As he's died-in-the-wool dark beer lover, I decided the time was right to crack open a couple of exotic beers.
On the menu:
Bridge Roads B2 Bomber
Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager 2010
Malt Shovel Ten20 Commemorative Ale
Firstly, the B2 Bomber, described as "Belgian Black IPA" was hot, astringent, and hard to drink. This flew in the face of its popularity on BeerAdvocate, so maybe we got a dud bottle. Tasted more like a harsher foreign export stout or porter. Darren pointed out that hops were not as evident as one would expect in an IPA.
Then came the Ambassador. Holy moley..... it was infected. The sweaty, funky, bandaid aromas of Brettanomyces, a wild yeast that is welcome in some European ales (Orval, for example, or lambics), but usually considered a brewing fault. A quick Google confirmed our position: Willie Simpson had identified the fault in a tasting session and written it up in a Good Living review some months back. Fosters conducted an analysis, and indeed, "brett" was detected, probably as a result of the oak maturation of one of the blended components.
I tried to convince myself that in the glass it was improving, and we (well, I) managed to slowly get through. Dennis dropped in and took a sniff and went straight for an Oettinger (by volume one-thirtysixth the price of the Ambassador).Some relief in the last beer. The Ten20 has been in the cellar for nearly two years, and was in fairly good shape. Nice chestnut pour, nice caramel & fruity hop aromas, flavours of figs and molasses.... not bad at all, and the beer of the day.
