Grimbergen Blonde

Followin up on the Floris is the Grimbergen Blonde. This beer comes to me from Belgium and has a long history dating back to an abbey. It looks the part and I am eager to get a proper drink. It flavour starts well but it is ultimately a little lightweight. When I was looking for a bold satisfying drink this was a little wimpy. 3 out of 5.

Floris Kriek

Tuesday after work is beer time. First up the instantly regrettable Floris kriek, the cherry flavoured offering in the Floris range. It's just as awful as the rest, is there even any beer in it? I don't think so. 1 out of 5.

Nounnette

The final beer if the Sunday is the Nounette from l'Abbaye des Rocs. I wanted to order the Montaganarde but the barman advised me that the batch they had in at the moment was a little lively and I was more likely to get it on the ceiling than in my glass.

The Nounette was a slightly dark pale ale with a good flavour at first. It has a long aftertaste which was slightly bitter but on the whole it was a delight. 4 out of 5.

Nik for his final drink of the day took on the Titanic Stout, the POVs alternative to Guinness. He rated it highly describing it as a Guinness beater.

Hopfenkonig

The next beer for the Sunday afternoon is Hopfenkonig from the Eggenberg brewery in Austria. Now so far I have had about 22 beers off if the list and this is only the second larger, strictly it's a pilsner but whatever. As I young adult I cut my teeth drinking larger in various rugby clubs across the country and then went off to university were I mostly drank larger. Larger gets a bad rap, most of what we get in pubs is pretty bad mass produced rubbish that is cold but hasn't got much to it. But every now and again you come across a larger that is very nice, one such example being the one from Brooklyn.

Hopfenkonig is one of these good largers, it's crisp, refreshing, and has a nice flavour to it, a solid and easy drinking 3.5 out of 5.

Nik continued his adventure away from Guinness with a 312 Urban Wheat Beer from Goose Island, he certainly seems to like this one.

Sierra Nevada Stout

Second up in my Sunday afternoon drinking is the stout from the Sierra Nevada. Now I have had their pale ale a fair few number of times, you get it on draught in a number of places around Birmingham, and think its a great beer.

Nik joined me in having a stout and on poring it looked like a stout, thick and black. On tasting it starts with quite a nice deep flavour which gives way to that common kind of coffee burnt flavour I associate with all stouts. Not really my cup of tea 2.5 out of 5.

Floris Honey

So what better way than to spend a Sunday afternoon than having a few beers with a friend. With this mindset I headed to the POV to meet my friend Nik. Now Nik is a devout Guinness drinker, in fact I can't remember the last time I went for a drink with him and he didn't have a Guinness. The POV doesn't have Guinness so I hoped that somewhere in there selection of 350+ beers we could find something that he would like.

I started our Sunday drinking with a Floris Honey, I have decided to tackle the Floris range by having one every time I go. This should help to split them up. I was greeted by a cloudy golden liquid that smelled strongly of honey.  It tasted at first surprisingly of beer, a true rarity for a beer in the Floris range, but this was quickly replaced by a sickly sweet taste of honey. 1 out of 5.

Nik started his drinking with a Delirium Tremens, based presumably on the 5 out of 5 score I gave it. While he said he enjoyed it I suspected that he would have rather had a pint of the black stuff.

On writing this I decided to have a poke around the website of the brewery that make the Floris beers, if we take into account the Mongozo range, it turns out the Belgians will literally put anything in a beer, I mean palmnut flavoured?! Quinua flavoured?!?!

Floris Framboise

Having spent the morning umpiring cricket in rural Leicestershire, the year 10 team I was in charge of won by a massive 60 runs in their 20 over game. I stopped into the Post Office Vaults to try another beer. This time it's another from my favourite range, Floris Framboise.

On entering the pub I find it to be full of Morris dancers. Now I have Morris dancers and the Wicker Man linked in my head so whenever I see a group of them it bring to mind human sacrifice.

The Floris Framboise was just as expected, far too sweet to be a nice beer. It's smell was also extremely strong. I never want to smell raspberries again. 0 out of .

A quick review also points this out to be beer number 20. That puts me 10% of the way through the beer passport. Its taken me just under 3 weeks, so going on that pace I should be done in another 27 weeks.

