Sierra Nevada Porter (5.6%) - Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., California, USA

I don't think there's any style of beer I don't like (although I may eat my words when I get round to reviewing the lambic that's been lurking in my beer crate for almost a year) but even though I see no reason why all beer styles can't be enjoyed all year round, I do tend to seek out light, refreshing beers in the summer and leave darker, more wholesome beers to the colder months (which represents about 90% of the British year), leaving porters and stouts to the very darkest depths of winter. So what to do when it's pushing 30 degrees and a box of lovingly pre-selected beers lands on your doorstep containing a porter? Well, just get on with it, of course.

It's worth pointing out first of all to any UK-based readers that Sierra Nevada Brewing Company has been part of the craft beer revolution since 1980. No newcomers are these, then, but veterans that have been bucking the trend long before the UK jumped on the beery bandwagon, and what better brewery to choose for this blog's first American beer review!

The label has the classic-looking design of a beverage you might have found in a Wild Western saloon and the bottle itself is the iconic shape unique to Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. As probably the sexiest kind of beer in terms of appearance, there's a certain level of expectation I'm sure everyone has when pouring a porter. Sierra Nevada Porter pours a deep, rich colour that allows only a ruby-treacle light to glow through faintly, crowned by a thick, fluffy off-white head that leaves behind some spectacular lacing.

Sticking your nose into the glass brings rich roasted malt aromas with hints of coffee, with an added freshness from the whole-cone hops. Somehow a creaminess can be picked up through the nose alone, that almost gives the sensation of smelling a milky coffee.

The roasted qualities picked up on the nose are back in full force on the tongue, along with a bitter chocolatey, bittersweet, burnt toffee flavour. There are hints of berries in there too, as well as a unique juicy resinous quality that I'm not used to getting from a porter but that rounds the flavour off marvellously. 


Medium-bodied and creamy but with a dry, crisp finish, this porter has a drinkability that can even be enjoyed at the height of an English summer, and its perfectly balanced flavour and remarkably fresh, hoppy finish will undoubtedly make this a winner for porter fans. Anyone on the garden fence about porters so far, prepare to be shoved off it!

Appearance 5/5
Aroma 3/5
Flavour 4.5/5
Mouthfeel 4/5
Overall 8/10

Page 24 Bière de Noël (6.9%) - Brasserie St. Germain, Nord-Pas-de Calais region, France

A few weeks into the New Year and still a few Christmas brews left, I'm faced with the choice of ploughing through them before the winter months are up or putting them aside for next year. Of course, I opt for the former.

Page 24 Bière de Noël pours a dark chestnut colour with bubbles rising lazily to a surface topped with a modest off-white head.

My first aromatic experience was an alarming but undeniable whiff of soy sauce through the bottle neck. Double-taking to make sure I hadn't picked up the wrong bottle and going in for more, I was delightfully confused to be getting more of the same.

The aromas are more complex once swished around the glass, sweet toffee and rich treacle dominating with notes of dark forest fruits. Although not as pungent the soy sauce remains present, but this time accompanied by tart apples and spirity, alcoholic notes that were slightly overbearing even for 6.9% ABV.

Not feeling optimistic at this point, I go in for the kill. I'm happy to get more dark forest fruits with bags of chocolate and caramel malt, this time with a lingering and persistent butterscotch after taste, which might be enjoyable if I could be certain it was supposed to be there and not the unintended consequence of diacetyl.

The texture is smooth with the addition of a slight malty graininess, developing into a sticky, cloying warmth.

With plenty going on to pique my curiosity from start to finish, I left this beer with the overall impression that its many characteristics don't necessarily complement each other and frankly, aren't that enjoyable.

Its full-bodied richness, intensity and warmth are good qualities to have in a Christmas beer, but however chaleureuse it might be, whether it's conviviale I'm not so sure.

Appearance 3/5

Aroma 2/5

Flavour 2/5

Mouthfeel 3/5

Summary 5/10

English Bay Pale Ale (5%) - Granville Island Brewing, Vancouver, Canada

English Bay, Vancouver. A charming part of the city with sea, sandy beaches, shiny skyscrapers and tree-covered, snow-capped mountains all in one view. For an English Bay, it's anything but English.

My girlfriend and I went on many walks there during our trip back in April, and if I could take a piece of it back to Blighty with me in the form of a beer then all the better (wrapping it up snugly for its ten-hour flight home, of course).

 

I grabbed this bottle at Granville Island Brewing itself, not far from English Bay. In a 341ml bottle (a measurement this beer-swilling Brit hadn’t come across before), the label features the brewery’s logo on it with their slogan “It’s good to be here”. I don’t know where they’re referring to, but if it’s anywhere in the general Vancouver area then I can’t help but agree.

