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