Out with the old...

Some American wheat beers do not measure up at all. The very worst of them seem to use the requisite measure of wheat that might be anticipated in the more traditional wheat beers found around Europe, but then neglect to use a suitable strain of yeast. Often a standard ale strain is used that contributes little to the flavour and leaves a beer with an insipid palate, lacking any of the usual wheat beer flavour. Speakeasy's White Lightning springs to mind in this category and Sierra Nevada's wheat beer was guilty of this to a degree, but it wasn't the worst of them by a long stretch. The brewers a Chico must have become a little self conscious about the poorer quality of their wheat beer when compared to the rest of their generally outstanding work because the SN standard wheat was replaced with a Kellerweis.

This one ticks most of the wheat beer boxes when it comes to aroma and flavour. It looks the part too, holding on to rich foam and pouring a hazy gold. Plenty of banana and cloves along with a pronounced phenolic note suggesting that a very flavoursome yeast was put to work. Initially the phenol was so strong it bordered on the sort of intensity I suffered in home brew that went bad. But this passes after a few sips leaving a more authentic Bavarian style wheat beer, a cut above most other American attempts.

I suppose the question has to be asked if American brewers actually want their wheat beers to taste like Bavarian clones. The lack of spicy character in most suggests that this was a deliberate attempt to make a beer style all of their own. This seems to be the case to me because experienced American brewers know exactly why Bavarian wheat beer tastes as it does; the yeast strain is key to it, yet many American brewers deliberately neglected to use these strains resulting in a beer with a very different, and for my money, far less satisfying flavour. Sierra Nevada saw fit to change the profile of their wheat beer. It is a change for the better, but it makes me wonder what was key to their decision. Sales I imagine, but perhaps the previous incarnation is just an unsustainable style of beer.

Ginger nut

I can't recall having a ginger ale before. Of course I've had the alcohol free version many times - it's a favourite of mine, especially Fentimans interpretation. (Their cola is pretty damn good too, and something of a curiosity to me because I find it tastes exactly like cola bottles, which is great, but I would never have considered cola bottles to be a very authentic cola containing foodstuff, but Fentimans cola is definitely more natural than other of the major producers, so perhaps the humble cola bottle deserves more respect).

Anyway, back to the alcoholic version. In Keystone Brewery Gold Spice the ginger is  vaguely present in the form of a mild, yet pleasant dry heat in the back of the throat. Even without the ginger this would be a dry beer; it has little residual body and an irrepressible stream of bubble sustaining frothy foam throughout. The bottled yeast were clearly hard at work during the conditioning of this beer. There is English hop character in there somewhere too, both aroma and a distinct bitterness, but the intense condition makes the carbon dioxide burn a little and a metallic note creeps in with it. The best part in the colour of the beer; it really lives up to its name, sporting a stunning golden hue with brilliant clarity.

This beer arrived with my last CAMRA beer club delivery, but disaster has struck. CAMRA recently outsourced the distribution and selection of their beer club to realale.com  - a company I recently visited in London and were very impressed with, however they claim to have had bad luck with deliveries to Ireland in the past, with missing boxes and broken bottles occurring all too regularly. One or two of my deliveries suffered this fate, so realale.com are struggling to find a more reliable courier firm. The problem is that most couriers want to charge a fortune for delivery to Ireland. The cost isn't much of a surprise -  the average box of goodies from CAMRA weighs in excess of  20 kilograms. So it looks likes no more deliveries for me in the near future until they broker a better deal. I must confess to being a little irritated.

Light surprise

It's always nice to see a new beer on the shelves, especially when it turn turns up in an unlikely place. I spotted Wolters Pilsener in my local Spar convenience store while wandering around on mundane domestic duties. The green bottle frightened me right off, as all victims of noxious light struck beers will no doubt understand. But on closer inspection of the stock I spied six packs of the beer, with the bottles huddled tightly inside, shielding themselves timidly from the skunk inducing light. I grabbed a pack and made off home.

It is very light for a traditional pilsner - only 4% abv and sadly this comes through in the palate. While the classic lager malt and slight DMS are present it has none of the malt fullness usually found in such beers and all flavour is rinsed from the mouth far too quickly.

Perhaps I am scrutinising this beer to closely. In different conditions, a long, cold draught of this stuff would hit the spot nicely and the low alcohol content might tempt you to try another. It sure beats most of the other light flavoured lagers that we all turn to on holiday in sunny climates, but knowledge of its country of origin sets you up for a fall. Perhaps it would make a good mystery beer.

Spanish concentrate

I can't say I've had much luck with Spanish beer. My recent trip to Barcelona introduced me to some interesting craft beer, but on the whole things aren't that inspiring when it comes to Iberian offerings. While snooping around the Playa del Ingles I stumbled upon the fancy part of their supermarket, a small section full of very expensive chocolate, pasta sauce, cold cuts and various other treats. In amongst all this was a very small beer selection, mainly consisting of strong lagers that no one in their right mind would drink while enduring Barcelona in August. I grabbed a few bottles and stashed them for consumption in a more suitable climate. Dublin in November fits the bill.

The heavy alcoholic nature of these beers suits a colder climate but alcohol is about all you get from them. Both taste damn near identical, with perhaps more sweetness from Legado de Yuste - likely stemming from the corn mentioned in the ingredients, and a slight cardboard note from Cerveza Especial, but there is little else going on. If I wanted to be cruel I'd say that these beers could be arrived at by taking a measure of the standard Spanish lager, be it Estrella or San Miguel and concentrating the solution through thermal means to produce a lager of just under double the average strength. As a result the beer would be more alcoholic, sweeter and fuller bodied, but that's about it.