Pete Drinks

Name: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

ABV: 5.6

Bottled/ Draft: Bottled, bottle conditioned

Price: £1.29 from Aldi

Colour: Amber, a little clouded from the yeast

Head: Fine, lingering head

Mouthfeel: Rich, full body and flavour

Taste: Strongly bitter, with the kind of “strong” flavour that I normally associate with very strong beers.

Comment: America is not a country I automatically associate with good beer; largely because it’s dominated by big, bland brands that don’t really taste of anything but bubbles (I blame Prohibition).

However, small producers have been brewing interesting, real ale for some years now and it’s getting increasingly easy to get hold of in the UK (thanks to the rather esoteric buying habits of Aldi!)

This is quite a classic, well conditioned Pale Ale – heavy on the hops but with a surprisingly rich, full flavour behind it. The yeast from the bottle conditioning lends a little cloudiness, as well as a faint yeasty smell, but these are never bad things in my book – yeast is such an important aspect of beer (it is, after all, what makes it beer!) that I don’t think the more obvious presence detracts in the slightest.

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Name: Young’s Luxury Double Chocolate Stout

ABV: 5.2%

Bottled/ Draft: Bottled, not conditioned.

Colour: Pitch black

Head: Fine bubbles, lingering deep brown head

Mouthfeel: Fine bubbles remain in the mouth, giving an almost creamy texture.

Taste: Slight bitterness, but more from the deep roasted malt than hops.

Comment: In both taste and smell, this beer lives up to its name with both chocolate and deep, roasted malty “stoutness” clearly present. As well as the traditional chocolate malt, this beer actually contains real dark chocolate as well as chocolate essence.

The trouble is the chocolate overtones don’t really blend in with the beer and feel rather artificially added. I can see how Young’s have tried to make their stout stand out from other chocolate malt-heavy offering but it just doesn’t work for me.

An essentially nice stout, but spoiled by what feels more like a marketing gimmick than a useful addition.

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Name: Black Sheep Yorkshire Square Ale

ABV: 5.0

Bottled/ Draft: Bottled, not bottle conditioned.

Colour: Golden syrup

Head: Strong head; slightly over fizzed.

Mouthfeel: Nice, ‘beery’ body. Sorry, that’s the best description I can come up with!

Taste: Good bitterness which lingers; surprisingly light on the malt – from the look of it I had expected a deeper flavour.

Comment: I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the Black Sheep Brewery; founded in 1992 by one of the Theakston family it’s always produced tasty, easy drinking beers that I’ve been buying for just about as long as I’ve been drinking beer (although sadly almost always in bottles – it’s hard to find any Black Sheep on tap in the parts of the country I’ve lived in).

One of the features of their brewing is that they use Yorkshire Squares; traditional stone (and in this case, slate) brewing vessels which are square, rather than the more common round wooden or modern steel vats. Whether or not this makes as much of a difference to the beer, as some would tell you, is a matter of considerable debate – from experience of brewery tours, most brewers who don’t have them will tell you it doesn’t make nearly as much difference as the brewers who do!

This beer is named for these brewing vats, although it’s certainly not the only beer they produce in them.

As mentioned above, it’s a lighter tasting beer than I expected from the look (and the strength) but it’s tasty enough. It doesn’t, however, really hold a candle to their classic Black Sheep Ale.

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