Monks Stout

It's no secret that I don't like stout but if it's in the book then I have to drink it. The best I can say about this beer is that it is very stouty. It's like they turned up the stout to 11. I didn't like it at all. Burnt, that's what it tastes of. 1 out of 5. 

Gregorius Trappist

Another day another Trappist beer, those monks just love brewing. This one comes from a small relatively new Trappist brewery in Austria. Following on from the St Sebastien this one come in at over £8 and I don't even get a cool ceramic bottle to keep, oh well. 

The beer itself is very dark and packs a lot of punch. It's full of flavour, malty and very sweet, much sweeter than most beer I have had. A quick glance at the ingredients reveals the reason for this sweetness, those crafty monks have added honey to the mix. Overall I enjoyed this beer and actually found the sweetness nice, it did however start to cloy a little towards the end. 3.5 out of 5. 

Ename tripel and cuvée

I was in the post office vaults last Monday, and when I ordered my drink  the barman informed me that I was in the presence of greatness and introduced me to Kieth, one of the 3 people to have finished the 200 beers. I had a chat to him and he informed me that he thought the Ename beers were a good drink. So I had two of them.

First up, the tripel. 

I can say that this lived up to Kieth's promise and was a very likeable beer. Slightly sweet and very warm in the mouth it went down very nicely. 3.5 out of 5. 

Next up the Cuvée 

It has a slightly pink colour and I was fearing another berry flavoured nightmare. It proved to be ok but lacked a real in depth flavour. It was very light and fizzy. No where near as good as the tripel. 2.5 out of 5

St Sebastian Grand Cru

Sometimes I think the whole beer passport is just a way to sell me rubbish, such as the entire Floris range of beers, and very expensive beers. This beer comes in a a hefty £11.50, but hell I'm probably only ever going to have it once.

It comes in a very distinctive ceramic bottle and for my £11.50 it is Big bottle coming in at 500 ml rather than the normal 330 ml so it's practically a bargin.

The beer itself is very nice. It's a golden beer with a rich deep flavour. It's quite warm in the mouth but is pleasant and refreshing as well as having a nice complex flavour. Having finished the beer my other half decides to retain the bottle and put it to use in the kitchen holding olive oil. Maybe the £11.50 was a bargin. 4 out of 5. 

Brekles brown

I'm a really big fan of American beer. I love a hoppy American style IPA, plenty of flavour, easy drinking on a sunny afternoon. many people consider one of the quintessential American beers to be the Anchor Steam Beer. I've tried it a number of times and find it incredibly bland. This comes from the same brewers and I hope it will be a step up.

All I can say is that it is a very middle of the road brown beer. Not bad, certainly inoffensive, but with nothing really to recommend it. 2 out of 5

Augistiner Dunkel

Germany is famous for beer. When I think of Germany it's heavy set set men in leather leggings quaffing larger. I've never been to Munich but I really hope that's what it's like. This beer comes all the way from Munich. It's very dark, so doesn't fit into my Munich dream, and has a bit too much of that kind of stouty flavour that I don't like. It's alright but tastes a little bit burnt for my liking. 2.5 out of 5

Schelentera Marzen

After watching some nutter come into the pub, shout widely about the devil and threaten to disembowel one of the other patrons I was in need of a stiff drink. Thankfully of all the people in the pub the small barmaid managed to get the nutter to leave and I was given the Schelentera Marzen.

Its a smoked beer from Germany and it tastes and smell vaguely of smoky bacon flavoured crisps. On the face of it this is a good thing. However 2 thirds of a way into a bottle I was struggling. I'm just not a fan of smoked beer. 2 out of 5