Beer of the Week – 04.04.2016

The last few weeks you could say I’ve gone for some pretty crazy flavour choices for the title of ‘beer of the week’ so this week I’m choosing a good ‘ol golden blonde beer.

Beer of the week – 28.03.2016

When I picked this beer up I did so with a feeling of total intrepidation. I’d normally steer clear of such a flavour combination but Northern Monk Brewing Co. aren’t ones to let the side down in their experiments, so I thought ‘what the hell?’ Brewed with Grub & Grog as part of its refectory series, this beer really messed with my mind and my tastebuds!

On opening the Northern Monk Parsnip & Black Pepper Dunkelweiss the aroma had hints of wheat, caramel and banana. As to be expected from a dunkelweiss it was banana flavoured and there were definite hints of spices.

Before you get scared about the word ‘parsnip’ on the label take a chill pill because the taste isn’t overbearing at all. Yes the black pepper is evident but it isn’t so intense that it smacks you in the face, its actually pretty alluring.

This beer was a little bit more surprising with every sip, giving a number of different dimensions. At times I felt it was sweet and at others spicy which as a consequence kept me coming back for more.

The bottle is quite large at 660ml so grab a buddy (or two) and give it a whirl – it will certainly give you a lot to discuss.

 

Beer of the Week -21.03.2016

I’ve been through an awful lot of amazing beer of late and I can’t believe I haven’t given this mighty beer the title of ‘Beer of the week’ yet!

Dark Star has a knack for producing great beers that my tastebuds are certainly thankful for. Yes, I know that Creme Brûlée and beer combined sounds remarkably sickly but damn, this beer is so good! As a milk stout it’s definitely smooth as hell, yet there’s something remarkable about this beer and I’m unsure whether it’s the fact that they managed to produce something that’d the potential to go oh so wrong.

This is so delicious that I stocked up on multiple cans. Vanilla and caramel flavours are obviously present as you’d expect but there were definitely tinges of coffee and a weirdly palatable custard taste. Dark Star brewed this ‘pudding in a glass’ with unfermentable lactose sugar, vanilla beans and plenty of roasted malts giving it a pleasantly sweet taste,  I actually managed the whole can with ease.

Beer of the Week 14.03.2016

To say I’d be waiting ages to get my hands on this beer is somewhat of an understatement! Every time I laid eyes on Instagram photos with proud people displaying this beer in all its glory I felt a slight twinge of beery jealousy.

Coconut is a flavour that I love but I really wasn’t sure that it would work with beer. After reading one review that stated: “it tastes like liquid bounty” (an awesome chocolate bar I absolutely love) the hunt for this beer intensified!

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I managed to finally bag a can from We Brought Beer and I was patient enough to wait one evening before busting it open. Man, it was intoxicating. The swirls of cacao, the divine coconut and the smoothness of this choc-infused bad boy gave me the hit I’d been waiting for. It is like pudding in a can, but a frickin’ awesome pudding that you had in some amazing little restaurant on the other side of the world years ago, that you now reminisce about often (I do this a lot with amazing food / drinks).

This semi-sweet porter is rich yes, but not sickly. The chocolate flavour is sublime and is wrapped perfectly by the indulgent coconut flavour. This for me will certainly be like cat-nip – if you see any cans around grab them before I get there first! Oskar Blues yet again you’ve kicked ass with this beer!

Beer of the Week – 15.02.2016

So, following my visit to Beaver My Valentine it seems only fitting to mark Beavertown’s Double Chin as my beer of this week. Still feeling the love from Valentine’s day, this seems pretty apt!

A one-off double edition of its session IPA, Neck Oil this is a monster (and not a scary one). I think I admire it’s ballsiness, the almost herbal hoppy notes definitely woke me up whilst its grapefruity, cirtus hints were delectable. I’ll definitelty be hunting down more cans of this! It’s sold out in most places online ;-(