Tag: Craft beer

Round 2 – Ales By Mail/ The Craft Beer Shop

Alcohol / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I sent the Mr for round 2 at Ales By Mail (online) or The Craft Beer Shop last week. He surprisingly came back with money on him which in all honesty I am amazed at! I got a bit carried away on my first visit & spent a slight bit more than the Mr did. With over 300 craft beers at Ales By Mail, there is something for everyone, even if you mostly just enjoy the artwork.

Round 2

 

 

 

Round 2 - Ales By Mail

As you can see the Mr was well behaved only picking up 8 beers from Ales By Mail this week. He picked up the Darkstar – Revelation mostly because it’s purple & well, we need a touch purple in this post somewhere! Revelation is a beer the Mr hasn’t had in quite a number of years but really enjoys too, he was quite pleased to find it!

Stouts from Ales By Mail

The Mr’s friend Steve picked up this selection of Stouts for his round 2 from Ales by mail. It’s always interesting to see what these 2 pick up as they both like very different beer styles. The Craft Beer Shop/Ales By Mail have such a great selection and variety of styles it’s great to finally see both the Mr & Steve returning with new & different beers. I have to admit some of these Stouts made me a little nose drunk just from the smell haha!

The Mr started off with Conflux pale ale from Unity and Steve picked out the Henley dark. I quite like the lighter beers the Mr chooses whereas I find the darker stuff like this really nasty.

Next up for the Mr was the white stout from The Durham Brewery with Steve trying the Boss Black, another rather strong beer.

Trust was next in line for the Mr and Deccan Traps for Steve.

The guys decided to wait until the next day to carry on drinking but Steve started with the Westerham Double Stout with the Mr starting with Beavertown Lupuloid IPA.

The Cloudwater DDH pale Citra Eukanot was second for the Mr with Steve trying the Imperial Russian Stout.

 

The guys were quite happy with their choices and enjoyed most of these whilst Steve struggled with the Imperial Russian Stout that smells similar to Covonia.. grim! I’m sure it won’t be too long before they go back for another round!

Have you tried any of these craft beers before?

The Craft Beer Shop AKA Ales By Mail

Ales and Craft Beers / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Visiting The Craft Beer Shop AKA Ales By Mail in Billericay last week was a complete spur of the moment thing. After spending the morning feeling awful and nervous about my assessment I decided afterwards I needed to do something different. The Mr loves his craft beer but local taprooms/shops weren’t open as it was only 11 am. I knew if I went home I wouldn’t go back out and I wanted to find some beers to take home. We came across The Craft Beer Shop through a google search.

The Craft Beer Shop

Being open from 9 am instead of 12 pm made diverting make sense. It took less time to divert there than it would have done to wait around for closer ones to open. I knew I recognised the name when we searched for them and then realised I already followed them on twitter last year too. I was a little bit hyper after a morning of nervousness so got slightly carried away & loved finding a beer with my name on it!

The Craft Beer Shop

The guy working in The Craft Beer shop was really friendly and answered all our questions. Even when I didn’t make sense he didn’t make me feel overly anxious and helped us out. Our friend who drove me there managed to find himself a few nice beers with some help. I started to put together a selection of different craft beer’s for the Mr too. Minus 1 bottle our friend took home to drink this is the selection we left with.

Selection Of Craft Beers

Craft Beer Selection From Ales By Mail

I love the different artwork across the cans and may have let that lead my decisions slightly. Ok, a lot. I really like the look of most of the artwork across this selection though. I may have accidentally picked some rather strong ones!

 

Dr. Raptor

I’ll send the Mr next time as I think he would find some really cool craft beers here.  Out of the whole selection the Mr really enjoyed the Loka Polly – Chinook Simcoe India Pale Ale, Cloudwater – DDH Pale Citra Eldorado, BBN 55/06 – Double IPA & the Weird Beard God Of The Cold White Silence.

 

Bargains

Everyone knows I love a bargain and I did pick up a few. The Magic Rock – Panther Ale is just £2, The Loka Polly – Chinook Simcoe India Pale Ale is £2.95 (yep, for that big can!) and the Tiny Rebel Clwb Tropicana is £2.10.

Loka Polly - Chinook Simcoe India Pale Ale

Head over to Ales By Mail to find some other fab bargains online if you aren’t in Essex. They also own the Imperial Beer Club a craft beer subscription for trying new and exciting craft beers. I’m tempted to sign up when finances are a bit better as they deals and selections look great.

BB No 55 06

Helping me calm down and returning with a well-deserved drink for the Mr, I was pleased to have popped in. Visiting The Craft Beer Shop is a great experience. It was cool to see such a range of breweries and styles. We will definitely be returning soon and I will be sneaking in an order online in time for the Mr’s birthday in June too!