Raging Bitch - Flying Dog

So this is the final beer on the list from the Flying Dog Brewery. I have really enjoyed their offerings. I ordered it hoping to regain some credibility after the coconut fiasco. The bottle had the normal flying dog anarchic artwork and the description on the side read Belgian Style IPA. Now I don't know all that much about brewing history but I thought that IPAs were British beers, brewed nice and strong to survive the long sea journey to India were British soldiers were eagerly waiting to get wasted. Not sure what Belgium has to do with anything.

The beer was nice, very bitter. At first it almost gave that citric acid/sour sweet effect were I could feel my cheeks being sucked into my face. This sounds unpleasant but the actual flavour and aroma of the beer helped to balance the bitterness. Overall a quality beer. 4 out of 5.

Mongozo Coconut

Now I am drinking this next thanks to a comment from Arn, someone who commented on my blog and does his own blog on beer, specifically all the beer he has drunk in South Wales. Check it out, he has certainly seen off a lot of beers.

It being the end of the Easter holidays I am back at work and Tuesday night means meeting night. To try and take the depression out of meeting night I will be trying to go to the POV on Tuesday evenings to keep moving towards the end of the passport.

Being dubious to start with, this is from the same people who brewed my least favourite beer so far, I headed to the bar and ordered a Mongozo Coconut. I am greeted by my bottle of beer and a distinct lack of a glass to put it in. Instead I am given an empty coconut shell, lucky me. I take a seat and decant my beer into my shell. I feel a right prat sat in a pub of serious beer drinkers sipping out of a coconut shell, its like everyone is watching me and judging me. Thanks Arn.

The taste, well I think it is best described as drinking a beery Bounty. While not totally without merit its not what I am looking for in a beer, firstly it doesn't taste enough of beer. The sooner I have got through these "novelty" beers and onto some proper beer I will be happy. 1.5 out of 5.

Dead Guy Ale - Rogue

Having dealt with the trauma of the Floris Chocolat it was time to have a proper beer. And for that proper beer I selected the Dead Guy Ale from the Rogue Brewery. It comes to me from Newport Oregon and having read their website, it seems to have quite a pedigree.

On tasting it was alright, without being anything memorable. A perfectly ordinary ale without anything to special to mention about it. I guess it must be even less than average because it comes so quickly after the Chocolat and so should taste amazing by comparison. Maybe the Chocolat ruined beer for me. 3 out of 5.

Floris Chocolat

The idea is sound I suppose, I like beer, I like chocolate, so chocolate flavoured beer should be amazing. However as I went to the bar I was far from convinced. The barman, the same one who served me the Floris Fraise, gave a wry smile as he disappeared into the rooms behind the bar to find the bottle. On a side note I can only imagine that those rooms behind the bar are something like the warehouse out of Raiders of the Lost Ark but with beer instead of crates.

On pouring out the beer it looked ok and I took a tentative sniff, it smelt horrible. Like a spicy mix of chocolate and beer. It tastes was the same. Now I've drunk beers I don't like that much, mainly stouts and porters, but I could see the appeal of every one that I have drunk, they all had some redeeming quality. This didn't. It was horrid and I struggled to finish it all. My girlfriend said I couldn't write about it unless I finished it.

I handed the empty to the barman and told him my views, he agreed, labelling Floris Chocolat as the worst of the 350ish beers they do, he did however mention a man who comes in and only drinks Floris Chocolat. I pity that man. 0 out of 5.

Flying Dog - Snake Dog IPA

Having read this from the BBC, I congratulated myself for being cool, hip and involved with the American craft brewing revolution by ordering another American craft beer. Snake Dog IPA from the Flying Dog Brewery. I really enjoyed this beer, its quite up front at first but has a nice crisp almost citrusy flavour. Unlike the Goose Island IPA and the Brooklyn East Indian Pale Ales I tried earlier it's not overpowering. A very likable 4.5 out of 5.

I also noticed a link to my blog from this website. It is nice to be mentioned and if you want to read about beer from someone who knows what they are talking about you should make your way over to their blog.

