Booze: A cask ale regret...


In my first blogpost I told you what my three favourite beers are and after I posted it I read it again and realised that there was something missing. A cask ale. Shocking, I know.

Okay, Brewdog Punk IPA used to be available on cask and it is my favourite beer ever but I’m not going to use it here.

Wychwood Hobgoblin was the first real ale I got into, I love their branding of "What's the matter, lagerboy? Afraid you might taste something?" and, of course, the beer. A dark and rich ruby ale. Caramel, fruity and malty nose. Heavy dark malt, sweet caramel and toffee flavours. It drinks well with a nice rich chocolate cake.

Another favourite is Thornbridge Jaipur IPA - A medium sized IPA at 5.9%. Hopped to hell and back... It has big citrus flavours and aromas like Grapefruit and pineapple and is quite sweet with a bitter finish, just what you need from an IPA. It pairs well with spicy food as the sweetness is actually quite mellowing.

As I got older and was able to go to pubs and beer festivals my love has progressed. I have managed to try hundreds - possibly hitting a thousand - cask ales. I try to have a different ale every time I go somewhere different and more often than not, I find a beer I like.

Those are probably my two favourite ever cask ales. These were quite easy decisions and really, one of them should have made it into my top 3 beers of all time. As a CAMRA member, I should be ashamed of myself.

Comments

  1. You might like some of our locally brewed beers here in Hawaii.

    The Kona Brewing Company brews four beers including FireRock Pale Ale, a porter and Longboard Lager. Their Wailua Wheat Ale has a citrus taste that comes from locally grown passion fruit. Probably quite a difference from your beers in the UK.

    Over on the island of Maui, the Maui Brewing Company uses Hawaii-grown ingredients, when possible—fresh island-grown pineapple, Maui-made rum, Kauai lehua blossom honey.

    They also work to make their company totally Earth-friendly. All of the owner's delivery trucks—including his and wife Melanie’s cars—run on biodiesel he makes with his Kaanapali brewpub’s used vegetable oil. The brewpub’s lighting is entirely energy-saving compact fluorescent. They have installed photovoltaic solar cells that generate all of the brewery’s electricity.

    Leftover grain, yeast and hops from the brewing process are given free to local farmers for use as pig and cattle feed, or to create compost fertilizer for produce. The owner then purchases meat and produce from those farmers for his brewpub.

    We've got some small micro-breweries as well. You should really come over here and try some of these brews. Not just to take in the beautiful weather and amazing scenery -- but strictly in the interests of research for your blog. Don't you agree??

    Warmest aloha,
    Kay in Honolulu

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment!

      As it happens, I've had beers by both Kona and Maui and I really liked them.

      Kona longboard lager was really something special as far as lagers go. Their fire rock pale always was great too.

      As for Maui, I had Mana Wheat which was a pineapple wheat beer.

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  2. Hey Nate

    I've never been a fan of HobGoblin, I think it is vastly over-rated. (Sorry!)

    I do like Jaipur, in fact I like most Thornbridge beers. Had St Petersburg out of bottle on Saturday just gone, and it was pretty fantastic to be honest.

    As for my favourites? Hmmmm it is really hard to say, I love stouty stouts and hoppy ipas .... I guess if I had to say 1 of each, right now it would be Summer Wine Diablo and Kopikat. Tomorrow it will be something different.

    That's why I love being a beery geek ..... it changes every day :D

    Take care our kid!!

    Chris

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