The Lemon Fool

Hefeweizen. The ideal drink for hot weather.

But not one of my usual choices. This was Paulaner, bought when my more usual choices were an empty supermarket shelf. A first sip and the banana was rather too much, but after the palate had adjusted it was delicious. And seemed very light despite 5.5%.

OK, given the weather, how could any Weizenbier not be delicious? But I may buy this one again.

UncleEbenezer wrote:Hefeweizen. The ideal drink for hot weather.

But not one of my usual choices. This was Paulaner, bought when my more usual choices were an empty supermarket shelf. A first sip and the banana was rather too much, but after the palate had adjusted it was delicious. And seemed very light despite 5.5%.

OK, given the weather, how could any Weizenbier not be delicious? But I may buy this one again.

I find that some of the full fat liquid loaf wheat beers can be a bit heavy on a hot day

I do really enjoy that Paulaner Hefeweizen though (and their Kristall)
- round these parts it's often found in Aldi in 5L mini kegs that get reduced for sale because who buys 5L kegs of beer when doing the messages?
Awkward for size for the fridge - but brilliant if you leave it submerged in iced water over night

-sd

I'm partial to a chilled Radler - the Stiegl grapefruit one is nice

AleisterCrowley wrote:I'm partial to a chilled Radler - the Stiegl grapefruit one is nice

[Psssst... you know radler is shandy? ... though yes they can be refeshing on barmy-balmy hot days]

servodude wrote:I do really enjoy that Paulaner Hefeweizen though (and their Kristall)
- round these parts it's often found in Aldi in 5L mini kegs that get reduced for sale because who buys 5L kegs of beer when doing the messages?
Awkward for size for the fridge - but brilliant if you leave it submerged in iced water over night

-sd

Sounds like one to buy when you have several suitably-appreciative guests.

Back on the Franziskaner tonight. But yesterday - after quite a strenuous and hot afternoon - I revisited Moretti. A regular lager, but fantastic for hot weather. I acquired the taste gradually during my time in Italy, and yesterday it was exactly right for the moment. Would've been today too if I'd done anything much more strenuous than a couple of miles walk.

A couple of pints of Rogue 3 an English IPA from Kent brewery. Superb, as all their beers are and served in excellent condition and a robust 6% ABV.
On the way home picked up a few bottles of Fuller's 1845, currently on offer for £1-60 in Waitrose.

En Stoemelings, JAWA IPA. Cantina’s ale. 6.5%. Mmmmm.

Marston's Pedigree, Amber Ale. On spesh at Morrisons for just a quid.
Now when did we add Amber to that? I noticed a year or so ago that Hobgoblin is now called Hobgoblin Ruby Ale, and London Pride has that amber additional description too. I suppose it's to distinguish it from those trendy hoppy, Americanised IPAs. When I were a lad IPA was made by Greene King, a 3.5% session cask ale and wasn't massively hoppy and quite so pale..
SO drinks Brewdog, Camden Hells and we've had this chat about ales for a few years.

kempiejon wrote:When I were a lad IPA was made by Greene King, a 3.5% session cask ale and wasn't massively hoppy and quite so pale..

Thanks for saying that. I had been questioning my own memory.

I was never much of a consumer of IPA (I'd drink Abbot rather than Greene King when I was in their part of the country), but my recollection is of something on the weaker side. In sharp contrast to what retails as IPA today and tends to be on the (sometimes-gratuitously) stronger side.

UncleEbenezer wrote:

kempiejon wrote:When I were a lad IPA was made by Greene King, a 3.5% session cask ale and wasn't massively hoppy and quite so pale..

Thanks for saying that. I had been questioning my own memory.

I was never much of a consumer of IPA (I'd drink Abbot rather than Greene King when I was in their part of the country), but my recollection is of something on the weaker side. In sharp contrast to what retails as IPA today and tends to be on the (sometimes-gratuitously) stronger side.

Yup.
It were a heavy hopped ale to survive the trip in a boat (I'd say Deuchars would be the archetype from whence I was raised)
Since then... Americans started to use it for things they used a lot of hops in (understandably) and it's become a bit different

kempiejon wrote:Marston's Pedigree, Amber Ale. On spesh at Morrisons for just a quid.
Now when did we add Amber to that? I noticed a year or so ago that Hobgoblin is now called Hobgoblin Ruby Ale, and London Pride has that amber additional description too. I suppose it's to distinguish it from those trendy hoppy, Americanised IPAs.

