Category Archives: Beers

The beers

6. Theakston’s Old Peculier

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Masham in North Yorkshire is a tiny market town that lives and breathes beer, perhaps almost literally. With two significant breweries – the Black Sheep brewery, and its older brother, Theakston – between a population of barely over 1,200 people, the air must be potent with the aromas of the brewing process.

Masham’s most famous export is unquestionably Theakston’s Old Peculier, a genuine legend which will be deeply familiar to most beer lovers, myself included.

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Old Peculier absolutely must be served at room temperature to really appreciate its depth and complexity. This is a thick, dark, strong Old Ale with roasty, toasty and smoky fruit flavours and a respectable 5.6% ABV.

There is nothing wimpy about this beer whatsoever, but it’s remarkably easy drinking, as the hop flavours are subtle enough to avoid a lot of bitterness, quite in contrast to something like an IPA. It’s really quite moreish, but I think Old Peculier is a perfect beer to be slowly savoured by the fire.

Best of all Old Peculier is available almost everywhere. I found this bottle in the least glamorous of convenience stores. It wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last!

Facts and Figures

Brewery: T&R Theakston Ltd, Masham, North Yorkshire, England
Style: Old Ales, Barley Wines and Vintage Ales
ABV: 5.6%
Found at: Costcutter, Norwood Road, London SE24
Dispense: 500ml Bottle

5. Wells Banana Bread Beer

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I haven’t been looking forward to this one. In fact, the only reason it has cropped up quite so early on is that I wanted to get it out of the way. That, plus it is available in my corner shop. It’s to their credit that they stock such a wide range of real ales, and it’s not their fault that this one is banana flavoured.

You read that right, this is a banana flavoured beer. But it’s in The Book, so let’s hold our noses and get this over and done with.

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There really isn’t much to say about this, other than it’s an unexceptional bitter which has been artificially flavoured with banana. That’s what it smells like, and that’s what it tastes like.

The underlying beer is pretty bland and watery, since no brewer in their right mind would waste a batch of good ale this way. The banana flavour tastes nothing like actual bananas, and everything like those yellow foam sweets you used to get as a kid. The only saving grace is that it is less sweet than I expected.

This isn’t my thing, and more objectively, I really don’t see who this beer is aimed at or what the point is. Judging by the dust collecting on the bottles in the shop, not many people do.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Charles Wells, Bedford, England
Style: Beers made with Fruit, Spices, Herbs and Seeds
Strength: 5.2% ABV
Found at: Jolly Good News, Rosendale Road, London SE24
Serving: 500ml bottle

4. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

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It’s straight back to the States for beer number four, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is reputedly something of a legend around those parts. This is the beer that some say was almost single-handedly the catalyst for the resurgence of craft brewing and real ale in the US, amid a bland, lagery ocean of mass-produced Duff, Duff Lite and Lady Duff.

Interestingly it’s the first beer so far that explicitly asks to be served chilled, while many of the better beers tend to excel at room temperature. Whether that’s because Sierra Nevada Pale Ale expects to be enjoyed in the Mediterranean climate of Chico, California from whence it originates, we cannot be sure.

Chilled it is then. Let’s get this 350ml, bottle-conditioned Pale Ale and her charmingly folksy label artwork out of the ‘fridge, and crack her open.

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There’s an immediate hoppy aroma, not unlike that of an IPA, though a little more subdued, as is appropriate for a PA with no I.

At this point I should confess that I’ve actually had this beer before, but at room temperature, and wasn’t blown away. There was a muddy confusion to the flavours, but I must admit that chilling it does bring everything together into a much tighter, smoother package. It also makes it pleasantly refreshing, even on a greyish March evening in South-East London.

The ale is much more subtly flavoured than the previous American ale, the Goose Island IPA, but in many ways is a lot more pleasant. Thankfully that sweetness that spoilt the Goose Island for me is completely absent. As the beer warms a little, some extra malty flavours come out, which turn this into a genuinely satisfying, drinkable beer.

This is probably even the kind of beer that could be enjoyed by folks who don’t actually think they like real ales, as it’s really quite accessible, and there’s very little about it that would offend anyone.

