There has been a great influx of
American breweries to our shores over the past few years and we welcome them
with such esteem and excitement most of the time. Those that use Ratebeer or others similar often rush for the likes of Dogfish Head and Russian River with
schoolboy glee, knowing their rarity in our isles. The rest of us are just
happy to try something interesting and different and I, personally, don’t tend
to look at other’s subjective views until trying a beer for myself.
It was with this attitude and whim
that I first bought a beer from Clown Shoes Brewery of Ipswich, Massachusetts
called Hoppy Feet 1.5. I wrote about the experience in a favourable blog post
and quickly seeked out other brews that were available, though the choice was
sadly limited. When a larger range from this brewery became available towards
the end of last year, I couldn’t help but snap up as many different beers as
possible, especially after another positive encounter with their Supa Hero IPA.
Now Clown Shoes have secretly
become my favourite international brewery. But I hold the kind of regard for
them that you are tempted to keep to yourself rather than share with others,
knowing few in this country who seem to have tried them.
However, after tasting my four remaining bottles over the last month, I thought
I would selflessly share just so the rest of you in the UK, who might have
wondered or simply might not have known, can understand why I love Clown Shoes.
It’s true that we don’t drink
much “black ale” here, and any that is brewed is quickly distinguished as
either Black IPA or Porter. But there is definitely a distinction here. Big,
onyx and with a huge and delightful head, it is certainly comparable with a
Black IPA on the nose with a fruity honeyed scent. I brace myself for a Black
IPA. But this is a different beast altogether. It's a large piny, tangy, hoppy
heaven and yes there's the roasted malt afterthought. But it's all a lot
smoother. OK, the name and picture is making the idea of engine oil sliding
down my throat impossible not to picture, yet there's much more complexity here.
Struggling for comparisons, I want to name it, but it is an American Black Ale.
Black beer that is fresh and drinkable. Brilliant.
The fear with imported American
beers is always the hop freshness, but the Supa Hero IPA I tried, though
bottled some nine months previous to tasting, was still as fresh and beautiful
as intended. Muffin Top, bottled in 2011 may suffer slightly from a loss of hop
zest, though I have no comparison. This is barley wine to me from the
off. However, I love barley wine. This is caramel and cinder toffee with almost
sickly sweet sticky hops that cling to your teeth. It’s heavy stuff, with my
tongue licking half the beer away from my molars. Yes it is one to savour. It’s
a two hour long slurp in front of a film epic. It's a sharing platter over
Christmas dinner. It's the hardest day at the office when the rum just won't
cut it. But it’s barley wine. All that time has only made it into pure nectar
for me.
Originally packaged as “Smoked
Imperial Stout,” hence why I was so eager to try it, this is, quite simply,
beer. I don’t want to discuss it… It’s the greatest taste my mouth has had the
pleasure of experiencing. If you could put me in a brewery and provide my hands
with the necessary skill, they would craft this beer. I want a huge imperial stout with a sweet
hoppy background, dominated by smoky malts. And they’ve made it. I’m not going
to describe anymore to you. This beer was brewed for me.
There’s a blackcurrant juice tint
to this thin-headed black mass. The nose is dominated by chocolate flavourings
scarcely hiding a dark abyss backdrop of saccharine vanilla and salty molasses.
The taste is a momentous concoction of charred wood and dry cocoa, mixing with
a swimming pool of the more usual coffee, liquorice and lots and lots of
chocolate. The burn certainly says its hello to begin with, but once it's made its
entrance, settles into the corner to talk of counselling hops soothing those
aggressive malts. It's my idea of an Imperial Stout. Bottled in January 2012,
this has certainly had time to sit and age, but I want another to brave our
terrain for longer. It is momentous.
It is rather sickening that some
of these beers I fear I have tasted and reviewed for the last time, but I know
I will purchase them wherever they are available. Beer was crafted for man to
take pleasure from and Clown Shoes do it better than anyone I’ve come across.
It’s sad that only seven of their beers have been available to me in this
country, it’s enough to make me book a flight. I'm looking at the idea of a double brown stout, imperial amber ale, pecan pie porter, chocolate beer or even an English style ale with the same name as my favourite Pharoahe Monch song all in existence without me trying them and I am salivating. Please don’t buy their beers in
this country; it only limits their availability to me. But if you do get
chance, I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
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