Sunday saw the 2nd Beer Blog authors “meet up”. The sun was shining and the beers were calling us, so off we headed to the first, and only stop, the Star in Middlesbrough, Recently refurbished and with a good reputations for well kept real ales and tasty food.
Dan was waiting outside with a pint in hand, he said it was Pale gold so I thought I would give it a go too, It turns out Pale Gold is brewed by Ossett Brewery (www.ossett-brewery.co.uk – some of who’s beers i have enjoyed before). I was a very light 3.8% Gold and hoppy bitter, It had a decent amount of flavour and was a good way to start the day.
Soon after Graeme and his better half turned up, so next up was a pint of GCB (Good cheer beer) who’s pumpclip had caught our eye as we all thought it was really simple and well designed (sorry about the poor pic)
Good Cheer Beer
It was another light golden session ale, coming in at 3.7%, it definitely punched above it’s weight and packed even more flavour than the Pale Gold. It seems it was brewed by Roosters/Outlaw brewing co which brew some excellent beers. It had a nice hoppy tang with a hint of citrus and malt, it was so good it was the only beer we had 2 of all day.
The 3rd beer we tried, really upset Dan it was that bland and boring, the only taste it had was a rather nasty aftertaste which i thought tasted of un-ripe carrots but the other guys thought i was mad. It turns out it was that bad all we can remember was it was called “Liberty†we don’t know who brewed it or where it was brewed but the pump clip was a bit like an orange sunburst.
We headed back to Dan’s place for a BBQ and with the intention of cracking open some bottles to review, we didn’t do much reviewing as we were distracted by the Xbox (at which I failed miserably).
It also gave me chance to try Dan’s new batch of home brew, which turned out to be pretty tasty despite it being a rescue job as it had apparently turned out really sweet.
Epic fail of the day goes to Dan (despite my poor performance on the Xbox) for trying to make eisbock from his homebrew, his attempts ended in a carrier bag full of broken glass and ice.
We did drink a fair few bottles but they will be reviewed separately once we have sampled them again.
Thanks to Dan for a cracking day and some great hospitality, the return leg will happen very soon.
Thanks for the sentements and you are welcome anytime. I accept the Eisbock fail of the day with the humility and quite dignity with which I am so unused to showing.
It was great to have a few too many beers with people who know good beer and who should know better. Thank you for a good bank holiday Sunday and all the best.