Erdinger Weisbier Dunkel - Nescafe anyone?

Not that I've had many, but wheat beer and especially darker ones appeal to me. I spotted this in the supermarket so I decided that it should be a good one. Or at least that's what I thought.

This turned out to be quite mild tasting. An unassuming dunkel if there is such a thing!

The best I can describe is that it tasted of a slightly burnt, watery, instant coffee. The fact that it went flat quickly added to the idea.

I guess if you were having a tasting night you could start with this one and work up from there. At least it wouldn't turn you off the style.

The Verdict

A bit mild and uninspiring for me.

Erdinger Weisbeer Dunkel - 50cl - 5.6% alcohol - Germany

O'Hara's Irish Red Ale & a Tangent

Carlow Brewing Company are situated just a few minutes from where I live. Indeed, they are sited right beside my old secondary school in the old goods store by the train station.

In a previous existence I have used them for corporate events where we needed to demonstrate some of the delights of Carlow to visitors. We would hire equipment and get a few kegs from them and dished out their offerings to people from all over the world on one occasion. It always went down well.

Therefore I'm a bit biased as to their beer. I have only reviewed one of their beers here, their Celebration Stout, so biased or not I decided I'd better make amends.

O'Hara's Red, which was called Molings but was renamed a little while ago, poured a nice dark red colour with a big fizzy head that dissipated quickly. It had an acrid but not unpleasant smell, if that's not a contradiction.

Taste wise it has a burnt caramel flavour and a bitter hop taste with very little fragrance of anything else. Having said that it doesn't really need a whole lot else, it's not he most complex of beers. The only negative comment I could make is that perhaps it's a little watery? The taste, I guess, either suits your palate or it doesn't.

Yes, I know that I'm stating the obvious but the more I drink the more I appreciate that beer that suits me might not suit others. I have gotten really wary of suggesting beers to people unless I know their general taste. Even then I would only make general suggestions.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this blog is about my tastes. I write it for myself and although I am more than delighted when people read or comment, don't take my word for things. Try them yourselves. (As I know ye do!)

Sorry. I've diverted from the plot!

The Verdict

A nice bitter red ale. Buy it, Carlow needs the money! (I'm not biased. No really!)

O'Haras Irish Red Ale - 50cl - 4.3% alcohol - Ireland

Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger - I Finally Got The Finger Out

 This was on special for two for €5 in Tesco so I grabbed it with Spitfire with my weekly shopping. I had put off trying this for no good reason really except, I guess, that it was everywhere I looked so I always tended to look for something different.

I was heading to a party that night so I brought it along. Hence the picture.

I have to say that once again this is a Shephern Neame that just doesn't do it for me. I know that others find it above average but I found it only ok at best.

The taste was a bit like burnt biscuits with a bitter aftertaste. I got very little fruit taste from it despite the promise of Seville oranges on the label. It went flat rather quickly too.

The Verdict

I am sure they're are many who this appeals to but it's not to my taste anyway. I can only hope the Spitfire is better.

Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger - 50cl - 5.4% alcohol - England

Hilden Irish Ale

This was supposed to be a review of Rodenbach Gran Cru but when I opened the bottle it smelled of vinegar and was as flat as..............something really flat.

So, I rooted in my 'cellar' and found a bottle of Hilden Ale that I had picked up at Septemberfest and after giving it a light chill cracked it open.

It had a nice colour and a nice fine carbonation which seemed very promising. It had a slight hoppy smell of nothing in particular that I could really pick out. Taste wise, well........

It's not that there was anything wrong with it as such it's just that it seemed a bit on the light side. A bit boring perhaps. It's still a lot better than most of the 'normal' ales available in pubs but it seemed to me that perhaps they had dumbed down the flavour to appeal to a wider audience. Compared to similar offerings from Carlow Brewing or Whitewater it didn't seem to stack up but I wonder would it appeal more to non beer enthusiasts? I might do a test if I ever pick up another bottle.

Can't really so much more on it to be honest.

