Dogging...

Yeah ok so I haven't been writing much recently... May is a busy one for me and I've been doing some partying which is lovely but means that I don't feel right motivated to write.

Ho hum - I'm not going to harp on about it, I'm just going to post some links instead to get the ball rolling again.

I8NY

This is the quarterly night I help run and DJ at, we play a big mix of genres and have a great time. Fear ye not beer lovers as I haven't written anything recently so I'm not neglecting you.

http://vimeo.com/7812379

The chaps dressed as penguins are the people behind some of the most interesting developments in UK beer brewing and marketing. They brew some pretty amazing stuff and are actually top guys to boot. It's easy to love what they do and easy to knock it, as many beer bloggers have done. James came over to do a tasting with us at the Cross Keys the other night which was top flight and one of the best we've done, due in no small measure to the utter enthusiasm and dedication of James and Brewdog... Oh and Tokyo* is a work of genius.

I'm currently eating a cheese and mayonnaise sandwich with tobasco, salt and pepper. This is also a work of genius, I'm washing it down with 2 day old Sam Smiths oatmeal stout. It's better than it sounds and still a bit fizzy...

xx

On the mend with Gadd's

WOW.

I haven't spent 4 days on my back with flu for ages... It was rubbish!

I'm on the mend now and it's time for some fortifying stout. As soon as I came down with the flu I was instantly urged to drink stout both by my boss Christian and a good friend Mike. Of course I'm aware of the power of stout but at that particular moment I was slightly more occupied with alternately shivering, sweating and contemplating my demise.

The 'elixir' case is made for so many alcoholic drinks and the health giving properties of stout are often trumpeted and often maligned.

Stouts were marketed as healthy due to properties ranging from a high iron content to their various different additives. Among these; lactose in milk stout and oysters in oyster stout, both of which of course have proven health benefits. Milk stout marketing hit the rocks with a government ban on the link between booze and milk - fair enough a suppose, you wouldn't want to give booze to the baby.

Some people don't dig booze, that will always be true. Some people want to impose their viewpoint on others lifestyles which is the reason why sober types rail against so called healthy alcoholic drinks.

I'm finding this Gadds' Black Pearl oyster stout particularly rejuvenating so prohibitionists can fuck right off.

I mentioned a little while back about tastes that take a while to acquire, well oysters was one for me but now I'm in to them I really appreciate that minerally, fresh-air-soft-saltiness. Gadds' stout has this in spades, combined with a winey richness on the nose and tongue and a full dark caramel, malt backbone. It has length of flavour with a slightly savoury penny bun mushroomy quality.

Altogether a great beer, and a real recovery star for me. Is it making me feel better? Yes. Is it improving my health. Who knows? Surely both are desirable but are they always necessary simultaneously?? HMMM?

Gadd's

Stout

Salem Smoked Oatmeal

This is lovely, brewed by a friend and colleague, I tried a few Salem beers recently and have been impressed. This is extremely small scale brewing but already there is real promise.

I've tried a California Style Beer and a Marzen. The Smoked Oatmeal - brewed for another friend's birthday no less. It's just come out of the larder, which I suspect is colder than the fridge at the mo so I've left the beer for a moment to open up and lose the chill. Dead good - there's something about mid strength stouts (5-7%) that's really working for me at the moment. I recently tried Coopers Best Extra Stout which was a revelation.

Salem's Stout is full of dried fruit initially on the nose but mellows and almost ages over a very short time to a deep treacle and burn caramel. The taste is complex with good body and a smooth texture - the result of the oats. Really, very tasty applewood character and nice smooth traditional malty/hoppy length... Well done Gordon mate.

Right I'm off for a quick Foghorn before bed... so to speak.

Get your stoats!!

Ahhh stout... it's probably my best friend, when all else fails a good stout works all year round. The optional additions to stout also rarely fail;

damson, oyster, port,

oats, lactose, coffee.

.

Yes... Full stop. As far as I'm concerned (at this very moment... unless proven otherwise) there is nothing else you worth adding to stout. Chocolate is the obvious one I suppose, but really, those utterly wonderful chocolate flavours in most cases are best obtained from the malt.

Every stout I've had with melty brown stuff added has been... Well... "shit". That's one of the things about beer, you can do a hell of a lot with the basic ingredients. Think about it for a minute, wine is made from grape juice, flavours may be added via barreling and blending different types of grape juice. The complexity and prestige of wine is well documented. Now look at beer you've usually got grain, water, yeast and hops... I'd say grain and hops in all their incarnations each have just as much complexity as grape juice... SO YOU"VE ALREADY GOT TWICE THE BLEEDING COMPLEXITY... There's no need to start filling it with fucking dairy milk...

Anyhow... Some additions work, not many but some, I've had some wonderful examples recently, Crown's collaboration with Zak Avery was one of the highlights of last year. A 'Double Damson' beer, the wonderfully named Django Reinhart (incidentally a name I chose for my last cat) was heady, deep and fruity with an inspired kick from Belgian yeast.

Other winners were Flying Dog's Gonzo Porter, Marble's Irish and Chocolate Stouts, Brooklyn Chocolate 08/09, De Dolle Stout plus HP's from Riverhead, Brown Cow and Elland AND a memorable espresso moment from Saints and Sinners - the delectable Insomniac!

So anyway that was supposed to be a review coz I got my laptop charger back so I'm... well... back. It got out of hand I admit.

Here's some drinking and writing.