Türk Tuborg Fiçi

Tuborg Fiçi is a Turkish pilsner and I just had to try it when I spotted the unusual shaped bottle in Home Bargains.  The bargain price of £1.29 was another attraction, of course.

It's a deep golden beer with a frothy, very rapidly disappearing cream coloured head and it has a traditional continental beer smell of hops and malt.  

I was surprised how malty it tastes as I would normally expect a darker body to correspond to this amount of malt.  I'm not complaining at all, I love a malty beer!  There are also notes of tangy hops, sweet caramel and biscuit.  The body is quite thin but it's not watery as the soft, low carbonation gives it a tingly mouthfeel.  

It's a lovely malty, refreshing beer.  It would be perfect to quench your thirst on a hot day so I would definitely be seeking it out if I ever went back to Turkey.  For now, I'll keep an eye out in Home Bargains and hopefully, Ale Be Seeing You again!

Brewed by Türk Tuborg Brewery, Turkey
5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.5/5

Find out more at Türk Tuborg Brewery

Winding Path 885 Porter

 

This porter from America looks like black velvet in the glass.  There's a small beige head on top of the dark body that retains a thin layer.  It smells amazingly malty with hints of roasted nuts and sweet treacle.

It tastes as malty as it smells with additional notes of liquorice, treacle toffee, roasted nuts and some dark fruit.  It has a surprising bitter coffee finish that I didn't mind at first but found it lingered a little too long after a few mouthfuls.  It's well carbonated and fizzy with a full body.

It's a lovely rich, dark porter that tastes like it's brewed with a bit of everything to give it a sweet, dry, roasted, nutty and bitter taste.  I would have scored it much higher if the aftertaste hadn't been a bit too overpowering for me but it's well worth trying, even though Ale not Be Seeing You again.

Brewed by Winding Path Brewing Co., Dallastown, Pennsylvania, USA
5.5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4.25/5

Find out more at Winding Path Brewing Co.

Harper's North Bridge Brown Ale

 

North Bridge Brown Ale is a budget beer from Aldi and although it's not a patch on Newcastle Brown Ale, it's not bad at all.

It's a lovely chestnut brown colour but it's let down by the very small, rapidly disappearing beige head so you very quickly end up with a flat looking headless ale.

It has a lovely malty smell with a dash of sweet caramel which is replicated in the taste, along with some chocolate and burnt toffee.  The chocolate is more sweet than bitter so it has a lovely balance for the sweet-toothed among us.  Most surprising is the harsh carbonation, which considering its flat appearance came as quite a shock to the palate. 

Not bad at all for a budget beer and Ale Be Seeing You again.

Brewed for Aldi by Harper's Brewing Co
4.7% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.5/5

Otter Brewery Otter Claus

I love the otter wearing a Santa hat on the label of Otter Claus, a winter ale from Otter Brewery in Devon; as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to grab a couple of bottles.  Of course, it's what's inside the bottle that counts and this ale is a beautiful deep ruby colour with a very loose, rapidly vanishing cream coloured head.  This definitely looks like my kind of beer!

The aroma is malt, dark fruits, biscuit and toffee with a hint of spiciness and a slight metallic bitterness.  Flavour is malt, toffee, dark fruits and hops followed by a warming spice and a slight bitter finish that builds up as you drink.  As the flavour develops, it's like a liquid Christmas cake as the taste of raisins and warming spice become more noticeable.

It's medium bodied with soft carbonation that gives it a rather flat appearance when the head vanishes, however, it feels very smooth in the mouth and is so easy to drink that it goes down far too quickly.

A lovely winter ale and an absolute steal at a current price of only £2.63 per 500ml bottle direct from Otter Brewery's Online Shop.  I'd be more than happy to drink Otter Claus all year round and Ale definitely Be Seeing You again.

Brewed by Otter Brewery, Devon
5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4/5

Find out more at Otter Brewery

Grimbergen Brassin de Noël

 

This is a little beauty, with only 250ml in the bottle it pours a mid-mahogany brown with a beige frothy head that only disperses a little to leave a good layer of tight creamy foam.

