Monthly Round-Up August 2024

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What a month August has been. We started with a Yorkshire Day beer battle, a visit to the Middleton Railway food and beer festival, and a trip over to Manchester to check out the Track and Cloudwater taprooms. The middle of the month saw us stop off in Sheffield for a couple of cask ales at The Sheffield Tap. We also headed up to Northumbria for a wedding, discovering a fantastic little taproom in Grainger Market, Newcastle Upon Tyne, and three lovely independent bars in Alnwick. We rounded off the month with a selection of Orkney beers and a few drinks in Leeds with friends. 

This month’s top five new brews

Here’s a rundown of our favourite new brews for August 2024. 

Lipari by Track (Manchester)

Lemon Sour 5%

We tried this sour on a visit to Track Brewery & Taproom and fell in love with it. We’re big fans of sour beers and have tried a few over the years. This one is one of the best. Imagine a sour homemade lemonade – sweet, sour, lemony, and sherberty. That’s pretty much the best way to describe the flavour. Delicious. 

Brewer’s note: “Awake! Avast! Hold tight your buns, if buns you do hold dear. For time has come to wake and run and not give way to fear!” This is a puckering, lip-smackingly quenching sour that packs a real punch of layered lemon tartness backed up by a balanced sweetness. Sour, pithy and incredibly aromatic, this is grown-up liquid sherbet lemon!

Brewer’s website: Track Brewing Company Limited

Proper DIPA: Luminosa Edition by Cloudwater (Manchester)

DIPA 8%

Cloudwater is well known for its DIPAs so we knew we had to try at least one during our visit. This was the Luminosa edition and it was excellent. A thick and delicious tropical bomb of stone fruits. Deceptively light given the high abv. 

Brewer’s note: Proper DIPA: Luminosa Edition. Our first use of this hop and it has not disappointed. A real harmony of bright Lemon and Orange that peels into an absolutely bold and brilliant juicy hit of Mango and Papaya. Although it has heavy-hitting flavours it remains deceptively light. Little or no bitterness means this is one for the big NEIPA fans.

Brewer’s website: Cloudwater 

Horde by Northern Monk (Leeds)

Hazy IPA 7%

We love Northern Monk and usually have a few of their beers in the fridge so when we decided to have a Yorkshire Day Battle, we knew there would be a NM beer in the mix. 

This was our favourite beer of the Yorkshire Day battle. It had a flavour we know and love from other Northern Monk Hazy IPAs, with other notes coming through. It was juicy, with ripe stone fruit flavours, a little darkness and maybe a little bit of fennel or aniseed (maybe). 

Brewer’s note: Join the Horde. Follow our standard-bearers, holding aloft the emblems of Citra, Mosaic, and Comet hops. This Horde is full of punchy hazy notes and a deep body.

Brewer’s website: Northern Monk

Wey-Aye PA by Firebrick Brewery (Newcastle)

IPA 5.8%

We stumbled across Firebrick taproom on a visit to Newcastle and we’re glad we did as their Wey-Aye PA was excellent – like marmalade. Very easy drinking and we definitely could have stayed for a few pints if we didn’t have a train to catch. 

Brewer’s note: Our elegant IPA benefits from late additions of cascade and centennial hops, the grain bill is enhanced with a light touch of Munich malt.

Brewer’s website: Firebrick Brewery

* BEER OF THE MONTH *

Double Midnight Oregon Trail by Elusive Brewing (Berkshire)

West Coast Double Black IPA 8%

This was a beer we tried with a couple IPAs as one of our Thursday new brews and it was excellent. 

There aren’t many black west coast IPAs – at least we haven’t found many – so it’s difficult to compare to other beers of the same style. But as beers go, this was very interesting.It was slightly bitter upfront (like a traditional IPA), then you got the roasy malt notes (like you would from a porter). It was certainly a complex beer and 8% didn’t taste as boozy as you might expect. 

We both agreed this beer was unique enough and (more importantly) tasty enough to make it as our beer of the month. 

Brewer’s note: This is a classically-styled West Coast Black IPA. Simcoe, Chinook and Columbus hops combine to deliver a resinous profile with a citrus undertone. The bitterness helps to balance the light caramel and roastiness of the malts.

Brewer’s website: Elusive Brewing

Honourable mention

These new brews didn’t quite make it into our top five, but we still feel they are worth a mention. 

Boilerplate and Broken Echo by Wishbone Brewery (Yorkshire)

Lagers with a difference

The only reason neither of these excellent beers made it into our top five is because we couldn’t agree which was best. 

