Amager Bryghus, Hr. Frederiksen

Described as a stout, but with a bunch of centennial hops lobbed in to the boil giving it 60+ IBUs. Apparently. Stout/BIPA from Amager. Burnt malts, wet/used coffee grounds. Hops = citrus + fresh dark fruits (as opposed to the dried versions you might detect in an impy tout). Creamy on the palate, but a weird, slightly sharp fizzing on the tongue afterwards. I meant to get the imperial version of this (Mr. Frederiksen) but I messed up my order and now it's out of stock. Bugger. 3 x photographs here 'cos I was quite proud of that last one. Cheers.

Aamger Bryghus, Sinners Series: Gluttony

After our anniversary trip to Copenhagen (didn't visit the Amager brewery, but then it was an anniverary trip wasn't it), I had a bit of a greed to the Danish beers in. Luckily for me, I managed to snaffle a few of the remaining stock that Beers Of Europe had. This DIPA from Amager was orange/lemon/lime on the nose, grapefruit and bitter orange in the gob along with (my notes say) "clean mediterranean forest and yeast". (Make of that what you will #craftwanker.) Very light, couldn't be described as thick (as you might expect from a DIPA). No trace of booze whatsoever. At 9.7%, you could get blind drunk off this very easily indeed.

Amager Bryghus, Sinners Series: Envy

For a birthday treat last year, my wife accompanied me to the Craft Beer Co in Brixton. As I drank some overpriced BIPA from Evil Twin, she drank an equally overpriced half of Envy from Amager, which she loved. I had a little sip: big orange Fanta, fresh and morish. Quite wonderful. The bottle didn't hit as hard and there was more grass/pine in it. Good body, decent mouthfeel, pleasing but shortlived bitterness. Reminded me of a stronger version of Fyne's Hurricane Jack.

Pressure Drop Brewery, Street Porter

After the London Fields Porter, this one one from Pressure Drop seemed a little bit watery and uninspiring by comparison. I suppose that at sub 5%, it's not going to be massively full bodied, but I remember wishing I'd drank this after the London Fields. School boy error really. Would probably get a pint of this on draft if the price was right though.

London Fields Brewery, Bootlegger Series: Chocolate Porter

Dark, smooth and tasty. Hoppy at the end. Coffee and bitter chocolate. Ever so slightly metallic in the aftertaste, but it's ok, because this was a great porter from London Fields and I went back and bought another. Watched Ender's Game whilst drinking this. Close enough to the novel so no huge problems with it, despite involving turgid sci-fi yes-man Robert Orci.

Crate Brewery, Stout

Very decent stout from Crate. Creamy, milk chocolate mouthfeel. Dried fruit on the nose (figs) that slowly turns into mushrooms and possibly a bit of Old Holborn. Taste goes in for the usual wet coffee grounds, some fig/raisin, etc. Cherry coke in this? Nice surprise. A little boozy on the after with a little bitterness. Body was nice and thick, great stuff for a 5.7%. Watched Only God Forgives whilst drinking this. Blimey.

Hargreaves Hill, ESB

You expect vineyards to flourish in Mediterranean climates right? I mean, there's Denbies in Dorking I suppose, but I'd always assumed that the hotter the better for grapes. Similarly with hops: hotter climates = fruitier, more pungent hops? Right? (Disclaimer: conclusion reached naively and utterly unscientifically.) I was left disappointedly underwhelmed by the Sly Fox and Hop Bomb (albeit only very slightly in the case of the latter): my expectations of massively citrusy pale ales born of glorious sunshine and soaring temperatures were confounded somewhat. This all changed with the Hargreaves Hill ESB.I understand that the beautiful Yarra Valley is famous for it's vineyards? Is there a link between the calibre of the grape and hop here?

Their branding (embossed labels....mmmm) and website is just my cup of tea (to my mind: sophisticated without coming across as too poncey) and I want that RIS, if only for that gorgeous bottle (wineification of beer to another level!). Very, very citrus nose of the bottleneck indeed. Not ESB to my mind (I'm thinking of the Fuller's drink here), but that matters very little. A good, strong bitter aftertaste. My immediate thoughts were a top Kernel but darker in colour. (That ought to be a pretty accurate comparison to give you the idea of how it tasted.) Good head plus lacing. If I had to find one fault it'd be that it seemed to lose some it's admirable body as it warmed, but otherwise, simply a fabulous beer from a brewery that do it very right.

Boatrocker, Hop Bomb

2nd in a triplet of Australian beer write-ups, c/o Kon. Beginning to think that the Ozzies aren't the most creative when it come to naming beers. I reckon Sly Fox has been done a few times and I'm almost certain that 'Hop Bomb' has been used before...

Anyway, this beer is Melbourne brewery Boatrocker's IPA. Malty (cereal, bread etc) aromas off the bottleneck and maybe a bit of lemon. It was a drink of 2 halves. Mostly the first half was sweet, almost honeyed malts, then a big, big bitterness waded in. Nothing original here as such, but I liked it. Not dissimilar to a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale (on keg, not bottle) I think. My bro lives in Melbourne currently and gets to drink their stuff fresh on tap, bit jealous of that really.

Feral Brewing Co, Sly Fox

My little bro recently came back from Oz (after emigrating to Melbourne), accompanying his wife back for her PhD viva (she passed - Dr. Veldsman!) and to meet our new neice. He brought me back 3 little rippers in return for a Lord Smog Almighty. Cheers Kon!

I wonder how many ales/beers there are out there called Sly Fox? More than a few I reckon. I suspect that this one wouldn't stand out too much amongst them though. Brewed by Western Ausralia's Feral Brewing, this seems to be a golden ale (not listed on their website, which is odd), with a mild hop thing going on, a mild colour and a mild to almost non-existent aroma. Not much taste here, possibly some honey flavour (in the malts I suspect). Drinkable, but contrary to their slogan, ultimately a bit boaring I'm afraid. Sorry.