Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Golden Pints



So it is that time of year again. Golden pints is a concept dreamt up by Mark Dredge and Andy Mogg and it is a good time to reflect on what's been good about beer, pubs and the like throughout the year.

Best UK Draught Beer - Tap East Coffee in The Morning (well I would say that, I helped brew the first batch)

Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer - Kernel Table Beer

Best Overseas Draught Beer - Not tried enough of it to comment 

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer - Epic Beer Coffee and Fig Stout

Best Overall Beer - Epic Beer Coffee and Fig Stout



Best Pumpclip or Label - Beavertown  - America Fuck Yeah












Best UK Brewery Kernel

Best Overseas Brewery  Mikkeller

Pub/Bar of the Year Port Street Beer House

Beer Festival of the Year - Kent Green Hop Beers @ Canterbury Food Fest

Supermarket of the Year - Waitrose

Independent Retailer of the Year - Bottle Shop


Online Retailer of the Year - Beermerchants

Best Beer Book or Magazine - Let me tell you about beer

Best Beer Blog or Website - Reluctant Scooper

Best Beer Twitterer - Simon H Johnson

Best Online Brewery Presence - Brewdog

Food and Beer Pairing of the Year Hoegaarden and Chicken Madras

In 2013 I’d most like to... Get Pig and Porter off the ground 

Open category – you decide the topic - Best brewpub - Can't split Tap East or The Foundry, Canterbury 


Saturday, 8 December 2012

Test Brew Evaluations

I've been brewing brewing like a bit of a madman of late. Partly due to getting enough beer in stock for Christmas and partly due to a number of test brews I'm doing for a new venture that those of you who follow me on Twitter will be aware of. 

It's fair to say that the coffee stout and the Dark Mayhem have too much coffee/star anise in them so I'll re brew them over Christmas with about a quarter of the additional flavours. The star anise flavour in the Dark Mayhem seems to have intensified over time, perhaps as what little hop flavour has dissipated, giving it a medicinal quality and making it barely drinkable. 

The coffee stout had too much coffee flavour in it from day one and, although some of the drinkers at East Kent Amateur Brewers gave it the thumbs up, it is clearly too bonkers for mainstream appeal so I'm going to re-brew this with about 40% of the coffee.

On the other hand the toasted coconut porter has been a definite success and may well make it into production, even if only as a special.