Thistly Cross 'Whisky Cask' Cider ABV 6.9%

'Scottish Cider, pishhh' was the first reaction I had on seeing this cider. My second was 'but I don't really like cider'. I decided I wanted to try it, though. Having had a number of bottles of cask aged beers recently, I thought I may as well. And I wasn't disappointed. I still don't really like cider, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

Appearance-

The bottle neck emblazoned with a couple of thistles on a blue background, gives that Scottish feel. The cider itself is a pale, clear golden colour. Not very fizzy, just a light carbonation.

Nose-

I thought I could get a slightly smoky smell from this one. It could be from the wooden barrel it was aged in for 6 months. The dryness of this cider, I thought, is also evident from the smell.

Taste-

I did think it seemed medium dry (reinforced by it being written on their website) so not lip puckeringly dry, with a little sweetness. I found it to be quite a complex flavour, but not overly so. This was pleasant for me, as one of the things I don't like usually about cider is that it's a bit sweet...and that's it. You can definitely get a slight woody hit from it, and I found that I could tell there was whiskey involved somewhere in the mix.

Conclusion-

As with most people, when I think of cider I think of Somerset, Dorset or Kent. Sometimes Sweden these days, but not Scottish. As an 'unbeliever' of sorts this wasn't an ideal one for me to write about, and I'm not going to say I was changed to a cider lover by this experience. It was nice though, a bit different, and I do like different!

Black Isle-Black Run-Tomatin Sherry Butt Edition, ABV 8.4%

Proud as I am to say that I have tried two of the three in the Black Run, this is the first I've written about. That means I will be forced to try the other one again, oh such a hardship. I almost feel bad having another bottle of this fine run of beers though, as they are a limited edition. On this bottle it had written 'Bottle Number:796 of 1272'. I feel privileged somehow by that fact.

Appearance-

The labelling of these is quite clever, as it's very simple, and gives the feeling of a small producer, producing a fantastic little beer. The beer is great, and while Black Isle aren't exactly small, as micro-breweries go, they still have the feeling of one much smaller. The beer is very dark as a good stout should be, with that little hint of red when held up to a light. It has a very short lived brown coloured head.

Nose-

There is a good burnt smell from this one from the roasted malts. This goes nicely with the little hint of coffee you can also get.

Taste-

There is an amazing sweet character from it, which I can only assume comes from the sherry butt. This along the the deep coffee and molasses feeling makes it a delight to drink. There is a slight bitter finish to remind you that it is a beer, with hops, which is reassuring. It has a lovely creamy feeling to it. I like this about a good stout, especially an aged one, as with the sweetness it usually has, it makes it feel so much more indulgent.

Conclusion-

A fairly pricey number, at around about £6-7. If you bear in mind though that it's a limited run, it had to be aged and the sheer quality of it, it's definitely worth a punt. It's also organic, which I don't really go in for. I don't dislike organic things, but I don't go out of my way to get them. If you are that kind of person, though, then this might just be the brewery for you.

Siren Craft Brew-Liquid Mistress Red IPA, ABV 5.8%

While buying some beers for my sister's boyfriend, and some extras for myself over the Christmas break, the lady at my usual spot was totting up the price of my 5 beers. She then advised me that if I got another one, and if it cost around £3, then it would be basically free-because of some offer or other. I obviously jumped at this. Being taken by surprise by my good fortune, I panicked, pointed at this beer because it had a nice label, and cost around £3, and left. I thought later that I should have just got another really nice bottle, because I still would have got the discount. My regret didn't last long, it melted away as soon as I tasted the beer within.

Appearance-

As I said and you can see from the picture it's a gorgeous label. I've done a short internet search and couldn't come up with the artist. But it's nice. On pouring you get a deep ruby red, almost stout-like colour, just not quite as dark. It has a light brown head, not long lived and a bit bubbly, very ale like, but slightly longer-d'ya get me? Good.

