Meantime, India Pale Ale

This Meantime India Pale Ale is quite deliberately (I assume) not an "IPA" - it's definitely an "India Pale Ale" in the non-west coast sense. Savage cold prohibited proper discernment of the nose on this. Very bitter indeed, fat hoppy/grassy flavour, abv noticeable ever so slightly on alternating sips. Bog standard pasta and tomato sauce on the palette (I tend to drink my beers after dinner rather than with). I really did enjoy drinking the whole 750ml to myself, but I couldn't bring myself to say that this stood out for me. It wasn't bad at all, quite the opposite in fact, just not memorable. Mitigatingly, this bottle had been on my shelf for ages so had probably lost a bit over that time. The measurements on the side were in fluid ounces and it had that container deposit info on the back so I'm guessing this bottle was destined for the States. For some reason, it ended up on the shelf in Waitrose where I picked it up for a discounted price (another fact to suggest it wasn't so fresh even before I bought it) of well under a fiver. There was a black and grainy sediment in this that I'm not familiar with in beer.

Remorseless, Red Willow Brewery

I'm not sure, but I think I found a hop leaf on my first sip of this Red Willow Remorseless - is that possible? Not a sherbet/citrus hit on the nose, more grassy and foresty ("UK IPA"?). Decent, thick head and very hoppy. Crisp, refreshing and I couldn't taste the abv. Palette = beetroot + goat's cheese salad (!) with a strong vinaigrette. I want to try their Ageless next.

Moor, Empire Strikes Back

Without wanting to labour any point about 'types' of beer, I think it's reasonably important to mention the different types of IPA. (Genre definitions are the bane of electronic music aficionado's lives, and I suspect that they're a point of issue for beer geeks too.) Anyway, Much like the Sainsburys TTD IPA, the Empire Strikes Back from Moor is a UK IPA, brewed to deliberately (I imagine) stand apart taste-wise from the US varieties. No tropicality, only a faint and delicate nose, extremely pale and massively hoppy. (Actually, what this UK IPA does share with it's US sisters is it's extreme hoppiness.) There was a touch of fruit coming through in the aftertaste (alongside the longlasting big bitterness stinging my gums) but the major flavour was that earthy/grassy one from that Joker hop they use. As with all Moor beers, this is unfined (which again I understand has come to be a talking point for beer lovers: Mark Dredge via Matt Curtis) - for me this is important and a selling point for good beer. The Moor advocation of unfined beer is here. I love the Moor branding btw, it really stands out.

Ps - Yesterday was a Moor day: 1 x pint of Sloe Walker, 1 x 0.5 pint of Dark Alliance (many thanks to the discerning manager of my excellent local Westow House) and then my bomber of Empire. Spoilt rotten with excellent beer!