Skip to main content

NOVELTY BEER - What is the point?


The other day I had a long chat with a late 50’s, huge CAMRA supporter who, rather tragically, is one who has not embraced anything brewed since 1987. I didn’t shout or judge, I was just interested in his opinions to see if we shared any common thoughts. On the whole, we did not.

But one eminence did strike a chord with me and has led me to this post. Whilst discussing a decent pint of Hook Norton’s Old Hooky, a beer he professed to have first drank in 1978, he made the following statement, “Hook Norton has made a small number of beers consistently well for over 40 years. These new breweries are too prolific and don’t focus on maintaining a stellar range.” It got me thinking about some of the experimental “one-off” beers I’ve had recently, the new breweries I like that seem to have a new beer out every day and the fact that all beer lovers seem to have had a disappointing pint of Punk IPA at some point in the last 6 months.

Which leads me on to a taste test with a range of, what may only be described as “Novelty” beers, brewed by some of my favourite breweries to see if they do hold any particular relevance or sustainability.

(For several reasons, like location, I didn’t have any photos so have accompanied this with pictures I do not own)

Beer number one was By Zeus from Arbor Ales, this is part of their Freestyle Fridays range. 400 IBUs it says and one of my favourite beer names and labels of all time - this beer has much to live up to. It's a slightly hazy blonde colour, with lovely aromas; sweet sesame seed and honey, with a hint of lemon. Certainly comparable to a big double IPA at first. The taste is bitter (DUH!!!). A big citrussy hoppiness keeps trying to hit you but then those bitters steal it from your tongue. With each mouthful it’s like an attempted prison break by citrus hops being quickly overpowered by bitter malts. When they do break out they're pleasant, but just how much do I enjoy the bitter hit? Maybe a beer to experience and most probably enjoy once, but not rush to a second time

Next was the Mikkeller 10, which poured a massive head, big haze and lovely amber colour. The aroma is hops. Did they mention that there are 10 hops in this beer? Well this beer smells of hops so I’m assuming that is the case. There's also a background of hops with a little hint of hops. So what does it taste of? Well, surprisingly, it's a little malty. There's quite a balanced quality to it I was not expecting, quite a hit of alcohol that you don't anticipate and a fizzy carbonation. But aside from that it's a decent beer in the new world IPA style. Unfortunately, I reckon a beer of similar quality could be created with one or two hops. In fact I know it can, it's been done many a time. This IS a novelty act.

Finally, came the Kernel India Pale Ale Black V, again, part of a range they’ve been working through. It pours a muddy brown and is completely hazy and sediment ridden despite being settled for hours (wish I’d managed a picture.) I’m not sure what I've done wrong. It has a deep hoppy floral aroma with a big mix of sweet toffee and tulips. The taste is a little mixed. Black Jacks come through initially, followed quickly by little carbonated air bubbles, subsiding for a malt characteristic and then a long hop finish. It's a mixed bag. So we can assume it’s unbalanced and it is. If you sold this to me as a new brewer I would be intrigued and excited, but someone like The Kernel knows better than this. At this point I’m left contemplating why I spent my money on a pointless, uncared for experimentation when I could have had one of their “proper” beers.

I hate to be a killjoy but the experimentation and inexhaustible number of brews has gone a tad far recently and does need reigning in. Series such as Brewdog’s Abstrakt were all well and good, and a novelty at first, but if the core range is suffering then its not worth it to me. The fact that I know I’ve had bad Punk IPA recently is testimony that it is a beer I will happily go back to. And isn’t brewing a business after all? Don’t they need us to go back for more?

Comments

Tandleman said…
Quite a lot to think about there. Good post.
Mark Johnson said…
I try to keep it short and snappy but always fail. Cheers
Real Ale Online said…
You have shared a great information about Novelty Ales and Real Ale By Mail Order.Which are very informative for us. Thanks

Popular posts from this blog

"They Had Their Issues, So..."

      There’s a set of garages to rent as storage units near my workplace. One of them is taken by a local florist that uses it to store flower arrangements for various events, that are more often than not funerals.   As such, at least once a week at 8am I will pass a car being loaded up with flowers arranged into heart shaped patterns or the letters M U M. It is a grounding reminder that, as I mentally grumble my way through the upcoming arbitrary grievances of my ordinary working day, a group of family and friends locally is going through the hardest time. It provides much needed perspective on days when I could do with being reminded of all that I have to be thankful for.   These little moments explain to me why it is possible for us to share a communal loss when a celebrity passes away. Grief is often a personal and lonely experience, shared between a minority of people in your life. When a co-worker loses a relative or friend, it has little affect on me, bar signing of

LIVERPOOL - the City that Craft Beer Forgot Part II (and found...)

After visiting Liverpool, one of my favourite cities, in February this year, and not impressing people with my rather hasty but honest verdict on the city’s lack of craft beer, I jumped at the chance to return last week and hoped to come out with a more attractive judgement. A couple of friends and I visited on a day out, with neither of them having been drinking in the city before. It was left to me – or rather, I volunteered – to plan the day’s itinerary and places to visit. I had a couple of new or unvisited places in mind myself, but knew it would be unfair to miss out on some of the city’s famous gems. With around 10-12 hours in which to fit in an entire city, I opted to concentrate on the famous Georgian Quarter and see if we had time for the Dale Street end later on.    We planned to arrive in the city for around 11a.m. just in time to walk up Mount Pleasant to the new-on-me, though I believe it has been opened three years, Clove Hitch on Hope Street for breakfast.

Ten Reasons Why I Hate Brewdog

There was a time when I thought beer was subjective, when I believed it was there to be interpreted and commented on from a personal perspective. I used to form my own opinions about beer, pubs and breweries and sometimes I’d even write them in this little blog. Brewdog were no exception; I was happy to praise them when they did right and criticise when I felt they were wrong. Of course I now have seen that I was wrong to do this. You see, it’s not about opinions or personal preferences; it’s about following the crowd, doing what’s cool and avoiding controversy. At present it’s not cool to like Brewdog. Despite the fact that I still really enjoy their beers and bars, people keep telling me why I should hate them. You probably already do, as you are well “in” on what’s hot and what’s not. I wasn’t aware of this, the e-mail never landed in my inbox, but not wanting to fall out of the loop I’ve presented a list of reasons why we should all hate Brewdog so I can fit in with this g