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48. Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale

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This is the third and final one of the three beers in The Book to hail from the Adelaide-based Coopers Brewery, following on from their Sparkling Ale, and their Best Extra Stout. I happen to suspect that this one is a little bit special.

This is Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale. A few breweries put out a Vintage Ale, which will typically be a limited edition, once-yearly bottling of a strong, high quality ale. Each year’s vintage will tend to take on its own unique characteristics, and once in the bottle, will improve greatly for years to come.

This is one beer that I thought would be a challenge to get hold of—not least since these things typically become collectors’ items within weeks—until it silently and without fanfare appeared on the shelves of my favourite local boozeteria.

And knock me down with a feather if this isn’t the 2007 vintage, which was the first that was made available in the UK. The internet tells me there were only about 5,000 of these ever made. The bottle carries an oddly-specific “best after” date of 3:17pm on the 8th of June, 2007. No problem there then. It’s probably about time to drink the stuff.

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Once again we see Coopers stock 375ml bottle, with a hefty dose of yeast at the bottom to allow the beer to continue to ferment and improve in the bottle. As with Coopers previous beers, there’s so much yeast in there that it’s impossible to pour the beer clear, even if you wanted to. Instead it pours a dark, cloudy ruby colour with absolutely no head at all.

I’ve very little idea what to expect from the flavour: my only point of reference for a Vintage Ale so far has been a couple of bottles of too-young Fuller’s Vintage Ale. That one is essentially a bottle-conditioned Barleywine, and there’s certainly a hint of Barleywine in the aroma of the Coopers brew.

There’s a lovely, spicy bonfire toffee note on top of that though, and I’m reminded strongly of Texels Bock, which is rich, sweet and thick, and tastes just like liquid Werther’s Original candy.

To taste, that sweetness is there in spades but it’s balanced with just enough bitterness to prevent it becoming cloying. The beer is still full of caramel and butterscotch, though, and the body is thick, rich and treacly.

At a nominal 7.5% ABV, the alcohol is warming without being overpowering, and I wonder if six years of bottle-conditioning hasn’t made it a little stronger than the label states. Either way, this is not an everyday beer by any means: it’s one to take time over and savour.

And it’s good. I’m not convinced that it’s six-year-wait good, but then I only bought it last week, so can’t have any complaints. Even so, I’ve a couple of bottles put aside in the Official 300 Beers Cellar—my kitchen cupboard—and I look forward to seeing how it performs with another couple of years behind it.

All in all, I have to admit that Coopers have single-handledly changed my perception of Australian beer over the last few weeks, a little like Brooklyn Brewery destroyed my prejudices about American beer.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Coopers Brewery, Adelaide, South Australia
Style: Old Ales, Barley Wines and Vintage Ales
Strength: 7.5% ABV
Found at: Bossman Wines, Lordship Lane, London SE22
Serving: 375ml Bottle

47. Bitburger Pils

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It’s time to add a new category to the site, as we come to try our first Pilsner so far. In this case it’s a Pilsner not from Pilsen, or even from the Czech Republic, but from Bitburg, Germany.

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Bitburger Pils pours a dark golden colour with an almost negligible amount of white foam. What there is doesn’t stick around for long. There’s a toasty malt aroma with the faintest whiff of hops.

Bitburger is slightly fuller-bodied than is typical for a lager, and better for it. A good malty backbone is present to underpin the nicely balanced bitterness and sweetness, and it’s all followed by a long, dry finish.

I’m secretly enjoying this one more that I tend to expect from a lager. Bitburger is a very gluggable yet satisfying beer. Whilst I wouldn’t pass over a good ale or stout for it, this is a very pleasant beverage to drink straight from the fridge on a summery evening like this one.

Another enjoyable beer, and there will be a few more Pilsners along in due course, including some actually from Pilsen, so it’ll be interesting to see how Bitburger measure up against those.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Bitburger Braugruppe GmbH, Bitburg, Germany
Style: Pilsners
Strength: 4.8% ABV
Found at: Bossman Wines, Lordship Lane, London SE22
Dispense: 330ml Bottle

46. Marston’s Pedigree

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I’ve had this poor old bottle of Marston’s Pedigree sat around for a little
while now. Amid a sea of Belgian Trappist ales and craft-brewed American Barleywines, it has been difficult to get excited about this relatively commonplace, corner shop-bought Burton Pale Ale.

