Beer #105 - St Peter’s Extra (Wetherspoons Autumn Festival Special!)

Another festival beer that I was very keen to track down over the two weeks was St Peter’s Extra. I’ve documented my love for St Peter’sBrewery in a few previous posts. This beer was brewed exclusively for the festival for the first time since 2008. It’s a dark ale in the classic ‘best bitter’ mould. The Wetherspoons tastings notes say caramel but I found this almost chocolatey, it’s very rich. There is a mild spice to it but it’s not the predominant flavour. I wish there were more beers like this around but with the ongoing invasion of new world hops you don’t find enough beers like this one around.

 

 

 

 

Brewery: St Peter’s Brewery

Country: United Kingdom 

ABV: 4.4%

Beer #104 - Batemans/Fat Head’s Sunshine Daydream (Wetherspoons Autumn Festival Special!)

Sunshine Daydream was brewed for the festival by Matt Cole of Fat Head’s Brewery of Ohio at Batemans in Lincolnshire. This it’s a nice looking copper beer that goes down very smoothly indeed. The initial taste is slightly sweet and almost tropical in flavour, with a slightly bitter, citrus finish. It’s incredibly smooth and I could happily have had a couple more of these, a good refreshing session beer

Brewery: Batemans / Fat Head's Brewery collaboration

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 5.0%

Beer #103 - Wadworth What The Fuggles (Wetherspoons Autumn Festival Special!)

This was very strange indeed, a very odd malty taste that really wasn’t pleasant. The tasting notes describe it as ‘biscuity’, I’m not sure I’d describe it as that, in fact I’m not really sure how to describe it at all. It wasn’t very nice, let’s leave it at that. Wadworth is an old brewery that goes back over 135 years, but if it’s going to remain afloat in an increasingly competitive market it needs to be making better beers than this! What The Fuggles indeed.

Brewery: Wadworth

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 5.0%

Beer #102 - Adnams/Stone Supremely Self Conscious Black Ale (Wetherspoons Autumn Festival Special!)

When browsing the beer list for the festival this one immediately caught my eye. Stone is one of the States’ most highly regarded craft brewers and Adnams is one of my favourite UK breweries. This beer follows the recent trend (and misnomer) of black IPAs, a heavily hopped IPA style beer that is more like a porter in appearance. I recently read an interesting article on the emergence of the black IPA on the Guardian which can be read here. Supremely Self Conscious Black Ale pours a deep black and the smell is absolutely heavenly. As you’d expect with something from Stone there are some big hoppy flavours here but they aren’t too strong nor overpowering. Really enjoyed this.     

 

Brewery: Adnams/Stone Brewing Co. Collaboration

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 5.0%

Beer #101 - Thwaites / Elysian Avatar Jasmine IPA (Wetherspoons Autumn Festival Special!)

Another of the ten collab brews and another brewer from America's Pacific Northwest. Avatar Jasmine IPA has been brewed for the festival by Dick Cantwell of Elysian Brewing Company at Thwaites in Lancashire. Much like the Ninkasi cream ale in my last post there initially doesn't seem to be a lot going on here. It's a perfectly drinkable, medium-bodied ale. Nt too strong on the hops as you might expect for an American-influenced IPA. There is the feintest floral Jasmine hint in the beer, I found it barely noticeable though and in fact the harder i tried to pick it out the more elusive it seemed! Again it's a perfectly good ale in it's own right but I was quite excited to try this one and it didn't quite deliver in the way I'd anticipated. Good, but not great.

 

Brewery: Thwaites Brewery / Elysian Brewing Company Collaboration
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 6.3%

Beer #100 - Caledonian / Ninkasi Cream Ale (Wetherspoons Autumn Festival Special!)

Beer number 100! I didn't quite expect to get to 100 beers so quickly when I started the blog but here we are, I'm not sure whether I should be concerned about the amount of beer I'm drinking or not..! This cream ale was brewed by Jamie Floyd of Ninkasi Brewing Company, Eugene, Oregon at the Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh. The brewery was set up in 2006 amid Oregons incredible brewing scene. This is a light beer that's very drinkable. At first taste it doesn't seem much to write home about but it has a very interesting creamy finish that is quite hard to describe. Very drinkable but not quite in the same league as the other festival beers I've tried so far.

Brewery: Ninkasi Brewing Company/Caledonian Brewery Collaboration
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.5%

Beer #99 - Batemans Hazelnut Brownie (Wetherspoons Autumn Festival Special!)

So just three beers into the list of 50 for this festival I think I've found my winner! Batemans Hazelnut Brownie is absolutely incredible, it tastes exactly like...well, a hazelnut brownie. It's sweet, obviously, but the flavour is amazing. There aren't really any other words to describe it, if you want to sample a hazelnut brownie in liquid form, with a healthy dose of alcohol thrown in too, track this one down. Apparently it's part of Batemans 'Sovereign Beer Range' which I assume is their crack at the craft/artisan market. Google throws up nothing though so I'm unable to provide any further details on the Range. This is amazing though, I wish I was drinking it right now. Well done Batemans.



Brewery: Batemans Brewery:
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 6.3%

Beer #98 - Cream of the Crop (Wetherspoons Autumn Festival Special!)

Cream of the Crop has been brewed exclusively for the Wetherspoons festival by Oakleaf Brewery in Gosport. The family brewery was founded in 2000 and has won a raft of CAMRA awards locally, I imagine it was something of a coup for them to get onto the Spoons festival list. Thoroughly deserved though as Cream of the Crop is a really nice stout. A strong coffee aroma on the nose and a strong coffee flavour with a bitter finish, it's very drinkable. There is a feint hint of sweetness in there too but I'm not exactly sure how you define a 'sweet' stout.






Brewery: Oakleaf Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.2%

Beer #97 Everards / Cambridge Brewing Sgt. Pepper (Wetherspoons Autumn Festival Special!)

Wednesday marked the start Wetherspoons Autumn Beer Festival. The pub chain is hosting 50 cask ales as part of the festival including 10 special collaborations between US and UK breweries. These collaborations saw top American brewers bringing some special recipes to the UK and brewing them at breweries around the country. Sgt. Pepper is the first one I tried, brewed at Everards in Leicestershire by Will Meyers of Cambridge Brewing Co., Massachusetts. This is a saison style beer with the addition of four spicy peppercorns according to the blurb. I really enjoyed this, it poured slightly hazy and the initial taste was quite herbal with a strong pepper flavour which carries through to the finish and really catches the back of your throat. Very interesting and very enjoyable.

 

Brewery: Everards / Cambridge Brewing Co. collaboration

Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.2%