Good stuff, all gone in about five minutes, and I believe there’s another Sierra Nevada beer I have to track down before long. I look forward to doing so.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Style: Pale Ales
ABV: 5.6%
Found at: Waitrose, Whitecross Street, London EC1
Dispense: 350ml Bottle-conditioned

3. Shepherd Neame Bishop’s Finger

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This is the first of the 300 beers that I tend to drink from time to time even when I’m not obliged to by this ridiculous challenge.

Shepherd Neame Bishop’s Finger is a bit of a classic. It’s a Best Bitter and has been brewed in Kent since 1958, but only on Fridays, for some reason. I’m led to believe that it’s the only British beer to be granted a Protected Geographical Indication by the EU, meaning that only Bishop’s Finger may call itself a “Kentish Strong Ale”.

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It’s a distinctly dark and full-flavoured brew, which is no bad thing in my book. It packs in hefty malt, dried fruit and hop flavours along with an interesting wine-like finish. There’s a lot going on, but it really does combine into a balanced whole.

Bishop’s Finger would go particularly well with traditional food, such as a hearty beef casserole or game sausages and mash.

Highly recommended, and relatively easy to find these days too. I picked it up in my local corner shop along with a couple of other goodies that I’ll be sharing with you before long.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Shepherd Neame, Faversham, Kent, England
Style: Best Bitters
ABV: 5.4%
Found at: Jolly Good News, Rosendale Road, London SE24
Dispense: 500ml Bottle

2. Goose Island IPA

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Beer number two on our journey, and we’re already globetrotting. It’s straight across the Atlantic to Chicago to see if our American cousins can knock up a decent India Pale Ale.

I do like a good IPA, and am instinctively sceptical about the idea of this most British of beers being brewed abroad, but I know IPA is all the rage on the thriving US craft brewing scene, so let’s give it a try.

Goose Island IPA

There’s a huge white head straight out of the bottle, and this is certainly an aromatic beer, with plenty of floral, citrus and of course hop aromas. There’s no doubt that this is an IPA. There’s also something a bit soapy about the nose, but it isn’t overpowering.

This beer is apparently made with water from Lake Michigan, and is bottle conditioned, so there’s a tiny amount of yeast collecting at the bottom of the bottle. This is a very good sign indeed.

Goose Island IPA is a little fuller-bodied and much sweeter than the modern British IPAs, as exemplified by something like Thornbridge’s excellent Jaipur (which we’ll encounter in the fullness of time), but I think that’s quite typical of the American approach to the style.

There’s a pleasing, lingering bitterness, but for me the sweetness does mar the overall flavour. I just don’t want beer to make my teeth hurt.

Overall, a perfectly decent example of the style, but perhaps not one I’ll return to in a hurry.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, IL
Style: India Pale Ales
ABV: 5.9%
Found at: Sainsbury’s, Westow Street, London SE19
Dispense: 355ml Bottle-conditioned

1. Robinson’s Old Tom

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Where better to start then, than with the self-professed “World’s Best Ale”? At least, that’s what it says on the bottle, although it doesn’t elaborate on the basis for the claim. I think we’ll be the judge of that.

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Old Tom is a strong Old Ale weighing in at a daunting 8.5% ABV which, following on from Old Freddy Walker’s 7.3%, is enough to have me thinking this 300 beer challenge could be more than I bargained for.

The beer pours a very dark ruby colour, with a large off-white head that quickly dissipates to a faint lacing. There’s a toffee/caramel nose that suggests we can expect a lot of sweetness to help cover that hefty ABV.

So, is this the world’s best ale? Well, no. In fact it’s pretty unpleasant. That tooth-jangling sweetness is there in abundance, while the body is cloyingly sticky and thinner than Posh Spice’s left contact lens.

Aside from the sugar, the predominant flavours are of an inevitable hangover and £2.15 that I’ll never have back, though there’s a smoky, bonfire toffee note that just about saves this beer from being utterly repugnant.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Robinsons, Stockport, England
Style: Old Ales, Barley Wines and Vintage Ales
Strength: 8.5% ABV
Found at: Sainsbury’s, Westow Street, London SE19
Dispense: 330ml Bottle