That’s clearly unfair, as Pedigree is a very well-regarded beer and is something of an English classic.

Pedigree is nominally the second Marston’s beer to be covered here, after their very tasty Old Empire IPA, but in fact the company is something of a supergroup, owning the Jennings and Brakspear brands, along with Ringwood and Wychwood, both of whose wares we’ll soon be tasting.

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Marston’s Pedigree pours a warm amber colour with a smallish off-white head. The bottled stuff weighs in at 5.0% ABV, a little stronger than the cask version’s more sessionable 4.5%.

Despite a fairly mild beery aroma, Pedigree is absolutely chock-full of flavours. It has a hefty malt backbone and a generous dose of English hop bitterness. There’s some light, vinous fruit and the distinct saltiness for which Burton ales are known, due to the famous local water.

Despite all those flavours vying for your attention, proceedings are remarkably civilised: everything is beautifully well balanced, resulting in a hugely drinkable, classic English beer.

Though I must have had Pedigree in a boozer at some point in the past, I look forward to trying it on cask before long, and I suspect next time I have a bottle in, it won’t hang around for quite so long. Good stuff.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Marston’s Beer Co, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England
Style: Pale Ales
Strength: 5.0% ABV
Found at: Maxy Supermarket, Norwood Road, London SE24
Dispense: 500ml Bottle

45. Coopers Best Extra Stout

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This is this blog’s second trip to the land of Oz, and also our second beer from Coopers, having enjoyed their famous Coopers Sparkling Ale a few weeks ago. In the meantime, I’ve also tried their Original Pale Ale once or twice, and found it to be most refreshing.

Truth be told, I’m developing a bit of an affection for this plucky Adelaide brewery, swimming as they are against the tide of flavourless golden lagers for which so many Australian drinkers have so much affection.

This beer is as far from your stubby of Foster’s as you’re likely to get Down Under: it’s a bloody great unfiltered, bottle-conditioned stout weighing in at 6.3% ABV.

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Here we have Coopers signature 375ml bottle, and you know you’re in for something a little bit special when your beer has a “best after” date and no sign of a “best before”. This one’s label suggests it should not be drunk until after 9:12 in the morning on Boxing Day 2011. No problems there then. By my maths this one has at least a year and a half under its belt already.

That’s good, because being bottle-conditioned, just like the Sparkling Ale, there’s a good dose of yeast sat in the bottom of the bottle, helping the beer to ferment in the bottle, and to continue to improve year upon year.

While many brewers recommend that you let their bottle-conditioned beers settle upright, then pour carefully so as not to land the yeast in your glass, Coopers helpfully suggest a variety of rolling, twisting and agitating rituals, each one tailored to the specific beer, to reintegrate the yeast in to the beer before pouring. I just gave it a little shake.

Coopers Best Extra Stout pours as black as you like, as befits a quality stout, with a big tan head that sticks around tenaciously. The nose is all dark bitter chocolate, freshly-ground coffee and soot courtesy of the roasted malts. It’s a stout alright.

It’s reasonably full-bodied, though lacking the sheer velvet luxury of the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, which I’m aware that I mention in every single review, or The Kernel’s magnificent Imperial Brown Stout.

That said, the Coopers offering is easier-drinking and more gluggable than those two hooligans, whilst still being a big, big stout. There’s a hefty, raisiny dried fruit flavour in there which reminds me, interestingly enough, of Bishop’s Finger and a massively dry, bitter finish that embiggens as the beer reaches room temperature.

This is a good stout and no mistake. In fact I suspect it’s the best stout being made in Australia right now, though I’d be delighted to hear of a better one. It’s still eclipsed by several British stouts, obviously, but it puts many of our weaker efforts to shame. Good stuff once again from Coopers.

We’ll be returning to Coopers Brewery one more time, and quite soon. Stay tuned, because I have an inkling that the third and final Coopers beer might just be something a little bit out of the ordinary.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Coopers Brewery, Adelaide, South Australia
Style: Porters and Stouts
Strength: 6.3% ABV
Found at: Utobeer, Borough Market, London SE1
Serving: 375ml Bottle

44. Brooklyn Brown Ale

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This is the third and final beer we’ll meet from the Brooklyn Brewery, having already tried the Vienna-style Lager and the magnificent Black Chocolate Stout. They were both cracking beers, so I have high hopes for this one.

