Beers of Europe: car booty call

I promised I’d provide details of my recent haul from the excellent Beers of Europe. Well, here you go. Mainly beers and mainly from the UK, Germany and Belgium. A few oddities from elsewhere, bought either for interest or novelty value (as indeed were some of the Brits), also found their way into my stash. Photos are arranged by loose themes, although more research has revealed a few flaws in the pattern.

Britain first.

British dark ales:

Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout (4.5%) – a grown-up cousin of Mackeson, proper milks stouts are rare things

Downton Brewery Chimera Dark Delight (5.5%) – big stout from Hop Back’s “experimental sibling”

Thornbridge Brewery Raven Black IPA (6.6%) – another of that oxymoronic species but with Thornbridge pedigree

Ridgeway Brewing Bad King John (6%) – another strong stout to tuck into

Ridgeway Brewing Querkus Smoked Oaked Porter (5.8%) – smoked porter matured on oak chips

1648 Brewing Smoked Ale (4.7%) – smoked ale that’s not a porter, or so it would seem

British strong ales (with one exception):

O’Hanlon’s Brewery Brewers Special Reserve (12.9%) – from the brewery that saved the classic Thomas Hardy’s Ale, now itself seemingly gone to the big brewhouse in the sky

BrewDog/3 Floyds Bitch Please (11.5%) – barley wine aged in a Jura whisky barrel in classic BrewDog style but with the help of some American friends

Hopshackle Brewery Double Momentum (7%) – looks to be a massive golden IPA with double the hops of the “single” Momentum

BrewDog Prototype 17 (4.9%) – described as a mix of “77 lager, a Belgian yeast, some old single grain Scotch casks and the finest local Scottish raspberries” so should be unusual if nothing else

Marston’s Banks’s Barley Gold (9.1%) – looks like a proper old-school barley wine of the kind I’ve not tried for years; didn’t know Banks’s made this

British oddities 1:

Fallen Angel Brewery Fire In The Hole Chili Beer (3.9%) – “best drunk ice cold out of shot glasses”, says the publicity, this may not have been a good idea

Jeremiah Weed Sour Mash Brew (4%) – not actually a beer, it turns out, but some kind of bourbon-derived concoction for serving over ice launched by an unknown in the UK bourbon brand

Panther Brewery Ginger Panther (3.7%) – fiery ginger wheat beer from Norfolk, this may or may not work but seems worth trying

Fallen Angel Hopped Up Cyder (4.9%) – I read somewhere that hopped cider was drunk historically, so this should be “interesting”

British oddities 2:

Samuel Smith’s Brewery Organic Cherry Beer (5.1%) – haven’t tried a Sam Smith’s fruit beer for years, rather different brews nowadays I hope

Ole Slewfoot Brewing Red Wing Flemish Style Red Ale (5.1%) – described as “reddish … with a sharp sourness of wild cherries followed by … hints of blackberries”

Hopshackle Brewery Restoration (9%) – Belgian-style strong, darkish ale, expecting something Trappisty perhaps?

German ales:

Brauerei Diebels Alt (4.9%) – InBev-owned brewery is the biggest alt producer and still does a decent job although it’s been a while sicne I last sampled it

Privatbrauerei Bolten Boltens Ur-Alt (4.8%) – the unfiltered take on Boltens Alt means this one stands out for its style

Hövels Hausbrauerei Original (5.5%) – formerly known as “bitterbier” I remember this being closer to a British ale than even alts manage

Privatbrauerei Bolten Boltens Alt (4.8%) – the standard alt from Bolten is still a peppery, spicy number

German dunkels and bocks:

Kloster Brauerei Scheyern Doppelbock Dunkel (7.4%) – big dark doppelbock, expect deep, sweet and creamy

Windsheimer Bürgerbräu Freilandmuseum Dunkel (4.7%) – hoping for classic Bavarian dark lager here!

Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg Weltenburger Kloster Asam Bock (6.9%) – an all-time favourite, dark mid-strength bock, like a out-sized dunkel on steroids

Kloster Brauerei Scheyern Kloster Export Dunkel (5.5%) – export strength dunkel looks like a good bet

German kellerbiers:

Landwehr-Bräu Kellerbier (4.7%) – gold/amber unfiltered, unpasteurised lager, mmmmm

Bayreuther Bierbrauerei Aktien Zwick’l Kellerbier (5.3%) – slightly stronger but in a similar mould

Kulmbacher Brauerei Mönchshof Kellerbier (5.4%) – looks to be a slightly darker kellerbier from a better-known German brewer

Brauerei Göller Kellerbier (4.9%) – back to the paler species of kellerbier

Brauhaus Schweinfuhrt Kellerbier (5.3%) – much darker kellerbier, making it somewhat unusual

Will any of these outdo the classic St Georgen Kellerbier, I wonder?

Various Germans:

Distelhäuser Märzen (5.4%) – in the classic, nowadays hard to find, style of the Oktoberfest

Kauzen-Bräu Kauzen Helles Landbier (4.8%) – pale, hopefully unpasteurised country lager

Distelhäuser Landbier Dunkel (4.8%) – dark, hopefully unpasteurised country lager

Hofmann Helles Landbier (4.8%) – another pale landbier, you get the picture

Distehauser Dinkel (5.8%) – apparently a multi-grain beer using spelt, expect a somewhat wheat-beer like experience

Traditional Belgian geuze/gueuze:

(Spelling variants reflect a lack of a standard form although “oude geuze” is intended as a stamp of authenticity)

Brouwerij Oud Beersel Oude Geuze (6%) – it has taken me a long time to become familiar with the products of the reborn Oud Beersel so looking forward to this