The beer poured a darker amber than I’d expected from a pale ale, with shades of copper up against certain light. As the label suggests, the aroma is very much on the malty side of things with sweet caramel and toffee aromas coming through – “West Coast character” as they call it – and hints of treacle and chocolate. Hops provide some fruity berries and earthy characteristics. A decent waft of a very pleasant aroma on the whole and one I was very keen to dive into.

With an aroma that reminded me more of an English bitter, the flavour had some surprises in store. Mild as the label suggests, with caramels and some fruity woodland berries coming through again, but with a tasty nutty undercurrent that lingered on in the aftertaste. The flavours began to emerge nicely as it approached room temperature, but remained modestly mild rather than jumping out at me in typical North American fashion. It's nicely carbonated and smooth, but not full enough in body.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by English Bay Pale Ale. Granville Island Brewing have come up with something complex, unique and very drinkable, but this beer might leave you with the feeling that its thin body doesn't let you get the most out of its character, compromising on some otherwise very enjoyable flavours.

Appearance 4/5

Aroma 4/5

Flavour 3.5/5

Mouthfeel 2/5

Beer Belly’s rating: 7/10

Angel Amber Ale (4.3%) - Wylam Brewery, Northumberland, England

On a trip up to the rich, green and wooded landscape of Northumberland, I happened upon a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere that emerged out of obscurity like a mirage. I was relieved to find it because I was in severe need of a coffee, but was even more relieved when a refrigerator presented itself to me within, several different local beers perched atop its shelves. Thankfully, this was no mirage.

Having to choose between them, I went for Angel Amber Ale from Wylam Brewery, partly due to the iconic Angel of the North pictured on the label that the beer itself was brewed to celebrate in 2008. If it had stood the test of time since then, then it had to be worth a try.

Northumberland within England

The beer pours an amber colour as promised on the label, producing a fairly small head that fizzles out.

The combination of four different malts and Cascade hops revealed on the label sounded like they would give way to an interesting mix of sweet, citrusy and herbal characteristics, leaving me not quite knowing what to expect. The aroma turned out to be very pleasant, presenting sweet toffee and chocolate notes from the malts, the hops bringing out very floral and aromatic characteristics with nutmeggy and herbal notes. Sultanas and glazed cherries could be detected in there too, evoking the gorgeous scent of a fruitcake. 

Everything comes at you at once when you take a swig, all the flavours working very well together. Every part of your tongue gets to enjoy the various characteristics in this beer, sweet toffee offset by bitter treacle and fruity woodland berries along with spicy herbal notes, all in all producing something extremely rich and wholesome. The Cascade hops liven it up to no end bringing out all its best characteristics, like a well-seasoned steak.

A long, dry finish leaves you with hints of fruitcake and a nice light black tea flavour that linger on once you've swallowed.

This beer impressed me. An interesting combination of malts an hops has produced something that's quite familiar yet unique, traditional but spiced up. This, as it mentions on the label, is "proper beer". Whyaye man!

Appearance 3/5

Aroma 4.5/5

Flavour 5/5

Mouthfeel 4/5

Beer Belly's rating 8/10

Brewery details

Website: www.wylambrewery.co.uk

Twitter: @wylambrewery

English B Bock (6%) - Batemans Brewery, Lincolnshire, England

On my perusal of the beer aisles in a Sainsbury's one evening I noticed a label I hadn't seen in any other supermarkets. That's because English B Bock, from Batemans Brewery in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire was the winner of the Sainsbury's 2013 Beer Challenge and is therefore exclusively available there. It's the second year in a row that a Batemans beer has won a place in all of Sainsbury's stores, and that's all the persuasion I needed to take one home with me. 

Lincolnshire within England

The label is eye-catching if only for its in-your-face simplicity, depicting a hostile-looking billygoat on a bright red background. If you're wondering what the goat has to do with anything, don't worry, it has nothing to do with the ingredients, but the name. "Bock" is the name given to a particular German beer style which originated in a northern German town called Einbeck, but when Bavarians in the south started brewing it and talking about it in their native Bavarian accents, they would pronounce it Oanbock, giving rise to the name of the beer style "bock", which already happened to be the German word for "goat". So for those purely accidental linguistic reasons you'll more often than not see a picture of a goat on a bottle of bock as a charming visual joke. Who said the Germans didn't have a sense of humour? As for what the first "B" stands for, that's anyone's guess. "Batemans"? "Belligerent goat"?

The description "Bavarian style strong ale" might raise an eyebrow or two among anyone who's spent any time in the area as, if you were sober enough to remember, lager is the refreshment of choice in that part of the world. Still, this is an English twist on the German-inspired theme and Batemans Brewery have done a heck of a job. 

