the flavours you might find in a strong German Dark Lager like Kaiserdom Dunkle. Chocolate, some wood and a little light coffee and vanilla.

The first thing that's immediately apparent is that over six months this beer has not lost any of it's carbonation or liveliness, you also notice straight away how roastedly bitter the beer is. Dark malts and woody/chocolate body overtones mix amongst a little smoke and a bit of dried rich fruits like figs and raisins. A little sweet in the body, but the carbonation lends itself well to a dry, moorish-ness which makes the beer very quaffable. If I had to classify it, it would be like a Russian Imperial Stout mixed with a German Black Lager - it's like nothing I've had before in all honesty.

I'm not just trying to blow smoke up Tom's arse, he clearly knows how to make a good beer, and has a firm understanding of how to create beers of varying styles - it seems he's in the right industry then I guess. This is a very nice beer.

This beer has got me thinking about the first annual Home Brewers Meet-Up at Mr Foleys on Thursday the 20th of October. We should all be bringing down our own samples to evaluate and enjoy together (hopefully). And that's (for me) what home brewing is all about. It's not about being a cheap skate and brewing for yourself. It's about making something that you love, and sharing it with the people you count as your friends. Something that Tom has done very well, so thanks mate, I shall be returning the favour in a couple of weeks....

Leeds Beer. Beer from Leeds.

It's been a while since I've had one of these, and there has been good reason for that.

The first time they came in the shop was many months ago and we were all very exited about them, whisky aged beers were still a massive talking point in beer. (maybe they still are today, but at the time we couldn't get enough of them) I had one as quick as I could which, looking back, was a mistake because it had just been bottled a week previous and had not had time to finish conditioning in the bottle. As a result it was still rather flat and I was left a little disappointed. I certainly saw it's potential though and bought a couple more to leave alone for a few months. I know this one is old because it went out of date in June 2011 - a little early don't you think guys for such a strong beer? (it being bottle conditioned I had high hopes for aging)

Time, it seems, can do wondrous things.

It's still a Vintage Ale so you shouldn't expect a great carbonation anyway, but the few months in the bottle has done this beer a great deal of good, and no, this time it wasn't flat.

Gyle 479 is a 9% Vintage Ale that has been aged in Bruichladdich casks. I only know this because I asked the brewers. If I had one beef, it was the fact this was not mentioned on the bottle. It just stated 'Aged in Islay Whisky Casks' - and that for me was not good enough. I'm sure 90% of the people buying this would be really interested in what sort of cask, what age of cask was used in producing this beer - it's what whisky cask aged beer is all about, just look at the Harviestoun range.

Rant over though, we'll look at the beer. It's certainly dark, but held up to the light it's clearly deep dark brown. Aromas of caramel, dark toffee (almost bonfire toffee), dark malts, hazelnuts, a touch of honey, a little spice and some smoke come forth from a seriously inviting brew.

As the carbonation has had time to sort itself out the flavours really come around. Immediately very fruity. Lots of orange rind and raisins. You get a nice bitter, warming alcohol tang from the strength of this beer, and it has great toffee/nutty Vintage Ale flavours. Rich and hearty, it's a really great beer. The whisky is certainly there, but it's light and it's really well balanced within the body and aroma of the beer. It's not as in your face (and throat) as many of the cask aged beers, which makes it quite refreshing, dry and moorish.

I have heard talk of more casks at Leeds Brewery. I've also heard that in the next few months they're bottling the 'Best' again along with their 'HellFire'!! - One beer I'm very exited to try again, and out of the bottle this time.

Drinking a Leeds beer from the past, and looking forward to Leeds beers of the future!

........and it's over 7.5% ;)   one day left tomorrow...

What Happens At Mr Foleys....

So tonight was another of the Mr Foleys; meet up-bring loads of bottles of crazy beer-get heartily drunk with good friends-and for Beer Geeks to celebrate everything that is good and righteous about great beer. 

In attendance tonight were some great chaps; hosting us at Mr Foleys was Dean. Leigh from the Good Stuff and Mark from Real Ale Reviews were there. Rob from Hopzine and Martin Bell (@mbell739)-Beer Geek aficionado, and Adam Tuncay (@tunks23)-lover of all things great in beer also joined in our motley crew.

This is a little photo blog of what goes down when seven big Beer Geeks get together and drink more beer than they probably should - and have one hell of a good time!! I think it's pretty self explanatory... 

Nice one, once again, Dean. Here's to the next one! Long live good beer.

1 Week Till Judgement Day

Warning: This post may contain strong language..... and sarcasm.

Do you like your Imperial Stouts? Do you love a good Barley Wine or Imperial IPA? Is your favourite tipple a Belgian Triple or Quadruple? Or most of what Belgium has to offer for that matter?? Well if your like me and you answered yes, then you can count yourself in the apparent minority. You can also be comforted by the fact the current government doesn't give two shits about your beloved beverages or you in fact.

Yes, we have one week to go before the imbeciles we call our country leaders increase the beer duty by 25% on beers over 7.5%.

They may as well handcuff our beer industry to the radiator and repeatedly punch us in the face.... but wait, what's that I hear you say?? they already do that?? hmm I could never have guessed. I guess this will just be one of those knife blows to the neck in a further attempt to put us down for good and stamp us out for ever.

