Saturday 24 November 2007

All Hail To the Ale


Yesterday, I went to the 21st Aberdeen and North East Beer Festival, and met up with Dave and Richard from jogscotland and a bunch of Dave's work mates. It was a good laugh - the new venue at the home of AFC had some weird acoustics, but more space and better toilets than the old place.


That's Dave and Richard enjoying some beer - they were also good enough to make sure I got the right train home and got off at the right stop, although Dave almost succeeded in persuading me to stop for another pint after we got back to Stoney which would probably have led to a major hangover this morning. As it happened I didn't feel too bad, but did get a bit tired earlier this evening and tried to get a wee nap while watching the very enjoyable "Earth: The Power of the Planet" with the kids

Back to the beer, and here are my tasting notes:




























Williams Bros Ginger Kyte3.5% ABV
Very gingery and refreshing - like kids ginger beer but with alcohol. Dave thought the more beery less gingery Ginger Marble was better but he was wrong
Highland Dark Munro4.0% ABV
Nice dark beer from Orkney.
Brew DogParadox10.0% ABV
Very strong, brewed in whisky barrels giving it a fantastic flavour, which I am told varies depending on the whisky. Great flavour but wouldn't want to drink too much.
MarbleChocolate5.5% ABV
Nice - slightly chocolaty in flavour.
Orkney Northern Light4.0% ABV
Light and refreshing - not bad at all.

(I think I had something else as well, but I can't remember much about it. I blame the Paradox)

3 comments:

Jen said...

Brew Dog and Marble sound excellent! I love beer tastings. . . and . . . wine tastings. Basically, any tastings is pretty good.

Ian said...

Why is beer brewed in Whisky barrels always so strong? Nikki and I had a Whisky Barrel stout once that was about 13% abv. Tasted lovely, but you wouldn't want to drink a pint of it.

shanksi said...

jen: The Brew Dog and the Marble were both very nice. The Marine in Stoney often has beers from Brew Dog on tap which are consistently of a high standard. You really ought to visit.

ian: my hypothesis is that the beer has to be brewed strong so that its taste doesn't get completely overwhelmed by the whisky. I'm sure if you email the guys at Brew Dog they'd be delighted to discuss it with you.