Monster Beer Posts

Humpty Dumpty 15

Humpty Dumpty are a Norfolk brewery and I'm ashamed to say that's about the sum of my knowledge. I've not come across their beers making it all the way down here to London, although a quick glance at their Christmas beer pumpclips do make me wonder if I've seen them on Pump Clip Parade. (I'm ...

Fuller's Vintage 2005

A few months ago somebody on Twitter (I forget who, sorry!) pointed out that some of the prices in the Fuller's online shop for their vintage ales were... unusual. I can only assume that these prices are set by some automated process based on stock levels or something, because it's hard to believe that ...

Magic Rock Bearded Lady

Magic Rock are another one of those breweries that rarely disappoints. They are very 'craft', and the hysteria that sometimes surrounds some of their releases (I'm looking at you, Unhuman Cannonball) is a little daft, but it's hard to deny that they make some very, very tasty beers. Bearded Lady is a 10.5% ABV imperial ...

Pijl & Boog

Brouwerij de Molen is one of those breweries I find hard to resist when I see their simple black and white labels sat on the shelf. They're never subtle beers, and can be truly remarkable - which makes their often high price worth the gamble. The more observant among you may notice that I ...

Shepherd Neame Barley Wine

Quite a while ago the lovely folks at Shepherd Neame sent me a bottle of their Barley Wine. As they mentioned that it would probably age quite nicely, I stuck it in the back of the cupboard and forgot all about it. A quick search suggests that was back in summer 2014 - ...

London Brewing Samson's Riddle

I'm very lucky to have a fantastic brewery withing walking distance of my house, in the form of the London Brewing Company. I've been a fan of their beers for years, so when I started thinking about a Christmas Day beer I pretty much knew it would be a growler from them. Up ...

Moor Beer: Fusion, 2012 Vintage

It’s been a while since I dug into my Monster Beer fridge, and this seems to be the perfect choice to get back into the swing of things – an 8% ABV barrel-aged Old Ale, in an alarming generous 660ml bottle. Fusion is an Old Ale which is aged in barrels from the ...

Shepherd Neame 1215 Ale

Shepherd Neame is a brewery that loves history, so it's perhaps not surprising that they are celebrating the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta with a special beer. In preparation for the approaching anniversary, the Magna Carta has been talked about ad nauseam lately, although more in abstract that in any great detail - for ...

Summer Wine Kopikat Caol Ila

Talk about craft beer for long enough and eventually the awkward issue of cost rears its ugly head. Craft beer is, almost by definition, pricier than mainstream ('craftless'?) beer, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the components are undeniably more expensive; a 6% hop explosion clearly needs more raw ingredients than an insipid, 3.5% ...

Sambrook's No. 5 Barley Wine

Sambrook's released their No. 5 Barley Wine at last year's excellent (if slightly damp) Beer By The River and I loved it. It had that rich, sticky sweetness and warming alcohol of a good barley wine and yet managed to remain light and drinkable enough for me to declare it "the perfect session barley wine". I ...