Blue Moon at the Bollo, Chiswick

Christmas Day found me at a pub which fifteen years ago was my old stamping ground - the Bollo in Chiswick (although in my day it was called the Orange Kipper). Back then it was a slightly scuzzy boozer with a massive telly showing England getting battered by the West Indies; I celebrated my 23rd birthday there by  chucking up outside. Happy days.

These days it's gone all gastro-pub, as have so many London boozers (it's that or become flats, I guess). This means they can charge £4 a pint minimum and sell overpriced burgers on "distressed" furniture.

I don't really mind gastropubs, when the food's decent and the beer's good too - I like to eat well in an informal setting, so what's the problem?

The problem is when the beer's bobbins. I kicked off (and I'm writing this a week later, so forgive me as my notes seem to have disappeared) with a pale ale - it was called something like "Hoptease", so I was quite hopeful...but it wasn't great.

Given my writing partner's propensity towards American craft ales, I next went for a pint of Blue Moon from the keg. I was hopeful after my positive Meantime experience for something special, but I was a little wary once an orange segment was deposited into my wheaty pint:

Given its cloudiness, I was wondering if it was something along the lines of an ale version of Hoegaarden. I was to be bitterly disappointed; it was overly tart and the citrus was overbearing (not helped by the floating clementine), with a skanky, cheap-lager aftertaste. I could barely finish it.

Turned out, on research, that the, er, "Blue Moon Craft Brewery" is actually Coors; this is about as much a traditional craft ale as the Bollo is a traditional London boozer. Avoid.

Sierra Nevada - Torpedo

After having recently decided that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was the best beer in the world, I was more excited than is probably acceptable to find Torpedo (7.2%) for sale in Tesco.

Torpedo is so named because they make use of a hop torpedo during the brewing process. This is a device that runs the fermented beer through a filter stuffed full of aromatic American hops. Torpedo is billed as an "Extra IPA" and I had braced myself for an unrelenting onslaught of aroma hops.

I thought it poured a little flat and it wasn't quite as hoppy as I was hoping for. To be fair, it was probably a little over-chilled. My bad. Like Pale Ale though, it's wonderfully balanced, with the biscuity malt and hops making themselves known in equal measure. Make no mistake, this is a beautifully crafted strong ale but it really does taste very strong and is by no means an "easy drinker".

It's a very, very well made drink but not a killer product in the way that Pale Ale is. Talking of which, Tesco was selling those as well and I've got one in the fridge. Cheers.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale #2

In a first for this blog, we're going to see a second opinion on a beer. 

M'colleague Mr Nelson opined on the excellence of Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale earlier in the week, and seeing it at our local Sainsbury's (not cheap mind) I couldn't resist trying it for myself. About five years ago I went to Seattle and did some in-depth research into the craft beers of the Pacific  Northwest (of which there are many). Given that before I went I assumed American beer was all about Miller Lite and Bud, I was surprised and delighted (and hungover) with my discovery. However, I'd not known of any craft beers that had made the long journey over here.

Nelly rhapsodised about this beer last week and quite frankly he was right. It's a magnificent brew. It smells great, the hops are strong without being overpowering, and held in the mouth it fizzes into something frothy and utterly delicious. 

The only downside is that it comes in dinky bottles - the photo above is of a fully-poured bottle. We want more!

Sierra Nevada - Pale Ale

Nelly

Being a recent convert to the joys of craft beer, I realised I was yet to try a proper American ale. That's quite an omission, considering the new wave of brewing in the UK was largely inspired by the IPAs and pale ales being created in the States. I decided to put that right with a Pale Ale from Sierra Nevada, the daddy of them all.

The pour easily developed a head of a couple of fingers with plenty of carbonation. The nose was very impressive. Not a Thornbridge-style assault but a strong-yet-intricate smell of hops and biscuity malt. Upon drinking, I realised this is a truly great beer. The carbonation helps to deliver the tastes into all the right places and what a wonderful array of tastes they were. A lovely grapefruit bitterness being kept in check by a subtle biscuity malt. 

At 5.6%, it's a pretty strong beer but actually tastes stronger. This would undoubtedly be labelled an IPA if brewed in the UK but these tags are completely arbitrary and I don't care what they call it, it's absolutely great.  Once again, I think I have a new favourite.