The beer pours a wonderful deep mahogany, although the head was feeble next to the powerful froth typical of the style it's emulating, but as soon as it's left the bottle it's already as pleasant to the nose as it is the eyes. With toffee, rum and raisin and some floral and peppery notes, you can tell it's going to be rich.

Well, it's not just rich, it's extreme. Jam-packed full of six different malts, that billygoat smacks you over the tongue with the malts and tramples them right in. Toffee, licorice, tobacco, wheat, raisins and sultanas all come through, and an alcoholic flavour is present in that it almost tastes as if it's been aged in a whisky barrel. The Bavarian Hallertau hops add some peppery and floral flavours, and there are some punchy sour notes in there too.

The texture is full-bodied with a heavy layer of malts coating the tongue and lingering on and on, and a nice warming sensation comes from the 6% ABV (which, by the way, although strong by UK standards is weak compared with German bocks which range from 6-12%).

It's clear the aim wasn't to replicate the bock style but to pay tribute to it in an English way, and this rich and complex yet very drinkable and quenching beer is a fantastic achievement. Batemans suggest a food pairing of pork pies on the back of the bottle, and I can wholeheartedly agree that would be a damn fine accompaniment. 

Beer Belly's rating:

Appearance 4/5

Aroma 5/5

Flavour 5/5

Mouthfeel 5/5

Total 9.5/10 

Late Red (4.5%) - Shepherd Neame Brewery, Kent, England

We're about to leave the autumn months behind so I had to grab this one while it was still on the shelves. Late Red from "Britain's oldest brewer", Shepherd Neame in Faversham, Kent, is a seasonal autumn ale available from September to November. Full of auburn and copper colours on the label, it pictures hops dangling in the late autumn sunset, hinting at what flavours might lie inside.

The clear, characteristically Shepherd Neame-shaped bottle allows a good view of the wonderfully deep amber-ruby liquid inside, although we all know what that could mean: light strike.

It looks just as good in the glass, although the fizzy, off-white head doesn't amount to much and quickly fizzles into nothing.

Nosing about for some aroma, I pick up on berries, something roasted and a hint of toffee along with some hoppy citrus and a slightly herbal aroma from the Cascade and local East Kent Goldings hops, although the aromas are faint and hard to pin down.

Kent within England

Once I dive in the flavours become clearer, with a bittersweet mouthful of sweet toasted malts swishing around with herbal, floral and peppery flavours finishing with a dry and bitter aftertaste. Although complex in nature, I can't help feeling the flavours are a bit too diluted and accompanied by an unpleasant taste of soap (and that's not my fault - I gave the glass a good rinsing).

Late Red started off promising but the more it warmed up, the less I got on with it. Instead of bringing out the character, which is what a warmer temperature should do, it made me wonder if among those crisp autumn leaves a few had been blown out of a gutter.

The crisp, toasted, floral nature of Late Red makes it impressively fitting for this time of year, but if I pick one up again it will have to be chilled enough to mask some of the less welcome flavours.

   

Beer Belly's rating:

Appearance 3/5

Aroma 3/5

Flavour 2/5

Mouthfeel 2/5

Total 5/10

Hobgoblin (5.2%) - Wychwood Brewery, Oxfordshire, England (Hallowe'en Edition)

With Halloween only a matter of days ago how could I opt for any beer other than the one that labels itself the "unofficial beer of Halloween"? In fact, the new orange label on the Hobgoblin I picked up at the supermarket convinced me I'd found a seasonal brew from Wychwood that I hadn't laid hands on before. Only when I got round to tasting it did I realise that I'd sampled many of these crafty goblins before, under their usual guise of a dark blue label. Would this be a trick or a treat?

Hobgoblin pours a mystical, dark ruby red, a frothy head bubbling up to the brim of the glass before calming down slowly, leaving no trace around the edges. A mischievous brew indeed.

I picked up some chocolate malt as well as rum and raisin from the faint aroma that lurked in the glass. I got no trace of hops from the aroma in the Halloween version, although its regular counterpart gave me the faintest hint of citrus. Probably for no reason other than that I'd not long released the Halloween bottle from the fridge.

Oxfordshire within England

The flavour is complex yet balanced, rich yet refreshing: dark berries, toasted nuts, burnt toffee and a hint of dark chocolate were complemented by herbal and peppery notes which lingered on. This, coupled with the smooth texture and medium dry finish, paves the way for a very moreish brew.

At the stronger end of the scale with 5.2%, there's still, amazingly, barely any trace of an alcoholic flavour. This makes it a cheeky session beer that you'll happily stick with all night, even if that night ends sooner than you expected! 

Beer Belly's rating:

Appearance 4/5

Aroma 3/5

Flavour 4/5

Mouthfeel 4/5

Total 7.5/10

Have you dared try the Hobgoblin from Wychwood Brewery? What do you think? Leave your comments and rating below!