Beer - #429 - Thornbridge - Saint Petersburg

I've had a Thornbridge Saint Petersburg in the fridge for a while, and tonight seems a good night to get to drinking it.

Brewed by Thornbridge done in the style that is of Imperial Stout and they are in Bakewell, England

"Saint Petersburg is a fabulously full bodied – chocolatey, malt flavours with coffee finish combine to produce a great Imperial Stout."

[caption id="attachment_9143" align="alignright" width="300"] Selfie - in which I look incredibly old and squinty[/caption]

500ml bottle, with a great label art, 7.4% ABV, 2.92 standard drinks that would be in NZ, and as it's bottle conditioned may have yeast, This pops in at 222 calories a serve.

Rich and dark with smoke, subtle peatiness and the power of the dark malts. Molasses and liquorice and chocolate goodness all wrapped up in a smooth, warming liquid.

Finishes with a distinct humming bitterness carried well by the hop and malt combo.

So something dark, a bit sweet and enjoyable by the way it reads.

Beer - #397 - Thornbridge - Halcyon

I know right a double header, after the last party in my mouth I went all out and got this the Thornbridge Halcyon, a word of many meaning .

Brewed by Thornbridge again in the style that is  India Pale Ale (IPA) and they didn't move from Bakewell, England in the last 1/2 hour since I looked. Brewers label art says this is an Imperial IPA, but it seems that doesn't jibe well with the contents so I'm going with IPA.

Label art is amazing though.

7.4% ABV, 500ml, a seasonal beer, so not an all year brew, 222 calories a serving,  and this is 2.92 standard drink units in a bottle.  This might be around 65 IBU things so slightly more bitter and at the top end of the range for IPA.

[caption id="attachment_8517" align="alignleft" width="300"] Selfie time as usual[/caption]

Halcyon pours an opaque honey hue and produces a huge rich tropical fruit and hop aroma. Chewy, juicy, biscuity malts and intense pineapple fruit flavours and citrus hoppiness combine with a hint of tangerine and pear drops

Rich fruit and hop character in aroma. Chewy, juicy malts and intense hoppiness coming through in mouth with a hint of tangerine and pear drops. Ends with a well-balanced bitterness.

 

Best not hang about then.

Beer - #396 - Thornbridge - Jaipur (a redux)

Thornbride Jaipur - From the way back when machine I found a place that stocks this now, on the shelf, last time I had this I thought it was  two things.

Firstly it was a special delivery from the UK from a very god friend, Neil, and secondly it was a gosh good beer.

So here we go again - Brewed by Thornbridge in the style that is  India Pale Ale (IPA) and they are in Bakewell, England (which I think has a Tart named after it too). It's been 369 beers between drinks. 

It's a beer of 5.9% ABV, and comes in a 500ml bottle, making it 177 calories a serving, and 2.33 standard drink units in NZ.  This s 55 on the IBU scale, so  middling to bitter is expected.

 

[caption id="attachment_8510" align="alignright" width="300"] Selfie[/caption]

A citrus dominated India Pale Ale, its immediate impression is soft and smooth yet builds to a crescendo of massive hoppiness accentuated by honey. An enduring, bitter finish.

The immediate impression of this wonderful multi award winning India Pale Ale is soft and smooth but this builds around the mouth to a crescendo of massive hoppiness accentuated by honey.

Voted best keg ale in the World at the 2010 Brewing Industry International Awards. 

Can't help but thinking that the world has sped up a bit since 2010 and that that particular crown would be even harder to achieve now. 

Out and About - Skysport Grill Auckland Viaduct

Skysport Grill is New Zealand's first purpose built genuine sports grill and bar, featuring 25+ sports viewing screens and 40+ beers on tap from all over.

It has an exciting menu of New Zealand fare (based on the American sports style bar but with a New Zealand theme), and plays a continuous selection of classic rock music on a state-of-the-art sound system.

I was there last night for a short time with a couple of friends.  I could have been there for so much longer. They really do have a stunning amount of on tap beers, from around everywhere.

Madly I started off with a local beer, i of the Zombie, which was 9.5%ABV screamer. I'm going to make an honest effort to review that later, stand by. By which I mean I went and brought some and will get to it next.

I also had a Thornbridge Jaipur. This is a beer that I had the pleasure of in a bottle a long time ago, and fondly remember it as being awesome. The keg version wasn't a welcome return of the king. It was mightily good, but was thinner than I remember.

To finish me off, in more ways than one, The Sierra Nevada Torpedo, which was a mighty fine beer too.

Somehow there was also a Ben Middlemiss Lunatic Soup enjoyed and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, as well as more exotic Lowenbrau. A concerted effort would see you enjoying one of everything as a group, if you tried.

10 pints of beer then, NZ$95 which I'd say for anyone's money for the quality of beer was outstanding.

The Venue? Well it does have a magnificent bar to look at, and it's chock full of TV's of all sizes, all showing, have a guess.... Sports. Can't vouch for the food, it didn't even enter our heads. But given the once over I'd be confident that the burgers, hotdogs, nachos or fish and chips would be par for the course, it's not gourmet, it's not greasy spoon. I'm going to make a point to eat something next time.

We had a semi-outside table under a heater which put out more than enough rays to make me want to sit somewhere less intense, but it was matter of inches rather than feet.

The barman, Ben,  knew his thing, the wait staff were attentive, amusing and ready for a quick chat. All the things you need in bar.

Possibly then a good reason to move to the Viaduct and make this a local. Tempered only by the fact that in a previous incarnation that the venue happened to be an Indian restaurant, so I might make it an event pub, and enjoy it on occasion. There is local parking, but unless you have an iron will and want just one beer then get the bus, get a sober driver, or walk. Mad if you don't.

Beer – #27 in a series – Jaipur

Thornbridge Jaipur IPA.

"A citrus dominated India Pale Ale, its immediate impression is soft and smooth yet builds to a crescendo of massive hoppiness accentuated by honey. An enduring, bitter finish"

A tall 500ml (pint) bottle and 5.9 ABV. with a fancy new label.

This one was special delivery from the UK from a friend of mine who could not rate it too highly. The interwebtubes also seem to lean towards this being at the better end of the tasty than not.

I've been holding back on this (not really) as I've only the one bottle, and that makes it even more precious. But it's a night for a nice beer and so here we go!

Pale, straight up smells like oranges, and also you can smell the hopppiness. It's really pale did I mention that, and  Gosh that's a good taste, I'm having to tell myself to slow down a bit and enjoy it.

The initial and lingering smell of hops does not translate into a taste of hops, and there's no bitterness or metallic on the tounge. The flavor stays and lingers, and it's only later, almost an after thought that the hops break through with a nice afterglow.

Maxing lyrical on this I've got to say that 10 arbitrary stars out of 10 might not be enough, liquid awesomeness.  I'm wondering who I can hit up to get this on their shelves.

Arbitrarily then on the equally as arbitrary pdubyah-o-meter this is a staggeringly good 10 out of 10, and is almost that good to make me re-asses the other scores, because this has a bit of daylight between it and the next best.

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