We tried them both at the Middleton Railway food and drink festival right at the start of the month and decided both could be contenders for our top five. 

Boilerplate: German Beechwood Smoked Lager 5.7%

The Boilerplate had a lovely smokey flavour (a bit like the Schlenkerla that won our beer of the month back in April). 

Brewer’s note: A copper coloured Unfined German Beechwood smoked beer with three malts coming from Weyermann in Bamberg in Germany, hopped with German Magnum & Mittlefruh.
Now brewed with Lager yeast and Lagered properly.

Broken Echo: White Wine Barrel-aged Lager 6.7%

The Broken Echo was aged in white wine barrels and that really came through in the flavour. 

Brewer’s note: Remember Pfft! Not a Style? Well this is it after over a year in French White wine barrels, its quite a thing!

Brewer’s website: Wishbone Brewery – Keighley, Yorkshire, UK

Skull Splitter by The Orkney Brewery (Orkney Islands)

Scotch Ale 8.5%

This beer was included in our final New Brew Thursday of the month when we compared four beers from The Orkney Brewery.

This was the strongest beer of the night and also the most complex in flavour. It was very boozy in flavour and had fruit cake flavours. It reminded me of a barley wine or some Fuller’s Vintage ales we’ve tried. definitely a beer to be savoured and got even better the more it warmed up. This was our favourite of the night. 

Brewer’s note: Skull Splitter is one of our strongest beers, named after Thorfinn Einarsson the 7th Viking Earl of Orkney.  It is a sophisticated, satiny smooth and full-flavoured beer. It has a rich fruity wine-like complexity with flavours of fresh and dried fruits, warm exotic spice and mellow summer fruity notes. 

Brewer’s website: Orkney Brewery | Sinclair Breweries

Revisited

Not a new brew but a beer we’ve revisited recently because it’s one of our favourites. 

Abbot Ale by Greene King

Bitter (ESB) 5%

While waiting for the Track and Cloudwater taprooms to open we popped into a Wetherspoons to kill time as we know they always have cask beers on offer. We decided to have a quick half of Abbot Ale as it’s been a while since we last had it. 

We were reminded what a good British Ale it is – fruity, not too bitter and super smooth – and worth a mention as this month’s revisited beer. 

Brewer’s note: “Hailed by the late beer writer Michael Jackson as ‘one of the great characters of the beer world’, Abbot Ale is brewed for quality of the highest order. Abbot is an irresistible ale with masses of fruit characters, a malty richness and superb hop balance. It is brewed longer to a unique recipe, which makes it the full-flavoured, smooth and mature beer it is today.”

Brewer’s website: Greene King | Pubs, Restaurants, Hotels & Brewery

Lipari by Track (Manchester)

Lemon Sour 5%

We tried this sour on a visit to Track Brewery & Taproom and fell in love with it. We’re big fans of sour beers and have tried a few over the years. This one is one of the best. Imagine a sour homemade lemonade – sweet, sour, lemony, and sherberty. That’s pretty much the best way to describe the flavour. Delicious. 

Brewer’s note: “Awake! Avast! Hold tight your buns, if buns you do hold dear. For time has come to wake and run and not give way to fear!” This is a puckering, lip-smackingly quenching sour that packs a real punch of layered lemon tartness backed up by a balanced sweetness. Sour, pithy and incredibly aromatic, this is grown-up liquid sherbet lemon!

Brewer’s website: Track Brewing Company Limited

Proper DIPA: Luminosa Edition by Cloudwater (Manchester)

DIPA 8%

Cloudwater is well known for its DIPAs so we knew we had to try at least one during our visit. This was the Luminosa edition and it was excellent. A thick and delicious tropical bomb of stone fruits. Deceptively light given the high abv. 

Brewer’s note: Proper DIPA: Luminosa Edition. Our first use of this hop and it has not disappointed. A real harmony of bright Lemon and Orange that peels into an absolutely bold and brilliant juicy hit of Mango and Papaya. Although it has heavy-hitting flavours it remains deceptively light. Little or no bitterness means this is one for the big NEIPA fans.

Brewer’s website: Cloudwater 

Horde by Northern Monk (Leeds)

Hazy IPA 7%

We love Northern Monk and usually have a few of their beers in the fridge so when we decided to have a Yorkshire Day Battle, we knew there would be a NM beer in the mix. 

This was our favourite beer of the Yorkshire Day battle. It had a flavour we know and love from other Northern Monk Hazy IPAs, with other notes coming through. It was juicy, with ripe stone fruit flavours, a little darkness and maybe a little bit of fennel or aniseed (maybe). 