Brooklyn Brown Ale was originally brewed as a seasonal beer, but proved so popular that it found its way into Brooklyn’s core range. It has subsequently been tweaked heavily over the years by Brooklyn’s famous Brewmaster Garrett Oliver.

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There’s that smart Milton Glaser-designed Brooklyn branding again, though the label replaces the Brooklyn Lager’s green detailing with an appropriate-seeming reddish brown colour scheme.

The ale is certainly brown, pouring a deep chestnut colour with a small tan head. It’s a smooth, drinkable beer with a slightly lighter body than I expected. It’s full of deep roasted flavours and nutty, bonfire toffee sweetness.

There’s a slight bitter finish, though the hop bitterness isn’t especially pronounced, despite a generous amount of hops being used in the brewing process.

All in all, with their Brown Ale, Brooklyn have created a successful modern American twist on a classic British style of beer, ramping up the malts and strength to create a deeper, more complex brew that remains pleasantly refreshing.

I can’t help thinking this would be a great beer to cook with, perhaps in a steak and ale pie or game casserole, but I’ll stick with drinking it for now.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY
Style: Brown and Mild Ales
Strength: 5.6% ABV
Found at: Utobeer, Borough Market, London SE1
Serving: 355ml Bottle

43. Fraoch Heather Ale

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Now, here’s a beer I have been looking forward to. I haven’t had a Fraoch for at least 15 years, at which time I was a student up in Edinburgh. This Scottish heather ale was always a special treat in those days, being a little more expensive and harder to get hold of than the McEwan’s 80/- ale that was my main tipple.

Still, I had a bottle from time to time, and even remember enjoying it as a guest cask in the Blind Poet. Almost as much as the native barman enjoyed my attempts to pronounce the name correctly.

Since I spotted this one in The Book, I’d been wondering how I’d get hold of a Fraoch here in London. I needn’t have worried: as is so often the case, Utobeer have it covered.

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Fraoch Heather Ale pours a lovely deep golden colour with a small white head, and there’s a very subtle floral aroma.

Fraoch is lighter bodied than I remember, but no less smooth. Scottish ales tend to employ very little in the way of hops, so are unlikely to be particularly bitter, and this one is no exception. Instead there are floral flavours, courtesy of the heather and bog myrtle with which the beer is brewed, and a slight peppermint note too. The finish is vinous and slightly sweet.

The beer doesn’t have a huge amount of depth to it, which isn’t quite how I remember it, but it’s nice enough. The botanicals are sufficiently subdued that I probably wouldn’t detect heather specifically if I didn’t know it was in there. I don’t consider that a particularly bad thing: I still want my beer to taste of beer.

All in all, Fraoch is an enjoyable beer, a little bit different, and I can certainly see how it made a nice change from the ubiquitous 80/- all those years ago. A pleasant and welcome blast from the past.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Williams Brothers Brewing Co, Alloa, Scotland
Style: Beers made with Fruit, Spices, Herbs and Seeds
Strength: 5.0% ABV
Found at: Utobeer, Borough Market, London SE1
Dispense: 500ml Bottle

42. Westmalle Tripel

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It’s with an almost crushing sense of inevitability that we come to try yet another beer brewed by Belgian monks, one of countless that are left to cover.

Never mind, this at least gives us a chance to try a Tripel, one of several designations of Trappist beers, and to compare and contrast with the Westmalle Dubbel we recently met.

In fact it was Westmalle themselves, currently Belgium’s second largest Trappist brewery, who introduced the terms Dubbel and Tripel, terms which are now widely used in Belgium and beyond. The naming seems to originate from the number of crosses branded onto casks to indicate strength, in contrast to an “Enkel” or “single”, but nowadays the terms generally denote distinct styles of beer.

A Tripel will still typically be stronger than a Dubbel—the Westmalle example weighs in at 9.5% ABV whereas its Dubbel sibling is a more modest 7.0%—but the strength doesn’t define the style. Whilst a Dubbel will be all deep dark, vinous malt and Christmas cakey dried fruits, a Tripel will be far paler and hoppier with more bitterness and lighter fruit.