Wow the aroma is Christmas cake in a glass: malt, dark fruits, caramel, a sprinkling of sugar and a hint of spice.  Grimbergen should recreate this smell in a scented candle as it really is a delicious Christmas brew (which is the translation of Brassin de Noël).  I could sniff this for hours but I couldn't wait to find out what it tasted like.

Oh hallelujah!  This is perfection in a glass: dark fruits, sweet malts, a hint of liquorice and spice are combined perfectly to produce an outstanding, intensely malty ale.  It has quite a complex aftertaste, what starts as slightly sour and hoppy evolves into more of a spicy and mixed peel bitterness.  It is perfectly carbonated and full bodied and appears to lovingly caress the tongue with every mouthful.

What a little gem!  It might be in a small bottle but it's definitely a case of quality over quantity as Grimbergen Brassin de Noël scored full marks in every category: appearance, aroma, flavour, mouthfeel and overall.  It's far too nice to keep just for Christmas so Ale Be Seeing You whenever I can get my hands on you, Brassin de Noël, and I'll definitely be looking out for the 330ml and the heavenly 750ml bottles.

Brewed by Grimbergen Abbey Brewery, Belgium

6.5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 5/5

Find out more at Grimbergen Abbey Brewery

Greene King Gangly Ghoul

 

🎃 Hoppy Halloween, beer lovers! 🎃

It's the perfect time to release my review of Gangly Ghoul, Greene King's Halloween themed beer.  This comes in a clear bottle so you can see the beautiful mahogany colour of the beer inside and it definitely looks like my kind of beer.

It really is a beautiful ruby tinged mahogany ale with a loose being head that disappears quite quickly to leave a thin patchy foam.  The aroma is so malty that it instantly had my mouth watering but there's also a definite whiff of toffee apples and a hint of orange peel.  It couldn't smell more like Halloween and I was just thinking what a great job Greene King had done, until I tasted it...

The flavour is so weak and the body is so thin that it tastes like slightly malty sparkling water.  With the appearance and aroma scoring so highly, to say I was devastated is an understatement.  I got absolutely no hint of toffee, orange peel or spice that should have been there according to the label.  So very disappointing.

It's so weakly flavoured that it's a ghost of a beer, which is surprisingly relevant for Halloween.  It's only due to the appearance and aroma that it managed to creep into the 3 pint rating with a total score of 25/50.  It's perfectly drinkable and I wouldn't have considered throwing it down the drain, but it's nothing to write home about and unfortunately I wouldn't recommend it.

Brewed by Greene King Brewery, Suffolk
4.2% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 2.5/5

Find out more at Greene King Brewery

John Smith's Original

I do like a bitter and John Smith's is my go-to cheap as chips beer if I find myself in a pub with a poor choice of real ales.  Pubs serve the John Smith's extra smooth variety, which is in the green can, but when Amazon pantry had a 4 pack of original for £1.75 I couldn't check out fast enough.  So at just under 44p per can, let's see what I thought.

I love the colour of this, it's a clear chestnut brown ale with a frothy and loose cream coloured head.  The head disappears quite quickly, leaving a patchy foam layer.  The aroma is pretty uninspiring; it's more metallic than anything else with an underlying dirty water smell.  Sounds great, doesn't it?  I kept the faith as John Smith's had never failed me!

It definitely pulled its socks up in the taste.  It's so easy to drink with delicate notes of sweet malts and bitter hops along with a delicious nutty flavour.  It's light, fizzy and so very easy to drink.  I do think I prefer the John Smith's Smooth but I'm glad I tried this one; indeed who wouldn't try it for the amazing bargainous price I paid?

John Smith's is my not so guilty pleasure and I'm not ashamed to say Ale Be Seeing You Again!

Brewed by John Smith's Brewery, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire
3.6% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.75/5

Find out more at John Smith's Brewery