Cloudwater - DDH Pale Citra El Dorado

Have you heard of The Craft Beer Shop AKA Ales By Mail? Have you tried any of these beers?

 

 

International Beer Day – Beers We’ve Tried

Ales and Craft Beers / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Today is International Beer Day! With the Mr’s love of beers we decided to put together a selection of Beers he has tried over the last few months from local pubs & supermarkets. We’ve previously tried and reviewed Beer52 and Fallen Brewing beers on the blog and share the Mr’s finds over on Instagram too so we thought a round up would be an awesome way to celebrate International Beer Day.

International Beer Day

International Beer Day

The Mr tried a selection of beers from Tesco a few weeks ago for his birthday.

Adnams Southwolds – Ease Up I.P.A

Adnams Southwold, an independent family brewery founded in 1872 in Suffolk, is one of the Mr’s favourites. He would pick a beer from Adnams any day! This Ease Up I.P.A is gold in colour, with big aromas of mango, flavours of pine, melon and hints of grapefruit. At 4.6 ABV it’s a perfect session beer with a clean, dry finish, accompanied by subtle sweetness from the barley.

Stone Brewing – Go To IPA

Stone Brewing – Go To IPA is a hop heavy India Pale Ale at 4.8% ABV. With a hoppy, dry, melon flavour perfected by employing the hop bursting technique. This technique involves an irrational amount of hops being added in the final phase of the brewing process. Extreme flavours and aromas while also imparting a burst of desirably pleasant bitterness. The result is an alpha-acid-rich beer which the Mr quite enjoys.

Oskar Blues Brewery – Pinner IPA

Oskar Blues Brewery began the craft-beer-in-a-can craze with their funky little Colorado grown brew-pub in 2002. Cans keep beer fresher, longer by eliminating the damaging effects of light and ingressed oxygen. They are infinitely recyclable and portable. Pinner IPA is a India Pale Ale at 4.9% ABV. With tropical fruits, citrus juices, pineapple and spice berry up front in the aroma and flavour, the biscuit & toasted bread at the back to balance out all the hops.

Flying Dog Brewery – Snake Dog IPA

Flying Dog Brewery is a craft brewery in Maryland. Founded in 1990 Flying Dog Brewery is the largest Brewery in Maryland. Snake Dog IPA is an India Pale Ale at 7.1% ABV. Snake Dog has a big citrus (notably grapefruit) hop aroma and flavor with caramel malt notes. The cans artwork is rather interesting and designed by Ralph Steadman. Steadman’s Flying Dog artwork consists of strange, twisted imaginations of dogs with wings. They are rather eye catching with a vast array of bright and vibrant colours.

Have you tried any of these beers or any of those pictured? What’s your favourite beer?

Beer52 Craft Beer Subscription Review & £10 Off!

christmas / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Beer52 is a Craft Beer subscription which sends out a box of specially selected Craft Beers to try each month. I received a box to review contained 8 Craft Beers, Fermented Magazine and a packet of Chilli bites Munchy Seeds. For a single box of 8 beers it’s only £24 or £14 if you use my £10 odd code – RELENTPURP10

My Mr is EXTREMELY fussy! It’s so hard to find something he actually enjoy and Beer52 have smashed it! I finally have a gift I can order him on special occasions which I know he will truly enjoy after almost giving up on my hunt for a gift for him this year!

The Mr had a look at each of the beers and picked out the3 bottles on the right as he thought he would like them just from the labels.

The 3 he thought he might like were some of his favourites once he had tried them all which he was quite pleased about. He worked in pubs for years so he has tried a lot of beers out there. None of the 8 we were sent he had tried before which really impressed him.

I was really impressed with the Littlebro 360 ring-pull can haha! I love how the can turns into a cup.

How cool is that!? It tasted pretty nice too. I had a little sip of each beer as the Mr drank them and I quite liked most of them even though I’m not keen on beer. The Mr loved all but one which for a fussy sod like him is AMAZING! Beer52 Should seriously be proud of themselves!

Whilst drinking the beers we flicked through the magazine reading about each beer as we went. The Mordue Brewery was the Mr’s absolute favourite although it wasn’t in the book. The Mr said all the description for the beers in the Ferment magazine were spot on.

Both of us are very impressed with the box we received from Beer52. I will definitely be using them again to treat the Mr! I was shocked to see him so happy with something.
Do you love Craft beer? Or do you know a fussy guy who might just find this subscription interesting? Head over to Beer52 and give it a try using my £10 off code – RELENTPURP10