Deschutes - Black Butte Porter

One that has been hiding at the back of my beer cupboard for a few good months..heh deja vu here writing that... mainly as I'm not huge on stouts/porters during the summer months. Bought at the same time as these other ones. Let's dive straight in...

Light wafts of roasted malt, chocolate and a dash of coffee from the pour.

Black Butte pours dark brown/almost black with a ruby red tinge in the glass along with a creamy beige head. Sweet intake with roasted malt, dark chocolate and a dash of coffee again while the finish is smooth, malty and has just a hint of bitterness. This has a mild short aftertaste of bitter chocolate and coffee. Medium carbonation and body for a porter with a smooth, almost watery mouthfeel.

Quite a pleasant drink to come home too without being earth shattering. No surprises and everything you would expect is in there. A good reminder that decent beer does not need to be heavy on the additions and hopping, just some simple quality ingredients will do. Our good friends the fair isle jersey wearers would say this is 'well rounded', I tend to agree on this one. Absolutely no problem for me sinking a few of these.

This scored a generous 7/10 on the ' I hope someone restocks Founders Porter soon' Beerometer.

Alc : 5.2%
Where to buy CPH : Bought during the summer 'american week' at the start of July, however this and others keep re-appearing in various supermarkets.

Put a head on it !

Mikkeller - Beer Hop Breakfast

Before I launch into what will hopefully be the first of two or three blogs this week I might as well get all the pre-waffle into this one....Nope, can't think of anything to say after a really crappy monday at work. I've a good idea what I'm going to get from this beer, let's just get on with it...

No wait...shopping for tonights evening meal in the supermarket they had a range of christmas beers out already, a bit early is it not ? I refuse to have a xmas brew at least until the 1st Nov. 2 years ago I did a 100 different xmas beers before xmas challenge thing, last year I did 50 (i was still recovering from an intestine infection, friggin painful btw). This year I will pick and choose very carefully as last years were to be honest, mainly crap due to over use of orange peel in a whole lot of brews. According to pre-blog notes, Delirium - Noel got the biggest nod last year.

Ok, now let's get on with it...

Big citrusy hop and pine aroma along with roasted malt, coffee and chocolate from the pour.

BHB pours black with a creamy brown head. Quite a sweet intake with strong coffee, dark dark chocolate, roasted malt and grapefruit leading to a heavily roasted and hoppy bitter finish. Long lingering aftertaste of strong coffee, dark bitter chocolate again and some floral hops. Low carbonation, medium bodied and has quite a light oily mouthfeel.  Despite the warming presence, no alcohol shines through to disturb any of the flavours.

It says black IPA on the bottle..I dunno why it does not just say extra hopped coffee stout :) I can't remember ever drinking a duffer from Mikkeller, maybe the Tjekket pils was a bit boring, but apart from that I have enjoyed and liked nearly everyone I have drunk, this being no exception. Very tasty and easy to drink despite the highish abv. While not quite reaching the level of the beer geek brews I would have no problem drinking this again. If you can find it it is worth a try.

This scored a solid 8/10 on the ' beer geeks, we're just not for christmas you know' Beerometer.

Alco : 7.5%
Where to buy CPH : Bought at Kihoskh, Sønder Boulevard 53, Kbh V about a month ago.

Carlsberg - Imperial Stout/Gamle Carlsberg Porter

I have to admit, I'm having a hard time just now with new blog posts as I have seemed to lost the urge to try new to me craft and not so craft beer since I have started brewing my own. I do have about 30 untried and untasted stashed away so hopefully I can start churning posts out again, certainly 'she who must be obeyed' will be pleased as I seem to have beer everywhere at the minute. Having a fermenting vessel in the kitchen and one in the bedroom is doing me no favours whatsoever on the wife acceptance factor scale. Writing blog posts describing how good..or bad my own beer is is not my style as apart from family and friends no-one else is going to taste it so what is the point ? I will say though that my own version of a vienna seems to be a real winner with a few colleagues at work wanting to buy a case load.

