A Crafty Beer

Magic Rock - Bearded Lady Grand Marnier Chocolate Orange Stout. The original Bearded Lady by magic rock is far and away one of the best beers I've ever had. So I was really excited about this, plus lots of people were giving it a lot of love. I might be being controversial here, and I may be romanticising about the wonderful original, but I really don't think that Magic Rock should have messed with it. Don't get me wrong this beer is brilliant, the orange is subtle, and with the sublime Bearded Lady as a base you cant go far wrong. That being said, for me the Grand Marnier adds too much booziness and actually takes away from what was so brilliant about the original Bearded lady, the layers and layers of flavours that gradually reveal themselves which are now a bit lost and I think it makes this beer a bit poorer for it. Like I said this is still a brilliant beer, but if you want out of this world you need to grab the original.

Well these look great, such a neat idea. Unfortunately no shipping to the UK.

Fallen Brewing / Brewdog - Big raspberry dog chew. This is a brilliant beer, beware of the 10% though as this is not the viscous stout you'd expect. In fact for the big flavours it ours really lightly, but delivers in spades. The raspberry is delivered with finesse, just enough to let you know it is there and give a rich fruityness. The stout itself is great, this beer is edging towards perfection, the flavours deliver in layers and as the beer warms the flavours just get better. If it wasn't for bearded lady from Magic Rock I'd be calling this as the stout to beat. Not quite, but a very exciting beer.

Cloudwater / Brouwerij Kees - Custard Porter. Bloody marvelous. Delicate vanilla sweetness compliments an almost smokey porter beautifully. This is one that you must try.

Marble / All In Brewing - Collaboration. I bought this because the bottle grabbed me, it just looked great. When I got it home I realised there was no info on this bottle, I had no idea what I was about to drink. through deduction a beer at 8.5% with the very distinct hop aroma I assumed this was a double IPA. This collaboration tasted very American. The DIPA was a bit too sweet for my liking. I prefer bitter all the way. There are big flavours here but it all got a bit overpowered by the sweetness. That being said if you like your IPA to be sweet then this one is awesome.

It’s a Trap - Northern Monk / Yeastie Boys. It has been a while since I last posted and I have quite the beer backlog. So I thought I’d start with a good one. This is definitely not a trap. Wondeful beer has that very continental Europe taste with the IPA working hard to keep a good level of bitterness and fruityness. Nice.

Rainbow Project 2015 - Various Artists. Some really strong beers this year. None to beat last year’s Yellow Belly which was and still is a triumph. Key Lime Tau came close but just not quite. The best of the bunch this year in my opinion was the Wild Beer / Firestone Walker Violet Underground. All the beers were really great and it was definitely worth the effort to get the mixed case. The ones I’ll be visiting again will be Violet Underground, Key Lime Tau and Deep Rainbow Valley. I'd highly recommend seeking out all 7 if you can they are all well worth a try

Blue Sky Blue Sea - Siren Craft Brew / Surly Brewing Co. Number 7 and the last of my rainbow project beers. A Gose, with seaweed and cloudberry, so I was expecting salty and sour. What I got was something altogether unique, from the first whiff of sea air to the salty hit of the seaweed gose, this could be overpowering but this is perfectly executed and I suspect the cloudberries are what prevents this from being a glass of seawater. This was like a winter walk on the beach, fresh and invigorating. This won't be for everyone, it is more of an experience than refreshment, but that is what I love about the rainbow project, a concept delivered with absolute excellence.

Real Time Saison - Partizan / Prairie Artisan Ales. This is number 6 of my rainbow project beers. And this collaboration is Yellow, with a heavy focus on sour and lemon. Now that was music to my ears, but this one fell a little short for me. It wasn’t as sour as I was expecting and there was was a slight soapyness to this. The upshot was this almost tasted like drinking lemon fairy liquid. It managed just to avoid hitting that and it was tasty but just didn’t do it for me. I may be being overly critical again, but I do expect a bit more from the rainbow project beers.

Key Lime Tau - Hawkshead Brewery / Crooked Stave. Although this was number 5 in my rainbow project line up I have had them all now and this is the star of the 7. From a strong concept for green, key lime pie, this collaboration goes further and turns pie into tau (2 x Pi) and to follow through on this they brew it to 6.28% genius attention to detail. This beer is exactly the kind of thing that I find exciting about the rainbow project, the concept is brilliantly executed through a "natural yoghurt, kettle soured, Lactose infused golden ale brewed with fresh lime zest and lemongrass." WTF, right? from cracking the bottle it smells like lime jelly (jello) and very sickly sweet, one taste however and you know where all the hard work went, a beer that manages to taste just like key lime pie. Not too sweet, biscuity and limey with a hint of merangue, it is mind blowing. This is a perfectly executed concept beer and a celebration of collaborative madness. I loved it, you wouldn't drink it regularly, but this is supposed to be unique and a bit special. Hats off to both breweries. This is brilliant and thanks to a proper collaborative spirit is available both sides of the Atlantic. Spot on.