Nose-

I thought it smelled like a nice Ale; hoppy and citrusey. It always reminds me of an old English pub, that smell. Not so much like an Irish pub, I always think of an Irish pub smelling like stale porter, most likely from the 'mother's milk' (from the movie Sweety Barrett) which collects under the taps, and is usually made primarily of Guinness. Whereas an English pub, I always think, smells of bitter, or ale-that hoppy smell, except a little stale, I suppose from spilled drink, and drip trays as well. There is also, always the unmistakable smell of humanity off a pub, and in years gone by of course smoke from cigarettes, pipes and/or cigars!

Taste-

Now, like I said, after drinking this lovely stuff my regret left me. It's not the most amazing, complex, breath-taking beer I've ever had, not by a long way. It was lovely though. Hoppy enough to convince me it was an ale. With a nice malty quality, that brings it a little towards the stout side of things. A nice grapefruit hit is the first impression it leaves on the tongue, quickly followed by a little malty burnt taste, and a little sweetness. The bottle says peach and raisins but I wasn't convinced on this score. I will consent to being a rank amateur, though, so don't be surprised if it actually tastes like peach soaked raisins when you taste it. 

Conclusion-

I really enjoyed this beer, and I will be trying the rest of the range. Keep an eye out for their special editions also, and let me know if you come across anything unusual from them. You may have noticed that I've added the ABV to the titles. I feel it adds a sense of completeness, and also stops me having to sneak it into the main body. Hope you like it.

De Proefbrouwerij-To Øl-Dangerously Close to Stupid

I can't figure out if the first or second name above is the brewery I think they are both involved, anyway, it's Danish! This refreshing imperial IPA with an ABV of 9.3% packs a punch in more than one way. It's highly alcoholic, so you feel quite light-headed after, and it's frankly silly amount of hops (mixture of Citra and Cenntennial-both of which provide a citrus/floral quality) packs quite a punch.

Appearance-

Very artsy fartsy label, the front is just a floral pattern, with the brand name really small on the top left hand corner. The back label has an ingredients list (very handy for a learner like me) and a little description which reads-'An imperial India Pale Ale with a close to stupid amount of hops'. On pouring we have a cloudy orange/amber colour, a white bubbly head which lasts surprisingly long, considering the large bubbles.

Nose-

There is a definite citrus and floral hit as soon as you stick your nose in. There is a slightly alcoholic smell also, as the other qualities aren't all

that strong.

Taste-

There is an amazing refreshing bitterness to this IPA. Which isn't surprising considering the two types of hops, and the amount of them in it, you can really tell. The citrus again comes out as a grapefruit kind of hit. The floral quality is almost perfume-like, which isn't at all as unpleasant as it sounds, going quite well with the bitterness. As with the smell there is a definite alcoholic after taste. To be honest this isn't all that bad as it's not too strong, having said that I've drank stronger beers with no alcoholic taste. It may be the clean, simple flavours that don't cover it up. It didn't stop me wanting more though. Great beer.

Conclusion-

Lovely beer, it was well worth the 4 odd pounds I paid for it. Can't really remember, I bought 'Brew Dog's Hoppy Christmas and a bottle of raspberry lemonade for Betty. That was lovely actually. Not too fizzy and no artificial crap in it. Noice! Peace.

Rack of Lamb with a Sticky Guinness Sauce, on Celeriac and Potato mash.

My first recipe, well my first time cooking something new, in a loooooong time. I was inspired by a recipe in one of Jamie Oliver's books, I made some changes though-I'm sorry but marmalade and lamb is just weird, and ketchup is a bit lazy. I also have a problem with raisins in savoury cooking, the idea appeals to me, and then I find one and I think eeeeeeeh no! This quantity fed two of us easily.

