Tryanuary, world champion winning Cheshire Brewhouse and getting on with drinking beer.

I figured all this exploring new beers, trying new styles and verbosely expounding on these experiences would lend a great addition to the Tryanuary movement.

New year is a time of much merriment, my birthday is at the end of January.  Why should teetotalism be forced on me in the first month?  Can’t we enjoy the pursuit of new and raise money for charity?  Well apparently we can!  I am a little late to the party and have only just volunteered but as soon as I hear things, I will pass them on via the usual Bat-channels.

I knew about Tryanuary and was reminded about it, prompting my volunteering, by the social media output of Cheshire Brewhouse whose Govinda (historically acute traditional English IPA with heritage Chevallier malt) been crowned World Champion in the RMI Analytics Heritage Malt Brewing Awards. 

September 2013, two years after I started recording and reviewing beer, I drink a bottle of George’s Nectar, the first Cheshire Brewhouse.  Real ale, as it was bottle conditioned, craft beer that was made locally in a small batch.  Consisting of complimentary bold and subtle flavours, solid bodied, the step from great beers to truly outstanding. 

Since then I celebrated Christmases with Cheshire Brewhouse beers, drank it with my dad when he could still enjoy an ale, and marked many significant events with one of their fine beers.  I've served it at all of the Salford beer festivals to raise money for charity.  Five years and 35 beers, Cheshire Brewhouse is going strong and getting the recognition it deserves. 

Here is the usual round up of the beers I’ve been drinking recently and where to find them. 

Bad Brewing Co.'s Love Over Gold.  £1.75 for a 330ml can (or four for £6) from Asda. A nice easy drinking slightly sweet, slightly bitter and slightly hoppy beer. Nice.

Harpoon Brewery's Take 5 session IPA.  £1.75 for a 330ml bottle (or four for £6) from Asda.  Flavourless, joyless and as for a session, you are not going to drink more than one. Bogus. 

Wild Beer Co.'s Nebula. £2.35 (currently 40p off) for a 330ml can ftpm Waitrose.  A murky lemon and lime tasting spiky beer that's well bodied and full of flavour. Juicy

Sadler's Hoptical Illusion. 99p for a 330ml bottle from Aldi.  Normally even the best lagers suffer from a lack of flavour, here dry hopping stops that with an awful, overpowering perfume mess. It's fucking distracting. 

Shindigger's Concrete Playground.  £3.10 for a 440ml can from Bargain Booze.  At last a dry hop lager/pils that isn’t a mess of perfume & semolina flour flavours. Some nice subtle lime and zest here.  Sublime.