Floris Fraise

The barman chuckles when I order this and I explain that I'm only drinking it because it's on the list. He tells me that it is basically the Belgian WKD and is far too sweet. On tasting I agree with him, basically it's pink and it tastes of strawberries, not much else to say about it. It's hard to tell that it's even beer. 1 out of 5. If I want an alcopop I guess I could do worse.

Goose Island IPA

My final trip to Chicago's Goose Island to taste their version of Indian pale ale. It's very similar to the Brooklyn Brewery East India Pale Ale I tried earlier . Not as punchy and more golden in colour, it's also slightly more bitter than you would expect looking at it. 3.5 out of 5.

Floris Apple

No picture for this one as I managed to leave my phone at home. It was an unexpected visit as I had been dragged shopping by the other half and managed to convince her to let me get a beer. Today's offering is the Floris Apple from that finest of Belgian brewers Huyghe.

Fruit flavoured beers are a bit of a mystery to me, I've had the odd pint of strawberry flavoured beer and its alright for half a pint and then a bit sickly after that but based on previous offerings from this brewery I went in hoping for the best.

The beer itself looks like a wheat beer but has a fruity appley smell that reminds me of esters.The taste is quite nice, at first it tastes like most other wheat beers, maybe a bit sweeter, but then it finishes with quite an appley aftertaste. All in all not bad, certainly something for the summer and not as bad as I thought a fruit flavoured beer would be. 3.5 out of 5.

Delirium Tremens

Having had an excellent beer from them previously I decided to push on with the Huyghe Beers. This time going with the Delirium Tremens, apparently named for the shakes you get when going through alcohol with drawl, no chance of me getting those while pushing on through the 200 beer challenge. The beer is a golden ale and looks quite fizzy, you could probably mistake it for a larger if you weren't paying attention.

The beer itself is delicious, full flavoured and up front with a nice long aftertaste. I can't really fault it, I'd guess if I was really picking I could say it tastes quite strong but then it is quite strong. 5 out of 5.

A note on the scoring, I've given this 5 out of 5 and it deserves it in every way, its better than the 312 Wheat Beer or the Deliurium Nocturnum. But who is to say that I wont find an even better beer, I guess what I am trying to say is that the scoring is comparative not absolute and maybe we will see a 5.5 out of 5.

Delirium Nocturnum

While at the Post Office Vaults this evening me and my girlfriend started chatting to a nice couple on the table next to us. They were from Preston and were taking a holiday to Birmingham, strange but I guess Birmingham is better than Preston. They were extremely knowledgeable about beer, and were jealous about the proximity of a pub like the POVs to our home. They showed me the phone app untappd. It's a bit like facebook for beer so I will be trying that out. They also shared the location of two fine beer shops in Birmingham, Cotteridge Wines and Stirchley Wines. Both seem to have an amazing array of beer available and at some point I will get out of the city to check them out.

Anyway yet again I let my girlfriend choose the beer, and she plumped for the Delirium Nocturnum from the Huyghe Brewery in Belgium. This get approval from the other people in the bar and my girlfriend looked like she has won the lottery.

Its the first beer I've had that gives a decent head and we are much impressed by the bottle and the design of the label. The beer itself is brilliant, tasty, lets you know how strong it is without overpowering and has a really good balanced flavour. 4.5 out of 5.

Goose Island Matilda

I gave my girlfriend free reign on choosing the beer and so she selected Matilda, a Belgian style beer from the Goose Island brewery in Chicago, presumably for the name. While paying for my beer the froth starts to escape from the beer bottle. I am assured by the barman that this is a sign of a well conditioned beer, slightly dubious I decant it from the bottle to my glass and get to the drinking.

The beer is good, it certainly tastes Belgian with a big yeasty flavour and it tastes every bit the 7%, there is also a slightly fruity smell about it. 4 out of 5.

Goose Island Honkers Ale

After the delight that was the Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Beer I was excited to re-visit the Chicago based brewer. The bottle of the Honker's Ale says it is inspired by trips to English country pubs which sounds good and the ale produced is firmly in the style of British ales, it's decent without being outstanding, a beer that I would expect at a country pub but not one to shout about and make a special trip to said pub. 3.5 out of 5.

