Yeastie Boys – a preview

This week, a box of fresh Yeastie Boys goodness arrived on my doorstep, courtesy of the lovely Yeastie UK family.

I first had some of their beers way back in 2017 when bottles of Digital IPA and Pot Kettle Black had appeared in Booths (the best supermarket for beer). The brewery and those beers are still going strong, after a difficult 2020. They’ve been brewing all of their beer with Utopian Brewery, just outside Exeter, for just over a year now and have been working with them for almost 2 years. Utopian are one of the best lager breweries in the UK, alongside my local favourites Braybrooke and northern powerhouse Donzoko.

Confusion

One of my main Yeastie memories is of confusion. The confusion was in the mind of one poor young server at Peakender 2019 (the one that was an absolute swamp). I had a frank exchange of views with them, when they tried to tell me that the brewery was called Real Fiction, and the beer was called Yeastie Boys. I think I managed to convince them of their folly. It was one of the best beers at the mudfest.

Yeasty

Yeastie Boys moved to a new house yeast in the middle of 2020, a Kveik strain, which has been used in various beers for three years. No-one seems to have noticed what has been a big change for the brewery, but a subtle one for the drinker. “Benevolent Dictator” Stu McKinlay likens it to adding a bassist to a band, “most people would only notice if we now took it away”.

Artistry

Fritha Burgin is the Yeastie Boys art director, and she just happens to be Stu’s partner of 18 years. She’s been designing since the start and is now in complete control of the whole process. Her latest challenge is working on smaller labels because the team are using cans designed for Pot Kettle Black, which hasn’t achieved the rate of sale needed. So they are being recycled without leaving the brewery.

I approve of the move to 330ml cans for special releases. Like Stu, I think that a 9.2% beer is better in 330ml. Without many people to share with in the last year or so, what do you do with a 500ml can of a 10% TIPA?

Pandemic

Sales and revenue have been down in the last year, as with so many breweries, but the furlough scheme has helped them to survive. All of the staff who have worked there for a year or more are also now shareholders in the company.

The beers

Let’s have a quick tour of what’s in the box.

A Yeastie selection…

Digital IPA – India Pale Ale – 5.7%

The one that started it all for me, a classic New Zealand hopped IPA featuring soft malt, a medley of citrus and tropical hop flavours, and a bold bitter finish.

Pot Kettle Black – South Pacific Porter – 6.0%

The one that started it all for them, floral perfume notes and a hint of smoke. An interesting mix of flavours but still a porter at heart.

Other World – Extra Special Bitter – 5.4%

Other World is a strong copper ale showcasing a great balance of complex malt and leafy English hops. Fruitcake; bitter orange marmalade; supremely drinkable.

This one was in my birthday box last month, an absolute classic ESB with First Gold and Bramling Cross.

Cuddle Party – Nourishing Ale – 6.4%

Cuddle Party is a rich, dark, nourishing ale with a good dose of chocolate from Bullion Chocolate cacao nibs and the gentle fruitiness of that aforementioned house yeast. Sweet malty berry flavours abound. And cuddling is now legal.

Distant Sun – Black IPA – 7.2%

A vibrant yet dark Black IPA (#BIPAComeback) with chocolate and coffee mixing with grapefruit hoppiness. Is it named after the Crowded House song of the same name I wonder?

Wizard Motor – American IPA – 6.5%

Featuring an image of a rather familiar 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans AM, surely one of the most successful automotive product placements of all time. The beer brings back some classic old school vibes with that West Coast IPA flavour. Juicy grapefruit, orange and hints of pine on a solid malt base, with a balance that screams
drinkability.

Devil May Care – Belgian-style Golden Strong Ale – 8.5%

Apricot, pear, and citrus intermingling with a balanced spicy finish. Big boozy fruitiness which shares its name with Sebastian Faulks’ Bond continuation novel of the same name.

Engelbert Pumpernickel – Triple IPA – 9.2%

A deliciously boozy treat with an unparalleled drinkability and lashings of exotic tropical and citrus fruit from New Zealand hops.

This is the one I’m looking forward to most. First brewed in 2014, as a collaboration with Panhead and Firestone Walker, Engelbert is a beer that has only existed as rumours until now.

Watch out for more reviews shortly…

The Needle & Pin craft beer club – sour beer selection box #11 – February 2021

The 58th box overall, with a few for drinking now, and a big bottle to save for sharing later in the year at some point. Lots of red fruits crammed in to most of these beers.

