Saltaire Brewery: Imperial Stout & IPA

The other week I was having a little bit of a bad day at work, as were many of my colleagues. When it came to lunchtime I made the decision that we needed a bit of a pick up, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups were calling out to us.

One of the joys of living so close to work is that I can go home on my lunch break, so I popped into my local shop to grab some chocolaty goodies for the afternoon. My local corner shop is a Bargain Booze, and the owner knows of my boozy tendencies (he sold me a keg of Saltaire Ale last year for a camping trip), I walk in, pick up the treats, bypass the beer aisle and head to the till. I am then greated with 'have you tried these yet, I bet they are right up your street?' Next thing I know I am walking out with a couple of bottles that I have never seen before...which is surprising considering the brewery is so close. I picked up a bottle of Imperial Stout and Imperial IPA from the local Saltaire Brewery.

I have to admit I was just as curious as I was excited about these beers. First of all because I am a big fan of their Raspberry Blonde & their Triple Chocoholic and I was cautious whether something out of the ordinary would be any good or not. Secondly, I have sampled and enjoyed many Imperial Stouts...but never an Imperial IPA.

Lets start with the latter. SaltaireXS Imperial IPA 9.5%. This beer really hit the spot with me, as I have mentioned a million times that I have quite the taste for strong beer at the moment. The beer poured like the Leffe Royale, with a large head above the amber beer. The hops are right in your face as you go to take a sip. The flavours are as you would imagine, mainly fruity and hoppy...but I did get almost a spicy flavour towards the end. Even though their were quite a few bubbles whilst drinking this, it was very smooth tasting. As I drank the beer I was on my phone researching it...how had I not known about this? It turns out that it is pretty famous after winning two World Beer Awards. I may not be able to award this, but I did txt around my fellow beer lovers to spread the word. Could this beat my old favourite of the Saltaire Raspberry Blonde...maybe not I still associate the brewery with typical English pints down the local pub. But for the craft beer market, this is one to keep an eye out for.

Moving onto the Imperial Stout. I am always a little biased with stouts & porters as they are my favourite. Generally when the weather gets colder I try to stick close to stouts as my taste buds crave the chocolaty and caramel flavours. Before Christmas I discovered Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout at Friends Of Ham in Ilkley. Both myself and the father in law agreed that it was the best stout we had tasted in a long time. Safe to say that the Brooklyn is now one step down on my list of favourite beers. An Imperial Stout is always an acquired taste...compared to the IPA the stout has quite a familiar taste, as the 8.9% is more suited to this type of beer as opposed to an IPA. On pouring this beer the colour of the head was a caramel colour, above the darkness of the beer itself. On tasting the beer it was like treacle in a glass... I am in love!! It had a real sweetness to it, which I think it important in stouts and porters as I find some coffee stouts, and sometimes chocolate stouts to be a tad too bitter...making it hard to drink more than a pint. The sweetness of this made me want to just pour it over icecream...or replace Guinness with it in my next Guinness cake!

If I were to choose between the two beers I have to say the Stout was by far the favourite. I would recommend the IPA any day of the week, but would probably pick up a Belgian Blonde instead ... Although saying that if you do see it, try it! As for the Stout ... I have already sent a mass txt message around urging my fellow beer lovers to pick up a bottle, or two ! If Saltaire carry on with this mainstream then it will certainly be a regular fixture in my bar...can someone bring me another ?
- Sam

Fuggle & Golding Ilkley

If there was one good thing that the Craft Beer 'Revolution' has brought us its the rise of the Craft Beer Shop.

I know that many of the big supermarkets do now offer a great selection of different world beers, M&S being the best in my opinion. For a beer lover such as myself, one of the highlights of beer shopping is to find new and unusual brews. However the main issue with that is that you tend to be stuck with the internet (big delivery fees) or subscription websites. Now I am a fan of beer subscription sites, as can be found here, however the big issue I found was that even though I like trying new things there are certain types that I know I do not like, e.g. sour beer.

Luckily, the rise in popularity of small batch breweries has lead to an increase of specialist beer shops. This is such a great thing, as it is unbelievable to fathom just how many small batch brewers their are in the UK. I know the internet helps, but without these type of shops small brewers would be restricted to fairs and food festivals. If you want something cheap and familiar then the supermarket is where you need to be, but why not pay that extra bit of money to support small businesses and expand your beer pallet! Up until recently we have only ever enjoyed picking up random beer from the House of Trembling Madness in York. However now we are very fortunate to live in an area where I have two available within a short drive of my house.

Yesterday Liz & I were toying with the idea of going out for tea. We wanted to go out, but could not figure out where. On driving through Ilkley we decided to just head home and get a takeaway...but that was not before a quick stop into one of our local beer shops...definitely not a wasted journey.

As you drive towards Ilkley town centre it is difficult not to miss the lit up Brooklyn Brewery sign in the shop window. Fuggle & Golding is a small family run shop that specifically sells craft beer, it does not matter what type of beer you are looking for...they will have something to suit every taste. Upon entering the store you are greeted by a shop counter that doubles up as a bar. One of their USP's is that you can pick up a Growler bottle from them and refill overtime you visit.

As you walk through the shop their are bottles of beer stacked up high. Predominantly the shop is filled with cans and bottles of English breweries...delivering a huge range of different types of beers from all over the country. At the end of the shop their is a section dedicated to world beers (mainly American and Belgium brews).

Thinking back we must have spent a good 15 minutes browsing...I was spoilt for choice. Liz's decision was easy, as she is a fan of fruit beer her choice is always minimal, so she picked up a bottle of Delirium Red & Timmermans Kriek.
Determined to try something completely new I scanned the shelves, funnily enough I spent the other evening tweeting with North Union Brewery about where to find their beers, and in the first fridge their selection was infront of me. Because of my current taste for Belgian beer I picked up a bottle of their Dubbel 8.5%. I really enjoyed this beer, it was slightly watery for my taste, however that was the only downside...the flavours took me back to sitting out in the market square in Bruges! I will make sure I try their other beers soon.

I also picked up a bottle of Ilkley Brewery White Chocolate Stout 6.5%. Even though I was determined to find a new brewery I couldn't resist picking this up...essentially it is something new to me as I have never tried this beer, but Ilkley Brewery is a firm favourite...their Mary Jane IPA is growing in popularity, look out for it!

When we returned to the 'bar' to pay they had a reduced section...so like picking up an impulse buy chocolate bar I ended up adding a can of Decadence Stout 5.5% to our order. Considering the Delirium was nearly £4 (which was expected) I do not think that £14 for 5 beers was a bad price...especially considering the percentage of some of the beers.

So whilst in Ilkley next, I recommend to grab a burger at the Yard, a couple of beers in Friends Of Ham and a visit to Fuggle & Golding for something to have whilst at home. It really is a professional looking set up and I wish them all the best in continued success!

As I write this I have not yet opened the White Chocolate Stout or the Decadence Stout. So follow me on twitter for my verdict on these beers.

p.s - apologies for the pictures, they are not my best. But at 7:30 last night we were the only people in the shop and I didn't want the owner to wonder what I was doing :-)