by Lee Williams | Jan 9, 2015 | Lock Box: January 2015
| 4.4% ABV. | American Pale Ale | Newport, Wales | 330ml bottle | A bright, fresh and juicy American style pale ale brewed by one of the most exciting and awarding winning new breweries in Wales. Tiny Rebel have done more to put Wales on the wider U.K. good beer map than any other brewery in recent years. Their core range of no nonsense American style pales, IPAs and stouts have won many dedicated fans beyond their local catchment areas of Newport and Cardiff. The Newport based brewery is the brainchild former homebrewers Bradley Cummings and Gazz Williams. In 2012 they finally realised their ambition of opening a modern and forward thinking Welsh craft brewery and Tiny Rebel was born. Since then the brewery has gone from strength to strength, racking up some significant silverware in the process. Especially winning is their bright and vibrant American styled pale ale F.U.B.A.R. And, it’s that beer it just so happens that we have chosen to showcase in this month’s Lock Box. Recipient of back to back 2013 (Silver) and 2014 (Gold) Great Welsh Beer Festival awards, F.U.B.A.R. is without a doubt one of the best beers being brewed in Wales today. F.U.B.A.R. is an archetypal modern American pale, blending some of the best characteristics of both East Coast and West Coast pale styles. Representing the East are bitter herb and pine evoking flavours, and just a touch of residual malt sweetness. Representing the West are bright yellow and orange citrus notes and a lovely balancing dryness. The beer actually has a lot in common with the newly styled and very popular...
by Lee Williams | Jan 9, 2015 | Lock Box: January 2015
| 5.1% ABV. | American Brown Ale | Hackney, London, England | 330ml bottle | A delightful toffee and nut evoking brown ale that is a shining reminder that brown ales can be absolutely delicious when brewed with care and passion. Brown ales are roughly categorisable into three sub-styles, Southern English Brown Ale, Northern English Brown Ale and American Brown Ale. The esteemed BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) quantifies the three flavours of brown ale as follows: – Southern English Brown Ale: “A luscious, malt-oriented brown ale, with a caramel, dark fruit complexity of malt flavor. May seem somewhat like a smaller version of a sweet stout or a sweet version of a dark mild.” ABV. (alchohol by volume) typically 2.8 – 4.1% – Northern English Brown Ale: “Drier and more hop-oriented that southern English brown ale, with a nutty character rather than caramel.” ABV. typically 4.2 – 5.4% – American Brown Ale: “Can be considered a bigger, maltier, hoppier interpretation of Northern English brown ale or a hoppier, less malty Brown Porter, often including the citrus-accented hop presence that is characteristic of American hop varieties.” ABV. typically 4.3 – 6.2% Pressure Drop Stokey Brown can be best described as an American style Brown Ale. It’s higher ABV. and it’s piney aroma and bitter hoppy bite definitely positions it comfortably alongside the best of the style being brewed in the U.S. today. Hackney based Pressure Drop have modelled many of their core and one-off beers on American style craft beers. It’s a modern approach that is driving much of the craft beer movement in the U.K. From their outstanding...
by Lee Williams | Jan 9, 2015 | Lock Box: January 2015
| 6.2% ABV. | Export Stout | Bristol, England | 330ml bottle | This rich, roasty and robust stout harks back to the tropical stouts of late 19th century. Loaded with juicy exotic fruit notes courtesy of an Australian hop variety called Topaz. Wiper and True are one of the most buzzed about and exciting craft breweries in the U.K. These Bristol based nomadic gypsy brewers developed their love affair with the art of brewing – as many do these days, while homebrewing small batches in their kitchen. Fascinated as much with traditional beer styles as new and experimental approaches to brewing, Wiper & True produces small batches at their new brewery in the St. Werburghs area of central Bristol, as well as travelling to make bigger batches at larger craft breweries across the South West of England and Wales. Choosing a beer to feature by Wiper & True is no small feat. In addition to an ever evolving line up of vibrant and juicy pale ales, ambers and IPAs, the chaps at W&T are just as likely to release a desserty vanilla milk stout as they are a pucker inducing Gose – a lactic bacteria soured German wheat based beer brewed with slightly salty water and coriander, and it’s pronounced “Gose-uh” in case you were wondering. There is a definite air of excitement and fun about the beers and approach that Wiper and True take to brewing, which isn’t that far removed from the approach of an excited homebrewer. The Wiper and True beer we have decided to give pride of place in our January Lock Box is a single hop...