Brew by Numbers – Winter Berries Gose – 5.2%

This seasonally inspired triple-fruited Gose is a symphony of sweetness, salinity, spice and sour fruit flavours. Red grape, plum and blackcurrant deliver a jammy base with pink Himalayan salt accentuating these vibrant fruit profiles. The addition of orange zest, cinnamon and star anise add a spice complexity, creating a full-bodied and refreshing beer that is best enjoyed during the colder months.

Prairie – Punch – 5.4%

Sour ale with blackberry, cherry, and lime. Pours a dark red colour with very light pink bubbles around the circumference of the glass. Aroma is a great balance between sour cherry and the sweet berries with cherry and blackberry dominant. There’s a bit of a salty character present throughout.

Staggeringly Good – Souropod – 7.4%

Imperial triple fruited Gose. Blackberry, blackcurrant, raspberry, ginger and organic coriander seeds are all present. Redefining the term ‘liquid’ this triple fruited Gose is inspired by similar beers from breweries such as The Veil and doesn’t so much pour as crawl into your glass. Thick and intense is an understatement, this thing will wreck your glassware and probably rip off your cupboard doors for the hell of it.

Trillium – Fated Farmer Apricot – 6.7%

The Fated Farmer Series is a landmark step toward realising the foundational vision for Trillium – build a place that intuitively celebrates the intersection of New England farming, agriculture, brewing, and integrated community experience. The grist of each of the dynamic Fated Farmer wild ales is set on the structure of Valley Malt and is barrel fermented in 500L puncheons with their Native New England Wild Culture and aged for 5-7 months, before refermenting on freshly harvested fruit.

Bottled in March of 2019 and enjoying an extended period of bottle conditioning, Fated Farmer: Apricot presents a bright, light straw colour in the glass. Pretty aromas of peach mist, apricot preserves, lemongrass, and a kiss of pineapple weave in and out across the palate. Medium-bodied and highly refreshing, this wild ale finishes with structured acidity.

This month’s selection, with a few extras from Buxton and Alphabet

Wild Beer – Beyond Modus VII – 7%

The big one. To go “Beyond Modus” for this year barrels of sour cherry beer were added. One of the characteristics of Modus Operandi is the beautiful notes of cherry pie, so amplifying this flavour was the direction to take this year’s project.

For the cherry beer, the cherries were freshly picked direct from the farm, then de-stemmed and hand crushed at the brewery. By infusing 1.5 tonnes of whole cherries, it delivered a briskly tart and fruity beer with a hint of almond to finish.

Barrels of Modus Operandi were then blended with barrels of cherry beer, ending up with a 75/25 split of Modus Operandi / cherry. The result is an amalgamation of complexities and layers from the variety of different barrels used, with the cherries bringing a punchy juiciness and a succulence to finish.

The Needle & Pin craft beer club – dark beer selection box #23 – February 2021

The 57th box overall, with a few for drinking now, and a few to save for sharing during the hoped for 2021 camping season.

Almasty – Tiramisu Stout – 8.5%

Part of the ‘cake sniffer’ series, a decedent stout inspired by the traditional Italian pudding. Brazilian, Ethiopian and Italian coffee varieties have been expertly blended with dark malts to complement beautifully the sweetness of vanilla and cocoa nibs to create an irresistible take on this classic dessert.

Brew By Numbers – Canadian Breakfast Stout – 7.2%

Drawing inspiration from the sweet and savoury breakfasts of Canada Brew By Numbers decided to brew this satisfyingly drinkable breakfast stout. A robust foundation of oats alongside smoked, chocolate, black and crystal malt allows the unmistakable flavour of Canadian maple syrup to shine with the addition of coffee and cacao nibs providing a balanced complexity. The resulting beer is unctuous, full-bodied and smooth.

Buxton x Omnipollo – Coward 2021 – 11%

This beer is brewed to celebrate all things new, open minded and progressive. Another peanut butter and biscuit stout with no biscuits, butter or nuts. Taste, enjoy, and don’t be prejudiced. This beer brings together everything Omnipollo and Buxton have learned whilst collaborating together brewing Anniversary Coward, Yellow Belly Sundae and Yellow Belly.

Hammerton – Le Roux Project – 5.8%

Starting with a chocolate base, then infused with caramel, Maldon sea salt and an addition of lactose to give a smooth richness. A truly decadent and indulgent stout.

