Beers I Enjoyed - March 2024
Hey beer lovers! Beer festival season is officially upon us! I know it feels early this year, but I’ve already been to one great festival, with more to come! In the day job I’ve also had several beer related events, including International Women’s Day - always my favourite day of the year! Let’s take a look at the beers that really caught my eye this month.
Number of beers tried this month: 58
Beer styles tried: 17
If you’d like to see all the beers I try, come find me here on Untappd!
Halftime Horseman by Track Brewing Co
I had a little visit to Manchester towards the end of the month, and of course, I had to take in some of the taprooms. You can’t go to Manchester and not take in at least one taproom! I managed to visit Balance, Cloudwater and Track this time around - Track is definitely a favourite with a great selection of beer and delicious pizza. I highly recommend the hot honey and pesto one! I love that Track not only has keg but cask available (in dimple pot no less) and when I saw a cask brown ale on, I knew that was the beer for me.
My thoughts:
Chestnut brown with a smooth beige head. Biscuity malt aroma with a touch of nut and cocoa powder. Smooth, full, malted milk biscuits, cocoa powder, hazelnuts. Layered and satisfying.
You should try this if: You want to experience a complex brown ale with layers of flavour.
Arch Rogue by Tartarus Beer
My first festival oof the season was the wonderful Indie Beer Feast. I love a trip to Sheffield, I’ve said before that I think the beer scene there is sorely underrated. The fact that this gem of a beer festival is the beginning of Sheffield Beer Week just adds to it’s charms. Always packed with great breweries, this year Tartarus were in attendance. If you haven’t tried Tartarus yet, you need to grab some of their beers stat! They had an epic selection on at Indie Beer Feast - but my particular fave was Arch Rogue, a raspberry and lime wheat beer. It was so refreshing and easy drinking, I had it several times throughout the festival.
My thoughts:
Hazed red tinged orange with a thick white head. Fruity aroma with a cutting lime edge. Moderately carbonated, full body, fruity with sharp lime cleaning the palate and making it very refreshing.
You should try this if: You are looking for a balanced, flavourful fruited wheat beer that will be super refreshing when the sun starts coming out. Perfect for spring!
Mumping Ale by Sunken Knave
I love finding new and interesting breweries, as I’m sure you do. Sunken Knave is the brainchild of Henry, celebrating his home of Worthing and his love of Old Ale. I was lucky enough to see his passionate talk about starting the brewery at Indie Beer Feast and I got to try Sunken Knave’s first beer Mumping Ale. Henry describes this as a pub strength old ale, which you can read more about on the Sunken Knave blog here:
https://www.sunkenknave.com/blog/sunken-knaves-first-beer
The beer also uses my favourite English hop, Ernest!
My thoughts:
Clear mahogany brown with a low beige head. Dried fruits and rich malt aroma. Lightly carbonated, full bodied, fruity like rich fruit cake with a solid malty body making this very satisfying.
You should try this if: You are looking to experience more traditional and historical beer styles - Sunken Knave is going to be a brewery to watch for interesting, less easy to find styles.
Herbst 2023 by Saint Mars of the Desert
While visiting Sheffield this year I finally managed to get to Saint Mars of the Desert. If you want to find delicious beer, their cosy taproom is the place to be. I tried several of the beers on offer, but my favourite was Herbst. I gravitated to this because it was noted as an amber lager, but it was so much more! As the name suggests there is a herbal, spiced note along with the rich malty body. Just delicious in a mass!
My thoughts:
Almost clear dark gold with a thick, full white head. Spicy herbal hop aroma with a bready malt backbone. Carbonated, rich malt, herbal hop notes with a touch of traditional hop spice, clean and crisp.
You should try this if: You are looking for a rich, full of flavour lager made the traditional way. Saint Mars is a brewery to look to for well made traditional European styles.
Living by Elusive Brewing x Burnt Mill x The Malt Miller
Now, obviously, I’m biased as I helped brew this beer, but I had to include an International Women’s Day beer in my March lineup. The other one I helped brew won’t be out just yet anyway! Inspired by Lady Eve Balfour who was one of the first women to study agriculture, it had to be a West Coast IPA from these formidable breweries. Using the classic combo of Chinook, Mosaic, Citra and Centennial along with a robust malt bill, this is easily quaffable!
My thoughts:
Not quite clear gold with a foamy white head. Fruit hop aroma with a touch of resin. Lightly carbonated, resin bitterness then grapefruit and citrus to brighten the palate.
You should try this if: You are looking for classic West Coast characteristics in your beer - sharp bitterness, balancing malt, bright citrus and easily drinkable.
Champion by Newbarns
I love an impromptu beer adventure! The hubs and I had no real plans for the bank holiday weekend, but Margate Tap Takeover was going on so we decided to pop in for one…. We ended up staying out the whole afternoon! One of my favourite beers of the day was Champion, a brown ale from Newbarns, being showcased at Northdown Brewery in Thanet. The hubs had Northdown’s lager, which was also lovely! I'm a dark beer fan though, as we know and Champion went down a treat!
My thoughts:
Chestnut brown with a creamy beige head. Nutty malt aroma, touch of cocoa and dark bread crust. Moderately carbonated, nutty, bready, cocoa, dry finish.
You should try this if: You want to experience a slightly different brown ale - this one was more bready and nutty than the usual chocolate, which I found very interesting.
I share my beer adventures in my stories over on Instagram, so make sure you give me a follow if you want to see what I’m up to. What was your favourite beer of March? Let me know!
