Brewery: Stone
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
ABV: 9.4%
Serving: 650ml Bottle
A few times a year legendary California brewery Stone produce a beer with one specific purpose; to make it into peoples’ hands and into their glasses in as brief a window as possible. They take this so seriously that, as well as only giving the beer a 35 day shelf life, they emblazoned this shelf life on the label in the form of the beer’s name “Enjoy By..”
Brewery: Mikkeller
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
ABV: 8.9%
Serving: 330ml Bottle
I bought this bottle at my local BrewDog bar after having the outstanding Nelson Sauvin version of it. I also recently discovered how good a single hop Simcoe beer can bee when I tried the Kernel Simcoe IPA a few weeks back. With both of those things in mind, I had high hopes for this beer. Not only that, I’ve held Mikkeller in very high regard ever since first trying their I Beat yoU imerial IPA last year.
Brewery: FourPure
Style: American IPA
ABV: 6.5%
Serving: 330ml Bottle
A pub quite local to me has recently started making a big push into the territory of new style craft beer. They have four craft keg lines which often feature the likes of the mighty Magic Rock and Kernel breweries. In addition to this they have a formidable fridge full of bottled craft beers to choose from. On top of all that, they’re very reasonably priced – a half of Magic Rock Cannonball is only £2.20. A recent addition to their fridge was FourPure’s IPA. On a recent beer run I picked up a bottle.
Brewery: Beavertown
Style: Session IPA
ABV: 4.3%
Serving: 330ml Can
On Friday I took a trip to Sheffield and visited one of my favourite beer shops, Beer Central to pick up a few bottles for a friend. While I was there I couldn’t help but pick up a little something for myself as well. I’ve seen a few fellow craft beer Instagrammers post this beer recently and reviews seemed pretty positive so I grabbed a can.
In recent years supermarkets have got increasingly better at stocking craft beer. You can now go into pretty much any of them and get a good bottle or two, even though the selection may not bee exactly huge. But what if you want something a little different? Maybe you don’t feel like drinking Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Brooklyn Lager for the 900th time. Well, until recently your only choices were to order online from a specialist beer seller or pop into a bar and buy some to carry out (if they allow it). Both of these add big expenses; ordering online incurs a £6-10 postage charge and buying from a bar means you paying their mark-up.
Brewery: Buxton Brewery
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
ABV: 8.4%
Serving: 330ml Bottle
The biggest beer of my Buxton order is their much-praised Wyoming Sheep Ranch. This double IPA boasts intense fruit and pine flavours and a “bitterness that will slap you in the chops”. Sounds just like my kind of thing.
Brewery: Buxton Brewery
Style: Berliner Weisse
ABV: 4.9%
Serving: 330ml Bottle
I’m quite new to the world of the Berliner Weisse. I’ve had four of the BrewDog Blitz range, which are fruit infused twists on a Berliner Weisse and I’ve also had London Sour by The Kernel. One thing that I have found is that, as a style, they seem to be consistently good. Maybe it’s that I’ve been very fortunate and have only had good ones or if it’s that I just love sour things so much that I even like bad ones. Who knows. Either way, I was really eager to try this dry hopped twist on the style.
Brewery: Buxton Brewery
Style: American IPA
ABV: 6.8%
Serving: 330ml Bottle
The first beer from my little Eebria / Buxton Brewery haul is something of a special little number. Axe Edge is the brewery’s flagship IPA and this version is loaded with additional Sorachi Ace hops giving it a totally new and unique aroma and flavour. This bottle was fresh, only three weeks old. I had Axe Edge for the first time a few months ago and it was my first Buxton beer. To say I was impressed was an understatement. The fact that a brewery only about 30 minutes from my house is producing beer of this calibre is amazing. It goes without saying, when I heard about Ace Edge, I just had to give it a try.
Craft beer, as a concept, is nothing new to the UK. For decades pubs have been priding themselves on their selections of “real ales” which typically means ale from small, often local breweries served cellar temperature, hand pulled from a cask. These beers *are* craft beers in the sense that they are not mass produced, they use top quality ingredients, and have limited distribution. This hasn’t just existed for longer than the US craft beer scene has existed, it’s existed for longer than the US itself has existed.
Yesterday I placed my first order from Buxton Brewery’s online shop which is operated by drinks distribution outfit Eebria. Eebria basically drop-ship direct from manufacturers which means not only is your beer the freshest it can be, having not sat around in their warehouse for ages, it offers the cheapest delivery I’ve seen for an online beer seller at £5.99. The only downside; you have to pay one delivery charge per manufacturer. That didn’t apply in this case however because I only bought from Buxton Brewery.