But what's that I hear you say? they've also given us a gift by reducing the beer duty of beers under 2.8%? Well it all sounds well and good, so I did a bit of counting today. In our specialist beer shop 'Beer Ritz' we stock about six hundred fantastic beers. Would you like to know how many of them are over 7.5%?? ONE HUNDRED AND NINE. And how many do we sell that are under 2.8%...... hmm it seems that number is ZERO!! - So thanks a lot for that amazing gift you've given us there!

It must only be fair if they do a similar increase on wine, cider and spirits though? Surely? Fat Chance! Because of course, if duty was raised like that on something like wine, there would be an uproar. But stick it to beer and commoners like us will just grumble and eventually except it right? Well this commoner wont! You can shove your beer duty up your polished arse!

Do they really think that increasing duty on beers above 7.5% will really fix the alcohol problems of this country? Naah, it's not the multi discounts on cheap bottles of wine, not the 3 litre bottles of cider for a couple of quid, not even the bottles of spirits you can buy from the supermarkets for under a tenner. No, It's those beers over 7.5% - those beers which have heritage, those which have a classic artisan production, those beers and styles which have been produced for hundreds of years - they're the problem - so screw em! Because let's face it, why else would the government be doing this if it wasn't for all the millions of hoodies swilling all that Trappist beer out of their chalices and causing trouble?? And of course, those who actually need our help and education will once again get ignored and brushed under the rug.

I really do feel sorry for our customers who are going to either have to stump up the extra cash for beers they may have loved all their lives. I also feel really bad for the brewers who make the beers. Will brewers like Thornbridge be reducing the strength of their Saint Petersburg from 7.7% to 7.5%? I personally hope they don't. And the fact of the matter is for these 109 beers we sell, if they don't sell we will have to de-list them, and the harsh truth is that they may never grace our shelves again. Simply put, if a beer is too expensive to purchase, and/or no one buys it, it gets de-listed. We can't stock beers which don't shift.

So tomorrow there will be six days left. I for one will be having a massive party on September 30th, and will be drinking loads of Imperial Stouts and Barley Wines - in much the same way that so many partied the day before they banned drinking on the tube - I hope you'll be joining me!

One final message to our so-called-leaders; Your already crippling the beer industry - the last big industry of our country. Pubs are closing, taxes and duty on beer is rising at a ridiculous rate, and now this.

Seriously... fuck off and LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE!!!

Does This Taste Right???

The human brain is an incredible organ.

They say that 80/90% of what you actually taste comes from what you smell, hence why food doesn't taste so great when you have a cold. All this 'taste', & of anything in that matter, still gets processed by our brains and we all can perceive it differently.

I heard a story a few years back about a man lost at sea, and while I'm not sure if it's entirely true it does throw up some interesting thoughts. Like I said, he was lost at sea, but fortunately so as he had a small supply of water, and was in a spot where the fish were abundant and easy to catch. After a couple of weeks of eating nothing but fish flesh, he apparently found himself absolutely detesting the flavour of fish meat. At the same time he was beginning to get massive cravings for the other parts of the fish most people would find revolting, like for the eyes to note one example. When some sciency dudes tried to explain what was going on they summarised that while fish meat is very good for you, it does not contain everything that the body needs to survive. The other parts of the fish which are often discarded do have many vitamins and minerals which, in survival situations, are quite essential. When this survivor (he was eventually picked up) turned from the meat to craving the un-desirables, it was his brain that saved him. It forced him to believe that eating fish eyes was the most delicious thing on the planet, which when you think about it, is quite a remarkable feat.

Now I'm not to big on my science so someone could possibly tell me that that's all hogwash, but it seems plausible.

It is certain that if you eat too much of something in the long run, your body can become intolerable to it. But that's probably more of a physical reaction than something to do with your brain muddling you up.

That did get me thinking though; if you drink too much beer could you become intolerable to it?? Would your body start to reject all that malty/yeasty goodness?? Well it's certainly true that some people are intolerant and even allergic to some ingredients in beer, but after further thought, it doesn't seem like something that could happen over a long period of time and over consumption, from looking at history. Let's face it, we can all say we have some sort of a varied, balanced diet, and we're not in a survival situation.

But what if we drank so much of the same beer that our brains started to play tricks on us, and the beer we once new, didn't really taste the same anymore? Would we even notice, and if we did would we blame it on something else? "Oh that breweries' beer doesn't taste the same these days..." - When it's probable that we've probably had a bit too much of it in our lifetimes, our taste buds have become dull to it, and our brains are telling us to "Try a bloody new beer!!"

Another big point is perceived taste. I'm only going to touch on it because it's a massive point but it seems to me;

If you think, and are convinced, that a beer is going to be horrible - then most likely - your not going to enjoy it. Also if you think a beer is going to be amazing, your most likely going to experience that, and even if you don't you'll try to make it out that it is.

Let's not even start on influencing tastes as well... I remember long ago when me Zak and Dan were sampling a brew, and me and Dan couldn't pick out any flavours from it. Zak said it tasted of marmalade - and unsurprisingly that's all we could taste for the rest of the beer!

Taste is an amazing thing. As individuals we will all taste differently, that's why some of us might love a beer and some hate it. But for me all of that 'taste' is manipulated by our brains and comes from a variety of influencing factors from age to experience to even our sex, for example.

.... or something along those lines.

Try to taste with your brain, and listen to what it's trying to tell you! It's much more clever than you give it credit for. So the next time someone disagrees with you about how a beer tastes, don't be so quick to shoot him down as a fool, that's just his taste.

The mad musings of this Ghost were brought to you whilst enjoying a lovely bottle of Stone Smoked Porter and a Peanut Butter and Jam sandwich.