#ukcraftbeer

[nailatem]

@cloudwaterbrew Pampel Weisse #craftbeer #cervezaartesana #craftbeerweekend #craftbeertoutlemonde #cervezaartesanaparatodos #instacraftbeer #englishcraftbeer #ukcraftbeer #cloudwaterbrewco #berlinerweisse #sourale #fruitedsour (en Cádiz) https://www.instagram.com/p/CncFub5NHIH/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[beerselfie]

#Repost @craftbeer.not.crapbeer PATRONS PROJECT 13.07 // TANKPETROL // THE FINAL VORTEX // OTHER HALF // EQUILIBRIUM // DDH IPA I mean, this collaboration is from 3 great brewers so we already know that this beer is going to be awesome! I literally love this can, everything about it is so cool and the label is fantastic! 🔥 I do tend to love a DDH IPA and this beer is just WOW! It’s thick and the aromas of citrus, tangerine and zest are so intense! The smell is just fantastic and the carbonation is so light and soft making this beer just delicious. Upfront on the taste, there’s just so much juiciness and as the juice fades you get a dry almost pine like dank finish. You don’t pick up the 7.7% ABV either so this is just a really good beer. Maybe, one of the best collabs of the year, who knows? What other collaborations do you love? #beerreview #beertography #yorkshire #leeds #beerlover #beerporn #beersofinstagram #craftbeerporn #dipa #photography #doubleipa #beerreview #ukcraftbeer #canart #autumn #beer #bier #cerveza #cerveja #pivo #piwo #starköl #bière #birra #ビール #craftbeer #instacraftbeer #クラフトビール #かんぱい #乾杯 https://www.instagram.com/p/CkvryewrB8v/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[sonic-transmitter-records]

Absolutely chuffed with our recent @blackmetalbrewery order! Mixed crate and every single one is a banger. I finished this one to the latest The Ruins of Beverast record last night, a great pair! • • • • • #blackmetalbrewery #blackmetal #extrememetal #sonictransmitterrecords #str #ukblackmetal #ukbm #scotland #scottishblackmetal #beer #ale #stout #porter #craftbeer #craftale #ukcraftbeer #brewery #atmosphericblackmetal #depressiveblackmetal #ambientblackmetal #warmetal #rawblackmetal #melodicblackmetal #blackgaze https://www.instagram.com/p/CMcCd5wpb6W/?igshid=pdx48bmrvje4

[rabidbarfly]

Doing a Stout & Porter tasting at home on Saturday for a few friends here’s the beer line up! @electricbearbrewing @lainebrewco @fiercebeer @cloudwaterbrew @aegirproject @devilspeakbc #stouts #porters #darkbeer #craftbeer #UKCraftBeer #FrenchCraftBeer #SACraftBeer #craftnotcrap #craftbeerlife #craftbeerphoto #craftcans #craftbottles #bier #beer #ale #birra #aegirproject #devilspeak #fiercebeer #ladabouche #cloudwater #lainesbrewco #electricbear (at Furzedown)

[pilgrimageofthehops]

Checking a cool little.part of Walthamstow and grabbing some brews from @godsownjunkyard @pillarsbrewery @wildcardbrewery #traptaproom Good times to be had here!! Thanks for showing me around @mindingsstu who agree that the Line Berliner weisse was the best of what we tried. . . . . #ukcraftbeer #travel #hopstraveler #craftbeerunited #craftbeerworld #beerstagram #craftbeerstagram #craftbeersofinstagram #craftbeerlife #craftbrewery #beerlover #beertography (at Walthamstow, United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz6HbyClQFz/?igshid=1qoacndohsqdb

[thehymnforthealcohol]

To Ølekalender

As much as I love chocolate, these days I much prefer a nice beer. In a self-indulgent spur of the moment, I decided to splurge on an advent calendar from one of my favourite breweries: To Øl.

To Øl are a danish gypsy brewery run by the exceptional Tobias Emil Jensen and Tore Gynthe. Their beers are continually pushing the boundaries of what defines a beer, using high quality ingredients to offer innovative takes on a variety of styles.

Here is my rundown of my thoughts on each individual beer, as well as my thoughts on the advent calendar as a whole:

Day 1: Hundelufter Bajer

A really nice pale ale, with tons of beautiful mosaic coming through. I could drink this by the gallon on a hot summers day.

Day 2: Final Frontier

A lovely pithy IPA that’s practically a core beer in To Øl’s range - but one I’ve never had before. It’s the first time it’s been produced in cans and it’s great!

