Motley'd..again

Yup, it's gonna be painful. I have just placed an order with Otley Brewing for 6 Otley casks and 1 Purple Moose cask, including the 5.5% abv Motley Brew which I thought had been sold out!
As it turns out it wasn't so it should be on the bar by the weekend, maybe in time for 5pm Friday when my weekend starts and I can have a few jars after work!

Right time to order a new liver and hope the queue ain't too long!

Other news on the Motley/Otley front is that Nick and I have arranged for me to go back to Ponty and brew the second batch of the 7.5% Motley Brew for later on in the year AND a new exciting strawberry beer too, roll on July!

What's your favourite summer beer?

I asked the question on twitter a week or so ago. It's not exactly a hard question to answer, is it? Well actually yes, I think it is. It all depends on several things such as the occasion, the weather, who you're drinking with and where you're drinking. So many things to think about.
For instance my favourite beers recently have been Goose Island IPA and Motley Brew, Goose Island IPA is a great all-rounder, that means I could drink it any time, any where, it's that tasty, that consistent. Whereas Motley Brew is better enjoyed in company and happens to taste better in the winter and there's also the added bonus that I helped create it!
Moving on though, I've had a great idea and I want to know your favourite summer beer.
It could be any beer for any reason, no reason is too silly(well it might be and I really want to hear it if it is!).
Lucille's favourite beer is Little Creatures Pale Ale because the beer is nice and she likes the name and the packaging.
So the missus(to be) has started us off.
So, over to you. I have a really good reason for asking the question so don't be afraid. Let me know.

100th Post

My one hundreth post, so I thought I'd do a piece on IPA's.
I bottled some Motley Brew and brought it home yesterday, possibly the last time (this year) that i'll drink it. I say this year because I am delighted to say that Nick and his team at Otley Brewing decided to make it a permanent on their seasonal range, albeit with the slightly lower abv of 5.5%.
I bought a couple of bottles of Punk IPA from Sainsbury's on Sunday because Lucille and I had a couple of friends round for lunch and it was possibly the most inspiring choice in their beer range.
So why not compare the two? They are two of my favourite breweries after all and they are very similar beers too.
First of all Motley : it's now 5.5% abv but you wouldn't guess it, it does taste more like 6-6.5%. It was bottled by hand from the tap yesterday into a flip-top bottle to try and keep it as fresh as possible but it was still lacking in condition. The tasting notes are pretty much the same as they were in December when we launched it at The Rake, I wrote about the beer here, the only difference being the abv which I now believe makes it an IPA not a double IPA. There's less of the instant floral hit of the pacific gem hops but it's still there, there's slightly less of the Chinook hops that bittered it up but they're still there, it's the same beer made from the same recipe and it's still a fantastic beer in my lowly opinion.
The Punk IPA : It's 6% abv, it's a bottle and the carbonation really helps bring out the flavour, there's a bitterness that's unmistakeably Brewdog. Now I don't want to talk about this beer without first telling you about the Keg we had at The Rake recently, it's actually convinced me that Brewdog have changed the hops that they used in the brew, is this true? well only Brewdog can say I guess, but my taste buds were given a tropical treat that took me far away to an island where I could have laid in the sun sipping it all day long. There was pineapple and lychees coming through and it was immensely drinkable.
Back to the bottle, it's slightly harder work to drink because there's that Brewdog bitterness back again that ruthlessly attacks the taste buds, it's an agressive beer, it says so on the label, it must be true then!
Which is better? well, you know that's completely subjective and you good folks can make up your own minds.

A Drunk Diary, Episode Sixteen

OK, started at 2.45pm today, my friends Katy and Jason were in the bar and I wanted to be sociable, even with the horrible hangover from the Motley Brews and sweet FA to eat yesterday!

Drink : Watou Kapitel (One third and one half)
abv : 6%
Units : 2.83

Drink : Motley Brew (One Half pint)
abv : 7.5%
Units : 2.13

Drink : O'Hanlons Port Stout (two pints)
abv : 4.8%
Units : 5.45

Drink : Moor JJJ IPA
abv : 9.5%
Units : 6.27

Total Units today : 16.68

A Drunk Diary, Episode Fifteen

Two weeks since I started this drunks diary, and the units ain't slowing down, however the quantity seems to be.

I started at 5pm.

Drink : Motley Brew 5 x half pints
abv : 7.5
Units : 10.65

I think it's a case of making sure I make the most of my brew! But DAMN I like it!
Any way that was it for the day.
The Weekly Units are : 55.47 and that's with a day OFF the booze! Crikey.

Motley...the Revenge...

OK, just a quickie here.
If you missed it the first time around it's back! The Motley Brew is available on cellar runs should you feel the urge, just come in and ask me for a half or a 3rd.
If you don't know what it's about, it's a beer I helped brew with the top blokes from the Otley Brewing Company in Pontypridd, South Wales. It's a 7.5% IPA and it's marvelous!
Hope to see you later!
RBF

A Drunk Diary, Episode Fourteen

Good evening my hardy band of loyal readers today I started at 5pm, well with a drink like my first, ya gotta really dontcha.

Drink : Motley Brew 3rd of a pint (Quality Control);)
abv : 7.5%
units : 1.41

Drink : Motley Brew Pint x 2
abv : 7.5
Units : 4.26

Drink : Motley Brew Half Pint
abv : 7.5%
Units : 2.13

Total units today : 7.8

What the F*?k do I know? - the final act

Yesterday at The Rake, The Otley Brewing Company and myself unveiled two brand new beers, if you read this blog on a regular basis you'll know that I helped brew one of them, the Motley Brew.
A pub full of people attended the bash and the Motley Brew went down very well. For a first attempt I was thrilled, I had a sneaky taste on Sunday and had to go and be by myself for a while, I was on some sort of beer high, it was as close to total serenity that I think I will ever come. Now, I've never been the most verbose person in the world at the best of times but I was totally speechless on Sunday.
I was banging on about it for weeks before the event and People must have been getting absolutely sick to death of hearing about O-Nite and Motley Brew, after all, I'm not the first person to brew beer (or help brew beer!) and I certainly won't be the last but the sheer amount of people that turned up at The Rake yesterday to try the two new brews was a humbling experience.
The beer itself? A double IPA, bright amber and a bit hazy. Massive amounts of tropical fruit on the nose, that'll be the 3.5kg of pacific gem hop we put in, in the mouth the body was totally right, the taste, wee bit of apple yeastiness from the American yeast we used, the bittering hops(Chinook and Centennial) perhaps should have been a bit more prevalent but it wasn't too sweet either. The finish was fantastically dry due to the dry-hopping (again Chinook hops were used) and it left me wanting more.
I hope that when people said they liked it they weren't just being polite but I was more than a bit happy with the final result and for those of you who missed it? Well I'm looking forward to the new year when I get the next cask in and I hope to see you there next time.