Weird Beard, Saison 28

Drunk pretty fresh iirc. Murky amber pour, wood and booze on the nose. Taste was wood and booze at the front, then danky syrup hop, pepper saison yeasty into pretty long + dry finish. Strong dipper body. Spritzy carb wore off pretty quick. Really good, delcicious and morish beer. Hope it comes back.

Weird Beard, Double Perle

No frills impy from WB and all the better for it. Great balance, possibly on the sweet side, but never too much. Big coffee. I bought 2 of these and it would've been more had Manish not ran out (the swine).

Elusive, Lord Nelson

Brewed in collab with Weird Beard by Andy Parker who's just 'gone pro' in the brewing biz. I think it made an appearance as a Weird Beard brew prior to this release? The nose off this was absolutely knock out, it filled the room after taking the cap off. I don't have my notes for this but the memory of the aroma is unforgettable - big tropical aromas rather than grape/wineous. Taste followed irrc. One of the best UK saisons in recent memory. I bought 2 of these in the end from Mr Lawrence. I sincerely hope we see this beer again. Good luck with Elusive Andy!

Weird Beard, Saison 14

Batch 0162, 6% abv. Good saison character with ripe orange. Very good, very drinkable, nice to have it in a pint glass.

Weird Beard Co, Sadako

Love a wax seal me! Mushrooms and coffe on the nose, medium to high carbonation, taste is sweet, coffee, some roast. Cream soda? Minimal hop profile. Medium bitterness in the finish, some honey also. Ardbeg BA version waiting.

Weird Beard, Rye Smile

A genuine surpise - this beer was absolutely delicious. Vicky and I have shared 2 bottles of this so far and i sincerely hope I can track down some more. Lovely Gold Bears (very ripe clementine) and sherry aromas, viscous mouthfeel with good carb, sipping only. Some peppery spice, desert wine sweetness followed beautifully by symbiotic bitterness. Need more.

Weird Beard Co, Single Hop Series No. 4: Citra Pilsner

I wouldn't have picked this as a pilsner in a blind test, but a good beer from Weird Beard nonetheless. Cat wee nose, big citrus taste. Gentle lasting bitterness that turns into a pleasing dryness. Quite like these hoppy lagers/pilsners. (This bottle was drunk back in March.)

Weird Beard Co, Something Something Dark Side

This is more like it from Weird Beard! Sherbet nose (strong!) and a little touch of mushroom/meat. Taste was milk chocolate and a slither of honey (wouldn't have recognised that element had I not read the label blurb properly), with the hop flavour dominating: crisp, leafy and citrus sweet (but not overly fruity if that makes sense). Bitter-ish. Bet this is incredible from a keg. Not as impactful as the Victory (although I did have a bit of a cold tbf), but I will definitely be getting this again. It says on the bottle that you can cellar it so I might give that a go.

Weird Beard Co, Holy Hoppin' Hell Part 3

Stale hops with minimal citrus sniffed off the bottle neck. Taste is overwhelmingly solvet - nail varnish remover. (Excessive ethyl acetate as a by product of aggressive (too warm?) fermentation of the yeast? Have I got that right?) A chewy, grassy hop bitterness, which was great, but the chemically edge still lingered for most of this. The gentle caramelly malt profile came through as my glass warmed. The after-bitterness lingered but it wasn't that strong. Overall, a slightly disappointing instalment in the Holy Hoppin' DIPA series from Weird Beard.

Weird Beard Co, Holy Hoppin' Hell #1

My first experience of this line from Weird Beard was when I had the #2 version out of a plastic cup, courtesy of a tap takeover at the Look Mum No Hands pop up (part of last summer's Neighbourhood Festival at the South Bank). That one was a hefty 9.5% (iirc) which might possibly have been a bit to much, the alcohol being pretty obvious. The bottle photographed above was a take away from Beer Rebellion. It might not have been strictly speaking super-fresh, but was great nonetheless - Rio Riva, Lilt and pineapple flavours, a decent viscosity tempered with an appropriate level of carbonation.

It's not the drink, but who you're with: on another occasion, I shared a bottle of this with 2 friends (also at Beer Rebellion - basically a quadruple shot measure each?) one of whom is familiar with US style beer, the other a Belgian beer freak. The beer tasted better than I had experienced it before and my 2 esteemed colleagues loved it.

Weird Beard Co, Boring Brown Beer

Maxed out IBUs from Weird Beard on this one methinks - Chinook is primarily used as a bittering hop I understand? Not really my cup of tea I don't think. Pleased to get a chance to sample it though.

Weird Beard Co, Black Perle

I drank this in the evening after visiting the Look Mum No Hands pop up (Weird Beard tap takeover) on South Bank and drinking a couple of halves of strong, over-hopped IPAs, so probably wasn't best placed to appreciate the subtleness of this drink properly. Poor forethought on my account probably, as this was my first ever milk stout. Not much body (obv?) but a decent enough chocolate/coffee taste.

Weird Beard Co, Mariana Trench

First discovered on cask at the Westow House Beer Fest, I was impressed by the fresh and powerfully zesty nature of this beer for its low abv: a lot more impact than a traditional British pale ale - largely due, I suspect, to 'modern' (US style?) hopping techniques. In a bottle it was marginally less impressive, which is to be expected I suppose. However, still a great tasting session beer, that, in a 500ml bottle, represents great value for money. It was better after it warmed a little and had a long, satisfying bitter aftertaste.

Weird Beard Co, Five O'Clock Shadow

A 1967 Shelbey Mustang imported into West London. This WCIPA from the chaps at Weird Beard pours a dark copper and the dominant flavour is a thick and dank hop resin, like some overly ripe, sticky, brutal skunk hybrid delivered with a West Coast swagger. The strength of this drink is revealed when sucked against the gums, but otherwise, really quite refreshing for it's abv. My wife had quite a bit of this!

Weird Beard Co, Fade To Black

This'll be the first in a series of write-ups on the Weird Beard beers (their website not working too well on Chrome or Firefox, I think Safari works better). My notes went through a relatively threadbare stage for a while (laziness most probably) and all they say for this beer is "redchurch hoxton stout". Then they say "ooh - addendum: fruitiness by the halfway point." Clearly quite unhelpful. (There was rye in this too btw.) I suppose the upshot is that I've had better BIPAs. Which of course is not to say that this one was bad, rather that I've developed a preference for the Brodie's style BIPA: heavier on the fruit than the meat.