Day 3: Kaffe og Røg

This was one of my favourite beers from the calendar. It had a gorgeous coffee taste which was exceptional in its own right, but what made the beer unique was the underlying smokiness to it. It prevented the beer from being too one dimensional and made it complex and decadent.

Day 4: Sur Yule

Surprisingly, this was one of the few beers I had drunk before from the calendar. When I tried it I was a bit underwhelmed, so I was interested to try a fresher version. It’s a cherry sour, but I’m not sure to what extent it really works. In the fresh bottle the cherries were much more accentuated which was great, but it’s not a match for To Øl’s other sours.

Day 5: Sessions: Cloud 3 Wit

I initially thought this was just a filler beer, but it was actually really quite nice. It’s a witbier with orange and mango, so it was incredibly refreshing, but it was unfortunately devoid of any lingering aftertaste.

Day 6: Raid Beer

I seldom drink pilsners these days. Many are by-the-numbers lagers, and attempt to pander too much to a casual beer drinker. However, this was fantastic. It’s SO hoppy and floral. This is what a pilsner should be like, showing that flavour and taste need not be a mysterious concept when making a pilsner.

Day 7: Santa’s Hibernation

This was like an amped up version of Cloud 3 Wit. A very nice wheat beer, at a spritely 6%.

Day 8: My Pils

This was quite disappointing for several reasons. Despite the excellence of Raid Beer it was a bit of a shame to have another pilsner so soon, especially when this pales in comparison to it. Moreover, To Øl are a brewery famed for their innovativeness and creativity in beer, so a period of 4 days of quite samey beers made day 8 an especially dark (albeit pale) day.

Day 9: Sur Amarillo

I find single hopped beers a bit underwhelming sometimes, but To Øl have mastered this range of single hopped sours. Indeed, I’ve tried a few single hopped sours that taste very soapy, but this avoids that unpleasantness entirely and highlights the beauty of Amarillo

Day 10: Black Ball

This was a roasty imperial porter perfect for the Christmas season, but it unfortunately exploded on me upon opening. As a result, what should of been quite a smooth porter was a bit overcarbonated and thin to be truly excellent for me.

Day 11: Gose To Hollywood

Another beer I have had before, but I’d be more than happy to drink forever. It’s potentially one of my desert island beers, and one I could wax lyrical on for 2000 words. It’s sour and punchy with essences of saltiness. It’s only 3.8%, so it’s insanely drinkable, but it packs so much vibrancy and taste. I adore the artwork as well.

Day 12: My Sour Pils

After the lacklustre My Pils, I wasn’t particularly excited about this one. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was much much better and tastier. The sourness gave a complexity that was absent in the normal version, and defibrillated what was quite a lifeless beer.

Day 13: Say What?!

One of the problems of trying a range of one breweries beers in a short period of time is that you’re able to compare similar beers quite easily, as your fresh memory highlights what would usually be subtle differences. As a result, Say What?! compared slightly unfavourably to the better Final Frontier. Both atypical American IPAs, but this was a little less rounded.

Day 14: Brett & Butter

This was a beer that sounded really interesting on paper. Firstly for its excellent name, but also for its style. It’s a traditional Belgian table beer which is kettle soured and fermented with brettanomyces. However, in flavour this was quite unremarkable. Despite being quite tasty, the funkiness usually found through brettanomyces was nonexistent.

Day 15: Gose North

To Øl’s goses are mostly incredible and this was no exception. A salty gose with the interesting addition of quince and seabuckthorn was great. It was puckeringly sour yet devilishly drinkable.

Day 16: Frost Bite

I found this more interesting than enjoyable, and I think that’s down to my personal preference when it comes to pale ales. As seen in the photo, this was quite dark for a pale ale and I prefer them to be pale and juicy. This had the addition of pine needles and orange zesty to create a spicy Christmas pale, but one that was a bit too heavy for me.

Day 17: !!!PA Simcoe & Mosaic

I hated this. I especially hated it as I had been anticipating a nice strong beer from the calendar for a while and what I received was practically undrinkable. It was 13% and didn’t hide its strength at all. Again, my dislike is almost definitely personal preference. I just don’t think triple IPAs are very good, and needlessly strong as the strength delimits and negates the subtleties of other flavours. Indeed, many triple IPAs verge into the category of barley wines, which poses the question of “why not just make a barley wine?”