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Westmalle Tripel is certainly paler than its Dubbel counterpart, pouring a slightly cloudy golden colour, with a pillowy white head that would make Mr. Whippy proud. You really have to take care pouring this one, as there’s a good quarter inch of yeast sediment, including some great lumps of the stuff.

In fact, the yeast and the strength suggest this might be a good candidate to be cellared, or at least aged at the back of the kitchen cupboard, for a few years. It’s too late for this one: the lid’s off and I’ve a review to write.

The nose is broadly typical of a Belgian golden ale, with the distinctive esters front and centre, though there’s a conspicuous dried banana scent bursting through.

To taste, Westmalle Tripel is quite different from any of the preceding 41 beers, with the exception perhaps of Orval, another Trappist beer that could probably have done with some age on it. There’s an instant floral explosion in the mouth, and a bitterness and strong spice that’s delivered direct to the tastebuds by the considerable fizz.

The body is quite light, and that bitterness is pretty harsh, truth be told, not least as it’s accompanied by a saltiness reminiscent of Orval’s. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of subtlety about this beer, as it finishes by paintstripping your mouth dry. But kind of in a good way.

I actually quite enjoyed this beer, but it’s clear this is not the finished product, as all those flavours fall over each other to vie for your attention. Westmalle Tripel really needs at least a couple of years in the bottle to calm it down, so I’ll be putting one or two away. Who knows, if I ever get through the remaining 258 beers, I may revisit this one and see how it’s grown up.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle, Westmalle, Belgium
Style: Trappist Beers
ABV: 9.5%
Found at: Bossman Wines, Lordship Lane, London SE22
Dispense: 330ml Bottle

41. Boston Samuel Adams Lager

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It’s Friday evening, the weekend has begun, and I think it might be time to reach into the fridge and randomly select a beer from the growing 300 Beers queue.

Sure enough, out comes this famous American lager, and having had a run of excellent American beers recently, including two from the Brooklyn Brewery and three from San Francisco’s Anchor, trying our first offering from the Boston Brewing Company seems like an appropriate start to the weekend.

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Having already met the very tasty Brooklyn Lager, I’m not at all surprised when Sam Adams pours a lovely, rich amber colour. It looks like we may have another Vienna-style lager on our hands, though The Book points out that this is more in the Bavarian March style. The subtleties are left as an exercise for the reader.

There’s a small white head which doesn’t stick around for long, and a promisingly malty aroma, balanced out with some gentle hops.

Sam Adams is a really full-bodied, grown-up beer with a heavy, malty backbone and an explosion of caramel and hops in the mouth, followed by a remarkably long, pleasing bitter finish.

There’s so much flavour here, and this is the absolute antithesis of the usual emaciated, gassy pale lagers that we’re all too familiar with in this country. This is a really top notch beer, and at a sane 4.8%, it’s sessionable enough too.

Just when I’m about to praise the Americans for brewing another winner, I notice an anomaly, in that this is a 330ml bottle rather than the traditional US 12 fluid ouncer. And there it is on the back label: brewed by Shepherd Neame, Faversham, Kent. This one hasn’t come far at all!

Perhaps one day I’ll be able to check out an original US-brewed Sam Adams for comparison, but for now, this will have to do.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Shepherd Neame, Faversham, Kent, England
Style: Vienna Red, Märzen and Oktoberfest Beers
ABV: 4.8%
Found at: Sainsbury’s, Westow Street, London SE19
Dispense: 330ml Bottle

40. Anchor Old Foghorn

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This is the third and final one of the 300 Beers to be produced by the Anchor Brewery, following on from the Steam Beer and the Liberty Ale. While the latter didn’t blow me away, the Steam Beer was a revelation, and I must admit to taking a bit of a shine to this plucky San Francisco brewery with their stout little brown bottles and handsome label artwork.

Even more excitingly, this is the first chance I’ve had to try a beer labelled as a Barleywine. Barleywine is essentially just very, very strong beer, fermented for significant periods of time. It’s apparently a centuries-old English style of beer, originally brewed for the aristocracy, but it’s one we really don’t see a lot of in this country these days, to the extent that I’d always assumed it was an American style.

