Old Peculier #decembeer

Day 3 of #decembeer

It is only 3 days in and I'm already having a go at one of these 'blow your head off' beers. At 5.6% it is probably not best to have many of these on a school night. May I present….the legendary beer that is….Theakston's famous 'Old Peculier'……

Now as you should be aware by now, I never do anything half-hearted, so a quick visit to Theakston's website for a bit of extra information (that is sadly not on the bottle) revealed some big claims. It is described, amongst other things as: “the country's most well known and loved ales”; “beautiful brew”; and “superb”. Furthermore, an interesting use of the word “awesome” when it comes to describe the flavour:

“awesome full-bodied flavour with subtle cherry and rich fruit overtones”

Needless to say I had big expectations for tonight's #decembeer, and I wasn't disappointed. It actually tasted really quite smooth, wasn't expecting that (but don't forget I don't know what the hell I'm talking about). Didn't smell or taste as 'harsh' as the first couple of beers, no weird aftertaste, and despite the dark look of it, it doesn't taste particularly 'strong'. Peculiar? (See what I've done there!?)

Nice head going on...

I'm still struggling to taste any 'fruits', and I really am trying, just can't seem to taste anything but a beer taste!!!?

Not only do you get a rather good tasting beer, but also on the bottle is a ten-word novel, as part of the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival….

Dark House by Simon Kernick

Picked off one by one. Four…Three…Two…It's you!

 

Inferno #decembeer

Day of 2 #decembeer

Oakham Ales bring us the rather dramatically named ‘Inferno‘…

The first of many ‘local’ beers on the #decembeer list. ‘Inferno’ is described as…

“This light, igniting ale flickers complex fruits across your tongue,

leaving a dry, fruity, bitter finish, smothering your thirst”

Again, I’m no expert and I’m having trouble tasting the ‘complex fruits’, unless they are so complex they just taste like beer. However, I can smell the floral citrussy aroma, it smells a little bit like washing-up liquid. It is not as smooth as yesterday’s Oxford Gold, and definitely leaves a dry, bitter taste in your mouth.

Looking forward to day 3 of #decembeer already!

Oxford Gold #decembeer

Day 1 of #decembeer

The beer that has the pleasure of kicking off #decembeer is Brakspear’s Oxford Gold organic beer.

Apparently Oxford Gold is:

“A remarkably zesty brew, with fresh citrussy aromas and a firm fruity flavour”

Now I don’t claim to be a beer connoisseur, and to me it just tastes like beer. Maybe it has a ‘sharp clean’ taste and I definitely can’t taste any ‘fruity’ flavour – but then again, I really don’t know what I’m talking about.

Bring on tomorrow!

Another one bites the dust…..

Today sees the 30th piece of origami, one a day for the past month, and signifies the end of November's Challenge. It has been an interesting month and I've actually quite enjoyed, I've created birds, animals, boxes, shapes and flowers. They all sit proudly awaiting the final piece…

The plan was to finish the month with the most elaborate, most difficult, most impressive thing I could create, like the 78 stage origami spider….

But then I thought……balls to that….

……bring on #decembeer!