Beer Bottles Revisited

There's a spot at the end of my road, at the beginning of Crystal Palace Park, which is loosely fenced off from the public. In it, there are shipping containers, park benches, Victorian iron railings, old bins, tires, pillars from the old gates and all manner of outlying city space detritus (leather chairs, playing cards, beer cans, footballs, washing machines etc). It's a wonderful space between spaces. I've been there a few times now over the past year to photograph beer bottles for this blog and I'm fascinated to revisit the site over time to see the previous entries untouched by human hands yet ravaged by the elements and overtaken by the undergrowth. Have a look at my other blog (here and http://reverendmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/crystal-palace-14th-march-2014-2.html) to see more images of this great space which probably won't last for too much longer once the Zhongrong Group gets started.

Pilsner Urquell, Torpedo, Fourpure, Gamma Ray - Cans

A slight mish-mash of photographs for this post - for completism's sake I really should have glass shots of the Fourpure IPA and Gamma Ray. Well, there is a previous entry in the blog for the Fourpure bottle here and everyone knows what Gamma Ray looks lke right? (Here's my older post on the Torpedo bottle.)

Anyway, this entry is a sort of addendum to my posts on Modus, Bengali and the Fourpure Session IPA. I'd been trying to track down a can of SN's Torpedo for a while (recalling a fridge full in Euston Tap ages ago when it was first brought over). Remember being relatively confident it'd taste better than the bottles, what with all the benefits that cans bring re: freshness. I was more or less proved right - the chewiness was more present and the body much more satisfying. Still a far cry from Modus in overt flavour terms for me though. That said, 500ml of 7.2% is a bit of fun on a week night.

What a difference a can makes to a Fourpure IPA though. My bottle was bad, the can was spot on. Very close to the Sixpoint indeed (a better drink all in I'd say). I understand Fourpure have quit the bottles and are focussing solely on cans (they're able to can far more per minute than they can bottle). I popped to the Brewery to get myself a six pack - the IPA, some sessions and a couple of the Pales (which for me were the weakest I think). Want to try the Amber and their Pils (not bothered by the Stout, sorry). Was told there will be a nitro stout available at some point.

Pilsner Urquell has just gone in to the lead on my Untappd stats, thanks in the first instance to ubiquitous Urquell upholder Mark Dredge and then to a hot summer. 'Chewy' is an adjective that I've been using alot re: canned beers, but seems to make a lot of sense. A friend was telling me how he eschews Urquell in favour of lighter lagers (a night on the 'heavy' Urquells once leading to a substantial hangover) which reinforces for me their quality, particularly at only 4.4%. £6/four pack from Majestic (a bloomin' steal). Fiending for the unfiltered version.

Beavertown cans. One thing Beavertown seem to do better than anyone else is hype. I'm ashamed I wasted so much time tracking down my BA Impy stouts when they turned out to be so expensive - I was totally swept away with the online fervour to get them that I really didn't realise (until afterwards) that spending £12 on 330ml of beer is certainly a false economy. I sincerely hope that they can lower the prices on their cans. I paid £2.50 for the can of Gamma Ray. It's certainly a good beer and obviously some of the (rightly) infulential beer blogging illuminaries revere it like some sort of craft beacon. However, for my part, I'd rather spend my £2.50 more frugally. Don't get me wrong: Black Betty is an all time great and that Blood Orange thing was incredible (regular Heavy Water was cool too). But from now on, with my very light pockets, I'm going to have to try and resist the siren call of their brilliant graphics and intense (yet inspired) branding. (What an arse that their first DIPA has just come out....!)

Summer Wine, Maelstrom

Non-hazy bottled IPAs aren't appealing to me anymore (über cheap versions from Tesco nonwithstanding), particularly when I pay close to a fiver for them. (Give me a Kernel, Weird Beard, Moor, Siren, Redchurch etc etc. Excessive yeast sediment used to upset me, but I've come to love it and that pepperines it brings.)

In fairness, I've had a Sabretooth and a Diablo on keg (Fox E8, also a pint of Diablo on cask at the Westow I think) and they were sublime, misty and cloudy tropical beasts. I suspect that draught Maelstrom is much in that vein. This bottle was ok, but i think my prejudices stopped me from enjoying it as fully as I might have. Pine and a thick bitterness, but a little thin for 9% and, without the haze, it felt as though there was something missing... For some reason, the word 'maelstrom' will forever remind me of Peter O'Toole falling into the Vortex in Supergirl.

Tesco Finest, American Double IPA (Brewdog Hardcore IPA)

9.2% of (Brewdog) IPA from Tesco for £1.99?? Yes please.