Beer - #385 - Pink Elephant - Trumpet

Home alone and so it's comfort beer (I hope) and one that's been in the fridge a while - the Pink Elephant Trumpet - 2013 vintage - of course Brewed by Pink Elephant this one in the style of a  Barley Wine and they are based in a nice part of the country - Blenheim, Malborough, New Zealand

A 500ml bottle, which is  9.6% ABV, so being 3.75 standard drink units, but only 315 calories.

Trumpet is a Barley Wine. This is lovely when fresh as the hop additions are
prominent with an aroma of mixed fruit leathers. 
Has some caramel, Honey, vanilla and dried apricot flavours.It may be cellared for many years and will lead to an amazingly complex ale Vertical tastings are possible with this Ale

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A hoppy and malty Barley Wine style. This is lovely when fresh as the hop additions are prominent. However, it may be cellared for many years and will lead to an amazingly complex ale as the many ingredients blend together to give a truly classic Barley Wine

Poured a slightly dark golden with a weak almost white head. Aroma of mixed fruit leather I used to get in my lunchbox at school, some stale caramel and honey, quite sweet but still pleasant. Thin mouthful for the abv. lots of weird cola, vanilla and dried apricot. so many fruits come to mind when drinking this stuff its incredible. The finish is a touch warming and shows more stonefruit. good stuff.

Beer - #304 - Pink Elephant - Mother's Bruin

Mother's Bruin. Pun intended. Probably. 2013 vintage. I have no idea if they've made this before, but they may be planning to make this again.

Brewed by Pink Elephant in the enigmatic style of: Old Ale and that's in a fantastic part of the country - Blenheim, Malborough, New Zealand.

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Mothers Bruin is a Strong Ale. This secret ingredient is honey. It features a butter/toffee aroma, creamy mouth feel, with toffee and caramel (and some fruity notes

Bear a thought for the effort that went into bruin this silky sweet honey bear. Four million B's can't bee wrong.

This Ale’s secret ingredient is the honey which is produced from the honey dew collected from the bush clad Canterbury hills.

500ml bottle of beer, with an ABV of 8%, which makes this 3.16 standard drink units. and around 250 calories a serve.

Lots of yeast aroma on opening, Pours a chestnut brown traditional beer colour, with a smallish but firm and persistent head.

Aroma settles to something akin to a honey thing.

Goodness  gosh! That's a complex beer.

Firstly its very rich, and that'd be the honey, although it's not a honey taste, or is it. Nice and rounded smooth sweetness.

The bitterness isn't intense, and the carbonation is soft.

The lead in aroma is inviting.

I'm a bit impressed with this from Pink Elephant. I'm not sure I've been their biggest fan in the past. Which is a poor assumption based on one poor experience in the past. So I'll get to that and make some more effort. Consider myself told.

So I had a low expectation and now I have a high regard. But let's not get carried away. This is a sweet drinking beer. It has a foolish mouthfeel and a lovely carry but it is a sweet beer.

I'm tempted to leave it to warm to see what happens.

Which turns it into an experience akin to toffee or treacle, but still way up in the sweet zone of taste.

The pdubyah-o-meter is easily swayed by the easily drinkability and seductive sweetness that appeals. There is no indication at all that you're getting a bit squiffy by quaffing this, there is no alcohol apparent. A lovely long drink with some bitterness at the edge, the soft middle and a lovely finish. By far the best honey beer I've had, and I've had so few to make that a bit of a nonsense statement. I would though go as far as to say 9 for this, complete with a money back caveat that if you have a sweet tooth then this should appeal to you as it's nearly but not quite toffee beer, and that really would be a thing.

It's really very clever, I'm smiling and in my happy place.

OLD ALE

Old Ale is a simple enough style to figure out. At least, once you understand that there are three or four beer styles called Old Ale. The first is the best known - the strong dark Old Peculier style. The second type of Old Ale is a blended dark ale. At least one of the beers comprising the blend will be aged for a couple of years in wood casks. The third version of Old Ale is a form of mild – a low-gravity dark ale. Another version of Old Ale is closely related to the first. For me, these are robustly malty beers, akin to a top-fermented version of a doppelbock.