Wednesday, 30 March 2011

My Beer of the Month

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March has been a magic month for beer at monkey mansions. I've tasted some quality cask and bottles and picking out a stand out beer from each category has been no mean feat. The quality and range of beers that I've had has been superb, particularly those beers that formed part of The Three Judges Mild, Stout and Porter Festival.


There were some stunning examples of each style on show and during the past couple of weeks I've paid more than a few visits to the 'Judges to indulge myself in some serious research of some beautiful beer. The best beer from cask I've had this month is a tight one to choose. The pint of Summer Wine Brewery's Apache I had in the Bow Bar in Edinburgh had a powerfully punchy and delightful hop profile which went down a treat. Bank Top's Port O Call was another beautifully made and superbly conditioned beer and the Big City Jamaica Stout (which is part of Wetherspoons' latest beer fest) is a great example of a lovely beer being made by a surrogate brewery that ticked all the right boxes.


However, the pint which I kept wanting more of was Summer Wine Brewery's Resistance Mild. It was a terrific example of a tasty and satisfying Mild. It had some chocolate, fruity hops and some roast on the nose and was followed through by subtle chocolate notes and traces of roast caramel in the mouth. It finished fairly dry with a lingering bitterness. Summer Wine Brewery is a brewery that I'm seeing more and more of when I'm out and I've been impressed by the punchy flavours and tastes of their beers. They clearly are on a roll at the moment and if you catch sight of one of their beers, give it a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed.



10 out of 10 for the 10


My bottled beer of the month was an easy choice. It is Danish brewers Mikkeller and their beer 10. I was simply blown away from the first mouthfull to the last drop. It takes it's name from the 10 hops that are used in the making of this beer and each of them have already appeared in Mikkellers range of single hopped beer. There are Warrior, Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, Chinook, Amarillo, Nelson Sauvin, Nugget, Tomahawk and East Kent Golding hops in this beer along with three different malts (Pilsner, Cara-Crystal and Munich). With so many flavoursome and full bodied hops in the mix, this could have easily turned into a hop bomb mess but Mikkeller's skill shines through and this is quite simply, an absolute stonker of a beer. It's big, bold but beautifully balanced and destined for inclusion in my 'best of' list at the end of the year. If you haven't tried it, do what you can to get your hands and mouth on it. It really is that good.




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4 comments:

  1. By the Gods!

    The 10 sounds pretty damn special.

    Does this mean that upping the hops to extreme degrees will always somehow end in a good beer, in the same way that a mix of all colours will always make brown?

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  2. Mikkeller 10 is incredible - had it at BrewDog Edinburgh (which is where I guess you got to sample it). Reminded me of chewing a Fruit Salad penny chew - just awesome fruit and great balance.

    Sorry we missed you last week - head through again and we'll make sure we can come out and share some more good stuff...!

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  3. It sounds like you've been having fun mate, I've been following your regular tweets & updates with the upmost jealousy ;)

    I haven't tried any of the SWB ales as yet but hope to soon. I do though have a bottle of the Mikkeller 10 in the fridge as we speak so I may try that later. I tasted my first Mikkeller yesterday as it happens, the Green Gold. Lovely beer, I'll try & get a quick review uploaded tomorrow & tag a link to this too if that's ok?

    Hows that review coming along bud anyways?? ;)

    Cheers

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  4. @mrhearty

    the 10 really is rather special. it is a lovely, lovely beer.

    @richard

    Was through last sat. was thru with mrs monkey and had a great day out. expect a blog about it soon. will take you up on that offer. :-)

    @phil-beersay

    I do not bad in the getting out and about. Get stuck into the 10. its lovely. As are the summer wine beers. Its all good.
    I'll get a review to you, once i come back from madrid. I'm off to see the mighty spurs beat real. I hope/I wish. ;-)

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