In fact it was Anchor themselves and their Old Foghorn which introduced the style to the States, where it quickly caught the imagination of brewers and drinkers alike. I think we’d better get more intimately acquainted. I’m looking forward to this.

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Like the previous Anchor beers, this one is impeccably presented, though its label diverges from the usual sailor tattoo artwork for something a little more pastoral, featuring barley and hops. The beer itself is a dark, glossy Greek honey sort of colour with little to no head, just a light off-white lacing.

There isn’t a great deal of aroma to Old Foghorn, which lulls you into a false sense of security, as it completely belies the massive amounts of flavour within.

Old Foghorn is thick and rich, and almost the same texture as Greek honey too. It’s full of plump dried fruit and treacle. There’s a faintly medicinal note to it, which is less unpleasant than it sounds, along with a real sweetness, albeit a pleasing, tart, bitter sweetness which lingers in the mouth.

That bitterness comes from Old Foghorn being matured on a bed of Cascade hops for no less than 10 months, before being dry hopped, meaning that yet more hops are added to the finished beer. I suspect a lot of the depth also comes from the fact that only the first pressing of the mash is used, a technique we previously saw applied to a quite different beer, Japan’s Kirin Ichiban.

All in all, I’m reminded strongly of one of my favourite guilty pleasures, Fuller’s Golden Pride, though this is a little richer and darker. I’m starting to like it a lot.

This is a strong old beverage at 9.4% ABV, and there are naturally huge boozy notes, enough to remind you to take it slowly and savour Old Foghorn respectfully. The alcohol isn’t overbearing though: it just provides a lovely warming hit that gets to work pretty promptly.

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This is a terrific beer, and one that reminds me why I started this blog. It’s thanks to breweries like Anchor and Brooklyn (particularly their Vienna-style Lager and Black Chocolate Stout) that my preconceptions about American beers have been shot to pieces, with Anchor Old Foghorn being the final, delicious bullet.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Anchor Brewing Co, San Francisco, CA
Style: Old Ales, Barley Wines and Vintage Ales
Strength: 9.4% ABV
Found at: Utobeer, Borough Market, London SE1
Dispense: 355ml Bottle

39. Negra Modelo

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Time for a little geographical diversity, as we come to sample the first of the 300 Beers to originate in Mexico, an interesting cerveza named Negra Modelo.

Hailing as it does from the land that brought us such beers as Sol and Corona, both chronically lacking in flavour and excitement, and being brewed by Grupo Modelo, the giant brewery responsible for the aforementioned Corona, we may fear the worst.

Of course, I’ve had such fears before and they’ve turned out to be misplaced. Let’s see if Negra Modelo deserves its place in The Book.

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Well, as with the Brooklyn Lager, once again my preconceptions look to be on rocky ground. For a start, Negra Modelo is much darker than I expected, and in fact it pours a deep brownish ruby colour, with a small off-white lacing. It looks like we have another Vienna-style lager on our hands.

There’s a lightish, fruity nose and a nutty yet rounded, berry-like fruit to the flavour too. In fact the fruit reminds me a little of one or two of the Belgian Dubbel-style Trappist beers we’ve seen, such as Westmalle Dubbel, and I really did not expect to be saying that about a Mexican beer!

That said, at a sensible 5.4% ABV, Negra Modelo also tastes a little watered-down compared to those beers, and the body is a fair bit lighter than the colour might suggest. Helpfully, though, there’s a subtle bitter finish to give the beer some length and keep things satisfying.

Negra Modelo is certainly an interesting beer, though I can’t help finding it a little schizophrenic: it’s slightly too dark and full-bodied to be the truly refreshing quencher that you’d want to accompany your hot tamales on a scorching Tijuana afternoon, while on the other hand it doesn’t have the strength and depth to really be savoured like one would the Trappist beers I mentioned.

Still, Negra Modelo is a good beer all the same, and this has certainly been another revelation and indeed an education.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Grupo Modelo, Mexico City, Mexico
Style: Vienna Red, Märzen and Oktoberfest Beers
ABV: 5.4%
Found at: Bossman Wines, Lordship Lane, London SE22
Dispense: 355ml Bottle