Brouwerij Timmermans Oud Gueuze Limited Edition (5.5%) – revived proper oude geuze from Timmermans, should be good

Horal’s Oude Geuze Mega Blend (7%) – blend of young and old lambics from eight breweries (including 3 Fonteinen, Boon, De Cam, De Troch, Hanssens, Lindemans, Oud Beersel and Timmermans) set to be a highlight

Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze (6%) – rare opportunity to acquire a 3 Fonteinen-brewed geuze now that the company is reverting to blending only

Brouwerij Mort Subite Oude Gueuze (5%) – somewhat elusive authentic geuze from commercially-oriented Mort Subite

Brouwerij F Boon Oude Geuze (6.5%) – basic version of Boon’s Geuze but still pretty good

Belgian lambic variations:

Brouwerij Bockor Jacobins Gueuze (5.5%) – weird “lambicy” concoction from a Flemish jack of all trades brewer bought mainly to remind myself of what can be passed off as geuze

Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck Gueuze Fond Tradition (5%) – not entirely legitimate but worth trying geuze-style beer from Flanders, if I remember rightly

Brouwerij Timmermans Lambicus Blanche (%) – witbier/lambic hybrid, will be surprised if this blows me away but worth a go

Brouwerij Oud Beersel Oude Kriek (6.5%) – as with the Oud Beersel geuze it has taken me a long time to become familiar with the products of the reborn Oud Beersel

Brouwerij Lindemans Kriek Cuvée René (5%) – Lindemans re-entry into the market for serious kriek should make for interesting drinking

Brouwerij Timmermans Faro Lambic (4%) – never tried Timmermans’ take on sweetened lambic before (as far as I can remember) but I do generally enjoy the style so worth trying

Brouwerij Girardin Faro 1882 (5%) – decent faro I’ll enjoy being reacquainted with

Brouwerij F Boon Faro (4%) – another I haven’t tried for years, I may do a side-by-side comparison of the three faros

Belgian sour ales:

Brouwerij Bavik Petrus Oud Bruin (5.5%) – from memory a decent example of the Flemish red-brown sour style

Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck Bacchus Vlaams Oud Bruin (4.5%) – previously simpler red-brown not sampled for some time

Brouwerij Rodenbach Vintage 2007 (7%) – great expectations here for unadulterated, well-oaked Rodenbach

Brouwerij Rodenbach Vintage 2008 (7%) – ditto!

Brouwerij Liefmans Goudenband (8%) – once classic sweet and sour brown ale, haven’t sampled for years

Brouwerij Liefmans Oud Bruin (5%) – the workaday brown from Liefmans, once a favourite

Belgian saisons (and near saisons):

Brasserie du Bocq Saison Regal (5.5%) – established saison if from a larger brewer than the style is often associated with

Brasserie St Feuillien Saison (6.5%) – fairly new saison created for the American market

Brouwerij De Leyerth Urthel Saisonniere (6%) – not a saison as such, I’d expect something similar from this Flemish brew

Brasserie Lefebvre Saison 1900 (5.4%) – revival of an old saison brand by Lefebvre

Brasserie Dupont Saison Dupont (6.5%) – a great beer sampled many times and likely the benchmark saison here

Brasserie des Géants Saison Voisin (%) – revival of another old saison brand, hoping for something interesting

Brasserie Silly Saison (5.2%) – old saison brand, I remember this as rather odd from my last sampling about 20 years ago

Various Belgians:

Brouwerij Van Den Bossche Buffalo 1907 Stout (6.5%) – long-brewed, strong Belgian take on British stout

Brasserie Dupont Monk’s Stout (5.2%) – newish “quaffing” stout (by Belgian standards) from classic saison brewery

Brouwerij Het Anker Gouden Carolus Classic (8.5%) – as the name suggests, classic strong Belgian of red-brown hue, haven’t tried this for years

Brouwerij De Koninck DK Gusto 1833 Ruby Red (8%) – brewed for the 175th birthday of this greatest of Belgian pale ale breweries

New world beers (with a touch of Denmark):

Cervecería Mexicana (Mexico) Red Pig Mexican Ale (5.4%) – amber ale, bit of a novelty from Mexico

Stillwater Artisan Ales/Mikkeller (USA/Denmark) Two Gypsies Our Side (7.5%) – 2nd best new brewer in the world 2011 (well, according to Ratebeer.com) meets world’s most productive brewery (in terms of new beers), this IPA/saison hybrid should be interesting and held more appeal than another Mikkeller-only effort (great, and expensive, as those often are…)

8 Wired Brewing Co (New Zealand) Saison Sauvin (7%) – Belgian-style saison from New Zealand this time

Matt Brewing Co (USA) Saranac Pumpkin Ale (5.4%) – among the cheaper US beers on offer, tempting post-Halloween

Various Europeans:

Sociedade Central de Cervejas (Portugal) Sagres Preta Chocolate (4.3%) – chocolate stout/dark lager from Heineken-owned brewery, not expecting much but cheap enough to try

União Cervejeira (Portugal) Bock Stout (5%) – stout/dark lager, again cheap enough to try with few real hopes

Efes Beverage Group (Turkey) Efes Dark (6.5%) – strong dark lager, will quite possibly turn out to be the best of the bunch here

SA Damm (Spain) Estrella Damm Inedit (4.8%) – apparently a Belgian-style witbier (purchased without that being obvious), nicely presented and cheap for the bottle size

St Francis Abbey Brewery (Ireland) Kilkenny Irish Beer (5%) – “Irish red ale” from Guinness/Diageo, sampled before but never out of a bottle, I doubt it will have improved much

Sociedade Central de Cervejas (Portugal) Sagres Preta (%) – stout/dark lager, apparently wildly popular in Portugal but let’s see…