Deep Rainbow Valley - Buxton Brewery / Arizona Wilderness. This is number 4 from my rainbow project case. As if you couldn't guess this is Orange and it is one hell of a collaboration. It is sour, it has really zesty orange hit with a really strong malt backbone and a hint of botanical, which I guess is the gorse. This is a joy and I reckon my second favourite behind Violet Underground. It is fresh and a bit fruity, but maintains it's beeriness. Truly great stuff.

Cigarro Roja Magica - Magic Rock / Cigar City. This was beer number 3 from the rainbow project case. Having read the description of this beer(see the pic), it kind of felt this beer was like when you forgot to do your homework and then did it on the bus on the way in. I’ve written this review twice now trying not to be too harsh, the beer is delicious, a red IPA that is brilliantly balanced. Malt and hops that deliver a perfect amount of bitter with a wonderful fruityness. Outside of the rainbow project this is an outstanding beer. You can’t help but love this beer. The problem I have is that I just wish these brilliant breweries had been a bit braver and more conceptual for the rainbow project. They got Red and red IPA feels like a cop out, yes there is an argument for sticking to what you are good at, but for me the project allows the scope for innovation and exploration. I may be being too harsh and in fairness this is the only beer out of 7 that isn’t a sour so maybe a Red IPA is brave. The beer in isolation is brilliant, I’d buy it again, within the context of the rainbow project I was a bit disappointed especially given how much I love magic rocks bearded lady. TLDR - Outstanding Red IPA, but, I expected more for the rainbow project.

Ajna - Beavertown / Dogfish Head. The second of the rainbow project beers to catch my attention was the oak barreled wild ale. The story of the beer was right up my new age street and a good saison with juniper and blueberries aged in burgandy oak barrels sounded exciting. And it was kind of a let down. Don't get me wrong, this is is a delicious drink. It had the liveliness and fruityness of such a young beer. But. It lacked a bit of beeriness for me. Maybe too much of the burgandy was there or it could be that a beer of this quality just needs to age. It felt more like wine than beer. Kudos on the concept, top marks for a wonderful drink then a few off as I'm being critical. I'd just like a bit more beer. Definitely worth a try though as it is fine tasting stuff.

Violet Underground - Wild Beer / Firestone Walker. This was the first bottle I cracked open from the 7 rainbow project beers. The bottle art just made me do it. And the finesse on the outside is more than reflected on the stuff on the inside. Wondeful carbonation, elegantly sour and bursting with flavour. For me there was the wondeful finish of Parma Violets (remember those sweets?). Fresh, slightly floral and simply wonderful. Seek this beer out and you won’t be disappointed.

Red: Magic Rock / Cigar City - Cigarro Roja Magica. A hop forward red grapefruit IPA. Orange: Buxton Brewery / Arianna Wilderness - Deep Rainbow Valley. A soured saison with Orange Juice, Amarillo and Goars Flower. Yellow: Partisan Brewing / Prairie Artisan Ales - Real Time Saison. A saison with kaffir lime, lemongrass, grapefruit zest and amarillo. Green: Hawkshead / Crooked State - Key Lime Tau. A Natural Yogurt Kettle - Soured, Lactose infused golden ale. Blue: Siren / Surly - Blue Sky Blue Sea. A seaweed and cloudberry gose. Indigo: Beavertown / Dogfish Head - Ajna. An Oak Barrel Fermented Wild Ale. Violet: Wild Beer Co / Firestone Walker - Violet Underground. A Cross Atlantic Wild Ale. The long hand descriptions sound awesome. I’ll report back once I start drinking them. But based on orange this should be fun.

Yellow Belly Sundae - Buxton Brewery / Omnipollo. Suffice to say I am a little bit in love with the original yellow belly. So when I called into the Buxton Tap House and saw yellow belly sundae with cacao nibs and whatnot I was a pant wettingly excited to try it. Everything about this beer screams sit down, from the £10 price tag to the eye watering 12% abv and in all of that the sheer amount of flavours that await - peanut butter, bourbon barrels, cacao nibs with viscous milky stout. I felt like I should mark this beer down for being so bloody expensive, but I can't. It takes everything that was so elegant about yellow belly and adds a couple of extra layers. Drink it slow, enjoy everything about it, it's it's a drink, it's a desert, it's a 330ml bottle of beergasm. Gorgeous.