No, it started when brewers started doing brand extensions to cash in on the trend for pale/gold beers, so you got eg Spitfire Golden Ale, which meant that they needed to come up with something to distinguish the original from the new one. Hence Amber. It's also been jumped on because "bitter" is perceived as a bad thing by consumers. See eg here :
https://www.beerguild.co.uk/news/introd ... -spitfire/

kempiejon wrote:When I were a lad IPA was made by Greene King, a 3.5% session cask ale and wasn't massively hoppy and quite so pale..
SO drinks Brewdog, Camden Hells and we've had this chat about ales for a few years.

Real IPAs, as in the pale ales that were sent to India, were around 1.055 OG (so a bit less than average for the time) and heavily hopped. There is an argument that Greene King is true to the type as if it had gone through the various rounds of ABV reduction during WWI etc, but it's not true to type as far as the original IPAs are concerned.

Yes, all the recollections of weaker IPAs, and the historical (and transportational) issues associated with beers like the Greene King brews, make sense to me. To me, Greene King will always be a session ale. Long summer afternoons at the Pike and Eel in Cambridge, just watching the rowing teams out there on the water. God's in his heaven, and all's right with the world.

But when I'm not doing that, I want a bigger ABV in my beer. I really don't get on with highly hopped beers, which often give me chronic indigestion, but I do like St Austell's Proper Job (fresh, not too citrussy) on a hot afternoon - or, for a fuller malty flavour, Butcombe's Goram (5%), which really needs to be at a room temperature.

Fullers' 1845 @ £1.60 is a steal, though. Must get some after Christmas. Yum.

BJ

Talking of IPA, yesterday evening I indulged in a bottle of one that's new to me. Meor, at 4.8% comfortably middling (though perhaps a little less - maybe 4.5 - would've been ideal), and a taste that's pleasant and easy but not bland. I think it was Tesco's shelves where I came upon it.

UncleEbenezer wrote:Talking of IPA, yesterday evening I indulged in a bottle of one that's new to me. Meor

That's a jolly nice tipple, brewed at a public lavatory in St Ives (really!). You can find out more here: https://stives-brewery.co.uk/pages/stives-brewery-story . The opening shots show what I mean.

rabbit wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:Talking of IPA, yesterday evening I indulged in a bottle of one that's new to me. Meor

That's a jolly nice tipple, brewed at a public lavatory in St Ives.

I might be a bit out of date here. I believe they are moving to a somewhat less characterful, but larger, brewery in nearby Hayle.

rabbit wrote:

rabbit wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:Talking of IPA, yesterday evening I indulged in a bottle of one that's new to me. Meor

That's a jolly nice tipple, brewed at a public lavatory in St Ives.

I might be a bit out of date here. I believe they are moving to a somewhat less characterful, but larger, brewery in nearby Hayle.

Yep, we have some great breweries here in the southwest[1]. And they come and go: I lament the demise of Skinners, particularly Betty Stogs. It was only a few months back I was buying some at Morrisons, and the checkout lady particularly approved: she was a Skinner and from Cornwall, though denied being of the brewery family itself.

And what happened to Wooden Hand? A whole range of deliciousness a few years back

[1] Yeah, I know, so do most other areas of Blighty.

bungeejumper wrote:Fullers' 1845 @ £1.60 is a steal, though. Must get some after Christmas. Yum. BJ

Totally, a veritable bargain at that price!

Thornbridge Tapit.

My first experience of this, I thought the orange may be overpowering but it is very subtle. A stunning beer if you like the dark side...

Dark and delicious and probably dangerous

I went off Thornbridge when they went from sensible bottles to tiny weeny Bud-sized 330ml jobbies
I haven't seen any recently anyway. Used to be a good range in the Windsor Waitrose but I've not seen any in the Newbury/Caversham branches

I think Jaipur appeared in the Fox & Hounds last year..

[edit]
But....
https://thornbridgebrewery.co.uk/collec ... ml-bottles

Currently Wychwood's Hobgoblin IPA; decided that my previous favourite - Oakham's Citra - was a tad too bitter.

And rather enjoyed some Hobson's Old Henry. Since they brew in Cleobury Mortimer, I am waiting for a (Xmas special?) Old William in memory of William Langland, author of Piers Plowman, who came from there.