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k, I can’t see this anywhere else, so I’ll start the ball rolling this time.
I didn’t have any truly outstanding beers during the month, but there were a few worth mentioning, two of which were in one session in The Anchor, Birmingham.
Oakhams No Bully Dozer, a special to raise awareness of the plans to knock down the Brewery by the local council was a big hoppy dry bitter, a lovely beer.
On the same night I had Alehouses Balance and Poise, a darker, maltier bitter with a sweetish hoppy note.
At Coventry beer Fest I had South Hams Eddystone, a golden citrusy bitter with lemony hops.
But my beer of the month was a Mild, George Wright Roman Black Ale, rich and fruity northern type mild, Great stuff and incidentally on at Banbury Beer Festival this week.
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An intresting month for me, seemed to get a hell of a lot of beer in, and quite a few good ones at that. Quite a few suprises also, heres what stood out for me:
Duchy Originals Winter Ale (did i actually just say that?)
Stone Old Guardian
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot(we started getting this for £1:99 a bottle!!)
Stone Ruination IPA
The Stone brewers had joined us for the second day of the ultimate glasgow tasting and ha been nice enough to give me a few nice bottles, as you can see above. The american theme tied in again nicely with all the bigfoot i kept buying.
However just when i though id be all beered out for the month, Paisley started on the 30th, so i hit it pritty hard at the trade session and followed on for another 7 hours of solid rating/drinking. Stand outs were Mauldons Silver Adder, Crouch vale brewers gold + Amarillo, Scottish bar managed to be as predictable as the Bon Accord for beer range.
But something really hit me in the last few days of this month. I got Cantillon Gueuze in Blackies and there was Drie Fountainin oude gueuze at paisley and it made me realise just how much better lambic is than any other style of beer out there and how amazing these beers are!
So beer of the Month: Cantillon Gueuze
New beer of the month: Duchy Originals Winter Ale/Mauldons Silver Adder
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Maui Brewings Big Swell IPA and Coconut porter.
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It’s was a fairly standard April for me but with a few notable highlights. Coventry festival was pretty dull beer wise (except for what Glen has already mentioned) however the company was excellent as always but it was Chris O’s tasting session for Rene the Wolf that turned up most of the gems.
I may have been slightly biased but I enjoyed all of the Lagunitas Zappa beers, actually much more than I thought I was going to following the Lagunitas Brown Shugga we had in Glasgow the month before. Being a Zappa nut however the bottles were even more of a result and now have pride of place on the shelf above the door in our kitchen. I was also a little shocked at how good I thought the Southern Tier Choklat was. 100% freshly opened Cadbury’s drinking chocolate aroma :) it was great to finally get to try the fanbloodytastic Moor JJJ and the Russian River Beatification was close to a show stopper too.
One beer stood out head and shoulders though and that was the Harveys Trafalgar. So often when you lust after something for so long it doesn’t quite live up to your expectations. For once the Traf exceeded my own hype and was absolutely awesome. It’s actually a tie for my 2nd highest rated English beer along with the Stone Cali Double.
So, beer of the month for me is the Traf by a fairly considerable margin.
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Well... april was a loooong month! With nearly as many highlights as not...
Ratings-wise, the 3 Fonteinen Scharbeekse Kriek (4.6) wins out (so damn stunning)
But notable acknowledgements must go to:
Valley Brew Stockton Sour (Phils Wild Mild) (4.4 - so happy to try this!)
Old Chimneys Good King Henry Special Reserve (4.4)
Malheur Dark Brut (Noir) (4.3)
Kuhnhenn Tenacious Cassis (4.3)
Because of its rarity and surprisingly high quality, BOTM for me would be the Stockton Sour. The 3 Fonteinen was ’expected’ to be great 
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Oh april was the Month.
I had BElls Hopslam and Dogfish head 120. Both Superb beers in a style im not a huge fan of. The 120 was blow you head off stuff.
another stand out was the Devine Namyslow Plum. :-)
but the winner of the month, by far is a joint Winner more a brewery of the month, Was my visit to struise.
If i had to choose A winner, it would be the Struise Tsjeeses Reserva. Utterly fantastic, and to be the first outwith the brewery to try it. And to try it at the Farm was . Amazing.
But comming home with 60 Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva Oak Aged , is gotta be a big 
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I took part in a couple tasting in April though the list of 4+ beers for the month comes up surprisingly short.
Liefmans Kriekbier was an unexpected pleasure, a mild sour loaded with cherry goodness and autumn spices. Great stuff here.
Smuttynose Scotch stands as one of the only Scotch ales I’ve really enjoyed besides Alesmith. The palate was perfect, the malty flavors were rich without being fruity or metallic or phenolic as I find so many Scotchs.
Sam Adams Tripelbock I had for the 4th or so time, but finally rated it. I love that beer. Nuff said.
Back in January I had the pleasure of meeting the brewer for Hopfenstark, up in Montreal. He told me of an event going on in NYC in March that he’d be bringing his beers too, and told me if I got the word out about it he’d bring me some bottles (sweet!). One of the bottles he brought was his Saison 10, which I enjoyed with a few others towards the end of the month. One of the best saisons I’ve had. I’m often not crazy about sour in saisons (even though I’m a big sour-head), but this one did it perfectly. Reminiscent of a berliner weisse but with a Belgian twist, full of funky yeasty flavors and tons of lemon. A real winner.
There was a bar event I hadn’t planned on going to in mid-April, but a ratebeerian was coming to town so I showed up. It was Magic Hat. Yuck. Luckily I went though, as their brand new Mild was stellar. The first real mild I’ve had (though not on cask), this stuff was just perfect. Flavors had a good presence and the beer was super quaffable. Everything was balanced. This would be beer of the month if it wasn’t for:
Drie Fonteinen Kriek 1980s-ish. I’m not going to go into too much detail here as I wrote a long and detailed review of it, but lets just say this was likely the best thing I’ve ever drank. And anyone who claims the fruit in fruit lambic fades over time is nuts.
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Top Cask Ales:
Church End Ale Purist
Beartown Bruin’s Ruin
Bushys Manx Bitter
Top bottled beers:
Crombe Oud Kriekenbier
Brooklyn East India Pale Ale
Flying Dog Dogtoberfest
and my Beer of the Month:
Abbaye des Rocs Grand Cru
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Oakham Haka by miles - absolutely stunning and kicked the Sheps Stone IIPA’s arse all around the carpark!!! (I had them back to back).
Sometimes it’s not how many hops you use, but what you do with ’em...
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Well, April was a month of ups and downs. The first week ended in a haze of a mean cold, but the month ended with a nice five day pub crawl in London. Not that many new entries and none over 4.0.
But the winner, in the black corner, comes from ... eh ... Barnsley:
1) Acorn Old Moor Porter, very nice and stylish porter enjoyed cask conditioned a sunny Friday afternoon at the White horse in London.
2) Svarta Katten (swedish for Black Cat) from a small brewpub called Irish Pub in the northern swedish town Sundsvall. Very tasty stout enjoyed cask conditioned at Akkurat, Stockholm.
3) Anchor Porter, enjoyed draught at Akkurat.
Apart from that I enjoyed a couple of old friends, that probably where better than those beers: North Coast Old Stock Ale and Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter. Lovely stuff too.
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russian river redemption
goood stuff.
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