Flying Dog - Gonzo Imperial Porter

Now before we start this I will talk a little about my feelings on really dark ales like porters. Basically I am not normally a fan, my experience of stouts and porters hasn't been good. I find they normally taste of burnt, maybe with a bit of coffee flavour (I don't like coffee either). This came to a head while visiting Dublin and taking the tour of the Guinness store room. Everybody tells you Guinness is soooo much better in Ireland so I was looking forward to having my mind changed. I got to the top of the building and sipped my pint, it was just as horrible as every other Guinness I had had anywhere else. Safe to say I wasn't looking forward to my porter, an offering from Flying Dog called Gonzo Imperial Porter.

I was pleasantly surprised, while it did have a little bit of the burnt aftertaste that I so dread from a beer like this overall it was full of flavour and perfectly acceptable. 3 out of 5.

312 Urban Wheat Beer

My first wheat beer in the journey through the 200 beers and it comes from the Goose Island Brewery Chicago. It looks exactly how you would expect a wheat beer to look, golden yellow and slightly cloudy. It is really nice, fruity, light, refreshing. I could see myself sat outside on a sunny afternoon drinking this. My favourite beer so far. 4.5 out of 5

Flying dog - Doggie Style

Another pale ale from the USA, Doggie Style. The barman does his best with an obvious joke about its name but its tired and falls flat. It's a nice deep amber colour , and the bottle comes with some crazy anarchic artwork which I really like. The beer is lovely, full of flavour. While quite up front and punchy it's not overwhelming like the Brooklyn pale ale. I also found the health warning on the bottle amusing, if you are pregnant I would hope you dont get to the stage were you check the bottle of beer you are drinking for a picture to tell you if you should drink it. 4 out of 5.

Brooklyn East India Pale Ale

So it's back to the Brooklyn Brewery for my next beer, their take on the Indian pale ale. The first mouthful is like being punched in the mouth, it's certainly got a full on flavour. Initially I don't like it but as I go on I warm to it. I guess on the whole I like a beer that is a little less full on and not so strong, this came in at 6.9%. I respect it but I don't love it, I'd have it again. 3 out of 5.

The first night.

So having picked up my passport I turned randomly to a page and selected my first beer. For this I choose Anchor Steam Beer, no. 187. It had made its way all the way from San Fransisco where they have some special brewing technique that is part larger part ale or something. the bottle it came in was very pretty but sadly this was the highlight of this beer. I found it to be bland and unappealing. I described it at the time as like drinking a glass of brown water, not a great start. 1 out of 5.

To try and redeem American brewing I choose my second beer to be the Brooklyn Brewery Larger, no. 188. I'd had this a few times before on draft around time and liked it then so was hopeful. It was exactly what I expected, fresh, sharp, tasty. All in all a very good larger, certainly a cut above what you get on draught at most places. 3.5 out of 5.

Finally I went for something that I had never heard of before a De Koninck from Duvel Moortgat. As a Belgian beer it delivered deep taste and was much darker than the previous two beers. Overall it was very nice without being special. It also came in its own lovely glass but I found the white hand they use as their symbol a little reminiscent of fascist imagery, whereas my girlfriend said it reminded her of Saruman from Lord of the Rings. However it was certainly the best beer of the night. 4 out of 5.

With these 3 done I moved on.

Introduction

So, I like beer, that pretty much the main theme of this blog. Its going to be abut how I like beer and the many different beers that I drink and how much I like them, or don't like them. Basically the blog starts on a Sunday night out in the fine city of Birmingham. I'd been to a few pubs and found myself wandering into the Post Office Vaults. Now I've been in there a fair few times since it opened and I like it but I've never been what you would call a regular. The staff are friendly, the selection of beer is interesting, over 300 different bottled beers, and I like the occasional game of bar billiards. However it can be overcrowded and very hot at times.

This time I went in with some friends and ended up chatting to a nice Irish lady at the bar. She was murdering the pronunciation of La Chouffe which she was trying to order at the bar. While talking she told me about the Post Offfice Vaults new beer passport. The basic deal is they have listed 200 of their bottled beers and if you try them all you are rewarded with a crate of beer, a t shirt and your picture on the wall of fame. I was instantly hooked and so this blog will detail my journey through this list of beers and hopefully help me to remember which ones I liked and which ones I didn't.