Brewer’s note: Join the Horde. Follow our standard-bearers, holding aloft the emblems of Citra, Mosaic, and Comet hops. This Horde is full of punchy hazy notes and a deep body.

Brewer’s website: Northern Monk

Wey-Aye PA by Firebrick Brewery (Newcastle upon Tyne)

IPA 5%

We stumbled across Firebrick taproom on a visit to Newcastle and we’re glad we did as their Wey-Aye PA was excellent – like marmalade. Very easy drinking and we definitely could have stayed for a few pints if we didn’t have a train to catch. 

Brewer’s note: Our elegant IPA benefits from late additions of cascade and centennial hops, the grain bill is enhanced with a light touch of Munich malt.

Brewer’s website: Firebrick Brewery

* BEER OF THE MONTH *

Double Midnight Oregon Trail by Elusive Brewing (Berkshire)

West Coast Double Black IPA 8%

This was a beer we tried with a couple IPAs as one of our Thursday new brews and it was excellent. 

There aren’t many black west coast IPAs – at least we haven’t found many – so it’s difficult to compare to other beers of the same style. But as beers go, this was very interesting.It was slightly bitter upfront (like a traditional IPA), then you got the roasy malt notes (like you would from a porter). It was certainly a complex beer and 8% didn’t taste as boozy as you might expect. 

We both agreed this beer was unique enough and (more importantly) tasty enough to make it as our beer of the month. 

Brewer’s note: This is a classically-styled West Coast Black IPA. Simcoe, Chinook and Columbus hops combine to deliver a resinous profile with a citrus undertone. The bitterness helps to balance the light caramel and roastiness of the malts.

Brewer’s website: Elusive Brewing

Honourable mention

These new brews didn’t quite make it into our top five, but we still feel they are worth a mention. 

Boilerplate and Broken Echo by Wishbone Brewery (Yorkshire)

Lagers with a difference

The only reason neither of these excellent beers made it into our top five is because we couldn’t agree which was best. 

We tried them both at the Middleton Railway food and drink festival right at the start of the month and decided both could be contenders for our top five. 

Boilerplate: German Beechwood Smoked Lager 5.7%

The Boilerplate had a lovely smokey flavour (a bit like the Schlenkerla that won our beer of the month back in April). 

Brewer’s note: A copper coloured Unfined German Beechwood smoked beer with three malts coming from Weyermann in Bamberg in Germany, hopped with German Magnum & Mittlefruh.
Now brewed with Lager yeast and Lagered properly.

Broken Echo: White Wine Barrel-aged Lager 6.7%

The Broken Echo was aged in white wine barrels and that really came through in the flavour. 

Brewer’s note: Remember Pfft! Not a Style? Well this is it after over a year in French White wine barrels, its quite a thing!

Brewer’s website: Wishbone Brewery – Keighley, Yorkshire, UK

Skull Splitter by The Orkney Brewery (Orkney Islands)

Scotch Ale 8.5%

This beer was included in our final New Brew Thursday of the month when we compared four beers from The Orkney Brewery.

This was the strongest beer of the night and also the most complex in flavour. It was very boozy in flavour and had fruit cake flavours. It reminded me of a barley wine or some Fuller’s Vintage ales we’ve tried. definitely a beer to be savoured and got even better the more it warmed up. This was our favourite of the night. 

Brewer’s note: Skull Splitter is one of our strongest beers, named after Thorfinn Einarsson the 7th Viking Earl of Orkney.  It is a sophisticated, satiny smooth and full-flavoured beer. It has a rich fruity wine-like complexity with flavours of fresh and dried fruits, warm exotic spice and mellow summer fruity notes. 

Brewer’s website: Orkney Brewery | Sinclair Breweries

Revisited

Not a new brew but a beer we’ve revisited recently because it’s one of our favourites. 

Abbot Ale by Greene King

Bitter (ESB) 5%

While waiting for the Track and Cloudwater taprooms to open we popped into a Wetherspoons to kill time as we know they always have cask beers on offer. We decided to have a quick half of Abbot Ale as it’s been a while since we last had it. 

We were reminded what a good British Ale it is – fruity, not too bitter and super smooth – and worth a mention as this month’s revisited beer. 

Brewer’s note: “Hailed by the late beer writer Michael Jackson as ‘one of the great characters of the beer world’, Abbot Ale is brewed for quality of the highest order. Abbot is an irresistible ale with masses of fruit characters, a malty richness and superb hop balance. It is brewed longer to a unique recipe, which makes it the full-flavoured, smooth and mature beer it is today.”

Brewer’s website: Greene King | Pubs, Restaurants, Hotels & Brewery

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