Day 18: Don’t Gose Towards The Light

As stated previously, To Øl make brilliant goses and I was especially looking forward to this dark blackberry edition to counter the woes of the previous day. Unfortunately, as the label states, the sadness will indeed seemingly last forever, as this didn’t work for me. The dark malts combined with the fruitiness of the blackberries gave the beer a very weird juxtaposition. Furthermore, I was expecting the blackberries to provide a sweet and tartness to the beer, but they tasted almost like they had gone off. Very strange.

Day 19: Totem Pale

Look... I don’t want to sound overly negative, but after two disappointing beers I needed something to cheer me up. An insipid 2.8% gluten free pale ale was unsurprisingly not the answer. If I was a teacher at a parents evening, I would tell the parents of To Øl that they had started the month well, but they’ve become distracted and their work has suffered.

Day 20: Tripel Trouble

Thankfully, To Øl raised their game towards the end of the advent calendar and provided a really solid tripel. I think tripels are really hard to get right, and despite this being far from perfect, it was full of honey loveliness. Indeed, despite it’s 7% strength it was very easy-going.

Day 21: Sur Galaxy

This was a ridiculous beer! Without sounding horribly pretentious, this is a beer that challenges perception. It’s antagonistic and challenging, and ultimately a great beer. I’ve no idea to what extent I liked it or disliked it. It’s a single hopped black sour, and it’s extremely weird! In contrast to Don’t Gose Towards The Light, it creates a juxtaposition between sourness and roastiness in the best possible way!

Day 22: Black Bauble

One of the problems with the advent calendar was the lack of stouts, which I believe are perfect for the winter season, and a style that To Øl are generally fantastic at. This was a much needed imperial porter, with added cardamom and orange peel. Christmas beers are often on the wrong side of spiciness or fragrance, but this was really complementary towards what was a luxurious beer.

Day 23: Santa Gose F&*% It All

A really nice gose, again. This time with passion fruit, guava and mango. A bit less salty and sour in comparison to their other goses, which I think was a good idea to subsequently accentuate the juiciness of the added fruit.

Day 24: Snowball Saison

I think overall this was quite a disappointing finisher for Christmas Eve. To Øl do many fantastic big beers which would’ve been perfect (not least their lovely imperial stout Jule Maelk) to celebrate the end of the calendar. The beer itself was thankfully a really good take on a saison, but unspectacularly so.

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience of the advent calendar. To have a curated selection of beers from one of my favourite breweries, all fresh, was great. Moreover, it’s been really fun to look at it critically and analyse each one for this blog post. However, I’m not sure it has represented great value. There was a complete lack of stouts and higher abv beers in favour of few duds which do not really represent the quality of the brewery. Despite this, advent calendars are definitely hard to get right, as there’s no way you can appease everyone. I think To Øl managed to counter this by providing a fairly diverse range of styles, with most of the beers having quite a unique and innovative twist.

[gummibierchen]

Der Feierabend ist verdient, genauso wie das #Feierabendbier! Zu Billard im @pentahotels #Wiesbaden gibt es das #ProperJob #CornishIPA der @st_austell_brewery aus England. Passt ja, denn ich habe hier auch einen solchen Job abgeliefert🙃 Man riecht direkt den Hopfen und die Pinie. Auch wenn das Gesamtpaket im Mund etwas bitter ist, so mundet es doch. #DasBier ist sehr würzig, sehr süffig und endlich mal wieder echte 0,5 l Bier🍺#staustellbrewery #staustell #bittleconditioned #bierliebe #bierdurst #bierdestages #bierlaune #bierzeit #biertest #feierabendbierchen #bierporn #bierlife #bierlust #bierpause #britishcraftbeer #ukcraftbeer #englishcraftbeer #beertaste (hier: pentahotels)

[inabeerfever-blog]

It’s Monday evening after work. You just came home and opened a fridge to get something for dinner. And guess who cheers you, your old buddy IPA by @brewdogofficial #craftbeer #craftalus #craftbeerlove #craftbeerfan #craftbeerporn #monday #mondayevening #ipa #beer #õlut #pivo #alus #olut #õlu #bier #ol #öl #biere #birra #cereveza #latvia #latvija #riga #rīga #brewdog #brewdogbeer #punkipa #scotishcraftbeer #ukcraftbeer (at Europe/Riga)

[nailatem]