by Lee Williams | Jan 9, 2015 | Lock Box: January 2015
| 4.5% ABV. | American Pale Ale | Finchampstead, Berkshire England | 330ml bottle | A spritzy and bright West Coast American style pale ale loaded with fresh grapefruit aroma. Smooth, with a tart fruity body and a dry finish. We can’t really discuss the outstanding Siren Undercurrent before talking a little bit about Cascade hops. Cascade hops were born in 1972 in Oregon, the product of a U.S. Government funded program to create new, interesting, and yes, profitable hop varieties. It’s safe to say that few involved with the creation of this yellow citrus fruit evoking new hop could have predicted it’s importance to the oncoming craft beer revolution, then still some years off. But, important it definitely proved to be. Few other single ingredients or single factors have done more to provide our 21st century juggernaut of a craft beer industry with such an appreciated and exciting identity. Cascade’s fresh and vibrant grapefruit character is the cornerstone around which Sierra Nevada’s now iconic Pale Ale is constructed. The beer that more than any other inspired so many brewers and brewers to be up and down the West Coast of America to brew beers of a similar expressiveness, flavour and aroma. In many ways, Cascade is “West Coast pale ales”. This new and lively style of pale ale, dry and loaded with yellow citrus aroma, still inspires many new craft brewers around the world who look to the style when designing their core beer offerings. Siren Undercurrent is definitely an American style pale ale that draws heavy inspiration from Sierra’s granddaddy of the craft beer movement. Brewed with...
by Lee Williams | Jan 9, 2015 | Lock Box: January 2015
| 5.6% ABV. | American Stout | London, England | 330ml can | An extremely hoppy American style stout with huge licorice, black treacle and sappy pine needle notes. This is most definitely not your father’s stout. It’s loud, hopped to hell and bristles with bitter character. Beavertown are one of the most experimental, yet consistently delicious, of London’s many, many new craft breweries. The brewery started life in late 2011 in the kitchen of Duke’s Brew and Que, in De Beauvoir, Hackney, London. Beavertown have moved twice since those humble beginnings and now operate out of a much larger facility brewing 30 barrels of beer at a time. That much loved old brewkit, on which they mastered many of their early beers, hasn’t been forgotten though and still has pride of place in the new brewery where it’s used to brew their freestyle Alpha series beers. Beavertown are probably best known as we go into 2015 for Neck Oil and Gamma Ray, their flagship IPAs. Their striking branding and the fact that they’re one of the only craft breweries in the U.K. canning beer, has also gone some way to helping catch the attention and taste buds of many new customers. If you’re a founding Lock Box Member, you will know that we featured Neck Oil in our first shipment in December 2014. We’re long time fans of Beavertown at The Beer Vault. Holy Cowbell India Stout is Beavertown’s latest beer to make the jump to cans. It has appeared as an occasional bottle before, but is now primed and ready to reach a much wider drinkership. The beer’s beautiful...
by Lee Williams | Jan 9, 2015 | Lock Box: January 2015
| 7.4% ABV. | American IPA | London, England | 330ml bottle | Quite possibly the juiciest India pale ale brewed in the U.K. Loaded with orange, mango, papaya and sticky marmalade flavour and aroma. In other words, a right juicy banger! Redchurch Great Eastern India Pale Ale is what some of today’s British beer commentators refer to as, “a juicy banger”. What the heck is a juicy banger? I hear you ask. To answer that, we first need to talk a little bit about hops. Hops are the vital bittering botanical and preservative ingredient in beer. They vary as much in character – more so in fact, than wine grape varietals. A fact that continues to raise the eyebrows of many wine drinkers, and indeed, beer drinkers. Some hops are extremely herbal and are evocative of sage and pine, others effervesce yellow citrus and are overtly lemon and grapefruit, some are unctuous, sweet and tropical, and so on. All of the major hop growing countries of the world – England, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. have unique native and nationally bred hop varieties. Hop producers all over the world these days are rushing to cross breed and create new and interesting hop varieties for a booming craft beer industry ravenous for the next thing. It’s the U.S. hop varieties in particular that have driven the modern craft beer explosion. At the heart of many classic American craft beers and beer styles, are the so called ‘Big C’ hop varieties – Cascade, Centennial and Columbus, with an honourary fourth variety in Chinook. Between them these hops...