This month’s selection…

Mikkeller – Bean Geek Session Porter – 5.5%

An alleged session porter (there’s no way that 5.5% is session) brewed with chocolate from Bean Geeks Chocolate.
Aroma of coffee, caramel and toffee. Palate is a blend of roasted malt, soft bitterness and chocolate. Finishes dry and lightly bitter. Saaz and Centennial hops.‬

Neon Raptor – Centaur Army – 13%

Centaur Army is a big, bold, intensely flavourful Imperial Stout. This is as big as Neon Raptor have ever gone and it was designed by drinkers. Neon Raptor asked their fans to decide what their 100th gyle should be and they chose this. Centaur Army, a peanut butter, chocolate and caramel imperial stout. It is every bit as delicious as it sounds.

December 2020 round up

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Except it isn’t. We came out of (too late) lockdown 2.0 and debates around Christmas dominated the month. Things got very heated. Covid cases kept going up. Tiers kept changing. It was chaos. The chaos cancelled our usual New Year break in the Lakes, finding us at home for the first time in about 20 years. December has been a very quiet one, punctuated by a local walk each weekend, one on Christmas Eve, and one on each of the last 3 days of the year. The walks were the best bit, a chance for exercise and fresh air and time away from screens.

Usual beer deliveries from The Needle & Pin continued throughout the month (including the 22nd dark beer selection box and 24th “normal” selection box), a nice selection from Elusive, my second Northern Monk Patrons box and some sauces from Tiptree, who take the award for slowest service of the year. Nearly everything I’ve ordered this year has been dispatched within 24 hours, so 10 days between order and delivery was very strange.

Once again, I’ve still not had time to bake sourdough, take up new hobbies, learn new skills, or even write loads of blog posts. I’ve still not had any time to finish off old blog posts, or catch up with other things that I want to write about. Work has been all consuming as it has all year.

Snowy local scenes

Beer of the month was a toss up between Duration’s Fortitude, a classic no-nonsense imperial stout, and Elusive’s Oregon Trail, a classic no-nonsense west coast IPA. Oregon Trail just shaded it.

Pub of the month is irrelevant again as we didn’t get to a single one. The best we could manage was a couple of portions of fish’n’chips from George’s. At least 2020 is over now.

The Needle & Pin craft beer club – selection box #24 – December 2020

It’s the 56th box overall and number 24 of the original craft beer selection, just in time for Christmas. Plenty of hops and zing for your turkey dinner. Also in the picture are a few other brews for the festive period.

Dig – Watch Me Go Zoom Zoom – 4.5%

Pale ale hopped with New Zealand grown Waimea, Nelson Sauvin and Motueka hops. Expect a smooth mouthfeel with juicy mango and gooseberry notes.

Errant – Don’t Stand So Close To Me – 5%

Errant are nestled in a railway arch in Newcastle, much like the lovely folks at Box Social who have now handed over to Alpha Delta. A hop forward IPA brewed with a clean malt base that lets heaps of Azacca and BRU1 hops burst through with pineapple aromas and a soft and juicy mouthfeel.

Northern Alchemy – Be Curious – 4.1%

Northern Alchemy began life as a 1.5BBL micro brewery working out of a converted 30 foot shipping container, lovingly known as The Lab, sited just behind The Cumberland Arms in the Ouseburn area of Newcastle upon Tyne. This is their American hopped session pale.

Polly’s – Idaho 7 – 6%

With the advent of 2020 came sudden access to a serious amount of hops that Polly’s had previously only dreamt of brewing with. Idaho 7 was one of those, put to good use in this beer. A whopping 40kg in the dry hop means that this beer is loaded to the nines with apricot, red grapefruit, papaya and orange notes initially, before rounding out with black tea and pungent pine flavours to finish. With oats making up over 30% of the mash, there’s a silky smoothness to the mouthfeel.

Rivington – Beach House – 3.8%

Rivington Brewing Co. is a modern brewery and taproom based at Home Farm in Rivington rural Lancashire who just happen to own a campsite. Beach House is a pale ale with Simcoe, Mosaic and Motueka.

Two by Two – Snake Eyes – 4.7%

Two by Two brew great beer on the shores of the Tyne, just a stone’s throw from the iconic shipyards of Wallsend. Snake Eyes is a Mosaic single hopped pale.

The Needle & Pin craft beer club – dark beer selection box #22 – December 2020

It’s the 55th box overall, with 7 big units inside. These are all going into storage for a while. If we get a camping season in 2021, they should make an appearance then. The 7 beers here are from 2 collaborations in September 2020 with breweries who are friends of the N&P. Let’s see what delights await us in the future…

North Riding x The Needle & Pin

The first collaboration from September 2020, a selection of beers that will need to be aged for a while to appreciate them.