@northbrewco Invisible Cities #craftbeer #cervezasartesanales #craftbeerstoday #craftbeerforall #ᴄᴇʀᴠᴇᴢᴀsᴀʀᴛᴇsᴀɴᴀʟᴇs #northbrewingco #cervezasartesanalessiempre #craftbeeroftheday #craftbeertokens #englishcraftbeer #ukcraftbeer #hazyipa #ipahunters #ipalover #ipa (en Cádiz) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnMkRksqMAr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[beerselfie]

#Repost @indiepalemale ・・・ Donzoko Brewing Company • Garden Bier • Session Lager • I don’t have a garden, but I do have the day off work and lots of green spaces nearby. This beer was made for outdoor daytime drinking in the sun, so I was happy to oblige. It went down in big gulps. Super crisp and refreshing, you can’t beat a lager in the sun. Lovely stuff. . . . #donzoko #gardenbier #lager #ukcraftbeer #beerselfie #craftbeer #craftnotcrap #beerporn #craftbeerporn #instabeer #beerstagram #beertography #beersofinstagram #beerme #beergeek #craftbeerlife #beer #daytimedrinking https://www.instagram.com/p/CA527GrnYIB/?igshid=1mz366ilt61ym

[craft-beer-lover-blog]

#Tbt to having a green devil by @oakhamales . l Green Devil l IPA l 6% ABV l Oakham Ales l Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England . #oakhamales #oakham #ipa #indianpaleale #paleale #england #ukcraftbeer #greendevil #hoppy #citrus #beer #beers #beerme #beergeek #beernerd #beerporn #craftbeerporn #craftbeer #brew #craftbrew #craftbeernotcrapbeer #ale #beertography #instabeer #beerstagram #beersofinstagram (at Caledon, Ontario)

[ataleineverypint]

Mangos, fresh cut pineapple and papaya on the nose. Frothy cap sits on a cloudy tangerine body. Semi dank, tropical hops, bitter orange citrus. @fiercebeer #beertime #beerporn #beerstagram #beergeek #beer🍺 #craftbeer #ukcraftbeer

[xavipostsfan]

RT @hopsmash: I don’t get a lot of Magic Rock releases, so you know I had to scoop me this 1,000 lb. bomb in a small package when I saw it available...Read more -> https://t.co/T624NtG9z5 #magicrockbrewing #huddersfield #ukcraftbeer #englishbeer #barrelagedbeer @MagicRockBrewCo @OKasionalBeer https://t.co/0724mogul0

I don’t get a lot of Magic Rock releases, so you know I had to scoop me this 1,000 lb. bomb in a small package when I saw it available...Read more -> https://t.co/T624NtG9z5#magicrockbrewing #huddersfield #ukcraftbeer #englishbeer #barrelagedbeer @MagicRockBrewCo @OKasionalBeer pic.twitter.com/0724mogul0

— Hopsmash (@hopsmash) June 13, 2020

via Twitter https://twitter.com/OKasionalBeer June 13, 2020 at 04:05PM

[myemptylittlemind]

Keg artwork for IPA par Gatos @lostindustrybrewing ABV to be confirmed. #craftbeerart #craftbeer #ukcbf #ukcraftbeer #lostindustrybrewing #lostindustry #sheffieldbeer #gatosmadrid #gatos #cats #illustration #watercolour #winsorandnewton https://www.instagram.com/p/BrYRvrAg2SM/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=14fxrdtclr5y4

[nailatem]

@pollysbrewco Satin Pattern #craftbeer #cervezaartesana #craftbeerweekend #craftbeeroftheday #welshcraftbeer #ukcraftbeer #cervezaartesanadehoy #craftbeerfollowers #craftbeergram #cfratveermalescrito #ddhpaleale #findecervecero #paleale (en Cádiz) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnHa7hbKavc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[beerselfie]

#Repost @beardedbeerbloke ・・・ @cloudwaterbrew’s DDH Pale Galaxy (5.1% ABV). Barry Krisha, what a balanced beaut this is, all the fruity new england bomb from the DIPA’s but without the colossal strength and fall down on the floor after a couple. It is fall down great for a five percenter, this Double Dry Hopped is a proper tour de force. As the world gets hyped again about some galaxy far, far away I know which galaxy I wanna be in mate 🍺🍻Oosh #cloudwater #ddhpalegalaxy #ddh #brewery #me #craftbeer #selfie #beer #beerstagram #beerlover #beergeek #beertography #drinkcraftbeer #drinkcraft #beerpics #beerblog #beerblogger #hops #breweries #beerpic #instabeer #craft #beerme #craftbeerunited #craftbeeruk #ukcraftbeer #craftbeerlover #instabrew #brewtography @beerselfie