The Verdict

Nothing really wrong with this beer. It just didn't blow me away. Not even a little puff!

Hilden Irish Ale - 50cl - 4.6% alcohol - Northern Ireland

Master Brew by Shepherd Neame - Fancy a cuppa?

My previous experience with Shepherd Neame brews didn't inspire me but I felt I should give them another shot. After all, they seem to have a decent pedigree, a good range of product and I have heard others speak highly of them.

Master Brew appealed to me as perhaps a nice hoppy beer. Perhaps it was the name playing with images of Kent and a brewer with a cloth cap dosing a brew with a summer ripened crop of hops. Wonderful.

The reality was different. A strange brew.

It looked good when poured but when I took a good sniff a got nothing. The taste took me by surprise, it reminded me of cold tea with a dash of lemon. I also tasted raisins and butterscotch  or burnt fudge. The light carbonation helped the flavours bounce around my mouth but as I say, very strange brew.

In one way it reminded me of a beer you would have with a dessert. Perhaps a fudge cake or apple and toffee crumble.

Nothing wrong with it really. I think.

The Verdict

I really can't make my mind up on this one. It was unlike anything I've had before.

Master Brew - 50cl - 4% alcohol - England

Delirium Tremens - The beer, not the condition.

My first taste of the Delirium brand was on my trip to Brussels where we ended up one night in the Delirium Cafe with it's 2,004 beers. We didn't try the Delirium beer there, I think it was the next day in another pub and I'm not sure who had it. It's a bit of a blur now and back then I didn't take notes.

So anyway, when a friend of mine got me a couple of bottles of it I eagerly anticipated giving it a shot on my home soil. This was a chance to remind myself of the trip and the good time we had, even if I didn't try DT there.

I cracked it open and poured it out. It seem to have a slightly viscous nature that meant it glooped into the glass. this could have been my imagination as it defies rational explanation!

The smell hit me as something peculiar. Slightly fruity but also, to my nose anyway, a slightly smokey Ranchero smell! Weird.! The taste was a fruity mix of citrus and banana with a bare hint of spiciness. It's somewhat sweet on first taste but after a few sipsI  got a slightly tart after taste. Maybe this was because of the high alcohol content?

This could also explain the tingle on the tongue too but I suspect that this has to do with the carbonation.

All of these features combine to make a fine and tasty beer and looking at the picture on the bottle reminded me of the cafe too! 

I must go back.

The Verdict.

A great little beer with plenty of flavour. Mind the alcohol content though!

Delerium Tremens - 33cl - 8.5% alcohol - Belgium

Budweiser Budvar Dark Lager

I found this lurking in my fridge where I had put it a few weeks ago. I think I left it in there one night and forgot about it due to the fact that I put some leftovers on top of it. What this says about my fridge hygiene and cleanliness is pretty obvious but there you go. Look on the bright side, you don't have to live with me.

Anyway, back to the beer. I had tried and enjoyed Budvar on draught before so this seemed like a good choice.

The colour was certainly intense, being a beautiful dark amber shade and the sweet, intense malt smell wafted through my nostrils just before I took a gulp. It was beautifully smooth with a rich coffee bean taste. Not espresso coffee beans, something more subtle and less severe. I got a slight nutty taste too and a slightly sweet after taste as it went down.

As I drank more the taste mellowed slightly, or maybe it was me, and it seemed to get sweeter. I found myself drinking it a bit quicker than I had anticipated and got to the end of the bottle way too quickly. Damn!

I was looking at the bottle and I spotted that it was 2 months out of date. Mind you, that didn't seem to affect anything about it. I thought it was a fine beer and one I could drink one or two of easily, maybe even three.....

Incidentally, it also gives the malts used on the ingredients list on the bottle. (Pale, Munich, Caramel, Roasted.)

The Verdict

This is a great beer for my palate. Plenty going on in taste and smell with a lovely smooth texture.

Budweiser Budvar Dark Lager - 50cl - 4.7% alcohol - Czech Republic