Beers I’ve Enjoyed - April 2024
Hey beer lovers! April was not only my birthday month, but also had a few festivals thrown in, so I got to try some very tasty beer! I’m also very impressed with how many beer styles I tried this month - a whopping 23! I am definitely starting to pick beers that are in styles I haven’t tried in a while, but some of these were surprise different styles or I found interesting ones in my stash I hadn’t realised were there! Let's see which beers I liked the most this month!
Number of beers tried this month: 95 (in my defence I had a really good clear out of my stash while I took holiday!)
Beer styles tried: 23
If you’d like to see all the beers I try, come find me here on Untappd!
Ernest Sour by Iron Pier
As I said, April is my birthday month, so to celebrate, the hubs and I went for a steak lunch and popped into Low Key taproom in Ashford. I love this taproom and wish it was easier to get to from where I live (that’s what I get for living out in the middle of nowhere!). Low Key always has a good selection on the taps and in the fridges that covers traditional, hype and local. As it was my birthday I decided to go local and grabbed this Ernest Sour from Iron Pier in Gravesend. I have had this beer before and I’m a sucker for Ernest hops - they do not get enough love in my opinion. They gave the beer a refreshing grapefruit and apricot aroma with a light grassy note. A sour made with English hops is a hard sell, I know, but I loved it!
My thoughts:
Very lightly hazed gold with a low white head. Grapefruit and apricot aroma, a touch grassy. Lightly carbonated, fruity apricot, light earthy bitterness and subtly tart.
You should try this if: you are starting your sour journey or you want to experience an interesting English hop - I will always recommend Ernest!
Doideag by Origins Brewing
I fair few of my fave beers this month are from the Brew York Brewery Bash. The selection of breweries there, along with Brew York themselves, was just spectacular and they all brought their A game beers. I could have filled my fave beers quota with beers from the fest, but I have tried to spread the love. Winning the most interesting prize is Doideag, a gose from Origins Brewing - the barrel program from Fyne Ales in Scotland. It is made with 100% wheat in the mash and foraged seaweed from the Isle of Mull. I tried this at one of the beer talks during the festival and it was a delight hearing from the brewer - you could really feel his passion for the beer.
Unfortunately I didn’t take actual notes on this (as I was having too much of a good time!) but the beer also has sea salt and coriander added to the boil. I remember a soft body with an umami tang and a refreshing citrus and almost sea air quality - it was a pretty fantastic beer experience!
You should try this if: It was a pretty good example of a gose without fruit added, which can be hard to find and useful to try on your beer tasting journey. Its also just really refreshing and complex. Get this if you want to be able to take time over it.
Granate Heart by Fierce Beer
Another from the Brew York Brewery Bash, this pomegranate and lemonade radler really got me going on the second day of the fest after a long sesh the day before (IYKYK!) After my time in Germany I can highly recommend a radler to set you right for the day!
Learn more about radlers in this podcast episode
This beer was brewed with Women in Beer on International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day, so of course I was going to seek it out. It did not disappoint! There is a sherbety quality coming from the lemon and a juicy fruit note from the pomegranate. The combination, along with a good level of carbonation, is very refreshing and a pint was perfect. And usually I don’t get a pint of anything.
Again, I didn’t take actual notes as I was actually working this time and didn’t get a chance, but I was very grateful to Louise at Fierce for giving me this beer!
You should try this if: You are looking for a light refreshing beer full of fruity flavours. It is thirst quenching.
Alaskan Amber
If you are new around here you may not have heard me wax lyrical about Alaskan Brewing Co. When I first started drinking craft beer, the breweries that really shaped my understanding were the Boston Beer Company and Alaksan Brewing Co. They offered me a multitude of different styles that were easily accessible and allowed me to explore what I really liked about beer.
When I was in America for work last September, I stopped by a Walmart and saw an Alaskan Brewing mixed pack. At first I left it as it had 3 each of 4 different beers, which I did not need…. But I instantly regretted and went back for it! I had kept one of each beer to share on a podcast episode (which you can listen to here) but I also put aside an extra Alaskan Amber for myself. This beer was everywhere when I was working on cruise ships in Alaska and it was another amber beer (like Sam Adams) that made me see that beer has a spectrum of flavour and colour (other than yellow and fizzy). I have some very nostalgic feelings towards Alaskan Amber because of this. I didn’t crack my can of it until we were recording the podcast as I wanted to capture my real reaction to this beer that I had built up in my mind. Give the episode, linked above, a listen to see my reaction.
The TLDR version is, I still love it and it stands up! It’s also an Alt style beer and those are difficult to get hold of outside of Germany, so it ticks the styles box as well.
My thoughts:
Bright clear amber with a lingering foamy tan head. Caramel aroma, dried fruits, herbal hop spice, biscuits and bread malt. Moderately carbonated, caramel, fruity, digestive biscuit, malty, rich.
You should try this if: If you can find it! It’s a beer that is all about the malt and is brewed to be easy drinking and refreshing. I’m a massive fan.
Expect to see a whole post dedicated to Alaskan Amber in my Try All The Beers series here in the future!
Kosmic Mother Funk Grand Cru by Samuel Adams
Speaking of American beer and the Boston Beer Company, my final fave beer of the month comes from them. Tori grabbed this for us while she was in the US. It’s a tiny 250ml can with a massive beer inside. The beer itself is Belgian in style, noted as a Belgian Dark Strong Ale, aged in Hungarian oak tuns with the brewery’s own wild yeast and bacteria strains. This adds a tart funkiness which was just delightful. Belgian candi sugar was also added to produce more complex flavours. It’s not overly strong either at 6.5% ABV.
I’m a big advocate for smaller pours and cans. Sometimes a beer is beautifully complex or very strong and you only need a ½ or ⅓ to enjoy it. Some beers are made for drinkability and others are for tasting slowly. The small can was the perfect amount to really savour this beer.
My thoughts:
Mahogany red with a low beige head. Fruit cake aroma, dried cherries, oak, booze. Lightly carbonated, tart, dried fruits, oak, cherry, tannic acidity with a fruity sweetness that all balances nicely to create a complex delight.
You should try this if: you like the complexity of a good red wine! There is a lot of complexity in this beer that needs to be sipped on a savoured.
What were your favourite beers in April and what are you looking forward to in May? Let me know in the comments or head over to my Instagram here to let me know!