So, on to this one which I noticed started appearing in kiosks and supermarkets a couple of months ago. I have no idea if it is a re-release as information is sketchy. If it is anything like Carls Porter then I'm onto a winner. It still makes me wonder why they don't export beer/brew it in the UK like that one. Coming from Scotland my initial impression of Carlsberg was cheap lager pishwater or cheap lager pishwater aimed at alcoholics(special brew). I do not get why they do not try to change the image and at least release one of the stouts/porters or any the better ones from the domestic danish market over there...ok, the last bit I might have took too far :).

Gamle ( Gam-le) = Old. Right, let's get cracking..

Wafts of roasted malt, licorice(arrrggghhh) and raw cane sugar from the pour.

This Imperial Stout pours pitch black with a beige to brown head. Sweet intake with dark roasted malts which are almost smokey like, chocolate, toffee, plums and only a dab of licorice(pheeew) which lead into a roasted bitter finish. Dark fruits, berries and chocolate linger in the short aftertaste. Lowly carbonated, the mouthfeel is quite rich and creamy. Although you can feel the presence no alcohol shines through.

What a cracking VFM beer. I think I like this better than the afore-mentioned Carls porter, though I think it fall short against it's cousin Wiibroe, which coincidently also is 8.2 abv, hmmm...though it is a different recipe as they don't taste the same. I have absolutely no problem buying this and drinking again. Summing up, one of them beers that if it had a fancy non-macro label it would be marked up.

This scored 8/10 on the 'don't tell anyone who makes it, pour it in the kitchen, dish out and let people make an arse of themselves' Beerometer.

Alc : 8.2%
Where to buy CPH : Basically anywhere.

Paulaner - Oktoberfest

After mondays Danish light interpretation I picked this one up in netto just for a taste again of one originals, although I prefer Ayinger or Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Märzen(also brewed by Paulaner) if I can find them, as the picks of the bunch. I might as well get on with it....

Nothing much coming off this apart from some grainy sweet malt.

Oktoberfest pours clear light gold with a frothy white head. Medium sweet malty intake with faint honey, herbs, caramel and hops while the finish is malty and bitter. Sweet malt and herbs linger in the short aftertaste. Quite lowly carbonated, the mouthfeel is smooth and slightly creamy.

All the elements are there..malty sweetness, herbs, nice hoppy bitter finish but I am left feeling it is all a bit ordinary, like a standard euro-lager in a deluxe version..although it is still a lot better than the danish light oktoberfest I blogged on monday. That might seem critical, well it is, but I have no problem sinking a few more of these at the weekend (i bought 6 :) ). I have kind of gone off lager/pils recently so perhaps that is affecting my judgement and the crap I am writing. Summing up, decent enough oktoberfest, if you can pick others up instead then do so, even Hofbrau.

This scored 6/10 on the 'did you really just write Hofbrau is better ?' beerometer.

Alc : 6.0%
Where to buy CPH : bought in Netto.

Adnams - Gunhill

Not the brew I intended to drink today as I left that particular one on work so here is another from the birthday collection. I had written a huge amount of waffle for this post but deleted it by mistake, win some - lose some. Will this do better than the Greene King from yesterday ? I bloody hope so, let's just get on with it...

Light aroma of dried dark fruit, ripe berries, malt and caramel from the pour.

Gunhill pours clear ruby red with a creamy off-white/light beige head. Mildly sweet malty intake with  dark fruits, chocolate and a dab of caramel while the dry finish has a light bitterness to it. Medium carbonation, the body is light and has a thin mouthfeel.

A very nice looking beer in the glass. I could have just wrote one word above to cover the whole lot, mild. It is mild in every sense of the word, nothing is out of place and it is all a bit too subdued for my own personal liking. Saying that, it is very easy drinking and  I'd have no problems knocking back a few pints of this on a small afternoon session. It says 'full flavoured' on the bottle, that is something I am in complete disagreement with. Summing up, mild.

This scored 5.5/10 on the 'if it was only scored on looks, it would be a 10' beerometer.

Alc : 4.0%
Where to buy CPH : Høkeren, Ravnsborggade 13, 2200 N.