Imperial Stout – 13%

A traditional imperial stout with lots of dark chocolate, sugar and liquorice on the palate. Thick and oily with a warming boozy finish.

Imperial Cookie Dough Stout – 13%

As per the imperial, with vanilla aromas that suppress that booziness. Sweet vanilla and cookies prominent on the palate.

Imperial Mint Choc Chip Stout – 13%

A minty fresh aroma which lingers on the palate with big bitter chocolate. A dark chocolate mint Aero in a glass.

Imperial Rum and Raisin Stout – 13%

This one is dominated by booze with a balance of sweet raisin. It will evolve over time where the balance will shift to sweet sugar cane rum.

Framework x The Needle & Pin x Cocoa Amore x St Martins Coffee

The second collaboration from September 2020. These are ready to drink now but will also age beautifully. Brewed with St Martin’s Coffee Roasters’ Friday Street coffee from Brazil and roasted cocoa nibs from Cocoa Amore, sourced from the Casa Luker Company in Columbia.

Imperial Cafe Mocha (Cocoa and Coffee) – 9.2%

Earthy coffee aroma and taste, bitter cocoa notes on the palate with a sweet chocolate note and boozy finish that lingers.

Imperial Black Forest (Kirsch Cherry Mocha) – 9.2%

Chocolate cake and cherry aroma with floral cherry on the palate that finishes with dark chocolate and cherry from the Kirsch.

Imperial Caramel Mudslide (Salted Caramel Mocha) – 9.2%

Creamy caramel aroma underpinned by bitter coffee, easy to drink, nicely balanced with sweet caramel and a coffee bitterness at the end.

November 2020 round up

As we get to the end of November, there’s only more month to navigate our way through, as part of the strange year that is 2020. Another (too late) lockdown has dominated the month, cancelling a planned trip away. So it’s been a very quiet one, punctuated by a local walk each weekend. So this is going to be a very short round up. A lovely atmospheric photo from one of our walks.

Misty

Usual beer deliveries from The Needle & Pin continued throughout the month (including the 10th sour beer selection box), a fantastic mixed box from #CraftBeerHour hosts Steam Town, my first Northern Monk Patrons box and some sauces from Fresh Sauce Co. It’s been a year since we encountered them at the BBC Good Food Show (another 2020 Covid casualty).

Once again, I’ve still not had time to bake sourdough, take up new hobbies, learn new skills, or even write loads of blog posts. I’ve still not had any time to finish off old blog posts, or catch up with other things that I want to write about. Work has been all consuming once more. I did manage to harvest our crab apples to make crab apple jelly.

Beer of the month was one from my unintentional ageing project, Grevious Angel V2 from Odyssey Brew Co, which has aged amazingly. So smooth and still packed with big flavours. Lovely stuff, even three years later.

Pub of the month is irrelevant as we didn’t get to a single one. The best we could manage was a takeaway pizza from Peter.

The Needle & Pin craft beer club – sour beer selection box #10 – November 2020

It’s the 54th box, and number 10 in the sour beer club. An interesting selection of funky fruitiness, including a massive unit in the form of an Imperial Lassi Gose. Don’t get many of them to the pound.

Neon Raptor Brewing Co – Leaping Llamas – 5.2%

Leaping Llamas is a Lassi style Gose absolutely loaded with guava, passion fruit and lime, with just enough salt to give it that authentic character and lactose for the tropical yoghurty mouthfeel.

Overtone Brewing Co – Philly Sour – 3.8%

This fruity Berliner Weisse uses the brand new “Philly Sour” yeast and lots of summer fruits to create a light, fruity, slightly acidic beer. Perfect for those long summer evenings, although right now we have long winter evenings to get through.

Left Handed Giant Brewing – Blender – 6.8%

Fruited sour IPA with blueberry, raspberry, vanilla, almond and lactose.

Pomona Island Brew Co – Witty Unpredictable Talent And Natural Game – 6.5%

A clementine and mango sour, dry hopped with Strata. Owww, here comes my Shaolin style.

Neon Raptor Brewing Co – Massive Piranhas – 10%

Blackberry, raspberry and redcurrant imperial lassi gose. What’s better than Passing Piranhas? Massive Piranhas! Amped up to 10% and with a huge dose of blackberry, raspberry and redcurrant. Watch out for this beer’s bite.

