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After Thurday night, and Friday night I wanted a quiet night. We did some bottling of our Mulligan Porter and Big Chief Amarillo IPA tonight, ably assisted by TheBeerNut who turns out to be a neighbour! So, we had to sample some of the other Larkfield Brewery beers <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) --> The Belgian Strong Dark Ale, the Cascade IPA, the Vienna Dark "Lager", the "Mystery Beer" and of course sneaky tastes of the two brews we just bottled. The Porter is looking promising for a thrown together experiment...

DrJohn got a selection box earlier in exchange for us going through his rubbish bins and extracting many many bottles. His beer choices need a thread all of it's own <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->

Yes, I did a three hour tour (with tastings) of the Larkfield Brewery: it's an incredible operation and the giftshop is [i:hd7kpbb7]very[/i:hd7kpbb7] good value.

Damn shoplifters with their big military backpacks! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

My will power is very weak - the two beers I got on Thursday night were sampled over the weekend.
Friday night I had Bigears' Comparison ale. If I'm correct, this had Styrian Golding hops, something I don't think I've tried before. This was a really tasty IPA, that didn't hit you over the head like a Goose Island, but still had a little of the citrusy taste from the hops.

Last night I had Ken's Ginger beer. I know he said there wasn't as much ginger as planned, but it makes for a very interesting beer. If there was no mention of ginger on the bottle (including the little ginger man on the label, and on the cap)I would have been struggling to put my finger on the slightly spicy aftertaste that lingers on the back of the throat. It works well, and, for me, was just enough ginger.

Two good beers lads. Thanks.

Glad you liked it! I was away all weekend and only drinking my keg of Irish Red, which went down very well with all my friends (despite carbonation difficulties what with temperature, and it not traveling very well <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D --> ) and Vitamin G of course, as they had nothing else worth drinking in the bar.

[quote:33fywbqt]Friday night I had Bigears' Comparison ale. If I'm correct, this had Styrian Golding hops, something I don't think I've tried before. This was a really tasty IPA, that didn't hit you over the head like a Goose Island, but still had a little of the citrusy taste from the hops[/quote:33fywbqt]
Thanks for the kind words Noby. As I mentioned to you on Thursday I wasn't over the moon with this beer. I'm happy with it from a brewing perspective as I can't detect any off flavours but I thought the Styrians on their own didn't work out the way I expected. Whenever I've had them in the past they were blended with something else. I find they pack a punch though as although the beer is quite hoppy it's only 30 IBUs, so certainly not an intentional IPA.

I had your Irish Red on Saturday night and thought it was very nice. I would take it ahead of Smithwicks/Beamish Red any day as it has two flavours I find missing from both: malt and hops <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->