To Øl, Final Frontier

DIPA from Danish geeks To Øl. Dark in colour with an insane head. Gloopy and thick.

To Øl, First Frontier

My cold had come back when drinking this, so my taste buds weren't working too well. West Coast IPA from To Øl. Quite fresh tasting (I assumed it would have been quite old), not as gloopy as the DIPA. Oozing pine sap taste, Warrior, Simcoe and Centennial hops, according to the label. Drank it back in December last year, bought it from Beers Of Europe.

Victory, Hop Devil IPA

Victory make alot of different beers! At first glance, there seems to be at least 4 types of +6% hoppy ales. Fair enough! Their flagship (I think) IPA pours very red, stinks of sticky and resinous pine sap. Very pungent up your nostrils and in your gob. A little sweetness on the edges which is ok. Little bit of spice (pepper perhaps) in there? Very full bodied and very bitter.

Sierra Nevada, Narwhal

I still feel a bit daft buying imported US bottled beers: overpriced, out-of-date and over here: you can get just as fabulous and, more importantly, pingingly fresh UK brewed beers for a lot cheaper (in the vast majority of cases). Stouts I think get away with it, but of course a lot of US stouts come with those big fat hop profiles so I'm still not 100% convinced that even the dark beers are at their best.

This Narwhal from West Coast titans Sierra Nevada was very good though. Hops, booze and coffee nose. Taste was (iirc) bittering hops up front, followed by some gentle raisins, along with that impy stout staple of the mushroom/meaty/soy thing. Big coffee hit - dark and bitter. Yum. Minor cocoa. High-ish carbonation. "A stout for IPA lovers" my notes say. My favourite SN beer by a mile (although I haven't had any of their cans yet).

Art Brew, Earth Roots Resin

I had the pleasure of briefly meeting and chatting with the John, brewer at Art Brew, in Manish's Good Taste just as he was making a delivery. I couldn't not walk out of the shop without a bottle of Art Brew really could I? (John and Becky from Art Brew are currently changing the shape of their brewery right now, so their website's down - their twitter account is the best source of info right now I think.)

Earth Roots Resin has been on my radar for a bit now, mainly because I really like the dub reference in the name (implicit or not)! John actually told me to let the bottle condition for a little while, but patience has never been my strong suit. Anyway, it was pretty flat. Nose of porridge and brown sugar, masses of (nicely poised) pine in the taste (largely due to the christmas tree which gets lobbed into the boil I understand!) and very clean all the way through. I've been fortunate enough to meet a few brewers now (largely whilst they're working rather than at MTB events) and without exception, they've all been super mellow, chatty and flatteringly congenial. Nice one fellas!