Review Posts

Double Enghien Brune

Double Enghein is produced by the awesomely named Brasserie de Silly. The brewery is actually in a small village called Silly (hence the name) and has been producing beers for over 150 years. Double Enghein Brune (8% ABV) was added to Silly's range in 1975 when it purchased the Tennstedt Decroes Brewery in the nearby ...

Kraaike Metteko

Kraaike beers come from a small brewery called Craywinckelhof, located in Lubbeek, east of Brussels. This is Kraaike Metteko, a 7.5% ABV seasonal beer from the darker end of their range. It's a black beer, with a deep, tan foamy head – helped by the fact that the beer positively exploded out of the bottle. ...

Leffe Christmas

Leffe is perhaps the best known Belgian brand in the UK, with their Blond and Brune, at least, being readily available in supermarkets. This is Leffe Christmas, a 6.6% ABV seasonal Kerstbier that I've not come across before. It's a dark, reddish amber beer with a decent fluffy off-white head on it. The nose is ...

Bourgogne des Flandres Brune

When I had a dozen Belgian beers arrive on my doorstep a few weeks ago, it was clear that Fate wanted my Beers of Christmas to have a Belgian theme this year. I'll start with a beer from Brewery Timmermans, who have been brewing in Itterbeek, just outside Brussels, for more than 300 years. This ...

Bettys Christmas Coffee

As it's now December, I can just about bring myself to start paying attention to all the Christmas themed products that appear earlier and earlier each year. I should probably confess at this point that in my mind, "Christmas coffee" comes in the form of a Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks – with the ...

Aberlour Twitter Tasting

The Whisky Wire are doing so well with their awesome Twitter Tastings, it seems they're spilling out of their traditional Wednesday evening slots so today is Whisky Monday instead. Aberlour is a Speyside distillery; both it and the village where it sits are named for the Lour, a spring which empties into the Spey right ...

Weird Beard Holy Hoppin' Hell (batch 6)

Weird Beard are part of the growing hoard of London brewers. It was founded by a couple of homebrewers who are pretty much living the dream that a lot of us have, of making our hobby into the day job. Their marketing spiel is a bit heavy in superlatives, Brewdog-style – and the promise ...

Grand Kirin

Japan is a country that embraces canned beer - the majority of beer in the high street, and even in specialist beer shops, is sold in cans. As a traveler, this is a Good Thing, because even though I'm a beer lover, I don't always travel with a bottle opener and there are ...

Union Roasted Rwanda Maraba

Union are London-based coffee roasters who have been around since 2001, and are now fairly readily available in supermarkets. Many of their coffees are sourced under their "Direct Trade" model, sourced directly from the farms and cooperatives – while this is more of a rule than an exception in premium coffee, it's nice to see ...

Ginga Kogen Beer Silver Bottle

Ginga Kogen is based in Sawauchi village, in the Iwate prefecture of Japan. The village is apparently a "special snowfall area", with some of the heaviest snowfalls in the whole country - so obviously (!) they make a German-style hefeweizen. This is their Silver Bottle, and I admit, the packaging sold it to me. ...