Funky Fluid – Sour Grapes: Chardonnay – 6.4%

Berliner Weisse brewed with Chardonnay grape must and dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin.

A very zingy selection as we approach an unusual festive season…

The Needle & Pin craft beer club – selection box #23 – November 2020

It’s the 53rd box overall, a mixture of lager, pale, table beer and IPA stylings. There’s some Sabro action in here too, it’s the new Sorachi Ace 🙂

Brick – Autumn IPA – 6.0%

A complex grist mix with a bit of wheat malt, flaked malt, along with golden naked oats, rolled oats and chit barley. Hops are abundant with additions of Nelson Sauvin, Citra, Galaxy, Loral and Idaho 7. Overall this makes for a complex and intense beer with a serious slurp factor.

Burning Sky – Tail Crush – 3.0%

This little beer is big on flavour. Perfect for the weary soul, tired of the same old thing. Do a Tail Crush for me, do a Tail Crush for you. This was a favourite beer of mine in the long hot summer, going down well with fish and chips on one of the hottest days of the year in a field in Sussex.

Cheshire – Citra – 5.8%

Citra DDH (Double Dry Hopped) pale ale is an assault on the senses with full citrus aroma and juicy flavours from the intense double dry hop schedule. The cask version grain bill was amped to 11 with Citra hops to create a flavour-filled juice bomb. A backbone of extra-pale winter barley malts combined with late-hopping to maintain a low bitterness, and double dry-hopped with Citra hops. The result is a naturally hazy, super juicy, citrus fruit pale ale.

Overtone – 3rd Session NEIPA – 4.7%

An easy drinking, unobtrusive New England session IPA (which is slightly above session) with a smooth malty backbone that offers a slightly sweet pillow for the hop undertones of resin, citrus and fruits. Very fresh, with tropical fruit flavour and aromas. Decent body and well balanced with the sweetness coming out from the golden naked oats and a slight spice that hits you late.

Salt – Sabro Vermont – 4.2%

A Vermont-style session IPA showcasing the Sabro hop. Leading notes of tangerine, coconut, tropical fruit, and stone fruit.

Wild Beer – Shika – 4.5%

The Wild Beer house lager, Shika, meaning ‘Deer’ in Japanese, is a departure from the usual foray of wild cultures, sour beer and barrel-ageing. Brewed to have a clean, crisp, and refreshing character, Shika is incredibly sessionable. Bright citrus and fruity hop character are brought to the fore, whilst a subtle mouth-feel and moreish after taste prevail. I enjoyed a pint of this back in June 2018 on a long hot summer’s day.

October 2020 round up

One more month in the strange year that is 2020. With Covid cases rising after schools went back, University returns saw huge spikes all over the country as lots of students started to mix together.

Our month began as many Octobers have, with a trip to the Lakes. This was our postponed June holiday, and we managed another 3 Wainwrights to take our total for a disrupted year to 14, which is not bad at all! We managed three meals out and a couple of takeaways, which felt very luxurious compared to the rest of the year. Another trip to Beer Ambleside kept us topped up with beer for the holiday. It was lovely to be away from the home office for a week.

The following weekend saw another postponed trip, this time from April. After a Friday in Leeds taking care of some things, we travelled on to our camp site for the weekend. Or so we thought. Due to an administrative mix up, it wasn’t our camp site for the weekend, so we then spent some time sitting in a layby doing some Googling and ringing around. We managed to find a new site just outside Holmfirth (home of Last of the Summer Wine), so the weekend was saved. We had a nice stroll on the Saturday despite some poor weather and on the Sunday we went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park which was a fantastic day out. The highlight was probably the giant Portugese chicken, which lights up at night. Sadly we didn’t see it lit up.

Giant Portguese chicken!

Little did we know that it would be our last trip away of 2020. We’ve had some great ones, despite the disruption.

Once again, I’ve still not had time to bake sourdough, take up new hobbies, learn new skills, or even write loads of blog posts. I’ve still not had any time to finish off old blog posts, or catch up with other things that I want to write about.

Beer of the month was the first one that I had, Arbor’s “My Little Sabrony”, an absolute Sabro delight. October also saw the resumption of the Needle & Pin craft beer club, with a dark beer selection box kicking things off after a 7 month hiatus,

Pub of the month is tricky, because we didn’t actually visit any pubs. A couple of licensed establishments on our last day in the Lakes (Lakes Distillery and Lucy’s) but all beers were consumed outside of licensed premises once again. Not much chance of that changing before 2021 now I suspect.