I've just completed my revision for my talk at the Hay Ale and Literature Festival. Not that I'm much of a one for cramming, but I did think it was at least worth looking up a few hop varieties and brewery locations of the beers I will be talking about. Hey, none of us are born with knowledge - did you think I absorbed it by osmosis from the beer?I was one of those annoying university students who paid attention in lectures, and so revision was just that - looking over my notes and saying 'ah yes, I know that already'. Whether I manage to retain the same composure in front of a group of real ale fans tomorrow as I rhapsodise about Vienna lager, black lager, extra IPA, trappist ale and weizen doppelbock is another thing. Oh well,they can but boo and throw beer over me - that hasn't happened since a particularly disastrous gig at Salisbury Arts Centre in about 1991.
I should really be in bed by now, but I just received an exciting beer-related invite that, should it actually happen, should be a few days of extreme fun. Sorry to be annoying and go "ooh, I can't tell you what it is yet", but ooh, I can't tell you what it is yet. And like anyone who is reading this blog, I decided to celebrate exciting news with a glass of beer.
BrewDog's Chaos Theory (7.1%abv) is back by popular demand. It was inexplicably delisted about 18 months ago, for who knows what reason. My guess is that Nelson Sauvin became too fashionable to piss away on an everyday beer, not that there is anything dreary or mundane about Chaos Theory. It's their single hop Nelson Sauvin IPA, and it's a great glass of beer. I really like beers that suggest things without actually forming a committee and going on a march with a banner that says "LOOK AT ME! I'M STUFFED FULL OF INGREDIENTS!" and despite it's strength, Chaos Theory manages to do that. It's just beery enough to appeal to regular beer drinkers, but has enough subtle hop-derived fruitiness to be appealing.
Grab some while you can.
Aaah - Godflesh at Salisbury Arts Centre sometime in the very early nineties. That wasn't anything to do with you was it?
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see what English bloggers think of the new season Nelson Sauvin. Not such a good vintage in my opinion. A bit rougth, oniony and sweaty with the fruitiness taking on a somewhat decomposed over ripe character.
ReplyDeleteKieran, True and Tis a tough one...to be honest last season wasn't as good as the season before either...what's going on over their? ;0)
ReplyDeleteChris - sadly not, although I do appear very briefly in the mosh pit on "Napalm Death Live at Salisbury Arts Centre". We played a christmas bash one year, and were terrible. I deserved the boos and the beer.
ReplyDeleteKieran - it's interesting that the notion of good and bad years for hops (other than yield) hasn't really pervaded the beer drinking public yet.
I hadn't thought about this until now ...
ReplyDeleteCould the stopping of Chaos Theory be down to the world wide shortage in Nelson hops? Suddenly the hops are available again and so is the beer.
Just a thought.
Chunk.
Interesting how hops have seasonal variations, I did a blog post on this very subject back in August.
ReplyDeletehttp://raisethebeerbar.blogspot.com/2010/08/hops-seasonal-variations.html
James - mmm, very interesting, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of hop vintage variation is increasing in the 'beer geek' section of the market here. particulary due to Nelson Sauvin being the in vogue hop and it varying so much. Brewers down here like the Yeastie Boys and 8 Wired are talking publicly about the variation which helps to.
ReplyDeleteJames, I have no idea whats goin on, probibly need to talk to Doug Donelan about whats going on.