Wednesday, 8 January 2014

10 Best Beers of 2013.

So some of you will be doing some daft thing; not drinking in the whole of January. You need to be drinking more this month, it's so depressing. Imagine if you get knocked over by a bus at the end of the month? All that drinking you would have done has gone to waste! (The idea that you might not get knocked over by a bus hasn't really occurred to me).
So anyway here's my favourite 10 new beers of last year. New beers to me that is. It's all gone IPA mad this year, I gave the Belgian beers a rest for a bit and started checking out all the newly imported pale ales from The States and those inspired by them, the modern breed of craft brewers here in the UK. So these beers are some of what you're missing right now. Not in any particular order:
Vuur & Vlam (£3.50) from Dutch brewers De Molen. I absolutely love this beer. It's a gorgeous, hazy, cloudy, fruity and hoppy IPA. It has the tropical fruit element that American pale ales have, but it's not too overpowering, the bitterness and fruitiness are in perfect harmony. Just a lovely brew. 9/10. 
Rogue Yellow Snow. (£4.50). This was a superb IPA, again it poured a cloudy orange, it's big and fruity and hoppy, complex but clean and fresh. It has that tropical fruit element, but it's not too bitter as some of these 'hop monsters' can be. One of the best IPA's I've ever had I think. 9/10.
 Nøgne Ø India Pale Ale. (£4.79)
Bitter but balanced, fresh and tropical. Beautiful. 9/10.

Partizan 7 Grain Porter. (£2.95) 
Gorgeous black velvet, black tar and roast coffee. Impressive stuff. 9/10.
Stone IPA. (£2.99.)
This is just right. Perfectly balanced between hops and those tropical flavours. 9/10.

Odell India Pale Ale.
Niiiiiiice! Evenly balanced, fruity, fresh and tropical, not overly bitter, in fact the perfect IPA for me. Every single beer I've tried by Odell has been superb. 9/10.

The Kernel Export Stout 1890. (£2.95). Lovely complex and rich, velvety, roast coffee with vanilla notes. Very good indeed. 9/10. 

Beavertown Black Betty (£3.90) A wonderfully balanced smooth black IPA. Not bitter, sharp, or malty it's like black velvet. Just delicious. 9/10. 
Nøgne Ø Imperial Stout.
Oozes out of the bottle like a thick black alcoholic tar.  It's sweet, soft, dry and rich with flavours of dark smoky roasts. God it's good! It's extremely silky but complex.  
Founders Porter. (£2.25).
I've written wow wow wow in my notes! This is so good! One of the best porters I've had in ages. Black, smooth and slightly burnt, but so drinkable. It has a top score of 100 on the beer tasting website Ratebeer as well.

There were loads of other beers I loved too but I just can't remember them, must be the alcohol that's making me forget.... Anyway Happy Drinkuary!

No comments:

Post a Comment