Ingredients-
some rapeseed/olive/whatever oil
1 450g rack of lamb (it had little hats on the tips of the bones-strictly optional.)
Sauce:
4 sprigs of rosemary
2 red onions
3 cloves of garlic
6 sun-dried tomatoes
2 tsp tomato puree
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp worcester sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp muscovado sugar
150ml of guinness (I used 'Foreign Extra' because of it's strong flavour)
1 pint of vegetable stock
Mash:
2 medium potatoes
celeriac-as much as potato
butter-as much as you like (a knob?)
a drop of milk

Method:

1. Chop the garlic and onion nice and fine and put them with a bit of oil into a nice big dish, big enough to comfortably contain your lamb. Fry slowly until the onions start to go a little brown, or caramelised, if you insist. 

2. Put in the rest of the sauce ingredients apart from the stock and rosemary and let it simmer gently on the hob.

3. I cut the lamb into cutlets so that I could get more browned sides, but I'd say you could get a good result from leaving it whole and browning the outside too. That's the next step either way, brown the meat. Make sure it's a nice deep brown. Then put the rosemary on the pan until it's a little crispy, but don't burn it.

4. Put the lamb, rosemary and any juices into the big sauce dish and add the stock. Then put the lid on and cook nice and slowly (I did this one on the hob, and it made for some nice blackened amazingness at the bottom of the pan, but if you are a bit afraid of burning, then an oven at 150°C will do the trick) for about 3 hours. YES 3 HOURS. It's so very worth it, you can just suck the meat off the cutlets after, as evidenced by my last picture.

5. With about 30 minutes cooking time left on the lamb, make the mash. Cut the celeriac and potato into smallish cubes and boil for 15-20 minutes (keep checking the celeriac as it takes a little longer). Mash with the butter and milk, as much of each as you like. I know you all know how to make mash, it's here more for completeness than anything.

This makes for an amazingly tender lamb, as I alluded to above you barely even need a knife and fork. The sauce is quite powerful, but it shouldn't over power the lamb, I thought it was a nice level with the amount of sauce on the picture, but I like a good glut of sauce. Hope you try it and enjoy it, and as always comments are appreciated. Well nice ones are ;)

This picture is to show how clean I got the bones, and plate, but don't take my word for it, I'm a glutton, try it yourself.

Beavertown Brewery-Stingy Jack Spiced Pumpkin Ale

I was very excited about this particular ale. I had seen it and another just like it at the usual place I buy my beers the week before, both were described as 'pumpkin ale'. I was advised, when I bought this one, that it was the least pumpkin-ey of the two, but the other was gone, so I went with it. I must say that I wasn't exactly disappointed by it, it's a lovely ale, it was just lacking a little...something.

Appearance-
A 330ml bottle is just about right for this ale. The label is a great piece of artwork-as you can see. It shows Stingy Jack himself and the devil. The story of this can be found on their website. The liquid itself is a medium dark amber ale, with the usual small head and clear quality. It seems to have very little carbonation, as I would expect (maybe wrongly) from an ale.

Nose-
There is a mild smell of ginger which is unmistakable. Otherwise all I can say about it is that it smells warm, like a warm ale. It is very subtle, though, it's not a strong smelling beer by any means.


Taste-
A mild bitterness is the first hit, followed closely by a sweet ginger flavour. It's like those little ginger sweets covered in chocolate, but without the chocolate...you know what I mean. Then you get a warmth from the cinnamon, but no taste of it, I'm assuming that's where it's coming from because I read it as an ingredient on the bottle! No flies on me huh? It also mentions nutmeg, which you can kind of get as a very slight after-taste, but you do have to use your imagination. I sound a bit like a broken record with this one, but this complexity really covers up the 7.2% ABV, but I must say I was quite light headed after it, nothing can disguise that I'm afraid.

Conclusion-
As I said I was excited when I bought this bottle, as I was expecting a strong pumpkin flavour. I must say it was sadly lacking in this, but  it was still an absolutely great ale. Full of lovely extra flavours, and nicely drinkable. Very reasonable too at only about £3.00 for the bottle. Take that Noel, see I like cheaper beers too!